The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Came across this interesting article at Neurophilosophy on parasitoids with the capability to “brainwash” or modify the behaviour of their unfortunate hosts. From Wikipedia:

A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism which it ultimately kills (and often consumes) in the process. Thus they are similar to typical parasites except in the certain fate of the host.

That said, the behaviour of some of these plants and animals can be a truly engaging read although it’s best to leave this stuff alone until after lunch or dinner. For the same reason, graphic photos are kept to a minimum too

I’ve elected to provide a short summary of the contents of this interesting article instead of simply regurgitating what I read – you can jump to the actual post for the juicy bits

The article introduces the genus of parasitic fungi cordyceps, of which cordyceps sinensis is one of the most well known species for its prized healing properties in traditional Chinese medicine (I’m taking some pills made from it to speed up recuperation after a bad spell of eczema flare-ups, that’s how I found this article ).

At Neurophilosophy, the reader is introduced to another species cordyceps unilateralis which has a startling ability to influence the behaviour of its infected ant host to ensure its spores disperse over a wider area and increase its chances of infecting other ants. There’s more photos of cordyceps fungi and their hosts over at www.fruit.affrc.go.jp and www.utexas.edu if you’re so inclined.

Photo by L.E Gilbert @ The University of Texas

Camponotus ant with Cordyceps lloydii.

And if you thought that these plants were creepy enough, wait until you read about the gordian worm It appears that these two species are just the tip of the iceberg, just browse around in Wikipedia and check out freaky stuff like the suicide-inducing parasitism category, the phoridae family of flies or the Solenopsis daguerrei species of parasitic ants.

Learn more at Neurophilosophy.

© Good Dog Films

Trailer for an award-winning documentary Fight or Flight tracing Irish filmmaker/producer Peter McCarthy’s journey to learn Muay Thai in the gyms and training camps of Thailand. Made over the period of five years, Fight or Flight is much more than just Muay Thai and the often fascinating Thai culture, it’s also an attempt to try and understand the issue of conflict and violence in the world today .

© Good Dog Films Limited

A flurry of fists and knees – the trailer definitely captures the intensity of Muay Thai action much better than this static shot

© Good Dog Films Limited

Freshmeat!

The collection of snippets from the film includes a particularly memorable scene where Peter passes by some of the queer stuff for sale at the many roadside stalls of Thailand, to glimpses of the Lanna Muay Thai boxing camp in Chiangmai and actual Muay Thai fights (legal of course) in Thai stadiums – one thing I noticed here and in a recent visit to Lumpinee Stadium (some photos at thoo2’s blog) was how quickly the referees in grey-brown uniforms moved in to separate the fighters when required.

© Good Dog Films Limited

KOed.

© Good Dog Films Limited

Punishing knee strikes

Not much to comment about Fight or Flight since I haven’t actually watched the film yet – I’m keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that it will be screened at one of the film festivals here eventually

Check out the trailer at the official site for Fight or Flight. The film is available for sale on DVD from this official site only.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Muay Thai Wallpapers
Kungfu Action with Dragon Fist 3 : Age of the Warrior
Street Fighter IV Wallpapers
The King of Fighters XII Wallpapers

While researching on superguns and mankind’s other attempts to hurt and kill each over increasingly longer distances with guns firing progressively larger shells, I came across the name of Canadian scientist Dr Gerald Bull.

Dr Gerald Bull was well-known for his non-military scientific work on Project HARP (High Altitude Research Program) which collected upper atmospheric data from projectiles fired from modified naval guns to altitudes of 180 km (see Luc Devroye’s photos of a Project HARP gun at Barbados) and the infamous Project Babylon where he planned to build a massive 1000 mm gun with a 156m long barrel for Iraq, supposedly to fire satellites into the Earth’s orbit. The project was started in 1988 with approval from then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein but ended abruptly when Dr Gerald was shot dead by unknown assassins outside his Brussels home in March 1990.

© fas.org

His most significant contribution to the field of artillery was not the series of superguns he constructed for Project HARP or Project Babylon but the ERFB (Extended Range, Full Bore) ammunition which he designed in the 1970s to offer higher muzzle velocity with almost double the existing range of existing shells when coupled with a base bleed system, along with the artillery piece to fire this new ammunition.

A GHN-45 – haven’t been able to find a pic of the GC-45 online

He thus developed the first L/45 155mm gun (Length/45 calibres) designated as the GC-45 (Gun, Canada, 45 Calibre) which was later adapted and modified by Armscor (now Denel) of South Africa and Noricum of Austria as the G5 and GHN-45 respectively, the Noricum version being further adapted into indigenous designs in Israel, China and here in Singapore as the FH-88.

Only 12 GC-45s were manufactured for use by the Royal Thai Marines but the original GC-45 design formed the basis for many derivatives which are still in widespread use around the world. Two of these designs, Denel’s 52 calibre G5/2000 and the G6/52, are the world’s longest ranged gun artillery in the world with ranges of over 50 km with V-LAP (Velocity enhanced Long Range Projectile) shells (more info about these weapons and the current trends in artillery design in this Armada International’s Complete Guide to Howitzers from 2003)

Taken from army-technology.com’s article on the G6

Read more about the achievements of Dr Gerald Bull and the GC-45. More detailed info on the GC-45 can be found in this May 2002 report from Forecast International.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Armour Photos at Israel’s Yad La’Shiryon Museum
Tompei’s Museum of Machines
IA Military Art Collections
OPFOR Worldwide Equipment Guide

I recently read about the feats of Sea Victory, a oceangoing tugboat operated by Crowley Maritime Corporation – this unassuming looking boat embarked on a 29 day vovage to tow the 45,000 ton battleship BB-63 USS Missouri from Bremerton, Washington to Ford Island, Pearl Harbor near the Arizona Memorial back in 1998 (more info and photos at Star Bulletin and Kitsap Sun).

© Ken Ige / Star Bulletin

In 1999, the ex-battleship BB-62 USS New Jersey was towed by the same boat from Bremerton to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for restoration works before being reworked into a museum ship at Camden, New Jersey.

© The High Seas Marine Art

Sea Victory also towed the ex-battleship BB-61 USS Iowa from Newport, Rhode Island to Suisun Bay, California via the Panama Canal in 2001 – a 6,500 mile journey. (more photos here and here)

Sea Victory’s most impressive vovage must have been the towing of the decommissioned aircraft carrier CV-34 USS Oriskany during a 112-day, 15,153 miles journey from Vallejo, California to Beaumont in Texas in 1999. Haven’t been able to find any pictures of this journey probably because the ship was to be sunk instead of being converted to museum ships like the abovementioned battleships.

Wikipedia Commons does throw up a 2006 photo of the 32,000 ton ex-USS Oriskany being towed by a Crowley tugboat to the Gulf of Mexico where it was deliberately sunk to form an artificial reef there.

More information about this impressive Sea Victory class of tugboats can be found at Crowley Maritime Corporation – the Sea Victory is the first of three boats of its class – the other two being Sea Venture and Sea Vovager, all commissioned in the 1970s.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Visby Class Stealth Corvette
Renders of WWII Battleships from Navyfield : Resurrection of the Steel

While the words “cryptids” and “cryptozoology” might be unfamiliar to most, I’ve sure that most would have heard or read stories of famous cryptids like Bigfoot/Sasquatch, Yetis or the Loch Ness Monster.

Cryptids are therefore creatures that are alleged to exist through sightings and reports or physical evidence like tracks and even feces but have not been conclusively verified due to lack of actual specimens for thorough scientific analysis and study. The study of cryptids also extends to animals known to Science but alleged to exist outside their usual areas of distribution or are believed to be already extinct.

While the North American BioFortean Review has been discontinued – the last issue being Issue 18 published in January 2006, this freely downloadable newsletter in PDF format offers a fascinating insight into the world of cryptids and cryptozoology together with an assortment of other articles on zoological and natural oddities.

© North American BioFortean Review

Another case of the old proverb “Do not judge a book by its cover”

Edited by Chad Arment, Brad LaGrange together with Craig Heinselman of CRYPTO magazine, these issues are filled with lots of interesting eyewitness accounts of alleged cryptids ranging from contemporary reports to century-old articles from newspaper archives. Likely causes are provided where the reports are believed to be cases of mistaken identity.

© North American BioFortean Review

Strange carcass recovered by the Zuiyo Maru in 1977

Despite the title, North American BioFortean Review does not focus exclusively on cryptids and other natural wonders from the North American continent. Reports of strange creatures from contributors all round the world feature regularly, from giant American centipedes (Issue 2), the carcass of a possible aquatic cryptid recovered off New Zealand by the Japanese trawler Zuiyo Maru on 25 April 1977 (Issue 2), blue tigers in China (Issue 6), alleged giant squids in the Serbian Carska Bara bog (Issue 7) to wrestling camels and camel caravans across USA during the second half of the 19th century. (Issue 13)

© North American BioFortean Review

Hoaxes are also analyzed like the ghastly little specimen above (Issue 8 ) and the stories of fabled and legendary animals dissected to identify the possible identity of creatures like the Indian bis cobra (Issue 9).

Download the back issues of North American BioFortean Review and CRYPTO.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Deathworm : Be a Mongolian Deathworm
Online Facismilies of Maya Codices
Recommended Mythology E-Texts from Padraic Colum & Others
Eric Pasquier’s Photos