Life, Nature, Society

A setting, waning crescent moon amid the thin line of Earth's atmosphere. (NASA)

Image courtesy NASA, favim.com, acelebrationofwomen.org, pinterest.com, and listofimages.com

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Texting while driving is a growing trend, and a national epidemic, quickly becoming one of the country’s top killers. Drivers assume they can handle texting while driving and remain safe, but the numbers don’t lie.

Texting While Driving Causes:
1. 1,600,000 accidents per year – National Safety Council
2. 330,000 injuries per year – Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study
3. 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY – Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts
4. Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents

Texting While Driving Is:
1. About 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving intoxicated
2. The same as driving after 4 beers – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.
3. The number one driving distraction reported by teen drivers

Texting While Driving:
1. Makes you 23X more likely to crash – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.
2. Is the same as driving blind for 5 seconds at a time – VA. Tech Transportation Institute
3. Takes place by 800,000 drivers at any given time across the country
4. Slows your brake reaction speed by 18% – HumanFactors & Ergonomics Society
5. Leads to a 400% increase with eyes off the road

A lot of times, we often wear our technology addictions as a badge of honor. Many people say “Oh, I’m so addicted to my phone. I can’t live without it. It’s like air.”

Here are several reasons why you shouldn’t be addicted to your phone.  read more »

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The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it has never been officially named so. On March 4, 1921, the United States Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American serviceman from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater. On November 11, 1921, the unknown soldier brought back from France was interred below a three-level marble tomb. The bottom two levels are six marble sections each and the top at least nine blocks with a rectangular opening in the center of each level through which the unknown remains were placed through the tomb and into the ground below. A stone other than marble covers the rectangular opening.  read more »

Snowboarding in the Himalaya, Nepal

Ice Climbing at Dusk in Ouray Ice Park, Colorado

Ice Climbing in Zirknitzgrotte, Austria

Snowboarding the Pemberton Ice Cap, British Columbia

Backcountry Skiing Mount Superior, Wasatch, Utah

Ice Climbing in Kootenay National Park, Canada

Snowboarding Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand

Skiing Under the Northern Lights in Norway

Skiing the Pemberton Ice Cap, British Columbia

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Car Hacking: What Every Connected Driver Needs to Know - many new cars are equipped with wireless technology that can make a driver's time on the road more stress-free and entertaining, but the technology can also bring a dark side. Two hackers were able to take control of a connected Jeep Cherokee from their living room as a Wired reporter, who agreed to be their test case, drove the SUV down the highway at 70 mph, according to the article.

Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, the two hacking experts behind the stunt, were able to access the SUV's Internet connected computer system and then rewrite the firmware to plant the malicious code allowing them to commandeer the vehicle, including everything from the air conditioning and music to the Jeep's steering, brakes and transmission, according to Wired.

TheGuardian - The problem with self-driving cars: who controls the code? Every locked device can be easily jailbroken
Should autonomous vehicles be programmed to choose who they kill when they crash? And who gets access to the code that determines those decisions? The Trolley Problem is an ethical brainteaser that’s been entertaining philosophers since it was posed by Philippa Foot in 1967: a runaway train will slaughter five innocents tied to its track unless you pull a lever to switch it to a siding on which one man, also innocent and unawares, is standing. Pull the lever, you save the five, but kill the one: what is the ethical course of action?  read more »

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dailymail.co.uk -Gallipoli anniversary ceremony: with solemnity and quiet dignity Queen and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, each placed a wreath at the war memorial. The ceremony marked the 100th anniversary of the end of the disastrous First World War campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula. During the ceremony the Queen and Philip, who is patron of the Gallipoli Association, stood still as the Last Post was played by a bugler and a minute's silence was observed. Then, with solemnity and quiet dignity, they each placed a wreath at the war memorial dedicated to local men who fought in the Great War and paid the ultimate sacrifice.  read more »