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Andy Lewis performed a slacklining routine during the Super Bowl halftime show, and amazed the audience. If slacklining is new to you, you can find out all about this extreme sport (or is it an art?) in an interview with climbing legend Dean Potter at National Geographic News Watch. Oh, yeah, that’s him in the picture, at Yosemite Falls. See a video of Potter’s trip across the abyss at NatGeo. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
Danger Martini Shaker – $24.95
Do you know someone who makes a dangerously good martini? This Christmas get them the Danger Martini Shaker from the NeatoShop. This menacingly beautiful 32 fl oz glass martini shaker comes with a stainless steel lid and strainer.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Barware & Cocktail items.
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Anonymous is getting ready for the biggest fight of their group’s history, ramping up to take on a Mexican drug cartel after one of their own was kidnapped by the drug lords.
The Zetas are one of the biggest players in Mexico’s drug war, which has resulted in about 40,000 deaths since 2006. Earlier this month, a YouTube video showed a man in a Guy Fawkes mask who claimed to speak for Anonymous warning the Zetas that the collective would reveal the names of people who had aided the cartel, including taxi drivers, police officers and journalists, if a kidnapped member of Anonymous weren’t released.
Now that’s a cause we can all get behind.
We’ve posted about some extremely unsafe toys here. the one that came to mind immediately when I saw the title of this Cracked post was the Atomic Energy Lab, and it’s included. But the others are just as shockingly dangerous! However, I remember some of them from my own childhood, the childhood with no seat belts or bicycle helmets or minimum age for babysitting. Shown here is a kit for children to learn how to melt and mold their own lead, which could not only burn a hole through flesh, but poison your brain as well. NSFW text. Link
The nearly universal human fear of snakes is caused by the minority of them that can kill you. Venomous snakes are found all over the temperate zones of the world. Find out which ones are the most dangerous, and whether they may be near you! Pictured is a small but deadly African snake called the boomslang. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Steven Gilham)
Gathering Iwatake at Kumano. Woodblock print by Hiroshige II.
When making soup requires scaling a cliff, and grabbing a few olives involves avoiding gunfire, it’s time to find some comfort food that’s a little more comfortable.
The annals of Arctic exploration are filled with accounts of frostbitten limbs and near starvation. In fact, many adventurers have reported being so hungry that they’ve scraped papery-crisp lichen off rocks and boiled it into passably edible food. One outdoorsman even claimed that if braised shoe leather was in a taste-test with lichen, the shoe leather would come out on top. And yet, this very same survival food is considered a delicacy in Japan. There, iwatake (iwa meaning rock, and take meaning mushroom) is so highly sought-after that harvesters are willing to rappel down cliff faces for the precious growths. (It takes about a century for the lichen to get to a worthwhile size.)
Needless to say, this is specialty work. As if the rappelling isn’t tricky enough, iwatake is best harvested in wet weather, because the moisture reduces the chance that the lichen will crumble as it’s pried off with a sharp knife. In its preferred preparation, the black and slimy raw material is transformed into a delicate tempura. And while iwatake in any form doesn’t taste like much, it’s esteemed for its associations with longevity. As for the harvesters? Their longevity’s more questionable. “Never give lodging to an iwatake hunter,” goes an old Japanese adage, “for he doesn’t always survive to pay rent.”
(Image credit: Flickr user SpirosK)
Cantilevered high off cave walls and cliffs along the seas of Southeast Asia are the nests of the white-nest swiftlet—a bird that’s managed to turn an embarrassing drool problem into a useful D.I.Y. project. The nests, sturdy constructions no bigger than the palm of your hand, are made from the birds’ spit. Yup, these swiftlets have specialized saliva glands powerful enough to turn their tongues into avian glue guns.
You’d think being stuck in caves high above the ground, and the fact that they’re birds’ nests, would protect them against humans—but no. Ever since sailors first brought the nests home for the Chinese emperor and his family in the first century CE, bird’s nest soup has been a favorite among the country’s elite. Never mind that it’s virtually tasteless; the dish is revered for health reasons.
Of course, acquiring the main ingredient is less healthy. Nest harvesters must stand on rickety bamboo scaffolding hundreds of feet off the ground in pitch darkness. They must also endure unbelievable heat and humidity as they try to avoid all the insects, birds, and bats that live in the caves. In addition, the extraordinary value of the nests means the zones are patrolled by machine-gun toting guards. Harvesting rights are multiyear, multimillion-dollar deals arranged with national governments, and poaching is ruthlessly prohibited. Unarmed fishermen have been shot dead after accidentally beaching in swiftlet territory, and local tour group operators pay exorbitant fees to avoid rifle-assisted leaks springing in their kayaks. It all underscores the fact that being a nest harvester is less of a career choice and more of a life sentence—especially considering that the skill is almost exclusively passed on from father to son.
Kids these days don’t know what hazardous fireworks are… why, back in my day, when we walked six miles to school uphill both ways, fireworks were dangerous. I mean real dangerous, like the M80s we used to by all the time. How dangerous were they?
Federal law now caps the flash powder content of firecrackers at 50mg per firework. Typical M-80s contained somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000mg of powder apiece, or roughly 60 times as much explosive. (This power makes sense given the M-80’s original purpose: simulating the sound of gunfire and artillery during military training missions.)
Read about how these changes came about at mental_floss. Link
Who ever says that scientists are boring? Here’s an interesting finding about how caterpillar evolved a unique method of warning each other of danger:
Some caterpillars drag their back ends along leaves to ward off intruders on their territory. Now it seems this "anal-scraping" – which creates warning vibrations – evolved from walking. It is the strongest evidence yet that communication signals can evolve from the exaggeration and repetition of routine behaviours.
Jayne Yack of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and colleagues compared the genes of more than 30 species of caterpillar. They found that scrapers tended to be species that have evolved more recently, and that they settle disputes with an intruder without fighting. Instead they wiggle their rear, causing oar-like appendages to scrape and drum against the leaf below.
Link (Photo: J. Yack/Carleton University in Ottawa)
You think you have troubles at work? Dairy farmer Tony Goltstein of Winchester, Indiana has methane bubbles the size of houses rising up to twenty feet tall, full of gas released by decomposing cow manure. Since wholesale prices of dairy products has plummeted, he cannot afford to properly maintain the manure lagoon. Replacing the plastic liner would cost around $200,000, and Goltstein is afraid the lagoon will overflow if the bubbles under the plastic continue to rise.
This month, Mr. Goltstein asked state regulators to let him pop the bubbles. He said he and his 19-year-old son would slice them open with a knife from a paddleboat.
Bruce Palin, assistant commissioner for the office of land quality at the state environmental agency, said officials were considering the idea. But, he added, “not knowing how much volume of gas is there and how much pressure is on it, we’re concerned with just cutting a hole.”
Last year, a hog farmer in Hayfield, Minn., was launched 40 feet into the air in an explosion caused by methane gas from a manure pit on his farm. He sustained burns and singed hair.
Mr. Goltstein’s attorney, Glenn D. Bowman, acknowledged that the potential existed for an explosion: “We’re aware of that sort of common physics issue,” he said.
The Goltsteins filed for bankruptcy last month. Link -via Digg
(image credit: Lauren Etter)
This company will make a tiny branding iron with your name on it! The product is a metal part that will replace the head of a disposable cigarette lighter. Fire up the lighter, and your branding iron will be hot in no time. Yes, it sounds dangerous, that’s why the description says “for decorative purposes only.” What could possibly go wrong? Link -via Bits and Pieces
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupation Injuries, fewer people died on the job in 2008 than the previous two years. Still, some jobs are much more dangerous than others. Using statistics from 2008, here are the five deadliest careers.
1. Fishers
2. Loggers
3. Aircraft Pilots and Flight Engineers
4. Structural Iron and Steel Workers
5. Farmers and Ranchers
Yahoo Finance has the statistics on each job. There is also a linked slide show from Forbes looking at the top ten deadliest jobs. Link -via the Presurfer
(image credit: Flickr user Sam Beebe / Ecotrust)
While sightseeing at the coast, 3-year-old Alaina Pitton and her family came whitin inches of tragedy in a matter of seconds, and it was caught on tape! While posing for a photo, the little girl fell between two fencerails, and had she not grabbed tightly to some weeds, would have toppled over a 150 ft. cliff.
Oregon Parks service is now working on making the area safer for small children. KATU News has the story and video.
