First Ever" Human-Powered Ornithopter Flight,

A Canadian university student has done what Leonardo da Vinci had only dreamt of: Piloted a human-powered "wing-flapping" plane! Called an ornithopter, and the inspiration for modern day helicopters, the machine was first sketched by da Vinci way back in 1485 and never actually built.

Todd Reichert, an engineering student at the University of Toronto, made history by sustaining flight in his ornithopter -- named Snowbird -- for 19.3 seconds and covering 475.72 feet. Snowbird is made from carbon fiber, balsa wood, and foam. The 92.59 pound vehicle maintained an average speed of 15.91 miles per hour.

Todd and his plane made the accomplishment on August 2, 2010, at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ontario. The crew kept the achievement quiet for nearly two months to get the data finalized. Todd and some 30 other students had been working on the plane for 4 years.

The team went through 65 practice flights, and sadly, the aircraft will probably never be flown again.

[ Vote on Weird Human-Powered Transport Options over at Planet Green! ]

Todd endured a year-long exercise program in which he lost 18 lbs. to prep for the flight. Because the plane has a wingspan of 104 feet -- which is comparable to that of a Boeing 737 -- the pilot had to pedal with his legs all while pulling on the wings to flap at the same time. And he had to do it fast enough to fly!

"Our original goal was to complete this sort of original aeronautical dream to fly like a bird," said 28-year-old Reichert yesterday. "The idea was to fly under your own power by flapping your wings."

The flight, witnessed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, is the first officially confirmed flight in an ornithopter.

"Thousands of people have tried to do this for hundreds of years," said Reichert. "To be honest, I don't think it's really set in yet that I'm the one who has been successful. I was pushing with everything I had. When I finally let go and landed, I was hit with a breadth of excitement. It was pretty wild."

I bet it was, Todd!

By Jerry James Stone, TreeHugger yahoo green

Bill targeting government waste to be signed into law in the United States of America

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama will sign into law Thursday the Improper Payment Elimination Act -- an effort designed to slim down wasteful government programs and curb fraud in federal spending.

"The fact is, Washington is a place where tax dollars are often treated like Monopoly money, bartered and traded, divvied up among lobbyists and special interests," Obama said in March when he announced the initiative. "And it has been a place where waste -- even billions of dollars in waste -- is accepted as the price of doing business."

The act will use something known as payments recapture audits, which will pay auditors financial incentives to find improper payments. The White House said it could save $2 billion in taxpayer money over the next three years.

The new law also will toughen up rules for federal agencies, which will be required to report improper payments on a regular basis and elaborate on their efforts to avoid similar waste in the future.

"Well, I don't accept business as usual," the president said in March. "And the American people don't accept it either, especially when one of the most pressing challenges we face is reining in long-term deficits which threaten to leave our children a mountain of debt."

The Senate passed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act by unanimous consent June 23. The House passed it July 14.

'World's strongest ale' comes in eye-catching dead animal bottles

It's super-strength, costs £500 a pop and goes by the fetching title of The End of History - oh, and it's sold inside dead stuffed animals such as the humble stoat.

BrewDog, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, is the firm behind the new ale that's apparently stronger than whisky and vodka at 55 per cent volume.

Indeed, the brewer recommends that the tasty beverage is served in a shot glass 'to be enjoyed like a fine whisky'.

Twelve bottles of The End Of History have already slid off the production line and been placed inside seven dead stoats, four squirrels and one hare.

Fret not, though, the animals weren't killed specifically for the purposes of housing the bottles but died of natural causes.

The critters also sport a range of eye-catching outfits including a kilt and a top hat.

BrewDog co-founder James Watt describes The End Of History as 'a perfect conceptual marriage between taxidermy, art and craft brewing'.

'This is the beer to end all beers. It's an audacious blend of eccentricity, artistry and rebellion; changing the general perception of beer, one stuffed animal at a time,' he continues.

'The bottles are at once beautiful and disturbing - they disrupt conventions and break taboos, just like the beer they hold within them.'

Infused with nettles and juniper berries, the blond Belgian ale is created by freezing the liquid to separate water from the solution, fact fans will be delighted to know.

Chinese police beat official's wife by mistake

(Reuters) - Plainclothes police severely beat the wife of a provincial official, mistaking her for one of many Chinese who petition government offices in the hope of redressing wrongs, the China Daily reported on Wednesday.

The case of mistaken identity has become a hot topic among Chinese Internet users, highlighting the abuse that China's armies of petitioners routinely suffer at the hands of police and hired thugs who wish to silence them.

Six public security officers set on Chen Yulian, the wife of a provincial law enforcement officer, last month when she tried to enter her husband's office building, which houses the Hubei provincial party headquarters, the China Daily said.

"This incident is a total misunderstanding," the Communist Party chief of the district bureau explained, according the newspaper. "Our police officers never realized that they beat the wife of a senior leader."

China's leaders are obsessed with maintaining social stability and "building a harmonious society" has been their chief concern in the recent years.

Thousands of petitioners take their grievances to Beijing every day. Many of their complaints stem from land seizures, while others seek redress for lay-offs dating from massive bankruptcies in China's state sector in the 1990s.

The men who beat Chen were later identified as public security officers from Wuhan, the provincial capital, who had been assigned to guard the office building and "subdue" petitioners.

"A strong wave of fists rained down on her for more than 16 minutes," the report said.

Chen was knocked to the ground despite her attempt to explain that her husband worked in the office building. She was then transported to a police station and yelled at when she requested medical attention, according to the paper's account.

The attack left her with a concussion, and damaged brain and nerve tissues. Chen was released and sent to hospital after she reached her husband by phone, and ranking police officers apologized profusely.

"Does this mean the police are not supposed to beat leaders' wives, but the ordinary people can be battered?" the China Daily quoted an anonymous visitor to Chen's ward as saying.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Lucy Hornby and Ken Wills)

Church rules confessional can't be turned into sauna

Vienna's archdiocese stepped in after a confessional was listed on auction site eBay, with a description that suggested it could be turned into a sauna.

Catholics may sweat in the confessional when they admit things they shouldn’t have done. But Vienna’s archdiocese has ruled that the small booth cannot be turned into a sauna.

Bidding on eBay on a confessional at a church undergoing renovation – described on the site as ideal for conversion into a one-person sauna or a small bar or a children's playhouse – was stopped when the archdiocese stepped in.

Spokesman Erich Leitenberger said that auctioning 'objects that were used for dispensing the sacraments is not acceptable.'

Confessionals 'should not be converted into saunas or bars,' he was quoted Tuesday as saying.

www.metro.co

Romantic comedies might provide 90 minutes of light-hearted fun but the happy-ever-after movies are also impacting people's real love lives, according

(Reuters)

poll of 1,000 Australians found almost half said rom-coms with their inevitable happy endings have ruined their view of an ideal relationship.

One in four Australians said they were now expected to know what their partner was thinking while one in five respondents said it made their partners expect gifts and flowers 'just because'.

"It seems our love of rom-coms is turning us into a nation of "happy-ever-after addicts." Yet the warm and fuzzy feeling they provide can adversely influence our view of real relationships," said Australian relationship counselor, Gabrielle Morrissey.

"Real relationships take work and true love requires more than fireworks."

The survey was released by Warner Home Video to mark the movie "Valentine's Day" going to DVD.

(Reporting by Pauline Askin)

Weird Fact of the Day: The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

Weird Fact of the Day: The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

Useless facts of the day:

You can pull a cow upstairs,but the cow will not know how to come down by itself.

In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand

315 entries in Webster's 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

Heating up a rock in the microwave oven will cause the rock to explode.

The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

this is how every morning goes... specially in our house

Good Morning!!!! Have a Sweet Day Ahead…………..

another cool song- Will You Be There

"Will You Be There"

Hold Me
Like The River Jordan
And I Will Then Say To Thee
You Are My Friend

Carry Me
Like You Are My Brother
Love Me Like A Mother
Will You Be There?

Weary
Tell Me Will You Hold Me
When Wrong, Will You Skold Me
When Lost Will You Find Me?

But They Told Me
A Man Should Be Faithful
And Walk When Not Able
And Fight Till The End
But I'm Only Human

Everyone's Taking Control Of Me
Seems That The World's
Got A Role For Me
I'm So Confused
Will You Show To Me
You'll Be There For Me
And Care Enough To Bear Me

(Hold Me)
(Lay Your Head Lowly)
(Softly Then Boldly)
(Carry Me There)

(Lead Me)
(Love Me And Feed Me)
(Kiss Me And Free Me)
(I Will Feel Blessed)

(Carry)
(Carry Me Boldly)
(Lift Me Up Slowly)
(Carry Me There)

(Save Me)
(Heal Me And Bathe Me)
(Softly You Say To Me)
(I Will Be There)

(Lift Me)
(Lift Me Up Slowly)
(Carry Me Boldly)
(Show Me You Care)

(Hold Me)
(Lay Your Head Lowly)
(Softly Then Boldly)
(Carry Me There)

(Need Me)
(Love Me And Feed Me)
(Kiss Me And Free Me)
(I Will Feel Blessed)

[Spoken]
In Our Darkest Hour
In My Deepest Despair
Will You Still Care?
Will You Be There?
In My Trials
And My Tripulations
Through Our Doubts
And Frustrations
In My Violence
In My Turbulence
Through My Fear
And My Confessions
In My Anguish And My Pain
Through My Joy And My Sorrow
In The Promise Of Another Tomorrow
I'll Never Let You Part
For You're Always In My Heart.

Can you find the C? (Good exercise for the eyes!)

i found this in my email.. which i received from clariza AROUND 3 YEARS AGO. haha.. just a thought of sharing

I found them all. So they are definitely there.

Good luck - good for the brain!
Can you find the C? (Good exercise for the eyes!)


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO


Once you've found the C..........




Find the 6!


9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999699999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999


Once you've found the 6...

Find the N! (it's hard!!)

MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMNMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM

Once you've found the N...
make a wish!



OK, now that you've made a wish, it will come true.....all you have to do is send this on saying, "Can you find the C?"

Weird and useless

Weird Fact of the Day:

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

Useless Facts of the Day:

Approximately one out of every 55 women from Canada give birth in their car on the way to the hospital or clinic.

The hydra, which is related to the jellyfish, can grow its body back in a couple of days if it is cut in half.

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury

Man's penis freed from metal pipe with industrial grinder

A man who got his penis stuck in a steel pipe had to be cut free by firefighters using a metal grinder, after doctors in casualty could not free his genitals from their metal trap.

------------------------------------

Medics at Southampton General Hospital struggled to get the man's penis out of the stainless steel pipe, because the restricted blood flow had caused it to become erect.

Instead, they resorted called in Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire crew turned up with a special equipment unit from St Mary's station in Southampton and seven firefighters to help, in what a spokesman understatedly described as a 'delicate operation'.

The firefighters used the four-and-a-half-inch industrial metal grinder to cut the pipe from around the anaesthetised man's penis.

The penis was left bruised and swollen, but otherwise unharmed by its traumatic day.

The man, thought to be aged around 40, did not explain to hospital staff how exactly the pipe got stuck around his penis, after he presented himself at the hospital's Accident & Emergency department on Tuesday morning. He was said to be 'quite concerned and anxious'.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: 'It was a very delicate operation that required a very steady hand and the crew was worried about things getting too hot during the cutting.

'It's certainly an unusual call-out, and I'm sure the man won't be getting into that situation again.'

Watch manager Greg Garrett from the Redbridge fire station told the Southampton daily Echo: 'I’ve only come across this type of thing three or four times in my 17 years as a firefighter. It’s not a daily occurrence.'

Chile quake may have tipped Earth's axis

(CNN) -- The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday may have shifted the Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say.

The change is negligible, but permanent: Each day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter, according to preliminary calculations. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

A large quake shifts massive amounts of rock and alters the distribution of mass on the planet.

When that distribution changes, it changes the rate at which the planet rotates. And the rotation rate determines the length of a day.

"Any worldly event that involves the movement of mass affects the Earth's rotation," Benjamin Fong Chao, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said while explaining the phenomenon in 2005.

Scientists use the analogy of a [figure]skater. When he pulls in his arms, he spins faster.

That's because pulling in his arms changes the distribution of the skater's mass and therefore the speed of his rotation.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, used a computer model to determine how the magnitude 8.8 quake that struck Chile on February 27 may have affected the Earth.

See scenes of devastation from the quake

He determined that the quake should have moved the Earth's figure axis about 3 inches (8 centimeters). The figure axis is one around which the Earth's mass is balanced. That shift in axis is what may have shortened days.

Such changes aren't unheard of.

The magnitude 9.1 earthquake in 2004 that generated a killer tsunami in the Indian Ocean shortened the length of days by 6.8 microseconds.

On the other hand, the length of a day also can increase. For example, if the Three Gorges reservoir in China were filled, it would hold 10 trillion gallons (40 cubic kilometers) of water. The shift of mass would lengthen days by 0.06 microsecond, scientists said.

Watch this movie and win $10,000?

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Bollywood filmmaker has issued a lucrative challenge to horror movie fans: a $10,000 reward for anyone who can watch his latest supernatural thriller, alone, in a cinema until the closing credits.

Oddly Enough

Ram Gopal Varma's "Phoonk 2," a sequel to his 2008 film of the same name, is about an evil spirit that traumatizes a family. "Anyone who says the movie cannot scare him is going to be put in a theater by himself," Varma told reporters in Mumbai at an event to promote the movie.

Varma said the film fan who steps up to the challenge will be wired up to a heart monitoring machine as well as a camera that ensures they keep their eyes open during the whole movie.

Readings from the machines will be shown live on a screen outside the cinema, Varma said, and if the contestant succeeds, they will win 500,000 rupees (approximately $10,850).

Varma issued a similar challenge ahead of the release of the original "Phoonk" but the promotional contest was withdrawn after allegations the selection process was rigged.

Varma said the contest winner ran out 30 minutes after the film started, but newspaper reports said a film fan in the southern Indian city of Bangalore booked an entire cinema to prove the director wrong and watched the film alone with a doctor on call and security personnel stationed outside.

Weird Facts of the Day-february 25 2010

Weird Facts of the Day: In 1659, it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts.

***The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

Researchers have found that doctors who spend at least three hours a week playing video games make about 37% fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery than surgeons who didn't play video games.

The chameleon has a tongue that is one and a half times the length of his body.

***Your nose and ears never stop growing.

Seven percent of Americans claim they never bathe at all.

A single sausage measuring 5,917 feet (1,804 m) in length was cooked in Barcelona, Spain on September 22, 1986.

i like this song-one day - matisyahu

weird facts of the day: feb 15 2010

----In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies including their eyebrows and eyelashes.

----The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, cruise ships, recorded music, theme parks, and spectator sports combined.

---- In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket.

---- Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury

----Studies show that couples that smoke during the time of conception have a higher chance of having a girl compared to couples that do not smoke.

Hungarian, 22, planned to kill 22 at random?

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A 22-year-old Hungarian student who told police he planned to kill 22 people at random because he'd had "22 bad years" has been detained, news agency MTI said Friday.

-----

The man, identified by police as "Abel S.," was a sports shooter, owned a Luger Parabellum pistol and had been planning the attack for more than 1-1/2 years, MTI reported, citing Budapest police criminal director Zsolt Bodnar.

He said he wanted to kill 22 people at his university and at a shopping mall "because he had 22 bad years," the national news agency quoted Bodnar as saying.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

The man had confessed to the plan and said he felt a "sickly attraction" to the school massacres which have happened in other countries around the world, police said.

The suspect told police he had taken his pistol to the university and a shopping mall, Bodnar added.

Police detained the man and searched his home where they seized his pistol and personal computer which had a photo of a 1999 school massacre set as homepage, MTI said.

In November 2009 a student opened fire at a university in the southern Hungarian city of Pecs, killing a classmate and wounding three other people.

talking about weird? check this out!----> Thief robs arcade with cup of coffe

A thief in the German town of Hamelin robbed an amusement arcade by threatening the attendant with a cup of coffee, authorities said on Tuesday.

"He wasn't going to pour coffee over her, he was going to hit her with the cup," a spokesman for local police said.

Brandishing the steaming cup he had just ordered, the thief forced the 26-year-old to open the till and fled with cash.

Police would not say how much money he had taken from the attendant, who had been alone in the arcade. "We don't want to encourage others to try this," the spokesman said.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Steve Addison)

source: reuters