Spectacular Drone Saves

I really want to buy a drone. But they seem to be so fragile.
Plus, it is increasingly becoming illegal to fly them in any place where it is worth flying them.

And the battery lasts only 10-15min at best.

Imagine your $500+ drone with its $300+ camera running out of energy and starting its descent towards water.

That's exactly what happened to this guy from the Netherlands.




And also to this guy at Floreat beach in Western Australia.




Great saves!
And lucky there was enough energy for a slow decent, and not a complete plummeting.

(source)

Amazing Footage of Rare Off-Season 2013 Tornado in Illinois

The main tornado season in the United States is between April and July.
Of course that doesn't mean that tornadic events outside these dates do not happen.

One particularly late event happened last November.

During the tornado outbreak of November 17th 2013, 8 people lost their lives as a direct result of tornadic activity. The outbreak affected the states of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In this gripping video, a dad and his daughter are inside their home in Washington, Illinois, as the tornado approaches. The tornado was an EF4 (Enhanced Fujita scale) with winds speeds of 267-332km/h (166-200mph). Fortunately, they were both unharmed, albeit understandably shaken.





A constant question coming from us Europeans when we see footage like this is why do Americans build their houses out of wood? Why not use cement and steel?

I have read in comment sections and forums Americans insisting that no house, whichever way it is built, can withstand an EF5 or even EF4 tornado (winds >267km/h). It would be interesting to see the effect of a strong tornado on a house made with a cement-steel skeleton, foundation and walls. Personal opinion, there might be a lot of damage through weak points, like windows, but the structure itself should remain standing. Of course it might need to be demolished afterwards, but at least the walls could provide some protection against deadly debris (instead of becoming debris themselves). In the end, the true reason why Americans use a lot of wood and other light materials in their homes is because they are cheaper that way, plus the probability of a house being hit by a tornado is actually so small that it doesn't justify adding the extra cost to all houses being built.  

Some before and after images from Washington, Illinois, can be found here (Daily Mail) and here (esri.com). Below, you can see the path of the tornado.

It's amazing how houses that were not directly in the path of the tornado (perhaps just 50m away) appear almost undamaged.


(source)

He Doesn't See It! He Doesn't See It!

It can happen to the best.

In 1994 at the Intel Grand Prix in London, chess grandmasters Viswanathan Anand (white, and future World Champion) and Vassily Ivanchuk (black) were playing a game of blitz chess (both starting with only 5 minutes of time), when Ivanchuk, having put Anand in a very difficult position, had the chance for checkmate in one move. But he didn't see it!

Skip to 7:22 for the particularly good part.

The commentary by grandmasters Maurice Ashley and Daniel King adds a lot to the moment.





"And he's running with his king!"

The Roof, the Roof, the Roof is on Fire!

Four days ago, a fire erupted on the roof of an apartment complex that was being built in Houston, Texas. Everyone evacuated safely, except for one construction worker who was stranded on the top floor.

Here is the amazing footage of his rescue by the fire fighters.





This footage contains:

disaster (raging roof fire),
suspense (will he survive?),
action (falling to the lower level),
humour ("I was going to get an apartment over there too...", "they're cheaper now"),
obliviousness ("hey, hey,  what about this guy?", "they got him!", "oh, OK...")
and more.

Here's the fire from further away.





And a couple of photos.

And for anyone not getting the title.... click here.


(source) (news report)