Reality Bites
You know how your mom always told you not to take shelter under a tree during a thunderstorm? Here’s why. You may want to put your headphones on for this one due to some NSFW language. More »
![Click here to read MyWeather Is a Customizable, "6X More Precise" Weather App for iPhone, Android, and Web](http://betacache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/17/2011/05/small_1300-aotd-myweather.jpg "Click here to read MyWeather Is a Customizable, "6X More Precise" Weather App for iPhone, Android, and Web")
iPhone/Android/Web: There are so many weather apps available that weather is its own category in the mobile app stores. MyWeather is a new app that promises 6x better precision than The Weather Channel, Accuweather, and others, as well as more personalization. More »
While this morning’s orbital image of Mercury is historic, these two images are the ones that have truly left me in complete awe today. Even more so than the most accurate, highest resolution view of Earth to date. More »
Turn your speakers up and listen for “Oh my fucking god!”
Windows: If you’re sporting an HTC phone with the HTC user interface you may have grown fond of the combination clock and weather forecasting widget. HTC Home ports the HTC interface from your phone to your Windows desktop, complete with animations. More »
Awesome video of this quick moving storm but its also a little anticlimactic.
This is simply a brief video played 300 times slower than it should be, showing the birth—and the death—of a lightning bolt. [Science Blogs via Twitter] More »
Windows: If you’d like more out of your weather reports than a simple sunshine icon and the high and low for the day, YoWindow gives you a real time and animated peek into today’s weather and forecast. More »
We’ve always liked Weather Underground for its no-nonsense, real-time weather info. Today they’ve released a new service called Full Screen Weather that mashes up Google Maps with weather data for nothing but maps and up-to-the-minute weather info.
(Click the image above for a closer look.)
Just point your browser to fullscreenweather.com, enter your ZIP code, and get browsing. By default the map displays temperatures as measured from stations across Weather Underground’s extensive reporting areas, but you can also switch to Precipitation and Cloud views (you can even play back cloud or precipitation movement over time). In the bottom-left of the window you get an overview of current conditions and a four-day forecast, with links to more extensive forecasts on Weather Underground proper.
The site is clean, simple, lightweight, and ad-free—which is to say, pretty great.
People are freaking out all over Norway because of what you are seeing here. According to Norwegian news outlets, the spooky giant spiral was seen, photographed, and recorded on video from all over the country. Updated.
Confirmed: It was a failed Russian missile launch. Click here for the full explanation.
Could it all be a hoax? Maybe it's a massive joke, but all kinds of Norwegian news sites are reporting on it. According to NKR—Norway's national TV channel—it could be related to a rocket fired from a Russian submarine in the White Sea. The Russians are denying any part on it at this at the moment. Nick Banbury, a witness located at Harstad, described how it all happened:
We are used to seeing lots of auroras here in Arctic Norway, but on my way to work this morning I saw something completely unexpected. Between 7:50 and 8:00 a.m. local time, there was a strange light in the sky. It consisted initially of a green beam of light similar in colour to the aurora with a mysterious rotating spiral at one end. This spiral then got bigger and bigger until it turned into a huge halo in the sky with the green beam extending down to the earth.
As hard as it is to believe, you can’t dispute the fact that the strange spiral was witnessed and recorded by thousands of people from hundreds of miles away, which means that the phenomenon occurred at a very high altitude. Even Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy agrees that this is real, and says that it was probably a rocket out of control. Norwegian astronomers and news outlets have actually confirmed that this was a failed Russian missile launch.
So barring any epic group joke, expect your new alien overlords to arrive at any time now. We can only hope they are all peace-loving voluptuous blondes with blue eyes. [Altaposten, VG, NRK via SpaceWeather via Universe Today—thanks Gonzalo Oxenford]
If you know Norwegian and have any information, contact me on AIM or by mail.
Lightning in Super Slow Mo – Watch more free videos
