Basically it is a result of static electricity created by friction as materials of dissimilar material strike against each other. In this case titanium/nickel blades moving through the air and dust. It occurs on the ground as well, but you don’t usually see it as much unless the aircraft is landing or taking off. The most common time is when fuel is being pumped. When large tankers are being fueled they must be grounded to prevent static electricity from discharging and creating explosions.
The incredibly lifelike scenes are actually huge works of art, painted on the side of perfectly intact buildings.
Even that woman peering into the ruin above is not real. The paintings, which have fooled many, were created by John Pugh, who specialises in trompe l’oeil — or ‘trick of the eye’ — art.
I could not help smiling for this whole clip. It’s just great. Wow.
Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”, from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009.
An article in today’s Boston Globe described an intense standoff between President Obama and a housefly that thought it could be a whitehousefly…
During a White House television interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, the president tried shooing the fly away, saying, “Hey! Get out of here.”
Harwood offered, “That’s the most persistent fly I’ve ever seen.”
Obama paused for a moment, seeming to study the fly’s flight path, and then he suddenly slapped his right hand down on his left. The fly had bugged its last commander in chief.
“Nice!” Harwood said to the sounds of a few claps in the background.
The look of concentration is priceless. Also, I think that fly took up about $1,000 of presidential time.
