Posts Tagged ‘weather’
Road Signs To Tell It Like It Is This Year [Imagecache]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on January 2nd, 2010
With an unexpected snowfall blanketing much of the East Coast for New Years, someone—either a traffic worker with a sense of humor or an average Joe with a sense of civic duty—reprogrammed this New England traffic sign.
This time last year we posted a quick bit on how weirdly easy it was to hack road signs. Before that post lead to the rash of hacks, usually featuring some permutation of zombies, Nazis, and the Apocalypse, Mark mused:
You should never hack a road sign as part of a prank. But what if you know that there really are Zombies ahead? What then??
Well, it seems like some New Englander found that the roads were, in fact, wicked slippery and thought it prudent to warn his fellow drivers such. A further message to my driving bros: winter driving is hella dangerous as it is, save the texting for when you reach your destination. [Reddit]
Uh Oh: BMW’s Electric Mini Cooper Goes Half the Range In the Cold [Cars]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 29th, 2009
Unlike the electric Chevy Volt, BMW's Mini E doesn't have a heater to keep the battery at optimum temperature when it gets cold outside—sounds like a minor problem, but it halves the Mini E's range. Eep.
Testers of the Mini E have been finding that at 23 degrees F, the car only managed to eke out 55 miles to a charge, nearly half the advertised 100 miles. Even in more mild winters, like Washington, DC, the car gets 20% less range than in warmer climes. Disappointing, to say the least—we hope BMW works out this kink before the official rollout. [Crunchgear]
Star Wars Weather Finally Puts the Forecast Into Terms I Can Understand [Star Wars]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 19th, 2009
Weather reports are complicated. Barometric pressure, precipitation probabilities, there's too much to keep track of. Star Wars Weather takes all that info puts it into terms I can understand: what Star Wars planet the current conditions most closely resemble.
I live in the northeast. All I really need to know for the next few months is that it'll be like Hoth outside. Once it starts turning to Endor, I'll be in the clear.
See? Simple. [Star Wars Weather via Neatorama]
Giant Mysterious Spiral Takes Over the Skies of Norway [Science]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 9th, 2009
People are freaking out all over Norway because of what you are seeing here. According to Norwegian news outlets, the spooky giant spiral was seen, photographed, and recorded on video from all over the country. Updated.
Confirmed: It was a failed Russian missile launch. Click here for the full explanation.
Could it all be a hoax? Maybe it's a massive joke, but all kinds of Norwegian news sites are reporting on it. According to NKR—Norway's national TV channel—it could be related to a rocket fired from a Russian submarine in the White Sea. The Russians are denying any part on it at this at the moment. Nick Banbury, a witness located at Harstad, described how it all happened:
We are used to seeing lots of auroras here in Arctic Norway, but on my way to work this morning I saw something completely unexpected. Between 7:50 and 8:00 a.m. local time, there was a strange light in the sky. It consisted initially of a green beam of light similar in colour to the aurora with a mysterious rotating spiral at one end. This spiral then got bigger and bigger until it turned into a huge halo in the sky with the green beam extending down to the earth.
As hard as it is to believe, you can't dispute the fact that the strange spiral was witnessed and recorded by thousands of people from hundreds of miles away, which means that the phenomenon occurred at a very high altitude. Even Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy agrees that this is real, and says that it was probably a rocket out of control. Norwegian astronomers and news outlets have actually confirmed that this was a failed Russian missile launch.
So barring any epic group joke, expect your new alien overlords to arrive at any time now. We can only hope they are all peace-loving voluptuous blondes with blue eyes. [Altaposten, VG, NRK via SpaceWeather via Universe Today—thanks Gonzalo Oxenford]
If you know Norwegian and have any information, contact me on AIM or by mail.
Giant Mysterious Spiral Takes Over the Skies of Norway [Science]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on December 9th, 2009
People are freaking out all over Norway because of what you are seeing here. According to Norwegian news outlets, the spooky giant spiral was seen, photographed, and recorded on video from all over the country. Updated.
Confirmed: It was a failed Russian missile launch. Click here for the full explanation.
Could it all be a hoax? Maybe it's a massive joke, but all kinds of Norwegian news sites are reporting on it. According to NKR—Norway's national TV channel—it could be related to a rocket fired from a Russian submarine in the White Sea. The Russians are denying any part on it at this at the moment. Nick Banbury, a witness located at Harstad, described how it all happened:
We are used to seeing lots of auroras here in Arctic Norway, but on my way to work this morning I saw something completely unexpected. Between 7:50 and 8:00 a.m. local time, there was a strange light in the sky. It consisted initially of a green beam of light similar in colour to the aurora with a mysterious rotating spiral at one end. This spiral then got bigger and bigger until it turned into a huge halo in the sky with the green beam extending down to the earth.
As hard as it is to believe, you can't dispute the fact that the strange spiral was witnessed and recorded by thousands of people from hundreds of miles away, which means that the phenomenon occurred at a very high altitude. Even Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy agrees that this is real, and says that it was probably a rocket out of control. Norwegian astronomers and news outlets have actually confirmed that this was a failed Russian missile launch.
So barring any epic group joke, expect your new alien overlords to arrive at any time now. We can only hope they are all peace-loving voluptuous blondes with blue eyes. [Altaposten, VG, NRK via SpaceWeather via Universe Today—thanks Gonzalo Oxenford]
If you know Norwegian and have any information, contact me on AIM or by mail.
Hacked Email Archive Fuels Climate Skeptics’ Conspiracy Theories [Weather]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on November 25th, 2009
The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia keeps some of the most accurate climate records which are key to many climate change debates. Its email archives were hacked, and now it's the center of another conspiracy claim.
As soon as the email archives' contents were made publicly available, arguments broke out. Was there proof of data manipulation that could flip the entire climate debate topsy-turvy? Were scientists at the university working to keep works by climate skeptics out of journals? Answers to either question are unclear. According to New Scientist, there was no evidence of actual data manipulation, but some of the email exchanges could be construed as attempts to suppress some research.
No matter how those questions wind up being resolved, in the end the trouble doesn't seem to be in the contents of the emails or in the data, but in the fact that the Climate Research Unit restricted access to the climate data to those it deemed "bona fide researchers." Maybe some of the accusations the unit faced could've been avoided had the data been more freely shared in the first place. [New Scientist]
Photo by coda
iLuv ships weather-watching iMM183 dual dock iPod / iPhone alarm clock
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on October 31st, 2009
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video
iLuv ships weather-watching iMM183 dual dock iPod / iPhone alarm clock originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFOR SALE: Proof That Balloon Boy Was A Hoax [Balloonbrat]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on October 16th, 2009
There is allegedly proof that the story of balloon boy Falcon Heene was a stunt to help pitch a television show. But the purported proof will cost you thousands of dollars to get.
Today, we spoke with a Denver-area student who claims to have worked with Falcon's father, Richard Heene, on a reality show proposal for ABC.
The student wants to sell the information and says the National Enquirer is considering buying it for between $5,000 and $8,000.
The student claims to have been hired by Heene, and says the two worked together from March until May 2009 to prepare "business plans and proposals" to pitch to ABC.
Here's what the seller says the documents prove:
"The show surrounds scientific experiments and controversial pranks, and one of the pranks within it — actually several of the things within this document — talks about very similar information to what is being debated on the air."
The seller adds:
"When Mr. Heene is denying having any involvement with this being for a show — when the little kid, Falcon, says 'Dad, you said to go hide in the attic, we're doing this for the show' — and then he's adamantly denying that, that's when I started cracking up because I have proof that that's not true."
The student says Heene never paid for the work, which took more than 15 hours. The student emailed him/herself the proposal as a record and doesn't believe Heene knows the seller has the information.
"I never would have thought it would become valuable, but at this time, this is kind of the evidence that they're looking for," the seller says.
"I'm a student, you know, so if I can get my rent paid from this it'd be awesome."
If you want to buy the proof, let us know, and we'll put you in touch with the seller.
Ominous Cloud Formation Has Russians Fearing An Alien Attack [Weather]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on October 13th, 2009
If you saw this over your head, what would you think? Aliens have come to kick our asses? God has come to kick our asses? Apparently, the bizarre cloud formation seen in Moscow recently is just a natural phenomenon.
Talking to the Daily Mail, a spokesman from Moscow's weather forecasting service said: "Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west – this is how the effect was produced.
"This is purely an optical effect, although it does look impressive," he added.
Ok, so it's just clouds—but when you watch the video you still expect an alien ship to drop through that hole with lasers blazing. [Telegraph]
Waking Up On Mars: Australia’s Bizarre Dust Storm [Wtf]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News on September 25th, 2009
I woke up Wednesday (Tuesday U.S. time), to a scene from Total Recall. Sydney had been blanketed by an apocalyptic glowing red dust storm. Red from iron-oxide: rust. And if I couldn't breathe, my tech gear wouldn't like this either…
But I did what any geek would do. I regressed into an excited 10 year old, grabbed the camera, and went out to play in the freakish weather. After 5 minutes of constantly clearing my throat, and noticing that my G9 had started to collect dust, I decided it just wasn't worth it. Having been asleep with a window open meant a little dust was also inside. I switched off my main desktop (it's got a big air-intake fan), and fired up a laptop to find out what the hell was going on.
Big winds had swept the dust from Australia's drought-stricken interior, carrying it hundreds of miles to the east coast. Sydney (with a population of 4.3 million) was most affected, but other cities were, too. In terms of air pollution, particle concentration reached a thickness of about 15,000 micrograms per cubic meter—a normal day here has about 10-20.
Comedian Arj Barker (from Flight of the Conchords) Tweeted this pic: "It's like Dune here in Sydney. This is the giant dust storm we had to land in."
Until winds swept the dust to sea mid-afternoon, flights were canceled, Twitter went crazy, MMS traffic spiked 50 percent, and data centers installed air filters…it was interesting to watch how technology intersected with the bizarre weather.
The dust cloud was the worst in 70 years, and it's still unclear if climate change was to blame. But at the very least, I got a dusty taste of life on Mars for the day (well, sort of). [Sydney Morning Herald]
