The USS New York is a San Antonio-class amphibious assault vessel, which can carry 800 marines with their helicopters. The steel from the World Trade centre was used for its bow. If you are in New York, you can see it today near Zone Zero, on the south tip of Manhattan. [USS New York via Times Online]

Royal Caribbean named this affront to god the “Oasis of the Seas,” which, yeah, is a super cheesy name, but it’s not like there’s anything subtle about a god damn 1200-foot-long boat. It’ll operate out of Miami and begin offering cruises in December. The Oasis of the Seas has a maximum capacity of around 6,000 people, which for the record is larger than the population of MY ENTIRE HOMETOWN. It’s about 50% bigger than the current frontrunner in the “Titanic 2/Icarus” competition, the Queen Mary II, so now you can all feel free to hop on board that ship, since the Oasis of the Seas (really, you guys had to brag about the several seas in which this ship will be an oasis? It’s really annoying, grammatically) is sure to be the one to sink in a blaze of indoor amphitheatres and miles of buffet lines. [Oasis of the Sea via BBC via The Awl]

Designed by luxury fashion company Hermes and ship-builder Wally, the $US142 million WHY 58×38 is more floating mansion than yacht. Those figures stand for its peculiar 58 by 38 meter dimensions, which is unlike any other vessel in the world. It features solar panels that will save 200 tons of diesel fuel per year, as well as 300 square metres of windows designed to bathe its interior with natural light.

According to Luca Bassini, founder of Wally, “I think the best part of this boat is the stern. It’s not like the usual stern of a boat, it’s more like the real beach of an island; a beach which is protected from the wind and the waves, where you can really relax.” You are so damn right, Luca. If you are reading this, please give me a call when it’s done, so I can lease one of its six suites for a year or two (and be a pal and make that the 200 square metre master suite). [Daily Mail]

When you spray saltwater into the air, you create nuclei that cloud condenses around, creating bigger and whiter clouds, thus bouncing more sunlight back into space.

That’s what David Young, a member of the panel that created the report, says. The fully automated vessels will cross the oceans absorbing water and spraying it into the skies. They say this will help the formation of big, whiter clouds, which will make the sun light bounce, lowering temperatures.

The idea seems neat, but the concept of anyone in planet Earth claiming to understand how climate works to this extend blows my mind. We are still trying to grasp how a complex system like the weather works, but someone wants to put an idea like this in motion, without knowing about the ultimate consequences? Like we say in my home country: Do you experiments with pop soda. [Copenhagen Consensus via Daily Mail]

What you’re looking at is the Crisis Information centre in the USS Hornet, a Navy ship that was decommissioned in 1970, and which famously scooped up the Apollo 11 astronauts after splashdown in the remote North Pacific.

The futurist, glowing instrument panels and mystery consoles are of a distinctly analogue variety—the hanging screens aren’t multitouch computer displays, but plain, etched piece of glass, on which crewmembers were required to write backwards, by hand, so the text would be legible to their officers on the other side. Wired’s got a full gallery and tour of the ship, and it’s definitely worth a look—they just don’t make war rooms like they used to. [Wired Science]

The tiny tankers are designed to realistically mimic the driving conditions of their full-sized brothers, with a slightly gentler learning curve. Emergency situations (like a failing engine) can be remotely triggered for training purposes. Oh, and feel free to quote that episode of The Simpsons with the big guy in the tiny car. That’s what you guys are here for. [DVICE]

On Tuesday, our good friend and ex-Giz editor Seamus was down at Collaroy in Sydney to welcome the arrival of a new underwater cable that promises to boost Australia’s internet capacity by 50 per cent and offer competition to the Tier 1 telcos for cheaper broadband.This is the same cable we watched the heroes lay in the Tyco Durable ship back in March.

According to Shay, everything should go online around the September mark, although from his Midnight Update video, it looks like a pretty swish setup already. And when it does go online, we can expect either much cheaper broadband deals, or much higher data allowances for the money we’re paying now. I for one can’t wait.

[Midnight Update]

Like its real counterpart, this Battleship Yamato is the biggest Lego ship ever constructed. At 6.7m long, it took 6 years and 4 months to complete by one of our Lego contest winners. [Updated]

The video takes place aboard the Yasa Neslihan—a Turkish vessel captured by Somali pirates in October. In that situation, the crew was released after a ransom was paid. Apparently, this sort of thing is common:

“There are many videos like this,” the source told Wired magazine contributing editor Scott Carney, who obtained the video. “They make this video before they collect the ransom and leave the ship.”

“They make videos to show the owners that they have the ship and that it is still intact,” he said. “The pirates are normally very well networked.”

In contrast to their recent skirmish with the U.S. Navy, it appears from the video that a hijacking can be a semi-chill affair. Hostages are seen walking around unrestrained and the Somalis are even using the opportunity to kick out the jams. [Danger Room]