Amazing photos offer a rare glimpse inside Google

The internet isn't, as Senator Ted Stevens suggested, a "series of tubes," but you will certainly notice a lot of tubes in this amazing photo gallery of Google's data centers.

These colorful pipes are responsible for carrying water in and out of our Oregon data center. The blue pipes supply cold water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled.

Our Council Bluffs data center provides over 115,000 square feet of space. We make the best out of every inch, so you can use services like Search and YouTube in the most efficient way possible.

A rare look behind the server aisle. Here hundreds of fans funnel hot air from the server racks into a cooling unit to be recirculated. The green lights are the server status LEDs reflecting from the front of our servers.

(via Colossal)

Zombie-proof fortress for sale

If you're looking for the perfect place to hole up during the zombie apocalypse, why not consider a former anti-ballistic missile complex? Check out the details at GSAAuctions.gov:

The Stanley Mickelsen Safeguard Complex (SRMSC) is an Anti-Ballistic Missile complex which was developed to preserve the United States’ second strike capability against Soviet nuclear missile attacks. The property is located in North Dakota and was the United States’ first Anti-Ballistic Nuclear Missile Defense System. The SRMSC became operational in 1975 and was deactivated in 1976. Since then, the property has been in caretaker status.
The MSR site offers approximately 431 acres with various buildings totaling 258,441 square feet and 207.36 line of sight easement acres, more or less. The MSR site is identified in three sections: Vacant Land (approx. 201 acres); Non Tactical Area (approx. 118 acres) and Tactical Area (approx. 111 acres). The Vacant Land was developed for housing but the housing units were removed. The Non Tactical Area offers several improvements including a chapel, community center, administration building, industrial building, pump house, maintenance building, and office building constructed by former telephone service contractor. The Tactical Area offers the Missile Site Radar Building, power plant, universal missile building, warhead handling building and access sentry station. The tactical area also offers 30 Spartan and 16 Sprint missile silos.

Sorry. All the missiles have been removed.

(via Dave Barry's Blog)

Man cooking squirrel with blowtorch sets fire to apartments

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Charlie Brown coming to the big screen

The beloved Peanuts characters created by Charles M. Schulz are headed to the big screen. The movie is scheduled to hit theaters in November of 2015, marking the 65th anniversary of the original comic strip and the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Schulz's son, Craig, and grandson, Bryan, are involved in writing and producing the film.

I was excited when I first heard the news, but something Craig Schulz said in a statement bugged me: "We have been working on this project for years. We finally felt the time was right and the technology is where we need it to be to create this film."

What does he mean by "technology"? Are we talking about state-of-the-art computer animation, or, worse, 3-D? Good grief! I'm sorry, but I just don't see what technology has to do with remaining true to the spirit of the classic comic strip. I think that moving away from the hand-drawn feel of the animation is the best way to ruin it.

Of course, I may be jumping the gun; the movie is still three years away. I guess I'll just have to wait and see along with every other fan.

Record-breaking freefall jump from 120,000 feet delayed

World-record BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner was supposed to have completed his 120,000-foot supersonic free-fall yesterday, but the mission was scrubbed because of high wind gusts. If successful, the jump will look something like this:


You can follow mission updates and watch the actual jump live at RedBullStratos.com.

Angry Birds: Star Wars due out next month

Angry Birds: Star Wars will be available for download on November 8.

A family of Imperial Walkers out for a drive

Car with built-in drive-in theater

Since drive-in theaters are going the way of the dodo, why not just take one along with you? The Smart ForStars from Daimler allows you to do just that. All you have to do is pull up to a flat wall and turn on the video projector mounted in the the hood. Bluetooth technology connects the car to your smart phone, allowing you to watch movies virtually anywhere.

I wonder if it would work while driving through thick fog.

(from Daimler, via DVice)

Squirrel Roundup (September 28, 2012)

Here's a look at some recent news stories involving everyone's favorite vandalizing vermin.

Flaming squirrel ignites grass fire
The humble town of Spearfish, South Dakota, was the target of a squirrel terrorist attack:

Chief Travis Ladson said a squirrel had gotten shocked while touching the power lines, which caused the transformer to blow forcing the squirrel, which was on fire, to drop to the ground. Dubbed the "Dead Squirrel Fire," crews had the blaze knocked down in 20 minutes. "We had a really good response and everyone did a good job," Ladson said.

Houston residents aren't aware of the threat squirrels pose
Squirrel Watch 2012 is under way! KPRC in Houston asks viewers to send in their squirrel shots. I'm thinking of having readers send in pictures of their shot squirrels.

Voice of famous cartoon squirrel turns 95
June Foray, the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel (a.k.a. "Rocky") turned 95 on September 18:

In her decades as a voice actress, June Foray has portrayed a multitude of animated characters: From Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show," to Witch Hazel from Looney Tunes and Cindy Lou Who on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Is that a squirrel in your shirt?
Sure, the guy had a few beers, but I think the squirrel orchestrated the whole thing:

Squirrel home invasion in Germany
This is why we Americans have the Second Amendment:

Of course, even I have to admit that exit was pretty amazing!

Clever squirrel prank
Gets rid of the critter with no messy cleanup:

(via 22 Words)

Global bacon shortage?!

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!