Get Cynical

THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT was filmed in 1981 and will delight and inspire anyone who would like to share something of the joys of scientific discovery. Feynman is a master storyteller, and his tales — about childhood, Los Alamos and the Bomb, or how he won a Nobel Prize — are a vivid and entertaining insight into the mind of a great scientist at work and play.

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Guy in the striped shirt takes a cracker hostage in the Brompton Oratory, London, on 13th July 2008. The Catholic Church forfeits all rights to respect for its ludicrous beliefs, including ‘transubstantiation’, while its anti-condom campaign in Africa results in tens of thousands of deaths. The cracker will be kept wrapped in a condom until the Catholic Church recognises the legitimacy of the Golden Rule.

(via Atheist Media Blog)

From NuclearFlower.com:

This trip to the alienated Zone of the Chernobyl atomic power station was much more interesting than last year. We left early so that we would have more time.

As to the risk (as many ask) I will say the following: the background level in the Zone is not a big danger (except for several places where one would not think of going). The intenisty of the exposure dose of radiation at 10 km from site is not high. The dose received by us for a day is comparable to what would be received on one transatlantic flight. Greatest danger is risk of inhaling a hot particle, a slice of nuclear fuel from a reactor. The probability of this is low, as compliance with the safety precautions and rules of behaviour in the Zone aims for zero, but the possibility exists, therefore everyone solves it for themselves, and I have, for a long time, solved it for all.

Having left Kiev at 7:30am by minibus with air conditioning (hurrah!) we stopped at the village Zalese which is now a completely impassable jungle though it once had a population of more than two thousand people, then called into Chernobyl for a short briefing. We were surprised by the huge, monumental constructions intended for cooling water. The closer we approached, the higher our radiometres read, these places did not previously pass activation test and visitors did not go in the general area, we appeared to be the first visitors allowed there. Still not too close as readings rapidly increased on approach.

And the pictures from their 2008 trip are even more haunting.

From The Guardian:

At 9.45am on Saturday, June 23 2007, I killed a man. A perfectly ordinary man, on a perfectly ordinary summer’s day. CCTV pictures show him entering the station, unremarkable among all the passengers going to the West End. He waited at the front of the platform until he could hear my train approaching, then he calmly stepped down on to the tracks and looked directly at me as he waited for the impact.

Worth1000′s latest contest called Star Wars Ren:

A long time ago, in an art gallery far far away …

(via Boing Boing)