Thursday, May 15, 2008
Human Flying Machine
Flying By
Yves Rossy, known as the 'Fusion Man,' flies with a jet-powered single wing over the Alps in Bex, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Some people go fishing on their day off. Yves Rossy likes to jump out of a small plane with a pair of jet-powered wings and perform figure eights above the Swiss Alps. The revolutionary human flying machine comes after five years of training and many more years of dreaming.
11:05 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Flying Man, Science, Technology, world, news, Switzerland, Airplanes
Cellphone Watch
Due to popular demand for a previous cellphone watch, Chinavasion has now got their hands on a limited edition of an improved model with better features, including a cleaner look and a higher resolution camera.
Stand out features include a great organizer, responsive touchscreen and cool audio over Bluetooth, so you can listen to all your favorite tunes on your wireless headphones. Great for cyclists, commuters, and anyone who wants to stop carrying round bulky products in their pockets or handbag.
Buy it here...
10:55 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Cell phone, China, technology, Shopping, electronics, news, blog
Palm-size R/C Helicopter
These mini copters can take off from your hand and circle your desk as your co-workers gape in amazement. Full control allows you to hover and turn left or right as your copter moves slowly forward. Two different channels let you to fly with a friend.
Product Features
* Amazingly small Infrared Remote control helicopter
* Color Cycling Multi-Color LED for Night Flying
* Intended for indoor use. Outdoor flying only under ZERO wind conditions.
* Full Flight control with up/down and turn right/left
* Helicopter is always moving forward slowly
* Body is constructed from injection molded plastic and carbon fiber
* Internal helicopter battery charges from remote control unit
* 15 minute charge time, 5 - 7 minute flight time
* Uses 6AA Batteries (Not Included)
buy it here...
10:50 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: USA, RC helicopters, toys, shopping, web, blog, world
Nano Drive R/C Ferrari Replicas
Is that a Ferrari in your Pocket? Finally your dream of owning a real Ferrari can be fulfilled... in a very very small way. These Nano Drive Ferrari Replicas are officially licensed R/C toys imported from Japan.
Product Features
* Mini R/C Ferrari Cars are Only 3" Long
* Full control with forward and reverse / right and left turns
* Turbo button for increased speed
* Working Headlights
* Imported from Japan
* Fully licensed Ferrari Product
buy it here...
10:45 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Ferrari, Cars, news, shopping, journal, blog, web
Oklahoma freshman named town's mayor!
A 19-year-old freshman at the University of Oklahoma was elected mayor Tuesday of Muskogee, a city of 38,000 in the northeastern part of the state. With all precincts reporting, John Tyler Hammons won with 70 percent of the vote over former Mayor Hershel Ray McBride, said Muskogee County Election Board Secretary Bill Bull.
"The public placing their trust in me is the greatest, humbling and most awesome experience I've ever had in my life," said Hammons, who is from Muskogee but attends the university in Norman.
The two candidates squared off in a runoff election for the nonpartisan post after neither secured 50 percent of the vote in a six-person election April 1.
Hammons, who will be sworn in next week, said he plans to continue his college education but expects to transfer to a school closer to Muskogee.
The mayor leads the nine-member city council and serves as a voting member. Hammons said a key to his platform that resonated with voters was openness of government and keeping citizens better informed of city operations.
"I think that's been a detriment to the trust of the citizens of Muskogee," he said. "Once we have that trust, we can solve any other problem."
10:40 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Mayor.Oklahoma, USA, Politics, web, news, journal, blog
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Duggars family just keeps on growing!
The Duggars, America’s largest family,have just announced that they’re expecting their 18th baby on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2009. 
Michelle and Jim Bob announced live on The TODAY Show that Michelle is pregnant with baby #18, and they’re very excited for the new addition to their family.
All the Duggar kids' names start with the letter "J" and we're sure baby #18 will be no exception.
You can help choosing the name, vote here...
22:09 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Duggars, Family, USA, Science, blog, web, children
Plan for border fence puts U.S. business on Mexico side
Well, you can't say the feds aren't getting serious about border enforcement. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is about to "deport" an entire U.S. business. Plans for the fence the feds are building along the Texas/Mexican border will slice the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville off from the rest of the U.S., locating it onto the Mexican side.
The course is owned by the University of Texas, and will be joined in exile by a Brownsville city park and bird sanctuary that are also located in a tricky bend of the Rio Grande riverbed. 
These Google Maps images suggest how the rights and property of American citizens ended up getting subordinated to the Department of Homeland Security's desire to build a more or less straight wall.
22:00 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: USA, Mexico, Border, politics, Homeland security, World, blog
What Are You Yawning About?
It takes about six seconds. Slowly, you take in a deep breath, exhale more quickly, stretch out your arms, contort your face, and your narrowed eyes may tear a bit. You have just yawned, something that almost all vertebrate animals do many times a day by some estimates, 10 times per hour, though more often in the early morning and late evening. Does it mean you are tired? Bored? Trying to give someone a hint? 
As common as it is, little is known for sure about yawning, but it is probably a myth that yawning always indicates a need for sleep. It is true that people often yawn as they are ready to retire for the night; but it is also true that it happens when first arising in the morning, and at other times during the day depending on a variety of factors such as arousal level, distraction, and even seeing someone else yawning. Because breathing takes in oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, theories in the past about why we yawn centered on the assumption that it was a reflex in response to low oxygen or high carbon-dioxide levels. This theory lost favor after a study in 1987 in which volunteers subjected to high oxygen levels did not yawn less, and after high carbon dioxide exposure did not yawn more.
more...
21:51 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Yawning, Sleep, Science, USA, World, Blog, journal
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Man asks court to change his name to 'In God We Trust'
Steve Kreuscher wants a judge to allow him to legally change his name. He wants to be known as "In God We Trust."
Kreuscher (CROY'-shir) says the new name would symbolize the help God gave him through tough times.
The 57-year-old man also told the ( Arlington Heights) Daily Herald he's worried that atheists may succeed in removing the phrase "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency.
He recalls that the phrase "God Reigns" was removed from the Zion city seal in 1992 after courts deemed it unconstitutional. Zion was founded as a theocracy - by a sect that believed the Earth was flat.
10:50 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Weird, amazing, news, USA, blog, web, world
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Fertile women 'have sexier voice'
A woman's voice becomes more alluring when she is at her most fertile, according to US research.
Recordings of women taken at different points in their menstrual cycle were played to people of both sexes. New Scientist magazine reports that the voices rated as most attractive belonged to women at peak fertility.
The study suggests sex hormones can alter the workings of the voice box, but the change may be too subtle to pick up in many situations.
Human reproduction differs from reproduction in other mammals in that there are no obvious signs that a woman is at her fertile phase.
more...
10:28 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Women, Fertility, medicine, science, world, news, blog
Monday, May 05, 2008
Calif. brewer ordered to stop using 'Legal Weed' bottle caps
Vaune Dillmann thought the wording on his bottle caps was just a clever play on the name of the Northern California town where he brews his beer — Weed.
Federal alcohol regulators thought differently. They have ordered Dillmann to stop selling beer bottles with caps that read "Try Legal Weed."
The dispute started in February when Dillmann sent the proposed label for his latest beer, Lemurian Lager, to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for approval. The agency, which regulates the industry, asked for some changes to the label, along with a sample bottle cap.
Dillmann obliged, sending the caps he has been using for his five current beers.
The agency responded that the message on the caps amounted to a drug reference. In a letter explaining its decision, the agency said the wording could "mislead consumers about the characteristics of the alcoholic beverage."
Dillmann scoffs at the notion that his label has anything to do with smoking pot.
more...
11:06 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Weed, beer, Calfornia, USA, world, web, blog
How Nokia Users Drive Innovation
Through online aps such as Sports Tracker and Nokia Beta Lab, the Finnish handset giant gathers customers' ideas from around the world—virtually free.
Nokia researchers didn't quite know what to expect when, in March, 2007, they posted a mobile phone application called Sports Tracker on a company Web site that is open to the public. The program, still a work in progress, was designed to let runners and cyclists take advantage of the global positioning capability included in some Nokia models. Users can record workout data such as speed and distance, and can plot routes.
The response to Sports Tracker was overwhelming. Eventually more than 1 million people downloaded the program and used it for sports the developers never dreamed of, such as paragliding, hot-air ballooning, and motorcycle riding. More importantly, the users avidly provided criticism that Nokia (NOK) then used to make improvements. Based on reader feedback, for example, developers added the capability to create online groups where users can share favorite routes and even photos they took along the way. "People were misusing the application in creative ways," says Jussi Kaasinen, a member of the team at Nokia Research Center in Helsinki that developed Sports Tracker.
You've heard of user-generated content? Sports Tracker is an example of how Nokia has begun experimenting with user-generated innovation. That's the premise behind Nokia Beta Labs, a Web site where the Finnish handset maker lets users test the latest smartphone software. Instead of people recording silly Web cam videos for YouTube or inventing frivolous advocacy groups on Facebook, they can help make the mobile Internet more useful.
more...
11:04 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Nokia, phones, mobile phones, business, news, world, shopping
Saturday, May 03, 2008
The World's First Billion-Dollar Home
While visiting New York in 2005, Nita Ambani was in the spa at the Mandarin Oriental New York, overlooking Central Park. The contemporary Asian interiors struck her just so, and prompted her to inquire about the designer.
Nita Ambani was no ordinary tourist. She is married to Mukesh Ambani, head of Mumbai, India-based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries, and the fifth richest man in the world.Forbes estimated Ambani's net worth at $43 billion in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India's most valuable firm by market capitalization. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs.
Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively. Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion, says Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at Hirsch Bedner Associates. The architects and designers are creating as they go, altering floor plans, design elements and concepts as the building is constructed.
more...
23:20 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: USA.New York City, housing, money, web, nerws, journal, blog
Gasoline May Soon Cost a Sawbuck
Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions — a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.
That's the message from a couple of analytical energy industry trackers, both of whom, based on the surging oil prices, see considerably more pain at the pump than most drivers realize.
Gasoline nationally is in an accelerated upswing, having jumped to $3.58 a gallon from $3.50 in just the past week. In some parts of the country, including New York City and the West Coast, gas is already sporting a price tag above $4 a gallon.
more...
23:17 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: USA, news, gas, gasoline, oil, world, economy
Monday, April 28, 2008
what happens when you are unfaithful to your wife
10:10 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Funny signs, Marriage, USA, web, blog, journal, Jokes
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Bugs Use Plants as Telephones
"Hello? Yes, this is my plant. Thanks. Bye-bye."
That's the underground half of a conversation between bugs on a mustard plant. Scientists have discovered the insects below and above use the plant like a chemical telephone.
A team of researchers led by Roxina Soler, an ecologist at the Netherlands Institute for Ecology, are not sure how widespread the phenomenon is. The organic chat is a friendly one: Leaf-munching insects above ground prefer plants unoccupied by root-eaters.
When a subterranean insect takes up residence below a plant, it settles in to feast on the plant's roots. In order to alert leaf-eating insects of the "no vacancy," the underground insect sends a chemical warning signal through the plant leaves, so the leafeaters are alerted that the plant is occupied.
Recent studies have revealed different types of aboveground insects develop slowly if they feed on plants that harbor subterranean residents and vice versa. So the green phone lines keep insects from unintentionally competing for the same plant.
Turns out, the subterranean insects can also communicate with a third party via the biophone, namely the natural enemy of caterpillars — parasitic wasps.
The chemicals emitted by the leaves give the wasps information about the occupancy of different plants. Since the parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside aboveground insects, they would do well to stop by plants unoccupied by the underground root-eaters.
The research, announced today, was funded by the Free Competition of NWO Earth and Life Sciences.
22:03 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Insects, Bugs, Science, World, news, journal, web
Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear
A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish.
It is the first time one has been seen using a tool to hunt.
The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja, where apes are rehabilitated into the wild after being rescued from zoos, private homes or even butchers' shops. "Orang hutan" means "forest man" in one of Indonesia's many languages and our long-armed cousins do indeed show a remarkable ability to mimic our behaviour.
This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River.
Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals' fishing lines.
19:40 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Borneo, world, news, animals, web, journal, blog
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The World’s Most Dangerous Bird
The Cassowary lives in the rain forests of Australia and New Guinea and are actually pretty shy animals if undisturbed, but if you get to close and it thinks you’re a threat you could receive a bone-breaking kick or get sliced by its dagger-like sharp claws. During WWII, soldiers stationed in New Guinea were warned to stay away from these birds, but some of them still became victims.
The Cassowary is also one of the most difficult animals to keep in the Zoo because of the frequent injuries suffered by Zoo keepers that look after them.
More pictures...
18:30 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Birds, Science, Australia, New Guinea, World, Animals, Guiness records
Couch-potato culture may cut our lives short
Thanks largely to medical and public health advances, Americans are living longer than ever. The average life expectancy in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, was nearly 78. That's up from 47 in 1900 and 68 in 1950.
But even as the market for anti-aging pills and products has never been hotter with Americans seeking a longer life, some experts say we as a nation are doing ourselves in with our couch-potato culture of eating way too much and exercising far too little. Some health professionals even raise the controversial notion that today's generation of kids like Justin — about a third of whom are overweight or obese — may be the first to live shorter lives than their parents.
"Young kids are getting what have traditionally been adult-type diseases — type 2 diabetes and heart disease," she says. "It's like advanced aging."
"These kids are headed for real trouble," agrees S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health and a researcher at the Center on Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Their parents may not be faring so well, either, he says. Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.
In 2005, Olshansky and colleagues published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine predicting that in the coming decades, the obesity epidemic and its health consequences would reverse the upward longevity curve in America over the last century, slashing life expectancy by two to five years — more than the impact of cancer or heart disease.
more...
18:26 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Obesity, USA, Medicine, Health, News, Web, Living longer
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Skipping breakfast may mean your baby is a girl
Women on low-calorie diets or who skip breakfast at the time of conception are more likely to give birth to girls than boys, British scientists said on Wednesday.
New research by the universities of Exeter and Oxford provides the first evidence that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet, and higher energy intake is linked to males.
"This research may help to explain why in developed countries, where many young women choose to have low-calorie diets, the proportion of boys born is falling," said Fiona Mathews of the University of Exeter.
more...
20:30 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: UK, London, news, weird, medicine, babies, world
Brazil priest flying party balloons lost at sea
A Brazilian priest is missing after he drifted out to sea while trying to set a record for a flight using helium-filled party balloons, authorities said on Tuesday.
Father Adelir Antonio de Carli began his flight suspended in a harness-like seat from 1,000 balloons of various colors on Sunday in the southern port of Paranagua. He had intended to fly 20 hours due west but unexpected winds carried the 42-year-old Roman Catholic priest out over the south Atlantic on a southeasterly course.
Denise Gallas, coordinator of the parish where de Carli worked, said he was last heard from Sunday evening when he used his cell phone to give his coordinates.De Carli, who flew around 55 miles (90 kilometers) before losing contact, had wanted to draw attention to the work of his parish in Paranagua, which targets mostly truck drivers who transport goods to and from the port.
Rescue workers searched the coast farther south, in Santa Catarina state, on Tuesday by boat and plane in the hope of finding de Carli alive. The search will continue for some time.
more...
20:28 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Brazil, news, flying priest, balloons, Web, journal, world
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Oldest Living Tree Found in Sweden
The world's oldest known living tree, a conifer that first took root at the end of the last Ice Age, has been discovered in Sweden, researchers say.
The visible portion of the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) "Christmas tree" isn't ancient, but its root system has been growing for 9,550 years, according to a team led by Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden.
Discovered in 2004, the lone Norway spruce—of the species traditionally used to decorate European homes during Christmas—represents the planet's longest-lived identified plant, Kullman said.
The researchers found the shrubby mountain survivor at an altitude of 2,985 feet (910 meters) in Dalarna Province.
more...
22:33 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: National Geographic, Sweden, news, Trees, science, journal, web
Tai cheese, anyone?
A dairy farmer who believes a happy cow is a productive cow has discovered an unusual way to relax his herd and increase milk yields – tai chi.
Rob Taverner performs the ancient martial art in front of his 100 cows every morning to get them in the right moo-d to produce lots of milk.
The 44-year-old organic farmer visits the animals at 9am each day to run through his ten-minute routine of slow movements and breathing techniques – dressed in his distinctive overalls and wellies.
He said: 'Tai chi is all about leaving your problems behind and getting into a better zone and my mood definitely transfers to the cows.
more...
22:30 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Tai Chi, Cows, UK, Science, Vets, news, web
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Real life Garfield
A two-and-a-half stone cat has been hailed a real life Garfield in Italy. Orazio looks like not only the cat that got the cream but who ate the whole cow too.
Just like lasagne loving Garfield, this fat cat grew to such a gargantuan size by guzzling all the food treats that his native Italy can provide.
The three-year-old tabby is such a food fanatic that owner Laura Santarelli finds it impossible to get him to slim down.
The flabby feline is now so large that it's a struggle for Laura just to pick him up.
And, should any of Laura's other five cats get in his way at dinner time at his home in Eupilio, the results can be catastrophic...
00:05 Posted in Leisure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Garfield, Cats, Italy, news, pets, world, journal
Ultimate nerd wedding proposal
A US man has been credited with the ultimate nerd wedding proposal after hacking into his girlfriend's favourite video game.
Bernie Peng, 26, of New Jersey, reprogrammed Bejeweled so a ring and a proposal popped up when Tammy Li, 27, reached a certain score.
Mr Peng, who works as a programmer of financial software, said he spent about a month reprogramming the game.
"I thought it was pretty cool, in a nerdy way," he told the Star-Ledger.
He presented the game to a surprised Li, who played until she hit the score that triggered a digital pink sapphire ring to drop down with Peng's proposal.
more...
00:02 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Weddings, videogames, USA, news, love