Pretty Cool Things

Like something out of the Jetsons, the Japanese firm, Gen Corporation, has unveiled a 75kg helicopter, the GEN H-4. It has a set of two rotors and can fly at a max speed of 50 kilometres per hour.

Its Japanese developer, Gennai Yanagisawa, 75, is planning to take his invention to the Italian city of Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, to honor the Italian artist and inventor, who had drawn up plans for several flying machines, including a helicopter and a light hang glider, several hundred years ahead of his time.

After a 9,000 year slumber, Chile’s Chaitén volcano has awoken in full fury. On May 2nd, the mountain began spewing lava, ash—and lightning.

In what’s known as a “dirty thunderstorm”, rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges— just as ice particles collide to create a charge in typical thunderstorms.

Over 4,000 people have been evacuated from the region. The ash cloud has reached a height of over 19 km, and if the eruption continues it may likely have a major effect on global climate in the coming months.

You have to wonder what this guy’s thinking… trying to outrun the cops on a bicycle. Watch what happens at the end.

This is not cool… just bizzare. I found myself watching it 7 times.