Saturday, October 31, 2009

20 Amazing Pumpkin Carvings

Collection of unusual and creative pumpkin carvings just in time for Halloween.

Homer Pumpkin
3D Pumpkin Carvings by Scott Cummins


Space Invaders Pumpkin
Iron Man Pumpkin
Terminator Pumpkin
Transformers
Ratatouille and Indiana Jones
Joker Pumpkin
Cannibal Pumpkin
New Moon and Yoda
Dwight Pumpkin
Super Mario Pumpkin
Darth Vader Pumpkin
Eve and Wall-E

Friday, October 30, 2009

Amazing and Strange giant rubber band ball record

Record breaker Joel Waul will find his driveway looks rather empty this morning.

For the giant rubber band ball he spent six years creating is no longer there.
The 28-year-old waved off his 6ft 7in masterpiece yesterday as a crane hauled its 9,032lb bulk from his home in Lauderhill, Florida, to a museum, having sold it for an undisclosed sum.

Mr Waul's creation was declared the world's largest rubber band ball by the Guinness Book of World Records last year.
He got the idea six years ago when he saw a television programme that showed the then-largest rubber band ball being dropped into the desert from an airplane.

'I just thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen,' he said.

The ball has been bought by the Orlando-based Ripley's Believe It of Not museums.

Edward Meyer, vice president of Ripley's said: 'We already have the largest string and barbed-wire balls. This is now my holy trinity, I guess.'
The former record holder was Steven Milton of Eugene, Oregon, who created a 4,600lb ball using over 175,000 rubber bands. It was recorded as the world's largest in November 2006 in Chicago.

Milton broke the previous record set by John Bain in 1999, whose ball weighed 3,120lb.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The world's smallest working train set... it's the size of a fingernail.

Measuring a tiny eighth of an inch by quarter of an inch, this carefully crafted piece of engineering is the world's smallest working train model.

The five-carriage train, which is 35,200 times smaller than a real train, nips around an oval route even taking in a ride through a tunnel on its three-quarter inch track.

Created by New Jersey train enthusiast David Smith, the miniscule model was built using nothing more fancy than a craft knife and a steady hand.


Part of 55-year-old David's larger model train set at his home in Tom's River, the tiny locomotive was completed two months ago.

'This model train set is going to be part of the larger train set I have at home,' says David.

'I am creating a fictitious village called James River Branch and this model train is going to be placed inside the model shop I am building as part of the re-creation.

'It is going to be a model train village inside a model, so it is very post-modern.'

Powered by a standard two-inch-long rotating motor head and carved out of moldable plastic, the model train cost David just over £6 to make.

'The motor can be bought from K-Mart or any hobby store in America,' says David.

'There is a slight optical illusion with this train model though.

'There are no tracks and the train and carriages are carved out of plastic stuck atop the motor.

'This gives the impression of a train following the oval track.

'But, still, it is impressively small.'

With James River Branch still under construction, David has yet to install the tiny model train inside the model shop in his model village.

'To get a sense of scale you have to remember that the River Branch project is being built to the scale of 1-220,' says David.

'It has taken up two-and-a half-years of my life and is going to be very impressive once it is finished.'


Friday, October 23, 2009

Starfish with record eight legs is found off British coast.

A starfish thought to be the first in the world with eight legs has been found off the British coast, it emerged today.

The bizarre creature, which has three more limbs than normal, was discovered inside a Cornish fisherman’s crab pot.

Sea life experts at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay – where it is on display – believe it may be two spiny starfishes in the form of conjoined twins.

Curator Matt Slater explained: ‘Starfish have the ability to re-grow lost limbs and the general consensus is that starfish with extra legs are caused by some kind of accidental genetic mutation.

‘However with this particular starfish it has three extra legs and it also has two special openings - known as madreporites - through which water is pumped into their fluid filled skeleton.

‘An individual starfish would normally only have one of these.

‘As a result we believe this starfish may have a rare doubling of its genetic material,’ he added.

The 10in-wide creature, which is around an inch bigger than average, has left experts across Britain stunned.

Douglas Herdson, a marine biologist, said: ‘I’ve never seen a spiny with eight legs. It should have five. I have seen them with one, four, or six, as well as five.

‘I think it’s probably conjoined twins. It is quite feasible that it is a conjoined twin due to the first fertilised egg not completely separating. I have never heard of one before.’

The starfish, which has been put in a the Octopus tank so is with fellow eight-legged creatures, was found by Newquay-based crabber Gary Eglington in a pot off St Agnes.

The creature appears to be in excellent health and the fact that he was found inside the vessel would also suggest that he has no problem finding food.

The spiny starfish gets its name from the lines of bulbous spines that run along each of its arms.

At the end of each of these arms are photosensitive cells that can detect movement.

It is one of the most voracious members of the starfish family and feeds on a variety of both living and dead food including fish, shellfish, molluscs and other starfish.

It lives on rocky bottoms from surface to depths up to 600ft and is found in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Often blamed for attacks on mussel and oyster farms, fishermen would historically cut them up and throw them back into the sea, not realising this would actually result in more starfish as a single leg and part of the starfish’s central disc can replicate into a new animal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1222404/Starfish-record-eights-legs-British-coast.html#ixzz0Ug7HJxcS

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Cool and Strange Chess for three players


Particular attention should also be applied to the center of the board,
where knights tend to get tangled in a rather intricate web.
The most difficult concept to get accustomed to, is the introduction
of another player, thus, the ‘extra’ move by the third player.

The moves in the center of the board may tend to be confusing also,so, we’ll discuss some of the possibilities of plays at the board’s center.Because the board for three players is made up of three halves,angled appropriately, the Queen and bishop have the ability totraverse the board across the center on the diagonal. The Queen may not,however, travel straight across from black to white in a diagonal move through the center.




Saturday, October 17, 2009

Fisherman reels in monster 6ft perch... after battling with a CROCODILE

It's not often that you'd describe the angler, rather than the fish, as the one that got away.

But that was certainly the case for Tim Smith, who lived to tell the tale after tussling with a crocodile over this monster 6ft Nile perch.

The art teacher, 39, had already been engaged in a titanic battle to reel in the 249lb fish for 45 minutes in his tiny motor boat on the Victoria Nile in Uganda when he realised he had a fiercer rival.
Fortunately, however, it was the 39-year-old art teacher who turned out to be the one that got away, managing to tether his catch to the boat before firing the motor into life, leaving his opponent empty-mouthed in his wake.

And he was able to pose by his giant prize - which may be a record - for this spectacular photograph.

Back from his Ugandan trip and home to mercifully crocodile-free Northern Ireland, he told yesterday of his transformation from being the hunter to the hunted.

He had been grappling with the fish while in a small boat on the Victoria Nile in Uganda, about a mile downstream from the stunning Murchison Falls, for about 45 minutes when he realised he had competition.

'Suddenly the boat lurched and I nearly fell out,' he said. 'I didn't really know what had happened.

'The next thing is, the crocodile launches itself at me, mouth wide open.'
Fortunately it had misjudged its jump and fell short, hitting the side of the boat.

'If it had launched itself another foot I'm sure it would have got hold of me,' he added.

'It obviously hit the front of the boat to try and knock me out and then went to the other side.

'When you realise something that size is trying to eat you, it's really quite daunting. I just fell back into the centre of the boat, still holding the rod.'

By then the fish had almost given up the fight, lying flat on the water close to the boat, giving the reptile its final chance.

'I just saw the crocodile swim up and grab the fish's tail and spin it around in a death roll, but because of the size of the fish it couldn't get a proper grip,' said Mr Smith.

That enabled him to grab his catch, tie it to the side of the boat, pull up the anchor and make his getaway - and just in time.

'By the time I got the engine started the crocodile was just coming around,' he said. 'I slammed into gear and the croc dived and disappeared.'

Mr Smith, who works at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, then drifted down the river, tied the fish to a tree and went to a nearby wildlife safari lodge to get help.

He is now applying to the International Game Fish Association to have his Nile perch established as a record - until now, the heaviest caught on a rod and line weighed just 230lb.

Nile perch - which themselves have a voracious appetite - were controversially introduced to Lake Victoria and surrounding rivers in the 1950s, quickly decimating native species.

They have, however, provided a useful source of income for local people, both through commercial fishing for export to Europe and also international angling tourism.

Amazing Moment a baby fell in front of a train and lived

Passengers watched in horror as a pushchair carrying a baby rolled off the edge of a platform in front of a train.

The pram and the six-month-old infant were dragged along under the engine as the driver desperately fought to slow his 250-ton train.

No one on the platform believed the child could possibly have survived.
But when ambulance officers arrived a few minutes later they were astounded to find that, not only had he escaped with just a minor bump on his head - but he was safely back in his mother's arms.

Rescue workers found the child amid the wreckage of the smashed pushchair under one of the carriages. There was a gap between the bottom of the carriage and the lines of just a few inches, but it was those inches that made the difference between life and death.

The drama, at a suburban railway station in Melbourne, was captured on video footage obtained by the city's Herald Sun newspaper.

The mother, pictured, momentarily distracted as she hitches up her jeans several feet from the edge of the platform, suddenly realises the pushchair is rolling away from her.
The carriage rolls to the edge of the platform - and, as the mother realises what is happening and darts toward it, topples onto the tracks - directly into the path of the oncoming train
Despair: The mother, at the edge of the track, frantically reaches as the train roars into the station - but she cannot reach her baby in time
She instinctively lunges towards it, but she is still two or three feet away as it tumbles over the edge.

In a split second, the train comes into the station at 30mph and ploughs into the pram.

The mother's frantic body language, with her hands to her head, leaves no doubt that she believes her baby has been killed before her eyes.
Last night police and railway officials were describing the baby's survival as 'a miracle'.

They believe that the pushchair acted as a protective shield.

Another factor was the swift reaction of the train's driver who slammed on the brakes when he saw the pram rolling across the platform.

He could not stop the train immediately but slowed it enough to lessen the impact.

Jon Wright, an intensive care paramedic, said: 'All the baby needed afterwards, apparently, was a feed and a nap.'

Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Independence Day-shaped cloud hovering in the skies over Moscow

In what could have been a scene from the film Independence Day, a luminous ring-shaped cloud could be seen hovering over the city of Moscow last week.

The pale gold 'halo' could be seen above the Russian capital city's Western District on Wednesday, and was captured on film by stunned Muscovites.

Meteorologists rejected any theories of the supernatural however, calling it an optical effect.

A spokesman from the city's weather forecast said: 'Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west – this is how the effect was produced.'

He added: 'This is purely an optical effect, although it does look impressive.
'If you look closer, you can see sun rays coming through that cloud. Most likely, the sun was setting when the video was being made.

'If you observe clouds regularly, you may see many other astonishing things. Clouds of the same class may look absolutely different in different areas.'

Some environmentalists blamed pollution for the cloud, but weather forecasters were quick to reject the idea: 'The phenomenon has nothing to do with industrial emissions,' said one. 'They could not produce such an effect against the background of the current weather conditions.

'If something happens, there is the smog effect, but it appears only when the weather is quiet for a long time. The wind in Moscow has been quite strong recently.'

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

World's Bizarre and Hairiest Man in China

Yu Zhenhuan from China is the world's hairiest man with hair covering 96 percent of his body. Yu was diagnosed with a rare condition that causes hair to grow in places it normally shouldn't. He was born in a farmer family and when he was only 2 years old his parents noticed he had hair coming out of his auditory canals. His situation worsened as he grew up and now almost his entire body is covered with long thick hair.

But Yu might have the chance of living a normal life, he is now undertaking a laser treatment to have his hair removed. Basically, every hair on his body will have to be zapped with laser. That can’t be pleasant, but for Yu Zenhuan it's nowhere as painful as looking in the mirror.

Couple of days ago his girlfriend posted some new photos on a Chinese forum.
Here they are.

























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