Belgium that is home to the world's deepest swimming pool.

Pool

From WikiPedia:

Nemo 33 is a recreational diving center in Brussels, Belgium that is home to
the world's deepest swimming pool. The pool itself consists of a submerged
structure with flat platforms at various depth levels. The pool has two large
flat-bottomed areas at depth levels of 5m (16 ft) and 10m (32 ft), and a large
circular pit descending to a depth of 33m (108 ft). It is filled with
2,500,000 litres of non-chlorinated, highly filtered spring water maintained
at 30°C (86°F) and contains several simulated underwater caves at the 10m depth level. There are numerous underwater windows that allow outside visitors to look into the pools at various depths. The complex was designed by Belgian diving expert John Beernaerts as a multi-purpose diving instruction, recreational, and film production facility, and opened in 2004.

You can take only a few items of your own dive kit (computer, mask, pool fins) but no BCD, fins that require booties, regulators(unless they have an integrated air linked to your computer - but no DIN fittings at all). torches, etc... You are not allowed to practice any skills unless you have an instructor in your group.

Pool 1

Pool 13

Pool 16

Pool 19

Pool 26

Pool 27

Pool 28

Pool 31

Pool 35

Pool 5

Pool 7

[Click Here to See more Collections!]

A Fitting Memorial: The George W. Bush Sewage Plant

A Fitting Memorial: The George W. Bush Sewage Plant
Satire at the ballot box to ‘honor’ Bush

by Marisa Lagos

If you’ve attended an event or festival in San Francisco lately - or even just hung out at a city park - you’ve probably seen them.

Admittedly, they’re hard to miss. Someone in the group is usually toting a large American flag, and another is often carrying a boom box blaring patriotic music. Sometimes one of them dresses up as Uncle Sam.

They’re the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco, but don’t let the serious name fool you. The group’s intentions are in the gutter: They want to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant come January, when the next president is sworn in.

During the inauguration, the group also wants supporters to participate in a “synchronized flush”- a way to send a gift to the renamed plant, which supporters say, would be a “fitting monument to this president’s work.”

It sounds like a harmless joke, or maybe a college civics lesson gone awry. But the handful of friends who dreamed this up over beers one night say they have already collected 8,500 signatures in support of the plan - 1,300 more than the minimum needed to put the question to city voters in November. When they submit the signatures in July, election workers will have to verify that at least 7,168 are from registered city voters for the measure to qualify for the ballot.

“It’s a very simple yes or no question, and there’s no real fiscal impact- just the cost of relettering the sign in front of the plant,” said organizer Brian McConnell. “This is the way the democratic process is supposed to work, even though it’s a silly idea in some people’s eyes.”

Silly might be an understatement. Howard Epstein, chair of the San Francisco Republican Party, called the measure an abuse of the system and “loony bin direct democracy.” He vowed to “use all means” to defeat the measure if it qualifies for the ballot. That includes those very expensive glossy mailers, he said.

“There’s no use other than to make these nutcases feel good,” Epstein said. “It’s typical San Francisco crazies.”

Still, most people approached on a recent Sunday seemed open to the idea, even if they all didn’t stop to sign the petition.

Bright Winn, a San Francisco plumber, enthusiastically gave his signature to the cause.

“(Bush) has always done well for the affluent of America, and anyone that does well for the affluent should be named for the effluent,” he said.

The idea behind the renaming runs the gamut from the humorous (”Clean up the mess caused by Bush!” one supporter shouted ) to the sarcastic (”No other president in American history has accomplished so much in such a short time,” the group’s Web site reads) to the philosophical.

Satire, McConnell said, is one of the great American traditions.

“Fifty years from now in a civics class, students will learn about the Lincoln Memorial, that other presidents are on Mount Rushmore - and George W. Bush got a sewage plant,” he said. “It will prompt people to ask why, and they can discuss the Iraq war, and everything that led to it. People want to forget bad moments of history, and this is our way of making sure that doesn’t happen.”

To be fair, there are already other tributes to President Bush, including a Stockton elementary school and, of course, the presidential library planned in Dallas.

Organizers of the petition drive believe the measure will pass, noting that 2006’s Proposition J calling for the impeachment of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney passed with 58 percent of the vote.

The biggest opposition in this Democratic stronghold, McConnell said, is people who oppose naming anything after the 43rd president.

Officials at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which owns the plant, say they get the humorous intent. But they note that the plant is an award-winning facility that keeps the city’s streets and the ocean clean.

“If you are looking for a place to make a negative statement about the Bush administration’s impact on the environment, this would be the last place to do it,” agency spokesman Tony Winnicker said.

For more information about the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco: presidentialmemorial. wordpress.com.

Window cleaner survives nine-storey plunge with big 'wedgie'

Article from:

By Greg Stolz

June 24, 2008 03:05pm

A WINDOW cleaner has escaped a nine-storey fall from a Gold Coast tower with a fractured arm - and a broken pelvis from the super "wedgie" from his harness.

Police said the incident happened next to the Surfers Paradise police station.

Witnesses, including police officers from the station, reported hearing a thud and seeing the man suspended limp in the air hanging from his harness.

The man, 20, an abseiler from Robina who cleans windows, fell about 25m until his feet hit an awning on the side of the Solaire building in Ferny Ave.

He appeared to have ankle injuries and was in a lot of pain, but he retained his sense of humour, telling co-workers that he had "a big wedgie" (from his harness).

The force of his impact dislodged a 5m steel beam, which crashed to the ground.

Fellow window cleaner David Luke said he was on the roof when he heard "three big bangs".

"He's lucky to be alive," Mr Luke said.

"We have no idea how this happened."

Another of the men's co-workers said the accident was bizarre.

He said the man was well-trained and very experienced.

The man was taken to Gold Coast Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Workplace Health and Safety Inspectors are on the scene.

Today's accident comes just three days after two men died at Broadbeach when a swing scaffold collapsed.

George Carlin Video Tribute

As you've no doubt heard, the legendary George Carlin died yesterday at 71. A lot of people in the comments on my first post have asked for a tribute, and I think it's only appropriate. You can expect several more Carlin-centric posts to follow this one, but I thought we should start with a video retrospective.

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/06/george-carlin-v.html

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World's most efficient solar dish?

June 23, 2008 10:00 AM PDT

Caption text by Zoë Slocum

A team led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students last week successfully tested a prototype of what it says may be the "most cost-efficient solar-power system in the world," revolutionizing global energy production.

The 12-foot-wide dish, made of a lightweight frame of thin aluminum tubing and mirror strips, concentrates sunlight by a factor of 1,000, according to the Cambridge, Mass., university. It can create heat intense enough to melt a bar of steel.

The dish is the latest in a slew of sun-centric projects with which MIT has been associated. Other notables include solar-powered homes (it's been working on those since 1939), a pilot solar cell plant in Lexington, Mass., and more recently, funding 30 five-year fellowships in solar energy with a $10 million grant.

Here, Matt Ritter, Doug Wood, Spencer Ahrens (the team leader, who just received his master's in mechanical engineering from MIT), and Micah Sze begin assembling the dish by mounting one of the mirror panels, measuring 10 inches by 12 feet, in place.

Other team members include Broad Institute engineer Eva Markiewicz and MIT materials science student Anna Bershteyn.

Credit: David Chandler/MIT

Man Gouges Alligator's Eyes After Arm Ripped Off To Escape Attack

EDT June 24, 2008

-- A man whose arm was ripped off his body by an 11-foot alligator survived the attack by gouging its eyes during its death roll.

• Video: Man Gouges Alligator's Eyes After Arm Ripped Off To Escape Attack

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IMAGES: Alligator Rips Off Man's Arm

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Kasey Edwards, 18, was swimming with some friends at Nubbin Slough, a canal near Lake Okeechobee, Sunday when he was attacked."(The alligator) took my left arm off about 4 inches above the elbow," Edwards said. "It was a pretty humbling experience."Edwards said he was face-to-face with the gator during the attack."I looked back and the gator surfaced and I looked him right in the face and stared at him for 10 seconds," Edwards said from Holmes Regional Medical Center in Central Florida.Edwards said during the fight with the alligator, he was not aware he was missing an arm."He dragged me under the water five times," Edwards said. "Finally, (the arm) ripped off and I wasn't aware at the time. (It) hit me in my stomach and knocked the wind out of me and I dug and took my finger and gouged its eye. It spun and turned around and went away from me. (I) didn't know I was missing an arm until I was swimming back."The alligator was captured and Edwards' arm was found inside its stomach, the Palm Beach Post reported.The arm was too damaged to reattach, officials said.Edwards said his two friends brought him to shore and kept him from bleeding to death. He said he owes his life to them.

When threatened, a few African frogs can morph toes into claws

When threatened, a few African frogs can morph toes into claws

Published on Jun 24, 2008 - 8:02:02 AM

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By: Harvard University

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 23, 2008 -- Biologists at Harvard University have determined that some African frogs carry concealed weapons: When threatened, these species puncture their own skin with sharp bones in their toes, using the bones as claws capable of wounding predators.

The unusual defense mechanism is described by Harvard's David C. Blackburn, James Hanken, and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., in a forthcoming issue of the journal Biology Letters.

"It's surprising enough to find a frog with claws," says Blackburn, a doctoral student in Harvard's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. "The fact that those claws work by cutting through the skin of the frogs' feet is even more astonishing. These are the only vertebrate claws known to pierce their way to functionality."

"Most vertebrates do a much better job of keeping their skeletons inside," he adds.

Blackburn first became aware of the clawed frogs while conducting fieldwork in the central African nation of Cameroon. When he picked up one of the hulking fist-sized frogs, it flailed its hind legs violently, scratching him and drawing blood.

Back in the U.S., Blackburn examined museum specimens of 63 African frog species. He noticed that in 11 species -- all in the genera Astylosternus, Trichobatracus, and Scotobleps and all native to central Africa -- the bones at the ends of the toes were pointed and hooked, with smaller, free-floating bones at their tips. Eventually he determined that these small nodules at the tips of the frogs' feet were connected to the rest of the toe by a collagen-rich sheath.

"These nodules are also closely connected to the surrounding skin by dense networks of collagen," Blackburn says. "It appears they hold the skin in place relative to these claw-like bones, such that when the frog flexes a certain muscle in the foot, the sharp bone separates from the nodule and bursts through the skin."

This claw-like structure is no conventional claw, though: It is pure bone, free of the keratin sheath that normally surrounds vertebrate claws. And unlike a claw that retracts into a specialized structure in an animal's foot, as in cats, the site where the frogs' foot bones emerge appears to be covered with ordinary skin.

While these frogs were mentioned in the scientific literature on a few occasions from 1900 to 1925, they are generally little-known in the U.S., appearing in few museum collections. Even the handful of researchers who wrote about them a century ago often misinterpreted the piercing of the skin as damage incurred during preservation of specimens.

The frogs are widely roasted and eaten in Cameroon, where hunters -- evidently well aware of the risk of injury -- go to great lengths to avoid handling them when alive.

"Cameroonian hunters will use long spears or machetes to avoid touching these frogs," Blackburn says. "Some have even reported shooting the frogs."

Of more than 5,500 known frog species, Blackburn and his colleagues found just 11 with claws, and speculate there may be another couple of similarly equipped species.

Blackburn plans to study live specimens of the African frogs to determine whether retraction of the foot bones back into the body is an active or a passive process, and how the damaged skin regenerates after the claws are deployed.

"We suspect, since the frog does suffer a fairly traumatic wound, that they probably use these claws infrequently, and only when threatened," Blackburn says.

Blackburn, Hanken, and Jenkins' work was funded by the National Science Foundation's AmphibiaTree project and by a Putnam Expeditionary Grant from Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology.