'Hand of God' offered on eBay!

A man in northern Idaho saw a big hand rock formation in his backyard and he started to consider it as a divine sign! As it is divine, it definitely worth something, the man thought!

So, Paul Grayhek, 52, listed the rock formation on the online auction Web site eBay. Paul calls the rock formation "Hand of God Rock Wall", which is approximately 9 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The shape appeared after a rockfall during Christian season of Lent on March 8. That's why Paul thinks that it is a symbol of the hand of God in his life.

As per the auction terms, Grayhek was not planning to part with the formation and the winner bidder would be buying the rights, complete and exclusive rights to the rock, including literary and movie rights. The eBay listing, which has been removed due to undisclosed reasons, received up to US$2175 bid. It means at least some people wanted to buy the "hand of God"! This world is full of so many weird people!

Benjamin Franklin letters found in London

A political science professor from the University of California San Diego have discovered 47 letters by and about Benjamin Franklin that hadn't seen the light of day for more than 250 years. Benjamin Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. He was also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

Alan Houston, the professor, stumbled upon the documents during a research trip to the British Library in November 2007. The collection of 47 letters, all dating back to the spring and summer of 1775, were found in the Copies of Letters relating to the March of General Braddock. The letters were copied by Thomas Birch, a compiler and transcriber of historical documents.

Houston’s discovery has remained a secret for two years while he had the documents verified for authenticity. All 47 letters, with an explanatory forward by Houston will appear in April’s issue of The William and Mary Quarterly.

The 47 letters, include letters to and from Franklin’s son William; letters to and from Braddock or his secretary, William Shirley Jr.; a letter to Franklin’s wife, Deborah;(supposedly a “hot” one) and a letter from the governor of Massachusetts, William Shirley Sr. Houston said the letters reveal little new information about Franklin, but they show his skill as a negotiator and his role as a military strategist.

Vocational Career in Economic Recession

The current economic recession is changing the way people used to think about different lucrative jobs. Because they are no more lucrative due to huge job cuts or cuts in salary. There is no certainty that those who lost their jobs will be recruited back in near future. So, there are thousand of jobless people looking for some new opportunities.

Many people thinks that vocational courses may help those who recently lost their jobs. Yes, chances are there because those courses are career specific and some extra skills will only help in increasing the chances of employment. But completing a vocational course is different from starting a vocational career. Anyone can enroll for a course at any vocational school. The important point is how that course helps in starting a new career.

For help in finding a suitable vocational career, one can visit Train4VocationalCareer.com, a resourceful site with lots of valuable information about vocational courses and new career opportunities for skilled and trained persons. If you are looking for a job or if you want to go into career-specific field, visit this site and you will learn why a vocational career is great and why one should go for it.

Vocational schools offers different types of job oriented courses for different fields. For example, courses in accounting, medical technology, information technology, commercial art etc. And the good thing is that most vocational school offers flexible, online courses. So, no matter where you are or what you are doing, you can easily manage some time to study and learn some new skills. The more skills you have, the more likely you will get a job.

217,000 Text Messages in a Month!

It is reported that two college buddies in Pennsylvania spent the month of March sending text messages. Why? Because the pair wanted to break the World Record for Monthly Text Messages! So, Nick Andes, 29, and Doug Klinger, 30, exchanged total 217,000 text messages during March.

According to the duo, Andes sent around 140,000 of the messages, while Klinger sent more than 70,000. Even though most of the messages were short messages like "LOL" and "Hi", the number is definitely overwhelming. Total 217,000 messages in a month means more than 7000 messages per day or nearly 300 an hour. Can you do that?

Though there is no confirmation from Guinness World Records, it appears that they succeeded in their attempt. Because the current record holder is India's Deepak Sharma who set the record with 182,000 texts in 2005. There is definitely a big difference between the two numbers.

After the feat, Andes got a $26,000 bill from T-Mobile. This was a big surprise for him as he had an unlimited text messaging plan. Well, after he explained what he was attempting to do, T-Mobile waived the bill and asked him not to attempt anything like this in the future.

Judicious Use of Time for Success

Judicious use of time is very important for achieving success in life. Time is one thing that is rationed to everyone and has no black market at any price. Lost time and spoken words can never be got back.

Some people have intelligence, have talent and are quite capable. They get ample opportunities but due to their habit of postponement they are not able to take advantage of the available opportunities and continue to live a worthless life.

It has been rightly said ,"Do not postpone the work for tomorrow that has to be done today. Do the work to be done today now itself for no one can be sure of the next moment. Death may take you away and then everything will remain incomplete".

There is an opportune time for every work and that is the time when it must be done. Once the time slips away the importance of the work itself may reduce. History is full with examples to prove that all those who postponed the work for tomorrow or were not punctual, lagged behind and others stole a march over them.

Napoleon could defeat Austria because Austrian forces were a bit late in mounting the attack. But the very same Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo and was made the prisoner because his Lieutenant was five minutes late to arrive with the additional forces. By not doing the work in time, victories turn into humiliating defeats and profits in business get converted into losses.

Managers who want to have smooth sailing in their organization have to take timely decisions. Any tendency to postpone decisions has to be avoided. Justice delayed is justice denied. When justice is denied to the employees because of postponement, the organization starts to suffer and then production will be seriously affected.

It would only be useful to keep the following great quotes in mind in regard to time:

• Time is one thing that is rationed to everyone and it has no black market at any price.
• Indecision and lack of major purpose are the greatest thieves of time.
• The use of one's time determines the place one occupies in the world
• Live each day as if it is the last day and you develop respect for time.
• It is not sufficient to arrive, you should be in time.
• You will have time for all your needs if you are properly organized.
• The man who wastes his time may be no less a thief than the man who steals some other man's property.
• Time is a wonderful healer. It tends to equalize good and evil and to right the wrongs of the world.
• Tell me how you spend your spare time and I will tell you what and where you will be ten years from now.
• No man is paid for his time but he may be paid for the use he makes of it. Only used time has value.
• Every minute of the time saved on any job is the step on the road to success.

Acobay : Consumer Social Network

If you are an active Internet user, I am sure that you have at least one account on social networking sites! Why? Because on Internet, social networking is the hottest trend and the best way to connect with friends and family. Am I right?

There are so many social networking sites that you will never find any problem in locating and joining one that perfectly patches with your interests and needs. Let's take an example of Acobay, an unique social networking site that allows it's users to share the stuffs they own, use or intend to buy and then connect with other users with similar interests.

Want to tell the world what you like or what you dislike? Acobay is the perfect social network to do that. As a member you will be able to share your stuffs and tell the world why you like it or who much it costs. In this way you will not only connect with other users with similar interests, but will also help others who wants to buy or use a stuff.

For example, you own a cool software that makes many tasks easier for you. Go and share it on their Software Network and connect with other users who uses the same software. Similarly, imagine you are visiting a new place and have no idea about good restaurants in that area. Don't worry you can take help from Acobay. Go to the Restaurants Network and find out more about great restaurants in the area you are visiting. You can even ask other users how-to questions to learn more about a stuff.

So, Acobay is a consumer social network and you can use it to find the hottest stuffs and to read consumer reviews or comments on various stuffs. It will not only help you in expanding the network of your friends but will also help you in making some good decisions. Try it today.

Hunger Strike over Cricket Tournament

Call it love for sports or madness, hundreds of prisoners in an Indian prison went on a hunger strike after authorities refused to allow inmates to watch one cricket tournament on cable television. 

According to news sources, nearly 500 inmates in the Alipore Central jail, Kolkata, had requested cable television connection to watch the Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty20 cricket tournament being played in South Africa at the weekend. But the authorities denied to provide cable TV connection inside the prison compound and the inmates went on a hunger strike. In India, prisoners are allowed to watch state-run TV channel 'Doordarshan' only. 

The IPL is one of India's biggest cricket tournaments, which is played in Twenty20 format. Due to security reasons this year the tournament location was moved out of India, a country with millions of cricket fans.

Webster Lake's 45-letter name misspelt for years

It is reported that the longest place name in United States, has been misspelt for years on signposts. After researching historical spelling combination and the local newspapers, local officials admitted that the 45-letter long word 'Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg' has been wrongly spelt for many years.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is the name of a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is also known as Webster Lake or 'Lake Chaubunagungamaug'. The 45-letter name is the longest place name in the United States and 6th longest in the world.

The 45-letter name originated from the language of the local Nipmuck tribe, which means "Englishmen at Manchaug at the fishing place at the boundary although". The name was given in the 19th century when White people built factories in the area.

Recently after researching historical spelling combination and the local newspapers the Telegram and Gazette of Worcester, local Chamber of Commerce officials have found that some signs at the lake has been wrongly spelt. There was an "o" at letter 20 where a "u" should have been, and an "h" at letter 38 where an "n" should go.

Buying Health and Beauty Products Online

Want to buy some cosmetics online? Want to buy a cologne, but have no idea about men's cosmetics? Don't worry, Internet is full of valuable information and if you know where to look, you can easily buy anything and everything with confidence! Here I would like to recommend ShopWiki, a shopping search engine. Recently I used the Fragrances Guide on ShopWiki and learned a lot about different fragrance. It also helps me in finding the best online deals to some money.

For cosmetics, I would recommend you to visit the Health and Beauty buying guide, which is a great resource for novice shoppers. From hottest trends in make-up to vitamins and from tips on fragrances to personal care guide, this section contains lots of valuable information that will help you in buying the best products and best possible price. When you know what exactly you want, finding a good product within your budget is not difficult at all.

By using their guides you can fulfill all your cosmetic needs besides saving money. For example, let's find some skin care products? For this, take a look at the Skin Care products buying guide. You can locate this section by performing a search with the words "Skin Care". This section contains both basic and advanced information about different skin care products and how to take care of your skin. Read more about the type of product you want and directly go to product listing pages to buy that particular product. On the product page you will find product listings with prices from different online stores. This will help you in finding the best available deals and save a good amount of money.

Similarly, use ShopWiki to buy your favorite products at lowest possible price. They lists products from more than 30,000 stores. So, you will never find any problem in finding the products you wanted to buy online. Go and visit ShopWiki today.

Restoration of Berlin Wall Paintings

The famous murals on Berlin Wall, which is known as the East Side Gallery, will get a facelift. This summer the surviving 1,300 meters of the wall is to be scrubbed clean and then repainted by the same artists who turned it into a giant work of art.

French artist Thierry Noir, who was the first artist to paint on the Berlin Wall, is organising the restoration of his paintings as well as those of around 120 other artists. The artists from 21 different countries, who painted the wall 20 years ago have been painstakingly traced and paid to return to Berlin to re-create their works once the wall, badly damaged by years of vandalism, exhaust fumes, harsh weather and souvenir hunters.

The restoration work, paid for with lottery funds, involves the use of transparencies and an overhead projector to ensure that the original works, such as Birgit Kinder's famous painting of a Trabant, the classic East German-made car, are accurately re-created.

via Guardian.co.uk

1 in 10 US Youth Addicted to Video Games

A new study conducted by the Iowa State University and the National Institute on Media and Family found that 1 in 10 American children are addicted to video games.

For a lot of kids, playing video games is just something that they really enjoy doing, but for one out of 10 kids, it is a serious problem. They are so addicted that they neglects daily chores or homework to play games.

The study, led by Dr Douglas Gentile, a psychology professor at Iowa State University, was published in the journal Psychological Science and used data from a Harris Poll of nearly 1,200 children ages 8 to 18 from across the US. The study found that 88 per cent of US kids played video games at least occasionally, and on average children play about 13 hours of video games a week.

The researchers classified gamers as "pathological" if they exhibited at least six of 11 symptoms of addiction. The pathological gamers in the study played video games 24 hours per week, about twice as much as non-pathological gamers. They also were more likely to have video game systems in their bedrooms, reported having more trouble paying attention in school, received poorer grades in school, had more health problems, were more likely to feel "addicted," and even stole to support their habit.

The study also found that addicted gamers were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with attention problems such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Shopping Light Fixtures Online

Looking for some new lighting fixtures for your home? Need some beautiful chandeliers? Want to decorate your garden with some contemporary outdoor lighting fixtures? In my view, the best place to visit for all kind of light fixtures and lighting products is Farrey's, a reputed company specialized in lighting and home products since 1924. You can access their online store at Farreys.com.

Let's talk about their light fixtures. From contemporary chandeliers to traditional wall mounted lamps and from candle holders to energy saving ceiling fixtures you will find all kinds of indoor lighting fixtures there. Similarly for outdoor lighting, they have lanterns, pendants, flood lights etc. For your specific needs such as kitchen and bathroom, they have bathroom light fixtures and kitchen light fixtures.

The Farreys.com website is very user friendly and you will never get lost while shopping. To help shoppers, the products are listed according to style, type and brands. So, you will never find any difficulties in finding the products you wanted to buy. You can also use the search feature that will speed up your searching process. All the products on Farreys.com comes from top manufacturers and are priced reasonably. So, rest assured to get high quality products from your favorite manufacturers, at lowest possible price.

Besides home lighting products Farrey's deals in bath products, ceiling fans, doorwear, kitchen products and ventilation products. Their showrooms are located in North Miami and Coconut Grove, Florida.

Legal Battle over Frozen Dog Sperm!

On Wednesday morning a divorced couple brought an interesting but odd case before Michigan family court Judge Cheryl Matthews. It was all about frozen sperm from Bullmastiffs the couple bred in happier times.

Anthony Scully and his former wife Karen Scully wanted a verdict on ownership of valuable frozen semen taken from three Bullmastiffs, two of which are deceased. During their split in 2002, the couple divvied up the six bull mastiffs they owned. Anthony kept four while Karen took two. Now, they're fighting over who owns the frozen sperm taken from Cyrus, Regg and Romeo. Note that frozen sperm can be banked for years to use in breeding and Bullmastiff dogs can sell for up to $2,000 each.

So, on Wednesday morning their lawyers appeared in the Family Court. Michigan family court Judge Cheryl Matthews first thought that it was a prank!

"I asked, 'Am I Being Punk'd?' " Matthews said later on Wednesday afternoon.

But soon she realized that the case was real and ruled that it was not a divorce matter and told the couple to fight it out in a civil court. It is reported that the Bullmastiffs frozen sperm case is now assigned to Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman.

Groom Sells Tie Advertising Space

Some people can do anything and everything for money. Don't blame their character or habits, it is money that makes them do those unbelievable, weird and even illegal things. Well, I am not going to tell you about anything illegal here. I just want to put some smile on you face by telling you about an weird but interesting idea!

Believe it or now, a Romanian man is trying to rise money by selling advertising space on his wedding tie. Tudor Ciora, 26, the groom wants to raise some money to meet the wedding expenses. Companies can pay 20 euro for a slot near the top of his tie, 15 euro for one in the middle or just 10 euro to have their name at the bottom of the tie.

Tudor Ciora has already created a website to promote his advertising space and hopes that it will raise enough money to buy a new car! You can find out more about the tie advertising campaign here -www.cravatamea.com

Are you ready to compromise with your wedding dress for money? If you are running out of money, try the idea of Tudor Ciora. But use at your own risk and don't blame me if your mission to raise money fails!

Dog owners really look like their pets?

Just by looking at a person you can easily guess what kind of pet dog he or she owns! No, this is not my guess. Researchers at Britain's Bath Spa University have proved that dog owners actually do look like their dogs! The researchers came to this conclusion after a study that tried to see if dogs and their masters had similar personalities.

"There is a little bit of truth in the theory that owners look like their dogs, but if you are of a robust build you will probably have a more robust dog so that you can gets lots of exercise. If you are more slight you may want a poodle as you think that they need less exercise," Dr Lance Workman said to The Telegraph.

The study asked a group of 70 people who do not own a dog were asked to match photos of 41 dog owners to three possible breeds - labrador, poodle or Staffordshire bull terrier. Dog owners were correctly matched to their breed of dog above the level of chance.

But when the researchers tested the dog owners' personalities, they found no strong links between any particular personality trait and choice of dog breed. So, the resemblance between the appearance of pets and their owners is only skin deep. Don't take it seriously.