'Oh my God'

Many Top 10 online lists rate the Top 10 Pink Floyd songs. Most of the lists contain the same group of highly rated Pink Floyd songs that include such well-known tracks as “Wish You Were Here‚ Money‚ Dogs‚ Echoes‚ Time‚ Hey You‚ Another Brick in the Wall‚ Shine on You Crazy Diamond‚ Brain Damage / Eclipse‚” and of course “Comfortably Numb.” While there can be no denying that the former list is an excellent representation of the best of Pink Floyd‚ there are many more Pink Floyd songs that should be listed among their best work. Although many of these The post Top 10 Pink Floyd Deep Tracks appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

The Hong Kong South China Morning Post reports that Chinese social media is trending with stories of motorists in the farthest northern reaches of the country offering free rides to semi-tropical southerners coming to visit. The spontaneously formed fleet of volunteer drivers cruises through the city when bad weather hits with signs on their windshields […] The post Hundreds of Strangers in Snowy North Give Free Car Rides to Southern Tourists Out of Their Element appeared first on Good News Network.

Human life seems fragile at times – people have been killed by seemingly innocuous objects‚ like bales of hay‚ lava lamps‚ beach umbrellas‚ and cans of whipped cream. But many people have tested the boundaries of human ability and resilience – some intentional‚ some accidental – and lived to tell their stories. You likely have heard that generally speaking‚ humans can survive three minutes without air‚ three days without water‚ and three weeks without food (the “rule of threes”). Actual limits to human survival have not been established for obvious reasons – it isn’t exactly ethical to test how long people can survive without sleep‚ water‚ air‚ or food. However‚ we can learn from people who HAVE survived incredible events and lived to talk about them. Humans are capable of fascinating‚ incredible accomplishments. Humans are capable of astounding feats‚ including some that seem to defy everything we know about the body. Consider the following documented athletic achievements: Sprinter Usain Bolt is currently the world’s fastest human‚ with a top speed clocking in at 27.8 miles per hour. Freediver Herbert Nitsch descended 702 feet into the waters of Greece – a holder of 33 world records‚ he can hold his breath for more than 9 minutes. Aleix Segura Vendrell held his breath for 24 min 3.45 seconds‚ setting a world record (and beating the previous record‚ which he also set). Strongman Zydrunas Savickas has squatted and deadlifted 955 pounds and 903 pounds‚ respectively. Annette Fredskov‚ who has multiple sclerosis‚ ran 26 miles a day – every day – for a year. On the last day‚ she ran 52 miles. Rock climber Alex Honnold scaled the nearly 3‚000-foot vertical rock formation known as El Capitan in Yosemite State Park without using ropes or other safety gear. Dean Karnazes ran 350 miles straight – which took 80 hours and 44 minutes – without stopping to sleep or eat. “Iceman” Wim Hof ran a half marathon above the Arctic Circle on his bare feet and stood in a container while covered with ice cubes for more than 112 minutes. At age 64‚ Diana Nyad swam 110 miles (between Cuba and Florida) in 52 hours‚ 54 minutes‚ 18.6 seconds.   Athletes aren’t the only people who have done impressive things. Every once in a while‚ you hear about a person who has done something that seems to defy all odds. Here is a compilation of incredible human accomplishments and tales of survival. Firefighter Chris Hickman lifted an SUV 12 inches off the ground in 2008‚ allowing other rescuers to pull a pinned woman to safety. Roy Sullivan‚ a park ranger in Virginia‚ was struck by lightning seven times – the most on record. The heaviest human ever was Jon Brower Minnoch‚ who weighed an estimated 1‚400 pounds. Juliane Koepcke survived an ordeal that some call a “double miracle”: On Christmas Eve‚ 1971‚ an airplane departing from Lima‚ Peru‚ was struck by lightning and broke apart midair. The accident killed every person on board‚ with the exception of one…a teenage girl named Juliane Koepcke. It was a miracle that she survived the plane crash‚ but she still needed a second miracle to help her survive alone in the dangerous Amazon rainforest. She got it. After eleven days in the rainforest and overcoming terrible conditions‚ Koepcke was rescued. Most people never encounter one miracle in their lifetime‚ but in the span of a week and a half in 1971‚ Koepcke experienced two miraculous survivals. (source) Harrison Okene was the sole survivor of the Jacson-4‚ a tugboat that overturned after being battered by heavy swells off the coast of Nigeria in 2013. Eleven other crew members died as the vessel sank 100 feet down. Okene survived for 60 hours in a 4 square foot air bubble. Here is the incredible footage of Okene’s rescue (watch closely beginning at the 5-minute mark – you will see the Okene reach out to grab the rescue diver’s hand). What are the extreme limits the human body can handle&;#63; While science and medicine have done their best to tell us how much our bodies can handle‚ there are people who have experienced events that seem to challenge those parameters. Some intriguing examples involve body temperature. The human body is pretty good at regulating its own thermostat‚ with a normal core temperature between 97ËšF and 99ËšF. On average‚ normal body temperature is 98.6ËšF (37ËšC). To maintain this temperature without the help of warming or cooling devices‚ the surrounding environment needs to be at about 82ËšF (28ËšC). If your body temperature drops to 95°F (35°C) or lower‚ you have hypothermia‚ a condition that can potentially lead to cardiac arrest‚ brain damage‚ or death. If your body temperature reaches 104°F (40°C)‚ you have hyperthermia. If it rises as high as 107.6°F (42 °C)‚ you can suffer brain damage or death. Heat kills more people on an annual basis than any other weather-related factor. How long it takes to perish from extreme body temperatures varies‚ as Live Science explains: Most humans will suffer hyperthermia after 10 minutes in extremely humid‚ 140-degree-Fahrenheit (60-degrees-Celsius) heat. Death by cold is harder to delimit. A person usually expires when their body temperature drops to 70 degrees F (21 degrees C)‚ but how long this takes to happen depends on how “used to the cold” a person is‚ and whether a mysterious‚ latent form of hibernation sets in‚ which has been known to happen. (source) Regarding the possibility that humans may have a latent ability to hibernate: Occasionally‚ seemingly miraculous cases of humans going in and out of hibernation-like states are reported. In 2006‚ for example‚ a 35-year-old man was rescued on a snowy mountainside in Japan 24 days after going missing. He seemed to have survived by entering a state of nearly suspended animation: His organs had shut down‚ his body temperature had dropped to 71 degrees‚ and his metabolism had slowed almost to a standstill. Subsequently‚ the man made a full recovery. A cell biologist named Mark Roth and his colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle think that a gaseous compound called hydrogen sulfide may be the key to suspended animation. (source) “Nobody is dead until they are warm and dead.” Anna B&;aring;genholm survived after a skiing accident in 1999 left her trapped under a layer of ice for 80 minutes in freezing water. She was able to find an air pocket under the ice but suffered circulatory arrest after 40 minutes in the water. During this time she suffered extreme hypothermia and her body temperature dropped to 56.7 °F (13.7 °C)‚ one of the lowest survived body temperatures ever recorded in a human with accidental hypothermia. Dr. Jel Coward‚ a GP in Tywyn‚ North Wales‚ and an expert on wilderness medicine‚ told the BBC that people suffering from extreme hypothermia often gave the impression of being dead‚ particularly as it can be difficult to detect breathing or a pulse: “This case really does bring it home to us how cautious one has to be before diagnosing death in people who are cold. There is an old saying that nobody is dead until they are warm and dead.” (source) In 2011‚ 7-year-old Stella Berndtsson survived a 55.4 °F (13.0 °C) body temperature and fully recovered after two months of rehabilitation. Humans (all mammals‚ actually) have a mammalian diving reflex which is the body’s physiological response to submersion in cold water and includes selectively shutting down parts of the body in order to conserve energy for survival. How high can we go&;#63; At elevations higher than 15‚000 feet‚ consciousness starts to fade – that is‚ unless you are acclimated. This is because we tend to pass out when the pressure drops below 57 percent of atmospheric pressure. Climbers can withstand higher altitudes because they gradually acclimate their bodies to the drop in oxygen‚ and people who live at elevations above 8‚000 feet have adapted to lower oxygen levels as well. Altitudes above 26‚000 feet are referred to as “dead zones” because no one can survive long at that elevation without an oxygen tank. How long can we go without food and water&;#63; Despite the “rule of threes” adage‚ there aren’t any hard and fast rules about how long we can survive without food or water‚ Healthline explains: There are some studies that explore old research on starvation‚ as well as examine more recent occurrences of starvation in the real world. These instances include hunger strikes‚ religious fasts‚ and other situations. These studies have uncovered several observations about starvation: An article in Archiv Fur Kriminologie states the body can survive for 8 to 21 days without food and water and up to two months if there’s access to an adequate water intake. Modern-day hunger strikes have provided insight into starvation. One study in the British Medical Journal cited several hunger strikes that ended after 21 to 40 days. These hunger strikes ended because of the severe‚ life-threatening symptoms the participants were experiencing. There seems to be a certain “minimum” number on the body mass index (BMI) scale for survival. According to the journal Nutrition‚ men with a BMI of less than 13 and women with a BMI of less than 11 cannot sustain life. An article in the British Medical Journal concludes that those who are of a normal weight will lose a higher percentage of their body weight and muscle tissue faster than those who are obese when starving during the first three days. According to the journal Nutrition‚ women’s body composition makes them able to withstand starvation longer. (source) Here are more fascinating facts about the human body and survival. Humans are bioluminescent. The reason you haven’t noticed your family and friends glowing&;#63; The light just isn’t perceptible to the human eye. Your brain can survive for five to 10 minutes without oxygen. Stomach acid can dissolve metal. If it touched your skin‚ it would burn right through it. At some point‚ you may have fought cancer. While awake‚ your brain produces enough electricity to light a lightbulb. You carry‚ on average‚ about four pounds of bacteria around in your body. Less than 1 percent of bacteria can cause illness. The highest recorded fever ever was 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The human brain has a memory capacity which is the equivalent of more than four terabytes on a hard drive. What do you think&;#63; Have you heard any survival stories that make you question the limits of human resilience&;#63; Please share your thoughts in the comments. About the Author Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of an experienced journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths‚ misrepresentations‚ and blatant lies of the MSM. The post Here Are the SHOCKING Extremes the Human Body Can Survive appeared first on The Organic Prepper.

Guide Dogs UK announces that their guide dog‚ dubbed as the &;quot;Dogfather&;quot;‚ is retiring after fathering a total of 39 litters and 323 puppies.

Air Defense of Israel Made Possible by the Abraham Accords

One of NASA’s most ambitious missions‚ bringing back samples from the surface of Mars for analysis on Earth‚ is in trouble. Cost estimates are blowing out‚ and some scientists are questioning the priority given to the project. However‚ in an announcement on the mission’s future‚ NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remained committed to the idea (with modifications) while seeking ways to improve. However‚ rather than settling anything‚ the announcement may have just kicked the real decision down the road.Once estimated at $8-10 billion‚ Mars Sample Return’s budget is $11 billion‚ and there are doubts whether it can stick to it. With such a large portion of NASA’s exploration budget going into one project‚ other missions are under threat. Few question that the mission is more important than any one of those it might displace‚ given the possibility of finding life in those Martian rocks. On the other hand‚ if missions to several other planets need to be canceled or postponed‚ might the cumulative sacrifice be too great to make&;#63;Nelson acknowledged the issues at a public announcement‚ saying; “Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken. The bottom line is‚ an $11 billion budget is too expensive‚ and a 2040 return date is too far away‚” NASA thinks it has some of the answers. Nelson was speaking while releasing NASA’s response to the Independent Review Board report on the mission released last September.That report pulled no punches stating; “There is currently no credible‚ congruent technical‚ nor properly margined schedule‚ cost‚ and technical baseline that can be accomplished with the likely available funding.”The response outlines some changes to make the mission less complex and less likely to fail‚ but it’s clear NASA does not think it has all the answers yet. “Safely landing and collecting the samples‚ launching a rocket with the samples off another planet – which has never been done before – and safely transporting the samples more than 33 million miles back to Earth is no small task. We need to look outside the box to find a way ahead that is both affordable and returns samples in a reasonable timeframe‚” Nelson said.The announcement calls for NASA (and perhaps external) scientists to provide ideas on how to do the job cheaper and hopefully faster. Already‚ 70 experts have been interviewed and 20 changes to mission design have been evaluated. Most dramatically‚ the idea of using two Ingenuity-type helicopters to retrieve the samples if Perseverance is no longer operating has been dropped for weight reasons‚ although the replacement plan is not yet clear.Instead of the budget being $11 billion‚ it is now in the $8 billion to $11 billion range‚ which may not ease the anxiety of planetary scientists focused further out‚ who fear their projects are on the chopping block. The anticipated return time for the samples Perseverance is already collecting has been moved to 2040‚ from the previous unofficial targets of 2029 and 2033 despite Nelson’s comments.The key obstacle lies in the complexity Nelson referred to. Perseverance and Ingenuity have done their job superbly‚ collecting some samples scientists can’t wait to get their hands on. To get them back‚ however‚ requires flying two spacecraft to Mars. One of these‚ provided by the European Space Agency (ESA)‚ will go into orbit. The other‚ the Martian Ascent Vehicle (MAV)‚ will land on the surface‚ retrieve the samples and return them to the MAV.  This will then become the first spacecraft in human history to take off from another planet‚ rendezvous with the orbiter‚ and return to Earth‚ where measures will be taken to prevent any possible lifeforms from killing us all.Even if some outstanding novel thinking finds a way to slash the costs of one stage of the project‚ it could be eaten up in cost blowouts elsewhere. After all‚ these are the norm for missions seeking to do something really new.Yet to cancel the mission would be a massive blow to NASA’s prestige‚ as well as to scientific research. For many people‚ Mars is the planet that matters – not just a place to search for life but our stepping stone to colonize the universe. The 2022 NASA strategic report mentions Mars 77 times‚ far more than all the other planets (Earth aside) and their moons combined. The hype about sending humans to Mars emphasizes this. To anyone who has absorbed promises of a million people on Mars by the 2060s‚ the idea we can’t even bring a sample back ten years earlier is anathema. Meanwhile‚ The Chinese Space Agency has expressed an intention to bring back a Martian sample by 2031. They may be equally unlikely to meet that goal‚ but it keeps the pressure on NASA.So NASA is trapped between a red rock and a multitude of hard places. It might hope Congress will come up with more money‚ but under the current environment that seems a long shot.Of course‚ it’s always possible a billionaire will decide they want this project to be their legacy and choose to fund it‚ or take it over wholesale – but barring that‚ delays might be NASA’s best option.

It's estimated that there are around 1082 atoms in the observable universe. With each element in the periodic table containing at least one electron‚ you can therefore safely assume there are at least 10‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000‚000 electrons in the observable universe as well.Or can you&;#63; According to a theory proposed by theoretical physicist John Wheeler‚ who outlined his thoughts in a conversation with fellow physicist Richard Feynman‚ there is only one electron – it just looks like there are a lot more because it is moving forward and backward in time. As odd as this sounds‚ it is itself a response to the incredible weirdness of electrons. Electrons‚ like other elementary particles‚ are indistinguishable from each other. They have the same negative charge‚ the same mass‚ and the same spin. Swap one electron for another‚ and you won't be able to tell. Its antiparticle – the positron – are also indistinguishable from each other‚ identical in their charge‚ mass‚ and spin. Strangely‚ they are identical to electrons‚ aside from their positive charge. It was these factors that led Wheeler to suggest that electrons and positrons were actually just one particle‚ negatively charged as it goes forward in time‚ and positively charged as it goes backward in time.             &;quot;I received a telephone call one day at the graduate college at Princeton from Professor Wheeler‚ in which he said‚ 'Feynman‚ I know why all electrons have the same charge and the same mass'‚&;quot; Feynman said in his 1965 Nobel Lecture.&;quot;'Because‚ they are all the same electron&;#33;' And‚ then he explained on the telephone‚ 'suppose that the world lines which we were ordinarily considering before in time and space – instead of only going up in time were a tremendous knot‚ and then‚ when we cut through the knot‚ by the plane corresponding to a fixed time‚ we would see many‚ many world lines and that would represent many electrons‚ except for one thing. If in one section this is an ordinary electron world line‚ in the section in which it reversed itself and is coming back from the future we have the wrong sign to the proper time – to the proper four velocities – and that’s equivalent to changing the sign of the charge‚ and‚ therefore‚ that part of a path would act like a positron'.”That would make for an old particle‚ having bounced back and forth through time a truly incomprehensible number of times. While this would be a fun way to explain why electrons and positrons share properties‚ it is incredibly unlikely to be correct. As Feynman points out‚ there are not nearly as many positrons as electrons in the universe‚ and there is more matter than antimatter. If positrons and electrons were the same elementary particle going forward and backward in time‚ you'd expect there to be an even number.&;quot;Well‚ maybe [the missing positrons] are hidden in the protons or something‚&;quot; was the explanation that Wheeler offered‚ pretty unconvincingly. Though a thought experiment‚ and likely not supposed to be taken seriously‚ the phone call had a lasting impact on Feynman‚ writing a paper on how positrons can be described as if they are electrons moving backward in time.&;quot;I did not take the idea that all the electrons were the same one from him as seriously as I took the observation that positrons could simply be represented as electrons going from the future to the past in a back section of their world lines‚&;quot; he added. &;quot;That‚ I stole&;#33;&;quot;

For the first time‚ a donated heart has been flown 12 hours and 6‚750 kilometers (4‚194 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean and successfully transplanted into its recipient.The donor heart came from a 48-year-old man in the French West Indies who had a stroke and‚ three days later‚ was declared brain dead. After a routine procedure to collect the heart‚ it was transported via a commercial airline to Paris‚ France‚ marking the first time a donated heart has flown across the Atlantic.At the Piti&;eacute;-Salp&;ecirc;tri&;egrave;re Hospital in Paris‚ surgeons Guillaume Lebreton and Pascal Leprince successfully transplanted the heart into a 70-year-old man with a terminal heart condition. According to a letter written by the duo to a medical journal‚ both of the heart’s ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart that pump blood out to the body) began to function normally immediately. The recipient was discharged from hospital 30 days later.Lebreton and Leprince called the success “a feat previously unimaginable in organ transplantation”. It was achieved as part of a pilot study known as PEGASE‚ which aims to establish whether successful transplant is feasible after the heart has been preserved for prolonged periods of time – specifically‚ on journeys from Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.The heart was preserved using a technique called hypothermic oxygenated perfusion‚ where a heart is kept cold whilst oxygenated fluid is pumped through it by a machine. Whilst there have been clinical trials exploring such a technique‚ according to the surgeons‚ this is the first time it’s been tested for such extreme transport times.If the results seen on this occasion are successfully replicated in the rest of the study‚ it’s hoped that the technique could have “the potential to redefine the landscape of heart transplantation with unlimited geographical procurement and lowered time constraints.”At present‚ transplanting hearts is often a race against time – they generally need to be transplanted within four hours of being removed from a donor.Increasing the geographical pool of potential donors could also have an impact on transplant list waiting times. In the US‚ for example‚ there are around 3‚000 people on the waiting list for a heart on any given day‚ but only 2‚000 hearts are available each year. Depending on eligibility criteria‚ some people may be waiting for years; being able to get hearts from a wider range of places could cut down that time.And it doesn’t have to be expensive either‚ said Lebreton and Leprince. “We wanted to make this operation reproduceable and keep transport costs bearable‚” they wrote. “Unlike conventional donor-heart transport practices involving expensive private jets‚ we therefore flew in the coach-class cabin aboard a commercial airliner (Air France).”So‚ who knows&;#63; If you happen to be on a transatlantic flight in the near future‚ you may well be traveling with an extra special passenger.The surgeons' letter is published in The Lancet. 

It’s April‚ which means the second meteor shower of the year is upon us: the Lyrids. Known for its super-fast shooting stars that zip across the night sky in a flash‚ the Lyrid meteor shower is currently ramping up its activity and is set to peak next week.How To View The Lyrid Meteor ShowerThis year‚ the Lyrids will run from April 15 to April 29‚ with a peak of activity occurring on the night of 22 to 23 April‚ according to the UK Space Agency blog.The Lyrid meteor shower is best seen in the Northern Hemisphere during the dark hours (after moonset and before dawn). On a clear‚ moonless night‚ you can expect to see 10 to 15 meteors per hour. The Lyrids have been known to very occasionally deliver surges of intense activity that bring over 100 meteors per hour. In 1803‚ for example‚ astronomers spotted up to 700 meteors an hour.Unfortunately‚ 2024 won’t have the most favorable conditions for star gazing. A full moon is set for April 23‚ just after the peak of activity‚ meaning the night sky might be drowned out by moonlight. Likewise‚ you should keep an eye out for April showers‚ as cloudy weather conditions could obscure the spectacle. As with any meteor shower‚  they are best viewed from a dark place that’s far away from street lamps and other artificial lighting – that includes phone screens. You should be patient and go outside early to let your eyes acclimatize to the lower light conditions. What Is the Lyrid Meteor Shower&;#63;They are called Lyrids as they appear to come from the direction of the Lyra constellation. However‚ they actually have little to do with this distant group of stars. Meteor showers are the product of small space rocks and dust crashing into Earth's atmosphere at high speed and burning up‚ creating a high-energy fireball. To Earth-bound humans‚ they appear as a bright streak of light in the sky. In the case of the Lyrids‚ the rocky debris comes from comet C/186 G1 (Thatcher) which left a trail of cosmic dust when it passed by our planet hundreds of years ago.It takes 415.5 years for Thatcher (the comet‚ not the late British Prime Minister) to orbit the sun once. It was observed first back in 1861 and won't be seen from Earth again until 2283 CE during its next passage around the Sun‚ long after our lifetime (well‚ probably). The Lyrids are the oldest recorded meteor shower in the world‚ as Chinese astronomers documented their appearance over 2‚500 years ago. In ancient records dated to April 687 BCE‚ Chinese court astronomers wrote how the &;quot;stars fell like rain&;quot; in the empty night sky.