The Situation Room Meme: The Shortest Route From Bin Laden to Lulz

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Alexis Madrigal writing for the Atlantic:

Perhaps, then, it was only a matter of time before the photoshoppers went to work on the iconic image, using it as grist for the always-grinding humor mill of the Internet. Already, Keanu Reeves, the grumpy flower girl, a velociraptor, and the shocked cat have been edited into the photo. The Situation Room has been colonized. It is part of our world. Take a look for yourself: Click on the link above and go check out the gallery. I like the Princess Beatrice hat the best.

Time-Lapse: The Mountain

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Less than a month ago I linked to a stunning video produced by Terje Sørgjerd called "The Auora". A little over a week ago, he posted a second video filmed on El Teide in Spain. El Teide is Spain's highest mountain and, as Terje writes, "one of the best places in the world of photograph the stars and is also the location of the Teide Observatories, considered one of the world's best observatories". Terje goes on to write:

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies. A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes. Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.

Coffee Joulies, the Kickstarter Project

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  Due to the fact that my wife has had a lot of time on her hands lately, she discovered this kickstarter project last week called Coffee Joulies. The video above is from their Kickstarter project page. The concept is cool - or hot, I should probably say: > Coffee Joulies work with your coffee to achieve two goals. First, they absorb extra thermal energy in your coffee when it’s served too hot, cooling it down to a drinkable temperature three times faster than normal. Next, they release that stored energy back into your coffee keeping it in the right temperature range twice as long.

> This amazing feat of thermodynamics happens thanks to a special non-toxic material sealed within the polished stainless steel shell. This material is designed to melt at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and absorbs a lot of energy as it melts. This is how Joulies cool your coffee down three times faster than normal. Once it reaches this temperature, the special material begins to solidify again, releasing the energy it stored when it melted. This is how Joulies keep your coffee warm twice as long. > When we first spotted the project, it was on it's first day. If I remember correctly, approximately $2000 had been contributed. As of this writing, they've raised $88,197. It is now April 6. The project doesn't end until May 2. I predict this project could be as big as some of the other big Kickstarter projects.