MEIGNORANT

Extreme sport enthusiasts always dreamed of an attachable rigid-wing system to add airplane-like agility to skydiving. This concept has become quite popular in recent years, and many have claimed it as their sole invention. Nevertheless, the idea goes back deep into the times of Icarus. The photo below shows the trial of a rigid-wing system on an airfield in Moscow, 1935. The designer comrade Sanfirov tries the rigid-wing, his solution for stealth deployment of airborne troops:

<Large Image> <Source>

Putin and Medvedev in the church, apparently praying for forgiveness of their sins:

Turtle pie

Seafood pie

There is an ancient tradition of wild hyena feeding in Harar, Ethiopia, which is still being practiced today. As far as I understand, this is a rite of peace-offering. The wild hyenas enter the city in great numbers during the night, and they are quite capable of snapping limbs from poor fellows sleeping on the streets. Those wild beasts are really strolling through the city in the dark, I saw them myself!

> large image <
For several centuries the rite of hyena feeding has been performed by a single family. Fathers were passing the skill to their sons, and so on.
The guy on the first photo carries a basket full of rotten meat outside the city wall and summons hyenas with scary inhuman shouts. The beasts come and get their portion of stinking meat. For the greater effect the feeding is done mouth-to-mouth style...

> large image <

According to a friend of mine it was filmed in the Red Sea, Egypt. Me looked all over the internet, but couldn't define these species. Nevertheless, it would be so cool, if some other weed on the surface could do the same trick.

Recently I've come across this fascinating version of chess. I've had an opportunity to play it and lost. Apparently I need more practice, but the concept itself is beautiful!

The regular chess rules are used, although the shape of the board is obviously different.

A year after the Plane On Treadmill Problem became popular on Digg, the so called “Mythbusters“ made a TV show claiming they solved it once and for all. Too bad they turned this noble scientific experiment into a big-ass pick-up truck commercial. Watch it for yourself, but note the following:

1. Can the truck drag the plane parked stationary on tarpaulin? No! When the dude tried to run on the slow-moving tarpaulin like on a treadmill he ripped huge holes every time he touched the ground, so forget about doing the same with a 500 lb plane. This means that pick-up truck + tarpaulin don’t really substitute or even simulate a treadmill.

2. Is there a perspective where you can see clearly the truck with tarpaulin and the plane going opposite directions? No! All the dudes show are just weird angles. Moreover, if you go to 6:58 or 8:14 of the video and watch it frame-by-frame, you can see the plane accelerating on stationary tarpaulin. Yes, the tarpaulin is NOT moving anywhere. Why would they fake it? See paragraph 1.

Cheap tricks, me say. The problem stays unresolved until a proper experiment is conducted.

Are you watching closely?

Shadow from the truck at 6:43 is on its left side. However, 4 seconds later at 6:47 the shadow is behind it!

Beware Of Artillery

Americans tow boats for fishing and other recreational sports. Russians, they pass free time differently.