TOXIC

Rio 2016 Logo Design

2012-03-03T05:27:00.002-08:00

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games logo

In 2016, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place for the first time in South America, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The Olympic emblem was launched more than a year ago, but I just watched the “brand video” for the Paralympic Games that gives an interesting glimpse of the work involved.

FLUSHED WITH PRIDE

2008-12-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

The art of the toilet in Japan

Smart young women at Panasonic show off the latest wares
Duncan Bartlett
(BBC)

No country takes toilets quite so seriously as Japan.
Machines with heated seats, built-in bidets and a dynamic range of flushing options are almost ubiquitous in homes and public buildings.
A poem recently published by a stressed-out salary man captured their comforting appeal with haiku-like brevity. "The only warmth in my life is the toilet seat," he mourned.
But lavatories here can do much more than keep you warm. One even sends a tiny electrical charge through the user's buttocks to check their body-fat ratio.
The master of the modern convenience is the Panasonic Corporation.
Booming market
At its Tokyo showroom, located in a skyscraper near the BBC's office, a group of smart young women, dressed in uniforms resembling flight attendants, showed me the company's latest wares.
The lids lifted up when I approached. If I stood in front of one, it took a guess at my gender and lifted up the seat as well.
There was a loo that glowed in the dark and another that had built-in loudspeakers.
With manicured fingernails, the demonstrator pushed the control panel beside the seat and gentle light classical music began to play.
Pleasant enough, I thought, although I preferred a pastoral sound effect that provided the impression one was seated upon a white plastic throne surrounded by songbirds in a springtime meadow.

Japanese people do not see cleaning as a demeaning or shameful job
Kyoko Ishii, who heads up the public relations department for Panasonic, explained to me that most of the people who choose luxury loos are older women, so this is a booming market in rapidly ageing Japan.
Kyoko says that for this core customer group, the emphasis now is less on the gadgetry and more on convenience and cleanliness.
A new flush has been invented which does away with the need for a tank and saves dramatically on water.
The device costs about £1,950 ($3,000) including installation. But it is not easy to sell outside Japan as bathrooms in other countries are rarely fitted with the right mixture of sophisticated plumbing and electronics.
Clean culture
A visitor to Tokyo recently told me that he was surprised to find Japanese women rather than foreigners cleaning the toilets in his hotel.

Advertisements for toilets are screened on public transport
It is of course often immigrants who take on such jobs in rich countries. But foreign-born workers are rare here as only about 1.5% of the population are made up of non-native Japanese.
However, the low immigration level is only part of the explanation. Japanese people do not see cleaning as a demeaning or shameful job.
School children are trained from a young age to sweep their classrooms and scour the playground for litter.
Lorry drivers wash their trucks at the end of every day. No restaurant ever serves a meal without first offering the customer a cleansing towel.
Recently, I visited a small technology company in Osaka. The president, Mr Sugimoto, is trying to inspire his staff to work harder as recession takes hold.
The Japanese - like the British - do not seem to mind too much when comedians sink into vulgarity and joke about scatological matters
He is noted for his drive and enthusiasm and that came across in a punchy presentation which he showed me on his laptop.
It included photographs of his staff on their knees scrubbing the urinals.
His point was that in preparation for a new project, the whole team had mucked in to clean up the workplace and this was clearly a source of pride to be included in the company's publicity.
Source of comfort
But toilets can raise a smile, too. Television comedies sometimes include scenes of pranksters luring people into loos whose walls then collapse, and the embarrassment this causes the victim is a source of great hilarity.
The toilet then appeared to give a welcoming robotic smile and its seat began to glow an inviting orange colour as it heated up, ready for action
The Japanese - like the British - do not seem to mind too much when comedians sink into vulgarity and joke about scatological matters.
But there is also a dark underground trade in DVDs filmed in ladies' toilets by hidden cameras, and only last week a man was arrested for placing "spycams" in the lavatories of a girls' school.
Most of the time, though, the Japanese are happy to think of a toilet as their comfort and their friend.
The other day, while catching a commuter train to work, I found myself transfixed by an advertisement which was being screened on a TV inside the carriage.
A young girl slowly walked towards a loo, which automatically raised its lid to greet her.
The toilet then appeared to give a welcoming robotic smile and its seat began to glow an inviting orange colour as it heated up, ready for action.
Fortunately, the advertisement ended there. But not before a broad and appreciative smile broke out across the face of the girl.

Hotel Atlantis Lightshow Trial Run

2008-11-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

Pioneer Headlight Shoes

2008-11-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

Unlike other shoes ,these pioneer Headlight shoes not only
light your path ,but their batteries are charged by your kinetic
energy as you move along.

Abu Dhabi Sky Bridge Hotel

2008-10-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

Abu Dhabi Sky Bridge Hotel

Total Area: 110,000m²
Number of Rooms: 264 (80-100m²)
Number of Suites: 40 (250m²)
Conference Area: 5,000m²
Commercial Area: 3,500m²
Restaurants: 2,600m²
Lobby: 4,250m² (108,000m³ volume)
Roof Garden: 5,400m²
Pedestrian Promenade: 11,200m²
Parking Area : 40,000m² x 2
(800 cars x2- 200 per floor)

PETA Pamela Anderson KFC Protest Australia

2008-07-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

She’s a well-known supporter of animal rights activist group PETA. And earlier today, Pamela Anderson took a stand for chickens worldwide.

The former Baywatch babe was spotted at a KFC Restaurant in the Southport area of Queensland, Australia as she hand-delivered a signed letter of protest about the treatment of chickens by the KFC company on behalf of PETA.

Click here to find out more!
She told press, “I’ve been in Australia filming Big Brother House, in which my housemates and I are confined and sealed off from the outside world, much like the chickens who are crammed inside barns for KFC.”

She continued, “Fortunately, I won’t be stomped to death, have my legs broken or be scalded to death in a tank of hot water, yet as PETA’s undercover videos have revealed, the chickens raised for KFC’s restaurants in Australia often suffer these abuses.”

One small problem - KFC is one of the major sponsors of the Aussie Big Brother show on which Pammie has been guest starring. Whoopsie Daisy!

Enjoy the pictures of Pamela Anderson out protesting KFC (July 10).
source

Five Nuns In Town

2008-07-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

Sisters Mary Catherine, Maria Theresa, Katherine Marie, Rose Frances, & Mary Kathleen left the Convent on a trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and were sight-seeing on a Tuesday in July.

It was hot and humid in town and their traditional garb was making them so uncomfortable, they decided to stop in at Patty McGuire's Pub for a cold soft drink.

Patty had recently added special legs to his barstools, which were the talk of the fashionable eastside neighborhood. All 5 Nuns sat up at the bar and were enjoying their Cokes when Monsignor Riley and Father McGinty entered the bar through the front door.

They, too, came for a cold drink when they were shocked and almost fainted at what they saw.

Mamma Mia! ABBA Reunites for Film Premiere

2008-07-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Don't pull out the polyester and platforms just yet, folks. It was just for a movie premiere.
ADVERTISEMENT

For the first time in 22 years, all four ex-members of ABBA appeared together at the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth.

The Swedish pop/disco quartet—Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog—didn't perform, but throngs of fans went wild at the sight of all four together again in Stockholm.

They were joined on the red carpet and theater balcony by the stars of the soon-to-be released film. Mamma Mia! is a big-screen adaptation of the highly successful musical featuring ABBA's biggest hits, including "Dancing Queen," "Money, Money, Money" and "Take a Chance on Me."

The foursome shot to fame in the mid-'70s and performed together publicly for the last time in 1986. In 2000, they turned down $1 billion to reunite for a concert tour.
source

Tara Reid In Award Ceremony (Black)

2008-07-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

The great stingray migration -thousands of majestic stingrays swim to new seas

2008-07-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

Taken by an amateur photographer in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, these photos show the great migration of the Cow-nose Stingrays from the Yucatan Peninsula to western Florida. They travel in compact packs of up to 10,000 individuals, following the counter-clockwise current to their summer feeding grounds.

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12 Things You May Not Know About the Nobel Prizes

2008-07-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sweden
Scott #2415a-d
Sweden was home to Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and other explosives. He left most of his fortune to endow the annual Nobel Prize awards in the disciplines of physics, chemistry, literature, physiology or medicine, and peace.

Sweden has been a prolific issuer of stamps related to Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prizes. In 2001, Sweden commemorated the 100th anniversary of the first Nobel Prizes awarded by issuing stamps depicting Nobel and the actual medals.

The 4-stamp set was engraved by master engraver, Czeslaw Slania. He expertly depicted Alfred Nobel in profile view, as well as the fine detail of the medals. This set of stamps is a beautiful addition to any collection due to its historical commemoration and the sheer beauty of the engravings.

If you are like most people, you may be under the impression that only the best of the best get awarded Nobel Prizes. You may think that the carefully thought out opinions by the selection committees would highlight lasting improvements in the sciences and the peace process. You may also be aware that the Nobel Prizes are never given out posthumously. If you believe any of those, like I did, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Here then are some curious facts about the Nobel Prizes, the recipients, and the non-recipients that may challenge your knowledge.

1. Technically, the prize awarded in Economics is not a Nobel Prize, as it was not specified in Alfred Nobel's will. It has been nicknamed the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, and is selected by the same committee that selects the physics and chemistry prizes, but has only been awarded since 1969. It is award in memory of Alfred Nobel.
2. Nomination records are sealed for fifty years, and except for "leaks" in the process, the nominees are not publicly acknowledged. Agents and publicists will often tout a person's nomination, but until the records are unsealed fifty years later, there is no way to confirm or deny this.

In a related story, I've been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the past several years. :)
3. Nominations for the Nobel Prizes can only be made for living persons. However, should a person die after their nomination, they can still be awarded a Nobel Prize. This has occurred two times, most recently in 1961 when Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously, after dying in a plane crash in Africa.
4. Provided that the individual is living at the time of the nomination, anyone can be nominated. Incredulously, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin were all nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!
5. Amazingly, the person probably most likely to have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize was never awarded one. Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, Indian leader who advocated non-violence in the struggle for Indian independence from colonial rule, never won the award. He was nominated five times, but failed each time. He was assassinated just two days before the nominations for the 1948 prize were due, which, since he was deceased, disqualified him from the nomination and, therefore, the prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee considered selecting Gandhi for the award in spite of the rules, but because he left no legal heirs, they were not sure of who to award the prize to. Instead, the committee elected to withhold the award that year, stating that "there was no suitable living candidate" for the award, a clear reference to the recently-deceased Gandhi.
6. Winning a Nobel Prize will bring lasting fame throughout one's lifetime. Pity poor William Vickrey, who, just 3 days after being selected for the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car, dead of an apparent heart attack.
7. Some prizes are awarded to technology that on later review just doesn't seem to pan out. Consider Antonio Moniz's 1949 Nobel Prize in Medicine for leukotomy, the brain-altering operation that was the forerunner of pre-frontal lobotomies.
8. Likewise, the award given to Johannes Fibiger wasn't very prescient. His 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was for discovering that parasites had caused cancerous tumors in laboratory mice, prompting many to believe a cure for cancer was just around the corner. The trouble was, upon further review, the tumors were caused by simple vitamin deficiencies.
9. Julius Wagner von Jauregg won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery that, by purposely injecting syphilitic patients with fever-causing malaria, the patients were sometimes cured. Sometimes, however, the malaria cure was as bad as the original illness.
10. Not all Nobel Peace Prize recipients have backgrounds in diplomacy or political science. For example, the 1970 winner, Norman Borlaug, won for his efforts in plant pathology/genetics which led to better worldwide food supplies, and, so the argument went, a more peaceful world.
11. The United Nations' Peacekeeping forces have won the Nobel Peace Prize, even though rapes, bribery, bullying, and other crimes have been allegedly committed by the so-called peace keepers.
12. At least one Nobel Peace Prize recipient has admitted to embellishing her autobiography, which had obviously helped her to win the prize. Rigoberta Menchú, native of Guatemala and 1992 recipient, acknowledged making changes in her autobiography I, Rigoberta Menchú that details atrocities performed by guerrilla forces in her native Guatemala. While her cause is just, her augmentation of her background, exposed by researcher David Stoll, has given a black eye to her cause. In an effort to ease the situation, the Nobel Prize committee has since declared that her award was not based solely on her autobiography, but on the aggregate of her efforts.

Friends-on-big-screen

2008-07-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Friends reunited: Jennifer Aniston and the gang set to return for big-screen blockbuster

The highly anticipated film production of TV series Friends has finally been given the go-ahead, MailOnline has learned.

Cast members Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer will reprise their roles for a big-screen adaptation 'within the next 18 months', according to insiders.

The actors have been inspired by the recent success of Sex And The City, which recently hit cinemas worldwide.

source

Though Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na is based on a fictitious story

2008-07-02T02:48:00.001-07:00

Though Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na is based on a fictitious story, it has incidents from real life interwoven in the plot.

The movie, launchpad of Aamir Khan’s nephew Imran Khan , sees the graduation of Abbas Tyrewala from script and screenplay writing to direction.
Abbas, who has written the screenplay for films like Maqbool and Main Hoon Na , had a very original light-hearted romantic story set on a college campus for his directorial debut but he wanted to add realism to it. So he put in incidents from his own college days.

"I treated the film exactly as I remembered my college days…All the events are based on true incidents. Only the basic story is from the realm of fantasy," Abbas tells a news agency in an interview.

The movie’s story revolves around a group of college friends. Imran and Genelia D’Souza play two characters diametrically opposite to each other. The group also has another guy who harbours a secret crush on Genelia. And there is also a girl whose heart throbs for Imran. How love sprouts between Imran and Genelia, two unlikely people, is what the film is about.

Though the film is the launchpad of Imran, it was never intended to be this way. The film was initially meant to be produced by Jhamu Sughand. Aamir Khan came on board as producer much later, when Sughand expressed his inability to produce it. And even though Aamir decided to produce the film, he told Abbas not to treat it as the lauchpad of his nephew Imran.

‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ releases on July 4.

Madam Tussauds Will Reveal A Waxwork Of Amy Winehouse ?

2008-07-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Madam Tussauds will reveal next month a wax model of Amy Winehouse. The wax figurine will have Amy’s tattoos and her beehive hairstyle.

When this news come after some guys in Yorkshire village Methley have created a scarecrow having Wino as a model I can only imagine that the wax figurine from Madam Tussauds must be very funny to see.

Below is the good looking and very frightening scarecrow
Source

Miley Cyrus - “7 Things” Music Video

2008-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Check out Miley Cyrus‘ new music video for “7 Things“, the first single from her upcoming studio album, Breakout.

The music vid was shot in Los Angeles last month with director Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, Red Dragon). It features Miley and other heartbroken girls using the lyrics to attack their respective exes.

You can catch the official premiere of “7 Things” on Disney Channel TONIGHT June 28, @ 7:55pm ET/PT. Or watch it below!

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif at the music launch of Singh Is Kinng

2008-06-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif at the music launch of 'Singh Is Kinng' at Enigma, JW Marriott, Mumbai, on Thursday late evening, June 26. Photo Credit: Sawf News

June 28, 2008 (Sawf News) - Bollywood hunks love to go around with shadow stubble and Salman is no exception. The trouble is, as you grow old the shadow stubble looks increasingly like sunshine stubble, thanks to the pesky grey facial foliage that inexorably sprouts to replace the youthful black crop.

The problem gets exacerbated if your morning starts in the evening, as Salman's does.

At the music launch of Singh is Kinng at Enigma, JW Marriott on Thursday late evening, June 26, Salman was the unexpected chief guest. Unexpected because the Big B was also invited to the event though, for reasons best known to himself, Bachchan left the event before it even started. But that is a different story.

Salman's presence at the launch came as a surprise for the media which were under the impression that Amitabh Bachchan was the chief guest. Salman has nothing to do with the film that top lines Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif.

Akshay is currently in the US shooting for Sajid Nadiadwala's Kambakth Ishq, so we are guessing that the film's producer, Vipul Shah, roped in Salman to fill the void for no other reason than the fact that Salman is a media magnet who is romantically linked with his heroine, Katrina Kaif.

Anyway, we digress. Salman arrived at the 'early morning' event around 11 PM looking a little unkempt. His hair was disheveled and he had shadow stubble. While on the stage he exchanged a few words and smiles with Katrina.

It was either Katrina or the mirror that Salman kept looking into furtively as he strode out of Engima discotheque, that tipped Salman that all was not well with his appearance. We are thinking it was the sunshine stubble, but it could have been his misaligned wig!

Once out of Enigma, Salman headed straight to a rest room. As he went in his body guards blocked the entrance. Salman's man Friday appeared some time later carrying a coat and a pouch that he dutifully handed over to Salman in the rest room.

When Salman emerged a few minutes late, he was not only clean shaved but his hair was well in place.

Salman's day had started! source

Gold Statue of Santa

2008-06-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

This statue of gold Santa Claus stands about 41 centimeters
high and weighs 20 kilograms, and demands a biting price
of 200 million yen ($1817,355). It features 23 diamond
beads that total 1.7 carats on its belt and
carries a sack, woven from extra-fine gold threads,
filled with 10 gold coins.

The fish tank that's so big it can hold FOUR whale sharks

2008-06-27T02:28:00.001-07:00

It certainly beats watching a lonely goldfish swimming round its tiny bowl.

This is one of the world's biggest fish tanks - so big that it's even been named the Kuroshio Sea.

Located in the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa, Japan, the enormous tank is some ten metres deep, 35 metres wide and 27 metres long.

A giant whale shark behind the world's largest acrylic panel at Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa

It holds a staggering 7,500 tonnes of water - roughly equal to three Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Eighty species live in the Kuroshio Sea tank, including yellow-fin tuna, bonito (a type of large mackerel) and manta rays.

But the daddy of them all is the world's biggest fish, the whale shark - which can grow to be 12 metres long and needs a quarter of a tonne of food every week.

Only three aquariums in the world have tanks large enough to house these giant creatures.

Viewers observe a giant manta ray

The four whale sharks at Churaumi move around comfortably - swimming diagonally past each other and feeding with their long tails touching the plethora of colourful corals at the bottom of the tank.

Rather than hand-pick fish from around the world and force them to mix in unfamiliar waters, the emphasis in the Kuroshio Sea tank is placed on local sea life.

All the species housed here can be found thriving around Okinawa - and even the water itself is pumped in from 300 metres offshore.

It is no surprise, then, that this titanic space requires an equally large observation panel.

The Kuroshio Sea: The world's largest fish tank in Okinawa, Japan has a focus on local sea life

The world's largest aquarium window, it measures a staggering 8.2 metres by 22.5 metres and is more than 60cm thick - this is necessary to stop the tank from collapsing under the huge water pressure placed on the glass.

It was constructed from seven acrylic-resin sheets, which were stuck together using a strong glue with a secret formula.

The appearance is dazzling and the window is so clear that each year millions of visitors can believe, for a moment, that they have stepped into a magical underwater world.

Rotating skyscraper set for Dubai

2008-06-25T23:36:00.001-07:00

DYNAMIC TOWER: Italian architect David Fisher announces the world's first building in motion in New York. (Getty Images)

The "Dynamic Tower", a slender, shifting skyscraper of rotating luxury apartments, was presented in project-form Tuesday in New York by Italian architect David Fisher, before it goes up in Dubai.

The innovative, 420-metre building features 80 pre-fabricated apartments that spin 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 power-generating wind turbines located between each floor.

"This building will have endless different shapes," Fisher told reporters.

As each floor rotates independently from the other, the Dynamic Tower will constantly change its profile, in a new architectural concept that is taking root around the world.
The Mirax group plans to build a similar, 70-story skyscraper in Moscow.

"We look forward to build a third one in New York and maybe in other cities," said Fisher.

"These buildings will open our vision all around, to a new life."

The apartments, ranging from 124 to 1,200 square metres will take between one and three hours to make a complete rotation, and at 30,000 dollars per square metre, will cost from $3.7 million to $36 million.

Fisher said the pre-fabricated components made in a plant in Altamura, southern Italy, will allow the skyscraper to go up in record time, one floor per week instead of the usual one-per-six-weeks for similar high rises, and slash building costs by 10 percent.

He said the skyscraper, which will be completely energy self sufficient and will cost an estimated $700 million dollars to build, should be operational in Dubai in 2010.

Genius in India!!--11 YEAR OLD ADMITTED TO UNI--HIS NAME IS AKRIT

2008-06-25T13:29:00.001-07:00

A year ago a footage emerged from a remote village in India . The video showed a young girl receiving surgery to separate her fingers, which were badly burned and fused together. Why did this operation make headlines around the world? The surgery was performed by a 7-year-old boy named Akrit Jaswal.

Now 13 years old, Akrit has an IQ of 146 and is considered the smartest person his age in India -a country of more than a billion people. Before Akrit could even speak, his parents say they knew he was special.

'He learned very fast,' says Raksha, Akrit's mother. 'After learning the alphabet, we started to teach him joining of words, and he started writing as well. He was two.'

At an age when most children are learning their ABCs, Akrit was reading Shakespeare and assembling a library of medical textbooks. When he was 5 years old, he enrolled in school. One year later, Akrit was teaching English and math classes.

Akrit developed a passion for science and anatomy at an early age. Doctors at local hospitals took notice and started allowing him to observe surgeries when he was 6 years old. Inspired by what he saw, Akrit read everything he could on the topic. When an impoverished family heard about his amazing abilities, they asked if he would operate on their daughter for free. Her surgery was a success.

After the surgery, Akrit was hailed as a medical genius in India . Neighbors and strangers flocked to him for advice and treatment. At age 11, Akrit was admitted to Punjab University .. He's the youngest student ever to attend an Indian university. That same year, he was also invited to London 's famed Imperial College to exchange ideas with scientists on the cutting edge of medical research.

Akrit says he has millions of medical ideas, but he's currently focused on developing a cure for cancer. 'I've developed a concept called oral gene therapy on the basis of my research and my theories,' he says. 'I'm quite dedicated towards working on this mechanism.'

Growing up, Akrit says he used to see cancer patients lying on the side of the road because they couldn't afford treatment or hospitals had no space for them. Now, he wants to use his intellect to ease their suffering. '[I've been] going to hospitals since the age of 6, so I have seen firsthand people suffering from pain,' he says. 'I get very sad, and so that's the main motive of my passion about medicine, my passion about cancer.'

Currently, Akrit is working toward a bachelor's degrees in zoology, botany and chemistry. Someday, he hopes to continue his studies at Harvard University ..

Man Builds Full Scale F1 Car From 956,000 Matchsticks

2008-06-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Man Builds Full Scale F1 Car From 956,000 Matchsticks Michael Arndt is a man of matchsticks. Over the course of six years, using 956,000 matchsticks, 1686 tubes of glue, and at least three different varieties of mustache, he built a full-scale replica of a McLaren 4/14 F1 car, at a cost of around 6000 Euros ($8,725). The giant model takes up Arndt's entire kitchen and probably his social life. It can be broken down into 45 parts for easy transport to various matchstick-builders conventions

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World's Ugliest Dog Contest

2008-06-23T03:50:00.000-07:00

Gus' crowned world's ugliest dog

Gus's owners say they plan to spend the prize money on cancer treatment

A three-legged, one-eyed, cancer-afflicted dog named Gus has been crowned the World's Ugliest Dog at a fair in California.

Gus, a Chinese Crested dog, beat allcomers to take the title at the Sonoma-Marin Fair.

Owner Jeanenne Teed, from Florida, said she would spend the $1,600 prize on treatment for Gus's skin cancer.

The competition has been running for 20 years, and is one of the fair's top attractions, organisers said.

Vicki DeArmon, marketing director of the fair, said that in the past few years, winners had been dogs that had been abandoned or neglected before being adopted by dog-lovers.

"They may look hard to love, but apparently they are not. I've never seen dogs better cared for," she added.

Gus was rescued from a bad home.

One of his legs was amputated as a consequence of his skin tumour.

He lost an eye to a tomcat in a fight.

Was Rachael Ray Pregnant?

2008-06-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Rachael Ray pregnant? This is a phrase that a lot of internet users are doing searches on Google.com now. To their disappointment, Rachael Ray, host of Yum-O! was/is/will not be pregnant. The latest pictures here of Rachael Ray at the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, have no any signs showing Ray bearing a baby bump.

Rachael Ray, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show on the event, said in February, "I'm too tired...I feel like I’m a bad mom to my dog... I have five jobs, and I just don’t think I could take on the biggest job of being a parent."

(Rachael Ray’s marriage ‘broken beyond repair’
Plus, Jessica Alba’s weighty worry; George Clooney on faithful friends)

Miley Cyrus in Bed with New Boy (Picture)

2008-06-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

Miley Cyrus is causing search engines to go mad again. This time for the above photo of her in bed with her new man boyfriend. The photo is harmless but comes after her racy photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine which led to her issuing an apology to her fans. Miley caused a stir earlier this year as well with her photos in her bra and photos making out with Thomas Sturges as well. Calm down people this picture looks to me like it could have been taken on a sofa and either way its harmless. Hannah Montana fans fire away with your comments!

World's Wackiest Festivals

2008-06-15T00:55:00.000-07:00

1.El Colacho: the Baby-Jumping Festival (Spain)
In celebration of the Catholic festival of Corpus Christi, grown men leap over newborns, with full parental consent. Donning scary, vaguely Elvis-like costumes and wielding whips and truncheons, the men attempt to "cleanse" the babies of evil. Evidently, recklessly leaping over them is the best way to achieve this. The town has observed the strange practice (called El Colacho) since 1620, and any onlookers who seem to be in need of a quick exorcism are pulled into the event, as well -- so look normal, by God! And leave your babies with the sitter.

2.Up Helly-Aa: the Fire Festival (Shetland Islands)

A tribute to the islands' Viking Past, Up Helly-Aa ("End of the Holy Days"), the fire festivals are held in Shetland annually in the middle of winter to mark the end of the yule season. The festival involves a procession of up to a thousand guizers, and culminates with the burning of a 32-ft. replica of a Viking longship. Due to the often-flamboyant costumes and the large quantity of males dressing up as females, it has earned the joke name 'Transvestite Tuesday'.

3.The Monkey Buffet Festival (Thailand)

Every year, all of the province's approximately 600 monkeys are invited to eat fruits and vegetables during an annual feast held in honor of Rama, a hero of the Ramayana, who, it is said, rewarded his friend and ally, Hanuman the Monkey King, with the fiefdom of what is now Lopburi. Organizers of the annual monkey buffet use more than 3,000 kg of fruits and vegetables for the festival.

4.Holi: the Festival of Colors (India)

Holi, also called the Festival of Colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Guyana, and Nepal. On the second day, known as Dhulhendi, people spend the day throwing colored powder and water at each other. The spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause viral fever and cold. Thus, the playful throwing of the colored powders has a medicinal significance: the colors are traditionally made of Neem, Kumkum, Haldi, Bilva, and other medicinal herbs prescribed by Ayurvedic doctors.

5. Cheese Rolling Festival (England)

Though it sounds benign (and kind of goofy), cheese-rolling is very dangerous. Running full-tilt down a very steep hill behind a madly spinning 7-pound wheel of cheese can be well-nigh lethal. In fact, police have attempted to ban the event, but participants have refused to observe the ban. Men and their cheese wheels can not be separated easily, evidently. So what happens during a cheese roll? Simple: the cheese is set to rolling, and racers zoom down the hill after the cheese. However, as the cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 mph, it rarely happens that someone catches the cheese. First to the bottom wins the cheese. Glorious.

6. Maslenitsa: free-for-all boxing match (Russia)

In Orthodox countries, the week before Lent is marked with a series of celebrations, including a free-for-all boxing match in which there are no rules. In centuries past, the fight ended only when the participates were covered with blood and bereft of clothes.

7. Tunarama: the Tuna Tossing Festival (Australia)

The Tunarama festival is held in Port Lincoln, on the tip of Eyre Peninsula, over the Australia Day (26 January) long weekend. When the festival began in 1962, it was intended to promote the emerging tuna fishing industry in Port Lincoln. Tuna fishing is now one of the town's biggest industries and Australia's largest tuna cannery is located there. The highlight of the festival is the tuna tossing competition. Ex-Olympic hammer thrower, Sean Carlin, holds the record for the longest toss at 37.23 metres set in 1998.

8. Roswell UFO Festival (USA)

The Roswell UFO Festival celebrates the anniversary of the "Roswell Incident," when a UFO was said to have crashed into military grounds nearby. Featuring experts, authors, researchers, and lecturers dissecting the infamous incident, the celebration will also sport an alien parade, an alien costume contest , and an alien hot air balloon ride.

9. La Tomatina (Spain)

In late August, thousands of people pelt each other with over 250 lbs. of tomatoes in a span of 60 minutes in an event modestly described as the world's largest tomato fight. Every year, over 30,000 tourists come to Bunyol for this festival. Rules of conduct keep the festivities from becoming a more dangerous brawl.