Be smart, Look smart

I am your Navigator, Trust Me

The phrase "You have reached your final destination" almost took on a whole new meaning for one British driver on Sunday when the soothing robot voice of his car's GPS became a siren's call luring him toward his doom.

Robert Jones said he trusted the Navigation gadget and continued to follow its instructions, even when it took him up a steep, narrow footpath.

He only realised something was wrong when his car hit a fence and came to a stop just inches from a 100ft drop.

Take That! Robbie Williams!

Despite a rumoured falling out with his former bandmates, singer Robbie Williams says he's ready to rejoin British pop group Take That.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, the 35-year-old singer says a reunion with his former mates could be forthcoming.

"I'm in regular contact with them, and it's looking more likely by the week. The lads all seem up for it. I think it would be fun," he said.

Protect your privacy in public

Google will be driving around 11 Canadian cities across the country again "in coming weeks" to take images for the Canadian version of its Street View service, which it hopes to launch "very soon," the company announced earlier this week.

The service, which is already available in cities in the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Australia, Japan and several other countries, provides close-up, 360-degree views of city streets as they would be seen by someone driving along them. The images are linked to the company's Google Maps and Google Earth applications.

Google has collected such images of Canadian cities before, but this time it is letting residents know about it as part of an effort to address privacy concerns that were brought up by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada after the service first launched in the U.S. in 2007, Google spokeswoman Tamara Micner said Thursday.

Click here to see some examples of images caught on Street View

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Season 2 !!!!

Get ready to dance again Canada! CTV has announced that the smash-hit series So You Think You Can Dance Canada has been green lit for a second heart-racing season.

Last season, approximately 2,500 hopefuls busted a move for the judges during the first-ever audition tour, ultimately crowning Montreal's Nico Archambault as Canada's first-ever, favourite dancer.

2009 Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade video

Check out this VIDEO of last Saturday's Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade!

DNA Magazine - Mardi Gras Parade 2009 from straightmedia on Vimeo.

A 2000-year-old computer?

Research on the battered remains of a mysterious ancient device suggests that ancient Greek technology was far more advanced than thought.

The device was discovered more than a century ago, in 1900, by sponge divers from the Aegean island of Symi after a gale blew them off course, and they took shelter by a barren islet called Antikythera.

Instead of sponges, the divers found a large heap of bronze and marble statues ... and a corroded lump of rock which was then dumped in a crate in the courtyard of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. A few months later when it was cracked open, traces of gearwheels, precisely marked circular scales and inscriptions in ancient Greek were revealed.

Antikythera Device [ Wikipedia ]

Enzyme could determine obesity

I figured it was either this or an allergy of some sort!

Reporting their findings in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers wrote: "Our studies identify MGAT2 as a key determinant of energy metabolism in response to dietary fat and suggest that the inhibition of this enzyme may prove to be a useful strategy for treating obesity and other metabolic diseases associated with excessive fat intake."

... and here is an interesting article on the same subject

Red Tie, Blue Tie, Powerful or Creative guy?

Does it matter whether one wears red or blue?

Yes, suggest several studies, including a new one out today in the journal Science.

Red is associated with love, power, nobility and now, scientists say, attention to detail. Blue (the other preferred tie color of choice for business and politics) is now thought to boost creativity.

What would you do?

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

Waiting for a bus? Try walking instead!

One of the latest and probably oddest advertising devices can be seen in the capital of Netherlands, Amsterdam.

Innovative but also a bit weird, some bus shelters in Amsterdam have been fitted with weight meters that the weight of people waiting for public transportation and whether they should start losing some extra flab.

A fish-eye view

Click on the link to be treated to a 360° interactive view of tropical fish around a Pacific coral reef.

(When you get to the webpage, click and drag on the image to look around!)

Funny published items

Hmmm, could be a tough decision ...

... and many other classic stories that will make you chuckle!

Translucent concrete

Filled with optical fibers that run from one end of a poured piece of concrete to the other, these prefabricated blocks and panels effectively transmit light from one side to the other. Colors and light remain remarkably consistent from end to end, but with a natural variation from the pouring process that actually softens the effects considerably.

Nurturing Nature

Although it’s certainly not a new idea to combine landscaping with public transportation, we love the sight of these European trams gliding along on beds of grass. From Barcelona to the Czech Republic, Frankfurt, St-Etienne and Strasbourg, these public transit greenways are showing the potential of incorporating landscaping into good urban design.

Spring Tulips in Holland

About 10 years ago, I went to the Keukenhof, a botanical garden just west of Amsterdam, with my friend Carlos. These videos will give you a taste of how beautiful the flowers were.

If you ever fly into Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in Spring (April) be sure to look out the plane window - you will see a remarkable quilt of coloured fields.

Enjoy!

Freakin' your freak!

I'm a freak. You're a freak. Some of my best friends are freaks. We're ALL freakin' freaks, Man!

Sacha Baron Cohen's fake websites help trick rubes for new film "Bruno"

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is apparently operating behind a series of dummy companies and web sites intended to mask his involvement in the follow-up to the hit "Borat" movie. In his new film, Cohen appears as "Bruno," a gay Austrian journalist who asks embarrassing (and sexually charged) questions.

Claiming to be preparing a documentary for German television, Cohen and his production team have recently approached interview subjects (ballroom dancers, Alabama National Guard officials, and a white supremacist) claiming to be affiliated with Amesbury Chase, a Los Angeles-based production company.

Spock beams up to Alberta

Mr. Spock would never admit to any emotion, but the actor who portrayed the very logical character on Star Trek is peeved the premiere of the new movie based on the popular sci-fi series won't be shown in the southern Alberta town of Vulcan.

Leonard Nimoy thinks Star Trek XI should go where no film has gone before.

A mission by the town with the same name as Spock's birthplace (Vulcan, Alberta) on the television show to beam in the movie on opening day, May 8, appeared to have failed this week when Paramount Pictures said it couldn't work out the details.

Nigerian Church scams Christians

In a position paper submitted by the Anglican Church of Nigeria to a parliamentary committee, a new law is being proposed to punish gay couples who get married with five years in jail, while groups of witnesses to the marriage may be sentenced to one year in jail.

We are especially concerned about those who are using large sums of money to lure our youth to see homosexuality and lesbianism as normative. We must consistently and faithfully teach about God’s commands on this ungodly practice and help those with such orientation to seek deliverance and pastoral counsel.

US endorses UN gay rights text

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday formally endorsed a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.

High-end Bait & Switch

Change your Levis, Change your Life!

Thru the eye of a documentary filmmaker

Rob Spence, a Toronto-based filmmaker who was blinded in the right eye when he was a teenager, is turning his prosthetic eye into a camera he'll use while filming an upcoming documentary.

"I want to turn my prosthetic eye into a wireless video camera," he told CBC News Wednesday.

Spence, 36, had his eye removed three years ago and replaced with an artificial one. A fan of The Six Million Dollar Man, the 1970s television series about a man with bionic body parts, he said got the idea when he realized that something as small as his cellphone camera could fit into his empty eye socket.

His blog is here: http://www.eyeborgblog.com/

Flash Memory

How old is YOUR brain?

Try this instant memory test and find out!

It's FREE and easy!

Test your Googley-eye!

This is a fun game to play that uses real images from Google Image searches of the internet to pose the question, "What do all these images have in common?". Try it, it's FREE !

Prince of Persia, 2010 ... Need I say more?

Star Trek

Spain: 'gay panic' defense aquits man who stabbed gay couple and set bodies on fire

27 year old Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño (left) was born in Spain. 32 year old Julio Anderson Luciano (right) was born in Brazil. They lived together in the Spanish province of Vigo and were planning to get married.

Both were stabbed to death by Jacobo Piñeiro Rial in their apartment in the early morning of January 13th, 2006. The bodies showed a total of 57 stab wounds, according to forensics.

After killing them, Piñeiro took a shower and cleaned himself up. He filled a suitcase with some of their belongings to make it look like a robbery and then spilled clothing all over the place. He poured alcohol over everything, including his victims' bodies, turned on the gas spigot on the stove, and set everything on fire. The local fire department said that little evidence would have survived if it wasn't for their prompt response to the 5-alarm fire.

Studying the Wild Life at Mardi Gras

"I married together our shared love of photography, the ridiculous number of cameras we own between us (eight), and the notion of a costume dedicated to photographing the crowds. And thus was born the idea of the safari "wild life" photographer outfit. The instantly, universally recognizable (National Geographic yellow) border seemed the best prompt to get the wildlife to strike a pose."

Everyone wants to be on the cover of the magazine so interactivity is high! Indeed, when I asked a man if he wanted to pose like he was on the cover of National Geographic, his response was, "Since I was, like, two." And, I got great pictures out of it.

Chubby Tuesday

If you were home at your local restaurant or bar and someone offered you a string of $1 beads in exchange to see your breasts or genitals, how many of you would oblige? Probably not nearly as many as might oblige at Mardi Gras.

Several years ago, some scientists studied sexual behavior in the context of Mardi Gras.

They found that about half of men in their study expected to have a new vaginal or oral sex partner while at Mardi Gras and about 20% expected to have anal sex with a new partner. Fewer women had such expectations. More women had new partners than they planned to - and, as you might guess, some of the men overestimated their chances of hooking up at Mardi Gras.

Macho Macho Men

After years of lagging behind, gay rights movements in Latin America are coming out into the mainstream.

Most analysts haven't noticed, but a major social revolution is taking place in Latin America. The region is becoming gayer. It's not that there are more gays and lesbians living in Latin America (we would never know). Rather, the region is becoming more gay-friendly. A generation ago, Latin America was the land of the closet and the home of the macho. Today, movements fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are taking advantage of the region's more globalized, open regimes. They are promoting their cause through smart, mainstream political and economic alliances. So, though closets and machos are still ubiquitous, Latin America is now the site of some of the most pro-gay legislation in the developing world.

Change hasn't simply come on paper. Latin American cities are also becoming increasingly gay-friendly. The number of gay-owned or gay-friendly establishments (e.g., bars, support groups, services) per capita in Latin American cities is on the rise, with some cities outperforming even the most liberal Western capitals. Nobody really ever thought the region was a gay desert, but there is plenty of evidence now that Latin America -- at least legally and in urban centers -- is coming out.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary ... and other stories

Robin and Richard were two pretty men,
They lay in bed till the clock struck ten.

Believe it or not, this titillating little rhyme was penned by none other than Mother Goose herself. While most people generally equate nursery rhymes with young children and innocent playtime, the original poems are, in fact, more adult than we might think.

Jonathan Hobin photographs the darker side of Mother Goose.
Taking a closer look at the intricacies of the rhymes of Mother Goose is gay artist Jonathan Hobin. Fascinated with the darker side of childhood, Hobin has created a photo exhibit that depicts young children in fairytale scenes based on a handful of carefully selected nursery rhymes. Mother Goose will be on display at the Dale Smith Gallery in Ottawa Mar 6 -31.

Methodically constructed with every detail in mind, Hobin’s photographs illuminate a number of serious issues — such as spousal abuse, unplanned pregnancy, abandonment, depression, loneliness, eating disorders and phobias — that directly or indirectly affect young children.

Here is a link to the full Robin & Richard poem

Anglican Diocese of Ottawa to defy ban, on same-sex blessings

The Diocese of Ottawa has said it will perform same-sex blessings, becoming the first Canadian Anglican diocese to make such a move since a ban was imposed on the practice by the international church.

The diocese said it is developing a liturgy and protocol for the rite and once they are created it will start performing the ceremonies for gay couples on a limited basis. But critics of same-sex blessings say those steps will widen the schism in the Canadian church.

In 2004, the worldwide church called for a moratorium on the rite after the Diocese of New Westminster in British Columbia struck out on its own and began performing same-sex blessings. That move was considered a seminal event that led to the Canadian split.

No I'm not drunk ... it's a Pink dolphin!

The world's only known pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone.

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Excuse me, my cod is ringing!

A BUSINESSMAN who lost his mobile phone on a beach was amazed when it turned up — in the belly of a massive cod.

Andrew Cheatle thought his Nokia handset had been lost at sea after it slipped from his pocket.

But a week later his girlfriend’s mobile rang and it was fisherman Glen Kerley saying he’d found the phone in a 25lb fish.

New Canadian method to make stem cells without embryos

Canadian researchers have developed a new method for generating stem cells from adult human tissue, a move they believe will bring the dream of personalized regenerative medicine a step closer to reality.

Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto describe a new reprogramming procedure to transform adult cells, such as those from a patch of skin, into stem cells.

"This new method of generating stem cells does not require embryos as starting points and could be used to generate cells from many adult tissues, such as a patient's own skin cells."