I love creating icons and what better reason than for updating my Twitter and Blog icons.

This version will probably become a wallpaper. It has a bit of a Superman-esque feel to it. There lies the problem of having an ‘S’ as your initial!

Simple. Organized. Life.

What can I say? These officially-licensed Stay Puft Caffeinated Marshmallows ($20) feature over 100mg of caffeine a piece, and come in a collectible, rubbery box. Who you gonna call?

In Utah today, NASA completed a successful test of the world’s largest, most powerful solid rocket motor, the DM-2. For two minutes, the motor, designed to provide up to 3.6 million pounds of thrust, roaringly fired a column of flame, while some 760 instruments monitored its every aspect. Best to turn down your speakers before the countdown in this video hits zero.

Before the motor was fired, the engineers chilled it to 40 degrees below zero, for additional stress testing. It reportedly passed every test. The motor is intended to be used in the heavy-lift rocket segment of the Constellation program that NASA has slated for 2015.

Full story at [Link]

This story really did it for me.

A Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV strayed into restricted airspace above Washington DC after departing Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland on August 2, the result of a software logic flaw that caused the operator to momentarily lose contact with the drone. Programmed to circle when communications are severed, the chopper failed to follow its failure protocol, instead heading twenty-three miles on a north/northwest trajectory — which could have had serious consequences had it been equipped with 70mm Hydra rocket pods or Hellfire Tankbuster missiles. Although this type of incident is rare, it is not unheard of: last September the Air Force had to take down an MQ-9 Reaper in Afghanistan when it failed to adhere to failure protocols after dropping communications with the ground. At least, that’s what we’d like to believe… the alternative scenario is too frightening to consider.

-Engadget

Its not suprising, therefore, that Lockheed Martin and Kaman’s unmanned helicopter won a US military contract recently, most likely because it didn’t stray towards the White House, and also because you can opt for a human pilot!

The image above was shot by Jason Mullins with his iPhone 4 on a flight from London to Guernsey. The weird black lines you can see are actually distorted, disconnected copies of the propeller blades, but this isn’t a Photoshop trick; this was how the image came out of the phone. This is called rolling shutter capture. You can see more like this in the rolling shutter Flickr group.

The San Francisco Bay Bridge (as seen from Treasure Island) on a Saturday morning at 4:55am. By Troy Holden.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Can’t wait!

Words cannot explain the brilliance of this shot!

I’ve never heard of Keith Olbermann before but he sounds like a very sensible man with an unbiased opinion, which is good for a change! I like how he is matter of fact, and saddened by the whole state of affairs.

I finish this post with a very poignant quote:

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

 

-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

• MSNBC, Countdown, Keith Olbermann, Special Comment, Ground Zero Mosque, Islamic Center, Muslims, Islam

I trawl the ‘Recommended’ section of my Google Reader account looking for odd and quirky things. Its amazing what you can find!

For example, how amazing is this walk in bookcase?! Bet it smells fantastic.

The Ark, designed by Rintala Eggertsson Architects is a book lovers dream – the ultimate bookshelf, one that you can literally climb inside and spend the day in. Talk about getting lost in a good book!

Or how about this (expensive) Honeymoon suite?

Have you ever seen anything more amazing?! Conrad Maldives Rangali Island‘s unique underwater suite is actually the hotel’s restaurant "Ithaa," which can been converted into a boudoir below the Indian Ocean in honor of its fifth anniversary. One night comes complete with Champagne breakfast and aquatic swim-bys from blue-striped snapper, sting rays, parrot fish, and moray eels. The tab is pretty steep, and you need to request the room at least 14 days in advance, but it certainly gives new meaning to the term "sleeping with the fishes."

Cool or what?!