Author Archives: mad247

Oct 21 2012

Giant Cave Spiders

A scientist at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt has discovered a harvestman with a leg span of more than 33 centimetres. The creature found during a research trip to Laos is one of the largest representatives of the entire order worldwide. Experts have so far failed to properly identify it to species level.

[…] I collected spiders from the caves in the southern province of Khammouan,” the Frankfurt arachnologist explains. In doing so, he made a sensational discovery. “In one of the caves I discovered a harvestman that was absolutely huge.” The leg span of the gigantic male harvestman was more than 33 centimetres and therefore one of the world’s largest.

We non-metric folks in the U.S. just pulled out our units converters and discovered that 33 cm is about… 13 INCHES!!!

Oct 21 2012

Inside Google’s Data Centers

Google has just launched a new site that offers visitors a glimpse into the massive data centers that power Google. The site features photographs from inside some of the eight data centers that Google Inc. runs in the U.S., Finland and Belgium. Google is also building data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile.

Virtual tours of a North Carolina data center also will be available through Google’s ‘Street View’ service.

You can read more about the history and evolution of Google’s infrastructure on this Wired article.

Oct 10 2012

Mirrors on Easels that Look Like Paintings

Indianapolis-born and New York City-based photographer Daniel Kukla spent last March living in Joshua Tree National Park in southern California as part of an artist’s residency. While hiking and driving, he would catch glimpses of the border where the Sonoran Desert met the high Mojave. In the ecological sciences, the border space created by the meeting of distinct ecosystems is referred to as the edge effect. To document this unique confluence of terrains, Kukla took a large mirror and painter’s easel into the wilderness and captured opposing elements within the environment.

Oct 10 2012

Ancient Astronomical Observatories of India

Between 1727 and 1734 Maharajah Jai Singh II of Jaipur, India, constructed five astronomical observatories in his native territory of west central India. The observatories called “Jantar Mantars” incorporate multiple buildings of unique form, each with a specialized function for astronomical measurement. These structures with their striking combinations of geometric forms at large scale, have captivated the attention of architects, artists, and art historians world wide, yet remain largely unknown to the general public.

Oct 10 2012

50 Sacrificial Skulls Unearthed at Aztec Temple

Mexican archaeologists said Friday they uncovered the largest number of skulls ever found in one offering at the most sacred temple of the Aztec empire dating back more than 500 years.

The 50 skulls were found at one sacrificial stone. Five were buried under the stone, and each had holes on both sides – signaling they were hung on a skull rack.