Interesting Articles Or Coincidences

kevjohn · September 30, 2012

FIRE RAINBOW FACTS

A beautiful work of nature, fire rainbows are not a common sight.

Fire rainbows are circumhorizon arcs commonly known as CHA in scientific language.

Fire rainbows occur in cirrus clouds which are wispy and thin.

For this incredible sight the cirrus clouds should be at 20000 feet height with sun at 58 degrees.

The amount of ice crystals in the clouds need to be appropriate and properly aligned for the light to pass through it.

The phenomenon is the result of refraction of light when it passes through vertical side and exits from the rear as it is in the case of a prism.

If the inclination is of 90 degrees the colors can be seen well-arranged and the cloud seems bursting with colorful flames.

Though the name suggests it to be a hot, flammy phenomenon, but it is cold like ice.

This spectacular event of nature lasts for a short time and is a rare sight as all factors need to be available at correct time and at correct position.

Edited September 30, 2012 by kevjohn

Dap · September 30, 2012

Weird Sex Laws

A law in Fairbanks, Alaska, does not allow moose to have sex on city streets.

In Ventura County, California, cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit.

In Florida it is illegal for single, divorced, or widowed women to parachute on Sunday afternoons.

If a police officer in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, suspects a couple is having sex inside a vehicle they must honk their horn three times, and wait two minutes before being allowed to approach the scene.

Women must address bachelors as master instead of mister, according to an Illinois state law.

A law in Oblong, Illinois makes it a crime to make love while fishing or hunting on your wedding day.

In Aimes, Iowa a husband may not take more than three gulps of beer while lying in bed with his wife.

A law in Alexandria, Minnesota makes it illegal for a husband to make love to his wife if his breath smells like garlic, onions, or sardines.

In Bozeman, Montana, you can't perform any sexual acts in the front yard of any home, after sundown, and if you are nude.

A Helena, Montana law states that a woman cannot dance on a saloon table unless her clothing weighs more than three pounds, two ounces.

Hotel owners in Hastings, Nebraska are required by law to provide a clean, white cotton nightshirt to each guest. According to the law, no couple may have sex unless they are wearing the nightshirts.

Any couple making out inside a vehicle, and accidentally sounding the horn during their lustful act, may be taken to jail according to a Liberty Corner, New Jersey law.

During lunch breaks in Carlsbad, New Mexico, no couple should engage in a sexual act while parked in their vehicle, unless their car has curtains.

In Nevada sex without a condom is considered illegal.

In Cleveland, Ohio women are not allowed to wear patent-leather shoes.

Clinton, Oklahoma, has a law against masturbating while watching two people having sex in a car.

In Willowdale, Oregon, no man may curse while having sex with his wife.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania it is illegal to have sex with a truck driver inside a toll booth.

Hotels in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, are required by law to furnish their rooms with twin beds only. There should be a minimum of two feet between the beds, and it is illegal for a couple to make love on the floor between the beds.

In Kingsville, Texas, there is a law against two pigs having sex on the city's airport property.

A Tremonton, Utah law states that no woman is allowed to have sex with a man while riding in an ambulance. In addition to normal charges, the woman's name will be published in the local newspaper. The man does not receive any punishment.

No woman may go in public without wearing a corset in Norfolk, Virginia.

In the state of Washington there is a law against having sex with a virgin under any circumstances (including the wedding night).

The only acceptable sexual position in Washington D.C. is the missionary-style position. Any other sexual position is considered illegal.

In Connorsville, Wisconsin no man shall shoot of a gun while his female partner is having a sexual orgasm

and where could I possibly begin? Any one of these could be a thread in itself. Thnks for the entertainment Ron19

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

Here are some facts about the 1500's

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide body odour.

Hence, the custom today, of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water; then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all, the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.

Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived on the roof. When it rained, it became slippery, and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.

Hence, the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.

This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence, the saying, “Dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing.

As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside.

A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.

Hence, the rhyme: "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.

It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon."

They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat".

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "the upper crust".

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence, the custom, "holding a wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would. Realizing they had been burying people alive they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin, up through the ground, and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered "a dead ringer."

Who said history was boring!!!

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

Something different.... Don't get seasick.

youtube.c...ed/T4FIS1FnOQg

Edited October 1, 2012 by kevjohn

partington · October 1, 2012

Here are some facts about the 1500's
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived on the roof. When it rained, it became slippery, and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.Hence, the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

It has also been suggested that cats and dogs were washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a new lease of life with the e-mail message "

Life in the 1500s

", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here's the relevant part of that:

I'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs, well that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs."

This is nonsense of course. It hardly needs debunking but, lest there be any doubt, let's do that anyway. In order to believe this tale we would have to accept that dogs lived in thatched roofs, which, of course, they didn't. Even accepting that bizarre idea, for dogs to have slipped off when it rained they would have needed to be sitting on the outside of the thatch - hardly the place an animal would head for as shelter in bad weather.

Look KevJohn

at the risk of taking too seriously a thread that is meant to be fun, you are spreading huge amounts of misinformation and simply made up stuff.

Most of what you are reposting is taken from false emails that circulate much as chain letters, Nigerian scams and warnings about fake viruses do.The only purpose of these nonsensical emails is to get more and more people to spread them.

I think to spread them causes harm because you are spreading ignorance and deception. I think the truth matters, and it is important that people learn true things, about science, about history, and about how the world really is.

If at school teachers told your kids random untruths instead of educating them you would be justifiably annoyed. I think it's almost as bad to spread this internet spawned misinformation, because it's increasing the number of adults who believe nonsensical things unquestioningly.

I have only shown how one of the "facts" in your post is wrong, but my own knowledge tells me that 90% of it is false, eg wedding bouquets came from carrying herbs that were meant to ward off evil/disease, canopy beds were simply to keep people warm in the absence of heating, dead ringer comes from the substitution of an identical horse (a ringer) in a race to defraud bookies- here dead just means accurate like in "dead shot" and "saved by the bell" is of course a phrase from BOXING, where you can avoid being KOed by the round bell ringing.

These emails that you spread are like my post above - just stuff some people have made up for a laugh to see how many fools will believe it and spread the nonsense around. 'This piece of folk wisdom is part of the collection of twaddle that has done more to spread false phrase etymogies than anything else. This is circulated by email on the Internet, under the name of 'Life in the 1500s' source http://www.phrases.o...pper-crust.html

I think responsible adults shouldn't post facts that they haven't checked are true.

Sorry for bringing this down..but truth matters.

Edited October 1, 2012 by partington

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Statistically speaking, it is the largest waterfall in the world.

This recognition comes from combining the height and width together to create the largest single sheet of flowing water.

Victoria Falls is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and travelers can access the falls through either, Livingstone, Zambia or Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The falls are also close to the border of Botswana. The Zambezi River, which originates in northern Zambia, serves as the fall's water source.

The name Victoria Falls was given to the falls by the Scottish explorer Dr. David Livingstone. He named the falls after the reigning queen at the time.

The locals called the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya meaning “smoke that thunders.” Many people still refer to this nickname, which accurately defines the falls.

When Zambia gained independence in 1964, officials went through the entire country and changed the streets,

cities and buildings from British names to African names except for the city of Livingstone and Victoria Falls.

This reflected the deep respect and appreciation the people of Zambia had for the Scottish missionary.

Zimbabwe established a sister city to Livingstone, Zambia. This city, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, mirrors the name of the falls.

There are some freaky currents going on at the Victoria Falls which make it possible to sit/swim right at the edge. It's called the Devil's Pool.

A famous feature is a naturally formed pool known as the Devil's Pool, near the edge of the falls, accessed via Livingstone Island in Zambia.

When the river flow is at a certain level, usually during the months of September to December, a rock barrier forms a pool with little current and some people swim in the pool.

Victoria Falls

Devils Pool

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

World’s Oldest Running Car Fetches $4.62M

This is the oldest motor vehicle car in the world that still runs.

It was built one year before Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler invented the internal combustion engine.

The world’s oldest running motor vehicle has been sold at auction for an astonishing $4.62 million (R36.5-million),

more than double the pre-sale estimate, as two bidders chased the price up in a three-minute bidding war.

The 1884 De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout drew a standing ovation

as it was driven up onto the stage at Friday’s RM Auction in Hershey , Pennsylvania – to prove that

this 127-year-old car really does run! – and attracted a starting bid of $500 000, which was immediately doubled to $1 million.

Encouraged by the applauding crowd, the bidding went swiftly up to $4.2 million (R33 million) – 4.62 million (R36.5 million)

including the 10 percent commission – before the car was knocked down to a unnamed buyer.

The Dos-a-Dos (Back-to-Back) Steam Runabout was built in 1884 by George Bouton and Charles-Armand Trepardoux for

French entrepreneur Count de Dion, who named it ‘La Marquise’ after his mother.

In 1887, with De Dion at the tiller, it won the world’s first ever motor race (it was the only entrant to make the start line!) covering the 32km from the Pont de Neuilly in Paris to Versailles and back in one hour and 14 minutes (an average of 25.9km/h) and, according to contemporary reports, hitting a breathtaking 60km/h on the straights!

La Marquise has only had four owners, remaining in one family for 81 years, and has been restored twice, once by the Doriol family and again by British collector Tom Moore in the early 1990′s. Since then, it has taken part in four London-to-Brighton runs and collected a double gold at the 1997 Pebble Beach d’Elegance in California .

More information Here: http://money.cnn.com...t_car/index.htm

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

Very Interesting and something different.

http://youtu.be/DgZY2eoie_Q

To Play, click youtube on the bottom right of screen

This video shows you a side of Brazil including the Iguaco Falls and the Amazon jungle with its biodiversity in species.

Edited October 1, 2012 by kevjohn

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

Something most drivers don't know

This video discusses safety precautions necessary when operating or interacting with Off Highway Trucks. (10 minutes)

youtube.c...ed/W5O3s4xLB2M

Edited October 1, 2012 by kevjohn

kevjohn · October 1, 2012

World Championship Blacksmiths' Competition Eagle Eye Class

youtube.c...ed/V3L--EqOwOI

Edited October 1, 2012 by kevjohn

kevjohn · October 2, 2012

And for those people wondering about "That Country Down Under"

Some Interesting facts about Australia.

The name Australia comes from the Latin Australis which means "of the South" Legends of "Terra Australis Incognita" an "unknown land of the south" date back to Roman times.

Australia is the biggest island and the smallest continent in the world.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, the driest is Antarctica

With an average of 330 metres Australia is the lowest continent in the world.

The Australian Snowy Mountains receive more snowfall in a year than the Swiss Alps.

Australia is the only continent without an active volcano.

The only land locked state or territory in Australia is the Australian Capital Territory.

It is thought that Aboriginals have called Australia home for between 40,000 and 80,000 years.

It is estimated that at the time of British settlement there was about 300,000 Aboriginal people who spoke around 250 languages.

British settlers aboard the 11 ships of the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay in 1788 but moved north to Port Jackson (Sydney Cove) a few days later when they found the Botany Bay site unsuitable. They arrived at Port Jackson on the 26th January 1788 (now Australia Day).

Unusual and interesting facts about Australia include Australia's only armed rebellion, the "Eureka Stockade" took place in the Ballarat Goldfields in 1854. The goldfield workers (known as 'diggers') were opposed to the government miners' licences.

Burke and Wills were the first white explorers to cross Australia from South to North. They left Melbourne in August 1860 and reached the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland in February 1861. They both perished near Cooper's Creek on the return journey.

The Transportation of British convicts to Australia ended in 1868.

Another one of the interesting facts about Australia is now there are about 115 people in gaol (jail) in Australia per 100,000 of population. In the USA it is about 715, Russia is about 585, New Zealand is about 160, Japan is about 54 and Canada is about the same as Australia at 116.

Women were given the right to vote in Australia in 1902.

The first female Member of Parliament in Australia was Edith Cowan who was elected to the West Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921.

Neville Bonner became Australia's first Aboriginal senator in 1971.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932 and is the widest steel arch bridge in the world.

The design for the Sydney Opera House was chosen after the New South Wales Government conducted a competition in the late 1950's. Danish Architect Jorn Utzon's vision was the winning

design. Unfortunately in 1966 Jorn Utzon resigned from the project because of disagreements with the Government. The building was completed in 1973 and Queen Elizabeth II officially opened it in that year. Jorn Utzon died in 2008 without ever returning to Sydney to see in person the amazing Opera House he designed.

One of the unusual and interesting facts about Australia is about the Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt. Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while going for a swim at Cheviot Beach on the 17th December 1967. His disappearance has remained a mystery all these years.

Gough Whitlam is the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed from office. He was dismissed as Prime Minister by the then Governor General, Sir John Kerr in 1975.

The Honey Suckle Creek Tracking Station near Canberra broadcast the pictures of man's first steps on the moon to the rest of the world in 1969.

United States architect Walter Burley Griffin won the competition in 1912 to design Australia's capital city of Canberra.

The longest section of straight railway track in the world at 478 kilometres crosses The Nullarbor Plain (South Australia to Western Australia).

The longest straight section of road at 146 kilometres is also on the Nullarbor Plains.

The longest fence in the world is known as The Dingo Fence, Wild Dog Fence or Border Fence depending on which state you are in.

The fence is approximately 5,400 kilometres long starting at Jimbour in Queensland and continuing on to the Great Australian Bight in South Australia.

The largest cattle station in the world is Anna Creek Station in South Australia at over 34,000 square kilometres.

Australia changed to the metric system of measurement from 1970 onwards. The imperial system was phased out over the years following 1970 up until about 1988.

Australia has one of the lowest population densities in the world with an average of three people per square kilometre. The world average on land only is about 45 per square kilometre.

The Melbourne Cup is a horse race that was first run in 1861 and is still held every year on the first Tuesday in November. It is dubbed "the race that stops a nation"

Australians spend the most money on gambling in comparison to any other country in the world. Australia has twenty percent of the poker machines in the world

Quite a few of the interesting facts about Australia has to do with our unique and sometimes deadly wildlife.

The Kangaroo and the Emu were chosen to feature on the Australian Coat of Arms because they are incapable of walking backwards and therefore symbolise a nation moving forward.

Australia is home to six of the top ten deadliest snakes in the world.

There are about 350 species of termites, 1,500 species of spider, 6,000 species of flies and 4,000 species of ants in Australia.

The Sydney Funnel-web spider is considered the deadliest spider in the world.

The stonefish is the most poisonous fish in the world and lives mainly above the tropic of Capricorn off the coast of Australia.

The Box Jellyfish is considered the world's most venomous marine creature and have killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined.

The largest number of wild dromedary (they have the one hump) camels in the world are found in Australia.

The Australian platypus and echidna are the only mammals (monotremes) to lay eggs.

The Purple-neck Rock Wallaby is found around the Mt Isa region of Northwest Queensland. They discharge a dye that changes their face and neck into colours that can range from light pink to bright purple.

The last Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) died in 1936 at the zoo in the capital city of Hobart.

From: http://www.australia...-australia.html

kevjohn · October 2, 2012

2012 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000

The 2012 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 will be an Australian touring car motor race for V8 Supercars, the twenty-first race of the 2012 International V8 Supercars Championship

The race is scheduled for Sunday, 7 October 2012 at the Mount Panorama Circuit on the outskirts of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It will be the sixteenth running of the Australian 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997.

It will also be the 56th race for which the lineage can be traced back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island and the 53rd to be held at Mount Panorama. Race organizers plan to use this race to celebrate the 50th year since the race first moved from Phillip Island to Mount Panorama in 1963. Teams also celebrated the anniversary with the introduction of retro-inspired sponsor liveries for the event.

Entries

All twenty-eight cars which contest the regular V8 Supercar season are scheduled to take part in the race, plus one "wildcard" entry—a car that is only entered in the endurance races—prepared by Minda Motorsport and operated by Kelly Racing. The cars, first and so far only confirmed driver is Cameron Waters, after Australian TV personality Grant Denyer vacated the seat due to injury. The co-driver will be decided in the Shannons Supercar Showdown reality TV show.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

kevjohn · October 3, 2012

Little Boy Lost (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Little Boy Lost, was an Australian hit song, recorded by Johnny Ashcroft. He composed this song from a lyric idea put forward by DJ, Tony Withers.

The song accurately relates the saga of Australia’s greatest land and air search. For four days and three nights, in February 1960, William Stanley, an Aboriginal tracker, five thousand people and seven aircraft searched the rugged New England Ranges of New South Wales, Australia, for a four-year-old farm boy, Steven Walls, the Little Boy Lost. They found him alive and well.

Little Boy Lost was the top Australian hit-song of 1960. And in its day, it became one of this country's all-time greatest hits, awarded the first 45rpm Gold Record struck in Australia and also, in 1961, New Zealand’s first 45rpm Gold Record.

A Johnny Ashcroft TV performance of Little Boy Lost was released worldwide as a film clip (there were no videos then). That film clip was a forerunner of the video and DVD clips of today. ‘Covers’ by world renowned artists were released, notably by Jimmy Dean in the U.S. and Michael Holliday in the UK. Notable Australian artists recorded Little Boy Lost, among them were Jimmy Little, Slim Dusty the Singing Kettles and Evelyn Bury.

Some months after Steven Walls was found alive and Little Boy Lost was still riding high on Top 40 charts, Sydney schoolboy Graham Thorne became Australia’s first kidnap victim, later found murdered. Purely because of connotations associated with the title, Little Boy Lost, Johnny Ashcroft had his song removed from Australian airplay to avoid the trauma of those three repetitive words being inflicted upon Graham Thorne’s family and friends. In doing so, he became the only songwriter/recording artist, at least in Australia, to deliberately kill the airplay of his own hit record.

The original Johnny Ashcroft recording of Little Boy Lost has been available continuously, in various catalogues, since 1960. This hit version of the song was re-released on 4 August 2007 on a 28-track Rajon Music double CD set, Johnny Ashcroft, Here’s To You, Australia!

In 1978, the Little Boy Lost movie had its world premiere at Armidale, New South Wales – in Australia's wild New England Ranges. Johnny Ashcroft and Gay Kayler recorded a brand new version of Little Boy Lost for the movie sound track, as well as some moving vocal sequences. Bob “Beetles” Young composed the movie theme.

The Little Boy Lost movie, which received the Catholic Award for Decency in Germany, starred Nathan Dawes as Steven Walls, Lorna Lesley and John Hargreaves as his parents, Tony Barry as Constable Jack O’Dea and Steve Dodd as William Stanley, the Aboriginal tracker. It was directed by Terry Bourke and released worldwide. Later, the Little Boy Lost movie became available on video and DVD.

The DVD of Little Boy Lost was re-released in 2005 and again in 2007.

The massive search for Steven Walls has become part of Australian folklore. The longevity of the Little Boy Lost song played a major part in this circumstance. In 2010,the 50th Anniversary of that historic 4-day event fell on exactly the same days and nights as the actual saga, which commenced at 9:00am on Friday, 5 February (when Steven became lost) and ended at 2:00pm on Monday, 8 February (when he was found).

You can hear the song here: http://www.thaivisa....00#entry5719358

kevjohn · October 4, 2012

If things were still this simple…….

How to Dial a Rotary Telephone

youtube.c...ed/CIDw75mUl6c

1963 Push Button Phone

youtube.c...ed/5t5na44D0Dw

Edited October 4, 2012 by kevjohn

Ron19 · October 5, 2012

This isn’t one of Google’s infamous April Fool’s Day jokes. Every so often Google rents a herd of 200 goats, plus a goatherd and border collie, to mow the grassy hills around Google headquarters. It is a more cost-effective option than bringing in a mower, and using goats eliminates mower emissions, reduces noise pollution, restores plant species and fertilizes the ground. Just one more fact you didn't know about Google.

kevjohn · October 6, 2012

MYSTERY MISSING DATES

Did you know the days/dates between 2nd and 14th September in 1752 did NOT exist?

This is because this was the year that the calendar changed from the Julian (Julius Caesar) to the Gregorian (Pope Gregory XIII) calendar

and because the Julian calendar did not have leap years, they had to cut out dates to make the years correct for the new calendar.

So the days went 1, 2, 14, 15, 16....30. But the month still ended with 30 so people worked for 11 days less but got paid for 30 days.

This is how paid leave started.

kevjohn · October 6, 2012

BERLIN WALL FACTS

Among the many agonies of the Second World War, an often repeated name is that of the Berlin Wall.

It shall doubtlessly be stated that the Berlin Wall is one of the most intriguing components of the German narrative.

The wall had as much an ideological construct, as a physical divide, with bare fangs of democracy on the west, and those of communism on the east.

Upon its inception, the wall was a guarded stretch of barbed wires, which was supposed to keep the east to the west human migration from taking place even thought, the soreness of separation was equal on both sides of the fence.

By the recorded facts, despite all odds, around five thousand people managed to cross over the wall.

There were some four hundred people who either died or were injured in an attempt to crossover.

The movement of reconciliation came to the wall on the 23rd of August 1989.

On this day, Hungary decided to cease its border limitations with its neighbour Austria.

This way, around 13000 people managed to escape en route Hungary.

As a result of this build up, mobbing started at the gate of the Berlin Wall, where people started to demand an entry into West Berlin.

Following this, the Berlin wall was brought down.

kevjohn · October 7, 2012

HOLLYWOOD FACTS

Are you aware of the interesting facts about Hollywood, the world renowned name in the motion picture industry?

The district of Los Angeles has the well-known Hollywood sign.

In reality, this sign was built in 1923 by one of the real estate agents and an investor,

Harry Chandler, with a motive of advertisement.

He spent around $21, 000 for this and wanted it to stay for 18 months.

But at that stage he was not aware that this construction would become a legend in itself.

Today, the famous Hollywood sign is more than 80 years old.

Initially, the sign used to read "Hollywood Land". But in 1949, "Land" was removed and only "Hollywood" remained.

Today, the sign is taken care of by "Hollywood Sign Trust" which was formed in the year of 1995.

On September 18, 1932, Lillian Millicent "Peg" Entwistle after an unsuccessful Hollywood carrier, jumped from the letter 'H' to her death.

She was only 24 years old.

Ron19 · October 7, 2012

A dog has broken out of its yard in the US and managed to track its owner to a hospital more than 3km away after becoming distraught that he was no longer at home.

John Dolan was admitted to a hospital in New York for a skin condition last week and had been there several days when a hospital employee phoned him saying his dog was hanging around outside and he needed to pick it up.

Mr Dolan told the employee the dog was his but he could not pick it up because he himself was inside the hospital, ABC News reports.

Mr Dolan said it took a while to realise how extraordinary it was that his dog, a seven-year-old samoyed-husky mix named Zander, had found him, as it had never been to the hospital before.

"It took a few days to sink in really, he was coming to see me," Mr Dolan said.

He said the dog, a seven-year-old Samoyed-husky mix named Zander, had been moping around the house ever since he was admitted to hospital.

"My wife said he had water in his eyes and looked like he was really sad," he said.

The couple believe Zander, who they rescued from a pound five years ago and nursed back to health from starvation, tracked Mr Dolan to the hospital by his scent.

"I don't know how he got there, I've never taken him there," Priscilla Dolan said.

A few days later Zander tried to visit Mr Dolan a second time but was caught by somebody as he was walking to the hospital.

Mr Dolan described Zander as "one in a million".

"He's my boy, we don't have any children, we have three beautiful dogs," Mr Dolan said

youtu.be/LPhD0H8ifV0

kevjohn · October 7, 2012

Los Angeles

Spanish for “The Angels” and sometimes called the City of Angels was originally called

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula (the Town of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula).

It was later shortened to just Los Angeles.

kevjohn · October 7, 2012

It has been said that celery has negative calories.

Is it true?

One answer, put forward, is:

The common misconception is that celery contains "negative calories". All foods contain calories. The way you must look at it is how many calories, does one stalk of celery contain, versus how many calories it takes to digest it. According to the nutrition data website one 8 inch celery stalk contain about 6 calories. Many people believe you actually burn that off when chewing. Though celery, does take a rather conscious effort to chew, chewing burns about the same amount as watching the grass grow. The calorie loss is going to be during the digestion of the celery.

Celery is actually loaded with latent energy, but the plant's composition only allows us to metabolize a small amount. The latent energy is packed tightly in the form of cellulose; a complex sugar which humans are unable to metabolize. It's not that the celery is difficult to digest, but rather it provides fewer calories than what is needed to digest it - so the overall effect is "negative calories".

Keep in mind, the amount of calories you lose is very minimal. This is not the miracle diet food. The amount of calories lost will probably be no more than 10-12 calories a day. The good thing is celery can quickly satiate your hunger, preventing you from eating other high-calorie foods.

Ron19 · October 8, 2012

A whale surprised a group of scientists when it suddenly emerged next to their boats and began to try to "play" with them in Tasmania last week.

Deckhand Tony Summers told ninemsn he and the rest of the crew were initially worried the whale might flip their dinghies.

"The dinghies were quite close and so when it actually turned to go under the other boat ... the tail was so close to being under our dinghy that we could have been flipped but it never touched either of us," Mr Summers said.

"It seemed to be playing with the dinghies, swimming around and under us."

Mr Summers said the whale looked about 12 metres long and some crew thought it might be a southern right whale.

"Everyone was just in awe," he said.

"For something to come that close, that will never happen again in a lifetime."

The crew were in Wineglass Bay, near Freycinet, to carry out scientific research into sea urchins and had not expected to see whales at this time of year.

The southern right whale is one of three whales listed as endangered in Tasmania's Threatened Species Protection Act 1995.

Ron19 · October 8, 2012

The Beatles' debut tune that launched Britain into the Swinging Sixties and helped to ignite a worldwide obsession for the four-man band from Liverpool celebrates its 50th birthday on Friday 5th of October.

Even though it only peaked at No.17 on the British charts, the single Love Me Do was not only the group's first record but also their first hit.

"It's obviously the first single, but more importantly, it established their policy of only releasing songs that were written by the Beatles themselves," said Hamish MacBain, assistant editor at British music magazine NME.

"The fashion at that time was not for big groups to write their own material, so the Beatles were being quite radical in that sense by issuing a single that they had written themselves," MacBain said.

Love Me Do was recorded in September 1962 with the so-called "fifth Beatle", producer George Martin, who pushed for the release of another song, penned by British songwriter Adam Faith but performed by the Fab Four.

But the Beatles got their way, and Love Me Do went on sale on October 5, 1962.

The group's insistence that they only release songs they had written themselves "established a trend that lasted obviously their entire career and became the norm for big groups that became rock bands", MacBain said.

"You were not considered a serious rock band by the mid-`60s unless you were writing your own material."

Co-written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the catchy lyrics and recognisable harmonies of Love Me Do were recorded at London's Abbey Road studios, later made famous by the group.

Although it kick-started their career and became a British hit, Love Me Do did not spark Beatlemania, said Simon Zagorski-Thomas, a reader in music at University of West London's college of music.

"Love Me Do was an interesting song, but it wasn't the thing that really launched their career," Zagorski-Thomas said.

Instead, it was the group's 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States that made the Beatles a phenomenon distinct from all previous British bands and launched them globally.

"Love Me Do is not considered by most observers to be among the Beatles' masterpieces," MacBain said.

"In terms of songwriting it's pretty basic, and it's certainly not as good as the stuff they were coming out with a few months later," MacBain said.

"P.S. I Love You was recorded on the B-side of the track, and both songs were featured on the group's perennial album Please Please Me," released in March 1963.

BBC Four TV will air a documentary on Sunday about Love Me Do, with an eyewitness account claiming that the group's manager Brian Epstein bought 10,000 copies of the single to boost sales.

While the rumour has never been proved, Epstein's friend and business associate, Joe Flannery, claims in the documentary that the copies were purchased.

Ron19 · October 11, 2012

Scientists find spot of Julius Caesar's slaying

Archaeologists say they believe they have found the exact spot in Rome where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death on March 15, 44 BC.

The stabbing of the dictator by Roman senators was recorded by ancient historians and dramatised by William Shakespeare who gave Caesar the last words: "Et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar."

Now a team from the Spanish National Research Council say they have unearthed evidence that, they believe, reveals precisely where the attack took place.

They say they have found a concrete structure, 3m wide and 2m high, that was erected by his adoptive son and successor, Augustus.

After taking power himself, Augustus ordered the structure be placed exactly over the place where the attack took place so as to condemn the slaying of his father, the scientists said.

"This finding confirms that the general was stabbed right at the bottom of the Curia of Pompey while he was presiding, sitting on a chair, over a meeting of the Senate," the Spanish research council said in a statement.

The Curia of Pompey was a closed space used sometimes for senate meetings at the time. The building's remains are in the Torre Argentina archaeological site in the centre of Rome.

What the archaelogists found was not the spot where Caesar died but the point where he must have been stabbed and fell, Spanish council researcher Antonio Monterroso told AFP.

"We know this because there is a structure that seals the place where Caesar must have been seated presiding over the senate session where he was stabbed," he said.

"There is a structure from the later period of his successor, the period of Augustus, placed where Caesar must have sat, and that is how we know."

A comparison of the archaeological remains and the ancient texts led the researchers to their conclusion, said Monterroso, a member of the Institute of History of the Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences.

It was impossible to know if Caesar died in the same place, however, the researcher said.

"From there the body was taken to the Roman Forum for his veneration and then it was cremated," Monterroso said.

"We don't know if he died in that instant or if he died hours later."

He agreed that the finding was open to dispute.

"It is not indisputable. All archaeological science is open to dispute, it should be open to dispute, it should be open to argument, it should be open to debate and open to criticism, of course."

The three-year archaeological project, which began last year, is supported by the Rome City Council, Spanish government financing and the Spanish research council's Spanish School of History and Archaeology in Rome.

The discovery in the centre of Rome was impressive, Monterroso said. "Thousands of people today take the bus and the tram right next to the place where Julius Caesar was stabbed 2056 years ago."

Ron19 · October 12, 2012

Researchers have discovered a planet twice the size of earth made up partly of diamond.

The planet, named ‘55 Canceri e,’ orbits a star in the constellation of Cancer and was found by a French-American research team, Reuters reports.

While the planet was first discovered earlier this year it was assumed Canceri’s chemical make-up was similar to the Earth’s.

But in a statement ahead of releasing their findings, researchers said the planet appeared to have no water and a third of its mass could be composed of diamond.

“The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite,” the statement said.

More detailed analysis has found the rocky planet is vastly different from our own, with temperatures on its surface reaching more than 1648 degrees Celsius.

The planet's mass is also eight times larger than earth’s and its radius is twice the size.

Diamond planets have been spotted by researchers previously but scientists in the French-American team said Canceri was the first to be studied in such detail

Ron19 · October 12, 2012

Snow falls cause NSW Australia traffic chaos

Rare spring snow falls are causing traffic chaos in parts of NSW with about 300 people stranded in cars in the Blue Mountains.

Snow falls have occurred along the Great Dividing Range as far north as Queensland's Granite Belt, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

PHOTOS: ninemsn readers share their snow pics

Temperatures plummeted below zero in the Blue Mountains, with Mount Boyce dipping to -0.5C, feeling more like -8C with the wind chill.

In Guyra, on the northern tablelands, 17cm of snow was recorded, meteorologist Julie Evans said.

The severe weather conditions and heavy snow has cut off train services between Katoomba and Lithgow.

Road closures had left about 300 stranded in their cars in the Blue Mountains and central tablelands, while heavy snowfall is continuing around Lithgow and Yetholme, a spokeswoman from the SES said.

The Great Western Highway is closed in both directions between Katoomba and Mount Victoria.

In metropolitan Sydney, ferry services have been cancelled between Manly and Circular Quay due to rough seas and strong winds.

Buses are also about to begin replacing ferries between Parramatta and Rydalmere because Parramatta Weir is overflowing.

Traffic headaches aside, many Blue Mountains residents have managed to take delight in the unusually late snowvfalls.

Councillor Don McGregor, of Blue Mountains City Council, said the snow was "beautiful".

"It's the thickest fall we've had for at least 10 years," he said.

"I'm no skier but I'm confident I could ski on it."

Actor and Blue Mountains local Rhys Muldoon said the flakes in Katoomba were the size of 50 cent pieces.

"All the children in the neighbourhood ran out and started playing and building snowmen as soon as they saw the snow," said Mr Muldoon, father to four-year-old Lotte.

"It's just crazy. It looks like an Alpine village. My daughter is very much enjoying it — it's the first time she's seen snow."

Source: SES, Bureau of Meteorology

Ron19 · October 15, 2012

Austrian extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has become the first man to break the sound barrier in a 38.6-kilometre freefall from the edge of space.

The 43-year-old leapt from a capsule more than 39km above the earth, reaching a top speed of 1342km/h, or 1.24 times the speed of sound, according to organisers. No one has ever reached that speed wearing only a high-tech suit.

The altitude he leaped from also marked the highest-ever for a skydiver - more than three times the height of the average cruising altitude for a jetliner.

Organisers said the descent lasted just over nine minutes, about half of it in freefall. He travelled 36,529m in freefall for four minutes and 20 seconds before opening his red-and-white parachute and floating down to the desert in New Mexico, said Red Bull Stratos mission record keeper Brian Utley.

Mission control erupted in cheers as Baumgartner sprung from the capsule hoisted aloft by a giant helium-filled balloon to an altitude of 39,044m, even higher than expected.

"I think 20 tons have fallen from my shoulders. I prepared for this for seven years," he told German-language ServusTV in Austria in his first interview after the leap

He lifted his arms in victory shortly after landing, setting off loud cheers from jubilant onlookers and friends inside the mission's control centre in Roswell, New Mexico.

"When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records any more, you do not think about gaining scientific data," he said.

"The only thing you want is to come back alive."

Baumgartner says that travelling faster than sound is "hard to describe because you don't feel it". With no reference points, "you don't know how fast you travel", he told reporters.

"Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are," he said.

Three hours earlier, Baumgartner, known as "Fearless Felix", had taken off in a pressurised capsule carried by a 55-storey ultra-thin helium balloon

The Austrian took more than two hours to get up to the jump altitude. Baumgartner had already broken one record before he even leapt: the previous highest altitude for a manned balloon flight was 34,668m, set in 1961.

He had been due to jump from 36,576m but the balloon went higher than expected.

After an at-times tense ascent, which included concerns about how well his facial shield was working, the 43-year-old former military parachutist completed a final safety checklist with mission control.

Shortly before jumping, in footage beamed live around the world - on a crackly radio link recalling Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon - he had said: "Sometimes you have (to go) up really high to (understand) how small you are."

As he left his capsule from high above earth, he flashed a thumbs-up sign, well aware that the feat was being shown on a live stream on the internet with a 20-second delay.

Any contact with the capsule on his exit could have torn his pressurised suit, a rip that could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as minus 57 degrees Celsius. That could have caused lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids.

The biggest risk Baumgartner faced was spinning out of control, which could have exerted excessive G-force and made him lose consciousness. A controlled dive from the capsule was essential, putting him in a head-down position to increase speed.

As things transpired millions of transfixed viewers around the world looked on in agony as the Austrian started tumbling chaotically for what seemed like an eternity before finally achieving the right position.

He activated his parachute as he neared earth, gently gliding into the desert east of Roswell and landing without any apparent difficulty. The images triggered another loud cheer from onlookers at mission control, among them his mother, Eva Baumgartner, who was overcome with emotion, crying.

Coincidentally, Baumgartner's attempted feat also marked the 65th anniversary of US test pilot Chuck Yeager's successful attempt to become the first man to officially break the sound barrier aboard a plane.

At Baumgartner's insistence, some 30 cameras on the capsule, the ground and a helicopter recorded the event on Sunday. While it had been pegged as a live broadcast, organisers said was actually under a 20-second delay in case of a tragic accident.

Baumgartner's team included Joe Kittinger, who first attempted to break the sound barrier from 31.4km up in 1960, reaching a speed of 988km/h, just under the sound barrier.

As Baumgartner ascended in the balloon, so did the number of viewers watching on YouTube. Nearly 7.3 million watched as he sat on the edge of the capsule moments before jumping. After he landed, Red Bull posted a picture of Baumgartner on his knees on the ground to Facebook, generating nearly 216,000 likes, 10,000 comments and more than 29,000 shares in less than 40 minutes

kevjohn · October 24, 2012

Immunity finding to help stem spread of viruses

Date October 24, 2012

By Bridie Smith Science and Technology Reporter, The Age.

SCIENTISTS have discovered how mosquitoes develop viral immunity - a significant finding with the potential to halt the spread of crippling mosquito-borne viruses, such as dengue and West Nile.

Researchers from CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong showed that a protein called vago is released by infected mosquito cells. It warns other cells to fight the invading virus, effectively giving the insect's immune system a heads up.

''It's front-line defence,'' said virologist Peter Walker, who worked on the research over 18 months with colleague Prasad Paradkar.

Before the discovery, little credit was given to the mosquito, which was not thought to have much of a natural defence. Instead it was considered that a virus infecting mosquitoes went easily onto its host because it was critical to transmission.

Instead researchers found mosquitoes are able to detect infection by a virus, then they secrete vago, which binds to the surface of cells and turns on the anti-viral response.

''This is a fundamental discovery as it changes the way we think about controlling these diseases,'' Professor Walker said. ''It allows us to shift our thinking and attack the diseases in a different way.''

Mosquitoes spread viruses such as dengue fever, Ross River virus, Murray River encephalitis and West Nile virus - threatening the health of people, livestock and wildlife.

Dengue infects about 75 million people around the world, killing about 22,000 a year.

Professor Walker said another virus, called chikungunya, has been spreading rapidly out of Africa and through Asia with some concern that it could enter northern Australia.

Published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the discovery will be used to harness the mosquitoes' natural defence system to make them more resistant to the viruses.

''It may be that we can come up with really novel ways of treating these very important diseases,'' Professor Walker said. ''Our work is not so much about how you might treat humans but how you might attack the mosquito. If you can make the mosquito super-resistant to viruses so that when they became infected, they were not as effective in transmitting the disease.''

Vago has been identified in fruit flies and other invertebrates, and exists in the body at all times at a low level. The level rises when infection strikes.

The findings could also prove useful to the aquaculture industries in Australia and overseas.

From the Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.a...1023-283ma.html

kevjohn · October 24, 2012

Italy: Officials Quit Over Punishment of Quake Experts

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Published: October 23, 2012

Several members of Italy's National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks resigned Tuesday

after the conviction of six scientists and a public official on manslaughter charges for failing to give adequate warning

to the residents of a seismically active area before an earthquake that killed more than 300 people.

Luciano Maiani, a physicist, resigned as president of the commission, along with several other members in protest over Monday’s ruling, in which the defendants have drawn six-year prison sentences.

“The commission can’t carry out its functions in this situation, which borders on intimidation,” he said in an interview. “It’s impossible to work with serenity if you’re afraid that if you give an opinion that turns out not to be right you can be punished.”

From the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.c...tions.html?_r=0

Edited October 24, 2012 by kevjohn

kevjohn · October 26, 2012

Melting runway puts Antarctic flights on ice

Updated 24 October 2012, 19:53 AEST

January flights to Antarctica have been scrapped because Australia's airstrip there is melting, causing havoc with our transport to the frozen continent.

The $46 million Antarctic air link opened four years ago with the expectation of 20 flights to the Wilkins runway near Casey Station each season.

But two years ago there were just two flights and last season there were four.

Australian Antarctic Division chief Tony Fleming said six flights were planned for the coming months, but there were no plans for flights in January because it will be too warm.

"Once it gets to above minus five degrees in the ice, then there are safety parameters which mean we can't [land] aircraft on that," he said.

Landing a fully loaded plane is hard enough at the best of times - landing it on ice, which has developed a tendency to get a bit mushy, is nearly impossible.

"We've got a very big emphasis on safety and we won't use that runway when it becomes above a certain temperature, and minus five is the threshold," Mr Fleming said.

"Some way down in the ice, if it becomes above that temperature, we can't guarantee the structural integrity of the surface."

Long-term future

The Wilkins runway is nearly 3,500 kilometres from Hobart and is used to get vital equipment, medical supplies, people and food to the continent.

While Australia can and does use the American runway at McMurdo Station, the problems that arise in January have prompted the Government to consider alternatives.

"We are looking at options constantly about our air link arrangements," Mr Fleming said.

Six flights are planned for the coming months, to carry about 80 people south and bring back about 140.

While it will be used in the cooler months, Mr Fleming has worries about the runway's long-term future.

"There are signs there's a long-term warming trend, global warming, and that will make it more difficult to operate this runway in the future," he said.

Aurora Australis

Melting ice is not the only problem in Antarctica at the moment.

While the runway experiences problems because the ice is a bit soft, Australia's supply ship, the Aurora Australis, is currently stuck because there is too much ice.

"What's happened is that a northerly [wind] has blown ice against the ship," Mr Fleming said.

"We are waiting for a change in the weather patterns, an increasing swell, to move that ice again.

"The ship is where it is supposed to be. It's undertaking a scientific investigation of the sea ice and the scientists are continuing to do their work.

"We're waiting for a change in the weather to break out that ice so that the Aurora can move to its next ice station."

From ABC Radio Australia

http://www.radioaust...-on-ice/1035528

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