10/14/13 ~ DIGITAL WORLD ENV

Monday, October 14, 2013

Biography - Jean-Claude Van Damme

3:36 PM No comments

QUICK FACTS

NAME: Jean-Claude Van Damme
OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Martial Arts Expert
BIRTH DATE: October 18, 1960 (Age: 52)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium
AKA: Frank Cujo
FULL NAME: Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
NICKNAME: "The Muscles from Brussels"
AKA: Jean-Claude Van Damme
ZODIAC SIGN: Libra

BEST KNOWN FOR

Belgium-born action-film star Jean-Claude Van Damme has showcased his patented splits and acrobatic kicks in such movies as Bloodsport.

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Synopsis

Jean-Claude Van Damme was born on October 18, 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Belgium. A champion martial artist and bodybuilder as a teenager, he used his physical abilities to become the star of such American action flicks as Bloodsport (1988) andDouble Impact (1991). Van Damme endured personal and professional difficulties beginning in the 1990s, but has since regained some of his star power.

Early Years and Career

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg was born on October 18, 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium. A skinny child, he began studying Shotokan karate at age 11, and also eagerly took to weightlifting and ballet. As a teenager, Van Damme won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association and was named "Mr. Belgium" in a bodybuilding competition.

Jean-Claude Van Damme opened a gym in Brussels and earned some modeling work, but he was enthralled with the idea of becoming a film star. After briefly attempting to break into the thriving martial-arts movie industry in Hong Kong, China, he moved to Los Angeles, California, in the early 1980s to pursue his Hollywood dreams.

Big-Screen Stardom

Originally calling himself "Frank Cujo," Jean-Claude Van Damme received bit parts in feature films and worked as a cabdriver, waiter, aerobics instructor and nightclub bouncer as he tried to make a name for himself in Tinseltown. He was featured in the 1986 martial-arts flick No Retreat, No Surrender, but his big break came after he displayed his ability to perform a jumping, 360-degree "helicopter kick" to B-list producer Menahem Golan, who cast the unknown actor in Bloodsport (1988). The low-budget film grossed a surprising $35 million at the box office, and Van Damme followed with another successful starring role in Kickboxer the following year.

Over the following decade, Van Damme filled the big screen in such action flicks as Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992),Time Cop (1994), Sudden Death (1995) and Maximum Risk (1996), overcoming his limited acting chops with his acrobatic kicks and patented splits. He made his directorial debut with The Quest (1996), but Double Team (1997) and Knock Off (1998) were flops, and by the start of the 2000s most of his movies landed in the straight-to-video bin.

In 2008, Van Damme resurfaced as a fictionalized version of himself in the part-satirical, part-confessional JCVD. His performance drew positive reviews and triggered something of a revival for the former action star, who went on to reprise a familiar role in Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2010) and voice the character of Master Croc in Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). In 2012, Van Damme was back in his element as part of the veteran butt-kicking ensemble featured in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables 2.

Personal Life

Van Damme became addicted to cocaine and sleeping pills while at the height of his stardom in the 1990s, and was arrested for DUI in 1999. He was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder during this period, though his condition improved after he began taking medication and got his personal life in order.

Van Damme has been married five times and has three children. Two of them, Kris Van Varenberg and Bianca Bree, have followed in their father's footsteps as actors.

In October 2012, Van Damme was honored with the unveiling of a bronze statue in his native Brussels. The statue depicts the former martial-arts champion in a classic fighting pose, ready to launch one of his famous flying kicks.

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7 Most Extremely Dangerous Airplane Runways

3:12 PM No comments

Wellington, New Zealand

At this New Zealand airport things can get pretty scary due to the hair-raisingly short runway and the fact that the landing strip sees constant windy conditions. The runway at Wellington is relatively short at 6,647 ft, which is barely enough for larger aircraft, and the strong crosswinds caused by nearby Cook Strait can make landing there a wild experience.

Saba Landing Strip, Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport

This is a terrifyingly small piece of earth to land a plane. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is the only airport in Saba, an island in the Caribbean, well-known to pilots because of the dangers of landing and taking off there. One side has high hills while all the others drop into the sea. The runway length is a bone-chilling 396 m, only allowing small aircraft and helicopters to land, and without even an air traffic control center.

Courchevel Airport, France

A ski area in the French Alps, Courchevel’s airport is infamous for having a short runway of around half a kilometer and a gradient of 18.5 percent! Pilots have to land on the higher incline to slow down enough, and takeoffs must be done towards the decline to pick up speed. Watch the video and feel a lump in your throat.

The airport at Lukla, Nepal

People wanting to climb Mount Everest know this place very well. Renamed in January 2008 as Tenzing-Hillary Airport, this airport is where most Everest climbers land to start their journey. The runway is half a kilometer long, 20 m wide and has an incline at a staggering 20 percent! A 700 m drop at one end and a mountain at the other, as well as the altitude, make this another risky place for pilots. There have been five recorded plane accidents.

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Princess Juliana Airport, St Martin

The short runway means that large jets have to fly low to land, and beachgoers at nearby Maho Beach are often treated to an up close and personal view of a big plane. Signs are placed nearby so no unfortunate spotter would be blown back by any plane’s powerful engines. Planes must also clear a decent-size fence and pass over a road just before hitting the runway.

Madeira Airport, Portugal

Madeira is a small island off the coast of Portugal, which needed an airport capable of landing commercial-size aircraft to boost tourism. The original runway was only 5000ft long, too short for even the most experienced pilots. Engineers extended the runway to more than 9000 ft by building a massive girder bridge atop 200 pillars. The bridge, which itself is over 3000 ft long and 590 ft wide, is strong enough to handle the weight of 747s and similar jets. All the same, it is quite nerve-wracking when the big jets touch down on this structure.

Toncontin Airport

Honduras’s capital city, Tegucigalpa, has the notorious Toncontin International Airport at its center, which is very controversial following several accidents, including a 2008 crash that killed five. Toncontin’s runway is just over 7000ft long in a valley surrounded by mountains. Despite the stubby runway, planes as large as Boeing’s 757 routinely land at the airport. Planes land and take off in the same direction in order to clear the mountains. Honduran officials are hoping eventually to reroute commercial traffic to the safer Soto Cano Air Base, but until then be prepared for unpleasant experiences.

Source:thestupidstation.com

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A Chinese Old Man Repairs Old Photos for Free!

1:40 PM No comments

When the photography became more popular and affordable, people saw it as a way to keep their memories alive at some level. And as we all know, paperphotographs are aging and they get yellow, water may completely destroy them or their surface could be damaged in different and unpredictable circumstances. Modern generations probably would not face this problem due to the usage of digital cameras and technologies, but what the older people with old-school paper photos should do in such cases? Such images could be scanned and processed digitally on specialized software,Photoshop in most of cases. This thing requires a lot of the time of a skillful Photoshopmaster, which is quite expensive.

Baojun Yuan is a member of China Senior Photographers Association who makes the task affordable for everybody by fixing and repairing old photos for free. The 76-years-old man fixed over 2000 images for the last 16 years which brought fame and respect to him in China. It is impressive that he started learning the software at the age of 60, an age when the average man is thinking mainly about his retirement. On the question “Why don’t you take some money as a reward for your services?” he answers: “My teacher just taught me how to repair thephoto, but he forgot to tell me how to charge.”

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iPhone PRO is Unbelievably GOOD!

1:15 PM No comments

Seems like winter got an extension and crisp Apples are still ruling the roost. Sink your teeth into this gorgeous iPhone PRO Concept! It is designed for users who tend to work with the camera more than any other app! The recent iOS update validates the idea. iPhone Pro features a 4.5 inch wide LCD screen with 2 side buttons. The 1.2megapixel 3D camera notches up the funk by hooking well with a DSLR lens. Projector capabilities, portable speaker and removable hard disk (at the rear), make the phone all the more dishy!

The special ‘mount’ connects the iPhone PRO and DSLR lenses seamlessly.

Specs:

1.2megapixel 3D camera
128x73x9.6(mm)
4.5inch(1280×800)

Designer: Jinyoung Choi

iPhone PRO Concept Mobilephone by Jinyoung Choi

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Beer Hotel

1:10 PM No comments

Potts Naturpark Brauerei is located inNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and exists from the beginning of 19th century, supplying Germans (and not only) with quality beer since then. The owners of thisOstbevern bed and breakfast saw other possibilities for the huge barrels used to age and transport beer – so they transformed one into warm and cozy bed.

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This wooden barrel was in use from the 19th Century until 1995, for more than a hundred years. A half-circle of the end cap has been removed, and a platform with a double mattress was installed inside of it. Clients climb inside the transformed beer barrel using a ladder with few rungs, similar to the two-level beds. Inside, the arched ceiling is confining to say the least, but there is enough space for two people or a couple. This interesting hotel has total of threebeer barrel rooms, with two additional beds and a 32 “flat screen TV, DVD, free internet access, a phone flatrate and a shower with massage jets in each room.

Before climbing into the barrel, guests can also take a jaunt down to the property pond for different barrel experience – another 19th Century barrel has been converted into a barrelsauna that offers guests a little relaxation before sleeping.

via: [inhabitat.com]

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Do you know how to improve eating process?

1:09 PM No comments

During the last ten years were made a lot of researches dedicated to the way we eat. Thanks to them, scientists made the following conclusions:

1. While eating, the average human feels satiety after 20 minutes. So, if you eat faster you will eat more and therefore gain more weight.

2. Processing of the food in your body starts with chewing within your teeth. If you eat slower the food is processed better, but if you eat quickly it may result in difficulties for your digestive tract.

3. Gastric reflux occurs more often at people who feed themselves faster.

4. Eating slower decreases the stress on weakened tissues and prevents possible postoperative complications.

Now we have a tool developed by HAPILABS that may help you solve this problem. TheHAPIfork is an electronic fork which allows you to watch closely your eating habits. It uses indicator lights to alert you if you are eating too fast.

Every time you bring food from your plate to your mouth with your fork, this action is called: a “fork serving“. The HAPIfork measures how long it took to eat your meal,the amount of “fork servings” per minute and intervals between “fork servings”.

This information is then forwarded through USB to the Online Dashboard on your device (smartphone, iPad, etc.). The HAPIfork also comes with the HAPILABS application and a training to help improve your eating behavior.

Well, if we have to be honest HAPILABS don’t tell us what to do if we eat a sandwich or fastfood. But considering that it doesn’t solve the problem completely, it is a good tool in the fight against the so called “urban diseases”.

via: [hapilabs.com]

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DIY Camera Returns You a While Back in Time

1:06 PM No comments

When we talk about photography, SLR stands for “single-lens reflex” (reflex originates from the mirror reflection) and is a system of mirror and prism that allows the photographer to see exactly what will be the result of his efforts after taking a picture.

At present these cameras are replaced by more advanced DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras and old time SLRs could be found in antique stores or in some big online stores. diy_lomography_konstruktor_slr_helps_you_construct_your_own_old_timey_camera_rr5xl

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However, Lomography AG, analog photography community and movement has launched a new DIY camera called the Konstruktor that allows anybody to create his own 35 mm SLRcamera and touch the old technology.

According to the manufacturer, you don’t need any special skills to make this camera and it takes just 1-2 hours to put the whole thing together.

The camera has uncoupled shutter advance and release operation system which makes it capable of returning multiple-exposure photographs. The SLR camera has a tripod thread at the bottom and the photographer may choose between regular and long exposures.

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The basic Starter Pack is pretty affordable as it has a price of 35$ and it could be a great gift idea. However, there is Experiment Packs for people who know a little bit more about cameras.

The kit has an f/10 50mm detachable lens, multiple exposures with 1/80s shutter speed,0.5m – infinity focus distance. The camera is measured 121mm × 33mm × 65mm, and could be customized according to the user’s desire via a collection of reusable stickers which are included in the kit. The materials could also be customized if necessary.

via: [gizmowatch.com]

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Interesting Engineering Decisions Around the World

1:04 PM No comments

Sometimes engineers face unusual problems and then unusual engineering is needed. In this article will be presented some interesting engineering achievements worldwide.

Huge cables need huge reels to be handled. This reel is located on a ship and the cable is supposed to be layed on the ocean bed.

Crossing city streets with heavy traffic could often be dangerous for the pedestrian. This chinese solution makes the junction safer for walkers.

A bridge between two hills… without pillars below. Perfect for bungee enthusiasts, and maybe some amazing photos could be taken from there.

What better shape for an airport terminal than a paper plane?

Peter Cooper Village looks like a small town embedded into the bigger city.

Such spiral shape of the viaduct was probably caused of the train inability to turn sharply in the required direction. Or the architects decided to build it funnier, no one knows for sure.

How to build a basement below a hystorical building? Raise it on a scaffold and continue your job.

This design looks a little unusual with these iron arcs, compared to the other large bridges around the world. Obviously construction is solid and stable enough, so we can simply enjoy the view.

Why crossing the sea with a ship, when you can build a bridge?

This English bridge is intended for pedestrians and cyclists, it will not carry the burden of heavy vehicles such as trucks and cars, so the architects were able to afford more artistic approach.