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Showing posts from 2011

Goony bird

After many years of marriage, a husband has turned into a couch potato, became completely inattentive to his wife and sat guzzling beer and watching TV all day. The wife was dismayed because no matter what she did to attract the husband’s attention, he’d just shrug her off with some bored comment. This went on for many months and the wife was going crazy with boredom. Then one day at a pet store, the wife saw this big, ugly, snorting bird with a hairy chest, powerful hairy forearms, beady eyes and dribble running down the side of its mouth. The shopkeeper, observing her fascination with the bird, told her it was a special imported “Goony bird” and it had a very peculiar trait. To demonstrate, he exclaimed, “Goony bird! The table!” Immediately, the Goony bird flew off its perch and with single-minded fury attacked the table and smashed it into a hundred little pieces with its powerful forearms and claws! To demonstrate some more, the shopkeeper said, “Goony b

Snapkeys aims to replace QWERTY keyboards on mobile devices

At next month's Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) in Las Vegas, tech start-up Snapkeys will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for fastest typing speed. The company will be making its record attempt using volunteers (who it is currently in the process of recruiting), and its new 2i typing system for mobile devices. Unlike traditional systems that utilize a full QWERTY virtual keyboard that takes up much of the screen, 2i incorporates just four onscreen keys ... and they're all invisible. The system divides up the letters of the alphabet between the four keys - or Snapkeys, specifically - based on their shape. These groupings consist of letters that stand on one point (such as F and I), letters that stand on two points (N, A, etc.), letters that stand on a wide base (L, E, etc.) and letters that include a complete circle in their shape (R, O, etc.). Basic punctuation marks and shapes are also included. To use the 2i system, users simpl

Weird Inventions Made by the Chinese

China doesn’t always copy useful and popular world’s inventions. Local people also invent stuff themselves. Take a look.   A local farmer Li Yuming works on his unfinished miniature submarine Xiaguang V, which is 3-metre long, 1.2-metre in height, has a maximum diving depth of 20 metres, and can hold two adults and one child at the same time. A child rides a specially constructed ice-chair on the frozen Houhai Lake in Beijing. Farmer Wu Yulu, 48, rides in a cart pulled by his walking robot. Hobby inventor Wu, who started to build robots in 1986, has invented 47 robots with different functions like jump, paint, drink, pull cart, massage, and help cooking. Chinese farmer Yang Youde pushes his homemade cannon. Yang's cannon, which is made out of a wheelbarrow, pipes and firing rockets, is used to defend his fields against property developers who wants his land. Gao Hanjie installs the rotor blades on his homemade helicopter, which is 6-meter

Paypal founder backs Blueseed "visa-free entrepreneurship and tech incubator"

Paypal co-founder and billionaire Peter Thiel, who is currently the Seasteading Institute's "most generous funder" has continued his commitment to creating floating autonomous states by backing Blueseed. The new initiative hopes to create a floating "entrepreneurship and technology incubator" off the coast of San Francisco, allowing the next generation of creative entrepreneurs to legally develop new technologies without US working visas. "Because of the United States' current immigration and regulatory regime, bold and creative entrepreneurs from around the world aren't given the chance to come to Silicon Valley and develop the technologies that could be creating jobs and propelling the economy forward" claims Blueseed. Thus "Blueseed aims to solve this problem so that Silicon Valley remains the world's center for innovation." The Blueseed facility is effectively an office complex on a ship - a ship that

This is Worth Reading

A woman baked bread for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra bread on the Window-sill, for whosoever would take it away. Every day, a hunch-back came and took away the bread. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: "The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" This went on, day after day. Every day, the hunch-back came, picked up the bread and uttered the words: "The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" The woman felt irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself... "Everyday this hunch-back utters this jingle! What does he mean? "One day, out of despiration, she decided to do away with him. "I shall get rid of this hunch-back," she said. And what did she do? She added poison to the bread she prepared for him! As she was about to place it on the window

FLEXiT offers a new take on task lighting

For people who want portable LED lighting that mounts just about anywhere, there are already devices such as the Joby Gorillatorch, most of which are variations on the tried-and-trusted flashlight form factor. Striker's new FLEXiT Light takes a bit of a different approach, however. Instead of incorporating three or so LEDs within one lens, it utilizes a bendable array of 16 high-output bulbs. The FLEXiT's washable silicone body can be wrapped around objects such as pipes, or bent by hand to focus or spread its light as needed. Its rubberized ABS battery compartment/control unit doubles as a pedestal-type base, allowing it to stand up cobra-like on flat surfaces. That base contains two neodymium magnets and a hang loop, adding to the mounting possibilities. Users can choose between high, medium and low output settings, which will in turn determine how many of the LEDs are illuminated. With all 16 bulbs aglow, the FLEXiT puts out a claimed 128 Lumens. T

Power to the People: Whole-Body Gadget Charging System

Whether running errands or running a marathon, our body movements can create a lot of energy every day – energy that is basically wasted since we tend not to capture and use it. The Tusk concept would harness the energy of the human body and use it to charge mobile gadgets. The clever system uses rotary dynamos, rectifiers and linear regulators to create electricity from the repetitive movements of its wearer. The power created by an active person can power a phone, iPod or whatever else needs a topping up. It’s doubtful that the device, if it were ever to hit the market, would be powerful enough to charge a phone or other mobile device completely using just the wearer’s regular daily movement. But if you’re one of those people who can’t work out without music and never seem to remember to charge your iPod, it could be an insanely useful tool for making use of all of that human-generated power.

THE COIN IN THE SHOES

A young man, a student in one of our universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor,who was commonly called the students' friend, from his kindness to those who waited on his instructions. As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which they supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work. The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick:we will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them." "My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of the poor man.Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him." The student did so, and they both placed themse

Age factor!

A group of 40 year old buddies discussed where they should meet for dinner.  Finally it was agreed  that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant  because the waitresses there had low cut blouses and were very young.  Ten years later at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they  should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the  Ocean View restaurant because the food there was better than most places and  the wine selection was extensive.  Ten years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they  should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the  Ocean View restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet and  the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean.  Ten years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where  they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at  the Ocean View restaurant because the restaur

Green Racer: Elegant Eco-Car With Throw-Away Body

Old cars and car parts make up a huge part of the worldwide waste stream. A team of designers in the Philippines has developed a rather sophisticated response to that problem with this car, which they’ve named The Phoenix. The prototype has a body made of biodegradable materials that you can simply throw away when you no longer need the car. The gorgeous design looks like some kind of space-age bed, but it’s definitely built to rule the road in true environmental style. While most people only keep their cars for five to ten years, the biodegradable body of the Phoenix is meant to completely break down in the same amount of time – so within a decade this car could go from factory to the road and back to the Earth. While the body is simply thrown away, the metal chassis can be reused again and again until the parts wear out. The body is made of a mix of bamboo and rattan, so it’s doubtful that it would ever pass safety tests and make it onto the road. But it’s a love

Politicians Caught at the Right Moment

These are some funny moments from the life of politicians.