Newsreel of the 1940 Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge dramatic collapse

On November 7, 1940 the Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge dramatically crashed into Puget Sound. after swaying and twisting in the wind.  At the time of its construction (and its destruction) the bridge was the third longest suspension bridge in the world in terms of main span length, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. The collapse was attributed to the matching frequencies of the wind and the bridge, and became a standard example in physics textbooks of elementary forced resonance, with the wind providing an external frequency that matched the natural structural frequency. I've seen the newsreel before and am always mesmerized by it. The only victim of the disaster was a dog named Tubby.

Graphic: Government debt across the world is out of control

From graphic.is: Government debt as a percentage of GDP. Scary numbers and the U.S. is 6th from the top of the list. How did the entire developed world get itself into such a mess? It's simple – too much spending. Is it sustainable? Here's the top ten:

1. Japan at 226%
2. Greece at 130%
3. Italy at 118%
4. Belgium at 100%
5. Ireland at 94%
6. The United States at 93%
7. France at 84%
8. Portugal at 83%
9. Canada at 82%
10. Hungary at 78%

Nude House – a software company – is looking for a few, good and naked female web coders

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Thirty great creative ad campaigns

Compiled by BuzzFeed, this is a great visual look at some really creative advertising. Here's a few,  go to BuzzFeeed to see the rest. 

 

See the rest of the ads .... 

Woman lives in 90 square foot apartment in New York

Felice Cohen lives in a 90 square foot apartment in Manhattan. That's not a typo with a missing zero. She pays $700 a month to live one block from Central Park – one hell of a deal –  but she does have to live in what is effectively a walk-in closet. Watch this video and see how Felice manages to live in this tight space.

Turn your house into a billboard and Adzookie will pay your mortgage

Digital illustration of what a painted house will look like

This idea is as novel as they come. Start-up advertising company Adzookie was looking for a novel way to get publicity an it did: Paint entire houses as billboards. In exchange, Adzookie pays the mortgage on the house for as long as the advertising stays up. They launched offer on Tuesday and by late afternoon, they received more than 1,000 applications, one from a church.


"It really blew my mind," Adzookie CEO Romeo Mendoza said. "I knew the economy was tough, but it's sad to see how many homeowners are really struggling."

Houses must remain painted for at least three months, and the agreement may be extended up to one year.

Talk about a win,win situation; The homeowner's mortgage is payed for and they get an ugly-as-sin house; Adzookie gets its advertising at a fraction of what it would otherwise cost.The genius in this is not in the face value of the advertising, but in the priceless PR buzz. 

Researchers say: Let some species go extinct

Image via Wikipedia

Species of animals have been coming and going for millions of years, on their own, without any help from man. Now that we're here and changing the game, we feel the need to intervene. Researchers in Australia have come up with a tool to help decide which species are worth saving. The tool – a mathematical model – helps prioritise which species have the greatest likelihood of continuing to exist. Australia's hairy-nosed wombat and dibbler are among the vulnerable considered to be not worth saving.

Professor Corey Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide, says the tool can help governments prioritise funding for conservation. "We wanted to come up with an index that was really based around theory that we have developed over the last 20 years about what constitutes the best chance for a species to persist over time."

Looks like it's all over for the hairy-nosed wombat.

Related articles

• The 10 Rarest Animals in the World (minxmx.wordpress.com)
• Scientists have new measure for species threat (eurekalert.org)

Perhaps the U.S and Belgium should combine tactics: No government and no budget

Image by Brooklyn Museum via Flickr

With the budget, or lack of a budget, crisis looming in the U.S. it's interesting to note that Belgium has been operating without a government for close to a year, without any noticeable harmful effects on daily life in the country. It is difficult to compare the two crisis and countries; Belgium being a parliamentary crisis with a King to intervene; the U.S. a republic whose politicians refuse to sign a budget bill. Belgium is noted for its heavy bureaucratic government, and the U.S. for its massive government deficits.

The point is this: In a strange way the two countries might just be getting the strangleholds they deserve. Eventually Belgium will get a government, and needs one for many obvious reasons, an the U.S. will get a budget, but their certainly a message buried in their somewhere. "We, the people ... "

Related articles

• John W. Miller: A House Long Divided (online.wsj.com)

Debris from Japan earthquake and tsunami headed for U.S. west coast – including body parts and cars

When the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, tons of debris and bodies were washed out to sea. Sailors have spotted entire houses, cars , tractor-trailers, capsized ships and whole houses floating in the ocean.

"It's very challenging to move through these to consider these boats run on propellers and that these fishing nets or other debris can be dangerous to the vessels that are actually trying to do the work," Ensign Vernon Dennis of the US Navy's 7th fleet said. "So getting through some of these obstacles doesn't make much sense if you are going to actually cause more debris by having your own vessel become stuck in one of these waterways." 

The debris, including human body parts, is going to wash up on the U.S. west coast in about one year. It will then turn toward Hawaii and back again toward Asia. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer is expecting human feet, still in their shoes, to wash up on the West Coast shore. While most body parts will come apart and break down in the water, feet in shoes will float and stay fairly well preserved.

"So you have to imagine a city say the size of about Seattle, put it through a grinder and what happens? You wind up with all kinds of debris - bodies, boats everything from a person's life including the living themselves and half that's probably going to float," said Ebbesmeyer. 

Predicted location of the Japan debris field

 

Related articles

• Japan Tsunami: Debris from Disaster Heading to U.S. West Coast (abcnews.go.com)
• Japan's Tsunami debris to (eventually) hit West Coast (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Politician seeking ban on McDonald's Happy Meals toys is a 335-pound tubby

Leroy Comrier

Do as I say, not as I do. This appear to be the motto of New York Councilman Leroy Comrier. Comrier, weighs in at a respectable 335 pounds and he is seeking a ban on McDonald's Happy Meal toys. His wife, Marcia, says he is a cautionary tale on the consequences of too many Big Macs.

"He doesn't do it in front of me - he knows it's the bane of my existence, but the results are there for anyone to see. He's not averse to healthy eating," she told the New York Post. "He actually enjoys when I make him a wholesome breakfast, and he likes when I cook him tofu. But by lunchtime he could be having spare ribs -- or a Big Mac."

In the bill that Comier introduced, fast food restaurants would be forced to pull toys from any kids meal with more than 500 calories.

The scary world of information brokers – your privacy is an illustion

We all realize that information about us is out there living in different digital databases and social web sites. This video shows how it is all collected and used. It doesn't go into how the government can use this data, but I think most of us are now realizing that "We Live in Public" has come to pass to some degree.

Twenty percent of Brits think Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Blackadder are real historical figures

Holmes (Wikipedia)

One in five British people surveyed believe that Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Blackadder are genuine historical figures. As well, others think that Clark Kent and Indiana Jones were actual people. It's a two way street with fictional and real: others believe Che Guevara, Florence Nightingale and outlaw Jesse James were fictional characters, not real.

Ask Jeeves commissioned the survey after seeing a rise in the number of questions it receives for biographies and details on the lives of fictional characters, such as a family tree.

A 2008 survey of British teens found that twenty percent of them believe Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character, while many think Eleanor Rigby was real.

Speaking of the current survey, Ask Jeeves spokeswoman Nadia Kelly said, "Some of the confusion is possibly justified - a lot of people hadn't heard of Erin Brockovich until the movie."

Or possibly not.

Winston Churchill  (Wikipedia)

Drinking water in India a toxic, lethal brew

Image by Sree_ via Flickr

Scientists testing public drinking water in New Delhi found that it contained more than a dozen strains of bacteria, including ones that cause pneumonia and cholera. Even worse, the bacteria has mutated to become antibiotic resistant. I repeat that this is the public drinking water, not water found in a river or other open water. Drinking the water can lead to sepsis infection and death.

The bacteria have been found in patients traveling to Europe, North America, Asia and Australia since 2008, indicating that these mutant strains are now spreading around the world.

And now for the good news. Hmmm .... no good news on this. In fact it is plain scarey. Read more on Bloomberg.

Parents unhappy when children get to feel breast implant for career day

There are some unhappy parents in Virginia after their kids were allowed to feel a breast implant at school, as part of career day. The kids were learning about plastic surgery as a career and were given a little hands on experience.

"I'm still shocked and appalled that my 9-year-old saw and touched a breast implant," one parent wrote on Facebook. "Career day sure isn't what it once was," added another.

A school district spokesperson says he spoke with the principal and there's nothing to report and nothing central office would get involved in. At least they didn't bring in strippers and let them feel the end product.

Related articles

• Christina Aguilera Breast Implants? (popcrunch.com)
• Heidi Montag's New Breast Implants (popcrunch.com)

Near-Earth asteroid with strange horseshoe orbit

Researchers at Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland have been studying this weird asteroid that has a near-Earth orbit that resembles a horse shoe. It does an about face mid-orbit completely changing directions. It's the competing gravitational forces of the Earth and Sun that cause this strange effect. The asteroid was discovered in 2010 by the WISE Earth-orbiting observatory.

The name of this wild and crazy asteroid: "Asteroid 2010 SO16". The Cry Baby is giving it the much cooler moniker "Crazy-ass".

Asteroid 2010 SO16's crazy-ass orbit (Credit: NASA)

Government worker takes every Friday off for 17 years

Image by Dallas75 via Flickr

The Italians are famous for their love of government jobs, some of which you never have to show up for. It seems this gentleman in the state of New York felt a kindred spirit with those workers. As well as falsifying travel claims, he took every Friday off for 17 years, rewarding himself with a permanent four day work week. Howard Dean, director of the Department of Corrections’ Food Production Center was busted during a audit by New York State auditors and investigators, together with the State Inspector General’s office.

“There is never a good time to rip off the taxpayers,” said New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. As part of a plea deal, Dean is expected to be sentenced to 6 months in jail and five years probation.

Attendance, I understand, is mandatory.

Infographic: The aftermath of the Japan earthquake

This is from graphic.is and is an excellent graphic view of the Japanese situation. It's worth a trip to graphic.is to have a look at more of their excellent graphics.

Ready or not: It's the Taser Gernade

We all know about the Taser: the good, the bad, the ugly. It's a good weapon when used when and how it should be used, but a spate of deaths related to its use, show that it can be misused as well. Now there is a new Taser product packaged as a gernade. The 50,000 volt projectile can incapacitate at distances of up to 900 feet. Quite impressive. Watch as The Daily's Justin Rocket Silverman becomes the first civilian to get hit with the Taser Gernade.

MUST SEE: "Just the Way You Are" played on invisible instruments

This cover of "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars, performed by Tim Soo on the Invisible Instrument is incredible. Soo: “Originally, I built an extremely simple ‘invisible violin’ in part because I left my violin back at home and needed to perform a short composition for an intro music theory class,” he says. “I thought it’d make for an easy grade. The concept, however, took hold.” Read more on Mashable.

Remarkable video of skyscrapers in Japan swaying during earthquake

This home video is a testimonial to Japanese engineering –– at least when it comes to building construction (we'll leave out the nuclear plant design/construction for the moment). The fact that these buildings can withstand the amount of movement is incredible. Unfortunately, there's no information on where in Japan this is, which would be very interesting to know.