Reckless busdrivers

We Finns have a modern proverb which says: ""Väinö Paunu - liikenteen kauhu". In english it means: "Väinö Paunu - horror of the traffic". It refers to Väinö Paunu Ltd and it's an old joke - but so true. And it's not only those express bus drivers who drive overspeed. For example some of the drivers of Valkeakosken Liikenne achieve the same speeds. Or what do you say about driving 85 km/h in the 50 km/h limit area? In the 80 km/h speed limit area the "best" result so far is 109 km/h. Still, Väinö Paunu is probably even worse; when a local bus drove 93 km/h in the 80 km/h limit area, the expressbuss bypassed it recklessly.

So do the busdrivers have to follow the timetables, even they could kill themselves and passengers? It's interesting also that Finnish Police does not seem to never stop these madcaps. Or does the police bend the law? One of the drivers of Valkeakosken Liikenne told that police has never stopped him, nor he has ever heard that police had stopped any of their company's drivers...

By the way, it's very easy to follow the speed of bus with GPS receiver. It's an incorruptible speed measurement method...

Soft like snow, smells like used gunpowder?

What is this?

Feel it - it's soft like snow, yet strangely abrasive

Taste it - it's not half bad

Sniff it - it smells like spent gunpowder

The answer is:

Moondust

(Photo in courtesy of NASA)

Shocking Fun Shocking Liar

Amazing, amusing gadget... " If one of your friends or loved ones is prone to telling the little white lie then they're in for a shock - literally!"

Shocking Fun Shocking Liar, Lie Detector

What next? Mind reader?

This satellite is weird !

SuitSat!

After 3rd of February, open your radio and pick one of the strangest satellites ever from radio waves. Yes, this is no joke. Using a simple police scanner or ham radio (frequency is 145.99 MHz) , you can listen to a disembodied spacesuit circling Earth. It's called SuitSat! Check also this link: http://suitsat.org/

(Photo in courtesy of NASA)

2005 marked by "extreme" climate

The number of extreme climatic phenomena, from heatwaves, drought and floods to hurricanes, increased notably last year, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said.

"In 2005 abnormal temperatures were registered in many areas of the globe," the WMO's Secretary General Michel Jarraud told a seminar here, on Monday.

They included "strong heatwaves which descended on a big part of continental Europe and North Africa in July," the head of the UN agency said.

They also included the worst drought in Spain and Portugal since the end of the 1940s and floods which devastated parts of Russia and eastern Europe, and then Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Outside Europe "a record number of hurricanes hit central America, the United States and the Carribean," Jarraud said, saying there could be a link between the freak weather and global warming, which he said could "have an impact on the natural variability of the climate".

"We are still seeing an increase in the number of extreme meteorological and climatical phenomena of which some were of an unprecedented intensity," he said.

Read the whole statement, if you're interested in this subject...

Hmmm... how's the weather going to be this year...

Electric Hurricanes

Three of the most powerful hurricanes of 2005 were filled with mysterious lightning

January 9, 2006: The boom of thunder and crackle of lightning generally mean one thing: a storm is coming. Curiously, though, the biggest storms of all, hurricanes, are notoriously lacking in lightning. Hurricanes blow, they rain, they flood, but seldom do they crackle.

Surprise: During the record-setting hurricane season of 2005 three of the most powerful storms--Rita, Katrina, and Emily--did have lightning, lots of it. And researchers would like to know why.

The whole story is here: Science @ NASA

(Photo in courtesy of NOAA)