Month: January 2025

Gigantic caves of Vietnam 

Aside Markozen.com Geography

In the spring of 2009, British scientist Jonathan Sims was a member of the first expedition to enter Hang Son Doong, or “mountain river cave,” in a remote part of central Vietnam. Hidden in rugged Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park near the border with Laos, the cave is part of a network of 150 or so caves, many still not surveyed, in the Annamite Mountains.

There’s a jungle inside Vietnam’s mammoth cavern. A skyscraper could fit too. And the end is out of sight.

A giant cave column swagged in flowstone towers over explorers swimming through the depths of Hang Ken, one of 20 new caves discovered last year in Vietnam.

A half-mile block of 40-story buildings could fit inside this lit stretch of Hang Son Doong, which may be the world’s biggest subterranean passage.

Mist sweeps past the hills of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, its 330 square miles set aside in 2001 to protect one of Asia’s largest cave systems. During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese soldiers hid in caves from U.S. air strikes. Bomb craters now serve as fishponds.

Going underground, expedition members enter Hang En, a cave tunneled out by the Rao Thuong River. Dwindling to a series of ponds during the dry months, the river can rise almost 300 feet during the flood season, covering the rocks where cavers stand.

Like a petrified waterfall, a cascade of fluted limestone, greened by algae, stops awestruck cavers in their tracks. They’re near the exit of Hang En.

Navigating an algae-skinned maze, expedition organizers Deb and Howard Limbert lead the way across a sculpted cavescape in Hang Son Doong. Ribs form as calcite-rich water overflows pools.

“It sounded like a roaring train,” said “Sweeny” Sewell, describing the noise a second before a waterfall exploded into Hang Son Doong through the Watch Out for Dinosaurs doline, or sinkhole opening. A rare dry-season downpour produced the thundering runoff. Were the cavers scared of drowning? “Maybe if it were a smaller cave,” said expedition leader Howard Limbert, “but not here.”

A jungle inside a cave? A roof collapse long ago in Hang Son Doong let in light; plants thickly followed. As “Sweeny” Sewell climbs to the surface, hikers struggle through the wryly named Garden of Edam.

1983 Mobile Multi-Function Computerized Robot

Aside Markozen.com History, Technology

Hubot by Hubotics, Carlsbad, Ca. 1983

Hubot is 44-inch tall, 110 pound battery- operated personal robot and when programmed, Hubot will remember how to get around the house without bumping into walls. Hubot includes a complete mobile work station, an Entertainment package and robotic functions. The entertainment package included a voice synthesizer with a 1200-word vocabulary, a 12″ black and white television, and AM/FM stereo cassette player, an Atari 2600 video game set and a digital clock that displayed time and temperature. Inside is a complete proprietary SysCon computer with B&W monitor, Detachable keyboard and optional printer which is used to do computing task and control the robotic functions. There was an optional voice command module that included a microphone to command Hubot verbally. Hubot could be preprogrammed to follow a programmed path or driven with a joystick. Once taught a path, Hubot could be command to follow it again with the touch of a button.

Features:
full-featured computer “brain” with CP/M 2.212-inch combination TV/monitor64-key detachable ASCII keyboard5¼” DS/DD floppy disk drivesonic and infrared obstacle avoidancebuilt-in Atari video game systembuilt-in AM/FM stereo w/ cassette, equalizer and speakersphonetic voice synthesizer for unlimited vocabularyfull-direction movement		Options:
removable serving tray40 column dot matrix printer ($300)additional 5¼” floppy disk drive ($395)plastic “home base” (similar to Omnibot 2000) for programming referencevoice recognition for vocal command controlfully articulated arm ($700)heat/smoke/intrusion sentry package (< $300)automatic battery recharge with charger locatorvacuum cleaner attachment ($300)remote control300 baud modem

Killer Condom “Ouch!”

Aside Markozen.com Crime, Movies, Sex

Killer Condom (German: Kondom des Grauens, lit. ’Condom of Horror’) is a 1996 action comedy horror film directed by Martin Walz [de] from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ralf König, based on the comic books Kondom des Grauens and Bis auf die Knochen (Down to the Bones) by König.

It was distributed in the United States by Troma Entertainment, which promoted the film at the Cannes Film Festival with the help of “a six-foot-long fanged condom”.

In the seedy parts of New York City, gay NYPD detective Luigi Mackeroni is investigating a series of bizarre attacks at the Hotel Quickie in which male guests have all had their penises mysteriously bitten off. While at the hotel, he enlists the services of a gigolo named Billy and invites him up to the crime scene. When the two men are about to engage in sex, a carnivorous living condom interrupts them and bites off Mackeroni’s right testicle.

Now on a personal vendetta, Mackeroni begins his lone quest to not only bring a stop to the rash of condom attacks, but also to face his true feelings toward Billy the gigolo.

Polar Bear goes for a big swim, a very big swim!  

Aside Markozen.com Animals

A polar bear swam continuously for over nine days, covering 687km (426 miles), a new study has revealed.

Scientists studying bears around the Beaufort sea, north of Alaska, claim this endurance feat could be a result of climate change.

Polar bears are known to swim between land and sea ice floes to hunt seals.

But the researchers say that increased sea ice melts push polar bears to swim greater distances, risking their own health and future generations.

In their findings, published in Polar Biology, researchers from the US Geological Survey reveal the first evidence of long distance swimming by polar bears (Ursus maritimus).

“This bear swam continuously for 232 hours and 687 km and through waters that were 2-6 degrees C,” says research zoologist George M. Durner.

“We are in awe that an animal that spends most of its time on the surface of sea ice could swim constantly for so long in water so cold. It is truly an amazing feat.”

Although bears have been observed in open water in the past, this is the first time one’s entire journey has been followed.

By fitting a GPS collar to a female bear, researchers were able to accurately plot its movements for two months as it sought out hunting grounds.

The polar bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore, being more than twice as big as the Siberian Tiger.  It shares the title of largest land predator (and largest bear species) with the Kodiak bear.  Adult males weigh 350–680 kg (770–1500 lbs) and measure 2.4–3 m (7.9–9.8 ft) in length.   Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–249 kg (330–550 lb), measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5.9–7.9 ft) in length. When pregnant, however, they can weigh as much as 499 kg (1,100 lb).

Polar Bear swimming underwater at San Diego Zoo.

As of 2018, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) reports that the global population of polar bears is 15,000 to 20,000, and is declining.  In 2006, the IUCN upgraded the polar bear from a species of least concern to a vulnerable species.  It cited a “suspected population reduction of >30% within three generations (45 years)”, due primarily to global warming. Other risks to the polar bear include pollution in the form of toxic contaminants, conflicts with shipping, stresses from recreational polar-bear watching, and oil and gas exploration and development.  The IUCN also cited a “potential risk of over-harvest” through legal and illegal hunting.