Archive - 2015

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The duel was based on a code of honour. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of duelling was originally reserved for the male members of nobility.

telegraph.co.uk -MegaBots, an American engineering company, challenged Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industry to a duel. Japan's Suidobashi accepts MegaBots' challenge of a duel, paving the way for robot wars on a grand scale. It's the moment we've all been waiting for: two giant fighting robots - one Japanese and one American - will square off in a melee one year from now.

dailydot.com Jul 6, 2015 - The makers of a giant, real-life, human-powered robot have challenged their Japanese counterparts to a giant robot duel. Japan responds to U.S. giant-robot battle challenge: "Bring it on"
Last week, a U.S. giant-robot company summoned a Japanese giant-robot company to fight them in a giant-robot duel. In their challenge video, U.S.-based Megabots gave Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industry—and all of Japan—the opportunity to name the battlefield and "meet in one year's time." It's on.  read more »

NEW YORK HERALD, Oct. 10, 1858 "* First transcontinental mail service success * Arrives at San Francisco, California"

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September 15 1858 – The Butterfield Overland Mail Company begins the first transcontinental mail service between eastern and western regions of the nation, from St. Louis to San Francisco, sending out its first two stages. The company's motto was "Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the United States mail!" The line continued to operate until May 10, 1869, the day the first transcontinental railroad was completed.

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Image courtesy Southern Arizona News-Examiner and Rare & Early Newspapers

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Fossil Fuels Losing Cost Advantage Over Solar, Wind: cost of producing electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind has dropped significantly over the past five years, narrowing the gap with power generated from fossil fuels and nuclear reactors, according to the International Energy Agency.
“The costs of renewable technologies -- in particular solar photovoltaic -- have declined significantly over the past five years,” the Paris-based IEA said in a report called Projected Costs of Generating Electricity. “These technologies are no longer cost outliers.”  read more »

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28 Aug 2015 - money.cnn.com - Ashley Madison promotes itself as the go-to website for infidelity (Avid Life Media owns the Ashley Madison website. Noel Biderman @noelbiderman 'THE KING OF INFIDELITY' President at Avid Life Media Inc. Founder and Chief Executive Officer at The Ashley Madison Agency)
- Information containing Biderman's emails is released on August 20, but the file becomes corrupted so it can't be fully accessed by the public.
- Two Canadian law firms say on August 20 that they have filed a $760 million suit against Avid Life Media. The lead plaintiff is described as a "disabled widower" who briefly joined the site after the death of his wife but never met anybody in person. 7. - Information containing Biderman's emails is released on August 20, but the file becomes corrupted so it can't be fully accessed by the public.
- Two Canadian law firms say on August 20 that they have filed a $760 million suit against Avid Life Media. The lead plaintiff is described as a "disabled widower" who briefly joined the site after the death of his wife but never met anybody in person.
- The stolen database of people who used Ashley Madison makes its way to the Web on August 19, making it easily searchable on several websites.  read more »

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Antarctica's floating ice shelves are thinning at an accelerating rate. Many of Antarctica's ice shelves are huge. The one protruding into the Ross Sea is the size of France. They form where glacier ice running off the continent protrudes across water. At a certain point, the ice lifts off the seabed and floats. Eventually, as these shelves continue to push outwards, their fronts will calve, forming icebergs.  read more »

rodeo frog: yeee-haw!

The original piggy back ride: "a seagull hitches a ride on a pig while it swims in the crystal blue sea off the coast of Bahamas. The secluded island of Big Major Cay is home to around 20 porky piggies and the island is affectionately referred to by locals as Pig Beach."

What do you mean you can’t go any faster?!
"A praying mantis hitches a ride on the back of a snail to avoid getting its feet wet on soggy moss in the rainforest. The snail, undisturbed by the apparent intruder, remained relaxed and stationary as the mantis stood on its shell.But travelling by snail isn't the fastest mode of transport and, after a little while, the mantis peers over and notices the snail has not moved."

fearless egret riding on alligator

Thanks for the lift!

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