disasters
Vehicles
Why You Should Always Be Careful While Using A Forklift
4:42AM Adam Frucci | In this video, a hapless Russian warehouse worker destroys about $US250,000 of precious, precious vodka in about three seconds (he escaped unscathed). Insert Yakov Smirnoff joke here. [English Russia via The Daily What]
Random Stuff
11:00AM Adam Frucci | During Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines last week, residents had to figure out creative ways to stay dry and get around. There are about a dozen reasons this seems like a bad idea, however. [Big Picture]
Using Power Lines As A Bridge Seems Incredibly Dangerous
11:00AM Adam Frucci | During Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines last week, residents had to figure out creative ways to stay dry and get around. There are about a dozen reasons this seems like a bad idea, however. [Big Picture]
Random Stuff
POV Helmet Cam Captures Skier Causing Avalanche
2:40AM Adam Frucci | In this intense video, a skier with a helmet cam on gets caught in a huge avalanche, getting buried for four and a half minutes and then getting dug out. Good lord. More »
Science
How Not To Launch a Rocket: The Nedelin Disaster
7:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | History’s worst rocket tragedy actually occurred on the ground, in 1960, when the Soviets were experimenting with a dangerous new fuel. Piers Bizony chronicles it in his upcoming book, How To Build Your Own Spaceship: More »
Hardware
12 Examples of Vietnamese Street Cabling Disasters
3:30AM Sean Fallon | When cabling is done right, it can be a work of art. However, in Vietnam things have gotten out of control—as OObject points out with their list of 12 above-ground cabling disasters. [OObject] More »
Online
Disaster Alert Map Shows Where the World is Ending
7:30AM Mark Wilson | Until I loaded up this realtime Global Disaster Alert Map operated by the International Disaster and Risk Conference, which tracks biological hazards, chemical spills, fires, volcanoes, earthquakes and epidemics, I earnestly thought that it had been a pretty good day. I was wrong, and I will not be so naive as to drop my constant cynicism again. [IDRC via bookofjoe] More »
QOTD
Question of the Day: What’s Your Most Expensive, Dumbest Gadget Oops?
12:00PM Gizmodo US Edition | To many of us, our gadgets are like our babies: we bring them everywhere, they’re expensive, and we would go to great lengths to protect them. But just like babies, sometimes gadgets get dropped. The results are often tragic, and the guilt crippling. Maybe you haven’t drenched your new US$1600 keyboard in coffee, but have you accidentally plunked your BlackBerry in a urinal? Put your iPod through the wash? Has your adorable puppy destroyed your new laptop in a territorial gesture? What’s your worst, your most embarrassing, your most expensive or just your most ridiculous “oh, shit” gadget moment? More »
Gadgets
Emergency Telecoms Team Forced to Wait in Thailand by Burmese Junta
3:30AM Addy Dugdale | Emergency communications kits destined to help the clear-up of the Burmese cyclone have been held up by the Asian country’s military junta. A five-man team from NGO Telecoms Sans Frontieres has been waiting all week for its entry visas from the turds powers that be of the brutal regime. And, until the visas are issued, over 80 kilos of vital equipment will stay right where it is, in a Thai warehouse. More »
Random Stuff
World’s Largest Indoor Tornado
11:24AM Adrian Covert | It’s far from destructive, but the indoor tornado set up at the Mercedes-Benz museum is cool nonetheless. Using the museum’s 144 air intake nozzles, they set up a smoke machine on the ground below, had air blowing in from the sides causing a swirling effect and let the nozzles suck up the smoke. The Guiness Book of World Records officially declared it the largest indoor tornado. I think want one of these in my house. [Pop Sci] More »
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