Small fish, big appetite

There's a lot of strange animals out there, and sometimes it'll prompt us to think if those creatures in science fiction really does exist? Today we'll look at fish bizarre enough to give you nightmares. The picture shown below is species of fish found in deep seas and also hot tropical waters up to 1,500 meters. It's scientific name is Chiasmodon niger, or better known as the Black or Great Swallower. The Great swallower can grow up to 25 centimeters.

A typical food chain would normally be large animal eating medium size, and medium size animal preying on the smaller size. The Great Swallower reversed all we have learned about food chain. If you look carefully, besides its strange monstrous look, it has an overproportioned large mouth. By now, you should've guessed where it earn its name from. This creature can actually swallowed prey that's 3-4 times larger. It has a belly that can expand like a balloon to accommodate the larger prey. One of the explanation why they need to hunt for prey that's larger than its size is because, well, they don't have to hunt at all! All it need to do is to wait for a predator to attack, not knowing that seconds later they've turned into a prey.

In October 2007, Local fisherman, McPherson ‘Dorson’ Wright while fishing in about 1,400 feet of water off the South Coast of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, Mr. Wright’s spotted an object that was floating on the surface nearby. What he found was a Great Swallower. That's not all, in the belly of the Great Swallower was another fish, it was a Snake Mackerel that was more than four times its own length!

When he took it to the Department of the Environment to investigate further, marine scientist Phillippe Bush snapped some photographs and sent them up to the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in the United States. A short time later, Tracey Sutton wrote back saying the fish “was appropriately called a ‘Great Swallower’ and it normally lives in deep water.” The scientist was clearly excited by the pictures he was looking at. Mr. Sutton wrote saying “This is amazing! I have seen this fish with big prey before but yours takes the cake. It would surely rank as one of the largest, if not the largest, rations known among all fishes (relative to their own weight).”

The scientist at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute also offered to pay to have Mr. Wright’s fish shipped to the United States. The Great Swallower found off South Sound was just 7.5 inches in length. The fish it had eaten, an extremely aggressive Snake Mackerel, measured 34 inches, which is close to three feet in length. Local Marine Scientist Phillippe Bush was in awe of the smaller fish’s appetite. Since the Great Swallower lives in deep water, not much is known about this species, and scientist is still puzzled how on earth did the Great Swallower manage to avoid an attack by the Snake Mackerel and then turned it into dinner.

Source : filaman.ifm-geomar.dete
Source : www.caycompass.com

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Toad's strange style of raising young

The Surinam Toad or Pipa pipa is a species of frog in the Pipidae family. It is usually found in northern South America. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, swamps, freshwater marshes. These frogs are almost exclusively aquatic. The appearance of the toad is somewhat like a leaf. It is almost completely flat, and colored in a mottled brown. Feet are broadly webbed while the fronts has E.T. like fingers. These quadripartite fingertips are one of the characteristics that distinguish Pipa pipa from other species. They usually grow to about 4-6 inches.

What's bizarre is their remarkable reproductive habit and method. Mating begins when the male makes a tickling call while in the water. The male will grasps the female from above and around the waist in inguinal amplexus. The female then initiates vertical circular turnovers while they're together. The male clasps the female with his forelimbs wrapped in front of her hindlimbs, and they raise off the floor of the stream or pond and swim to the surface of the water to get air. At the top of the arc, they flip, now floating on their backs, and the female releases 3-10 eggs which fall onto the male's belly. Completing their arc, they flip to their original position, bellies to the ground. The male now loosens his grip and permits the eggs to roll onto her back while he simultaneously fertilizes them. This spawning ritual is repeated 15-18 times. Roughly 100 eggs are laid and fertilized.

Amazingly, the eggs sticks only to the female's back, possibly due to a cloacal secretion. They do not stick to the male's belly nor to other eggs already on the female's back. Hours after fertilization, the eggs will sink into the female's skin. Skin grows around the eggs, which become enclosed in a cyst with a horny lid. During development, the young grow temporary tails, which are apparently used in the uptake of oxygen. After 12-20 weeks, the young eventually emerge from the mother's back at the time of molting, that is, when the mother sheds her skin. By now, they're fully developed, each about an inch long. They don't have to live as a tadpole in the outside world just as other frogs/toads does, thus increased their chances or survival! Truly unbelievable.


Source : http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu

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Global warming is melting building?

Don't worry, this building deformation is not caused by global warming. No, your eye is not deceiving you, and Unbelievable Facts never published something that's fictional. What seems to be a melting building is actually an optical illusion called Trompe-l'œil, created by the society Anthem in Paris, France. Trompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being mere, two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from the French word "trompe" means to deceive and "l'œil" the eye.

Although the phrase has its origin in the 16th century, when it refers to perspectival illusionism, use of trompe-l'œil art dates back much further. A typical trompe-l'œil might depict a window, door, or hallway, intended to suggest a larger room. Trompe-l'œil can also be found painted on tables and other items of furniture, on which, for example, a deck of playing cards might appear to be sitting on the table. A particularly impressive example is the trompe l'oeil dome in the Jesuit church in Vienna, Austria by Andrea Pozzo. The actual ceiling is only slighty coved.

In Paris, it's a common practice that the facade of buildings under construction be covered with tarpaulin printed with Trompe-l'œil, as a way to mask the unsightly work being carried out. The Bleeker group asked the society Anthem, well known for the Vuitton suitcase on the champs-élysées, to imagine a cover for their building, 39 avenue George V. The plastician Pierre Delavie took clichés of the existing facade, distort the image and printed it on a huge canvas sheet of 2500 square meters. Some relief cornices are stuck to the photo to enhance the reality or unreality of the trompe-l'oeil. The theme is given the name "le surréalisme urbain".

The building will house the headquarters of Bleeker by the end of 2007, but now it's remained hidden while under renovation. Even though the approach is more commercial than artistic, the result is a parisian success. This ephemeral trompe-l'oeil will be removed at the end of the renovation.

Source : www.39georgev.org
Source : www.trompe-l-oeil.info

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Pregnant twice on the same month

One day, when the husband is back from work, his wife said to him "Honey, Doctor said I'm pregnant!". The husband jumps with joy, went back to work, feeling excited and energetic. Two weeks later, when he reached home after work as usual, his wife said "Honey, I've another good news, I'm pregnant again!". Now the husband is really confused. Nothing wrong with her first pregnancy, the fetus is still growing while she got pregnant again few weeks later. Impossible? It turns out women can conceive again even if they're already pregnant, but the odds are a million to one! Superfetation occurs when eggs from two different menstrual cycles are released and fertilised separately.

Such is the case with Amelia Spence when she went on producing eggs despite having already conceived Lia. She got pregnant again with Ame three weeks later and both babies grew side by side. Shocked medics at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital only discovered the existence of the non-twins at the 12th week scan. The scan images show Lia taking on the distinctive shape of a baby with clearly defined features and limbs while Ame appeared as a tiny spot on the screen.

Doctors feared at least one of them could have died due to numerous potential complications. They eventually decided Amelia should undergo an emergency Cesarean on April 16 2007. Tiny Ame was born first despite being conceived second. She weighed 4lb 13oz after just 29 weeks in the womb and minutes later she was joined by 6lb 11oz Lia who had been 32 weeks in the womb. Because of the unusual nature of the new arrivals, George Herrity, 33, hit on the idea of naming them after mum Amelia's name split in two.

You may not hear another similar story again in your lifetime, since it's so rare. But Unbelievable Facts went on to dig deeper so that reading 2 similar stories at the same time making it much more rarer! Similarly, Superfecundation is the fertilisation of two or more ova but from the same cycle at a different time. The odds is still a million to one. Both Superfetation and Superfecundation are not to be confused with fraternal twins because although the babies are born at the same time, they are not twins of any kind.

Beverley Robson, 32, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham was still releasing eggs after her first conception and fell pregnant again two weeks later. Just like the first story, normally when this kind of dual pregnancy occurs, the second baby dies as the older gets better nourished in the womb. Remarkably, Beverley gave birth to healthy girls Leah weighing 6lb 6oz and Lara 4lb 4oz (pic).

Source : www.sundaymail.co.uk
Source : www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk

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World's longest hair

Vietnam’s Tran Van Hay, must have saved great deal of money by not going to the barber in over 31 years, has hair that’s 20 feet long. On the other hand, he must've spent alot on shampoo too!
He is confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest hair in the world. Tran Van Hay, now 73 years old, has hair which is now 6.3m (20 ft 7 in) long, according to Vietnam's state-controlled press.

He stopped cutting his hair when he and his wife had their first child to avoid being sick. He can't work anymore as a farmer because of the volume of hair so he's just collecting herbs for traditional medicine as charity work.

Source : BBC News

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Smart seagull steal chips

A seagull has turned shoplifter by wandering into a shop and helping itself to some crisps/chips. The bird walks into the RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen when the door is open and makes off with cheese Doritos.

The bird first swooped in Aberdeen's Castlegate, Scotland, earlier this month and made off with the 55p crisps, and is now a regular. The seagull, nicknamed Sam, has now become so popular that locals have started paying for his crisps. Once outside, the crisps are ripped open and the seagull is joined by other birds.

Everyone is amazed by the seagull. For some reason he only takes that one particular kind of crisps and he intelligently waits until there are no customers around and the shop assistant standing behind the till, then he raids the place.

Shop assistant Sriaram Nagarajan said "At first I didn't believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He's very good at it. He's becoming a bit of a celebrity. Seagulls are usually not that popular but Sam is a star because he's so funny."

Perhaps it once tried some crisps in a shiny packet in the street, and then happen to see the same type of packets inside the store. Gulls can be very quick and fearless, and clearly this one is no exception.

Source : BBC News

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Largest population needs largest toilet

With the world's largest population, they'll definitely need the world's largest toilet. Recently opened porcelain palace features an Egyptian facade, soothing music and more than 1,000 toilets spread out over 30,000 square feet.

Officials in the southwestern Chinese city plan to ask Guinness World Records to have the free four-story public bathroom listed as the world's largest, state-run China Central Television reported Friday. "We are spreading toilet culture. People can listen to gentle music and watch TV," said Lu Xiaoqing, an official with the Yangrenjie, or "Foreigners Street," tourist area where the bathroom is located. "After they use the bathroom they will be very, very happy."

Footage aired on CCTV showed people milling about the sprawling facility and washing their hands at butt shaped sinks. For open-aired relief, there's a cluster of stalls without a roof. Some urinals are uniquely shaped, including ones inside open crocodile mouths and several resembling the Virgin Mary.

Source : abc news

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Elephants electrocute themselves

Nearly 40 Asiatic wild elephants went to a village Chandan Nukat in Gauhati, India desperately looking for food. After some rampage in the town, some manage to find rice beer, which farmers fermented and kept in plastic and tin drums in their huts. It's a smell that they're familiar with, it is commonly brewed by tribal communities and they've tasted it before. But this time, they had too much of it, got drunk, and in an insanity move uprooted a utility pole carrying power lines. They got themselves entangled in the live wires that ran loose as the posts were uprooted and six of them were electrocuted!

The north-east of India accounts for the world's largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants, with the states of Assam and Meghalaya alone estimated to have 7,000 of them. While it's great to have such a huge number of elephants, but the increasing conflict between man and elephants following the shrinkage in their habitat due to the growing human population is a nightmare to the locals. Satellite imagery by the National Remote Sensing Agency, a federal body, shows that as much as 280,000 hectares of thick forests in Assam have been cleared by human encroachment between 1996 and 2000.

Wild elephants have killed more than 600 people in Assam in the past 16 years. Villagers have also been killing elephants with poison. Nineteen wild elephants were killed in 2001 after feasting on standing crops and demolishing several homes in Assams Sonitpur district, 180 kilometres north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam.

Source : www.msnbc.msn.com
Thanks to Dan Meyer for bringing this story to my attention

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Care to stay in a toilet-home?

Notice any resemblance to any of your household item? No?
Now a better look from the top, manage to notice it by now? Yes, you're right! It's a toilet-shaped home, the world's one and only toilet house. The house design was brainchild by Sim Jae-duck, chairman of the organising committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association to mark the association's first general assembly in November.

Worth US$1.6 million, the 4,508-sq-foot two-storey concrete and glass structure features a couple of bedrooms, four deluxe toilets, and even a small garden in the front of the house. The toilets have features that range from elegant fittings to the latest in water conservation devices. The house located in Suweon, South Korea is named Haewoojae, which signifies in Korean "a place of sanctuary where one can solve one's worries". He hopes his toilet house will highlight the global need for better sanitation. Before he moves in, anyone who is flush with funds can rent it for US$50,000 a day, with proceeds going to his campaign to provide poor countries with proper sanitary facilities.

Served as a Mayor in Suweon from 1995-2002, His drive to transform toilets into "clean and beautiful resting places imbued with culture" earned him the nickname "Mayor Toilet". His achievements motivates him to launch the Korea Toilet Association in 1999. The proposed World Toilet Association might be seen to rival squeaky-clean Singapore, where the World Toilet Organisation is based, but Sim has said the work of the two bodies will not overlap. They are dedicated to provide and promote clean sanitation to the more than 2 billion people around the world who live without toilets.

Epidemics caused by poor sanitation worldwide cost two million lives a year. Worldwide, 2.6 billion people live without toilets. Elsewhere, poorly designed flush toilets waste vast amounts of potential drinking water. "Toilets were once regarded as stinking and dirty places. Not any more. They must be treated as the sanctuary that protects human health," Sim said. Ironically, Sim was born in a restroom which is intentional by her mother because traditional beliefs that people born in restrooms will enjoy longer life!

Source : koreatimes.co.kr

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Paper folding art with $1 bill

As one who does it for a living, Marc Sky of Woodbridge, New Jersey U.S, has been folding his 'Creative Money Designs' for many years, combining the techniques of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding and using only one dollar bill. He first became interested in the art as a teenager.

The work is difficult because it needs precise calculations requires plenty of patience. The bills must be new and crisp. Through countless of trial and errors, now he can make about 75 different types of designs, from such seasonal characters as Santa to rings and a bikini. Some figurines have been sculpted in such precise calculation that they appear to have eye as well. Some even form a face (eyes, nose, mouth) on the finished model.

He also set up a display in First County Bank's corporate offices on Milltown Road in North Brunswick. First County Bank officers reasoned that "it's a very unique thing and something that could be easily related to banking," said President Robert C. Entwistle. "We thought it was a very natural thing to do."

Source : www.dollarartist.com

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Using teeth to pull train

A Malaysian nicknamed "King Tooth" pulled a seven-coach train attached to a steel rope clenched in his mouth setting a new world record for the heaviest weight pulled with teeth. Grunting and gasping, Rathakrishnan Velu's neck muscles strained and his face contorted as he hauled the 297.1 tonne train over 2.8 metres (9 feet, 2.2 inches) along tracks.

Rathakrishnan, a strict vegetarian ethnic Indian, partially attributes his strength to an Indian form of meditation. In addition to the meditation exercises, he runs at least 25 kilometres (15.53 miles), lifts bars up to 250 kilograms (551.15 pounds) and does jaw training daily, waking up at 4.30 a.m. Rathakrishnan started to pull the train, holding both tracks for support and pushing his booted feet against the wooden rafters to propel himself backward. He holds the previous world record for the heaviest weight pulled with teeth. He had dragged a 260.8 tonne train over 4.2 metres (13 feet, 9.3 inches) on October 18, 2003.

Before beginning the attempt, Rathakrishnan closed his eyes and breathed heavily, holding the left index finger against his nose and right index finger against his chest. He then touched his forehead and the top of his head before sitting on the ground to start pulling. He was hoping to pull the heavier train more than 4.2 metres (13 feet, 9.3 inches) but could manage only 2.8 metres (9 feet, 2.2 inches) in the first attempt. His second and third attempts resulted in the train moving distances of 0.73 metres (2 feet, 4.7 inches) and 2.48 metres (8 feet, 1.6 inches). Although slightly disappointed as he would like to end up with a longer distance, he still makes it into the Guinness world of records.

Source : The Star

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Fish with feets

It may looked like some mythical creature from a movie, or created by an image manipulation program. Looked like a fish with feets, this is a real creature and in fact it's quite a common species and even sold as pets in some countries!

This creature is an Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) or "Mexican Walking Fish". The Axolotl (pronounced Ax-oh-lot-ul) is an amphibian, is the best-known of the Mexican neotenic mole salamanders belonging to the Tiger Salamander complex. Although they are native to Mexico, Axolotls have become popular as exotic pets around the world. In captivity, they are housed in an aquarium and can have a range of colours. Ordinarily, amphibians undergo metamorphosis from egg to larva (the tadpole in frogs is a larva), and finally to adult form. The Axolotl, along with a number of other amphibians, remains in its larval form throughout its life. This means that it retains its gills and fins, and it doesn't develop the protruding eyes, eyelids and characteristics of other adult salamanders.

The animal is completely aquatic, and although it does possess rudimentary lungs, it breathes primarily through its gills and to a lesser extent, its skin. Some scientist may consider the Axolotls a backward step in evolution, because the Axolotl is descended from salamanders. Axolotls are used extensively in scientific research due to their ability to regenerate most body parts, ease of breeding, and large embryos. They are commonly kept as pets in the United States, Great Britain (under the spelling Axlotl), Australia, Japan (Known as Wooper Rooper) and other countries.

Source : www.axolotl.org

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Crop circle - The Asian way

Travel some 600 km north of Tokyo, Japan, in a village in verdant Aomori Prefecture, beautiful art is sprouting out from the rice paddies. It's not a supernatural mystery, as some described over a crop circle usually seen in the Western countries. Instead, by precisely planting four varieties of rice with differently colored leaves in fields their ancestors have farmed for centuries, the people of Inakadate Village remarkably created some of the most famous Japan's art right from their paddy field!

From ground level, the artistic paddies spread out before the Inakadate Village office building are invisible like those corn circles that crop up in Western Countries. However, by scaling a 22-meter-high mock castle tower that's part of the village office and overlooks the fields, visitors are rewarded with a view that takes their breath away. And, as a boon to the local economy, it's a field of dreams as well, with around 150,000 visitors drawn to the village of 8,700 souls in the last few months alone.

In 1981, during some construction work for a new road, they dug up some rice paddies that archaeologists dated as being about 2,000 years old. Inakadate Villagers started to create rice-paddy art in 1993 as a local revitalization project. In the first nine years, the village office workers and local farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki in Aomori Prefecture every year, accompanied with the words "Inakadate, a village of rice culture." Then, by planting rice varieties with different colors of foliage on about 2,500 sq. meters of rice paddies, they quite literally brought their designs to life.

But as time went by, the locals' horizons widened and the pictures they tried to transform into fields of art became more and more complicated. Not surprisingly, over the years more and more people also began to pay attention to their extraordinary endeavors. Shown below is the transition from a bare field when they started planting on 27 May 2006, until the time the rice is ready to harvest in October.






This year, six staff of the Inakadate Village officials make an elaborate plan of how to plant different colors of rice to create the image. They calculate and plot the precise areas where each different color of rice needs to be planted in the paddies, and produce a printout of the design that at first just looks like a mass of dots.

When the project first started, they're using markers to determine where to plant each of the different rice varieties. Now they're using software to assist them to calculate the position of dots to draw the picture more precisely. For this year design, they use the image from the famous woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). They calculated the location of 6,100 dots for the Hokusai design, compared with 1,500 dots two years ago.

Then, on May 27 2007, a total of 700 people took part in the rice-planting event. They included 50 visitors from as far afield as Hokkaido, Kanagawa and Osaka alongside 450 from nearby towns and villages. Divided into teams, they used four kinds of rice. Two ancient varieties called ki ine (yellow rice) and murasaki ine (purple rice) that grow into yellow- and brown-leafed plants respectively, and also more modern Beni Miyako (Red Miyako) and Tsugaru Roman, an Aomori variety with a fresh-green color.

After that, the artworks were in the hands of nature as the seedlings began growing in varying hues into Hokusai's famous wave amid Inakadate Village's sea of swaying rice plants. There comes the time when this beautiful art has to be erase when it is harvested, but Inakadate Village officials will begin focusing to next year's artistic crop and host seminars at the request of other farming communities around Japan on the practical details of creating rice-paddy art.

Source : www.vill.inakadate.aomori.jp

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Vegetarian festival to purify oneself

The Vegetarian Festival is a religious festival annually held on the island of Phuket in southern Thailand. A colorful event held over a nine day period in 11-19 October 2007, this celebrates the Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.

Although the origins of the festival is unclear, the locals believe that perhaps the festival was brought in to Phuket by a group of wandering Chinese Opera who then fell ill with malaria while performing in the island. They then decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine Emperor Gods who would ensure purification of the mind and body. On recovery, the people celebrated by holding a festival that was meant to honour the gods as well as express the people's happiness at surviving what was, in the nineteenth century, a fatal illness.

The festival falls on the first days of the ninth Chinese lunar month. And for nine days participants need to observe strict regulations. People who are mourning cannot participate in the event, and pregnant women and menstruating women are not encourage to attend the ceremonies. Besides refraining from meat, sex and alcohol, they must wear white and observe cleanliness of the body during the festival. Clean kitchen utensils are not to be used by others who do not participate in the festival.

The ceremonies of the festival takes place near the six Chinese temples scattered throughout Phuket. The main temple is Jui Tui Shrine not far from the Fresh Market in Phuket Town. The first event is the raising of the Lantern Pole, an act that notifies the nine Chinese gods that the festival is about to begin.

For the next few days, the local Chinese brings their household gods to the temple, along with offerings of food and drink. It is assumed that the household gods will benefit from an annual injection of spiritual energy that fills the temple. Visitors can observe and even participate in the lighting of joss sticks and candles that are placed around the various gods.

Usually street processions take place, where visitors can see participants walking in a trance. Other events include hundreds of local residents running across a bed of burning coals, or climbing an eight metre ladder of sharp blades while in trance.

In order to invoke the gods, participants acting as mediums of the gods will then firewalked, body pierced and other acts of self mortification. Men and women puncture their cheeks with various items including knives, skewers and other household items. Over the years it has became more spectacular and daring with more participants bringing new and more bizarre objects to skew their body. It is believed that the Chinese gods will protect such persons from harm, and little blood or scarring results from such mutilation acts. This is definitely not recommended for the feint hearted to witness.

During this graphic and gruesome event, if your stomach is still growling for food, there are specially prepared vegetarian cuisine made available at street stalls and markets around the island. The vegetarian dishes are not easily distinguished from regular dishes because they do taste like meat although the fact that soybean and protein substitute products are used to replace meat.

Source : www.phuket.com

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QWERTY keyboard is not meant for computers

The typewriter was invented in 1866 by Carlos Glidden, Samuel Soulé, and Christopher Latham Sholes. The alphabetical layout of the keys was not a good one; the type bars that struck the paper jammed often. So Christopher came up with a fix for this by placing the type bars for letters of common digraphs, two-letter sequences, as far from each other as possible. The end result was the awkward and confusing QWERTY keyboard layout (named for the first six letters on the top row), which appeared on the first commercially produced typewriter in 1873. When touch-typing became popular in the 1880s, QWERTY was the norm for many keyboards. Although newer keyboards did not jam as easily, it remained the most popular layout and other layouts gradually fell out of use. The standard "QWERTY" keyboard was not designed with ease of typing in mind and don't really suits modern day computers.

The Dvorak keyboard layout was created and patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, a professor at the University of Washington, and William L. Dealey, his brother-in-law. It was the result of much effort studying typing behavior and letter frequency. Unbelievably, the layout actually makes typing easier, faster, and more efficient! The key to its success is the arrangement of the letters.

Some of the world's fastest typists are using Dvorak. A woman named Barbara Blackburn failed her high school typing course, which, of course, taught QWERTY. Then she found out about the Dvorak keyboard and after that she can type at a rate of 170 WPM and once peaked at 212 WPM, and listed for a decade as the world's fastest typist in the Guinness Book of Records! Indeed, most typists who switch from QWERTY to Dvorak easily match their old speed, and usually surpass it. Some have seen a 200-300% increase in their speed.

Unlike the QWERTY keyboard, the Dvorak keyboard includes the most common letters on the home row (the row of keys your hands rest on when you are touch-typing). The next most common letters are on the top row, and the least-used letters are on the bottom row. 60-70% of the typing is done on the home row of Dvorak, compared with 30-35% on QWERTY's home row. On Dvorak, you can type thousands of words on the home row (aoeuidhtns) but limited on QWERTY keyboard (asdfghjkl;)

It has also been proven that the Dvorak keyboard is easier to learn than QWERTY, accuracy will increase noticeably. It has been shown in studies that while a QWERTY typist's accuracy stops increasing, a Dvorak's typist's accuracy will continue to improve. More importantly, many people switch to Dvorak because it's more comfortable. The Dvorak layout was carefully adapted to fit the English language. Dvorak may actually decrease the risk of carpal-tunnel syndrome and other forms of repetitive-stress injury (RSI). You can type longer on Dvorak without making your fingers sore. In fact, most RSI sufferers no longer feel pain in their fingers after switching to Dvorak.

The fact that we still uses the QWERTY keyboards is because most people who are familiar with QWERTY do not want to make any changes. It's also because most manufacturer don't manufacture DVORAK keyboards because there's simply not enough demand for it. Typing training in schools and secretarial colleges is almost always done on the QWERTY layout both because it conforms with the expectation of industry and, ironically, because it is the layout with which most teachers or trainers are already familiar.

Source : www.theworldofstuff.com
Source : Fastest typist

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Wrong perspective of raindrop shape

You've seen on weather forecast in your television, in magazines, and even science books will show raindrops as tear shaped. The idea has persisted in popular culture, because often we see water drops from leafs, faucet, and also water rolling down our windows that does look like tear shape. This created a joint level of understanding among people that we think that even raindrops are tear shaped. It's time to teach our children new perspective of raindrops!

Scientist armed with high speed camera revealed that raindrops start out as round high in the atmosphere as water collects on dust and smoke particles in clouds. But as raindrops fall, they lose their rounded shape. Instead, a raindrop rather look like a bean or the top half of a hamburger bun. Flattened on the bottom and with a curved dome top, raindrops are anything but the classic tear shape. The reason is due to their speed falling through the atmosphere.

A raindrop falling through the atmosphere forms as a roughly spherical structure due to the surface tension of water. This surface tension is the "skin" of a body of water that makes the molecules stick together. The cause is the weak hydrogen bonds that occur between water molecules. On smaller raindrops, the surface tension is stronger than in larger drops. The reason is the flow of air around the drop.

Air flow on the bottom of the water drop is greater than the airflow at the top. At the top, small air circulation disturbances create less air pressure. Therefore, the surface tension at the top of the raindrop wins this round! In other words, the surface tension at the top allows the raindrop to remain more spherical while the bottom gets more flattened out.

Even as a raindrop is falling, it will often collide with other raindrops and increase in size. Once the size of a raindrop gets too large, it will eventually break apart in the atmosphere back into smaller drops. This time, the surface tension loses and the large raindrop ceases to exist. Instead it pulls apart when it grows to around 4 millimeters or more.

Source : ga.water.usgs.gov

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Longest name for a place

From the beautiful mountain slopes of the inland Ruahine Ranges to vast sandy beaches and trout-laden rivers, Central Hawke's Bay has it all. It's a holiday haven for the whole family. No matter what time of year you visit, there is plenty to see and do, with a long list of events to ensure you see everything Central Hawke’s Bay has to offer. And when it’s time to relax, local restaurants and cafes tempt you with the freshest locally-grown produce and the region's famous wines.

Even more amazing is that in Porangahau, 55km southeast of Waipukurau is the home of the longest place name in the world. The name is Taumata-whaka-tangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-turi-pukaka-pikimaunga-pokai-whenua-kitana-tahu. Consist of 85 letters, it has been listed in Guinness Book of Records as the longest officially recognised place name in the world. However, the locals usually just call it Taumata for ease of conversation.

It is given by the local Maori people, Ngati Kere to a hill to celebrate the eponymous ancestor Tamatea Pokai Whenua. Tamatea was a famous chief and warrior of his time. His son Kahungunu was the founder of the Ngati Kahungunu tribe which extends from Gisborne to Cape Palliser. Tamatea acquired his long name through different happenings in his life. Turipukaka-pikimaunga-tahu was given through his many raids and wanderings and he was such a huge muscular man that his name suited him.

It appears that while travelling through the back of Porangahau, Tamatea encountered the Ngati-Hine tribe and had to fight them to get past. The battle is known as the Matanui battle and during that fight his brother was killed. Tamatea was so grieved over the loss of his brother that he stayed for quite along time at that place and each morning he would sit on the knoll and play his lament on what is called the Koauau or Maori flute. Hence the name Taumata-whaka-tangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-turi-pukaka-pikimaunga-pokai-whenua-kitana-tahu, which means "The hilltop, where Tamatea with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau to his beloved". Only one word to describe this place, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Source : www.centralhawkesbay.co.nz

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Very young yet very smart

A two-year-old girl from Aldershot, Hampshire, U.K has become the youngest ever female member of British Mensa. Georgia Brown, the youngest of five children astounded experts by scoring 152 points in an IQ test, putting her in the top 2% of the population for her age. Those with an average IQ would score around 100 points in the same test.

Georgia's mother, Lucy, said "It's fantastic. We're so proud as a family." She had spotted that her daughter was a strikingly quick learner. Georgia was crawling at five months, walking at nine months and, by 18 months, was having proper conversations.

The Brown family called Professor Joan, from Middlesex University, to test her IQ level in relation to others of her age. Professor Joan said she used the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale test and was amazed by what she found. She said "Georgia is two years and nine months, and she is able to answer questions five and six years old can't."

Psychologist Professor Joan Freeman, who tested Georgia, said she thought the toddler could score even better, but needed a nap after 45 minutes of work. Concentrating for that long at that young age is not easy. The minimum accepted score on the Stanford-Binet is 132.

The test uses questions like 'If brother is to boy, then sister is to ...?'. If you take a normal two years old, they cannot hold a pencil, they don't know the colours and they would not be able to answer those simple questions. Lucy said she was impressed at her ability to copy circle. Most two-year-old and even some adults cannot do that but she drew a near perfect one.

Mensa is the largest, oldest, and best-known high-IQ society in the world. The organization restricts its membership to people with high testable IQ. Specifically, potential members must score within the top 2% of any approved standardized intelligence test. Mensa is formally composed of national groups and the umbrella organization Mensa International. Mensa confirmed Georgia was their youngest member at the moment and the youngest female member ever.

Source : BBC News

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Boy shot left with half the brain

In 1987, 14 years old Ahad Israfil was shot while working in local shop in Dayton, Ohio when his employer accidentally knocked a fire-arm to the floor. Despite his severe injuries, he survived the trip to hospital and underwent a 5 hours operation. As he regained consciousness, his family and friends couldn't believe at what they saw.

The injury destroyed brain tissue and right hemisphere of the brain is gone, but the skin of his scalp survived and collapsed inwards when the underlying tissue was removed. Though he survived through this ordeal, Ahad soon realized he has a whole new challenges to deal. On top of having difficulties to speak and to use the left side of his body, Ahad also have to deal with people looking at him like an alien from outer space.

Dr James Apesos has been trying numerous reconstructive surgery for 14 years to make Ahad look normal again. But many attempts failed, and during one of the surgery, Ahad even slips into coma. Despite that, Dr. James strongly believe and determined that one day he will have a successful surgery. True enough, the day did came true. Dr. James used a silicone block implant to fill the hole in his skull where the brain had been and stretched his scalp over his new skull.

His hair regrew, finally giving him a fairly normal appearance that he's been hoping for years. Incredibly, not only did Ahad retain sufficient mental faculties to speak, walk and live a normal life, he also managed to graduate from his local University with an honours degree.

This demonstrates the remarkable recovery abilities of the human brain and experts believe that studying the regenerative powers of the brain cells may lead to treatments for other brain related problems such as Alzheimer's disease.

Video : www.metacafe.com

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Strange log in method

In 2003, Computer scientists at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, came up with a program called SoundHunters, a software that automatically logs you onto the nearest computer. And you don't have to remember any passwords. There's a catch, the software will only log you in when you laugh!

Microphones on each computer pick up a person's voice. The software recognises them and calculates where they are, using flocks of intelligent agents - pieces of discrete computer code that are programmed to move around a network from computer to computer. The agents close in on those computers where the person's voice is loudest, until they pinpoint the nearest one.

Imagine coming out from the bosses room after a fierce arguement, and you still have to laugh through it.

Source : www.newscientist.com

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Granny with horn on forehead

A Chinese grandmother has a five inch "horn" growing out of her forehead. The horn curves downward and looks like the stalk of a pumpkin. In fact, this horn is actually not a bone that grew out from her skull, instead it's a mole with elongated skin making it looking a horn.

Granny Zhao, 95, of Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, says it first appeared three years ago. “At first, it was only a mole, but it gradually grew and became like a horn,” she said. Zhao says the horn don't cause her any trouble and discomfot except to affect her vision slightly and block part of her view. Her family are hoping that medical experts can explain the phenomenon.

Source : www.ycwb.com (Chinese Site)

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Priciest, rarest and oddest coffee bean

Coffee grows in dozens of countries around the world. Some varieties have earned a special reputation, often based on a combination of rarity, unusual circumstances and particularly good flavor. These coffees, from Jamaican Blue Mountain to Kona to Tanzanian Peaberry, command a premium price. But perhaps no coffee in the world is in such short supply, has such unique flavors and an interesting background as Kopi Luwak. And no coffee even comes close in price, Kopi Luwak sells for approximately US$75 per quarter pound making it the most expensive coffee in the world!

“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “Luwak” is local name for Asian Palm Civet, an animal similar to a weasel. Luwak comes from the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi, in the Indonesian Archipelago. But it's not strictly the exotic location that makes these beans worth their weight in silver. It's how they're "processed."

Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from raw red coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The animals gorge on the ripe berries, and excrete the partially-digested beans, which are then harvested for sale. The stomach acids and enzymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans for the world’s rarest coffee beverage.

Unable to digest the coffee beans, the Luwak graciously deposits them on the jungle floor where they are eagerly collected by the locals. Initially, it was a way for the natives to get coffee without the hassle of climbing trees, and has since evolved into the world's priciest specialty coffee.

Japan buys the bulk of Kopi Luwak, but Mark Mountanos, the first in the United States to bring in this exotic bean, recently imported 110 pounds after a seven year search for a reliable and stable supplier. "It's the rarest beverage in the world," Mark Mountanos says, estimating a total annual crop of less than 500 pounds. This rare and exotic coffee can cost about US$5 per cup in the United States, and fetch as high as AU$50 (US$45) in Australia.

Source : www.ravensbrew.com

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1000 year old Mickey Mouse

Mickey mouse, an Academy Award-winning comic animal cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 by Ub Iwerks. This inspiration became one of Disney's most recognisable characters in the world.

Unbelievably, someone has the similar imagination 1000 years before the first Mickey Mouse appearance! Before the cartoon character was even a glint in Walt Disney's eye, a French artist created a bronze brooch that looks remarkably like the famous Mickey, according to archaeologists at Sweden's Lund Historical Museum, which houses the recent find. The object, dated to 900 A.D., was excavated at a site called Uppåkra in southern Sweden.

The bronze brooch may remind modern viewers of Mickey Mouse, but archaeologist Jerry Rosengren from Lund University told Discovery News that in fact it is actually representing a lion. "Similar shaped jewelry representing lions originated in France around 700 A.D.," he said. Some French artist, who probably never saw a lion in his entire life, came up with this fantasy version, inadvertently stumbling upon the most famous cartoon character of all time.

Rosengren explained that lions became an important symbol to Scandinavian royals and warlords, particularly after Judeo-Christian teachings were introduced to the area. Prior to the lion symbol's introduction to Sweden, royals there associated themselves with the wild boar, an ancestor to pigs that aggressively defends itself with its sharp tusks when threatened. As Rosengren said, "An elite Swedish woman from the Iron Age never would have worn a mouse on her clothing, but the lion object certainly does look like our culture's modern Mickey Mouse."

A spokesman for the Walt Disney Company told Discovery News, "Mickey has always been a timeless Disney character with universal appeal across the generations. This certainly reinforces that notion in a way we never expected."

It is possible the connection between the two images might have to do with the simple "circle upon circle" design. The Disney company's website mentions that the earliest drawings of Mickey Mouse in the 1920's consisted of multiple circles, even for the character's body. Changes over the following decades, such as the addition of Mickey's pear-shaped body and eye pupils, gradually led to how the character looks today. Hard to imagine that one generation's fierce lion turned out to be another's most popular cute looking rodent.

Source : dsc.discovery.com

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Vodka saves life

A 24 year old Italian tourist attempted suicide while having his holiday in Australia. He was rushed to the Mackay Base Hospital while in a coma. The doctors found that he swallowed a large amount of the poisonous substance ethylene glycol, found in antifreeze, which can cause death. He was then treated immediately with pharmaceutical-grade pure alcohol, which works as an antidote to the poison. Unfortunately the antidote supply in the hospital is not enough to cure the man.

Pure alcohol is often given in treating such cases because it can inhibit the toxic effects of ethylene glycol. While new supplies won't be coming anytime soon, doctors have to think of a way to find replacement. Luckily for the Italian man, supplies is not too far away. The doctors starts feeding him with Vodka through a drip for 3 days!

"The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit," Dr Todd Fraser said in a statement. "The hospital's administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka." Medical staff said the patient had made a full recovery, and the hangover had worn off by the time he woke up. He spent 20 days in hospital before being discharged.

Source : BBC News

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Small body, Big appetite

If you ever spotted this pretty looking girl on the street, you may want to think twice before dating her out. That's because, Sonya Thomas is a top-ranked Korean-born American competitive speed eater from Alexandria, Virginia. Sonya joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) in 2003 and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, beating eating greats such as Cookie Jarvis and Eric Booker.

The 105-pound Sonya is the number four competitive eater in the United States, and ranked fifth in the world, with 29 world titles. Ranked fifth is not a small achievement for her consider that she's the only female in the top 9 spot and she's the lightest of them all. Her nickname "The Black Widow" refers to her ability to regularly defeat men four to five times her size. While the size of her stomach is only slightly larger than normal, her skinny build is perhaps her biggest advantage, allowing her stomach to expand more readily since it is not surrounded by the ring of fat common in other heavy eaters.

Her most famous result is 37 hot dogs in 12 minutes 2005 at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, setting a then-record for American competitors which was also the female record. Other speed eating records set by her including eating 8.4 Pounds of Baked Beans in 2 minutes 47, 11 pounds of Cheesecake in 9 minutes, 8 pounds of Wienerschnitzel Chili Cheese Fries in 10 minutes, 65 Hard Boiled Eggs in 6 minutes 40 seconds, 9 pound of cheeseburger in 27 minutes, 7 thick burgers weight 3/4 pound each in 10 minutes, 46 Dozen Oysters in 10 Minutes, 48 soft chicken tacos in 11 minutes and a dozen other records as well!

But Sonya claim the hardest thing to eat is probably the cheesecake. She ate 11 pounds of cheesecake in nine minutes, it was hard to eat because the crust was super dry. And when she finished her throat was super sore and her stomach totally hurt. She almost had to go to the emergency room but then ended up throwing it all up. That's the only time she have ever thrown up from eating.

To stay in shape, Sonya has one big meal a day, with lots of green vegetables and fresh fruit, and always avoids junk food. She exercises by walking on an inclined treadmill for two hours, five times per week. She also regularly visits all-you-can-eat buffets at restaurants. The night before a contest, she fasts all night in order to put an edge on her appetite.

Source : www.sonyatheblackwidow.com
Source : www.ifoce.com

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Toast bread art

Instead of using paint and brushes, Maurice Bennett from New Zealand uses flames as paintbrush and toast bread to create art. One morning over breakfast, New Zealander Maurice Bennett eyed the lightly browned rectangle of grilled bread just before he took a chomp out of it. He was reminded of a work by New York artist Chuck Close. "Ha, that picture could have been done in toast," the former grocery store owner said. The next thing he knew, he'd created a giant toasted portrait of Close.

Since that grilled phenomenon in 1998, Bennett has cooked up other portraits in toast, including the Mona Lisa (2001), which is made of 2,124 slices of toast; and Elvis Presley (2002), made of 3,525 slices of cocktail toast. One of the enduring monuments Bennett has produced is the 1999 giant billboard of former Wellington Mayor Mark Blumsky, made from 2,724 slices of toast.

Bennett's earlier works were done on a two-slice toaster. Several thousand slices later, Bennett moved his studio into a nearby Wellington bread factory, where he uses commercial ovens to toast up to 90 slices of toast at a time. "The portraits require many thousands of slices of bread, toasted to different tones to create skin highlights and shadow," he explains. To keep his works from disintegrating or being pecked apart by birds, each piece of toast is soaked in polyurethane.

Bennett worked in canvas many years ago, but gave up traditional media for something with more bite in 1988 at the Wellington Fringe Festival, with an installation of charred found objects, including a stack of burnt toast, and a roasted woolen jacket entitled "Burning Desire."

Source : www.mauricebennett.co.nz

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Granny with 15-inch waist

Don't worry, you don't need to visit the optician, there's nothing wrong with your eyes. And the photo is perfectly normal too. Cathie Jung’s astonishing 39-15-39 figure is the result of spending the last 25 years laced into tight corsets, which only come off when she showers. But the 70-year-old insists there is no concern. Grandmother Cathie is perfectly healthy.

Tightlacing is the practice of wearing a tightly-laced corset to achieve extreme modifications to the figure and posture and experience the sensations of a very tight corset. Those who practice tightlacing are called tightlacers. Some tightlacers call the corsets they wear training corsets.

The most frequent aim of tightlacing is a slim waist. Depending on the silhouette desired, the shape of the ribcage may be altered as well. However, these effects are only temporary and will be lost on removing the corset. Excessive corset wearing has been claimed to weaken certain muscles, making it more difficult to maintain posture without a corset.

Cathie, from Manteo, North Carolina, reckons that while her corsets restrict her waist they don’t hold her back from everyday tasks. She said “I do everything that I want to do. I eat fairly small meals but I prefer that at my age anyway. I find it tricky sitting in low chairs and sometimes in restaurants I have to sit on the high chairs at the bar. I even have a special swimming costume with a corset sewn in it, so I can still go to the beach. And I am still able to do housework — unfortunately!”

Cathie’s husband Bob is an orthopaedic surgeon and he reckons his wife’s unique look does her no harm. She said “Bob has carried out X-rays on me and says the corset actually helps support my spine. Everything in the midriff is flexible.” Cathie Jung is currently the smallest living person’s waistline listed in the Guinness Book Of Records.

Source : www.cathiejung.com

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Feast on pest

Tired of those termites crawling in your basement, the swarm of bees living in the tree next to your house, and all those pesky bugs you see all around the neighbourhood? Don't have to call the pest experts.

Just go and get a cookbook titled "The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook" released by Chef David George Gordon. Chef Gordon from Atlanta hopes to convince pest experts to try a new philosophy "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em."

Gordon says termites are popular snack foods in Africa and South America because they're high in fiber, protein and have a nice "buttery taste". He figures if Americans can eat sushi, then bugs are the next natural culinary step. But in order to do that, Gordon says the pest experts need a taste of what they're missing.

Gordon makes a convincing case for eating bugs. They're protein rich, and many are loaded with minerals, vitamins and amino acids. Crickets are rich in calcium, termites in iron, and bees have the amino acid lysine. Some bugs even provide the coloring in your favorite drinks. Other recipes includes Crickets, Orzo Pasta seasoned with ants, Scorpion Scaloppini and deep-fried tarantula.

Source : www.davidgeorgegordon.com

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Lucky baby survived from snake bite

A nappy proved to be a life-saver when a venomous snake bit an Israeli infant. The 12-month-old baby, who had been playing in the backyard, was rushed to hospital only after his parents noticed fang marks on the nappy and swelling on his bottom while giving him a bath in the evening.

"He had been bitten by a venomous snake," Dr Kobi Assaf of Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital told Israel Radio. "Luckily, the snake injected its venom into the diaper on coming into contact with it and most of the poison did not penetrate the skin."

Doctors even said there was no need to administer an antidote but the baby would remain in hospital for observation.

Source : www.iol.co.za

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