Tourism and Beyond

Finca Game

Finca is a new game published by Hans im Glück. This is an odd little game of fruit growing on
the island of Mallorca (though the English translation claimed it was Majorca).
The game has a kind of roundel: players move their farmer pieces around the
windmill sails in one corner of the board. The sail they land on lets them pick up
a specific fruit, the number depending on the number of pieces on the space.
Crossing the median line of the sails gets the player a donkey cart as well.
Using a cart allows a player to deliver some fruit (you can’t get that many in a
donkey cart) to the districts of the island. Each district is looking for a certain
combination of fruit, as shown by the top tile in the district. Delivering the right
fruit gets the player the tile and a bonus tile if it’s the last in the district. Players
also have a set of special actions, allowing them to bend the rules in specific
ways, but these are worth victory points if not used. With the money that you earn you have to build “Posessions”, the typicall ancient vuildings of the Island.

The game designed by Ralf zur Linde has reached some international impact, and even the US newspaper “The Daily Herald” has selected it as one of the best proposals for this Christmas because its “mixture between simplcity, beauty and unpredicatability.”

The “Spiel des Jahres”, a kind of “Oscar” awards since 1978, nominated the game as finalist for 2009, which could raise the sales from 3.000 to 10.000 units.

Funny, Games, majorca fincas.hans im gluck, mallorca

Samsonite X Micro Mobility Trolley

The Trolley Scooter by Samsonite and Micro Mobility has made traveling by foot an absolute breeze. It has a built-in folding scooter that will whisk you along as you’re trying to get to the furthest gate at the other end of the airport. Once you’ve made your flight you can collapse it into a traditional carry-on piece of luggage and roll it down the aisle to your seat. These would probably work well on college campuses too as long as the wheels are built to handle concrete.

VIA: Plunder Guide

Gadgets, Travel micro, mobility, samsonite, trolley

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that Oli Lemieux was using some sort of Matrix-like special effects.

Really, this is real…and it’s amazing…

Oli Lemieux is one of the members of the Cirque du Soleil, Initially named Les Échassiers, they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier’s discovery of Canada.^[2] Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil was a success in 1984, and after securing a second year of funding, Laliberté hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School to re-create it as a “proper circus”. No ring and no animals helped make Cirque du Soleil the contemporary circus (“cirque nouveau“) that it is today.^[3]

Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created – with the direction of Franco Dragone – which not only made Cirque profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.^[4]

Text of Wikipedia

Funny

Adobe Photoshop for iPhone

A new, free-of-charge Adobe Photoshop. com app for iPhone users has recently been made available by Abode Systems. Offering tools like cropping, color controls, image rotation, and one- touch filter effects, the new app helps theiPhone users in editing photos from their phone as well as their online library on Photoshop. com.

While the tools of the Friday-released Photoshop for the Apple iPhone allow theusers to instantly alter the ‘look’ and ‘feel’ of the pictures, features like ‘undo’ and ‘redo’ help users to either correct a mistake or revert back to the original picture.

In addition, the Adobe app also boasts a limited number of effects that are applicable to both new pictures and those already stored on the smartphone. These effects include vibrant, pop, border, rainbow, warm vintage, white glow, soft black and white and vignette blur.

Most of the changes to the photos on the iPhone’s Adobe Photoshop. com appcan be done merely by applying the sketch filter to the photos, and then sliding a finger in left or right direction across the touch screen.

Available from the Apple App Store, the Photoshop. com app, which also allows photos to be uploaded directly from an iPhone to an Adobe account, comes with a 2 GB of storage space which is further expandable through an annual paid storage plan.

Tech

Absolutely the coolest way to make people take the stairs rather than the escalator that you’ll see today:

http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/

Funny, Gadgets, real ecology escalators, Funny, health, stairs

The new Ferrari 2010 for Fernando Alonso

Nick Tombazis and Aldo Costa, in charge of the new project, have established the main concepts. This year Ferrari has enough time since the F60 is finished. In fact, the aerodinamics test made by Fisichella in Variano, besides helping him to get in touch with the car, had come in useful to test the changes to make in 2010, which we can get as a clue of how further they are.

Red Bull: the role mode

Maranello technical experts took the basis of the Red Bull RB5, developed by Adrian Newey, as role mode due to its potential to adapt to the new regulations: thinner forward wheels, (2,5 cm less than last year) and the prohibition of fuelling (tanks are 3 times bigger).

Main points of the project:

The project 661 will be a radical car more than a polish like past years. The front side will be singnificantly raised, flattered and with a central groove and low nose which will support the new designed spoiler.

It probably will be longer than its antecessor, in this way the body will generate more downforce (will work a a very big spoiler). The rear will also be very low and extremely compact. The chassis will be lifted so they gain space at the end to put the grooves for feeding the diffuser.

When taking out the KERS they will gain empty space for the ballast, adjusting it to every race.

The flaw: tests indicate that the engine is greedy.

Free translation from: PERIODISTA DIGITAL (in Spanish)

Cars, Celebrities, Sports

CBlackberry Amosu Curve

Synonymous to most expensive accesories, Amosu has once again lived up to its reputation and rolled out the world’s most expensive Blackberry. Though their previous bespoken Blackberry Pearl Limited Diamond Edition suported a heavy price tag of $90,000, this latest diamond encrusted Blackberry grabs the honor of being the most expensive till date

The Latest Blackberry by Amosu is made of out 18 carat yellow gold and is studded and bejeweled with 4.459 brilliant cut diamonds with a net weight of 28.43 carats. It is the most expensive Blackberry till date with a stunning price tag of £125,000 ($200,000).

Only 3 such exclusive Blackberry will ever be made and the price at which it comes; the buyer can personalize the Berry with his/her name or company’s logo. It also comes with a 24 hour global concierge service focused on ‘accessing the inaccessible’.

While the masses wonder when these expensive Blackberry will fetch a price, to their surprise one of the three pieces have already been sold to a buyer from Middle East.

Here you are the technical data (maybe you decide to buy):

Front & Back Diamonds: 4459 Diamonds
18 Carat gold: Approx 62gsm
Cut: Brilliant cut
Colour: F-G
Clarity: VS1
Carat: Approx 28.42

But, best of all, YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE THE BATTERY COVER!! (at an extra cost, I bet)

You can find Amosu dealers in:

Hong Kong
Monaco
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom

VIA: AMOSU

VIA: LATEST NEWS

Luxury amosu, blackberry, diamonds, Luxury

Planning a trip to Mars? Take plenty of shielding. According to sensors on NASA’s ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) spacecraft, galactic cosmic rays have just hit a Space Age high.

“In 2009, cosmic ray intensities have increased 19% beyond anything we’ve seen in the past 50 years,” says Richard Mewaldt of Caltech. “The increase is significant, and it could mean we need to re-think how much radiation shielding astronauts take with them on deep-space missions.”

Galactic cosmic rays are speeding charged particles that include protons and heavier atomic nuclei. They come from outside the solar system, though their exact sources are still being debated.

Earth dwellers are protected from cosmic rays by the planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere. But outside Earth’s protective influence, cosmic rays can play havoc with spacecraft electronics – they may be responsible for some recent computer glitches on NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which temporarily halted its planet-hunting observations. They can also damage astronaut DNA, which can lead to cancer.
“At times of low solar activity, this natural shielding is weakened, and more cosmic rays are able to reach the inner solar system,” explains Pesnell.

Cosmic Rays

Mewaldt lists three aspects of the current solar minimum that are combining to create the perfect storm:

1. The sun’s magnetic field is weak. “There has been a sharp decline in the sun’s interplanetary magnetic field down to 4 nT (nanoTesla) from typical values of 6 to 8 nT,” he says. “This record-low interplanetary magnetic field undoubtedly contributes to the record-high cosmic ray fluxes.” [data]

2. The solar wind is flagging. “Measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft show that solar wind pressure is at a 50-year low,” he continues, “so the magnetic bubble that protects the solar system is not being inflated as much as usual.” A smaller bubble gives cosmic rays a shorter-shot into the solar system. Once a cosmic ray enters the solar system, it must “swim upstream” against the solar wind. Solar wind speeds have dropped to very low levels in 2008 and 2009, making it easier than usual for a cosmic ray to proceed. [data]

3. The current sheet is flattening. Imagine the sun wearing a ballerina’s skirt as wide as the entire solar system with an electrical current flowing along its wavy folds. It’s real, and it’s called the “heliospheric current sheet,” a vast transition zone where the polarity of the sun’s magnetic field changes from plus to minus. The current sheet is important because cosmic rays are guided by its folds. Lately, the current sheet has been flattening itself out, allowing cosmic rays more direct access to the inner solar system.

Complete Article @ NASA

Science cosmic, nasa, rays, shield

Fernando Alonso goes to Ferrari

Spain’s double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso will leave Renault at the end of the season and join Ferrari on a three-year deal, the Italian team announced on Wednesday.

The threat of a breakaway series, the recent race-fixing scandal and the future of a number of manufacturers, including BMW, Toyota and Renault, all slowed things down considerably this year, but nothing held up events quite as much as the uncertainty over the future of Alonso.

That now appears to be resolved. The two-time world champion, who is under contract with Renault until 2010 but has the option of leaving at the end of this year, will reportedly sign a five-year contract with Ferrari worth £23  million a season, with the option to extend for a further year.

Fernando Alonso said:

I feel happy for being a Ferrari Pilot. To drive the car of the “Cavallino Rampante” is a dream for any F1 pilot, and today I am lucky for achieve it. I want to greet Luca de Montezmolo, Ferrari’s president to strive to reach this agreement. During past summer we signed a contract to begin our relation on 2011, but last days the situation changed and we decided to bring forward my arrival to Maranello.

All those years on Renault had been fantastic, all together we have won four world championships and 17 of the 21 GP that I have until now have been with Renault. I hope all the Renault team good luck and I also want to win all te possible points from now to the end of the season. Once the GP of Abu Dabi is over, all my strength will be focused on next year. I am sure that together with Felipe we will give Ferrari and all his supporters around the world great joy.

Celebrities, Sports alonso, f1, fernand, fernando, ferrari

Holiday Stress

Here you are a holiday stress graph, found thru WTFLABS but originally from PHDCOMICS

Funny graph, holiday, stress