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National Geographic's top 10 most viewed photos of 2008

2008-12-28T07:13:00.000-08:00

1. Best Wild Animal Photos of 2008 Announced

Man and right whale size each other up in the winner of the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition' s underwater category, announced on October 30. "The whales were highly curious of us. Many of these animals had never seen a human before," Skerry told National Geographic.

2. Giant, Unknown Animals Found off Antarctica

Collected from deep Antarctic seas, this 9.8-inch-long (25-centimeter- long) giant sea spider was one of 30,000 animals--many new to science--found during a 35-day census in early 2008 and featured in a National Geographic News gallery on March 28. Other odd discoveries included a balloon-like sea squirt and giant starfish.

3. Best Science Images of 2008 Announced

Under intense magnification, a long-fin squid's suckers--each no wider than a human hair--resemble the leafy star of Little Shop of Horrors. This electron-micrograph image may have only won an honorable mention in the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, but thanks to enthusiastic bloggers, these suckers were the breakout stars of National Geographic News's gallery of the contest's highlights, posted on September 25. Among the other marquee attractions: a bugged-out take on the Mad Hatter's tea party and a "glass forest."

4. Eight Natural Wonders Added to UN Heritage List

Filed with forests, waterfalls, and fantastically shaped granite peaks and pillars, China's 56,710-acre (22,950 hectare) Mount Sanqingshan National Park was among the 174 wild sites--eight of them featured in this gallery--added to the UN World Heritage list in July 2008. Chosen by a committee of the UN's Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Heritage sites are natural and cultural areas recognized for their universal value to humanity. (Photo: CRIOnline)

5. Hurricane Ike Pummels Texas Coast

On Sept. 13 a worker inspects damage in front of the JPMorgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston, Texas, after powerful Hurricane Ike slammed into the Gulf Coast, damaging buildings, flooding streets, and knocking out power for millions of people.With winds reaching 110 miles (177 kilometers) an hour, Ike came ashore above Galveston, Texas, as a strong Category 2 storm just after 3 a.m. ET.

6. Chile Volcano Erupts With Ash and Lightning

After 9,000 years of silence, Chile's Chaiten volcano erupted, generating on May 3 what may have been a "dirty thunderstorm. " These little-understood storms may be caused when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles collide to produce static charges--just as ice particles collide to create charges in regular thunderstorms. The eruption, which continued off and on for months, forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and cattle from this corner of Patagonia.

7. Alien-like Squid Seen at Deep Drilling Site

A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, this alien-like, long-armed, and--strangest of all--"elbowed" Magnapinna squid is seen in a still from a video clip obtained by National Geographic News from and published on Nov. 24.

8. Colossal Squid Revealed in First In-Depth Look

The carcass of a colossal squid floats in a tank at the Museum of New Zealand on April 30, giving scientists their first close look at the elusive deep-sea creature. The squid was frozen for months after being caught by fishers off Antarctica in 2007. A dissection of the thawed beast yielded astonishing discoveries, including the animal kingdom's largest eyes and light-emitting organs that may serve as cloaking devices, scientists said.

9. Best Microscopic Images of 2008 Announced

Glowing-hot carbon nanotubes form an expanding orange ball in this winning image from the 2008 Small World photomicrography competition, sponsored by Nikon and featured in an October 15 National Geographic News gallery. In nine other masterworks of magnification, a beetle danced on a pin, and drugs yielded crystal rainbows.

10. Hurricane Ike: Galveston Braces for Storm

Sylvia Renteria recoils as a wave churned by Hurricane Ike meets a seawall in Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 12. Before landfall, the National Weather Service's chilling warnings of "certain death" spurred officials and residents of the coastal town to gird for the worst--and stoked fears of a replay of the devastating 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed 6,000.

Latte Art - ( coffe Art )

2008-12-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, you read this guide, you know how to pull a killer shot of espresso, and you've done things: espresso perfection awaits at the bottom of your cup. You’d take a picture if you didn’t have a pitcher of pristinely foamed milk, with nanometer-sized bubbles and a quicksilver sheen in your hand. The proportion of foam is perfect. You want to pour latte art....

Much like rubbing your tummy and tapping your head, pouring latte art requires that you do two things at the same time. Pour the milk at a consistent and even rate AND shake the pitcher side to side with the even tempo of a metronome.

Use a wide mouth cup. Ideally I like a smaller size (6oz) but some might find a larger 12oz size to work better. The trick is with the wide mouth you will more easily see the design develop and if anything the wide mouth can assist in its development.

Here's something you might not want to do, but should: Practice with water first. It doesn’t have the same viscosity of milk but it can give you a chance to get a feel for pouring and then shaking at the same time. You will also need to be gradually but steadily raising the pitcher so that the milk continues to pour at a steady rate. Later in the pour there is less milk in the pitcher and to keep the milk flowing you will need to tilt the bottom of the pitcher up.

To give you a further sense of what's going on - any fly fishers out there? David Schomer, that maestro of the latte art, likes to compare the art of pouring to casting a line while fly fishing. Dave's an avid fly fisher, you see, and he says there's a similar rhythm in casting a fly line and pouring latte art. You need to have patience when casting the line, letting the line drift back, waiting until it loads the rod before accelerating the line again with the snap of your wrist. When pouring latte art there is a mimicking of this process swinging the pitcher side to side, waiting for the milk to "load" up in the side of the pitcher before changing direction and swinging it to the other side. Typically new people oscillate the pitcher back and forth too quickly, trying to rush the process. The side to side motion needs to be more rhythmical, almost lazy, much like the casting of a fly line. Be patient and let the milk set the timing of the osciallations.

I'm assuming if you're a fly fisher, this makes perfect sense. If you're not go rent "A River Runs Through It" and you'll get a bit of a better idea of what David is talking about.

Getting back to the practical, you're ready to pour, and you need to position. Hold the cup on a slight angle, with the back of the cup being raised up and the edge of the cup closest to you sitting slightly lower. This fans the coffee out in the cup and helps in the development of the leaves for our Rosetta.

Pour starting in the center of the coffee, especially for small cups. Just start pouring straight into the middle of the coffee. I like to keep the edge of the pitcher resting on the edge of the cup at this point.

With the cup about halfway to 3/4 full give the pitcher a little side to side shake and you should start to see the leaves of the penumbra begin to form. Your wrist has also managed to do the "throw" that Schomer describes in his latte art seminars.

Continue the shake, continuing to pour in the center of the coffee. The leaves should move away from you on the surface of the espresso. After about 4-6 shakes you will need to begin moving the pitcher back towards you, continuing to shake side to side with a little bit of a tighter oscillation.

This movement is slower than what many people attempt initially. Don’t get nervous and try to rush things. It won’t work. Slow, steady, almost "natural" slow beat metronome movements are your goal.

As you near the edge of the cup having created lots of leaves or delineations in the surface of the espresso you want to then draw through those leaves with the pour of the milk. Do this slowly, and also elevate your pour just a bit to keep the center stem slim and complimentary to the leaves.

Do it too quickly and it will pull the leaves up tight making your Rosetta look like a Christmas tree that hasn’t had its branches come down yet.

Last bit of advice: Practice, practice, practice. Pro Baristi pour hundreds of drinks a day, and that's their practice time. You have the luxury of no lineups to deal with. Use it.

Top 10 Inventions of 2008

2008-12-27T05:50:00.000-08:00

1. The Retail DNA Test
Learning and sharing your genetic secrets are at the heart of 23andMe's controversial new service — a $399 saliva test that estimates your predisposition for more than 90 traits and conditions ranging from baldness to blindness. Although 23andMe isn't the only company selling DNA tests to the public, it does the best job of making them accessible and affordable. The 600,000 genetic markers that 23andMe identifies and interprets for each customer are "the digital manifestation of you," says Wojcicki (pronounced Wo-jis-key), 35, who majored in biology and was previously a health-care investor. "It's all this information beyond what you can see in the mirror."

We are at the beginning of a personal-genomics revolution that will transform not only how we take care of ourselves but also what we mean by personal information. In the past, only élite researchers had access to their genetic fingerprints, but now personal genotyping is available to anyone who orders the service online and mails in a spit sample

2. The Tesla Roadster
Electric cars were always environmentally friendly, quiet, clean — but definitely not sexy. The Tesla Roadster has changed all that. A battery-powered sports car that sells for $100,000 and has a top speed of 125 m.p.h. (200 km/h), the Roadster has excited the clean-tech crowd since it was announced in 2003. Celebrities like George Clooney joined a long waiting list for the Roadster; magazines like Wired drooled over it. After years of setbacks and shake-ups, the first Tesla Roadsters were delivered to customers this year. Reviews have been ecstatic, but Tesla Motors has been hit hard by the financial crisis. Plans to develop an affordable electric sedan have been put on hold, and Tesla is laying off employees. But even if the Roadster turns out to be a one-hit wonder, it's been a hell of an (electric) ride.

3. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
It may have been a long time since the U.S. built the world's best cars, but nobody can touch us when it comes to spacecraft. nasa is about to prove that again with the planned launch in February 2009 of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (lro). Our first unmanned moonship in 11 years, the lro will study the things lunar orbiters always study — gravity, temperature — but it will also look for signs of water ice, a vital resource for any future lunar base, and compile detailed 3-D lunar maps, including all six Apollo landing sites. Wingnuts, be warned: yes, we really went there.

4. Hulu.com
When cable eventually dies, websites like Hulu will be held responsible. Unlike YouTube and other amateur-video-upload sites, Hulu is a hub for network TV shows and movies: Hulu offers shows from nbc, Fox, pbs and other channels, including free full episodes of SNL, The Daily Show, The Office and other hits the TiVo-less masses often miss, plus films like Ghostbusters, The Fifth Element and Lost in Translation. Created as a network-approved alternative to YouTube's grab bag, Hulu was at first roundly mocked as a ham-fisted corporate knockoff of the grass-roots glory that is YouTube. (It was also mocked for its weird name.) Instead it proved that suits can play in the Internet video space too and that studio content can coexist online with the user-generated kind. In doing so, it delivered the final blow that untethered TV from that box in your living room.

5. The Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest particle accelerator, which went online in September, ran for 10 days and then had to shut down at least until next spring because of an overheated wire. The mammoth machine will send protons wheeling in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light, then smash them together at 6,000 times a second to try to answer such deep questions as why mass exists and whether the universe has extra dimensions. If it takes a few extra months to find out, so what?

6. The Global Seed Vault
Superman had it right: if you want to keep something safe, build a mountain fortress above the Arctic Circle. That's the thinking — more or less — behind the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Almost every nation keeps collections of native seeds so local crops can be replanted in case of an agricultural disaster. The Global Seed Vault, opened this year on the far-northern Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, is a backup for the backups. It's badly needed — as many as half the seed banks in developing countries are at risk from natural disasters or general instability. The vault can hold up to 4.5 million samples, which will be kept dry at about 0°F (-18°C). Even if the facility loses power, the Arctic climate should keep the seeds viable for thousands of years. Let's just hope we still like corn then.

7. The Chevy Volt
No-emission electric motors — which began the automobile revolution — are the technology of tomorrow for cars. But today's batteries can't support the typical driving experience.. Chevy's Volt is a nice compromise. The sedan has an electric motor with a battery that can provide up to 40 miles (about 65 km) of range on a single charge. A gas engine kicks in to recharge the battery while you're driving.. Since nearly 80% of us drive less than 40 miles a day, that means that unlike the Prius, the Volt could get drivers off gas altogether. The best of both worlds lands by the end of 2010.

8. Bullets That Shoot Bullets
Think of the Army's new Active Protection System (APS) as Star Wars for soldiers, designed to protect them from rocket-propelled grenades and other short-range threats. Raytheon's APS will automatically detect an incoming round and then launch a missile to destroy it, all within a split second. If it works, future Army vehicles will be able to head into combat with less armor.

9. The Orbital Internet
In space, no one can hear you scream. But you will be able to send e-mail, thanks to a new protocol being developed for use there. It's hard to maintain a stable connection in orbit, so the interplanetary Internet will have to be especially tolerant of delays and disruptions. In September, a satellite used the new protocol to relay an image of the Cape of Good Hope back to Earth.

10. The World's Fastest Computer
On May 26, at 3:30 in the morning, a $133 million supercomputer nicknamed Roadrunner broke the long-sought-after petaflop barrier: 1 quadrillion calculations per second. Built by IBM for Los Alamos National Laboratory, Roadrunner will be used primarily to simulate the effects of aging on nuclear weapons.InventionsInventions

Most Artificial Christmas Trees

2008-12-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Whoville Christmas Tree

In Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch may have realized that Christmas doesn’t come from a store, but in this case, the Whoville desktop Christmas tree does come from one!

Charlie Brown’s Pathetic Christmas Tree

Good Grief! If Cindy Lou’s Whoville Christmas tree above wasn’t sad enough, maybe you’ll like this one: Charlie Brown’s Pathetic Christmas Tree as featured in Charles Schulz’ excellent comic strip Peanut…. This tree needs you!

Afterall, Linus van Pelt did say "It’s not a bad little tree. All it needs is a little love."

Mountain Dew Christmas Tree

It’s probably too late for you to start doing this one: the awesome Mountain Dew Christmas Tree. It took about 3 months of soda drinking (approximately 400 cans of Mountain Dew) and 4 days of building.

Grolsch Beer Christmas Tree

Mountain Dew? Weaklings… Try Grolsch beer instead:

Knitted Christmas Tree

If you’re into knitting and crafts, why not knit yourself a Christmas tree? Like this big one done by about 1,000 knitters at Eden Project

The Shelf Tree

Don’t want to bother with shedding pine needles or the hassle of putting together an artificial Christmas tree?

World’s Most Expensive Christmas Tree

Last year, Singapore jeweler Soo Kee Jewellery created this Christmas tree with 21,798 diamonds totaling 913 carats and 3,762 crystal beads. The tree looked like (and was actually worth) a million bucks!

Giant Christmas Tree

This is the mother of all Christmas trees: a gigantic 7-story "tree" made from 350 regular-sized artificial trees! Approximately 70 staffers of Yilong Media company of China constructed a steel framing and then stacked this pyramid of Christmas trees.

The longest tail on a horse

2008-10-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

Crystal Socha, 26, of Augusta, Kan., combs the tail of her American Paint horse, Summer, during the 11th annual EquiFest of Kansas at the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita today. EEleven-year-old Summer holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the longest tail on a horse, at 12 feet, six inches.

The strongest girl in the world

2008-10-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

Varya Akulova, also called “Girl Hercules” is capable of lifting up to 350 kg, while she weighs only 40 kg and she is the strongest girl on the world. This fact has already been confirmed twice by Guinness Book of World Records.
Varya’s muscles are barely visible but she has tremendous will-power, translucent body and thread-like tendons.
Varya says, “I wish I could be big, really big: 190 cm tall and weigh more than 100 kg, like my dad.”
Despite the daily workouts, Varya is a top student in her class. Currently, she is in 7th grade

The World Biggest Snakes

2008-09-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

The Wildlife Conservation Society has, since the early 20th century, offered a large cash reward (currently worth US$50,000) for live delivery of any snake of 30 feet (9.1 m) or more in length. This prize has never been claimed. In any case, measuring a snake that is stronger than a person is not an easy task. It was found that two scientists independently measuring the same 12-foot (3.7 m) plus snake showed a variation of more than 20% in their results.

Common names

Local names in South America include the Spanish term “matatoro,” meaning “bull killer,” and the Native American terms sucuri and “yakumama.”

A possible origin for the common name anaconda is the Tamil anaikondran, meaning “elephant killer”, or anaikkonda, meaning “having killed an elephant”. A name first used in English to name a Ceylonese python, it erroneously was applied to a large South American boa, called in Brazil “sucuri”. The word is of uncertain origin, and no snake name like it now is found in Sinhalese or Tamil. Another suggestion is that it represents Tamil. It is unclear how this name originated so far from the snake’s native habitat; possibly this is due to its vague similarity to the large Asian pythons.

There are some debates about the maximum size of these snakes. Mehrtens (1987) states that the average adult length for the green anaconda, E. murinus, is 18 to 20 feet (5.5–6.1 m), with 25 feet (7.6 m) specimens being very rare. He sets a more conservative maximum at 23 feet (7.0 m). Estimates of 35 to 40 feet (11–12 m) (see Giant anaconda) are based on vague data and should be regarded with caution. In a study of 1,000 specimens captured in Venezuela, the largest was 17 feet (5.2 m) long and weighed 100 pounds (45 kg).

I think these are anaconda, and this’s some information about anaconda
Eunectes is a genus of non-venomous boas found in tropical South America, commonly called anacondas. An aquatic group of snakes inhabiting swamps and rivers, its members include some of the largest snakes in the world. Despite this, little was known about them until recently. The name Eunectes is derived from the Greek word Eυνήκτης, which means “good swimmer.” Three species are currently recognized.

Babies have a sense of rhythm from early on in life

2008-09-26T03:44:00.000-07:00

It will be months before they talk, walk or even sit up. But at just a day old, babies have a strong sense of rhythm, say researchers.

Newborns are also sensitive to pitch and melody, they found.

Experts said that introducing a child to music at an early age could enhance these innate musical abilities and also help them learn to talk.

The fledgling musical talent was discovered by Hungarian researchers during a study of more than 100 boys and girls who were only one or two days old.

They played the babies music as they slept and measured their brain activity.

The researchers found that their brains computed changes in beat, tone and melody.

For instance, if a key beat was missed from a rhythmic pattern, the baby's brain registered the change.

A change in pitch, similar to that between male and female voices, also provoked a reaction.

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences study was part of a threeyear European project on how the brain processes music and other sounds, co-ordinated by Dr Susan Denham, of Plymouth University.

She said: 'What is perhaps most significant is that not only do babies' brains register changes in beat, pitch and simple melodic patterns but they do so more or less automatically, as they are fast asleep during these experiments.

'People come into the world with brains that are wired-up to detect patterns'.

Dr Denham added: 'A lot of music reflects the rhythms and contents of speech. If you are listening to music you will also probably be more sensitive to speech rhythm.'

Fantastic Surfing

2008-09-21T03:47:00.000-07:00

Surfing is a surface water sport in which the participant is carried along the face of a breaking wave, most commonly using a surfboard, although wave-riders may make use of kneeboards, body boards (aka boogie boards), kayaks, surf skis, and their own bodies. Surfing-related sports such as paddleboarding and sea kayaking do not require waves, and other derivative sports such as kitesurfing and windsurfing rely primarily on wind for power, yet all of these tools may as well be used to ride waves.

Two major subdivisions within contemporary stand-up surfing are reflected by the differences in surfboard design and riding style of longboarding and shortboarding.

In tow-in surfing (most often, but not exclusively, associated with big wave surfing), a surfer is towed into the wave by a motorized water vehicle, such as a jetski, generally because standard paddling is often ineffective when trying to match a large wave's higher speed.

Galmer Arbitrage GT 2008

2008-08-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

Engine 7 liter LS7 V8 Weight
Aspiration natural
Torque 470 lb-ft @ 4800 rpm
HP 505 hp @ 6300 rpm (stock)
HP/Liter 72 hp per liter 1/4 mile

The Galmer Arbitrage GT (www.arbitragecars.com) will prove to be the car that everyone would like to own. It has been designed and engineered to hold up to the most intense scrutiny of the motor sports enthusiast. It is being constructed with a carbon fiber monocoque chassis and mostly carbon fiber body that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the nearest competitor in it's class. The secret lies within Cobra International Co., Ltd's experience in lightweight composites and simply the cost of manufacturing in Thailand .

The Galmer Arbitrage GT is a car designed to be everything that a sports car should be without the complexities that exist in other sports cars today. It is a back to basics approach while still using the best of available technology. This concept has given the Galmer Arbitrage GT it's three words that the team lives by everyday; PURE DESIGN, POWER AND PERFORMANCE. The words were prefaced by the understanding the car must be strikingly beautiful to the eye, be as light weight as possible, have a ****pit designed large enough to accommodate a basketball player, and most importantly, the owner should never be afraid to service or repair it. It is with these ideals that the Galmer Arbitrage GT was created .

DESIGN

The original design that inspired the Galmer Arbitrage GT came from Togay Yuvanc, a self taught, 3d designer and highly knowledgeable race car enthusiast. The baseline design was then redesigned for practical purposes and eye appeal, before being sent to Galmer for pre-engineering approval. From the origination of the design, aerodynamics always remained at the forefront. CFD testing was done to screen out any serious airflow and aerodynamic issues. After several corrections to body curves due to headlight clearance issues, window opening issues and wheelbase adjustments due to the powertrain change to the LS7, The design remains fixed at what you see in the gallery section of the website. The worldwide feedback after the release of the design was overwhelmingly positive. Indeed all of us breathed a little easier after daily checks of the hundreds of websites that reviewed the press release and pictures of the car.

PERFORMANCE

The Galmer Arbitrage GT has been designed and engineered for extremely high speed track stability. The underbody of the car is completely unique and never seen on a road car or any available "out of the box" sportscar ever produced. The suspension is particularly unique with every piece specifically designed for the Galmer Arbitrage GT. Until the track testing is completed, we will not make any performance claims. But sure you will see this car at a 24hr race in the near future. Basically this car is "race ready" with everything in it's place. At the same time, tame enough to drive around town.

COMPONENT KIT CAR?

Because of the enormous cost of homologation for the USA market, the Galmer Arbitrage GT will be exported into the USA without the powertrain and many of the parts that have been sourced outside of thailand . All cars will arrive at a staging area in the USA that will do the final consolidation of all parts and process the final “packaging” for each individual car. Once the packaging is complete, it is our goal that the buyer or the buyers chosen assembler, can assemble the car in less than 100 man hours. A complete assembly dvd and manual will be included with each car. Cobra International Co., Ltd. does not provide the engine or transaxle, but a list of prefered suppliers will be posted on the website at a later time. The Galmer Arbitrage GT will indeed set the bar for modern kit cars of this generation. nothing is from a donor car. nothing from a salvage yard. Everything is new and specific for each car. Every part is numbered accordingly. Every part that is to be painted is painted already according to the customers instructions. There is only the assembly of each beautifully crafted part. The wiring harness is preinstalled. This makes the everything just plug and play, with no hassles.

POWER

Back in the beginning, the VW/AUDI 3.2 liter V6 twin turbocharged engine mated to a DSG gearbox was the drivetrain of choice for the Galmer Arbitrage GT. Indeed at that time we were very excited about this match-up. But after several months it was clear that neither VW and the potential buyers were that interested in this drivetrain being put into the Galmer Artbitrage GT. So the team went back to the drawing board and selected the most powerful small block V8 ever made; the 7 liter, 505 horsepower, Chevrolet LS7 . It was the best "second" choice we have made on this project. Firstly, this engine has 505 horsepower out of the box. The tuning potential is enormous, not to mention that Chevrolet is talking about a LSX 800+ horsepower engine that will be able to go into the Galmer Arbitrage GT without any problems. Another factor that aided in our decision was emissions. Being a tuner of European cars for many years in the USA, Kevin Gallahan understood that the VW/AUDI 3.2 liter V6 twin turbocharged engine would not pass emissions requirements in most states. The LS7 in the Galmer Arbitrage GT, will be able to pass through 50 USA states' emissions control.

To get the power to the wheels, The Galmer Arbitrage GT will be using a custom made, GEARFOX, 6 speed transaxle. Look for specifications for this transaxle in the upcoming days on the website.

INTERIOR

The interior was another very serious issue for the team. Many, many designs were submitted and consequently rejected for one reason or the other. The important factors involved with the interior was style, flexibility, left hand drive/right hand drive changeability, and overall access to gauges, HVAC, and accessories. The current interior design gives the owner an infinite number of choices for color and texture of materials as well as easy change-outs for gauges and data loggers or Motec type dashboards. Weight savings was also constantly considered during the design process. A digital touchscreen interface provided by I Squared will be used for many features of the electronics, while still using some tactile switches when necessary. The Galmer Arbitrage GT will come standard with a Pioneer AV unit and navigation system. The rear view mirror can be replaced with a triple LCD screen version for left/right/center rear view cameras as seen in the gallery. Another available option will be fingerprint recognition for secure entrance into the car as well as starting the vehicle. Seating options will be numerous with fully adjustable to fixed carbon fiber racing seats available. Look for these choices on the website later. Although carpeting may be available, we just don't understand why someone would want to cover all that carbon fiber. Instead, we recommend using the custom made Galmer leather floor mats.

Google Earth proves that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is right-(MUST SEE)

2008-08-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

Google Earth proves that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is right

No human on earth can draw a straight line on the surface of the earth between two far cities except with the aid of detailed maps, made possible today due to airplanes, satellites, and knowledge of latitude, longitude, and land height. However, there was a person who had done this 1400 years ago. This person is the
prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

While the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was in Madinah Al-Munawarah, Allah instructed him that he should face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah. From then on, it became the Qiblah for Muslims. And from then on, Islam was spreading. After the victory of (Fatih Makkah) people came and entered Islam. Then, the prophet (peace be upon him) started to sent the teachers to these people to teach them Islam. One of them Wabr ibn Yohanas Al-Khozaee whom the prophet (peace be upon him) sent to Yemen (Sana'a). He was ordered to teach people of Sana and to build them a Mosque by features the prophet (peace be upon him) had defined to him.

Al-Tabarani narrates in the Mu'jam Al-wsat saying:
Wabr ibn Yohanas Al-Khozaee said: the prophet (peace be upon him) said to me ' if you build the mosque of Sana'a, make it to the right of a mountain called Deyn

To explain, Al-Hafez Al-Rahzey says in his book 'The History of Sana'a) that the prophet (peace be upon him) ordered Wabr ibn Yohanas Al-Khozaee to build the mosque in Bathan park, from where is found a rock in Gamdan and face it to a mountain called Deyn

The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),1400 years age, ordered to build the mosque Sana'a facing Jabal-e-deen .If we use Google Earth and draw a straight line from the mosque Sana'a to the Qibla which is in Makkah, it will pass through the peak of jabal-e-deen and will end at the center of Kaba.
How could someone 1400 years ago have shown the exact direction for kaba from a far away city without using the new aids needed for such a process?
Of course this a miracle

Baby born with a second penis

2008-06-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

THIS is the picture that will shock parents around the world - a baby born with a second penis on his BACK.

The tot was born to farmer dad Li Jun, 30, and his unnamed wife, who live in Hejian city in central China's Henan province.

Surgery

But he was rushed to Tianjin Childrens' Hospital on May 27 for surgery to remove his extra manhood.

The rare condition, the first for Tianjin Childrens' Hospital, is called fetus in fetu (FIF).

Doctors, who spent over three hours removing the extra penis on June 6, said he was fine following surgery.

wow creative ads

2008-06-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

Bird Flu Hits Hong Kong

2008-06-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

HONG KONG (June 7) - Hong Kong health workers slaughtered 2,700 poultry in a market Saturday after chickens were found to be carrying the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus, officials said.

The slaughter may be extended to all live poultry in the territory if the virus is detected in any other locations, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said.

"Since we have detected the virus in the market, we will cull all the chickens in this market," Chow told reporters. "If we find another positive detection in another market, then we will assume that the risk is much higher and we need to cull all the chickens in all the markets."

Hong Kong TV Cable showed health workers wearing protective gear placing live poultry from nine stalls into bags to prepare for the slaughter.

Routine bird flu checks detected the H5N1 virus in five samples of chicken waste. The samples were collected June 3 from three vendors in the market in the Sham Shui Po residential district, Chow said.

Health officials declared the market an infected area and suspended all sales of live poultry there, a government statement said.

Chow said authorities were tracing the origin of the infected chickens.

Chow also ordered a 21-day ban on the supply of live poultry from mainland China and from local farms.

Occasional H5N1 infections in wild birds are common in Hong Kong but the territory has not suffered a major outbreak of the disease since the virus killed six people in 1997.

That prompted the government to slaughter the territory's entire poultry population of about 1.5 million birds.

At least 241 people have died of bird flu worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but health experts worry the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic that might kill millions of people.

A pure white horse 'albino'

2008-06-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

The rare 'albino' foal that's become a star of the New Forest
It's one of the rarest sights in the equine world.

A pure white horse is hardly ever seen outside a pub sign.

And almost all of them have begun life as a darker colour before turning to light grey.

So crowds have been flocking to catch a glimpse of this beautiful foal, born among a group of New Forest ponies near Lyndhurst, Hampshire.

The spindly-legged youngster - also pictured, inset, with his dun-coloured mother - has quickly become the star attraction in Britain's newest national park.

The fact the foal has a brown mother proves that he is a cremello blue-eyed cream and not an albino

The enthusiasts who first spotted him thought he could be an albino, but experts have now ruled that out.

They say the giveaway is his eyes, which are blue. An albino's would be pink.

The technical term for the colt is a cremello blue-eyed cream.

As well as their blue eyes, such animals have some pale golden pigment in their coats and skin. Albinos have no non-white colouring at all.

Sue Westwood, clerk to the Verderers, the group which protects and conserves landscape and wildlife of the New Forest, said: 'It is virtually unheard of in horses to have an albino and cremellos are very unusual.

'Unfortunately, they are not very hardy at all.

'They find it hard to deal with sunburn in the summer and with the cold rain in the winter.'

The sensitivity to light may explain why the foal's eyes are half-closed. Or he could just be trying to look relaxed in the face of all the attention.

Amazing Exotic and Remote Luxury Retreats

2008-05-27T01:36:00.000-07:00

Guest author Brian Thibault lives and breathes (and occasionally writes about) international real estate as the CEO of International Listings LLC.

Feeling a little cramped in your thousand square foot Manhattan apartment? Got a few extra million to blow? If so, you too can join the elite of the elite and buy your very own private island. Private islands have always been the mark of the uber filthy rich, and the dream of Joe Everyman running his day-to-day rat race. Maybe it’s not actually owning an island that excited people but the idea itself of being able to afford and own such a rare commodity. What most people don’t realize is that private islands (granted, somewhat less tropical islands) can be bought for as little as $100k, or even rented for weekend getaways.

Isla de sa Ferradura [Spain] -The Isla de sa Ferradura sits in the Bay of San Miguel just off the North coast of Ibiza, Spain. This 14-acre resort island is fully developed with a hacienda, kitchen, pool, bar, and even a wine bodega. With 300 days per year of sunshine, and a view of the bright blue Mediterrannean Sea, this truly is living large. Most people will never be able to experience even a vacation here - the island rents out for about $230,000 US dollars per week. Price:: $39,700,000 USD

Cabbage Cay [Bahamas] - Cabbage Cay is a private, 35 acre, fee-simple island, located in the World Famous Bonefish flats, within the inner bay of North Eleuthera in the Bahamas. A road has been pushed to the island, so whatever you decide to build on it, your access will be guaranteed for years to come. The island carries up to 24′ elevations. Three sandy beaches, lush vegetation, a protected anchorage area, and abundant exotic wildlife are some of the more amazing amenities. Turtles, fish, and birds abound. Did we mention the sailing is nice in the Bahamas? Price: $2,500,000 USD

Cerralvo Island [Mexico - Gulf of California] - Cerralvo Island is 60 square miles of undeveloped terrain. The island is mountainous as it was a former volcano. It is located in the Cerralvo Channel, in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Baja Mexico. These waters are prime for big game fishing. This massive private island could contain several enormous mansions and you still would never see your neighbors. This sandy beach island gets plenty of warm Mexican weather and sunshine, and offers plenty of privacy, yet is only about 30 miles away from the mainland. Price: $35,000,000 USD

Singer Castle on Dark Island [Canada] - The island sits in the St. Lawrence river between Ontario, Canada and New York, USA. Dark Island isn’t known for its tropical jungle or white sand beaches. The real gem is the 100 year old castle on the island. It was originally built in 1905 as a hunting lodge family retreat by Fredrick Bourne (Then president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company). With towers and secret passages abounding you could literally be your own King of the Castle. The island would be a great getaway from the hustle and bustle, and is still only a short helicopter ride away from New York or Toronto, but it is currently only available for rent. Price: Available upon request - for rent

Necker Island [British Virgin Islands] - Virgin Record’s super mogul Richard Branson took private islands to a whole new level in the late 1970’s by purchasing Necker Island. Branson built an unparalleled resort, that now rents for approximately $329,000 US dollars per week. The island is in the Caribbean and surrounded by a coral reef with extremely diverse sea life. The island hosts pristine beaches and vibrant plant life. Rock stars party here, Hollywood notables and Google founders get married here, and the closest you’ll ever come is on a Caribbean cruise line. The 360 degree open bedrooms provide one of the best views of the Sunset you’re ever likely to see. Price: $47,000 USD / day

Musha Cay [Bahamas] - Musha Cay is actually 4 private islands owned by renowned magician David Copperfield. The islands are located 85 miles southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, and has its own runway for top secret celeb landings. This private island resort has 5 houses. The resort offers activities such as snorkeling, diving, windsurfing, a gym, and walking paths, but you could always choose to sunbathe on one of Musha’s seven gorgeous private beaches. Also, Copperfield reportedly has found the “Fountain of Youth” on the Island… can you really put a price on that? Price: $32,250 USD / day for 12 or fewer people.

Tetiaroa [French Polynesia] - Tetiaroa is located 40 miles north of Tahiti, and is actually an atoll comprised of 12 small islands. The island was made famous by the late Marlon Brando. The island currently has only one full time resident: Teihotu, Brando’s son. The island is mostly undisturbed and boasts a tropical bird sanctuary, but there are currently no accommodations on the island for visitors until the new hotel, aptly named “The Brando“, is completed sometime this year. Price: N/A

Ciftlik Island [Turkey] - Just 250 meters from off the coast line of Turkey in the Aegean Sea sits a gorgeous castle-style house, along with a guest house, and servants quarters. One of the few developed islands in the region with water, electricity and telephone. Although this island isn’t much for beaches, the sunny, warm weather, the proximity to mainland Turkey and Rhodes, and the finished house put this island right up there with the best in the world. Price: Approx. $25,000,000 USD

Piedade Island [Brazil] - Piedad is only 2.5 hours from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is one of 365 islands in the Angra dos Reis archipelago. The Island is fully developed with a resort, full time staff, and four beaches to choose from. What makes Piedade Island unique is the location - this island is one of the rare private tropical islands outside of the Caribbean, and is a perfect addition to trip to Brazil. Price: Available upon request - for rent

Nygard Cay [Bahamas] - Think Robinson Caruso. This Mayan architecture tree house island is an affluent traveler’s perfect getaway. The Cay lies on the tip of Lyford Cay in Nassau, Bahamas. With waterslides, pools, hot tubs, tennis courts and an 85 foot yacht, this is an adult playground in the rain forest. This is the only way to vacation in the Bahamas. Price: $42,000 USD / day

NASA Launches Satellites for Weather, Climate, Air Quality Studies

2008-05-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

Two NASA satellites were launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on missions to reveal the inner secrets of clouds and aerosols, tiny particles suspended in the air.

CloudSat and Calipso - Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations - thundered skyward at 3:02 a.m. PDT atop a Boeing Delta II rocket. The two satellites will eventually circle approximately 705 kilometers (438 miles) above Earth in a sun-synchronous polar orbit, which means they will always cross the equator at the same local time. Their technologies will enable scientists to study how clouds and aerosols form, evolve and interact.

"Clouds are a critical but poorly understood element of our climate," said Dr. Graeme Stephens, CloudSat principal investigator and a professor at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo. "They shape the energy distribution of our climate system and our planet's massive water cycle, which delivers the freshwater we drink that sustains all life."

"With the successful launch of CloudSat and Calipso we take a giant step forward in our ability to study the global atmosphere," said Calipso Principal Investigator Dr. David Winker of NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. "In the years to come, we expect these missions to spark many new insights into the workings of Earth's climate and improve our abilities to forecast weather and predict climate change."

Each spacecraft will transmit pulses of energy and measure the portion of the pulses scattered back to the satellite. CloudSat's Cloud-Profiling Radar is more than 1,000 times more sensitive than typical weather radar. It can detect clouds and distinguish between cloud particles and precipitation. Calipso's polarization lidar can detect aerosol particles and distinguish between aerosol and cloud particles. Lidar, similar in principle to radar, uses reflected light to determine the characteristics of the target area.

Sixty-two minutes after liftoff, Calipso separated from the rocket's second stage. CloudSat followed 35 minutes later. Ground controllers successfully acquired signals from both spacecraft, and initial telemetry reports show both to be in excellent health. Over the next six weeks, system and instrument checks will be performed, and the satellites will be inserted into their final orbits.

The satellites will fly in formation as members of NASA's "A-Train" constellation, which also includes NASA's Aqua and Aura satellites and a French satellite known as Parasol, for Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar. The satellite data will be more useful when combined, providing insights into the global distribution and evolution of clouds to improve weather forecasting and climate prediction.

Natures Colour

2008-05-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

New Robots Walk Like Humans

2008-05-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON D.C. - In what could be described as one small step for a robot, but a giant leap for robot-kind, a trio of humanoid machines were introduced Thursday, each with the ability to walk in a human-like manner.

Each bipedal robot has a strikingly human-like gait and appearance. Arms swing for balance. Ankles push off. Eyeballs are added for effect.

One of the robots, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is named Toddler for its modest stature and the side-to-side wobble of its stride. Denise, a robot created by researchers at Delft University in the Netherlands, stands about as tall as the average woman.

Smart as a toddler

Toddler is the smart one of the bunch. While the others rely on superb mechanical design, Toddler has a brain with less power than that of an ant, but it is able to learn new terrain, "allowing the robot to teach itself to walk in less than 20 minutes, or about 600 steps," scientists said.

Smart as a toddler

Toddler is the smart one of the bunch. While the others rely on superb mechanical design, Toddler has a brain with less power than that of an ant, but it is able to learn new terrain, "allowing the robot to teach itself to walk in less than 20 minutes, or about 600 steps," scientists said.
The breakthroughs could change the way humanoid robots are built, and they open doors to new types of robotic prostheses -- limbs for people who have lost them. The robots are also expected to shed light on the biomechanics of human walking.

"These innovations are a platform upon which others will build," said Michael Foster, an engineer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) who oversaw the three projects. "This is the foundation for what we may see in robotic control in the future."

The robots were presented today at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They are also discussed in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science.

More than a toy

Engineers drew from "passive-dynamic" toys dating back to the 1800s that could walk downhill with the help of gravity. Little progress has been made since on getting robots to walk like people.

The new machines navigate level terrain using as little energy as one-half the wattage of a standard compact fluorescent light bulb. The Cornell robot consumes an amount of energy while walking that is comparable to a strolling human of equal weight.

Toy walkers sway from side to side to get their feet off the ground. Humans minimize the swaying and bend their knees to in order to pick up their feet. The Cornell and Delft robots employ this approach.

"Other robots, no matter how smooth they are in control, work to stand first, then base motions on top of that," said Cornell researcher Andy Ruina. "The robots we have here are based on falling, catching yourself and falling again."

Cornell's robot equals human efficiency because it uses energy only to push off, and then gravity brings the foot down, while other robots needlessly use energy to perform all aspects of their effort.

"The Cornell team's passive mechanism helps greatly reduce the power requirement," said Junku Yuh, an NSF expert on intelligent systems. "Their work is very innovative."

Not perfect yet

All three robots swing their arms in synch with the opposite leg for balance. In most ways, though, they are not as versatile as other automatons. Honda's Asimo, for example, can walk backward and up stairs. But Asimo requires at least 10 times more power to achieve such feats.

"The real solution lies somewhere in-between the two," said Steven Collins, a University of Michigan researcher who worked on the Cornell robot. "A robot could use passive dynamics for level or downhill motion, then large motors for high-energy needs like climbing stairs, running or jumping."

Collins is applying what's been learned in an effort to develop better prosthetic feet for humans.

"I think that you can't know how the foot should work until you can understand its role in walking," he said.

The squat Toddler robot gains foot clearance only by leaning sideways, a decidedly non-human approach. But Toddler is remarkable for its ability to learn new terrain and adapt its approach, as would a person.

"On a good day, it will walk on just about any surface and adjust its gait," said MIT postdoctoral researcher Russ Tedrake. "We think it's a principle that's going to scale [up] to a lot of new walking robots."

Mar - Among the One in Nine Planet

2008-05-19T01:24:00.000-07:00

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is commonly referred to as the Red Planet. The rocks, soil and sky have a red or pink hue. The distinct red color was observed by stargazers throughout history. It was given its name by the Romans in honor of their god of war. Other civilizations have had similar names. The ancient Egyptians named the planet Her Descher meaning the red one.
Before space exploration, Mars was considered the best candidate for harboring extraterrestrial life. Astronomers thought they saw straight lines crisscrossing its surface. This led to the popular belief that irrigation canals on the planet had been constructed by intelligent beings. In 1938, when Orson Welles broadcasted a radio drama based on the science fiction classic War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, enough people believed in the tale of invading Martians to cause a near panic.

Another reason for scientists to expect life on Mars had to do with the apparent seasonal color changes on the planet's surface. This phenomenon led to speculation that conditions might support a bloom of Martian vegetation during the warmer months and cause plant life to become dormant during colder periods.

In July of 1965, Mariner 4, transmitted 22 close-up pictures of Mars. All that was revealed was a surface containing many craters and naturally occurring channels but no evidence of artificial canals or flowing water. Finally, in July and September 1976, Viking Landers 1 and 2 touched down on the surface of Mars. The three biology experiments aboard the landers discovered unexpected and enigmatic chemical activity in the Martian soil, but provided no clear evidence for the presence of living microorganisms in the soil near the landing sites. According to mission biologists, Mars is self-sterilizing. They believe the combination of solar ultraviolet radiation that saturates the surface, the extreme dryness of the soil and the oxidizing nature of the soil chemistry prevent the formation of living organisms in the Martian soil. The question of life on Mars at some time in the distant past remains open.

Other instruments found no sign of organic chemistry at either landing site, but they did provide a precise and definitive analysis of the composition of the Martian atmosphere and found previously undetected trace elements.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Mars is quite different from that of Earth. It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide with small amounts of other gases. The six most common components of the atmosphere are:

Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 95.32%
Nitrogen (N2): 2.7%
Argon (Ar): 1.6%
Oxygen (O2): 0.13%
Water (H2O): 0.03%
Neon (Ne): 0.00025 %
Martian air contains only about 1/1,000 as much water as our air, but even this small amount can condense out, forming clouds that ride high in the atmosphere or swirl around the slopes of towering volcanoes. Local patches of early morning fog can form in valleys. At the Viking Lander 2 site, a thin layer of water frost covered the ground each winter.

There is evidence that in the past a denser martian atmosphere may have allowed water to flow on the planet. Physical features closely resembling shorelines, gorges, riverbeds and islands suggest that great rivers once marked the planet.

Temperature and Pressure
The average recorded temperature on Mars is -63° C (-81° F) with a maximum temperature of 20° C (68° F) and a minimum of -140° C (-220° F).

Barometric pressure varies at each landing site on a semiannual basis. Carbon dioxide, the major constituent of the atmosphere, freezes out to form an immense polar cap, alternately at each pole. The carbon dioxide forms a great cover of snow and then evaporates again with the coming of spring in each hemisphere. When the southern cap was largest, the mean daily pressure observed by Viking Lander 1 was as low as 6.8 millibars; at other times of the year it was as high as 9.0 millibars. The pressures at the Viking Lander 2 site were 7.3 and 10.8 millibars. In comparison, the average pressure of the Earth is 1000 millibars.

Nice Photos Collection

2008-05-19T01:08:00.000-07:00

X-ray of the python who swallowed a pussy

2008-05-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

This amazing X-ray picture shows the skeleton of a kitten inside a python's stomach after being devoured in one gulp by the predator.

Eight-week-old tabby Kohl was seized by the slithering assassin while in the garden of her owner's home in Australia's tropical Northern Territory.

The snake was found with a "bulging belly" by 14-year-old Taara McLaren after she ventured out to feed her pets at 7am yesterday.

Despite Kohl having a skull three times the size of the 5ft-long python, the reptile was able to dislocate its jaw to swallow the kitten after wrapping itself around and strangling its prey.

Three other kittens from the same litter and five adult cats were unable to stop the savage attack in Darwin suburb of Tiwi.

Cat owner Asha McLaren told The Australian newspaper: "It wasn't a very nice feeling to think that this happened in our back yard.

"My daughter went out to feed the cats and they normally all come running at the sound of the dish, but Kohl was missing.

"She then looked around and saw the snake. She called out to me, saying there was a big snake and that she thought it had eaten Kohl.

"When I went out I couldn't believe it. It had a bulging belly and when we couldn't find Kohl anywhere it was obvious he'd been eaten.

"It was very sad as he was my favourite. He was just gorgeous."

Ms McLaren said they quickly put their other cats in the house and snake catcher Gordon Canning was called out to collect the python.

He said it was unusual for a python to target a cat, but the kitten did not have a chance against the reptile.

He said pythons usually strike at their prey and squeeze it to death before devouring it whole.

"The cat would have been suffocated within minutes," he explained.

"The snake did well - usually it is the other way around with snakes falling victim to cats."

Mr Canning said the snake would be kept at the Ark Animal Hospital in Yarrawonga until it digested its feed.

"At the moment it cannot move very quickly so it could easily be targeted by predators," Mr Canning said.

"Once it has finished digesting the cat, which will probably take about a week, we will release it back into the wild."

Mr Canning urged people to be cautious in their back yards as snakes were on the move as the breeding season nears.

He has been called out to catch more than 100 snakes since becoming Darwin's first 24-hour snake catcher three weeks ago.

Pure Water From Salty Sand

2008-05-18T02:29:00.001-07:00

This is a pic which was captured from Marina Beach In Chennai (Tamil Nadu) ( India ).This is a Real Fact that Fresh Water From Salty Sand is Drinkable to everyone.

About Marina Beach

Abutting the Bay of Bengal, Chennai has one of the loveliest beaches. The 4.5 km long beach is the second longest beach in the world. A stroll along the Marina, whether in the morning or evening, refreshes one.The old Saracenic buildings dotting the other side of Kamarajar Salai, a main road along the Marina, would bring back memories of good old British Raj. The Senate House of the University of Madras and the old buildings now housing government offices, such as Ezhilagam and the Director General of Police office. They wear a mystical look in the morning when the Sun rises.

A walkway along the beach bordered with a green lawn entices you to go on a leisurely stroll. At the intersections of this promenade stand beautiful statues of Tamil scholars, patriots, and noted personalities. Of these, the Statue of Labour is a splendid sculpture depicting the efforts of a team of labourers who are at strenuous, manual work. The sea in this part is not recommended for swimming, as the currents are violent

Nike Model Car

2008-05-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

New aeroplane designed in VR

2008-05-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

A new aeroplane has been designed entirely in virtual reality

This week, on a Paris runway, the latest designs were on display—of aircraft, that is, rather than clothes. Sleek models, such as Gulfstream's G450 business jet, jostled for attention alongside the latest in plus-size aviation fashion, the curvaceous Airbus A380. But when it comes to attention to detail, this year's most exceptional debut was the Falcon 7X, which made its first public flight. Designed and built by Dassault, a French aviation company based in Paris, the 7X lays claim to being the first fly-by-wire business jet, as well as the first aircraft to be designed entirely in a virtual environment. This latter claim bears some dissection as it hardly comes as a surprise to learn that a new aeroplane was developed using computer-aided design, or that its various possible wing shapes had been simulated to predict airflow and performance before the craft had so much as a sniff at a wind-tunnel test.

The makers of the 7X, however, say that its digital design process went beyond anything that has been done before. Every aspect of the aircraft was modelled in three dimensions, as you would expect, but everything from construction to refuelling and maintenance was also included in the simulation. A single database was used to define the aircraft's design, including all 40,000 of its parts and 200,000 fasteners. This database was shared between workers at the 30 or so firms which contributed different parts of the plane. Before a single piece of metal was cut, everyone involved, from hydraulics specialists to electrical engineers, could walk around the plane in virtual reality and iron out conflicts over what went where. The design extended to the robots that would create the tools to fit the parts of the plane together, and to the aeroplane's maintenance in later years. Can a mechanic actually reach a particular component to replace it, and is it physically possible to turn the spanner? Nothing was left to chance.

As a result, the first plane to be constructed was perfect: there was no physical prototype. All the parts were manufactured and put together, and then the plane was flown—its first, private flight took place just over a month ago. This also means that the first plane off the production line will be identical to the 100th. In aviation, the first few dozen aircraft of a particular design are normally tweaked as unanticipated problems arise. In the past, for example, wires would turn out not to be in quite the right place and would have to be moved, says Olivier Villa of Dassault. Although the design phase took longer than expected, Dassault found that manufacturing time and tool costs were cut in half. These costs can account for 25% of the overall cost of a new aircraft, says Mr Villa.

Another benefit is that Dassault can produce customised versions of the 7X in three months rather than six. Snazzy software will let prospective buyers of the eight-passenger corporate jet walk around their chosen design before they buy. The 7X is already selling well, even though it costs an eye-watering $40m and is still over a year away from being certified to fly. Virtual reality may be removing the art from aeroplane design, but Jean-Paul Gaultier would surely be impressed.

OPTIMISM & REST IS HISTORY

2008-05-16T02:49:00.001-07:00

Positive nuggets - worth reading...

A few nuggets of Optimism, Hope and Motivation

1. When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process."

2. Wilma Rudolph was the 20th of 22 children. She was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralyzed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl, who was told she would never walk again, went on to win three Olympic gold medals.

3. In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition for the executives of the Decca recording Company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, "We don't like their round. Groups of guitars are on the way out." The group was called The Beatles.

4. In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married." She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.

5. In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired a singer after one performance. He told him, "You ain't goin' nowhere....son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck." He went on to become the most popular singer in America named Elvis Presley.

6. When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing Invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"

7. In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947 - after seven long years of rejections! He finally got a tiny company in Rochester, New York, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention an electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid became Xerox Corporation we know today.

The Moral of the above Stories:

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face.... You must do the thing you cannot do. And remember, the finest steel gets sent through the hottest furnace. And even the GOLD is tested against fire.

A winner is not one who never fails, but one who NEVER QUITS!

We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.

Help the EarthQuake Victims (Appeal)

2008-05-16T02:42:00.000-07:00

Hope you'll never understand the language.This is the pic of child who became an victim of earthquake in pakistan.This is very danger to see. Don't be the victim of earthquake.

What a colourful of Tank

2008-05-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

What a colourfull fish.Every one should have these type of fish tank in their house it would be very interesting for kids and it can make us happy when we are sad.

Strong quake jolts Pakistan

2008-05-15T04:51:00.000-07:00

ISLAMABAD: Strong intensity quake jolts Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and other parts of country.

According to unconfirmed reports, 25 people were killed in Azad Kashmir.

Large-scale collapse of mud houses was reported in Rawla Kot area of Azad Kashmir, while a village entirely wiped out in Bagh in a major earthquake.

Several school, college and residential buildings also caved in in various towns of the territory.

Meanwhile, Gilgit-Chitral highway was closed after land-slidings triggered by tremors. Several houses were razed in Kohistan and Buttgram districts. People injured in quake incidents being transferred to hospitals for medical aid.

According to reports a mosque minaret and wall collapsed in Mirpur. A schools building in Texila also collapsed.

Six girls sustained injuries when a school wall collapsed in Rawalpindi after quake.

Quake jolted Islamabad and Rawalpindi at 08: 53 am that lasts for 23 seconds followed by several aftershocks, forced people to running out of their homes in panic.

The earthquake measured 7.6 on the open ended Richter scale and its epicenter lay 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Islamabad.

Reports of quake also received from India and Afghanistan. Land sliding in Skardu reported.

Director General, Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) and Military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan has said that Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir and other cities of country have been severely hit by the earthquake this morning, while in some outskirt areas of Azad Kashmir several villages have totally disappeared.

He told that Pakistan Army has already started the relief work in affected areas and its scores of teams along with helicopters were in operation.

Besides, he said one 19 storied building in Islamabad has been partially damaged by the earthquake and the people trapped therein were being rescued.

Amazing Mountain

2008-05-15T04:48:00.000-07:00

21 FT long, 4,500 lbs, around 80 years old minimum Crocodile

2008-05-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

This crocodile was on the beach in front of the Petroleum club at
Pointe Noire, The Congo. 21 FT long, 4,500 lbs, around 80 years old minimum. Specialists said that he was looking to eat humans because he was too old to catch animals. For the past few months in some People close to Pointe Noire were complaining that some people in their area have been disappearing, and it could well be this crocodile that's responsible. This crocodile was killed by the army last Sunday at 3:00 pm, currently he is in the freezer at the Azur hotel. The contents of it's stomach will be analyzed this Friday at 2:30pm.

Monster in Pointe Noire - WOW!

Some Important Facts to Know

2008-05-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

Did You Know ?

1. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

3. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

4. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

5. The shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

6. There are more chickens than people in the world.

7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

8. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

10. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.

11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

12 . "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

13. All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

14.. Almonds are a member of the peach family.

15. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

16. Maine is the only state (in USA) whose name is just one syllable.

17. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

18. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula"

19. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

20. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

21. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

22. In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.

23. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

24. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."

25. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

27. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

28. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

29. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.

30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

31. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

32. Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.

33. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

34. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

35. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

Aids Virus Made in U.S

2008-05-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

The AIDS Virus: Made in USA?

You mean AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) didn't come from a green monkey that bit a black African on the ass? Are you lying to us again, Uncle Sam? I think so.

In fact, on July 29, 1969, only days after the Department of Defense (DOD) asked for $10 million from Congress to fund the development of a "synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally exist and for which no natural immunity could have been acquired . . ." on that day, the chairman of the Republican Task Force on Earth Resources and Population, the Honorable George H. W. Bush, U.S. Representative from Texas, 7th District (1967–71), stressed the pressing need for population control activities to fend off "a growing Third World crisis." Imagine.

Here is the linked text of the Dept. of Defense request for Appropriation for 1970, HB 15090, from page 129. Quoted is Dr. MacArthur from said Pentagon, speaking to Robert L.F. Sikes, Florida, about the need for the above mentioned "synthetic biological agent" [italics mine].

There are two things about the biological agent field I would like to mention. One is the possibility of technological surprise. Molecular biology is a field that is advancing very rapidly and eminent biologists believe that within a period of 5 to 10 years it would be possible to produce a synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally exist and for which no natural immunity could have been acquired.

Mr. Sikes. Are we doing any work in that field?
Dr. MacArthur. We are not.
Mr. Sikes.. Why not? Lack of money or lack of interest?
Dr. MacArthur. Certainly not lack of interest.
Mr. Sikes. Would you provide for our records information on what would be required, what the advantages of such a program would be. the time and the cost involved?
Dr. MacArthur. We will be very happy to.

The information follows:

The dramatic progress being made in the field of molecular biology led us to investigate the relevance of this field of science to biological warfare. A small group of experts considered this matter and provided the following observations:
All biological agents up to the present time are representatives of naturally occurring disease. and are thus known by scientists throughout the world. They are easily available to qualified scientists for research. either for offensive or defensive purposes.
Within the next 5 to 10 years. it would probably be possible to make a new infective microorganism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease.

A research program to explore the feasibility of this could be completed in approximately 5 years at the total cost of $10 million.
It would be very difficult to establish such a program. Molecular biology is a relatively new science. There are not many highly competent scientists in the field. Almost all are in university laboratories. And they are generally adequately supported from sources other than DOD. However, it was considered possible to initiate an adequate program through the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council (NAS—NRC).
The matter was discussed with the NAS-NRC. and tentative plans were made to initiate the program. However. decreasing funds in CB [chemical-biowarfare]. growing criticism of the CB. program, and our reluctance to involve the NAS NRC in such a controversial endeavor have led us to postpone it for the past 2 years.

It is a highly controversial issue and there are many who believe such research should not be undertaken lest it lead to yet another method of massive killing of large populations. On the other hand, without the sure scientific knowledge that such a weapon is possible. and an understanding of the ways it could be done, there is little that can be done to devise defensive measures. Should an enemy develop it there is little doubt that this is an important area of potential military technological inferiority in which there is no adequate . . .
And so on. And thus spake Dr MacArthur. And the $10 million appropriation was granted. And it worked, perhaps the beginning of the end.

Enter Dr. Robert Strecker

Flash forward to 1983. Dr. Robert Strecker of Los Angeles, a practicing gastroenterologist with a Ph.D. in pharmacology, is hired as a consultant to work on a health care proposal for an HMO of the Security Pacific Bank, concerning coverage costs in the event any of 30,000 employees came down with AIDS. Along with the help of his brother, Theodore, a lawyer, the two compiled extensive research of the epidemic which ultimately became The Strecker Memorandum.

In it, Dr. Strecker indicated that the AIDS virus was in fact developed by the National Cancer Institute, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), in a laboratory at Ft. Dietrick in Maryland. From 1970–74, this laboratory facility was part of the U.S. Army's germ warfare unit, known as the Army Infectious Disease Unit, or Special Operations Division, also referred to as the Army's Chemical Biological Warfare Laboratory. Post 1974, the facility was renamed the National Cancer Institute (NCI). According to researcher William Cooper (former Navy Intelligence), noted in Larry Jamison's article Is The AIDS Virus Man Made?, this work was supervised by the CIA under a project called MK-NAOMI. [To get to this site click link, then "All News," then "Next page"]

Dr. Strecker has also traced some of the research and researchers at Ft. Dietrick/NCI to a group of Japanese scientists captured at WW II's end and given amnesty in exchange for information on racial and ethnic bio-weaponry, their research dating back to 1930. What's more, expatriated Russian scientists were brought in to help as well.

Dr. Strecker, one of the original and foremost authorities on the AIDS virus, found that the virus creation was conducted under the leadership of Dr. Robert Gallo, who later claimed to discover the virus. Dr. Gallo and his team created the AIDS virus by combining the bovine (cattle) leukemia virus and visna (sheep) virus, and injecting them into human tissue cultures.

They discovered, as Strecker did, that bovine leukemia virus is lethal to cattle, but not to humans. And the visna virus is deadly to sheep, but not to man. However, when combined, they produce a retro-virus that can change the genetic composition of the cells they enter. In fact, as Larry Jamison points out, early field tests on prison convicts led to sickness then death, which inspired Gallo and friends to bigger and more terrible things, including injecting brothers and sisters with the tainted vaccine to see who died first. This was done to study HLA (human leukocyte antigen processing), to see how related people reacted. Frighteningly, whole families got sick at once! And there was worse to come.

The AIDS retro-virus works, as Dr. Strecker states, by causing the destruction of the immune system, fundamentally the body's white blood or T-cells essential to the effectiveness of the immune system particularly against opportunistic infections diseases. The B-cells deal with more benign, bacterial infections. AZT, the drug which is a kind of junk food that starves the AIDS virus, often kills the patient as well. It provides dubious consolation.

Predictably, when Robert and Theodore tried to share their findings with national, state and local authorities, they received only two responses. On August 11, 1988, Ted Strecker, was found shot to death in his home in Springfield, Missouri. The death was ruled a suicide, in spite of the fact that Dr. Robert Strecker had spoken to his brother on the phone the night before, and Ted was both healthy and in good spirits. On September 12, 1988, the lone political official who had responded to the Streckers' findings, Illinois State Representative Douglas Huff of Chicago, was found dead in his home. The autopsy claimed he died of a stroke as a result of an overdose of cocaine and heroin. Huff had been an outspoken supporter of Dr. Strecker's work to publicize what was in essence an AIDS cover-up.

Dr. Strecker himself is said to have "gone underground" about five years ago. Yet copies of his Strecker Memorandum are available on DVD and VHS. His passion and massive knowledge have not faded since 1988 when the piece was produced. See it if you can.

The common disinformation on AIDS that Strecker fought was the claim that AIDS origin came from a green monkey biting a black man's backside in Africa. Strecker and a number of virologists pointed out that the AIDS virus doesn't appear naturally in any animal. Plus, it would have been impossible to reach the point of millions infected from a single episode. More likely, they said, if the virus had come from green monkeys, it would have surfaced with the Pygmies, who are closer to them, and use them as a food source. Ironically, Pygmies contracted AIDS later on when they had intercourse with prostitutes in cities, where the AIDS virus first appeared, not in the jungle.

Also, concerning green monkeys, Dr. William Campbell Douglass, MD, writes in 1987 in W.H.O. Murdered Africa : "This is the origin of the green monkey theory. The polio vaccine was grown on green monkey kidney cells and the geniuses who brought us polio vaccine said: 'We got away with it once so let's use it again.' But they didn't get away with it and in spite of the fact that polio was rapidly disappearing without any medical intervention, 64 million Americans were vaccinated with SV-40 contaminated vaccine in the 60s. An increase in cancer of the brain, possibly multiple sclerosis and God only knows what else is the tragic result. The delay between vaccination and the onset of cancer with this virus is as long as 20–30 years. Ninteen sixty-five plus 20 equals 1985. Get the picture?"

Why, Where and When the AIDS Epidemic First Reared its Head

In 1972, under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), there was a massive vaccination program for smallpox, literally for millions of Africans. Strecker and others believe that the smallpox vaccine laced with the HIV/AIDS virus was given the population, which was mostly black, poor, and part of that startlingly growing African population that GHW Bush, among many elites, the Rockefeller family, the Club of Rome crowd and Bilderbegers, had been concerned with in 1969, and back to 1965, when "the Club" was formed. The intent was to achieve their awful goal—of reducing the world's population by 75 percent—as mentioned in The Modern History Project. This is the main reason the AIDS pandemic occurred almost simultaneously in Haiti, Brazil, Japan, and the United States, as well as Central Africa.

As Jamison tells us, "There was a book in 1968 titled The Population Bomb, by Dr. Paul Ehrlich that had a very telling paragraph on page 17 that probably tells us the key thinking that was behind the decision. Dr. Ehrlich says 'in summary, the world's population will continue to grow as long as the birth rate exceeds the death rate; it's as simple as that. When it stops growing or starts to shrink, it will mean that either the birth rate has gone down or the death rate has gone up or a combination of the two. Basically, then there are only two kinds of solutions to the population problem. One is a birth rate solution (remember the ZPG—Zero Population Growth—movement?) The other is a death rate solution in which ways to raise the death rate—war, famine, pestilence—find us. The problem could have been avoided by population control, in which mankind consciously adjusted the birth rate so that a 'death rate solution' did not have to occur.'" How thoughtful of them all.

Jamison goes on to say: "The late William Cooper, in his excellent book Behold A Pale Horse notes that Dr. Ehrlich's wife, Anne, is a member of the Club Of Rome, a think tank group that produced a computer model called Global 2000 which not only outlined the recommendations for AIDS, including a special prophylactic for the ruling elite, and a cure at the very same time which is to be released to the survivors when it is decided enough people have died. According to Cooper, the Global 2000 plan was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then presented to President Carter. Cooper's research determined that the order to proceed with the plan 'was given by the policy committee of the Bilderberg Group in Switzerland.'"

He adds, "The Bilderbergers . . . are a powerful alliance of elite world political leaders and international financiers. . . . In his book, Cooper also mentions the 'Haig-Kissinger depopulation policy which has taken over various levels of government and in fact is determining U.S. Policy. The planning organization operates outside the White House and directs its entire efforts to reduce the world's population by 2 billion people through war, famine and any other means necessary.' Active policies of our State Department go beyond the implementation of AIDS, because Cooper mentions the existence of the office of Population Affairs whose Latin American case officer Thomas Ferguson actually made the statement that 'There is a single theme behind all of our work: we must reduce population levels. Either they do it our way through nice clean methods or they will get the kind of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut.'" That 'messy and clean' language has a familiar ring to it.

And in fact, on May 11, 1987, as The Modern History Project, Jamison, and others point out, no less than the London Times broke the story "Smallpox Vaccine 'Triggered AIDS Virus.'" It was written by Science Editor Pearce Wright, who, challenged by independent investigators' research, went on to tie the World Health Organization's mass vaccination program to the AIDS outbreak. Since Central (Sub-Saharan) Africa was the locus of the program, it has tragically become the most hard-hit area of the world. The London Times article, which spread like wildfire over Europe, never touched the shores of America. The story was buried like the first AIDS victim.

The irony is that AIDS is considered a heterosexual disease in Africa, while in America it has been stigmatized as a 'gay' disease. The dark heart of that matter begins in 1969, with a Dr. W. Schmugner, a Polish physician educated in Russia, who came to America where he became head of the New York City Blood Bank. He established guidelines for a Hepatitis B vaccine study, in which only "promiscuous males," ages 20 to 40 were included in the study, managing to somehow single out only gays.

In 1978, more than a thousand "promiscuous homosexual" males were the victims of this "experimental" Hepatitis B vaccination, sponsored by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Since the vaccine was not produced from human tissue culture, it's impossible to have an accidental contamination. In plain language, the AIDS virus was intentionally laced into the Hep B vaccine. By 1981, the CDC claimed that only 6 percent of the Hep B vaccine recipients were infected with AIDS. In 1984, the truth was outed: the number was 64 percent. That's right, 64 percent. Not surprisingly, these Hep B vaccines studies are now under lock and key at the No Justice Department in Washington, DC. And no one can see them. No, no, no, not you, not you, not you.

Helping to Further Spread the Disease

To help the disease really dig into the population, vital information was additionally covered-up. Emphasis was put on the prime cause of AIDS infection as the exchange of body fluid through sexual activity and intravenous drug use. This gave birth to a campaign for using clean unused needles as well as condoms. Lovely. The fact is condom use is not a guarantee against contracting the disease. One AIDS virion (a virus particle with outer coat intact) is 500 times smaller than the smallest sperm and 10 times smaller than the smallest hole in a condom and therefore can pierce it. Failure rates of 30–50 percent have been noted, and condom quality itself is under scrutiny. Nevertheless, this is not, I repeat, not a recommendation to anyone not to use a condom.

What's more, the risk of casual contact has been understated. I don't mean to anger anyone here or bail on the afflicted, but AIDS is highly contagious. There is hard evidence, which Strecker mentioned, that the AIDS virus can survive on a dry petri dish for 7 days, and up to 15 days in a wet environment. Incubation in a host can last for 10 to 15 years before there is noticeable sign of illness. This means a carrier could unknowingly pass on the disease in that time. It's a painful proposition all around, including the caution of Professor William Haseltine of Harvard Medical School: "Anyone who tells you categorically that AIDS is not contracted by saliva is not telling you the truth. AIDS may in fact be transmissible by tears, saliva, bodily fluids, and mosquito bites."

Whether you agree with the above or not, the larger context is that this pox, this abomination, was created and spread consciously by the United States government against black heterosexual populations and then gay white populations, and then spread to populations at large around the world. This mass-murder has already dwarfed the holocaust, in which six million people were murdered with industrial technology. The evil geniuses behind this virus have bio-engineered an organism that multiples 100 times faster than influenza. There are more than 180 different AIDS viruses and 300 strains, which makes blood testing meaningless. Strecker's number for possible AIDS viruses was 9,000 (base pairs on the genome) to the fourth power.

In Conclusion for Now

The notion of a single vaccine to deal with all the permutations is impossible, according to Strecker, Dr. Campbell Douglass, and other doctors. What's more, UN statistics, to the extent that they can be trusted, approximate that:

People living with HIV number 39.4 million . . .

New HIV infections in 2004 were 4.9 million . . .

Deaths due to AIDS in 2004 were 3.1 million . . .
Avert.Org puts the total number of people living with AIDS at 39.4 million.

Concerning total AIDS deaths, Dr. Campbell Douglass writes: "Dr. Strecker points out that even if the African green monkey could transmit AIDS to humans, the present known amount of infection in Africa makes it statistically impossible for a single episode, such as a monkey biting someone on the butt, to have brought this epidemic to this point [1987]. The doubling time of the number of people infected, about every 14 months, when correlated with the first known case and the present known number of cases, prove beyond a doubt that a large number of people had to have been infected at the same time. Starting in 1972 with the first case from our mythical monkey and doubling the number infected from the single source you get only a few thousand cases. From 1972 to 1987 is 15 years or 180 months. If it takes 14 months to double the number of cases then there would have been 13 doublings, one then 2, then 4, then 8, etc. In 15 years, from a single source of infection there would be about 8,000 cases in Africa, not 75 million. [That's his bottom line then for Africa alone] We are approaching World War II mortality statistics here—without a shot being fired."

Thus, we are faced with a species-killer, a global war on humanity, silently out-pacing anything but all-out nuclear conflagration. To those of us in North America, to those of us who are healthy (we hope), these figures, this plague, seem distant often, happening to others, a subject already talked to death. Unless light can continue to be shed on AIDS soon, even from some dark figure among those who perpetuated it, where is the future and how do we take life today for granted tomorrow? In the haze of a television culture, of endless ballgames, "reality" shows, sitcoms, apocalypse movies, and romantic comedies, where is the light? AIDS was man made in the USA, and is not God's wrath on gays, Africans, Latinos, or women, as various crackpots would have us believe. AIDS is about all of us and our generations surviving the crass dementia of some ruling class. Like the virus, the enemy is within the social body, feasting on it. It's time, one way or the other, to turn this dark light and its ops out.

Airbus A380

2008-05-13T02:49:00.000-07:00

It's the largest passenger jet ever built -- so huge that airports have to be redesigned to accommodate it. It can pack in more passengers and cargo than any other commercial airliner, yet its designers claim it will actually increase efficiency, use less fuel and generate less noise.

A380 is revealed to the public.

None Bigger
The Airbus A380 is truly a giant. It has a wingspan of 261.8 feet (79.8 meters), a length of 239.5 feet (73 meters) and a maximum take-off weight of more than 1.2 million pounds (540,000 kg).

While it is the largest passenger airliner ever made, it is not the biggest airplane in the world -- this honor belongs to the Ukrainian An-225 Cossack (see below: "The Biggest Planes Ever").

A plane this size can potentially carry hundreds more passengers than today's airliners. The A380's two passenger decks (with a cargo deck below) could be outfitted in a single-class configuration to take on up to 840 passengers. However, Airbus isn't focusing on that option, instead designing a three-class configuration for 555 passengers. That's still a marked increase over the 416 passengers that can fit into a Boeing 747-400, the current leader in passenger capacity.

The Cost of Greatness

Airbus has spent an estimated $13 billion on the development of the A380. The price for a single plane is listed at $285 million. Industry experts point out that airlines rarely pay full list price, especially if they order large numbers of planes, so it is difficult to determine exactly how many planes Airbus needs to sell to recoup the development costs. It's important to remember that a new airplane design will be modified and upgraded for decades -- Airbus has said that it's looking toward 2020 in designing the Airbus. The Boeing 747 has been flying since 1970

Interior Setup
Why choose the three-class configuration over the higher-capacity, single-class setup? The official Airbus Web site has this to say:

The A380's twin-aisle, twin-deck passenger cabin offers the long-distance traveller a whole new level of comfort. A cabin designed around a large sample of today's real passengers providing more space regardless of class of ticket, wider seats and aisles. Optional lower deck use for rest areas, business, bar or other amenities can further enhance the A380 travel experience.

The reality is, economy class seats will be about 1 inch (2.54 cm) wider, while first-class seats may fold down into beds. Some have even suggested that the A380 could be outfitted as a "luxury jet," complete with a casino, shops, hot tubs and double beds

A380 cabin mock-up, upper-deck business class

A380 cabin mock-up, upper-deck social area

A380 cabin mock-up, main-deck economy class

Most airlines are looking for efficiency rather than luxury, and the A380 provides that, as well. It has a range of 8,000 nautical miles and utilizes a host of new technologies and better engines to increase fuel efficiency.

A380 Advances
Airlines aren't ordering A380s just because it's big. The new design has to offer them a way to make more money, especially with the entire airline industry suffering from narrow profit margins. The A380 does offer opportunities for increased profit through the economics of scale.

The operating cost of an A380 is not substantially greater than that of the Boeing 747 (the closest passenger jet in size and capacity). Every extra passenger on an A380 represents money made by the airline above and beyond what they could have made on a smaller plane. The increased range also helps add to an increased number of "seat-miles" per flight. The end result is a drop in per-passenger operating costs of 15 to 20 percent, according to Airbus.

Airbus has also introduced several updated technologies in efforts to make the A380 as fuel efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. High-efficiency engines are being developed by Rolls-Royce and a partnership between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney known as Engine Alliance.

Fitting a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine onto the MSN001, the first A380 (September '04)

The use of lightweight materials has helped to keep the weight down, while extensive wind-tunnel testing has resulted in the optimum aerodynamic shape for the A380. Special dampeners keep the noise level coming from the engines down to about half that of other jumbo jets.
Carbon fiber, a strong, light but expensive material, is used on key parts of the A380. Roughly 25 percent of the plane's overall structure is made from carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). To create the various shapes that comprise the A380, engineers use different processes. For large, flat pieces, a computer-controlled tape-laying machine processes resin-impregnated carbon-fiber tapes in a pressurized autoclave. For curved pieces, the CFRP fabric is shaped dry and then impregnated with resin. For some parts, large pieces of carbon-fiber were stitched together by computerized, industrial sewing machines.

Technical Specifications

The chart below compares the Airbus A380 with the Boeing 747-400 (the 400 is the most recent and best-selling version). This chart is based on the basic configuration of the A380, although several variations are planned, including the A380F (for freight). Federal Express has already ordered 10 of the F version for delivery in 2008.

Logistics
Just putting an A380 together presented Airbus with some problems. There was no way it could create a manufacturing facility large enough to build the entire plane in one place. Various parts are built all over Europe :

Wings - Broughton, Wales
Fuselage parts - Hamburg , Germany
Tailfin - Stade , Germany
Rudder - Puerto Real , Spain
Nose - Saint Nazaire , France
Fuselage and cockpit sub-assemblies - Méaulte , France
Horizontal tailplane - Getafe , Spain
Final assembly - Toulouse , France
Cabin installation and painting - Hamburg , Germany
Other parts are made around the world, including some in the United States . Most of the largest parts are transported by barge.

A380 wings carried on the Dee-Dee River Craft between Airbus UK's Broughton factory and Port of Mostyn

A380 forward and center fuselage components on the floating transfer station in Pauillac, France

Airbus was worried that pilots would need extensive training on such a large aircraft, increasing the effective cost to airlines. With that in mind, it refined fly-by-wire technology to decrease the pilot workload and placed the cockpit midway between the two passenger decks to keep visibility high and make sure everything felt familiar to pilots accustomed to flying other passenger jets. A camera mounted in the plane's belly allows the pilot to check the location of the wheels. The control systems are meant to be similar to other Airbus models, minimizing the amount of additional pilot training needed to fly the A380.

A380 Background
In the early 1990s, Airbus began to study the possibility of developing a jet with passenger capacity over 500 to directly compete with the Boeing 747. Engineering and design didn't begin until 1994, when the plane was known as the A3XX. Airbus considered a wide-body, twin-tailfin design but adopted a double-deck design instead. Eventually, the plane was designated A380, which does not keep the usual numeric sequence of other Airbus planes: The "8" was chosen because it reflects the cross-section of the plane's double-deck passenger area.

A380 forward and center fuselage components on the floating transfer station in Pauillac, France

Airbus was worried that pilots would need extensive training on such a large aircraft, increasing the effective cost to airlines. With that in mind, it refined fly-by-wire technology to decrease the pilot workload and placed the cockpit midway between the two passenger decks to keep visibility high and make sure everything felt familiar to pilots accustomed to flying other passenger jets. A camera mounted in the plane's belly allows the pilot to check the location of the wheels. The control systems are meant to be similar to other Airbus models, minimizing the amount of additional pilot training needed to fly the A380.

A380 Background
In the early 1990s, Airbus began to study the possibility of developing a jet with passenger capacity over 500 to directly compete with the Boeing 747. Engineering and design didn't begin until 1994, when the plane was known as the A3XX. Airbus considered a wide-body, twin-tailfin design but adopted a double-deck design instead. Eventually, the plane was designated A380, which does not keep the usual numeric sequence of other Airbus planes: The "8" was chosen because it reflects the cross-section of the plane's double-deck passenger area.

MSN001 entering the system assembly station (June '04)

In 2000, the first orders for A380s came in, and Airbus began laying the infrastructure for manufacturing the huge planes. This included massive hangars and factories in France , Wales , Germany , Spain and England .

The A380 project had a staff of more than 6,000 people in 2002. While work was being done at the manufacturing end, sales were also picking up, with 14 airlines ordering 154 A380s as of early 2005.

The first complete A380 was unveiled on January 18, 2005. The first test flight is scheduled for March 2005, with regularly scheduled service with Singapore Airlines to begin one year later. A cargo-only version, the A380F, will begin flights in 2008.

World Fastest Bike!!!!!!

2008-05-12T02:10:00.000-07:00

ENGINE

1. 500 bhp (372 kW) @ 5600 rpm (60.4 bhp/liter); 525 lb.-ft. (712 Nm) @ 4200 rpm

2. 10-cylinder 90-degree V-type, liquid-cooled, 505 cubic inches (8277 cc)

3. 356-T6 aluminum alloy block with cast-iron liners, aluminum alloy cylinder heads

4. Bore x Stroke: 4.03 inches x 3.96 inches (102.4 x 100.6)

5. Two pushrod-actuated overhead valves per cylinder with roller-type hydraulic lifters

6. Sequential, multi-port electronic fuel injection with individual runners

7. Compression Ratio: 9.6:1

8. Max Engine Speed: 6000 rpm

9. Fuel Requirement: Unleaded premium, 93 octane (R+M/2)

10. Oil System: Dry Sump; takes 8 quarts Mobil1 10W30 Synthetic

11. Cooling System: Twin aluminum radiators mounted atop engine intake manifolds, force- fed from front-mounted, belt-driven turbine fan.

12. Takes 11 quarts of antifreeze.

13. Exhaust System: Equal-length tubular stainless steel headers with dual collectors

central rear outlets

SUSPENSION:

Front:Outboard, single-sided parallel upper and lower control arms made from polished billet aluminum.

Mounted via ball joint to aluminum steering uprights and hubs. Five degrees caster.

Single, fully adjustable centrally located coil-over damper ( 2.25-inch coil with adjustable spring perch); pullrod and rocker-actuated mono linkage.

Center-lock racing-style hubs.Rear:Hand-fabricated box-section steel inboard swing arms, incorporating "hydral-link" lockable recirculating hydraulic circuit parking stand.

Single fully adjustable centrally located Koni coil-over damper ( 2.25-inch coil with adjustable spring perch); pushrod and rocker-actuated mono linkage.

Center-lock racing-style hubs BRAKES: Front:20-inch perimeter-mounted drilled machined stainless steel rotors, one per wheel.

Two four-piston fixed aluminum calipers per wheel (16 pistons total), custom designed. Blue anodized caliper finish.

Hand-activated.Rear:20-inch perimeter-mounted drilled cast-iron rotors, one per wheel.

One four-piston fixed aluminum caliper per wheel (8 pistons total), custom designed. Blue anodized caliper finish.

Foot-activated.The Tomahawk is a Viper V-10 based motorcycle, a 500 horsepower engine with four wheels beneath it.

Chrysler will be selling the original Tomahawk concept and nine replicas through Neiman Marcus, for up to $555,000 each.

The motorcycles cannot be licensed, so they cannot be legally driven on public roads.

A Chrysler spokesman told Reuters they were meant as rolling sculptures.Rumors had the Tomahawk selling for under $200,000, most likely at a loss or breakeven price, for publicity purposes - but still fully drivable. Wolfgang Bernhard, Chrysler's not particularly respected first mate, was said to be enthusiastic about that project, so much so that hundreds were projected to be built at under $200,000 each.

They reportedly cost Chrysler over $100,000 to build (admittedly the work is outsourced).

The Dodge Tomahawk can reach 60 miles an hour in about 2.5 seconds, and has a theoretical top speed of nearly 400 mph.

Each pair of wheels is separated by a few inches and each wheel has an independent suspension. Bernhard said four wheels were necessary to handle the power from the engine.

The Tomahawk remains on display at auto shows - though well out of reach of the general public, elevated on a special display.

PERFORMANCE: 0-60 mph: 2.5 seconds (est.)Top Speed: 300+ mph (est.)

DIMENSIONS:

Length: 102 inches

Width: 27.7 inches

Height: 36.9 inches

Wheelbase: 76 inches

Seat Height: 29 inches

Weight: 1,500 lbs.

Track, Front: 8.75 inTrack,

Rear: 10 inWeight

Dist: 49F/51R

Ground Clearance: 3 inFuel: 3.25 gallons

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:

Alternator: 136-amp high-speedBattery : Leak-resistant,

maintenance-free 600 CCA

Lighting: Headlights consist of 12 five-watt LEDs, front, with beam-modifying optics and masked lenses.

Eight LEDs, rear.

Headlamps articulate with wheels.

TRANSMISSION: Manual, foot-shifted two-speed Aluminum-cased two-speed, sequential racing-style with dog ring, straight-cut gearsGear Ratios: 1st 18:38;

2nd 23:25Clutch: Double-disc, dry-plate with organic friction materials, hand lever actuated with assist

Final drive: Dual 110-link motorcycle-style chains

Front Sprockets: 14 teethRear Sprockets: 35 teeth Longitudinal, centrally mounted engine, rear-wheel drive layout; monocoque construction, engine is central, stressed member. Body of billet aluminum.

Made Of Gold

2008-05-12T01:04:00.000-07:00

Cool Designs

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2008-05-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

Rhino Baby - cute

2008-05-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

Amazing Tree Art

2008-05-05T04:25:00.000-07:00

Amazing Pics

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Before And After

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Cool Picz

2008-04-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

Underwater Photos Of Dolphin

2008-04-14T22:17:00.000-07:00

Cute Humming Birds

2008-04-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nature Created Animals - Marvalous

2008-04-13T00:51:00.000-07:00

Cute Baby Twins

2008-04-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

Beauty Underground World

2008-04-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Biggest Dogs

2008-04-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Amazing Nature Beauty

2008-04-11T06:09:00.001-07:00

Earth From Space - Amazing

2008-04-10T02:21:00.000-07:00

Natures Beauty

2008-04-10T02:15:00.000-07:00

Drops Art

2008-04-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

Human or Dog?

2008-04-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Tallest Man

2008-04-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

World's Best Tricking

2007-05-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

Beautiul Hand Painting

2007-05-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

cool technology

2007-05-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Scarcy Spider's

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wooden arts-fantastic

2007-04-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

Creativity With Tin

2007-04-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

cyborg animals

2007-04-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Skeleton's motorbike

2007-04-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Pagani Zonda Roadster - 2007

2007-04-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

Arts of Vladimir Kush

2007-04-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

Amazing egg arts

2007-04-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Chimpanjis

2007-04-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

way to save from rain

sad emotion

feeling thirsty

loving her child

playing in water

mother feeding

Amazing Balancing Rock

2007-03-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

Cool Underground Tunnels

2007-03-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Art of Nature

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Cold Fire

2007-03-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

Amazing Pencil Drawing

2007-03-07T06:17:00.000-08:00

Amazing Seens

2007-03-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

Amazing arts of glass

2007-03-04T02:43:00.000-08:00