Mrdesplaines

I could stare at this all day.

(via)

Leslie (“Les”) Baugh, a former electrician in Colorado, who lost both of his arms during an accident 40 years ago, was the first person ever to wear and operate a set of prosthetic limbs that operate bilaterally with his thoughts. The unique limbs were created by a team at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), who fitted Les for the brace and socket before having him work with a virtual reality system (VRS). The VRS then learned Les’ movements and applied the information to the prosthetics so that they would move with intuitive thought control. Mike McLoughlin of APL’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics looks at this history-making event as the first step in advancing the progress on prosthetic limbs.

I think we’re just getting started at this point. It’s like the early days of the internet, there’s just a tremendous amount of potential ahead of us and we just started down this road and I think the next 5, 10 years are going to bring some really phenomenal advancements.

Once the limbs were in place, the team found that Les adapted beautifully to them.

We expected him to exceed performance compared to what he might achieve with conventional systems, but the speed with which he learned motions and the number of motions he was able to control in such a short period of time was far beyond expectation. …What really was amazing, and was another major milestone with MPL control, was his ability to control a combination of motions across both arms at the same time. This was a first for simultaneous bimanual control.

Simply amazing.

via Josh Ellingson

David Gilmour and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd playing backgammon.

Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea is a documentary about the strange case of the Salton Sea, a manmade lake in the California desert that was once a tourist resort destination, but is now a much-diminished salt lake notorious for its brackish water and rank odor. Directed by filmmakers Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, the 2006 documentary tells the tale of the lake, from its accidental creation in 1905, through its brief success as a resort destination in the 1950s, to its subsequent decline. The film also includes interviews with some of the lake’s few remaining residents–a remarkably resilient community of artists, eccentrics, and recluses. The documentary was selected for Truly CA, a KQED series that showcases independent documentaries about California. Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea can be streamed in its entirety through the KQED Arts YouTube channel.

Once known as the California Riviera, the Salton Sea is now called one of America’s worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and birds by the thousands. Yet a few hardy eccentrics hang on to hope, including a roadside nudist waving at passing European tourists, a man building a religious mountain out of mud and paint, beer-loving Hungarian Revolutionary Hunky Daddy, and the real-estate Ronald McDonald known simply as The Landman. Through their perceptions and misperceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea is revealed.

image via Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea

Nike SB has been rolling out some interesting hybrids lately and this one is no exception. The Air Huarache was one of the most popular shoes of the year and Nike’s skateboarding division has fused it with the Eric Koston silhouette for a truly unique design. The upper features a mix of different fabrics and textures, including suede, nylon paneling, neoprene and the unmistakable heel cage. All of it sits on top of a Lunarlon cushioned white midsole and a grey rubber outsole with a modified herringbone pattern. The Nike SB Eric Koston Huarache “Blue Force” goes for $110 and is available now at select retailers, including Premier.

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Post tags: Eric Koston, Nike, Nike Air Huarache, Nike SB, PREMIER

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“Boys Latin” is a trippy new computer animated music video by founding Animal Collective member Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox that’s directed Isaiah Saxon and Sean Hellfritsch, following a young woman’s fantastical hike across a tide pool.

Her encounter with a sea anemone triggers a phantasmagorical reaction. She meets a man who seems to be in a similar predicament, and together they start a family of sorts.

image via Isiah Saxon

via Ronen V

You may have noticed in the news today that Russia's currency is crumbling into tiny, useless bits before our very eyes. How will evil strongman Vladimir Putin respond? Probably by doing some crazy shit.

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Laura and Andrea from Mashable Watercooler make a noble attempt to create shots with the unique and delicious flavors of Girl Scout cookies, which are now available online. By using various flavored vodkas, syrups, and liqueurs with flavor profiles that fit the bill, it appeared that the experiment should have been successful, but both Laura’s and Andrea’s reaction after each shot told another story. In fact, Andrea makes a direct plea to the audience as the video closes.

And if you have a better recipe for Girl Scout cookie shots, please leave them in the comments. We need some serious help.

Rockstar Games has finally announced that the long awaited Grand Theft Auto Online Heists will be making its way to players in early 2015. The feature will add to the game’s multiplayer option with four-player missions where you can actually plan out and execute a heist. GTA Online producer and lead mission designer Imran Sarwar recently sat down with IGN and told them that it took longer than expected because the content was not up to par with what they expected of themselves (which is good to know because that means the finished product is probably awesome). Grand Theft Auto Online Heists will come with five “strands” that contain over 20 missions and 20 hours of gameplay. There’s no exact release date yet but expect to hear news very soon. In the meanwhile, check out the action-packed trailer below.

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Post tags: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games

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Staff of the Bay Search & Rescue captured fascinating footage in 2009 of the surreal rippling effect of walking on quicksand at Morcambe Bay in northwest England. The worker hops around quickly on the well-saturated sand to avoid becoming stuck and the quicksand, being a shear thinning non-Newtonian fluid, ripples and bounces with his movements.

Morecambe Bay in the UK is notorious for its quicksand. Bay Search and Rescue specialise in extracting people, animals and vehicles trapped in quicksand.

GIF via imgur

via reddit

The Full Motion Dynamics mechanical engineering team at San Jose State University created a platform capable of adjusting to keep a moving ball bearing balanced. Even as a hand attempts to knock it off, the platform adjusts its level to keep it from falling.

via reddit

We might forget occasionally how powerful microwaves are. Not only can they heat food quickly, but they're useful for a variety of other tasks. This graphic shows you several examples of both.

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Fruit Loops Landscape

Sugary cereal, bologna, french fries, and other processed foods are arranged into colorful landscapes in the photo series Processed Views by photographers Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman. The junk food landscapes are inspired by the work of Carleton Watkins, a landscape photographer who documented the American West in the latter half of the 1800s. The series is also a commentary on industrial food production:

Processed Views interprets the frontier of industrial food production: the seductive and alarming intersection of nature and technology. As we move further away from the sources of our food, we head into uncharted territory replete with unintended consequences for the environment and for our health.

Marshmallow Chasm

Moonrise on Bologna

Blue Dye #1 Precipice

Saturated Fat Foothills

photos by Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman

via Feature Shoot

Video game publisher and developer Capcom recently revealed Street Fighter V, the latest installment in the popular fighting game franchise. Street Fighter IV, the previous iteration of the franchise, originally released in 2008 but has seen several updated versions since that time.

Gameplay from the newly introduced video game was shown at the recent Capcom Cup championship in San Francisco on December 13, 2014. Though there’s no solid release date as of yet, Capcom has confirmed that Street Fighter V will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 and PC.

images via Street Fighter

via The Awesomer

Cyclist Silas Patlove, who documented the 30-MPH crash above via helmet cam, wrote on YouTube that he survived the ordeal with only "a mild concussion with a bit of memory loss around the event." If only the same could be said of the other guy.

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UK chemistry teacher Andy Brunning of Compound Interest explains the possible genetic basis for people’s appreciation of the taste of Brussels sprouts.

Sulforaphane, a compound found in Brussels sprouts, was featured in the 2014 Chemistry Advent Calendar.

There’s one vegetable at the Christmas dinner table that’s always bound to elicit strong and contrary opinions: brussels sprouts. Much like marmite, they seem to conjure up a ‘love it or hate it’ sentiment; however, if you fall into the latter camp, there may actually be a chemical and genetic reason why you can’t stand the taste.

Brunning’s book, Compound Interest: The Curious Chemistry of Food and Drink, is scheduled to be released next year and is available for preorder.

image via Compound Interest

Christmas comes early to Jordan Brand fanatics: Nike.com has restocked two of the more popular retro Air Jordan releases from the past year. A sudden Twitter announcement has disclosed that the Air Jordan 3 “Infrared 23″ and Air Jordan 6 “Sport Blue” have been restocked online. And just as the Tweet warns, they won’t be available for very long. Follow the links listed below.

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Post tags: Air Jordan, Air Jordan 3, Air Jordan 6, Air Jordan III, Air Jordan VI, Jordan Brand, NikeStore

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Chevy Chase, 1979.

Famous blonde actress Scarlett Johansson was featured as one of Barbara Walters's Most Fascinating People last night , because who cares, why not? In the interview, however, Johansson revealed that one thing about her is decidedly not fascinating: her flesh and blood.

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The design team over at Nike is getting off to an early start for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with this new Air Max 1 “Olympic” model. Blue toe box white mesh with a layer of leather overlay in crisp white, hits of red complete the patriotic design theme. To gesture the “go for gold” motto, a metallic gold Swoosh prominently sits on the quarter panel area. Stay tuned for more information, including release dates.

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Post tags: 2016 Summer Olympics, Nike, Nike Sportswear, Rio 2016 Olympics

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​Any schmuck can wire a condenser mic up to GarageBand and record himself alt-whining while a USB-powered fan makes ripples on his Abbey Road wall tapestry. But NYC-based band the Danger Boys use this as one of their many strategies (minus the tapestry) and actually come up with intelligent tunes that cross genres and poke fun at popular trends. It's not a gimmick, though. Their songs are genuinely great. 

The duo's first full-length record was mixed by Andrew Weiss, who's worked in the past with bands like Ween, Butthole Surfers, and the Boredoms. The album's single, "Argentina," is an introspective psych song with some goofy white boy R&B mixed in. Check it out, but be careful. Apparently, these boys are dangerous.

​Preorder the Danger Boys on Bandc​amp.

A surveillance camera captured the sight of an elegantly fastidious elephant as she picks up litter from the ground and properly puts it the trash can at the Thornhill Safari Lodge in Limpopo, South Africa.

via Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Last Thursday, December 11, 2014, the Grand Canyon was filled with a sea of fog in a stunningly beautiful and rare weather event. The fog was trapped in the canyon by warm air above in what is known as a total cloud inversion. The Grand Canyon National Park has posted gorgeous photos and a time-lapse video of the inversion, which remained through Friday of last week. Such inversions generally happen only once every several years, according to the National Weather Service. However, a similar inversion in the Grand Canyon occurred in December of 2013.

photos by Maci MacPherson/National Parks Service

via Smithsonian Magazine

On March 6, 2011, Alex Geller captured a dramatic ice flow coursing down the partially frozen Ammonoosuc River in New Hampshire. According to Geller, the slushy torrent was caused by a break in an ice dam upstream. Ice flows are not uncommon in rivers along northern sections of the United States; a similar flow occurred on the very same day in the Great Brook in Vermont.

via reddit

A cow made a glorious escape from an Idaho meatpacking factory this week, only to perish in a hail of police bullets.

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Bandai has unveiled official images of its upcoming Ashigaru Stormtrooper, and the collectible looks unabashedly badass.The 7-inch figure will launch in May 2015 and come packaged with an old-school E11 blaster rifle and an even more old school Katana. The Samurai connection makes sense when you consider that filmmaker George Lucas took inspiration from Akira Kurosawa epics like Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress when he first developed the script for the original Star Wars. Retail for the Ashigaru Stormtrooper is listed at 9,504 yen (around $65).

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Post tags: Bandai, Star Wars

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