Five Famous Sci-Fi Weapons That They're Actually Building

(if you think this is scary, check out the date it was written...)

http://www.cracked.com/article_16477_5-famous-sci-fi-weapons-that-theyre-actually-building.html

5 Famous Sci-Fi Weapons That They're Actually Building

By Roland Dante July 11, 2008

Ever find yourself watching a movie, and at the moment the villain whips out an elaborately sinister doomsday device, you say, "Hey, I wouldn't mind having one of those things!"

Well, it turns out defense contractors are thinking the exact same thing. The only difference is they have billions to spend to make it happen. Coming soon to a battlefield near you:

#5.

The Advanced Tactical Laser, Boeing's Flying Laser Cannon

We've been waiting for a good freaking death ray for, oh, about 70 years. So when Boeing says, " ... directed energy weapons are relevant to today's battlefield and are ready to be fielded," we pay attention.

Now, Boeing's already doing a few interesting things with laser technology on a smaller scale (like mounting devices to Humvees and using them to detonate bombs from a safe distance. They can also put a bigger one in a jumbo jet and use it to destroy incoming ICBMs from hundreds of miles away. But those are hardly death rays, right? They're reassuring defensive measures designed to protect our brave men and women!

That's where the Advanced Tactical Laser comes in.

Designed to engage (that is, utterly destroy) ground targets, the ATL is a weapon fitted to an aircraft like a C-130 transport plane. From 10,000 feet up and five miles away, this 40,000-pound, megawatt-class, chemical laser will melt a hole through a tank.

Or should we say, tanks. The ATL is intended to strike up to 100 targets in rapid succession. Oh, and the beam's silent. And invisible. One moment you're having a nice cup of coffee atop your troop transport, the next you're a smoking hole in the ground.

This space age, science fiction gadget is scheduled for live fire demonstrations later this year.

Where They Got the Idea:

Independence Day.

Or, quite possibly from the 1985 Val Kilmer comedy Real Genius.

#4.

Railguns, the Navy's Fleet-Destroying Doom Cannons

If you're into sci-fi or first-person shooters, chances are we had you at "railgun." For everyone else, there's the above picture. If you can't make out the writing there, it says "Velocitas Eradico." Speed destroys. That's from a recent railgun demonstration by the US Navy.

Railguns work by electrically generated magnetic repulsion, no toxic chemicals or propellants involved--so yay, finally a gun that kills people and not the environment! In the test pictured above, the projectile was fired with an electric charge of 10.6 megajoules, that's a one second pulse of 10.6 million watts, or enough electricity to power the average American household for a year. When applied in a single split second to an aluminum slug that's much, much smaller than your house, it's enough to make the slug do Mach 7. For those of you who just imagined a seven blade razor, first pretend you're not an idiot, and then try to conceive of something moving fast enough to ignite the air around it and to fuck up anything it strikes in ways science barely understands.

How far away are these things? Well, the Navy intends to put 64 megajoule railguns in their new, all-electric DD(X) battleships, which should be ready in 10 years.

Winston Churchill, in a quote that wasn't used on Navy recruiting posters, dismissed Naval tradition as "rum, buggery and the lash." In American, that's "rum, boning dudes and the lash." If Churchill's right, we just hope the rum makes the sodomy go down easier. We'd join a radical off-shoot of Scientology that thought Tom Cruise was too heterosexual and timid in his beliefs if there was a chance we'd get to fire a railgun.

Where They Got the Idea:

They seem to have combined Quake's railgun ...

... with the BFG 9000 from Doom.

10 Foods to Naturally Protect Yourself From Fukushima Radiation

http://ultraculture.org/blog/2013/09/05/foods-naturally-protect-fukushima-radiation/

Try These Natural Remedies to Protect Your Body From Fukushima Radiation

Japanese officials have just admitted the grim truth that since the 2011 Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and meltdown, 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium have leaked into the Pacific Ocean, plus a huge amount of cesium, as well as strontium—which replaces calcium in bones and stays in the bodies of humans and sea life. Over 300 tons of radioactive water are still leaking into the sea each day. And if that wasn’t enough, reactor 4 is severely damaged and sinking—the removal of the spent fuel rods will be one of the most urgent and dangerous tasks ever undertaken in the history of nuclear energy. A rodent chewed through the wiring recently, causing a power outage which came close to triggering an unstoppable nuclear chain reaction.

Those living downwind, especially on the west coast of North America, may have significant reason to be aware and take precautions.

Not only did the Vancouver Sun report that the seaweed in British Columbia has radiation levels four times the amount considered safe, but cow’s milk samples taken from across the US after the Fukushima incident have shown radiation levels three times higher than EPA maximums.

But don’t buy your ticket to Sydney just yet—there’s hope. Avoiding certain foods and eating more of others may help you protect yourself and your family from possible damage from radiation. Here’s a partial list of tips to help you navigate these waters:

Products to Avoid:

1. Many experts are urging people to stop eating sea life from the Pacific. This would obviously include anything from Japan. Marine chemist Ken Buesseler found Pacific cesium levels 50 million times higher than pre disaster levels. (The levels tapered off but plateaued at 10,000 times higher than normal.) The algae get contaminated and it goes to the little fish, to the big fish and then to you.

2. Dairy and meat. The higher on the food chain, the higher the concentration of radioactive materials may be. Dairy products in particular may be the most contaminated item, because the living creature has eaten the contaminated grass, other foods and water (from contaminated rain that forms from the Pacific and atmospheric particles); the radiation from which is stored it in its body and passed on to whoever eats it. After the Chernobyl disaster there were numerous cases of children becoming severely ill from drinking cow’s milk.

Products to Choose:

1. Citrus pectin or apple pectin. In supplement form, these have been shown to bind to and remove radioactive materials such as Cesium-137 from the body. (Try citrus pectin here and apple pectin here.)

2. Spirulina and chlorella have both been shown to reduce significantly or even remove radioactive materials in people who were contaminated by the Chernobyl fallout. However, this blue-green algae superfood should probably not be sourced from Japan or nearby waters. (Try spirulina here and chlorella here.)

3. Seaweeds (and green and black teas for that matter) have been shown to neutralize radioactive isotopes in the body, and contain a high amount of protective natural iodine that would definitely protect the thyroid. Many people are claiming that dulse from Ireland is the safest. The jury is still out on California coastal seaweed, with some people even buying Geiger counters to test everything they consume. Geiger counters are rather blunt tools though, and do not tell you the type of isotope involved. I personally would not eat seaweed from the west coast of North America or Japan, but that’s an individual decision. (Try dulse here.)

4. Foods high in carotenes, (vitamin C and E), are natural protectors against radiation induced carcinogenesis. This includes carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, winter squash, kale, collard greens, chard and spinach. (Beta-carotene, however, may actually promote cancer.)

5. The entire cabbage family is high in caffeic acid, which may protect peripheral blood lymphocytes against gamma radiation induced cellular damage. This would include broccoli, cauliflower, arugula, bok choy, radishes, mustard greens and the like.

- See more at: http://ultraculture.org/blog/2013/09/05/foods-naturally-protect-fukushima-radiation/#sthash.NeW9WlA3.dpuf

51 Post Apocalyptic Breathtaking Desktops

http://www.presidiacreative.com/51-breathtaking-post-apocalypse-wallpapers/

How to Open a Lock with a Paperclip

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1nhFy9

1. 1
   Unfold your first jumbo paperclip into your lock pick. In order to do this, unfold a large edge of your paperclip twice until a straight portion juts out.
   
   

   

   • Some locksmiths also put a tiny upward bend into the tip of the pick. This is to depress the pins inside the lock, but is not strictly necessary.
     
     
     
2. 2
   Unfold your second jumbo paperclip to make your tension wrench. Your tension wrench will be what you turn the lock with; you'll apply pressure to the lock with your second paperclip while you pick the lock with your first paperclip.
   
   

   

   • There are several ways to make a tension wrench out of a paperclip:
     
   • Unfold an edge of your paperclip until a straight portion sticks out at a 90° angle. This is a basic tension wrench that is workable but not ideal.
     
     
     
   • Take out both bends in the jumbo paperclip until two straight wires meet at a curve at the end. Press the curved end down with a wrench. Make a 90° bend in the curved end that's about 1 cm long.
     
     
     
3. 3
   Insert your tension wrench into the bottom of the keyhole, applying rotational pressure to one side. A small amount of pressure is essential while you're picking the lock.
   
   

   

   • If you know which way the lock turns in order to open, turn the tension wrench in that direction. If you don't know what direction the lock opens, guess to one side; on the first shot, you'll have a 50/50 chance of opening the lock.
     
     
     
   • If you have a sensitive touch, you can also feel which way the lock opens by turning with the tension wrench. Turn clockwise first, then counter-clockwise. You'll feel slightly less pressure when the wrench turns the right direction.
     
     
     
4. 4
   Keeping pressure on the tension wrench, insert the pick into the upper part of the keyhole and begin "raking." Raking is when you insert your pick to the back of the keyhole and remove it quickly while jiggling the pick upward. Do this a couple times to potentially set a few pins.
   
   

   
5. 5
   Keeping pressure on the tension wrench, try to locate the pins inside the keyhole using your pick. Most American locks will have at least five pins that you'll need to set in order to open the lock.
   
   

   
6. 6
   One by one, and starting at the back of the keyhole, depress the pins. While doing, be sure to apply rotational pressure to your tension wrench. You should feel a slight give when you set the pins to their unlocked position, or even a slight clicking sound.
   
   

   

   • Experienced lock pickers can do this in what looks like one swift motion, but inexperienced pickers will need to use more deliberate motions to set each pin.
     
     
     
7. 7
   Applying more and more pressure with the tension wrench, jiggle the pick until each pin unlocks. When you hear a snap or click, be sure to rotate the tension wrench to unlock the lock.
   
   

   
8. 8
   Finished.
   
   

   

ABA Reports That the Kobo Partnership With Indie Booksellers is Now Twice as Large as the Google Partnership it Replaced

ABA Reports That the Kobo Partnership With Indie Booksellers is Now Twice as Large as the Google Partnership it Replaced

5/23/2013 -- Global Earthquake Overview -- Pacific unrest -- Volcanic EQ Uptick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2n1GGQEcsY&feature=em-subs_digest


God I love dutchsinse.

thank goodness my mother found this gentleman's youtube channel.

otherwise I wouldn't be totally terrified about yet another awesomely powerful conspiracy/global fuck-up (pardon my french, mother dearest, I'm only bleeding).

CAST NET BASICS

Cast Net General Information

Wherever you may fish, live bait is always the best lure. To save time and money, you need to keep live bait ready. Cast netting is the most economic tool for catching your own bait. You can also use a cast net to catch shrimp, larger fish, mullet, etc.

Cast netting is very popular, either in fresh or salt water, and can be used in different applications from Sport to Commercial fishing. Many people use cast nets, from kids to experienced professional fishermen, almost everywhere in the world.

        CAST NET BASIC STRUCTURE

• Swivel: two metal loops or rings attached together, that turn at both ends.
• Hand line: a rope which is attached to the swivel on one end, with the other end attachded to the caster's wrist.
• Horn: a ring with an indentation around the center, where the top of the net is tied.
• Lead Line: a rope with sinkers attached. This rope is at the outside perimeter of the net to sink it.
• Brail Lines: lines attached to the swivel at one end and to the leadline at the other. Their function is to pucker the net, thus trapping the catch.
• Netting: made from nylon multifilament or monofilament to form the desired mesh.

HOW CAST NETS WORK

Throwing the net creates a driving force that causes the lead line to open the net to a flat form, the lead weights then sink the net. After the net has sunk, and the brail line is pulled, the lead line is forced to close,thus, creating a pouch in the net which holds the catch, trapping a school of shrimp or fish. After pulling the net from the water, opening the leadline will cause the catch to fall out.

	STEP 1: With net straightened and lying between your feet, fasten the tag end of the retrieved rope to the right wrist. Then coil the rope in small coils and hold them in your right hand. Place the throat of the net on top of the rope coils in your right hand. Then slide your left hand about a third of the way down the net.
	STEP 2: Coil the length of the net you just measured and place it in your right hand. Now slide your left hand down the net to crotch level. Make a coil of this second length of net and also place it in your right hand. You should now have two roughly equal coils of net in your right hand and about two-and-a-half feet of net left dangling.
	STEP 3: Kneel on your right knee and place your left foot forward. Pull one loop of the lead line from the rear of your bundle and lay that loop across your right elbow as far as it will go without pulling in your right hand.
	STEP 4: Starting at your right elbow, go clockwise around the lead line for approximately four feet. Now lay that lead line over your left thigh. Continue in a clockwise manner and lay the net across your left thigh until you have approximately half of the remaining net and lead line draped across your left thigh. You should now be supporting half of the lead sinkers with your left leg and the other half with your right hand.
	STEP 5: With the net divided into roughly halves, put the pinkie finger of your left hand through the net mesh of the first lead line that you laid over your left thigh. The proper location is through the bottom mesh (next to the lead line) right on top of your left thigh.
	STEP 6: This is the way your left hand grips the net. The pinkie finger is through the mesh at the lead line and the third finger lays by the pinkie as a sort of guard. The mesh of the net is held between the thumb and first two fingers and rests against the top of the third and pinkie fingers.
	STEP 7: This is what the net looks like when you are holding it properly and are prepared to throw it.  The small loops of the line and two loops of the net are held in the right hand. The retrieval line is tied around the right wrist. One loop of lead line lies across the wrist. One loop of lead line lies across the right elbow. Approximately half of the lead line is supported by the right hand and is hanging about two and a half feet below the right hand. The balance of the net and lead line is held in the left hand and in the grip described in Illustration 6. The lead line is hanging about a foot to a foot and a half down from the left hand. Note that there is no call for lead line held in the mouth or for draping wet net across your shoulder.
	STEP 8: The windup is the first part of the throw. Ideally the left foot is forward and pointed about 45  degrees to the right of where you intend to throw. The right foot is behind the left at just over the shoulder width distance, and is roughly parallel. Rotate your arms back to the right and shift your weight to your right foot. As you spin back forward your weight will shift back to your left foot. The throw is more of a slinging motion in which both arms naturally extend to aim the net.  The release is just to let go with your hands. The net will naturally peel off your right elbow andoff your left pinkie finger. Experience and practice will help perfect your aim.
STEP 9: With a little practice you can have results like this, also. This is a truly easy method of throwing the big cast nets. It is an easy method that uses gravity and centrifugal force to open the net. A caution is that this method does not work on smaller nets. It overpowers the smaller nets due to their lack of weight. An excellent way to practice, without getting wet, is to throw the net in your back yard. Grass is an excellent cushion and allows you to see how the net opened. You can practice from ground level or you can use a pickup tailgate to give you some elevation. An old tire makes an excellent target for improving your aim. Remember, practice makes perfect.
Choosing Nets Correctly Depending on what kind of catch is targeted, examples are shrimp, pin fish, shiner, mullet, sardine, etc., the correct size of mesh and net will provide more accurate hauls. As with any fishing equipment, the bigger the targeted catch, the bigger size of mesh and stronger netting material needed.
BAIT SIZE MESH SIZE NET BREAK STRENGTH 1" - 3" 1/4"SQ (1/2" STR.) 5 - 9 LBS 3" - 6" 3/8" SQ (3/4" STR.) 7 - 15 LBS 6" - 9" 1/2 " SQ ( 1" STR.) 9 - 20 LBS 9" - 12" 5/8" SQ (1-1/4" STR.) 12 - 25 LBS 12" OVER 1" SQ. OVER (2" STR. and OVER) 20 LB and OVER Cast Net Care The most important thing in cast net care is rinsing your net after every use. Washing the net not only washes away the salt water; it also removes fish particles and slime remaining on the net. The fish slime is particularly harmful in deteriorating the net. Simply rinse well with a garden hose and allow the net to dry. Then place the net into a bucket or any other dry storage area.  Sunlight is another harmful element to the cast net. Do not allow your cast net to stay in the sunlight for long periods of time. This is especially important for monofilament cast nets. Overexposure to sunlight will cause the netting to become brittle and weak. Another secret in cast net care is fabric softener. By using fabric softener you can prevent the net from becoming stiff and help in the overall spread of the net. Just take a pail of water, add a cup of softener, and place the cast net in the pail, for about one hour. Remove the net, rinse, and store the net after it dries. This process should be done when the net is first purchased and repeated every six to eight months. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email me or drop me a line at my office anytime and I will be glad to go over any questions that you may have.