The world's most dangerous commute

Deep in the Andes in Colombia, the locals cross steep chasms using thick ropes strung across the gap: a homemade zip line. It's terrifying and dangerous, but is the way many commute across the chasm. People use it to transport all manner of goods and often crowd on three at a time. Do they fall? You bet. And one man was decapitated by the line.

Watch video here. 

Read Joshua Foer's account on Slate.

New Starbucks Trente holds entire bottle of wine

We already knew the Starbucks Trente was larger than the human stomach, shown in this National Post graphic. This video shows it also has room for an entire bottle of wine with room to spare!

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Graphic: Death by stoning – how it's done

Have a look at this graphic on how they stone people in Iran by the National Post. 

Chilling stuff. 

 

http://news.nationalpost.com/photo_gallery/casting-stones-a-look-at-irans-medieval-punishment-laws/

Al Gore explains how recent deep freeze is part of global warming

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Believe it if you must ... when Bill O’Reilly asked on his show, “Why has southern New York turned into the tundra?”, Al Gore was kind enough to provide the answer on his blog:

"As it turns out, the scientific community has been addressing this particular question for some time now and they say that increased heavy snowfalls are completely consistent with what they have been predicting as a consequence of man-made global warming:"

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Statistician cracks lottery code

Image via Wikipedia

Toronto statistician Mohan Srivastava thought he was crazy at first when he recognized a pattern in OLG tic-tac-toe scratch and win tickets. But his observation proved correct. He could spot winning tickets by patterns on the tickets. Eventually he notified the OLG who pulled the game. Read about his tale here in Wired.

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Are Royal visits and waste of money?

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

With the speculation about where William and Kate will drag their entourage to in the wind (the rumour is Canada) the BBC's royal correspondent Peter Hunt asks if it's worth the cost. I can answer that in a word – NO! – but read Hunt's much more intelligent take on this:

Read more here

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Dumbest new sport: Sporthocker

Sporthocker. Never heard of it? Don't worry, you probably will never hear about it again, but it's worth a look because it's so damn weird. It involves using a stool like a skateboard. So here, directly from Germany is Sporthocker:

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Horror: Amish smuggling milk into NYC

Image via Wikipedia

It's a smuggling route that starts in Pennsylvania and ends in the Big Apple. The Daily reports on Amish and Mennonite smugglers bringing – wait for it – unpasteurized milk into New York City.


"... a shadowy community of outlaw Amish and Mennonite dairy farmers who risk fines, loss of equipment and product, and even imprisonment to transport raw milk across state lines and satisfy a burgeoning appetite for illegal raw milk in places like New York.In January, The Daily rode along on one of these smuggling runs. "

Read more here 

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Mice are the new airport security guards

Image via Wikipedia

Scientists in Israel have developed a detector with three concealed cartridges each containing eight detector mice that can sniff out drugs and explosives better than dogs, according to the New Scientist.
The device was tested last year on 1,000 shoppers in a Tel Aviv shopping mall. The mice successfully picked out 22 people carrying mock explosives.

Unions need not be concerned. The mice only work four hour shifts.

I

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"Dolphin Man" cheats his way to world record

He set a new world record. He cheated. On purpose. 23-year-old swimmer Hill Taylor, known as "Dolphin Man", is a seven-time All-American. He swam the 50-meter backstroke in a record 23.1 seconds – almost a full second faster than the record of 24.04 seconds. Problem is, he broke the rules, apparently to prove a point. Taylor is known for his incredible ability to swim streamlined underwater. FINA, the sport’s international governing body, has this to say about the backstroke:

Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 meters after the start and each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface.

Well, he swam a bit farther than that underwater. So, the previous record stands. Point made. Watch the video:

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From the Guardian: 'My partner's addiction to porn is ruining our sex life'

Porn addict? Read all about it. Post your best response:

Guardian: 'My partner's addiction to porn is ruining our sex life'

Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

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Houston anchorman flips the bird

Watch KPRC Channel 2 Anchor flips the bird. Guess he forgot what wide-screen means.

Study: No link between flu vaccine and paralyzing disorder

A new a huge study involving 90 million people in China has concluded that the rate of Guillain-Barré syndrome in those that were vaccinated for the flu had no greater occurrence of the syndrome than what normally appears in the population.

I would hope that this would put an end to the debate at last, however, it always seems that the anti-vaccination lobby finds a reason not to believe the scientific evidence.

The study appears online February 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read more on Wired

Crummiest ad for a photographer I have ever seen

This was posted on Craigs List in NYC.  They are looking for a photographer willing to live in poverty. Great job. No experienced photographers need apply. No "angry" photographers need apply. No outside work allowed. Unbelievable.  Here is the ad:

Photography PARTNER (Midtown)

We are a small, award-winning design agency and we are looking for a new photography partner with studio and location-lighting experience/knowledge.

An upbeat personality, reliability and the ability to work well with people is critical. You will also need to be available on weekends and/or nights for restaurant and/or club shoots. This will be YOUR department, so you need to offer the commitment, professionalism and drive to build it up from scratch.

We are NOT seeking someone that starts the conversation with us by asking about photo rights. Our clients own the shots. We are not fine art photographers…

We are also NOT seeking a photographer that is angry because photography doesn’t pay these days. Our focus will be on candidates that understand their relationship with camera is one of love/joy/infatuation. The right candidate is willing to do whatever is necessary to create a solid practice within an ad agency (like ours.)

In that light, we are not interested in discussions with established photographers that have twenty years of experience. As noted – our clients are not willing to pay for that level of experience. These are commercial jobs with small budgets.

You are a great photographer (both in-studio and on-location) and you have the work samples to prove it! Ideal candidates will also have extensive post-production experience with Adobe PhotoShop and excellent retouching skills.

Please note that this is a partner position and compensation is less than $150 per shoot (including post-production.) If you don’t have a secondary means of support (or extremely low living expenses), then this probably isn’t a good match.

QUALIFICATIONS:
•Photography or art major.
•Two years of shooting digital with a working knowledge of artificial lighting and thorough understanding of studio equipment.
•Proficiency in digital imaging systems, the use and operation of DIGITAL cameras, Internet applications, Web, FTP, image formats, Windows/PC computer systems and various software programs, including but not limited to Adobe Photoshop, Word, and Outlook.
•Strong organizational and communication skills—both written and verbal.
•SOLID retouching skills are a must!
•Individual must be organized, self-motivated, energetic and entrepreneurial
•Positive attitude, enthusiasm and willingness to do what it takes to get the job done.


Please send a link to your portfolio along with your resume.

We DO NOT OUTSOURCE! Please be located in the NYC area. THIS MEANS: MANHATTAN or the BOROUGHS.
Also note: once you join us a partner and equity holder, you will NOT be able to do outside (freelance or otherwise) print or branding work. You CAN bring it in-house and receive most of the revenue from the project, but partners may NOT compete with the agency.

Video: UFO over Jerusalem

Four different cameras caught this UFO over Jerusalem. Too bad it wasn't Christmas – a new guiding star perhaps? Anyways, have a look and you be the judge.

Diddy throws a million dollars into crowd $$$

In more Diddy news, it is reported that Diddy threw  1 million dollars into the crowd at a Miami club where he was partying on the weekend. The rapper was celebrating his bud Rick Ross's birthday.

The party was held at strip club King of Diamonds, and was a lavish affair from the off with Ross arriving in a private helicopter.

Cuban woman celebrates 126th birthday

Cuban Juana Rodriguez is celebrating her 126th birthday. She doesn't look a day over 100. Must be those incredible cigars!

Space: the final frontier – "new earth planets" found

Astronomers announced that they have identified 54 new planets where conditions may be suitable for life as we know it. Five of the candidates are Earth-sized. Now all we need is the Star Ship Enterprise to get us there.

Credit NASA

Photos: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's leaky condoms

The sexual molestation case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange hinges on the reported broken condoms. Here are the photos of said condoms from the leaked police report. Assange is currently under house arrest in England fighting extradition to Sweden. Strange,of course, that the women saved the used condoms.

Patients too fat for ambulance

In the United Kingdom they are finding an increasing number of patients are too fat to fit in regular ambulances and are refitting the vehicles to accommodate the larger patients. Here is the BBC report:

"Some patients are getting so fat that ambulance bosses are having to revamp their fleets to cope, the BBC has learned.

Every service in the UK has started buying specialist equipment, data from freedom of information requests show.
This includes wider stretchers, more lifting gear and reinforcing existing vehicles.
Many have also bought specialist "bariatric" ambulances - costing up to $300K each - to ferry the most obese.
These are designed so that double-width trolley stretchers for patients up to 318lbs can be accommodated. They also tend to include hoists and inflatable lifting cushions."

Read more and watch video here