A Welsh View

Video: Painful Baseball Shot

If you thought the picture of the guy getting hit in the balls with a baseball looked painful check out this video.

Video: Chaos In The Print Shop

Honda Cogs eat your heart out.

How To Protect The World's Longest Desert Road From Being Buried

Fogonazos has posted some photos showing the Tarim Desert Highway in China (view Google map). The total length of the highway is 552km with approximately 446km of the highway cross uninhabited areas covered by shifting sand dunes.

Built in 1995 to move oil from the Tarim Basin, China's largest inland basin, the highway has been lined with a 60-metre-wide tree belt along the route provided with a massive irrigation system which pump water for the vegetation.

The aim of the tree belt is to prevent the sand from covering the highway. It is maintained by workers who living in blue houses every 4km. Between them they plant 2 million rose willows, sacsaoul and buckthorn. It's a very lonely job that requires workers to live in the houses for at least 2 years.

There is more information as well as more photos here.

Woman at a News Conference Gets Punched in the Head

Woman at a News Conference Gets Punched in the Head

I have no idea what she's saying but I don't think that guy agreed with her.

Six Diseases You Don’t Want

Six weird sounding diseases that you don't want including Maple Syrup Urine Disease, Exploding Head Syndrome and Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Disorder.

Cheetah Cubs Learn To Kill

Awww! How cute. First they all ran around for a bit, then they all rolled in the grass and then the cheetah cubs realised that their mum didn't catch the little impala for their entertainment.

The photo series, taken in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, shows a cheetah cubs learning how to catch and kill pray. It took several minutes but the cubs eventually figured out how to kill the fawn.

GoogleDrive

GoogleDrive allows you to drive a miniature car around Google Maps. I can't think of any time that this would be of use but it's impressive that it restricts you to roads yet still lets you to drive around parks.

Video: Skull Implants

He wanted to be a little bit different and estranged from a regular community. He's definitely succeeded. [via]

Cities At Night: The View From Space

A collection of photos taken from space showing major cities (and AWV) at night. [via]

Video: Antarctica Condition 1 Weather

Wow!

Video: Plunging 'Bruce' Saved By Windscreen

Poor old suicidal Bruce. He gets convinced to come down from a bridge and on his way down gets whacked by a fire engine. Link

Worldometers - Real-Time World Statistics

Worldometers has a ton of statistics updated in real time. Stats cover world population, the environment, food and water and the number of spam emails sent today. [via]

Foul Balls

© Matthew Baldwin

Click for bigger. [via]

Did Eaten Songbird Claw Its Way Through Hawk?

A hawk found dead along a California highway with the claw of a songbird protruding from its chest has raised questions over weather the songbird tried to escape after being eaten.

The bird was found by Julia Di Sieno of the Animal Rescue Team in California

A pouch in the hawk's chest area called the crop had ripped open and the songbird, which had been a meal for the hawk, was spilling out.

"We removed a good portion of this bird [the songbird], which was partially digested," Di Sieno said by telephone yesterday. The hawk had apparently just finished downing what might have been a sparrow, she said. "He [the dead hawk] even still had down feathers and meat on his beak."

Di Sieno said she is not sure how the hawk died or what caused its crop to burst open.

Larger image of the bird. Link [via]

Mondex The Scuba Dog

Mondex, a five-year-old chihuahua, dressed as a scuba diver, poses during a dog show at a mall in the Filipino capital Manila.

For his troubles, Mondex won first prize in the fashion category. [via]

Presidential Cars of 20 Countries

Photos of 20 different presidential cars. It looks like the Czech Republic leader got the bum deal with the Skoda and the American Cadillac looks a little ugly with all that armour. I think I'd choose our Queen's Bentley.

Vint Cerf On The Internet

Vint Cerf, creator of the Internet, talks to Esquire about the Internet (and other things). He 'was disappointed that pornography got to the Net', was annoyed when he first saw spam in '79 and 'won't go on a safari in a three-piece suit'.

British Government Unveils New Logo To Red Faces

HM Treasury recently unveiled a new logo for the Office of Government Commerce but when deciding on the logo it failed to take a look at it on its side.

The £14,000 logo was intended to signify a bold commitment to the body’s aim of “improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement”, but the employees quickly spotted the clanger.

A spokesman for OGC said: “It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters OGC - and it is not inappropriate to an organisation that’s looking to have a firm grip on Government spend.”

Link

VIdeo: Iran Highway Chase

It's probably not a real police chase but the driving is still damn good.

A Visit to Beijing's Exclusive Penis Restaurant

Spiegel has posted an article (along with photos) of a visit to the Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing where the menu consists almost entirely of penis and testicle dishes -- made from the private parts of deer, snakes, yaks, horses, seals and ducks, among others.

Surgeons Remove 125lb Belly From Russian Woman

A Russian woman with a gigantic 125lb belly has undergone surgery to have it removed.

Natalya was overweight since 13, when she had hormonal disturbance. She tried all the existing diets, visited hundreds of doctors, but with no result. Years passed as her belly was growing larger and larger. Finally it became so huge that the woman literally had to stump it to make a step.

Oleg Strigin, the head of the department of surgery of the hospital, where the woman was rushed, said they don’t do such complicated surgeries often. He said there are 4 levels of the belly-growth: the inch of more than 4-inch length belongs to the 4th level. We’ve never seen the growth of 36 inches!

The growth-removing surgery lasted for many hours. The surgeons removed fat the weight of a grown-up woman!

Link

Luxury Dog Houses

For the dog owner with more money than sense, Doggydreamhomes.com sells custom-built dog homes with more features than most regular homes. [via]

Video: Indians Throw Babies Off 50ft High Roof

A bizarre Indian ritual which involves through children over a 50ft high roof onto a sheet. Devotees believe this ritual is good for the health of the child.

Video: Motorcyclist Makes an Amazing Landing After Hitting a Car

Motorcyclist Makes an Amazing Landing After Hitting a Car

This guy should become a stuntman.

San Francisco Fleet Week

I have a feeling I've posted these photos before but if so I'm posting them again. They were taken at last year's Fleet Week in San Francisco.

I've just booked a trip to San Francisco (for a birthday celebration but I won't tell you how old;o), and it happens to coincide with the 2008 Fleet Week. Seeing as I've got similar kit to what was used to take the photos I'm hoping that I'll be able to take some great shots. If you've been to a past Fleet Week, have you got any tips on good vantage points? I'm going to be in the city for the practice shows and the air shows, are the practice shows similar to the actual air shows?

Whilst on the subject of San Francisco/California, is Santa Cruz worth a visit? I'm planning on driving further south for a few days after visiting San Francisco to visit Monterrey, Half Moon Bay and possibly Santa Cruz. Are there any other places in the area worth visiting?

LookTorrent Torrent Search Engine

I used to use YouTorrent to search torrent file (legal of course ;o) but they no longer search the more popular torrent sites. I came across LookTorrent today which searches 25 different torrent sites. The interface is not as slick as YouTorrent but you're more likely to find what you are looking for. [via]

Video: McBain For America

The US Presidential Election doesn't interest me at all and I've never seen this John McCain advert before but this parody of said advert got a smile from me.

Video: Boy Gets Stuck In Claw Machine

It seems that boys getting stuck in those claw grabbing machines is a yearly occurrence - 2005, 2006 (w/ photo), 2007 (w/ photo) and now this one.

The video has been around for a a couple of weeks but I wasn't able to find a news article.

Researchers - Astrology Is Bunk

A 50-year-study nstudy of 2,000 people born minutes apart has proved what may people have thought for a long time - astrology is rubbish!

The babies were originally recruited as part of a medical study begun in London in 1958 into how the circumstances of birth can affect future health. More than 2,000 babies born in early March that year were registered and their development monitored at regular intervals.

Researchers looked at more than 100 different characteristics, including occupation, anxiety levels, marital status, aggressiveness, sociability, IQ levels and ability in art, sport, mathematics and reading - all of which astrologers claim can be gauged from birth charts.

The scientists failed to find any evidence of similarities between the "time twins", however. They reported in the current issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies: "The test conditions could hardly have been more conducive to success . . . but the results are uniformly negative."

Video: Car Crashes, Slides On It's Roof

If you are going to crash your car, you may as well do it in style.

Digg: Groove Is In The Heart

Looks like a fun place to work although with all that beer around I doubt I'd get much work done. [via]

Apple Fanboy

Do all Apple fanboys dress like this? The link is SFW but you may regret clicking on it. [via]

Video: How Not To Drift

Guy Crashes Bike On Google Street View

Whilst documenting this area of Cleveland, OH, the Googlemobile spotted the guy above falling off his bike. A genuine fall or did he want to be immortilised on Google Maps.

Cat 5 Wedding Rings For Nerdy Couples

What better way for geeks to express their love for one another than with a pair of Cat 5 wedding rings. The rings are sold out but were going for $175 a piece. [via]

19-Year-Old Is World's Youngest Professor

A 19-year-old woman who was appointed as a full-time faculty Professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea has been recognised as the world's youngest professor.

Alia Sabur was enrolled at a university at age 10 and played clarinet with a symphony orchestra at 11.

Sabur was three days shy of her 19th birthday in February when she became a professor at Konkuk University, in Seoul. The previous record was held by a student of physicist Isaac Newton, Colin Maclaurin, who set the mark in 1717.

"He's in every calculus textbook there is," she said. "When I found out about it, I thought, 'I can't replace him.' But it's been 300 years and someone had to replace him, so why not me?"

She will be doing some classroom instruction, but mostly will focus on research into developing nanotubes for use as cellular probes, which could help discover cures for diseases such as cancer, she said.

Down the road, she would like to develop a noninvasive blood-glucose meter for people with diabetes, she said. Her mother, Julia, and her father, Mark, both have diabetes.

Sabur said classroom teaching in Seoul will be challenging because she doesn't speak Korean. "I can speak math and music," she said.

Link

Jeans With Embedded Keyboard

You might get some funny looks whilst using certain keys on this embedded keyboard. Designer Erik De Nijs has embedded a rubber-keyed keyboard into a pair of jeans and besides typing out an email with your crotch, you can also listen to music using the built-in 'knee speakers' and play a game using the joystick controller behind the front zipper. More pics here.

[via]

Nokia Gives Away Free Copies Of FIFA 08

To celebrate the recent launch of N-Gage, Nokia are giving away 120,000 free copies of FIFA 08. If you own an N81/N81 8GB, N82 or N95/N95 8GB, head over here to download your copy. [via]

The Face Bank

Creepy or cute? This coin-munching money box is available in six different colours and in 'brick' and 'mortar'. [via]

Video: Last Flight From Da Nang

"This CBS report was in March 1975. Edward J.Daly,owner of World Airways, sent a Boeing 727 aircraft to Da Nang Vietnam to pick up stranded woman and children. Instead the aircraft was swamped by military personnel climbing on the aircraft. There were 260 people aboard a plane which is designed to carry 105. The plane was overloaded by 20,000 pounds. The baggage compartments were loaded with people. Some of the problems during the flight included, the rear stairway remained partially extended for the entire flight, the main wheels would not retract, a hand grenade damage to one of the wings causing fuel loss, and the lower cargo doors were open. The plane had to fly at 10,000 feet because of lack of pressurization thus fuel consumption was three times greater than normal."

[via]

Video: Stuntman Trashes James Bond's Aston Martin

A Russian news channel has broadcast footage of the aftermath of one of James Bond's Aston Martin that was trashed while filming the opening scene of Quantum of Solace.

The driver lost control of 007 Daniel Craig's £130,000 DBS beside Lake Garda in Northern Italy -where the opening action scenes for new Bond movie Quantum Of Solance are being filmed - early yesterday.

He swam ashore and was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The crumpled car was later pulled out of the water by a crane.

Judging by the footage at the end of the clip, Bond has still got more Aston Martins to play with (five to be exact). [via]

Update: The Telegraph has an article that includes an interview with the stunt driver and photos.

Game: Dodge

Sometimes the simple games are the best. Pick up the blue squares with your blue circle whilst avoiding the red cricles which spawn as you score. [via]

The 300 Movies You Must See Before You Die

300 movies that you should see before you die sorted into genres and some include clips from the movies. [via]

TankPitstop - The World's First Automated Fuel Robot

Filling the car up with petrol is one job I could do without so the sooner that petrol stations install these the better. There's a video of it in action here.

Video: The Big Dog Robot

This freaky looking and sounding robot is almost life-like. It's amazing how it is able to correct itself when falling over and how it's able to navigate difficult terrains.

Related: Big Dog Beta

[via]

Apple iPhone 'Mega Edition'

Is this the much rumoured 3G iPhone? [via]

Ecocho - The Eco-Friendly Search Engine

Ecocho is is the world's first known search engine that enables users to offset their own carbon emissions for free. It uses Yahoo and Google results and for every 1,000 searches made on the site they will donate 2 trees. So far they've planted 3,241 trees and offset 1.6KG of CO2.

Video: Man Almost Gets Hit By Train

He almost had him! [via]

Anti-Mac or Just Old School?

Video: Contracting Tanker

I don't fully understand what would cause this to happen (something to do with hot gas cooling and contracting) but it's very impressive.