Friday, June 8, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Just add water - students invent alcohol powder
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.
The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gramme packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2).
Top it up with water and you have a bubbly, lime-colored and -flavored drink with just 3 percent alcohol content.
"We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks," 20-year-old Harm van Elderen told Reuters.
Van Elderen and four classmates at Helicon Vocational Institute, about an hour's drive from Amsterdam, came up with the idea as part of their final-year project.
"Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16," said project member Martyn van Nierop.
The legal age for drinking alcohol and smoking is 16 in the Netherlands.
In Germany, alcopops -- sweet drinks containing alcohol and in powder form -- caused quite a stir when launched on to the market. Alcohol powder, classified as a flavoring, was sold in the United States three years ago.
The students said companies interested in making the product commercially could avoid taxes because the alcohol was in powder form. A number of companies are interested, they said.
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
George Lucas Announces Two More Star Wars Movies
We absolutely knew that George Lucas was not done with the Star Wars universe. The Star Wars creator revealed to Fox News that he will make two more live-action Star Wars films.
“But they won’t have members of the Skywalker family as characters,” he said. “They will be other people of that milieu.”
The two “extra” movies will probably be one hour in length and made for television.At the one hour length, what will differentiate the upcoming hour-long live-action Star Wars television series from the films? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to make them a bit longer?
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Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Some links
http://www.theartofquitting.com/
TheArtOfQuitting.com is a creative platform for still-smokers. It’s a place where you can find and share the inspiration to quit. Because to keep smoking is easy, but to quit and stay that way is an art. Submit your own quit-smoking statement. Do it to motivate yourself and to inspire others.
http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/
the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in great quality
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Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.
The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow today. State organizations and private companies in partnership would build and control the route, known as TKM-World Link, he said.
A 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) transport corridor from Siberia into the U.S. will feed into the tunnel, which at 64 miles will be more than twice as long as the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and France, according to the plan. The tunnel would run in three sections to link the two islands in the Bering Strait between Russia and the U.S.
``This will be a business project, not a political one,'' Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia's agency for special economic zones, said at the media briefing. Russian officials will formally present the plan to the U.S. and Canadian governments next week, Razbegin said.
The Bering Strait tunnel will cost $10 billion to $12 billion, and the rest of the investment will be spent on the entire transport corridor, the plan estimates.
``The project is a monster,'' Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist with Trust Investment Bank in Moscow, said in an interview. ``The Chinese are crying out for our commodities and willing to finance the transport links, and we're sending oil to Alaska.''
In Alaska, a supporter of the project is former Governor Walter Joseph Hickel, who plans to co-chair a conference on the subject in Moscow next week.
``Governor Hickel has long supported this concept, and he talks about it and writes about it,'' said Malcolm Roberts, a senior fellow at the Anchorage-based Institute of the North, a research policy group focused on Arctic issues. Hickel governed Alaska from 1966 to 1969 as a Republican and then from 1990 to 1994 as a member of the Independence Party.
Alaska's current officials, however, are preoccupied with other issues, including a plan to develop a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the lower 48 U.S. states, Roberts said.
The U.S. government's Federal Railroad Administration isn't directly involved in talks about the link, agency spokesman Warren Flatau said today.
Finance Agencies
Tsar Nicholas II, Russia's last emperor, was the first Russian leader to approve a plan for a tunnel under the Bering Strait, in 1905, 38 years after his grandfather sold Alaska to America for $7.2 million. World War I ended the project.
The planned undersea tunnel would contain a high-speed railway, highway and pipelines, as well as power and fiber-optic cables, according to TKM-World Link. Investors in the so-called public-private partnership include OAO Russian Railways, national utility OAO Unified Energy System and pipeline operator OAO Transneft, according to a press release which was handed out at the media briefing and bore the companies' logos.
Russia and the U.S. may each eventually take 25 percent stakes, with private investors and international finance agencies as other shareholders, Razbegin said. ``The governments will act as guarantors for private money,'' he said.
The World Link will save North America and Far East Russia $20 billion a year on electricity costs, said Vasily Zubakin, deputy chief executive officer of OAO Hydro OGK, Unified Energy's hydropower unit and a potential investor.
Transport Electricity
``It's cheaper to transport electricity east, and with our unique tidal resources, the potential is real,'' Zubakin said. Hydro OGK plans by 2020 to build the Tugurskaya and Pendzhinskaya tidal plants, each with capacity of as much as 10 gigawatts, in the Okhotsk Sea, close to Sakhalin Island.
The project envisions building high-voltage power lines with a capacity of up to 15 gigawatts to supply the new rail links and also export to North America.
Russian Railways is working on the rail route from Pravaya Lena, south of Yakutsk in the Sakha republic, to Uelen on the Bering Strait, a 3,500 kilometer stretch. The link could carry commodities from eastern Siberia and Sakha to North American export markets, said Artur Alexeyev, Sakha's vice president.
The two regions hold most of Russia's metal and mineral reserves ``and yet only 1.5 percent of it is developed due to lack of infrastructure and tough conditions,'' Alexeyev said.
Cluster Projects
Rail links in Russia and the U.S., where an almost 2,000- kilometer stretch from Angora to Fort Nelson in Canada would continue the route, would cost up to $15 billion, Razbegin said. With cargo traffic of as much as 100 million tons annually expected on the World Link, the investments in the rail section could be repaid in 20 years, he said.
``The transit link is that string on which all our industrial cluster projects could hang,'' Zubakin said.
Japan, China and Korea have expressed interest in the project, with Japanese companies offering to burrow the tunnel under the Bering Strait for $60 million a kilometer, half the price set down in the project, Razbegin said.
``This will certainly help to develop Siberia and the Far East, but better port infrastructure would do that too and not cost $65 billion,'' Trust's Nadorshin said. ``For all we know, the U.S. doesn't want to make Alaska a transport hub.''
The figures for the project come from a preliminary feasibility study. A full study could be funded from Russia's investment fund, set aside for large infrastructure projects, Bystrov said.
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Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Bush Finds Error In Fermilab Calculations
BATAVIA, IL–President Bush met with members of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory research team Monday to discuss a mathematical error he recently discovered in the famed laboratory's "Improved Determination Of Tau Lepton Paths From Inclusive Semileptonic B-Meson Decays" report.
"I'm somewhat out of my depth here," said Bush, a longtime Fermilab follower who describes himself as "something of an armchair physicist." "But it seems to me that, when reducing the perturbative uncertainty in the determination of Vub from semileptonic Beta decays, one must calculate the rate of Beta events with a standard dilepton invariant mass at a subleading order in the hybrid expansion. The Fermilab folks' error, as I see it, was omitting that easily overlooked mathematical transformation and, therefore, acquiring incorrectly re-summed logarithmic corrections for the b-quark mass. Obviously, such a miscalculation will result in a precision of less than 25 percent in predicting the resulting path of the tau lepton once the value for any given decaying tau neutrino is determined."
The Bush correction makes it possible for scientists to further study the tau lepton, a subatomic particle formed by the collision of a tau neutrino and an atomic nucleus.
Bush resisted criticizing the Fermilab scientists responsible for the error, saying it was "actually quite small" and that "anyone could have made the mistake."
"High-energy physics is a complex and demanding field, and even top scientists drop a decimal point or two every now and then," Bush said. "Also, I might hasten to add that what I pointed out was more a correction of method than of mathematics. Experimental results on the Tevatron accelerator would have exposed the error in time, anyway."
Fermilab director Michael Witherell said the president was being too modest "by an order of magnitude."
"In addition to gently reminding us that even the best minds in the country are occasionally fallible, President Bush has saved his nation a few million dollars," Witherell said. "We would have made four or five runs on the particle accelerator with faulty data before figuring out what was wrong. But, thanks to Mr. Bush, we're back on track."
"It's true, I dabbled in the higher maths during my Yale days," said Bush, who spent three semesters as an assistant to Drs. Kasha and Slaughter at Yale's renowned Sloane High-Energy Physics Lab. "But I didn't have the true gift for what Gauss called 'the musical language in which is spoken the very universe.' If I have any gift at all, it's my instinct for process and order."
Continued Bush: "As much as I enjoyed studying physics at Yale, by my junior year it became apparent that I could far better serve humanity through a career in statecraft."
While he says he is "flattered and honored" by the tau-neutrino research team's request that he review all subsequent Fermilab publications on lepton-path determination, Bush graciously declined the "signal honor."
"This sort of thing is best left to the likes of [Thomas] Becher and [Matthias] Neubert, not a dilettante such as myself," Bush said. "I just happened to have some time on the plane coming back from the European G8 summit, decided to catch up on some reading, and spotted one rather small logarithmic branching-ratio misstep in an otherwise flawless piece of scientific scholarship. Anyone could have done the same."
Source
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Giant leap for mankind wasn't enough to clear Customs
It was a small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind, but for United States Customs it was just another day at the office. Which is why when the triumphant crew of Apollo 11, led by Neil Armstrong, returned to Earth, one of the first questions they faced was: are you going through the red channel or the green channel?
Documents which have just come to light via the internet show that even if you've just travelled to the Moon and back - especially if you've just travelled to the Moon and back - the US Customs wants to know what you've got. Anyone who has visited the US will be familiar with the huge list of items which travellers are required to declare, such as plants, drugs and other preparations.
Historians at Nasa, the US space administration, have confirmed that the document, signed by the three crew members, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, is authentic. It lists their departure point as "Moon" and arrival as "Honolulu" on 24 July 1969.
But what, Customs wanted to know, was in those bags? "Moon rock and Moon dust samples," the crew responded. How many people had disembarked or joined the round trip from Cape Kennedy? Thankfully, the answer to both was "nil" - no lost souls and no extra aliens. And was anyone ill, or were there "any other conditions on board which may lead to the spread of disease" - which in this case would presumably be mysterious space viruses? "To be determined", the crew responded to the latter question, though the test of time suggests that nothing untoward happened.
It is unclear whether this practice became the pro forma for returning lunar astronauts from Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. "We have a lot of records here, but that would be something really for Customs," said Colin Fries, a Nasa archivist. "It's hard to prove a negative."
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Friday, April 13, 2007
10 Most Expensive Computer Keybords
It used to be that graphics cards and processors defined a PC but I for one think the most defining characteristic of a computer are the parts you actually interact with: the display, mouse and keyboard.
1. Happy Hacking Keyboard HP Japan, PFU Ltd 525,000 yen 2. 2000-IS-DT, 2000-IS-PM Stealth Computer $2,200.00 3. TouchStream LP, Fingerworks $1500+ 4. Executive Keyboard, Maltron £550.00 5. Dual Handed Ergonomic 3D, Maltron £375.00, £435.00 6. Professional II™, Datahand $675.00 7. Keyless Ergonomic Keyboard, orbiTouch $399.00 8. Comfort Keyboard, Comfort Keyboard Systems $349.00 9. Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000, Microsoft $249 ?. Optimus Keyboard, Art Lebedev Studio $???
PFU Ltd of Ishikawa, Japan, an affiliate of Fujitsu, is producing the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional HP Japan, a made-to-order keyboard handcoated with Urushi lacquer. This made to order keyboard is coated many times using a special brush made from the hairs of virgins, and then powdered with gold dust! The price for this expensive computer keyboard is a grand sum of 525,000 yen or about US $4,440.
Read Japanese? Check out their website.
Going to war with your keyboard? Stealth Computer makes devices to reduce risk of failure in hazardous areas, the 2000-IS-DT & 2000-IS-PM come enclosed in non-corrosive stainless steel with an optical isolated barrier ensuring NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) 4X protection. What other keyboard has a temperature range of -40F to +194F (-40C to +90C)? Stealth makes many other expensive steel NEMA keyboards, but this one looks like the costliest. We’ll ignore the rest for the sake of making this article more interesting.
See more about the 2000-IS models.
These mystical keyboards originally retailed for $340 but since FingerWorks has been bought out and no longer produces keyboards, TouchStream LPs in great condition have started selling at inflated prices to fanatics. You can look for yours on eBay if you don’t mind spending hundreds on used computer accessories.
No longer in production, but it still has a website.
Maltron produces ergonomic keyboards they claim reduce the stresses on fingers, wrists, and arms while typing. This is one of their newer models made with Perspex, Stainless-Steel and Polycarbonate key-tops.
Whats a Maltron? Here’s the product page.
Get your Maltron keyboard in Qwerty, Maltron or Dvorak layouts! There are also US English, UK English, French, German, Norwegian/Norsk and Swedish versions available. The letter keys are angled inwards to match natural finger movements and the keys for the longer fingers are recessed. Getting a trackball on your crazy 3d keyboard will cost you an extra £65.
Would girls make fun of me if I had this at my apartment?
What if a keyboard could be adjusted to fit the size and shape of each person’s hands? We’ll you’d have a Datahand! The unique finger and thumb switches change the 4 different typing modes.
Feel the difference!
The orbiTouch Keyless ergonomic Keyboard creates a keystroke when you slide the two domes into one of their eight respective positions. You type the different characters by sliding the domes to create letters and numbers. The orbiTouch Keyless ergonomic Keyboard also has an integrated mouse, so moving the domes gives you full mouse and keyboard capability.
Is it just me, or does this look like some 1980s children’s toy?
The Comfort Keyboard is separated into three sections, which can be adjusted easily and locked into place. The Comfort Keyboard also features complete key reprogramming and a programmable “rest period indicator”, which reminds users to take a break?
Is it time for a break yet?
This media keyboard, otherwise known as the Ultimate Keyboard, due out in May features a magnetic dock with 4 USB ports. The ultra-thin ergonomic design was reportedly influenced by inspiration from details found in Cadillac and BMW interiors. An aluminum finish makes this keyboard quite attractive.
Be wowed by Microsoft’s product demo, or just see more pics.
We couldn’t finish a keyboard list without the OLED Keyboard. We’ve heard rumors it’ll cost $1200, but where will the OLED screen keyboard really place on the list of most expensive keyboards when it comes into production? So far, there have only been 3d renderings, but it has been reported a working model will debut at CeBIT later this month.
Check out some more renderings.
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Thursday, April 12, 2007
Free Text Messages - CallWave
With this innovative widget, you can send SMS messages to your friends worldwide from the convenience of your computer.
Add Apple widget Add Yahoo! widget Add Google gadget Add Vista gadget
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
PET - aquarium
She loves the idea of using liquid containers to make water animals. Contained/containing, trash/not-trash, like the jelly-fish or anemone: Living/non-living
She uses a combination of heat guns, soldering irons and different
cutting utensils to make these PETs. She wanted to work with glass but
this is more fun. She have as much material as She want just by fishing in
the garbage
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Don't Shave That Yak!
I want to give you the non-technical definition, and as is my wont, broaden it a bit.
Yak Shaving is the last step of a series of steps that occurs when you find something you need to do. "I want to wax the car today."
"Oops, the hose is still broken from the winter. I'll need to buy a new one at Home Depot."
"But Home Depot is on the other side of the Tappan Zee bridge and getting there without my EZPass is miserable because of the tolls."
"But, wait! I could borrow my neighbor's EZPass..."
"Bob won't lend me his EZPass until I return the mooshi pillow my son borrowed, though."
"And we haven't returned it because some of the stuffing fell out and we need to get some yak hair to restuff it."
And the next thing you know, you're at the zoo, shaving a yak, all so you can wax your car.
This yak shaving phenomenon tends to hit some people more than others, but what makes it particularly perverse is when groups of people get involved. It's bad enough when one person gets all up in arms yak shaving, but when you try to get a group of people together, you're just as likely to end up giving the yak a manicure.
Which is why solo entrepreneurs and small organizations are so much more likely to get stuff done. They have fewer yaks to shave.
So, what to do?
Don't go to Home Depot for the hose.
The minute you start walking down a path toward a yak shaving party, it's worth making a compromise. Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later.
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Monday, April 9, 2007
Prison vs Work
IN PRISON: You spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell.
AT WORK: You spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle.
IN PRISON: You get three meals a day.
AT WORK: You get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.
IN PRISON: You get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK: You get more work for good behavior.
IN PRISON: The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK: You must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself.
IN PRISON: You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK: You could get fired for watching TV and playing games.
IN PRISON: You get your own toilet.
AT WORK: You have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.
IN PRISON: They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK: You aren’t even supposed to speak to your family.
IN PRISON: All expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK: you get to pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.
IN PRISON: You spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK: You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.
IN PRISON: You must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK: They are called managers.
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Saturday, April 7, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Homeless camera adventure
The idea is simple. Give people who live on the streets a camera. Publish the results. See life through the eyes of the homeless
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Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Half Life 2: The Tower of Terror
Someone built a virtual version of the Disney-MGM Studios Tower of Terror attraction in the popular Half-Life 2 game. Did a really good job too. The video walk-through is a little humorous for other reasons, but if this keeps up you won't need to visit Orlando to visit Walt Disney World.
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25 Most Memorable Quotes
Many things are said, and quoted, in 25 years. Some become catchphrases. Others we'd like to forget. And some words capture the essence of a news event, a phenomenom, or a time. List of Top 25 most memorable quotes of the last 25 years:
1"Let's roll."Todd Beamer, Sept. 11, 2001, just before he and other passengers attacked terrorists controlling United Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field. The White House may have been the target. President Reagan speaks in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin. By J. Scott Applewhite, AP 2"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"President Reagan, June 12, 1987, appealing to the Soviet leader to remove the Berlin Wall that divided East and West German sectors. It fell in 1989.
3"If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, Sept. 27, 1995, arguing that a glove used as murder evidence in the O.J. Simpson trial was too small.
4"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."President Clinton, Jan. 26, 1998, at a White House news conference.
5"You've got mail!"America Online, 1989. The voice, which still greets users, is El Edwards, the husband of an AOL customer service representative.
6"Read my lips: no new taxes."George H.W. Bush, Aug. 18, 1988, accepting the GOP presidential nomination in New Orleans. A tax hike later in his presidency was a factor in his loss for re-election.
7"Obviously a major malfunction."Steve Nesbitt, NASA public affairs officer, Jan. 28, 1986, shortly after the space shuttle Challenger exploded.
8"How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values?"Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Dec. 5, 1996, interpreted as a warning that stocks were too high. Markets plunged briefly the next morning.
9"You can't handle the truth!"Actor Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan Jessup in the 1992 film A Few Good Men.
10"I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen, debating Republican Dan Quayle in Omaha on Oct. 5, 1988.
11"Just say no."Nancy Reagan's anti-drug campaign slogan, 1983.
12"I want to focus on my salad."Martha Stewart, June 25, 2002, on CBS' The Early Show, when questioned about the probe into her stock dealings.
13"Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"Former Labor secretary Raymond Donovan, May 25, 1987, after being acquitted of fraud charges.
14"Keep hope alive."Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, July 19, 1988, in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta.
15"I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."President Bush, Sept. 14, 2001, addressing police, firefighters and rescue workers at Ground Zero.
16"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."Vice President Cheney, March 16, 2003, on NBC's Meet the Press, describing how Iraqis will react when U.S. troops topple Saddam Hussein.
17"One more thing."Apple CEO Steve Jobs, 1999. He uses the phrase before unveiling products such as the iMac and iPod at computer shows.
18"Don't give up. Don't ever give up. "Former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano, March 4, 1993, accepting an ESPY Award shortly before he died of cancer.
19"It takes a village to raise a child."Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 1996 book, borrowing from an African proverb.
20"I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl."Russ Grimm, 1984, a Washington Redskin who ended his career as a player with three Super Bowl rings.
21"You gotta fight for your right to party. "The Beastie Boys, 1986, in the song Fight For Your Right.
22"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"Rodney King, May 1, 1992, after the acquittal of Los Angeles police in his beating trial sparked widespread rioting.
23"Where's the beef?"Wendy's TV commercial, 1984, later used by Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale to ridicule opponent Gary Hart.
24"I can't deny the fact that you like me! Right now, you like me!"Sally Field, March 25, 1985,. accepting the Best Actress Oscar for Places in the Heart.
25"Not that there's anything wrong with that."Jerry Seinfeld, Feb. 11, 1993, in the episode The Outing, later used whenever a gay character was discussed on the show. |
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Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
All known Bodies in the Solar System Larger then 200 Miles in Diameter
88 Objects total: One star, Four gas giant planets, Four terrestrial planets, Three dwarf planets, 21 moons, Four asteroids, and 51 Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs)
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Thursday, March 29, 2007
Hamster in his high speed wheel
One of the funniest things in the youtube world if you ask me....
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Reinventing the Tea Bag
I was at Whole Foods yesterday doing some tea shopping (really… I ran out) and noticed a few kinds from Ineeka
. This is not a company I had tried before (I generally drink Ito En) but the packaging was so cool I could not resist. I ended up with the Darjeeling, but there were a few other options available.
While the tea is good, I have to admit I was more impressed with the product design. The tea is not loose, rather it comes in 14 single-serving packages. Nothing too unique, until you check out the bags…
The bags have paper arms on the sides that fold out in order to make them into a single-use filter. In essence it is not that different from the function of a normal tea bag but now the tea inside is effective loose because before placing the tea in your cup you tear off the top and the let the leaves float around in the open bag while it steeps. By opening the top you are also able to pour the hot water directly onto the leaves without them scattering, which helps to make a fine beverage. At $9.99 for 14 bags the tea is rather expensive, but if you appreciate fine packaging and brilliant product design, it is worth checking out Ineeka.
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Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites March 2007
Here are the top 10 largest social bookmarking sites ranked by a combination of Compete and Quantcast data. For each site, we show unique U.S. monthly visitor data as well as respective rank. For entries where a wide range exists between the two data sets the highest numbers were used for ranking purposes. Although no traffic metrics are completely accurate we do believe the data below to be useful for gauging relative audience size.
10 | ShoutWire.com
53,255 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 32,786 - Compete
52,435 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 34,764 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
9 | Newsvine.com
--87,450 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 20,914 - Compete
102,727 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 18,669 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
8 | furl.net
127,263 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 14,717 - Compete
--74,831 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 25,092 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
7 | BlinkList.com
132,592 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 14,104 - Compete
166,504 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 11,550 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
6 | Slashdot.org
260,008 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 7,274 - Compete
249,568 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 7,606 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
5 | reddit.com
433,070 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 4,311 - Compete
100,398 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 19,070 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
4 | StumbleUpon.com
390,523 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 4,793 - Compete
386,470 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 4,647 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
3 | del.icio.us
909,091 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 1,965 - Compete
923,442 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 1,671 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
2 | Netscape.com
5,832,349 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 179 - Compete
5,300,000 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 159 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007 
1 | digg.com
12,156,271 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 61 - Compete
--4,800,000 Unique Monthly Visitors (United States) - Rank: 180 - Quantcast
eBizMBA's Top 10 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites | Posted 3/28/2007
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Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Aerogel - best insulator and lowest density solid
Aerogel (also called 'frozen smoke' because of its hazy blue appearance), is a truly remarkable material. It is the lightest and lowest-density solid known to exist, and holds an unbelievable 15 entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, including best insulator and lowest density solid. Aerogel is composed of 99.8% air and is chemically similar to ordinary glass.
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
10 Things You Never Knew About SEX
1. The typical lovemaking session lasts around 15 minutes: roughly 10 to 12 minutes of foreplay and around 3 to 5 minutes of intercourse.
2. Humans aren't the only horny members of the animal kingdom doing it just for fun. Dolphins and a type of chimpanzee called the bonobo have also been observed engaging in sexual activity when they are not in their natural reproductive cycles.
3. While Viagra has made erectile dysfunction (affecting 10 to 12 percent of men) a household phrase, the opposite problem -- premature ejaculation -- is more common (affecting 24 to 27 percent of men). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing a drug called dapoxetine as a cure for this problem.
4. Crank up that thermostat... orgasms may be more intense in warmer conditions. The degree of vasocongestion, reddening or darkeing of the skin known as the "sex flush," is both more common in warmer temperatures and an indication of how intense an orgasm may be.
5. If a woman experiences orgasm during sex, she is more likely to become pregnant, since orgasmic spasms in pelvic muscles help move sperm up the vaginal canal to the uterus.
6. Homosexuality is not unique to humans. Many species have been observed engaging in homosexual activity, and in fact male bats have the highest rate of homosexuality of all mammals.
7. On any given day 400,000,000 people around the world -- 1 in 17 of us -- will have sexual intercourse. Broken down further, 4,000 people are having sex at any given time.
8. Sex cures headaches. Endorphins released into our bloodstream when we have sex not only give us pleasure but also act as painkillers. Useful information to whip out the next time your partner uses a headache as a reason to say no.
9. Many elderly can and do have frequent sex. At age 70, 73% of males are still potent, and 30% of women 80 or older have still have sex.
10. 70% of women would rather eat choclate than have sex.
Sources: The Kinsey Report, Wikipedia, American Urology Association
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The 20 Greatest Historical Myths
It is said that those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it - and as any history buff can tell you, much of history is something you would NOT want to repeat. However, many well-known historical "facts" are myths, with no basis in fact. Here (and in the next few segments) are 20 of the most common, which have misled and misinformed people for years, decades, or centuries.
If more people knew the facts, a few of the great history-makers would be recognised (anyone heard of Ub Iwerks?), some famous people would stop taking so much credit, and we would stop blaming apples for everything! Let's start with the following misconceptions...
20. Eve ate a bad apple
An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but they have still had bad publicity as the "forbidden fruit" that Eve tasted in the Garden of Eden, thereby making life difficult for all of us. Yet nowhere in the biblical story of Adam and Eve is an apple mentioned. It is simply called "the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden" (Genesis 3:3). OK, it COULD have been an apple, but it might just as well have been an apricot, a mango, or any other sort of fruit.
19. Newton was hit by an apple
Apples continued to get bad press with the famous story that scientist Sir Isaac Newton was under a tree, minding his own business, when an apple fell on his head. Just as well it provided him the inspiration for the laws of gravity, or the poor apple would never be forgiven! But while the falling apple is a good story, it probably never happened. The story was first published in an essay by Voltaire, long after Newton's death. Before that, Newton's niece, Catherine Conduitt, was the only person who ever told the story. It was almost certainly an invention.
18. Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse
One of the world's most famous fictitious characters, Mickey Mouse, is credited to Walt Disney. However, Mickey was the vision of Disney's number one animator, Ub Iwerks. Disney, never a great artist, would always have trouble drawing the character who made him famous. Fortunately for him, Iwerks was known as the fastest animator in the business. He single-handedly animated Mickey's first short film, Plane Crazy (1928), in only two weeks. (That's 700 drawings a day.) But give some credit to Disney - when sound films began later that year, he played Mickey's voice.
17. Marie Antoinette said "Let them each cake"
In 1766, Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote of an incident he recalled from some 25 years earlier, in which "a great princess" (name unknown) was told that the country people had no bread. "Then let them eat cake," she replied. When Rousseau wrote of this, Marie Antoinette was an 11-year-old child in Austria. The French Revolution would not begin for another 23 years. The myth that she spoke these infamous words was probably spread by revolutionary propagandists, to illustrate her cold indifference to the plight of the French people.
In the next chapter of this list, we uncover a tall tale about Napoleon, and find out how witches did NOT die, whatever you might have heard...
16. The Great Train Robbery was the first feature film
When it was released in 1903, "The Great Train Robbery" pioneered several techniques, includes jump cuts, medium close-ups and a complex storyline. But the first feature film? It was only ten minutes long! Even most short films are longer than that. The first feature-length film was a 100-minute Australian film, "The Story of the Kelly Gang", released three years later. Even if you think of a feature film as the "feature" of a cinema program, the title would go to one of a number of French films made during the 1890s (but I won't name one, as that could cause any number of arguments).
15. Van Gogh sliced off his ear
Van Gogh is known as the archetypal starving artist, only selling one painting in his lifetime, and - in a quarrel with Gauguin - slicing off his ear, not long before committing suicide. Though he did face a tragic end, and his own paintings sold poorly, it is worth noting that he spent most of his life teaching and dealing art. He only spent eight years of his life painting, which helps to explain why he didn't starve to death. Also, he didn't slice off his entire ear, just a portion of his left lobe. Painful, but not nearly as bad as you might have thought.
14. Witches were burned at stake in Salem
The Salem (Massachusetts) witch trials of 1692 led to the arrests of 150 people, of whom 31 were tried and 20 were executed. But just as these trials were based on ignorance, there are many misconceptions about them. For starters, the 31 condemned "witches" were not all women. Six of them were men. Also, they were not burned at stake. As any witch-hunter would know, a true witch could never be killed by this method. Hanging was the usual method - though one was crushed to death under heavy stones.
13. Napoleon was a little corporal
Some people believe that Napoleon's domineering ambitions were to compensate for being so physically small. Not so. True, Napoleon was called Le Petit Corporal ("The Little Corporal"), but he was 5 feet, 7 inches tall - taller than the average eighteenth-century Frenchman. So why the nickname? Early in his military career, soldiers used it to mock his relatively low rank. The name stuck, even as he became ruler of France.
12. King John signed the Magna Carta
The Magna Carta (Great Charter) is known as a landmark in history, limiting the power of the King of England and sowing the seeds of democracy. Paintings show King John reluctantly signing the Magna Carta in a meadow at Runnymede in 1215. Fair enough, except for one thing. As well as being a rogue, John was probably illiterate. As anyone could see from looking at one of the four original Magna Cartas in existence, he simply provided the royal seal. No signature required.
11. Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes and tobacco to England
Sir Walter Raleigh - explorer, courtier, privateer - Is one of greatest myth figures ever to come from England. Virtually every reason for his fame is untrue. Was he handsome? According to written accounts, he was no oil painting - though somehow he charmed Queen Elizabeth I, and had a reputation as a ladies' man. Did he lay his cloak across a puddle so that the Queen could step on it? No, that was pure fiction. Most importantly, he didn't return from his visit to the New World (America) with England's first potatoes and tobacco. Though Raleigh is said to have introduced potatoes in 1586, they were first grown in Italy in 1585, and quickly spread throughout Europe (even across the English Channel). Also, though people all over Europe blame Sir Walter for their cigarette addictions, Jean Nicot (for whom nicotine is named) introduced tobacco to France in 1560. Tobacco spread to England from France, not the New World.
10. Magellan circumnavigated the world
Everyone knows two things about Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One, he was the first man to circumnavigate the world; and two, during this historic trip, he was killed by natives in the Philippines. Of course, those two things tend to contradict each other. Magellan only made it half-way around the world, leaving it to his second-in-command, Juan Sebastian Elcano, to complete the circumnavigation.
9. Nero fiddled while Rome burned
We all know the story of mad Emperor Nero starting the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, then fiddling while the city burned. However, this would have been impossible. For one thing, the violin wouldn't be invented for another 1,600 years. OK, some versions of the story suggest that he played a lute or a lyre - but then, scholars place the emperor in his villa at Antium, 30 miles away, when the fire began. Though he was innocent of this disaster, however, there is much evidence to show that he was ruthless and depraved.
8. Captain Cook discovered Australia
Many Australians will agree that this isn't so - but for the wrong reasons. They will point out that, many years before Cook arrived in Sydney in 1770, Australia had already been visited by Dutchmen Abel Tasman and Dirk Hartog, and an English buccaneer, William Dampier. Of course, it had been previously been discovered some 50,000 years earlier by the indigenous Australians.
But in fairness to Cook, he did discover a new part of the country - and more importantly, this led to the first white settlers (an opportunity that Tasman, Hartog and Dampier didn't take). So let's say that Cook DID discover Australia! Fine, but Cook was actually a Lieutenant when he sailed to the Great South Land. The "captain" rank might be a minor point, but it's certainly inaccurate - and as he is called "Captain Cook" so often that it might as well be his name, it's one worth correcting.
7. Shakespeare wrote the story of Hamlet
William Shakespeare is generally known as the greatest playwright who ever lived, even though most of his plays were not original, but adaptations of earlier stories. "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" (1603), probably his most famous play, was based on an ancient Scandinavian story. But while it might not have been the original version of the story, we can safely assume it was the best.
6. America became independent on July 4, 1776
Hold the fireworks! As most American school children (and many non-American ones) are aware, America's founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. However, the war raged for another seven years before independence from England was finally granted on September 3, 1783. On that day, Britain's George III and US leaders signed the Definitive Treaty of Peace.
5. Edison invented the electric light
Thomas Edison is known as the world's greatest inventor. His record output - 1,093 patents - still amazes us, over a century later. Astonishing, except for one thing: he didn't invent most of them. Most Edison inventions were the work of his unsung technicians - and his most famous invention, the electric light, didn't even belong to his laboratory. Four decades before Edison was born, English scientist Sir Humphry Davy invented arc lighting (using a carbon filament). For many years, numerous innovators would improve on Davy's model. The only problem: none could glow for more than twelve hours before the filament broke. The achievement of Edison's lab was to find the right filament that would burn for days on end. A major achievement, but not the first.
4. Columbus proved that the Earth was round
It was American author Washington Irving, some 500 years after Columbus sailed to America, who first portrayed the Italian explorer as launching on his voyage to prove that the Earth was round, defying the common, flat-earther belief of the time. In fact, most educated Europeans in Columbus's day knew that the world was round. Since the fourth century BC, almost nobody has believed that the Earth is flat. Even if that wasn't the case, Columbus would never have set out to prove that the Earth was round... simply because he didn't believe it himself! Columbus thought that the Earth was pear-shaped. He set sail to prove something else: that Asia was much closer than anyone thought. Even in this, he was wrong. To further besmirch his memory, it should also be noted that he never set foot on mainland America. The closest he came was the Bahamas. Pear-shaped, indeed!
3. Gandhi liberated India
To westerners, Mahatma Gandhi is easily the most famous leader of India's independence movement. He deserves credit for promoting the ancient ideals of ahimsa (non-violence). However, most historians agree that Indian independence was inevitable. Gandhi was just one of several independence leaders. The Indian National Congress was founded as early as 1885, when he was only 16. Gandhi's much-publicised civil disobedience was only a small part in the movement, and some historians even suggest that India would have achieved independence sooner if they had focused on the more forceful methods that they had used 50 years earlier, and which were still advocated by other independence leaders, such as Gandhi's rival Netaji Chandra Bose (who is also revered in India).
2. Jesus was born on December 25
Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but there is no evidence whatsoever, biblical or otherwise, that He was actually born on that day. Nor is there anything to suggest that He was born in a manger, or that there were three wise men (although, as any nativity play will remind you, three gifts were mentioned). There are differing views as to why December 25 was chosen as Christmas day, but one of the most interesting is that the day was already celebrated by followers of Mithras, the central god of a Hellenistic cult that developed in the Eastern Mediterranean around 100 BC. The followers of this faith believed that Mithras was born of a virgin on 25 December, and that his birth was attended by shepherds...
Which brings us to the number one historical myth - something that is drilled into the heads of nearly all American schoolchildren...
1. George Washington was America's first President
Everyone "knows" that Washington was the first of the (so far) 43 Presidents of the US. However, this isn't strictly the case. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress (or the 'United States in Congress Assembled') chose Peyton Randolph as the first President. Under Randolph, one of their first moves was to create the Continental Army (in defence against Britain), appointing General Washington as its commander. Randolph was succeeded in 1781 by John Hancock, who presided over independence from Great Britain (see myth #6). After Washington defeated the British at the Battle of Yorktown, Hancock sent him a note of congratulations. Washington's reply was addressed to "The President of the United States". Eight years later, as a revered war hero, Washington himself became America's first popularly elected President - but strictly speaking, the FIFTEENTH President!
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Saturday, March 24, 2007
So What Really Is In A McDonald's Chicken McNugget?
Omnivore's Dilemma
Most folks assume that a chicken nugget is just a piece of fried chicken, right? Wrong! Did you know, for example, that a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget is 56% corn?
What else is in a McDonald's Chicken McNugget?
Besides corn, and to a lesser extent, chicken, The Omnivore's Dilemma describes all of the thirty-eight ingredients that make up a McNugget – one of which I'll bet you'll never guess. During this part of the book, the author has just ordered a meal from McDonald’s with his family and taken one of the flyers available at McDonald’s called "A Full Serving of Nutrition Facts: Choose the Best Meal for You." These two paragraphs are taken directly from The Omnivore’s Dilemma:“The ingredients listed in the flyer suggest a lot of thought goes into a nugget, that and a lot of corn. Of the thirty-eight ingredients it takes to make a McNugget, I counted thirteen that can be derived from corn: the corn-fed chicken itself; modified cornstarch (to bind the pulverized chicken meat); mono-, tri-, and diglycerides (emulsifiers, which keep the fats and water from separating); dextrose; lecithin (another emulsifier); chicken broth (to restore some of the flavor that processing leeches out); yellow corn flour and more modified cornstarch (for the batter); cornstarch (a filler); vegetable shortening; partially hydrogenated corn oil; and citric acid as a preservative. A couple of other plants take part in the nugget: There's some wheat in the batter, and on any given day the hydrogenated oil could come from soybeans, canola, or cotton rather than corn, depending on the market price and availability.
According to the handout, McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients, quasiedible substances that ultimately come not from a corn or soybean field but form a petroleum refinery or chemical plant. These chemicals are what make modern processed food possible, by keeping the organic materials in them from going bad or looking strange after months in the freezer or on the road. Listed first are the "leavening agents": sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and calcium lactate. These are antioxidants added to keep the various animal and vegetable fats involved in a nugget from turning rancid. Then there are "anti-foaming agents" like dimethylpolysiloxene, added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules, so as to produce foam during the fry. The problem is evidently grave enough to warrant adding a toxic chemical to the food: According to the Handbook of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it's also flammable. But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse." Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.”
Bet you never thought that was in your chicken McNuggets!
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Morning Glory Pool
Morning Glory Pool at Yellowstone National Park Wyoming..National Park, attracts some three million visitors every year to experience its many wonders. Yellowstone covers 3,470 square miles, primarily in the northwest corner of Wyoming . Famous for its geysers, hot springs, and free-ranging wild animals, Yellowstone is a seasonal wonder, offering an abundance of activities for all ages and interests.
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