Central Perk: Damn Cool Pics

joi, 1 septembrie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Surging tide of Qiantang River, China
New York: Ten Years After 9/11
Former Chinese Farmer Builds Homemade Flying Saucer
Portal: No Escape, A Live Action Short Film Based on Portal
Skype Office in Stockholm

Posted: 01 Sep 2011 11:58 AM PDT

The Qiantang river, running from the west to the Hangzhou Bay, is known for its tidal bore, caused by the tide rushing into the river from the bay.

The tide bore generally travels up more than 10 meters high. It is very dangerous but also creates the marvelous spectacle! Annually, lots of people from both home and abroad are attracted there to watch this natural wonder, and in Hangzhou, citizens living aroud the Qiantang River hold various activities to celebrate the International Tide Watching Festival, which opens August 16 in the Chinese Lunar Calendar every year.

In these days, the typhoon hit Southeast China, and TV stations flocked there to shoot the natural wonder. At 1 pm August 30, 2011, a female reporter and photographer from Hangzhou Satellite TV Station were almost washed away by the surging tide, even though they were at the security center for tide-watching. Check out the photos.

New York: Ten Years After 9/11

Posted: 01 Sep 2011 11:35 AM PDT

USA will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 events. Let's compare the photos taken back then and today.

Former Chinese Farmer Builds Homemade Flying Saucer

Posted: 01 Sep 2011 10:41 AM PDT

A former Chinese farmer with little formal schooling who later worked as an automobile mechanic has designed and built at least one ultralight that briefly flew (before crashing) -- he has now moved on to a flying saucer. Shu Mansheng's project is a structure powered by eight motorcycle engines mounted vertically. They drive individual fixed-pitch wooden propellers. The engines are arranged in an inner and outer group of four engines each. An open cockpit located in the center is mounted above spokes that both support the engines and extend to an outer circular ring. Supporters will be hoping for a more positive outcome than the innovator's last attempt.

Shu Mansheng built his first aircraft in October 2010. It was saved by an inadequate powerplant that failed to lift it off the ground. A second effort was aborted when the innovator determined it would be too heavy to fly. This April Shu built another aircraft in a span of about 15 days. He managed to fly that one over approximately 30 meters at an altitude less than seven meters above the ground before he crashed. Shu Mansheng has been able to focus on his aviation exploits after some advances in his career led him to a financial windfall. He retired from his day job and now works full-time on his aviation adventures. His latest scheme has consumed the equivalent of nearly $10,000. His dream is to create a school "where kids can learn things not taught in regular school," he told WorldTourist.com.

Mansheng (in red) tests the engines of his flying device ahead of his first test flight. The round steel flying device, which cost more than 20,000 yuan, was the fifth model made by Shu, a junior middle school graduate. It measures up to 5.5 meters in diameter, and is powered by eight motorcycle engines. (Jason Lee / Reuters)

Portal: No Escape, A Live Action Short Film Based on Portal

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 07:51 PM PDT

"Portal: No Escape" is a beautiful live-action short film based on the game Portal starring Danielle Rayne as Chell. It was directed by Dan Trachtenberg, with visual effects by Jon Chesson and matte painting by Maxx Burman.

Skype Office in Stockholm

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 07:09 PM PDT

The newly Skype office was designed by Swedish architecture & design firm PS Arkitektur. This cool cheery-cherry-berry office (wow! that was a tongue twister) is located inside of an old brewery (Münchenbrewery) in Stockholm, Sweden The office design is based on the spirit of Skype, how it is a useful and playful tool that connects the world. The in-between shapes of interconnected nodes has given us romboid and triangular shapes that is visible in the flooring and in the design of some of the hard furniture.

The playful happy theme in colours and soft furniture comes from the Skype graphics and the Skype cloud logo is reinterpreted as cloud-shaped lighting throughout the office space. The Stockholm office predominately works with audio and video development and this is manifested in the special made wallpapers with cables, earphones and other devices linked to audio-video technique.