Hard to believe that’s an actual photo: it’s this year’s invasion of the giant jellyfish called Nomura’s jellyfish. From Pink Tentacle:
This crazy photo from the Yomiuri Shimbun shows a diver swimming amongst a swarm of giant jellyfish. These giant sea blobs, known as Echizen kurage (Nomura’s jellyfish), inflict heavy damage on Japanese fisheries in the Sea of Japan each year.
This year’s invasion appears to be in full swing. The number of jellyfish has risen dramatically off the coast of Maizuru in Kyoto prefecture since Typhoon No. 13 passed over the Sea of Japan in mid-September.
Thousands of the giant jellyfish, which can grow up to 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) in diameter and weigh up to 200 kg (440 lb), become caught in fixed fishing nets each year.
A teenage surfer in Australia noticed something sticking out of a boulder and discovered the fossil of a new family of whale species:
Fitzgerald found that the fossil had specific features in the facial region and the base of the skull that marked it as a member of the baleen whale group, which today includes the enormous blue whale.
But unlike modern baleen whales, which eat by filtering tiny krill and plankton from water, the fossil whale had teeth. It also had enormous eyes.
"This animal was capturing big, single prey, which is unusual for a baleen whale," Fitzgerald says. "It used the front of its mouth to grip its prey and rip it apart."
Link – via free your imagination, Zaxy’s new blog, dedicated to the discovery of new animal species and fossils
A pensioner was trapped upside down in a hole for four hours – finally being rescued by a passing postman who saw his feet sticking out.
Albert Hughes, 70, was adjusting the water flow of the sprinklers in his front garden when he fell head first into the hole which houses the water meter.
Passing postwoman Janelle Maury was delivering letters when she saw his boots and heard his muffled cries for help.
When Pepsi cola tried to expand their market into China, they had a terrible time. The product was good enough, but they just couldn’t get their advertising slogans to work in the Chinese market. Something seemed to get lost in translation.
In the 1950s, Pepsi’s slogan was "Be sociable." This was translated as, "Be intimate." Not exactly a great message considering China’s political position in the ’50s. Sales actually went down instead of up.
In the ’60s, Pepsi’s slogan was, "Now it’s Pepsi for those who think young." That was translated as, "New Pepsi is for people with the minds of children." Sales fell even further.
Not knowing what else to do, Pepsi hurriedly changed its marketing once again, but the new "Come alive with Pepsi!" slogan became "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead." Noting the problem, Pepsi switched to "Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi generation," but this was translated as "Resurrect! Your body will be made of Pepsi!"
At that point the company just plain gave up. They never did overcome the translation problem.
To this day, cola drink sales in China are dominated by a local brand, Bite the Wax Tadpole.
And Pepsi wasn’t the only company with this problem: Budweiser’s "For all you do, this Bud’s for you" is translated to "All you get for your work is a beer."
See more translations (probably not real, but still very funny!) Link
So is the Pepsi story real or just an urban legend? Even Snopes doesn’t know.
Posted by Alex in Health on October 6, 2006 at 9:33 am
Dentists, psychologists, and neurologists in Sweden and Norway are cooperating on the Betula Project of aging, memory, senility and health.
They discovered that there is a link between tooth loss and memory loss:
A study of around 2,000 persons in Umeå revealed a clear tendency that those who kept a full set of teeth had better powers of memory than those who lost teeth.
An amazing collection of Star Trek props, costumes and models are being put on the auction block at Christie’s – if you’ve got $20,000 to $30,000, you can bid on this Star Trek Enterprise: 2001-2005 bridge set.
Fire and explosions at a hazardous waste plant in Apex, North Carolina, forced the evacuation of about 16,000 people:
People "are putting themselves in very grave danger by being near or around this smoke. If you see smoke, get away from it." said Bruce Radford, manager of the Raleigh suburban town.
"There are pesticides, oxides, chlorine gases, there are all grades of contaminated material in this fire and in this smoke," he said.
They can’t even fight the fire, for fear of toxic runoff:
Although flames reached 150 feet, officials are letting the fire burn itself out to avoid toxic runoff and the threat to firefighters.
"Water would flood the area with toxic chemicals," Radford said. "It just needs to burn up."
You’re looking at a microscopic "submarine" made by German micromechanics firm microTEC. The 4 mm length by 0.65 mm diameter sub is small enough to cruise through an artery, powered by a propeller that can be activated by an external magnetic field. The device is designed to be injected into the human body to transport drugs and make repairs.
From Eye of Science gallery (by the way, a fantastic website):
Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a micro-submarine made by the microTEC company, in Duisburg, Germany. After the specifications of the submarine were entered into a computer, a reservoir of an acrylic liquid was then solidified by a computer-controlled laser. The beam caused the liquid to polymerize and solidify as it passed through, building up the submarine in layers about 10 micrometer thick. The RMPD (Rapid Micro Product Development) process allows tiny components to be made cheaply and accurately. This submarine measures around 4 millimeters in length and 0,65 millimeters in diameter. It is hoped that tiny machines such as this may one day be used for detecting and repairing defects in the human body. Magnification: 17 X.
This is from the year 2000: anyone knows what’s the latest news on this?
Corner Shot Holdings, LLC, an American Israeli company, has tackled the problem with a unique solution: the Corner Shot, a weapon system that provides the ability to observe and engage a target from behind a corner. In other words, it allows you to see and shoot around corners without exposing yourself to deadly return fire by the badguys.
Lawrence Roach is fighting to stop alimony payments to his ex-wife, because the woman is now a man:
Lawrence Roach says his ex-wife has had a sex change and is now living as a man with a new identity. Roach says he should be allowed discontinue $1,200 in monthly alimony payments.
"This isn’t right. It’s humiliating to me and degrading," Roach said. "You know, I’m a man and I don’t want to be paying alimony to a man. If you can’t be married to a man legally, how can you legally pay alimony to a man?"
So should he continue to pay alimony? Link – via Arbroath
Dogs are curious, they want to know what’s happening out there!
Help satisfy their curiosity and make it possible for them to have a peek.
You can do just that with the PetPeek window:
The PetPeek™ window can easily make that possible.
The PetPeek™ window is a durable, clear, hard plastic dome 9.5 inches in diameter, with a black trim-ring and all necessary hardware for easy do-it-yourself installation into your wooden fence. It is an attractive addition to your fence.
Jackie Gray is the new owner of a pub in Jarrow, Tyneside, UK and discovered that one of her regulars is a horse!
She says she got a pleasant surprise when carthouse Peggy joined owner Peter Dolan for a pint. The 12-year-old’s tipple is a pint of John Smiths and pickled onion crisps.
Mrs Gray said: "When I bought the pub a few weeks ago I heard rumours that one of the regulars was a horse but I didn’t quite believe them. It was a hot day when the horse came in and I was shocked at first because I have never run a pub before."
Mr Dolan, 61, from Jarrow, bought Peggy six years ago and discovered her fondness for the pub when she followed him inside. According to the BBC he said: "Peggy’s no bother at all. Most of the regulars know her as she’s been coming in here for years and for them Peggy’s a bit of a novelty. She’s a proper lady."
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