Bodyguard of Hitler stops replying Fan mails!

Did you know that one man who served Adolf Hitler as a bodyguard is still alive? 93 years old Rochus Misch, the last surviving bodyguard of Adolf Hitler, is saying goodbye to fan mails! Misch, who served Hitler during World War II has said that he can no longer reply to fan mails that he receives from different corners of the world because of his age.

Rochus Misch served Hitler as telephone operator, bodyguard and courier boy. After Hitler's suicide he was captured by Soviet forces. He is believed to be the last person alive who have seen Hitler. Misch has a large fan base who writes to him mostly for autographs. In the past he used to send fans autographed copies of wartime photos of himself in a SS uniform. Now the incoming fan mail, including letters and packages, piles up in his flat in south Berlin.

German tabloid Berliner Kurier quoted him as saying that "They (letters) come from Korea, from Knoxville, Tennessee, from Finland and Iceland - and not one has a bad word to say". But due to his age it was "no longer possible" to reply all those fan mails. Misch now depends on a walking frame to move around his apartment.

More about Rochus Misch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochus_Misch

World Record for Holding Breath Underwater

Swiss freediver Peter Colat has just broken the Guinness World Record for holding a breath underwater by holding his breathe for 19 minutes and 21 seconds. The 38-year-old freediver from Zurich performed the feat in a water tank in St Gallen, Switzerland.

According to Colat, the first 12 minutes were easier. He was allowed to breathe pure oxygen for 10 minutes before the attempt. Colat beat the previous Guinness World Record, held by Nicola Putignano of Italy, by 19 seconds. Congratulations Colat. It was really impressive and impossible!

Twin Ducklings hatch from One Egg!

Take a look at the picture. These two cute ducklings are the first recorded twin ducklings to ever hatch from same egg and survive. The ducklings hatched from the same egg at a British duck farm. The ducklings named Romulus and Remus will now become pets at the Cornish Duck Company in St Austell, Cornwall.

British farmer Roger Olver and partner Tanya Dalton had overseen the hatching of a group of eggs when they noticed that one was left uncracked and when she tried to help it turned out to a rare spectacle. When Tanya tried to break it, she saw a beak peck through at one end, but was stunned when seconds later another bird emerged from the other end.

"When we did the hatch there was one duckling left struggling to get out at the end," the Telegraph quoted Olver, 56, as saying.

"It was unbelievable. Two ducklings from the same egg. We managed to get them both out and now they are doing fine. They are in perfect health. They're looking pretty good, bearing in mind they were cooped up together in the same shell," Olver added.

Tanya Dalton, 38 has described the births as a "miracle" and has prepared an area at the farm where Romulus and Remus can be kept as pets.

Stop Singing in Shower to Save Water

According to the Daily Mail, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has instructed his citizens to stop singing in the shower. Why? Because his country is currently going through chronic water and energy crisis. So, by spending little time in the bathroom, people can save water.

"Some people sing in the shower, stay in the shower for half an hour," Chavez expressed his view in a televised cabinet meeting.

"No, kids," he urged, "three minutes is more than enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink." Warming to his subject, he continued: "If you're going to lie back in the bath with the soap and you turn on the Jacuzzi, imagine that - what kind of Communism is that?"

In recent months, Venezuelans are facing serious blackouts due to increased demand and a lack of investment. On top of that low rainfall is affecting the hydroelectric dams that generate much of the Venezuela's power. So, President Chavez is taking a lead in the fight against wasted energy. He has already announced measures to curb energy use, instructing government departments and nationalized companies to reduce their energy consumption by 20 per cent.

Guy Laliberte : The First Space Clown

Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte, who founded Cirque du Soleil, has become the "first clown to go into orbit". A Soyuz capsule carrying Laliberte and two other astronauts blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Russian rocket on Wednesday. Guy Laliberte put on a red nose like a clown when he boarded the spacecraft.

Mr Laliberte is also is taking nine red clown noses into space, one each for members of the orbiting ISS crew. He says he will make the ISS astronauts laugh during his 12-day stay, and produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for all. He intends to lead a "poetical social" performance from orbit. The two-hour show will link up with contributions from 14 cities worldwide and will be streamed on the web. Guy Laliberte reportedly paid more than £20m for his ticket to the International Space Station.

Save water - urinating in the shower

In Brazil, people are encouraging to save water and protect the rainforests. They say that urinating in the shower is the best way to save water.
A new TV advertisement from a Brazilian environmental group has urged people to urinate in the shower to save water and protect the rainforests.
Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says the campaign, running on several television stations, uses humour to persuade people to reduce flushes.
The group says if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 litres of water annually, reports Metro.
SOS Mata Atlantica spokeswoman Adriana Kfouri said that the commercial was "a way to be playful about a serious subject".
The ads feature cartoon drawings of people from all walks of life - a trapeze artist, a basketball player, even an alien - urinating in the shower.
Narrated by children's voices, the ad ends with: "Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!"

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.

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/

1 in 4 Americans Texting While Driving

One in four US drivers text while driving, even though there are bans in some states, the findings of a new survey reveals. The survey, conducted by mobile voice application company Vlingo, also found that 83 percent of the 4,800 people surveyed believed the practice should be banned.

Interestingly, sending text messages while driving is more prevalent in states where it is already banned or legislation is pending for a ban. Drivers in Tennessee were the most prolific texters, with 42 percent of those questioned admitting to the habit. A ban on using a cell phone to text while driving will go into effect in Tennessee in July. Currently texting while driving is banned only in seven US states and the capital city.

During the survey 26 percent of the respondents said they could not resist a bit of texting while driving. This is really scary. Because texting while driving increases the risk of accidents. Texting was responsible for a train crash in Los Angeles last September which killed 25 people, and a Boston trolly crash this month injured nearly 50 people.