Kevin Climbs A Metal Beanstock

For some reason I absolutely LOVE this short video. With few exceptions, these butt-puckering acrophobes nightmare sorts of videos that are rather pervasive now online make me too uncomfortable to watch for very long. For those with agoraphobia, this video must be nearly equally uncomfortable. I used to severely suffer from both and would have freaked out seeing this. Quite fortunately that is not the case anymore although some tower-climbing videos (especially the Russian ones) make me uncomfortable to watch. For reasons I can't fully explain this video does not bother me one iota, but rather I find it strangely compelling and calming. Perhaps it is the wonderful musical score and/or the visual effect of the camera drone which gives the visual sensation of harmlessly floating which makes this so pleasant to my mind. Note: the climber is Kevin Schmidt.

The Only 2014 MAFFS-Eye View

Unlike last yea's rich treasure trove of MAFFS Go-Pro camera cockpit windshield-view-forward footage of Rim Fire retardant drops there was only one such video captured and shared with the public this year and here it is. I do not now which MAFFS bird this is but I do know it is a drop made on August 2, 2014, on the lightning-started 13,153-acre Day Fire in Modoc County. To see the aforementioned MAFFS Go-Pro camera footage from last year just check out the labels at left for "aircraft imagery" and/or "GoPro footage".

Post-Quake Christchurch From Above

My friend Linsis shared this on her Geology2 group on Yahoo Groups and I was immediately taken with it. For more about it check HERE.

Dark Flight Close-Call

This is utterly awesome! I realize I'm late posting it here as this has been viral for days but I've been busy with the event mentioned in the previous post here. Here is an interesting take on this from Slate's Bad Astronomy.

Dolphin Drone Off Dana Point

Deer GoPro Heroes

My friend Janet shared this with me via email and I was very touched by it and believe you will be touched, too. It features a double deer rescue on ice via a couple of cool hovercraft such as I have never before seen operate on ice. This takes place on Albert Lea Lake in Minnesota, dontcha know!

Model Leadership Tried By Fire

I was sent a link to this via email earlier today and was immediately and throughout struck by the effective calm demeanor and leadership of Boise, Idaho, Fire Chief Dennis Doan. Going by the unit designator "Battalion Two" his command SUV contained a Go-Pro camera behind the windshield and pointed forward which we are watching for most of this video. At the 12:07 mark the video switches to a different Go-Pro camera view of the same events from a camera mounted on a fire captain's helmet located on the "Charlie" side of the house (rear of the house).

I realize that in certain situations people need a leader than forcefully yells and gesticulates and physically imposes himself or herself into a situation. Probably this is most often true in situations where those being led are not performing up to their potential or things are not going their way and they need helping focusing and remaining motivated.

However, in this situation these firefighters were professionals and doing their jobs as they were trained and everything was going according to plan. Even when something went wrong somebody as a result of their training and vigilance anticipated it and sounded the alarm within a minute of disaster and narrowly avoided a tragedy for that fire department and community.

I really enjoy listening to this guy calmly trust his people to do their jobs while not micromanaging the situation and upstaging those fire officers below him. He simply sits back and does his job which is to let his people do their jobs while he essentially functions as the dignified maestro of this professional ensemble of firefighters.

The Best of the Chelyabinsk Meteoric Event

Below are some highlights of the Chelyabinsk meteoric event from earlier this year.

On Wings Of Eagles

I realize it is the flavor of the month at present to post on online boards and forums and such this amazing bit of GoPro camera footage shot from upon the back of an eagle in flight over the Chamonix Valley in France. However, it is just too cool not to share especially given how many people visiting this website might not have seen it elsewhere for a variety of reasons so here it is.

Even More MAFFS Views Of Rim Fire

I am now fully addicted to the Go-Pro camera footage from the MAFFS operating over the Rim Fire on the Stanislaus National Forest and now into the Yosemite National Park. The fire has now burned nearly 185,000 acres in Tuolumne County. Below are three more video segments recorded by the men and women of the 146th Airlift Wing based out of Naval Air Station Point Mugu, CA.I believe I have now posted on this blog all such footage that is extant on Youtube up to the present time.

Here are some more MAFFS Go-Pro Cockpit Cam videos:

The Man Behind MAFFS 4

More MAFFS Cockpit Views

MAFFS View #1 Of Rim Fire

The Man Behind MAFFS 4

The first minute or so of this is just a preface (and a bit of footage previously posted on this blog). However, about a minute in to this video is a USA Today segment about the pilot of MAFFS 4 whose flying you've seen twice this week on Youtube (and on this blog in the previous post HERE) and explains the female computer voice in the cockpit that keeps broadcasting "Landing Gear... Landing Gear".

More MAFFS Views Of Rim Fire

I neglected to post these two earlier clips of raw video of MAFFS out of Port Hueneme, CA, dropping on the 143,980 acre Rim Fire raging on the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park in Tuolumne County, CA. I have posted the clip from August 22nd which can be viewed HERE. Note two things: most of the terrain visible in these two clips has since burned and this fire had not yet entered Yosemite N.P. at the time these images were recorded. The top-most player features a clip recorded on August 19th whereas the one below it was recorded the day before. 

MAFFS View #1 Of Rim Fire

Bad Mofo

I came across this on Facebook earlier this evening and think it is worth watching once or twice. For those of you unfamiliar with GoPro cameras they are sort of the latest thing in small portable cameras for helmets or dashcams or even main battle tanks in combat zones as you saw on this blog two months ago in "A Tank's Death From Two Perspectives". Needless to say, the music video below spoofs both James Bond movies and modern computer games simultaneously. I hardly notice this is a music video given the action of the film and it's cleverness but for those of you whom care this is the track "Bad Motherfuckers" by the Russian punk band Biting Elbows.

Biting Elbows - 'Bad Motherfucker' Official Music Video from Ilya Naishuller on Vimeo.

A Tank's Death From Two Perspectives

It seems tonight is tank death night on Eclectic Arcania. While researching details of the previous tank death story I found this video sequence from the current Syrian Civil War taken earlier this year. It is "dash-cam" footage or rather, armored personnel carrier and tank turret footage from a Syrian Government armored mechanized forces' offensive operation in the Damascus suburb of Darayya. There, they clash with rebel forces whom are utilizing urban warfare techniques sans any heavy weapons. We see footage of the death of a Syrian Government T-72 tank (at least that is what it is identified as by various different sources) as viewed from the aforementioned type of film. We also see spliced into this mostly government footage near unto the end the same tank being hit but from the perspective of the Syrian rebels whom killed that tank and its three-man crew. Fascinating (to the point of mesmerizing) stuff and there is nothing graphically gruesome for those of you who are squeamish and like to be forewarned. Note: I have now seen quite a bit of Syrian Civil War battle footage. It seems the rebels are always Al Akbar-ing after every damned thing they do that works out from blowing up an occasional tank to downing an occasional chopper or jet. Something tells me they need to leave God out of this unholy business.

Russian Fireball Meteor Montage

I was out of town and not in a position to be watching TV so I missed out on watching all this when it was newer until I got home Monday and started seeing bits and pieces of this online (I don't have TV). I love how the first scene gives one a great sense of the speed and trajectory of this object relative to the location and trajectory of the dash camera. The contrail images are reminiscent of that captured in a painting by P.J. Medvedev of the February 1947 Sikhote-Alin meteorite fall in Russia.