Northern Lights over Lapland

The Jan 24th sunburst that cause a powerful geomagnetic storm created extreme auroras in the skies above Abisko National Park in Sweden. This video was shot in three hours by Lights Over Lapland photographer Chad Blakley, and shows 8 photographers participating in Lights Over Lapland’s aurora borealis photo expedition.

Lights Over Lapland Photo Expedition video of CME impact on 1-24-2012 from Lights Over Lapland on Vimeo.

I’ve never been lucky enough to view the aurora borealis in person myself. But if it’s beautiful like this every night, I think I’ll be booking at trip to Sweden.

Bob Anderson, Swordfighter to the Stars, RIP

Olympic Fencer Bob Anderson established quite a career as the sword fighting instructor to the stars. Along the way he doubled for Darth Vader, taught Viggo Mortensen and the rest of the cast for Lord of the Rings, and even Cary Elwes for The Princess Bride. Watch this video diary from Elwes for a clip of him learning from Anderson.

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Anderson was 89.

(Via NPR)

Motor Vehicle Safety Shattered in Realistic Test

There have been a number of deaths due to auto-accidents in Central Florida recently. Then there was the death of Dan Wheldon in IndyCar. This has me thinking a lot about the safety level of modern day cars. The following video, which simulates a head-on collision of two cars going 60 mph, is very disturbing.

Car crash tests are usually conducted at a speed of 40 miles per hour, but seriously, who drives 40 mph these days?

For a more realistic test, go watch this video:

If that doesn’t give you pause and make you slow down next time you’re speeding around, I don’t know what will.

Mystery of Detached Feet on Northwest Beaches Solved

A pair of feet from the mystery dozen that have washed up on Pacific Northwest beaches since the Fall of 2007 has revealed an important clue to the mystery. It’s a gruesome one.

DNA matching reveal them to be formerly attached to the body of a bridge jump suicide. The body was never recovered, but decomposing bodies in water often separate feet from legs over time. Combine that with the trend in recent athletic shoes (such as New Balance) to include air in the soles, and voila, detached feet rising to the surface and eventually finding their way to the shore to freak every one out.

So, nothing sinister as was speculated, but instead a sad final chapter in the life of someone’s lost loved one.

Via ABC News.