Real Estate up for grabs

For sale: Unabomber's secluded hideaway

Ted Kaczynski's former property offers a chance to own a piece of "infamous U.S. history."  

The asking price 

Also: 

• More on the Unabomber
• Portland's bomber suspect
• Kaczynski's motivation

The Corleone Family Mansion Is for Sale

For a year and a half, the Norton family’s home on Staten Island was used to shoot scenes for the movie The Godfather. It has eight bedrooms, a pub, and an asking price of $2.9 million. The gates featured in the film, however, were put up by the production crew and were never a regular part of the house. You can view a video of the house at the link.

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Lofoten

Be honest -does this picture of green hills look like it belongs in the Arctic Circle? This is a view of an island in the archipelago known as Lofoten, a part of Norway north of the Arctic Circle. Lofoten experiences the biggest temperature anomaly in the world, thanks to the Gulf Stream that blows in from the southwest. Fish take advantage of the mild temperatures to spawn and the human inhabitants take advantage of the spawning fish. Tourists also enjoy outdoor sports during the time of the midnight sun.

Full Story

Awesome Pictures

Magnificent Motorcycles

Cool, fascinating, unusual and utterly weird designs for motorcycles that have appeared for over the last century or so.
Take a look at the wild and wonderful world of motorcycles.

Winter

An Extraordinary Fiberglass Sculpture By Philip Haas

 

image credit

Visitors to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC have been perplexed and astonished by the latest addition there.

To celebrate an exhibition of the works of sixteenth century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo - and certainly in homage to the bizarre nature of the Renaissance artist, American artist Philip Haas has created Winter, a 15 feet high fibreglass scultpure.

Glassblowing: The art of fire

An art form emerged from an accident over 3500 years ago to become what we know as glassblowing.

Glassblowing: The art of fire

A 3-Barrel Pole Cannon Fired after 500 Years

The folks at Springfield Arsenal in Lorton, Virginia acquired a 16th Century cannon that would be fitted onto the end of a pole. It has three barrels. Presumably the musket nipple on the side of each barrel would be slapped against a hard surface, causing the gun to fire. At 2:55, they fire it with 75 grains of black power and a .69-caliber musket ball in each barrel.

Everybody knows one ...

Lost Luggage

Take That, Apple! Mozilla Adopts Baby Firefoxes

 

Screenshot from Mozilla FirefoxLive

Marketing loves wildlife. Consider products like Apple's Safari browser, and the Snow Leopard operating system. There was a call last year for Apple to help save real-life snow leopards. Mozilla, makers of the Firefox browser, must have been listening, because they've adopted real-life firefoxes. There's such a thing? Yeh, and there's even a live stream.

Article continues: Take That, Apple! Mozilla Adopts Baby Firefoxes

New Camera Offers 360° Panoramic View in 3D

The Electrical Engineering Institute at the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, Switzerland, has developed a camera that can see 3D images in all directions. The design is based on insect eyes, which are hemispherical and contain many individual photoreceptors. Potential applications include gaming, media production, and robot navigation systems.

Full Story

Bungled Russian rocket launch

Satellite disaster embarrasses Russia

A bungled rocket launch that sent three satellites crashing into the sea trips up a big race against the U.S.

Likely cause 

Also: 

• GLONASS system
• Big SpaceX launch looms
• Venus clouds a warning?

Paper Airplane Released From Space Flutters Back To Earth

British amateur space buffs have launched a paper airplane from space. The plane, which was made from paper straws and had a 3-foot wingspan, was carried as high as 90,000 feet before the helium balloon that carried it finally popped, releasing the plane to glide elegantly back to Earth.

The British team (Steve Daniels, John Oates and Lester Haines) that designed it equipped the plane with a camera, and it took some stunning first-person video as it fluttered back to Earth. Although it's a bit dizzying in parts, one segment of the flight can be viewed in a video on the site.

Glasses for the Myopic Cyclops

Glasses for the Myopic Cyclops

Green Roofs Are Changing Architecture

Images credit BIG

Green roofs continue to change architecture, as architects blend buildings into the landscape and use the roofs as architectural elements, often to hide the building from view. The Vilhelmsro school in Denmark "focuses on nature and sustainability" so Bjarke Ingels of BIG designed it out of sloping landscaped bands that are integrated into the hillside.

Article continues: Green Roofs Are Changing Architecture: BIG's New School In Denmark

Forty Tons of Life in One Acre of Soil

Image credit: Permaculture Science

Whether learning that I am only 10% human, 90% bacteria, or musing on the concept of composting as animal husbandry, my life has taken a decidedly microbial turn of late. And not without good reason. As the video below argues in no uncertain terms, we owe our very existence to the tiniest of beings around. You'll be astounded at quite how many there are under your feet—assuming you are standing on some healthy soil, that is.

Article continues: 40 Tons of Life in One Acre of Soil: Geoff Lawton on the Magic of Soil (Video)

Philosoraptor Says

Rainforest Demise Spurred Reptile Evolution

Global warming 300,000,000 years ago was a boon for reptiles.
Rainforest Demise Spurred Reptile Evolution

Five Little Known Prehistoric Monsters

 

Photo: Nobu Tamura

The modern world has a wide selection of carnivorous predatory animals, from the fearsome polar bear to the savage stoat, but these are relatively insignificant when measured against the monster meat-eaters of millions of years ago. In an age where size and savagery ruled, only the strongest and most ruthless survived. T-Rex is one that everyone can instantly recall, but there were other cruel carnivores, like the terror birds pictured above, that deserve to be remembered. We can all think of having seen those evil-looking, birdlike pterodactyls in movies about the age of dinosaurs, but they were only one of many species.

1. Azhdarchids

   

Photo: Mark Witton/Darren Naish

Among them was the truly monstrous beast thought to have been the largest flying creatures ever to exist on earth. With wingspans of 40 to 50 ft, the Azhdarchids were pterosaurs as big as some modern aircraft, with incredibly lop-sided bodies. Hugely long legs, beaks and necks adorned unusually small torsos with wings that were, surprisingly, proportionately short. It is thought that they were not able to hunt in flight, but needed to land and scrabble awkwardly for anything that they could swallow whole. Since one of these terrifying monsters stood as much as 20ft tall, it is easy to imagine that man might well have been a prey animal for them, had they lived alongside each other.

2. Gorgonopsids 

 

Photo: Dmitry Bogdanov

Before dinosaurs ruled the earth, in what is referred to as the late Permian period, there was one species that ruled the roost as a predator. Some may recognize the creature as that which terrorized the cast of TV series ‘Primeval’. Gorgonopsids could be as much as 18 to 20ft long, with powerful jaws and razor-sharp, sabre-like teeth which could easily rip prey apart. Some species even had a double row of these, especially useful for hanging lethally on to prey which at times could be as big and heavy as the rhinoceroses of today. These terrible hunters are thought to have been fast and agile, and could conceivably have had fur hides, because they and mammals were fairly closely related.

3. Purussaurus

   

Photo: Nobu Tamaru

One of the most horrifying of sights is the close-up of a crocodile in action, powerful jaws clamping onto some hapless animal before dragging it into the watery depths. Something like 8 million years ago now, the region we know as the rainforests of South America were actually a gigantic inland sea, populated to overflowing with enormous creatures such as turtles, rodents, crocodiles and freshwater whales. Among all of these huge and terrifying creatures was a monstrous crocodilian predator called ‘Purussaurus’. It was the undisputed ruler of this environment, a crocodile somewhere between 40 and 50 ft in length, with appropriately large jaws. Remains of prey creatures bitten cleanly in two have been discovered, lending further weight to the idea that this was the largest monster of its type ever to have existed. A truly terrifying top predator that ought never to be forgotten.

4. Entelodon

 

Photo: Heinrich Harder

When you think about the wild boar, you think about a creature that exudes naked savagery and has absolutely no fear. Pigs today are mainly vegetarian, for which humanity should be grateful, but in prehistoric times this was not the case. The Entelodon was an early porcine beast that existed solely on a meat diet, and as a carnivore was truly ferocious. It also looked the part, being as tall at the shoulder as any human, and equipped with savage teeth set into the gigantically powerful jaws of a massive head. Part of the hunting strategy employed by this fearsome looking monster was quite literally frightening other predators away from their meals, though it is thought that the beast was more than capable of capturing live prey if required. Evidence suggests that these awful creatures also fought a great deal amongst themselves, and were quite happy to eat one another if prey was scarce. They were not at all pretty, but 9 million years of existence prove just how effective these horrid creatures were.

5. Spinosaurus

   

Photo: Bogdanov

If you imagined that the biggest and scariest prehistoric monster must have been the Tyrannosaurus Rex, think again. Recent paleontological discoveries have revealed that Even T-Rex would have run from the granddaddy of all predatory dinosaurs, the ‘Spinosaurus’. Fossil evidence proves that this majestic and murderous monster would have been between 50 and 60ft long, weighing in at ten tones or more and carrying a sail fin on its back taller than the average human. The long shape of the jaws gives rise to speculation that the creature spent a lot of time in water, eating anything that it came across, ranging from fish to dinosaurs. On land it was probably as quick as the T-Rex but far more deadly. Even though this awesome beast is less well known, Spinosaurus is thought to have been the largest dinosaur ever to hunt prey on the surface of the planet.

B.C.

Dog math

A farmer is wondering how many sheep he has in his field, so he asks his sheepdog to count them. The dog runs into the field, counts them, and then runs back to his master.
“So,” says the farmer. “How many sheep were there?”
“40,” replies the dog.
“How can there be 40?” exclaims the farmer. “I only bought 38!”
“I know,” says the dog. “But I rounded them up.”

Gorilla Baby Tops 2010 Cutest Animals

These babies aren't just cute; they're also the best hope of keeping endangered populations from dwindling.

Slide Show

Unicorn cow becomes tourist attraction

Farmer Jia Kebing noticed a small bump on this cow's forehead when it was born two years ago but didn't expect it to grow into a 20cm (8in) horn.

'My farm is famous in this region for this cow and people come in here just to see it,' said Mr Jia from Baoding in nothern China's Hebei province.

Super-Tiny Chameleon Photographed in Madagascar

 

Photo: Will Burrard-Lucas

In nature, some of the most incredible species come in the tinniest packages. While traveling in Madagascar recently, wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas happened upon this teensy-weensy Brookesia Chameleon walking along the forest floor. Believe it or not, the lizard he found is actually a full-grown adult, measuring about an inch in length -- making it one of the smallest reptiles on the planet.

Article continues: Super-Tiny Chameleon Photographed in Madagascar

Drunk elephants go on deadly rampage

Binge-drinking elephants, drunk on local hooch, have killed three people and destroyed 60 homes in a four-day rampage in east India.

On Thursday they were reported by local officials to be sleeping off hangovers as shocked communities tried to clear the wreckage left by the 70-strong herd in remote villages. With a local festival approaching, villagers had stockpiled the fermented-rice based drink. The elephants found and drank it.

Full Story

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Opportunities will come in many forms today, although you might not recognize every one of them.
Not to worry -- the ones you're ready for will be obvious.
Keep in mind that nothing is a sure thing -- a friend's promise may fall through, a work meeting may swerve off the planned agenda.
Just go with the flow and don't let these little detours bug you too much.
Everyone is trying their best, you have to remember (and appreciate) that.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Canarias, Spain

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Mechelen, Antwerpen, Belgium

Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands

Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

Madrid, Madrid, Spain

as well as Mexico, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Singapore, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Finland, Korea,  Argentina, Vietnam, Egypt, Russia, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and in cities across the United States such as Gaffney, Ephrata, Tallmadge, Bellmore and more.

Today is:

Today is Sunday, December 5, the 339th day of 2010.

There are 26 days left in the year.

Today In History December 5

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

There isn't one.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

'Secret Santas' dole out $100 handshakes in N.C.

"Secret Santas" are roaming the streets of North Carolina, handing out $100 handshakes.

Full Story

Retro Photo

Mlle Fouguet, Follies Bergere Paris ca. 1925

There Is A WAR Being Waged Against The Working Families Of America!

Bernie Sanders telling it like it is.

The House Finally Passes The Child Nutrition Act

Photo: Ben+Sam

Not a moment too soon the House passed The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act just two days ago after it passed the Senate in August. This is long overdo as far as I'm concerned and just before the holiday season, it puts school nutrition and our kids on the front burner again. That's not to say that disconcerting compromises didn't make for a less than perfect bill, but getting the bill passed is still a victory for kids faced with unhealthy lunches and pangs of unnecessary hunger across the nation.

Article continues: The House Finally Passes The Child Nutrition Act

Woman creates DIY TSA-like scanner

Want to scan friends and neighbors in all their naked glory? Well, Jeri Ellsworth decided the TSA was having too much fun with its own backscatter scanners and decided to come up with something similar. 

Full Story

Your Web surfing history is accessible (without your permission) via JavaScript

The Web surfing history saved in your Web browser can be accessed without your permission. JavaScript code deployed by real websites and online advertising providers use browser vulnerabilities to determine which sites you have and have not visited …

Full story

Fear of being envied makes people behave well toward others

It’s nice to have success — but it can also make you worry that the jealous people will try to bring you down. New research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, has found that the fear of being the target …

Full story

Famous People You Did Not Know Were Adopted

Famous People You Did Not Know Were Adopted

Farmers slowed down by hunter-gatherers: Our ancestors’ fight for space

Agricultural — or Neolithic — economics replaced the Mesolithic social model of hunter-gathering in the Near East about 10,000 years ago. One of the most important socioeconomic changes in human history, this socioeconomic shift, known as the Neolithic transition, spread gradually across Europe until it slowed down when more northern latitudes were reached.

Full story

Non Sequitur

Amazon.com adds Wikipedia-based book shopping pages

Amazon.com has quietly begun a project to duplicate Wikipedia content and use links in the content to point to books that can be purchased on Amazon.com. The so-called Shopping-enabled Wikipedia Page was reportedly created in November. 

Full Story

China's high-rise boom

Skyscrapers setting records in China

The country overtakes the U.S. as the global leader in building the planet's tallest structures.  

Reason for shift 

Also:

• World's tallest buildings
• Inside the priciest home
• Mecca's building boom

Chaos over two presidents

Ivory Coast sinks into political chaos

Presidential turmoil sweeps the African nation after two candidates take dueling oaths of office.  

Obama weighs in

Also: 

• More on the election
• Nigerian oil delta raids  
• South African corruption

Israeli forest fire arrests

Arrests in connection with Israeli blaze

While the forest fire continues to burn, police dismiss arson as the likely cause of the deadly incident.

41 killed 

Also: 

• Photos of the forest fire
• More on the blaze 
• Last resort for Abbas?

Sweet Dreams

Eurythmics

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused

I wanna use you and abuse you
I wanna know what's inside you
(Whispering) Hold your head up, movin' on
Keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on
Keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on
Keep your head up, movin' on
Movin' on!

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused

I'm gonna use you and abuse you
I'm gonna know what's inside
Gonna use you and abuse you
I'm gonna know what's inside you

On The Job

Why 'recession-proof jobs' don't exist

Workers in these professions once had almost guaranteed job security, but not anymore.  

The sobering reality 

Also: 

• Why jobs are so scarce  
• Where high earners live  
• Impress your boss

How trade pact affects jobs

How South Korea pact helps U.S. workers

President Obama praises a new trade agreement that could create more than 70,000 new jobs.  

Affected industries 

Also: 

• Obama: 'Landmark' deal
• South Korea slideshow
• New defense minister

Feed a family on $10 a day

Feed a family of four on $10 a day

The secret is buying grocery items that pack the most bang for the buck. 

One $5 chicken = two dinners for four 

Also: 

• Save $100 a month
• More grocery savings  
• Money lessons for women

End-of-the-year money moves

Smart end-of-the-year money moves

This checklist can help ensure that your financial records are in good shape for the new year. 

Spend so you can save 

Also: 

• Organizing tax receipts
• How to earn more money  
• Looking like a cheapskate

Mathematical curiosity

The first few powers of 5 share a curious property — their digits can be rearranged to express their value:

25 = 5²
125 = 5^{1 + 2}
625 = 5^{6 – 2}
3125 = (3 + (1 × 2))⁵
15625 = 5⁶ × 1²⁵
78125 = 5⁷ × 1⁸²

It’s conjectured that all powers of 5 have this property. But no one’s proved it yet.

Down on the Body Farm

A “body farm” is a facility for research on decomposing bodies. It can also be a training ground for criminal investigators. The fifth body farm in the US is preparing to open in Pennsylvania, which will give researchers a new environment to study.

“It’s so environment specific,” said Dr. Richard L. Jantz, Professor Emeritus and Director of the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee. “In east Tennessee, it’s not humid in the summer and it doesn’t get that cold, but in the southwest, it’s hot and dry all the time and things proceed differently.”
Cold weather generally slows the rate of decomposition, while heat, direct sunlight, and high humidity all accelerate it. A buried body, exposed to fewer elements, will decompose more slowly than one on the surface, but acidic soil and high soil moisture can work to speed up the process. The California University of Pennsylvania body farm, to be located in the southwestern corner of the state in a humid continental climate, will be subject to hot, humid summers (with an occasional heatwave); cold, snowy winters; and regular precipitation throughout the year. These climatic conditions, distinct from those in Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee, will likely affect corpses in undocumented ways and provide ample opportunity for new research.

Over 100 people each year donate their bodies for research on the farms. Read more about body farms at The Atlantic.

Ziggy

How You Catch A Cold

The common cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory system, including the nose, throat, sinuses, eustachian tubes, trachea, larynx, and bronchial tubes. Over 200 different viruses can cause a cold.

Although it is not true that getting wet or being in a draft causes a cold (a person has to come in contact with the virus to catch a cold), certain conditions may lead to increased susceptibility.

How You Catch A Cold.

First Snow

We had our first snowfall of the winter season yesterday.
As normal it was beautiful to watch falling and disappearing as it touched the earth.
We might get snow to stick around a while before the season is over ... well, we can hope can't we?

Hoar frost on a spideweb

Hoar frost may have different names depending on where it forms. For example, air hoar is a deposit of hoar frost on objects above the surface, such as tree branches, plant stems, wires; surface hoar is formed by fernlike ice crystals directly deposited on snow, ice or already frozen surfaces; crevasse hoar consists in crystals that form in glacial crevasses where water vapour can accumulate under calm weather conditions; depth hoar refers to cup shaped, faceted crystals formed within dry snow, beneath the surface.

Yukimarimo

"Yuki" means snow in Japanese, and "marimo" is a ball-like growth of water algae which the yukimarimo resemble.

During a storm on the Antarctic plateau the humidity is higher than normal. After a storm, the temperature rapidly drops and and due to the excess humidity, hoarfrost forms on the surface of the snow. At these low temperatures, electrostatic attraction between the rapidly formed ice crystals is high due to growth charging during formation. When a light wind blows after the formation of this hoarfrost, the hoarfrost breaks apart and the frost crystals clump together and stick due to the high electrostatic attraction and subsequent fusing of the ice crystals, and tumble across the snow in a manner similar to tumbleweed.  The sizes of the yukimarimo range from a few millimeters to several centimeters in diameter.

Giant Pink Snails Invade Miami

 

image credit

It sounds like the name of a long forgotten B-Movie from the 1950s but Miami has indeed been invaded by giant pink snails - 45 of them - and they are there with a purpose. However, unlike many of the alien invaders featured in many science fiction movies, these come in peace.

B.C.

Animal Pictures

Male Elephant Seal  by  Sean Bonnette.