Winextra

Mysterious giganticus amphipods found deep off of New Zealand coast

Steven — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:09:06 +0000

Gawd how I love Mother Nature, one minute you can think that you have her all figured out and then she goes and slaps you upside the head with something like these ‘supergiant’ amphipods that make the idea of having a shrimp dinner highly questionable.

Now thanks to a team of scientists from the University of Aberdeen and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) I will never look at a plate of shrimp the same after they showed off a recent discovery near some deep-sea vents off the coast of New Zealand.

Normally these amphipods hover between 2cm to the giant size of 10cm, neither of which are really that big. So what makes for a ‘supergiant’? Try 34cm in length.

Ya, in otherwords huge suckers.

The term “supergiant” stems from the 70′s when the elusive creatures were last caught off the coast of Hawaii. None have been caught since then until now. The team used a deep-sea vehicle designed by the University of Aberdeen equipped with a camera system, along with traps to capture the amphipods. The traps were set 7000 meters deep in the sea in the hopes of catching another elusive creature called the snailfish. When they pulled the traps aboard they got a big surprise.
via Techie-Buzz

No shit Sherlock, or as University of Aberdeen’s Dr. Alan Jamieson said:

“The moment the traps came on deck we were elated at the sight of the snailfish as we have been after these fish for years.
“However, seconds later, I stopped and thought ‘what on earth is that?’ whilst catching a glimpse of an amphipod far bigger than I ever thought possible. It’s a bit like finding a foot long cockroach.”

I’m sorry but if I saw a cockroach this size I’d be heading to my Mercedes Zetros and declaring war. I mean seriously what would you do if you saw something this big hanging around?

Mysterious giganticus amphipods found deep off of New Zealand coast is a post from: winextra
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We’ve found it! The perfect mobile command post for the coming Zombie Apocalypse

Steven — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:53:54 +0000

Alright, Mercedes-Benz might not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking of way to survive the coming Zombie Apocalypse, and to organize any resistance but this decked out Mercedes Zetros will definitely have you reconsidering.

After all what better vehicle maker than Mercedes to bring you the best in comfort when going up against those nasty zombies or provide you with all the luxury needed for a mobile command post.

So what do you get to help you with your coming war?

Well how about:

7.2-liter inline-six diesel engine
326 horsepower
960 pound-feet of torque
full bedroom
living room
kitchen and nicely decked out bathroom
46-inch flat-screen TV monitors
Bose sound system
self-adjusting motorized satellite dishes
Wi-Fi
ATV storage space

To give you an idea of how good your mobile command center will look here’s some pictures of courtesy of Caveman Circus.

We’ve found it! The perfect mobile command post for the coming Zombie Apocalypse is a post from: winextra
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Chalk this up to nature doing a better job than man as whales inspire better helicopter blades

Steven — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:48:18 +0000

As much as man tries to mimic nature to improve the things that we create we are always discovering new ways that nature does a better job than we can think of. Case in point – helicopter blades.

It turns out that helicopter blades aren’t as good at doing the job as we like to think that they are and in fact they suffer from something called “dynamic stall”. You see when a helicopter is flying forward the blade that is advancing forward is travelling faster than the blade opposite of it, which causes the dynamic stall and leads to increased turbulence.

So what does this have to do with whales, humpbacks specifically, you quite rightly ask?

Well humpback whales are incredible large mammals and yet it has amazed scientists studying them at how fast and agile they are in the water. It turns out that they have a natural advantage and it has everything to do with something called tubercles on the front of their pectoral fins.

The protrusions cause the water to flow over the fins in such a way that the whales get an extra lift so the scientists decided to see if something similar to this could be applied to helicopter fins as well (ya, I’m not sure how this leap occurred either):

Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR) glued a series of six-millimeter-wide rubber bumps onto the edges of all four of a helicopter’s rotor blades – 186 on each blade. The bumps have been patented as Leading-Edge Vortex Generators (LEVoGs).
After showing promising results in wind tunnel tests, the helicopter was tried out in actual flights by test pilots. Apparently, they noticed a definite improvement in performance. On subsequent flights, instruments will be present to actually measure the differences.
via GizMag

Chalk up another one for nature eh.

Chalk this up to nature doing a better job than man as whales inspire better helicopter blades is a post from: winextra
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Halo: Helljumper Episode 1, the Halo inspired webseries finally hits the web [Video]

Steven — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:22:24 +0000

Back in November of last year I passed along the news that a Halo inspired webseries called Halo: Helljumpers was in the works and showed you the trailer that had been released for it. Well the first episode of the final product has been released.

The fan made series is primarily the story about Gage Yevgenny from the time when he first joins to fight in the war against the Covenant. Episode 1 is about a dying Gage telling his story to a new rookie on the field of battle.

Enjoy and get ready for the next episode to drop 15th.

via TDW

Halo: Helljumper Episode 1, the Halo inspired webseries finally hits the web [Video] is a post from: winextra
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The truth behind Geordi’s Star Trek visor is finally revealed

Steven — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:38:13 +0000

Thanks to the good folks over at the Star Trek webcomic “Unforeseen Consequences” and the io9 blog we finally get to find out what Geordi really sees from behind that visor.

The truth behind Geordi’s Star Trek visor is finally revealed is a post from: winextra
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What a singularly beautiful way to use technology

Steven — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:46:58 +0000

When we get married part of the ceremony is the exchanging of rings to symbolize our undying love you have for each other and this simple yet very beautiful rings would be an awesome way to do that.

The design you see on the rings is actually the etched in waveform of your voice saying “I Do” which is definitely cool.

via imgur.com

What a singularly beautiful way to use technology is a post from: winextra
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