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Friday, May 30, 2008
Earth's last uncontacted tribes near Brazil-Peru border
Incredible picture of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes firing bows and arrows!
Painted: In a thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian border, these tribespeople are thought never to have had any contact with the outside world.
Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away.
Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black.
The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier.
Thought never to have had any contact with the outside world, everything about these people is, and hopefully will remain, a mystery.
Their extraordinary body paint, precisely what they eat (the anthropologists saw evidence of gardens from the air), how they construct their tent-like camp, their language, how their society operates - the life of these Amerindians remains a mystery.
'We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist,' said Brazilian uncontacted tribes expert José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior. 'This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence.'
More Pictures...
Survival International website...
15:33 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Survival International, Tribes, World, UK, Brazil, Peru, Indians
The Homeless Billionaire
Nicolas Berggruen is a multi-billionaire that doesn´t own a home.
After making his billions, Mr. Berggruen, 46, lost interest in acquiring things: They didn’t satisfy him, and in fact had become something of a burden. So he started paring down his material life, selling off his condo in New York, his mansion in Florida and his only car. He hatched plans to leave his fortune to charity and his art collection to a new museum in Berlin.
For him, wealth is about lasting impact, not stuff.
“Everybody is different and I think that we live in a material world,” he told me. “But for me, possessing things is not that interesting. Living in a grand environment to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal. Whatever I own is temporary, since we’re only here for a short period of time. It’s what we do and produce, it’s our actions, that will last forever. That’s real value.”
More...
15:27 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Homeless, Billionaries, USA, Hotels, World, Weird, Web
Childhood 'toy' revealed as ancient Persian relic
An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by an English scrap metal dealer is expected to fetch close to a million dollars at auction after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner's bed.
Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the 5.5-inch (14-centimetre) high mug to play with when he was a child, back in 1945.
He assumed the golden cup, which is decorated with the heads of two women facing in opposite directions, their foreheads garlanded with two knotted snakes, was made from brass.
But he decided to get it valued when he was moving house last year and was told it was actually a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure, beaten out of a single sheet of gold hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was "consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing" dating back to the third or fourth century BC.
The Achaemenid empire, the first of the Persian empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran, was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.
Auction house Duke's, in Dorchester, south-west England, will put the cup under the hammer on June 5, with an estimate of 500,000 pounds (630,000-euro, 988,000-dollars).
Webber, 70, told The Guardian newspaper that his grandfather had a "good eye" for antiques and picked up "all sorts" as he plied his trade in the town of Taunton in south-west England.
"Heaven knows where he got this, he never said," he added, revealing that as a child, he used the cup for target practice with his air gun.
15:24 Posted in History | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Persians, London, Uk, world, History, Antiques, shopping
Monday, May 26, 2008
Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address
When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.
Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.
He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet. "I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.
"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.
The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.
22:03 Posted in news | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Parrot, Animals, Tokyo, Japan, world, news, blog
American Airlines to start charging $15 for checked luggage
American Airlines said Wednesday it plans to charge passengers $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and eliminate possibly thousands of jobs, as it grapples with record-high fuel prices.
Chairman and Chief Executive Gerard J. Arpey didn't specify how many jobs would be cut, but when asked whether he expected the figure to be in the thousands he said yes. American, a unit of AMR Corp., employs about 95,000 workers.
American, the nation's largest carrier, said Wednesday the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags. The other fees will mostly range from $5 to $50 per service, the airline said. The changes were being made to adapt to "the current reality of slow economic growth and high oil prices," Arpey said. He said the fees are an effort to get customers to pay for services they want.
American said rising oil prices have increased its expected annual fuel costs by nearly $3 billion since the start of the year.
Last month American announced it would join other carriers in charging $25 for second bags checked for some passengers, but it wasn't immediately clear how Wednesday's announcement would affect that.
Its proposed fee for a first checked bag would exempt people who belong to elite levels of its frequent flyer programs, those who bought full-fare tickets and those traveling overseas.
Delta Air Lines Inc. spokeswoman Betsy Talton said the Atlanta-based airline is considering all of its options in light of $130-a-barrel oil, but has no plans "at this time" to match the $15 fee American announced.
21:57 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: USA, Oil, news, American Airlines, Travel, world, web
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Amazing Nokia Phone
The Nokia Aeon mobile phone wants to be touched!
The Nokia phone has a similar design to the Synaptics Onyx. The concept phone will feature a full surface touch screen display that replaces the traditional keypad. Its uniquely design gives this concept phone an extremely sleek and sexy look. Nokia should use a perfect material that does not attract fingerprints on Aeon’s touch screen display.
11:45 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Nokia, Nokia Aeon, mobile phones, science, technology, web, shopping
World's Most Expensive Car
Vintage Ferrari fetches $11 million at auction!
A 1961 Ferrari 250 GT short-wheelbase California got hammered down at auction for €7,040,000. Converted to U.S. dollars, that's about $10,976,000 making it the most valuable vintage car ever sold under the hammer, organizers said on Monday. 
The rare black convertible was one of 33 cars and scores of Ferrari memorabilia sold at auction on Sunday in the luxury sports carmaker's hometown of Maranello in northern Italy.
The 7 million euro price paid by British radio and television host Chris Evans eclipsed previous records for cars sold under auction, organizers RM Auctions said.
"It's a very rare Ferrari, one of just 56 built," said spokesman Terrence Lobzun. "It's a very desirable car, probably one of the most desirable Ferraris ever built as far as style and design are concerned."
11:35 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Ferrari, Cars, collectors, news, shopping, journal, blog
Vertebrae Bathroom for the mile-high club enthusiasts
The Vertebrae vertical bathroom system created by a designer named Paul is the perfect multi-purpose bathroom unit for luxury apartments with a space shortage or airplanes. 
Using only 0.4 sq. mts. of floor space, the Vertebrae houses everything you can expect to find in a regular bathroom complete with showerheads, sink, cistern, loo and even a lot of storage units. The space saving bathroom system is made in spanking stainless steel to add class to your small and humble apartment.
Buy it here for just US$20,000.00...
11:25 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Mile-high club, UK, USA, furniture, airplanes, house design, web
Weight Loss Sunglasses
This swanky invention is designed to give food a blue tinge and therefore it'll look disgusting.
Certain colours tend to stimulate appetite, while others tend to deter it. Apparently, blue is considered to be the least appetizing color of the spectrum, with red and yellow being at the opposite end as a hunger stimulant.
How it works:
It stimulates the physiological circulation of the human that it is appetite the effect of red approaches the brain among non consciousness, would like to eat generally, that it increases. It is said that the appetite it calms the excitation of the brain above that would like to eat blue color conversely, is held down. Those where the color physiology is applied are these sunglasses. “You drink continuously” if and so on poor even with the person where “it moves”, this because just you apply with easily is, it is easy to continue without being chased in stress, probably will be.
The color blue is associated with calmness and tranquility. It can also be depressing as in thee expression "feeling blue".
Buy them here for only $18.75...
11:05 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Japan, Weightloss, Diet, World, news, Shopping, USA
LG Boast of Display Technology Again!
For Samsung Electronics and LG Display, selling their latest panel technologies to potential clients is their top concern amid the globally booming flat screen industry. They aim to steal the limelight at a leading North American show for electronic-displays in Los Angeles by introducing their newest products, which the companies claim are the world’s first, even though experts doubt their marketability.
On Sunday, Samsung Electronics showcased an ultra-high definition 82-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) panel for 120Hz television sets at the Society for Information Display (SID) 2008 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition in the U.S. city. The show will run from May 18 to 23.
The world’s largest LCD panel supplier said the latest product offers much clearer viewing as its 120Hz technology, which displays an image 120 times per second, increases the frame time by twice that of the existing technology. Meanwhile, Samsung said the panel uses a light-emitting diode (LED) backlight, with the increasing popularity of LED-backed flat screens triggering soaring demand worldwide.
Industry experts said that so far backlight module makers around the world have yet to effectively improve defect rates in making light-guide plates and assembling LED backlight modules. As a result, the price of LED backlight modules remains far higher than that of the current cold cathode fluorescent lamp model.
more...
10:59 Posted in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Korea, LG, Samsung, Electronics, TV, Science, technology
Sunday, May 18, 2008
NASA Offers $5000 a Month For You to Lie in Bed
Need a break from the working, walking, and standing required by the demanding and stressful life you lead?
Well, pack your bags for Houston because NASA wants to pay you $17,000 to stay in bed for 90 straight days.
The bed-rest experiment, to take place in the Human Test Subject Facility of Johnson Space Center, is designed to allow scientists to study some of the effects of microgravity on the human body. Participants will spend 90 days lying in bed, (except for limited times for specific tests) with their body slightly tilted downward (head down, feet up). Every day, they will be awake for 16 hours and lights out (asleep) for 8 hours.
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19:40 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: NASA, news, science, USA, blog, web, journal
Whiskey Geeks Keep Moonshine Tradition Alive
Making moonshine has gone from a backwoods black art to a high-end hobby practiced by "whiskey geeks" with a taste for top-shelf hooch. Unlike their bootlegging predecessors, who cooked up big batches of white lightning and distributed the illegal booze out of the backs of cars, today's moonshiners focus on quality rather than quantity.
"It took me years, but with practice and dedication you can make any spirit every bit as good as a commercial distiller," says Dave Robison, 42, owner of Pioneer Spirits, a single-batch distillery in Chico, California. "You might not be able to reproduce it exactly, but it will be as good as anything you can buy on the top shelf."
Home distillation of liquor used to be the province of backwoods bootleggers. Up until 1974, when the world price of sugar skyrocketed, commercial moonshiners throughout the Southeastern United States made enough money making hooch that it was worth the risk of getting caught by federal revenuers.
Today, making your own liquor is as illegal as ever, and a lot less lucrative. In fact, it's considerably cheaper to buy it off the shelf.
more...
19:37 Posted in Leisure | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Moonshining, USA, UK, Whiskey, Alcohol, world, news
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.
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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