Somethin Precious l Illusions | Amazing Facts

Earth 'to get second sun' as supernova turns night into day

2011-01-24T06:48:00.000-08:00

The Earth could soon have a second sun, at least for a week or two.

The cosmic phenomenon will happen when one of the brightest stars in the night sky explodes into a supernova.

And, according to a report yesterday, the most stunning light show in the planet’s history could happen as soon as this year.
Earth will undoubtedly have a front row seat when the dying red supergiant star Betelgeuse finally blows itself into oblivion.

The explosion will be so bright that even though the star in the Orion constellation is 640 light-years away, it will still turn night into day and appear like there are two suns in the sky for a few weeks.

The only real debate is over exactly when it will happen.

In stellar terms, Betelgeuse is predicted to crash and burn in the very near future. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to rush out and buy sunglasses.

Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, claimed yesterday that the galactic blast could happen before 2012 – or any time over the next million years.

‘This old star is running out of fuel in its centre,’ Dr Carter told te Austalian website news.com.au.

‘This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly.

‘This is the final hurrah for the star. It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see at all,’ he added.
The Internet is abuzz with doomsday theories linking the supernova to the Mayan calendar’s prediction of an Armageddon in 2012, fuelled by the association of the word ‘Betelgeuse’ with the devil.

But experts claimed that even if the big bang is looming, it will still happen way too far from Earth to do us any harm.

‘When a star goes bang, the first we will observe of it is a rain of tiny particles called nuetrinos,’ said Dr Carter.

‘They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99% of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever.’

When it happens, the Betelgeuse supernova will almost certainly be the most dramatic ever seen.

It is the ninth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel – or Beta Orionis – only very rarely.

It’s distinct orange-red colour makes it easy to spot in the night sky.

If it was at the centre of our solar system, its surface would extend past the asteroid belt, wholly engulfing Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Earth.

Getting down to the nitty-gritty: Amazing microscopic images of household objects

2011-01-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

They're innocuous objects that are dotted around every home.

But when brought to life under a powerful microscope their hidden secrets are revealed - and it doesn't always make for comfortable viewing.

Scientists captured these stunningly detailed pictures using Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEMs).

The images are of items found in various domestic settings, from the bathroom to the kitchen.

A mascara brush looks like you'd imagine it to under extreme magnification, but a section of used dental floss is rather unsettling despite its bright colouration.

Elsewhere, every tiny contour of salt and ground pepper corns is revealed in extraordinary detail.
SEMs work by bombarding the object with electrons and then build extreme close-ups of the image using a computer and transmission electro microscopes.

The images are produced in monochrome and then hand-tinted to enrich their detail.

SEMs are far more powerful than regular light microscopes that can only magnify by up to 1,000 times.

Retired scientific photographer Steve Gschmeissner is grateful that he still has access to an SEM - their high price tag makes them unaffordable to all but the most wealthy enthusiast.

Mr Gschmeissner, from Bedford, said: 'For anyone involved in microscopy the SEM is the ultimate boy's toy.

'Costing between £150,000 and £500,000, there are only a handful of people around the world who have access to this for fun. To be able to use equipment like this when I am retired is a dream come true.

'The SEM picks up basically where the normal light microscope finishes. And it takes it so much further by magnifying the specimen by up to a million times.

'Also different to a regular microscope is the fact the SEM builds a 3D image giving you a unique view.'

The gaint skeleton found under the ground of the desert in India.

2011-01-13T07:19:00.000-08:00

The giant skeleton was excavated in the little-known part of the desert in India.

2011-01-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

Behold! The Fearsome Knight on an Iron Horse... or rather, 500 Horses

Earlier this year (see Part 1), we examined some of the cool, the fascinating, the unusual and the utterly weird designs for motorcycles that have appeared for over the last century or so. Here’s another look the wild and wonderful world of motorcycles.

Brough Superior motorcycles were made in Nottingham, England from 1919 until 1940 and were known as ‘the Rolls Royce of motorcycles’. Very expensive at the time, they were available only to the wealthy. This model dates from 1931.
T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, owned several of these machines and died from his injuries after crashing on one in 1935... Another beautiful bike is this Imme (Germany), with a single side suspension:
The Megola motorcycle was produced in Munich in the 1920’s. Some 2000 were built, but only 10 fully working examples are still in existence, one of which is in the Guggenheim Museum in New York:
In 1935, the Killinger and Freund motorcycle was an attempt to make an improved version of the Megola, but the advent of World War Two put an end to any further development:

Some sources point out that "in 1940, when Indian's skirted fenders appeared, several questioned the manhood of Spingfield's designers". It seems that aerodynamic shape of Killinger & Freund bikes influenced the Indian designers:
This streamlined torpedo is the French-made Majestic, 1929:
Speaking about "Custom War Bikes", here is one that was fashioned after World War Two style (modern concept by Kogisama):

The previous wild concept was not so wild, after all - take a look at the real WW2-period 1936 BMW Schneekrad
Another front-wheel tracked motorcycle prototype from 1937
Modern all-terrain tracked version is proposed by Hyanide & Baal:
After the war, the Moto Guzzi 500 cc V8 race bike was seen on the world’s high-speed racetracks from 1955 to 1957.

Modern version of the hubless wheel can be seen in the recent concepts for Harley Davidson, by designer Miguel Cotto
Many of us remember the lightcycles from the 1982 movie Tron. The long awaited sequel, Tron Legacy, is set to hit theatres in late 2010 and will feature this splendid looking specimen:
Swordfish concept chopper:
Rats & Kustoms

This custom built motorcycle, called Iceman II, was made by Walz Hardcore Choppers of Germany for Formula One world champion Kimi Raikonnen:
Rat bikes are usually defined as motorcycles that are decades old, in a poor state of repair, but still maintained and kept roadworthy by their owners on a shoestring budget. Survival bikes do resemble rat bikes and the two are often confused, although survival bikes are usually modified in much the same way that cars are customized. Here are some great examples of both of these types of machines.

Imagine seeing this coming up behind you in your rear view mirror (below left)? On the right is the rounded green beauty, also seen at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally:
Not sure what kind of a view you’d get of the road ahead on this one (image below left)? On the right you can see a really inventive fuel tank -

On the left image below is The Survival Bike from some sort of Zombie Apocalypse... Whereas the owners of the bike (below right) decided to actually attach the coffin as a sidecar:

We featured what we had speculated might be the world’s largest motorcycle in Magnificent Motorcycles Part One, but the biggest one on the planet may actually be this one.
This bike is pretty big too and apparently this machine, called the Gunbus, is perfectly capable of being taken out on the road.

Want to travel in style? Why not try this Harley Davidson and limousine combination?
Concept Beasts

Finally, here’s a selection of concept motorcycles, which may or may not see the light of day at some point in the future. Here’s the Akira concept bike:
FuturA was designed by Mario Malagrino of the Florence Design Academy (left)... Romanian 3D artist Adrian Baluta created this cool bike called Darklight (right):
Above image, bottom row: the Suzuki Biplane and the Victory Vision 800 concept bike produced by Victory, a division of Polaris ATV's.

William Woods designed the Fallout concept motorcycle in 2009 (below left). The Wrath concept (below right) by Alexander Barnard is dubbed a ‘future modern retro chopper’ for the year 2083:

So there you are, another look at cool, fascinating, unusual and weird motorcycles from around the world. Stay tuned for more from the wild and wonderful world of these magnificent machines in future

Source

Amazing Motorcycles Design

2011-01-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

Some Precious And Anachronous discovery:in Swiss watch ancient tomb

2011-01-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

Chinese archaeologists have found a tiny Swiss watch in a tomb dating back to the Ming dynasty, which they believed has been intact for four centuries.

The watch was discovered by scientists making a documentary, reports ananova.com website.

The out-of-time piece of jewellery was pressed into the soil covering one of the coffins

The watch is stopped at 10:06, and there is the word “Swiss” on its back.

Work at the archaeological site has been suspended and experts from Beijing have been called in to help solve this mystery, which appears to belong in a sci-fi flick.

Amazing Art on feather

2011-01-07T02:19:00.000-08:00

Drawings on feather, probably painting art which you never seen before. This is very creative art medium without any doubt. On first glance it look like is Photoshoped. Think about a new kind of medium before we found it for you!

Source

Have you ever seen plantsthat eat animals.

2011-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Plants That Eat Animals

Cool and Creative illustrations

2010-06-03T16:07:00.001-07:00

In the visual art world, illustrators have sometimes been considered less important in comparison with fine artists and graphic designers. But as the result of computer game and comic industry growth, illustrations are becoming valued as popular and profitable art works that can acquire a wider market than the other two, especially in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and USA.

The Malaysian artist Chow Hon Lam has made some very funny but clever illustrations that also includes a touch of irony. The artist himself thinks that even if you are an animal, an object or some sort of food, you have something to say even though you can’t speak. Therefore Hon Lam wants to create and tell their story to the worldWhen people confront him about it, he just say: “I guess they must have something to say … Trust me, I try to communicate with them!” In the illustrations you can see how a the milk in a cow’s body is emptying itself while milking, gingerbread men creating themselves, a golfer breaking the sky with his golfball, etc.

Others have done similar illustrations showing how the world would be if everything was different and upside down in our lives. Don’t forget to sign up at TheToiletPaper for the daily crazy news, it is free and fun, and you will get free 20 mp3 songs!

Unusual and Fascinating Currency

2010-05-21T13:44:00.003-07:00

Graphical Marvels, Forged Notes, Hyperinflation "Riches" and Propaganda Bed Sheets

"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero." (Voltaire, 1694-1778)

World's historical bank notes often provide the clearest and unique view on country's political and design sensibilities. For example, old Russian Empire bank notes were pretty elaborate and some of the largest in size:

German crisis money around 1921 "Serienscheine" (series notes) are especially fascinating from a graphical viewpoint - see more here:

Imaginary (thank God!) Bank of Cthulhu:
Polish bank notes with Frédéric Chopin - an epitomy of culture:
A humble squirrel is featured on bank notes from Belarus:

The world’s oldest known banknote

The earliest recorded use of paper money is in China around 800 AD, although the Chinese abandoned paper money in the mid fifteenth century. This Chinese Kuan note is the world’s oldest known banknote, from around 1380.
European paper money as we would recognize it today seems to have its origins in the seventeenth century. In 1633, English goldsmith certificates were being used as receipts for customers to reclaim deposits, and also as evidence of someone’s ability to pay. By 1660, these receipts were recognized as a convenient alternative to handling coins or bullion, a forerunner perhaps of the banknote in England.

The Bank of Sweden was founded in 1656, granting loans and mortgages, issuing bills of credit and taking deposits. In 1661, it was the first chartered bank in Europe to issues notes. This hundred Daler note was issued in 1666:

In the UK, the Bank of England has been issuing banknotes since 1694, but didn’t have a legal monopoly until 1921. Decimal currency was introduced in the UK on February 15, 1971. The fifty pence coin, one of the first new ones issued, is very familiar to the people of Britain since its introduction almost four decades ago, but still seems odd to the outsider with its heptagonal shape (below, left).

The British public, however, had seen a multi-sided coin before. The threepenny bit was introduced in the mid-thirties, although a threepenny coin had been minted in silver since 1547. The twelve-sided version would remain in circulation until 1970 (above, middle). However, the new decimal system wasn’t without its oddities. The half penny coin enjoyed a surprisingly long and increasingly pointless existence, before it was withdrawn from the monetary system in 1984 (above, right).

Scotland has a number of distinct institutions, quite separate to England and Wales, and this includes currency. Scottish banknotes are recognized as currency in Scotland and usually in other parts of the UK, but may be refused by people in stores who are unfamiliar with such notes. However, they are of the same value as English notes and financial institutions will accept them without question:
Banknotes issued by Northern Ireland banks have similar status to Scottish ones and can technically be used anywhere in the UK. However, they are rarely seen outside Northern Ireland and are thus equally rarely accepted in England and Wales, although once again, financial institutions will readily take them. This limited edition banknote from 2006 commemorates the soccer legend George Best:
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are somewhat confusingly possessions of the British Crown, but not part of the UK. Consequently, although they have currency unions with London, they each issue their own banknotes. However, unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, these notes cannot be used in the UK.

This Isle of Man banknote displays the island’s famous three-legged symbol:
These examples are from the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, located off the northern coast of France:

The Channel Islands were the only British territory to be occupied by Germany during World War Two. These are pictures of currency used during the German Occupation. The top ones were used by the people of Guernsey, while the lower one shows the military currency used by German army:
Also from World War Two, here is this great example of forged currency. Operation Bernhard was the German plan to destabilize the British economy by printing phoney banknotes in various denominations. In 1943, 500,000 notes were produced, which were planned to be parachuted over Britain. The Allies retrieved most the notes at the end of the war, but forgeries still occasionally appeared for several years after 1945:
Remnants of a once mighty empire, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories which all issue their own currencies, including Gibraltar, Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands, none of which are legal in the UK or outside the territories of origin (below, left):
In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England and was never actually crowned. As a result, coins bearing his head are collectors items. In the 1930’s, the British Empire spanned the globe and here’s a sovereign minted for the new king in Canada (above, right)

Also from North America, no article on currency would be complete without some mention of banknotes issues by the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Here are two examples of Confederate twenty dollar bills from 1861 and 1864:
There was of course another independent country in the southern part of what is now the United States a few decades earlier. Here’s some money issued by the Republic of Texas in the 1830’s:
Although the shape of the British three penny and fifty pence coins may seem somewhat odd to non-UK residents, how about these coins minted in Zambia in honour of the 2000 Sydney Olympics? -
Also in Africa, the economic troubles of Zimbabwe in recent years have been reflected in the currency, such as this ten million dollar banknote from 2008:
However, it has been exceed by far with this one (click to enlarge):
Zimbabwe is not the first country to experience such hyperinflation, of course. After the First World War, Germany endured a severe economic crisis. In 1914, the highest denomination German note was for 1000 Mark, which was worth approximately 238 US dollars or 50 British pounds. In early 1922, the government issued 10,000 Mark notes, but by February 1923, Germans were using banknotes in denominations of 100,000 and 1 million Marks. Notes reached 50 million in July, 10 billion in September and 100 trillion when hyperinflation peaked in October 1923.

Just to give you an idea of what this meant for the average German, on November 1 1923, you could buy a loaf of bread for a measly three billion or truly splash out and get three pounds of meat for 100 billion. By November 15, 100 billion would get you two glasses of beer, not really enough to make you forget your troubles, while that loaf would now cost you 80 billion.

When it was all over, these huge banknotes were worth around 5 pounds or 24 US dollars. On November 15, the government introduced a new currency, one unit of which was worth a trillion of the old Marks. Prices eventually stabilized, but most of the population had nevertheless seen their wealth vanish.

5 Million Mark Note issued in Dresden on August 21, 1923:

Ten million:
50 million:
100 million:
100 trillion, Nov. 3 1923 - see this site for more:
Later in the interwar period Germany got a new government who’s head actually resisted having his own head on the national currency. However, with victory seemingly within sight, Adolf Hitler decided that his head should indeed adorn the country’s money, after the anticipated final triumph. This design for a five reichsmark coin was struck in 1942, but never issued:
The following banknotes were created by the Nazis for the infamous concentration camp, at Theresienstadt in what is now the Czech republic. The camp served as a showpiece for the Nazis to demonstrate to the Red Cross and other agencies how Jewish prisoners were being well treated, took part in cultural events and had schools for their children. In reality, over 30,000 people died in Theresienstadt and almost 90,000 were sent from there to extermination camps further east. These 10 and 20 Kronen notes were part of the propaganda ploy presented to the Red Cross, but were simply papers with no value and never used:

Hitler’s fellow dictator, Josef Stalin, got his head on the 100 Kronen coin in Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia 1949:
In Asia, World War Two resulted in what turned out to be temporary occupation currency in a number of different countries. This ten military yen note 1941 was issued during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong:
This one is from the Philippines occupation:

This 1944 100 Yuan banknote circulated in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, better known as Manchuria, in north west China:

And finally, also from Asia, probably the largest banknote in the world - 16cm(6.3in) by 16cm(6.3in) - issued in Thailand in 1987:
Bank note origami from a Japanese artist Hasegawa Yosuke - see his site for more:

Beautiful Backyard Office Hidden in Logs

2010-05-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Modern log cabin designed by talented Dutch architect Piet Hein Eek to serve as a backyard rehearsal studio for Hans Liberg.

As an added bonus, the structure is equipped with wheels that allow it to be easily transported if needed.

Beautiful Tattoos and their significance to marines

2010-05-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

A tattoo is usually a permanent dedication to things or people that have had an influence of any kind of us. US marines and sailor have been getting their bodies engraved with meaningful tattoos for years now. Though in many cultures a tattoo if considered as a decorative ornament for the body, a lot of people get them done to symbolize something that means a lot to them. Tattoos are a way to show appreciation to people and situations that have changed a person. Portraits are a favorite among marines. Many get a tattoo of people that have changed their views and their lives as a way of dedication to them forever. Though many still consider it as a art form to enhance the body, a lot of people are going in for tattoos that actually mean something to them as a way of appreciation.

Beautiful Wild Bills Tattoos

2010-05-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

William Hill, owner of Wild Bills Tattooing in Roseville, California built his first tattoo machine from a doorbell at age 14. He began experimenting in a tiny tattoo shop set up in his bedroom closet. His first tattoo was a girls name, his second was covering it up. He never saw a real shop until three years later in 1972. He knew at that moment that’s what he wanted to do with his life. His first tattoo business license was bought in 1974.

10 Strange Nat Geo Discoveries of 2009

2010-05-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

National Geographic News’s most popular coverage of 2009 scientific finds is swarming with megamouth sharks, giant snakes, a transparent-headed fish, “Jacques Cousteau” clouds , and rare species rescued from obscurity—then eaten.

Top 10 National Geographic Discoveries of 2009

10. Ultra-Rare Megamouth Shark Found, Eaten
In March, the 41st megamouth shark ever found went from swimming in Philippine waters to simmering in coconut milk.
9. Ancient Gem-Studded Teeth Show Skill of Early Dentists
The glittering “grills” of some hip-hop stars aren’t exactly unprecedented. Sophisticated dentistry allowed Native Americans to add bling to their teeth as far back as 2,500 years ago, a May study said.
8. Alien Giant Snakes Threaten to Invade Up to 1/3 of U.S.
Nine giant snakes could be on the verge of causing ecological catastrophe if they establish themselves in the U.S. wild—at least two have already set up shop in Florida—according to an October report.
7. Biggest Snake Discovered; Was Longer Than a Bus
The 60-million-year-old reptile was also heavier than a car, scientists said in February, adding that the fossil could shed light on climate change.

6. Gold Rush-Era “Ghost Ship” Wreck Found
With boots thrown hastily on deck and cooking utensils scattered, the last moments of the crew aboard the gold rush-era paddleboat A.J. Goddard are preserved in the ship’s recently found wreck, archaeologists announced in November.

5. Oldest Skeleton of Human Ancestor Found
There was never a chimp-like missing link between humans and today’s apes, according to an October fossil-skeleton study that could rewrite human evolutionary history. Said one scientist, “It changes everything.”

4. “Extinct” Bird Seen, Eaten
Long believed to be extinct, a rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time ever—then sold at a poultry market, experts said in February.
3. New Cloud Type Discovered?
Nicknamed “Jacques Cousteau” clouds, these “turbulent” seas in the sky could be examples of the first official new cloud type since 1951, experts said in June.

2. Fish With Transparent Head Seen Alive for First Time
Perhaps the most bizarre nature discovery of the year—though Stephen Colbert put it a bit less delicately—a Pacific barreleye fish shows off its transparent head and barrel-like eyes in pictures released on February of the first specimen ever found alive.
1. “Missing Link” Found: Fossil Connects Humans, Lemurs?
The 47-million-year-old, exceptionally preserved primate fossil “Ida,” unveiled on May 20, was hailed by some as a major discovery in human evolution.
The publicity frenzy made National Geographic News’s brief coverage our most viewed page of the year—and inspired a backlash as some experts, including one here at Nat Geo HQ, suggested Ida was more media event than milestone.

Some Of The Precious Gadgets Before computers

2010-03-23T00:42:00.002-07:00

Calculations & Other Gadgets Before computers

Most Strangest Dangerous Craziest Rivers Of The World

2010-03-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

The sight of a river fascinates everyone. We always think about a river as calm flowing water that brushes more than stones at the bottom of the river. May be we envision some fishes in it too. Whatever we think, not all the rivers are calm, and there are some dangerous rivers in the globe as well.

1. Amazon River

Amazon River: The first to top the list is the Amazon River. The Amazon River located in South America is the largest and most dangerous river in the world because of its length, width and sheer volume. It accounts for about 20% of the world’s river flow into the oceans. Because of its vast dimensions, it is sometimes called the River Sea. It is so big that there aren’t any two points which can be crossed by a bridge. It is more than 150 feet deep. During a flood season, the Amazon widens to cover its banks and the islands in the middle of the river. The Amazon River is known for high tidal waves as well.

2. Congo River

Congo River: The Congo River, earlier recognized as the Zaire River, is in Western Central Africa. It is Africa’s most powerful river and the second most voluminous river in the world. It is about 2992 miles long. The river is one among the dangerous ones because still it begins peacefully; it picks up speed and becomes turbulent until it enters the “Gates of Hell”, a 75 mile long canyon of treacherous rapids. There are about 32 cataracts, having as much power as all the rivers and falls in the United States. At the Upper Congo, the river ends with the Stanley waterfall, a 60 mile draw out of rapids.

3. Orinoco River

Orinoco River: The Orinoco River is the third longest river in South America and is about 1330 miles long and flows through Columbia and Venezuela. Huge tropical forests cover the southwestern parts and large portions are still virtually inaccessible. Over 200 rivers are tributaries to this mighty river. It begins at the Delgado Chalbaud Mountain and as the river passes the forested terrain and waterfalls it slows. Navigation on this part is through shallow dugout or canoe. Farther on, the waterfalls become rapids and are very difficult to navigate. It drains into the Atlantic Ocean. It often posts a threat to the people who live close to the river due to its coastal upwelling throughout the year.

4. Yangtze River

Yangtze River: The Yangtze River is the largest and longest river in Asia as well as China. It is about 3964 miles long and it finally empties into the East China Sea. With plenty of rainfall all year round, it is also called the Golden Watercourse. The river has gorges along its way which are known for its dangerous with fast-moving water also numerous shoals. At several points there are deceitful whirlpools and the waters are extraordinarily turbulent. The river is also known for its flooding and dams which have been constructed have proved to be of no use. The tides of the Yangtze River are much stronger and hence the flooding. It has always been a powerful source of electricity.

5. Brahmaputra River

Brahmaputra River: The Brahmaputra River has its origin in the South Western Tibet and flows through Tibet, China, India and Bangladesh. It is about 1800 miles long. It is known for its flooding when the snow in the Himalayas melt and also for its tidal bare. This makes it more dangerous and stronger.

Some Precious Aerial photographs of Niagara Falls

2010-03-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Aerial photographs of Niagara Falls

Amazing Beautiful And Some Precious Pictures Of The Nature

2010-03-14T00:57:00.000-08:00

Pictures Of The Nature

30 Cool Black Wordpress Themes

2010-02-28T05:21:00.000-08:00

Most of bloggers use wordpress as blogging application and therefore demand of wordpress themes are increased. Custom wordpress theme costs lots of money and everyone cannot afford this much amount of money and because of that so many designers and programmers release free themes to help bloggers. There are lots of list post on free wordpress theme so we thought why don’t we collect some good looking black colored free wordpress theme. Check out this awesome 40 free black wordpress theme, comments will be appreciated.

FUnny Pictures for the Weekend

2010-02-04T03:36:00.007-08:00

BeautifulTattoo of Programmer and Webmaster

2010-02-04T03:25:00.001-08:00

Girls with AwesomeTattoos on theis Body

2010-02-04T03:19:00.005-08:00

Cool and Stunning Zodiac Illustrations

2010-01-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

15 Beautiful Realistic Vector Illustrations Photos

2010-01-27T13:20:00.003-08:00

Amazing and Beautiful Collection of Realistic Vector Illustrations Photos

Amazing Breathtaking Examples of Nature Photography

2010-01-19T15:50:00.003-08:00

Precious star Mo'Nique surprises Golden Globe guests by showing off her hairy legs

2010-01-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

She may have won a Golden Globe to Best Supporting Actress this week, but larger-than-life actress Mo'Nique won't be winning any awards for her personal grooming.

The actress, who picked up the award for her role as an abusive mother in Precious, was pictured hitching up her dress to show off her less than smooth legs on the red carpet at the star-studded event.

Strangely the 42-year-old had well pedicured, smooth feet complete with newly-applied nail varnish, but had neglected to tend to the hair on her legs.

But, far from hiding them away, the actress decided to let the world know her legs were unshaven - lifting her silk dress to give them an airing.
It is not the first time the actress and comedian, real name Monique Imes, has revealed her lack of grooming.

During a 2006 appearance on U.S. talk show The View, she told host Barbara Walters:

'I must show America what a real leg looks like … because it's too much in the morning, every morning, to shave, to cut, you got Band-aids baby.'
Thankfully though she did admit to shaving her armpit hair to avoid what she called "stink".

In Precious, which also stars singer Mariah Carey as a dowdy social worker, Mo'Nique takes on a harrowing role as the abusive mother of a obese teenager who has twice been impregnated by her own father.

She recently praised Carey on her acting skills in an interview with website Moviefone.

The comedian-turned-actress said: 'She was amazing. It said it all on her face. It said it, you read it, you felt it, you understood it. She was just, hands down, brilliant.'
Tags: MO Nique

Most Weird Pets

2010-01-16T12:44:00.000-08:00

Amazing and Sacred Valley

2010-01-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

Peru’s Sacred Valley usually refers to a roughly 60-km stretch of land between the cities of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Just 16 km south of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, the Sacred Valley often misses out to the more famous site of Machu Picchu – but as the following images show, quite undeservedly so as Sacred Valley offers stunning Andes Mountains views, winding roads and mind-boggling Inca architecture.

Typical terrace architecture with buildings/temples at the top:
Just about 12 km northwest of Cusco is Sacsayhuaman, full of Inca ruins and a marvel of Inca construction skill. The belief today is that Sacsayuaman was mainly a military fortress. Its zigzag shape is said to resemble the open jaw of a puma, with the entire city of Cusco its body and the Plaza de Armas the navel, which the Incas believed to be the center of the world.

Some of the stones weigh up to 125 tons!

Visitors to Pisac, about 30 km north of Cusco, are treated to stunning views of the Andes and an example of the Inca’s advanced masonry skills at the Pisac ruins with a Sun Temple, extensive terracing and aqueducts. The purpose of the Pisac ruins remains a mystery, but the settlement was located along a vital Inca road and connected the highlands with the Amazon rainforest just east of the mountains.

The Pisac Inca ruin complex, nestled in the Andes:

About 70 km west of Pisac is the town of Ollantaytambo, best known for its fortress, which the Incan elite used for worshipping and studying astronomy. Also impressive are the terrace walls that served as an integral means of defense.

Believe it or not, the stones of this wall are 3 m high!
Ollantaytambo
Image: Wolfgang Beyer

Many of the building foundations in the old town
were built by the Inca and most of the blocks used are still intact. To date, Ollantaytambo is the best surviving example of Inca town planning.

Ancient and less ancient in perfect harmony:
Moray is a small village about 50 km northwest of Cusco famous for its Inca architecture. What may remind us of crop circles or Roman amphitheatres actually once served an agricultural purpose. Used more like China’s ancient rice terraces, the Incas cultivated wheat, quinoa, grain, panti and kantu flowers here – harvest season on the various levels must have been quite a sight.

Giant bathtub?
The site is still fully functional with a system of irrigation canals and an aqueduct system. Until recently, locals even grew corn, but agriculture was given up in favour of preserving the site and tourism. If you ever mill about in Moray, consider this: Some of the terraces descend to a depth of around 150 m – or the height of a 50-story skyscraper – creating temperature differences between the lowest and highest levels of 15 ºC, naturally found between sea level and a mountain of 1000 m for example. Amazingly clever and beautiful, isn’t it?

The whole complex is huge:

The fact that amazing sites like Moray were discovered often decades after the more famous Machu Picchu makes us wonder and hope that there may be more stunning sites around just waiting to be discovered…

Bridges Strangely Devoured by Cloud

2010-01-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

The sight of bridges devoured by fog and appearing to float in the air evokes all kinds of fantastic associations – magic faraway lands and fairytale bridges in the sky to name but a few. Even so, a certain ominous quality also pervades such scenes. If bridges represent humankind’s capacity to cross natural divides like rivers, bays and valleys, masses of cloud at ground level can also be a serious visibility hazard – a sign that we don’t always have it our own way on this planet.

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York
With a central span of 4,260 feet (1,298 m), the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is the largest suspension bridge in the US and was the longest in the world when completed in 1964. Connecting the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City, its massive towers can be seen for miles around – when not disappearing into a bank of fog as in this atmospheric shot. High enough to allow ships to pass beneath it, it is not high enough to escape the clutches of such low-lying cloud.

Junction Bridge, Arkansas
Next up is the Junction Bridge, a former railroad bridge, constructed in 1884, which was recently converted into a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. Here we see it vanishing mysteriously into fog lying over the Arkansas River. Despite the calm appearance of this image, fog has of course contributed to some serious transport accidents – among them the 2007 crash of the MV COSCO Busan container ship into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which resulted in a major oil spill.

Millau Viaduct, France
Completed in 2004, the Millau Viaduct is a giant bridge spanning the valley of the Tarn River in southern France. At more than 984ft (300 m) high, it is by far the tallest road bridge in Europe and even taller than the Eiffel Tower. Here its concrete and steel pillars are seen soaring high above the morning fog of the Tarn Valley, making for a spectacular sight. Valley fog forms in mountain valleys due to heavier cold air settling in the valley, with warmer air passing over the mountains above.

Forth Rail Bridge, Scotland
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Completed in 1890, it was the first bridge in Britain to be constructed of steel alone, and even today is considered an engineering marvel. It is 2.5 km (1.5 miles) long, with a double track rising some 150 ft (46 m) above high tide. Haar, like that seen here veiling the Forth Bridge, is a coastal fog found along lands bordering the North Sea, typically formed over the sea and carried to land by wind.

Second Severn Crossing, England and Wales
Seen here vanishing into a soup of fog over the mouth of the River Severn, the Second Severn Crossing connects Wales and England, and was inaugurated in 1996 to boost the traffic capacity of the original Severn Bridge. This 5.2 km (3.2 mile) long, S-shaped crossing has only twice been closed by weather, but it is not uncommon to see it swathed in fog. Sea fog is often down to salt particles from salt spray, produced by breaking waves, that can condense even in relatively dry air.

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Japan
Opened in 1998, Japan’s Akashi Kaikyo Bridge has the longest central span of any suspension bridge, at 6,532 ft (1,991 m). This impressive structure, seen here vanishing into the fog, crosses the busy Akashi Strait, a dangerous waterway that often suffers severe storms. The current there is very strong, sometimes there are whirlpools, and occasionally ships disappear, as in 1955, when two ferries sank killing 168 children. In this light, a bridge, however fog-shrouded, is no bad thing.

Golden Gate Bridge, California
Spanning the opening of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge is a globally recognised symbol of California, and the world’s most photographed bridge. With its Art Deco elements and distinctive colour – partly chosen to enhance its visibility in fog – this wonder of modern design was finished in 1937. The bridge must contend with the famous San Francisco fog, created when warm, moist air blows in from the Pacific across the cold water of the California Current. The cool, moist wind swirls along the coast devouring everything in its path – including this American icon.
Tags: Island, Railroad, Bridge, San Francisco, Europe, England, ferries California, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, bridges, cloaked, cloud, covered, devoured, fog, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Junction Bridge, millau viaduct, mist, Second Severn Crossing, shrouded, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

10 of the World's Strange and BizarreJobs

2010-01-09T14:31:00.003-08:00

(1) Janitor at a Porno Theatre
Janitor, in itself, is a pretty bad job. But, porno theater janitor is the worst job on the list. The main responsibility of the porno theater janitor is to take his mop and rag and wide up after each show is finished. Unlike a traditional theater, it's safe to assume that sticky substance under the chair is something other than Coca-Cola Classic! At least you get to see all that porn for free and you'll probably be very popular among your male friends, although this is probably not a job you want to talk about with your mother, or your wife for that matter.

(2) Guard at Buckingham Palace
Guard duty at Buckingham Palace is regarded as one of the worst jobs in the British Army. Besides the fact that they have to stand for hours, no laughing allowed, they also have to look their best. Soldiers spend several hours each day cleaning and pressing their uniforms and polishing their boots in preparation for one of the many kit inspections that they are likely to face before taking up their positions outside one of the royal palaces. Any soldier whose turn-out is less than immaculate is likely to face a variety of punishments, such as extra guard duty.

(3) Animal Masturbator
Researchers who want animal sperm -to study fertility or for artificial insemination-have a suite of attractive options: They can ram an electric probe up an animal's rectum, shove an artificial
vagina onto the animal's penis, or simply do it the old-fashioned way-manual stimulation. The first option, electroejaculation, uses a priapic rectal probe to send electricity pulsing through the animal's nether regions. "All the normal excitatory signals that stimulate ejaculation, like touch, sight, sound and smell, can be replaced with the current from the probe," says Trish Berger, professor of animal science at the University of California, Davis. "It's fascinating. Of course, this is a woman talking." Electroejaculation generally requires anesthetizing the animal and is typically used on zoo dwellers. The other two methods-the artificial vagina, or AV, and the good old hand-require that animals be trained to the procedure. The AV-a large latex tube coated with warm lubricant -is used primarily to get sperm from dairy bulls (considered the most ornery and dangerous of bovines). The bull gets randy with a steer; when he mounts the steer with his forelegs, a brave technician, AV in hand, insinuates himself between the two aroused beasts and deftly redirects the bull's penis into the mock genitalia, which he must then hold tight while the bull orgasms. (Talk about bull riding!) Three additional technicians attempt to ensure this (fool)hardy soul's safety by anchoring themselves to restraining ropes attached to a ring in the bull's nose. Alas, this isn't always absolutely effective: Everyone who's wielded an AV has had at least one close call, and more than a few have been sent to the hospital. The much safer "digital pressure" is used mostly with pigs, who are trained from an early age to mount a small bench while the researcher reaches around with a gloved hand and provides appropriate pleasure-er, pressure.

(4) Sewers Cleaner
Ramesh Sahu works in the sanitation department of Calcutta, cleaning out the city's sewers. On a regular basis, Rakesh sits in a low crouch at the bottom of a seven-foot-deep manhole, sloshing away in a swirl of human waste and sediment. Equipped with a hoe and a steel bar, and wearing only a pair of loose purple underpants, Rakesh empties the thick black sludge from a clogged sewer into a bucket that his fellow crew members hoist up and dump in the middle of a narrow road. A small mountain of decaying excrement accumulates between the manhole and a rickety wooden vegetable cart. Two co-workers reach down and yank Rakesh out by his sore, extended arms, his body splattered with putrid muck. At 27, with a wife, three young daughters and a monthly income of about $100, he has been a sewage worker for the Delhi Jal (Water) Board for the past 10 years.

(5) Brazilian Mosquito Researcher

Scientists fighting malaria must study the biting habits of the mosquito that spreads it. In Brazil, that's the Anopheles Darlingi, which doesn't fall for the light or wind traps researchers use in Africa: this smart little sucker will come near scientists only when they offer themselves as bait. In the early evening, when mosquito activity is busiest, a mosquito dinner- researcher finds a nice buggy area and sets himself up inside a mosquito-netting tent with a gap at the bottom. Mosquitoes fly in low and get trapped inside, where the researcher sits stoically, sacrificing his skin to science. He needs focus only on his legs to keep him busy: whenever a mosquito chooses a drumstick dinner, the researcher draws it into a mouth tube and then expels it into a container. Veteran researcher Helge Zieler used to put himself on the menu twice a week. On his best evening, he caught 500 Anopheles in 3 hours. Meanwhile, of course, the skeeters feasted on his entire corpus-a grand total of about 3,000 bites, or an average of 17 per minute for 180 minutes on end. "It's not so bad," he says, explaining that his personal response to mosquito bites is an immediate itch that goes away naturally in a few minutes. Except when his response is to contractmalaria. Despite taking prophylactic chloroquine, Zieler developed a case that took him two years to shake.

(6) Portable Toilet Cleaner
This job is a sort of combination of garbage collector and gastroenterologist, and arguably more disgusting than both put together. Although most people in polite society methodically avoid situations where they need to use a portable toilet, modern outhouses can be lifesavers. As gross as they can be, they'd be worse without the folks who clean them for a living. Using a tank and a vacuum wand, cleaners must suck up all the waste in aportable toilet. After picking up any stray toilet paper, they also wash down all surfaces that could possibly be soiled, including the walls. This is when a high-pressure hose comes in handy. Usually, cleaning one portable toilet takes only a few minutes, and most workers clean from 10 to 60 of them a day. But it's not always that easy: Portable toilets that tip over require more damage control. Nevertheless, some cleaners grin and bear it -- and take home $50,000 a year.

(7) Flatus Odor Judge
Odor judges are common in the research labs of mouthwash companies, where the halitosis-inflicted blow great gusts of breath in their faces to test product efficacy. But Minneapolis gastroenterologist Michael Levitt recently took the job to another level-or, rather, to the other end. Levitt paid two brave souls to indulge repeatedly in the odors of other people's farts. (Levitt refuses to divulge the remuneration, but it would seem safe to characterize it thusly: Not enough.) Sixteen healthy subjects volunteered to eat pinto beans and insert small plastic collection tubes into their anuses (worst-job runners-up, to be sure). After each "episode of flatulence," Levitt syringed the gas into a discrete container, rigorously maintaining fart integrity. The odor judges then sat down with at least 100 samples, opened the caps one at a time, and inhaled robustly. As their faces writhed in agony, they rated just how noxious the smell was. The samples were also chemically analyzed, and-eureka!-Levitt determined definitively the most malodorous component of the human flatus: hydrogen sulfide.

(8) Cat Food Quality Controller
British man Jon Hanson had what he describes as the worst job in his entire life: quality control on cat food. His task involved several test as he describes. Test 1: Bury face in a huge tub of it and sniff it to make sure it's fresh. Test 2: Plunge arms in it up to the elbows and grope for bony bits and take them out. Test 3: Scoop up huge dollop of it, smear it flat on surface and prod it with fingers to test how much gristle is there. Uggghh!

(9) Roadkill Remover
Pretty self-explanatory. Roadkill collectors not only have the job of peeling the remains of dead creatures in decay off the road in various states, they also get to do it while braving oncoming traffic.

(10) Monkeys Chaser at a Safari
Marin from Canada was hired to work in a safari zoo. He had to be caged-in in a car and drive around from one reserve to the next. Monkeys always climb on top of the car and usually enjoy a free ride for a while. At the exit of the monkey reserve is a zoo worker equipped with a stick. His duty is to prevent monkeys from leaving the reserve on a car. Imagine chasing monkeys in the glowing sun for eight hours.

The Precious Vast Lightshows of the Aurora

2010-01-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

Tags: Aurora Australis, Aurora Borealis, aurorae, blue aurora, green aurora, Northern Lights, red aurora, Southern Lights, southern polar lights

15 strangest and Amazing photos of the year 2009

2010-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Tags: strange inventions, Cool, Humor, Beautiful, Interesting, Amazing, Awesome

10 Beautiful and Precious Phenomena

2009-12-31T12:36:00.000-08:00

1. Ball Lightning

This bizarre electrical phenomenon usually occurs during thunderstorms and lasts for up to thirty seconds. Balls of lightening are said to behave in strange ways, hovering, rolling, hissing and sometimes passing through walls, in a way that seems completely unnatural. As a result, ball lightening has long been associated with aliens and ghosts, and the kind of pseudo-psychic head-cases who believe they can communicate with the other side. Thousands of people throughout history have reported seeing ball lightening, including Benjamin Franklin and my grandmother, but until recently their claims were largely ignored. However, with an increasing amount of photographic and video evidence available, scientists have now begun to take ball lightening seriously and are now attempting to recreate this entirely natural phenomenon within the confines of a laboratory.

2. Saint Elmo’s Fire

Described by scientists as a plasma phenomenon, St Elmo’s fire is caused by ionization in the atmosphere. Named for the patron saint of sailors, the phenomenon was historically witnessed emanating from the lightning conductors atop tall ships, however it can occur almost anywhere, particularly during thunderstorms. Whilst the phenomenon may appear to be flame-like when a lightening rod is it’s source, it has been more accurately described as a blue-green glow.
3. The Goat Suckers

Goat suckers, or Chupacabras, are the hypothetical creatures blamed for a recent series of cattle mutilations in South America. In the past decade hundreds of cattle have been found mutilated across Brazil alone. Often the cattle are found to have had huge amounts of blood drained from their bodies but other signs include the removal of the jaw, tongue or anus in startling similarity to cattle mutilations in the US.

The goat sucker myth began in Puerto Rico where a series of sightings during the 1970s first made headlines. At first it seemed that goats and sheep were the only item on the menu but this soon changed when the creatures were reported in Mexico two decades later and began attacking cattle. There are a number of theories explaining the sudden appearance of this critter in South America. Perhaps the most logical explanation is that their species is native to the Amazon and that deforestation has forced them to leave the rain-forest for the first time in search of food. Another popular, if somewhat unlikely explanation is that the goatsuckers are of extraterrestrial origin, owing to the fact that goat sucker attacks often coincide with UFO sightings.

Descriptions of goat suckers vary hugely and whether they actually exist is a matter of huge debate. Many say that predatory animals could be behind the rise of livestock mutilations or blame covert government experimentation, but the truth remains a mystery.

4. Spontaneous Human Combustion

This phenomenon is extremely rare and no plausible, scientific theory has yet been offered to explain how a person can suddenly burst into flames, but it would appear that some few unfortunate people have done exactly that.

Most deaths thought to be caused by spontaneous human combustion can be attributed to the “wick effect”, whereby a person’s body fat acts like candle wax, causing a person to burn in an intensely hot but extremely well contained fireball. Strangely, all that is left in most cases is the lower part of the victims legs, which contain little fat, and their feet, which are usually found to be still wearing slippers. This would seem to explain how homes are sometimes left undamaged after a victim’s body has been burned to cinders along with their favorite armchair. However, whilst the “wick effect” explains the way in which a human body might burn it offers no explanation for the cause of the fire.

5. Abduction

Whilst UFO sightings vary so widely in description that would seem to defy logic entirely, the amazing commonality between individual alien abduction stories would seem to suggest that more is at work here than a few over active imaginations. Psychologists have linked abduction stories to a deep routed fear of pregnancy in both men and women, explaining why so many self-proclaimed abductees claim to have been implanted with alien fetuses. Another well established theory behind alien abduction is that strong electromagnetic fields, perhaps occurring naturally, could cause a person to suffer an epileptic fit whilst simultaneously causing nearby electrical equipment (such as car radios) to malfunction. The person would subsequently see flashing lights before blacking out. Waking up from such an experience, the word “aliens”, would surely be the first on your lips.

6. Geo luminescence

It would seem rattling filing cabinets, burst gas pipelines and a five-star performance from Charlton Heston and Lorne Green are not the only signs that your home has been hit by an earthquake. Survivors of epic earthquakes have often reported strange flashing lights and even upward streaking bolts of lightening in the area around the epicenter of the quake. The earliest recorded example of this phenomenon was in ancient China and even a recent mini-quake in Lincolnshire, England has people talking about strange lights and the appearance of ball lightening. Scientists have theorized that these lights are the result of geo-luminescence, a phenomenon in which rocks actually produce light when exposed to extreme pressure, and that the lightening is the result of geological friction.

7. The Blood Monsoon

Between July 25 and September 23, 2001, it was reported that unusually discolored rain was falling in the southern Indian state of Kerala. The blood-red rain fell sporadically throughout the region and scientists rushed to the scene to analyze its composition. Upon further inspection it was discovered that microscopic particles present in the water, similar in appearance to human blood cells, were responsible for the discoloration.

Several explanations for the blood-rain were circulated, including the theory that a meteorite, which had struck the atmosphere shortly before the monsoon began, had collided with a flock of bats and sprayed their blood into the atmosphere. Perhaps the most ambitious theory was that of scientists Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar of the Muhatma Gandhi University in Karela. They speculated that the contaminating cells were extraterrestrial in origin and that they had been carried to Earth by a meteorite, confirming panspermia theory. The currently accepted, however, is that the contaminating particles are a type of marine algae but Louis and Kumar maintain that the cells have “unusual properties”.

8. The Taos Hum

The town of Taos, New Mexico, is the site of much scientific pondering. Residents in the town have long been perplexed by a distant hum, similar to that of a distantly idling diesel engine, the source of which has never been found. Strangely the sound has only ever been heard by around half of the people in the town and visiting scientists have failed to detect the sound with even the most sophisticated audio equipment. A similar hum in Hawaii has led some to speculate that it may be indicative of volcanic activity.

9. Foo Fighters

Before the flying saucer craze of the 1950s another strange phenomenon was the subject of huge debate for the US air force pilots of WWII. Strange balls of light were spotted flying over German airspace and the Pacific Ocean at high speed, causing frustration for both Allied and Axis pilots. Both became convinced that these “fire balls” were a type of experimental enemy aircraft. The US air force became increasingly concerned at how easily the foo fighters could outmaneuver their own aircraft. Despite never engaging in combat with aircraft the foo fighters were seen as a nuisance for the way they would ‘dance’ around and fly in close formation with US aircraft. Many pilots felt that the foo fighters were teasing them in some way. The name foo fighter came from the belief that the Japanese were responsible for this high speed taunting, although sightings continued after the conflict had ended. Cylindrical and disc shaped craft were also reported in the skies over Europe.

10. The Time Travelers

Ancient artifacts from as early as 10,000 BC have been found to show images of strange men wearing what would appear to be space suits. Sometimes alien, sometimes human, these figures are always depicted as wearing transparent helmets and can sometimes be seen to hold strange artifacts, perhaps guns or tools. Whoever these people were, are or will be, they seem to have woven their way into the cultures of ancient people across the world, appearing in cave drawings, Egyptian hieroglyphs and religious idles. Images of flying saucers, airplanes and helicopters have also been spotted on Egyptian artifacts, causing much head scratching amongst archaeologists. Was this prophecy, alien contact or will we one day develop the ability to travel through time?
Tags: Time Travelers, Taos Hum, Geo luminescence, Abduction, Human Combustion, Goat, Fire

Extraordinary and Precious Usage For Lots of Coins

2009-12-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

Extraordinary usage for lots of coins - without glue or scaffolding. Just very carefully put one coin on another. A few hours a day months of practice and maybe you will be able to do something similar to these structures? Amazing physical law showed in a different way.

Cool and Precious Transparent House

2009-12-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

On occasion of Milan Design Week Italian company Santambrogiomilano showcased the evolution of the Simplicity project, which in 2009 set itself an ambitious goal: architecture. Glass, the absolute protagonist, shapes the load bearing beams, floors, roofs and the colorless walls, the material principle justifies the conception of the whole habitat. The glass reflects the flash of the flame, the green of the vegetable garden, the pink of the seafood, the red of the cuts of meat. A meeting of transparencies that heightens the senses!

Tags: Design, Santambrogiomilano, Architecture, Seafood, Meat, unusual, Creative, Humor, Beautiful, Interesting, Transparent, House

Virgin Atlantic unveils SpaceShipTwo, world's first ever commercial passenger spaceship

2009-12-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Virgin Atlantic has unveiled the world's first ever commercial passenger spaceship.

The sleek black-and-white vessel represents a gamble with a sky-high price tag to create a commercial space and tourism industry.

The company hopes the winged, minivan-sized SpaceShipTwo, will rocket space tourists into zero gravity within just two or three years

'This will be the start of commercial space travel,' Virgin Atlantic Airways founder and billionaire Richard Branson said at the launch in California's Mojave Desert.

'You become an astronaut.'

The $450million (£274million) project would see a fleet of six commercial spaceships rocket passengers to the edge of space.
They would be high enough to experience weightlessness and see the curvature of Earth set against the backdrop of space.

A twin-hulled aircraft named Eve would carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of about 60,000 feet (18,288m) before releasing it.

The spaceship would then fire its onboard rocket engines, which would thrust it to about 65 miles (104 km) above Earth.

The trip would take only two and a half hours and give passengers about five minutes of weightlessness.

Some 300 aspiring astronauts have put down deposits for the $200,000 (£122,000) ride, which includes three days of training.

Virgin Galactic, the offshoot of Virgin Atlantic that is marketing space travel, hopes to eventually cut the ticket price to be competitive with that of air travel between the United States and Australia.

The unit is also considering providing suborbital travel between destinations to cut the journey time between the United States and Australia to about 90 minutes from about 15 hours or more.

Other potential business ventures include flying scientists and research experiments and using the carrier aircraft to launch small payloads into space.

Branson hired aircraft designer Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites to build the commercial spaceship fleet after a Rutan prototype named SpaceShipOne won the $10million (£6.08million) Ansari X Prize in 2004 for the first private piloted spaceflight.

Commercial space flight has been a dream for decades. But the 2004 flight was the first proof that industry might be able to achieve it without the help of government, which historically has dominated space travel.

A lethal 2007 explosion during a rocket engine test by Scaled Composites, however, illustrated the danger and risk to creating a safe and profitable venture.

'If you ask a group of people if there's a market for this, they say, "Oh, the answer is obvious,'" said John Olds, the founder and chief executive of SpaceWorks Engineering who is leading a study group on suborbital point-to-point travel.

'Half say "Of course there's a market." The other half says "Of course not.'"

SpaceShipOne, which is on display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, made three suborbital flights.

'It's been a tough five years, but we are finally there,' Branson said. 'Hopefully over the next decades, tens of thousands - if not hundreds of thousands - of people will have the chance to go to space.'

A 10-month atmospheric test flight program is expected to begin on Tuesday and would be followed by extensive test flights into space before passenger travel is scheduled to begin in 2011 or 2012.

Ancient human burial site shows evidence of mass cannibalism: 'Slaves were skinned and butchered like animals'

2009-12-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

Evidence of mass cannibalism, in which men, women and children were on the menu, has been unearthed in Germany.

The 'intentionally mutilated' remains of up to 500 people were found in 7,000-year-old pits near the village of Herxheim in the south-west of the country.

Marks on the bones show that the bodies were skinned and the flesh removed using techniques normally used to butcher animals.

Some of the bones may have been smashed to allow the living to suck the marrow out of the dead, others were chewed and one researcher even believes the victims could have been 'spit-roasted'.

So far, the remains of 10 people - eight adults and two children aged around 6 and 16 - have been analysed.

But with around 500 bodies already dug up and many more waiting to be recovered, the journal Antiquity reports that the true figure could be much higher.

Archaeologist Bruno Boulestin said: 'We see patterns on the bones of animals indicating they have been spit-roasted.

'We have seen some of these patterns on the human bones.

'It is highly probable that a great number of the thousand or so individuals deposited in Herxheim were subjected to cannibalism.'

Dr Boulestin, of Bordeaux University in France, suspects the deaths - and feasts - took place over just a few decades.

It is thought that the remains belong either to people eaten in victory celebrations after being killed in wars, or to people slaughtered and consumed in ritual sacrifices.

It is also possible that the cannibalism was carried out when the early farming society suffered famine.

Further evidence of Neolithic cannibalism comes from 6,000-year-old bones unearthed in a French cave and analysed in the 1980s.

But other experts say the dead of both locations may simply have been given ritual burials, in which the flesh was removed as part of the ceremony.

The awe-inspiring night sky that makes even Mount Everest look small

2009-12-06T03:31:00.000-08:00

Very few sights could make mighty Mount Everest seem insignificant, but this could be one of them - an awe-inspiring image of the stars in the night sky casting their glow from inconceivable distances onto the world's highest peak.

The photograph shows the constellation Auriga looming above Everest, seen to the left of its smaller Himalayan neighbour Lhotse, while in the foreground stands a stupa - a Buddhist monument.

The celestial scene was pictured late last month near Namche Bazar, Nepal, above the gateway to the mountain range.

Almost directly over Everest is the dazzling star Capella. While in astronomical terms it is relatively close to our own solar system, its distance is still a mind-boggling 42.2 light years - that's 248 trillion miles - making Everest's five-mile height seem minuscule.
Though to our eyes it appears as a single star - the third brightest in the Northern sky - Capella is actually a complicated system of four stars revolving in two binary pairs. Auriga means 'charioteer' and to the ancient Greeks it represented either the lame god Hephaestus or his son, the inventor of the four horse chariot which earned him a place of honour in the sky.

Also visible in the photograph is Aldebaran, the 'bull's eye' of the constellation Taurus, and above it the famous 'seven sisters' of the Pleiades.

What might appear to be a fallen star nestling in the folds of the mountains is in fact the brightly lit monastery of Tengboche.

First direct image of planet orbiting a star similar to our Sun

2009-12-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

An international team of scientists has made the first direct observation of a planet-like object orbiting a star similar to our Sun.

The finding marks the first discovery made with the world's newest planet-hunting instrument on the Hawaii-based Subaru Telescope.

The object, known as GJ 758 B, could be a large exo-planet although it may also be a 'failed star,' known commonly as a brown dwarf.
The faint companion to the sun-like star GJ 758 is estimated to be 10 to 40 times as massive as Jupiter and is a 'near neighbor' in our Milky Way galaxy, hovering 300 trillion miles from Earth.

'It's a groundbreaking find because one of the current goals of astronomy is to directly detect planet-like objects around stars like our sun,' said Dr Michael McElwain, from Princeton University.

'It is also an important verification that the system - the telescope and its instruments - is working well.'
mages of the object were taken in May and August during early test runs of the new observation equipment.

The team has members from Princeton, the University of Hawaii, the University of Toronto, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The results will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

'This challenging but beautiful detection of a very low mass companion to a sun-like star reminds us again how little we truly know about the census of gas giant planets and brown dwarfs around nearby stars,' said Alan Boss, from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington.

'Observations like this will enable theorists to begin to make sense of how this hitherto unseen population of bodies was able to form and evolve.'

Brown dwarfs are stars that are not massive enough to sustain fusion reactions at their core, so they burn out and cool off as they age.

He added that the discovery also emphasizes that this new method of finding exoplanets - direct detection - is 'really hitting its stride.'

Finding these planets is a crucial step in answering the age-old question of the existence of extraterrestrial life.

The planet-like object is currently at least 29 times as far from its star as the Earth is from the sun, approximately as far as Neptune is from the sun. However, further observations will be required to determine the actual size and shape of its orbit.

At a temperature of only 600F, the object is relatively "cold" for a body of its size. It is the coldest companion to a sun-like star ever recorded in an image.

The fact that such a large planet-like object appears to orbit at this location defies traditional thinking on planet formation. It is thought most larger planets are formed either closer to or farther from stars, but not in the location where GJ 758 is now. Discoveries such as this one could help theorists refine their ideas.

Telescope images also revealed a second companion to the star, which the scientists have called GJ 758 C. More observations, however, are needed to confirm whether it is nearby or just looks that way.
Aided by new varieties of viewing techniques, scientists started finding extrasolar planets (planets beyond the solar system) in 1992 and have located more than 400 planet-like objects so far.

Most, however, have not been directly observed, but inferred from viewing the star around which the planet orbits.

GJ 758 B is one of the first planet-like objects to be directly seen. Of the others that have been directly viewed, most have been on larger orbits than the distance between GJ 758 B and its star, or around stars with temperatures far above the average temperature of GJ 758 or our sun.

Scientists were able to spot the object even though it was hidden in the glare of the star it orbits by subtracting out that brighter light.

To do this, they used a special advanced image attached to the Subaru Telescope. Known as HiCIAO, it is part of a new generation of instruments specially made to detect faint objects near a bright star by masking its far more intense light.

'It's amazing how quickly this instrument has come online and burst into the forefront,' said Marc Kuchner, an exoplanet scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre.

'I think this is just the beginning of what HiCIAO is going to do for the field.'
'It looks very promising,' said Christian Thalmann, one of the team's lead scientists.

If it should turn out to be a second companion, he said, that would make both of them more likely to be young planets rather than old brown dwarfs, since two brown dwarfs in such close proximity would not remain stable for such a long period of time.

Driver unearths giant skull of 6ft 'cow' which roamed the country 7,500 years ago

2009-12-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

The enormous skull of an ancient cow-like beast that stood higher than a man has been uncovered in a quarry.

Excavator driver John Rutherford was on a routine shift at a riverside pit in Northumberland when he unearthed the incredible bones with his digger.

They belonged to a species of wild cattle called an auroch, that had roamed Britain more than 7,500 years ago.

Aurochs stood 6ft at the shoulder and became extinct in the UK around 4,000 years ago.

The skull has been radiocarbon dated to 5670-5520 BC, when northern Britain would have been sparsely occupied by mobile groups of hunter and gatherer peoples.

Two red deer antlers were also found in the same area as the auroch skull and one produced a similar radiocarbon date.

The startling discovery was made at Thompsons of Prudhoe's Haughton Strother quarry near Humshaugh.
'If the excavator bucket had been 10 centimetres either side it would have smashed the skull,' said Robin Taylor-Wilson, director of Durham-based Pre-Construct Archaeology, who advise Thompson's of Prudhoe.

'It is very rare to find a complete auroch skull, but it came out hanging off the bucket from a wet area as if it was meant to be.

'The find is of an animal which lived thousands of years before that, and one which would have been a prize capture for dinner for the hunter gatherers of the time.'

It is now hoped that the skull will go on show at the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

Ryan Molloy, development and environmental manager at Thompsons of Prudhoe, said: 'The way the skull came out in perfect condition was unbelievable.

'It is a wet working quarry and the skull had been preserved in a peat pocket for 7,000 years.

'Normally, only fragments of bone are found from this time, so to get a skull in such pristine condition was incredible, and a lot of credit has to go to the driver who immediately reported it.'

Nick Best, assistant Northumberland county archaeologist, said: 'We thought there might be the potential of finding something there as the river would attract animals and people. The skull is an important discovery.'

He added that among the factors believed to be behind the extinction of aurochs in the Bronze Age were the clearance of their woodland habitat by people and hunting.

Archaeological monitoring was part of the planning conditions the authorities imposed on the quarry, which has been worked for the last three years.

Aurochs may be the ancestors of Northumberland's Chillingham white cattle.

'This a very interesting find,' said Philip Deakin, chairman of the Chillingham Wild Cattle Association.

The Chillingham herd now stands at a record 90, with another 30 in the reserve herd in Scotland.

Aurochs were much larger than modern cattle. Bulls had long horns which pointed forwards rather than swept out to the side. Ancient Greek and Roman writers describe the aurochs as a very aggressive animal.

In the 1920s two German zoo directors Heinz and Lutz Heck tried to bring aurochs back through a selective breeding program using domestic cattle descendants.

They believed a species was not 'extinct' as long as all its genes were still present in a living population. The resulting breed was called 'Heck cattle' or 'Recreated Aurochs' and though impressive they did not reach the same stature as their ancestors.

Hottest star in the galaxy pictured for the first time

2009-12-03T05:19:00.000-08:00

One of the hottest stars in the galaxy has been discovered by astronomers.

The dying star at the centre of the Bug Nebula is 35 times hotter than the sun with a surface temperature of 200,000 degrees.

This is the first time the star has been pictured despite numerous attempts by stargazers across the world.

Astronomers at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics were amazed to find they had captured the central star using the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope.

'This star was so hard to find because it is hidden behind a cloud of dust and ice in the middle of the nebula,' explained Professor Albert Zijlstra from The University of Manchester.

'Planetary nebulae like the Bug form when a dying star ejects much of its gas back into space and are among the most beautiful objects in the night sky.'

The Bug Nebula is about 3500 light years away in the constellation Scorpius.
The images were taken to show off the new improved HST, which space shuttle astronomers installed with a new Wide Field Camera earlier this year.

Cezary Szyszka, lead author on the paper and a research student at the University of Manchester currently working at the European Southern Observatory, said: 'We are extremely lucky that we had the opportunity to catch this star near its hottest point, from now on it will gradually cool as it dies. This is truly an exceptional object.'

Our own sun is expected to cool, and die in the same way in about five billion years time.

Professor Zijlstra added: 'It's extremely important to understand planetary nebulae such as the Bug Nebula, as they are crucial to understanding our own existence on Earth.'

The images will be published in the Astrophysical Journal next week.

A Precious And Natural Spider Web and Droplet

2009-12-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Precious And Amazing Natural Spider Web and Droplet

A Precious Space Shuttle take off Photos

2009-12-01T02:47:00.000-08:00

Space Shuttle take off

Some Precious Life Under Water

2009-11-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

under water Life