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Mar 6, 2008

Artificial Flood in Grand Canyon

On Wednesday, U.S. authorities started a man-made flood in the Grand Canyon in an attempt to restore the canyon's ecosystem. Three hundred thousand gallons (1,135,623 liters) of water per second gush from Arizona's Glen Canyon Dam during a media event on Wednesday. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne pulled a lever releasing water from the Glen Canyon Dam, which regulates the flow of the Colorado River. He said the flooding is meant to help redistribute sediment deposits to rebuild beaches downstream.

Completed in 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam did away with the river's natural spring floods and generally caused the water to become cooler and clearer, sending some native fish species to extinction.

But, the superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, Steve Martin fears there are non-environmental motives for this artificial flooding. He said to a newspaper that the timing was designed to please hydroelectric power producers. Link

World's Smallest Working Revolver

Take a look at the world's smallest working revolver. The SwissMiniGun measures just 2.16 inches long (5.5cm) but can fire real 4.53 bullets up to a range of 367ft (112m). The gun is the first product of the SwissMiniGun company, a gunsmiths based at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Presently, the gun is being marketed as a collector's item.

The stainless steel gun costs £3,000 although the manufacturers also produce extravagant, made-to-order versions made out of 18-carat gold with customised diamond studs which sell for up to £30,000.

A Guinness World Records spokesman confirmed the gun held the record as the word's smallest working revolver.

This tiny gun cannot be imported into the US and UK, and buyers in Switzerland and Europe must produce an import permit from police to obtain one. Link

Mar 5, 2008

Picture of avalanches in Mars

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the first ever image of active avalanches near the Red Planet's north pole. Take a look at the amazing picture above. It was taken on February 19th, 2008. The orbiter's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Experiment) camera took this image when it was checking for springtime changes in the carbon-dioxide frost covering a northern dune field.

"We don't know what set off these landslides," says Patrick Russell of the University of Berne, Switzerland, a HiRISE team collaborator. "We plan to take more images of the site through the changing Martian seasons to see if this kind of avalanche happens all year or is restricted to early spring." Link

Lifecar - a Green Sports Car

A cool "zero-emission" sports car with a top speed of nearly 100mph is set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The hydrogen-powered Lifecar, based on the design of the Morgan Aero-8 roadster, produces little noise and only water vapour from its exhaust.

The lightweight model packs advanced fuel cells and an energy storage system that gives the car a range of 250 miles (400km) per tank of hydrogen. The fuel cells in the Lifecar produce about 22 kilowatts - roughly one fifth of the amount of power of a typical combustion engine.

Lifecar has been developed by a consortium of UK companies and universities. The £1.9m project to build the Lifecar was partly funded by the UK government. It took nearly three years to develop this this green car. Link

Going to buy a Piano

We love the sound of Pianos and now we are going to buy a Piano for our home. The reason is gospel music! Yes, gospel music. We are regularly listening gospel music online since 2003. Gospel music refreshes our minds. Now this is the time for trying our hands on piano! We have already collected some good gospel piano sheets. Let's see, what will happen!

Well, are you looking for a good piano dealer in MA, Massachusetts? We know one, called the Piano Man Inc and it is really a good and reliable store. The Piano Man Inc. is an unique, one stop shop that offers everything related to pianos, piano accessories and piano services. They have a good collection of new, used and vintage pianos. Piano Man is an authorized representative for several reputed piano brands available in the market today. So be sure to get the best stuffs there!

Piano Man was founded in 1993 and headquartered in Waltham MA. Today, Piano Man offers the largest and most complete line of pianos, organs and accompaniments in the Boston area. They are well known for their good quality products and services. Name anything that is related to Piano, they have it!

Piano Man offers both products and services related to Pianos. They have different types of Grand Pianos, Upright Pianos, Digital Pianos, Organs, Hammond Organs, Keyboards, Piano Accessories, Piano Books and good Music Sheets. They also offers a range of services like Piano Tuning, Piano repairs, Piano Servicing, Piano Lessons, Piano Restoration, Piano Refinishing, Piano Financing etc. You can check their website to know more about these products and services or you can simple give them a visit. Their address is: 719 Main Street, Waltham, MA 02451.

Piano Man guarantees that you will get the lowest prices on every item. They also offers 100% financing options to their customers. They offer customers a variety of finance options (90-day, Same-As-Cash, Rent to own, etc.). Use 'buy now, pay later' schemes from Piano Man and grab the best quality Piano at a lower price.

Jailed for Overdue Library Books!

A US woman ended up in jail for overdue of library books! can you believe this? Keely Givhan, of Beloit, Wisconsin, was pulled over by traffic police because her number plate lightbulb was out. When officers ran checks, they found an arrest warrant had been issued after she failed to appear in court over unreturned items from the city library.

Police took her straight to Rock County Jail. At the time, neither she nor her family members had the money to pay her fine, so she remained in jail for six days.

Givhan, who had been in between homes at the time, said she never received the overdue notices from the library, reports the local Daily News. That meant she didn't see know anything about then three overdue item notices - or the court summons which led to a £165 fine.

Beloit Police Captain Bill Tyler said a municipal fine is a municipal fine. And library director Dan Zack said: "People can check out thousands of dollars of materials every year. All we ask is that they bring them back." Link

Mar 4, 2008

StreetSurfer - the Bicycle with Five Wheels

An Australian firm has invented a cool five-wheeled bicycle that it says rides like a surfboard. Named as StreetSurfer, this bicycle has a traditional frame and rear wheel - but four front wheels. The inventors claims that having four points of contact at the front means the bike handles in a completely different way.

Testers of the StreetSurfer report improved steering, cornering and front wheel tracking and they compares it with surfing or snowboarding! The bikes are now on sale in the UK for £399.

StreetSurfer spokesman Mark Palmer said: "The bicycle has effectively been the same since the safety bicycle evolved from the Penny farthing more than a century ago and we figured it was about time to take the next step." Link

Defrosting Sand Dunes of Mars

Take a look at the picture of planet Mars. What are these strange shapes on the surface of Mars? They are actually defrosting sand dunes. As spring now dawns on the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, dunes of sand near the pole, as pictured above, are beginning to thaw.

The carbon dioxide and water ice actually sublime in the thin atmosphere directly to gas. Thinner regions of ice typically defrost first revealing sand whose darkness soaks in sunlight and accelerates the thaw. By summer, these spots will expand to encompass the entire dunes. The Martian North Pole is ringed by many similar fields of barchan sand dunes, whose strange, smooth arcs are shaped by persistent Martian winds. Credit: NASA

Mar 2, 2008

5 year old boy steals Parent's car!

A five-year-old boy stole his parents' car! Can you believe this? This is true. Miroslav Novak, a Czech boy took the keys to his parents' car in the middle of the night and went for a joy ride. He drove the car for a mile before crashing into a wall. Today's child!

When his worried woke up, they found that the boy is missing and teh car is gone. So they called police. Police found Miroslav Novak hiding behind a tree in a nearby park.

Police said that he was too young to be prosecuted. But some people are asking social services to investigate and find out how a five year-old boy learned to drive a car!

Mar 1, 2008

Vitamin E increases Lung Cancer

A new study suggests that, taking high doses of vitamin E supplements may increase the risk of lung cancer. The US study of 77,000 people found taking 400 milligrams per day long-term increased cancer risk by 28% - with smokers at particular risk.

The researchers followed people aged between 50 and 76 for four years and looked at their average daily use of vitamin C and folic acid, and vitamin E supplements. Over the course of the study, 521 people developed lung cancer.

Smoking, family history and age all had unsurprisingly strong links to cancer risk. And while neither vitamin C or folic acid use had any effect on lung cancer risk, vitamin E use did.

The researchers extrapolated their findings, and concluded that over a decade, there was an additional 7% increase in risk for every 100 milligrams taken per day. The researchers also warned about similar risks of excessive beta-carotene use. Link