weirdest news stories of year 2007 - getting started

aol news, chose a list of events to be the "top 11 weird news stories of 2007", & opened a poll for aol users to choose the weirdest of them. let's try here to list the stories detailed & make an opinion about them ...

Duct Tape Bandit:

A man, Kasey G. Kazee, 24, wrapped his head in duct tape and tried to rob an Ashland, Ky., liquor store. Kazee was charged with committing one of the area’s more bizarre crimes in recent memory.

According to the Ashland Police Department, Kazee entered the store with his entire face and head — save for openings for his eyes and mouth — covered with duct tape, and his shirt pulled up over his head in a manner reminiscent of “Cornholio”, the hyperactive alter ego of the character Beavis from the animated series “Beavis and Butthead”.

Kazee allegedly indicated to a female clerk that he had a knife and threatened to harm her if she didn’t give him the money out the cash register (later police said no weapon was found on the robber). The clerk complied and the robber turned and left.

Before he could make his getaway, though, an employee in the store, Craig Miller, tackled him in the parking lot. miller & several other men who came running over from the Foodland store next door helped to detain Kazee until the police arrived.

it seems that Kazee wasn't too greedy, as Manager Bill Steele said the register came up only $15 short when he counted it.

the Photo of Kazee above, was taken by police at the scene, show the suspect with his duct tape askew, his lip bloody and his eye swollen. Miller said that Kazee sustained those injuries when his face hit the blacktop after he tackled him.

more on the daily independent

193 miles floating on a chair attached to 109 balloons

on Saturday, July 7, Kent Couch from BEND, Oregon settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks and a parachute. Attached to the chair were 105 large helium balloons. his goal was to reach Idaho.

With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise — Couch headed into the Oregon sky.

Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer’s field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home:

“When you’re a little kid and you’re holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind, When you’re laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them, This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It’s just like that.”

Couch told the Bend Bulletin

Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters — who in 1982 without any flying experience, rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules. Larry Walters (April 19, 1949 – October 6, 1993) invented then what is now known as "Cluster ballooning":

Unlike traditional hot-air balloons, which possess vents for easy altitude control, cluster balloons rise uncontrollably, expanding as they go. Cluster balloonists must periodically cut balloons (disregarding where the balloons end up) loose to maintain altitude and descend. Bottled water is a common ballast, and can be partially emptied to slow descent.

wikipedia - Cluster ballooning

It was Couch’s second flight, In September 2006, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually parachuted to safety.

This time, he was better prepared. The balloons had a new configuration, so it was easier to reach up and release a bit of helium instead of simply cutting off a balloon.

a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog "isabella", followed him from earth as he was making about 25 miles an hour.

more on msnbc

YOu can also visit the official site dedicated to the exploit: couchballoons.com, you could maybe help couch find his lost chair & get a reward of $500 ... & below is a video with preparation then the fly, enjoy!

end of the first part.

tetris hysteria: playing the game in the biggest scale

tetris is a russian video game invented in the epoch of the ussr, exactly june 1985 by computer engineer alexey pajitnov, the game is basically a very addictive puzzle of falling blocks. tetris is famous for its simplicity & for its catchy melody (korobeiniki - a russian folk tune), it's a so old game & nevertheless didn't lose its popularity, especially that the game didn't really evaluate from its initial version, it gained in the quality of graphics & sounds, & in some advanced versions, new difficulties & elements were added, but the simple form of the tetris is still present & strong. in the ign (imagine games network) 2007 edition classification of the 100 greatest videogames of all time, tetris came in second place!

tetris is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players & pda's.

students of tampere university of technology in finland created what they called the "mikontalo lights project", it's one of the largest tetris games created ever, its platform wasn't less than a building & its lighten windows, they didn't just created the illusion, but a real game programmed professionally and played by a person on a cell phone. below is a short video of the game-play:

then, what about a marching band in a halftime show, making formations emulating tetris falling blocks & playing korobeiniki? it's below, enjoy!

visual illusion - trick your eyes & get hypnotized

this was sent to me by a friend, honestly when he started saying it was awesome, amazing then asked me to follow exactly his instructions that were "to stare at the very center of the video & not blink eyes" .. honestly I thought it was one of those bad jokes that end with some image of a disgusting creature & a loud sound .. finally it was not, it's a real illusion, an "improved version of the classic multi-directional wheel" it seems :|. basically I can describe it as a number of moving black & white strips, some move from the center to the borders of the screen & some to the center & finish by tricking the eyes but overall the brain.

ok, my turn to give you some instructions before you watch the video, it's better to be close to your monitor or to enable full-screen mode, you may get a headache at the end, or like me nausea (obviously because I watched it five times), but I guess it's worth it anyways, enjoy! :)

Super Strength Visual Hypnosis - The most amazing home videos are here

indian stars worshiped -part 2

we learned in the first part about the stories of the goddess santoshi maa & the demigod rajkumar, let's continue, first with actor amitabh bachchan then actress shilpa shetty ...

a temple for superstar amitabh bechchan

amitabh bachchan is probably the biggest bollywood and india's star, he appeared in more than 100 films in three decades. he made his name in the seventies and eighties as an action hero. particularly in the 1970s he became known for his violent anti-heroes roles, and was admired by women for his handsome looks and deep voice.

to give you an idea about his popularity even outside india, in 1999 the bbc news online opened a survey to elect the greatest star of stage or screen of the last millennium & amitabh was voted in first by a large margin, pushing sir laurence olivier into second place, followed by sir alec guinness in third.

amitabh like rajkumar is worshiped by his fans, for example when he was seriously injured during the filming of coolie (1983), thousands of fans kept vigil outside his hospital. much later in 2001 for his 59 anniversary, bachchan was promoted from demigod to the status of god, this transition for his fans across the world was as smooth as their idol's metamorphosis from the idolized "angry young man" of the 1970s to a new dignified and fatherly image in his latest movies.

indiainfo.com, described a ceremony in which started the traditional hindu way of worship at 8:30 a.m. first worshiping lord ganesh (the elephant god), then lord narayan and finally god amitabh bachchan. the ceremony was conducted by six qualified priests chanting hymns from scriptures in front of a huge garlanded framed photograph of young bachchan, at the amitabh bachchan fans association (abfa) club in the dumdum neighborhood, added to bachchan photograph , photographs of hindu gods ganesh & narayan, part of the pantheon as well. a sculptor even built a bust plaster of bachchan for the ceremony.

a diehard bachchan fan formulated the following question: "a person who has touched so many lives, can he be any less than a god?"

the day maked the beginning of amitabh utsav, a festival that lasted four months, in which, among other things, the abfa organized philanthropic activities in honor of bachchan, treated 1,000 patients at four microsurgery eye camps & undertook a campaign of eyes donation, the festival ended by feeding the poor people from the area in a community feast sponsored by the club.

a temple for amitabh bachchan in the dumdum area where an idol of the cine star has been installed. the "rules" for entering the temple are unique. a devotee wishing to pray before bachchan's idol would first have to recite dialogues from some of his famous films. also instead of religious hymns, bachchan's dialogues from his films would be chanted during prayer sessions.

shilpa shetty: a bollywood actress worshiped outside india

ok, as an introduction let's answer this question: are indians really special for worshiping their stars? in fact the answer is no! the act of idolizing movies & music stars & other celebrities is common everywhere, in india it's just characterized by its ceremonial & strictly religious dimension.

sadhavi sharma, a writer based in bombay, wrote an interesting article on spiked-online.com denouncing the hypocrisy of the west when mocking indians for turning their favorite actors & actresses into gods & goddesses:

Many in the West view the wonderfully idiosyncratic world of Bollywood as bizarre. It is true that in Bombay [...], ardent fans will wait for hours outside the gates of certain film stars’ homes, hoping to catch a glimpse of their idols – though that happens in Hollywood, too. [...] Perhaps – but let’s not forget that some locks of Britney Spears’ hair are reportedly up for sale for around £500,000. It is not only in apparently weird India where celebs are treated as oracles these days, and their possessions passed around like pseudo-religious relics.

the article titled "worshipping a bollywood actress? how backward", talks mainly about actress & model shilpa shetty who was transformed to a divinity, not in india but in britain!

shetty participated in the reality tv show "celebrity big brother 2007" on british "channel 4", first she was victim of racism by some housemates which was followed by a wide indignation in & outside britain, then the growing popularity of shetty turned her nearly to a goddess not only in the eyes of the masses but at the highest echelons of british society; politicians, journalists and community activists in britain have elevated shetty to the role of "high priestess of unity"; a potential saviour whose grace under fire should be a lesson, and whose values might help to fix a "broken nation" and unite the masses.

shitty finally was the winner of the show, a daily mail newspaper reader declared: "shilpa won because of her inner beauty. she is so forgiving and a wonderful human being.". after so she attended a reception at the house of commons, to meet with then-british prime minister tony blair. she was also invited to meet with queen elizabeth II. she was also the subject of a documentary entitled "the real shilpa shetty".

the british political class according to sadhavi sharma seemed "to be clinging to shetty in the hope that she will inject new meaning and purpose into british politics.". he also doesn't understand how a little argument in a reality show could have such a impact in the media & politics:

The British have transformed a rather boring incident (two celebrities arguing about Oxo cubes on a rubbish reality show) into a melodrama involving forces of good and evil, slags and a dignified Indian; in its fairytale simplicity, it is a match for anything produced by Bollywood in recent years.

sharma finishes his article with these words:

The Indians who ‘worship’ their screen gods and goddesses for taking them on three-hour fantastical journeys in the local cinema look perfectly rational in comparison to a British elite that believes a fading Bollywood actress can save Britain and unite the nation.

everybody wanted that iphone ...

we live in societies of consumption, we are always tempted to buy more, newer, better & dearer, & often we yield to the temptation because the sellers do well their job & target our weakest points to drive us give them our money, we may regret our spends later but it would be too late ...

the guys from olde english comedy made a very interesting sketch for june the 29th from this year 2007, which was if you remember "the iphone day", I didn't see it that time but only few days ago, you may say it's outdated, but "precisely" (in my opinion) the sketch denounces the "fashion" culture which gets us run to be "up to date" & promotes ideas like "you are less good then other people who bought this or that product till you buy the product".

ok, now there's a a great video you'll have to watch, it's another must see, a modern silent show made in the style of charlie chaplin, the sound tracks are an amazing work from jesse novak & the acting is just matching them perfectly. it's one of the best videos I ever watched online, enjoy! :)

bollywood moviestars worship - part 1

india, the country of philosophy, spirituality & religion; according to friedrich max muller (a german philologist and orientalist), the study of religion is incomplete unless it is studied with reference to india:

take religion and where can you study its true origin, its natural growth, and its inevitable decay better than in india, the home of brahmanism, the birth place of buddhism and the refuge of zoroastrianism even now the matter of new superstitions - and why not, in the future the regenerate child of the purest faith, if only purified from the dust of nineteen centuries?

max muller, 'india what can it teach us.' p.13.

india is also the cradle of hinduism, one of the world's most ancient religions, a colorful religion with a vast gallery of gods and goddesses. hindus could have as gods legendary divinities or as miserable creatures as rats & build temples for them. in this tradition and as a modern manifestation of it even bollywood stars have their idolaters in india!

a film scenario bring up a new divinity!

let's start with a rather old example taken from an article on goddess worship,

maha devi, is a powerful hindu goddess who could triumph over evil demoniac powers that even the gods (like brahma and vishnu) were powerless against. traditions in india assert that maha devi has the ability to manifest herself in infinitely many ways but that she is nevertheless one, one of these manifestations was the appearance of the goddess "santoshi maa" in the 1975 movie "jai santoshi maa"; of course before the film few (if any) people had ever heard of this goddess - but she became a major religious figure when the movie became a hit.

her devotees insist that she has always existed, and that there is no essential difference between her and other hindu goddesses. it is said that during public showings of the film, the theatre is:

... transformed into a kind of temple, and the act of seeing the film is often taken as an act of worship.

stanley kurtz, all the mothers are one: hindu india and the cultural reshaping of psychoanalysis, 18

do gods die?

the second case relates to riots in the city of bangalore following the death by heart attack of the south indian film actor rajkumar in april 2006; bangalore's streets on the 12th and 13th of the same month turned into a stage for tear gas, gunfire, burning cars and bloody street clashes between the police and 60 thousand of rajkumar's supporters. eight persons were dead including a policeman who got killed and strung up by outraged fans attempting to gain entry into their hero's funeral.

a little precision, the use of the term "bollywood" is inaccurate when talking about the films produced in the south of india, bollywood movies are those hindi-language films produced in mumbai in the north.

rajkumar was the face, hero and defender of the regional cultural identity. his rise coincided with the assertion of kannada language and culture, at a time when indian film was dominated by films from the north. he was an elder statesman and father figure who carried a burden much greater than that of film star. he represented a culture under siege.

stephen hughes, Indian film and culture scholar at the university of london's school of oriental and african studies.

end of the first part ... second part starts here

electromagnetic wormholes could allow invisibility

I always thought the things and creatures made invisible in the fictions on tv & cinema, weren't ready to be invisible in real, because invisibility involves three dimensions, a viewer can be anywhere around the object that should be hidden, & instead of this object, he should view the scenery behind it, this part of the scenery, when the object is visible, is hidden by it, & should be emulated by the layer that covers the object in order to hide it; as the scenery behind the object is different according to where the viewer is, the image reflected by that layer should be unique for each viewer & credible of course.

that's what in my eyes makes invisibility - artificial invisibility - too complicated.

never mind if you didn't get some of or all what I was trying to explain .. to enter the topic, it seems that a group of mathematicians, of the university of rochester, recently thought up a way to build a device called "electromagnetic wormhole" that could make objects traveling through it invisible.

according to the same scientists, the electromagnetic wormhole is not what's commonly known as a "wormhole" - a feature of spacetime that is essentially a 'shortcut' through space and time that could serve for traveling over vast distances - instead, the theorized wormtunel is supposed to make an object inside it electromagnetically invisible to outside observation.

one of the scientists allan greenleaf says:

It would create a complete a disconnection between the outside world and stuff inside the cloaking region, it's good for hiding things.

the stealthiness of the electromagnetic wormhole is originated from a coating of "metamaterials", artificial substances distinguished from other composite materials for having unusual properties such as the ability to bend light in novel ways ... if for instance light is bend from some surface, this one will become invisible.

previously, in october 2006, researchers from duke university led by david r. smith, had demonstrated that a shield of metamaterials about 5 inches (13 centimeters) wide could become invisible (more about that here), however, it was not a true invisibility cloak since it only worked in two dimensions and only at microwave frequencies while humans and other animals see light at much higher frequencies.

you can read more on national geographic site from which I got the information.

little indian super usher star - history

below are two videos of a little movie & dance star, an awesome indian "kid" dancing like usher or mickael jackson (probably better if you consider the age he seems to have).

the first video especially is a real must see, the second is a short scene in which the "kid" doing some funny acrobatics.

beneath the two videos is some information I gathered about the little dancer & the clips, then anoher video lol! enjoy! :)

I made some searches, & it seems the two videos with the kid are taken from a southern indian movie called "apoorva sahodarargal" ("strange brothers" in english).

the little kid dancing is not a kid actually but a midget, a 20 years old adult the time the film was shot. the role was played by kamal hassan, who played a double role: the midget appu, a sircus clown, & his twin raja, a mechanic.

in the first video, there are two midgets in fact, appu but also the second person sat on the bed from right hand side.

hmm .. as a bonus, here's an american parody of the first video:

applications conflicts: girlfriend 6.0 - 7.0, wife 1.0 - 2.0, mistress 1.x, etc

hmm .. it seems people didn't finish complaining about different versions of girlfriend, wife 1.0 & even the newest wife 2.0.

to get what I mean, few time ago I posted a mail from a troubled user who upgraded from girlfriend 7.0 to wife 1.0 & was surprised with the radical differences between the two systems. the mail was sent to technical support which replied explaining those difficulties were common to the majority of the men who went through the same process.

if you don't get what I mean, it's about my entry titled: for fun review: girlfriend 7.0 v.s. wife 1.0

a hilarious review for me and many men I guess, but for women, I'm not sure ...

anyways, today I came across new complaints & queries from girlfriend or wife users. the one below is from a girlfriend 7.0 user this time, he saw the consequences of his friend's change to wife 1.0 & learned his lesson, however, we'll see that to stick with less resources consuming systems like girlfriend, has also its disadvantages.


dear tech support,

I have a friend who upgraded last year upgraded from girlfriend 6.0 to wife 1.0 and found that it's insatiable of memory leaving very little system resources available for other applications. worse, he is now noticing that wife 1.0 is also generating child processes which are further consuming valuable resources. this particular phenomena wasn't mentioned at all in the brochure or documentation of the product, though other users have informed him that due to the nature of the application, this is to be expected.

not only that, wife 1.0 installs itself so that it is always launched at system initialization, where it can monitor all other system activity. my friend's finding that he's no longer able to run some applications in the system at all, reputable applications such as pokernight 10.3, beerbash 2.5, and publate 7.0, drive the system to crash the system when selected, even though they always worked fine before.

during installation, wife 1.0 provides no option as to the installation of undesired plug-ins such asmotherinlaw 55.8 and brotherinlaw beta release. Also, system performance seems to diminish with each passing day.

some features he'd like to see in the upcoming wife 2.0.

• a "don't remind me again" button
• a minimize button
• an install shield feature that allows wife 2.0 be installed with the option to uninstall at any time without the loss of cache and other system resources
• an option to run the network driver in promiscuous mode which would allow the system's hardware probe feature to be much more useful.

I myself decided to avoid the headaches associated with wife 1.0 by sticking with girlfriend 7.0. even here, however, I found many problems. apparently you cannot install girlfriend 7.0 on top of girlfriend 6.0. you must first uninstall girlfriend 6.0. other users say this is a long standing bug that I should have known about. apparently the different versions of girlfriend have conflicts over shared use of the i/o port. I hope they've fixed such a stupid bug by now.

to make matters worse, The uninstall program for girlfriend 6.0 doesn't work very well as it leaves undesirable traces of the application in the system. another thing, all versions of girlfriend especially the latest, continually popup little annoying messages about the advantages of upgrading to wife 1.0.

sincerely,
troubled user

technical support suggestions

dear user,

these are very common problems men complain about, but is mostly due to a primary misconception. many people upgrade from girlfriend 6.0 to wife 1.0 with the idea that wife 1.0 is merely a utilities & entertainment program. wife 1.0 is indeed an operating system and designed by its creator to run everything.

it is unlikely you would be able to purge wife 1.0 and still convert back to girlfriend 6.0. hidden operating files within your system would cause girlfriend 6.0 to emulate wife 1.0 so nothing is gained. it is impossible to uninstall, delete, or purge the program files from the system once installed. wife 1.0 is not designed to not allow you go back to girlfriend 6.0.

some have tried to install girlfriend 7.0 or wife 2.0 but end up with more problems than the original system. Look in your manual under "warnings - alimony / child support". I recommend you keep wife 1.0 and deal with the situation.

I suggest installing background application program c:\yes dear to alleviate software augmentation. having installed wife 1.0 myself, I might also suggest you read the entire section regarding general partnership faults (gpf's). you must assume all responsibility for faults and problems that might occur, regardless of their cause. the best course of action will be to enter the command c:\apologize. in any case avoid excessive use of c:\yes dear because ultimately you may have to give the apologize command before the operating system will return to normal. the system will run smoothly as long as you take the blame for all the gpf's.

wife 1.0 stays however a great program, but it's very high-maintenance. I usually advise users to buy additional software to improve its performance & especially recommend flowers 3.1 and diamonds 2k. do not, under any circumstances, install secretary 3.3 with shortskirt 2.5. this is not a supported application for wife 1.0 and is likely to cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

bug warning:

wife 1.0 has an undocumented bug. if you try to install mistress 1.1 before uninstalling wife 1.0, wife 1.0 will delete msmoney files before doing the uninstall itself. what will have as a result, mistress 1.1 refuses to install, claiming insufficient resources.

bug work-around:

to avoid this bug, try installing mistress 1.1 on a different system and never run any file transfer applications such as laplink 6.0. also, beware of similar shareware applications that have been known to carry viruses that may affect wife 1.0. another solution would be to run mistress 1.1 via a usenet provider under an anonymous name. here again, beware of the viruses which can accidentally be downloaded from the usenet.

Best of Luck,
Tech Support

strange restaurant serving strange meals

did you ever thought of going to a restaurant & to order websites as your lunch or dinner? on the internet, things like that or weirder can happen to you, there are a lot of people creating all sorts of crazy websites, well, the word "crazy" groups a lot of things, some of those "creations" doesn't deserve to be mentioned here, because their only purpose is to be controversial & to get people's attention ...

... hmm, before I get lost talking about irrelevant things, let's be back to our restaurant, you need first to check the menu, then to push a button & type your choice in a box that popups ... be careful not to choose something that's not on the menu, seems the restaurant holders don't appreciate ...

ok, check it out, not sure you would like, it's something unusual, but anyways, have fun! :)

the internet big fish restaurant - take revenge

jeremy lavine el niño essay - video version

by chance I came across a video on youtube with the documentary version of jeremy lavine's el niño essay, I didn't like in fact, neither the narrator with his "adult" voice nor the drawings & the things they represent, that often happen when you read a book then go to see the movie adapted on it, usually you prefer the book & the images you made in your head to what the movie makers imagined & realized.

well, who knows? some people would like, maybe if I get some time (& a better internet connection) I'd make & upload a video with my own drawings & my voice emulating jeremy's :p I really think it would be much better ... place to the video :)

for fun review: girlfriend 7.0 v.s. wife 1.0

another must read!

these two e-mails are to make you rofl!, well, maybe not all of you, some women could not find them funny at all! and some of them would think the only reason I'm posting them for is sexism or something in that kind.

in fact the reason is just they are hiiilllaaaaarious!!! that's all, and then, I like to post interesting stuff in my blog. if it was something about men, I would do the same.

well, I think most of people have enough sens of humor to enjoy this, so have fun, and if you know anything that makes fun of men, don't hesitate to post it in a comment! :)

now, place to the real content, two weird messages most likely made by a creative guy & are supposed to involve two crazy individuals ...

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0.

I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0 ,Hunting and Fishing 7.5 , and Golfing 3.6.

I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0 , but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0 . Please help!

Thanks,

Troubled User.....

now the reply our "troubled user" got from the "tech support":

Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING !!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0 It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support . I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE! because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0 , Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5 Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0!



WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3 This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system!

Best of luck,

Tech Support

weird art ... again!

this is another site I came across with weird art work in it, this time it's about design, & this time it really looks like art to me, not like those duvet covers messed up lol! but still it's strange art that gives you some unusual feelings, I'm especially talking about these two works:

messed up

no cloning!

they look like victor frankenstein's work from various organic parts, no?

the collection of works & designs is on 3visuals.com, enjoy them while listening to an original tune, plus learn more about chakib lounes the creator.

there's also an older post on a another strange site from mr. stupid.

what sort of bizarre art is this?

I understand it's not supposed to have any sort of logic as it's a "work of art", but the problem is that I can't see anything artistic in it either ... it's just something weird & confusing, I can't see the beauty of art in it, or let's say, I can neither see the way it's intended to stimulate my senses & mind nor the emotions it should be transmitting to me?

I'm talking about three photos from eight made in a series for the magazine mode depesche n°5, january 2007, cologne, the full series was published on gneborg.org (try to explore the site, there are many other interesting works).

to be honest it only succeeded to make me laugh! I'm I missing something? is it my art insensibility? or is the matter all about the art work itself?

we are scammed! everywhere!

note: if you are bored seeing this long article & just want to see some weird & funny pictures, go directly to them; to those willing to read it, big respect & thanks in advance! :)

first what's scam?

one of dictionary.com meanings:

-noun
1. a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle.
–verb (used with object)
2. to cheat or defraud with a scam.

I've been surfing the internet for a while now doing various things, & I have the strange feeling that 90% of other surfers are scammers; scammers are everywhere, sending emails, posting in forums, running blogs & even owning websites, sometimes big & expensive websites.

but what about off-line scam? I guess real life scammers are as numerous as internet scammers, after all, scammers on the internet are also real people with real lives too, but maybe they have more freedom on the web, as they can act anonymously from anywhere & reach anyone, anywhere; do their stuff and disappear then reappear under a new identity & so on ...

but I can prove though real life scammers actually exist! they sell you plain bread with the price of delicious sandwiches!

pictures

now, are all scammers humans? in fact no! at least on-line, it's proved there are "scammers-bots", some of those steal your passwords & some even your money; it's true they are commended by humans, but still they are (ro)bots.

again, do inhuman scammers exist in real life? not sure, but at least I'm sure inhuman scam exits! sometimes, you are presented to a nice big watermelon, but once opened, there's not much to eat!

picture

car on wall or graphic illusion?

click to enlarge

first when I saw this map on google maps, I didn't believe it was actually a car on wall but a graphic illusion as what I'm often seeing lately, an illusion made especially to trick satellites; if you don't get what I mean, you may want to check some of the great 3d graphic illusions on tricks & illusions.

in fact it's actually a car parked on a wall! well, it's not defying gravity laws, but an art work by theo van laar in the town of den haag / netherlands, below are two interesting photos of it by harry van reeken:

the "spider car" photographed from earth


looks very beautiful viewed at night

see also the car on google maps clicking here, or click here for a view on google earth

you may want to see also google earth view to the largest "marry me" ever.

welcome to "lot of random letters" village

in fact it's llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch village


let's analyze and try to guess the subliminal messages in this weird and apparently retarded appellation:

it's composed of 58 letters: 40 are consonants & 18 vowels.

there are three As, one B, two Cs, one D, one E, one F, seven Gs ... hmmm, I'm getting something ... two Hs, three Is, no J!!! and no K ... interesting ... 11 Ls, zero Ms, four Ns, six Os, one P, no Q, four Rs, one S, one T, no U, no V, four Ws, no X, five Ys and no Z ... wow!

I managed also to extract the words: fair, air, go, rob & ant.

well, seriously & according to wikipedia, the original name of the village is llanfair pwllgwyngyl, it is as well a community on the island of anglesey in wales, the village's extreme long name is not an authentic welsh-language toponym, but was artificially contrived in the 1860s in an attempt to develop the village as a commercial and tourist center.

also according to wikipedia, the world longest place name in the world is (in two parts or else I'll have some troubles with my blog):

part 1: tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeatu
part 2: ripukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu

it means in māori "the summit where tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his flute to his loved one".

any volunteers for the analysis?

strange things with planes

let's see some weird & original things with planes & aircrafts.

for example, we hear often that planes are the safer transport means & that more chances are there that you die in your way to the airport than in plane crash; just to confirm this fact, do you know that more people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes?! (I remind you a donkey is also a transport mean).

first, here is a series of planes photos in strange positions because of mysterious events I don't know & can't guess, they might be things like the one illustrated in the sign above ... anyways, enjoy & try to guess by your self!

now something really extreme:

now more pictures with planes, only this time it's not about accidents:

I promised it's not about planes crashes or accidents, this one in fact is an advertisement ... of what? of the shop or whatever is in that building ...



this is what I call the convertible aircraft, I didn't know it was possiple to fly safely without a closed cockpit, especially on this kind of high speed/altitude planes



well, the most amusing for the end, it seems preflights in africa sometimes look like this!

see also murphy's law applications on airports & planes

attention dogs guardians, attention dogs!

no really! why should signs address only to humans?! why not to animals too?! signs makers just need to use the right language understood by cats, dogs or whatever, et voilà!

click to enlarge

of course only animals that can read can follow instructions, but it's the same for humans so ...

the prophecy of the titanic sinking

the titanic sinking, is probably the most famous in history, that happened during her maiden voyage exactly the night of 14 to 15 april 1912 after a collision with an iceberg, around 1500 people perished. the mean reasons of the legend made around the tragic end of the titanic are that she was was the largest passenger steamship & the most luxurious in the world at that time, it was also considered a pinnacle of technological achievement & above all to be practically unsinkable thanks to her double-bottom hull & 16 watertight compartments.

the novel that predicted the incident!

in 1898 (14 years before the titanic sunk), american author morgan robertson published a short fictional novel named "futility", the novel featured a british ship named "titan" (the novel is also known as "the wreck of the titan").

the ship was the biggest ever made by men, unequaled regarding her luxury & technology, her nineteen water-tight compartments (16 in the titanic) allow her to keep floating even if nine of them were flooded, making her "practically unsinkable" & that's why she carried only 24 lifeboats able to carry 500 people (the titanic: 20 able to carry 1266) from the 2000 passengers on board (the titanic: 2435). the total passenger capacity of the titan was 3000 (3745 on the titanic).

the titan as the titanic sank in april after being pierced by an iceberg on her starboard side, as the titanic too, the disaster took place in the north atlantic ocean, a few hundreds miles off u.s. coast, the collision happened near midnight for the titan & exactly 11.40pm for the titanic!

those are the most striking similarities, talking about differences, there were some of course, the titan for example was on her third return trip from new york, while it was the maiden voyage to new york for the titanic. these differences though, are nothings if compared to the numerous incredibly uncanny & bizarre similitude between the fictitious & real incident.

read the novel futility on titanic-titanic.com

some other droll facts on the titanic

as a bonus, here are some interesting facts from miamisci.org

• A first-class ticket for a parlor suite on Titanic cost $4,350, which would be approximately $50,000 today.
• First-class passengers had the luxury of paying for their leisure while on board: a ticket to the swimming pool cost 25¢, while a ticket for the squash court (as well as
• the services of a professional player) cost 50¢.
• The forward part of the boat deck was promenade space for first-class passengers and the rear part for second-class passengers. People from these classes thus had the best chance of getting into a lifeboat simply because they could get to them quickly and easily.
• The Titanic had its own newspaper, the Atlantic Daily Bulletin, prepared aboard the ship. In addition to news articles and advertisements, it contained a daily menu, the latest stock prices, horse-racing results, and society gossip.
• A medical officer greeted the third-class passengers. He wanted to be sure that none of the immigrants had any health problems that would prevent them from entering the United States.
• There were only two bathtubs for the more than 700 third-class passengers aboard the ship.
• Sixty chefs and chefs’ assistants worked in the Titanic’s five kitchens. They ranged from soup cooks and roast cooks to pastry cooks and vegetable cooks. There was a kosher cook, too, to prepare the meals for the Jewish passengers.
• Dorothy Gibson, a 28-year-old silent screen actress, was the resident movie star for the Titanic. She would later star in Saved from the Titanic, a movie made one month after the disaster. Her costume was the dress she wore on the night of the sinking.
• Tennis player R. Norris Williams and his father, Charles D., felt it was too cold to remain out on deck as the ship went down, so they went into the gym to ride the exercise bikes.