5 Things You Can Do Today To Save Your Relationship

It has been proven that healthy relationships are part of leading a fulfilled life and are one of the factors in your longevity as well. Keeping your relationship healthy means hard work because we are all individuals with different, ideas, dreams, personal needs and choices. Sharing your time in a strong relationship with your partner makes happy memories for you both, and this will be cherished as your relationship matures. A strong relationship is the sharing between two individuals, and this does not necessarily mean that both have to be of different sexes either.

Relationship bonds are formed between anyone, and age does not always play too much of an important role in all cases either. There are 5 ways to save your relationship and knowing them can help you solve the common problems that can arise.

Keeping a relationship healthy can be difficult at times considering that there might be a possibility of conflicts, and differences of agreements on many issues. These factors may be due to misunderstandings, ego or other problems like cultural differences for example. Sometimes anger, frustration and bitterness in your relationship can cross the point of no return, and thus a once strong bond can be shattered beyond any repair. When this occurs both partners at are affected perhaps one more than another. What is important to realize that damage can be repaired before it is too late. Knowing these 5 ways to save your relationship is definitely helpful, and may mean saving a rocky relationship while it is still possible.

1. The first advice is that you can both accept that there are problems that need to be handled in your relationship. These problems and issues need to be bought into the open and discussed between both partners. Seek methods in how these problems can be identified; and addressed in ways that are mutually acceptable. Compromise has already saved millions of relationships and this must be openly discussed between partners when there is conflict.

2. It takes two partners to make an argument happen. Both partners in a relationship need complete communication and interaction. If communication stops, then the reasons must be investigated behind it. This means starting a conversation with your partner allowing them to open up so that you can analyze where the problem lies, and then take the right steps to repair the damage or rift. Listening is important in communication, and understanding what you are hearing runs a close second. Your will be able to pick up hints and get ideas of where damage control is necessary.

3. Renewing your relationship and your passion for each other is important to prevent stagnation. Regular surprises and getaways together where you can spend quality time together are vital. This provides you with new experiences and memories, and also allows you to discover new facets in your partner that you may have never noticed in different situations. This renewal is important to come from both partners and thus regular alone time in different places is necessary.

4. Each partner must communicate their feelings to the other. Healthy relationships need natural attraction. This comes through sharing and allowing each other to show their true feelings. Sometimes the reassurance of your partners feelings is vital to make you comfortable that the relationship is still on a solid footing.

5. Make an effort to find advice and counseling. Sometimes it is necessary to seek outside assistance from friends, families, and even a relationship therapist. In some cases it feels impossible to express and communicate your feelings to your partner. Different people can give you different angles on the problems you are facing in your relationships, and give you solutions to problems you may never have considered yourself. Sometimes expert and experienced advice can only be obtained from a relationship therapist.

Having an understanding of the 5 ways to save a relationship and using them to your benefits can mean that you keep your relationship strong and lasting. If your relationship bond is really special, then it is really worth making every effort to rescue it when it is floundering in trouble waters.

Reanimated Rodents and The Meaning of Life

This article was written by Matt Castle, our brand-spanking-new writer who joins us from across the pond where U’s are used liberally and R’s and E’s are juxtaposed brazenly.

One afternoon in the early 1950s, a young biochemist left his suburban lab bench at Britain’s Mill Hill National Institute of Medical Research and boarded a tube train to Leicester Square. His destination was on nearby Lisle Street, in an area which today makes up part of London’s glittering West End theatre district. But in the post-war years the sector was better known as a hectic hub for two of humanity’s oldest professions. Only one of these was of interest to the young scientist. The girls hawking their wares seemed to sense his single-mindedness and kept their distance as the greenhorn scientist turned his attention to his true quarry: the vast abundance of second-hand military hardware that could be found in the shops lining Lisle Street.

Specifically, he was looking for war surplus radar equipment. His intention was to cannibalize a suitable radio frequency transmitter for the purpose of reanimating dead, frozen hamsters.

Coley’s Cancer-Killing Concoction

On October 1st 1890, William B. Coley, a young bone surgeon barely two years out of medical school, saw one of his first patients in private practice at the New York Memorial Hospital. Although he’d only finished his residency earlier the same year, he’d already gained a good reputation and many considered him a rising star of the New York surgical scene. The seventeen year old patient had a painful, rapidly growing lump on the back of her right hand. She had pinched the unlucky appendage between two railway carriage seats on a transcontinental trip to Alaska some months before, and when the bruise failed to heal she assumed the injury had become infected. However the bruise turned into a bulge, the pain steadily worsened, and her baffled doctors were eventually compelled to call for Dr. Coley. As a surgical man, Coley would never have guessed that this innocuous referral would take his career in a totally new direction– into an unusual branch of medicine now known as cancer immunotherapy.

The Intrepid Pigeoneers

In October 1918, World War I was gradually drawing to a close in the Argonne Forest in northeastern France. Inch by inch, more than one million Allied fighting men slowly wrestled Europe from the occupying Germans, with considerable casualties occurring on both sides. Losses were particularly heavy amongst a battalion of Americans which had pressed too far into enemy territory, leaving 550 soldiers surrounded, outnumbered, and cut off from communications. For days the men valiantly deflected enemy attacks amidst a hail of friendly artillery, but rapidly dwindling forces and supplies soon led to a desperate situation.

Left with no alternative, a member of the US Army Signal Corps named Cher Ami was given the dangerous task of darting past the enemy forces with a message for the Allied commanders. The hastily scribbled note politely requested that headquarters increase the supply of men while decreasing the supply of red-hot shrapnel. As Cher Ami dashed from the forest, enemy gunfire left him with a gunshot wound to the chest and a badly mangled leg, but nonetheless he managed to traverse the twenty-five miles to the command post to deliver his message. As a result, the misplaced battalion was finally rescued.

Cher Ami was awarded France’s Croix de Guerre medal for his heroism, but due to his wounds he did not long survive. When he passed away several months later, his remains were placed in a crate and sent to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, where he was stuffed, mounted, and put on display. Cher Ami, the American war hero, was a homing pigeon.

The Thugs of India

The goddess KaliOn a well-worn road through central India, Lieutenant Subhani of the Bengal Native Infantry and his three traveling companions were nearing the final leg of their journey. Ordinarily the Lieutenant would have only his pair of loyal orderlies to keep him company as he traveled, but today a third man walked alongside his horse—a stranger who had joined him only that morning.

The year was 1812, and the pleasant October weather made for an easy trek. Subhani knew these roads could be dangerous for travelers, especially at this time of year, but he was untroubled. Trained soldiers and well-armed, he and his men were an unlikely target for roving bandits. But a much greater threat loomed over them on that dusty road, closer at hand than the travelers could have possibly conceived.

Accounts of a secret cult of murderers roaming India go back at least as far as the 13th century, but to modern history their story usually begins with the entrance of the British Empire in the early 1800s. For some years, India’s British administrators had been hearing reports of large numbers of travelers disappearing on the country’s roads; but, while disturbing, such incidents were not entirely unusual for the time. It was not until the discovery of a series of eerily similar mass graves across India that the truth began to dawn. Each site was piled with the bodies of individuals ritually murdered and buried in the same meticulous fashion, leading to an inescapable conclusion: these killings were the work of a single, nation-spanning organization. It was known as Thuggee.

Alien Hand Syndrome

There is a very real, very disturbing, and very rare medical condition called “Alien Hand Syndrome” (AHS). An individual with this neurological disorder has full sensation in the rogue hand, but is unable to control its movements, and does not feel that it is a part of their body. The hand becomes personified, as if it has a will of its own, and its owner will usually deny ownership of the limb.

Though AHS was first identified in 1908, it was not clearly defined until 1972. Depending on the cause of the injury, the movements may be random or purposeful, and may effect the dominant or non-dominant hand. The symptoms are brought on by an injury to the brain, such as head trauma, stroke, tumor, or infection, but it can also be a side effect of a certain kind of brain surgery where the patient has the two lobes of the brain separated to relieve severe epilepsy.

As a side effect of brain surgery, or an injury to the corpus callosum (the area of the brain which connects the two halves of the brain), the movements are usually grasping motions in the non-dominant hand. When caused by head trauma, similar grasping and groping motions will often involuntarily occur in the dominant hand.

When the condition is brought about by a brain tumor, aneurysm, or a stroke, the alien hand may also engage in complex purposeful behavior, such as compulsive manipulation of tools, undoing buttons, or tearing clothes. Sometimes the sufferer is completely unaware of what the hand is doing until it is brought to his or her attention, or until they happen to see it themselves.

There is currently no treatment for Alien Hand Syndrome, but the symptoms can often be relieved by giving the rogue hand an object to manipulate, to keep it occupied.

Honda's CR-Z Is a Sporty Hybrid, But Selling Two-Seaters is a Real Challenge

Hybrids have been around for a decade now, and if you recall the very first one on the U.S. market was the Honda Insight, which was not only a two-seater but set new records for fuel economy at 70 mpg. (Today’s Insight is its bigger cousin.) But that first Insight never sold all that well — the Prius, appearing a year later, immediately had the edge. It’s a good question, then, to ask Honda why it thinks its latest two-seater, the CR-Z “Hybrid Café Racer,” will succeed in the marketplace.

With the exception of sports cars like the Mazda Miata, Americans have never bought recent two-seat cars in any great numbers – we have large families and a lot of friends. We’re still not all that willing to buy small vehicles, either. An Auto Pacific survey of American car owners early this year found only 12 percent saying they would consider a small car to replace their current transportation, down from 24 percent at the height of $4 a gallon gasoline.

Despite that, Honda has been enjoying stronger sales in its small cars. The Civic is up 10.7 percent in year to date figures, said Vicki Poponi, a Honda assistant vice president. The economical small CR-V SUV is also up 9.5 percent. Of course, larger cars are up more: the Accord up 26.3 percent, and the larger Pilot up 21.5 percent.

The first-generation Insight was a trail-blazer, but it was also tiny and weighed just 1,800 pounds, giving it something of a buffeting problem on windy freeways. In six years on the market, it sold an equally tiny 17,020 units – a stark contrast to the new five-seater Insight, introduced last year, which moved 143,015 worldwide in its first year.

Asked at press event why Honda was gambling again on a two-seat hybrid, CR-Z chief engineer Norio Tomobe invoked the memory of a much-better-selling two-seat Honda, the Civic-derived CRX, which was on the market from 1984 until 1991 (and succeeded by the t-topped Del Sol model). I haven’t been able to unearth any collective sales figures for the CRX as distinct from the Civic, but it was very popular, especially in its early years. “The CRX was a two-seater,” Tomobe said, “and we think there is a segment for two seaters. Our mission was to create a sport package that would be easy to use by two people.”

And the CR-Z is an attractive package. It has an ultra-cool 3-D dash display that changes colors for the three drive modes (and goes green for economical driving), very comfortable seats in a low seating position, and nicely weighted steering feel. I found the performance vivid around Manhattan when “sport” was dialed in (there are also “normal” and “economy” modes. Fuel economy depends on which transmission you specify: With a six-speed manual it’s 31 mpg city and 37 highway, with a CVT automatic it’s 35/39. It might have been nice to top 40 mpg.

Here’s a video look at the two-seat hybrid car:

Among hybrids, the CR-Z is in fifth place for its 37-mpg combined fuel economy, beating the Smart Fortwo (but eclipsed by the Prius, the Honda Civic and Insight Hybrids and the Ford Fusion/Milan. Poponi also cited an IHS Global Insight 2010 report that sees a 22 percent gain for hybrids between this year and 2015, and 21 percent growth for small specialty cars in the same period. IHS is generally bullish on EVs. Poponi said that the CR-Z doesn’t have a direct competitor, and that is certainly true – it’s the only two-seat hybrid on the market.

It’s interesting to note that, largely to reduce weight, a plethora of the early-market electric cars (the Think City, the Wheego Whip, the electric drive Smart) will be two-seaters, too. So they’ll have that to overcome, as well as the new technology hurdle.

Tomobe plainly sees the CR-Z as appealing to the youth market, and he’s probably right about that. The “Hybrid Café Racer” term is derived, he said, from the phenomenon of young people sitting around in cafés and talking about their hopped-up cars and motorcycles. It’s also a nod to the other meaning of CAFE (the EPA’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which ramp up to 35.5 mpg by 2016). The CR-Z has no problems on the CAFE score, and it’s also, like the Prius, an ultra-clean AT-PZEV (partial-zero emission vehicle).

Under the hood of the CR-Z is a 1.5-liter, 16-valve VTEC engine that when combined with the 10-kilowatt Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system produces 122 horsepower at a high 6,000 rpm. The battery pack is nickel-metal-hydride, long the standard for hybrids.

I expect the CR-Z will be a modest success that may not do much for Honda’s bottom line. But the fun-to-drive quotient could enhance the company’s reputation in the cafés where they sit around and talk about cars and motorcycles.

Photo: Jim Motavalli

Interesting Facts About Earth

You've lived on Planet Earth all your life, but how much do you really know about the ground underneath your feet? You probably have lots of interesting facts about Earth rattling around your brain already, but here are 10 more interesting Earth facts that you may, or may not know.

Plate tectonics keep the planet comfortable
Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with plate tectonics. The outer crust of the Earth is broken up into regions known as tectonic plates. These are floating on top of the magma interior of the Earth and can move against one another. When two plates collide, one plate can go underneath another.

This process is very important. When microscopic plants in the ocean die, they fall to the bottom of the ocean. Over long periods of time, the remnants of this life, rich in carbon, are carried back into the interior of the Earth and recycled. This pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, which makes sure we don't get a runaway greenhouse effect, like what happened on Venus.

Without the plate tectonics, there'd be no way to recycle this carbon, and the Earth would overheat.

Earth is almost a sphere
The Earth's shape could be described as an oblate spheroid. It's kind of like a sphere, but the Earth's rotation causes the equator to bulge out . What this means is that the measurement from pole to pole is about 43 km less than the diameter of Earth across the equator.

Even though the tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, the feature that's furthest from the center of the Earth is actually Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.

Earth is mostly iron, oxygen and silicon
If you could separate the Earth out into piles of material, you'd get 32.1 % iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon, and 13.9% magnesium. Of course, most of this iron is actually down at the core of the Earth. If you could actually get down and sample the core, it would be 88% iron. 47% of the Earth's crust consists of oxygen.

70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water
When astronauts first went into the space, they looked back at the Earth with human eyes for the first time, and called our home the Blue Planet. And it's no surprise. 70% of our planet is covered with oceans. The remaining 30% is the solid ground, rising above sea level.

The Earth's atmosphere extends out to 10,000 km
The atmosphere is thickest within the first 50 km or so, but it actually reaches out to about 10,000 km above the surface of the planet. This outermost layer of the atmosphere is called the exosphere, and starts about 500 km above the surface of the Earth. As we said, it goes all the way up to 10,000 km above the surface. At this point, free-moving particles can actually escape the pull of Earth's gravity, and be blown away by the Sun's solar wind.

But this high atmosphere is extremely thin. The bulk of the Earth's atmosphere is down near the Earth itself. In fact, 75% of the Earth's atmosphere is contained within the first 11 km above the planet's surface.

The Earth's molten iron core creates a magnetic field
The Earth is like a great big magnet, with poles at the top and bottom of the planet, near to the actual geographic poles. This magnetic field extends from the surface of the Earth out thousands of kilometers – a region called the magnetosphere.

Be grateful for the magnetosphere. Without it particles from the Sun's solar wind would hit the Earth directly, exposing the surface of the planet to significant amounts of radiation. Instead, the magnetosphere channels the solar wind around the Earth, protecting us from harm.

Scientists think that the magnetic field is generated by the molten outer core of the Earth, where heat creates convection motions of conducting materials. This generates electric currents that create the magnetic field.

Earth doesn't take 24 hours to rotate on its axis
It's actually 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. This is the amount of time it takes for the Earth to completely rotate around its axis; astronomers call this a sidereal day. Now wait a second, that means a day is 4 minutes shorter than we think it is. You'd think that time would add up, day by day, and within a few months, day would be night, and night would be day.

Remember that the Earth orbits around the Sun. Every day, the Sun moves compared to the background stars by about 1° – about the size of the Moon in the sky. And so, if you add up that little motion from the Sun that we see because the Earth is orbiting around it, as well as the rotation on its axis, you get a total of 24 hours. Now that sounds like the day we know.

A year on Earth isn't 365 days
It's actually 365.2564 days. It's this extra .2564 days that creates the need for leap years. That's why we tack on an extra day in February every year divisible by 4 – 2004, 2008, etc – unless it's divisible by 100 (1900, 2100, etc)… unless it's divisible by 400 (1600, 2000, etc).

Earth has 1 moon and 2 co-orbital satellites
As you're probably aware, Earth has 1 moon (The Moon). But did you know there are 2 additional asteroids locked into a co-orbital orbits with Earth? They're called 3753 Cruithne and 2002 AA₂₉. We won't go into too much detail about the Moon, I'm sure you've heard all about it.

3753 Cruithne is 5 km across, and sometimes called Earth's second moon. It doesn't actually orbit the Earth, but has a synchronized orbit with our home planet. It has an orbit that makes it look like it's following the Earth in orbit, but it's actually following its own, distinct path around the Sun.

2002 AA₂₉ is only 60 meters across, and makes a horseshoe orbit around the Earth that brings it close to the planet every 95 years. In about 600 years, it will appear to circle Earth in a quasi-satellite orbit. Scientists have suggested that it might make a good target for a space exploration mission.

Earth is the only planet known to have life
We've discovered past evidence of water on Mars, and the building blocks of life on Saturn's moon Titan. We can see amino acids in nebulae in deep space. But Earth is the only place life has actually been discovered.

But if there's life on other planets, scientists are building the experiments that will help find it. A new rover called the Mars Science Laboratory will be heading to Mars in the next few years, equipped with experiments that can detect life in the soil on the Red Planet. Giant radio dishes scan distant stars, listening for the characteristic signals of intelligent life reaching out across interstellar space. And new space telescopes, such as the European Space Agency's Darwin mission might be powerful enough to sense the presence of life on other worlds.

But for now, Earth is the only place we know where there's life. Now that is an interesting fact.

Galaxies facts

A galaxy is an island of billions of stars, separated from other galaxies by a vast ocean of almost empty space.

The number of galaxies cannot be counted—the observable universe alone may contain 100 billion.

Galaxies are classified into three main types: spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, and irregular galaxies.

Galaxies considered as small have less than a billion stars while the larger galaxies contain over a trillion.

The largest galaxies are the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.

Andromeda Galaxy is over 2.4 million light-years away from us. The galaxy that is nearest to our galaxy may is the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy, which is about 24 kiloparsecs or 80,000 light years from us.

The large Magellanic Cloud, which is visible only in the southern hemisphere, is 170,000 light years from Earth and 39,000 light years in diameter.

Number of Stars in Average Galaxy: 40 billion.

Apart from our Sun there are an estimated 300 billion other stars in our Galaxy.

An average galaxy speed is about 140 miles a second !

it takes the Milky Way 250 million years to complete one rotation.

Our Galaxy is gigantic it is known as a Spiral Galaxy which is split into three main parts, the main Disc measures about 100,000 light years in diameter and between 250,000 and 300,000 light years in circumference.

The Galaxies is composed of a disk of gas, dust and stars that surround a bar-shaped region.

5 strange allergies

Did you think that your allergy is the most unpleasant? Take your time - here are ten of the strangest allergies … and probably still not have heard them all.

Mom Allergic to Her Newborn Son
Pemphigoid gestitionis is a skin disease in which blisters appear on the abdomen and in more severe cases, on large areas of the body. Women can develop this condition in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and after delivery. In rare cases, the children may be born with this skin disorder.

Water allergy
Known as Aquagenic urticaria, this disease affects only 1 in 23 million people worldwide. Water allergy is very rare, and those affected by it are forced to stay in the house. These people are hypersensitive to ions that are found in non-distilled water. They can’t swim, bath or shower in ordinary water and they can’t walk in the rain because their body will be full of red spots .

Allergy to sex
Some women are allergic to seminal fluid of the partner, the fluid who contain sperm. Semen allergy symptoms can include itching, burning and swelling in the genitals. In the most severe cases, hives or swelling might appear elsewhere on the body and the woman might experience difficulty breathing.

Wood allergy
In some cases individuals will be allergic to certain types of (usually tropical) wood. If this occurs there will be some swelling, redness, irritation, and the skin may try and retract away from the jewelry

Allergy to exercise
Unfortunately there is such a thing as an allergy to exercise known as exercise-induced anaphylaxis. Although it’s a pretty rare condition, it still exists for some unlucky few. een commonly when a person allergic to certain foods or medications exercises immediately after ingesting them. Symptoms are :fatigue, unusual ,warm, itching, inflammation of the skin progressing to large hives, collapse and unconsciousness , swelling of the throat, difficulty breathing or chokin, nausea, vomiting.

Hangover depends on the beverage color

Researchers at Brown University in Britain have found that hangover severity depends on the color of the beverage we drink.

This is because dark drinks contain more chemicals than light-colored beverages. Those who drink red wine have a chance to wake up this morning with a headache much higher than those who drink white wine. With whiskey is the same, which is why experts strongly recommend those who drink spirits to choose vodka.

The study was conducted on 95 men and women who drank whiskey, vodka, white wine and red wine. The next morning, those who drink dark beverages have had a hangover with headache, while personal drinking white wine or vodka have had a easier hangover .

An Indian manage an incredible performance - to pull a double-decker bus with his hair

An Indian who lives in London has an extraordinary power. Manjit Singh managed an incredible performance, managing to pull the double-decker bus with his hair. The mighty man moved the vehicle seven tonnes to a distance of 21.2 meters, connected to a special device attached to his hair. The Indian entered in Guinness Book.

t was painful, but it was worth it. I could only think about my legs and head and keeping on going to set a record, to go as far as I could,” he said after the feat.

iPod Interesting Facts

It’s a known fact that the iPod is the most popular music player available today. Since debuting in 2001, nothing has been able to surpass it.

Apple’s iTunes software can be used to transfer music to the devices from computers using certain versions of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

The full range of sound for an average iPod is about 120 decibels. To put that in perspective, that’s like standing next to a jet as it takes off!

The designer of the iPod, Jonathan Ive, was voted more influential than JK Rowlings.

Many accessories have been made for the iPod line. A large number are made by third party companies, although many, such as the late iPod Hi-Fi, are made by Apple. Some accessories add extra features that other music players have, such as sound recorders, FM radio tuners, wired remote controls, and audio/visual cables for TV connections.

Although there is no world record for the greatest number of songs stored on an iPod (considering the various sizes of Apple iPods available), the consensus is that approximately 16,000 songs is about the limit.

Mount Saint Helens facts

The volcanic landscape of Mount St. Helens is one of the newest on Earth. It is stunning, dynamic, and inspiring.

On May 18th, 1980, the long dormant Mount St. Helens volcano erupted and over the course of several weeks the blast transformed the surrounding landscape from forested slopes into lava, ash and mud covered desolation. Since then, biologists, geologists and lay visitors have been granted the rare opportunity to study the ecosystems of this post-volcanic-blast region. However, the landscapes of a young and recovering area are extremely fragile and need to be handled with the utmost sensitivity.

Visitors have the most important job of protecting this fascinating volcanic landscape. In addition to the recreational opportunities in the Mount St. Helens National Monument such as climbing, swimming, fishing and camping described below, there are numerous hiking trails and an exceptionally scenic drive along the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.

In 1987, the southern slopes of Mount St. Helens were reopened for climbing. Visitors can climb above the timberline year round; however, a climbing permit is required above 4800 ft. from May 15 through October 31.

The most popular route to the summit begins at the Ptarmigan Trail (#216A). It is reached by following Forest Roads #81 and #830. The first part of the trail is a 2-mile hike through forest. The climb up Monitor Ridge can be slow, ascending steep pumice and lava slopes. The route is marked with wooden posts. During most of the year ice axes are recommended. Crampons and ropes may be needed in icy conditions. Climbers should also carry goggles or sunglasses with side shields (ash is often a problem in summer), gaiters for hiking boots, a windbreaker, rain gear, plenty of water, sunscreen, and gloves.

Facts About Romania

Romania rests in the Southeastern part of Europe, girdling the Black Sea between Ukraine and Bulgaria. It came into being when the two principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia broke the shackles of Turkish Ottoman suzerainty and merged, in 1859, to form a new land - ‘Romania’. Surrounded by Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and Bulgaria to the south, Romania is home to the striking Carpathian mountain ranges that pass through its heart. With its sun-kissed beaches, emerald forests, surrealistic history and medieval monuments, Romania remains a very popular tourist destination of Europe. To know more about the place, check out some fun and interesting facts given below.

Fun & Interesting Facts about Romania

• The capital of Romania is Bucharest, once popular as the ‘Paris of the East’.
• Romania covers a total area of 237,500 sq km and the total population of the place is around 22.5 million.
• Apart from the official Romanian language, Hungarian and German form two other major languages of Romania.
• Romania has a Republic type of government.
• The currency of Romania is Romanian ‘leu’ (RON).
• Romania's Danube Delta is a World Heritage site and is the second largest delta in the whole of Europe.
• The Dacian fortresses of the Orastie Mountains, in Romania, belong to the Late Iron Age.
• Gheorghe Marinescu, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest, was the first person to see living nervous cells with a microscope.
• More than half of Romania's Jewish population died in the Second World War.
• Romania was a part of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and the Warsaw Treaty Organisation.
• After the Second World War, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova was formed, which was earlier a part of Romania.
• Romania joined the European Union in 2007, along with Bulgaria.
• In the year 2000, 100 tonnes of cyanide, from a gold mine in northern Romania, spilled into rivers in Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia and destroyed aquatic life for several hundred kilometers.
• The Transylvanian city of Sibiu is credited as the European Capital of Culture 2007.
• Irish author Bram Stoker based his horror novel ‘Dracula’ on the fifteenth century Wallachian Prince, Vlad Dracul of Romania.
• The Bran Castle, associated with Vlad Dracul, still lies in Romania and forms its most popular tourist attraction.

Polyphasic Sleep

I’ve been thinking a lot about sleep lately. It all started when I saw the movie Into Great Silence, which depicted the lives of Carthusian monks who get by on about six hours of sleep per night, divided into two segments (see The Grande Chartruese). More recently I’ve been testing software called pzizz that’s supposed to facilitate power napping. And the publicist for a sleep researcher I mentioned in my article about sleep debt offered to send me a book on improving the quality of one’s sleep. So sleep has been very much on my mind, especially when I’m downing my third cup of coffee for the day, frantically trying to meet some deadline or other and wishing I could be dreaming instead. In fact, now that I look at how many articles I’ve written that have something to do with sleep, I’m frankly shocked. Clearly sleep is one of my favorite hobbies.

On the other hand, I always have projects stacked up months deep and never seem to have enough time to finish everything on my day’s schedule. So I was intrigued to read about a concept called polyphasic sleep, in which you sleep for several short periods of time each day, rather than one long period as you would in ordinary, or monophasic, sleep. (By the way, if you sleep for a long stretch at night and then take an afternoon nap, you’re practicing a form of biphasic sleep—a schedule I personally enjoy.) Proponents of polyphasic sleep claim that it reduces your overall need for sleep to as little as two hours per day, while keeping you just as alert and healthy as you’d otherwise be. Critics say it’s a dangerous practice that can shorten your lifespan and lead to physical, psychological, and social problems. But lots of people have tried it, and I’ve found it intriguing to read about their experiences.

Nothing But Nap
Although polyphasic sleep could take many forms, the one most frequently mentioned, sometimes by the name Uberman’s sleep, is a schedule in which a person sleeps for approximately 20 minutes every 4 hours. For example, one might take naps at 2:00, 6:00, and 10:00 (a.m. and p.m.). If the naps each last 20 minutes, you get 2 hours of sleep per day; if they last 30 minutes, you get 3 hours of sleep. Other variants include fewer, but longer, sleep cycles or a single stretch of 3–5 hours of sleep at night along with two or more brief naps during the day. I’ve read numerous accounts of people who have successfully adapted to one or another of these schedules for periods ranging from weeks to months, though I’m not aware of anyone who has made the change permanent. Most reports indicate that the initial several days are the most difficult, as the body struggles against the new schedule, after which it finally accepts the alternative sleep pattern.

What’s it like to live with polyphasic sleep? I can’t speak from personal experience, but from what I’ve read, polyphasic sleepers invariably enjoy having 6 or more extra hours per day to get stuff done; some of them also report increased alertness, more vivid dreams, and even weight loss. But many of them say they have to cheat (or “reboot”) every so often, when their bodies simply tell them they’re too tired and they have to sleep for a longer period of time. When folks trying out this alternative schedule go back to monophasic sleep, as they inevitably do, they cite various reasons, but a recurring theme is that it’s just too difficult to keep a different schedule from everyone else in the world.

Selling Sleep Short
Among people who say polyphasic sleep is a good idea, there’s an oft-repeated meme that once you get used to this sort of schedule, you can achieve deep, REM sleep almost immediately; the presumption is that as long as you get enough REM sleep each day, your brain and body get all the benefits of a single long stretch of sleep. Although solid clinical evidence about what happens during polyphasic sleep is almost nonexistent, some research suggests that this hypothesis is mistaken, and that a prolonged course of polyphasic sleep amounts to a form of sleep deprivation. Similarly, polyphasic proponents often mention a long list of famous scientists, inventors, and artists who allegedly followed such minimalist sleep schedules, but in most cases there’s little or no documentation to back up these claims. On the contrary, it may be that although one can indeed be awake and alert for 22 hours per day, creativity and mental agility suffer as a result.

However, almost everyone who’s written about polyphasic sleep agrees that the technique has its place—for limited periods of time—when people are faced with a serious situation that demands the maximum possible number of waking hours per day. Frequently cited examples are long solo yacht races, space missions, military operations, and civil or medical crises. And, perhaps it would also be worth trying if you’re an author who absolutely must get two book manuscripts, three articles, and a dozen Web posts done by the end of the week. I happen to be someone whose work and social schedules could probably accommodate polyphasic sleep, and maybe one day I’ll give it a try. But ultimately, I know that I enjoy sleep a lot more than I enjoy work, and trading the former for the latter somehow doesn’t seem like a very good deal. —Joe Kissell

Tooth Implanted Into His Eye

Martin Jones, an Englishman had lost his power of vision and remained blind for almost a decade. He has now regained his power of vision. This has been accomplished by implanting a piece of tooth in his eye. The tooth that was implanted was a canine tooth which is also known as the "eyetooth". A living canine was pulled out of Martin Jones' own mouth. They then placed a man-made eye lens into its base and placed it under the lid of his eye and let the tissue grow over the canine. Also a lit flap of his skin was taken from his mouth and implanted over the tooth in his eye which later had access to its own supply of blood. The doctors then cut a hole in the cornea that permitted light to enter the eye. This very procedure gave six hundred people the power of vision.

Facebook And Your Privacy

One of the major points that Facebook scored over all of the other social networking sites, at least initially, was its stringent privacy settings that gave you a sense of security and safety regarding the contents of your profile on Facebook. However, with the advent of Twitter and other such sites, Facebook might be in a mood to keep up with the growth of its competitors - and this might be why now Facebook content is easily accessible to strangers and gone are the days when you had a sense of privacy that only you and your exclusive friends shared on the network.

Murphy Law

Murphy's Law is a witticism which states that 'anything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong'. The Law came into recognition at the Edward's Air force Base at North Base in 1949. It was named after Captain Edward Murphy, who had been working on an Air Force Project MX981, which was designed to see the level of deceleration one can stand during an air crash. During a particular incident, after discovering a faulty wiring of transducer, Murphy cursed the technician responsible by saying "If there is any way to do it wrong, he will find it." The contractor's project manager, who kept a list of all the laws, named this one as 'Murphy's Law'. Murphy hated when someone used his name for absurd theories of "Why does buttered bread always land butter-side down?" He was the victim of his own Law.

Eagle Measurement Facts

A female eagle is ten to twenty percent larger than a male eagle. In Zoological terms, heaviest means largest, according to which, the Philippines Eagle would be the largest, but actually speaking, the Harpy Eagle scores better. If the longest wing span is considered, the longest span is of the Wedged tailed Australian eagle, with an estimated wing span of 230-250 centimeters. The largest ever is the Haast's Eagle, also called Harpagornis Moorei. It is 4.5 feet long with 10 feet across the wings and weigh at least thirty three pounds. This species of eagles is now extinct. The Steller's sea eagle is the heaviest living eagle weighing fifteen to twenty pounds. The Philippine eagle, also known as monkey- eating eagle has the largest physical dimensions with Harpy eagle being the bulkiest.

Tickle Facts

Tickling is an act of evoking involuntary laughter by touching a part of the body.
Some parts of the body are more ticklish than the others, the reason for which is still unknown. When used in sexual fetishism, the act of tickling is called as "tickle torture". Research by Dr Sarah-Jayne Blakemore of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in London found that robotic arms used to tickle people are just as effective as human arms. Men and women are just as "ticklish". But a few studies suggest that, men may be slightly more ticklish than women. Research headed by Dr M Blagrove from the University of Wales in Swansea shows that the normal tickling response may be absent in those with schizophrenia. Tickling was used as a torture by the ancient Romans. The most surprising feature that can be experimented personally is that if one tickles oneself, there is no such stimulation or laughter.

How to Pick Video Games for Kids

If you’re a parent or you’ve been around kids long enough, then you know how big an influence video games can have on their attitude and intellect. That’s why it is crucial that if maybe you’re giving a child you know a gift, say, for Christmas or his or her birthday, you don’t just pick up the first cool-looking CD you see at the video game store.

So how should you select video games for kids (like buy madden '10 for them)? Doing your own research is key. There are two ways to do this. First, browse the Internet. A lot of games review sites exist nowadays that can help you not just see what games are out there, but how good they are according to critiques. Do not just depend on ratings and recommendations online, however, as they are, of course, generally subjective.

There are times when the most top-rated games and most downloaded or most commented on are those where you’ll encounter violence, sexual references, and other R-18 scenes, which is why there’s the second method of doing your research: If you have a friend or relative who’s got kids or who plays youth-oriented games, you can ask him what he can recommend would be beneficial for character and educational development. If it’s at all possible, you can even ask for him or her to let you try the game for yourself and see how you find it. Alternatively, you can also go to the video game store and engage in small talk with the sales assistant. Ask him or her what their bestsellers are and why, and what other customers looking to buy educational games for their children are buying.

Again, it isn’t enough that you buy video games for a child that you know, perhaps your child, just because he or she likes to play them. It wouldn’t hurt to ask around first, do some research, and maybe try the game out yourself before you buy it. This way, you ensure the child is not just going to enjoy playing the game, but also learn values from it.

Male Patients and Liposuction Costs

For the longest time cosmetic surgery procedures have been associated with female patients. However, recent trends indicate that body contouring procedures like liposuction are becoming increasingly popular among men as well as women. This might be hard for some traditional minded people to accept but that isn’t stopping the male demographic from visiting clinics and requesting treatment. There are some differences between men and women and that difference is reflected quite apparently in the cost of liposuction surgery.

There are basically three explanations for why the overall liposuction costs are generally higher for a male patient than for a female patient. It has to do with both the disparity in biological makeup of the two genders. Keep in mind that this is speaking in board terms and individuals will obviously have to be analyzed on a case by case basis.

The first reason is the general size difference. Men in general are typically larger than women and with a larger area come larger amounts of fat. This means more work and time involved for a comparable treatment which leads to higher cost for the plastic surgeons time and effort. Another reason is where most male patients are requesting treatment. Unlike women who, as a group, will request liposuction surgery on just about any part of the body, men typically do not request arm or calf liposuction where it is easy to build muscle. Most men will request liposuction in areas such as the chest, abdomen or back.

These areas are larger and also contain the tougher, more fibrous fat cells which are harder to break and remove from the body. To top things off, the fat cells in men in general are more fibrous than women to begin with so it is harder to remove fat cells from male patients than females. Most men use liposuction surgery differently from women because they have the capacity to build muscle in areas like the arms and legs so there is no real need to rely on liposculpture to shape those areas.

Dog Safety Gate Features

A dog safety gate is similar to any other type of safety gate. Many safety gates are designed to protect children from themselves, but dog gates are intended to protect children, adults and furniture from erratic and mischievous dogs. While pet gates come in a wide range of styles and materials, there are fortunately only a few considerations that really matter.

Some are designed to be fastened into place by bracing against a fixture, while others aren't designed to be fastened into place at all. The latter type are called free standing dog gates. The remain upright with a pair of feet that are 36 to 48 inches long, perpendicular to the rail that runs through the center. These are a better choice for smaller dogs, since they're unlikely to knock the gates over by jumping on them. Free standing gates are also a better option if you need to frequently change the location that needs to be cordoned off.

Pressure mounted dog gates have bolts on either side that slide to screw out to brace against some kind of fixture, whether it's a door frame or the newel post of a staircase. These are obviously less prone to knocking over, and therefore a better choice for larger dogs. They also offer more convenient accessibility for owners, since many models feature hinges that allow the gate to open with an adult release latch.

As mentioned, pet gates come in a variety of materials. Some are made of wood, others are made of plastic. Pet gates made of some type of metal, like aluminum, are highly recommended over other materials. Dogs are less likely to bite at them, and the slick surface of the rails discourages dogs from attempting to scratch at or climb them. After all, containing your dog is a more important feature in a dog gate than whether or not the material and color matches the interior of the house.

Safety Tips When Setting Up An Aquarium

Possessing a fish tank isn't simply enjoyable. As a responsible owner, there are several fish tank setup safety procedures you will want to take into account. Listed below are several details that you need to recognize prior to setting up your aquarium.

* Ensure that your fish tank stand can hold your glass aquarium pertaining to possible motions. There are many different materials that are used to create the fish tank stands so do take that into consideration as well. Do not support children to climb or suspend on the fresh water aquarium. Toughness of the stand, frame as well as the fish tank is a huge factor to take into consideration.

* It is much better to fill your fish tank with water for a number of days to check for leakages and cracks.

* Be cautious with using breakable aquarium tools. Tiny parts may be separated which might choke your fishes as well as small children that are around.

* Make certain to get help while shifting or washing you fish tank. Given that the majority of fish tank are created of glass, it is often slippery whenever it is wet. Be sure that your aquarium sides are cleaned dry prior to raising or shifting your fish tank.

* Considering that most aquarium tools are electrically run, there may be risk of electric zap. Prior to plugging- in and activating the equipments you have to examine first for open cables and damaged light fittings. If possible utilize only tools which were previously been screened. Prevent making your personal electric circuits or cable connections without guidance from professionals. Ensure that all equipment come in great condition prior to using them. Electric outlets should be on top of your tank level to prevent flow back of water in the event of electric power disturbances.

* Maintain your aquarium chemical compounds like water washing solutions and also water stabilizers inside of a secure location and off from kids. Sometimes fish foods might appear appealing to them thus it will be good to keep them at a distance.

* Never soak or dip your hands when you got damaged skin directly into your fish tank. Germs, fungus, along with other chemical substance might get into your skin which might trigger certain problems later on. Make use of rubber gloves if at all possible.

* Correct removal involving aquarium waste should be observed. Inappropriate removal of chemical substances and water plant might pollute or contaminate water ways.

I truly wish that this couple of fish tank setup safety tips will assist you to keep away from both trivial as well as major troubles in accordance with you hobby and remember to have fun admiring your fishes.

Electric heaters: tips for buying, benefits and safety

A great way to heat up a garage or basement work space or to add a little extra comfort to a drafty room on your home or business is to use and electric heater. A variety of styles and designs are available at varying costs. This article will give you a basic overview of basic tips on buying, benefits, drawbacks, and safety tips for electric heaters.

When looking for an extra heating source for another space in your home or business, the size and power of model you will be looking for will be based on the space or spaces it will primarily be used in. If you are planning to heat a two car garage, you will be looking for a more powerful unit than you would use to add heat to a bedroom inside a home. A 4,000 to 5,000 watt heater will be adequate for a 500 square foot space or a little larger. You would be looking for something substantially smaller if trying to add heat to a room inside your home that already has a little heat running through it. A larger unit to heat a garage or other large space can retail from 120 to 350 dollars depending on features that come with it. Units that will heat smaller rooms retail for about 50 to 100 dollars.

The benefits of buying a separate electric heater are that it is economical, easy to set up and less time consuming. The cost to install a dedicated separate heating unit in a garage or barn can cost 4000 to 5000 dollars. A smaller electric heater will do the job for a fraction of that cost. They usually just plug into a wall and can be moved anywhere relatively easily. All you have to do is get one, take it out of the packaging, read the instructions and in less than 45 minutes you have heat flowing through a room.

Some drawbacks to electric heaters are that they can be dangerous. Companies have been coming out with new designs for years that are safer than previous models however even advanced heaters today are susceptible to being knocked over and catching something on fire. Their portable nature makes them close to the floor and accessible to children. They can also cost a lot of energy to run if left on all the time.

One exception to the danger factor are the innovative halogen electric heaters. Because they work by radiance rather than convection, the safety of these units is exceptional. Consider this design for areas where children and pets may be present.

For safety, many electric heaters should always be kept out of the reach of children. If this is not possible, a unit should be unplugged and the wall outlet secured so a child cannot plug it in. Always turn your heater off when you are not awake to observe it functioning. Sleeping with an electric heater on is very dangerous. Keep all liquids flammable or otherwise away from the machine to avoid inadvertent spills into the machine.

Marree Man

The Marree Man, or Stuart's Giant, is a geoglyph discovered by air on June 26, 1998. It appears to depict an indigenous Australian man, most likely of the Pitjantjatjara tribe, hunting birds or wallabies with a throwing stick. It lies on a plateau at Finnis Springs 60 km west of the township of Marree in central South Australia. It is just outside the 127,000 square kilometre^[1] Woomera Prohibited Area. The figure is 4.2 km tall with a circumference of 15–28 km. Although the largest non-commercial geoglyph in the world, its origin remains a mystery, with not a single witness to any part of the expansive operation. The name "Stuart's Giant" was given in an anonymous press release, after John McDouall Stuart.

Artwork

The Marree Man geoglyph depicts a man holding either a throwing stick once used to disperse small flocks of birds, or a boomerang (but see Plaque section below).

The lines of the figure were 20–30 cm deep at the time of discovery and up to 35 metres wide.

Selecting a suitable site would have required aerial photography or satellite imagery. Using a computer, the figure could have been superimposed over the photograph and adjusted to fit the geography with the corresponding latitude and longitude coordinates mapped out. Some surveying skills would have been needed to plot the outline, and then with the aid of a hand-held global positioning system stakes could have been placed every hundred metres or so.^[2]

The image is gradually eroding through natural processes, but because the climate is extremely dry and barren in the region, the image is still visible. While there is a layer of white chalk material slightly below the red soil, the figure was not defined to this depth. This raises the question why the creators did not dig a little deeper to make the image both more visible and more permanent.

Discovery

Trec Smith, a charter pilot flying between Marree and Coober Pedy in the remote north of South Australia spotted the figure from the air on June 26, 1998. The discovery of the geoglyph fascinated Australians due to its size and the mystery surrounding how it came to be there. At the time of the discovery there was only one track entering and one track exiting the site and no footprints or tire marks were discernible.

Shane Anderson from the William Creek Hotel, located 200 km north-west of the town of Marree claimed the hotel received an anonymous fax describing the location of the artwork, but they ignored it, dismissing the fax as a joke.

Anonymous press releases

Several anonymous press releases, that appeared following the discovery, led to suggestion that the Marree Man was created by people from the United States. The releases quoted measurements in miles, yards and inches, instead of the metric system usually used in Australia. This would be unusual for an Australian press release, but since the metric system was only introduced in Australia in the 1970s, older Australians still often quote imperial measurements. The releases also said "your State of SA", "Queensland Barrier Reef" and mentioned Aborigines "from the local reservations". "Reservations" is a term more commonly associated with the North American Indians. The press releases also mentioned the Great Serpent in Ohio, which is not well known outside the US. But it has been conjectured that these features of the press releases may have been red herrings, inserted to provide the illusion of American authorship.^{[citation needed]}

When the site was discovered, several items were found in a small pit ^{[citation needed]}: what appeared to be a satellite photo of the figure, a jar containing a small flag of the US, and a note which referred to the Branch Davidians, a religious group infamous for being attacked in the Waco raid in 1993. These were the only man-made items found at the site when it was discovered.

Artist Christopher Headley says that he sent two letters, one to Colonel Tom Meade, the head of the former US-Australian Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar, to ask about the possibility of making a permanent commemoration of the American presence in Australia. This could have inspired the idea of creating a geoglyph among locals.

Plaque

In January 1999, officials were told about a plaque buried 5 metres south of the nose of the figure, by way of a fax which was received via a hotel in Oxford, England.^{[citation needed]} The fax also said that the plaque was intended to have been dug up by a "prominent US media figure" shortly before the Sydney 2000 Olympics.^{[citation needed]} Similar clues were said to be buried near the Cerne Abbas giant near Dorset and the Long Man of Wilmington, Sussex, in England.^{[citation needed]} The plaque has a 3 cm long by 2 cm wide American flag and an imprint of the Olympic rings. It reads:

In honour of the land they once knew. His attainments in these pursuits are extraordinary; a constant source of wonderment and admiration.^[3]

The quote on the plaque buried at the figure comes from a book, "The Red Centre", by H.H. Finlayson, in a section describing the hunting of wallabies with throwing sticks and with photographs of hunters without loin cloths and with other details like the "Marree Man" [1]. In the book it can be deduced that the subject is a hunter from the Pitjantjatjara tribe.^{[4][citation needed]}

Possible creators

• Bardius Goldberg, a Northern Territory artist who lived at Alice Springs, who a close friend says was given $10,000 at the time of the Marree Man's discovery.^[5]

Mixed reaction

Much of the public and media reaction to the discovery of the figure was positive. The Advertiser, the State's only daily newspaper, called for the figure to be made permanent by excavating the outline down to the white chalk layer. But the site was closed shortly after discovery when some members of the Dieri tribe, whose lands lie east of Marree, complained of harm and exploitation of the Dreamtime.^[6] It was called "environmental vandalism" by the Environment minister, Dorothy Kotz, and "graffiti" by the South Australian chief of Aboriginal affairs. While the site has been closed by the South Australian government, joy flights are still allowed over the site, which falls under Federal Government jurisdiction.

Authenticity of the figure

While the figure is shown nude, if the picture were copied from a 19th-century photograph it has been said that it may have had a loin cloth.^{[citation needed]} There was also initially some question as to whether the figure is holding a throwing stick or a boomerang, but these issues seem to have been resolved following discovery of the plaque and the origin of the plaque quote and likely source photographs of similar nude hunters. The hand which is not throwing has the correct posture in the normal Aboriginal technique for throwing.^[4] The initiation scars placed on the chest have also been said to have been placed perfectly. The figure appears to be an amalgam of the body of a man photographed in the distinctive throwing stance and the head of another man wearing a headband and chignon.

Skyservice flight attendant sexually assaulted in-flight

A 43-year-old man from Toronto, Canada has been arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a flight attendant on board a Skyservice flight en route from Toronto to Acapulco, Mexico.

The incident occurred on 20 January, around two hours into the flight. The man apparently sexually assaulted the woman while walking behind her as she provided bar service to passengers. The incident was reported to fellow crew members and the police were informed.

The man is due to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice on 13 March, according to CNW.

Life Without the Moon

Life is a tenuous thing. Earth is just within Sol’s habitable zone, and constantly pelted with solar radiation and cosmic rays. Rocky scraps of cosmic afterbirth constantly cross Earth’s orbit, threatening to eradicate all terrestrial life. In point of fact, it is almost certain that countless Extinction-Level Events would have sterilized the surface of our plucky planet had it not been for our constant companion and benefactor; a body which unwittingly wards away many of the ills that could befall us: the moon.

Luna is unique among the observed celestial bodies; there is no other satellite closer in size and composition to its mother-planet (if one discounts the dwarf-planet Pluto), and the Earth/moon system is the only tidally locked pair. Furthermore, it also happens to be the only moon in the solar system which is circling an intelligent civilization– a factor which may not be a mere coincidence.

Davy Crockett: King of the Atomic Frontier

On 17 July 1962, a caravan of scientists, military men, and dignitaries crossed the remote desert of southern Nevada to witness an historic event. Among the crowd were VIPs such as Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and presidential adviser General Maxwell D. Taylor who had come to observe the “Little Feller I” test shot, the final phase of Operation Sunbeam. The main attraction was a secret device which was bolted to the roof of an armored personnel carrier, a contraption called the The Davy Crockett Weapon System.

Named after the famous American folk hero, this defense apparatus was based on the tried-and-true recoilless rifle, a launcher similar to the shoulder-fired tubes used in the Second World War. Such weapons were designed to counteract much of their recoil by routing some expanding gas out the rear end, thereby producing forward thrust at the same moment that the projectile pushes the gun backwards. But the Davy Crockett Weapon System did improve on the concept in one important way: it paired this dead-simple launch device with a tiny fission bomb, making it the most convenient nuclear bomb delivery system ever developed.

The Extraordinary Astrologer Isaac Bickerstaff

Teetering between its medieval past and the “Age of Reason,” early 18th-century London was an environment in which the ancient practice of astrology held wide appeal. No astrologer was more influential than John Partridge, a part-time cobbler and quack whose Merlinus Almanac delivered a healthy sense of impending doom to thousands of discerning readers each year. As with all astrologers, Partridge’s predictions had a habit of being vague, noncommittal, and wrong. Nevertheless, his position as a leading astrologer and physician went largely unchallenged among a London society eager to find order and meaning in its world.

All of that was about to change in January of 1708. In that month, a short almanac under the name Predictions for the Year 1708 was published across the city by a previously-unheard-of astrologer identifying himself as “Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.” The paper was written, the author claimed, “to prevent the people of England from being farther imposed on by vulgar almanack-makers.” Such boastful tirades were nothing new; what made Bickerstaff’s publication unusual was that he seemed to have the results to back himself up. Following his opening rant, he moved into a long list of strikingly bold and precise predictions unlike anything that had been seen before. Beginning the list was this:

“My first prediction is but a trifle… It relates to Partridge the almanack-maker; I have consulted the stars of his nativity by my own rules, and find he will infallibly die upon the 29th of March next, about eleven at night, of a raging fever; therefore I advise him to consider of it, and settle his affairs in time.”

The Martian Express

On the 5th of February 1974, NASA’s plucky Mariner 10 space probe zipped past the planet Venus at over 18,000 miles per hour. Mission scientists took advantage of the opportunity to snap some revealing photos of our sister planet, but the primary purpose of the Venus flyby was to accelerate the probe towards the enigmatic Mercury, a body which had yet to be visited by any Earthly device. The event constituted the first ever gravitational slingshot, successfully sending Mariner 10 to grope the surface of Mercury using its array of sensitive instruments. This validation of the gravity-assist technique put the entire solar system within the practical reach of humanity’s probes, and it was used with spectacular success a few years later as Voyagers 1 and 2 toured the outer planets at a brisk 34,000 miles per hour.

One of the more intriguing theories to fall out of the early gravity-assist research was a hypothetical spacecraft called the Cycler, a vehicle which could utilize gravity to cycle between two bodies indefinitely– Earth and Mars, for instance– with little or no fuel consumption. Even before the complex orbital mathematics were within the grasp of science, tinkerers speculated that a small fleet of Cyclers might one day provide regular bus service to Mars, toting men and equipment to and from the Red Planet every few months. Though this interplanetary ferry may sound a bit like perpetual-motion poppycock, one of the concept’s chief designers and proponents is a man who is intimately familiar with aggressive-yet-successful outer-space endeavors: scientist/astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin.

Operation Pastorius

Just after midnight on the morning of June 13, 1942, twenty-one-year-old coastguardsman John Cullen was beginning his foot patrol along the coast of Long Island, New York. Although this particular stretch of beach was considered a likely target for enemy landing parties, the young Seaman was the sole line of defense on that foggy night; and his only weapon, a trusty flashlight, was proving ineffective against the smothering haze. As Cullen approached a dune on the beach, the shape of a man suddenly appeared before him. Momentarily startled, he called out for the shape to identify itself.

“We’re fishermen from Southampton,” a voice responded. A middle-aged man emerged from the soupy fog, and continued, “We’ve run ashore.” This sounded plausible to Cullen, so he invited the fisherman and his crew to stay the night at the nearby Coast Guard station. The offer appeared to agitate the man, and he refused. “We don’t have a fishing license,” he explained.

Just as Cullen’s suspicions began to grow, a second figure appeared over the dune and shouted something in German. The man in front of Cullen spun around, yelling, “You damn fool! Go back to the others!” Then he turned back to Cullen with an intensity in his expression that left the Seaman paralyzed—for he was now almost certain that he was alone on the beach with a party of Nazi spies.

The Heroes of SARS

On 21 February 2003, a physician in Hong Kong was feeling particularly unwell. He must have had an inkling that something serious was amiss, for his symptoms closely matched those of a number of patients he had treated in recent weeks: fever, aching muscles, headache, a dry cough, and shortness of breath. An alarmingly high proportion of these people had become critically ill, with inflamed, fluid-saturated lungs. Breathing was rendered somewhat difficult, and death frequently followed.

Although the sixty-four year old nephrologist resided in the Guangdong region of southern China, he was enjoying time away for a family wedding when the worst of the symptoms struck. Sketchy reports of a mysterious respiratory illness had been filtering out of his home province for several months, but the official channels gave no indication of anything untoward. The day he arrived in Hong Kong he felt well enough to check into his room on the ninth floor of the Metropole Hotel, and he even did some sightseeing and shopping later in the afternoon. But the following morning his condition had worsened, and he was forced to seek care at the territory’s Kwong Wah Hospital. There he told staff he feared he had contracted “a very virulent disease,” and suggested immediate isolation. Yet the damage had already been done.

Back at the Metropole Hotel, globetrotting guests from the ninth floor were preparing to leave for Canada, Singapore, and Vietnam. Soon, they too would fall ill. In less than a week, the world would be left poised on the brink of a pandemic. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) had arrived. While the occupants of the western hemisphere often remember the events in the context of an overblown media frenzy, many epidemiologists today regard the outbreak as a near-miss for humanity– one which might have become one of history’s most unpleasant epidemics had it not been for the quick thinking and selflessness of a few individuals.

Clever Hans the Math Horse

In the late 1800s, a German high school mathematics instructor named Wilhelm Von Osten was pushing a few scientific envelopes from his home in Berlin. Among other things, he was a student of phrenology, the now discredited theory that one’s intelligence, character, and personality traits can be derived based of the shape of one’s head. But it was his keen interest in animal intelligence that would ultimately win him fame.

Von Osten firmly believed that humanity had greatly underestimated the reasoning skills and intelligence of animals. To test his hypothesis, he took it upon himself to tutor a cat, a horse, and a bear in the ways of mathematics. The cat was indifferent to his efforts, and the bear seemed outright hostile, but the arab stallion named Hans showed some real promise. With further tutelage, Hans the horse learned to use his hoof to tap out numbers written on a blackboard. Much to Von Osten’s delight, jotting a “3″ on the blackboard would prompt a tap-tap-tap from his pupil, a feat which Hans could repeat for any number under ten.

Encouraged by this success, Von Osten pressed his student further. The scientist drew out some basic arithmetic problems on his chalkboard, and attempted to train the horse in the symbols’ meanings. Hans had no problem keeping up with the curriculum, and soon he was providing the correct responses to a variety of math problems including basic square roots and fractions. Hans was proving to be a clever horse indeed.

No More Cavities?

The typical human mouth contains a writhing orgy of bacteria. Most of these microscopic organisms are benign, and some are even beneficial, but one particular variety is a conspicuous troublemaker: Streptococcus mutans. These ubiquitous bacteria thrive on sugars in the mouth, which they consume while excreting lactic acid. This acid is responsible for the great majority of tooth decay in humankind because it erodes the enamel and dentin of the teeth.

A Florida-based company called Oragenics may have found a way to rid our mouths of these acid-excreting organisms for good. This would make cavities a thing of the past, and put no small number of dentists out of business. But despite the obvious benefits, there is potential for disaster.

The American Gustation Crisis of 1985

The pod of the kola nut (photo by Bob Walker)In April 1985, it is rumored that a collection of executives gathered at their corporate headquarters for an emergency meeting. On the table before them sat six small canisters which had been smuggled from their chief competitor’s manufacturing plant. Inside the metal cylinders lurked a secret compound which represented the next strike in a long-running war: an altered version of their rival’s incredibly successful Merchandise 7X. It was scheduled for release within mere days, and these men had assembled to assess the threat. They were aware that billions of dollars were at stake, but the true power of the revised chemistry was beyond their reckoning. Ultimately, the contents of these canisters would plunge the United States into a surreal turmoil the likes of which had never before been seen.

The 72 ounces of fluid were portioned into sampling containers and passed around the room with earnest resolve. Each man inspected his sample by ingesting it orally, then smacking his tongue to allow the solution full access to his taste buds. The men’s impressions were mixed, yet the Pepsi officials were forced to acknowledge that this “New Coke” represented a serious threat.

Today, the New Coke debacle of 1985 is usually looked upon as a blunder of monumental proportions; however the ill-fated reformulation ultimately became one of the most fortuitous and informative failures in human history.

The Pit of Life and Death

Just outside Butte, Montana lies a pit of greenish poison a mile and a half wide and over a third of a mile deep. It hasn’t always been so – it was once a thriving copper mine appropriately dubbed “The Richest Hill in the World.” Over a billion tons of copper ore, silver, gold, and other metals were extracted from the rock of southwestern Montana, making the mining town of Butte one of the richest communities in the country, as well as feeding America’s industrial might for nearly a hundred years. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Anaconda Mining Company was in charge of virtually all the mining operations. When running underground mines became too costly in the 1950’s, Anaconda switched to the drastic but effective methods of “mountaintop removal” and open pit mining. Huge amounts of copper were needed to satisfy the growing demand for radios, televisions, telephones, automobiles, computers, and all the other equipment of America’s post-war boom. As more and more rock was excavated, groundwater began to seep into the pit, and pumps had to be installed to keep it from slowly flooding.

By 1983, the hill was so exhausted that the Anaconda Mining Company was no longer able to extract minerals in profitable amounts. They packed up all the equipment that they could move, shut down the water pumps, and moved on to more lucrative scraps of Earth. Without the pumps, rain and groundwater gradually began to collect in the pit, leaching out the metals and minerals in the surrounding rock. The water became as acidic as lemon juice, creating a toxic brew of heavy metal poisons including arsenic, lead, and zinc. No fish live there, and no plants line the shores. There aren’t even any insects buzzing about. The Berkeley Pit had become one of the deadliest places on earth, too toxic even for microorganisms. Or so it was thought.

Lucid Decapitation

On 08 April 2006, we published this article. Due to some kind of violation of the space-time continuum, it has appeared again on our front page instead of the shiny new article we had hoped for. Imagine our surprise!

For thousands of years, the forceful removal of the human head has been used as a form of capital punishment. In fact, the word “capital” in the context of punishment was coined to describe execution by decapitation, derived from the Latin word caput, which means “head.” Since the very beginnings of the practice, there has been much speculation and debate regarding the length of time that the head can remain conscious after its removal. Many argue that a beheaded person will almost instantly lose consciousness due to a massive drop in blood pressure in the brain, and/or the heavy impact of the decapitation device. But there are countless eyewitness reports in history describing a few moments of apparent awareness in the victim.

Beheading has been discontinued as a form of execution in much of the world due to the suspicion that a severed head remains conscious and able to experience pain, so there have been no recent scientific observations of human decapitation. However studies of decapitated animals has lent some credibility to the massive number of stories regarding a head’s brief consciousness after being separated from the body. Under certain circumstances, it is very possible that a head so removed may remain lucid long enough to know its fate.

Outer Space Exposure

In scores of science fiction stories, hapless adventurers find themselves unwittingly introduced to the vacuum of space without proper protection. There is often an alarming cacophony of screams and gasps as the increasingly bloated humans writhe and spasm. Their exposed veins and eyeballs soon bulge in what is clearly a disagreeable manner. The ill-fated adventurers rapidly swell like over-inflated balloons, ultimately bursting in a gruesome spray of blood.

As is true with many subjects, this representation in popular culture does not reflect the reality of exposure to outer space. Ever since humanity first began to probe outside of our protective atmosphere, a number of live organisms have been exposed to vacuum, both deliberately and otherwise. By combining these experiences with our knowledge of outer space, scientists have a pretty clear idea of what would happen if an unprotected human slipped into the cold, airless void.

Damn Deadlines

As the manuscript-delivery deadline approaches for our Damn Interesting book, we must take drastic action to avoid being sucked into a temporal vortex of magnificent and frightful proportions. Consequently, we hope you won’t mind a handful of re-runs while we enter phase three of the book-writing process: Irrational Bargaining.

We’ll try to keep you abreast of our progress as we segue into Guilt, absquatulate into Anger, and deviate into Depression. We anticipate arriving at the final phase– Acceptance– vibrating with caffeine and emotional compression.

On an unrelated note, our site’s new-and-improved platform is nearing completion, and in about 8 weeks we hope to begin private Beta testing. We’ll need people to help us do some load testing (lots of people at the same time) as well as compatibility testing (making sure the new site works everywhere, including weird mobile browsers and stuff). If you are willing to help us test when that time comes.

Terror on Wall Street

On 16 September 1920, throngs of brokers, clerks, and office workers poured from the buildings lining New York City’s Wall Street as a nearby church bell struck twelve o’clock. The narrow cobblestone street became a river of sputtering automobiles and scurrying pedestrians as the financial district employees set out to make the most of their mid-day break.

Traveling opposite the egressing crowds, an elderly bay horse plodded along Wall Street pulling a nondescript wagon and a driver. The cart came to a stop just around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), across the street from the imposing JP Morgan & Co. bank building. The wagon’s driver cast the reins aside, leaped from his perch, and fled from the street with conspicuous haste. As the lunch-going men and women shuffled past the parked wooden cart and its patiently waiting horse, a timer within the cargo compartment quietly counted off its final few seconds.

The Gimli Glider

“Holy shit.”

Inside the cockpit of the cruising airliner, Captain Bob Pearson was understandably alarmed at the out-of-the-ordinary beeps that were chiming from his flight computer. On the control panel, an amber low fuel pressure warning lamp lit up to punctuate the audio alarm.

First Officer Maurice Quintal, copilot of Air Canada Flight 143, checked the indicator light to determine the cause of the computer’s complaints. “Something’s wrong with the fuel pump,” he reported.

The mustachioed Captain Pearson pulled out the trusty Boeing handbook, his fingers dashing through the pages to find the specifics of the warning. To his relief, the troubleshooting chart indicated that the situation was not as perilous as it might seem: the fuel pump in the left wing tank was signaling a problem, a minor issue considering that gravity would continue to feed the engines even if the pump failed.

“You know,” he commented to Copilot Quintal, “I would not take this air…” He trailed off as the computer blurted out another four beeps, and the indicator panel lit up like a Christmas tree decorated with bad news. “Oh fuck,” Pearson lamented, “we’ve got to go to Winnipeg.”