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10 Crazy Inventions That Earned Patents

Patents are great things. Anyone with a brilliant idea should be entitled to reap the rewards of that idea, and the United States patent system protects the entrepreneur's right to fend off copycat attacks on his inventions. However, sometimes some goofy applications actually win patents. Here's ten inventions you won't believe are protected by real US patents:

1. Animal toy

"An apparatus for use as a toy by an animal, for example a dog, to either fetch carry or chew includes a main section with at least one protrusion extending therefrom that resembles a branch in appearance. The toy is formed of any of a number of materials including rubber, plastic, or wood including wood composites and is solid. It is either rigid or flexible."

2. Method of Swinging on a Swing

"A method of swing on a swing is disclosed, in which a user positioned on a standard swing suspended by two chains from a substantially horizontal tree branch induces side to side motion by pulling alternately on one chain and then the other."

3. Electrogalvanic-powered diaper wetness sensor

"An electrical wetness sensor powered by the electrogalvanic action of an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte. In the preferred embodiment the electrolyte is urine and the device is used to warn of incontinence."

4. Burp gas filtering and deodorizing device

"The burp filtering device has the body of a writing pen, with an intake port at the upper end of the body, a plurality of exhaust ports adjacent the writing tip, and a filter disposed within the body. The filter may be made of activated charcoal or other media for filtering eructation odors. In use, the user holds the upper end of the pen body to his lips, releases the suppressed burp, and the filtered gas is exhausted through the ports at the writing tip."

5. User-operated amusement apparatus for kicking the user's buttocks

"An amusement apparatus including a user-operated and controlled apparatus for self-infliction of repetitive blows to the user's buttocks by a plurality of elongated arms bearing flexible extensions that rotate under the user's control. The apparatus includes a platform foldable at a mid-section, having first post and second upstanding posts detachably mounted thereon. The first post is provided with a crank positioned at a height thereon which requires the user to bend forward toward the first post while grasping the crank with both hands, to prominently present his buttocks toward the second post. The second post is provided with a plurality of rotating arms detachably mounted thereon, with a central axis of the rotating arms positioned at a height generally level with the user's buttocks."

6. Frameless glasses attaching to body piercings.

"A frameless glassware assembly attaching to body piercing studs. Design consisting of an elastomeric C-clip fixedly attached to one distal end of a metal arm, which is attached to a frameless glass lens assembly. Design allows for frameless eyeglass attachment to the eyebrow studs or to the nose studs of a user via the elastomeric C-clip. One embodiment allows the frameless glassware to attach to eyebrow studs and the second allows the frameless glassware to attach to a nose stud. Both designs are frameless and avoid side wire earpieces common to hold glassware to the face of a user."

7. Hijacker injector

"Passenger disabling apparatus mounted in and under an airplane seat and remotely actuated by a pilot or a crew member for disabling an airplane hijacker. The disabling apparatus comprises a solenoid actuated seat belt buckle lock in combination with an inflatable seat back and hypodermic injection apparatus arranged for driving the needle of a hypodermic syringe through the seat cushion into the passenger to instantly sedate or kill the passenger."

8. Kissing shield

"A kissing shield comprised of a thin, flexible membrane and a frame or holder. The membrane is closed on three sides, a fourth side remaining open so that the membrane can be stretched over the frame or holder.... The user then positions the kissing shield between his lips and the lips or cheek of the individual he plans to kiss and kisses the intended recipient of his affection."

9. Automated bathing facility

"An automated bathing system or facility for use in bathing large numbers of patients or persons in standing position by which the patients are suspended by means of a harness from an overhead rail and are moved along a conveyor belt floor past a wetting station, a soaping station, a rinsing station and finally into a drying station.... may be moved place to place to provide bathing facilities to persons in disaster areas or to cope with mass bathing requirements after an atomic bomb explosion."

10. Crispy cereal serving piece and method

"A serving piece for serving cereal and preventing its becoming soggy in milk includes a lower bowl configured to be supported in a food containing orientation upon a surface. An elongated sloped chute is mounted to and communicates at one end with the lower bowl and extends upwardly and outwardly therefrom and an upper bowl is mounted to and communicates with the other end of the sloped chute. In use, crispy cereal from the upper bowl is urged in successive measured portions down the chute and into milk contained in the lower bowl from where each portion of cereal can be consumed prior to its becoming soggy."

Happy Daughters' Day!

Today, India celebrates "Daughters' Day" for the first time. May their tribe increase!

Hello from China...

I will return to this blog after two weeks...

I am going to Thailand and China on a 17 day trip. I will resume updating this blog on my return.

BYU student attempts new world record for most hugs

Did you get a hug today?

Love flowed fast in Provo on Saturday (August 25) night when 765 people stood in line to hug 18-year-old Jordan Pearce in an attempt to break the world's record for most hugs given to one person in an hour. The event was part of the LDS Church's Edgemont North Stake Super Activity.

The previous record was 612 hugs in an hour, as recorded by Guinness World Records, said Charles Abbott, organizer of the stake event and grandfather to Pearce. The stake had hoped to make a new record of 1,000 people, but 30 minutes in, ran out of people at 765.

"I feel like I'm on cloud nine," Pearce said after being hugged for the last time.

Breaking the record turned out to require a lot of endurance as Pearce constantly knelt to hug hundreds of children in the line, and stretched to hug people taller than herself.

Standing under a canopy, facing the sun and a huge line of people, Pearce had worked up, well, a glisten.

"I was getting pretty glistening," she said.

Asked before the event what was the appropriate training for breaking a hugging record, Pearce said "I'm not entirely sure." She said she had no boyfriend to get jealous and added that the event would "be my allotment of hugs for the year."

A Hinckley scholar at BYU who will be a junior after her first semester because of advanced placement credits, Pearce said breaking a world record had been her idea. Abbott, her grandfather, had been a world record holder in his youth and Pearce said she thought it would be great to follow in his footsteps.

Abbott said that in 1973 at a church activity, he organized a group to flip the then-world's largest pancake.

"We had four or five flops before we had a flip," he said with a laugh, noting that while some parents felt breaking the record was frivolous, he wanted to teach the youth that "with perseverance they can accomplish anything they want to do."

Breaking the record on Saturday took months of planning. The family had to apply to Guinness World Records with detailed plans. Once those plans were approved, the event had to be overseen by two prominent members of the community, and media coverage was required.

On Saturday, 4th District Judge Lynn Davis and Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, (R-Provo) oversaw the competition, each holding a counter to tally the number of people who hugged Pearce. Pearce's neighbor, Theresa Welker, served as a third judge. The rules stipulate that each hug must be genuine, with arms and hands wrapped around the person.

In addition, each person was only allowed to hug once, and Pearce was required to stand in the same place during the event. To ensure no double-hugging, everyone who hugged Pearce was stamped on their right hand. The new record will not be final until approved by Guinness World Records, a process that requires photographs, film footage and signed witnesses.

Pulling it off was not easy. Bramble and Davis came up with different totals because Davis felt several little children whose arms did not wrap around Pearce should not count. The rules require the lowest count to be used.

Many people who came through the line holding things -- children, cotton candy, drinks. To make sure the hug counted, and to help the line go faster, Pearce's grandmother, Oranee Abbott, scooped babies, candy and sodas from those in line, passing them back after their hug was completed.

One man spilled a drink on Pearce. A little girl refused to let go of her blue sucker, and just as the event was ending, one little boy kicked and screamed, not wanting to hug a stranger.

But more difficult than those problems was encouraging people to let go of Pearce. With family, friends, cousins and neighbors in the line, many lingered too long.

"Faster, faster, come on, faster," said Oranee Abbott, repeating the mantra hundreds of times as she organized the line approaching her granddaughter.

"She's hugging everyone like she means it," said one woman with a laugh, while a man in line yelled out "Let's move, people, let's move!"

"This is exciting," said Morgan Coleman, who, as the 613th person hugged, officially broke the record.

"Now we can Google you," said his wife, Char.

Ryan Goodwin, as the 765th person in line, was the last person to hug Pearce. "I feel like a hug," he said when asked how he felt making the record books.

The woman standing next to him wrapped her arms around him.

Ancient Astronauts

Erich Von Daniken, starting with his popular Chariots of the Gods, sold over forty million books presenting his theories that the Earth was visited by extra-terrestrials some 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. While they were here, he suggests, they built the great pyramids in Egypt, laid down air fields that can still be seen today in Peru, and interbred with early humans to produce Homo sapiens. As evidence Von Daniken points to the countless legends seen in cultures around the world that tell of winged gods or flying machines. These were inspired, not by flights of fancy in the teller's mind, but by actual visits down through the ages of aliens with their advanced technology. For more tangible proof Von Daniken points to archaeological oddities found around the world. He suggests that Egyptians could not have built the great pyramid of Cheops without access to advanced technology and it is no coincidence that it's height, when multiplied by 1,000 million, is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. He also claims the famous mysterious lines in Peru's Nazca Plain are an alien airfield and that their unerring straight path for miles, even over mountains, could only be achieved if their building was directed from the air.

As intriguing as the idea of ancient astronauts might be, Von Daniken's "evidence" is less then convincing when examined closely. The great pyramid's height is not a 1,000 millionth the distance to the sun. Archaeologists have found evidence that simple techniques like barges and earth ramps were used to build the monuments of ancient Egypt. Straight lines, like those found at Nazca, can be made by simply planting two sticks in the earth, using them to line up a third, and then repeating the pattern for any distance needed.

As for his theories that the astronauts mated with human beings, it seems unlikely that visitors from space would be so biologically close to humans that they could interbreed. Also DNA evidence seems to suggest all human beings alive today can trace their ancestry back to a very small group of pre-humans living in Africa some 100 thousand years ago (It is fair to note this information was not available when Von Daniken wrote his books). If this is true any genes introduced by visiting aliens have not survived to modern man.

Of course these discrepancies don't prove that Earth wasn't visited by ancient astronauts, but it is unlikely such an astounding claim will be accepted without some equally astounding proof (Like a 23rd century watch found on the wrist of a recently unearthed mummy).

Strangely enough some scientists have speculated that we may indeed had ancient extraterrestrial visitors, but they didn't wear shiny suits or arrive in flying saucers.

Discovery of a meteorite from Mars that contains what looks like fossil microbes have led some experts to suggest that if Mars did have life some of it may have traveled here via a rock blasted out of that planet when the planet was struck by a large asteroid. While objects found in this Mars rock are definitely dead, there is speculation there maybe other microbes that could have survived the journey. If so, they could have influenced life on Earth.

Visitors sit on toilet seats to play with Playstation 3 at an exhibition stand of Japanese Sony Company at the Games Convention 2007 fair in Germany

Today in history - August 18th...

1227: Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader who forged an empire stretching from the east coast of China west to the Aral Sea, died in camp during a campaign against the Chinese kingdom of Xi Xia.

1920: The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was ratified by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land.

1960: The first commercially produced oral contraceptives went on the market.

1963: James Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi. He was the first African-American to attend the school and his enrollment touched off deadly riots, necessitating the use of armed guards.

1977: Comedian Julius Groucho Marx, leader of the wacky Marx Brothers, died at the age of 87.

1982: Lebanon and the Palestine Liberation Organization approved a plan for withdrawal of PLO fighters from besieged West Beirut. Israel approved it the following day.

1992: A convoy of 17 buses carrying 1,000 women and children left war-torn Sarajevo in the second such evacuation from Bosnia in a week.

1998: In the wake of his admission of an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, U.S. President Bill Clinton was urged to resign by several members of Congress and more than 100 daily newspapers.

2002: Abu Nidal, one of the most feared of the Palestinian terrorists, was found shot to death, an apparent suicide.

2003: Authorities estimated as many as 10,000 people had died in heat-related deaths in France during the ongoing European heat wave.

2005: Dennis Rader, the Kansas man who called himself the BTK killer -- for bind, torture, kill -- and confessed to slaying 10 people, was sentenced to 10 consecutive life-in-prison terms.

Cannibalism

Cannibalism (from Spanish caníbal, in connection with alleged cannibalism among the Caribs) is the act or practice of humans consuming other humans. In zoology, the term cannibalism is extended to refer to any species consuming members of its own kind.

Among humans it has been practiced by various tribal groups in the past in the Amazon Basin, North America, Africa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and New Guinea, usually in rituals connected to tribal warfare. Fiji was once known as the 'Cannibal Isles'. The Chaco Canyon ruins of the Anasazi culture have been interpreted by some archaeologists as containing evidence of ritual cannibalism.

The term originated from Christopher Colombus' interpretation of the word 'Carib', which was the name of the first indigenous people he found in the Americas, as he believed that they were man-eaters. Richard Hakluyt's "Voyages" introduced the word to English and Shakespeare transposed it, in an anagram-fashion, to name his monster servant in "The Tempest" as Caliban.

The Carib tribe acquired a longstanding reputation as cannibals following the recording of their legends by Fr. Breton in the 17th century. Some controversy exists over the accuracy of these legends and the prevalence of actual cannibalism in the culture.

According to a decree by Queen Isabella of Castile and also later under British colonial rule, slavery was considered to be illegal unless the people involved were so depraved that their conditions as slaves would be better than as free men. This legal requirement may have led to conquerors exaggerating the extent of cannibalistic practices, or inventing them altogether, as demonstrations of cannibalistic tendencies were considered evidence of such depravity.

The Korowai tribe of southeastern Papua could be one of the last surviving tribes in the world engaging in cannibalism.

Marvin Harris has analyzed cannibalism and other food taboos. He argued that it was common when humans lived in small bands, but disappeared in the transition to states, the Aztecs being an exception.

A well known case of mortuary cannibalism is that of the Fore tribe in New Guinea which resulted in the spread of the disease Kuru. It is often believed to be well-documented, although no eyewitnesses have ever been at hand. Some scholars argue that although post-mortem dismemberment was the practice during funeral rites, cannibalism was not. Marvin Harris theorizes that it happened during a famine period coincident with the arrival of Europeans and was rationalized as a religious rite.

Cannibalism was documented in Egypt during a famine caused by the failure of the Nile to flood for eight years (AD 1064-1073).

St. Jerome, in his letter "Against Jovinianus", tells of meeting members of a British tribe, the 'Atticoti', while traveling in Gaul. According to Jerome, the Britons claimed that they enjoyed eating "the buttocks of the shepherds and the breasts of their women" as a delicacy (ca. 360 AD). In 2001, archaeologists at the University of Bristol found evidence of Iron Age cannibalism in Gloucestershire.

Cannibalism was reported in Mexico, the "flower wars" of the Aztec Empire being considered as the most massive manifestation of cannibalism, but the Aztec accounts, written after the conquest, reported that human flesh was considered by itself to be of no value, and usually thrown away and replaced with turkey. There are only two Aztec accounts on this subject: one comes from the Ramirez codex, and the most elaborated account on this subject comes from Juan Bautista de Pomar, the grandson of Netzahualcoyot, "tlatoani" of Texcoco. The accounts differ little. Juan Bautista wrote that after the sacrifice, the Aztec warriors received the body of the victim, then they boiled it to separate the flesh from the bones, then they would cut the meat in very little pieces, and send them to important people, even from other towns; the recipient would rarely eat the meat, since they considered it an honour, but the meat had no value by itself. In exchange, the warrior would get jewels, decorated blankets, precious feathers and slaves; the purpose was to encourage successful warriors. There were only two ceremonies a year where war captives were sacrificed. Although the Aztec empire has been called "The Cannibal Kingdom", there is no evidence in support of its being a widespread custom.

Cannibalism features prominently in many mythologies; cannibal ogresses appear in folklore around the world, the witch in "Hansel and Gretel" being a popular example.

A number of stories in Greek mythology involve cannibalism, in particular cannibalism of close family members, for example the stories of Thyestes, Tereus and especially Cronus, who was Saturn in the Roman pantheon. The story of Tantalus also parallels this. These mythologies inspired Shakespeare's cannibalism scene in "Titus Andronicus".

In Hindu mythology, cannibals are usually forest-dwellers that refuse to join society and are known as "Rakshas".

Today in history - August 15th...

Today India celebrates 60 years of freedom. On August 15, 1947, India attained freedom from British colonial rule. This day is celebrated as Indian Independence Day.

Today in recent history - August 14th...

1784: Grigory Shelikhov, a Russian fur trader, founded the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island.

1900: Some 2,000 U.S. Marines joined with European forces to capture Beijing, ending the Boxer Rebellion against the Western presence in China.

1945: U.S. President Harry Truman announced that Japan had accepted terms for unconditional surrender, ending World War II.

1966: The unmanned U.S. Orbiter 1 spacecraft began orbiting the moon.

1994: The notorious international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal was captured in Sudan. He was extradited to France the next day.

2003: A massive power failure spread through Ohio, Michigan, the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, leaving 50 million people in eight states and the province of Ontario without electricity for as long as two days.

2003: The French health ministry said sweltering heat in Europe could be responsible for as many as 3,000 deaths in France.

2004: In the US, Hurricane Charley raked the coast of the Carolinas and moved back ashore at Georgetown, S.C., with 75 mph winds. Meanwhile, Florida, hard hit the day before, searched for more victims and assessed damage.

2004: At least 115 people were reported killed by Typhoon Rananim, the 14th typhoon to hit China this year.

2005: Authorities say the crash of a Helios Airways plane in Greece with 121 people aboard could have been caused by a sudden drop in cabin pressure. A report from the scene said there were no survivors.

Yesterday in recent history - August 13th...

1889: William Gray patented the coin-operated telephone.

1930: Capt. Frank Hawkes set an air speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 12 hours, 25 minutes.

1961: East Germany closed the Brandenburg Gate and prepared to start building the Berlin Wall.

1980: U.S. President Jimmy Carter was nominated for a second term by the Democratic National Convention in New York but lost in November to Ronald Reagan.

1990: Singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield was left paralyzed when he was hit by a wind-blown lighting rig on an outdoor stage in New York. He died in 1999.

1992: A gunman dressed in military fatigues went on a shooting spree in a plant nursery in Watsonville, California, killing three and wounding four others before killing himself.

1993: Israel agreed for the first time to negotiate with a Palestinian delegation whose members belonged officially to the PLO.

1994: North Korea agreed to allow U.N. monitors to inspect a secret nuclear laboratory.

Today in recent history - August 12th...

2004 - The California Supreme Court invalidated more than 4,000 same-sex marriage licenses issued earlier in San Francisco.

2002 - Monsoons in Asia claimed more than 1,600 lives while floodwaters tore through central Europe and in southwestern Russia, killing 58.

1998 - The two largest Swiss banks and representatives of Holocaust survivors and their heirs agreed on a settlement of claims against the banks.

1997 - Hudson Foods, Inc., a meat processor in Rogers, Ark., announced it was recalling 20,000 lbs. of beef due to possible contamination by the E.coli bacterium. The recall ultimately was expanded to 25 million pounds of beef.

1996 - Delegates to the Republican National Convention passed a platform calling for a constitutional amendment against abortions.

Funny laws in Arizona, USA

• A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.
• Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony (This goes back in the days of the Wild West).
• Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American.
• Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.
• Due to a typographical error in the Tempe, Ariz., code, a shooting range can be run by the "Amateur Crapshooting Association."
• Glendale: Cars may not be driven in reverse.
• Hayden: If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, you will be fined.
• In 1985, an Arizona legislator proposed that each candidate for the legislature take a reading and an I.Q. test three months before the election. The scores would have been posted on the ballot, had the bill passed. But a majority of legislators, for whatever reason, voted it down.
• In Arizona it is illegal to take naked photographs before noon on Sunday.
• It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling.
• It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.
• It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.
• Maricopa County: No more than six girls may live in any house.
• Mesa: It is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a Class 12 liqueur license.
• Mohave County: A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.
• Nogales: An ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders.
• Prescott: No one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county court house.
• There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.
• Tucson: Women may not wear pants.
• When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person posseses.

Paper launches Diana portrait competition

Top-selling German daily Bild invited its readers on Friday to take part in a competition to paint the best portrait of Princess Diana to mark the 10th anniversary of her death.

"Ten years ago, on August 31, Lady Diana died in Paris," the paper said on its front page. "She lives on in millions of hearts ... Dear readers, paint Diana, how she was, how she is remembered."

Diana died in 1997 as she was being driven with her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed at high speed through a tunnel in Paris.

Editors will choose the three best paintings and announce the winner on the anniversary. The artists can win a trip to London and a helicopter flight over Diana's grave at Althorp Park north of the city.

A selection of portraits will be printed in the paper, Bild said.

You're fired! Worst sacking stories.

# "I went to a work function, drank too much, fell down the stairs, knocked myself unconscious, ambulance was called, taken to hospital. Woke up the next day in hospital with a roaring hangover/headache and a fractured skull. Got sacked Monday! Such is life."

# "My boss came to work wearing straight legged black jeans with RM Williams. Turns out he was going to some investment seminar. This is a man who was pushing 60. Anyway I sent an email to my friend telling her that my boss looked like he was entering a Johnny Cash line dancing competition. His daughter who was the receptionist intercepted the email, told her dad about it, I got called into his office the day after the seminar and was fired."

# "My boss was an insane Irish git who, after he heard me use the phrase ‘bang for your buck’, called me into his office and closed the mini vertical blinds (something he never did) and proceeded to tell me that he had no idea what that phrase meant only that it was surely offensive and that he was sick and tired of me using phrases designed to belittle him and that I was free to leave as soon as I could find another job."

# "I was fired for attending my grandfather’s funeral. I gave them four days notice of the funeral but they said I didn’t give them enough notice. How much notice did they expect? He passed away five days before the funeral."

# "I was sacked once for having an affair with the fiancee of my boss and once for having an affair with the wife of my boss … not bad for a tubby bald bloke."

Around the world in five minutes...

Huge lighthouse wave...this guy may want to go back inside...

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

You may, perhaps, already know that the word ‘honeymoon’ stems from the old Germanic custom of drinking hydromel or liquid honey for 30 days following the wedding feast. But would it ever have occurred to you that the unlikely source of the word ‘school’ is ‘schole’ – the Greek word for leisure? Or that the word ‘tee-total’ was literally spoused by a stammer? The stutterer being one Joseph Turner of Preston, who, at an anti-alcohol rally in 1833 vowed, with more conviction than coherence that “nothing but t-t-t-t-t-total abstinence will do…”

Some of the words and phrases we use originated in the oddest ways. Take, for example, the story of why a Hollywood Motion Picture Academy Award is called an Oscar. The term Oscar was coined by a secretary’s stray remark that the expression of the bronze-gilt statuette, annually awarded since 1927 for outstanding performance in the motion picture industry, reminded her of her uncle Oscar. Immortal words, these, and undoubtedly the stuff of which history is made.

The phrase “to steal someone’s thunder” is not meteorological in origin, but was coined from bitter experience by John Dennis, major 18th century critic, very minor playwright, and inventor of the theatrical thunder sheet. Dennis was understandably angry at the fact that while the theatres belittled his plays, “they steal my thunder”. And thereby hangs a phrase.

India has contributed a lot to the growth of the English language. There are numerous words and concepts in the language of Indian origin, adapted (primarily during the zenith of the British Raj) from the languages and customs of the country to expand and supplement everyday English speech. The word ‘pariah’, for instance, with its current implication of an outcast, is derived from the Tamil ‘pariyar’ or drummer, one of the hereditary callings of those beyond the pale of the Hindu social structure. The prevalent custom in British India of shunting wives and families off to the cool hills during the hot season engendered the epithet ‘grass widow’ for a woman temporarily separated from her spouse. The original juggernaut – a word now used to evoke images of some titanic, irresistible force, crushing everything in its path – was the Hindu God Vishnu (Jaggannath) whose image was installed in a chariot 45 feet high, borne aloft on 16 massive wheels, each nearly 7 feet in girth. And as this vast structure rumbled by, devotees would cast themselves beneath its wheels, in the belief that such a death would ensure their going to heaven.

The word ‘peccavi’ also has an Indian connection – though in a different way. ‘Peccavi’ is Latin for “I have sinned’. And when General Charles Napier seized the Indian state of Sind in 1843 and reported his victory in a terse communiqué, this unfortunate word became the subject of one of history’s most outrageous puns. The communiqué said: ‘Peccavi’ – ‘I have Sind.’

Beautiful picture...

Pizza history

Basic pizza most likely began in prehistoric times with the 'dough' or bread cooked outdoors on hot flat stones. Roughly 1,000 years ago herb-and-spice-covered circles of baked dough grew exceptionally popular in Naples, Italy. Known as focaccia, these rounds were served as an appetizer or a snack. (Source: Smithsonian)

Pizza developed in Italy in pre-refrigerator times. After focaccia, its most direct ancestor was "Casa de nanza," which means "take out before." Housewives would pound out dough into a thin crust and place leftovers to bake. Pizza was a peasant food designed to be eaten without utensils and, like the French crepe and the Mexican taco, was a way to make use of fresh produce available locally and to get rid of leftovers.

Pizza as we know it could not have evolved until the late 1600s when Old World Europeans overcame their fear of a New World discovery - tomatoes. Native to Peru and Ecuador, a plant which produced yellow or red fruit (later called tomatoes) was introduced to Europe in the early 1500s. Brought back by Conquistadors to Spain, the tomato was thought to be poisonous and was viewed with suspicion. It wasn't until the late 1600s that Europeans began to eat the tomato. (Source: Smithsonian and PIZZA TODAY)

The peasants of Naples, Italy, who lived mostly off of bread and little else, were the first to add tomatoes to their focaccia bread rounds. In 1830 pizza truly began with the opening of the world's first pizzeria. Named Port'Alba, the pizzas were cooked in an oven lined with lava from Mount Vesuvius, a volcano located on the Bay of Naples. (Source: Smithsonian)

Modern pizza was born in 1889 when Queen Margherita Teresa Giovanni, the consort of Umberto I, King of Italy, visited Naples. Don Raffaele Esposito, who owned a tavern-like place called Pietro Il Pizzaiolo, was asked to prepare a special dish in honour of the Queen's visit. Esposito developed a pizza featuring tomatoes, mozzarella cheese (a never before used ingredient made from the milk of water buffalo) and basil - ingredients bearing the colors red, white and green for the Italian flag. He named it the Margherita Pizza, after the guest of honour. Thus, the modern-day tomato-and-cheese pizza was born. (Source: Smithsonian and PIZZA TODAY)

Shops in the volcano-devastated city of Pompeii bear the characteristics of a pizzeria. Marie Antionette's sister, Marie Carolina, wife of Ferdinand I of Sicily and Naples, had ovens built in the forest so she could enjoy pizza while the Royal Hunting Party feasted on wild ducklings and pigs killed in the hunt.

The popularity of pizza exploded throughout the country when World War II servicemen returning from Italy began opening pizzerias and raving about that "great Italian dish."

In 1905, Gennaro Lombardi opened the first licensed American pizzeria, Lombardi's Pizzeria Napoletana, at 53-1/2 Spring Street in New York City.

America is the new pizza renaissance leader in the world and is exporting technology of pizza production and promotion on an ever-increasing basis.

Pizza restaurants are opening in such unlikely locations as the Caribbean islands of Curacao and Bonaire; the South Pacific atoll of Palau; and in most Arab countries. The deep-dish pizza was invented in Chicago by pizza entrepreneur Ike Sewell; his restaurant Pizzeria Uno, is still going strong today.

Pizza statistics

Pizza Hut is the largest pizza purveyor in the world, with 12,583 total restaurants and combination delivery/takeout units in 90 countries; 6,590 units are company-owned.

Domino's Pizza is the world leader in delivery, with 5,500 stores in 46 international markets.

Papa John's is considered the fastest growing franchise in the USA, with 1,160 units generating £383 million in sales in 1996. (source: "Chain Store Guide".)

Of 31,386 pizza franchise units in the United States, roughly 83 percent (24,381 stores) offer delivery, 91% offer takeout, and 51% offer dine-in service.

Pizza trivia

October is National Pizza Month in America. It was first so designated in 1987. Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, or 350 slices per second. Pizza is a £30 billion per year industry

There are approximately 10,000 pizzerias in the UK and 61,269 in the United States. (Source: American Business Lists). Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices of pizza a year.

Over 5 billion pizzas are sold worldwide each year. According to a recent Gallup Poll, kids between the ages of 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other food groups for lunch and dinner

Room with a view...

The creation of Mickey Mouse

Walt Disney got his start in Kansas City, where, beginning in 1922, he produced animated advertisements and small vignettes for a local movie house. “Newman's Laugh-O-Grams” (named after the theater where they were shown) soon grew to be full-length (four to seven minutes) animated shorts. The people who worked with Disney on this series included Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and Isadore "Friz" Freleng, all of whom would later achieve fame in animation. Very few of the cartoons in this series survive today.

In 1923, Disney moved to Hollywood, taking his crew with him, and started producing shorts for national distribution. His first series there was the "Alice" Comedies, about a live-action little girl's adventures with animated cartoon characters. Only Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell series is better remembered as an early example of mixing live action with animation. For financing, and getting the Alice series into theaters, Disney teamed up with distributor M.J. (Margaret) Winkler.

Disney produced Alice shorts at an average rate of about one every three weeks from 1923-27. After a few dozen, however, they grew stale, and were replaced in 1927 by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Oswald was a big hit, but the cost to produce his cartoons rose sharply — driven largely by Disney's constant efforts to improve his studio's output. In 1928, Disney asked Charles Mintz (Winkler's husband, who was by then running her business) for a budget increase, but Mintz had what he thought was a better idea. Disney must accept a cut in his budget, or Mintz would assign Oswald (which the distributor legally controlled) to another studio — and he'd already secured agreements from most of Disney's key employees to man it.

Disney let Oswald go, and returned to a studio that consisted only of himself, his brother Roy, and Ub Iwerks, vowing never again to let anyone else own his work.

According to the official legend, Mickey Mouse was the result of a brilliant burst of inspiration, which struck Walt Disney during the train ride from New York to Los Angeles -- having left New York in a huff after he'd just seen his popular character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, hijacked by his distributor and farmed out to another animation outfit. By the time he arrived in Hollywood, he was ready to roll with Oswald's replacement. A more realistic story might be that he and key staff members, particularly Ub Iwerks, labored long hours to craft a gag vehicle incorporating various characteristics they'd seen work in popular cartoons — particularly Felix the Cat, who functioned as a template for many characters of the time whose design varied mainly in their ears.

Whether Mickey was more a result of inspiration or perspiration, he first appeared in Plane Crazy (1928) — and for the very first time, a Disney series failed to become an instant hit. He had trouble getting distributors interested in a character that looked more-or-less like Oswald with round ears.

However, very soon, Mickey eclipsed Oswald. (The latter was the subject of a series of second-rate cartoons by animation director/producer Walter Lantz, who is more famous for his work on Woody Woodpecker, and is virtually forgotten today.)

When movies started talking, Disney couldn't wait to bring the new technology to cartoons. Steamboat Willie (1928) was the first synchronized sound cartoon, and from then on, there was no stopping The Mouse. (Though it wasn't, as commonly thought, the first sound cartoon altogether — that honor went to a 1924 Max Fleischer "Song Cartune".) Mickey acquired supporting characters, including a girlfriend, Minnie; an arch-enemy, Pegleg Pete; a bunch of pals such as Horace Horsecollar and Goofy; and a dog, Pluto. He switched to color with The Band Concert (1935), and never looked back. Mickey was launched as a comic strip star by King Features Syndicate, in 1930. Within a few weeks, Floyd Gottfredson, the plotter and artist who would make Mickey his life's work, took it over. There followed a long series of well-remembered stories, including "Blaggard Castle" (1933) (scripted by Webb Smith), "The Bat Bandit of Inferno Gulch" (1934) (scripted by Ted Osborne), "The Seven Ghosts" (1936) (scripted by Osborne) and "The Phantom Blot" (1939) (scripted by Merrill de Maris). This era ended in the 1950s, as the strip switched to a gag-a-day format. Gottfredson retired in 1975 and died in 1986. Today, comic book stories about Mickey are written and drawn by dozens of people, and are published all over the world.

Funny picture - golfing mouse!

Funny laws in Alaska

• A law in Fairbanks does not allow moose to have sex on city streets.

• Even though it is legal to hunt a bear, it is illegal to wake a bear and take a picture for photo opportunities.

• Fairbanks: It is considered an offense to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.

• In Alaska it is illegal to whisper in someone's ear while they are moose hunting.

• It is considered an offense to push a live moose out of a moving airplane.

• Kangaroos are not allowed in barber shops at any time.

• Moose may not be viewed from an airplane.

• State policy states that emergencies are held to a minimum and rarely found to exist.

GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming was once an uncommon term used by a few scientists who were growing concerned over the effects of decades of pollution on long-term weather patterns. Today, the idea of global warming is well known, if not well understood. It is not unusual to hear someone complaining about a hot day or a freak storm and remark: "It's global warming."

Well, is it?

What actually is "global warming"?

What actually is global warming? What causes it? What are its effects? Is it something we need to worry about?

Global warming is a significant increase in the Earth's climatic temperature over a relatively short period of time as a result of the activities of humans.

In specific terms, an increase of 1 or more degrees Celsius in a period of one hundred to two hundred years would be considered global warming. Over the course of a single century, an increase of even 0.4 degrees Celsius would be significant.

What are the effects of climate change?

Even small changes in climate can have major effects. When scientists talk about "the Ice Age," you probably envision the world frozen, covered with snow and suffering from frigid temperatures. In fact, during the last ice age (ice ages recur roughly every 50,000 to 100,000 years), the earth's average temperature was only 5 Celsius degrees cooler than modern temperature averages [Source: NASA].


Is the earth warming up?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of over 2,500 scientists from countries across the world, convened in Paris in February, 2007 to compare and advance climate research. The scientists determined that the Earth has warmed 0.6 degrees Celsius between 1901 and 2000. When the time frame is advanced by five years, from 1906 to 2006, the scientists found that the temperature increase was 0.74 degrees Celsius.

Any concrete evidence of this temperature increase?

Yes, lots of evidence. The IPCC has observed:
# Of the last 12 years, 11 have ranked among the warmest years since 1850.
# The warming trend of the last 50 years is nearly double that of the last 100 years, meaning that the rate of warming is increasing.
# The ocean’s temperature has increased at least to depths of 3,000 meters (over 9,800 feet); the ocean absorbs more than 80 percent of all heat added to the climate system.
# Glaciers and snow cover have decreased in regions both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, which has contributed to the rise of sea levels.
# Average Arctic temperatures increased by nearly twice the global average rate over the last 100 years (the IPCC also noted that Arctic temperatures have are highly variable from decade to decade).
# The area covered by frozen ground in the Arctic has decreased by approximately 7 percent since 1900, with seasonal decreases of up to 15 percent.
# Precipitation has increased in eastern regions of the Americas, northern Europe and parts of Asia; other regions such as the Mediterranean and southern Africa have experienced drying trends.
# Westerly winds have been growing stronger.
# Droughts are more intense, have lasted longer and covered larger areas than in the past.
# There have been significant changes in extreme temperatures – hot days and heat waves have become more frequent while cold days and nights have become less frequent.
# While scientists have not observed an increase in the number of tropical storms, they have observed an increase in the intensity of such storms in the Atlantic correlated with a rise in ocean surface temperatures.


The Greenhouse Effect


Global warming is caused by an increase in the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is not a bad thing by itself -- it's what allows Earth to stay warm enough for life to survive.




When the sun's rays hit the Earth's atmosphere and the surface of the Earth, approximately 70 percent of the energy stays on the planet, absorbed by land, oceans, plants and other things. The other 30 percent is reflected into space by clouds, snow fields and other reflective surfaces [Source: NASA].


But even the 70 percent that gets through doesn't stay on earth forever (otherwise the Earth would become a blazing fireball). The Earth's oceans and land masses eventually radiate heat back out. Some of this heat makes it into space. The rest of it ends up getting absorbed when it hits certain things in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane gas and water vapor. After these components in our atmosphere absorb all this heat, they emit energy (also in the form of heat).

The heat that doesn't make it out through Earth's atmosphere keeps the planet warmer than it is in outer space, because more energy is coming in through the atmosphere than is going out. This is all part of the greenhouse effect that keeps the Earth warm.

Earth Without the Greenhouse Effect

What would Earth look like if there weren't any greenhouse effect at all? It would probably look a lot like Mars. Mars doesn't have a thick enough atmosphere to reflect enough heat back to the planet, so it gets very cold there.

Global Warming: What's Happening?

The greenhouse effect happens because of certain naturally occurring substances in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been pouring additional huge amounts of those substances into the air.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a colorless gas that is a by-product of the combustion of organic matter. It makes up less than 0.04 percent of Earth's atmosphere, most of which was put there by volcanic activity very early in the planet's life. Today, human activities are pumping huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, resulting in an overall increase in carbon dioxide concentrations.

What is the consequence of this increase in carbon dioxide concentrations?

These increased concentrations are considered the primary factor in global warming, because carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation. Most of the energy that escapes Earth's atmosphere comes in this form, so extra CO2 means more energy absorption and an overall increase in the planet's temperature.

The Worldwatch Institute reports that carbon emissions worldwide have increased from about 1 billion tons in 1900 to about 7 billion tons in 1995. The Institute also notes that the average surface temperature of Earth has gone from 14.5 degrees C in 1860 to 15.3 degrees C in 1980.


The IPCC says that the pre-industrial amount of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere was about 280 parts per million (ppm), meaning that for every million molecules of dry air, 280 of them were CO2. In contrast, 2005 levels of CO2 were measured at 379 ppm [Source: IPCC].

Any other problem causing pollutant?

Nitrous oxide (NO2) is another important greenhouse gas. Although the amounts being released by human activities are not as great as the amounts of CO2, nitrous oxide absorbs much more energy than CO2 (about 270 times as much). For this reason, efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions have focused on NO2 as well [Source: Soil Conservation Council of Canada]. The use of large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer on crops releases nitrous oxide in great quantities, and it is also a by-product of combustion.

The danger from global warming:

What will actually happen if the entire planet warms up a few degrees?

We have seen that an average drop of just 5 degrees Celsius over thousands of years can cause an ice age; so what will happen if the Earth's average temperature increases a few degrees in just a few hundred years?

Glaciers and ice shelves around the world are melting [Source: Guardian Unlimited]. An immediate result of melting glaciers would be a rise in sea levels. Initially, the rise in sea level would only be an inch or two. Even a modest rise in sea levels could cause flooding problems for low-lying coastal areas. However, if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt and collapse into the sea, it would push sea levels up 10 meters (more than 32 feet), and many coastal areas would completely disappear beneath the ocean [Source: NASA].

What are the dangers to humans?

The human cost of global warming is hard to quantify. Thousands of lives per year could be lost as the elderly or ill suffer from heat stroke and other heat-related trauma. Poor and underdeveloped nations would suffer the worst effects, since they would not have the financial resources to deal with the problems that come with an increase in temperature. Huge numbers of people could die from starvation if a decrease in precipitation limits crop growth and from disease if coastal flooding leads to widespread water-borne illness.

The Carnegie Institution estimates that around $5 billion in crop losses per year are due to global warming. Farmers see a decrease of about 40 million metric tons of cereal grains like wheat, barley and corn each year. Scientists discovered that an increase of 1 degree Fahrenheit in average temperature results in a 3 to 5 percent drop in crop yields [Source: Science Daily].

Can We Stop Global Warming?

Though scientists warn that global warming will likely continue for centuries because of the long natural processes involved, there are a few things we can do to decrease the effects. Basically, they all boil down to this: Don't use as much of the stuff that creates greenhouse gases. On a local level, you can help by using less energy. The electricity that operates many of the devices in our homes comes from a power plant, and most power plants burn fossil fuels to generate that power. Turn off lights when they're not in use. Take shorter showers to use less hot water. Use a fan instead of an air conditioner on a warm day.


Any other ways to help decrease greenhouse-gas emissions?


Here are some other specific ways you can help decrease greenhouse-gas emissions:
# Make sure your car is properly tuned up. This allows it to run more efficiently and generate fewer harmful gases.
# Walk or ride your bike if possible, or carpool on your way to work. Cars burn fossil fuel, so smaller, more fuel-efficient cars emit less CO2, particularly hybrid cars.
# Turn lights and other appliances off when you're not using them. Even though a light bulb doesn't generate greenhouse gas, the power plant that generates the electricity used by the light bulb probably does. Switch from incandescent light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs, which use less energy and last longer.
# Recycle. Garbage that doesn't get recycled ends up in a landfill, generating methane. Recycled goods also require less energy to produce than products made from scratch.
# Plant trees and other plants where you can. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and release oxygen.
# Don't burn garbage. This releases carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere.

The need for non-fossil fuel energy sources

To really stem the emission of greenhouse gases, we need to develop non-fossil fuel energy sources. Hydro-electric power, solar power, hydrogen engines and fuel cells could all create big cuts in greenhouse gases if they were to become more common.

The Kyoto treaty

At the international level, the Kyoto treaty was written to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Thirty-five industrialized nations have committed to reducing their output of those gases to varying degrees. Unfortunately, the United States, the world's primary producer of greenhouse gases, did not sign the treaty.