World Amazing Information, Facts & News

Largest TV sculpture in the world

2008-07-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

"LNK Infotree" (LNK Infomedis) is currently the largest TV sculpture in the world (Guinness World Record). It's using 2,903 individual television sets, spanning 3,135 sq metres (33,744.85 sq ft) at the Open Air Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. I've been there a couple of years ago and it looked really amazing. It's currently closed for reconstruction but we can look at some older images.

A statue of Lenin lies in the middle of the labyrinth. The sculpture symbolizes the absurdity of Soviet propaganda that for over half a century had been implanted in people¢s minds with the help of senseless TV.

All Lithuania has taken part in the creation of a labyrinth of television sets. People from various Lithuanian towns donated old TV sets after an appeal from Europos Parkas was broadcast on LNK television.

9 Most Amazing Overlooked Mysteries in History

2008-07-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

9. Lost City of Heike

In the late 2nd century AD, the Greek writer Pausanias wrote an account of how (4-500 years earlier?) in one night a powerful earthquake destroyed the great city of Helike, with a Tsunami washing away what remained of the once-flourishing metropolis. The city, capital of the Achaean League, was a worship centre devoted to the ancient god Poseidon, god of the sea. There was no trace of the legendary society mentioned outside of the ancient Greek writings until 1861, when an archeologist found some loot thought to have come from Helike - a bronze coin with the unmistakable head of Poseidon. In 2001, a pair of archeologists managed to locate the ruins of Helike beneath the mud and gravel of the coast, and are currently trying to peice together the rise and sudden fall of what has been called the “real” Atlantis.

8. The Bog Bodies

This mystery may even be a problem for those legendary investigators from CSI and the like! The bog bodies are hundreds of ancient corpses found buried around the northern bogs and wetlands of Northern Europe. These bodies are remarkably well preserved, some dating back 2,000 years. Many of these bodies have tell-tale signs of torture and other medieval “fun”, which have made some researchers postulating that these unfortunate victims were the result of ritual sacrifices.

7. Fall of the Minoans

The Minoans are best known for the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, but it is in fact the demise of this once-great civilisation that is more interesting. While many historians concentrate on the fall of the Roman Empire, the fall of the Minoans, who resided on the island of Crete, is an equal, if not greater mystery. Three and a half thousand years ago the island was shaken by a huge volcanic eruption on the neighbouring Thera Island. Archeologists unearthed tablets which have shown that the Minoans carried on for another 50 years after the eruption, before finally folding. Theories of what finally ended them have ranged from volcanic ash covering the island and devastating harvests to the weakened society eventually getting taken over by invading Greeks

6. The Carnac Stones

Everyone has heard of Stonehenge, but few know the Carnac Stones. These are 3,000 megalithic stones arranged in perfect lines over a distance of 12 kilometers on the coast of Brittany in the North-West of France. Mythology surrounding the stones says that each stone is a soldier in a Roman legion that Merlin the Wizard turned in to stone. Scientific attempts at an explanation suggests that the stones are most likely an elaborate earthquake detector. The identity of the Neolithic people who built them is unknown.

5. Who Was Robin Hood ?

The historical search for the legendary thief Robin Hood has turned up masses of possible names. One candidate includes the Yorkshire fugitive Robert Hod, also known as Hobbehod or Robert Hood of Wakefield..

The large number of suspects is complicated further as the name Robin Hood became a common term for an outlaw. As literature began to add new characters to the tale such as Prince John and Richard the Lionheart the trail became more obscure. To this day no one knows who this criminal really was.

4. The Lost Roman Legion

After the Parthians defeated underachieving Roman General Crassus’ army, legend has it that a small band of the POWs wandered through the desert and were eventually rounded up by the Han military 17 years later.

First century Chinese historian Ban Gu wrote an account of a confrontation with a strange army of about a hundred men fighting in a “fish-scale formation” unique to Roman forces.

An Oxford historian who compared ancient records claims that the lost roman legion founded a small town near the Gobi desert named Liqian, which in Chinese translates to Rome. DNA tests are being conducted to answer that claim and hopefully explain some of the residents’ green eyes, blonde hair, and fondness of bullfighting.

3. The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a medieval document written in an unknown script and in an unknown language. For over one hundred years people have tried to break the code to no avail. The overall impression given by the surviving leaves of the manuscript suggests that it was meant to serve as a pharmacopoeia or to address topics in medieval or early modern medicine. However, the puzzling details of illustrations have fueled many theories about the book’s origins, the contents of its text, and the purpose for which it was intended. The document contains illustrations that suggest the book is in six parts: Herbal, Astronomical, Biological, Cosmological, Pharmaceutical, and recipes.

2. The Tarim Mummies

An amazing discovery of 2,000 year old mummies in the Tarim basin of Western China occurred in the early 90s. But more amazing than the discovery itself was the astonishing fact that the mummies were blond haired and long nosed.

In 1993, Victor Mayer a college professor collected DNA from the mummies and his tests verified that the bodies were all of European genetic stock.

Ancient Chinese texts from as early as the first millennium BC do mention groups of far-east dwelling caucasian people referred to as the Bai, Yeuzhi, and Tocharians. None, though, fully reveal how or why these people ended up there.

1. Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization

The ancient Indus Valley people, India’s oldest known civilization had a culture that stretched from Western India to Afghanistan and a populace of over 5 million. le—India’s oldest known civilization— were an impressive and apparently sanitary bronze-age bunch.

The scale of their baffling and abrupt collapse rivals that of the great Mayan decline. They were a hygienically advanced culture with a highly sophisticated sewage drainage system, and immaculately constructed baths.

There is to date no archaeological evidence of armies, slaves, conflicts, or other aspects of ancient societies. No one knows where this civilization went.

The Worlds Longest Bike - Amazing

2008-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

The Worlds Longest Bike

It has been to our attention that the longest bike in the world, officialy registered by Guiness record book is from Russia.It’s creator Oleg “Leshij” Rogov was from Tver city, a small town near Moscow city. He was a big biker fan since his childhood. One day he has got an idea to build the longest bike in the world, according to his own story “probably afterÂ he got too much Â beer inside”.

So after two years of planning and delaying he did it. He built the bike that was 31 feet 4 inches long (9 metres 57 cm). After the thing was ready he sent his claim to the Guiness book and got registered as longest bike in the world.

The saddest part of the story is that he got into accident and died this summer, still we have the photos of his creation, it would be some kind of tribute to him.

The Longest Truck in the World - Amazing

2008-06-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

The longest truck in the world

So, have you ever this truck? May you ever seen the truck below

Longest truck in the world - Hart hitches a ride in a 182ft Road Train

“Some drivers just won’t pass us, they are too scared”

Move over '.com' and get ready for '.hotel' or '.sports'

2008-06-28T04:18:00.000-07:00

Come 2009, and almost any word will be able to replace ".com" in a Web page address - thanks to a decision made by the organization that manages the technical underpinnings of the Web, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (ICANN).

ICANN unanimously approved the new guidelines as weeklong meetings in Paris concluded.

Top-level domain names, or TLDs, refer to Internet name suffixes, such as the ubiquitous .com, .net and .org, among others. Currently, there are more than 200 TLDs, which also include the two-character country codes used by websites, such as Britain's .uk.

Under the new plans, a domain name, the suffix at the end of a website address, can now be based on any string of letters.

This will allow individuals to register a domain based on their own name, for example, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".

The result could be the creation of thousands or even millions of new addresses.

ICANN also voted collectively to open public comment on a separate proposal to permit addresses entirely in non-English languages for the first time.

"We are opening up a new world and I think this cannot be underestimated," BBC quoted Roberto Gaetano, a member of ICANN, as saying.

Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of ICANN, described passing the resolution as a "historic moment".

ICANN officials said some technical issues for the new system must still be worked out, but it could be reviewing the first applications for new TLDs as early as 2009. (ANI)

(Source: Yahoo)

The world's most expensive Indian Saree

2008-06-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

How often have you come across a Rs. 40 lakh ($100,000) ? Silk Saree? Chennai Silksof its kind and it is seeking an unmistakable entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most unique and expensive saree.

The exceptionally stunning saree is meticulously woven with 12 precious stones and metals to depict 11 of Raja Ravi Verma's popular paintings. Explicitly projected is 'Lady Musicians.'Besides, the border of the saree pictures 10 other paintings of the artist that pays tribute to 20th century artist.

The best part of the saree being that the women in the paintings are intricately hand-woven and beautified with jewels of gold, diamond, platinum, silver, ruby, emerald, yellow sapphire, sapphire, cat's eye, topaz, pearl and corals.

Already in the Limca Book of Records, this 40 lakh saree will be the first silk saree that required the use of 7,440 jacquard hooks and 66,794 cards during the weaving process. Moreover, a group of consummate workers took nearly 4,680 hours.

Rare Photo from history - 1922 in USA

2008-06-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

"June 30, 1922. Washington policeman Bill Norton measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrell, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, issued an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee." National Photo Co. [Originally posted June 19, 2007.]

WORLD'S FIRST PREGNANT MAN - Amazing

2008-06-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Father's Day Gift Ideas 2008

2008-06-12T21:21:00.001-07:00

| View | Upload your

Send Fathers Day Gifts to your Dad with infibeam.com

Amazing mini 3D-display cube developed in Japan

2008-06-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) today unveiled a nice little invention: a 3D LCD display box that fits in the palm of your hand.

The so-called gCubik makes it possible to visualize objects in three dimensions via integrated imaging technology. It is just 10 cm small.

The NICT wants to significantly improve the display quality within 3 years. A wireless version is in the works as well. The institute aims at commercializing the gCubik for use in business and science. They say their invention could be used by video game companies, too, for example.

The gCubik will be presented to the general public during an exhibition next month in Tokyo. Americans will be able to see the cube in action at the Siggraph 2008 which takes place in August.

(Source: crunchgear.com)

Want to quit smoking? Go online. Really!

2008-06-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Surfing for a longer life

With more and more people inhabiting the virtual world today, doctors are using that space to encourage people to quit smoking. There are websites that list out the disadvantages and dangers of the addiction, and also those that help you formulate a personal quitting plan.

The helping hand At the Champs Club, an Indian anti-smoking website, you can calculate exactly how much money one one save by quitting smoking for a month/year/five years and so on. It helps one understand how long and what kind of changes one's body will undergo in the first 30 days of quitting.

The site has names of smoking rehab clinics over the country, where addicts who want to kick the butt can enroll for a three-month programme. Says Dr Gupta, a panelist, "Since the website was launched last month, we have received a number of enquiries and four people have already enrolled.

We expect a lot more soon." Becomeanex.

org helps smokers come up with personalised quitting plans, which map out when s/he needs a smoke and how s/he reacts when s/he doesn't smoke. Indian brothers A blogger called 'nocigarette' has collected anti-smoking TV ads from over the world.

One Indian ad says, "Be nice to smokers, they don't have long to live." Though India-specific anti-smoking websites have yet to catch on, Cancer Patients Aid Association India (CPAA) has an active website with a detailed section on "How to quit smoking".

The section directs traffic to a website called whyquit.com that is headed by Joel Spitzer, a world-renowned anti-smoking campaigner.

All of Spitzer's reinforcement articles for those who have quit have been compiled into a 1.4 MB PDF e-book called Never Take Another Puff.

Since 2005, over 8,50,000 copies have been downloaded. Besides, there are about 1,000 anti-smoking meet-up groups on meetup.

com, of which two are Delhi-based.

Source: Yahoo.com

Every house has a beach - Architecture @ its best

2008-06-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

Palm Jumeirah @ DUBAI new pics

Now see this stuff………………….
This is taken from world's tallest building "Burj Dubai" @ 2,620 ft / 801m!!!

What do you think guys…………………

What does height have to do with finding love?

2008-06-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

She Says vs. He Says: What's Height Got to Do With Love?

Agreeing on the "right height" for a healthy relationship has been a hot topic since before Darwin tried to explain why both genders finally stood up. In this debate, authors Christine Hassler and Jason Ryan Dorsey attempt to demystify what each gender thinks about height and its impact on dating. This discussion is particularly important for single people who want to improve their chances of finding a date online by adjusting their personal height stats.

SHE SAYS: When it comes to initial attraction, height matters. A woman wants to look up to a man, both literally and figuratively. Now I know a lot of women may disagree with me here and say it's all about equality, but when it comes to height, many women aren't drawn to a level playing field. I don't know if it's feeling a taller man can better protect us or simply look good on holiday postcards, but short guys definitely have to work harder to stand out in a crowd.

But here is the thing, if you take the time to get beyond the superficial stuff and see someone for who they are, then height doesn't matter at all. When it comes to love, physical attraction may spark a relationship but it rarely sustains one. And, hey, as a woman, I know that there's a lot a guy has to offer when he is not standing. The things that matter when it comes to love are whether or not your values, life goals, priorities, and communication skills align -- not whether you can see over him when you wear your favorite stiletto heels.

HE SAYS: As a guy who is vertically mediocre, I don't think height is the deciding factor when it comes to falling in love -- unless you want your future children to play college basketball on scholarship. However, when a short guy shows up at a restaurant on a date with a much taller woman you know that some of the other guys in the place are thinking, "What does he do?" That particular situation has never happened to me, but it sure sounds cool. What I do know is that love doesn't come with a minimum height requirement like a ride at Six Flags. Sometimes the one you end up falling head over 3-inch heels for doesn't necessarily fit your "type," but then maybe she is exactly your type after all. I mean you may not end up seeing eye-to-eye on your wedding day, but that shouldn't matter because you can always PhotoShop the pictures. I did.

Source: Yahoo!

Amazing Fantasy Garden - Get Lost in it

2008-05-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Bruno Torf is an artist that creates beautiful works of fantasy art in his sculpture garden. This garden resides in Marysville, Victoria hidden away in a magical rainforest setting.

Originally from South America, Bruno moved his family to Marysville in 1995. He originally started his career as a sign writer, but gradually made the transition to being a fulltime artist. He wanted a place to exhibit his artwork, so he opened Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden.

He travels around the world quite frequently, studying different styles of art. This is definitely apparent in his garden sculptures. He decided to create the sculpture garden so that he could run it as a permanent attraction. The garden began with a little over 15 life-size terracotta sculptures and now has over 115 on display. Combined with his oil paintings, sketches and small sculptures, there are now over 300 works of art on display at Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden.

I would love to go to this garden to see these sculptures. It reminds me of a Lord of the Rings type setting. Now that I think about it....I don't want to just visit, I'd totally live in a place like this. Imagine waking up in this fantasy world every day. But then I'd be on display for all of the tourists....they would probably think I was a scary gnome when they see what I look like waking up in the morning.

Source: inventorspot.com

Dolphin birth: Amazing photos

2008-05-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

A dolphin born in an aquarium in the Netherlands is to be named by the public.

As these amazing photos show his mother Finagain gave birth in her pool in the Harderwijk Dolfinarium on the 22nd May.

Finagain, a common bottlenose dolphin, was herself born in captivity to Notchfin and Guy in 1992.

Her pregnancy lasted twelve months, and the as-yet unnamed calf is around 3ft long at birth, already fully capable of swimming. Unlike human babies dolphin calves are born “breech”, i.e. tail first.

It will live with its mother until it is six. Male dolphins become sexually mature around age nine to thirteen.

The Dolfinarium is home to sixteen dolphins and six harbour porpoise. As well as hosting dolphin displays it acts as a rehabilitation centre, taking in beached or injured cetaceans and preparing them for life back in the wild.

It was first opened in 1965 by Frits den Herder and his brother Coen. During its chequered history the park went bankrupt after an ill-advised expansion into other European countries.

Only a state intervention by the Dutch government restored it to the not-for-profit animal rehabilitation centre it is today.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Arundel's amazing carpet of flowers open to the public

2008-05-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

MORE THAN 100 years of tradition, a sacred moment in time and around 1,500 flowers are on display in Arundel Cathedral from today (Tuesday, May 20).

A 90ft carpet of flowers has been painstakingly designed, organised and laid along the aisle of the cathedral, to celebrate the festival of the Corpus Christi.

The procession of the Blessed Sacrament will make its way from the cathedral, to the courtyard of Arundel Castle, on Thursday (May 22) before moving back to the cathedral, and its colourful carpet.

This year's design is to mark the 150th anniversary of Saint Bernadette's apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.

Mary Bagg, a parishioner who has been helping to organise the carpet of flowers for more than 30 years, said: "Our Lady taught Bernadette to use a rosary, so that is our theme."

A massive rosary, fashioned from cream, gold, pink, red and purple chrysanthemums, adorns the aisle, and 100s of visitors are expected.

Ancient tradition
It is an ancient tradition to lay flowers in the path of important people, a practice that has been adopted by the Catholic Church to welcome the Blessed Sacrament.

Arundel's own tradition started in 1877, when Duke Henry, the 15th Duke of Norfolk, was inspired by seeing streets of flowers in Italy, and for many years the cathedral was decorated using flowers from his own green house.

It has taken place annually since, barring the years through the First World War.

The cathedral is open from 9.30am until 9pm tomorrow (Wednesday, May 21, 2008) and there will be two masses on Thursday. at 10am and 5.30pm.

The procession will begin at around 6.30pm

Source: littlehamptongazette.co.uk

Francis Bacon triptych breaks record at NYC auction

2008-05-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

This undated photo released by Sotheby's shows the three panels of Francis Bacon's "Triptych, 1976" which broke a record for contemporary art auctions Wednesday May 14, 2008 , selling for $86,281,000 after three bidders vied for it. It also set an auction record for the British artist.

A three-panel masterpiece by Francis Bacon broke a record for contemporary art auctions Wednesday, selling for more than $86 million after three bidders vied for it, a spokeswoman for the auction house said.

The $86,281,000 price for "Triptych, 1976" also set an auction record for the British artist, Sotheby's spokeswoman Lauren Gioia said.

She said the sale also broke auction records for work by pop artist Robert Rauschenberg, who died Monday at 82. His 1963 painting "Overdrive" sold for some $14.6 million, Gioia said.

Both buyers were anonymous, and the prices included the auction house's commission, known as a buyer's premium.

The bidding for "Triptych, 1976" rocketed past an estimate of $70 million for the painting, which is full of symbolism and draws on ancient Greek mythology.

The price also bested the $72.8 million auction record for contemporary art, set when Mark Rothko's "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)" sold at Sotheby's in May 2007.

Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow" was expected to fetch $30 million to $40 million at Wednesday's auction. But it was not sold after bidding fell short of the seller's minimum price, Gioia said. Rothko died in 1970.

Bacon, who died in 1992 at 82, is considered one of Britain's most important 20th century artists. The previous auction record for a Bacon work was $52.7 million, for his "Study for Innocent X, 1952," sold at Sotheby's last May.

The triptych that sold Wednesday has been in the same owner's collection for more than 30 years, according to Sotheby's.

It was purchased in 1977 from the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris. The Tate Gallery in London and the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris also have shown it.

Another Bacon triptych, "Studies for Self Portrait," sold for $28 million at Christie's on Tuesday night.

Source: washingtonpost.com

One mom, 17 kids, plus one on the way

2008-05-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman -- she's pregnant with her 18th child.

Michelle Duggar is surrounded by her children and husband Jim Bob, after the birth of her 17th child in 2007.

Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children -- whose names start with the letter J -- are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores -- or "jurisdictions" -- are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.
Don't Miss

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2

Source: edition.cnn.com

Platypus mystery solved

2008-05-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

The world's first platypus twin puggles born in captivity are shown at Taronga Zoo in Sydney in 2003. The task of laying bare the platypus genome of 2.2 billion base pairs spread across 18,500 genes has taken several years, but will do far more than satisfy the curiosity of just biologists, say the researchers.

Arguably the oddest beast in Nature's menagerie, the platypus looks as if were assembled from spare parts left over after the animal kingdom was otherwise complete.

Now scientists know why. According to a study released Wednesday, the egg-laying critter is a genetic potpourri -- part bird, part reptile and part lactating mammal.

The task of laying bare the platypus genome of 2.2 billion base pairs spread across 18,500 genes has taken several years, but will do far more than satisfy the curiosity of just biologists, say the researchers.

"The platypus genome is extremely important, because it is the missing link in our understanding of how we and other mammals first evolved," explained Oxford University's Chris Ponting, one of the study's architects.

"This is our ticket back in time to when all mammals laid eggs while suckling their young on milk."

Native to eastern Australia and Tasmania, the semi-aquatic platypus is thought to have split off from a common ancestor shared with humans approximately 170 million years ago.

The creature is so strange that when the first stuffed specimens arrived in Europe at the end of the 18th century, biologists believed they were looking at a taxidermist's hoax, a composite stitched together from the body of a beaver and the snout of a giant duck.

But the peculiar mix of body features are clearly reflected in the animal's DNA, the study found.

The platypus is classified as a mammal because it produces milk and is covered in coat of thick fur, once prized by hunters.

Lacking teats, the female nurses pups through the skin covering its abdomen.

But there are reptile-like attributes too: females lay eggs, and males can stab aggressors with a snake-like venom that flows from a spur tucked under its hind feet.

The bird-like qualities implied by its Latin name, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, include webbed feet, a flat bill similar to a duck's, and the gene sequences that determine sex. Whereas humans have two sex chromosomes, platypuses have 10, the study showed.

"It is much more of a melange than anyone expected," commented Ewan Birney, who led the genome analysis at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge.

The animal also possesses a feature unique to monotremes -- an order including a handful of egg-laying mammals -- called electroreception.

With their eyes, ears and nostrils closed, platypuses rely on sensitive electrosensory receptors tucked inside their bills to track prey underwater, detecting electrical fields generated by muscular contraction.

"By comparing the platypus genome to other mammalian genomes, we'll be able to study genes that have been conserved throughout evolution," said senior author Richard Wilson, a researcher at Washington University.

In captivity, platypuses have lived up to 17 years of age.

In the wild, they feed on worms, insect larvae, shrimps and crayfish, eating up to 20 percent of their body weight every day.

Males grow to a length of 50 centimetres (20 inches) and weigh about two kilos (4.5 pounds), with females about 20 percent shorter and lighter.

The genome sequenced for the study belongs to a female specimen from New South Wales nicknamed Glennie and can be accessed at www.ncbi.nih.gov/Genbank.

Source: Yahoo

Mayor Bloomberg, go see this amazing lady

2008-05-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

Make it right, Mr. Mayor.

Take a moment this week to extend New York's best wishes to an uncommonly spirited woman left paralyzed in the crossfire between a cop and three gunmen 74 years ago, but who has yet to receive so much as a syllable of sympathy or a penny of support from her city.

The most innocent of bystanders, Leonora Tomasulo was shot on her 16th birthday. The bullet remains lodged against her spine as she comes to her 90th this week.

"It's still in me," Tomasulo reported from her wheelchair yesterday.

She seems incapable of self-pity. Bitterness only edges into her voice when she describes what the city did for her in the aftermath.

"Nothing."

Tomasulo turned 16 on that May day in 1934 and she was returning home with a strawberries and cream birthday cake she had bought with a dollar one of her sisters gave her.

She was starting onto Cherry St. when she heard gunfire. She saw Police Officer Arthur Rasmusen go down in front of her, fatally wounded, his gun blazing at a trio of thugs behind her.

"They held up a store for $25, a grocery store," Tomasulo recalled.

One stray bullet grazed the face of an off-duty detective's 10-month-old son. Another struck Tomasulo in the shoulder, tearing by her heart and lodging against her spine.

At Beekman Street Hospital, she was listed in extremely critical condition.

"They said I was going to die," Tomasulo recalled. "I told God, 'Please don't let me die.'"

She clung to life, but she was paralyzed from the waist down. She was transferred to Bellevue and was still in the intensive care as the holidays neared. She offered a full measure of her spirit when she started singing.

"Whoever heard of such a thing in the ICU unit?" her older sister Dora Pignanelli said as she sat with Tomasulo yesterday. "She's entertaining all the people there at Christmas. It gave them ..."

Pignanelli paused, searching for the right word.

"Courage," Tomasulo said. "I have a lot, thank God."

She needed all of it.

"I was in the hospital for five years," she noted.

When she was released from a rehabilitation center in Haverstraw, she was able to struggle about with a brace, crutches and pure will power, falling so often she got good at it.

"She fell a lot of times, but she fell easy," her sister said.

A good-hearted citizen gave her a wheelchair. The only thing the city ever gave her was an old hand-cranked sewing machine worth all of $1 so she could teach herself a trade and not be a burden.

Her luck took a good turn when a city worker named Louis Tomasulo chanced to see her by the entrance to her tenement. He announced that she was going to be his wife.

"Of course his mother didn't want him to marry a cripple," her sister recalled. "'He told his mother, 'If I don't marry that girl, I'm going to turn to drink.'"

They were married and if she still had a bullet lodged against her spine, she also had her Louis to help her. He died when he was not yet 60.

Her siblings continued to do all they could, as they had from the start, helping her live with the damage a single bullet can inflict.

"It's something nobody should go through," she said.

A moment of pure horror decades ago remained just a thought away.

"It always comes to me," she said.

Her great blessing continued to be her family. Fifty assorted relatives assembled for an early 90th birthday party at a Little Italy restaurant on Sunday.

She sang as she had in the ICU, as she had through all the years, good and bad. Her spirit was as young as on that day 74 years before when she turned 16. And she still loved birthday cake.

"What happened to the cake that was left over?" she asked at the end of Sunday's party. "It was so good I thought we'd take some home."

Leonora Tomasulo turns 90 on Sunday. The mayor should take a moment to say a few words that should have been said more than seven decades ago.

Source: nydailynews.com

What's in a username?

2008-04-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Your e-mail address 'can reveal your personality'

Think twice before you pick an email address -- it can reveal your personality.

Researchers at the University of Leipzig in Germany have carried out a study and found that an email address may speak volumes about the character of the person who created the unique online identification.

According to lead researcher Mitja Back, even the thinnest slice of communication via the world wide web - the mere e-mail address -- contains valid information about the personality of its owner.

In their study, the researchers asked a panel of 100 students to guess the personalities of 600 young adults simply by looking at their e-mail addresses.

The panel's guesses agreed mostly with a personality survey the teenagers had completed when it came to qualities like openness, conscientiousness and narcissism, and diverged most on the trait of extroversion.

Addresses that gave away personality often contained full stops, numbers or a name that was obviously not genuine, the researchers found.

Level of accuracy was explained using lens model analyses -- the students made broad use of perceivable e-mail address features in their personality judgements, features were slightly valid and the observers were sensitive to subtle differences in validity between cues.

The study has been published in the latest edition of the Journal of Research in Personality.

Source: Yahoo!

Jewellery store unveils golden Mickey Mouse

2008-04-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

For the ultimate treasure hunt, a Japanese jewellery store unveiled a golden Mickey Mouse on Wednesday in Tokyo.

The Ginza Tanaka jewellery store has joined forces with the well-known Walt Disney brand to promote an online game in which one lucky player can win the golden treasure.

The game comes with a film on DVD starring Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage.

Ginza Tanaka - a long established jewellers in Japan - assigned ten of its craftsmen and spent three months creating the Mickey Mouse statuette, using one kilogram (35.3 ounces) of pure gold.

Its estimated value, if placed on sale, would be more than 30-thousand US dollars.

The President of Ginza Tanaka, Noboru Takata called the golden Mickey Mouse as ''priceless''.

''We need to be a company that sells dreams and bring happiness to people,'' he said.

The 120 millimetre tall Mickey Mouse is now on display at Ginza Tanaka stores. The treasure hunt starts on Thursday.

Source: NDTV

Greatest rail journey: London to Dhaka via Delhi in 23 days

2008-04-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

In what would be the world's greatest rail journey, a new rail link, to be opened later this year, will enable one to undertake a 23-day journey by train from London to Dhaka via New Delhi.
The 7000-mile Trans-Asia railway network will follow one of the old Silk Roads through Istanbul, Tehran, Lahore and Delhi. The world's "greatest railway journey" will be longer than the Trans-Siberian railway, which spans 5772 miles, reported the Times Online.

India has already earmarked 90 million pounds to extend its vast rail network towards its border with Burma. From there just 218 miles of missing track stands in the way of an overland rail journey from London to Singapore.

Under a UN-sponsored scheme, Pakistan and Iran will link up their lines in the coming months to join the sub-continent's track to that of Europe for the first time. The UN said the link would open up new trade routes within Asia and give the former Soviet republics of central Asia rail access to Iran's strategic seaport at Bandar Abbas on the Gulf.

The route was extended when the Calcutta to Dhaka line reopened earlier this month, more than 40 years after it was blocked during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965.

Last week, senior Indian officials met their Iranian counterparts in Tehran to discuss the progress so far made in the rail network.

The prospect has caused excitement among Britain's rail enthusiasts. Mark Smith, whose website Seat61.com promotes rail adventures around the world, was planning his first London to Dhaka itinerary. His trip incorporates the Eurostar to Brussels, breakfast in Vienna and onward trains to Istanbul, where travelers must take the ferry across the Bosporus linking Europe with Asia.

The ferry will eventually be replaced by an underground tunnel, but for now passengers will be able to enjoy views of the Aya Sofya and Topkapi Palace.

China, a big supporter of the project, is spending billions on extending rail lines to its Burmese border. Trans-Asia railway sources said the only barrier to eventually connecting London to Yunnan province and Singapore was Burma's military regime, whose poor human rights record means that no foreign funding is available to rebuild its railways.

Source: EconomicTimes.com

Earth Day 2008: Birthday of the Greenness

2008-04-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

An estimated 1 billion people are scheduled to take part in Earth Day festivities and events across the globe, including numerous and varied activities in the Seacoast region.

Though officially on Tuesday, Earth Day already was celebrated at Coastal Ridge Elementary School in York, Maine, where students created a compost for school lunch and learned valuable lessons about waste and waste disposal for the students and school administrators.

While major national rallies will take place in locations like the Mall in Washington, D.C., Portsmouth High School will hold a student-created Earth Day celebration designed to educate the community about the environment.

Since its start in 1970, Earth Day has also come to represent an unofficial day of environmental accounting — about how far we've come and how far we need to go. What makes Earth Day 2008 as intriguing as any preceding it is that it comes in a vital election year that coincides with greater environmental awareness and more calls for political action.

"The technology exists now to move us beyond oil and coal to a clean energy future driven by wind, solar and other renewable sources of power, along with cost-saving, energy-efficient buildings, cars and appliances," said Jerry Curran, chairman of the New Hampshire Chapter of the Sierra Club. "Americans know this, and candidates should recognize that the public demands leadership in energy policy."

A shrinking group of politicians and pundits continues to insist that Americans contradict themselves on the environment. While Americans talk nicely about the environment and express concern about climate change, the wise guys claim we are more focused on keeping our jobs, paying our mortgages, and cheap gas — in short, we aren't willing to make the changes and sacrifices necessary.

We agree that Americans are full of contradictions, but they don't lack vision and they certainly don't lack the capacity to change. To cite but one of many studies measuring the attitudes of Americans on climate change and alternative energy development, a 2007 survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research reported that "Americans believe alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, are a central part of our nation's economic future. As our traditional manufacturing jobs evaporate, they want America to lead in building a robust, alternative energy economy."

The importance of the study is that Americans realize the connections between today's skyrocketing rising energy prices and the need for rapid and massive alternative energy development.

While the environment ranks near the bottom of issues cited by voters in public polls, that is not the case when it's put in the context of almost every important economic and national security issue of our time.

The dubious success of ethanol is an example of poor policy choice. Ethanol is one of the contributing factors to higher food prices because it's an inefficient alternative fuel that takes up finite agricultural resources.

Thankfully, the era of official denial is coming to an end. The three remaining presidential candidates — Republican John McCain and Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — have all committed to dealing quickly and effectively with global climate change, to accelerate the transformation to alternative energy sources and a greener economy.

Source: SeaCoastOnline

Highest Ever 1st Innings Score in 20 Twenty - 222/3

2008-04-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

McCullum takes Kolkata Knight Riders to 222 for 3

Brendon McCullum hit a blazing 73-ball unbeaten knock of 158 to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a massive 222 against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the lung opener of the Indian Premier League here on Friday.

McCullum went berserk right from the word go as he hit Zaheer Khan for 18 runs in the second over of the innings after being put in to bat by hosts skipper Rahul Dravid at Chinnaswamy stadium.

The Kiwi player then hit a towering long-off six off Ashley Noffke to bring up the 50 for Knight Riders in just four overs.

The wicket-keeper batsman was difficult to contain as he showed no mercy and hit all the bowlers all around the park.

McCullum's scintillating innings was studded with 13 sixes and 10 boundaries.

Zaheer Khan drew the first blood for the hosts when he had Kolkata skipper Sourav Ganguly (10) caught by South African Jaques Kallis in the slip cordon.

But only after Ganguly and McCullum had put on 61 runs for the first wicket to lay a strong foundation for a big total.

McCullum drove Noffke for a couple to get his century, leading to wild celebrations among the team owner Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan and his colleague Arjun Rampal.

Kallis and Noffke bore the brunt of McCullum fury conceding 42 and 48 runs respectively in their quota of four overs.

Source: hindu.com