Devil’s Pool

The Victoria Falls in the Zambia is home to the most Dangerous pool in the world. The naturally formed Devil’s Pool, near the edge of the falls on Livingstone Island on the Zambian side. When the river flow is at a certain level, usually between September and December, a rock barrier forms an eddy with minimal current, allowing adventurous swimmers to splash around in relative safety a few feet from the point where the water cascades over the falls.

Be warned.. occasional deaths have been reported when people have slipped over the rock barrier.

Livingstone Island is a 5-8 minutes boat ride from the Royal Livingstone Hotel and is located in the middle of the Zambezi River right on the edge of the Victoria Falls just before the water thunders down a 103 metre drop. To protect the sensitive environment, only 16 guests may visit at any one time during five daily departures. Access is restricted to a maximum of 80 visitors per day so it is highly recommended to book a Livingstone Island Tour in advance.Access to this unique Island is seasonal and depends entirely on the water level in the Zambezi River.

In low water season, approximately end of August to December, guests have the opportunity to swim in Devil’s Pool which is a rock pool right on the lip of the falls accompanied by a guide.The Devils Pool itself is a deep natural pool that has been created by thousands of years of erosion, but what is unique about it is that there is a rock ledge on the lip of the Falls, where the water is only a few centimetres deep. This natural barrier is what allows you to jump into the deep pool but not get swept over the edge. Swim slightly upstream in a very slow current, being a strong swimmer is not a prerequisite. A safety rope is also in place as an added precaution. You then climb out on another rocky outcrop close to the edge of the Falls and the Devils Pool.

Dr David Livingstone

As the name suggests this is the island from which Dr David Livingstone first witnessed the Falls in November 1855. From here he lowered a length of calico with a bullet attached as a weight to measure the depth of the Falls.The Devils swimming Pool is available for an even shorter period as the water level has to be really low to allow for safe swimming. Although variable every year this is normally from late August to early January.

Five trips are offered

Throughout the day each trip lasting about 1.5 to 2 hrs. There a five minute boat ride speeds you through the current of the Zambezi river, twisting and turning as the captain navigates his way through the rocky channels, this in itself is an exhilarating experience towards the rising column of spray from the Victoria Falls.

 sandy and rock island and are then led to the very edge of the Falls on the east of the island overlooking Horseshoe and Rainbow Falls. The est of the island overlooking Main Falls. magnificent view, as the main torrent of water gushes over the basalt precipice. It's like no other view of the Falls and gives a completely different perspective to the views one gets from the path through the Rainforest on the other side of the canyon.

The Devils Pool itself is a deep natural pool that has been created by thousands of years of erosion. we can  lie this rock lip and look right into the 103m chasm of the Falls, with huge torrents of water flowing just meters away. It's a real adrenaline high and people who have experienced it Love it!. 

BBS

Drones are `Becoming Birds` in the sky. Absolutely..Commercial drones are going to become as ubiquitous as aeroplanes in the sky are right now. The civil aviation authority in Australia was one of the first in the world to legalise commercial flights by unmanned aerial vehicles, adding that the USA isn't due to follow until 2015. This gives the startup the opportunity to hone the technology over the next few years, ready to export worldwide. Flirtey is the world's first unmanned aerial vehicle delivery technology. Currently in Australia same-day delivery by post cost eight to 20 [Australian] dollars.Flirtey it will cost a fraction of that and the consumer won't have to cover it because it will be included in the marketing budget of the companies that we partner with.

`World's first` drone delivery service

 A Sydney company has launched a book delivery service that employs flying robots instead of postmen, and declared that `commercial drones are going to become as ubiquitous as aeroplanes`.

Flying drones to deliver text books:Sydney startup Flirtey has teamed up with text book rental service Zookal to use hexacopters - robots with six rotors - to deliver study materials. The service aims to reduce postal costs and avoid the problem of missed deliveries by tracking the location of the recipient's mobile phone. Flirtey co-founder Matthew Sweeney says  `We're taking technology that was previously only available to the military and universities, democratising it and commercialising it so that anybody can order any goods or services and have them flown straight to their smartphone.`Books are ordered using a smartphone app, then Zookal packages them before they're flown to the customer's phone rather than their address.Six battery-powered rotors control flight, which can continue even when one isn't working. `We've built the Flirtey as a hexacopter, so it can lose any one rotor and still fly, and can lose any one battery and still fly,` said Sweeney.

 Zookal CEO Ahmed Haider mentions another safety feature: `When the Flirtey arrives to its location it levitates above the location and lowers the parcel to the consumer. If there is anyone that pulls it a little too hard the parcel comes off, keeping the Flirtey safe and ready to go.` Amazon also tests drones that could deliver parcels too.

Nixie -Drone

Sure, Apple's new smart watch brings smartphone features to users' wrists, but can it fly free and take video in the air? The Nixie, which has none of the features of a watch other than wrist-wearability, is a drone for people who like robots as fashion statements, as well as aerial photography.

Nixie is a quadcopter with flexible arms, letting it cling to a pilot's wrist like a scared mechanical flying squirrel. Created by Christoph Kohstall and a team of designers and engineers, Project Nixie is a finalist in Intel’s `Make It Wearable` competition. Here's how Kohstall wants Nixie to work:

You should be able with a gesture to tell the quadcopter to unfold. Then it's going to take off from your wrist. It knows where you are, turns around, takes a picture of you, comes back. You can catch it from the air, and put it back on your wrist.

Gravity

If the planet's gravity turned off, and suddenly there was no force of gravity on planet Earth. This would turn out to be a pretty bad day. We depend on gravity to hold so many things down -- cars, people, furniture, pencils and papers on your desk, and so on. Everything not stuck in place would suddenly have no reason to stay down, it would start floating. But it's not just furniture and the like that would start to float. Two of the more important things held on the ground by gravity are the atmosphere and the water in the oceans, lakes and rivers. Without gravity, the air in the atmosphere has no reason to hang around, and it would immediately leap into space. This is the problem the moon has -- the moon doesn't have enough gravity to keep an atmosphere around it, so it's in a near vacuum. Without an atmosphere, any living thing would die immediately and anything liquid would boil away into space.

In other words, no one would last long if the planet didn't have gravity.

The surface gravity of the Moon is only about one fifth of that of the Earth. No wonder Apollo astronauts were able to jump so far on the Moon's surface! Prospective Mars colonists should note that they will only weigh about a third of their terrestrial weight on Mars. 

According to James Overduin, a physicist at Towson University in Maryland who specializes in gravitation, a universe without gravity would be "completely flat and featureless." Overduin explained that gravity is just another term for the curvature of space-time — how steep or shallow the fabric of the universe is in a given place (and thus how likely objects are to fall toward the source of curvature). Just as a bowling ball placed on a trampoline curves its surface, it is the presence of matter and energy that cause space-time to curve. So, if the universe can't curve (because gravity doesn't exist), then there can be no matter or energy within it. 

Earth's gravitational pull is responsible for the moon's orbit. Similarly, all planets, asteroids, and comets in our solar system orbit the sun due to this gravitational pull. The fact that celestial bodies millions of light years away orbit the sun debunks the myth of no gravity in space.

Gravity on Other Planets

Gravity differs depending on what planet we are on. This is because the planets vary in size and mass.

Mercury is the smallest planet with the least mass and the least density. The gravity on Mercury is only 38% of the gravity on earth. Considering Mercury only has a radius of 4,879 km, which is barely any larger than the Moon, the gravity is high. The high gravity is due to the high density of the planet.

Venus is similar in size to the Earth, which is why it is often called Earth’s twin. Its mass, density, and volume are all slightly less than Earth’s. This means that the gravity on Venus is slightly over 90% of the Earth’s gravity. Although you would weigh less on Earth’s twin than you would on Earth, you would not want to visit Venus because of its toxic, burning atmosphere.

Jupiter is the most massive planet in our Solar System, meaning it also has the highest gravity. If you stood on Jupiter – you cannot because it does not have a solid surface – than you would weigh two and a half times what you would on Earth.

A gas giant, Saturn is more massive than Earth, but it also has the lowest density of all the planets in the Solar System. If you were able to stand on Saturn’s surface, you would experience about 91% of the gravity you would on Earth.

Like Saturn, Uranus is massive, but has a very low density. Because of this combination, Uranus has a low gravity about 89% of the gravity that you would feel on Earth. This is very close to Venus’ gravity although Uranus is more than 14 times larger than Venus is.

Neptune is much more massive than Earth – 17 times Earth’s mass – but it is also much larger than Earth, so it has a lower density. This means that Neptune’s gravity is only slightly more than Earth’s gravity – 14% more. It would not be too uncomfortable walking on Neptune if you could walk on it, which is impossible because it does not have a solid surface.

The promise of life on Mars has intrigued people for centuries, but what would living on Mars really be like. Well, Mars has a smaller density and mass than our planet, which means that it has lower gravity. In fact, you would weigh less on Mars than you would on any other planet in our Solar System. The gravity of Mars is 38% the gravity of Earth.

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