Saturday, January 10, 2015

Eat your hearts out, zombies - Atlas Missile Silo turned into Luxury Survival Condos

There are lots of survival guides showing us how to get through the zombie apocalypse, but if you don't feel as if you can handle it on your own and you have a bunch of money, this may be just the thing.

The Survival Condo is an engineering marvel designed for comfortable long-term survival in a former Atlas missile silo. It offers spacious condos with many amenities including luxury living space and a community swimming pool, dog walking park, rock climbing wall, theater, general store and an aquaponic farm, among other features, all of which are underground and encompassed by walls that are 2.5 – 9 feet thick. A half-floor unit is ~900 square feet and runs $1.5 million. The full floor version (see details below the video) costs $3 million for 1820 square feet.

A survival condo is a facility that offers individual ownership of a residential unit within a superstructure that offers the highest level of physical protection, redundant infrastructure for power, water, air, and food; as well as “shared or common” facilities for extended off-grid survival. 

This definition also includes the concept of the individual owners forming an “extended family” where everyone shares the responsibilities for group security, operation and maintenance of the facility, new daily functions for education, cross training, aquaponic farming, medical support, and as many other tasks as possible to create the highest quality of life for the “extended family” while operating in “survival mode”.
To accomplish these goals we acquired an Atlas “F” missile silo through the Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) program and the site has been examined and tested by the State of Kansas, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Environmental Protection Agency and was declared safe for development. The first Silo has been completed and is sold out, while Silo 2 is now under construction and only a few available units left.


Full-Floor Key Features

The Full-Floor Condo Suite Package: Priced at: $3,000,000

This “Package” is much more than just a “Survival Condo Unit”. This “Package” includes mandatory training, a five-year per person food supply, fully furnished and custom designed interior, special equipment for registered members, computer access to condo systems, and much more. Only a portion of the total fee is for the actual Survival Condo Unit.

Each Full-Floor Unit Includes these Key Features:

Approx. 1820 sq. ft. of Living Space (accommodates 6 to 10 people)

High-end floor and trim packages of your choosing.

3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, Kitchen, Dining room, and Great Room.

LED Big Screen TV in every unit.

State-of-the-art Kitchen: Stainless steel kitchen appliances include refrigerator, dishwasher, dual-fuel (electric & propane) professional range, wall oven, professional ventilation hood. Granite or custom concrete counter-tops.

State-of-the-art energy efficient washer and dryer in each unit.

Built in recessed full spectrum LED lighting.

Kohler bath fixtures and jetted Jacuzzi tub in each master bath.

Digital HVAC controls.

State-of-the-Art Home Automation System with structured wiring throughout including closed circuit security system camera viewing, public address/intercom system, digital weather station access, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, satellite TV feeds, public and private Internet access.

Outdoor “simulated view” window in each unit. Window simulates “Life-Like” outdoor views complete with varying light levels that reflect time of day, creating a normal living experience as if you were above ground.

Biometric Key locks (you won’t need to worry about losing a key).

Elevator and Stairwell Accessibility to all Units.


Want more? Check out the roundup of links at the end of this post:

A new video zombie survival guide made by zombies for zombies, with bonus roundup of zombie links.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Friday links

The Herd Reich? Brit farmer turned Nazi super cows into sausage because they were too aggressive.

How the 1969 “Paul McCartney is Dead” Hoax Started at an American College Newspaper and Went Viral.



Here's a gallery of Women Laughing Alone With Salad.

Macro Photographs of Weird Insects and Arachnids.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include how dogs interpret human language,  a professional dog food taster, some amazing snow sculptures (from the 2015 Harbin Ice and Snow Festival), and an answer to the oft-pondered question: Does sleeping naked prevent diabetes?

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

It’s Okay To Be Smart on explains how dogs interpret human language

Joe Hanson of It’s Okay To Be Smart explains how dogs interpret human language. 

Do you ever talk to your dog? Do they ever talk back? Humans and dogs have a truly amazing relationship, developed along an evolutionary journey that goes back nearly 10,000 years. Do they really understand what we say, think, and feel? Recent research suggests dogs know more about our language and emotions than you might think.
It’s hard to know if they’re responding to the words, or just the emotion in my voice. Or the fact that I sound ridiculous. One recent study suggests it’s both. Or all three. Researchers at the University of Sussex played sounds out of speakers on both sides of a dog. When dogs heard commands stripped of their emotional context, they turned their head to the right, suggesting they process verbal meaning in their left hemisphere. And when they heard the emotional sounds in the voice, but the words were jumbled, they turned to the left, suggesting they process emotional sounds on the right. These experiments show that dogs can definitely separate the meaning of words from the emotion.
Related:

The story of Clever Hans.

Science video: Why Do Dogs Smell Each Other's Butts?


Dogs vs physics: dogs trying to get big sticks through doors and dogs confused by glass tables.

Dog lovers, start your day with a smile: Compilation Video of Puppies Chasing Laser Pointers.

Dogs Terrified Of Walking Past Cats

Take your own Kim Kardashian-style butt picture - the Belfie Stick is a device for taking butt selfies


The selfie stick firmly took hold in American culture in 2014. But 2015 could be the year of the Belfie Stick. (Ed - actually, I've never heard of a selfie stick) 
If you’re unfamiliar, a belfie is essentially a selfie taken of your rear end from behind.
The term was coined by Kim Kardashian, and the pose is favored by celebrities like Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Heidi Klum, Nicki Minaj, Cara Delevingne, and Jen Selter.
A belfie is not easy to take, however. It is inherently a very advanced level of selfie.
Unless you’re taking the photo through a mirror, you need to hold, focus, and frame a photo over your shoulder, all without being able to see the shot.
The Belfie Stick streamlines this process.
Unlike a normal selfie stick, the Belfie Stick is bendable and ideal for taking photos from behind. The titanium steel stick can be bent and angled according to your preference and it’s easy to take a causal-looking belfie that, to the viewer, looks like a mere glance over your shoulder.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Amazing Snow Sculptures at The 2015 Harbin Ice and Snow Festival



Via The Atlantic:

Every year, in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, the city of Harbin hosts the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, featuring massive ice and snow sculptures. At night, the sculptures are colorfully illuminated and visitors can climb and play on some of the structures. The festival officially opened on January 5 this year, and will run through the end of February. According to organizers, the winter festival now draws several million tourists each year, from China and from abroad.
Workers polish a snow sculpture.
Visitors walk past a train-shaped ice sculpture.
A man jumps for a photo in front of large snow sculptures.
A maze built with ice bricks and illuminated by colored lights
Lots more photos at The Atlantic.