It's amazing to see where we thought we'd be in 1925... Curiously though, no flying cars!

Cheers to the future...errr...past! No, wait, the future from the far past which is todays past but not quite as past as that past... oh nevermind. Check out the larger view here!

-D-

It took 10 years to complete, cost over $271 Million and is buried under the South-Pole. It's the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and it's a telescope longer than the World's tallest skyscrapers stacked one on another. (Total length is over 1.4kms!)

The construction of this massive project wrapped up last week making it the World's largest neutrino observatory.

The IceCube observatory is operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison joint with the National Science Foundation, with funding provided by the United States, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden. The Barbados, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK are also contributing help in the form of researchers.

The ultimate goal is to find extremely high energy neutrinos—tiny subatomic particles—originating from supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts and black holes (with an emphasis on expanding humankind's knowledge of Dark-Matter).


The projects principal investigator, Francis Halzen, stated optimistically:

Since the 1970s we have dreamed of building a detector of this size, and we have spent 20 years working toward IceCube [...] If the science to come brings half the excitement of completing this instrument, we have a bright future ahead. With the completion of IceCube, we are on our way to reaching a level of sensitivity that may allow us to see neutrinos from sources beyond the sun.

During the project, researchers have posted a great blog titled IceCube which you can check out here!

Cheers to the unimaginable immensity of human endeavors; We are only limited by our imagination...and our $271 million dollar budgets!


-D-

We've all been holding our breath; it's never really New Years until...! JibJab ring'n in the new year! :)












Cheers to internet companies who make a living from awesome!
-D-

You know how the mythbusters are ridiculously awesome... you know that Craig Ferguson is ridiculously awesome... So when Grant Imahara got together with Craig Ferguson and a robotics lab... well this happened! Check it out, you won't regret it. 


Cheers to geeks meet comedians! Never a bad result.
-D-

During the night of 5.-6. january 2009 he tried to capture some star trails. This video shows the single frames and the resulting image.


This is an absolutely beautiful video time-lapse; Check it out!
Cheers to the cosmos, the truth may be out there... but it's amazing what we can learn from down here!


-D-

As Canadians we don't get to see enough of British influence. They are, after all, our parents nation... we still aren't technically independent from our monarchical overlords... (That's right, if you're reading this, you're likely a subject of Her Majesty The Queen, Elizabeth the second... or a Yank). Long story short, this next clip is of one of my favourite comedians from the BBC and beyond, proving that the UK does commercials better! (Yeh, their commercials offer them entertainment in exchange for brand loyalty... take note America!)

Cheers to our cousins from across the pond! (Can we send the damn Old Spice guy over there in exchange?!?)


-D-

What are the holidays without the staples? The cranberry sauce, the Yule-logs, the home made Crock-Pot wonders that come out once a year and fill you heart with joy! Well I've got great news because, this year, you can add to your festive catering list Rudolf and the gang! (No word yet if Canada is going to follow suit, but if you're one of our UK readers...You're in luck!)


Thinking of a different flavour for this year's treats? Why not throw a thick-cut reindeer steak on the grill? Recently featured at Lidl's, a discount grocery store, these reindeer steaks have been the center of some controversy. The frozen steaks were sold at $10 for a 350g pack, and were selling fast!

A spokes-person for PETA (that well-balanced and sane group of cheerful chaps) condemned the sale of the steaks, when interviewed by Sky News UK, saying:

I bet you've never even seen 23,000 teddy bears...(or at very least I hope there was a special occasion for it if you have!) So here's a clip of this year's 16th Annual Teddy Bear Toss hockey game at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (December 12, 2010). Red Deer Rebels vs. Calgary Hitmen.


This was just the first goal in the first period by the Calgary Hitmen! (You should have seen what happened for the second goal... I'm not going to ruin it, but let's just say "Real Bears!")


Here's the clip:

Hey, remember on the 12th I posted that video of Vladimir Putin "playin; dat funky music, white boy"?... and I may have taken a jab at Stephen Harper by saying I'd like to see him perform some songs like that...


Well some of my "conservatives-are-people-too" friends (there goes half my readership) decided to fill my inbox with clips of Stephen Harper kickin' it, as the youngsters today say...(i'm told)


Anyways, I do have to tip my hat to Prime Minister Harper for honouring the anniversary of John Lenon's passing by singing "Imagin" in front of an audience just the other week... here are those clips. Photo: (Pawel Dwulit/ The Canadian Press)

Today's What-The-Friday is brought to you by insane parents of bratty kids! (And their lawyers, and activist groups...)


The Center for Science in the Public Interest is not the most famous groups in the world, nor are they one worthy of much merit. What is essentially the legal wing of an overgrown Mommy-and-me squad of obsessive parents who don't trust the world to manage their own caloric intake... is at it again!


I'm going to try to be as non-biased as possible in saying that this group, and many like it, are the ones behind the removal of soft-drink vending machines in schools (a school is no place to educate children and let them make their own decisions!) , the movement to label everything with it's nutrition content (WHAT!? That bag of peanuts may contain nuts!!! It damn-well better or Mr.Peanut will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from me!), and let's not forget to mention the movement to restrict the labeling of "diet" items to not persuade people into thinking the double-fudge whipped-cream and cheese-cake filled pastry was good for them because it was made with low-fat milk.