Aspiring chef dies hours after making ultra-hot sauce for chilli-eating contest

[via dailymail]

An aspiring cook who challenged his friend to a chilli-eating contest died just hours later.

Andrew Lee, 33, had used a bag of home-grown red chillies to make a super-hot sauce.

The forklift truck driver, who had recently passed a medical at work, dared his girlfriend's brother to eat a spoonful - then ate a plateful himself. Shortly after he had a heart attack and died.

Andrew Lee made an ultra-hot sauce with homegrown chillis. The morning after he was found unconscious and paramedics were unable to revive him

Mr Lee took a jar of the sauce to his girlfriend's house last weekend, where he challenged her brother Michael, his family said.

His sister, Claire Chadbourne, 29, explained: 'They had a contest over who could make the hottest chilli sauce.

'Andrew had used chillies to make Thai dishes before but had never made anything this hot.

'My dad grew the chillies especially for Andrew. The contest was planned and he gave them to him.

'Andrew just ate it with a plate of Dolmio. It was not a proper meal because he had already eaten lamb chops and mash after coming home from work. I don't know if Michael ate the chilli sauce as well.'

But as he went to bed after the contest, Mr Lee, of Edlington, Doncaster, had complained of itching, she added.

The next morning, his girlfriend Samantha Bailey, a mother of four, found him unconscious.

She called an ambulance, but paramedics were unable to revive him. Mr Lee was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs Chadbourne added: 'He apparently got into bed at 2.30am and started scratching all over.

'His girlfriend scratched his back until he fell asleep. She woke up and he was dead.

'Who would have thought he could have died from eating chilli sauce? We don't know of anything else that could have caused his death.

'He was perfectly healthy and the post-mortem showed no heart problems.'

She added: 'He loved cooking for his friends and was a good cook. He always said he wanted to be a chef but didn't want to start at the bottom.

'He would do anything for anybody. He never held a grudge and loved fishing and computers.'

Mr Lee's mother, Pamela, 61, said: 'He had used chillies in cooking but never made a sauce like this before.

1'He tested the sauce after making it, stuck his finger in and went to wash it, saying, "Wow, that's hot."

'We don't know what happened to him. Something has given him a cardiac arrest and we can only put it down to the chilli sauce.'

Toxicology tests are under way to see whether Mr Lee had a fatal reaction to the sauce.

Attempts to develop ever hotter varieties of chilli pepper have been condemned by health experts, who warn of potentially lethal effects.

Mild adverse reactions can include burning eyes, a streaming nose and uncontrollable hiccups.

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Mad Science: Nine of the oddest experiments ever

[via newscientist]

1. The 28-hour day

At one time, one of the great unsolved mysteries of sleep research was whether the human sleep–wake rhythm of 24 hours was merely a habit, changeable at any time, or whether people had an internal, hard-wired body clock.

So sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman set out to find a location where there was no difference between day and night.

He found it in a 20-metre wide and 8-metre high rock chamber in the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, where he and his student Bruce Richardson decided to try out a 28-hour day. They would sleep for 9 hours, work for 10 hours and have 9 hours' leisure time.

They spent 32 days in the cave. Richardson adapted to the new cycle after just a week. Kleitman, who was 20 years older, failed to adapt.

Watch some footage from the experiment

2. The psychonaut

To find out what would happen if the brain was cut off from all external stimuli, scientist John Lilly built the first sensory deprivation tank in 1954. Floating in warm water for hours in complete darkness and silence, Lilly began to experience vivid fantasies.

"These are too personal to relate publicly," he reported later. The hallucinations of his test subjects were similarly difficult to categorize scientifically. This was one reason why his research did not take off.

Lilly later gave up scientific research and founded the firm Samadhi Tanks, which manufactured tanks for domestic use. Having became something of a New Age guru, he died in 2001.

One of the few scientific experiments honoured by Hollywood, Lilly's work was the model for the 1980 film Altered States. To no one's surprise, the real experiments were done with much less flashy equipment than that shown in the film. Lilly sometimes had to switch off the light himself and then climb, in complete darkness, into a tank, which was little more than an outsize bathtub.

Watch the title sequence of Altered States, which shows a sophisticated vertical tank that never actually existed

3. Psychology's atom bomb

This is probably the most famous experiment ever not actually done. American market researcher James Vicary claimed that he had exposed the audience in a cinema in Fort Lee, NJ to the secret instructions "Eat Popcorn!" and "Drink Coke!" As a result, the sales of Coca-Cola in the cinema foyer increased by 18.1%, while those of popcorn rose by 57.5%.

Vicary later admitted that the whole story had been fabricated. But it stuck and became an urban myth.

Vicary's experiment had its last major airing to date during the US Presidential elections of 2000, when in a TV advert promoting the Republican candidate George W Bush unseen by viewers, the word "RATS" was flashed up momentarily when a Democrat policy was mentioned. See the ad for yourself: the word appears at 0:25

4. Holidaying in a draught

Being a guinea pig for the British government's Common Cold Unit in 1946 was very popular with students. They saw it as a cheap holiday: getting free accommodation in spacious flats fully equipped with books, games, radio and telephone, and spending your leisure time playing table tennis, badminton, or golf. You even got paid three shillings a day.

The students were instructed to maintain a distance of at least 9 metres from all unprotected persons, other than their flatmates. The unpleasant part of the experiment began when the participants had to spend half an hour in a draughty corridor after taking a hot bath, had to wear wet socks for the rest of the day, and were infected with nasal secretion from a cold sufferer.

To everyone's surprise the experiments demonstrated that the common cold had nothing to do with cold temperatures.

Watch a (hilarious) film about the experiment

5. Remote control bullfight

Spanish neurologist Jose Delgado from Yale University was not only convinced that electrical stimulation of the brain was the key to understanding the biological bases of social behaviour: he was also prepared to prove his case in a rather risky fashion.

On a spring evening in 1964 he came face to face with Lucero, a 250-kilogram fighting bull owned by landowner Ramón Sánchez, who had granted Delgado the use of a small practice ring on his estate of La Almarilla in Córdoba for the experiment.

Lucero lumbered towards him. Delgado pressed a button on the remote control. The radio-controlled electrodes he had placed in the brain a few days before the experiment activated. This instantly dissipated the animal's aggression – Lucero skidded to a halt and trotted off.

Watch a video of Delgado's encounter with the bull

Delgado's experiment was considered newsworthy enough to be published on the front page of the New York Times – ironically only one year after it was actually done.

6. Dogbot meets real Dog

In 2003, researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris tried to find out whether dogs would accept Sony's commercial dogbot AIBO as one of their own. The experiment resulted in a formal scientific publication, "Social behaviour of dogs encountering AIBO, an animal-like robot in a neutral and in a feeding situation", and the insight that the answer is "no".

Watch a video of the experiment

7. A year in bed

It sounds like the ideal job for couch potatoes: in January 1986, 11 men went to bed in Moscow, and didn't get up for the next 370 days. They were washed lying down, and ate, read, watched television and wrote letters in a prone position.

At the time, this was the simplest method to simulate the effects of weightlessness on Earth. But the 370 days this study lasted went way beyond anything that had been done before.

In addition to the medical results, it had unintended consequences. Some marriages did not survive the strain, and one of the men fell in love with a researcher who was working on the project.

Each participant had been promised a car as compensation for his efforts. As former Cosmonaut and director of the study Boris Morukov says, "It was still the Soviet era then, and getting hold of a car wasn't easy." Only one man quit the experiment, after three months – he already owned a car.

8. The Doctor Fox Effect

The lecture that Myron L Fox delivered in 1970 to a crowd of assembled experts had an impressive enough title: "Mathematical game theory as applied to physician education". His polished performance at the annual conference of the University of California School of Medicine's further education program so impressed the audience that nobody noticed that he was an actor, who didn't know the first thing about game theory.

All that Fox had done was to take a scholarly article on game theory and work up a lecture from it that was quite intentionally full of imprecise waffle, invented words and contradictory assertions.

The researchers behind the experiment – John Ware, Donald Naftulin and Frank Donnelly – wanted to find out whether a brilliant delivery technique could so completely bamboozle a group of experts that they overlooked the fact that the content was nonsense. The answer is: yes, it can.

At the beginning of the talk, Fox was nervous because he feared people would see through the ruse and recognise him. After all, he was the actor who played Dr. Benson, the vet who looked after the inspector's dog, in Columbo. But the performance went so well that by the end he was confident enough to take questions from the audience.

A journalist later wrote: "If an actor makes a better teacher, why not a better congressman, or even a better President?" Ten years later Ronald Reagan was elected to the White House.

9. Urine in the web

In 1955, psychiatrists at the Friedmatt Sanatorium and Nursing Home in Basle, Switzerland were trying to find a way to diagnose schizophrenia. They fed urine concentrate from fifteen schizophrenics to spiders and compared the webs that they spun to those constructed by spiders that had been given researchers' urine instead. No systematic differences were found.

However, the researchers found out one thing: concentrated urine "must taste extremely unpleasant, despite all the sugar that was added". The spiders' behaviour left no room for doubt: "After taking just a sip, the spiders exhibited a marked abhorrence for any further contact with this solution.”

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Why you shouldn't propose at a NBA game.

I’ve always wished this would happen when some dork cluelessly tries to be romantic at a sporting event however now that I’ve seen it, I actually feel really bad for this loser. I hope from now on women can appreciate how special it is to be proposed to at half-court in front of 1000’s drunk hot dog and nacho eating fans. Who am I kidding, this is how all woman should reply to this bad idea!



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10 Ways To Rekindle The Magic In Your Relationship

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Are you frustrated that your relationship doesn’t have the magic and romance that it once had?

You’re not alone.

Living with the same partner for a long time can become stable and comfortable, and, as a result, can also kill the spark that made your relationship so special in the first place.

Here are some simple, fun and creative ideas to
reignite that magic:

1. SEND THEM A UNIQUE GIFT

Get a piece of paper and some crayons. Draw a bright childlike picture with a smiley sun and two stick figures holding hands. Add labels with your two names pointing to the stick figures. Write ‘I Love You’ inside a heart. Next get a large formal envelope. Place your drawing inside and type up a formal address label of your partner's workplace, such as: “For the immediate and urgent attention of: Rebecca Jones, Level 20, Collins & Smith Solicitors, New York.” Mail it to your partner so they receive it in the middle of a busy day.

2. BECOME KIDS AGAIN

If you are walking by a park, visit the swings and give your partner a ride. This will often bring
back happy memories from their childhood.

3. FUN WITH WATER

On a hot summer’s day, buy two large water pistols and take them to the beach with you. Pull them out and throw one to your partner and then have a huge water fight.

4. A MASSAGE WITH A TWIST

Buy a small, decorated cardboard box, a sheet of colored tissue paper, some massage oil and a blank card. Line the box with the tissue paper. Place the massage oil in the box and write the following message on the card: I know a great masseur. For an appointment call: (Your Phone Number)

5. BRING BACK CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Contact your partner's family and ask if there was anything she always wanted when she was a little girl. For example if she always wanted a porcelain doll, buy one for her birthday. She will not only appreciate the gift, but also the fact that you were thoughtful enough to find out what she always wanted. You can do this for your man too.

6. STARE AT THE CLOUDS

Drive into the country, find a grassy hill, and lie with your partner and look up at the clouds.

7. WALK ALONG THE BEACH

Trace out the shape of a large love heart in the sand. Sit inside the heart and cuddle your partner
as you watch the sun go down.

8. ORGANIZE A PICNIC ON A WARM SUMMER’S NIGHT

Spread a picnic blanket on the ground and get together some snacks, chocolates and champagne. Lie down on the blanket with your partner and gaze up at the stars together.

9. SHOW YOU’RE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR PARTNER

Leave a long-stem rose where your partner will find it, with a note on it saying: "Thank you for coming into my life."

10. SPICE UP YOUR LOVEMAKING

Probably the most profound way to rekindle the romance in your relationship is to spice up your lovemaking. Surprise your partner with a little gift after you make love, try a new position, learn to give your partner a sensual massage before or after, or just spend some time staring into each other’s eyes and caressing their bare skin before making love.

Many people underestimate the affect passionate and intimate lovemaking has on a relationship. If you spice it up, chances are you and your partner will naturally do romantic things for each other. Why? Because passionate lovemaking connects two people in a meaningful and unexplainable way that nothing else can. [via btr]

About the Author:

Oprah Love Expert Michael Webb is the author of 500 Lovemaking Tips, a book full of ways to spice up your lovemaking, adding more passion, pleasure and intimacy to your experience. Read more

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The World's Weirdest Vending Machines

[via wired]

Today’s news that Best Buy is to put vending machines into airports got me thinking about these automated, mechanical stores. Vending machines can be incredibly useful if they are put in the right place, and sell the right things. They are available 24 hours and can empower even the shyest of shoppers to buy normally embarrassing items (toilet paper, anyone?)

Best Buy has it right, loading up on the kind of things every traveler needs -- cellphone chargers and travel adapters, for example. But for every beverage machine in the gym there is a surreal counterpart, sometimes handy, and sometimes just plain nutty. And as you expect, most of the machines on this list come from the spiritual home of the vending machine: Japan.

Marijuana

Where? California, of course. The marijuana is for medical use, and you can’t just walk in, drop a few coins and roll out with a bag of weed. The machines are situated in dispensaries, and surrounded by armed guards. We suspect the latter is to stop the machines getting ripped off, not to harass the legitimate users.

So how do you get your fix? You need to be preapproved by your doctor and then give a fingerprint. After that you get a card detailing your prescription. Head to the machine, 24-7, and pick up your baggie. Neat, and surprisingly civilized. We hear that the sales in nearby candy machines have almost quadrupled since these were installed.

Convenience rating: If you can remember where it is, 10/10

World’s First Weed ATM [Thrillist]

Umbrellas

This is one of the more sensible machines. Put these at the exits of every Tube station in London and you'd make a killing. This one, from Tokyo, sells two sizes of brolly, although only the small folding one seems to be suited to automatic vending. Even with the long, opening doors on the front, moving umbrellas around the internals of the machine without jamming can't be easy.

Convenience rating: If it's raining, and you can find a working machine, then 9/10

Vending Machines of Japan [Photomann]

Used Panties

You knew this one was coming. The possibly apocryphal machines which dispense sealed tubes of pre-worn schoolgirls' underwear are the most famous kind of automat in the world. According to Snopes, they were real, but only existed for a few short months back in 1993.

The operation was shut down by invoking a law concerning antiques dealers: It said that anybody selling second-hand items needed permission from local authorities. Apparently worn panties can still be had in porn shops, but if you're looking for a more anonymous solution, you're out of luck.

Convenience rating: As finding one will be impossible 0/10

The Love Machine [Snopes]

Photo [Inventorspot]

Eggs

What? Why? Given our criteria for a vending machine to be either very handy or a way to avoid looking a shopkeeper in the eye, the egg vending machine (from Japan, of course) at first looks rather pointless. After all, who needs to make an emergency omelet at 2 a.m.? A closer look shows us that this is simply a high-tech version of the farmer's roadside stall. The farmer fills the refrigerated machine with fresh eggs every morning and passersby can buy them, certain that they are still safe to eat.

Japanese farmers should stop showing off with fancy gadgets though, and take care of the packaging first. These eggs are in bags. C'mon, guys, what about egg boxes? You do have egg boxes, don't you?

Convenience rating: For city dwellers, there's a corner store. For country folk, don't you all keep chickens anyway? 0/10

Egg Vending Machine [Flickr/Josh Berglund]

Books

On the face of it, a book vending machine seems smart. You're stuck in an airport or railway station, your plane/train/automobile is delayed and you have nothing to read. I agree with the commenters on the Flickr page, though: RellyAB says that "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but you haven't got much choice there!"

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Restaurant Charges Guy's Credit Card $858,432 For Sandwich!

[via consumerist]

Sorry PotBelly Sandwich Works customers, you can't order the Chicken Salad Sandwich unless you qualify for a mortgage. Ashley's husband thought his usual lunchtime meal cost $4.23, but, as his wife discovered when trying to pay their credit card bill, the sandwich actually costs $858,432.06. Ashley writes:

My husband works in downtown Minneapolis and has the annoying habit of putting small purchases on his credit card (under $5.00). He patronizes a chain here called PotBelly Sandwich Works, never spending more than $4.50 a pop. Last week I was paying our credit card bill online and noticed we had pending charges of $858,432.06. Yes—almost a million dollars. Needless to say, our credit limit is about $825,000 less than that. We called Chase and were told that the pending charges were indeed correct but that the charge had been rejected. When the rep told us the charge was made by PotBelly, I couldn't help but laugh. There was a charge that same day from PotBelly for $4.23 because my husband had purchased a sandwich, but that was it. The fraud rep said that because the charge was rejected, not to worry about it, but that it wouldn't disappear from our pending column unless PotBelly reversed the charge. There was no mention from the fraud department of canceling our cards and issuing us new ones. When my husband went to PotBelly the next day, they could give us no information. I can't imagine them reversing an $858,000 charge anyway, especially without a receipt (given this was done after my husband had left the premises.) My husband works in IT for a large corporation and thinks this is nothing but a system glitch and doesn't think it's worth pursuing because the charge was rejected.

My question is: what is our next step and what should we be worried about? It sounds as if someone didn't close out a ticket and just kept charging my husband's card. However, there's no way in hell this Potbelly does $858,000 in business in a day—or even a year, I imagine. Anyone who wanted to commit fraud wouldn't, I presume, be so dumb as to charge nearly a million bucks on a personal credit card. The charge is bound to be rejected. I am also disturbed that we did not receive a call from Chase when this charge was put through, but that's a minor quibble at this point. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ashley is covered under the Fair Credit Billing Act, which protects against incorrect charges. The FTC has instructions for formally disputing the charge, but we wouldn't fret. Chase rejected the charge, and even if they hadn't, it wouldn't be a tough charge to reverse. Sure, her husband may have eaten the sandwich, but PotBelly's still hasn't delivered the pool, tennis court, or the several cars that had to have been promised as side dishes.

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Top 10 Ways to Stay Energized

[via lifehacker]

Even if you're a hyper-organized, task-oriented worker with an expansive mind and endless ambition, you won't get a lot done if your mind and body are demanding you curl up and doze off. Luckily, you can overcome a late night of net surfing, a rough morning, or just the post-lunch stupor without becoming an over-wired mess. We've put together 10 of the best ways to jumpstart your brain and get back into a productive groove, and all of them are tricks you can put to work this Monday. Photo by neps.

10. Make your own energy products.

If you're going to resort to a brick of grains and protein to give you short-term "power" or "energy," you may as well have it be cheap—and tastier than those foil-wrapped roofing tiles. Same goes for re-hydrating drinks, which can be easily mixed at home. Foodie extraordinaire Alton Brown has recipes for three different home-baked bars, as does About.com's Sports Medicine section. Of course, there's always the free stuff flowing from the tap for true replenishment.

9. Listen to brain-stretching music.

Among other tips offered up by software programmer Brad Isaac for beating "brain drain," the exhaustion that comes from sustained concentration, is working a little Mozart or Bach into your playlist. There's no overly hook-y melody to pull your mind away, and the harmony of so many instruments together relaxes your mind. Strings and brass not your thing? Try the non-intrusive, up-tempo ambient of Groove Salad.

8. Deal with job burnout.

Even if you're generally happy with your job, the people you work with, and the work you're doing, small annoyances and responsibilities can build up over time, until a dark, angry cloud hangs over you seven and a half hours per day. Seriously—feeling overwhelmed by your tasks was the second most frequent response in our poll on energy zappers. The Simple Dollar blog recommends scheduling an immediate vacation to take care of piling-up home stuff and set your mind free. Web Worker Daily suggests finding a new project. However you handle burnout, keeping an even head about your job gives you a lot more energy to spend on stuff that's a lot more fun.

7. Schedule around your energy peaks.

Writer and speaker Michelle Dunn describes herself as "very organized," but there are times of the day she just can't be productive. So when she's about to hit a lull—like right after lunch—she schedules errands and tackles non-thinking tasks, and otherwise schedules around her energy. Of course, not everybody can just run off to Target whenever they're feeling blah, so 43 Folders honcho Merlin Mann explains subtle ways to work inside your schedule.

6. Get outside—even if it's cloudy.

Even if you live in one of those areas with perma-gray skies for two-thirds of the year, getting outside every day can give you a vitamin D boost and the resulting mood and energy improvements. The National Institutes of Health recommends getting 10 to 15 minutes of sun each day, and a layer of sunscreen if you're getting more. Even better, you get away from the screens, voicemails, and low-level humming of the office.

5. Crank out some morning exercises.

You know those mornings where you have to get right up and do something with a deadline? The groans about coffee and sleep fall away, and you usually get it done. Give yourself a now-now-now pushup cycle right after your breakfast, and you might just shake off your sluggish self-doubt and get moving. If you're looking to get more out of your morning time, personal trainer Dan Boyle offers a two and a half minute core routine that'll definitely leave you aware that you're awake. Photo by whyld.

4. Eat the right nutrition mix.

Sugar and bread give you a quick jolt of energy, but ultimately result in an insulin-powered crash later in the day. Too much meat doesn't give you enough of the quick-firing stuff. Balancing out your lunch, instead of just eating leftover pasta, can have a big impact on your day, according to the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source. As Lifehacker guest editor (and current io9 editor) Annalee Newitz puts it:

Remember, carbs come in fruits and veggies as well as grains. And you can get protein from meat, dairy, fish, eggs and beans (like soy or pinto). The perfect lunch might be veggies with fish (mmm, nicoise salad, anyone?), and the best snack an apple with a little cheese.

It's also not a bad idea to keep the heavy meals for morning to ensure better sleeping patterns.

3. Put your senses to work.

If you're stuck at work after a rough night, chances are you'll be staring at a hypnotizing screen or look-alike paperwork and finding it hard to stay awake. WikiHow suggests a multi-sensory assault on your tired self. Try scenting yourself awake with some essential oils of (or just strong scent of) peppermint or rosemary, or target the alertness-sparking stress points like your earlobes and the skin between your thumb and forefinger. Keep yourself a little chilly, and try to move around a bit—it's your best shot at not having the boss notice you haven't said a word since 9AM. Photo by cote.

2. Switch from venti to smaller caffeine doses.

Slamming half a carafe of coffee to get alert and productive is kind of like pounding a six-pack to get social and funny—you're going to miss your mark, in often painful ways. Research suggests that small, frequent doses of caffeine—like tea breaks, caffeinated mints, and even chocolate—do a better job of keeping your brain from feeling fatigued than jitter-inducing java. Of course, if you've got the willpower and patience, you could also just drink half-cups of coffee more frequently. Photo by ToOb.

1. Master the power nap.

Taking a nap isn't calling it quits on getting energized—it's just running a quick defrag on your neural drive and rebooting. We've covered the ins and outs of napping pretty thoroughly here, but if you need a quick take-away, try the Boston Globe's comprehensive cheat sheet. If shut-eye alone can't bring you back, try a coffee-charged caffeine nap.

How do you keep your energy levels high and even throughout the day? What do you do when you need a recharge? Tell us your own tips and tricks in the comments.

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The 16 Worst Places for Your Health

[via aolhealth]

Location, location, location

Store owners aren't the only ones concerned with finding the perfect spot in which to situate their stuff. Researchers in a wide variety of fields know that how you organize your environment--from where you stand in fitness class to the place you choose to store your meds--has a surprising effect on everything from your weight to your chances of staying well. In other words, when it comes to how you feel, it's not just what you do, it's where you do it. Here, surprisingly bad locales for your health--and the best places to optimize it.

1. The worst place to sit on an airplane

The rear: Avoid this section if you're prone to airsickness, says retired United Airlines pilot Meryl Getline, who operates the aviation Web site fromthecockpit.com. "Think of a seesaw," Getline says. "The farther from the center you are, the more up-and-down movement you experience." Because the tail of the plane tends to be longer than the front, "that's the bumpiest of all," she says. "The smoothest option is sitting as close to the wing as you can."

2. The worst stall to pick in a public restroom

The one in the middle: The center stall has more bacteria than those on either end, according to unpublished data collected by Gerba. No, you won't catch an STD from a toilet seat. But you can contract all manner of ills if you touch a germy toilet handle and then neglect to wash your hands thoroughly.

3. The worst place for your toothbrush

On the bathroom sink: There's nothing wrong with the sink itself--but it's awfully chummy with the toilet. There are 3.2 million microbes per square inch in the average toilet bowl, according to germ expert Chuck Gerba, PhD, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona. When you flush, aerosolized toilet funk is propelled as far as 6 feet, settling on the floor, the sink, and your toothbrush. "Unless you like rinsing with toilet water, keep your toothbrush behind closed doors--in the medicine cabinet or a nearby cupboard," Gerba says.

4. The worst place for your sneakers and flip-flops

In the bedroom closet: Walking through your house in shoes you wear outside is a great way to track in allergens and contaminants. A 1999 study found that lawn chemicals were tracked inside the house for a full week after application, concentrated along the traffic route from the entryway. Shoes also carry in pollen and other allergens. Reduce exposure by slipping off rough-and-tumble shoes by the door; store them in a basket or under an entryway bench. If your pumps stay off the lawn, they can make the trip to the bedroom--otherwise, carry them.

5. The worst place to try to fall asleep

Under piles of blankets: Being overheated can keep you from nodding off, researchers say: A natural nighttime drop in your core temperature triggers your body to get drowsy. To ease your way to sleep, help your body radiate heat from your hands and feet, says Helen Burgess, PhD, assistant director of the Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Don socks to dilate the blood vessels in the extremities--then take the socks off and let a foot stick out from under the blankets.

6. The worst place to cool leftovers

In the refrigerator: Placing a big pot of hot edibles directly into the fridge is a recipe for uneven cooling and possibly food poisoning, says O. Peter Snyder Jr., PhD, president of the Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management in St. Paul, MN. It can take a long time for the temperature in the middle of a big container to drop, creating a cozy environment for bacteria. You can safely leave food to cool on the counter for up to an hour after cooking, Snyder says. Or divvy up hot food into smaller containers and then refrigerate--it'll cool faster.
7. The worst place to keep medicine

The medicine cabinet: It's not uncommon for the temp in a steamy bathroom to reach 100F--well above the recommended storage temperatures for many common drugs. The cutoff for the popular cholesterol drug Lipitor, for instance, is around 77F. To stay out of the red zone, store your meds in a cool, dry place, such as the pantry.

8. The worst place to pick up a prescription

The pharmacy drive-thru: In a survey of 429 pharmacists, respondents ranked drive-thru windows high among distracting factors that can lead to prescription processing delays and errors, says survey author Sheryl Szeinbach, PhD, professor of pharmacy practice and administration at Ohio State University. If you don't want to give up the convenience of a rolling pickup, be sure to check that both drug and dose are what the doctor ordered.

9. The worst place to set your handbag

The kitchen counter: Your fancy handbag is a major tote for microbes: Gerba and his team's swabs showed up to 10,000 bacteria per square inch on purse bottoms--and a third of the bags tested positive for fecal bacteria! A woman's carryall gets parked in some nasty spots: on the floor of the bus, beneath the restaurant table--even on the floor of a public bathroom. Put your bag in a drawer or on a chair, Gerba says--anywhere except where food is prepared or eaten.

10. The worst place for your coffee

The refrigerator or freezer: Think that you're preserving freshness by stashing it in the fridge? Think again. Every time you take it out of the fridge or freezer, you expose it to fluctuating temperatures, which produces condensation. "The moisture leeches out flavor--it's like brewing a cup of coffee each time," says John McGregor, PhD, a professor in the department of food science and human nutrition at Clemson University. The best spot to store beans or grounds: in an opaque, airtight container kept on the counter or in the pantry.

11. The worst place to stand during your first few fitness classes

Front and center: You might think that you'd want to be near the mirrors so you can check your form, but your sweat session will be more motivating if your view is obstructed, suggests a 2003 study at McMasters University. In that research, 58 sedentary women all exercised at similar intensity levels. But those who did it in a mirrored room reported feeling more anxious about their body's imperfections after their workout than women who sweated without mirrors distracting them.

12. The worst place to use earbuds or headphones

On an airplane, train, or subway: Sure, music's a better traveling companion than your seatmate's cell phone conversation. But studies show that if you listen through a headset in a noisy environment, you probably crank the volume too high. Harvard researchers found that in reasonably quiet surroundings, volunteers tended to keep the volume at an ear-friendly level. But when the researchers added background noise--the loud rumble of an airplane cabin--80% boosted the volume as high as 89 decibels, a level that risks long-term hearing damage. If you must have music, consider noise-canceling headphones--only 20% of listeners in the study who used a set got close to the danger zone. Two good options: Sony MDR-EX51LP ($40; sonystyle.com) and Etymotic Research ER-6i ($149; etymotic.com).

13. The worst place to set fruit before washing it

The kitchen sink: Of all the household germ depots, the kitchen sink sees the most bacterial traffic--even more than the toilet, says Kelly Reynolds, PhD, a professor and environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona. If the perfect berry drops while you're washing it, pop it in the trash--not your mouth.
14. The worst place for a nighttime reading light

Overhead: These fixtures put out relatively bright light--enough to significantly delay the body's secretion of melatonin, showed a 2000 study. That can wreck your night, since rising melatonin levels are a major cue for your body to prepare for sleep. A low-power light clipped to your novel will let you read but leave the room dark enough for your brain to transition into sleep mode. Try the LightWedge ($25 to $35; lightwedge.com) or the "Itty Bitty" Slim Book Light ($40; zelco.com).

15. The worst place for a workout reminder

Stuck on your post-it laden fridge: A visual nudge can help--but only if you notice it, says Paddy Ekkekakis, PhD, an exercise psychologist at Iowa State University. In one study, a sign urging people to use the stairs rather than the nearby escalator increased the number of people who climbed on foot by nearly 200%. Put your prompt near a decision point, Ekkekakis says--keep your pile of Pilates DVDs next to the TV; put a sticky note on your steering wheel to make sure you get to your after-work kickboxing class. Just remember: The boost you get from a reminder is usually short-term, so change the visuals often.

16. The worst place for your TV

Wherever you dine: Studies show that distraction is your waistline's enemy--it can keep you from noticing how much you're eating. In a 2006 study, volunteers ate faster when watching TV than while listening to music--consuming 71% more macaroni and cheese when watching a show. If you have the tube on while cooking, turn it off before dinner at the kitchen table, and avoid being tempted into eating in front of the TV in the living room. The best place for your television: up or down a flight of stairs, so you have to "work" to get a snack--you'll be much less likely to munch.

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The Earth's 6th Great Mass Extinction is Occurring as You Read This

[via dailygalaxy]

"In one sense we know much less about Earth than we do about Mars. The vast majority of life forms on our planet are still undiscovered, and their significance for our own species remains unknown. This gap in our knowledge is a serious matter: we will never completely understand and preserve the living world around us at our present level of ignorance.

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos."

Edward O. Wilson, The world's leading authority on Biodiversity, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Harvard and author of "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth."

There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past, the most devasting being the Third major Extinction (c. 245 mya), the Permian, where 54% of the planet's species families lost. As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is currently losing something on the order of 30,000 species per year -- which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour. Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis -- this "Sixth Extinction" -- is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed.

With the human population expected to reach 9-10 billion by the end of the century and the planet in the middle of its sixth mass extinction — this time due to human activity — the next few years are critical in conserving Earth’s precious biodiversity. The cause of the Sixth Extinction, Homo sapiens, means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part.

At a casual glance, the physically caused extinction events of the past might seem to have little or nothing to tell us about the current Sixth Extinction, which is a human-caused event. For there is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through transformation of the landscape, overexploitation of species, pollution, and the introduction of alien species

The Sixth Extinction can be characterized as the first recorded global extinction event that has a biotic, rather than a physical, cause, due to massive asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions. Yet, looking deeper, human impact on the planet is a similar to the Cretaceous cometary collision. Sixty-five million years ago that extraterrestrial impact -- through its sheer explosive power, followed immediately by its injections of so much debris into the upper reaches of the atmosphere that global temperatures plummeted and, most critically, photosynthesis was severely inhibited -- wreaked havoc on the living systems of Earth, which is precisely what we are doing to the planet right now.

Phase two of the Sixth Extinction began around 10,000 years ago with the invention of agriculture-perhaps first in the Natufian culture of the Middle East. Agriculture appears to have been invented several different times in various different places, and has, in the intervening years, spread around the entire globe.

Agriculture, which began around 10,000 years ago in the Natufian culture of the Middle East, is a major engine driving the Sixth Extinction, represents the single most profound ecological change in the entire 3.5 billion-year history of life. With its invention humans did not have to interact with other species for survival, and so could manipulate other species for their own use nor did humans have to adhere to the ecosystem's carrying capacity, and so could overpopulate

Homo sapiens became the first species to stop living inside local ecosystems. All other species, including our ancestral hominid ancestors, all pre-agricultural humans, and remnant hunter-gatherer societies still extant exist as semi-isolated populations playing specific roles (i.e., have "niches") in local ecosystems. This is not so with post-agricultural revolution humans, who in effect have stepped outside local ecosystems. Indeed, to develop agriculture is essentially to declare war on ecosystems - converting land to produce one or two food crops, with all other native plant species all now classified as unwanted "weeds" -- and all but a few domesticated species of animals now considered as pests.

Yet, upon further reflection, human impact on the planet is a direct analogue of the Cretaceous cometary collision. Sixty-five million years ago that extraterrestrial impact -- through its sheer explosive power, followed immediately by its injections of so much debris into the upper reaches of the atmosphere that global temperatures plummeted and, most critically, photosynthesis was severely inhibited -- wreaked havoc on the living systems of Earth. That is precisely what human beings are doing to the planet right now: humans are causing vast physical changes on the planet.

"The comparison I make between these big extinction events, prehistoric meteorite-caused or natural event-caused extinctions and the present one," says E.O. Wilson, "is parallel to the difference between a heart attack and cancer. We understand that what we are doing is a slow but insidious, and only can be seen when you lay it out over the whole world over a period of decades. The hopeful thing about it is that this cancer can be treated. A lot of damage has been done, and it can be dangerous to us if we really just go on until half the species of organisms are extinct forever. Or we can halt the hemorrhaging.

"In terms of scale, it’s hard to put a figure on it," Wilson adds: "We’re in a pronounced early stage of an extinction event that would probably be, by the end of this century if human activities continue unabated, right up to the Cretaceous level. We’re part way there. Whether you can say its 10 percent there or 25 percent there, a lot of it depends on the organisms you’re talking about. One estimate has it that, particularly when you throw in the mass extinction of the Pacific Island birds, which are the most vulnerable on Earth, something like 20 percent of bird species has been extinguished by human activities."

Biocide is occurring at an alarming rate. Experts say that at least half of the world’s current species will be completely gone by the end of the century. Wild plant-life is also disappearing. Most biologists say that we are in the midst of an anthropogenic mass extinction. Numerous scientific studies confirm that this phenomenon is real and happening right now. Should anyone really care? Will it impact individuals on a personal level? Scientists say, “Yes!”

Critics argue that species disappear and new ones emerge all the time. That’s true, if you’re speaking in terms of millennia. Scientists acknowledge that species disappear at an estimated rate of one species per million per year, with new species replacing the lost ones at around the same rate. Recently humans have accelerated the extinction rate to where several entire species are annihilated every single day. The death toll artificially caused by humans is mind-boggling. Nature will take millions of years to repair what we destroy in just a few decades.

A recent analysis, published in the journal Nature, shows that it takes 10 million years before biological diversity even begins to approach what existed before a die-off. Over 10,000 scientists in the World Conservation Union have compiled data showing that currently 51 per cent of known reptiles, 52 per cent of known insects, and 73 per cent of known flowering plants are in danger along with many mammals, birds and amphibians. It is likely that some species will become extinct before they are even discovered, before any medicinal use or other important features can be assessed. The cliché movie plot where the cure for cancer is about to be annihilated is more real than anyone would like to imagine.

Research done by the American Museum of Natural History found that the vast majority of biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal threat to human existence, and is even more serious of an environmental problem than one of its contributors- global warming. The research also found that the average person woefully underestimates the dangers of mass extinction. Powerful industrial lobbies would like people to believe that we can survive while other species are quickly and quietly dying off. Irresponsible governments and businesses would have people believe that we don’t need a healthy planet to survive- even while human cancer rates are tripling every decade.

A lot of us heard about the recent extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin. It was publicized because dolphins are cute and smart, and we like dolphins. We were sort of sad that we humans were single-handedly responsible for destroying the entire millions-of-years-old species in just a few years through rampant pollution. Unfortunately the real death toll is so much higher than we hear on the news. Only a few endangered “celebrity favorites” get any notice at all.

Since animals and plants exist in symbiotic relationships to one another, extinction of one species is likely to cause ”co-extinctions”. Some species directly affect the health of hundreds of other species. There is always some kind of domino effect. This compounding process occurs with frightening speed. That makes rampant extinction similar too disease in the way that it spreads. Sooner or later- if gone unchecked- humans may catch it too.

Amphibians are a prime example at how tinkering with the environment can cause rapid animal death. For over 300 million years frogs, salamanders, newts and toads were hardy enough to precede and outlive the dinosaurs up until the present time. Now, within just two decades many amphibians are disappearing. Scientists are alarmed at how one seemingly robust species of amphibians will suddenly disappear within a few months.

The causes of biocide are a hodge-podge of human environmental “poisons” which often work synergistically, including a vast array of pollutants, pesticides, a thinning ozone layer which increases ultra-violet radiation, human induced climate change, habitat loss from agriculture and urban sprawl, invasions of exotic species introduced by humans, illegal and legal wildlife trade, light pollution, and man-made borders among other many other causes.

Is there a way out? The answer is yes and no. We’ll never regain the lost biodiversity-at least not within a fathomable time period, but there are ways to prevent a worldwide bio collapse, but they all require immediate action. Wilson, and other scientists point out that the world needs international cooperation in order to sustain ecosystems, since nature is unaware of artificially drawn borders. Humans love to fence off space they’ve claimed as their own. Sadly, a border fence often has terrible ecological consequences. One fence between India and Pakistan cuts off bears and leopards from their feeding habitats, which is causing them to starve to death. Starvation leads to attacks on villagers, and more slaughtering of the animals.

Some of the most endangered wildlife species live right in between the borderland area of the US and Mexico. These indigenous animals don’t know that they now live between two countries. They were here long before the people came and nations divided, but they will not survive if we cut them off from their habitat. The Sky Islands is one of many areas smack in the middle of this boundary where some of North America's most threatened wildlife is found. Jaguars, bison, and Wolves have to cross through international terrain in the course of their life's travels in order to survive. Unfortunately, illegal Mexican workers cross here too. People who know nothing of the wildlife’s biological needs want to create a large fence to keep out Mexicans, regardless of the fact that a fence would devastate these already fragile animal populations.

Wilson says the time has come to start calling the "environmentalist view" the "real-world view". We can’t ignore reality simply because it doesn’t conform nicely within convenient boundaries and moneymaking strategies. What good will all of our money and conveniences do for us, if we collectively destroy the necessities of life?

There is hope, but it requires radical changes. Many organizations are lobbying for that change. One group trying to salvage ecosystems is called The Wildlands Project, a conservation group spearheading the drive to reconnect the remaining wildernesses. The immediate goal is to reconnect wild North America in four broad "mega-linkages". Within each mega-linkage, mosaics of public and private lands, which would provide safe migrations for wildlife, would connect core areas. Broad, vegetated overpasses would link wilderness areas normally split by roads. They will need cooperation from local landowners and government agencies.

It is a radical vision to many people, and the Wildlands Project expects that it will take at least 100 years to complete. Even so, projects like this, on a worldwide basis, may be humanity’s best chance of saving what’s left of the planets eco-system, and the human race along with it.

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Music for only $0.14/song at SoundsBox!

[via stereotune]

SoundsBox is a relatively new music site starting in late June 2007. With its friendly customer service and their willingness to please the customer, this shop is a standout with me. I look forward to their daily new arrivals, because they are usually different than other sites that I go to. They also have very prompt arrivals of new releases in mainstream as well as independent releases.

The site’s goals are to offer quality downloads at the cheapest prices possible, to maintain site availability to their customers and they are proud of their prompt releases on new material.

Pricing / Payment Options / Bonus Schemes

SoundsBox has a very fair pricing policy at only 14 cents a download, with a 10% added bonus, if you buy the whole album. They will also give you up to 45% bonus on $100 deposit. At the present time they are accepting Master Card and Visa credit cards as payment.

Music Catalogue

When looking for a music site my first criteria is its catalogue. The catalogue of Soundsbox consists of 35,100 artists, 2,000,000 songs and 142,500 albums.

They also have many new independent releases that I also see on eMusic, as well as very prompt releases of all the mainstream releases that I am also interested in. This, to me, creates a well balanced catalogue that keeps me going there daily, keeps me interested and draws me in.

Audio Formats / Bit Rates

SoundsBox has a sampler that samples in full quality 90 seconds - but as of now only works properly in IE. They have said they will fix this to work in Firefox as well. Until then you can use the Firefox add-on: IE Tab to make the site fully functional.

The site administrators say that their average download is 192 vbr. It varies on some of the older titles but on newer titles I see more consistency in quality.

Personally, to my ears, their downloads all sound of good quality, which says to me that they use excellent source material. Most importantly their downloads are DRM free, which means you can use them anywhere you choose.

Interface

SoundsBox is an attractive site but with a bit too much flash content for my taste. It has an interface that helps you find the contents of its catalogue. You must point and click to a letter in the alphabet and it will take you to all the artists under that chosen letter. Unfortunately you can not input an artist or an album in the search box, because it does not work properly. I have been told that this will be fixed at the end of the year, when they intend to make site upgrades.

Another way to search is by genre: click on the browse by genre tab and you will be taken to another page with various genres and sub genres, a quite impressive list. On that page you will also find new releases. I prefer to have the new releases on the front page, because this is one of the great draws to this site.

On the album page you can find out such information as release date, total time, genre, time, file size and bit rate. Everything you need to know before making a purchase. One small problem is that I find page loading is a little slow with IE. Using Firefox will speed up your page loading, when visiting Soundsbox.

Support / Assistance

The assistance at Soundsbox is excellent and very responsive. I like that “hands on” approach to customer service. When you make a request, usually in a day or so, you will see it appear on the site. You feel that you are being listened to, and at the same time help to develop the site into a place you want to visit.

Technical questions and results may take a little longer; but from personal experience I can tell you, it will be worked out. This is one of the reasons, I am such a big fan of the site.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a music site that offers great new diverse releases, great customer service and music at a great price, then Soundsbox is a place you might like to spend some time with. They are a relatively new site, so I’m personally looking forward to their future development and growth. I know if they continue on their current path, we (the music lovers) have a great deal to look forward to.

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Anti-suicide barriers on Japanese train lines

"Newer train lines in Japan have suicide prevention platforms. 5-foot walls span the entire platform, with doors that only open when the train has safely stopped at the station. Jumping in front of a moving train is one of the most common suicide methods in Japan—it was, at least, until people started spreading information on how to gas themselves at home."

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[via TokyoMango]

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1996 McDonalds Hamburger - Unchanged because of preservatives

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This is a hamburger from McDonalds that I purchased in 1996.



That was 12 years ago.

Note that it looks exactly like it did the very day I bought it.

The flecks on the bun are crumbs from the bun.

The burger is starting to crumble a bit

It has the oddest smell.

The paper and bag in the backround is circa 2008 - to add decor to the photo. My friend Robyn's idea.




This is the retro welch's grape juice plastic container I have always kept it in. People always ask me - what did you do to preserve it ?

Nothing - it preserved itself.

Ladies, Gentleman, and children alike - this is a chemical food. There is absolutely no nutrition here.

Not one ounce of food value. Or at least value for why we are eating in the first place.




The burger on the right, off the paper is a 2008 burger. I had to buy it to get the groovy paper and bag.

The meat is a tad darker, the bun a little less golden but in 12 years it will look exactly like that too.

Do you find this horrifying?

McDonalds fills an empty space in your belly. It does nothing to nourish the cell, it is not a nutritious food.

It is not a treat.

I marvel at how McDonalds has infiltrated our entire world. A hamburger here tastes exactly the same in China or some around the world place.

It's cloned.

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Do me a favor and share this. [via BoME]

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50 tools to speed up your PC

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Is your PC tired and sluggish? Has its get up and go got up and went? If you want a faster system, you could certainly break the bank and buy a new machine. Or you could read this article instead.

We've found 50 downloads that will make your PC run more quickly and smoothly, help you use the Internet more effectively, and push Windows to work at optimum speed with the interface you want, not what Microsoft gave you.

Most of these downloads are free to use forever; some are free to try, but require that you pay for them after a trial period (we've labeled each download accordingly). You won't have to search high and low on the Internet to find them; they're all available from the PC World Downloads library.

What are you waiting for? Get downloading; you're minutes away from a spiffier, faster system.

General Tune-Up Tools

Sometimes the best way to optimize your PC is to use all-in-one tune-up tools that offer a slew of utilities, ranging from file cleanup to Registry cleaners and beyond. Here are some of our favorites.

Advanced WindowsCare V2 Personal

This great free all-in one tool straightens out your Registry, handles Windows startup programs, erases your surfing history, removes spyware and protects you from future infections, and gives your system an all-around optimization.

Be sure to tell the program to create a restore point before it goes to work. And examine, closely, what it will do in its overall system optimization. Apart from that, just direct the program to scan your system, see what it wants to do, and let it do its business.

Download Advanced WindowsCare V2 Personal | Price: Free

TuneUp Utilities

This all-around degunker and system cleaner will sweep away unneeded files, control which programs run on startup, undelete, and even completely destroy unwanted files to protect your privacy.

Download TuneUp Utilities | Price: US$50 (Trial)

WinSettings Pro

With this tool you can kill junk files, duplicate files, and Internet tracks. It also includes a good cookie cleaner that displays all your cookies, lists their contents, and then lets you eliminate ones you don't want. Features beyond system cleaning include Registry tools that claim to speed up Internet access. And how about a screen-capture program and wallpaper randomizer on top of that?

Download WinSettings Pro | Price: $50 (Shareware)

Super Utilities

Given that Super Utilities has 27 tools for cleaning and optimizing your PC, you're sure to find a module that you want. Included are a startup organizer, a Registry cleaner, defragmentation tools, antispyware features, and much more.

Download Super Utilities | Price: $60 (Trial)

Glary Utilities

This excellent no-cost tool promises one-click cleanup and optimization, and it delivers. It scans your system for problems with the Registry, shortcuts, startup programs, and spyware, and then gives you the option of which to clean up. It also deletes traces of your Internet surfing and erases temporary files. Optimization doesn't get simpler than this.

Download Glary Utilities | Price: Free

Application and Startup Optimization

System sluggishness is often the result of problems with the applications you run. Are they outdated and in need of patching? Do too many run in the background? Use the following utilities to solve those problems and others.

Secunia PSI

If you make sure that all of your applications are patched and up-to-date, they'll run faster and be more secure--and so will your PC on the whole. Unfortunately, visiting the Web site for each of your applications can be so time-consuming that you'll never get around to doing it. Grab this freebie instead. It scans your system, lists all of your applications, and then regularly checks for security patches. When it finds a new patch, it applies the fix.

Download Secunia PSI | Price: Free

PC Decrapifier

One likely reason your system is sluggish is that it's bedeviled by "craplets"--software that your PC maker installed because it was paid to. Craplets slow down startup and general operation.

This free software removes dozens of unwanted items automatically. It zaps only a specific set of craplets and trialware programs: Those that are specifically put on new PCs, such as QuickBooks Trial, Wild Tangent Games, Dell URL Assistant, and others. (For a full list, go to the PC Decrapifier site.) Before you use this utility, create a restore point in case it kills something you wanted to keep.

Download PC Decrapifier | Price: Free

Autoruns

Unnecessary services and applications that run whenever you start your PC or log in to it are a big cause of system slowdowns. Unfortunately, it's tough to identify every item that starts up, because nothing in Windows gives you such information. That's why you need this free tool. It displays every program and service running and offers a great deal of detail about each, such as associated .dll files, the program or service name, and its location on your PC. With that knowledge, you can decide what you don't want to run on startup.

Download Autoruns | Price: Free

Security Task Manager

Similar to Autoruns, this excellent tool shows you every running program and process. The utility also indicates whether the program is likely malicious, its type, how it launched (for example, upon startup or from within Windows Explorer), and the file name. It lets you delete any program and process with a single click. It also rates files according to how harmless or dangerous they may be. To stop a program, highlight it, click Remove, and you're done.

Download Security Task Manager | Price: $29 (Trial)

WinPatrol

This very good all-around system optimizer frees your PC of unnecessary programs that run on startup and keeps it clean of spyware and other malware. Whenever a program tries to start automatically, WinPatrol sends you an alert so you can block it. In addition, it shows details about the program, including the creator, when the program was added, the file name, and so on. The Delayed Start feature allows you to put off the launch of certain programs for up to an hour. That way, you'll still have access to the program when you need it.

Download WinPatrol | Price: Free

Foxit Reader

Strictly speaking, this isn't an optimization tool because it doesn't clean your system or tune it up. But it does eliminate a cause of system slowdowns and instability for many people: buggy, bloated Adobe Reader software for reading PDF files.

The free Foxit Reader is smaller, loads quickly, doesn't take up unnecessary memory, and has no instability issues. So if Adobe Reader slows your system down, this is a great alternative.

Download Foxit Reader | Price: Free

Norton Removal Tool

Some Norton products, especially the security suites, are notorious for taking up far too many system resources and too much RAM. Removing them completely can be tough, but this free tool from Norton does the trick. Copy down your product key before removing them in case you want to reinstall.

Download Norton Removal Tool | Price: Free

McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool

Like Norton products, some McAfee utilities can consume serious amounts of system resources. To remove them from your system, use this free tool.

Download McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool | Price: Free

Hard-Disk Cleaning and Backup

Your hard disk is clogged with files you no longer need. They occupy precious space and could possibly slow your system. Get rid of them with these optimization tools, which include a very good backup program.

CCleaner

This is probably the best tool you can find for cleaning your system and thereby optimizing your PC. It scrubs temporary Internet files, the history list, cookies, autocomplete entries, the thumbnail cache, unneeded file fragments, temporary files--the list goes on. It also includes a Registry optimizer and uninstall tools, and eliminates traces that applications leave behind

Download CCleaner | Price: Free

Duplicate Music Files

If you have a big MP3 or media files collection, you likely have many duplicates and don't realize it. The excess files hog hard-disk space and junk up your media library. Finding duplicates can be difficult, though, because the same piece of music or media may have different file names. This freebie searches for more than file names, as it compares file sizes, does error checks, and even examines ID3 tags to track down duplicates and delete them.

Download Duplicate Music Files | Price: Free

Easy Duplicate File Finder

Looking to clean all sorts of duplicate files? This tool does the job for you. It scans your system, gives you a full report, and lets you clean either in bulk or just selected files. It also allows you to protect system files so that you don't accidentally delete any important ones that your PC needs to run.

Download Easy Duplicate File Finder | Price: Free

NovaBackup Professional

Backup software may be the most overlooked optimization tool of all. When something goes wrong with your system, you'll want a way to recover files and restore your machine to a working state. This software does a great job, and can restore individual files, folders, or a whole disk.

Download NovaBackup Professional | Price: $50 (Trial)

Internet and Network Tune-Up

Want to compare storage products? Visit the IT Buyer's Guides now.

Want to get more out of the Internet and your network? These tools will speed up downloads, help you find fast Wi-Fi, peer into your home network, and more.

Spiceworks IT Desktop

If you're like many people and have more than one PC connected to a network, you may be looking for a tool to help get the most out of your network. This free software scans your network, identifies every device on it, and displays detailed information about each. In addition, it lists all applications and operating systems, and sends you a variety of warnings, such as when antivirus definitions are out-of-date or new software is installed. Though this software is free, it displays ads. To get rid of the promos, you'll have to pay $20 per month.

Download Spiceworks IT Desktop | Price: Free

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor

Want to optimize your use of Wi-Fi hotspots? Give this free Vista gadget a try. It runs in the sidebar and displays information about your current Wi-Fi connection, as well as nearby hotspots. You'll be able to see how strong or weak your connection is compared with others, and find information such as your IP address, MAC address, and signal strength.

Download Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor | Price: Free

Expired Cookies Cleaner

Your PC has dozens and dozens of cookies that Web sites use for things such as automatically logging you in or remembering how you've customized the way they work. Cookies typically have time-out dates, after which they won't work, but even then they stay on your PC, clogging it up. This free little utility finds expired cookies and deletes them. No fuss, no muss--they're gone.

Download Expired Cookies Cleaner | Price: Free

HackCleaner

This excellent freebie cleans many different types of Internet junk, including cookies, temporary files, and Browser Helper Objects. The program also includes a security feature that will block Browser Helper Objects from being installed on your PC.

Download HackCleaner | Price: Free

Download Accelerator Plus

People who live to download will want this free program, which optimizes every aspect of the downloading process. It splits individual downloads into pieces and downloads them all simultaneously from the fastest servers it can find. It's extremely easy to use and integrates with your browser, so when you initiate a file download, it automatically launches. You can also manually add downloads to the program.

The utility restarts interrupted downloads, and pauses and resumes downloads. Its history manager shows all the files you've ever downloaded, plus their size and where they downloaded on your hard disk. It has a lot more features, as well--and you can't beat the free price.

Download Download Accelerator Plus | Price: Free

FlashGet

Yet another excellent optimization tool for downloaders, FlashGet speeds up downloads and helps organize them while keeping you safe. The program searches for downloads via numerous protocols, including HTTP, FTP, and eMule. It's good for managing downloads, too, allowing you to delete files from within the program.

Download FlashGet | Price: Free

Browser Optimization

Want to make your browser run better and give it new capabilities, including optimizing the way you browse the Web? Check out these browser utilities.

Adblock Pro

Here's a great way to optimize your use of Internet Explorer. (Be aware that this tool works only with IE.) It blocks ads of all kinds, including banner, Flash-based, and embedded. You have plenty of configuration options, too, such as the ability to have it display ads only from specific domains or pages. If you turn on the Flash blocker, you won't be able to view YouTube videos, so you may want to instruct the program to display Flash only from specific domains.

Download Adblock Pro | Price: $20 (Shareware)

Adblock Plus

If you're a Firefox user looking to rid your browsing sessions of ads, this add-in is worth a whirl. It claims to block 99 percent of ads on the Web, and based on our experience with it, that may well be true. You can selectively block ads or choose a filter that blocks them all. With a bit of work, you can even allow certain ads through while blocking the rest.

Download Adblock Plus | Price: Free

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

Do you use Firefox on more than one PC? If so, you know how maddening it is to keep bookmarks in sync. This free tool automatically syncs all Firefox bookmarks on multiple PCs, and backs up your bookmarks to a server so they'll never be lost. And if you're on a PC that isn't yours, you can pull up your bookmarks from the server.

Download Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer | Price: Free

Greasemonkey

If you're willing to get your hands dirty by digging under Firefox's hood, this may be the best Firefox optimizer around. Through JavaScript, it allows you to customize how Web pages look and act so you can change them, add extra features to them, and so on. Actually, you don't even need to tinker much yourself, because plenty of people have written useful scripts that you can simply plug into Greasemonkey.

Download Greasemonkey | Price: Free

IE7 Pro

Optimize Internet Explorer with the help of this no-cost utility. It juices up the browser's tab handling, restores all tabs in the event of a crash, lets you use "mouse gestures" for controlling IE, blocks ads, checks spelling, and much more. It also has a scripting feature similar to Greasemonkey for Firefox.

Download IE7 Pro | Price: Free

Registry Cleanup

The older your PC is, the more junked-up its Registry becomes. Badly written programs (and plenty of those are around) don't bother to clean the Registry when you uninstall them, and some applications add unnecessary junk. The messier the Registry is, the more likely it is to crash your PC or slow down its operations. Though the benefits of using a Registry cleaner are often debated, these utilities might be worth a try.

Wise Registry Cleaner

This freebie scans the Registry, flags orphaned or bad entries, and identifies entries that are either dangerous or safe to delete. Like most Registry cleaners, the utility will back up your Registry so that you can restore it if need be.

Download Wise Registry Cleaner | Price: Free

Glary Registry Repair

Here's another very good, free Registry cleaner. It lets you choose which changes to accept and to ignore, and creates an Undo file so that you can revert to the previous version of the Registry if problems occur.

Download Glary Registry Repair | Price: Free

Registry First Aid

If you're willing to pay for a Registry cleaner, this is a great choice. Longtime PC World contributor Steve Bass rates it as the best Registry cleaner, with good reason: It does an excellent, thorough job. It also searches the Internet for details about Registry keys, so you can have background information before deciding whether to delete or change them.

Download Registry First Aid | Price: $28 (Trial)

Auslogics Registry Defrag

Cleaning your Registry may help keep your system in tip-top shape, but you can do something else for it as well: Defragment it. This program shows how fragmented your Registry is, defragments it, and restarts your PC. The program also creates a restore point so you can restore the Registry if necessary.

Download Auslogics Registry Defrag | Price: Free

Security Optimization

If your PC is infected with malware, it runs at less than its peak. So if you have a sluggish system that seems to go on the fritz regularly, an infection may be the cause. Use these programs to kill infections and stop them from attacking your machine in the first place.

Comodo Firewall Pro

This excellent free firewall has been rated as one of the top firewalls by the independent testing site Matousec, which found that it has the highest level of "anti-leak" protection (in essence, a measurement of a firewall's effectiveness). It offers two-way protection, and a great view into your system and your Internet connection as well.

Download Comodo Firewall Pro | Price: Free

Avast

A lightweight freebie, Avast won't weigh down your system by consuming too many resources or RAM--yet it does a great job of killing viruses and live-scanning for them. It also scans e-mail (including Web-based e-mail) for viruses, and offers protection against instant-messaging viruses, peer-to-peer dangers, and other threats.

Download Avast | Price: Free

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG's excellent free antivirus software is similarly prudent with your system resources and RAM. It's simple to use and easily configurable, and it protects your machine. What else could you want?

Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition | Price: Free

SpywareBlaster

Keep your system in top running form by stopping the installation of ActiveX-based malware and other types of spyware. A particularly useful feature is the System Snapshot, which will take a snapshot of your PC so that if it gets infected, you can revert to a clean version.

Download SpywareBlaster | Price: Free

Spybot Search & Destroy

A longtime favorite free program, Spybot offers live protection from spyware installation, and scans your system for preexisting spyware and kills it. The software has a restore function, as well.

Download Spybot Search & Destroy | Price: Free

Ad-Aware 2008

Using more than one antispyware scanner is a good idea. So even if you have another, this free one, which has been around for years, is worth trying. It does a great job of scanning, and it lets you put potentially damaging software in a quarantine area, where you can later restore the item if it isn't dangerous.

Download Ad-Aware 2008 | Price: Free

Trend Micro HijackThis

If you think your PC is infected with spyware, but your spyware killer can't track it down, try this freebie. After HijackThis analyzes your Registry and file settings, it creates a log file, which you can upload to a HijackThis Web forum for the community to analyze. Unless you're an expert, you should not try to use this tool to fix problems.

Download Trend Micro HijackThis | Price: Free

Interface Tune-Up

Another effective way to optimize your PC is to tweak Windows' interface and behavior to your liking. All of these programs will get the job done.

Vista4Experts

If you run Vista, this utility is an excellent way to tweak the OS. Through its simple interface you can customize many Vista features. Turn off the dreaded User Account Control, customize the power button, disable or enable the Aero environment, change the behavior of Windows Updates, and more.

Download Vista4Experts | Price: Free

MagicTweak

This program offers countless options for tweaking Windows. It can change the icons for various system features, create a custom desktop-shortcut arrow, change how Windows Explorer looks and works, tweak your network connection, hide menus, customize the Start menu, and adjust Windows security, just for starters.

Download MagicTweak | Price: $40 (Shareware)

RocketDock

Give your PC a Mac OS X-like dock, a customized bar of icons that puts frequently used programs at your fingertips. Place it at the top, bottom, or side of your screen, and you get instant access to your favorite programs and features.

Download RocketDock | Price: Free

Vista Manager

Vista users who want to juice up the OS's performance or its looks should give this tool a spin. You can optimize numerous aspects of your system, including its RAM, cache, and hard disk. The utility also manages startup and shutdown, cleans your system, improves your security, and customizes how your network functions.

Download Vista Manager | Price: $40 (Shareware)

Auslogics Visual Styler

Through this simple-to-use program, you can make Windows work the way you want and gain instant access to deeply hidden Windows customization features. For example, you can change icon resolution, size, spacing, and shortcut arrows. And a wallpaper changer rotates the scenery displayed every time your PC starts.

Download Auslogics Visual Styler | Price: $25 (Trial)

Miscellaneous Optimization Tools

You have plenty of other ways to optimize your PC. Following are some great all-around optimizers that give details on your system configuration, keep your drivers up-to-date, and manage your PC's power use.

Belarc Advisor

Before you start optimizing your PC, you need to know your system's exact configuration. That's where the free Belarc Advisor comes in. It tells you everything you need to know--and far more. Of course, in this program you'll find the computer manufacturer, installed RAM, hard-disk size, processor type and speed, and so on, but that's only the beginning. You'll also see the motherboard maker, hard-disk manufacturer, chassis serial number, PC service tag, bus type and speed, multimedia devices, and plenty of other details. The program goes beyond a hardware inventory, too, giving information about your Windows installation, including user accounts, security hotfixes that are installed or missing, and a list of all the software on your machine.

Download Belarc Advisor | Price: Free

Driver Sweeper

Keeping drivers up-to-date helps your system stay in top shape, but if you don't correctly remove old versions, you can experience system instability, slowdowns, and crashes. Driver Sweeper finds old drivers and deletes them. It also backs them up if you need to restore them.

Download Driver Sweeper | Price: Free

Performance Monitor

A monitoring tool--software that can show you overall system use--is essential for optimizing a PC. This nifty little freebie tracks RAM, CPU, Internet, and hard-disk use, and shows everything on your desktop in four small colored boxes. (Reading the information in the boxes is tough, so hover your mouse over them.) You'll see statistics such as the percentage of your CPU currently being used, and even the usage of individual cores on multicore PCs.

Download Performance Monitor | Price: Free

Edison

Consider this: If you don't use the power settings on your PC, you're spewing hundreds of pounds of unnecessary carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, a result of the electricity you waste.

But Windows' power-setting controls are as confusing to use as the tax code, you object. We agree--but we also have a solution for you. The free, simple-to-use Edison helps you change and manage your power settings. No need to fiddle around with Windows: Just move a slider or two, click a few buttons, and you're ready to go. You could just stay with the defaults, too.

How much might you save? When we used its default power settings on our laptop, Edison claimed we would save 359.63 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year (which adds up to $32) and 490.17 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Download Edison | Price: Free

LocalCooling

This freebie, like Edison, helps you cut your PC's electricity use. You can easily edit settings such as when your PC automatically turns off or goes into hibernation, and when your hard disks spin down. The program also displays the amount of energy, trees, gallons of oil, or kilowatt hours you've saved.

Download LocalCooling | Price: Free

Windows Memory Diagnostic

If you find your PC crashing frequently, the culprit may be bad RAM. This free software from Microsoft performs a comprehensive test and tells you whether the RAM or the memory system on your motherboard is faulty. It's built into Vista, too: Click Start, type memory in the search field, and then click Memory Diagnostics Tool.

Download Windows Memory Diagnostic | Price: Free

[via networkworld]

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Cop Eats Pot Brownies, Calls 911

{This is the funniest thing I've heard in a while... "I think I'm dying, Im dead."}



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Two Planets Suffer Violent Collision

[via sciencedaily] Two terrestrial planets orbiting a mature sun-like star some 300 light-years from Earth recently suffered a violent collision, astronomers at UCLA, Tennessee State University and the California Institute of Technology will report in a December issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

"It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and a co-author on the paper. "Astronomers have never seen anything like this before. Apparently, major catastrophic collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system."

"If any life was present on either planet, the massive collision would have wiped out everything in a matter of minutes — the ultimate extinction event," said co-author Gregory Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University (TSU). "A massive disk of infrared-emitting dust circling the star provides silent testimony to this sad fate."

Zuckerman, Henry and Michael Muno, an astronomer at Caltech at the time of the research, were studying a star known as BD+20 307, which is surrounded by a shocking 1 million times more dust than is orbiting our sun. The star is located in the constellation Aries. The astronomers gathered X-ray data using the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory and brightness data from one of TSU's automated telescopes in southern Arizona, hoping to measure the age of the star.

"We expected to find that BD+20 307 was relatively young, a few hundred million years old at most, with the massive dust ring signaling the final stages in the formation of the star's planetary system," Muno said.

Those expectations were shown to be premature, however, when Carnegie Institution of Washington astronomer Alycia Weinberger announced in the May 20, 2008, issue of the Astrophysical Journal that BD+20 307 is actually a close binary star — two stars orbiting around their common center of mass.

"That discovery radically revised the interpretation of the data and transformed the star into a unique and intriguing system," said TSU astronomer Francis Fekel who, along with TSU's Michael Williamson, was asked to provide additional spectroscopic data from another TSU automated telescope in Arizona to assist in comprehending this exceptional binary system.

The new spectroscopic data confirmed that BD+20 307 is composed of two stars, both very similar in mass, temperature and size to our own sun. They orbit about their common center of mass every 3.42 days.

"The patterns of element abundances in the stars show that they are much older than a few hundred million years, as originally thought," Fekel said. "Instead, the binary system appears to have an age of several billion years, comparable to our solar system."

"The planetary collision in BD+20 307 was not observed directly but rather was inferred from the extraordinary quantity of dust particles that orbit the binary pair at about the same distance as Earth and Venus are from our sun," Henry said. "If this dust does indeed point to the presence of terrestrial planets, then this represents the first known example of planets of any mass in orbit around a close binary star."

Zuckerman and colleagues first reported in the journal Nature in July 2005 that BD+20 307, then still thought to be a single star, was surrounded by more warm orbiting dust than any other sun-like star known to astronomers. The dust is orbiting the binary system very closely, where Earth-like planets are most likely to be and where dust typically cannot survive long. Small dust particles get pushed away by stellar radiation, while larger pieces get reduced to dust in collisions within the disk and are then whisked away. Thus, the dust-forming collision near BD+20 307 must have taken place rather recently, probably within the past few hundred thousand years and perhaps much more recently, the astronomers said.

"This poses two very interesting questions," Fekel said. "How do planetary orbits become destabilized in such an old, mature system, and could such a collision happen in our own solar system?"

"The stability of planetary orbits in our own solar system has been considered for nearly two decades by astronomer Jacques Laskar in France and, more recently, by Konstantin Batygin and Greg Laughlin in the U.S.A.," Henry noted. "Their computer models predict planetary motions into the distant future and they find a small probability for collisions of Mercury with Earth or Venus sometime in the next billion years or more. The small probability of this happening may be related to the rarity of very dusty planetary systems like BD+20 307."

"There is no question, however," Zuckerman said, "that major collisions have occurred in our solar system's past. Many astronomers believe our moon was formed from the grazing collision of two planetary embryos — the young Earth and a body about the size of Mars — a crash that created tremendous debris, some of which condensed to form the moon and some of which went into orbit around the young sun. By contrast with the massive crash in the BD+20 307 system, the collision of an asteroid with Earth 65 million years ago, the most favored explanation for the final demise of the dinosaurs, was a mere pipsqueak."

In their 1932 novel "When Worlds Collide," science fiction writers Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer envisioned the destruction of Earth by a collision with a planet of a passing star. The 1951 classic movie based on the novel began a long line of adventure stories of space rocks apocalyptically plowing into Earth.

"But," Zuckerman noted, "there is no evidence near BD+20 307 of any such passing star."

This research is federally funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA and also by Tennessee State University and the state of Tennessee, through its Centers of Excellence program.

Above: An artist's rendering depicts planets colliding in a sun-like binary system about 300 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Aries. (Credit: Artwork by Lynette R. Cook)

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PETA asks Ben and Jerry’s to use human breast milk

[via emulsioncompulsion] If People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has there way, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream will soon be as good for you as mother’s milk. PETA is urging Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to replace cow’s milk they use in their products with human breast milk.

If only Russ Meyer had lived long enough to see this.

According to a statement issued by PETA, their “request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow’s milk in the food he serves.”

At first I thought it was udder nonsense, but as PETA put it, “the breast is the best,” so long as the containers don’t lactate. My mouth is drooling at the mere thought of such oedipal edibles as Chunky Monkey Mammary, Peanut Butter D Cup, and Fresh Georgia Teat.

Hey, I wanna’ tell you, this could turn Dollywood into the nation’s ice cream capital, ladies and gentlemen. And if Crosby used “the cream of the stars” as a secrete ingridient in his vat of vanilla, what’s wrong with a little boob juice?

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5 Myths About Wind Energy

[via livescience] Wind energy might be the simplest renewable energy to understand. Yet there are misconceptions about what makes the wind industry turn.

The United States now has nearly 17,000 megawatts of wind power installed, which can supply about 1.2 percent of the nation's demand for electricity, according to a recent report from the Department of Energy (DOE).

With these numbers projected to grow in the coming years, it might be good to be aware of a few myths that are blowing in the wind.

1. Wind is cheap

No one owns the wind, so it might seem like wind energy should cost less than other technologies that require costly fuel, such as coal or natural gas, to operate.

However, the initial investment for wind energy is high. Large scale wind turbines cost a few million dollars per megawatt to put up, which at face value appears competitive with new coal-fired power plants, but the wind doesn't always blow. In effect, wind turbines typically only produce electricity about 30 percent of the time, so it takes longer to pay back the building costs.

Taken together with government incentives and maintenance costs over a turbine's 20-year lifetime, wind energy ends up costing about 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to DOE estimates. That's slightly more than coal, but the two are getting closer all the time.

2. America is way behind the rest of the world

Denmark gets 20 percent of its energy from wind. Germany has the most wind turbines of any country. China is set to nearly double its wind energy capacity in just one year.

You might think the United States is dragging its heels, but in terms of the raw total, America produces more wind energy than any other country (thanks to it being windier here than in Germany).

And more investment is on the way.

One recent headline grabber is the world's large wind farm project in Pampa, Texas, proposed by oil magnate T. Boone Pickens. This is part of the so-called Pickens Plan to invest $1 trillion on wind turbines throughout the wind corridor from the Dakotas down to the Texas panhandle.

3. Wind turbines are loud

Wind turbines used to be loud, but newer designs are less so.

Some of the bad rap about noise can be attributed to a single wind turbine constructed in 1978 outside of Boone, N.C., which generated low-frequency sound waves that rattled windows and made some people sick in nearby homes.

Since then, most new rotors turn slower and are mounted in front of (not behind) their towers. These and other changes have dramatically lowered the noise, said Pat Moriarty of the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colo.

Still, some neighbors complain, and the wind industry continues to search for even quieter designs.

4. Wind turbines kill birds

This one is actually true, but the problem is not as bad as some people claim.

The impression that all turbines are dangerous to birds comes from Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in California. This was one of the first big wind farms, and unfortunately it was placed in a migratory bird pathway, Moriarty said.

In addition, Altamont's 4,800 small wind turbines — many installed in the early 80s — have rotors low to the ground and packed close together, which may be why more than 1,000 birds (half of which are raptors) die there each year.

Newer wind farms report fewer bird deaths probably because the turbines are taller and spread further apart. And for comparison's sake, studies show that many more birds die colliding with cars and buildings than die in turbine blades.

5. Any house can own a windmill

Unless you have a good chunk of land around your house, it's probably not a good idea to get a wind turbine. If it's too close to buildings or trees, the wind will be turbulent and won't produce the power that it's supposed to.

But what do we know. The small wind turbine market grew by 14 percent in 2007. Some of these are for boats, but others supply homeowners who live off the grid.

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The 10 Worst Songs That Hit #1

[via spike]

You would think if a song went to #1 on the charts it would have some kind of redeeming quality. Even if it wasn’t your favorite genre of music, I’m sure you could find one reason why everybody was raving about it so much. So how do songs that have no originality or creativity whatsoever hit it big with the masses? The only guesses are good, old-fashioned stupidity or poor taste.

10. "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley (1988)

I feel kinda bad for putting Rick on this list, but it’s pretty much impossible to deny that this is one of the most annoying songs of all time. The song and video are so bad that they became phenomenons, creating the classic Internet prank of Rick Rolling (sending someone a link to the video under the guise of something cool). Just thinking of Rick dancing to this 1988 train wreck makes my brain bleed. How can 11 countries allow this to happen? If I was President at the time I would have banned the song and forced our citizens to burn his records in the streets. Although Rick did put out a pretty killer metal album back in '95.

I wonder what Bill Hicks did the first time he heard this song? I assume he decided to dress in all black and force people to open their third eye.

9. "Batdance" by Prince (1989)

I love Prince to death, but this song is so dated it’s ridiculous. It nearly ruined Batman for me when I first saw it as a kid.

I still think that the only reason why this went to #1 on the charts was because the movie was so awesome. I refuse to believe people bought this tape and got their groove on to that crazy mechanical dance beat on a daily basis. How could you? This song is a complete mess. The Jack Nicholson audio samples, horrible keyboard solos, and crappy techno beat make me lose my lunch every time. Get the funk out!

8. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin (1988)

Did this song even really need to exist? I just say we delete it from our minds and forget it forever. It isn’t even a real song to begin with; it’s just a guy trying to send me some unrealistic positive vibes through a catchy a cappella vocal performance.

Your crappy song won’t pay my rent Bobby!

7. “I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys (1999)

If the UK had the new wave of British heavy metal in the late ‘70s, the US definitely had the new wave of shi**y boy bands in the late '90s. Back then, a fat jackass by the name of Lou Pearlman introduced a slew of fresh-faced boys to desperate schoolgirls around the world. This move nearly killed popular music.

At the peak of this musical movement there was no boy band bigger than the Backstreet Boys. When these talentless puppets dropped “I Want It That Way” in 1999 it became a monster. The song set the record for most weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top 40 mainstream chart and broke the record for most radio station adds in its first week with 165.

I am so glad Lou Pearlman is going to jail for a million years.

6. "I’m Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred (1992)

In 1991, the bald English trio released their single, "I'm Too Sexy," which was a tongue-in-cheek dance song from the perspective of a vain male fashion model. Real creative. The song somehow went to number one on the charts in the United States and also went on to become a huge club hit around the world. Ugh.

The worst thing about this song has to be the lyrics...

I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me

I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts
And I'm too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan
New York and Japan

Really? The sheer fact that people spent their hard-earned dollars on this record is unbelievable. I’m really convinced that these douchebags had Corky from Life Goes On ghostwrite this for them. Die!

5. "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter (2006)

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

I guess this means if I write a really sh***y song I can sell two million records. F*** this guy.

4. "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by Baha Men (2000)

I bet you when the Baha Men covered this abomination for the Rugrats in Paris movie in 2000 they had no idea that it would haunt them for the rest of their lives. I can’t even get through a football game without hearing that stupid barking chorus every five minutes. Not only was this song the fourth-biggest selling single of 2000 in the UK, it also nabbed a Grammy. I can’t believe I just typed that.

Watch if you dare…

3. "Wannabe" by Spice Girls (1997)

This craptacular "girl power" opus went to #1 on the charts in over 17 countries in 1996. I really hate it when untalented twats become millionaires overnight. Tear.

Let’s get down to brass tacks here. The group of Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell was just another shi**y pop group that offered the world a watered-down mix of hip-pop and hollow songwriting, put together by a manager with a Monkees-like marketing scheme. These ladies were no different than a bag of Doritos.

2. "Macarena" by Los Del Rio (1995)

Did you know that this Spanish classic is the second longest running #1 and the best selling debut single of all time in the US? Why do we love to torture ourselves?

Let me first say that I never even liked this song. Ever. Whoever enjoyed this pile of whale vomit was a complete fool. The dance sucks and so do the people who do it.

This song was also freakin’ impossible to escape. The residuals these guys must get from Bar Mitzvahs, wedding receptions, and sweet 16 parties must be outrageous. Maybe that’s how these idiots sold 11 million records worldwide.

I’m convinced that this is the HIV of pop songs. Once you contract it, the virus will never die. It’s stuck in my head right now. Arghhh!!

1. "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt (2005)

This is the worst song in the history of mankind. I hate this man.

Blunt’s 2005 hit "You're Beautiful" achieved widespread success in North America after debuting at 88 before reaching number one 17 weeks later. It remained number one for four consecutive weeks. His record Back to Bedlam has sold over 11 million albums worldwide. This goes to prove that Midwestern housewives should not be allowed to buy music. I’m done.

Why does it sound like his balls are clamped while he’s singing the song…

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10 Reasons We Should Say No to the 700 Billion-Dollar Bailout

{Typically I stay far away from politics on this site...But this effects everyone of us, so read!}

As the markets today plummet amid the country’s hesitation to bail out the bankers, institutions, and leaders that have utterly failed us, we think you should take a deep breath and read our 10 reasons why accepting the bill would be disastrous for our country.

Taxpayers would take the fall for a problem Wall St created.

Millions of US taxpayers should not be held responsible for the catastrophe created by foolish (and greedy) bankers. This financial crisis did not materialize out of thin air. It is the result of years of reckless investments, careless government and already-wealthy bankers trying to get even richer.

Why should struggling US taxpayers take on this massive economic burden?

Is this $700B really going to protect ordinary people?

The people and institutions who have proposed this deal are trying to paint it as a last-resort to save thousands of ordinary people’s 401K’s, life savings, and IRA’s. No doubt, there will be pain felt by ordinary Americans if the bailout package is rejected by Congress, but this proposed $700B isn’t going to help the individuals hardest hit by the crisis — it’s going to help the shareholders and leaders of these companies.

If it’s really the ordinary Americans we’re concerned about helping, why don’t we let the banks fail and create a (much smaller) fund to support the hardest-hit American families?

$700B? Try $839B!

Although the cost of this bailout could not exceed $700B without further legislation, It would bring the total cost of this crisis to a staggering $839 billion!

Bush and the other proponents of this package neglect to remind us that this $700B will be added to the $85 billion agreement to bail out AIG, the $29 billion our government has pledged to support the merger between Bear Sterns and JPMorgan Chase and the government’s commitment to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the Congressional Budget Office is saying will cost at least $25 billion.

Cheating the market is dangerous.

This bailout would represents us literally ‘cheating’ the market and it would only delay greater economic catastrophe down the road. Bush and Paulson act as if we (the taxpayers) take on the pain of paying the $700B, then everything will be fine in the future.

The US dollar has already lost a tremendous amount of value over the last 5 years. What will happen to its value as we make the ultimate bad investment by buying worthless securities that are virtually un-tradable as the Fed continues to print billions more, diluting our currency even further?

Many economists would argue this is not so. We are throwing up a “hail Mary” here. There are no guarantees of a full recovery, and many would argue that this bailout will only prolong and exacerbate an economic meltdown in the future.

The US dollar has already lost a tremendous amount of value over the last 5 years. What will happen to its value as we make the ultimate bad investment by buying worthless securities that are virtually un-tradable as the Fed continues to print billions more, diluting our currency even further?

The answer is that our dollar, the value of which Americans have always taken for granted, might lose (a lot ) more of its value over the next 10 years, making every single person in this country poorer.

Global economic recession?

There has also been talk that rejecting the bailout package would cause damage to the global economic system, since these worthless mortgage-backed securities have been divided into thousands of pieces and re-traded all over the globe.

But there is an even greater risk to the global financial system if we go forward with the bailout. As the US dollar loses more and more value, what will happen to the dozens of international currencies pegged to the dollar? The dollar’s demise would represent the ultimate global financial meltdown.

What if it’s not enough?

What do we do if the American taxpayer makes this tremendous sacrifice and it’s simply not enough? George W. Bush said the war in Iraq was going to cost $50 billion.

Did we pack up and come home when that threshold had been crossed? Of course not — we just asked Congress for more to keep fighting the war! As the real-time clock below shows us, we are now nearing $600B spent in Iraq. Once the US has invested $839B+ in this bailout mess, we are “all in” — there is no turning back and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if this turns out to only be the first installment.

$581,884,828,647
Iraq War Cost

The American tax payer is already fighting hard enough times.

Can American taxpayers even handle another burden on our finances? How much longer will we allow the federal government to drag us into economic despair and use our hard-earned money as their piggy bank, to bail out bad foreign policy and massive economic fumbles?

Imagine what our country would look like if we instead invested the almost 2 trillion dollars from the bailout and the war combined, on everything else we need? Imaging injecting those funds into our education system or health care. What kind of return on investment would that bring, in comparison to some now-worthless assets that might become slightly less-worthless in the future?

A leap towards Socialism.

We have built the most powerful country in the world using a system of free market capitalism. We use regulation to prevent things like monopolies that could harm the system and eliminate competition, but capitalism has worked so well because the golden rule is ’survival of the fittest’.

Companies that make bad decisions and grow fat with debt are eliminated and make room for new ones who are more innovative and intelligent in their approach to doing business.

Buying up $700 billion worth of toxic securities is something a socialist government would do. Many have called for the end of government farm subsidies whereby the US government buys dead crops simply to keep our farmers in business. What we’re considering doing here, is buying almost a trillion dollars worth of dead crops!

Where is the pain for wealthy bankers?

There is nothing in this bailout plan that ensures the bankers and investors behind this mess would bear any burden. We should demand a guarantee that the people whose greed and recklessness caused this crisis lose their money first and are hit the hardest.

The current package has no limits for executive compensation for firms receiving funds from this package. If the current proposal goes through, these guys will have gotten away with financial mass-murder.

What example would it set for reckless financial institutions?

In the absence of responsibility that firms would have to take for their actions, Wall St would likely feel a sense of comfort that the federal government now had their back. This would only encourage more corporate policy that fosters insane risk-taking even when the potential fallout might maim the savings of thousands of hard-working Americans.

George W. Bush is urging Congress to take quick action.

What’s your first reaction when a sleazy salesman tries to force you into buying something quickly? How about when that salesman is George W. Bush and he’s just said, with a condescending smile on his face, “It’s a big price tag, because it’s a big problem.”

Since George Bush is not only the salesman, but also the administrator of this program, I for one would want to read the fine print to see what kind of other bullshit lies within the package’s language.

Surprise, surprise! Section 8 reads:

“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

This little tidbit basically concentrates all power in the administration of this package in the Executive Branch and makes it illegal for the decisions made or money allocated to come under any scrutiny from any court or oversight committee within the US government.

Knowing what we know about George W. Bush, would you say he’ll be tough on the high-powered corporate interests as he distributes these funds? Will he stand up for the American taxpayer?

Would you feel comfortable giving Bush full reign of the implementation of these funds — allowing him to hire any non-governmental agent he sees fit?

If the bailout package is approved as is, it will be the final turn of the knife in the average working American’s gut — a crime we won’t be able to ever hold George Bush accountable for.

We urge you to write and email your congressional representative to make sure he/she knows you are watching for his/her vote on this issue. Please send this article to everyone you know, as the mainstream media is only perpetuating the fear spewed into the airwaves by the Bush Administration, all in a rush to get this through Congress before anyone can speak up about its lunacy.

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Free, Legal and Online: Why Hulu Is the New Way to Watch TV

What's a hulu? In August 2007, this question ricocheted through the blogosphere to a chorus of derisive laughter. Fox and NBC were going to make the Internet safe for television! They were building a "YouTube killer"! And they were calling it Hulu! It was almost too perfect—an absurdist topper to the idea that two major broadcast networks could devise an Internet video service people would actually use. The name was even more delicious than the venture's placeholder moniker, NewCo., which the online world had changed to Clown Co. And now Hulu? It means "snoring" in Chinese, one blogger declared. "'Cease' and 'desist' in Swahili," Michael Arrington reported on TechCrunch. "Perhaps they should have just stuck with Clown Co.," he added.

Jason Kilar read these posts and winced. A 36-year-old ex-Amazon.com executive newly relocated to Los Angeles, Kilar had followed—even admired—many of these bloggers for years. Now he was Hulu's CEO, and their ridicule wasn't so funny.

What's a Hulu? Kilar had gotten the same question from Jeff Zucker, chief of NBC Universal, and Peter Chernin, president of News Corporation, Fox's corporate parent. In English it means nothing. In Mandarin, when pronounced another way, it means not snoring but "bottle gourd," which, in an old Chinese proverb, stands for a "holder of precious things." If you say so, they responded.

Even Kilar was starting to wonder whether he could make this thing work. Along with the new name, he had just announced that Hulu, which he had been running for only seven weeks, would launch in beta in two months—much later than expected but far too soon for a team that had barely gotten started. He was heading an operation of 20 people holed up in an office suite in West LA. To meet the deadline, he had turned the place into a bunker: Newspapers covered every window. People were sleeping on air mattresses on the floor. Half-eaten pizzas littered the empty cubicles. Fruit flies were the only visitors.

But Kilar would make it work. He and his crew would emerge from their dismal cave with the sleekest, easiest-to-use, most professional video site on the Internet. Not only would it deliver shows and movies from Fox and NBC Universal, it would take you to programs from every other major network and studio. Full-length episodes. Entire seasons. For free. Within months of that late-August announcement, Hulu would be among the top 10 US video sites in number of clips streamed. Om Malik, one of the bloggers who had ridiculed it from the start, would pronounce it "brilliant." TechCrunch readers would vote it best video startup of 2007. "Game Over. Hulu Wins," Arrington would declare in a conciliatory post. How did that happen?

On a summer evening in Santa Monica, Kilar is sitting in a cafè9 near his house, reminiscing about the vintage anime series Speed Racer. As a kid, he was one of the millions who used to rush home from school every day to watch the hero's Mach 5 blow by Racer X. "It came on at 3:30," Kilar says, "and if I was late, I missed it."

Tall and loose-limbed, with rosy cheeks and an eager smile, Kilar looks more like an oversize Boy Scout than the man who would finally usher the television networks into the Internet age. But his earnestness and enthusiasm have served him well among entertainment execs. He has won their support by explaining the obvious: In a world of limitless choice, 10-year-olds are no longer going to race home to catch a TV show. Admitting that fact means surrendering the scheduling power the networks have always enjoyed and putting a lot of their profits at risk. But Kilar focuses on the opportunity. If you were a network exec, he says, playing with his cheese-and-veggie scramble, "and I told you here was a tool that enabled your content to be shared, to be forwarded, to make your audience your most powerful marketing vehicle—it would be music to your ears, right? This is a tectonic shift, and what it does is allow network heads to find the audience they always should have had but couldn't reach."

Like a lot of other people, Kilar read about the News Corp.-NBC Universal venture when it was announced in March 2007 and thought, "Huh—I wonder how this will turn out." Not well, if earlier digital efforts by media giants were any indication. The classic example was Movielink, a Hollywood download service that never took off because the studios loaded it with restrictions. And on the music side there was Sony Connect, a stillborn Web store that had the same problem.

At the time, the business that Fox and NBC Universal had in mind was still poorly defined. "It started out of frustration that other people were using our video online and creating a business," Zucker says. A year earlier, NBC had forced YouTube to pull clips of Saturday Night Live's "Lazy Sunday" skit, even though it was sparking new interest in the show. YouTube complied; pirate sites didn't bother. The networks needed to find some way to keep others from grabbing their shows—and their profits. But the companies were too accustomed to competing with one another to form a common strategy. Disney, corporate parent of ABC, joined talks for a while but opted to focus on its own Web business rather than join forces. CBS and Viacom (which owns MTV and Comedy Central) decided to invest in Joost, an online-TV startup from the Net-savvy guys behind Skype and Kazaa, and Viacom hit Google, which had just bought YouTube, with a $1 billion lawsuit for good measure. That left Fox and NBC Universal to team up on some sort of Web video service. Chernin and Zucker were still trying to figure out what it would be when news of their plans leaked out, forcing them to make a hasty announcement.

Jonathan Nelson, CEO of Providence Equity Partners, read the same story as Kilar. Head of a $21 billion private-equity fund focused on media and telecommunications, Nelson was set to go heli-skiing in Greenland with Chernin. Now he called his buddy and offered to invest in the startup. We don't need any money, Chernin replied. Maybe not, Nelson countered, but you do need validation. Bringing in an outside partner would make the thing look less like a Fox-NBC Universal promo vehicle and perhaps make competing networks more interested in joining. Nelson had a point, and as the two sides hammered out the terms of the investment, he and Al Dobron, head of Providence's Internet practice, joined the discussions about what the new company would become.

As Dobron describes it, the initial business plan was all too predictable: "It was like, you're watching TV, you turn to the left and look at a computer screen, and you watch the same thing you were watching on TV in the same way." AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and MySpace had been enlisted as distribution partners, but at first, Fox and NBC Universal were planning to contribute just a few shows each and, in most cases, only recent episodes at that. Anything more would jeopardize the networks' existing businesses—especially syndication and DVD sales. If they were going to make this thing work, Nelson and Dobron realized, they needed somebody with no TV experience—"somebody who was going to say, 'This is not television on the Internet; this is the Internet.'" Chernin was thinking the same thing.

Kilar quickly surfaced as a likely candidate. At Amazon, he had helped expand the company beyond books and into home video; then he had led the teams that built such apps as 1-Click checkout and the Amazon Prime premium shipping service.

Kilar was understandably skeptical when the headhunter approached him. Were Fox and NBC really ready to entrust their most valuable assets, their programming, to an outsider? But the more he thought about it, the more he was drawn to what Chernin and Zucker were proposing. He had always loved TV and movies. And though the music industry had blown its chance to stay ahead of digital culture, he saw a brief window of opportunity for Hollywood. More than 60 million Americans now had broadband, but most hadn't yet gotten into the habit of using BitTorrent to download sitcoms. What if he could help show business make the transition that the music industry had flubbed?

In late June, Kilar agreed to take the job. He already had his pick for CTO: Eric Feng, a 28-year-old engineer he had known in Seattle. Feng had gone to Beijing for Microsoft and ended up launching his own company there. His startup, Mojiti, was one of the first sites to enable users to put text comments on a Web video, but what had been leading-edge a year earlier was quickly becoming commonplace. Feng had seven young developers who knew a great deal about Web video—even if most of them spoke only Mandarin. So eight days after accepting the position, Kilar flew to China and persuaded the entire team to join him. Feng would return to the US; the others would stay in Beijing and build the service.

The following Monday morning, Kilar showed up for work in LA to find his offices already teeming with people. Fox and NBC Universal had provided a couple of dozen employees on loan and brought in 40-odd consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Avenue A/Razorfish. The plan was to outsource both the site design and the underlying computer code. Kilar was aghast. "Technology is the source of our competitive advantage," he explains—the key to a service that would provide a high-quality videostream and support an ever-growing number of users and shows. "For us to design the company to last, we had to write every line of code ourselves." He sent the network people back to their old jobs and told the consultants they were out. Then he affixed whiteboard to three of the walls in his office and wrote out a mission statement and some basic design principles.

The top Internet services—Google, Flickr, YouTube—thrive because they are simple. Kilar wanted a clean, uncluttered look. He wanted a service that worked inside your browser, not one that required you to download a player—an obstacle that has kept Joost from taking off. And he wanted it to be so easy to use that his 62-year-old mom could have it working within 15 seconds. Plus, of course, he wanted a lot of shows.

Shortly before he arrived, Kilar had gotten a list of all the programs the new service would have. "It was one piece of paper," he says. "I wished it was a phone book." He went to Dan Fawcett, head of digital media at Fox, and to J. B. Perrette, head of digital distribution at NBC Universal, and told them this wouldn't work. To compete with BitTorrent sites, Hulu needed every movie they had ever made and every TV show they had ever aired—and not just four or five episodes but all of them. Fawcett and Perrette were taken aback. Not only was the task of clearing the legal rights daunting, but Fox and NBC Universal, like all entertainment conglomerates, make millions selling their movies and television shows to cable channels and other outlets in a series of distribution windows. "We have to respect those windows," Fawcett says. Yet he and Perrette worked overtime to clear everything that wasn't already spoken for.

Kilar's next test came in New York on August 15, at the new company's first board meeting. The Providence Equity investment hadn't closed yet, so the board consisted of just Kilar and six network people—three each from Fox and NBC Universal, led by Chernin and Zucker. Kilar announced a couple of jaw-droppers: His team was going to provide embed codes so users could post Hulu's programming on their own Web sites, and they were building a search engine that would direct people to every movie and TV show online, even if it was on a competitor's site. The normal response would have been "Is this guy nuts?" But as Kilar made his case, first Chernin and then Zucker swung to his side. The embed codes would enable their videos to go viral, and the search function solved the problem of how to provide a full offering with only two networks. The plans were approved.

For the next 10 weeks, as Feng and his team raced to build the service, Kilar focused on getting more shows. He kept a color-coded spreadsheet—green for yes, yellow for maybe, red for no—that listed every property Fox and NBC Universal controlled, with details about every remaining legal hurdle: Are the rights owned by the network, the producer, or a third party? Can we clear all the music? Each new green was celebrated. One by one, they picked up cult favorites like 30 Rock, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Battlestar Galactica. Almost the last to go green before Hulu's beta launch at the end of October was one of the shows they had focused on most: Arrested Development, which Fox had canceled due to poor ratings despite multiple Emmys and heaps of critical acclaim.

In March 2008, Hulu officially opened for business with more than 250 TV shows and 100 movies—not only from Fox, NBC, Universal, and their affiliated cable channels, but from new partners like the indie film studio Lionsgate and the television arm of Warner Bros., which makes shows for all the networks. Visitors were delighted to discover that they could quickly find and watch full-length programs and movies, even ones that weren't hosted by Hulu.

Two months later, Hulu edged ahead of ESPN.com to become one of comScore's top 10 US video sites. Its growing popularity led Viacom to offer recent episodes of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, two of Comedy Central's most popular programs. Meanwhile, the accolades were pouring in. Users and critics alike praised its straightforward design and even the way it implemented ads. Entertainment Weekly called it "some kind of TV addict's fever dream." "This is the entertainment we've all been looking for," one user wrote in to the company. Another declared simply, "You have done something great." Hulu had gotten online TV right.

So much for Clown Co. The big question now is, can Hulu turn a profit? Hulu isn't releasing any numbers, though Dobron says its revenue will "dramatically exceed initial forecasts." The only credible outside guess seems to come from Michael Learmonth at Silicon Alley Insider, who estimates that Hulu will generate between $45 million and $90 million in advertising in the year following its launch. Since he estimates that 70 percent of that money goes to content providers, this doesn't leave much for operating costs. And while Hulu gets two to three times the ad rate that the broadcast networks command, that's on a cost-per-thousand-viewers basis. Hulu says its highest-rated shows get "millions of streams" per month, but a popular show like CSI will draw 16 million viewers on TV in a single night. Worse yet, from a financial perspective, part of Hulu's bargain with users is fewer ads: While broadcasters cram eight minutes of advertising into a half-hour show, Hulu sells only two.

"So what?" Chernin says. "You can't protect old business models artificially." This is a truth the tech community knows well, but it's not what you expect to hear from a media baron like Chernin. What he and Zucker have come to understand is that the media companies no longer have a choice: If they don't put their shows online, someone else will. "The best way to combat piracy is to make your content available," Zucker says. "We don't know for sure what the impact is going to be on our established businesses. But we want to make sure consumers know they don't need to steal our content. That's really what Hulu is about."

In the meantime, Hulu provides a tantalizing glimpse of the future of television. Unlike the networks, which have always been carefully programmed by their executives, Hulu is programmed by user choices and recommendation software. Schedules don't matter; popularity alone will bubble a show to the top. The results can be startling. One of Hulu's top five shows is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, an FX series starring Danny DeVito that has never gotten much attention on TV. Another is Arrested Development.

Hulu isn't saying exactly how many people watch a given show, but the numbers are high enough that Kilar is becoming a must-see guy for producers. Joss Whedon, who created such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, popped in to talk about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, his three-part video—which Hulu got as a Web exclusive. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane met with Kilar over the summer to chat about how well his show has been doing. As usage grows, Kilar can expect many more such tèAte-è0-tèAtes.

"The world has turned completely upside down," Kilar says, mopping up the last of his scramble as dusk settles outside the little Santa Monica restaurant. "I find that very inspiring. Others might be scared out of their wits. But to me, this is the way media always should have been." He allows himself a slight chuckle. As he speaks, Hulu is weeks away from unveiling a tool that lets users embed the Hulu service itself into their Web site. Soon you'd be able to stick all of online television into your blog. Finally, after decades of dictating what we can watch and when, the networks would be reduced to a Web widget, functioning at the user's whim. Just as it should be.

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Designer vagina trend 'worrying'

A leading urogynaecologist has spoken out against the growing popularity of cosmetic vaginal surgery.

Professor Linda Cardozo, of King's College Hospital, London, says little evidence exists to advise women on the safety or effectiveness of procedures.

These include operations to make the external appearance more "attractive" and reshaping the vagina to counter laxity after childbirth, for example.

She discussed the issues at a medical meeting in Montreal, Canada.

Women want to emulate the supermodel. It's part of a trend Professor Cardozo

A Google search showed over 45,000 references to cosmetic vaginal surgery, yet on medical databases such as PubMed or Medline there were fewer than 100.

Professor Cardozo said the most established vaginal cosmetic procedure was reduction labioplasty - a procedure to make the labia smaller - which is requested by women either for aesthetic reasons or to alleviate physical discomfort.

"Women want to emulate the supermodel. It's part of a trend. But they should know that all surgery can be risky.

"Most of the procedures are done in the private sector and it's totally unregulated."

The exact numbers of procedures carried out are unknown.

In the past five years there has been a doubling of the number of labial reductions carried out on the NHS from 400 in 2000/1 to 800 in 2004/5.

Growing trend

The evidence from existing case studies shows that the procedure, which costs about £2,000 at a private clinic, does have positive aesthetic results but it is unclear whether it resolves feelings of psychological distress or improves sexual functioning, she said.

And there was little evidence that "vaginal rejuvenation" - the surgical repair of vaginal laxity, with a price tag of about £3,000 - improved symptoms and was any better than doing simple pelvic floor muscle exercises.

She said robust research was needed so that doctors could properly advise their patients. In the meantime, she urged surgeons to remain cautious and operate only as a last resort.

In her presentation at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 7th International Scientific Meeting, Professor Cardozo said: "Cosmetic vaginal procedures raise a number of serious ethical questions.

"Women are paying large sums of money for this type of surgery which may improve the appearance of their genitalia but there is no evidence that it improves function."

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8 hacks to make Firefox ridiculously fast

Double your browser's speed in just five minutes

Firefox has been outperforming IE in every department for years, and version 3 is speedier than ever.

But tweak the right settings and you could make it faster still, more than doubling your speed in some situations, all for about five minutes work and for the cost of precisely nothing at all. Here's what you need to do.

1. Enable pipelining

Browsers are normally very polite, sending a request to a server then waiting for a response before continuing. Pipelining is a more aggressive technique that lets them send multiple requests before any responses are received, often reducing page download times. To enable it, type about:config in the address bar, double-click network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining so their values are set to true, then double-click network.http.pipelining.maxrequests and set this to 8.

Keep in mind that some servers don't support pipelining, though, and if you regularly visit a lot of these then the tweak can actually reduce performance. Set network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining to false again if you have any problems.

2. Render quickly

Large, complex web pages can take a while to download. Firefox doesn't want to keep you waiting, so by default will display what it's received so far every 0.12 seconds (the "content notify interval"). While this helps the browser feel snappy, frequent redraws increase the total page load time, so a longer content notify interval will improve performance.

Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) somewhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type content.notify.interval as your preference name, click OK, enter 500000 (that's five hundred thousand, not fifty thousand) and click OK again.

Right-click again in the window and select New > Boolean. This time create a value called content.notify.ontimer and set it to True to finish the job.

3. Faster loading

If you haven't moved your mouse or touched the keyboard for 0.75 seconds (the content switch threshold) then Firefox enters a low frequency interrupt mode, which means its interface becomes less responsive but your page loads more quickly. Reducing the content switch threshold can improve performance, then, and it only takes a moment.

Type about:config and press [Enter], right-click in the window and select New > Integer. Type content.switch.threshold, click OK, enter 250000 (a quarter of a second) and click OK to finish.

4. No interruptions

You can take the last step even further by telling Firefox to ignore user interface events altogether until the current page has been downloaded. This is a little drastic as Firefox could remain unresponsive for quite some time, but try this and see how it works for you.

Type about:config, press [Enter], right-click in the window and select New > Boolean. Type content.interrupt.parsing, click OK, set the value to False and click OK.

5. Block Flash

Intrusive Flash animations are everywhere, popping up over the content you actually want to read and slowing down your browsing. Fortunately there's a very easy solution. Install the Flashblock extension (flashblock.mozdev.org) and it'll block all Flash applets from loading, so web pages will display much more quickly. And if you discover some Flash content that isn't entirely useless, just click its placeholder to download and view the applet as normal.

6. Increase the cache size

As you browse the web so Firefox stores site images and scripts in a local memory cache, where they can be speedily retrieved if you revisit the same page. If you have plenty of RAM (2 GB of more), leave Firefox running all the time and regularly return to pages then you can improve performance by increasing this cache size. Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click anywhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type browser.cache.memory.capacity, click OK, enter 65536 and click OK, then restart your browser to get the new, larger cache.

7. Enable TraceMonkey

TraceMonkey is a new Firefox feature that converts slow Javascript into super-speedy x86 code, and so lets it run some functions anything up to 20 times faster than the current version. It's still buggy so isn't available in the regular Firefox download yet, but if you're willing to risk the odd crash or two then there's an easy way to try it out.

Install the latest nightly build (ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/), launch it, type about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Type JIT in the filter box, then double-click javascript.options.jit.chrome and javascript.options.jit.content to change their values to true, and that's it - you're running the fastest Firefox Javascript engine ever.

8. Compress data

If you've a slow internet connection then it may feel like you'll never get Firefox to perform properly, but that's not necessarily true. Install toonel.net (toonel.net) and this clever Java applet will re-route your web traffic through its own server, compressing it at the same time, so there's much less to download. And it can even compress JPEGs by allowing you to reduce their quality. This all helps to cut your data transfer, useful if you're on a limited 1 GB-per-month account, and can at best double your browsing performance.

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The Origins of Credit Cards, Checks, Coins and Bills

With the financial world in a state of flux, we thought now was a good time to explore the early history of credit cards, checks, coins and paper money.

Credit Cards

In the 1800s, you could pick your poison if you needed money: pawnbroker, realtor, friend, family member, illegal small loan lender, or mortgage lender. By 1858, consumer debt measured as high as $1.5 billion in the U.S., and it rose to $11 trillion just 32 years later.

At first, credit cards were really just substitute markers for payment. Rather than deal with looking up account numbers for each transaction, stores started issuing credit cards or tokens instead. After getting the bill, the customer simply had to pay or would likely lose credit with the store. John Biggins of the Flatbush National Bank of Brooklyn, New York, invented the first actual bank credit cards in 1946. Through his “Charge-It” program, merchants could deposit their sales slips in the bank, and the bank would bill the customer.

Another key moment in the development of credit cards started with Frank McNamara, a New York businessman who faced embarrassment when he realized he’d forgotten his cash while entertaining a client at Major’s Cabin Grill. His wife covered the bill, but McNamara didn’t forget the event. A few weeks later, he discussed an idea for a diner’s club with his lawyer, Frank Schneider. Using the Diner’s Club card, people could eat in a variety of restaurants and pay their tabs at the end of the month.

The card became so popular that other financial organizations mimicked the idea. Franklin National Bank issued the first revolving charge card in 1951, allowing customers to borrow and repay money without approval as long as they stayed under their credit limit—and didn’t mind accruing interest charges. Bank of America (which became VISA) and MasterCard took the idea one huge step further in 1967, creating Interchange, a system that allowed banks to settle credit transactions throughout the U.S., rather than just locally.

Checks

Unlike bills (which represent actual money that banks hope you’ll never ask for), the check started as the Persian Sakks—a written promise to pay when the goods were delivered. The idea was to avoid money being transported, so starting in the first century CE, banks issued letters of credit through a bill of exchange, meaning that money would be paid to the person whose name was on the bill. Plus, a check written in, say, Baghdad, could be cashed in China.

The check didn’t come into widespread use, however, until Holland in the 1500s. Around that time, Amsterdam was a major international hub of shipping and trading, and people began to deposit their cash with Dutch cashiers for a fee, rather than keeping the money at home. Those cashiers would pay their depositors’ debts directly upon written notice (almost as good as online bill-paying), but there was a small problem: the little pieces of paper could easily be forged or copied.

A British banker named Lawrence Childs developed the first printed checks, which led to today’s elaborate system of routing and account numbers, watermarks, and other identifiers. Indeed, the modern word check originated simply from the need to examine, or check, the bill of exchange, and the name stuck.

Coins

Nowadays, a pocketful of jangling silver and copper wouldn’t impress most folk, but the original coins marked the wealth of the nearly forgotten empire of Lydia. In the western part of Asia Minor, Lydia became celebrated for its deposits of gold and silver and entered its golden age under the rule of King Croesus in the sixth century BCE. The Lydians were the first in history to mint gold, silver, and electrum (a mixture of gold and silver). The early coin designers were also gem carvers who used a furnace to melt the metal until it was pliable, a balance to weigh coins, and a mint—made of an anvil and a die press. Even though the first coins weren’t always perfectly uniform, they’re awfully close to what we still use today.

Once the Lydians were assimilated by the Greeks, the coin-making tradition truly took hold. The first coin patterns were coats of arms, which were soon followed by symbols of ruling leaders. By the fourth century BCE, the possession of the mint (and all of its wealth) was considered sacred, often protected within a temple. Athens claimed authority over all coin minting, including standardized weights and measures, but rival areas were quick to form their own systems.

Even coin denominations appeared during the early development of coins. A gold stater coin could be issued in halves, thirds, or sixths, for example, while some coins were worth exactly twice another. Looking for the origin of the copper penny? The first bronze coins were developed in the fifth century BCE, but they weren’t widely used for another 100 years. Copper has always been considered the least precious of the coin metals—even then, a bronze coin was worth a fraction of a silver one.

Bills

There were three big advancements in banknotes that helped put Andrew Jackson’s face in your pocket. The first documented banknotes were one-foot square pieces of white deerskin with colorful borders, used in China in 118 BCE. You can also thank China that you’re not carrying around Bambi today—in the ninth century CE, the Chinese invented paper banknotes as well. Over the course of 500 years, China experimented with paper money and soon realized that printing too much money caused inflation (still true). Probably for this reason, the Chinese ditched paper money in 1455, and it didn’t reappear for another 250 years, this time in Europe.

In 1705, John Law of Scotland published “Money and Trade Considered: With a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money.” He considered metal money to be unreliable and believed that the more money in circulation, the richer the country. Whiel most governments weren’t buying the get-rich-quick scheme, Louis XV of France decided to give Law a chance because the country was strapped for cash. In 1716, Law created the Banque Generale, which carried only one quarter of its money in actual cash. The rest was in billets d’etat—a fancy way of saying government debt.

Law’s process of issuing interest-paying bank notes (payable in silver on demand) was extremely popular, but the system was volatile. All it took was a few wealthy investors pulling their funds to create a panic. Though Law eventually fled to Holland in 1720 to avoid the collapse, his idea of paper money stuck around, and future governments figured out how to manage the system better.

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Postal Employees Ordered To Stop Offering First-Class Mail

Postal employees have been ordered to upsell pricey express or priority mail services to anyone sending anything more than a letter, according to an anonymous tipster. The directive comes straight from Washington to help combat the Post Office's $1.1 billion operating deficit. To avoid the upsell, specifically ask if there is a cheaper way to ship your package. The anonymous tipster's letter, inside...

Hi, I work the counter for the United States Postal Service and right now we are in a really big financial mess, they claim to have lost about one Billion dollars this past fiscal year. I was told yesterday by my supervisor (and I saw the written memo from the District) that stated we are not to offer first class, parcel post, or media mail.

If a customer comes to the counter with anything other than a letter, we are not to offer anything other than Express Mail or Priority mail.

So if a customer comes to the counter with a 5 ounce small package I am supposed to say "Good Afternoon, would you like to ship this Express Mail overnight guaranteed, it includes $100 of insurance and free tracking for only $16.50?"—Customer looks at you like you are crazy, especially if the package is just going across town—"Ok, then we can send it Priority Mail and it should get to its destination in 2-3 business days for $4.80 and we can add insurance for loss or damage, and for an extra 65 cents you can add delivery confirmation." At this point I am supposed to shut up and let them either be duped into paying at least $4.80 or wait until they say - how about first class, or is there anything cheaper?—at that point I can offer the first class postage. For the package I described, a 5 ounce parcel, the cost would be $1.85 or almost $3 cheaper than Priority Mail. My advice is to always ask if there is a cheaper way to ship. Once asked we can tell you, but we won't volunteer the information.

Some tips if you are going to the Post Office, Express Mail will get it there overnight. Priority mail AND first class will usually get it overnight if it is going within your city or usually within your state. If the package is going farther than a neighboring state the Priority Mail will get there in 2 or 3 days, with first class usually a day or two later than Priority. We are not supposed to offer parcel post mail—I do agree with that, parcel post is usually within a dollar or two pricewise of Priority Mail and will take anywhere from 7-14 days or even longer to get where it is going. If you are only sending books, media mail is the ultimate cheap way to go, usually 1/3 the price of parcel post. A warning though—media mail can be opened, and we do open it if we suspect it is not media mail. In that case the person recieving the package will pay the difference in price.

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[via consumerist]

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Does LASIK Hurt? What LASIK Really Feels Like

The nurse applied a series of numbing drops to my eyeball, each stronger than the previous. The doctor clamped my lids back with a metal tool. I felt a bracket hold my eye down and someone in the operating room gave the order, "Suction."

A whirring sound commenced and my eyeball felt like it was being sucked up and out of my skull, elongated like a green grape between a Roman emperor's fingers, ready to burst. The bright blue-white light grew closer. As the pressure killed circulation in the eye things went black and I felt an arcing slice in the surface of my cornea—I did not move my jaw or tongue or mouth, but deep in my throat I uncontrollably whimpered, "THAT HURT!" and hoped no one heard me. I hoped the other eye would not feel the same. It did not, as the drops had actually taken full effect by the time it was sliced open with a beam of light. The rest was, as they said in the brochure, physically painless.

A few days earlier on Linda Del Mar beach, a wave knocked me off my longboard. Under the turbulence, both contact lenses were flushed out of my eyes. It was impossible for me to catch any more waves with the remainder of my eyesight. Although I'd entertained the idea for years on and off, it was right there that I decided to get LASIK done as soon as I could. A friend told me he'd had good success at LasikPlus. Coincidentally, my vision plan gave a hefty discount there, so I figured I would try them out. It was them or the LASIK doctor from Family Guy:

I went for a free consultation. Their office was like any other doctor's office, with one exception. In the middle—behind a giant glass window that everyone in the waiting room could see—was an operating chair situated in between giant boxy machines. They had overhanging beaks positioned as if ready to feast on whoever was strapped into the seat.

The optometrist concluded I was a good candidate for the surgery, based on having light to middle nearsightedness, slight astigmatism and otherwise healthy eyes. She showed me a brochure with all the options I could get: The $900 base package uses a scalpel to cut open the cornea and then a broad UV laser whose every zap removes tissue 1/500th of a human hair in thickness. I opted for the $2000 package, which opened the cornea with a laser instead of a scalpel and tracked a custom map of my eye's irregularities, treating it sector by sector. This wavefront guided analysis is the same tech NASA used to detect and counter irregularities in high-powered telescopes. This would reduce halos around bright lights and "dramatically improve vision." According to a study I do not know enough about to believe, it was more likely to better than 20/20 vision with such a package than without. The Navy recommends this version of LASIK for its aviators. And if it's good enough for Top Gun, it was good enough for me, regardless of cost. (These quotes are per eye.)

I was surprised to discover when I went in later that others were getting the basic surgery. I winced as one lady's eye was cut by a scalpel in a device akin to a carpenter's plane. Another lady—whose husband was getting it later depending on how hers went—complained about night vision problems but didn't opt for the costlier halo-reducing procedure. I found this astounding considering the banners on LasikPlus's site offering 0% financing.

Someone asked the nurse what the difference was between the cheap and the expensive LASIK and she said something that might not have been exactly endorsed by the company: The expensive one was like high-definition TV and the cheaper one was like standard-definition, but they both get the job done. I thought to myself, "Like hell standard definition gets the job done!" Yet everyone in the room nodded as if they were still using VHS at home.

On the Saturday before the lasering, I had gone surfing with my contacts but was told to wear glasses for the next three days to ready my eyes for the operation. Hard lenses need to be left out for 4-6 weeks before surgery since they greatly affect the shape of the eyeball.

Wearing my glasses again, I appreciated the nice titanium frames and ultrathin glass. I realized there was a lot to be said for how glasses made me feel. In 7th grade, I'd noticed difficulty making out the blackboard, but avoided getting them and got through math class by squinting. The teacher reported me to the nurse, and I got stuck with some hideous gold colored ones with horn rimmed earpieces. I felt self conscious in them, almost diminished.

That feeling went away as I grew up and earned some nerd pride, but I have always allowed myself to say geekier things and do more socially awkward things when wearing them. I could futz with my phone instead of carrying on in a group conversation, push my glasses up my nose and laugh slightly louder than usual at slightly stupider things, and expect people to chalk it up to nerdiness. I think I might miss this, for all the advantages of having laser-enhanced vision.

On the day of the operation, the doctor spoke to the patients in the waiting room. The entire procedure would take about 15 seconds per eye. There was nothing we could possibly do to cause the surgery to fail, but please do not shake our legs. (?!?) Lisa asked me at least 5 times if I was scared. It made me wonder if I looked scared, because I didn't think I was scared and if I looked scared that means I was so scared I didn't even realize it. Which all freaked me out. A lot.

Once my corneas were cut open and I experienced that initial pain, I was definitely frightened, and escaped to a corner of my mind where I would not think too much about all the things they were doing to my eyes and what my life would be like if I happened to be the "less than 1%" of patients with vision-reducing complications.

I was already in this mental cone of silence when the doctor lifted up the covers of my eyeball flaps using what looked like metal chopsticks, mixing around a stir fry while I watched, first-person perspective, from within the wok. I was shifted under the largest machine in the room, its eye a flashing red/orange light. It reminded me of a Discovery Channel feature on exploding stars. There was a sound, a clicking like that from a Tesla coil, and the smell of ozone, which went on for 15 seconds as the nurse counted down. My eyes were clamped, and I felt I was being burned alive (even though LASIK's UV laser does no thermal damage to tissue). I was told not to attempt to move or blink, which of course, makes you move and blink. The muscles in my eye fought the devices holding me steady, and before I could calm myself down, the laser had already stopped.

The doctor finished my second eye, and had me sit up. There was fog everywhere and contrast was abysmal, but my vision had improved by measures of sharpness. I slept in the car ride home as Lisa drove, and as the painkillers wore off. The hard part began: I was to avoid all optical stimulation and sleep the rest of the day. At one point, I could handle it no longer and I checked my email. All of it.

I was told that the next morning I would have a miraculous, life-changing experience as I woke up without any need for glasses or contacts. Actually, it was not so miraculous. My healing eyes could see somewhat sharply but with a lot of haze. It was similar to sleeping with my contacts in. I took off the racquetball-style eye shield I was to sleep with for a week, and began the steroid and antibiotic eye-drop treatment, which I'd also keep up for a week. I got dressed and went for my check up appointment. And that was when the miracle happened.

I got in front of that damn eye chart and, even through the haze, smoked the exam's 20/20 line. Had my eyes been clearer, I would have read the letters on the 20/15 line, too. Not bad for $4K, a laser in my eyes for less than a minute and a day's worth of healing.

After I get used to the sharpness, I am sure I will be worried about being one of the few percentage of people who walk away from LASIK dissatisfied. (Wikipedia cites four studies that indicate post-op satisfaction anywhere from 92% to 98%, but that's still a lot of people pissed off.) Even if things go perfectly, they say it will take 3-6 months to heal completely, during which my vision will be irregular. Eyeballs might be dryer at times than I'd want them to be. The biggest problems I have now are the night time halos, which supposedly will improve over time, especially with the wavefront guided method my eyes were carved up with and the terrible, terrible bloodshot I have from the suction device. They say this may take a few weeks to clear up, and while I'm waiting, I have been wearing sunglasses at night and apologizing for them. Annoying.

None of this bothers me much, save the fact that newer, better, safer technology will come around sooner or later, and my eyes may end up as out-of-date as back-to-school iPods. There is talk of using the laser to cut the flap, which is of lower disruption to the corneal tissue, to complete the entire operation, soon. And I do not know if my eyes will be forward-compatible, having already been sliced. Still, for now I remain top-of-the-line, and I would gladly endure 10 times the (mostly imaginary) pain of LASIK to gain the quality of eyesight found in elite Major League Baseball pitchers.

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8 Food Myths Busted!

Food myths are created from outdated science, old wives' tales, and a bit of wishful thinking. They stick around because they are so familiar. But every now and then, you need to take another look at information you believe is true and change with the times. How many of these common myths are still part of your nutrition playbook?

Certain foods can burn fat.

WRONG!

According to the "negative calorie effect," the act of chewing and digesting certain foods burns up more calories than the food itself contains. Cucumbers, celery, and grapefruit top the list of foods rumored to have "negative calorie" value. However, while it may seem as if you expend a lot of energy when you chew, in reality, chewing eats up only about 11 measly calories per hour. Low-calorie, high-nutrient foods certainly will help you lose weight—not because they create negative calories, but because you’re munching on them instead of crackers, chips, and cookies.

It's better to eat six mini meals than three squares.

INCORRECT!

As long as your food choices for the entire day are healthy and not too high in calories, either eating style can work. I find that many people prefer to eat more volume less frequently because of hectic schedules or heartier appetites. If that sounds like you, just be sure to keep your daily calories in check, and try not to go longer than four to five hours without eating. Doing so may make your blood sugar drop, causing low energy, headaches, and overeating in response to feeling blah. Have small snacks on hand—such as fruit, nonfat yogurt, or a bag of baby carrots—in case you're running late for lunch or dinner.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than frozen ones.

FALSE!

You may actually get more nutrients from some frozen fruits and vegetables. The same holds true for some canned vegetables. That's because the "fresh" produce you just bought at the grocery store may be a lot older than you think. After being harvested, produce can spend days being sorted, packaged, and then shipped, often cross-country. During that time, fluctuations in light and temperature rob fruits and vegetables of important nutrients such as vitamin C and folate.

The negative side of processing comes down to three factors: taste, texture, and additives. Frozen foods rarely taste as good as fresh, and processing can change the consistency of many items. Food manufacturers often add salt, sugar, and fat to otherwise healthy products. If you become a label sleuth, you can bypass foods that contain these additives. One final note: Items frozen in bags should move about freely, because clumping indicates that the product has been thawed and then refrozen.

Decaf coffee has no caffeine.

NOT TRUE!

My caffeine investigation found that decaf varieties contain between 8 and 32 milligrams of high-octane zip, depending on the cup size. Although this is significantly less than regular Joe (a typical 8-ounce cup provides 100-150 milligrams of caffeine), even a small amount may matter to caffeine-sensitive people. My advice: If you struggle with insomnia, stick with caffeine-free herbal tea starting late afternoon.

Margarine is better than butter.

NOT!

Butter contains saturated fat that, when eaten in excess, can raise "bad" (LDL) cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease. For that reason, some people use margarine as a substitute. The problem with margarine—specifically stick margarine—is that it contains trans fats, which increase LDL cholesterol and lower the "healthy" (HDL) cholesterol. Double whammy!

Your best bet is a soft-tub vegetable spread that says "trans-fat free"— it will be low in saturated fat as well. If you're watching your calories, opt for soft-tub brands in "reduced fat" or "light" versions.

Bananas are fattening.

WRONG!

One medium banana has only about 105 calories—you'd have to eat at least six to equal one slice of New York-style pizza! Bananas are a good source of fiber, magnesium, and potassium, all of which can help manage blood pressure. They're also a good source of vitamin B6, which helps boost your immune system. What's more, they're portion-controlled, portable, and don't require refrigeration. Enjoy them sliced into cereal, mixed with nonfat yogurt or cottage cheese, or frozen for a yummy dessert. (On the other hand, I can't recommend packaged "banana chips," which have added fat and sugar and are loaded with calories.)

Cravings are your body's way of telling you it needs something.

NOT TRUE!

It's a convenient excuse, but a craving is not a signal that your body "needs" a specific nutrient. Scientists have gone to great lengths to test this assumption. Imagine that you have a chocolate craving (as far-fetched as I know that must be!). You are given the choice of a nutrient-rich (but not flavorful) cocktail that mimics the chemicals found in chocolate, or a candy bar that looks, smells, and tastes like chocolate but contains no authentic chocolate compounds. Which do you think would satisfy your craving most—the chocolate nutrients or the chocolate taste? In actual psychological studies, taste won, hands down.

Cravings are driven by emotions and psychology. We crave foods we enjoy and associate with pleasurable times. For example, you may crave hamburgers because you downright love the taste, or because you have strong and happy memories of eating them at family barbecues—not because you're deficient in protein or iron. Of course, hormonal changes also can be responsible for cravings. Ice cream and pickles, anyone?

Cooking veggies destroys their vitamin content.

NO WAY!

Cooking actually boosts your body's ability to absorb the nutrients in some vegetables. For example, the cancer-fighting phytonutrient lycopene is stronger in cooked tomato sauce than in raw tomatoes. That said, many nutrients will be lost with the wrong cooking technique. The most important rule: Do not overboil veggies! Nutrients will slip out of the vegetables and into the boiling water, so all that goodness will be lost. To retain the most nutrition, steam, roast, or microwave with as little water as possible, and keep cooking time to a minimum.

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Man Killed By His Own Condom

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Top Ten Running Myths and Misconceptions

Running records are dropping like flies. Today’s elite distance runners are performing some remarkable feats and running some incredible times. It wasn’t long ago that most experts thought that running a sub four minute mile was impossible. Today the mile record is far below that mythical 4 minute barrier. Why do running records continue to fall? Why are today’s runners able to faster than ever before? The higher performance levels are partially due to improvements in nutrition and health care. But the lion’s share of the credit has to go to superior training techniques. Scientific research gives us new ways to train and have shown that some of the training techniques and beliefs of the past may not be the most efficient way to train. Even though studies have proven the newer techniques are superior, some of the old school beliefs and methods continue to hang on. They are the running myths of the past. Here are our top ten running myths.

Lactic acid is a waste product

This one just keeps hanging on. Even many running experts continue to believe that lactic acid is a fatigue inducing waste product. Nearly every running event I watch on TV has a running commentator telling us how lactic acid build up is causing the runners to go into “oxygen debt” and slow down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lactic acid is not a waste product. It’s a valuable compound, produced at all times, that is used to produce energy to fuel your running. It doesn’t cause fatigue – recent research has even suggested that lactic acid acts to prevent fatigue caused by a reduction in cellular potassium.

Runners don’t need strength training

When I was a young high school runner, my coach wouldn’t let me strength train. I wanted to because I felt I was a more powerful runner with strength training, but the coach was adamant about it. He said it would slow me down – so no strength training. Still today some coaches and runners are holding on to the belief that strength training provides no benefits to runners. Researchers, runners and coaches have proven this one wrong. Strength training improves your injury resistance, your running strength, your muscle elasticity and your running economy. It makes you a better, faster, more efficient runner. Don’t worry about getting muscle bound -endurance training won’t allow it.

Tempo runs are the best way to improve your lactate turn point

For years, runners and coaches have believed that tempo runs – steady state runs of 20 minutes or more, at a pace that is about 15 to 20 seconds slower than your 10K race pace – were the best way to improve your lactate turn point. There is no question that tempo runs are valuable workouts. They improve your ability to run for long distances at a moderate pace. But, to maximize the improvement of your lactate turn point you need to run at a pace that floods your body with high amounts of lactate. To do that you need to run at faster paces – paces at or faster than your 10K race pace. Performing workouts at your LT pace will make your body more efficient at dealing with both the physiological and mental aspects of running at LT pace.

Runners should drink as much fluid as possible

Hydration recommendations have been on a roller coaster ride. Many years ago we were told not to drink. Coaches thought that drinking during competition would cause cramps and decrease your performance. Thank goodness that crazy idea was abandoned before we lost more runners to heat stroke. Unfortunately the pendulum then swung too far the other direction. We were told to drink early and often. It was suggested that we should try to stay ahead of dehydration by drinking copious amounts of water and fluids. This brought up a new problem – hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is an imbalance of the fluid-electrolyte levels in your blood. Basically, your blood sodium levels plummet because of excessive fluid intake. New guidelines suggest drinking only when thirsty. Try to drink only enough to replace lost fluids and consume sports drinks containing sodium rather than plain water.

Static stretching should be done before you run

Static stretching is the most common form of stretching. It’s that gentle stretch that you assume and hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Static stretching has been one of the cornerstones of a pre run warm up for so long that it has become an ingrained part of running. Something we’ve been doing for so long must be correct –right? Wrong! We have been taught to do static stretching to warm up our muscles and to help avoid injury, but research has shown that not only does static stretching do little to avoid injuries; it may even decrease our performance levels. Scientific studies have concluded that static stretching before a run may reduce the ability of your muscles to store and return energy – causing a decrease in your running power. A better stretching routine would be to do dynamic drills such as high knees, heel kicks, leg sweeps and lunges before you run and save the static stretching for after your workout or race.

You must carbo load before a marathon

What’s a marathon without the traditional pre race carbo loading dinner? Those heaping plates of pasta the evening before your marathon have become an accepted part of marathon racing. But, do you need those huge helpings of pasta? Not really. Your pre race taper combined with your normal high carbohydrate helpings of food will get you ready for your race. You neither need nor want excessive portion sizes before your race. The large amounts of food can actually make you sluggish and tired on race morning.

Running mechanics aren’t important

Many runners believe that running form and mechanics are something you are born with and can’t change. They think that working on running mechanics is a waste of time. The truth is that proper running form can be learned and is also one of the greatest predictors of running performance. Proper running mechanics will make you a more efficient runner – it will allow you to run faster using less energy. Can you think of anything more important?

Higher mileage is always better

There’s no question in my mind that this one is a myth, but it’s really only a half myth. Higher mileage isn’t always better, but it may be under certain circumstances. There are a lot of runners out there that think the more miles they put in the better they will do. That is only half true. It’s true that more mileage will usually result in better performance, but only up to a point. Up to about 70 miles per week you will reap a lot of benefits from increasing your running volume. After 70 miles per week you still see some gains but they are much smaller. It’s like an improvement curve where the curve moves up steeply until you reach around 70 miles, and then it nearly flattens out. There are still small gains, but they are very small. Since most running injuries are caused by high running volume you need to decide if the small gains are worth the risk of injury and burnout. For most runners the answer is no. If your experience level, availability of time and level of fitness is high enough to withstand the physical and mental stress of very high mileage then it may be worth the risk for you, but for most runners going further than around 70 miles per week is counterproductive.

Classic periodization is the best training technique

Imagine doing only one workout, using the same pace and the same distance. Not only would you be bored to death, but your fitness would never improve. Your body would learn the workout and stop adapting. That is why we do various types of workouts during different times. That is the essence of periodization. It is dividing your training program into separate phases that are intended to train different energy and body systems. There are many types of periodization techniques. The most widely used and accepted is the classic technique of several weeks of long slow distance running followed by other periods of solely shorter, higher intensity runs. The theory behind classic periodization is to build a base of endurance in the initial weeks to support the higher intensity runs to follow. The problem with classic periodization is that it ignores the all important lactate turn point training, vVO2 max runs, hill training, neuromuscular workouts and goal pace running for long periods of time. You lose fitness in those systems and then must rebuild that fitness later on. For most of today’s runners a multi pace periodization technique in which you perform all types of training runs consistently on a year round basis is a more effective way to train. You maintain full fitness and simply emphasize different paces according to where you are in your training cycle and what your specific goal is.

Long slow distance running should dominate your training

Here’s another one of those pesky half myth things. There’s no question that the majority of all distance runners weekly mileage is composed of endurance training. But that should be in relation to total volume – not number of workouts. If the majority of your workouts are performed at an easy endurance pace you will be training yourself to run slowly. If you want to run at a fast pace you should practice at a fast pace. Try to include at least 3 quality workouts per week that are performed at between 10K race pace and 3K race pace. The faster paced running will improve your speed, power, strength and neuromuscular conditioning.

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Venice: An Aerial View of the City [PIC]

A pretty cool picture of Venice, a a city in northern Italy. It has a population of 270,000+.

click photo to enlarge

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The Web back in 1996-1997

Back in 1996 the Web was starting to gain some serious momentum, but it was still just a few years old. Now in 2008, looking 12 years back into the past of the Web can be a both nostalgic and entertaining experience.

To give you some perspective, in 1996…

• Google.com didn’t exist yet.
• In January 1996 there were only 100,000 websites, compared to more than 160 million in 2008.
• The web browser of choice was Netscape Navigator, followed by Microsoft Internet Explorer as a distant second (Microsoft launched IE 3 in 1996).
• Most people used dial-up Internet connections with mighty speeds ranging from 28.8Kbps to 33.6Kbps. Highly modern 56Kbps modems would arrive in 1997.
• People had only recently started to switch from 640×480 to 800×600 screen resolutions.

We have used the good old WayBack Machine (a.k.a the Internet Archive) to track down screenshots of what websites looked like back in 1996-97.>

Yahoo

In 1994, “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” had been renamed to “Yahoo!”. The Yahoo.com domain was created in January 1995. In 1996, Yahoo was well on its way to becoming one of the major Web portals.

Internet Archive link.

Webcrawler

Webcrawler got started in 1994 and was the first Web search engine to provide full text search (making it the first modern-day Web search engine).

Internet Archive link.

Altavista

Altavista was a search engine created by DEC that launched in 1995 and quickly gained massive popularity. Aside from strong traffic to their own website, in 1996, Altavista became the exclusive provider of search results to Yahoo.

Internet Archive link.

Ultimate Band List

Started in 1994, Ultimate Band List (UBL) provided a popular music database with information about artists, concerts, record labels, and so on. Kind of a Last.fm of the time.

Internet Archive link.

Lycos

Founded in 1995, Lycos quickly grew into one of the most popular portals and search engines on the Web. By 1999, Lycos was the most-visited Web portal in the world.

Internet Archive link.

Netscape

Founded in 1994 (originally as Mosaic Communications Corporation), Netscape is one of the true pioneers of the Web. In 1996, Netscape Navigator was the leading Web browser by a large margin. Microsoft had started going after market shares with Internet Explorer, but had not yet gained a firm footing.

Internet Archive link.

MSN

MSN (The Microsoft Network) got started as a set of Internet services in 1995 (it was launched in connection with Windows 95). It was originally intended to be both an online service and an Internet service provider along the lines of AOL.

Internet Archive link.

Apple

In 1996, Steve Jobs had not yet returned to Apple (he did that in 1997) and the company was losing market shares. Mac OS 8 was on the way (as you can see in the screenshot) and the good old Newton PDA was still being sold.

Internet Archive link.

Excite

Founded in 1994, Excite was yet another popular player in the increasingly crowded Web portal market. The website itself was formally launched in December 1995.

Internet Archive link.

Tripod

Launched in 1995, Tripod was originally billed as a “hip web site and pay service for and by college students,” but mainly became known as a place where people could create free web pages (à la GeoCities). Tripod would later be bought by Lycos.

Internet Archive link.

The New York Times

In 1996, the New York Times website was dead set on getting users to sign up to access any Web content at all.

Internet Archive link.

Things certainly have evolved a bit, haven’t they?

To be fair, the end-user Internet connections of the day would never have been able to handle most of today’s media-heavy websites without them turning slow as syrup, and the relatively fine-grained design control we have these days with for example CSS was not available at the time.

What were your favorite websites back in 1996-97? Share with me!

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10 Everyday Technologies That Can Change the World

A garden hose, a tin can, duct tape, metal piping, kitchen cleaner, and gasoline: That is all television icon MacGyver needed to make a flame-thrower to ward off a swarm of killer ants. In the real world, technologies that are affordable and practical are not so simple to create, but they can make a huge impact on people's lives. Instead of calling on complex solutions (reliant on engines and imported resources) for low-tech problems (such as cooking and lighting), some researchers are now developing what they call "confluent" technologies—ones that are effective, affordable, and sustainable for use in the developing world. Here's a look at the latest breakthroughs:

1 Energy in a Bucket of Dirt
Who needs nickel cadmium batteries or coal plants for electricity when you have soil? A Harvard team of faculty and African students have tapped into soil-dwelling microbes in order to provide electricity for families in Tanzania. When the microbes found in the soil digest organic materials, they naturally produce a small current, which can be harnessed with a simple device consisting of two electrodes and a small circuit board. One trash-barrel-sized unit filled with soil can produce enough electricity to light two bedrooms for a decade or more, says Harvard biology professor Peter Girguis. While each unit currently costs about $50, the team is testing new materials that would drive the price down to $7.

A Pelton turbine from the micro-hydroelectric system
currently providing renewable power to
Comunidad Nueva Alianza in Guatemala.

Photo: Xeni Jardin; courtesy of AIDG

2 Micro-Hydroelectric Power
Hilly land streaked with small streams makes an ideal spot for micro-hydroelectric power generators, each of which requires a meager water flow of just three gallons per second to turn. (To put this in perspective, the Mississippi's average flow at New Orleans is about 4.4 million gallons per second.) The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) has helped to build three systems in Guatemala, and more communities are now saving up money for local installations.

3 Biodigesters
At the end of Back to the Future, a little bit of garbage is all Doc Brown needs to fuel his DeLorean time machine. Biodigesters won’t quite generate "1.21 jigawatts" of power (as Doc's Mr. Fusion device seemed to), but they can create fuel for heating, cooking, and electricity while reducing waste and water contamination. In the salchicha-type biodigester (salchicha means "sausage" in Spanish), bacteria break down waste in a 15-to-30-foot-long polyethylene tube and release methane, which is captured and piped to a stove. The digested waste can then be used as a fertilizer. Biodigesters have been around since the 1870s, but current efforts focus on producing them on a larger scale. An award-winning system installed in Rwandan prisons reduced the need for firewood by half.

4 Wind Power on $2 a Day
Who said wind turbines have to spin? Shawn Frayne, founder of Humdinger Wind Energy, developed a turbine-less generator that harnesses energy from the rapid wind-induced vibration (50 cycles per second) of a seven-to-ten-foot flap of taffeta fabric. This is the same phenomenon—aeroelastic flutter—that civil engineers try to eliminate so bridges don’t sway in the wind, and on a small scale, it greatly increases the efficiency of capturing power from wind for a very small cost, says Frayne. "For people making a dollar or two a day, it could be in the realm of possibility to have electricity," says Peter Haas of AIDG, who is helping Frayne test the generators in Guatemala. Depending on wind conditions, the generators can be positioned to power efficient lights in a few rooms on small electrical grids. Frayne hopes to make the product available within a few years.

5 Sunlight Stored in LEDs
In rural Indian homes, kerosene lamps are ubiquitous, posing health concerns from fumes as well as a fire risk. Solar-charged lights designed by Patrick Walsh, founder of Greenlight Planet, are one solution to this problem. The lights run for four hours on their brightest setting after charging in the sun all day. The lights also reduce fuel costs for families and pay for themselves in just one year. After testing the market with 20 lamps, Walsh is now scaling up production.

6 Solar Water Heater
Solar water heaters are generally expensive (they can cost $400–$1,000), barring easy access to hot water for many who are far from an electric grid. But engineer Ashok Gadgil at the University of California, Berkeley, working with AIDG, cut back on materials and came up with a solar heater that costs $100. It can produce 26 gallons of water warmed to 104 degrees Fahrenheit by 4 p.m. each day—enough for four showers. Tests are ongoing in Guatemala, after which the team plans to fine-tune the design and begin distribution.

7 Pedal-Powered Grid
People who live off the grid in rural corners of the world may soon have a new source of energy: 12-volt batteries charged by pedaling. Using a simple alternator, six hours of pedaling can create and store enough electrical energy in batteries to light about six homes for 30 days (in areas where people use less electricity than in the U.S.). Dissigno, the San Francisco–based company that distributes the devices, has one prototype up and running in Haiti and next hopes to install a "grid" in Tanzania connected by a network of pedalers instead of power lines.

Charcoal briquettes made in Haiti from plant waste. Photo: Jules Walter; courtesy of MIT News Office

8 Sugarcane Charcoal
In Haiti, most people cook using charcoal made from wood, but the country is now 98 percent deforested due largely to mismanagement of resources. MIT students and lecturer Amy Smith turned to widely available bagasse, the stalks of sugarcane plants left after squeezing the sugar out, and created a charcoal replacement by burning, compressing, and mixing the material with a binding agent. The team is currently looking to train prospective entrepreneurs interested in producing and distributing the product.

9 Irrigation by Foot
Most African farmers rely on seasonal rainfall, having no other means of irrigation for crops. So Martin Fisher, the CEO of KickStart International, came up with a device you can pump with your feet that pulls water from 30 feet underground with enough pressure to irrigate up to two acres of land. This enables more frequent harvests of high-value crops like vegetables rather than grains. In Africa, more than 65,000 such pumps are currently in use. Fisher won the 2008 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability for the invention.

10 Chlorine from Salt
For the roughly 1.2 billion people lacking clean water, a bit of chlorine could go a long way toward providing it. Using two ounces of salt water and some muscle, University of Iowa engineering professor Craig Just can make enough bleach to kill the disease-causing microorganisms in five gallons of water. His trick: a hand-cranked device that generates electricity to zap water molecules, splitting them and joining them with chlorine atoms from salt. Just and his students plan to test a prototype in Ghana and Honduras next year.

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What is Lucid Dreaming?

You may have heard the term lucid dreaming before but are unaware of what it means. Lucid dreaming basically means that you are aware that you are awake while you are dreaming. There are high level lucid dreams and low level lucid dreams as well as many degrees or variation in between. At the lowest level, one may realize mid way through their dream that they are in the midst of a dream but aren't conscious enough to differentiate between dream land and the real world.

In a higher level lucid dreaming, the dreamer fully understands they are dreaming and can actually take control of their dreams, understanding that their dream poses no risk. Often times people who experience high level lucid dreams utilize these dreams to fulfill fantasies such as flying or activities that would pose risk in real life.

Once people learn that they can control their dreams, many people try to learn how to become a lucid dreamer. Unfortunately, the older you get, the harder it is to learn how to lucid dream. So if you are younger, there is no better time than the present to immerse yourself in learning the techniques required to lucid dream. Imagine if you always had control of your dreams, it would be like being awake 24 hours a day!

To learn more about lucid dreaming, check out Stephen Laberge's book 'Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming' or rent the movie 'Waking Life'.

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12 Ways to turn a bad day into a better one

They are inevitable. Bad days happen to everyone. But, there are things you can do to make them better. Here are a few…

1. Play with kids.

I dare you.

2. Give someone a compliment.

Not a fake one, but take the time to see something that someone else is doing well.

3. Sing in your car.

And sing as loud as you can. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to frown while you are singing?

4. Read Philippians 4.

And while you are at it, just think about where Paul was while he was writing it.

5. Bake your favorite kind of cookies.

Then eat some.

6. Count your blessings.

I mean it. Start a list of all the things you are thankful for. Write until you can’t write anymore. Staple it to the wall.

7. Watch people.

Go find a crowded public area, sit down and watch. Allow yourself to wonder what he ate for breakfast, or what her name is, or where he bought that shirt.

8. Do something for someone you love.

Do the dishes for your wife, take your neice out for ice cream, take your mom to Starbucks for a coffee.

9. Pray.

It’s #9 because you expected it to be #1. What could be more encouraging that talking to the Creator of the universe?

10. Think of the most encouraging person you know and call them.

But don’t complain. Refrain from telling them how bad your day is and focus on making their day better.

11. Write a letter.

A good old-fashioned paper and ink letter. Bonus: write it to someone who has impacted your life and thank them and let them know how much you appreciate their role/impact in your life.

12. Remember the truth.

That God causes all things to work together for GOOD (Romans 8:28)

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Futurologist predicts the trends that will shape the next 50 years

What's going out and what's coming in?

2010 Going out: • Letter writing • The idea of 'normal' weather • Personal privacy • Ashtrays • Milkmen

Future trends: Futurologist Richard Watson on what's coming next Coming in: •Truth sensors • Wearable computers • Dream machines 2015 Going out: • Getting lost • Thank-you letters • Landline telephones Coming in: • A human settlement on the moon • Disposable mobile phones • Intelligent cosmetics • Hotels just for sleeping 2020 Going out: Paris Hilton Going out: • Post offices • Free parking • Survivors of the First World War • Unfenced beaches • Secretaries • DVDs • Democracy in Russia • Telephone directories • The idea of a proper retirement • An independent Taiwan • State pensions • Coming in: • Surgery carried out by robots • Artificial eyes 2025 Going out: • Proper spelling • Driving on the road for free • Desktop computers • Work-free weekends • The Maldives • Paris Hilton Coming in: • Hydrogen-based fuel stations • Offshore prisons • 'Mindwipes' to remove the memory of a bad day at the office • Sensory internet 2030 Going out • Reality TV • The Great Barrier Reef • Trade unions • Inheritance tax • Taking a proper lunch • Wrinkles, thanks to cosmetic surgery Coming in: A ladder into space Coming in • Robots to take care of young children • Virtual holidays • A ladder into space • Artificial memory enhancers • Self-driving cars • Artificial bacteria 2035 Going out: • Children playing without supervision • Coins • Oil • Microsoft • The middle class • Low-cost travel • Bangladesh Coming in: • Self-repairing roads • Diets based on your individual genome • 3-D printers • Virtual reality windows 2040 Going out: • Banknotes and wallets • Petrol engines • Addiction and deafness - both will be cured • National currencies • Free public spaces • The idea of saying 'sorry' • The European Union Going out: British monarchy Coming in: • Factories in space • A single global currency • Wallpaper that plays videos • Countries used entirely as prisons 2045 Going out: • Any remaining monopolies • Ties • The British monarchy • Natural childbirth Coming in: • Individual taxes based on the amount you pollute • Invisibility cloaks • A man on Mars 2050 Going out: • Household chores • Belgium as a unified country • Incurable blindness • Google • Any survivors of the Second World War Going out: Death Coming in: • Tiny robots for pest control • Brain transplants • Downloading of memories • Global ID cards, elections and taxes • Warp drive • Robot policemen and beyond... Going out: • The idea of ugliness • Nation states • Death - unless you want it Coming in: • Artificial brains • Mining asteroids • Web 4.0 • Clothing that monitors and controls your stress levels

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20 Most Incredible Desert Oases [pics]

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The yellow sand dunes stretch to infinity, whilst the scorching sun of the Sahel beats down on your head. You’re tired and you’re thirsty – you’ve been travelling for miles, searching for water. Yet nonetheless you are cautious: nothing is as it seems in this land of smokescreens and mirrors. “Water! Water!” you begin to scream. No… even imagination is playing tricks on you. But what if in the distance, past the undulating sand dunes, lay the waters of sand-locked lagoons and waterfalls surrounded by palm trees?

It is this vision of utopia, surrounded by barren wasteland that inspired us to catalogue some of the most incredible desert oases before they are devoured by the desert sands and become mirages themselves.

1. Ubari Lakes are part of Erg Awbari Oasis in the Sahara. Located near Fezzan and 30kms north of Germa in Libya, these salt water lakes are a central trading point for many locals, who gather at the edges of the lake selling souvenirs and other goods.

sfivat

Umm Al-Maa, meaning Mother of Water, is one of the largest lakes in the oasis but unfortunately, like all the lakes, the water table in the area is so low that the lakes are drying up.

As well as the waters being extremely dirty, the saline levels are now similar to the Dead Sea (which is great news if you like floating in crud). The abandoned city of Gebraoun is also relatively nearby with its impressive ruins, the settlement is testament to the life-sustaining qualities that the lakes once had.

10 Ninjas Steve

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10 Ninjas Steve

LucaG

2. Huacachina is a small oasis town in the Ica region of southwest Peru. This oasis, named ‘Oasis of Americas’, is a popular resort with local families and tourists. A legend says the lagoon was created when an inquisitive young hunter disturbed a beautiful princess bathing. She fled, leaving the pool of water behind which became the lagoon.

dwhaynes2214

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kanjiroushi

Eric Bronder

3. Turpan, or Tulufan as it’s also known, is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uygur Region in China. It is just 8km west of the ruined city of Jiaohe, a border garrison town destroyed by Genghis Khan during the Han dynasty.

wikimedia commons

4. We’re not entirely sure where this desert oasis is but we had to include it because, surely, this is what most people perceive as the typical oasis mirage? If anyone has been there, shoot us the location.

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5. This wonderful desert lake is set within Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhao, Brasil. It forms part of a system of fresh water lagoons which fill up with rainwater during the first six months of the year and then gradually evaporate over time to be topped up again the following year. Some of the lakes within the park are dotted with palm trees. This lonely lake, however, has one solitary dry branch decorating its banks.

Ric e Ette

6. Crescent Lake in China’s Gobi Desert sits on the edge of an ancient city that once saw traders embark on their journey along the Silk Road to the West. Today it is drying up and has dropped more than 25 feet in the last 30 years, in part due to water being redirected for local farmers and a doubling of population, resulting in the slow disappearance of a lake that has existed for thousands of years.

Michael Zhao

7. The beautiful oasis of Chebika in Tunisia is probably one that most people know about without realizing it. It is where Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was filmed. The story goes that the oasis was actually named after one of the characters, Chewbacca.

Bartek Kuzia

Howard.Gees

Howard.Gees

8. This stunning image shows three men quenching their thirst at a small waterfall in the Saharan oasis of Timia, in Niger. It’s a picture perfect portrait of everyday oasis life for local desert dwellers.

nygus

9. There are always small enclaves or villages dispersed near bodies of water, no matter how small, and this image shows why. Even in desert areas wholes farms can exist with the life giving powers of water.

wikimedia commons

10. This remote desert lake, fringed by sand dunes is located in Khar Nuur, Mongolia. It’s a refreshing swimming spot for travelers who manage to venture into one of the world’s vast desert plains.

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11. Nahal David is a quiet oasis found near Bethlehem, Israel’s Palestinian West Bank. It’s certainly a far cry from the war-torn images often associated with that part of the world.

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12. This sprawling oasis is the village of Tinerhir, located at the foothills of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. Todra Gorge and oasis are about 14km away so travellers normally visit both oases on the one trip.

jon keegan

13. Ghardaia is the main town in M’zab oasis in northern Algeria. Founded in the 11th century, the city was built around a cave which was reputedly inhabited by the female saint Daïa, and is still revered by M’zabite women today. The oasis offers some wonderful examples of original Arabic medieval architecture and is now a protected UNESCO World Heritage site.

Addounya

Masen

14. This castle is part of an oasis on the western shore of the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia, called Qatif. The city dates back to 3,500 BC and was for many years the main town and port in the western Gulf, which meant it was a popular spot for invasion and take over by ruling powers through the ages. This resulted in an eclectic mix of architecture and the area now boasts some of the best archeological sites in the kingdom.

Alib_ahj

15. This oasis is hidden in the depths of the Oman desert, where a number of green oases dot the landscape. A few oases in the tiny Sultanate, on the corner of the Arabian Peninsula, are hotspots for botanical studies into agro-biodiversity where many of the ancient oasis are in rapid decline; researchers want to figure out why.

loufi

16. Nakhl Fort sits overlooking a lush, green date-palm oasis in Oman. These impressive forts were strategically placed across much of the Oman desert, like many places, to protect villagers from invasion.

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17. This beautiful unnamed oasis is situated in Niger. If you have any further info, we’d love to hear about it in the comments section. Considering the recent unrest in the country it’s amazing to find places like this still.

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18. The lush green carpet of shrubland and fields sit in stark contrast to the barren hills in the background of this typical oasis village. Any clues to where it is?

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16 Unassuming-but-Lethal Poison Plants [PICS]

Most plants contain some level of toxins (like alkaloids) for defense. After all, they’re plants. They can’t go anywhere. Through millennia of trial and error, both animals and human beings have figured out which plants are safe, which are lethal, and which are somewhere in between. For example, did you know that many grain-bearing plants contain a toxin known as lectins? And that the African staple, cassava, must be thoroughly boiled and soaked to separate it from its poisonous compound, cyanide? Even the humble lima bean has been bred to contain less cyanide. Cherries, potatoes, peaches and apple seeds are all toxic - eat enough of the latter, in fact, and it will prove fatal. Fortunately, artificial selection and cooking methods have all but eliminated the threat of toxins in everyday foods. But you may be surprised to find out the incredibly lethal plants often hanging around the neighborhood park - or gracing your tabletop in the form of a centerpiece.

Castor Bean

Images via UCC, My Sunshine Garden and remarc

Castor oil - for anyone unlucky enough to have been force spoon-fed this healthy yet disgusting fluid as a child, you may be surprised to learn that an ingredient in the castor bean just happens to be the deadliest plant poison on earth. Literally. Just one tiny castor bean is enough to kill an adult within a few minutes. Castor oil is made safe (but not palatable) with the removable of the lethal compound known as ricin. Amazingly, castor bean plants are grown for decorative purpose all over the place, particularly in California.

Rosary Pea

Image source unknown

As if a deadly legume weren’t bad enough, the pulses aren’t so benign, either. The rosary pea may sound sweet and downright pious, but it’s actually one of the most dangerous plants on earth. Its seeds contain a particular lectin known as abrin; if chewed and swallowed, death will follow shortly. The seeds are easily identified with their distinctive bright red jacket and single black dot (almost like a reverse Black Widow spider). Abrin, which does its damage by inactivating ribosomes, is one of the most fatal toxins on earth. After the vomiting, fever, nausea, drooling and G.I. dysfunction but before the bizarre hyperexcitability, edema and fatally convulsive seizures, renal tubular degeneration, bladder and retinal hemorrhage and widespread internal lesions typically develop.

Monkshood

Image via About.com

Another unassuming plant - until you learn that the nickname for monkshood is actually “wolfsbane”. That’s owing to its once common use by farmers as a very effective wolf extermination tool. (Not to be left out, fowl are also fatally affected by the related hensbane.) The monkshood has the distinction of evidently being the bane of many creatures: its nicknames include womensbane and leopard’s bane, though it is also known as blue rocket and devil’s helmet. It is technically part of the aconitum genus, of which there are more than 250 species. The wolfsbane used to be a popular werewolf detection tool, by the way. (Status was determined by holding the flower near the alleged’s chin; a yellow-tinged shadow on the skin was thought to be confirmation.)

Bushman’s poison

Images via plantzafrica

The aptly-named Bushman’s poison has famously been used by the Khoisan of South Africa to poison the tips of their arrows. Though the plant produces pleasantly scented flowers and a tasty plum-like berry, the milky sap can be fatal. The leaves, however, have medicinal properties. Bushman’s poison is also known as the wintersweet.

Angel’s trumpet

Images via Direct Gardening and Wikimedia

What could be sweeter than the sound of an angel’s trumpet? Perhaps the moaning agony of a trip that won’t end. Related to petunias, tomatoes and potatoes, the angel’s trumpet (datura stramonium) is a highly effective hallucinogen, but should not be consumed for recreational purposes as it can also be lethal. According to wikipedia: “The active ingredients are atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine which are classified as deliriants, or anticholinergics. Due to the elevated risk of overdose in uninformed users, many hospitalizations, and some deaths, are reported from recreational use.” This common plant also goes by many other names, including jimson weed, stink weed, loco weed, and devil’s snare. One 18-year-old who was house-sitting alone for his uncle recounts how he decided to prepare some angel’s trumpet tea in curiosity and almost died (a friend burst in on him convulsing on the bathroom floor and the authorities assumed he was on an acid trip).

Water hemlock

Image via Rutgers

The poison hemlock famously drunk by Socrates is deadly, but the water hemlock is just as fatal. According to the USDA, water hemlock or poison parsnip is “the most violently toxic plant in North America”. The flowers and stems are safe, but the stalky roots contain chambers that are full of a deadly sap containing the convulsant cicutoxin. Grand mal seizures are followed by a quick death if even a tiny amount is consumed.

English Yew

Images via greenlover, c-r-alpacas, bomengids, and Britannica

The English Yew, or taxus baccata (”taxus” meaning toxin), is one of the deadliest trees on the planet. The evergreen has a majestic and lush appearance and is fairly common in forests of Europe. The yew is considered by scientists to be an odd and primitive conifer along with the monkey puzzle tree of Chile and Gingko biloba tree of Asia. The yew has a rather sad history. All parts - save for the flesh of the berries - are extremely poisonous. Because the toxin causes convulsions and paralysis, it was once used as an abortifacient. Apothecaries would dry and powder the leaves and stems and give desperate women minute amounts in the days before birth control was available. Unfortunately, death would often result. The yew has been quite popular throughout history for a number of medicinal purposes at extremely dilute levels, but it is deemed too dangerous in modern medical practice to be of use. The yew’s primary toxin is taxine, a cardiac depressant. The yew acts rapidly and there is no antidote.

Snakeroot

Images via Sonja Keohane and canalphotos

Snakeroot is most dangerous for livestock such as cattle and sheep. When cows consume the attractive fluffy white blooms and stems of the snakeroot, their milk and bones become saturated with the toxin tremetol and humans who consume these contaminated animal products will develop milk sickness (tremetol poisoning). In fact, milk sickness is what killed Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks.

Strychnine tree

Images via motherherbs, BRAIN and wikipedia

Queen Cleopatra famously forced servants to commit suicide by means of a strychnine tree’s fruit seeds, which contain lethal levels of strychnine and brucine, in order to determine if it would be the best means for her own suicide. Upon seeing their agony (which included painful vomiting, facial contortions and convulsions) she opted for the apparently less horrific choice of the asp. (The asp was actually an ancient term for any number of poisonous snakes, but experts think it was probably the cobra that Cleopatra chose to end her life.)

Moonseed

Images via Missouri plants and paradisegardentx

A otherworldly name and a plant with often fatal effects. The seeds of this Eastern North American drupe (stone fruit) are extremely toxic to humans, although birds can eat them. Moonseeds first cause paralysis but are fatal in larger doses and/or if treatment is not sought immediately.

Daphne

Images via Bonnie Day and Island Net

This plant, also called the spurge laurel, is a favorite ornamental shrub in Europe. This drupe-producing evergreen with waxy, attractive foliage and gorgeously fragrant blooms is also highly toxic. Consumption of the leaves or red or yellow fruits will first cause nausea and violent vomiting, followed by internal bleeding, coma and death. The daphne plant is rich in the toxin mezerein.

Narcissus

Images via the Guardian and the flower expert

Narcissists are toxic enough when they come in human form, but the plant for which they are named, also called the daffodil, is highly poisonous. Poet’s narcissus is more toxic than daffodil, but in both cases it is the bulbs, not the flower or stems, that cause illness. One famous fatal case in Toulouse in the early 1900s occurred when the bulbs were mistaken for onions and consumed. According to Botanical.com, “Socrates called this plant the ‘Chaplet of the infernal Gods,’ because of its narcotic effects. An extract of the bulbs, when applied to open wounds, has produced staggering, numbness of the whole nervous system and paralysis of the heart.” Yet, there are medicinal properties, and some cultures even believe they can cure baldness and serve as a potent aphrodisiac. (Do not try at home.)

Oleander

Image via Bay Area Hiker

The oleander is the most deadly plant in the world. It is also tremendously popular as a decorative shrub. Just one leaf can kill an adult, and fatal poisonings have resulted from minimal exposure to the twigs, blooms and berries. The plant contains numerous toxins, including nerioside, oleandroside, saponins, and cardiac glycosides. Though native to parts of the Mediterranean and Asia, it is now widely cultivated throughout the world. Fatalities among horses and other livestock are common. Once ingested, oleander goes to work simultaneously on the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, and the digestive tract.

Rhododendron

Images via SOUL, Netstate and Kew

The toxic rhododendron, a stalky tree-like evergreen shrub with large, brilliant blooms, is famously seen throughout much of the Pacific Northwest and is the state flower of Washington. Its relative, the popular garden shrub azalea, is also poisonous. Both plants contain andromedatoxin, which can cause severe pain, lethargy, depression, vomiting and nausea, progressive paralysis, coma and eventual death. All parts are deadly.

Choke cherry

Images via Why Oh Why and BC

Chokecherry, or wild cherry, is a North American plant that is known for its large sprays of tiny white flowers. The cherries are small and not eaten. The plant’s woody stalks and leaves are full of hydrocyanic acid, which is fatal if consumed. The poison affects the respiratory system, and rapid breathing, choking and asphyxiation result.

Nightshade

Image via PBase

Also known as the devil’s cherry, black cherry, great morel and belladonna, the nightshade is toxic from tip to top. Containing atropine, a deadly alkaloid, those who ingest even a small amount of the plant will soon notice they have lost their voice. Respiratory trouble and convulsions follow. The plant is problematic because its cherries are so sweet and children are frequently attracted to the wild fruit. Strangely, horses, birds, sheep, goats and pigs seem to be immune to the effects of nightshade. Nightshade poisoning is treatable with an emetic if treatment is sought swiftly. Plutarch spoke of armies being wiped out by nightshade, and legend has it that Macbeth’s soldiers poisoned the invading Danes with wine made from the sweet fruit.

There are many, many more toxic plants, but these plants were chosen for inclusion in this post due to their their incredible characteristics.

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Fluorescent-Red Glowing Fish Found

The small wrasse fish, Pseudocheilinus evanidus (Labridae), glows red over its entire body. The fish is shown under natural light (left) and through a red filter (right). Credit: Nico Michiels et al.

Dr. Seuss had it right with "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." Only put the emphasis on red.

Scientists have found that red is a favorite color among some fish and have discovered several that actually fluoresce in the vibrant hue.

Until now, many researchers had considered the color red way out of fashion in the underwater realm, where red wavelengths of sunlight are immediately absorbed by seawater near the surface, said Nico Michiels of the University of Tübingen, Germany, who led a team that discovered the red fish.

That means objects that look red in air or in shallow water appear grey or black at depths below about 33 feet (10 meters). Unlike red, blue-green light penetrates deeper and is the reason our oceans appear blue. But fish have found their own way to red.

The new results, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal BMC Ecology, show "that red fluorescence is widespread among marine fish," Michiels said.

Michiels discovered the glowing-red fish by chance during dives in Mangrove Bay in the Red Sea (the salt water inset between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula), where he was investigating how deep red light penetrates into the water. Wearing goggles that enabled him to only see red light, Michiels was struck by blobs of red which ringed the eyes of several fish, adorned the entire bodies of others or coated a single fin.

"The most striking ones had red fluorescence around the eyes and one where its whole body seemed to glow," he said.

The red glow is likely a form of private communication or an attraction signal, Michiels said, though he doesn't have clear proof yet. Because the light is coming from the fish themselves and not filtering down from the surface, the red glow remains visible at depth and is easily seen at close distances only.

"We are convinced that we are the first ones to discover it [red fluorescence in fish] in the field and to recognize it as such an important phenomenon in reef fish," Michiels told LiveScience.

Many fish species have shown their abilities to fluoresce in blue and green. And in 2005, a relative of the jellyfish was identified as fluorescing in red light. (Despite the name, jellyfish are not actually fish.)

Fluorescence occurs when light is absorbed at one wavelength and then re-emitted at another nearly immediately. In the case of the red fluorescence, these fish absorb light at blue-green wavelengths and re-emit it at red.

Michiels speculates red fluorescence is a widespread phenomenon in reef and other fish. Since the initial discovery, he has identified other such light-emitters in the Mediterranean.

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[via livescience]

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Coworkers stealing your sandwiches? Here's a brilliant solution.

Stealing your co-worker's lunch is a downright contemptible act, that is, if it's perpetrated by someone other than you. But, if you've ever had your lunch stolen, you know the the frustration and anger it causes. You know the revenge and ill-will it inspires. And you know that no matter how well you try to hide your lunch bag at the back of the refrigerator, something's gonna be missing when you open it. Well, lament no more. The Anti-Theft Lunch Bag to the rescue . . .Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are regular sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides. After your sandwich is placed inside, no one will want to touch it.

If you're interested in getting your hands dirty with these bags, please send an email to skforlee@gmail.com and I'll let you know when they become available.

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[via skforlee]

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Watch Full-Length Movies, TV Shows, and More — Free!

IMDb is now showing full-length movies and and a great selection of full-length TV episodes directly on our site -- for free!. We have the best selection of films and shows on the internet, paired with all of the rich film and TV information that you expect from IMDb. Best of all, you can watch it all right now for free! Take a look at our featured content below, or search for your favorite films and TV shows to find the videos and movies you want to see!

Get your popcorn ready...Watch full length movies

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Parking a Car Too Difficult for You?

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[via homebased]

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Teen Pregnancy Barbie [Pic]

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Want free credit Monitoring? Hurry-Here’s how

Yes, you read that right. No sign ups, no credit card needed.

According to the terms of a class-action lawsuit, credit bureau TransUnion must provide free credit monitoring to anyone who had an open credit account or open line of credit in the United States (i.e., a bank or department-store credit card, car loan, mortgage, or student loan, etc.) during the last 21 years. By going to www.listclassaction.com, you’ll be presented with several options, including getting six months of free credit monitoring services (a $59.75 value) and retaining the right to share in the estimated $75 million settlement, or signing up for nine months of free “enhanced” monitoring services (which retails for $115.50) and forgoing any further benefits. But you’ll have to act fast to participate: The deadline for registering at the secure website is September 24.

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Eating veggies shrinks the brain

MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.

The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.
When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.

Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk.

Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories - was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.

And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%.

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[via timesofindia]

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Why We Drink

Very creative video...

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The short - but eventful - life of Ike [Amazing Pictures]

In its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike - though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900. (28 photos total)

A horse grazes beside a house, surrounded by floodwater, near Winnie, Texas after Hurricane Ike, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008. Ike was the first major storm to directly hit a major U.S. metro area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. (AP Photo/Pool, Smiley N. Pool

2

Image of Hurricane Ike on September 10, 2008, taken by the crew of the International Space Station, flying 220 miles above Earth. Ike barreled into the densely populated Texas coast near Houston early September 13, 2008, bringing with it a wall of water and ferocious winds and rain that flooded large areas along the Gulf of Mexico and paralyzed the fourth-largest U.S. city. (REUTERS/NASA/Handout) #

3

Ike passed over Cuba and Haiti prior to its landfall in Texas. This is a view of the flooded waterflont in Baracoa, eastern Cuba on September 7, 2008. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

4

This image from September 8, 2008 was provided by the U.S. Navy. Homes seen in Port De Paix, Haiti remain flooded after four storms in one month have devastated the area and killed more than 800 people. The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) has been diverted from the scheduled Continuing Promise 2008 humanitarian assistance deployment in the western Caribbean to conduct hurricane relief operations in Haiti. (Emmitt Hawks/U.S. Navy via Getty Images) #

5

The surge before the storm swamps Galveston Island, Texas, and a fire destroys homes along the beach as Hurricane Ike approaches Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) #

6

An alligator is seen crossing a road in Sabine Pass, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, as the area recovers from the effects of Hurricane Ike. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) #

7

Flooding over access road 523 to Surfside beach, caused by Hurricane Ike forming in the Gulf of Mexico, is seen near Surfside Beach, Texas September 12, 2008. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

8

Homes and businesses on the Clear Creek Channel in Seabrook are surrounded by rising water from Galveston Bay on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 after Hurricane Ike passed through overnight as a Category 2 storm. (AP Photo/The Galveston County Daily News, Kevin M. Cox) #

9

With Hurricane Ike offshore, Michael Gardner walks in high water in front of a burning marina warehouse in Galveston, Texas, Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. Fire fighters could not reach the structure so they allowed the structure to burn. (AP Photo/LM Otero) #

10

People ride in the back of a pickup truck through floodwaters from Hurricane Ike Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008 in High Island, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool) #

11

A single home is left standing among debris from Hurricane Ike September 14, 2008 in Gilchrist, Texas. Floodwaters from Hurricane Ike were reportedly as high as eight feet in some areas causing widespread damage across the coast of Texas. (David J. Phillip-Pool/Getty Images) #

12

An overturned car sits in floodwaters from Hurricane Ike September 14, 2008 in Gilchrist, Texas. (PHILLIP/AFP/Getty Images) #

13

A house sits among debris, piled up by storm surges after Hurricane Ike made landfall September 14, 2008 in Crystal Beach, Texas. (DAVID J. PHILLIP/AFP/Getty Images) #

14

Flooding from Hurricane Ike inundates a high school football field in the town of Delcambre, La. Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Alan Hannon, pool) #

15

Hurricanes can leave strange debris, from winds, waves, or fleeing residents. Here, an animal skull and antlers are seen in the middle of the road after Hurricane Ike in Bridge City, Texas., Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #

16

Oil slicks in floodwater surround a pumpjack September 14, 2008 in High Island, Texas. Hurricane Ike made landfall yesterday morning at Galveston causing widespread wind and flood damage along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. (Smiley N. Pool/AFP/Getty Images) #

17

Eddie Settlocker assesses damage caused by Hurricane Ike at an apartment complex he manages September 14, 2008 in Galveston, Texas. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

18

A cat looks down from a a tree in the flooded West End section of Galveston, Texas, after hurricane Ike hit the area Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/LM Otero) #

19

Greg Schenck struggles to remove debris from a drain on North Main Street just north of downtown Houston after the passage of Hurricane Ike, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. (AP /Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool) #

20

A woman walks through a flooded neighborhood street, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, in Orange, Texas. Hurricane Ike's surge overcame the levee along the Sabine River that flows by Orange causing widespread flooding to the city. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) #

21

A man inspects the damage in front of the JP Morgan Chase Tower after Hurricane Ike passed through the city September 13, 2008 in Houston Texas. Hurricane Ike made landfall in the middle of the night causing widespread damage. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) #

22

A building maintenance worker walks over shattered glass from windows blown out by Hurricane Ike on the JPMorgan Chase tower Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) #

23

A cemetery flooded by storm surge from Hurricane Ike is shown, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) #

24

The Hollywood Community Cemetery is seen with several caskets scattered about after surfacing due to flood waters caused by Hurricane Ike, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, in Orange, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) #

25

Search and rescue workers drive down a flooded road as they search the Sabine Pass area of Port Arthur, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008 following Hurricane Ike. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) #

26

A house burns uncontrolled in a flooded neighborhood as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas coast, Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) #

27

A bulldozer clears debris along Interstate 45 after Hurricane Ike hit September 13, 2008 in Galveston, Texas. Hurricane Ike has caused losses of between eight and 18 billion dollars, according to early estimates from risk assessment companies on September 13, 2008. (DAVID J. PHILLIP/AFP/Getty Images) #

28

U.S. Air Force Pararescueman Staff Sgt. Lopaka Mounts, assigned to the 331st Air Expeditionary Group, receives a hug from a resident during search and rescue operations after Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas September 13, 2008. (REUTERS/U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. James L. Harper Jr./Handout) #

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[via boston]

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What Men Want/What Women Want

Men and women are quite different, which basically means that (surprise!) they are driven by different things in a mate.

These are the five types of women that men go for:

The Slut—It’s no secret that men are driven by what they see. The chicks that prance around in barely-there outfits and put themselves out there like walking sex billboards will definitely attract a man, but not for long. These women are the “Promiscuous” girls that Nelly Furtado sang about. They think it’s cute to get sloppy drunk and flash strangers. They feel empowered by having one-night stands and getting attention from as many men as they can. Without the shenanigans of these girls, Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild fame would have been forced into another line of work.

The Knockout—She’s beautiful, she’s confident, and she knows how to get what she wants. All eyes are on her when she walks into a room. Mucho points for a man’s ego. Other men wish they could have her and women are slightly intimidated by her (although they won’t admit it).

The Challenge—Men love the thrill of the hunt. They want the woman that is attractive, smart, charming … and out of their reach. The woman who doesn’t fall all over them when other women do. The woman this is nonchalant or even slightly aloof regarding the fact that this man wants her so bad. She may even be his friend, but he just can’t quite get there.

The Submissive—These are women who will make a man feel like a man. She likes for him to take the bull by the horns in the relationship and she will cater to him no matter what. He won’t have to clean/take care of the kids/cook or do much of anything because she’s like his own personal servant.
The One You Can Take Home to Mama—This woman is just an all-around great catch. She gets along with his friends, understands him like no other, makes him laugh, shares his interests, stimulates his mind, maybe even lets him watch a game in peace every once in a while. She’s a keeper!

The five types of men that women go for:

The Bad Boy—He may not have a pot to p*ss in or a window to throw it out, but, if he’s a thug or some other type of bad boy, women will want him. BAD. They’ll wanna fight other women for him. They’ll wanna be his baby mama. They’ll wanna be the one that he settles for. Guess what? This dude’s not gonna settle! He loves the attention and he’ll play a woman as long as she lets him. And if you leave him? So what. There’s another woman waiting around the corner to take your place. Turns out he’s been seeing her on the side anyway.

The Brainiac—Women are turned on by a certain part of a man where the bigger, the better. I’m talking about his brain, of course! We love a man who can challenge our intellect and enlighten us on a few subjects, whether it be politics, mechanical engineering, or whatever subject matter we’re lacking knowledge in. It’s sexy when a man can hold a stimulating conversation and actually look us in the eye. It doesn’t hurt when he can answer a few questions while playing Trivial Pursuit, either.

The Charmer—Charisma is extremely important. Nobody wants to end up with someone who will bore them out of their skull. It’s important to us that our man is appreciated by our friends and loved ones. He should have the wit and charm to hold folks in awe for hours on end. We want to hear them say “What a great guy! I like him. When is he coming around again?”

The Knight in Shining Armor—Let’s face it, women don’t like wimps. We want a man to protect us from danger, defend our honor, and carry our heavy groceries (not necessarily in that order). We want a strong man in our corner. Not that we’ll test him, but we basically want him to be able to kick someone’s butt if it comes down to that.

The Perfect Man—Does he exist? Some seem to have found him. This is the guy who fits a good chunk of the checklist items of what we want in a man. Handsome? Check. Got a job? Check. Watches chick flicks without complaining? Check. He may have some little quirks that we think are cute, but overall he’s all that, and then some. Sometimes he’s right in front of us and we don’t even realize it.

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[via divinecaroline]

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Stephen Hawking to unveil strange new way to tell the time

Prof Stephen Hawking is to unveil a remarkable £1 million clock with no hands that pays tribute to the world's greatest clockmaker.

One clock made by the legendary John Harrison, the pioneer of longitude, took 36 years to build and he was still calibrating it when he died at his home in London on March 24, 1776, his 83rd birthday.

The Corpus Clock has been invented and designed by Dr John Taylor for Corpus Christi College Cambridge for the exterior of the college's new library building.

It will be unveiled on 19 September by Prof Stephen Hawking, cosmologist and author of the global bestseller, A Brief History of Time.

Dr Taylor, an inventor and horologist who studied at the College in the 1950s has put £1 million of his own money and five years into the project.

"One of my heroes is John Harrison," he says.

Of Harrison's many innovations, he came up with the 'grasshopper escapement', explained Dr Taylor, referring to the device used by Harrison to turn rotational motion into a pendulum motion for timekeeping.

"No one knows how a grasshopper escapement works, so I decided to turn the clock inside out and, instead of making the escape wheel 35 mm across and hidden in the case, it is 1.5 m across and visible with the grasshopper escapement around the outside," said Dr Taylor.

He calls the new version of the escapement a 'Chronophage' (time-eater) - "a fearsome beast which drives the clock, literally "eating away time".

It is the largest Grasshopper escapement of any clock in the world.

The Chronophage "hypnotises the watcher with its perpetual motion, punctuated by an extraordinary repertoire of slow blinks, jaw-snaps and stings from its tail," says Dr Taylor.

The Corpus Clock, a true mechanical mechanism, which is wound up by an electric motor, has no hands. "It is a new way to show time, with light," said Dr Taylor.

The clock has no digital numbers, either, but instead a series of slits cut into the face, each a tenth of a degree across.

Blue LED lights are arranged behind the slits, and 60 quarter inch lenses, so that when the escape wheel moves, a series of rapidly darting lights runs in concentric circles to mark passing seconds, and pause at the correct hour and minute.

What appears to be lights flashing in sequence are actually controlled mechanically, using the same principle as a zoetrope, the old fashioned way to view a moving image through slits. The total wattage used by the clock is less than that of three 60 watt bulbs.

Its massive round face, nearly five feet in diameter, was engineered from a single sheet of stainless steel, the mouldings - like a series of waves rippling outwards - were blasted into place by precisely-controlled explosions under water. On the hour, a chain drops into a wooden coffin hidden behind the clock "to remind us of our mortality," he said.

The clock also plays tricks on the observer, seeming occasionally to pause, run unevenly and even go backwards. All this is achieved through mechanics rather than computer programming.

Harrison used his clocks as time standards for the marine chronometers he had pioneered to deliver accuracy great enough to allow the determination of longitude at sea.

There have been few significant advances in the mechanical clock since Harrison went against the grain of contemporary thinking by using large pendulum swings, enlarging the pendulum's "dominion" to reduce errors.

Among Harrison's many remarkable innovations was the gridiron mechanism, consisting of alternating brass and iron rods assembled so that expansion and contraction rates cancelled each other out as the chronometer moved from the tropics to colder climes.

He was also the inventor of the first caged roller bearing, the father of the ball bearing, in his last clock. Over 100 ball bearings are used in the Corpus clock.

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[via telegraph]

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Are towns really safer without traffic lights?

One German community removes lights and signs in a daring experiment and sees accident rates decline.

Bohmte, Germany - When Ulrike Rubcic heard that her town would take down all of its traffic lights, she rolled her eyes in disbelief.

Tucked between cornfields and cow meadows, the main street in this bucolic northern German community was also a thoroughfare with thousands of cars and trucks zooming to or from nearby Osnabruck. "Are we waiting for the first accident?" she thought then.

But this summer the town reworked its downtown thoroughfare, not only scrapping the traffic lights but also tearing down the curbs and erasing marked crosswalks. The busiest part of the main street turned into a "naked" square shared equally by bikes, pedestrians, cars, and trucks. Now, there is only one rule: Always give way to the person on the right.

Two months into the experiment, "Instead of thinking, 'It's going to be red, I need to give gas, people have to slow down, to look to the right and the left, to be considerate" says Ms. Rubcic.

The bonus? Town people recognize they have become a bit closer to one another. "The whole village has become more human. We look at each other, we greet each other," she says.

In recent years, initiatives that aim at rescuing streets from the hegemony of cars, giving more space for pedestrians and cyclists and combating increased speed, traffic, and trouble have popped up in cities across Europe.

In a new experiment, "Paris respire," the banks of the Seine are closed to traffic on sunny days. Switzerland has set up "zones of encounter" where playgrounds or landscaped areas force cars to slow down and pedestrians have priority. Hundreds of Dutch neighborhoods have successfully done away with traffic signs.

But Bohmte broke new ground. In Germany, a country fond of rules, Bohmte did what politicians had hitherto not dared to do.

"What's revolutionary about Bohmte is that it took off its signs on a state highway with a lot of traffic," says Heiner Monheim, a traffic management expert at the University of Trier, speaking at a recent European conference on sign-free towns convened here. Beyond that, Monheim says, the model's real legacy is to have brought people closer to "rediscovering and appreciating cities not only as traffic places but also as human, social places."

Just like so many other German communities, Bohmte's location as a busy artery was both its blessing and its curse. Close to 13,000 cars and trucks would speed along its main street every day. "Drivers didn't care about kids," says Klaus Mueller, strolling about with his grandchild and noting that the flow of cars is more slow and steady now.

Because Bohmte's main street is a state highway, the town cannot forbid truck traffic. Mayor Klaus Goedejohann knew that the heavy traffic spoilt the town's atmosphere, but that it also provided the town's livelihood. "How do we manage to meet the interest of all the traffic participants without excluding anybody?" he recalls thinking.

Then Mr. Goedejohann heard of a radical traffic-management philosophy called "shared space." Pioneered by a Dutch engineer who thought towns were safer with fewer rules, it envisioned open surfaces on which motorists and pedestrians could "negotiate" with one another by eye contact, other signals, and a greater consideration for one another.

Segregating cars and pedestrians was wrong, argued Hans Monderman, whose death this winter rekindled people's interest in his ideas. Portrayed as a dangerous maverick decades ago, Mr. Monderman put in place more than 100 shared-space schemes in the Netherlands. When the European Union launched a research project on shared space, Bohmte decided to try it, along with six other towns, including Ostend in Belgium and Ipswich in England.

Not everybody feels good about the town having spent close to $3.3 million on redesigning its downtown. On the day of a shared-space conference in Bohmte, Franz Josef Breiner walked hesitantly on the main street's flat surface with his cane, assessing the ground. He is sight-impaired and cannot make eye contact with drivers: shared space robs him of the safety nets that were curbs and sidewalks. "In theory shared space is more human, but we're left out," Mr. Breiner says.

Although shared space "offers a chance to win back space for nonmotorized participants," skepticism also runs high because many people worry that the children and elderly will not be able to communicate with drivers.

Still, a 2008 study in Holland reported that shared space has reduced the number of accidents in sign-free areas.

Goedejohann, Bohmte's mayor, is confident. His town averaged 50 accidents last year. Since the shared space concept was enacted, there haven't been any, he says.

And other city governments are reacting. In Hamburg a new coalition of green and conservative politicians have pledged to design shared space streets in every neighborhood.

"My theory," Monderman said last fall at a new urbanism summit in London, "was if you want to make people behave in a village, maybe you have to make it feel like a village."

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[via csmonitor]

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MTV Cuts Down Rainforest for Reality TV Show

After the Viacom-owned network finished filming their new treasure-hunt themed “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” on a remote, uninhabited island in the Republic of Panama, locals returned to find their beach tattered and abused.

The television show, which premieres on September 17^th, took over the neighboring, inhabited island in militant style by hiring the local police to prevent residents from accessing a public beach. As it turned out, according to local witnesses, MTV had cleared a small patch of rainforest to build a tiki-hut structure near the beach, developed an access road through the forest, and installed generators and lighting on the beach.

Since the beach was guarded by armed officers, the locals only heard rumors of the destruction until they were able to go back to the beach after filming had finished. “I have seen the aftermath of a tornado and this was almost as bad,” read the account, written by Jmaher and Michael Drake. “A large plot of rainforest had been cleared, a pristine Caribbean beach had been trashed, and the creators had simply packed up and left. A family of what appeared to be ‘squatters’ had already moved into one of the buildings left behind.”

At the time of the writing, MTV had not yet announced the premiere of the television show. The authors deduced that the network had been behind the commotion after finding papers with MTV’s logo among other garbage littering small village’s the streets. The nearby uninhabited island (which the show’s contestants ravaged for hidden treasure) had not been visited by the writers, so we’ll have to watch the show to see how that island fared. All this comes after MTV’s recent efforts to encourage teens to go green.

“Perhaps I have been unjustified in my criticism and, if so, I will offer my apologies whenever it becomes obvious that I have been unfair,” the lengthy piece reads, nearing conclusion. “In the meanwhile I will continue to show my irritation for what I perceive Mtv to have done to a beautiful area of rainforest and beach.”

A trailer for the upcoming television show can be found here.

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[via sustainablog]

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Love Me or Leaf Me: The Secret Life of Leaves

We take leaves for granted but there is much more to them than meets the eye. Here, with the aid of some magnificent photographs, is a look in to the life of the leaf. What are they for? Why do they change color in the Fall? These and other questions you were too bored at school to ask are now answered.

Leaves are so often taken for granted, but without them we would not be able to live.

image source

They come in all shapes and sizes and are the part of a plant that makes the "food" for the rest of the plant. They can be simple, which means a single leaf blade. The leaf is then connected to the stem