Monday 24 June 2013

A Wild Idea

My colleague said that when they had dreams of a floating house just as the one appeared in Pixar movie “Up”. But a team from National Geographic has built a real “Up” using 300 helium-filled weather balloons and managed to get the house 10,000 feet up into the air. National Geographic Channel and a team of scientists, engineers and two world class balloon pilots effectively launched a house measuring 16 feet by 16 feet and 18 feet high, using 300 eight-foot colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles. The launch is inspired by the Pixar film “Up” set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted.  The house and balloons measured more than 10 storey’s high and reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet, flying for roughly one hour.  The record will be part of a new National Geographic Channel TV series has made a record of this experiment and you’ll find it in “How Hard Can it Be” series.











Sunday 23 June 2013

First Double Decker cable car in Mount Stanserhorn in Switzerland.

A new cable car system lets guests enjoy fresh air and great scenic views around Mount Stanserhorn in Switzerland. It seems that double-decker cable car has an open upper deck and riding to the top of the 1,900-meter Mount Stanserhorn with the fast wind in your hair, the stunning blue sky above you and a fantastic 360° panorama. That is the novel concept of the new cable car to replace the one from Kälti to Stanserhorn. I am sure it must be a crazy idea? Perhaps today we can see that it was a thoroughly viable one and so-called “CabriO” cable car is the world’s first cable car with a roofless upper deck. The very comfortable double-decker is the very newest in cable car technology. The lower level has space for 60 peoples, and an elegant staircase leads up to the sun deck, which has room for about 30 peoples. The riders can enjoy 360° panoramic views and fresh mountain air. The cable car moves on two side-mounted support cables a latest technological innovation of Garaventa AG, a central Swiss cable car company.
The latest cable car vision is to enhance the experience during the journey and offering the guests a new dimension in the new kind of cable car, and off course it was a great challenge for engineers, architects and builders and fact that the project was almost completely Swiss made from the initial idea down to the last screw. The investment volume for the new cable car project amounts to 28.1 million Swiss francs. Launched in 2010, the recapitalization was so successful that it was oversubscribed within a short time and some seven million francs mainly from locals flowed into the project.  The ride up to Stanserhorn is also a journey through local history. One witness is the old-timer funicular from Stans to Kälti. When it opened in 1893, it broke the record for the world’s longest funicular. Indeed, pioneers have enjoyed an affinity with Stanserhorn for some 120 years.
The new CabriO cable car in figures:

Length:                                2,320 meters
Base station:                     711 meters above sea level
Mountain station:             1,850 meters above sea level
Capacity:                             60 people
Conveying capacity:       465 guests per hour
Speed:                                 8 meters per second
Journey time:                    6 minutes, 24 seconds
Investment:                        CHF 28.1 million





Wednesday 5 June 2013

No Exams till Grade Four

In Japanese schools, the students don't get any Exams until they reach grade four (the age of 10) because the goal for the first 3 years of schools is not to judge the child's knowledge or learning, but to establish good manners and to develop their character.  These are beautiful little children and there is nothing wrong with this kind of schooling. Learning manners (which you have not) and building their character (which, again, you are lacking) Our world would be a better place with learning these 2 basic principles. Should be introduce in every school around the world.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Desert Rose

It is the name given to rosette formations of the minerals gypsum and barite with sand inclusions. The 'petals' are crystals flattened, fanning open along characteristic gypsum cleavage planes. The rosette crystal habit tends to occur when the crystals form in arid sandy conditions, such as the evaporation of a shallow salt basin.Desert roses are mineral formations that are found on the surface and are awesome examples of the natural power of the shaping forces of wind, water and pressure in dry, arid regions.Desert roses are only found in deserts, which is how they got the name.

 

Sunday 26 May 2013

The Man Who Doesn't Sleep For 33 Years

Thai Ngoc or Hai Ngoc is born 1942 a Vietnamese insomniac. According to Vietnamese news, he is known for his claim of being awake for 33 years. Thanh Nien also claimed that Ngoc acquired the ability to go without sleep after a bout of fever in 1973, there was no apparent cause. I don't know whether the insomnia has impacted my health or not. But I am still living healthy life and running farm normally like others. Proving his health, the elderly resident of Que Trung commune, Que Son district said he can carry two 50kg bags of fertilizer down 4 kilometers of road to return home every day. His wife said, "My husband used to sleep well, but these days, even liquor cannot put him down. When Ngoc went to Da Nang for a medical examination; doctors gave him a clean bill of health, apart from a minor decline in liver function. Ngoc currently busy with farming and taking care of chickens all day. His 6 children live at their house in Que Trung. Hai Ngoc often does extra farm work or guards his farm at night to prevent theft, he is also busy in three months of sleepless nights to dig two large ponds to raise fish farm.

Friday 10 May 2013

Taisia Sidorova, Develops Artistic Talent After Losing Half Of Brain.

There is something called God’s gift. Some people are blessed with an inherent ability to learn things more quickly than others; some are showered upon the gift of intelligence while some excel in sports or other activities. We normally call such people “gifted”. Such people are in a different league than normal people. However, there is one girl who is not gifted but still gifted. I don't think this new ability is a compensation, as they say. It is more like "using what is left". I think that before the accident she was using more the left hemisphere and now there is no other choice than to use the right hemisphere (which is the one responsible with space, distance, colours, movement vision). Loosing the logic and analytic part, she now uses the artistic one - because that's all she has now. And, from my point of view, this is a positive fact, you can call it "a gift from God", I do agree.
Taisia Sidorova from St. Petersburg suffered a horrific car crash. That accident not only broke her skull into fragments and chunks but the doctors gave up saying there wasn't much chance of survival. Twenty one (21) year old girl stayed in coma for while after the doctors removed the left hemisphere of her brain. That part of the brain is apparently responsible for logic and analysis. The doctors had to place a protective plate inside her head after removing the analytical half.
While the medical practitioners believed that the Taisia would be disabled for her entire life, her mother Irina believed in the opposite. The strong willed Taisia finally woke up on New Year’s Eve and out emerged a completely new facet of her life.
She returned home and demanded complete recovery. Two (2) years after that she learnt to hold a pencil and then a brush. She started sketching for therapy and was rated as the topper of her class. Taisia started living a new life. She had not been interested in painting or sketching before the car crash, however, some incidents do have the power to change lives.
The doctors admit that the brain is human body’s exceptionally remarkable part. The part of her brain that was intact grew to compensate for the missing one. This was the logic behind Taisia’s artistic ability. Due to the missing part, Taisia’s vision is limited and so is her right hand’s movement. As a result, she paints with her left hand. Two things I find a bit off here: "It's God's gift" and all the oohs and aahs about the painting(s) and the new found ability. We seem to 'forget' that she did lose half her sight and the use of her right hand. She had the ability and artistic flare to do this before the accident but just didn't have as much time or opportunity as she was busy living. On her road to recovery (I know) in thereby etc art therapy is a huge part as that is how they can truly get to the unspoken. I guess she found a talent through that which was already in her this just gave her the right opportunity for that. Is that a full life I'm not so sure and not sure I would want to call it a gift either. Just my humble opinion but I'm no scientist.
The effects of such a trauma have, in most cases, a negative effect on the (healthy) life expectancy of the individual. To be clear, I'm amazed as well about the ability of the brain to compensate for such damages sustained. But in the end that's all you get, a compensation, not a replacement of the lost left hemisphere. To call this a 'Gift of God' is a bit silly and overly emotional. A 'true' God's gift in this case would be a new left hemisphere growing while at the same time becoming more artistically minded, as peoples abilities are usually determined by their whole brain and the influences both hemispheres are exerting on each other. Since she didn't express an interest or any talent in painting/drawing before the accident and the following therapy, it's unlikely that the talent that has now surfaced, was dominantly present in her. But it most likely was present nonetheless. This is not a special thing by itself since virtually all of us have potential talents present in our brains. Everybody can draw or paint for example, but not everybody can produce a drawing/painting that looks realistic and is considered to be beautiful or artful. The fact that the remaining right hemisphere is compensating for the loss of the left one will almost certainly be the reason for her increased artistic ability. The therapy will most likely have served as a trigger to let her increased talent further develop and surface.
Anyway, she was extremely lucky since most people that suffer this sort of trauma either die or live in a seriously hampered physical/mental condition and that's hardly a 'gifted', let alone 'donated by God', situation.


Tuesday 7 May 2013

Incan Girl Who Had Been Frozen For 500 Years.

Well initially this might look to you like any normal girl being treated by a doctor; the girl in the photo is not any normal living girl but the mummy of a 15 year old child who has been dead for about 500 years. She was discovered in 1999 near Llullaillaco's 6739 meter summit. An Argentine-Peruvian expedition found the perfectly preserved body and she was nicknamed "La doncella" which means “The maiden”. According to the Inca she was chosen to go and live with the gods. But in reality she was a sacrifice to the Inca Gods and had been viciously killed in the name of religion.

Scientists say that her organs are unbroken and it’s as if she had died just a few weeks ago. From testing the samples of her hair they could determine the type of diet she was on before her death. This unique discovery leads that the Incan fattened their children before killing them. Months or even years before the sacrifice pilgrimage these children were given diets which were those of the elite, consisting of maize and animal proteins. Guessing from the plight of the body, it is hardly believed that she was drugged and left to die in the mountains.

It would not have taken a great deal of time for her to die due to the high exposure. The Incan high priests took their victims to high mountain tops for sacrifice. As the journey was tremendously long and difficult, particularly so for the younger victims, coca leaves were fed to them to aid them in their breathing so as to allow them to reach the burial site alive. Upon reaching the burial site, the children were given an intoxicating drink to reduce pain, fear, and resistance, then killed them either by strangulation, a blow to their head or by leaving them to lose consciousness in the extreme cold and die of exposure. A lot of Inca children were offered as sacrifice during or after important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca (who was the emperor) or during a famine. These sacrifices were known as capacocha.
 





 


In Thailand Buffalo Gave Birth To Human Face Alike buffalo

In Thailand, a buffalo gave birth to a human-like baby.This is a image of a buffalo very akin to human especially its face which is dominantly similar to human. Although, its hands and feets are more similar a buffalo. But generally the buffalo-boy has most organs of a cow having human shaped. It has expired immediately after it was born. Local thais believes this is some sort of phenomenon that brings luck and everyone in that village were praying for blessings. The face of this mystery human-like baby buffalo was totally deformed that I can’t know whether it looks like a buffalo or human face.


 

Saturday 4 May 2013

Portrait Made of 2.1 Million Ink Dots

Now, what does the portrait with a million dots got to do with Benjamin? Well, it was when the United States of America denied a social security number to Benjamin by arguing that he has already got one, that Miguel Endara was inspired to help the poor man through his art. This inspiration was establish after the screening of Finding Benjamin at Tribeca Film festival. What Endara did is a work of a factual artist. The portrait of Benjamin that he drew is an epitome of persistence and perseverance. This beautiful painting is thought to have around 1.2 million dots done with a pen at the speed of 4.25 dots a second. This amazing work took 138 hours to come up and has been circulating in prints in order to assist raise money for Benjamin to fetch him a new social security number. 


Friday 26 April 2013

Let the experiences of life make you better, not bitter

An old man was going for a walk, when he noticed a little boy feeding a thin, shaggy looking dog with bits of bread. He went up to the boy and asked him why he was sharing his bread with the dogs. The little boy answered, "Because they have nothing. No home, no family, and if I don’t feed them they will die." “But there are homeless dogs everywhere," the old man replied. “So your efforts don’t really make a difference” The little boy looked at the dog and stroked him. “But for this little dog, it makes all the difference in the world.” it's the perceived small acts of kindness that can make a world of difference. Feeding one tummy at a time means the world to that dog..an in gods eyes its perfect♥ god bless that little one.
 

Saturday 6 April 2013

Cape Town Ocean Foam – An Extremely Rare Phenomenon

If you take a look at this picture, you’ll probably think it’s an amazing picture of a frozen seashore, but have a closer look… you’ll notice that what appears to be ice, is actually foam. The inhabitants of Cape Town, South Africa were given a chance to witness an extremely rare phenomenon that turns the ocean into one big cup of cappuccino. This odd occurrence is also known as “sea foam” or even “beach foam” and it happens due to the crunching of the water with organic matter impurities, such as plankton, dead fish, dead plants and other such elements floating at the surface of the water.
The powerful currents cause the water to form tiny bubbles which have the tendency to “join forces” and cause this rare event. Scientist have declared that if the speed of the wind is more than six meters per second, then the energy transferred from the wind to the water is proportionally higher, and a force known as the supperficial tension of the water is not enough to hold the molecules on the surface together. The water breaks up into small drops which adhere together due to surface tension which causes them to appear as white foam. Have a look below at some really amazing pictures of the ocean foam phenomenon.




 

Cat-eyed Chinese Boy With Night Vision Superpower

Night vision! What an awesome superpower. Almost all of us must have wished for such an amazing power when we were kids, but we eventually grew out of it and realized that only superheroes have nigh vision… and of course cats. Well, cats are no longer the only beings in “town” who can see in the dark. A young Chinese boy named Nong Youhui was born with blue eyes (a rare color for the Chinese people), but that’s not the strangest thing about him. Nong is able to see in the dark, just like cats do. Also, just like a Siamese cat, his eyes flash neon green when they’re illuminated in the dark. Rumors and speculations have it that the child is either The Starchild, or a human with hybrid alien DNA pretty spooky, wouldn’t you agree? His weird eyes enable the boy to be able to read and write down the answers to some questions, in a pitch black room. The scientists are now interested to find out if his DNA is has indeed mutated genes, and if not, how is it possible for him to have a special layer of cells in his eyes, called the tapetum lucidum, which exists only at cats and other nocturnal animals.

Friday 5 April 2013

Dolphins Help Save Dog from Drowning

Dolphins Help Save Dog from Drowning!
On Marco Island, Florida a group of dolphins came to the aid of a lost Dog that had fallen into a canal and couldn't get out. The dolphins made so much noise, it attracted the attention of people living nearby, who then rescued the dog. The Dog was believed to have spent 15 hours in the canal water before he was pulled out by fire personnel and reunited with his owner. One of the people whose attention was captured by the noisy, demonstrative dolphins said, "They were really putting up a ruckus, almost beaching themselves on the sandbar over there. If it wasn't for the dolphin, I would have never seen thedog.” (Source: ABC7news) He said also if the dolphins hadn't persisted enough to get their attention, they dog would have died in the canal. The dog had fallen over the edge of a concrete wall down into the water far enough that it had no chance of getting back up by itself. The dog was exhausted
from being in the cold water for hours, and most likely suffering from hypothermia. Dolphins have been known to sometimes help stranded or injured people as well. In 2007, a pod of dolphins formed a ring
around a surfer who was injured and bleeding after being bitten by a Great White shark. The surfer survived because they prevented further bites. No one knows exactly why dolphins have intervened in
such emergency situations, and helped save the lives of other species. Suffice to say they are capable of empathy and heroic actions.

Goliath Tigerfish

Grows like goliath, hunts like a tiger and swims like a fish. The Goliath Tigerfish lurks the waters of the Congo River system and several other lakes in southern Africa. This fish is remarkably adept at swimming and killing due in part to an air-filled sac in its body that allows it to detect vibrations from animals in the water. Those razorsharp spikes in its mouth may also help the cause. Growing up to 5 feet and length and weighing in at over 150 pounds, the Goliath Tigerfish makes a piranha look like a guppy in comparison to this ferocious beast. Locals say it’s the only fish that doesn’t fear the crocodile, and will even devour some of the smaller ones! In rare instances, it’s also been known to attack humans. *Gulp*  As if 32 teeth the size of a Great White Shark’s weren’t scary enough, this fish has incredible eyesight in murky water and can sense low-frequency vibrations emitted by prey. It has been observed going after 60 pound catfish and literally slicing them in half.
While piranhas have a fearsome reputation and can be dangerous, piranha attacks on humans are very rare. Piranha will happily scavenge on a mortally wounded animal, though there are few if any confirmed reports of humans being killed by them. (Dogs and bees kill more people than piranha do.)
A relative of the piranha, the Megapiranha, grew to 3-feet-long (1 meter), or four times the size of today's piranhas. Scientists aren't sure why the fish-beast had seven teeth arranged in a zig-zag row, while today's piranhas sport six teeth. Fortunately the mega creature is not much of a threat, having died out several million years ago.


Friday 25 January 2013

The caves homes of Guyaju, China

The Ancient Cliff House (Guyaju), 'the biggest maze of China', was a considerable discovery relating to the study of ancient Chinese people who inhabited this north part of the country. Therefore, no precise record of it has ever been found yet, so nobody exactly knows its origins. Almost 92 KM (about 57 miles) from Beijing, the house was hewn from the craggy cliffs overlooking Zhangshanying Town, Yanqing County. The fascinating house complex has more than 110 stone rooms, and is the largest cliff residence ever discovered in China.
More importantly on each side of the precipitous cliffs, adjacent stone houses, rectangular and square, large and small, were built. These homes vary in sizes, from over 20 square meters to 3-4 square meters. A number of houses are interlinked perpendicularly, while some are interconnected horizontally. Few have a single room, while some have 2 to 3 connecting rooms. Stone steps, and stone ladders are used to connect the storeys of a complete cliff house. Stone lamp-stands, stone hearths, closets, and mangers in the caves, the windows and gates all remain as traces of their strange ancient inhabitants. Moreover; few houses were built with kangs, a kind of bed which can be heated from below on cold days.
The most enthralling one is a two-storey stone house, with six finely engraved stone pillars propping it up. Within the house, there is a wing enclosing a small room with a stone table, stone stools, and a broad stone bed. This shrewdly constructed stone room is at the highest spot of the cliff house, and is considered to be the residence of a chief of the day. Standing on its upper floor, tourists can view a superb panorama of the nearby areas. The miraculous ancient cliff house is waiting for you to throw off her veil to the world.