Tag: function-showmenu

Rabbit hole in England leads to 700-year old Knights Templar cave

The BBC reports that an ” ordinary rabbit’s hole in a farmer’s field leads to an underground sanctuary once said to be used by the Knights Templar .” Michael Scott, from Birmingham, went to photograph the caves after seeing a video of them online. He said: “I traipsed over a field to find it, but if you didn’t know it was there you would just walk right past it. Considering how long it’s been there it’s in amazing condition, it’s like an underground temple.” The tunnel leads to a network of walkways and arches carved out of sandstone, as well as a font. The cave is evidently a hot place to hang out if you’re a witch . Be sure to ask the property owners nicely and clean up after the ritual is complete. One year after Christmas, the labyrinth of intricately carved chambers was found to be filled with candles, sinister symbols scrawled on the walls and more besides. The owners of the site, hidden in dense woodland ten miles from Wolverhampton, decided enough was enough when two warlocks knocked on the door – and asked for their robes back. The red-faced pair had left the garments behind after a ritual.

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Rabbit hole in England leads to 700-year old Knights Templar cave

Fifty years later, the same flight takes longer. Why?

Fifty years ago, American Airlines’ flight from New York to Los Angeles took 5 hours and 43 minutes. The same flight is 6 hours and 27 minutes today. Wendover Productions examines why planes don’t fly faster in this interesting video. (more…)

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Fifty years later, the same flight takes longer. Why?

USG: an open source anti-BadUSB hardware firewall for your USB port

BadUSB is bad news: malware that targets the firmware in your USB port’s embedded system, bypassing the OS, antivirus software and other countermeasures. (more…)

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USG: an open source anti-BadUSB hardware firewall for your USB port

Nintendo puts a "bittering agent" on game cards so people don’t stick them in their mouths

Kotaku recently contacted Nintendo to ask them why Nintendo Switch cartridges taste so awful. Nintendo replied: “To avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion, keep the game card away from young children. A bittering agent (Denatonium Benzoate) has also been applied to the game card. This bittering agent is non-toxic.” Snip: According to Wikipedia, denatonium benzoate is the most bitter chemical compound known, commonly used as an aversion agent to prevent accidental ingestion, which is why the Switch cards are coated in it. It’s also used in animal repellent, shampoos, soaps and nail-biting prevention. I put that Switch cart in my mouth and I’m not sure what those things are made of but I can still taste it. Do not try this at home. — Jeff Gerstmann (@jeffgerstmann) February 25, 2017

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Nintendo puts a "bittering agent" on game cards so people don’t stick them in their mouths

The strawberries in this photo are blue

This picture has NO red pixels. Great demo of color constancy (ht Akiyoshi Kitaoka) pic.twitter.com/pZHvbB6QHE — Matt Lieberman (@social_brains) February 27, 2017 My daughter send this photo to me. I put it in Photoshop to check. The “reddest” part I could find using the eyedropper had an RGB value of 153/181/182. So technically there is some red in the image, but here is what 153/181/182 looks like: Not very red!

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The strawberries in this photo are blue

How Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth in 200 BC

High school teacher Joe Howard made another excellent math video. This time, he shows how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth in 200 BC. In one of the dopest displays of critical thinking in history, Erotosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth. All he had was a pole, the sun, knowledge of a famous well in Egypt, and potentially money to pay someone to walk the distance between two cities. This story demonstrates the beauty of trigonometry.

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How Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth in 200 BC

Nearby star has 7 "Earthlike" planets

TRAPPIST-1 is a star that’s 39 light years away from us. The journal Nature reports that it has seven warm, Earthlike planets orbiting it. From Washington Post : The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, represents the first time astronomers have ever detected so many terrestrial planets orbiting a single star. Researchers say the system is an ideal laboratory for studying alien worlds and could be the best place in the galaxy to search for life beyond Earth. “Before this, if you wanted to study terrestrial planets, we had only four of them and they were all in our solar system,” said lead author Michaël Gillon, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Liège in Belgium. “Now we have seven Earth-sized planets to expand our understanding. Yes, we have the possibility to find water and life. But even if we don’t, whatever we find will be super interesting.” Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Nearby star has 7 "Earthlike" planets

U.S. Homeland Security staff were unable to access DHS computer network because the security certificates expired

Some employees with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who work in the Washington, D.C. area and in Philadelphia, PA were unable to access the DHS computer network on Tuesday, reports Reuters , citing “three sources familiar with the matter.” (more…)

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U.S. Homeland Security staff were unable to access DHS computer network because the security certificates expired