Pabst wins World's Ugliest Dog Contest

Take a look at the dog in the picture above. This is Pabst, a 4-year-old boxer-mix, who won the top honors at the 21st annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest Friday at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. Pabst, with his prominent under-bite, scrunched face and floppy ears, won the contest by beating former champion Rascal, a pedigree Chinese Crested.

World's Ugliest Dog Contest is an annual contest at the colosseum in Petaluma, California, U.S., to decide which of the dogs entered in the contest is the ugliest. Pabst and his owner Miles Egstad took home $1,600 in prize money from the Sonoma-Marin Fair; $1,000 in prize money from House of Dog; a collection of high-end dog fashion accessories; and a year-long modeling contract. Pabst signed the modeling contract with his paw.

World's Smallest Car Peel P50

Take a look at the car in the picture above. This is a Peel P50, the world's smallest car. The Peel P50 debuted on Monday at Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Times Square, New York. The Peel P50 is a three-wheeled microcar manufactured in 1962 and 1965 by the Manx Peel Engineering Company. It retailed for £199 when new, and is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest road legal car ever produced.

Designed as a city car, Peel P50 was advertised as capable of seating "one adult and a shopping bag." The vehicle's only door was on its left side, and equipment included a single windscreen wiper and only one headlight. Standard colours were Daytona White, Dragon Red and Dark Blue.

Peel P50 is 54 in (1,372 mm) long and 41 in (1,041 mm) wide and weighs just 59 kg (130 lb). Approximately 50 Peel P50s were sold at £199 each. About twenty of the original survive, with selling prices said to be "up to £25,000". The P50 used a 49 cc (3.0 cu in) DKW engine which gave it a top speed of approximately 61 kilometres per hour (38 mph), and was equipped with a three-speed manual transmission that had no reverse gear. Consequently, turning in a confined area could only be achieved by pushing, or lifting the car using the handle on the rear and physically pulling it round. The makers and users claim fuel consumption of 100 mpg-imp (2.8 L/100 km; 83 mpg-US).

Wikipedia turned into a 5000 page Book!

Wikipedia is free online encyclopedia built collaboratively using Wiki software. Right now it contains more than 2,922,121 articles and is considered as one of the most reliable sources of information on various topics.

But Rob Matthews, a graphic design student from Brighton, Sussex, thought differently. He gave a shape to the popular online resource by converting it into a gigantic book of 5,000 pages. Take a look at the picture.

The book contains 437 featured articles from Wikipedia, which were selected on the basis of quality, accuracy, neutrality, completeness and style. It took Rob two weeks to produce the book, which is 1ft 7ins thick!

"I'm comparing the Internet Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopedia by putting it in the same format", Rob said. "I wanted to make a comment on how everyone goes to the Internet these days for information, yet it is very unreliable compared to what it has replaced", he added.

via: http://www.rob-matthews.com/index.php?/project/wikipedia/

Pink Phobia in Baby Flamingos!

Pink color is common in flamingos. Young flamingos hatch with gray plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly colored and is considered as a more desirable mate. So, what will happen if a flamingo develops pink phobia? Lots of trouble. Isn't it? Actually, it happened with a pair of flamingo chicks at London Zoo.

 

 

The birds, named Little and Large, developed the pink-phobia after being fed using a pink sock puppet. The cute chicks have since refused to have anything to do with the color pink - which could be a problem when they move into the flamingo pool.

 

Zoo staff are now hoping they get over their aversion before developing their distinctive color, reports the Daily Telegraph.

 

Keeper Alison Brown, 30, said: "To try to encourage Little to feed by himself we've been wearing a hand puppet which imitates adult flamingos, but unfortunately he was really terrified of the socks."

 

Ms Brown added: "We'll just have to hope they get used to the color pink, but I'm sure it won't be a problem. Once Little gets his own pink color he'll be fine."

Lady who missed Flight 447 dies in accident!

An Italian woman, who arrived late for the Air France flight 447 that crashed in the Atlantic last week, was not so lucky after all. Call it coincidence or fate, she has been killed in a car accident in Austria.

 

 

Johanna Ganthaler was holidaying in Brazil with her husband and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31, The Times reported. Later, the couple managed to get a flight back to France and all the 228 people aboard flight 447 lost their lives after the plane crashed into the Atlantic.

 

But destiny had something else in store for her. Ganthaler died when their car turned across a road and swerved into an oncoming truck on an Austrian road earlier this week. Her husband who was in the car with her escaped death with seriously injuries.

 

This reminds us of the movie "Final Destination", where air crash survivors dies after someday, like everything was already planned! Yes, this is life. No one can be sure about what will happen next.

The Crack Garden!

Looking for an unique gardening idea? What about a "Crack Garden"? Take a look at the picture above. Yes, this is a Crack Garden, which received an honor award in the Residential Design category of 2009 ASLA Professional Awards. In my view, it is cool gardening idea for urban areas, where space and resources are limited for a traditional home garden.

 

The Crack Garden was a project by CMG Landscape Architecture, which was inspired by the tenacious plants that pioneer the tiny cracks of urban landscapes, a backyard is transformed through hostile takeover of an existing concrete slab by imposing a series of "cracks". The rows of this garden contain a lushly planted mix of herbs, vegetables, flowers, and rogue weeds retained for their aesthetic value.

 

The conceptual basis of The Crack Garden is to reveal the potential for beauty that underlies the concrete and asphalt that is the predominant ground plane material of the urban landscape. The interventions into the site of The Crack Garden were primarily actions of removal rather than the addition of new layers and material. By eliminating portions of the existing concrete and exposing the soil beneath, potential is released, and new opportunities for the garden arise. The side of the garden along the residents' building is kept open for social activities, and plants selected for the cracks can tolerate foot traffic, which allows for multiple uses throughout the garden.

 

via: http://www.asla.org/2009awards/330.html

Yale Sued over "The Night Café"

"The Night Café" is the name of a famous oil painting created in 1888, by Vincent van Gogh. It is on display at the Yale University Art Gallery for almost 50 years. Take a look at the picture above. Now the interesting thing is that, the Ivy League University is being sued by a man over the ownership rights of the painting.

 

Pierre Konowaloff from France, claim that he is the great-grandson and heir of Ivan Morozov, who originally acquired the painting in 1908. The painting was with Morozov until the Russian Government seized it during the Communist takeover of Russia in 1918. Then, the painting was sold to art galleries in Europe and New York. Finally, Yale received the painting through a bequest from Yale alumnus Stephen Carlton Clark in 1961.

 

"The Night Café" depicts the interior of the cafe, with a half-curtained doorway in the center background leading, presumably, to more private quarters. Five customers sit at tables along the walls to the left and right, and a waiter in a light coat, to one side of a pool table near the center of the room, stands facing the viewer.

 

Konowaloff alleges Clark knew of the painting's ownership history and that "Yale engaged in a policy of willful ignorance" when it accepted the piece in 1961. "Yale's continued and wrongful detention of the unlawfully confiscated 'The Night Cafe' is prohibited by customary and international treaty law," his attorneys wrote in the filings. Konowaloff wants the immediate return of the painting as well as damages.

Snake-Bitten Chicken Dish!

Earlier this week, news agency Reuters reported that Chinese health authorities banned a chicken dish prepared from snake-bitten chicken! What? A snake-bitten chicken? I was shocked when I read that? How people can do such things to innocent animals? Okay, chicken is a food item and it must die before going into our stomach. But why such cruelty? Why snake-bite induced slow death?

China is country where people have different odd food habits. The chicken dish was served by some selected eateries in the southern province of Guangdong and the southwestern city of Chongqing. Recently, a video posted on local site sina.com.cn showed how cooks forces poisonous snakes to bite live chickens before cooking. The video caused outraged locally and the may people termed it disgusting and cruel.

The video can be found here:
http:/you.video.sina.com.cn/b/21145091-1405053100.html

Plan And Use Your Time Wisely

Proper planning always helps in our life. In life you can't expect anything to happen as planned. But planning can help you solve your problems effectively. So, it is a good idea to get in the habit of planning your time and effort.

Have a clear idea of what you want to do with the day. Draw out a definite programme. Know what you like doing with your leisure. Have definite hobbies and interests, and develop them.

Plan your work. Organize it before you start. Get each stage clear in your mind so that you cut out unnecessary details. Fix a time-limit for each job and do your best to complete it within that time.

Learn to do things the right way with ease, speed, and efficiency. Never be afraid to learn from others. Watch people who know. Take lessons if necessary. Eliminate all unnecessary movements. Have your tools and materials ready before you begin your work.

Try to do something useful with odd minutes like those spent waiting for buses or trains. For example, plan your next job. Test your memory. Go to bed at a reasonable hour so that you do not oversleep or want to lie in bed next morning.

Be punctual about appointments. If you are late, you may have to wait or even find your journey a wasted one.

Talking to people is nice but it can become a habit that eats up your time with no purpose. Keep it under control.