Beetle 'world's strongest insect'

Beetle 'world's strongest insect'

A dung beetle has been named 'world's strongest insect'

After months of trials, a contender for the title of World's Strongest Insect has been named by scientists

The dung beetle species Onthophagus taurus can pull a load 1,141 times its own body weight - the equivalent of an average person pulling six fully laden double decker buses.

Dr Rob Knell, one of the researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, said: "Insects are well known for being able to perform amazing feats of strength, and it's all on account of their curious sex lives.
"Female beetles of this species dig tunnels under a dung pat, where males mate with them. If a male enters a tunnel that is already occupied by a rival, they fight by locking horns and try to push each other out."
Dr Knell's team tested the ability of beetles to resist a rival by measuring how much force was needed to pull them from their holes.
Dr Knell said: "Interestingly, some male dung beetles don't fight over females. They are smaller, weaker and don't have horns like the larger males. Even when we fed them up they didn't grow stronger, so we know it's not because they have a poorer diet.
"They did, however, develop substantially bigger testicles for their body size.
"This suggests they sneak behind the back of the other male, waiting until he's looking the other way for a chance to mate with the female.
"Instead of growing super-strength to fight for a female, they grow lots more sperm to increase their chances of fertilising her eggs and fathering the next generation.Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/818833-beetle-worlds-strongest-insect#ixzz1fQeLDMTM

Pig born without back legs learns to walk upright

Pig born without back legs learns to walk upright on his front legs in China
A dedicated farmer has taught his prized pig, which was born without back legs, to walk upright on his front legs.

Proud Ge Xinping, from Mengcheng in eastern China's Anhui Province, says he thought the deformed piglet would die after he was born in July.
However, after lots of time and devotion the pig has learnt how to walk on its forelegs and is now the talk of the town.
'Villagers all love it as it walks like an upside down gymnast,' Ge said.
Elsewhere in China, pig breeders are not having such luck.
More than 100 people in the Henan province have been sentenced for planning to contaminate pork with the drug, Clenbuterol, which makes the meat leaner but can have adverse affects on humans.
Known in China as 'lean meat powder', Clenbuterol continues to be laced into animal feed by farmers desperate to get their meat to market even though it is banned in the country.
A subsidiary of Shuanghui Group, China’s largest meat processor, was also found to be selling the tainted pork.
Ringleader, Liu Xiang, was sentenced to death.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/883029-pig-born-without-back-legs-learns-to-walk-upright-on-his-front-legs-in-china#ixzz1fQaZv0Um

OPTICAL ILLUSIONS - Part 1

Dancing Stars - Round and round they go

This is a still image, but if you move your eyes around the central square pattern, the stars will seem to move. The effect is due to a phenomenon that's colloquially called "eye jitter." The eyes, constantly moving by imperceptible amounts, amplify the difference between the two patterns and create the illusion of motion.

Warp Speed - How fast is it moving?

Place your hand on the center of this image, and the stars will appear to move faster!

Sidewalk Crater - This illusion's a blast.

Located in front of the Montparnasse Railway Station in Paris, this chalk drawing was created by Julian Beever to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a 2001 accident at a petrochemical plant. View the next slide to see the painting as a work-in-progress.

Green and Blue - Two colors or one?

Believe it or not, the "green" and "blue" colors in this spiral are exactly the same. They appear different because of the way our eyes perceive them in relation to the contrasting orange and pink stripes. Our eyes contain millions of 'cones' which decode light wavelengths to determine colors. When certain colors are combined, our brain is unable to process the information properly.

Ouichi Illusion - It seems to float.

Move your head around, and the circular pattern in the center will appear to move independently of its surroundings.

'Toy' Car - How big is it?

Believe it or not, this is a full-sized car. The illusion of small size is created by a special technique of shooting called 'tilt-shift,' as well as an oversized coin placed on its hood to fool our sense of scale.

Something Fishy- This fish is easy to catch.

What appears to be a fish is actually a meticulous painting on a person's hand.

Crazy Carpet - Not your garden-variety floor.

This weird carpet pattern appears on a videogame store in Paris. The floor is actually flat.

Pouring Faucets - Pour it on.

Because of distortion caused by the grey bars, this still image has a strobing effect that makes it appear as if the water is flowing.

Hidden Tiger - Find the feline.

One tiger is easy to see, but there's a hidden tiger too. Click to the next image for a solution.

Hint: Read the tiger's stripes.

 

Soccer balls are kicked out of Totonto Earl Beatty Public School

School ball ban leaves Americans chuckling

Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live made mention of the ball ban at Earl Beatty Public School in Toronto, during an episode of Weekend Update on Saturday. 

On the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, cast member Seth Meyers dropped Earl Beatty Public School into his Weekend Update, a roundup of wacky news items from around the world.
“A school in Canada has banned all game balls including soccer balls and baseballs because the principal thinks they’re causing too many injuries,” Meyers says.
“The safety-minded principal also asked that the custodian install a hinge in the see-saw,” he says, pausing for effect as the studio audience chuckled.

Pundit and radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said “This is how you wimpify kids. This is how you turn 'em into a bunch of wusses. Can you believe this?”
“Softballs, baseballs, footballs, soccer balls, banned, tennis balls. Because the children were scared,” Limbaugh says
The principal at the east-end public school sent a letter home last Monday, stating students could no longer bring hard balls onto school property, citing a number of “serious incidents” in which students, parents and teachers were hit or nearly hit by flying balls.
One parent suffered a concussion after being struck by a soccer ball, the letter said.
More than a hundred students have signed a petition demanding permission to bring their balls back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, the wusses are winning. "Students at an east-end Toronto school are being told to leave their soccer balls -- and other hard balls -- at home. The principal of Earl Beatty Public School banned the balls this week after a parent suffered a concussion from being hit in the head with a soccer ball." A parent. Just out of curiosity, why was a parent playing soccer at school? But you see the dangers here of soccer. We warned you about it 15 years ago. Concussion, soccer ball.
The principal at the Toronto school, Alicia Fernandez, banned hard balls, claiming that they're dangerous. The kids were coming in complaining of injury. The kids were saying they were scared. And we can't have the kids scared, ever. The ban went into effect two weeks ago. "Students can bring in a sponge or other softballs to play with, but soccer balls, footballs, baseballs, even tennis balls are not allowed now for safety reasons. Some parents say that the ban's excessive and unfair to children who like to play outside."
Luckily, since their diets are now controlled by the government these kids don't have to worry about getting obese, either, what with all of the concern that's being attended. This is how you wimpify kids. This is how you turn 'em into a bunch of wusses. Can you believe this? Softballs, baseballs, footballs, soccer balls, banned, tennis balls. Because the children were scared. It's a good thing Canada doesn't have a military.
END TRANSCRIPT

Soccer balls are kicked out of Earl Beatty Public School in the city's east end.



Andy Rooney on Women Over Forty

Andy Rooney on Women Over Forty

By: Veronica Kavanagh

Andy Rooney says:

As I grow in age, I value women who are over forty most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over forty will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, “What are you thinking?” She doesn’t care what you think.
If a woman over forty doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it’s usually something more interesting.
A woman over forty knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of forty give a hoot what you might think about her or what she’s doing.
Women over forty are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.
Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.
A woman over forty has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn’t trust the guy with other women. Women over forty couldn’t care less if you’re attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won’t betray her.
Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over forty. They always know.
A woman over forty looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over forty is far sexier than her younger counterpart.
Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one! You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise women over forty for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of forty-plus, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some twenty-two-year-old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize.
For all those men who say, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free,” here’s an update for you. Now 80 percent of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage.

First published September 2007

Via http://www.divinecaroline.com/22323/34969-andy-rooney-forty#ixzz1dud4tAyl

With gratitude to all the fabulous women who are beautiful examples of what it means to mature with grace

HAVE YOU?

SAY SOMETHING NICE 

If you can't say something nice...

...Don't say anything at all!"

HAVE YOU?

Have you ever lost yourself in a kiss? I mean pure psychedelic inebriation. Not just lustful petting but transcendental metamorphosis when you became aware that the greatness of this being was breathing into you. Licking the sides and corners of your mouth, like sealing a thousand fleshy envelopes filled with the essence of your passionate being and then opened by the same mouth and delivered back to you, over and over again - the first kiss of the rest of your life. A kiss that confirms that the universe is aligned, that the world’s greatest resource is love, and maybe even that God is a woman. With or without a belief in God, all kisses are metaphors decipherable by allocations of time, circumstance, and understanding.”

THE POWER OF A KISS

 

"I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.”

Audrey Hepburn

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DAILY SCHEDULE:

Not only he organized the daily activities but question the reasons and accomplishments

Girl Power

One night President Obama and his wife Michelle decided to do something out of routine and go for a casual dinner at a restaurant that wasn’t too luxurious. When they were seated, the owner of the restaurant asked the president’s secret service if he could please speak to the First Lady in private. They obliged and Michelle had a conversation with the owner. Following this conversation President Obama asked Michelle, “Why was he so interested in talking to you.” She mentioned that in her teenage years, he had been madly in love with her. President Obama then said, “So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant,” to which Michelle responded, “No. If I had married him, he would now be the President.”

Love is an accident waiting to happen

Love is an accident...waiting to happen

Desire is a stranger...you think you know

Intimacy is a lie...we tell ourselves

Truth is a game...you play to win

If you believe in love at first site...you will never stop looking.

(from the movie "Closer")

 

"I like my LIIIIIIIFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, YEAH, I can do anything gooooodddd" 

Energy and optimism!

ALL ABOUT BRAS - Including the Largest 1222B Size

The World's Largest Bra (Size 1222B)

Unveiled in London

By Life's Little Mysteries / http://ca.news.yahoo.com/

If there are more car accidents than usual along London's Thames River this month, motorists have a good excuse for being distracted: The world's largest bra hangs from a nearby skyscraper.

Guinness World Records has officially recognized the bright pink bra, which hangs from the ITV Southbank building and was unveiled on Oct. 28, as the world's largest

The bra took four weeks to stitch up, and is made from about four football fields worth of lightweight spinnaker nylon. The fabric weighs about 165 pounds (75 kg), and with the metal fasteners it comes to 198 pounds (90 kg).

And, because you're surely wondering, it measures 27 meters (88.5 feet) under the bust and 31 meters (101.7 feet) around the bust. Technically, it's a 1222B, but if reduced to human proportions, it would be a size 34B.

The bra was part of Britain's Breast Cancer Campaign's annual "Wear It Pink" fundraiser day. Last year's event raised about $4 million to help fund cutting-edge breast cancer research.

Who Invented the Push-Up Bra?

By Corey Binns, Life's Little Mysteries Contributor

We have a World War II veteran to thank for the push-up bra’s popularity. Support systems for breasts first became a regular item in women’s wardrobes in 1907. But the world had to wait for the push-up until Frederick Mellinger was inspired by his fellow army men to engineer a sexier bra.

Mellinger followed his war buddies’ advice, and designed pieces they said their girlfriends would prefer over the available options at the time, according to his obituary in the New York Times. He returned home from the War and, in 1946, opened up a lingerie business, the now infamous Fredrick’s of Hollywood.

In 1948, Mellinger introduced the world to its first push-up and called it, appropriately, the "Rising Star."

Although he is widely credited as the inventor of the push-up bra, Mellinger recently ran into some competition for the title. A white padded brassiere made in 1880 was uncovered in the collections of London’s Science Museum.

This bra – which may be the oldest push-up bra – was made out of two round pads attached by a wide piece of fabric, and decorated with lace and feathers.

Over the years, the uplifting undergarment has become a well-appreciated invention. The push-up bra is one of the 100 most important inventions of all time, according to a survey of British adults conducted by Tesco Mobile. The bra came in at No. 77 on the list. The wheel was No. 1.

What's the Average American Woman's Bust Size?

By Jeanna Bryner

In the last 15 years, the average bust size has increased from 34B to 36C. Whether the lift is due to breast augmentation surgeries or a side-effect of expanding waistlines is not known.

Either way, from slinky to full-coverage undergarments, bras have graced the bodies of women since the 1800s. But modern bra sizing didn't come into fashion until 1928.

As if measured and weighed for a delectable recipe, breasts are sized in cups, with the following conversions:

A cup—8 fluid ounces (238 milliliters)
B cup—13 ounces (385 milliliters)
C cup—21 ounces (621 milliliters)
D cup—27 ounces (800 milliliters)

Bras must support a pair of breasts that can weigh just over a half pound (0.3 kilograms) to a whopping 20 pounds (9 kilograms).

Here are some other facts about one of your most intimate pieces of apparel, according to "Secret History of the Bra," which will air on National Geographic Channel starting Sept. 28:

• A single bra weighs about 1.6 ounces (45 grams) and contains more than 40 components.
• Caterpillar spit, dirt, crude oil and molten metal are several of the ingredients in a bra.
• More than 4 million new bras are created on average every day.
• Consumers spend around $16 billion a year on bras.
• Each woman owns an average of about six bras.

Average breast size breakdown

According to the information we have available, here's how average breast size in America breaks down:

• AA cup: 2%
• A cup: 15%
• B cup: 44%
• C cup: 28%
• D cup: 10%
• DD cup: 1%

So the average breast size is something of a Bell curve, with B cup right in the middle. Barely one quarter of women have the coveted C cup (considered by many to be the perfect breast size). Many men are attracted to women with D cup breasts. Rumor has it that many adult film studios refuse to even consider a potential actress unless she has a minimum of C cup breasts -- and pay more for actresses with D or larger breasts!

Bras Don't Support Bouncing Breasts, Study Finds

By Jeanna Bryner

Whether women are said to be flat-chested or big-busted, ordinary bras fall short when it comes to supporting bouncing breasts, a new study claims.

And during exercise, women's breasts bounce more than previously estimated, moving a vertical distance of up to around eight inches (21 centimeters) compared with a past maximum measurement of six inches (16 centimeters).

The bouncing, in some cases with breasts weighing 20 pounds or more, can prove painful and damaging to the limited natural support system.

Bra basics

Typically, bras are designed to minimize up-and-down motion and not the other two dimensions of breast movement found in Scurr's study.

For all cup sizes, the so-called encapsulation bras in which each cup is separately molded provided the most support, beating out the compression bras, which limit only the up-and-down motion. The encapsulation bras limit some of the movement in the other directions as well.

In A-cup women, wearing a sports bra reduced overall breast movement by 53 percent, compared with a 55-percent reduction for G-cup women.

Smart support

A pair of D-cup breasts weighs about 15 to 23 pounds (7 to 10 kilograms).

But breasts have little natural support, Scurr says, although ligaments and the skin are thought to do most or all of the work. Breasts are made up of fat, milk ducts and connective tissues, such as collagen, ligaments and blood vessels. The momentum created by intense bouncing can stretch the breast's connective tissues, causing sagging and pain for many women.

An estimated 50 percent of women experience breast pain during exercise, Scurr claims.

Without appropriate bra support, some women abandon active sports due to breast pain, Scurr said.

"There really are women who want to do exercise but who don’t have the bras to cope," Scurr said. "I know of a 16-year-old who was selected to play basketball for the county, but she was told to give it up because she couldn’t find a bra that made playing possible."

Support of the bosom by a bodice (French: brassière). 1900

History of brassieres

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The history of brassieres is inextricably intertwined with the social history of the status of women, including the evolution of fashion and changing views of the body.
Straps on the bra can be adjusted to fit the shoulder of the woman wearing it. Girls typically start wearing bras at ages 10–13. Women have used a variety of garments and devices to cover, restrain, or modify the display of breasts. From the 16th century onwards, the undergarments of wealthier women were dominated by the corset, which pushed the breasts upwards. In the latter part of the 19th century, various alternatives were experimented with, splitting the corset into a girdle-like restraining device for the lower torso, and transferring the upper part to devices suspended from the shoulder.
Since the late 19th century, the bra has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts. By the early 20th century, garments more closely resembling contemporary bras had emerged, although large-scale commercial production did not occur till the 1930s. Since then bras have replaced corsets (although some women prefer camisoles) and a minority go without. Brassieres are a multi-billion-dollar industry dominated by large multinational corporations. During the 20th century, the emphasis on brassiere usage has shifted from functionality to fashion.