EXCLUSIVE: How Google Will Use High-Flying Balloons to Deliver Internet to the Hinterlands
Not much happens in Geraldine, a small farming community in the interior of the South Island of New Zealand, about 85 miles from Christchurch. So when Hayden MacKenzie, a fourth-generation farmer there, picked up the phone last Tuesday and got a request to participate in a secret project—one that he wouldn’t even learn about until he signed a vow of silence—he and his wife Anna figured that they’d take a shot. That evening, two men showed up at his cozy farmhouse. They bore a peculiar red device, a sphere slightly bigger than a volleyball perched on a short collar, and attached it to his roof. Then they left.
Only when the men returned the next day did they reveal what they were up to. Inside the red ball was an antenna that would give the MacKenzies Internet access. It was custom-designed to communicate with a similar antenna that would be floating by in the stratosphere, over 60,000 feet above sea level. On a solar-powered balloon.
Oh, and the men work for Google.
As part of a program created by Columbia professor Christopher Emdin, 10 New York City high school classes have been writing raps as a way to learn about science. The program is calledScience Genius, and it sounds like the sort of patronizing pop-culture hijack kids hate more than anything. But when Wu-Tang’s GZA drops by a Bronx classroom to discuss the importance of scientific inquiry, you can see the actual moment when the students realize the program is legit.
The puppies are four weeks old today!!!
Explore, explore, chew, play, chew, nap!!!
They went from peanuts to potatoes and now… THEY ARE CORGIS!!!! SOOOOOO CUTE!!!
from the kickstarter page:
The “Because of Them, We Can…” project started out as a photo campaign that I launched during Black History Month. The goal was to inspire and empower our kids to be great by connecting the dots between them and the individuals past and present who have blazed and continue to blaze trails.
As the month progressed, what I once believed was confirmed - 28 days wasn’t enough.
As such, I extended the project for a full 365 days. Each day a photo is released via social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
The feedback has been amazing, but the biggest request has been for a book that includes all 365 images. I could go the publisher route, but I truly believe that we can fund this movement. Here’s where the Kickstarter comes in. Funding this project would allow me to self publish a high quality, hard cover art book that will serve as a source of inspiration and education for all who come across it.
Funding ends in 5 days! Signal boost or donate what you can!
Lumière Brothers - The Serpentine Dance (c.1899). The Lumière Brothers filmed this in black and white, and then hand coloured (probably with little paint brushes) each frame of the film. You can see the full movie here.
3-D Printer Brings Dexterity To Children With No Fingers
Richard Van As was working in his home near Johannesburg, South Africa, in May of 2011, when he lost control of his table saw.
“It’s a possibility that it was a lack of concentration,” he says. “It’s just that the inevitable happened.”
The carpenter lost two fingers and mangled two more on his right hand. While still in the hospital, he was determined to find a way to get back to work. Eventually, solving his own problem led him to work with a stranger on the other side of the world to create a mechanical hand using a 3-D printer. Other prosthetics, including a lower jaw, have been made with the technology before, but making a hand is particularly tricky.
As soon as he got out of the hospital, Van As began researching prosthetics online. They cost thousands of dollars — money he didn’t have.
So in the meantime, he rigged up an artificial index finger for his right hand with materials from his shop. But he kept looking for help or a collaborator — someone who could help him fix his hand.
In time, Van As came across a YouTube video from Ivan Owen. In the video, Owen, a special effects artist and puppeteer in Bellingham, Wash., was demonstrating one of his creations, a big puppet hand that relies on thin steel cables to act like tendons, allowing the metal digits to bend.
“The complexity of the human hand has always fascinated me [and] really captured my imagination,” Owen says.
The two began working together long distance — Skyping, sharing ideas, even sending parts back and forth. Finally, Owen flew to South Africa to finish the work in person with Van As. And today, Van As has a working mechanical finger to assist him with his work.
But something else happened on Owen’s visit to South Africa: While he was there, Van As received a call from a woman seeking help for her 5-year-old son, Liam Dippenaar, who was born without fingers on his right hand. The cause was a rare congenital condition called amniotic band syndrome. In ABS, fibrous bands can wrap around a hand or a foot in utero and cut off circulation.
Van As says he and Owen looked at each other and were of one mind: ” ‘Yeah, easy, no problem.’ “
(more at the link)
Rare Gorilla Twins Surprise Staff at Burgers’ Zoo
When zoo keepers entered the Gorilla House at the Netherlands’ Burgers’ Zoo on June 13, they were taken by surprise: N’Gayla, the 20-year-old female Gorilla, had delivered twin babies overnight!
Check out ZooBorns to see many more photos and to learn about this happy surprise!
Sebastian De La Cruz - Singing the national anthem
The performance that sparked way too many ignorant and racist remarks aimed at a young child.
All I can say is, none of those remarks will ever surpass this child’s talent and beauty.
The end.
Follow me Kids! It’s time for Animal Hour:) by Stroutshots (via All sizes | Sail away | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)
