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Jul 21, 2008

Fake Robert de Niro caught in Romania

Real Robert de Niro

A fake Robert de Niro, who is actually a member of an east European forgery ring, has been arrested in Romania. The man was dressed up like the Hollywood star with a designer suit and sunglasses , butt got caught when he tried to pass himself off during a routine police roadside vehicle check.

Police officers in Iasi, Eastern Romania, instantly knew that something fishy was going on when he called himself Robert de Niro, the renowned Hollywood actor. A search of the man's home later exposed him as part of a forgery gang that had been helping provide fake Romanian ID's to people from Moldova wanting to get work in western Europe.

Police officers said: "We knew that Robert de Niro would not be driving alone around a remote part of the country. We guessed he was an imposter."

$20K Earrings recovered from garbage

A jeweler in Staten Island, New York has found a pair of diamond earrings in a truckload of trash. So, what's interesting here? The interesting thing is that it's worth is about $20,000 it was accidently thrown away. So, getting it back out of garbage is like a miracle for the owner.

The 3-carat diamond earrings were found when Haya Sharon, the jeweler, her husband and city sanitation employees sorted through a smelly heap of garbage in Fresh Kills landfill. The earrings were in a small jar of cleaning solution, which a worker at the couple's jewelry store had accidentally thrown away.

Jul 20, 2008

Mitral Valve and a Healthy Life

The mitral valve is the "inflow valve" for the left side of the heart. It opens and closes to allow oxygenated blood to flow from the left atrium into the left ventricle. So, it is very important part of our body. A mitral valve replacement or repair is required in order to treat severe cases of mitral valve prolapse, heart valve stenosis, or other valvular diseases. Most surgeons will prescribe you to go for valve replacement or artificial valve implantation. It will work. But, there are some drawbacks in valve replacement. For example, patients are required to use blood thinners and any kind of infections in the valve will result in dangerous consequences. Valve replacement also increases the chances of stroke.

So, some surgeons have started to use the repairing techniques to treat the damaged valve. A valve repair still requires a major cardiac surgery but may offer the significant advantage of avoiding blood thinners. Repairing of valve also increases long-term survival rate and reduces the risk of stroke. Well, still mitral valve repair is a specialized technique and offered by only a few renowned hospitals worldwide.

If you are thinking about mitral valve surgery, you can contact the Maryland Heart Center of University of Maryland Medical Center. They are specialized in the surgical treatment of many valvular disease, including mitral valve repair surgery. In fact, they are the leaders in repairing mitral valve. They have successfully repaired the damaged mitral valves of 92% of their patients, instead of mitral valve replacement. This percentage is well above the national average and it was achieved only because of their highly skilled surgeons and use of advanced techniques.

Surgeons at the Maryland Heart Center now routinely performs a minimally invasive and videoscopic mitral valve repair surgery. This special surgery is performed through a two-inch keyhole incision on the side of the chest and enables patients to return to normal life sooner after surgery.

For more information about mitral valve surgery and other related service you can visit the official website of Maryland Heart Center (www.umm.edu/heart/). On their website, you will learn a lot of things about heart diseases and cardiac surgeries. Their website also provides some phone numbers, that you can use to book an appointment or to inquire about their services.

Maze of Statue of Liberty

Tom Pearcy, a British farmer has created a 1,300 feet (400 meters) long maze in the shape of the Statue of Liberty in northern England. Take a look at the aerial photo above. The Statue of Liberty created on this maze is 10 times the size of the original statue.

How he created the amazing maze? Pearcy first cut the maze's outline in a field near the city of York and used more than a million maize plants to create the final intricate pattern within. Pearcy began creating interesting attractions like this, five years ago to bring more people to the countryside after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease reduced farmers' incomes. His earlier patterns have included a Viking ship and the Big Ben clock from Britain's Parliament. Link

read more “Maze of Statue of Liberty”

New Grand Marshal vehicle in Magic Kingdom

Disney has introduced a new Grand Marshal vehicle in their Magic Kingdom theme park for carrying guests of honor down the daily parade route in grand style. To fit the theme of Main Street, USA, the vehicle was designed after a 1912 touring car. The vehicle also features Mickey Mouse tread designs on all four tires and the spare tire attached to the rear. Link

World's Tallest Roller Coaster Model

This is Branden Moyer, a 18-year-old boy from USA, who have just set a new world record for building the Tallest Roller Coaster Model. Moyer achieved this feat by building a 36 feet tall, 50 feet long free-standing roller coaster out of thousands of K'NEX toy pieces. His coaster is a 1/10th-scale replica of Kingda Ka, a 456-foot high steel roller coaster situated at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.

The track of Moyer's roller coaster is about 400 feet long and the roller coaster car will travel up to 70 mph, after being sling shotted to the top of the first hill by 25 rubber bands. Moyer, who has an obsession for roller coasters, used about 35,000 to 40,000 K'NEX pieces and spent $6,000 in building his model. Most of the money came from 30 local businesses that have sponsored his project. What's next? Moyers now wants to make a living by designing amazing roller coasters for theme parks. via World Records Academy

100 Billion Dollar Bank Note

Zimbabwe is facing serious inflation. Unlike most of other countries, the inflation rate is not a small amount but a record 2.2 million percent. So, there is a great shortage of cash notes in the southern African country. In a fresh bid to tackle the present cash shortage, the central bank of Zimbabwe has introduced a new 100-billion-dollar bank note. Can you believe this?

The new 100-billion-dollar note will go into circulation on Monday and will join about half a dozen other new high denomination notes issued this year to tackle economic crisis. The other high denomination notes inludes 10 million, 50 million, 100 million and 250 million, 5 billion, 25 billion and 50 billion.

Jul 19, 2008

Parajet Skycar - The Carbon Neutral Flying Car

This is a picture of Parajet Skycar, a flying car that is under development and will soon become a common sight in our skies. The Parajet Skycar is a part of the Skycar Expedition, that aims at traveling 4500 km from London to Timbouctou through the heart of the Sarhara desert. The expedition will start in March 2009.

The company claims that Parajet Skycar, will be the world’s first carbon neutral flying car. Why? Because Parajet Spykar will use a special zero carbon footprint, synthetic Bio-fuel produced from landfill sites!

The Parajet Skycar can carry one pilot and one passenger. It is capable of take-off from a field or airstrip in less than 200 metres. In case the Yamaha R1 1000cc motorcycle engine, that powers the car fails, the pilot will be able to glide down into the nearest field or strip of sandy desert. And in the event of catastrophic wing failure, car connection system failure or mid-air collision, an emergency ballistic reserve parachute will be deployed to save the riders.

During "road mode", the car will be able to accelerate 0-100 kmph in 4.5 seconds, have a top speed of 180 kmph and a range of 400 km. And on fly mode, the Parajet Skycar will have a take-off speed of 60 kmph, a top speed of 110 kmph and a range of 300 km. Cruising altitude will be 2000 – 3000 ft with a maximum altitude of 15,000 ft. The interesting thing is that conversion from "road mode" to "fly mode" and visa-versa will take just three minutes. Link

Failing same exam for 38th time!

Shiv Charan, a 74 year old pensioner from the desert state of Rajasthan, India has failed the class 10 exam for the 38th time! Can you believe this? Shiv Charan first appeared the exam in 1969, but failed. So, he vowed to continue appearing in the exam until he passes or dies.

"It is not in my nature to change. I will fulfil my commitment and continue taking the board examinations till I pass, no matter how long it takes", he said.

This year, he had failed in all subject except one. He scored 14 per cent in English, 17 per cent in science, 5 per cent in mathematics and 25 per cent in Sanskrit. He only managed to pass in Hindi, scoring 34 per cent.

Different Color Twin Born in Germany

Can you think about twins with different skin color? It is beyond imagination of many people and a very rare case. In fact, the probability of twins with different color is one in a million. But, Florence (35) from Ghana and Stephan (40) from Germany were lucky enough to become parents of twins with different colors. On July 11, Florence gave birth to the different color twins in Berlin, Germany.

"Ryan came first, and everything was as usual. But when Leo was born, I couldn't believe my eyes," Birgit Weber, the doctor who carried out the cesarean section said. Ryan, who is lighter in color weighed 2.650 kilograms. On the other hand, Leo, with dark skin color was born weighing 2.606 kilograms. Link

Want to read more about different color twins? Read our earlier post on Black and White twins from Erdington, Birmingham.