Monday, March 19, 2012

There's a town in Italy that doesn't get sunlight for 84 days a year. They've solved this problem with a giant mirror

Viganella Sun Mirror

Call it the reverse Montgomery Burns scheme. The little town of Viganella is located amidst the Italian side of the Alps. During the winter time, the shift in the sun's pattern makes it so that it never clears the 1600 feet tall mountain that's close to the town. This means that for 84 days, they do not get any sunlight. The townspeople end up suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, a type of mild depression. 
To solve this, the government installed a massive mirror on the side of the mountain. It measure 26x16 feet and is computer controlled to follow the trajectory of the Sun. The result is that starting in 2006, the town was able to celebrate the first winter sun in 600 years!

Viganella Sun Mirror


In the Titanic, the band actually did stay and play music as the ship went down. They all died


 
You might've thought that the band playing music while the ship was going down was fake. A creative liberty director James Cameron took to enhance the drama in the scenes when people are in chaos trying to leave the ship. 
In reality the band, stayed on and played calm, airy music to keep the passenger calm while they were boarding the life boats. They were not obligated to do so, as they were not technically part of the ship's crew. None of them survived the sinking of the ship. Although it's debated which song they last played on the boat, mutliple accounts confirm their brave and selfless sacrifice. 
 

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A man survived being trapped under snow for 2 months by hibernating!


(not the real pic)

A Swedish 44-year old man had a traffic accident near a little town just south of the Arctic Circle. As a result, he was trapped in his snow-covered car for 2 months!

He was found by chance thanks to a passerby who ran into his car. He was taken to a hospital. The doctors explained that the man was lucky that the car experienced what they called a "natural igloo" effect, which protected him a bit from the temperatures that reached -30F in the area.

In addition, the man survived by eating snow (which is how he got water) and burning off his body fat. The doctors say he went into a state similar to hibernation which helped him survive.

The man has declined interviews but has said he wants everyone to know he is doing all right.