The fires in LA are seriously out of control. If you have any doubt, here is a very impressive time-lapse video that Brandon Riza shot, with his Canon 5D Mark II I might add.

First of all, the fires are very scary, and I feel bad for the folks in California right now. I hope none of you guys are being affected, but I’m sure a few of you are, so my heart goes out to you. Secondly, it goes to prove how little control we have over our environment. After thousands of years, and with all the technology we possess, mankind still lacks the ability to put out a forest fire.

Sad.
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	hthth RT @johnpoz: Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably: http://onemansblog.com/LAFire
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	terehoff RT: @johnpoz: Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably - http://onemansblog.com/LAFire Hat tip to @kk for the video link.
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	johnpoz Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably - http://onemansblog.com/LAFire Hat tip to @kk for the video link.
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I love flames! And I love overly complex machinery! So imagine my joy when I came across this overly complicated flame-powered Rube Goldberg machine!

It reminds me of a movie line from Tommy Boy:

“I swear I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my life. But that… was… awesome!”

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I know that like 10 billion people eat Ramen noodles every day, but I guarantee no one takes the route of preparing them that these folks took on this Japanese game show.

It was apparently a Rube Goldberg competition and they used everything from bowling balls to marbles and included both flames and water. This machine goes on for about 5 minutes and manages to do nothing more than pour some hot water over a package of noodles.

Awesome.
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George Lawrence used aerial kites to photograph San Francisco after the devastating 1906 earthquake. His photographs appeared in newspapers around the world and generated more than $15,000 for the photographer.

Below is a high resolution GigaPixel scan from the original 4 foot wide photograph. Well, technically it’s only a measly 11,709 x 4,716 resolution – translating to only .55 gigapixels, but we’ll let it slide since this is for posterity’s sake and all that.

For those of you who are unaware, San Francisco experienced a devastating earthquake in 1906 which started fires that burned uncontrollably and essentially destroyed the entire city.
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In case you’ve been living under a rock, my father’s country of birth (Greece) has massive fires raging all around Athens which have killed 63 people in just the last few days. Now, I don’t want anyone to take any of the comments I’m about to make the wrong way. I love Greece, and the Greek people. We are family.

But being that the ancient Greeks invented democracy, I’m going to exercise a little free speech here and tell you a few reasons I have little sympathy for the problems now being faced.
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You say you’re sick of those tiny little Maglite’s excuse for illumination, and the Surefires just aren’t cutting it for you anymore? Well, perhaps its time you stepped up and got yourself a real man’s flashlight!

What makes this flashlight so powerful? A few things. First, there’s some batteries. And not just a few, but 12 1.2V NiMH (rechargable) batteries capable of sustained 10 amp draws. They’re in a nice, heavy duty battery carrier that can withstand the load as well.
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