Spanish for Dummies

It's so great that the U.S. outlawed slavery so many years ago.

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The world is coming to an end ... steal BIKES!

Mystery still surrounds the Toronto bikeshop owner who was recently fingered for biketheft. Igor’s operation alone might explain most of Toronto’s reputation for being the capital of bike theft in North America. His shop was so filled with bicycles that police had to take out second floor windows and lower the bikes out them. Clearly this collection has been growing for a very long time.

His shop even had a reputation as the place to go to buy back your stolen bike - but no one knew for sure that he was the one stealing them. Rumor has it he was waiting for a big energy crisis where the world as we know it would come to an end and he could make a killing reselling the rest.

Watch this video of how easy it is to steal a bike in broad daylight in New York City.

Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs!

I love the daily show and Stephen Colbert, and this billboard strategically placed for the Republican National Convention is right on!
Oligarch [wikipedia link]

Keeping it all in perspective

Several years ago, I lived in a 5th floor apt., just at treetop level, and a pair of Purple Finches made a nest on my balcony. For many weeks I watched the eggs be laid, the baby birds hatched and screaming with their open mouths for food.

One day, as I was swelling with parental pride at how large they were getting, I was horrified to see a Blue Jay pluck one of the babies from the nest!

I told my neighbour across the hall, an elderly woman who had lived there for 25 years, about the tragedy and she told me she had had a similar experience. However, she related that her own shock at the brutality of nature, quickly became muted by the fact she was eating chicken at the time!

The pictorial article after the link illustrates this poignant story of life and death.

On the inside looking in!

As you watch this video, try to convince yourself that the front half of the sphere is transparent and that the mural is painted on the concave interior of the farther side. If you succeed, the spin will seem to reverse direction and you'll find yourself inside the painting.

Dick Termes paints murals on spheres. And he does it with a unique "six-point" perspective technique that permits a remarkable optical illusion.

Just under the video is a link to another illusion video.

Honesty: The Date

Another instalment from the Honesty series. Thank goodness that we don't say exactly what we are thinking!

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More on the Fat Front

Although we all wish we had a little less of it, fat is essential for managing our energy balance and helping to regulate body temperature.

But there are two distinct types of fat tissue: white 'bad' fat acts as an energy store whereas brown 'good' fat helps in burning calories to generate body heat.

Now one team has shown how to promote the manufacture of "good" brown fat, so we can burn more calories, while a second team has shown how brown fat and muscle are linked, suggesting ways to interconvert the two. Both offer a new strategy to fight flab.

Weird Things About Water

Water, good ol' H₂O, seems like a pretty simple substance to you and me. But in reality, water - the foundation of life and most common of liquid - is really weird and scientists actually don't completely understand how water works.

Webs on an early morning

Dew drops, each a splendid world of reflection - are caught in a silvery web on an early morning

What a Billion Muslims Really Think

Who Speaks for Islam? is the product of the Gallup World Poll's massive, multiyear research study. As part of this groundbreaking project, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have significant Muslim populations.

Gallup brings data-driven evidence -- the voices of a billion Muslims, not those of individual "experts" or "extremists" -- to one of the most heated and consequential debates of our time.

Whom should we trust?

Researchers have discovered that surprisingly small factors - where we meet someone, whether their posture mimics ours, even the slope of their eyebrows or the thickness of their chin - can matter as much or more than what they say about themselves.
We size up someone's trustworthiness within milliseconds of meeting them, and while we can revise our first impression, there are powerful psychological tendencies that often prevent us from doing so - tendencies that apply even more strongly if we've grown close.

Honesty: At the garage

Here is part of a series of videos on the subject of Honesty. What would the world be like if we all said exactly what we are thinking?

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Tiger Woods is just THAT good!

Atheist reads hate-mail from creationists

Check out this video in which famed atheist Richard Dawkins reads aloud the profane, violent, hateful email he gets from believers.

Iran's heartbreaking "solution" to homosexuality

An Iranian-born filmmaker learned that in Iran, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. But the government has provided a way out for the nation’s gays and lesbians: a sex-change operation. Fully paid for by the state, the procedure would allow these people to conform to Iran’s theocratic standards of sexuality.

Eshaghian's film reveals a culture so steeped in hatred of gays and lesbians that it deems a sex change preferable to simply accepting differences in sexual orientation.

The Traffic Guru

by Tom Vanderbilt

Our behavior is heavily influenced by the ­decisions of Traffic Engineers every day. If you were asked to name a famous Traffic Engineer, though, chances are slight you would credit the onetime New York City traffic czar, Henry Barnes, with inventing the “Barnes Dance” - wherein an entire intersection is given over to a ­four-­way pedestrian ­crossing.

One traffic engineer, however, did achieve a measure of global celebrity with his ideas. The idea that made Hans Monderman most famous is that traditional traffic safety ­infra­structure - signs, lights, curbs, lines, and so ­on - ­is not only often unnecessary, but can endanger those it is meant to protect.

Killer Carbs: Scientist Finds Key To Overeating As We Age

A Monash University scientist has discovered that key appetite control cells in the human brain degenerate over time, causing increased hunger and potentially weight-gain as we grow older.

As published in Nature, the research by Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist found that the degeneration is more significant following meals rich in carbohydrates and sugars.

California referendum trying to ban Gay marriage

With less than 11 weeks until Election Day, supporters of Proposition 8 are ramping up their field organization and refining their message as they seek to persuade California voters to shut the door on same-sex marriage. It's the first time voters will be asked to weigh in on the issue in either California or Massachusetts — the states where gays have won the right to wed.

The initiative is a constitutional amendment, similar to ones already enacted in 26 other states, that would overturn the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage. It needs a simple majority of votes to pass in an upcoming referendum.

Airport Security: Shoes, belts, laptop, shampoo ... bra!

Like most travelers in the post-Sept. 11 world of heightened airport scrutiny, Berkeley resident Nancy Kates is familiar with the drill: Shoes, belts, laptop, shampoo.

For Kates, though, the security check at Oakland International Airport got too invasive. A big-busted woman wearing a large underwire bra, she set off the metal detector and was checked by a female TSA agent with a metal-sensitive wand.

"The woman touched my breast. I said, 'You can't do that,' " Kates said. "She said, 'We have to pat you down.' I said, 'You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.' "

North Korea develops a noodle that delays feelings of hunger

Noodles made from corn and soybeans left people feeling fuller longer and represented a technological breakthrough, the Choson Shinbo newspaper said.

North Korea is dependent on foreign food aid. Last month the UN warned that residents were experiencing their worst food shortages in a decade.

But the communist country remains reluctant to allow experts to fully assess the scale of the problem or give them adequate access to deliver aid.

Star Trek weapon seized in knives amnesty

This dangerous-looking five-foot-long weapon has been recovered by police in Gloucester. The shocked officers who took custody of it, are using it to publicize a five-week period during which they hope around 30,000 weapons will be handed in.

A spokesman for police said: "It is a particularly nasty blade that can, literally, take someone's head off. We are very glad it is off the streets and we want more weapons handed in."

The blade is believed to be a stainless-steel copy of a Klingon weapon called a Batliff from the science fiction series Star Trek.

Stop thinking platforms, start thinking markets

Today, platform wars ain't what they used to be. On the one hand, there's Facebook - playing a textbook game of platform strategy, but slowly suffocating the utility of its own network. On the other, there's Apple - ignoring many of the rules of platform strategy, but radically redesigning the long-suffering mobile value chain with the iPhone App Store.
The App Store's name is revealing: it tells us that Apple doesn't see a platform to be manipulated, but a market to be made. It is that understanding that's at the heart of Apple's furious domination of the mediascape.

The little lighthouse that could

All you East-coasters will appreciate this remarkable video of a lighthouse on the coast of France being battered by waves.

Mother Nature’s kaleidoscope of colours

Colour is how the human eye perceives the reflection of different frequencies of light. It provokes us, it enchants us and our whole world revolves around it.

The kaleidoscope of colours presented in this series of spectacular lake images, expresses the incredible natural beauty of Mother Nature’s most colourful works.

An Immaculate Conception?

Ricky Martin becomes father of twins

They were born "via gestational surrogacy", which means that Ricky didn't have to have sex with anyone to fertilize the eggs.

Could the rumours about Ricky's sexuality actually be true? Let's hope so!

Do the Chinese think Westerners look all alike?

This video seems to suggest so. In the West, there's some who think Asians, especially those from China, Japan, and Korea, look pretty much the same.

But perhaps less-than-honed cross-border facial recognition is a universal problem. It seems in China, Westerners all look the same too.

In this clip, a BBC reporter is confused for U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps. Hilarity ensues.

Conservative countries + scantily clad Olympic athletes

In Beijing, Roqaya al-Gassra of Bahrain won her heat in the second round of the women's 200-meter dash while wearing long pants, long sleeves, and a head covering, in keeping with her practice of Islam. Many female Olympians wear athletic clothing that does not cover their bodies; are their events broadcast in conservative countries?

A rounder face 'means men are more aggressive'

A Canadian team studied 90 ice hockey players and found the rounder the face, the more aggressive the players....
"The facial structure of a man provides an indication of how aggressive he will be in a competitive situation," says Prof McCormick.
"Therefore, we are able to predict, with some accuracy, the behaviour of men on the basis of their facial features.

Montreal World Film Festival opens with Tributes

The Montreal World Film Festival prides itself on bringing films from around the world to make their international premieres. Almost half the films are having world premieres.
The festival has ensured some Hollywood glitz with a tribute to actor Tony Curtis, known for comedies such as Some Like It Hot, and a special award for lifetime achievement to be presented to Alan Ladd Jr., former president of 20th Century Fox and MGM/UA and producer of Braveheart.
Brian de Palma is scheduled to give a master class to filmmakers.
Twenty films, including two from Quebec filmmakers, are entered in the World Competition, where the major prizes of the festival are awarded.

Robert Lepage's dazzling visual history of Quebec City

To tell the 400-year history of Quebec City, his birthplace, theatre prodigy Robert Lepage has done the spectacular: he has transformed 81 working grain silos into the world?s largest video screen. Lepage?s $6 million narrative is titled The Image Mill,and uses the Bunge of Canada Ltd. silos in Quebec?s port ? one of the most important grain storage facilities in Canada ? as its canvas.

..."and on your left, the Gays."

For gay and lesbian residents, who are doing nothing more remarkable than, say, walking over to Cliff's Hardware Store, the idea that as many as six tour buses could turn up at once seems bizarre. They also worry that the upcoming release of the movie "Milk," based on the life story of Castro Street politician Harvey Milk, will just be another step toward turning the Castro into a kind of urban theme park for looky-loos.

If you thought the last CGI human was realistic

Have a look at "Emily", a new precedent for photo-realistic characters in video games and films, says her creator, Image Metrics.
Extraordinarily lifelike characters are to begin appearing in films and computer games thanks to a new type of animation technology.
Emily - the woman in the animation - was produced using a new modelling technology that enables the most minute details of a facial expression to be captured and recreated.

Keep reminding yourself that she is NOT a real person!

New York City Installs David Byrne-Designed Bike Racks

Nine new, whimsical designs expected to spark interest in cycling among New Yorkers while adding eye-catching art to the City's streets
"By bringing attractive yet functional sculptures to our streets, we are elevating the profile of cycling, and we believe that more and more people will begin to think about cycling as a mode of transportation, and not just a mode of recreation," said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. "Regular bike riders have an eagle eye for our current bike racks but these nine installations will capture the attention of all New Yorkers."

A Black Hole as Art

This extraordinary structure on took motorists by surprise. Artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck were responsible for this house installation. The two wooden buildings were to be replaced by a new built project so the few months before the demolition, they made this into an architectonic installation. There are more photos on the original webpage.

A Safe-Sex Ringtone?

If you think you?ve heard the wackiest of ringtones, think again. The hot new cell phone sound in India is ? no joke here ? the ?condom ringtone.? The ringtone?s available for free at the aptly named condomcondom.org.
Listen for yourself in this ad:

Pop = Soda = Coke

"When on a hot summer?s day you buy a carbonated beverage to quench your thirst, how do you order it? Do you ask for a soda, a pop or something else? That question lay at the basis of an article in the Journal of English Linguistics (Soda or Pop?, #24, 1996) and of a map, showing the regional variation in American English of the names given to that type of drink...

Wearable Motorcycle

"Jake Loniak is a college junior, he's also the inventor of one of the most innovative concept vehicles we've seen in ages. In video : the electric exoskeleton motorcycle and an exclusive video of the beast in action."

I love what happens as it picks up speed!

Guess-the-google

Guess-the-google picks a keyword for Google Images then generates a montage of the results. You, the player must guess what keyword is common to all the photos, but the clock is ticking - it's surprisingly addictive. Try it!

Better than a trip to the lake

Why do I get the feeling that this clever idea is being recorded in Quebec?

The Life of Animals ... according to Man

La vie des animaux selon les hommes

Secret Agent Double-O

Weng Weng [ Wikipedia link ] was a Filipino actor and martial artist. Only 2 feet, 9 inches (83 cm) tall, he is listed in the Guinness World Records as the shortest adult actor in a leading role.

He played Secret Agent 00 in For Y?ur Height Only, The Impossible Kid and D?Wild Wild Weng.

His online recognition grew in April 2007 with the release of the Weng Weng Rap video by The Chuds and John R of R Room. This was eventually picked up by an Australian music forum, Fasterlouder.com.au, making Weng Weng a popular meme amongst members.

Muppets in CyberSpace

With the powers it inherited from its home planet of YouTube, the internet has brought songs and puppets and entertainment straight to the thing you're staring at right now.

The Swedish Chef, Gonzo, Beaker, and Statler and Waldorf have all started their own YouTube accounts, along with a brand-flipping new videos. Take a gander at the best-of videos after the jump

The Trouble with Mustaches

Hard to believe that this guy is for real, but what do you expect in The Peoples Court?

http://view.break.com/367836 - Watch more free videos

Olympic Organizers Hiding Logos That Aren't Official Sponsors

To ensure that only the companies that pay millions of dollars to be official Olympic sponsors enjoy the benefits of exposure in Olympic venues, organizers have covered the trademarks of nonsponsors with thousands of little swatches of tape.

Travel scams to avoid

"During a trip to England several years ago, I spied an advertisement in one of the London papers promoting a hotel-and-meals package in Yorkshire that looked too good to be true."How to avoid resort fees, ID theft and more...

Click here to launch a slideshow of stories

U.S. Homeland Security -- like vultures waiting to eat

"In the past five years I have worked for human rights and refugee advocacy organizations in Serbia, Russia and Croatia, including the International Rescue Committee and USAID."
"I have traveled to many different places, some supposedly repressive, and have never seen people treated with the kind of animosity that Homeland Security showed that night."
"In Syria, border control officers were stern but polite. At other borders there have been bureaucracies to contend with -- excruciating for both Americans and other foreign nationals."
"I've met Russian officials with dead, suspicious looks in their eyes and arms tired from stamping so many visas, but in America, the Homeland Security officials I encountered were very much alive -- like vultures waiting to eat."

Violin maverick Eugene Draw smashes genres - and expectations

It?s safe to say that violinist Eugene Draw was the only player at last month?s Toronto Beaches Jazz Festival to jump off the stage and into the crowd while soloing. His band, Dr. Draw, is comprised of guitar, bass and drums augmented with keys and harp, and it pounds out layers of spliced styles including bluegrass and rock with Latin and gypsy rhythms, or Romanian wedding music mixed with ska and jamrock ? all in the same song.
Draw started off as an aggressive middle-school fiddler performing thrash and skatepunk, but he dropped out of Montreal?s alternative scene because he was tired of scenester restrictiveness.
Here's a YouTube video of him performing Ave Maria:

Another Happy Reunion

You may remember the touching story of Christian the Lion as he was reunited with his 'friends'. This story is just as moving.

The Ice Man cometh

This is a sadly beautiful sculpture created by Spanish artist Nele Azevedo. Go to the Fotopage to see the whole concept.

Candid Camera: The Elevator Test

Candid Camera was one of my favourite shows when I was young. It would be interesting to know whether you could get people to react like this today.

Kids think big

via videosift.com

Sea Orchestra (Rhapsody in Blue)

This is a fun ad for United Airlines, reminiscent of Disney's Fantasia.

Scam I am...

By now, most of us have heard about the Nigerian Scam, whereby some mysterious email offers you the chance to make a lot of money by helping them transfer $millions to an international bank account.
Well, this website cites stories of people who act like they are being sucked into the scam just to waste the scammers time. It makes for an insightful and funny read.

The un-helmet helmet

For those cyclists who don't want people to know they are wearing a helmet, this might be the solution. You can buy helmet-covers that look just like real hats.

A preacher with fart (er... heart!)

Someone has embellished this preacher's mannerisms to add extra emphasis. It's very funny!

How to buy a new car and NOT get screwed

This guy has some great tips on how to handle car salesmen.

So real it's Creepy

One of the most difficult aspects of creating believable 3D CGI (computer-generated) characters and impactful digital acting is the portrayal of genuine emotion. Animation and digital FX studio Pendulum has been pursuing this challenge by dedicating substantial R&D efforts toward creating a unique solution for this growing need in the entertainment industry. Partnering with the motion-capture experts at House of Moves, the Pendulum team is diving deep into the complex realm of high-end digital actors with the development of its new proprietary facial motion-capture software, and a uniquely powerful 3D character creation pipeline unlike anything else in the industry.
Be sure to look at the video with the 3 Human faces at the bottom of the page.

Should I Smoke Dope?

This is the first part of an hour-long BBC documentary wherein the reporter personally investigates the effects and legalities of marijuana use. She comes across some very interesting facts including the qualitative differences between various species of the plant.

Each of the 6 parts of the video is available via links at the end of the Full Article or in the Related Videos section of YouTube.

World Music downloads

This site posts a new downloadable world music song each day. Click on the individual titles then look for the download link.

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!

I hope this article doesn't create panic as did Orson Welles' War of the Worlds, but I bet there are lots of Americans who are keeping their rifles loaded just in case

"i herd on the news that rusia has invaded but i dont see them no where wats going on."

Big Brother has new techniques for watching you

Fingerprint test tells much more than identity

With a new analytical technique, a fingerprint can reveal much more than the identity of a person. It can also identify what the person has been touching ? drugs, explosives or poisons, for example.
Writing in the Friday issue of the journal Science, R. Graham Cooks, a professor of chemistry at Purdue University, and his colleagues describe how a laboratory technique known as mass spectrometry could find a wider application in crime investigations.
The equipment to perform such tests is already commercially available, although expensive. Smaller, cheaper, portable versions are probably only a couple of years away.

Test your knowledge of what's where

I was surprised at how little I really knew about Middle Eastern geography when I tried to identify the countries on this map. The only thing that would make it better would be if the page kept track of how many correct answers vs overall attempts - then I would know if I was learning anything.

Creep - The Chorale version

Here is an unusual take on this popular song by a Belgian female choir.

Why waste a coin when you can do this?

This child's mother is incredibly calm given the circumstances. I hope they have redesigned this machines to prevent this from happening again! LOL

http://view.break.com/536276 - Watch more free videos

Typical day in a Canadian lawn-sprinkler

Inspiring Inventions

I can think of a number of situations where these bike tires would have come in handy!

Mood Lighting for us creative types

Getty Images, one of the world's leading stock photography sources, has created Moodstream. An innovative idea which offers creative types the opportunity to let their computer screen help them select photos based on various adjustable emotional scales. Play with it for a bit and you will see how cool it is even for non-creative types.

Web Browser of the Future?

Welcome to the future ? well, one possible future, anyway.
This is Part 1 of Aurora, a concept video created by Adaptive Path in partnership with Mozilla Labs. With Aurora, we set out to define a plausible vision of how technology, the browser, and the Web might evolve in the future by depicting that experience in a variety of real-world contexts.
Visit the Adaptive Path website to view this video in high definition
Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Uri Geller and skeptics settle copyright dispute

The "Rational Response Squad" is dedicated to debunking what it calls irrational beliefs. One of the videos that RRS uploaded challenges Geller's performance techniques using video of Geller on Johnny Carson.
CUT TO: [ Geller vs. "Fair use for criticism purposes" ]

VERDICT: Video does not infringe Geller's copyrights, and Geller must license the eight seconds of the over thirteen-minute video under a non-commercial Creative Commons license, and pay money - thereby preempting future legal battles over the fair use of the material.

So You Think You Can Dance with Ikea furniture?

From those who've been dancing since before they could walk to those who've never busted a move in their lives, Robert Muraine had everyone talking about dance this spring. He blew everyone's mind with his hilarious and extraordinary popping in the So You Think You Can Dance auditions.
The entire routine was mesmerizing, but the highlight was an extreme backbend that inspired series executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe to call Muraine his "favourite dancer of 2008". Muraine starts standing in this crazy move, and alternates between pushing his chin and sternum backwards until he is all the way on the floor.

Bond ... William and Harry Bond

I recently had the pleasure to meet the Director of (aerial) Photography for this soon-to-be-released movie as well as many other major films. Here is a link to his IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0555777/

Princes William and Harry will help give the new Bond flick a royal welcome this fall, producers of the superspy film franchise announced from London on Tuesday.
According to Quantum of Solace producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, the upcoming 22nd instalment of the James Bond saga will have its world premiere in London's Leicester Square on Oct. 29.

Paris Hilton for President!

This video is a response to McCain's recent video-comparison of Barack Obama's celebrity status to that of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Not sure I would vote for her but it would be interesting to change the White House into the 'Hot' House!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Hot Chicken anyone?

Here is a funny-weird Spanish, animated commercial that will keep you guessing what the product is until the end - although it may not fit everyone's taste!

Royal bloomers' wide-spread

A pair of bloomers that once belonged to Queen Victoria have been sold for 4,500 pounds at an auction in Derby.
The knickers have a 50in (127cm) waist and date from the 1890s, which indicates the monarch had a large girth as she approached her old age.
It was thought the bloomers would fetch �500 but a Canadian buyer spent �4,500 on the pants which are monogrammed with VR for Victoria Regina.

Signage art goes underground

Axel Peemoeller won several international design awards for the way-finding-system he developed for the Eureka Tower Carpark In Melbourne. The distorted letters on the wall can be read perfectly when standing in the right place.

Here is a link to his website and other design projects:
http://de-war.de/