Hayden Panettiere: The Video Behind the Sexy Shoot - Things are getting better and better

Enlarge pictureI'm telling you: it's a conspiracy and it's all happening fast. Hayden Panettiere is taking over the world and the people at GQ magazine sure are doing their best to help her. The fact is, the petite Heroes star has become increasingly popular over the past months and is slowly going the Rihanna route, cautiously crossing the line between being a cute teenager and turning into a hot chick that can afford to pose in a bikini inside a magazine such as...hmm, let's see...GQ. Wait – I guess she already did that – and the public response was not half bad. Actually, half bad is a euphemism for actually saying that most of us loved it and immediately started fantasizing about Hayden baring more than her enviable bikini body.

And now, just to tease those boys and girls who loved Hayden's GQ spread, we have a short video with some hot behind the scenes footage of the GQ photo shoot, complete with candid images of the Heroes hottie getting ready for her bikini and nightwear shots. Hayden, it turns out, is not exactly the world's shyest person – on the contrary, she's outspoken and a lot smarter than I initially gave her credit. Which makes for more good news and one cliché less. You know, the whole "dumb blonde" thing that's become pretty much written in stone ever since some annoying god out there created Paris Hilton.

In the interview accompanying the spread, Hayden has stated that she definitely has no intention of turning into Britney Spears and that she's no stranger to Porches and alcohol. Also, she confirmed that she's currently not dating anyone and that the craziest rumor she has heard about herself was to learn that some of us see her as being a lesbian. "Now that I’m single, it’s like I’m dating every male I’m standing next to—and possibly every female. Actually, that’s probably the least of my concerns. That would be a pretty funny one" she admitted. She also said that if she were to choose a man to be portrayed with, she would go for "anyone from Leo DiCaprio to Justin Timberlake—or any girl".

"You want to make me a lesbian? That’s totally fine with me. Um, let’s see. We could do a love affair with Angelina. We could do… Oh gosh, I love—there are so many beautiful girls. Charlize Theron. Oh, my God. Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous. Jessica Alba" she also added. Well, things are just getting better and better. All I can say is, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an FHM or playboy spread in a few years' time. Kidding. But you must admit, it would be totally hot. OK, I didn't just say that...

ipod classis v/s ipod nano v/s ipod touch which one?

So Apple has been pretty busy it seems.

At the “beat goes on” special event they unveiled 3 new iPods, as everybody who doesn’t live under a rock predicted.

Here’s a rundown:


iPod Nano

The new units will include 2-inch, QVGA, 320 x 240 screens that are 65-percent brighter than previous models and have the highest pixel density the company has ever shipped (204 pixels per inch). In addition to the new screens, the extra-wide player will sport an enhanced UI and its own version of Cover Flow. The Nano will come bundled with three games, including a circular-Arkanoid rip-off called Vortex, and apparently you’ll be able to purchase more from the iTunes store. The player’s battery life has also been extended to 24 hours of playback for audio, and 5 hours for video.

The 4GB model will be selling for $149, though it’s only available in silver, while the rainbow-colored 8GB will leave you $199 lighter in the wallet.

iPod Classic

Like the brand new Nano, the flagship iPod is also sporting an all-new interface with Cover Flow. The iPod comes in 80GB and 160GB capacities, with 30 hours of battery for audio playback, 6 hours of video on the 80GB version, and 40 hours audio, 7 hours video for the 160GB device.

The iPod Classic is getting a new all-metal shell, and is selling at $249 for the 80gb, $349 for 160.

iPod Touch

The new iPod Touch has “the same size screen as the iPhone, but it’s even thinner” and it also touts the “same multi-touch interface” found on the firm’s handset. Additionally, it boasts a 3.5-inch widescreen display, the ability to “flick through your photos,” and you even get the “slide to unlock” feature, too. And yes, this thing actually has WiFi, which means web-surfing. As for battery life, the Touch will last 22-hours when playing back audio and 5 hours when watching video.

The iPod touch will be arriving in 8GB and 16GB flavors and will be priced at $299 and $399, respectively.

Top 10 Sex Records

1) The most ejaculatory orgasms ever recorded in 1 hour for a man is 16.

2) The farthest a woman has been recorded to ejaculate is about 9′29″ (3 m).

3) The greatest distance attained for a jet of semen that has ever been recorded is 18′9″ (5.71 m) which was achieved with a “substantial” amount of seminal fluid by Horst Schultz.

4) The average speed of a man’s ejaculation is 28 miles (45.05 km) per hour. The average speed of a city bus is 25 miles (40.22 km) per hour.

5) Having swallowed the most amount of semen ever officially recorded Michelle Monaghan had 1.7 pints (0.96 liter) of semen pumped out of her stomach in Los Angeles in July 1991.

6) The female gangbang world record is owned by a woman named Houston who had intercourse with 620 men in one day! A video was made of this historic event. As it took about 10 hours (with a few very brief breaks) to do it, the average time of intercourse was less than 58 seconds.

7) Women hold the record for having the most orgasms. The biggest amount of orgasms enjoyed by a woman in 1 hour ever recorded is a pussy shattering 134!

8) The male gangbang world record goes to porn actor Jon Dough who worked himself over 55 women in one day. He had 5 to 6 ejaculations. Actually, he was supposed to have had intercourse with at least 101 women, but he did the other 46 two weeks later.

9) The record of the man who has had intercourse the most frequently goes to a man who was recorded to have had intercourse about 52,000 times over a period of 30 years. This means he had intercourse on average 33.3 times a week!

10) Youngest Father - Sean Stewart, of Sharnbrook, England, became the father of a healthy 6 lb. baby boy on January 20, 1998, at age 12

source:http://diary.bluemango.in/?p=85

Ipod Touch: First Impressions

So yeah. New ipod touch. All hail Apple.

A little over 24 hours have passed since I bought this thing yesterday, so I think I have a sufficient amount of experience with it to put together some first-impression-type feedback.

To say that the ipod touch is a thing of beauty is largely stating the obvious, but I figure I’m allowed one small gush: this thing is marvelously engineered. Its face is bevelled black glass and a single Home button, while the back is the traditional stainless steel surface shared by other full-sized ipods. The software is mostly identical to the iPhone, except for the fact that the iPod has much fewer applications (Safari, YouTube, Photos and the standard PIM apps are all you get), and of course it has no telephony functions. The multi-touch interface is a real wonder too — after you’ve gotten used to the idea that everything on the screen will respond to your finger tips, it becomes second-nature.

Installation was, as always, crazy simple: Without bothering to read any documentation, I pulled the iPod out of its padded box (all black in there, as well) pressed the Home button and was promptly informed that I needed to connect it to iTunes. I popped its USB cable in, registered the device and started setting up the various sync processes.

The main thing that you have to keep in mind with the touches is that they’ve got fairly tiny storage: just 8gb and 16gb available. This immediately ruled out syncing my whole collection across, as I have about 75gb of music stored in 3 separate devices. So setting up proper synchronization rules was going to be key: after a bit of thought I decided that I’d create a smart-playlist. (A smart-playlist is a dynamic playlist that responds to criteria set by the user. In my case, I wanted a playlist that contained only the songs that I had added within the last 90 days, any songs that were rated 4 or 5 stars, and any podcasts that hadn’t been listened to yet.) Once the list was setup, it was just a matter of pointing the iPod at it so that it would automatically sync whatever happened to be in the playlist at a given moment.


The other consideration was how to handle videos. I watch a lot of TV shows, but they’re usually in formats that the iPod can’t handle (XviD isn’t a particularly mainstream codec), so if I wanted to watch anything on the touch, I’d have to convert the videos before copying them over. Unfortunately, this was not as easy as I thought — the main challenge being the fact that converting movies take time, and I couldn’t figure out how to properly automate the process. (My definition of automation: any video files in my "TV Shows" folder is converted to MP4, added to my iTunes library and then deleted from the folder. I found an Automator script that looked like it might solve the problem, but I honestly didn’t have time to test it out.)

The video converter I’m currently using is iSquint, a freeware app that takes about 9-10 minutes to convert an XviD-encoded 45-minute episode to an iPod-ready MP4. (For now, I’m manually doing the conversion; my only other option would be getting all my shows from Podtropolis or ipodnova, which isn’t all that appealing.)

Actually watching the video on the ipod proved to be a real joy: the screen isn’t the best I’ve seen, but the frame-rate is flawless and the player is very responsive when you’re seeking. Like iTunes itself, the touch remembers where you left off for each video in its library, so you can pause-and-resume your viewing at will. If you’ve ever watched a video on Quicktime or from within iTunes, there’ll be zero-learning curve here, as the controls are nearly identical.

Of course, this being a review of a portable music device, I should probably mention that the audio quality is pretty good as well. The included headphones are an updated version of the slightly chunkier white-boxed Sennheisers that came with my 4th-gen model, but the quality seems about the same. Generally speaking, the sonic fidelity you experience is largely dependent on the kind of headphones you’re using, and the included earbuds are average at best. If you’re a mobile audiophile, replacing these with a decent pair of in-ear phones would be your first priority. (I’ve been using a pair of Shure E2C’s for the past 3 years and it looks like I might finally have an excuse to look for a replacement.)

Coverflow works great, and the interface for browsing through your collection of "CDs" is just friggin’ brilliant. I did run into a small annoyance here though: Coverflow on the touch (and I assume, in any of the new iPods) can’t make guesses about album-art in the same way that iTunes on the desktop can. For example: I have 10 tracks from Radiohead’s Kid A album, and only one track has the cover-art embedded in it. Desktop iTunes would know that these 10 tracks belong to the same album and displays the correct cover-art even when you’re playing a track that doesn’t have it. iPod Coverflow doesn’t seem to be capable of this logical leap, and so you end up with a ton of tracks with no album art, which can be especially annoying when you’re listening in Shuffle mode. (If you’re wondering why I’m making such a big deal about the album-art … well, let’s just say that being able to flip through album covers with my fingertips was one of the main reasons why I wanted this thing so badly.)

The other thing I didn’t really like was that there was no way to get at the volume controls as quickly as with the standard iPods (all you originally had to do was spin the wheel). Because the touch’s screen doesn’t respond to input unless it’s on, you actually have to press the Home button to "wake it up" during playback. To make matters worse, the volume controls only appear when the ipod is vertically-oriented, so you have to turn it counter-clockwise (if you were in widescreen mode), and only then would you be able to drag the volume slider.


The mobile Safari browser is the feature I’ve spent the least amount of time with, but I did visit AJAX-enabled sites like gmail and basecamp, and couldn’t spot any show-stoppers in either of them. I also watched movie trailers on the Apple Quicktime site and was impressed to find that it plays the videos in fullscreen automatically. I also spent sometime configuring a personal start page at mockdock, which lets you collect mobile-enabled sites into a single iPhone-like interface. Fun stuff.

Entering text such as urls or login names was a little difficult at first, as expected. The software buttons on the touch are as large or larger than the hardware buttons on most QWERTY-enabled mobiles, so it shouldn’t take me that much longer to get used to it. At a glance, the browsing experience is easily the best I’ve ever used on a palm-sized device (and I’ve had quite a few devices over the past 4 years to compare it to, believe me). It’s startling how quickly you can get used to the squeeze-and-spread gesture for zooming in and out of pages quickly; when I had to use mobile Opera on my smartphone afterwards, it was downright painful. If Apple has revolutionized anything with the iPhone and its variants, it’s definitely the mobile-browsing paradigm, and when they get around to building the multi-touch interface technology into their full-sized computers, it’ll totally change the way we use those machines as well. I’m still waiting for the time when our workstations will essentially be nothing more than one very large screen that sits in front of us at an angle like an architect’s drafting table, and has a pressure-sensitive, textured surface that’ll impart real tactile feedback; it makes me smile just thinking about it.)

Overall, I’m quite happy with the touch. I know that it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people because of its cost and the fact that you could buy an iPhone in the US at the same price, and that’s totally fine. (My response: the iPhone isn’t available in this country yet and unlocking it is not the hassle- and risk-free experience that people are envisioning. Besides, no amount of unlocking will give it an HSDPA antenna, and that for me, is a deal-breaker.)

The build quality is great, and considering that it’s mostly glass, it feels very solid and light. Apart from those niggling user-interface issues mentioned above, I rather like the ipod touch

Ubuntu Linux Vs. Windows Vista: The Battle For Your Desktop

The prevailing wisdom about Linux on the desktop runs something like this: "I'll believe Linux is ready for the desktop as soon as you can give me a Linux distribution that even my grandmother can run."
For some time, the folks at Ubuntu have been trying their best to make Granny -- and most everyone else -- happy. They've attempted to build a Linux distribution that's easy to install, use, configure, and maintain -- one that's at least as easy as Windows, and whenever possible, even easier. As a result, Ubuntu is one of the Linux distributions that has been most directly touted as an alternative to Windows.
In this feature, I'm going to compare the newly-released Ubuntu 7.04 (codenamed "Feisty Fawn") with Microsoft Windows Vista in a number of categories. To keep the playing field as level as possible, I'm looking wherever I can at applications -- not just in the sense of "programs," but in the sense of what the average user is going to do with the OS in a workday. Sometimes the differences between the two OSes are profound, but sometimes the playing field levels itself -- OpenOffice.org, for instance, is installed by default in Ubuntu, but adding it to Vista isn't terribly difficult.
I tried to stick whenever possible with preinstalled software, although this rule sometimes had to be bent a little -- for instance, to see what backup solutions were available for Ubuntu through its own software catalog.
Also, while I was tempted to compare Vista's Aero interface to the Beryl window manager (which has a similar palette of visual effects), I decided that pretty graphics, while nice, had more to do with personal preference than efficiency. In addition, Beryl isn't installed by default in Ubuntu, and Aero isn't available on all PCs.
In each case, I've tried to look at practical benefits rather than theoretical ones -- what works, what doesn't, and what you have to do to get certain things done. I should also note that, despite being a big fan of Vista, I've tried to keep my enthusiasm for it from overriding my judgment. Everyone needs something different, and not everyone needs (or wants) Vista -- or Ubuntu -- so I've done my best to keep my mind, and my eyes, wide open.
Page 2: Installation

Panasonic's Next-Generation DMP-BD30 Blu-ray Player Is Here! - With all the bells and whistles of the Final Standard Profile

The next-generation format war is far from over, each of the sides bringing about some new technological developments in order to make their products more attractive for the possible customers. And that's exactly what Panasonic's trying to do with its latest product, the DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player, which is compliant with the Final Standard Profile, the latest Blu-ray standard to be made available, but also provides a wide variety of advanced playback functions. The Final Standard Profile is an advanced function added to the Blu-ray standard, which opens the door to new functions such as Picture-in-Picture (which displays a second image in a sub window) and Audio Mixing (allows the consumer to switch the sound between the main and sub windows), thus enhancing the user's multimedia

experience. Additionally, the player provides Deep Color Compatibility, and HDMI 1.3B, that bumps the step gradation from 8-bit 256 all the way up to 12-bit, 4,096 step gradation. To further enhance the viewing experience, the DMP-BD30 also provides 1080/24p playback, so the consumer can enjoy the same 24-fps (frames per second) reproduction as the original movie. This eliminates the need to utilize 3.2 pull down, a process to convert 24-fps images to 60-fps, resulting in a smoother picture.The inclusion of a multi-function SD Card slot is another new addition to the Panasonic Blu-ray player. Coupled with the AVCHD codec, the DMP-BD30 allows for images recorded on a high capacity HD SD card to be outputted directly from the player's HDMI terminal in their original 1080p form.Moreover, like its predecessor, the DMP-DB30 features the EZ-Sync HDAVI Control that allows the consumer to operate their Panasonic home theater system with one remote. "The DMP-BD30 will contribute greatly to Blu-ray's mounting lead over the competing format," said Gene Kelsey, Vice President, Panasonic Entertainment Group. "Panasonic's adoption of the Final Standard Profile adds a whole new dimension to the entertainment experience. For example, when the added value features inherent to the Final Standard Profile are incorporated into a Blu- ray movie, the viewer could have a myriad of entertainment options. One of the more intriguing aspects of the Final Standard Profile is the Picture-in- Picture feature that would allow the movie fan to access a variety of entertainment enhancements, such as having the director or an actor pop up to discuss a scene you are watching, or with an animated movie, you might see the actor performing their character's voice over, all while still watching the movie. Not only do these features give Panasonic a strong advantage in the high definition market, but they provide the movie community with numerous opportunities to embellish the viewing experience with additional creative elements."Panasonic's DMP-BD30 has a suggested retail price of around 500 US dollars, which is not exactly a very small price to pay, but it's kinda worth it, especially taking into account the fact that the device is compatible with the Blu-ray Final Standard Profile.

DirectX 10.1 in Windows Vista SP1 – The Evolution - Under the hood

As Windows Vista brought to the table the exclusive DirectX 10, the first service pack for the operating system will evolve Microsoft's graphics technology to version 10.1. DirectX 10.1 is already available to over 12,000 testers via the first beta of Vista Service Pack 1, concomitantly with the official release of Build 6001.16659. Although the testing milestones of Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP SP3 Beta, are officially limited in terms of access, a hack is available designed to permit the download of Windows Vista SP1 Beta Build 6001.16659 straight from

Microsoft, and simultaneously test drive DirectX 10.1. However, Vista users have to understand that DirectX 10.1, as well as DirectX 10 is a technology intimately connected with the underlying graphics card, such as the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series. According to an AMD whitepaper focused on the implementation of DirectX 10.1 in the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series, the latest application programming interface from Microsoft, manages to "unlock the state of the art in GPU technology." "DirectX 10.1 maintains the overall structure and programming model of DirectX 10, while providing numerous enhancements. The vertex, geometry, and pixel shader instruction sets have been updated to Shader Model 4.1. The new features of DirectX 10.1 can be divided into three general categories: new shading and texturing capabilities, anti-aliasing improvements, and tighter specifications. The following table highlights some of the key features in each of these categories, as well as some of the benefits they provide," states an excerpt of the ATI whitepaper on DirectX 10.1, via TeamATI.There is little doubt over at AMD on the evolution represented by the move from DirectX 10 to DirectX 10.1. The fact of the matter is that, Vista SP1 in combination with DirectX 10.1 will bring to the table the next generation of interactive 3D graphics. Vista SP1 is currently planned for availability in the first quarter of 2008, following the launch of Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn. Still, one relevant aspect of DirectX 10.1 is the fact that, in order to enjoy the enhanced shader model, anti-aliasing support, and the increased flexibility of data access, Vista users will not only have to deploy SP1 but also upgrade to DirectX 10.1 ready graphics cards, even though they have moved for less than a year to DirectX 10 compatible hardware. "DirectX 10.1 offers incremental improvements to the programming interface that address limitations of DirectX 10, and unlock new graphical techniques that will take the quality of 3D graphics to the next level in 2008 and beyond. Advantages include global illumination delivering lighting and shadow quality in real-time that matches the ray tracing techniques used in CG films, improved anti-aliasing techniques to clean up distracting shimmering artifacts, and tighter specifications for improved compatibility", reads the conclusion of the ATI whitepaper.

The Longest-Lived Animal Ever: 410 Years Old!

When we talk about longevity, our minds think about giant tortoises and crocodiles, elephants and other animals.Indeed, crocodiles can live as much as human beings and elephants do, also reaching the sixties. Giant tortoises are proved to live more than 200 years. And some ravens and parrots indeed live longer than other birds the same size (but reject that crap information about 100 years and so on!) do. Baobabs are said to live till 3,000 years. Sequoia (redwoods), the largest trees in the world, are at the same time amongst the most long-lived. But the oldest still living individuals belong to two pine species from the mountains of southwestern USA: Great Basin Bristlecone

Pine (Pinus longaeva) and Rocky Mountains Bristlecone Pine (Pinus arista). The oldest Pinus longaeva has 4,900 years! The Egyptian civilization was in its cradle when these pines were seedlings! When thinking about animals, elephants can live up to 60 years, crocodiles over 80 and recent information says that large whales can outlive 150 years old. Large tortoises have been found to round about two centuries. A radiated tortoise (Geochelone radiata) from Madagascar died at the age of 188. But now forget all these: a clam recovered off the Iceland coast seems to be the longest-lived animal ever found: it is an ocean quahog clam aged 405 to 410. The animal's age was assessed by counting its shell rings, as the clam adds a new one each year. Guinness Book of Records states that the longest-lived animal was also a clam discovered in 1982 and aged 220. Unofficially, another clam located in an Icelandic museum was spotted to be 374-years-old, being 31 years younger than the newly found one. The new "grandmother" of all animals was dubbed Ming after the dynasty ruling in China when it was just a larva, during the times of Queen Elizabeth I and the foundation of the first English colonies in America. "The growth-increments themselves provide a record of how the animal has varied in its growth-rate from year to year, and that varies according to climate, sea-water temperature and food supply. And so by looking at these mollusks we can reconstruct the environment the animals grew in. They are like tiny tape-recorders, in effect, sitting on the sea-bed and integrating signals about water temperature and food over time." Professor Chris Richardson, from Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences, Wales, told the BBC. "The clam's discovery could help shed light on how some animals can live to extraordinary ages. What's intriguing the Bangor group is how these animals have actually managed, in effect, to escape senescence [growing old]. One of the reasons we think is that the animals have got some difference in cell turnover rates that we would associate with much shorter-lived animals.", added Richardson.

Vista Slowly Killing XP - And right on track for the 100 million milestone by the end of the year

Enlarge pictureWindows Vista is slowly but surely eroding the grip that Windows XP has over the operating system market. Microsoft's latest platform, made available to businesses in November 2006, and to the general public in January 2007, experienced a steady growth throughout the period of nine months since it hit the shelves. XP is going down in the Windows asphyxiated market, in order to make room for Vista, although the last operating system to come out of Redmond has had a rough ride since the launch. This is the natural conclusion that follows

Microsoft's revenue report for Q1 2008, the Fastest First Quarter Since 1999.In this regard, Vista has managed to establish itself as the Redmond company's main cash cow, driving a revenue of $4.14 billion and an operating income of $3.36 billion for the client division. "Microsoft announced revenue of $13.76 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, a 27% increase over the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.92 billion, $4.29 billion and $0.45, respectively. Microsoft’s businesses of Client, Microsoft Business Division, and Server and Tools grew combined revenue in excess of 20%, and experienced robust demand for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows Server, and SQL Server," Microsoft revealed. In fact, Kevin Johnson, president of the Platform and Services Division at Microsoft, stated that Vista continues to enjoy strong, double digit growth as far as the adoption rate is concerned. Since the operating system became available, Microsoft pushed in excess of 88 million licenses worldwide. Of course that the figure is largely a matter of semantics, as Microsoft counts the entire volume of Vista copies shipped into the channel as "sold," and not the actual number of licenses actually purchased by end users or businesses. Statistics made available by Net Applications at the end of September 2007, paint a picture that comes to confirm Microsoft's own perspective over the consistent growth in Vista uptake. XP is credited with 79% of the operating system market, down from 85% in January, while Vista increased its foothold from 0.18% in the first month of 2007 to 7.38% at the end of September. While the share on the operating system market is not correlated with the sales of the product point for point, the discrepancy between the 7.38% and 88 million licenses shipped is a testimony of the fact that Microsoft takes into consideration the entire mass of Vista copies delivered, rather than counting just the sold copies. But still, at the current pace, with two more months until 2008, and with the holiday season looming, Vista is right on track to hit the 100 million shipped licenses by the end of December, an important milestone for Microsoft.

HOT: Kim Kardashian Playboy Spread Leaked - Ladies and gentlemen, take your time, sit back and enjoy

It's not something for the fain of heart to behold...but since it's about the hottest piece of news that could come up on a Saturday morning, I think you should risk a heart attack and have a look at it. I'm kidding. It's actually the hottest set of naked photos I saw in a while, and I have a shrewd suspicion many of you have been gritting your teeth and pulling your hair waiting for

Kim Kardashian's Playboy naked photo spread. And because we're generous like that, we decided to share the goodies (read that leaked photos) with you – just think of it as an early Christmas present. A very big, gold-wrapped Christmas present, ribbon and all.
Enlarge pictureKim, it seems, has finally decided to stop acting shy and make the most of her genetic gift of...well, I was going to say beauty, but that would read as some sort of understatement. The fact is, in a world ruled by slim blonds with no boobs, Kim makes for a nice change. Her entire body language screams self-confidence, but in a moderately annoying way – it's something along the lines of "I know I'm hot, now can we move on to how sexy my a*s is"? Plus, now we have plenty of...ahem...reading material in order to embark on secondary controversies like "I wonder how they managed to fit her booty into the photos and still manage to show the rest of her body
Enlarge picturealong with it" or "did she get a boob job or not?".I'm not sure which part of Kim's body deserves the most attention – and no, I'm not mocking you with that question. Yes, of course I'm familiar with the "rotundus a*s that distracts our attention from everything else" theory, but the fact is – I think she's one hot package altogether, boobs and all. As you can see for yourself, she really has the moves, the look and the attitude that allow her to be ideal Playboy material. I'm thinking of starting a poll – how long will it be before she graces the magazine pages again? I'll give it six months, tops. Until then, sit back and enjoy the view – it's really something to put the smile back on your face at the end of a long hard week of all work and no play.
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Record Breaking Birth Weight in Twins - In Britain

An average baby has at birth around 3.2 kg (7 pounds, 1 ounce). The heaviest baby ever was born in the US in 1879: 23 pounds, 12 ounces (10.7 kg), but he died 11 hours after being born, as too much or too little above/below the average value decreases fitness. The heaviest baby also to survive was born in 1955 in Italy: 22 pounds, 8 ounces (10.15 kg) at

birth. In September this year a woman from southern Russia gave birth to a 17-pound, 1 ounce (7.7 kg) girl. But in the case of the twins there is another story: twins deplete severely the mother's organism, so you can imagine that they rarely reach the average weight for a newborn.Now the British Beth Ryder, 35, of Mount Pleasant, Rawtenstall, Lancashire, has just given born to a pair of twins weighing 19lb (8.55 kg). The boy, Theo, weighs 10lb9oz (4.8 kg) while the girl, Millie, has "just" 8lb 3oz (3.7 kg), being the heaviest mixed sex twins ever born in UK and the pair was born at Burnley General Hospital in Lancashire last week. The previous holders of the title were Thomas and Grace Houghton-Burnett, weighing 10lb1oz (4.5 kg) and 8lb2oz (3.6 kg), born in 2002. Ryder has another four children and all had over 9lb (4.05 kg) at birth. Ruder, a student nurse, had herself 11lb13oz (5.4 kg) at birth and her sister Claire 12lb2oz (5.5 kg). "Large babies run in the family so I knew that they were going to be pretty big. But none of us expected them to be quite so large." she said. Such a pregnancy was a real burden for Ryder. "I was absolutely enormous in the weeks running up to the birth and it was so uncomfortable," she said. Her other children weighed at birth as follows: Emma (17) 9lb9oz (4.1 kg), Leah (8) 10lb11oz (4.8 kg), Lauren (5) 9lb11oz (4.1 kg) and Callum (3) at 12lb1oz (5.4 kg). But, as scientists explained before, weight at birth is not correlated with weight of the adult individual: Ryder's children are average sized.

Canadian iPhone Leak Turns Out To Be Bust - Or just a publicity stunt...

After the recent contest announcement by Molson Coors Brewing Co. Canadian iPhone enthusiasts were happy, but the company has now backed down and is claiming that the iPhone references were just a mistake.

Molson Dry beer was meant to be giving away iPhones as part of their marketing contest. The company specified that iPhones will only be available as of January 2008 on the wireless network of Rogers Communications Inc, and that while the devices themselves were free, winners will have to pay for the cell phone service themselves. This is all the unofficial confirmation that many need and eager buyers rejoiced, but the company is now backing down and changing its statement.Molson Coors Brewing Co. is no longer offering iPhones as a prize, claiming that it was just a mistake. Furthermore, the company now claims to have no idea whatsoever if and when the iPhone will be launched in Canada. The story is that they only wanted to give their customers a general idea of when the prizes would be available. To make things even more credible, spokeswoman Marie-Hélène Lagacé also corrected an earlier statement that Molson was on the Rogers waiting list for the iPhone, by confirming that there is no such list in existence.The entire thing sounds all too much like school children being caught fibbing, but it could also very well be that Molson Coors Brewing Co. let the cat out of the bag too soon, something that is known to make Steve Jobs very unhappy. Obviously this backtracking is not going to put the cat back in the bag, nor is it likely to make Jobs a happy camper, but they have to at least try.Of course, it might not be completely out of the question for this to have been nothing more than a publicity stunt intended to give the company a free ride on the iPhone train.

Don't Upgrade Your Vista Computer! You Might Become a Windows Pirate! - The weird story of a Windows Vista activation process

We all know that having a genuine version of Windows Vista comes with support from Microsoft, updates and lots of other goodies but sometimes, all you need to become a software pirate is a simple Vista error. At least, this is what happened to James Bannan who described on the APC Magazine website a pretty weird situation which almost blocked his computer. It all started when James

changed his graphics card on the computer equipped with Vista. "There were some new DirectX 10-based titles out and I couldn’t get the benefit on my old DirectX 9 card. The swap-over went well and I went on my merry gaming way," he wrote on the APC Magazine page.After a few days, Windows Vista woke up and asked James to activate the operating system or else the computer would enter the Reduced Functionality Mode which allows the users to browse the web for only 30 minutes. The interesting fact is that he already activated Vista before the hardware upgrade so now he had to re-activate it using the same key."I was able to reactivate easily enough, although as the product key was already in use (by me!) I couldn’t reactivate automatically, but had to speak to a Microsoft customer service representative. I got the code easily enough, but it didn’t explain why Vista had deactivated, so I got in touch with Microsoft about the problem," he noted.After installing several utilities provided by the Redmond-based company, James finally discovered that the deactivation was triggered by the video card change bundled with disk controller modification. "The only problem? I had never changed my disk controller at any point. Apparently because I had upgraded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager application, this was reported as a major hardware change event."This is a serious matter especially for the beginners because they might find this re-activation process pretty difficult since you have to use the same key you entered before while Vista sustains the code 'is in use'. However, you can also contact a Microsoft customer service representative which may help you with your problem. May the activation be with you!

Leaked Info On 32GB Sansa View!!!

Enlarge pictureI am pretty sure some of you have been waiting for the new Sansa View for quite a while. The manufacturing company has shown the first Sansa View prototype at CES in January. But, since then, the View started resembling more and more the

popular e200 series. Too bad it's just not its time, as the market is already overcrowded with all sorts of cool flashPMP with higher capacities, large screen displays and a lot better video capabilities.However, as SanDisk is a big name in the industry, it comes natural to support a number of codecs for a wide range of file formats, such as AAC, H.264 and AVI. Besides that, it can also deal with some other rather common formats, such as MPEG-4, WMV, WAV, non-DRM, WMA and TXT for the audio books reading feature. Extra specs are said to be the integrated FM tuner with 20 presets, as well as the built-in microphone for the audio support. As for its internal memory capacity, the media player was enhanced with various sizes of 8GB and 16GB. To make sure it makes a stand on the PMP market, they have also given it a 32GB brain. And if that proves to be insufficient, there is a built-in microSDHC card slot. The battery life was rated to last up to 4 hours of music media content and 8 hours of video content.

Xbox 360 Explodes Fueled by the Halo Effect - In terms of sales

The release of what Microsoft referred to as a global entertainment phenomenon has managed to explode sales of its Xbox 360 consoles. The combined market performances of Halo 3 and Nintendo's Wii console have contributed to a 75% jump in sales of video gaming hardware and software in the U.S. According to market research firm NPD, gaming related sales passed the $1.3 billion milestone in September, increasing from $779 million the previous month. NPD indicated

that Microsoft's claims revealing Halo 3's impact as a new standard of interactive entertainment were justified, as the title pushed in excess of 3.3 million copies in its first month. In this context, the following nine games combined, in the top 10 selling titles, account for a little over half of Halo 3's sales. The latest version of the Halo franchise was a catalyst for the sales of Xbox 360. Piggyback riding on the immense success of Halo 3, Microsoft sold approximately 528,000 consoles. The fact of the matter is that the third installment of Microsoft's Halo flagship franchise – Halo 3, put Xbox 360 well ahead of Nintendo's Wii. But Wii, even without a Halo of its own, still managed to sell 501,000 consoles in the U.S. just in September. This means that overall, Nintendo pushed over four million consoles, with Microsoft not far behind at almost 3.5 million and with Sony's PlayStation 3 at just over 1.7 million. In this regard, the truly remarkable results are those of Wii, launched in November 2006, almost concomitantly with the PS3, while Xbox 360 has been available since 2005. PS2 delivered a poor performance in comparison with its rivals selling only 119,000 items in September. Still, Microsoft's official position is that it's not all about Halo 3. In fact, it would be dangerous for Microsoft's Xbox 360 to become associated with a single game, when the content available for the console is much richer. But this does not deny the fact that Xbox 360 is currently ridding the Halo 3 wave to perfection...

Having Sex Before Giving Birth Does Not Trigger Labor! - Just an urban myth

having sex late in pregnancy could trigger labor. But this was found to be just a myth by a team led by Dr Peng Chiong Tan of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "This study is not the final word on the subject. Further research in this area is needed - particularly in a less 'pressure cooker' situation than where labor induction was already scheduled for shortly ahead. It is possible that regular sex a little earlier on, say from 36-37 weeks onward, might have a different effect.", wrote Tan for Reuters Health. "There are good biological explanations for the widespread belief that having sex can bring on labor," wrote the authors. Amongst the semen's ingredients there’s the hormone prostaglandin, which is released in huge amounts by the woman’s body as it triggers labor. Also, orgasm can induce uterine contractions. Still, there is no scientific proof that sexual intercourse close to the end of pregnancy starts the labor.The team assigned 210 pregnant women randomly into two groups: one in which they were advised to have sex as much as possible 4.7 days before their scheduled induction, while in the control group women were advised not to have sex. 60 % of the 108 women advised to have sex did so, while from the other group just 40 %. 56 % of the women who had sex experienced labor on their own, compared to 52 % of the subjects who didn't have sex, thus practically the same numbers. "We speculate that women very close to spontaneous labor felt changes coming on that might reduce their libido, like pains and vaginal discharge," Tan told Reuters Health. "If correct, this would mean that those women who had sex were the least likely to go into spontaneous labor soon, so they would do less well in terms of spontaneous labor as an outcome in the next few days. We did not have direct data to answer this question satisfactorily, however.""Based on the findings of our study, women scheduled for induction of labor at term should not be given advice to have sex for the purpose of promoting labor onset", the authors also mentioned.

Want an unlocked iPhone? Just go to France. Orange France to sell carrier-unlocked iPhones

Well, well, well. Look what we have here. Carrier-unlocked iPhones, once thought to be an impossibility (given Steve Jobs’ stance on the iPhone’s business model), will be hitting France this holiday shopping season (November 29). Those same wireless regulations that sparked speculation about the iPhone possibly being barred from French soil will require that Apple and Orange offer legit, carrier-unlocked iPhones alongside the locked-to-Orange iPhones.
Word has it that the carrier-unlocked iPhones will be sold for a steep ?999, whereas the locked version will be commanding a much more palatable ?399 (about $580) including VAT. Apple obviously wants to make it as difficult as possible to get your hands on a legitimately unlocked iPhone, and what better way than to make it ridiculously overpriced? Still, if you want an unlocked iPhone that will assuredly survive future iPhone firmware updates without voiding warranty or bricking, then you’ll have to make a quick trip to France. And by quick trip, we mean a trans-Atlantic flight.
[Via: IHT]

Windows eXPired Just Won't Die! Microsoft Losing Faith in Vista, Breathes Life in XP - Windows Vista is no match for Windows XP

Windows eXPired just won't die, not even for Windows Vista. Additionally, Microsoft seems to be losing faith in its latest Windows title. This would explain why the Redmond company is still breathing life into XP, although the strategy is clearly detrimental to Vista. Following Vista's release, Microsoft was in a rush to declare XP expired. Still, the company failed to put its back into it. Microsoft relied on Vista's Wow to make XP obsolete instead of marketing it accordingly. But leaving XP to wear out naturally, in the growing shadow of Vista's evolution backfired. While there is a consistent amount of efforts poured into converting users from XP to Vista, there are little results to indicate success. Not only are both home and corporate users failing to upgrade/migrate to Vista from XP, but the rate of downgrades increases in consistency with each passing day. And on top of that, XP is still preferred over Vista, prompting

Microsoft to extend the availability of its 2001 Windows operating system."While we’ve been pleased with the positive response we’ve seen and heard from customers using Windows Vista, there are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch to Windows Vista. As it turns out, our official policy as of 2002 is that versions of Windows are available through our retail and direct OEM partners for four years after they ship. Obviously this policy didn’t work with Windows XP given Windows Vista’s delivery date. As a practical matter, most of our previous operating system releases were available for about two years after the new version shipped, so maybe we were a little ambitious to think that we would need to make Windows XP available for only a year after the release of Windows Vista," revealed Mike Nash, corporate vice president, Windows Product Management.The end of Windows XP availability via direct OEM and retail licenses was planned for January 31, 2008. Microsoft revealed that after taking in feedback from customer and original equipment manufacturers, it has extended XP's life with an additional five months. The company made sure to emphasize that Vista is doing great, although end users and PC builders are still interested in a five year old operating system (XP was launched at the end of 2001), vs. Windows Vista, released in January 2007. XP will be available from large PC manufacturers worldwide until mid 2008, while XP Starter edition will come preloaded on machines put together by System builders until June 30, 2010. The prolonging of XP's direct OEM and retail license availability is of course connected with the launch of the first Service Pack for Windows Vista, scheduled in Q1 2008. "So we’re responding to feedback we have gotten from our OEM partners that some customers will benefit by extending availability of Windows XP to June 30, 2008 instead of the planned date of Jan. 30, 2008. Also, since some of the systems that ship in emerging markets don’t meet the requirements for Windows Vista, we will be extending availability of Windows XP Starter Edition to June 30, 2010. This will allow our OEM partners who sell PCs in emerging markets more opportunity to offer genuine Windows licenses. Windows XP Starter Edition is tailored to local markets, in local languages, and is compatible with a wide range of Windows-based applications and devices", Nash added.

Ubuntu 7.10 Tribe 5 Released

Tribe 5 (Beta 5) of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon has been released.
Nice, looks like I was wrong and the new xorg.conf edit will be in 7.10 after all:

In addition to that Ubuntu has this rockin’ automatic printing-configuration system that makes configuring/installing printers plug-and-play:

And brings with it a hot new Firefox plugin finder/installer/thingie

25 intresting thing that you learn about computers only in movies

1. Word processors never display a cursor.2. You never have to use the spacebar when typing long sentences.3. All monitors display 2 inch high letters.4. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, have easy-to-understand graphical interfaces.5. Those that don't will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.6. Corollary: You can gain access to any information you want by simply typing "ACCESS ALL OF THE SECRET FILES" on any keyboard.7. Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing "UPLOAD VIRUS." Viruses cause temperatures in computers, just like they do in humans. After a while, smoke billows out of disk drives and monitors.8. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain's desktop computer, even if it's turned off.9. Powerful computers beep whenever you press a key or whenever the screen changes. Some computers also slow down the output on the screen so that it doesn't go faster than you can read. The *really* advanced ones also emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer as the characters come across the screen.10. All computer panels have thousands of volts and flash pots just underneath the surface. Malfunctions are indicated by a bright flash, a puff of smoke, a shower of sparks, and an explosion that forces you backward. See #7, above)11. People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the data.12. A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the secret password in two tries.13. Any PERMISSION DENIED has an OVERRIDE function.14. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under three seconds. In the movies, modems transmit data at two gigabytes per second.15. When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control panels will explode, as will the entire building.16. If you display a file on the screen and someone deletes the file, it also disappears from the screen. There are no ways to copy a backup file -- and there are no undelete utilities.17. If a disk has got encrypted files, you are automatically asked for a password when you try to access it.18. No matter what kind of computer disk it is, it'll be readable by any system you put it into. All application software is usable by all computer platforms.19. The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it has. However, everyone must have been highly trained, because the buttons aren't labelled.20. Most computers, no matter how small, have reality-defying three-dimensional, real-time, photo-realistic animated graphics capability.21. Laptops, for some strange reason, always seem to have amazing real-time video phone capabilities and the performance of a CRAY-MP.22. Whenever a character looks at a VDU, the image is so bright that it projects itself onto his/her face.23. Computers never crash during key, high-intensity activities. Humans operating computers never make mistakes under stress.24. Programs are fiendishly perfect and never have bugs that slow down users.25. Any photograph can have minute details pulled out of it. You can zoom into any picture as far as you want to. Example: "What's that fuzzy thing in the corner? I don't know, let's check. It's the murder weapon! Let's look under the bed for the killers shoes. no, just some comics books (Marvel 1954, very rare). Let's check the closet shelves...!"

The ABC'S Of Business Management

. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: "I am very rich. "Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing" 2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: "He's very rich. "Marry him." -That's Advertising"
3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and get her telephone number. The next day, youcall and say: "Hi, I'm very rich."Marry me - That's Telemarketing"
4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get upand straighten your tie, youwalk up to her and pourher a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her,pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride andthen say:"By the way, I'm rich. Will you"Marry Me?" - That's Public Relations"
5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says:"You are very rich! "Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition"
6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives youa nice hard slap on your face. -"That's Customer Feedback"
7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And sheintroduces you to her husband. -"That's demand and supply gap"
8. You see a gorgeous girl at aparty. You go up toher and before you say anything, another person comeand tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and shegoes with him -"That's competition eating into your market share" 9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" yourwife arrives. -"That's restriction for entering new markets

The 30 hottest things you can say to the naked women

30 Shortcuts to Ultimate Happiness
1. "Good morning."
2. "Is it okay with you if I take this slow?"
3. "I can't stop touching you."
4. "Want to join me in the shower?"
5. "I want to kiss/lick/touch every inch of you."
6. "I love how you taste."
7. "Do you feel this, too?" ("This" being an incredible emotional euphoria.)
8. "Hungry? Stay right here. I'll go make you a burrito."
9. Her name--her full name--followed by a "Wow."
10. "I'll get the light."
11. "I'll cancel my plans if you'll stay here with me for the rest of the weekend."
12. "No one's ever done that before."
13. "Can we do that again?"
14. "I love your [fill in body part here]."
15. Nothing. Total, deliberate silence. You can stare at her, grab her, touch her, but don't make a sound. If she tries to talk, place a finger on her lips.
16. While looking out the window at people not currently in bed with her: "Suckers."
17. While looking at moonlight reflecting on the ceiling: "What do you see?"
18. "I'll go make coffee."
19. "Waking up with you is even better than sleeping with you."
20. "Let's play hooky today."
21. Any use of the word "hot." Especially: "You're so hot."
22. "Squeeze my hand when it feels really amazing."
23. Words that end in "uck." Yes, even "duck," when appropriate.
24. "There's nothing else I'd rather be doing right now."
25. "I'm ready to go again."
26. "Damn, I've missed you."
27. "How about a massage?"
28. Playful laughter.
29. "Don't ever leave me."
30. "You sleep; I'll go check on the baby."

The samurai are coming

Samurai (侍,Samurai?) was a term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. The word "samurai" is derived from the archaic Japanese verb "samorau," changed to "saburau," meaning "to serve"; thus, a "samurai" is a servant, i.e. the servant of a lord.

Samurai in armour, 1860s. Photograph by Felice Beato

deeply hurt

It is believed warriors and foot-soldiers in the sixth century may have formed a proto-samurai. Following a disastrous military engagement with TangChina and Silla, Japan underwent widespread reforms. One of the most important was that of the Taika Reform, issued by Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji) in 646 AD. This edict introduced Chinese cultural practices and administrative techniques throughout the Japanese aristocracy and bureaucracy. As part of the Yōrō Code, and the later Taihō Code, of 702 AD, the population was required to report regularly for census, which was used as a precursor for national conscription. With an understanding of how the population was distributed, Emperor Mommu introduced the law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males were drafted into the national military. These soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in return were exempted from duties and taxes. This was one of the first attempts by the Imperial government to form an organized army modelled after the Chinese system. It was called gundan-sei(軍団制) by later historians and is believed to have been short lived Iron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun era, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum. The Taihō Code classified Imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks, each divided into two sub-ranks, 1st rank being the highest adviser to the emperor. Those of 6th rank and below were referred to as "samurai" and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these "samurai" were civilian public servants, the name is believed to have derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be referred to as "samurai" for many more centuriesIron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun era, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum

American Beer

This guy goes to a doctor and says he has a problem with sex."Doc, I think my dick is just too damn small," he says.The doctor asks him which drink he prefers.Well, American beer," he replies quite bemused."Aaaahhh. There's your problem, it shrinks things, those silly American beers.. you should try drinking Guinness. That makes things grow."Two months later the chap returns to the doctor with a big smile on his face.He shakes the doctor by the hand and thanks him."I take it you now drink Guinness?" asked the doctor."Oh no, Doc," replies the man, "but I've got the wife on American beer!"

20 Things YouDidn't Know About Death

Newsflash: we're all going to die. But here are 20 things you didn't know about kicking the bucket.1 The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
2 Never say die: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (a Star Trek favorite).
3 No American has died of old age since 1951.
4 That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.
5 The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the "agonal phase," from the Greek word agon, or contest.
6 Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
7 So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
8 Alternatively . . . A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations, and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
9 Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures.
10 The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.
11 Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.
12 If this doesn't work, we're trying in vitro! In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called famadihana. The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.
13(*) During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.
14 Well, yeah, there's a slight chance this could backfire: English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.
15 For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.
16 Waiting to exhale: In 1907 a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It's not.
17 Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in "hospitals for the dead" while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.
18 Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.
19 If you can't make it here . . . More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.
20 It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.

Third generation Toyota Prius in 2008 as a 2009 model?

The king of hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius, will offer a third generation hybrid drive, possibly in 2008 as a 2009 Prius model according to reports from Japan. Additionally, the new drive will also be included in the rest of Toyota's hybrids as well, such as the Highlander hybrid, Lexus RX400h, and the Camry hybrid.According to early reports, the new hybrid drive will offer new batteries that will be lighter than the current generation and will offer greater performance, such as the lithium-ion batteries debuted in the FT-HS hybrid concept.
In recent months Toyota has indicated that its lithium-ion batteries were ready to power the next generation of Toyota hybrids. In the past few weeks, however, rumors have surfaced that Toyota might delay the use of lithium. In fact, the latest rumors claim that lithium-powered hybrids from Toyota are now at least 1 to 2 years away from reality due to safety precautions.
Originally, the 2008 or 2009 Toyota Prius, utilizing the Third Generation Hybrid Synergy Drive - a hybrid powertrain that was predicted to be half the weight of the current Prius powertrain - was predicted to reduce hybrid technology costs.
The second generation Prius provided a significant increase in performance as well compared to the first generation Prius, increasing battery power by 1.5 times. Expectations for the third generation Prius have been much greater.
Thus far it has been stated that the new drive, "will cut prices for eco-friendly vehicles, reduce fuel costs and slash production expenses, company sources said."
Of course, it is hard to know if all of Toyota's predictions were based on the belief that lithium would be the battery powering the third generation Hybrid Synergy Drive.
"We will change the battery from nickel hydride to the lithium battery," CEO Katsuaki Watanabe told Business Week, just a couple of months ago. Then, shortly thereafter, the rumors against such a lithium move hit the blogosphere.
So, what happens to the Third Generation Prius if it is not lithium powered?Many analysts have noted that once hybrid batteries moved from NiMH batteries to lithium-ion, everything about hybrids begins to change. Thus, if this doesn't happen, does little about hybrids change?
More important, will a lack of a lithium-powered Prius be a major setback for Toyota?
Prius derivatives?
Still, what does all this mean? Will rumors of a non-plug-in, 100 mpg Prius prove to be unfounded?
Will Toyota offer a NiMH-powered Prius plug-in hybrid?
It seems hard to imagine that the next generation Prius could achieve 100 mpg, without some sort of plug-in functionality - which is a possibility, but Toyota has steadily maintained that plug-ins are not yet feasible, especially without lithium batteries.
Then again, perhaps the 100 mpg Prius will be a derivative Prius, such as a smaller, city Prius. Toyota has claimed that the future could hold multiple derivatives of the Prius, and a larger Prius also seems possible.
At this point there are simply more questions than answers regarding the 2009 Toyota Prius.Still, at Toyota's current pace, the fourth generation of hybrids could possibly achieve prices in the same range as conventional vehicles, but offering significant gains in fuel efficiency. Imagine being able to buy either a 30 mpg conventional vehicle or a 100 mpg hybrid version for the same price.
Still, that won't happen before 2010.
Of course, you might not even have to wait until the fourth generation. The third generation Toyota Prius - by most conservative estimates - should still be 20 to 30 percent more efficient than the current Prius, and if a smaller, city Prius is offered, 70 or 80 mpg might still be possible, even without lithium.Let's just hope a new Prius does hit the streets in late 2008 or early 2009.

10 Tested Ways To Get Rid Of Your Irritating Girlfriend

For an irritating girlfriend-free life follow these time-tested formula and you’ll be surprised to see how easy and relatively straightforward dumping an irritating ‘attachment’ can actually be!1) Make her wait for ages… when the dates are planned by her and, even worse when they are planned by you.2) Do not ever use a deodorant when you’re around her. Make it a point to munch on onions before you meet her.3) Attend as many calls as you can when she’s spending time with you… it helps if the one calling is you’re ex-girlfriend and it’s even better if it’s your ’supposedly’ intimate boyfriend.4) Be as GAY as you can!5) Make sure you invite her best friend every time you go out with her, and hit on her friend (doesn’t matter if it’s a guy or a girl) as shamelessly as you can. The drool-pot is a sure winner!6) Dress as horrendously as you possible can. Colour combinations are a strict NO-NO, unless you’re planning on doing a fluorescent orange and bright pink combo. Classic!7) Gorge yourself on food, hers, yours, her friend’s and make sure food spills out of your mouth every minute or so, during your lunch or dinner dates.8) BURP! As often and as loudly as you can. Gaseous emanations of other kinds are also sure ways to your ultimate triumph!9) Make sure she realises you’re not busy, but pretend to be as busy as you can possibly be when she’s around… she’ll get the hint… or even better, pair it up with being a schedule freak.10) Pretend you have a serious crotch infection, or a fetish or an obsession for everything down under!

Things that even Microsoft Can't Explain

MAGIC #1An Indian found that nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the Computer which can be named as “CON”. This is something funny and inexplicable… At Microsoft the whole Team, couldn’t answer why this happened!TRY IT NOW, IT WILL NOT CREATE A “CON” FOLDER

MAGIC #2For those of you using Windows, do the following:1.) Open an empty notepad file2.) Type “Bush hid the facts” (without the quotes)3.) Save it as whatever you want.4.) Close it, and re-open it.Noticed the weird bug? No one can explain

MAGIC #3Again this is something funny and can’t be explained… At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn’t answer why this happened!It was discovered by a Brazilian. Try it out yourself…Open Microsoft Word and type=rand (200, 99)And then press ENTERAnd see the magic…..!

Virginity Myths:How Can you Tell if She’s a Virgin?

Myth #1: A non-virgin walks with her legs wider apart.Fact: How a girl walks is determined by her physical build - how wide her hip bones are or how fat her thighs are. It’s also determined by her stride. This has nothing whatsoever to do with her virginity!Myth #2: Hair between the eyebrows is gone after one loses her virginity.Fact: This is one of the more bizarre stories. Hair between the eyebrows has nothing to do with virginity. If you happen to spot some hair between a girl’s eyebrow which had never been there previously. it’s simply because she has forgotten to pluck her eyebrows during the past few days!Myth #3: A girls’ fully-rounded backside suddenly flattens after she has sex.Fact: If this were true, then there wouldn’t be many of us walking around with nice, round, fully rear ends! It is impossible to lose tje elsaticity in your backside muscles simply through intercourse.Myth #4: A virgin’s breasts point upwards.Fact: Virgins are just as likely to have sagging breasts!Myth #5: One’s breasts become larger after she loses her virginity.Fact: Just like a guy obtains his erection through a rush of blood to his penis, a gal’s breasts could also swell when aroused. But this subsides. It is rude and childish to assume that those with ample chests are all non-virgins.Myth #6: A virgin’s urine is clear and sparkling.Fact: Virginity cannot be confirmed with urine test; only pregnancy can. Besides, the quality of your urine is determined by your water intake - the more water you drink, the cleaner and clearer your urine will be.Myth #7: A girl who has done it before has “a certain kind of look” on her face.Fact: This is what many guys would say, and it is purely nonsense. Common sense tells you that there is no such thing as the virgin or non-virgin look!Myth #8: A girl will definitely bleed when she has sex for the first time. If she doesn’t, then she is lying about being a virgin.Fact: One of the more reasonable points brought up, this is perhaps the most common excuse for determining whether one is a virgin, but it is a misconception. Bleeding occurs when the hymen, a thin membrane that covers the opening of a female’s vagina, tears during intercourse. Thus, the general belief is that bleeding indicates loss of virginity. However, the hymen could also tear through physical activities like cycling and excessive exercises (like in the case of gymnasts). If tampons are not used correctly, they can also break the hymen. Also, some girls don’t bleed after their first intercourse because they have more flexible hymens. Therefore, non-bleeding doesn’t mean girls are non-virgins, either.Sound Advice: Take these claims with a pinch of salt. These so-called facts are either traditional folktales or the output of someone’s highly imaginative mind. In short, ignore all the outrageous things people say about how they can tell if a girl is a virgin. The truth is, no physical change will take place when a female (or male) loses their virginity. Only a medical check-up can confirm virginity by affirming the presence of an intact hymen. A thorough check-up can also tell whether the hymen has been torn by a penetrating penis or from falling from a bicycle. Other than that, the only way is to ask, and hope for an honest answer

SummerBoard Allows iPhone Home Screen Scrolling

iPhone hacker "lg" has developed a way to place as many icons as you desire in your iPhone's home screen by hacking customizations into SpringBoard, the iPhone menu system. This modification, known as SummerBoard, extends SpringBoard by making use of custom routines loaded through a back door, allowing scrolling of the icon list and the use of custom wallpaper behind said icons. Installation of SummerBoard can be achieved by way of Installer.app.While some users report having to perform multiple iPhone reboots to get things up and running, most have experienced no real issues, it seems. A clever bit of work from an able iPhone hacker.

Now For The Real Spider-Man Suit

Scientists have found the formula for a Spider-Man suit that will enable humans to scale buildings like insects - in the same way as the cartoon superhero.They have come up with a scheme for superadhesive gloves and boots that could soon see humans scaling the Empire State Building.The designs for the materials are modelled from the adhesive properties of the gecko, a tropical lizard whose sticky feet can scale trees, using tiny tubes of carbon that have unusual electrical and mechanical properties.It means the skin tight outfits donned by actor Tobey Maguire that allows his character Peter Parker to climb skyscrapers and swing between them in the blockbuster films could become reality.The super surface gripping materials replicate the millions of tiny elastic hairs on the feet of lizards which allow them to cling on to an apparently flat surface with just one toe.Now engineer Dr Nicola Pugno, of the Polytechnic University of Turin, suggests the secret lies in creating a series of hair like structure or nanotubes which would act like a microscopic velcro.His research published in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, says that when the 'hairs' on a gecko's feet brush against a surface, the molecules at the tip stick to the surface through van der Waals forces, a bond that forms between two molecules when they are close to each other.Although the bond between each hair and the surface is weak, it becomes strong when multiplied over millions of hairs.Prof Pugno says his research shows that shoes and boots made using this technique could have the adhesive force strong enough to suspend a person's full body weight against a wall or on a ceiling, while also being easy to detach. He said: "There are many interesting applications for our theory, from space exploration and defence, to designing gloves and shoes for window cleaners of big skyscrapers."The theory is all the more significant because, as with spiders’ and geckos’ feet, the 'hairs' are self cleaning and water resistant.This means they will not wear or get clogged by bad weather or dirty surfaces and will be able to withstand some of the harshest habitats on earth, including the deep sea. Prof Pugno said: "With the idea for the adhesion now in place, there are a number of other mechanics that need addressing before the Spiderman suit can become a reality."Size effects on the adhesion strength require further research. Moreover man's muscles, for example, are different to those of a gecko. We would suffer great muscle fatigue if we tried to stick to a wall for many hours."But now that we are this step closer, it may not be long before we are seeing people climbing up the Empire State Building with nothing but sticky shoes and gloves to support them."He added: "A replication of the characteristics of the gecko or spider feet would enable the development of a self-cleaning, superadhesive and releasable hierarchical material and, with the conjunction of large invisible cables, of a preliminary Spider-Man suit."Scientists have long studied the gravity-defying gecko for potential applications in the human world. US researchers, for example, have built an array of microfibres inspired by the gecko's feet that can keep objects from sliding down near vertical surfaces

Bursting Nokia batteries leave three injured

Three people were injured in two separate incidents when "dangerous" Nokia mobile phone batteries burst in different towns of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
According to the police, the battery of a Nokia 1100 handset burst suddenly leaving a mother and daughter wounded in Khanna town of Hamirpur district in southern Uttar Pradesh around noon.
The victims were identified as Savitri, 45 and her daughter Puja, 18.
"Savitri had just picked up her mobile to respond to an incoming call while it was being charged and her daughter was sitting close to her when their handset burst, causing burn injuries to both of them," police said. "The phone battery was manufactured in Hungary."
In another incident in Koren village in neighbouring Banda district, it was the same battery model but manufactured in Japan this time. It was inside a Nokia 1600 handset that burst in Koren, injuring 35-year-old Rajesh Kushwaha.
All three victims were stated to be "out of danger".

Bush to tour site of bridge collapse (AP)

Politics News - Yahoo! News - Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:26:30 GMTPresident Bush, left, and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, leaving the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, for Camp David, Md.. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

Bush wants House action on spy bill (AP)

Politics News - Yahoo! News - Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:41:54 GMTPresident Bush, right, accompanied by Vice President Dick Cheney, makes comments after meeting with the Counterterrorism Team, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

McCain's woes evident on campaign trail (AP)

Republican presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., arrives with his state director Jim Barnett in a van for a campaign stop in Claremont, N.H., Saturday, July 14, 2007. In 2007 McCain's slide in the presidential race shows up everywhere on the campaign trail. His campaign staff is drastically reduced and his organization nearly broke. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Pakistan criticizes Obama on comments (AP)

Politics News - Yahoo! News - Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:44:09 GMTDemocratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., delivers a speech about terrorism, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Ron Paul remains longshot for GOP nom (AP)

Republican presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, gestures while participating in a Republican debate in Columbia, S.C in this May 15, 2007 file photo. Paul may be the political butterfly of the 2008 presidential campaign. An obscure congressman from Southeast Texas for most of his political career, Paul has metamorphosed into the favorite of legions of die-hard fans across the country who have been exposed to his contrarian views through Republican candidate debates and Internet blogs. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, File)

57 percent view Supreme Court favorably (AP)

Politics News - Yahoo! News - Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:40:38 GMTAP - Views of the Supreme Court dropped sharply in a six-month period that included decisions that upheld abortion restrictions, struck down school integration plans and chided inaction on global warming, according to a poll Thursday.