Bat Bombs

Here's a ten minute video about America's experiment with bat bombs in World War II. Wikipedia explains:

Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.

Developed by the United States during World War II, four biological factors gave promise to this plan. First, bats occur in large numbers (four caves in Texas are each occupied by several million bats). Second, bats can carry more than their own weight in flight (females carry their young—sometimes twins). Third, bats hibernate, and while dormant they do not require food or maintenance. Fourth, bats fly in darkness, then find secluded places (often in buildings) to hide during daylight.

The plan was to release bat bombs over Japanese cities having widely-dispersed industrial targets. The bats would spread far from the point of release due to the relatively high altitude of their release, then at dawn they would hide in buildings across the city. Shortly thereafter built-in timers would ignite the bombs, causing widespread fires and chaos. The bat bomb idea was conceived by dental surgeon Lytle S. Adams, who submitted it to the White House in January, 1942, where it was subsequently approved by President Roosevelt. Adams was recruited to research and obtain a suitable supply of bats.

Much more here.

UPDATE: Coincidentally, I just saw this:



Roger Dean's album art for "Nitro Function" by Billy Cox. Via these sites.

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Link roundup

1. This sounds like a Pixar movie:

It feels like spring has already sprung this Valentine's Day month in California, especially at the Orange County Zoo, where a wild bald eagle has been making daily visits to the zoo's 6-year-old female bald eagle, Olivia, for more than a week.

The wild bird "frequently perches near the enclosure of Olivia...and calls back and forth with her," Marisa O'Neil, public information officer at the zoo, said in a press release.

2. A long, detailed look at how Minecraft became such a huge hit, and suggestions for how other companies might emulate its success. Via.

3. I've mentioned several times how great the first half of Dead Space 2 is (if you like Alien, then you should definitely watch the Dead Space 2 playthrough), but wow, the second half of the game is terrible. The first half features an intriguing, albeit cliched plot, and one fascinating environment after another (mental hospital, zero-g high above a moon base, daycare center, gore-spattered hallways under ultraviolet light). The second half of the game is just one tedious gun battle after another against the same handful of foes in one forgettable room after another. The behavior of Ellie is so nonsensical that I was convinced (hoping) that she was a figment of Isaac's imagination, and the plot developments in the last two levels made no sense at all.

Robobunny

A Reddit user says, "Found a bunny bunny with a broken back. I made him this for $20. My vet approved. BEHOLD ROBOBUNNY!"

Mimic octopus

The mimic octopus can swim like a fish, or bury most of its arms and look like a sea snake, or stand on its legs, or run on the ocean floor like a turkey, or puff itself up to double it's size, or change the patterns on its body, or...

*Buy I'm The Biggest Thing in the Ocean at Amazon.

Onslaught of penguins

A little girl flees penguins via.

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Baby anteater

The San Francisco Zoo has a baby giant anteater.

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Video of a Fennec Fox eating carrots

Video of a Fennec Fox eating (and playing) with carrots. Via The Daily What, which just launched a spin-off blog.

*Previously: Mozilla's Fennec logo.

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Link roundup

1. NASA:

On November 26, 2010, Pakistani fishermen returned from a day at sea to report that a new island had emerged. The tiny dot of land was a mud volcano, and it was still visible on January 11, 2011, when the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite acquired the top image. The mud volcano was absent in a previous overpass on February 11, 2010, shown in the lower image.

There’s no need to change any maps, however; mud volcanoes have risen off the coast of Pakistan in the past and disappeared again within a few months, washed away by the waves and currents in the Arabian Sea. It is quite likely that this new volcano will meet the same fate. Indeed, a stream of pale brown sediment was snaking away from the volcano to the west on January 11, suggesting that erosion was already underway.

2. Whales have threesomes. Via.

3. Halo 3: ODST design progression. Via.

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Pygmy Marmoset

"With an adult body length of only 14 to 16 centimetres, and weighing as little as 120 grams, the endangered pygmy marmoset is one of the smallest primates discovered. They are normally found in the rainforest canopies of South America, but this chap was confiscated in August after being found by police inside the clothes of a Peruvian citizen." From this collection of the best science photos of the year.



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Video of Red Pandas

Red Pandas being adorable. Via these sites.

*Buy plush red pandas at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. "Entire generations of crabs, worms and other deep-sea animals can survive for years on a single whale carcass."

2. A Song of Fire and Ice fan art.

3. Lisa Hanawalt illustrates popping a pimple, under ideal conditions.

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Link roundup

1. I haven't tried it yet, but Rock, Paper, Shotgun recommends the free game Escape from the Underworld.

2. Photo of a baby elephant with its trunk stuck in a crocodile's mouth. Via these sites.

3. The winner of Gizmodo's sexy robot costume contest was a woman dressed as a Slave Leia/Terminator.

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Camel eats child

Child-devouring camel via these sites.

Cyborg seal

Scientists are mapping the ocean floor in Antarctica by gluing sensors onto seals' heads.

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Link roundup

1. "The tall, sleek, curving Vdara Hotel at CityCenter on the Strip is a thing of beauty. But the south-facing tower is also a collector and bouncer of sun rays, which -- if you're at the hotel's swimming pool at the wrong time of day and season -- can singe your hair and melt your plastic drink cups and shopping bags."

2. Octopus with Tron-like lights around the edges of its tentacles.

3. Racial and ethnic clusters mapped out in Los Angeles. Via.

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Link roundup

1. Rad photograph of a jellyfish.

2. Magnificent photo of a massive number of devil rays. The artists' site is one incredible photo after another. For example, these oxen look like some kind of three-headed god. Via.

3. American Idol is too classy for today's audience. One of the singers on Simon Cowell's new talent show is a known prostitute.

*Subscribe to National Geographic at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Mojo supposedly lets websites easily create achievement type badges for their visitors to earn. Via these sites.

2. Cute photos of koalas.

3. Sexy talk.

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Lions and tourists

Tourists in a cage surrounded by lionesses. Via.

*Buy plush lions at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. This graphic shows the incredible technological progress from the iMac to the iPhone. Via these sites.

2. The bat cave was first seen in the Batman tv serial - - they had a cave set available, but not a hangar. Also, the same link explains something I never understood about Cosmic Odyssey.

3. Here's what it's like to watch 30 great white sharks eating a 36-foot-long whale. Via.

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Black Jaguar

Black/melanistic jaguar (I think). Via these sites.

*Buy black panther toys at Amazon.