Out Of My Mind – MadMike

Thoughts, Facts and Interesting Finds by Michael

Found this seriously cool clip on YouTube.

To quote the YouTube writeup:

This is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to 1:11. From space we look like a bee hive of activity. What you will see, is a video showing air traffic around the world for 24 hours, taken from a satellite.

The yellow dots are airplanes in the sky during a 24 hour period. Stay with the picture. You will see the light of the day moving from the east to the west, as the Earth spins on its axis. Also you will see the aircraft flow of traffic leaving the North American continent and traveling at night to arrive in the UK in the morning. Then you will see the flow changing, leaving the UK in the morning and flying to the American continent in daylight. This is something that everyone should see.

For us old-timers it is really fascinating. For our children/grandchildren it provides a superb learning moment and an opportunity to open up what could be a very interesting discussion. This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. There are lots of people in the sky at any given moment. You can tell it was spring time in the north by the sun’s foot print over the planet. You could see that it didn’t set for long in the
extreme north and it didn’t quite rise in the extreme south. I have never seen this before.

We are taught about the earth’s tilt and how it causes summer and winter and we have had to imagine just what is going on. With this 24 hour observation of aircraft travel on the earth’s surface we get to see the daylight pattern move as well. Remember; watch the day to night… Day is over in Australia when it starts.

So sit back and be amazed…

Enjoy!

A while back I was chatting to my Cape Town colleague, Francois Jordaan, and asked him what cellphone I could get my standby technicians.

I wanted something that would be rugged and have a LOOOOOONG battery life.

He said that he would email me a clip on a phone that he was using. It was called a Sonim. He said this phone was water proof, shock proof and had a 3 year warranty.  Water proof phone??

Here is the video that he sent me, it is a 4 min 30 sec clip but be sure to watch the WHOLE clip:

Seriously if you don’t want to get one now after watching this clip then I don’t know…

I paid in R650,00 on a Vodacom Business package for the phone for the technicians.

In case you are wondering yes it definitely IS waterproof… I took it home one evening, put water in the kitchen sink and placed the phone in the water.  I then went to the bedroom and dialed the phone.  I then shouted down the passage asking my wife to please answer the phone.  Imagine her surprise discovering where the ringing was coming from!

Found this interesting article on Etsy.com about some photographers (Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre) that went into Detroit USA, which is fast becoming a modern day “Ghost Town”, and took some photos to capture the atmosphere in the city.

I must admit looking at the photos made me feel like I was looking at something post apocalyptic…

To quote their website:

At the end of the XIXth Century, mankind was about to fulfill an old dream. The idea of a fast and autonomous means of displacement was slowly becoming a reality for engineers all over the world. Thanks to its ideal location on the Great Lakes Basin, the city of Detroit was about to generate its own industrial revolution. Visionary engineers and entrepreneurs flocked to its borders.

In 1913, up-and-coming car manufacturer Henry Ford perfected the first large-scale assembly line. Within few years, Detroit was about to become the world capital of automobile and the cradle of modern mass-production. For the first time of history, affluence was within the reach of the mass of people. Monumental skyscapers and fancy neighborhoods put the city’s wealth on display. Detroit became the dazzling beacon of the American Dream. Thousands of migrants came to find a job. By the 50’s, its population rose to almost 2 million people. Detroit became the 4th largest city in the United States.

The automobile moved people faster and farther. Roads, freeways and parking lots forever reshaped the landscape. At the beginning of the 50’s, plants were relocated in Detroit’s periphery. The white middle-class began to leave the inner city and settled in new mass-produced suburban towns. Highways frayed the urban fabric. Deindustrialization and segregation increased. In 1967, social tensions exploded into one of the most violent urban riots in American history. The population exodus accelerated and whole neighbourhoods began to vanish. Outdated downtown buildings emptied. Within fifty years Detroit lost more than half of its population.

Detroit, industrial capital of the XXth Century, played a fundamental role shaping the modern world. The logic that created the city also destroyed it. Nowadays, unlike anywhere else, the city’s ruins are not isolated details in the urban environment. They have become a natural component of the landscape. Detroit presents all archetypal buildings of an American city in a state of mummification. Its splendid decaying monuments are, no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great Empire.

This work is thus the result of a five-year collaboration started in 2005.

Here are some of the photos, be sure to check out the rest on their website here:

Quite sad, but interesting, looking at these photos…

(Images Source: http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html)

I am probably giving away my age here, but many folks will remember a TV cartoon show from the 80’s that made kids run around with swords shouting:

“Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats! HOOOOOOOOOO!”

Yup! The adventures of Thundercats will be returning the small screen thanks to Warner Brothers Animation and Studio4°C.  Now a whole new generation will be able to see Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, WilyKit and WilyKat, and Snarf.

Here is a teaser poster:

For those of you who are not familiar of Thundercats, Wikipedia has the following to say:

ThunderCats follows the adventures of the eponymous team of heroes, cat-like humanoid aliens from the planet of Thundera. The series pilot begins with the dying Thundera meeting its end, forcing the ThunderCats (a sort of Thunderean nobility) to flee their homeworld. The fleet is attacked by the Thundereans’s enemies, the Mutants of Plun-Darr, who destroy all the starships in the “ThunderFleet,” but spare the flagship hoping to capture the legendary mystic Sword of Omens they believe is on board. The sword holds the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats’ power, which is embedded in the hilt. Though the Mutants damage the flagship, the power of the Eye drives them back. The damage to the ship means the journey to their original destination is not possible, instead having to journey to “Third Earth”; which will take much longer than they had anticipated. Lion-O’s elderly guardian, Jaga, volunteers to pilot the ship while the others sleep in capsules; however, he dies of old age in the process, but not before ensuring they will reach their destination safely. The flagship contains the young Lord of the ThunderCats, Lion-O, as well as the ThunderCats Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, WilyKit and WilyKat, and Snarf.

When the ThunderCats awake from their suspended animation on Third Earth, Lion-O discovers that his suspension capsule has slowed rather than stopped his aging, and he is now a child in the body of an adult. Together, the ThunderCats and the friendly natives of Third Earth construct the “Cat’s Lair,” their new home and headquarters, but before long, the Mutants have tracked them down to Third Earth. The intrusion of these two alien races upon the world does not go unnoticed, however – the demonic, mummified sorcerer, Mumm-Ra, recruits the Mutants to aid him in his campaign to acquire the Eye of Thundera and destroy the ThunderCats so that his evil might continue to hold sway over Third Earth.[7]

According to the first chapter on Wildstorm’s comic Thundercats Origins: Heroes and Villains, the Third Earth is actually our Earth in the future. Mumm-Ra comes from ancient Egypt, where he first met the Ancient Spirits of Evil and acquired his tremendous powers. He is – seemingly – the one responsible for destroying the human race, after he broke free from the onyx pyramid’s burial chamber where a Pharaoh imprisoned him

According to Slashfilm, the official press release says:

Roaring to life through WBA and Studio4°C’s use of the Japanese animated artistry of anime, “ThunderCats” characters Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Panthro, Cheetara and others will spring off the screen with realistic cat-like characteristics inconceivable in previous incarnations.

The new “ThunderCats” will appeal to viewers who have loved the characters all their lives as well as young newcomers to the franchise. A sweeping tale combining swords and science and boasting ferocious battles with the highest of stakes, the grand origin story of Prince Lion-O’s ascension to the throne – and of those who would thwart his destiny at any cost – takes on epic dimensions in this sharp new telling. As the forces of good and evil battle each other in the quest for the fabled Stones of Power, Lion-O and his champions learn valuable lessons of loyalty, honor and mortality in every episode.

“ThunderCats” is executive produced by Sam Register (“Teen Titans,” “Ben 10,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”). Michael Jelenic (“Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Wonder Woman”) and Ethan Spaulding (“Avatar: The Last Airbender”) are the producers.

Here is a YouTube clip of the opening to bring back fond memories:

Enjoy!