Thailand Police Don Smiley Masks: Ha, Ha… Wha?

In Bangkok, Thailand, motorcycle policemen patrol the city wearing anti-pollution masks with bright red grins painted upon them.

In an odd attempt at improving public relations between the police and the populace, the highway policemen of Thailand wear the masks to lift the moods of passing motorists.

This past year has been no laughing matter for the lovely country known once known as “The Land of Smiles.” Unstable government, an increase in mob violence and a decrease in tourism due to the recent hostile takeover of Bangkok’s airports have created a volatile environment with little to smile about.

“For our highway policemen, we have the policy that the police must be friendly and smiling all the time, but the problem is, when we’re tired, it’s hard to keep smiling,” said Colonel Somyos Promnim, the Highway Police commander.

The Thai smile is as enigmatic as that of the courtly lady depicted in Da Vinci’s masterpiece, Mona Lisa. It is as mysterious and as complicated in meaning as the bow is to the Japanese, and it also requires just as many muscles.

The communication problem with foreign visitors is quite obvious. They may be charmed outwardly by the smiles, but language and cultural barriers preclude their understanding of what is behind that smile. What is the real expression on the face behind the face, so to speak?

“They have to put on a mask because a smile doesn’t come naturally anymore… These past few years that smile has worn thin because we are all angry at each other and willing to show it,” says economist, Ammar Siamwalla.

Recently, Abac, a leading polling agency, spent three days questioning more than 2,000 people in the Bangkok area only to discover that on a scale of 1 to 10, people gave Thailand only 5.77 points for being the “Land of Smiles.”

One customer service company has taken the lead by giving its employees mirrors so that they can practice the effect their smiles have on others.

In Japan, workers have been trained to hold a chopstick between their upper lips and their noses to produce the living equivalent of a smiling emoticon.

“People forget to smile… but I think with better training we can do a better job. Training should always be one of the top categories for anyone,” says Kritika Kongsompong, a professor of business who for a year was Thailand’s grim hostess of the television show, The Weakest Link.

Thailand’s Prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, promised his people that Thailand will once again become the land of smiles.

The highway police seem to be as good a place to start as any.

So what is everyone waiting for?

Put on a happy face!

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Snake with a Foot Discovered in China

A snake measuring sixteen inches long has been discovered in China by Dean Qiongxiu, making its grand entrance by clinging to the bathroom wall with a clawed talon.

Unfortunately, its life was cut short when she beat it to death with a shoe as it attempted to defy evolution and scurry across the wall using its single foot. Preserving the specimen in alcohol, it was turned over to the Department of Life Sciences at West Normal University in Nanchang.

According to resident snake expert Long Shuai, the cause of the foot remains unknown, though an autopsy may reveal why. This biological anomaly is in a way similar to the growth of an extra head, which shares similarities in the way humans develop into conjoined twins.

Unlike two-headed snakes, however, human conjoined twins don’t often attack each other. A snake with two heads has little chance of surviving for a long time in the wild, though one can only guess the physical limitations or advantages a snake with an extra foot might have.

It’s only a matter of time before regular snakes evolve into walking monsters and take over the world.

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Enter + Ctrl Keys Card Reader

I’m not sure why, but just from glancing at the picture, I thought for sure this was a silly handmade job. Instead though, this is a mass produced item that likely isn’t even remotely handmade. This card reader will make sure that you’ll always have a portable method to pull things off of your memory card. Plus, it is disguised as two keys. Alright, so that part isn’t going to fool anyone, but it does give a slightly more geeky design to a fairly normal gadget.

These card readers will read MicroSD, T-Flash and Micro SDHC. It’ll deal with all of those without the need for any kind of adapter. It’ll of course work with both PC and Mac users. These come in two different colors, you can pick up the blue or go with the slightly more normal white. White of course makes it look a lot more like just a classic keyboard key. Each one of these will cost you $12 from USB Geek.

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StressWatch tells you its time to relax

My source called the StressWatch “the mood ring of the 21st century”, but all I can say about it is that someone should have invented it a long time ago.

After all, we live in an age where people wake up at ungodly hours, go to demeaning jobs, come home to face family issues, and barely have time to wind down before they go to sleep. In short, we live in age where everyone is under stress. And if that doesn’t stress you out, then you don’t need the StressWatch.

As you can see from the pic, there is a black bar graph to show your stress levels. The blues and greens that you see there means that you are mellow, but pink, red or orange means you’re one stressed out fellow. I am going to assume that it reads your pulse, sweat from your wrist, or something.

Not only that, it can also tell the time. So that way you can get to your next appointment, so that you can always stay ahead and…I suppose that deadlines are the source of our stress, isn’t it? Just breathe deep and think calming thoughts to get back into the safe zone.

Well, this device is merely concept as now, but it deserves to be made reality. I could use a little reduced stress now.

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Man Almost Loses Penis Humping Steel Bench

Last night in Hong Kong, the police received a disturbing call from a man in trouble.

Xing, a 41 year-old man, was calling from LanTian park in the middle of the night. The lonely and disturbed man had apparently thought it would be fun to have sex with one of the steel sit-up benches around the park.

The bench has numerous small holes in it, which Xing used to attempt to satisfy himself. However, once he became aroused he found that he was stuck and could not get his penis out of the small hole.

He panicked and called the police to help him.

Lets just say this is probably one bad date that Xing will never forget.

When police arrive they found Xian stuck face down where he had been stuck for some time.

When doctors arrived on the scene they tried to release some of the pressure by removing some of his blood, but the penis was so swollen that they ended up having to cut the entire bench free and take it, with Xian attached, to the hospital.

4 painful hours later, Doctors finally separated Xian from his bench.

Doctors stated that if he had been stuck for even an hour longer, they would have had to remove his penis.

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Hong Kong Fashion Week… Was a Little Weird

The Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2010, one of Asia’s largest fashion events, took place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center recently.

Running from the 6th to the 9th of July, this annual event is a meeting point for designers and manufacturers from all parts of Asia where they can show off their latest inventions and ideas.

The event itself was organized by Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center where buyers and sellers in the fashion industry can showcase upcoming trends in the industry.

All the fashion paraphernalia are categorized into sections according to various interest groups and thus, you get fashion zones like Intimate Wear, Brand Name section, Children’s Wear, Fabrics and Yarn, Fashion Gallery as well as numerous other zones.

A lot of the sections also host Fashion Shows to highlight their latest innovations. Here is a glimpse of the rather creative designs that were displayed at the show:

The Cthulhu waits dreaming and someone’s muse has tapped into this wave length. This Lovecraftesque design may not have been directly inspired by the Cthulhu phenomenon but it certainly comes close to epitomizing “The Thing That Should Not Be Named”.

Is it the in-demand apparel of a modern day Cult leader? Or is it in fact a tribute to Phantom of the Opera? Whatever the case, this loose fitting outfit with the never-ending sleeves is possibly best suited for Halloween.

It appears to be an earnest way to combine one’s two favorite pastimes – bird watching and kit flying. Hence, the kite-like jacket that wins over like-minded hobbyists and fake bird that attracts confused birds.

And, as the finishing touch, the designer has created a decorative mouth piece for presumably gagging purposes.

This is another unintentional tribute to a cult classic. The gooey round bits colored in blood red can only be a homage to The Blob. A more macabre interpretation would be a gory translation of a head-first birth.

With this creation, the traffic guards ushering in planes will not be underrepresented anymore. That would be the only logical explanation for an outfit that couples elbow paddles with a vest made of tassels.

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Naruto shippuden Episode 127 and 128

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Sperm Bank Hoax Was Fun While It Lasted

Any healthy, red-blooded male reader would have told you that the news, late last year, about the Shanghai Sperm Bank seemed almost too good to be true. And indeed, if the report was anything to go by, this was a medical facility with a real difference.

Apart from jabbing a pointy-ended tube into the crook of the elbow, there’s no way of actually coaxing blood out of a patient’s arm (at least if you’re trying to keep them alive).

Semen, of course, is a different story. Humankind has devoted millennia to researching the matter, and the techniques for encouraging the flow of this vital fluid have pretty much been perfected by now.

The photo that accompanied the sperm bank story depicted several attractive, squeaky clean, young females ably assisting patients with one such method. The uniformed gals went about their task with great diligence—which is just what you’d expect, considering how notoriously difficult the average man is to arouse.

By the way, the donors were fully suited up too, masks and all, presumably in the interest of hygiene. The article’s author completed the profile by providing the Shanghai Sperm Bank’s address, as well as helpful donor details: how often (4-5X/month), maximum allowed donations per visit (3), and pay rate (US$30/session).

Well, we hate to be the ones to break the shocking news, but the Shanghai Sperm Bank story has turned out to be a hoax! After receiving inquiries from interested—extremely interested, we’d guess—potential donors, an official at Renji Hospital, the facility’s actual home, scrambled to set the record straight.

“These pictures are completely misleading,” said Li Jin. “We never have female nurses assisting in sperm collection, which is done by the donor himself, alone in a special room.” The hospital claims to follow strict ethical guidelines, and reports that no complaints to the contrary have ever been received.

Next thing you know, they’ll be trying to tell us there’s no Santa Claus.

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Korean Women Spends 10 Million on Driving Tests

Cha Sa-Soon, an elderly South Korean woman, has inadvertently reaffirmed age-old jokes about female drivers by closing on a world record for most failed driver’s tests. The 68 year old pensioner from the Wanju county has failed the theory section 775 times.

Cha first tried out for the written exam in April 2005 and has faired miserably ever since.

Her scores always fell into the 30-50% range where the pass rate required a 60% score.

Since her first attempt, she has been showing up almost every weekday for the same exam for the past few years.

Applicants are charged 6,000 won for every attempt and the Driver’s License Agency in Cha’s district, where she has been setting this fail record, figures that the the sum total of all unsuccessful attempts probably add up to 4,000,000 won ($3,000).

They also state that additional expenses like transport costs probably raise this figure to 10,000,000 won ($6,800).


Ironically, hefty transport costs may have been the reason why Cha has not enrolled in a driving school to help her through her exams. As it happens, most of the driving schools were located in urban settings, far from Cha’s hometown.

Thus, she has opted to rely on guidebooks for the past few years.

However, Cha is undeterred by her failure and believes that practice makes perfect.

“I believe you can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it,” she says. “So don’t give up your dream, like me. Be strong and do your best.”

Her ultimate dream is to purchase a truck so as to build a business based on a door-to-door sales endeavor. The current mode of transport for her goods is a handcart.

If and when Cha succeeds, she will then venture into the practical aspect of getting a license – driving an actual vehicle!

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Anti-Snoring Device Snore Stopper Watch

No one likes being the one no one wants to sleep around, thanks to their obnoxiously loud snoring. Well for those that haven’t found a way to get their snoring to stop, here’s another miracle gadget to try. It claims to at least lessen your snoring, but does it in an odd way. It uses acupuncture to achieve this goal. Of course there’s no way to confirm whether or not this actually works without trying it, but at least the gadget isn’t too expensive.

The watch doesn’t actually tell the time, so it’s a little silly to call it a watch. However, it does have a sensitive micro-sound detector that will detect when you’re snoring. Once it does that it will send a very mild electronic signal. Apparently it’s even capable of distinguishing between snoring and just other noises in general. This device will make slow down the frequency of your snoring as well as make it so you don’t snore quite so loudly. You can purchase the gadget for $36 from Amazon.

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Able Planet Sound Clarity Wireless Headphones use Infrared Transmitter

There is really no reason why headphones or earbuds should have wires, especially in an age of Bluetooth. Able Planet’s Sound Clarity has that capability, only it goes the Infrared route.

In fact, the headphones come with an Infrared Transmitter that is small enough to fit on the desk, but not big enough to get in the way. Just think of it as a mouse the doesn’t need to move. This transmitter has to be plugged into an outlet to work, and it must be connected to your laptop, MP3 Player, or anything else that has a compatible headphone jack.

The headphones themselves have cushioned earpads for extra comfort, and run on 2 AAA batteries. It has a volume control and power switch. Once turned on, the wireless headphones recognized the Infrared transmitter signal right away.

So how do they sound? Terrific. I have included a YouTube video to show them in action, and you can click here for more info about the technical aspects of Able Planet’s Linx Audio.

In short, Able Planet’s Sound Clarity Infrared Wireless Headphones capture the great sound of the Clear Harmony Noise Canceling Headphones, but without the burden of wires. This CES Innovations award-winning headphones are available now on the Able Planet website for $129.99.

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Brando’s Twelve sided IQ Pentagon puzzle for those with an eternity to spare

I have this recurring nightmare where I am at the pearly gates, but I am not allowed in unless I do one last task. Then St. Peter hands me a mixed up Rubik’s cube.

Oh Rubik’s cube, the bane of my existence. I was in fourth grade when this flash-in-the-pan fad peaked, and I was only able to solve one side, really. I had absolutely no idea what to do after that.

Now, just imagine my aforementioned nightmare if I was handed this twelve sided IQ Pentagon puzzle from Brando. Personally, I think I would be lucky if I could complete one side, even luckier if the borders of the sides were non-mixed up colors. Some of you might not know what I am talking about, but I’m told that solving one side with sides of non-mismatched colors was the first step of solving a Rubik’s cube.

I’m sure Will Smith’s character in The Pursuit of Happyness figured that one out when he solved a Rubik’s cube that got him an internship. By the way, that incident never happened to the real Chris Gardner, the man whose life story the film was based on. I’m not at all surprised. It’s one of those “based on a true story” scenes that you know is completely ficticious as soon as you watch it. Apparently, Will Smith has a thing for Rubik’s Cubes, and the film’s time period does match. At least it made the movie a little more dramatic.

Maybe Will can give this twelve sided IQ Pentagon puzzle a try. It will only cost $49.90 on the Brando site. If Will wants a real challenge, go for the Petaminx Dodecahedral

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Human Bones Add “Spirit” to Taiwanese Swords

Kuo Chang-hsi’s earliest attempts at swordmaking where met with failure, and he’s not afraid to tell you why: He forgot to “throw a man into the furnace.”

While Kuo doesn’t mean that in a precisely literal sense, it’s not a mere figure of speech, either. As Taiwan’s last known practitioner of the traditional art of Chinese swordmaking, he employs the ancient technique of adding human bones to the fire in which he forges his swords.

Kuo approaches the method from both a scientific and a supernatural point of view. On the one hand, the burning bones add phosphorus to the 2,300ºF kiln fire, resulting in a better grade of steel. At the same time, he says, adding human remains imbues the sword with spirit. It’s the combination of the two that makes for a superior weapon.

Where does he get his bones? Kuo says they often come from collectors who are relocating tombs. More interestingly, they are sometimes donated by people who wish to commission a sword to commemorate a deceased relative. As tributes go, that’s a little more macho than the usual wreath of flowers!

Besides being a maker of swords, Kuo is also a connoisseur of them. His own collection is so large that he created a museum to hold it. Displayed alongside the many antique weapons is the yard-long “Green Destiny” sword that Kuo custom-made for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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New Gangster Exams for Japanese Yakuza

Spotted within the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate, this Q&A session involved a 12 question paper that tested faction members’ knowledge of gangster lore.

Japanese gangsters are facing an obstacle that can’t be beaten with a nunchaku – a pen and paper exam.
One such question asked for a comprehensive list of taboo activities. The correct answer, as specified on the sample paper, included con jobs involving phones, stealing costly motor vehicles and disposal of industrial waste.

Furthermore, the paper stressed that all gang-related activities had to be approved by the big bosses.

This exam paraphernalia was uncovered by police when they were investigating a crime-related instance involving the Yamaguchi-gumi gang in Shiga Prefecture .

This particular group has a strong presence in Japan with its 40 000 members and thus, has adopted this unconventional method in order to save money. Recent changes to the anti-organized crime law ensured that crime bosses could be fined over the illegal actions of their respective minions.

Such minion actions could be anything from a shoot-out in a street to a bloody bar fight.

In addition to legal moves, civil action by concerned citizens against crime syndicates were becoming increasingly common and have might have contributed to the creation of this exam paper.

One such example was the efforts of Akasaka residents where they won a court appeal to exclude the Inagawa-kai gang from their neighborhood.

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Private Firms Preparing for Moon Flights

Sept. 21, 2009 - Lured by millions of dollars in prize money, teams of private firms aren't waiting for NASA to figure out if, when and how to get back to the moon. They're preparing to go themselves.

The first $1 million prize for demonstrating a lunar landing system is due to be awarded at the end of October. The front-runner is Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace, which this month made back-to-back flights of a vehicle named Scorpius.

Two other contenders plan to enter the NASA-backed competition before this year's cutoff on Oct. 31.

Contestants for the top prize are judged by how long their vehicles fly and how accurately they land on pads 60 meters apart, one of which is built on rock-strewn, pitted terrain intended to resemble the lunar surface.

Armadillo won an initial $350,000 prize for a demonstration flight last year, leaving $1.65 million for the competition's main leg and runners-up.

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, with prizes totaling $2 million, is just the opening salvo to a second, richer competition to actually land on the moon.

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Paralyzed Rats Regain Their Footing

Sept. 21, 2009 - Paralyzed rats whose spinal cords had been severed from their brains were made to run again using a technique that scientists say can work for people, according to a study released Sunday.

Consistent electrical stimulation and drugs enabled the rats to walk on their hind legs on a treadmill - bearing the full weight of the body - within a week of being paralyzed.

With the addition of physical therapy, the rodents were able after several weeks to walk and run without stumbling for up to 30 minutes, reported the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Remarkably, the animals could adjust their movements in response to stimuli despite the lack of signals to and from the brain: when the treadmill was reversed, for example, the rats walked backwards.

"This means that the spinal network is almost capable of cognitive processing," explained Gregoire Courtine, a professor at Zurich University.

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Epson MovieMate 60 home theater projector

Epson isn’t done with their new projector releases just yet, having rolled out the Epson MovieMate 60 home theater projector which is touted to be the lightest, brightest and most versatile offering that fall under Epson’s innovative line of “all-in-one” home theater projectors. It will merge the functions of a wide range of devices, including a high-quality, high-brightness projector, a CD/DVD player (no Blu-ray here, but at least it will help keep the final cost down), a microphone input for those crazy big-screen karaoke sessions and stereo speakers in a single, portable unit. Talk about having an affordable, easy-to-use and versatile solution for home entertainment that can be used in just about any room, and even carried with you and your family on your vacations.

Some of the features found on the Epson MovieMate 60 include the following :-

* Sleek, compact design
* Built-in handle and cushioned carrying case
* Projecting a 16:9 widescreen 60-inch image from only six feet away or a 120-inch image from just 12 feet away
* Built-in progressive scan standard definition 540p resolution DVD/CD player
* Great sound quality using two built-in ten watt 5.1 Dolby Digital DTS speakers
* Integrated microphone jack to allow for voice amplification – great for narrating a slide show, karaoke and more
* Compatible with Apple iPod, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360
* New, brighter, energy-efficient E-TORL lamp with 2,000 lumens white and color light output to maximize brightness and uniformity so viewers can enjoy the projector even in well-lit rooms
* No additional cables needed for easy set-up and portable flexibility

If you’re interested in bringing home the Epson MovieMate 60 with you for your family to enjoy a big screen experience from this year onwards without breaking the bank, you’ll be pleased to know that the device will be available from next month onwards via a variety of channels including national resellers, where it is going for an estimated street price of $699.

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Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD

Epson has released its latest PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD projector that will further enhance Epson’s portfolio, adding yet another member to its award winning line of 3LCD home theater projectors. The PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD is full well able to provide families as well as first time home theater enthusiasts with a a versatile, high-quality 720p high-definition solution that caters for a wide range of options, regardless of whether you’re going to use it to get your daily dose of movies or enjoy hours after hours of games on your PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Alternatively, others might just prefer to use it for broadcast TV and sports, where a projected screen is able to accommodate many more people’s eyes comfortably compared to a 50″ LCD TV.

Meant to make home entertainment simple and enjoyable, the PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD will ship with an array of consumer-friendly features and performance benefits that makes the big screen experience extremely enjoyable at home. You get 2,500 lumens of color and white light output that is more than enough for movie viewing or game playing under a variety of environments, even during the daytime without suffering from any quality loss. Apart from that, you will also be able to enjoy a quartet of pre-set color modes that have been optimized for video, HDMI connectivity and a USB 2.0 connection that makes it a snap to share photos and slideshows. Inside the PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD, you will find Epson’s three-chip 3LCD technology and an exclusive energy efficient E-TORL lamp, helping it deliver bright, movie theater-like images and video with amazing detail without the possibility of color break-up or “rainbow effect.”

One can expect the Epson Home Cinema 705HD to arrive in the markets sometime later this October via online A/V specialty retailers, select retailers nationwide and the Epson online store for approximately $749.99. Each purchase will come with a two-year limited warranty with toll-free access to PrivateLine, Epson’s priority technical support, as well as a free two-business day exchange with ExtraCare Home Service.

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iTwin allows for easy file-sharing

What you see in the picture here is the iTwin. It isn’t a thumb drive with two USB connections, but a way of transferring your files from one computer to another.

Sure, you could just set up a mainframe network, send a file as an attachment, or just put the file you want on a thumb drive and plug it into another computer. Yes, there are a lot of ways to do file transfers from one computer to the other, but iTwin makes the process a lot easier.

Here’s what you do. The iTwin comes apart into two equal parts. You stick one USB thumb into one part, then the other thumb into another computer. From there, you can drag and drop files from one computer, and it will automatically appear on the other computer.

Yes, the iTwins are connected wirelessly via the Internet, just like the bond between two twins. At least the ones that are psychic.

The creators of the iTwin hope to have this out on the market sometime early next year for a price of $99. You might think that is a lot to spend for this file-sharing device, but you should ask yourself how much you would spend to make you

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Locust Wings Designed for Marathons

A new study may inspire aeronautical engineers to be more flexible with their designs. That's because the bends and twists in locusts' flexible, flapping wings power the insects' extraordinary long-distance flights, a Sept. 18 Science paper reveals.

Even though researchers have been studying how insects and other creatures fly for a long time, "we still don't completely understand the aerodynamics and architectures of wings," comments Tom Daniel of the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the new study. The new work, Daniel says, uncovers the flight signatures of flapping, flexible wings.

The research focuses on the flight of the pestilent locust, an insect renowned for its efficient flying style. If dragonflies are like fighter jets, then locusts are like continent-spanning 747s, says Adrian Thomas of the University of Oxford, coauthor of the new study. What locusts lack in agility, they make up for in distance: the four-winged insects are built to fly hundreds of miles at a time.

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Glove Lets You Write in Thin Air

A fingerless bike glove equipped with electrical sensors lets you write on thin air, according to new research.

The modified glove could not only allow for discreet, one-handed text messaging but also create an early warning system for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's.

"Handwriting consists of memory, knowledge, cognition and dexterity, and all these processes are simultaneously at work," said Michael Linderman, a neuroscientist and a co-author of the article published in the journal Public Library of Science One (PLoS).

"This process is very sensitive to the general state of the nervous system," and could help to identify potential neurodegenerative diseases earlier than existing techniques.

The researchers started with a fingerless bike glove and 17 electrically sensitive patches.

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Just for Laughs-Monkeys Laughing At Humans

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Accidental Shooting Prank

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Sharks Swarmed on Ancient Sea Monster

Sept. 17, 2009 - Remains of a shark-bitten, 85-million-year-old plesiosaur reveal that around seven sharks likely consumed the enormous dinosaur-era marine reptile in a feeding frenzy, leaving some of their shark teeth stuck in the plesiosaur's bones, according to a new study.

The findings, which will be presented at next week's 69th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, are the first direct evidence of the diet and feeding behavior of Cretalamna appendiculata, a now-extinct early relative of today's great white sharks.

The study, which has also been accepted for publication in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, further represents what lead author Kenshu Shimada describes as "arguably the most spectacular case of shark feeding on a vertebrate carcass reported to date."

Shimada is an associate professor at Chicago's DePaul University and research associate in paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. He and colleagues Takanobu Tsuihiji, Tamaki Sato and Yoshikazu Hasegawa analyzed the shark-decimated plesiosaur, Futabasaurus suzukii, which was unearthed in central Japan and then housed at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

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Toshiba unveils new 2.5″ 500GB hard drive

Toshiba is back with a new range of high-performance 7,200 RPM 2.5″ hard drives, where among them will include a 500GB capacity model that ought to be suitable for those who want performance and a spacious storage solution rolled into a single device. There will be four models that are in the limelight today, where they will deliver more than a 13% performance improvement in disk operations in comparison to Toshiba’s previous 7,200 RPM family. Despite an increase in performance, they will also reduce their environmental impact by eliminating the use of selected toxic and hazardous chemicals during the manufacturing process. Apart from that, the series has been stringently tested by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) and gained a SATA-certified 3Gb/s logo in the process for added peace of mind.

What you see in the image here is the high-performance MKxx56GSYseries that will boast a maximum capacity of 500GB, which is suitable for both commercial and consumer notebooks, PCs, gaming notebooks and all-in-one desktop PCs. The MKxx56GSY models will also offer increased responsiveness of the overall system in various areas including application loading and general data processing. Toshiba has not forgotten to improve the user experience by offering extended battery life with lower power consumption in standby and sleep modes as well as faster start-up operation.

Currently, Toshiba’s new 7,200 RPM 2.5″ hard drive models will begin to ship to various PC manufacturers in limited quantities this quarter, where they will go full steam ahead with production in the fourth quarter later this year. There is no word on pricing, but we’re pretty sure they ought to arrive in a variety of notebooks and netbooks sometime early next year, and we hope that the 160GB hard drive found in most netbooks will be replaced by something larger – 500GB perhaps?

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Excalibur Electronic Travel Cup keeps coffee hot

There’s nothing quite as disappointing as taking a nice big drink of coffee only to discover you’ve waited just a little too long. Then instead of getting hot or even warm coffee, you get a taste of cold coffee. Which, when the coffee is meant to be hot, is always gross. Well instead of trying to guzzle down your coffee or tea faster in order to make sure it stays hot the whole way through, you could pick up this travel mug. It’s insulated like every other travel mug out there, plus it has a built-in heater.

All around it really is the perfect gadget to pick up as weather starts to cool off. You can plug the cup into your car while you’re headed off to work. Then once you’re at work, next to your computer, you can change it up and plug it into your USB port. Of course in order to make the same cup last that long, you’d definitely have to be a slow drinker. The cup itself has a rubberized handle and a spill-proof lid. You can purchase the cup for $21.45 from The Tech Geek.

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Naruto Shippuden 126 English Sub Part 1 and 2

Part 1

Click Pat 2
Part 2

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Late Ice Age remains found in cave

An archaeologist has revealed that skeletal remains from late Ice Age animals, including hyenas, deer and woolly rhinos, have been found in a cave.

The UK's first complete 'sagaie' - a spearpoint made of reindeer antler from the late Ice Age dating back 15,000 years - was also discovered during the two-week excavation at Kent's Cavern in Torquay, Devon.

The dig is part of a study into when and why Neanderthals became extinct. It was co-directed by Dr Paul Pettitt, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Sheffield, and Dr Mark White from the department of archaeology at the University of Durham.

Some of the items from the privately-funded dig at the site, which is also an award-winning tourist attraction, are sent for radiocarbon dating to accurately check their age.

The hyena's teeth and bones could be older than 25,000 years, Dr Pettitt said.

The team hopes to find out when homeo sapiens arrived in the UK and whether it is connected to the death of Neanderthal man, along with more information on later Ice Age life in the cave.

Dr Pettitt and Dr White got Government permission for the dig because Kent's Cavern is a scheduled ancient monument and the oldest recognisable human dwelling in Britain.

Copyright © Press Association 2009

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Intersex Fish Numbers Swell in U.S. Rivers

Sept. 15, 2009 -- Male fish with female body parts have been showing up in our nation's rivers for a while now, but a new study found a surprising number of mixed-up fish.

From the Mississippi to the Rio Grande, from the Appalachia to the Colorado, researchers found large numbers of river fish with egg cells in their testes, particularly in two species: smallmouth and largemouth bass.

At some sites, more than 70 percent of males from these species were intersex, a condition that has been linked to lowered sperm production, trouble reproducing and other negative health consequences.

Scientists don't yet know what's causing the problem or whether intersex conditions are becoming more common in these bass. For now, the study is simply the first one to take a broad geographic look at how common intersex fish are in the United States.

"The occurrence was more widespread than we anticipated," said Jo Ellen Hinck, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Columbia, Mo. "When you have the majority of fish at a site showing up intersex, that's worrisome. We think that's enough reason to try to find out what's the cause of this and if it has implications for ecosystem health."

Hinck's study began in 1995 as an attempt to monitor fish health in response to "legacy" chemicals -- such as DDT, PCB's, pesticides and mercury. These contaminants get into rivers, where they linger long after they've been banned.

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