Brentwood International

Whoops! Mexican mayor announces death of his arch nemesis... hours BEFORE his body was found

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:18:42 -0600

A Mexican mayor has sparked fury by announcing the death of a notorious drugs baron - hours before the body was found and two days before it was identified. Speculation has arisen that Mauricio Fernandez may have had something to do with the killing after he made the slip while being sworn in as mayor of San Pedro Garza Garcia, one of Mexico's most exclusive areas. Speaking during his re-election ceremony, he announced: 'Black Saldana, who apparently is the one who was asking for my head, was found dead today in Mexico City.' The problem was that the barefoot, blindfolded corpse of 'Black Saldana', whose real first name is Hector, was not found for another four hours, according to Mexico City prosecutors. His body was also not identified for another two days. When questioned about whether he knew anything about his opponent's death, Mr Fernandez said: 'Sometimes there are coincidences in life. It's better to look at it this way.'

Grumpy 'is good for you'

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:50:00 -0600

An Australian psychology expert who has been studying emotions has found being grumpy makes us think more clearly. In contrast to those annoying happy types, miserable people are better at decision-making and less gullible, his experiments showed.

While cheerfulness fosters creativity, gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking. A grumpy person can cope with more demanding situations than a happy one because of the way the brain "promotes information processing strategies".

Why do we use definite articles for some place names?

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:34:00 -0600

Many place names started off as descriptions with definite articles. For example, the city of Bath, England, famous for its purportedly health-supporting natural spring, was referred to as "The Bath" until the 19^th century. The town of Devizes, about 20 miles east of Bath, used to be called "The Devizes," because it once divided the estates of two large landowners. In these cases, the definite articles dropped off when the locals started thinking of their town's name as more than a mere descriptor. But people in The Hague have stuck with the original phrase—even to the point of using the longer "Counts' Hedge" title from time to time.

Not all place names using the come from these sorts of phrases. Place names that indicate plurality—usually referring to a collection of islands, mountains, or other geographic features—also tend to take the definite article. The Netherlands (the "low countries") and the Bahamas (referring to the collection of islands) are well-known examples. The city of The Dalles, Ore.—familiar as the last stop on the Oregon Trail to anyone who played the eponymous computer game—is named for rock formations along the Columbia River. And a town in Virginia goes by the name The Plains, while the city of White Plains in upstate New York seems to have lost the definite article very early on.

Balloon Boy Halloween Costume Kit!

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:11:18 -0500

Politically Incorrect Balloon Boy Halloween Costume. Now you too can enjoy all the media attention you want with Plantraco's Balloon Boy Hoax kit. A great flying saucer that is going to put a big smile on your face. Colorado flying saucers and hot air balloon hoaxes are famous these days, get on the bandwagon for trick-or-treat halloween fun and loads of laughs for everyone!

You are practically guaranteed to get double and triple halloween treats with this authentic and collectible Balloon Boy Flying Saucer Hoax trick costume!

WARNING: Do not leave this balloon unattended, some kid might crawl inside and fly away on you.
Complete with hatch door for the gondola. If you fall out of the gondola, be sure to close the hatch door!

Buy it here...

'Smart' speed bumps being developed in Mexico

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:45:53 -0500

Yet concerns over the environment — and the utter annoyance of having to brake and accelerate frequently — have prompted one Mexican state government to embrace a "smart" speed bump that could make driving smoother, without sacrificing safety.

The device, being developed by Mexico-based Decano Industries, automatically lowers into the ground when drivers go the speed limit or slower. Drive too fast, and the bump stays up.

Fingernail-size chip that holds 1TB of data

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:23:24 -0500

Engineers have created a new fingernail-size chip that can hold 1 trillion bytes (a terabyte) of data -- 50 times the capacity of today's best silicon-based chip technologies. The engineers, from North Carolina State University, said their nanostructured Ni-MgO system can store up to 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, "far exceeding the storage capacities of today's computer memory systems."

Working at the nanoscale, the engineers added metal nickel to magnesium oxide, a ceramic. The resulting material contained clusters of nickel atoms no bigger than 10 square nanometers -- a pinhead has a diameter of 1 million nanometers. The discovery represents a 90% size reduction compared with today's techniques, and an advancement that could boost computer storage capacity.

The Blackberry Smartwatch

noreply@blogspirit.com (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:16:21 -0500

In case you don’t already feel connected enough to your BlackBerry, a new smartwatch that incorporates the device will be available soon. Yes, now you can have your crackberry physically connected to your body at all times. The Blackberry watch – code name “in pulse” – is still in concept mode, but it’s expected to have a large OLED screen to clearly display text. It’s designed to display messages from a paired BlackBerry device.

No word yet on how much the BlackBerry watch will cost or when it will be available, but an announcement is expected soon.