Knight Way

Careful you don't swim off the end...!!!!!!!!

2008-01-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Famous Rock Myths!

2007-12-12T05:52:00.000-08:00

From slight exaggerations and strange coincidences to tales of the occult and full-blown conspiracy theories, here are the top 10 rock myths around today.

Mama Cass choked on a sandwich

Almost 240 pounds when she died, it's not a stretch to believe food had something to do with "Mama" Cass Elliott's passing.

But the ham sandwich found next to her bed on that fateful night in 1974 fired up a number of half-baked rumors, including suggestions that the 32-year-old belter for the Mamas and the Papas had choked on her last meal. An autopsy, however, revealed a clean trachea.

Status: False

Quote: "Cass died of heart failure due to fatty myocardial degeneration due to obesity."
-Keith Simpson, the pathologist who performed the autopsy

The Beatles toked up in Buckingham Palace

Most bands don't go out of their way to feed the rumor mills. Then again, most bands aren't the Beatles.

Singer John Lennon once claimed the Fab Four shared a joint in the washroom of Buckingham Palace back in October 1965, the day they were set to receive their honorary Members of the British Empire awards from the Queen herself. George and Paul later denied the story, while Ringo (perhaps only fueling the tall tale) claimed he could not remember.

Status: False

Quote: "We'd have been far too scared to do it."
-John Lennon, who later admitted up he had made up the story

Jimi Hendrix wore an acid-laced bandana

The colors may not have matched, but many fans still believe the secret behind Purple Haze could be found behind Jimi's red bandanas.

Rumors abound to this very day that Hendrix brought his stage performances to dizzying psychedelic heights by placing LSD litmus papers (blotter acids) underneath his trademark bandana, which would ultimately be absorbed into cuts he had made in his skin and roll down as sweat into his eyes.

Status: Mystery

Quote: "Purple Haze all in my brain, lately things don't seem the same. Actin' funny but I don't know why. 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."
- Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze."

Robert Johnson signed a pact with the devil

Bluesman Robert Johnson apparently came across more than two highways when he reached the crossroads of US 61 and US 49.

Legend has it that the most famous guitar player of the 1930s actually sold his soul to the devil one hot day in Clarksdale, Mississippi, apparently forking over his eternal existence for a style of guitar playing that, for all intents and purposes, has remained unmatched to this very day.

Status: Mystery

Quote: "When people ask me about if I believe all that stuff about [Robert Johnson selling his soul to the] devil, I say 'Hell no!' It is stupid. How can an adult sell his soul to the devil? If it does happen, it happens when you are born."
-Robert Jr. Lockwood, Johnson's stepson and protege.

Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain

When Kurt Cobain was found dead on April 8, 1994, the ensuing public reaction over the tortured musician's suicide was anything but peaceful.

Many fans suspected wife Courtney Love had conspired to have her husband killed, hinging on several irreconcilable facts: Cobain's stolen credit card, a weapon without prints, a questionable suicide note, and the simple fact that nobody injected with three times the lethal dose of heroin would have been able to pick up a shotgun and take their own life.

Status: Mystery

Quote: "I might lie a lot, but never in my lyrics."
-Courtney Love

Marilyn Manson was on The Wonder Years

From missing ribs and breast implants to the eye-for-testicle swap, Marilyn Manson has generated his fair share of creepy myths.

Perhaps the strangest and most persistent, however, is that the shock-rock frontman -- born Brian Warner -- played the bespectacled Paul Pfeiffer on the hit show The Wonder Years in the early '90s before morphing into his twisted onstage persona.

Status: False

Quote: "It doesn't upset me, nor does it offend me. I just take it as a joke."
-Josh Saviano, the real actor who played Kevin Arnold's bespectacled sidekick

Ozzy Osbourne bit a bat's head off

When you earn your living pelting audiences with calf livers and pig intestines, you are quite literally feeding the rumor mills.

On one fateful January night in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne's own eating habits became table talk after a fan threw a live bat onstage to return the frontman's hospitality. Taking the stunned creature for a rubber toy, Black Sabbath's frontman bit into its neck and -- realizing he had bitten off more than he could chew -- found himself in dire need of a rabies shot.

Status: True

Quote: "I bit the head off a live bat the other night. It was like eating a Crunchie wrapped in chamois leather."
-Ozzy Osbourne

Jim Morrison faked his own death

The conspiracy theorists who insist Doors frontman Jim Morrison is still alive and kickin' it up somewhere in Mexico have plenty to fuel their suspicions.

For starters, only Morrison's wife Pamela and French physician Dr. Vasille saw the corpse after the rock star was found dead in his bathtub on July 3, 1971. And if the ensuing media blackout, the lack of an autopsy (customary for all suspect deaths in France) and Morrison's many occult connections weren't enough, the singer apparently visited his grave sight only three days before his untimely death.

Status: Mystery

Quote: "I was very tempted to believe the rumors that Jim had faked his own death."
-Jim's best friend, Tom Baker

Keith Richards received new blood

Cheat death often enough and fans will start drawing their own conclusions.

Notorious heroin addict Keith Richards learned this lesson back in 1973 when he checked into a Swiss hospital for a blood-filtering treatment known as a hemodialysis. Rumors quickly spread that the Rolling Stone had actually undergone an experimental treatment that amounted to a complete blood transfusion in order to detoxify himself for an upcoming European tour.

Status: False

Quote: "I was just fooling around. I opened my jacket and said, 'How do you like my blood change?' I was f***ing sick of answering that question. So I gave them a story."
-Keith Richards

David Bowie and Mick Jagger were caught in bed together

Having your wife catch you in bed with another woman is simply one of the occupational hazards of being a rock star.

But David Bowie was really put on the spot after his ex-wife told national television audiences that she once found her admittedly bisexual "Thin White Duke" spooning naked in bed with the Rolling Stones' frontman Mick Jagger. Both men and their lawyers denied any gay implications.

Status: True, as far as the discovery goes.

Quote: "I certainly didn't catch anyone in the act. All I found were two people sleeping in my bed. They happened to be naked and they happened to be Mick Jagger and David Bowie and it's not a big deal. It doesn't mean necessarily that it's some sort of affair."
-David Bowie's ex-wife, Angela

The Best Things To Do With Your old Computer!

2007-12-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

The 10 Most Expensive Cell Phones in the World!!!

2007-12-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

With all the hoopla surrounding the Iphone (and its fluctuating pricetag) one might might be lulled into thinking that the Iphone is the be-all and end-all in the world cell phones. The truth be told though, the Iphone is more like the Corvette of the cellphone industry, relatively expensive to the average consumer, but in the bigger picture, it’s a cheap horsepower contender and drop in the bucket when compared to these high rolling entrants into the world of cellphones. And yes, the top cellphone contender is more expensive than the Mercedes Maybach, the Ferrari Enzo and the Bugatti Veyron!

10. Prada phone by LG

Price: $780The Prada phone by LG just narrowly edged my personal favorite, the Gold Striker Gold 24-carat Iphone to make the list. At just 1.2 cm thick, the Prada phone, like the Iphone, has no buttons and is operated solely by way of the touch screen.

9. Porsche Cellphone by Sagem

Price: $1,600Designed by Porsche, but engineered and manufactured by France-based Sagem, the Porsche handset is currently available in Britain, Dubai and other oversees markets. The phone is expected to make its U.S. debut in 2008 possible through Porsche Dealerships.

8. Mobiado Professional EM

Price: $2,200Made from ebony wood, hard-anodized aluminum and titanium, Nokia driven Mobiado Professional EM handsets are individually unique due to the variations in wood patterning per instrument. It features a 1.3 MP camera, music playback and an FM radio.

7. Gresso Black Aura Collection

Price: Up to $13,000Gresso boastfully claims that its Black Aura cellphones are 200 years old - due to the age of the African Blackwood on each phone’s case. Black Aura series ranges from $6,500 to $13,000 with the most expensive featuring an 18-carat gold front panel.

6. Diamond Iphone

Price: $41,000The diamond iPhone boasts an impressive 420 diamonds at a total weight of 5.65 carats set in 18K white or yellow gold. It can also be ordered in white, black or pink sapphires. The phone, by UK blingmeister general Amosu, at a blustering $41,000 is sure to not make any “Will it blend” videos anytime soon.

5.Vertu Signature

Price: Up to $81,000Vertu, a subsidiary of Nokia, claims that it took expert craftsmen some three years of training to learn to make their phones. This classic, the Vertu Signature, contains 943 diamonds on its bezel and 48 more on its keypad, each set in place by hand in Switzerland

4. VIPN Black Diamond Smartphone

Price: $300,000The creation of Swiss manufacturer VIPN, the titanium construction known as the “Black Diamond” is a one of a kind actually a 1 of 5 to be exact, and for generously shelling out 300,000 big ones, you get a Quadband phone with WiFi and Bluetooth, a 2 inch 256K TFT screen, 4MP camera, VOIP and 2 huge diamonds.

3. Bucheron for Vertu Cobra

Price: $310,000Parisian jeweler House of Bucheron linked up with Nokia subsidiary Vertu on this limited-edition series of eight cobra phones, which include a two-carat pear-cut diamond, a one-carat round diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies totaling 21 carats. Vertu phones also link up to a special concierge service with information about travel, entertainment, restaurants and events. Other Vertu phones sell between $4,350 and $81,000.

2. The Diamond Crypto Smartphone

Price: $1.3 MillionDesigned by diamond encruster extraordinaire Peter Aloisson The Diamond Crypto Smartphone is sometimes quoted as the World’s most expensive cell phone (depending on exchange rates). Russian firm JSC Ancort has developed a Windows CE-based smartphone ready for Aloisson’s bejeweling that employs “powerful encryption technology” to “provide secure protection of information against kidnapping, technological blackmail, financial racketeers and corrupted state officials” — sounds like marketing speak for a password-protected wallet app. Of course, with its $1.3 million price tag and 50 diamonds (10 of which are blue) you might start to have more trouble with mugging than with technological blackmail.

1. The GoldVish Le Million

Price: $1.45 Million
Guinness World Records certifies this GoldVish phone as the most expensive in the world–1 million euros, or about $1.45 million. The odd-shaped device is made out of 18-carat white gold and features 1,800 diamonds totaling 120 carats. A Russian businessman bought Le Million for his wife last September at a luxury goods fair in Cannes, France. Don’t have a spare million for this made-by-request gadget? Geneva-based GoldVish has plenty of expensive phones in its lineup, including models with gold plating and diamond-studded cases.

10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction

2007-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Rocker Tommy Lee once said we're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time. Amen, Tommy. Many of us follow his lead every day by shunning the most basic principle of Darwinian evolution?trying to survive?with food, toxins and reckless lifestyles. If you'd like to get in on the act, we present our easiest catalysts to self-destruction

Eat Junk

Last year, at least 400,000 Americans managed to kill themselves based almost solely on what they ate. Heart disease is the country's number one killer and, while some of that comes from genetics, most of it's due to the fat-laden, sugar-heavy junk we put in our bodies. Looking for the most effective, probably most enjoyable way to do yourself in? Have another doughnut. And make it cream-filled!

Smoke

They don't call them cancer sticks for nothing: Tobacco-related illnesses are America's number two killer, and the most preventable. But if you're bent on putting the kibosh to healthy living, go ahead and light up; just one cigarette will immediately increase your blood pressure and decrease the circulation to your extremities. Imagine what you could do with a pack

Stress Out

Creating more stress in your life is a great way to invite all kinds of diseases to attack the body. When you're chronically stressed, the adrenal glands are forced to work overtime and eventually exhaust themselves, inhibiting the immune system. So go ahead and worry about everything from the color of your socks to whether dinner will be ready on time. Your hormones won't know what hit them.

Watch TV

Not only is television entertaining, it can keep us on the couch for hours at a time several days per week. The average American spends a full 9 years of his life glued to the boob tube, years that could otherwise be spent exercising. Resist the urge! Being an obese, sedentary TV-addicted couch potato makes for speedy self-destruction, though you may be a little smarter (if you watch those nerdy science channels).

Drink a Lot

The occasional drink of alcohol, especially wine, can be beneficial to your health, many studies suggest. But if you're looking to do yourself in, overdo the two-drink-per-day limit and imbibe heartily. Besides alcoholism of course, too much booze causes liver damage, diabetes and is the root cause of nearly 100,000 deaths per year.

Sacrifice Sleep

Inadequate sleep (less than 7 or 8 hours a night) has been tied to many different health problems, including obesity, diabetes and cancer. Mental fatigue is also as big of a risk factor for vehicular accidents as alcohol. And just think of all the time you'd have for destructive behavior if you shunned the zzz's altogether!

Ignore the Doctor

Many Americans agree that their health is hardly worth finding thirty minutes among 526,000 for that once-per-year physical exam. It's a good tactic if early disease detection and important medical consultation are going to get in the way of your Tommy Lee lifestyle. If you don't want to hear the doctor tell you our other tips for self-destruction are unhealthy, just don't go.

Dumb Down Your Brain

Reading, doing crosswords and tackling sudokus are all risky behaviors if you're looking to avoid Alzheimer's. The degenerative brain disease attacks almost everyone who lives long enough, though mind games and puzzles are known to ward off the effects.

Have a Lot of Sex

Most people agree that sex in itself isn't so bad, it's how you do it that could mean life or death. The smart self-destructor doesn't use protection, ignores the partner's sexual history and shuns the annual medical exam. Twelve million Americans contract sexually transmitted diseases every year, many of which can leave the victim infertile. Killing yourself and preventing new births: there?s a two-fer!

Drive a Lot

If people wanted to increase their chance of surviving 'til a ripe old age, they'd fly everywhere. Driving kills more people aged 1 to 35 than anything else, a statistic that could drop to near zero if everyone just stayed home. But how fun would that be? So hit the road, forget the speed limit, yak on your cell phone?or worse, eat?and don't buckle up if you're anxious to become part of this popular statistic.

The Most Expensive Junk Food!!!

2007-11-25T05:10:00.000-08:00

With the finest ingredients and astronomical prices, these ordinarily 'cheap' eats are anything but.

The DB "Royale" double truffle burger
$120

Celebrity chef Daniel Bouloud gave this all-American dish a fancy French makeover and a couture price tag. His version of the classic ground beef burger is stuffed with red wine-braised short ribs (off the bone), foie gras, a mix of root vegetables and preserved black truffle. Hold the ketchup though, the pièce de résistance is a double helping of fresh black truffles on top.
This burger, if you can call it that, is served on a homemade toasted parmesan and poppy seed bun with a touch of fresh horseradish, oven roasted tomato confit, fresh tomato, red onions and frisée lettuce. And, of course it comes with a side of French fries -- or pillows of pommes soufflé if you prefer.

Foodies should note that the Royale is only served at DB Bistro Moderne in New York City and at the Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas during the black truffle season, which usually runs from late December through the end of March.

www.danielnyc.com
Macaroni and cheese with white truffles

$95

Kraft may be the cheesiest, but the macaroni and cheese at LA's Mélisse restaurant is definitely the priciest. That's because chef Josiah Citrin spares no expense grating a hefty portion of white truffles over his fresh tagliatelle, smothered in parmesan cheese and brown butter truffle froth.

This glorified version of the kids classic can't be found on the children's menu, or among the restaurant's standard fare for that matter. Mélisse only makes it available during the white truffle season, which is October through December.

www.melisse.com
Golden Opulence sundae

$1,000

First dates looking to impress or sweet-sixteens in search of something special strike gold, quite literally, at Serendipity 3, the legendary New York City eatery where celebs are often spotted. The restaurant's golden opulence sundae is covered in 23-carat edible gold leaf and is also rich in flavor thanks to Tahitian vanilla ice cream infused with Madagascar vanilla beans and chunks of rare Chuao chocolate from Venezuela.

In lieu of Hershey's syrup and a maraschino cherry, this sundae is drizzled with one of the world's most expensive chocolates, from Amedei Porcelana, and then adorned with candied fruits, gold covered almonds, chocolate truffles and marzipan cherries.

The dish also features a dollop of sweet Grande Passion caviar served with a mother of pearl spoon and a gilded sugar flower. The whole shebang looks as good as it tastes, served in a Baccarat crystal goblet (yours to keep) with an 18-carat gold spoon (not included).

www.serendipity3.com
Philly cheesesteak

$100

It may not end the war between Geno's and Pat's but cheesesteak lovers will want to sample another local favorite, from the Philadelphia steakhouse Barclay Prime. In this upscale take on the classic, Kobe beef is substituted for top-round chuck and accompanied with butter poached lobster and shaved French black truffles.

As for the cheese, or "whiz wit," as they say in Philadelphia, that's melted Taleggio imported from Italy, a far cry from the standard provolone. The sandwich is served on a homemade brioche bun finished with house-made mustard, along with a small bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne.

www.barclayprime.com

Nino's pizza with caviar
$1,000

There's no pepperoni or mushrooms (not even of the truffle variety) on the world's most expensive pizza, but this personal 12-inch pie is topped with four different types of caviar, including black Russian Royal Sevruga, as well as thinly sliced lobster tail, creme fraiche and chives.

New York City restaurant owner Nino Selimaj began proffering this slice of heaven at his Italian namesake restaurant six months ago, and has since sold several of them at his Upper East Side establishment. Be sure to call ahead if you want to try one too.

www.ninospositano.com

The World's Strangest Restaurants!!!

2007-11-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

1: ASIA SF

Gender Illusionists. That is the most creative way I’ve ever heard to describe that your waitress is tucking her wiener between her legs. If you don’t know what you’re walking into when you go to this restaurant in San Francisco, you will be in for a serious surprise.

2: HOBBIT HOUSE

A fantasy tavern for Hobbits, or at least those who resemble Hobbits. The owners and entire staff are little people who have a reputation as a great bar for live music. But this place isn’t located in Middle Earth. It’s in Manila.

3.O’NOIR

No, the picture isn’t missing. That’s all you’ll see if you dine at O’Noir. A restaurant that serves you in the dark, sometimes with a blind waitstaff. Pray they don’t have a pest problem

4: GUO-LI-ZHUANG

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Who loves delicious animal reproductive organs, raise your hand! You’ll get plenty at this place in Beijing because that’s all they serve. Now who ordered the dog’s penis garnished with a plum?

5: CHODOVAR BEER SPA

Have you ever had a beer so good that you say to yourself, “Man, I’d like to bathe in this!”. Probably not, but if you have, the Chodovar Beer Spa in the Czech Republic will accommodate you.

6: DINNER IN THE SKY

Not for people with a phobia of heights, Dinner in the Sky lifts it’s diner 50 meters in the air over a variety of scenic views. Sometimes accompanied by a band or piano on it’s own crane. I guess there is no excusing yourself to use the restroom at this dinner.

7: HADAKA SUSHI

Hadaka Sushi in Los Angeles offers Nyotaimori which is the art of serving sushi on a naked womans’ body. I wonder if there’s a five second rule if you drop a California Roll on her crotch?

8: SNOW CAVE BAR

The Snøhulebaren or Snow Cave Bar in Norway doesn’t offer much in the way of food but you won’t care because all you’d be interested in is the Hot Blackcurrent Juice with Vodka when you have a seat on the “snow barstools”.

9: ROBOT KITCHEN

The Robot Kitchen in Hong Kong has automated their wait staff by using three robot waiters. I’ll tell you this much, they better not mess up my order or I’m giving them a magnet as a tip.

6 Drinks That Changed History!!!!

2007-11-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

1.Coffee

The story of modern coffee starts in the Arabian Peninsula, where roasted beans were first brewed around A.D. 1000. Sometime around the 15th century coffee spread throughout the Arab world.

"In the Arab world coffee rose as an alternative to alcohol, and coffeehouses as alternatives to taverns—both of which are banned by Islam," Standage said.

When coffee arrived in Europe it was similarly hailed as an "anti-alcohol" that was quite welcome during the Age of Reason in the 18th century.

"Just at the point when the Enlightenment is getting going, here's a drink that sharpens the mind," Standage said. "The coffeehouse is the perfect venue to get together and exchange ideas and information. The French Revolution started in a coffeehouse."

Coffee also fuelled commerce and had strong links to the rituals of business that remain to the present day. Lloyds of London and the London Stock Exchange were both originally coffeehouses.

2.Beer

The ancient Sumerians, who built advanced city-states in the area of present-day Iraq, began fermenting beer from barley at least 6,000 years ago.

"When people started agriculture the first crops they produced were barley or wheat. You consume those crops as bread and as beer," Standage noted. "It's the drink associated with the dawn of civilization. It's as simple as that."

Beer was popular with the masses from the beginning.

"Beer would have been something that a common person could have had in the house and made whenever they wanted," said Linda Bisson, a microbiologist at the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis.

"The guys who built the pyramids were paid in beer and bread," Standage added. "It was the defining drink of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Everybody drank it. Today it's the drink of the working man, and it was then as well."

3.Coca-Cola

In 1886 pharmacist John Stith Pemberton sold about nine Coca-Colas a day.

Today his soft drink is one of world's most valuable brands—sold in more countries than the United Nations has members.

"It may be the second most widely understood phrase in the world after 'OK,'" Standage said.

The drink has become a symbol of the United States—love it or hate it. Standage notes that East Germans quickly reached for Cokes when the Berlin Wall fell, while Thai Muslims poured it out into the streets to show disdain for the U.S. in the days leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"Coca-Cola encapsulates what happened in the 20th century: the rise of consumer capitalism and the emergence of America as a superpower," Standage said. "It's globalization in a bottle."

While Coke may not always produce a smile, a survey by the Economist magazine (Standage's employer), suggests that the soft drink's presence is a great indicator of happy citizens. When countries were polled for happiness, as defined by a United Nations index, high scores correlated with sales of Coca-Cola.

"It's not because [Coke] makes people happy, but because [its] sales happen in the dynamic free-market economies that tend to produce happy people," Standage said.

4.Wine

Wine may be as old or older than beer—though no one can be certain.Paleolithic humans probably sampled the first "wine" as the juice of naturally fermented wild grapes. But producing and storing wine proved difficult for early cultures.

Making wine also demanded pottery that could preserve the precious liquid.

"Wine may be easier to make [than beer], but it's harder to store," Bisson added. "For most ancient cultures it would have been hard to catch [fermenting grape juice] as wine on its way to [becoming] vinegar."

Such caveats and the expense of producing wine helped the beverage quickly gain more cachet than beer. Wine was originally associated with social elites and religious activities.

Wine snobbery may be nearly as old as wine itself. Greeks and Romans produced many grades of wine for various social classes The quest for quality became an economic engine and later drove cultural expansion."Once you had regions [like Greece and Rome] that could distinguish themselves as making good stuff, it gave them an economic boost," Bisson said. "Beer just wasn't as special."
5.Spirits

Hard liquor, particularly brandy and rum, placated sailors during the long sea voyages of the Age of Exploration, when European powers plied the seas during the 15th, 16th, and early 17th centuries.

Rum played a crucial part of the triangular trade between Britain, Africa, and the North American colonies that once dominated the Atlantic economy.

Standage also suggests that rum may have been more responsible than tea for the independence movement in Britain's American colonies.

"Distilling molasses for rum was very important to the New England economy," he explained. "When the British tried to tax molasses it struck at the heart of the economy. The idea of 'no taxation without representation' originated with molasses and sugar. Only at the end did it refer to tea."

Great Britain's longtime superiority at sea may also owe a debt to its navy's drink of rum-based choice, grog, which was made a compulsory beverage for sailors in the late 18th century.

"They would make grog with rum, water, and lemon or lime juice," Standage said. "This improved the taste but also reduced illness and scurvy. Fleet physicians thought that this had doubled the efficiency of the fleet."

6.Tea

Tea became a daily drink in China around the third century A.D.

Standage says tea played a leading role in the expansion of imperial and industrial might in Great Britain many centuries later. During the 19th century, the East India Company enjoyed a monopoly on tea exports from China.

"Englishmen around the world could drink tea, whether they were a colonial administrator in India or a London businessman," Standage said. "The sun never set on the British Empire—which meant that it was always teatime somewhere."

As the Industrial Revolution of 18th and 19th centuries gained steam, tea provided some of the fuel. Factory workers stayed alert during long, monotonous shifts thanks to welcome tea breaks.

The beverage also had unintended health benefits for rapidly growing urban areas. "When you start packing people together in cities it's helpful to have a water-purification technology like tea," which was brewed with boiling water, Standage explained.

6 Scariest Natural Disasters.

2007-11-14T05:24:00.000-08:00

There’s nothing quite as frightening as when Mother throws one of her temper tantrums. Mother Nature, that is. And while there’s some comfort in knowing that at least there’s a little science in her madness, the explanations are enough to keep you up at night.

1. The Day the Little Conemaugh Got Much Bigger

Aftermath of the Johnstown Flood of 1889

Lake Conemough lies 14 miles up the Little Conemaugh River from the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On May 31, 1889, the dam that held back the lake waters burst after two days of torrential rain.

The results were devastating. A wall of water 60 feet high, moving at 40 mph, crashed down on the unsuspecting people of Johnstown [wiki], and the water and debris it carried all but flattened the entire town. In an utterly tragic twist, the town was downstream from a wire factory that was also flattened by the water. Many townspeople caught in the deluge got so entangled in barbed wire that they couldn’t escape. In the end, 2,209 people were killed, including 99 entire families.

But Mother Nature was not wholly to blame for the tragedy. The Lake Conemough Dam was the property of the South Fork Fishing and Forestry Club, which had turned the area into a mountain retreat for the wealthy. However, the club had neglected proper maintenance on the dam. Despite its culpability, though, it was never held legally responsible.

2. Krakatoa’s Really, Really Big Bang

An early 19th century illustration of Krakatoa

The terrible tsunami that devastated Indonesia in December 2004 wasn’t the first time nature had vented its fury on the South East Asian nation. At 10:02 a.m. on August 27, 1883, the volcano on the island of Krakatoa [wiki], in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, erupted. More accurately, it exploded. The detonation threw smoke and ash 17 miles in the air.

In fact, the ferocity of the burst echoed so loudly that the sound of the explosion was heard on Rodriguez Island, nearly 3,000 miles away (imagine being in New York and hearing a boom from San Francisco!). The pressure wave caused barometers to twitch as far away as London seven times as the shock bounded and rebounded around the globe.

But the eruption itself wasn’t the worst of it. The explosion sent tsunami waves over 100 feet high toward Java and Sumatra. Ships were carried a mile and a half inland and dumped in the jungle. The disruption was so great, the tide actually rose several inches in New York.

In all, more than 36,000 people were killed by the tsunami, and most of the nearby coasts of both islands were laid waste. As for Krakatoa, the island blew itself out of existence. It reemerged years later, the result of continued volcanic activity in this turbulent part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

3. “Bring Out Your Dead!” The Black Death

Black Death as illustrated in the Toggenburg Bible (1411)

Between 1347 and 1351, a plague raged through Europe. Arriving in Messina, Sicily, on a Black Sea merchant ship, the disease was initially thought of as solely an animal sickness – like bird flu or mad cow disease. But somehow fleas managed to transmit the condition from rats to people.

Called the Black Death [wiki] because of the dark spots that appeared on victims’ skin, the pandemic wasn’t just the bubonic plague. In fact, the vicious strain was actually a lethal combination of four variations of plague: bubonic (causing buboes, or inflammations of the lymph nodes), enteric (intestinal), septicemic (an infection of the blood), and pneumonic (filling the lungs with fluid). Quadruple yuck.

Even worse, the Black Death worked fast. People who were perfectly healthy at midday were dead by sunset. And the staggering death toll reflects it. An estimated 12 million people in Asia and 25 million in Europe (or one-third of Europe’s population) were wiped out.

An indiscriminate killer, the disease destroyed rich and poor alike, though only one reigning monarch is known to have died: King Alfonse XI of Castile, who refused to abandon his troops when plague struck his army.

4. Russia Dodges a Bullet from Space: The Tunguska Blast

Trees felled by the Tunguska blast about 20 years after the event.

At 7:17 a.m. on June 30, 1908, a 15-megaton explosion (more than 1,000 times that at Hiroshima) flattened a massive part of the Tunguska region of Siberia. The devastated area was 57 miles across, and the explosion shattered windows 400 miles away.

A real investigation of the event wasn’t undertaken until 1927. But that’s not the weird part. The strangest fact about the incident is that there was no impact crater. An entire forest flattened, but there was no hole, meaning the object had exploded in the air. Scientists now believe that the object was an asteroid or extinct stony comet; the pressure of its descent simply blew it apart before it hit the ground.

But the mysterious nature of the event has lead to a whole literature of ludicrous theories, blaming the blast on everything form a black hole passing through earth to a chunk of antimatter to an exploding UFO to – we love this one – an energy death ray built by Nikola Tesla and test-fired form the Wardenclyffe Tower on Long Island. Whatever they believe, scientists have shuddered and thanked their lucky stars, contemplating what might have happened had the object decided to explode over, say Central Park. Due to the remoteness of Tunguska, not a single person was killed by the blast.

5. Yellowstone National … Supervolcano?

Satellite detected an uplift in the Yellowstone caldera between 1997 and 2003

So what exactly is a supervolcano? Just picture a volcano with 10,000 times the explosive force of Mount St. Helens. And unlike Mount Fuji, supervolcanoes aren’t available in nice cone shapes. Rather, these extreme volcanoes form in depressions called calderas, where the magma gets so thick that gas can’t escape. The pressure keeps building and building until all hell literally breaks loose.

We have our very own supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park. The entire park. In fact, the caldera under Yellowstone [wiki] is so big – 4,000 square kilometers – no one knew it was there until satellite images told us so. By all estimates, it erupts about every 600,000 years, and the last eruption was 640,000 years ago. We’re due.

So what happens if it blows? The last eruption of a supervolcano was at Lake Toba in Sumatra 75,000 years ago. So much ash was released into the atmosphere that the sun was blocked out, the global temperature dropped 21 degrees, and three-quarters of all plant life in the Northern Hemisphere died. Ice age, anyone? Hopeful geologists content that we may be saved by the venting that occurs at Yellowstone through geysers like Old Faithful, relieving a bit of pressure from the caldera. Let’s hope they’re right.

6. From the People Who Brought You World War I: The Flu

Patients with Spanish Flu filled an emergency hospital set up at Camp Funston, Kansas.

Just as the Great War was ending and the world looked like it might finally get back to normal, the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 struck. The pandemic most likely originated in China, but its huge and devastating impact on Spain’s population earned it the name “Spanish flu” [wiki] while the French called it “La Grippe.” Even such luminaries as President Woodrow Wilson caught the bug, in his case while attending the Versailles Peace Conference. In the end, one-fifth of the world’s population would become infected, and more people would die – some estimates are as high as 40 million – than had during four years of fighting in the First World War. Ironically, the war can be held party responsible not only for spreading the flu, but also for checking it. Populations were weakened, and thereby made more susceptible, by shortages and rationing and the fact that many of the strongest and healthiest members had been killed in some trench or no-man’s-land. But the war had also advanced medical learning and germ theory, and steeled people to hardship. They were used to self-sacrifice and putting the nation before the individual. So they were more calm and cooperative with the measures taken by their public health departments, some of which were tremendously restrictive.

Quit Complaining About Your Job

2007-11-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

Before you complain about your job - consider these below

Wh

The World's Coolest Hotel Pools!!!

2007-11-06T09:18:00.000-08:00

England’s first indoor swimming pool, the 40-foot-long Bagnio in Lemon Street, Goodman's Fields in London, opened in 1742. King Ludwig II of Bavaria built the first-ever wave pool with electrically heated water and light, in his Linderhof castle in 1879.
In the U.S. the earliest public swimming pools were small indoor pools built with the intention of encouraging better hygiene among the poor. By the 1920s, the American public pool had become a large public place of amusement and recreation for thousands at a time. Home swimming pools became popular in the U.S. after WWII and Hollywood films made the backyard pool an important status symbol
All of this historical stuff is really rather exhausting when all we really want is serious pleasure – superior amenities, spectacular views,impeccable details, breath-taking eye candy. Let us know where such pools are, so that we can let the rest of the world know, too. By Tuija Seipell

We really do take swimming pools for granted. Lounging poolside at the hotel, swimming a few laps at the health club, or dipping into the Jacuzzi at the spa — we are used to pools but we want them fabulous. Scary-blue tubs with tepid, chlorinated water just don’t do it.

While you are at it, you might be interested in some history of the pool. Bathing pools, of course, predate swimming pools, and we have all heard of the lavish and sophisticated ancient baths. But the swimming pool has a long history, too, dating back to ancient times.
Already in 2500 B.C., Egyptians knew swimming as an organized activity and depictions of swimming from India are equally old. Ancient Romans constructed artificial pools for athletic training, nautical games and military exercises. Swimming was also part of boys’ education.
Extravagant swimming pools with live fish entertained Roman emperors, and gave the pool its Latin name piscina. Ancient Greeks did not include swimming in their early Olympic games but they did practice the sport and built swimming pools as part of their baths. The first heated swimming pool was built in Rome in the first century BC.

Don't hit kids!!!!

2007-11-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

No, seriously, they have guns now.If you see a child crying, do you just turn your back and say it isn't your business? If you see a woman in a store with a black eye, do you just pass by and ignore her?People think of that ;)...REMEMBER Violence causes Violence....

Top 10 Immortals.

2007-10-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Dorian Gray

An Oscar Wilde character that remains young and handsome while his portrait ages. Dorian slowly becomes corrupt, but his crimes and his true age show only in the face of the painting, which grows progressively more monstrous and withered.

Highlander

In the 1986 movie "Highlander," Connor MacLeod is a member of the immortals, a mysterious race who die only when their heads are lopped off. The immortals must battle each other until only one is left to claim The Prize: The gift of mortality and the ability to die like everyone else.

Grail Knight

A knight of the First Crusade who, in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," is tasked with guarding the Holy Grail, a crucible that grants eternal life to any who drink from it. When Indy chooses the correct Grail from multiple imposters, the knight warns him that it cannot be taken beyond the temple, because that is the price of immortality.

Methuselah

Methuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible. He is the grandfather of Noah of "Ark" fame. Methuselah became a father at the age of 187, lived to be 969 and died the day the Great Flood appeared.

Arwen

A half-elven maiden in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" who renounces eternal life to marry her mortal sweetheart, Aragorn, the human king of Gondor. Arwen dies shortly after Aragorn, at the ripe old age of 2,901.

Peter Pan

The famous boy who never grows up (or old), prefers instead to cavort with fairies and fight one-handed pirates on the magical isle of Neverland.

Dracula

If you're really desperate to live forever, you could try getting bitten by Dracula or one of his vampire underlings. But then you'll have to avoid Italian food and do nasty things like drink blood, avoid sunlight and sleep in coffins.

Lazarus Long

A character in many of Robert Heinlein's science fiction novels, Lazarus' long life is the result of a selective breeding program and occasional blood rejuvenation treatments. Lazarus lives to be over 2,000 years old; he travels to distant planets and even through time, and works every conceivable job, from doctor to slave.

Tithonus

When the Greek goddess Eos asks Zeus to grant her mortal lover, Tithonus, eternal life, she forgets to also ask for eternal youth. Tithonus indeed lives forever, but he grows old and frail, and begs for death. Some stories say that Tithonus eventually became a grasshopper.

Movie Mistakes

2007-10-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2007-10-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Water on Mars
Can you help discover water on Mars? Finding water on different regions on Mars has implications for understanding its complex geologic history, the possible existence of past life and the sustenance of potential future astronauts. Many space missions have taken photographs of the surface of the red planet, and some of them might show a subtle clue pointing to water on Mars that has been missed. By close inspection of images, following curiosity, applying scientific principles, applying knowledge about features on the Martian surface, and applying principles of planetary geology, such clues might be brought to light. In the meantime, happy April Fool's Day from the folks at APOD! :)

Are We There Yet?

2007-10-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

If all goes as planned, this will be the view, after the sun has set, of the World Trade Center plaza.
dbox/COURTESY Silverstein Properties

On September 6, architects previewed in detail how three towers on the World Trade Center plaza will relate to the site’s central memorial. Client Larry Silverstein presented collegiality among Foster & Partners, Maki Associates and Rogers Stirk Harbour Partnership as a significant parable for guiding the coordination he hopes to impel on the construction process.

Since the beginning, Silverstein has hastened to develop the commercial towers amid slower plans for a memorial and transportation center. At the September 6 presentation, he praised architects for moving, in a shared studio, from conceptual design to construction documents in just a year.

Silverstein and state officials heaped pressure on the architecture to define lower Manhattan as a booming commercial and cultural haven. “Each building will connect to a performing arts center and transit hub, while respectfully surrounding a memorial and amalgamating half a million square feet of retail, restaurants and nightspots,” said state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents the area. Foster’s lobby has even been bumped up from double- to triple-height to make it a grander public space.

All the towers feature grand lobbies with public art or new pedestrian passageways. But it’s unclear how office towers with strict security over a silent monument can cultivate the urban vigor Silver wants downtown.

Meanwhile, the architects were at pains to guarantee that, as Maki Associates architect Gary Yamemoto explained, “We saw our building as fully part of the memorial.” (Tellingly, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has pledged to use a third of the available space in this most subdued building, and the city has an option to take another third.) Rogers’ design stands between the memorial pools with totally external bracing and parallel antennas orienting the eye down. And Foster’s four rooftop diamond slopes, which serve as “solar fins” to prevent excess heat, also point underground. “The top of the tower,” said Foster architect Mike Jelafe, “can help locate the memorial place within the skyline.”

As for any relationship to the separately-developed Freedom Tower, Yamemoto told AN, “The Freedom Tower is bisymmetrical, while we pivot. The other three towers have more dynamic shapes.”

More broadly, most of the complex’s dynamism depends on bare-knuckle negotiations between Silverstein and various public agencies. The nearby 130 Liberty Street may foil Silverstein’s promise to “put shovels in the ground in less than four months,” and confusion on the schedule and budget for public transit stations may sour efforts to woo big corporate tenants. The Port said nothing about progress on Santiago Calatrava’s PATH station, other than declaring it ongoing.

The presentation added new details to the public’s understanding of what’s going to be built, but it still left unclear how the new Ground Zero will add to Lower Manhattan’s identity. The buildings reporters saw on September 6 risk looking like a glass colony in a sea of older masonry and disconnected blocks. “It is an extreme contrast to the Woolworth Building,” acknowledged Rogers Stirk Harbour partner Richard Paul. “But you can’t build that in today’s construction environment.”

Alec Appelbaum

Gun Control

2007-10-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Gun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership, use, and control of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through criminal use. The answer to these questions and the nature of the politics varies and depends on the national and local political jurisdiction. What do you think..say the word to the world???
Gun control advocates believe that right does not extend to ownership of military-style firearms that are otherwise known as assault weapons. They point to incidents such as the Columbine high school massacre in April 1999, which resulted in the deaths of 14 students (including the two gunmen) and a teacher, in support of banning assault weapons. They also support measures intended to curb gun-related violence, such as mandatory child safety locks, background checks on those wishing to purchase a gun, limits on the number of guns a person can buy and raising the age limit for gun ownership.

Gun rights groups, led by the National Rifle Association, argue that these and other proposals infringe on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. They maintain that bans on the sale of certain types of weapons have not proved effective in reducing violent crime, and that proposals for stricter background checks at gun shows are designed to eliminate gun shows themselves. Some gun manufacturers have volunteered support for safety locks, but the NRA has criticized safety locks for placing an undue burden on gun manufacturers without a proven benefit to the public.

HOW IT MAY AFFECT YOU

At the forefront of the debate over guns is the assault weapons ban that went into effect in 1994. The ban, which was part of a larger anti-crime bill passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton that year, applies to 19 specific models of semi-automatic firearms and to other guns with assault-weapon features. The ban expired Sept. 13, 2004, and gun rights groups were pressing Congress to allow the ban to lapse. Gun control advocates responded with a massive public relations campaign encouraging voters to tell their elected representatives that Congress should renew the ban.

The issue has become a hot potato in a presidential election year, with President Bush and Sen. John Kerry taking positions designed not to infuriate voters on either side of the debate. Bush said he supports an extension, but gun control advocates accused him of failing to pressure Congress into action. Kerry announced his support for extending the ban, even as his campaign sought to boost the Democratic presidential nominee's credentials as a gun owner and hunter.Republican congressional leaders say the ban was allowed to lapse because gun control advocates in the House and Senate did not have enough votes to extend it. They may be right. Most Republicans in Congress oppose an extension, and Democrats were far from united in support of preserving the ban. Democrats representing rural areas kept mum on the issue, perhaps mindful of their constituents' sensitivity to gun control measures. In addition, some Democrats believe their support of the assault weapons ban cost them control of the House and Senate in 1994, and that the gun control issue hurt Al Gore's standing in key states during the 2000 presidential election.

THE MONEY

If lawmakers are guilty of tiptoeing around gun control issues, it is because the NRA and other gun rights groups wield an enormous amount of influence in Washington. The source of that influence is money. Gun rights groups have given more than $17 million in individual, PAC and soft money contributions to federal candidates and party committees since 1989. Nearly $15 million, or 85 percent of the total, has gone to Republicans. The National Rifle Association is by far the gun rights lobby's biggest donor, having contributed more than $14 million over the past 15 years. Gun control advocates, meanwhile, contribute far less money than their rivals -- a total of nearly $1.7 million since 1989, of which 94 percent went to Democrats. The leading contributor among gun control advocates is the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly known as Handgun Control, which has given $1.5 million over the past 15 years.

If gun rights groups have a substantial advantage in campaign contributions, they dominate gun control advocates in the area of lobbying. The NRA alone spent nearly $11 million lobbying elected and government officials from 1997 to 2003. But it wasn't the gun rights lobby's biggest spender. That was Gun Owners of America, which spent more than $18 million on lobbing over the same period. By contrast, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence spent under $2 million on lobbying from 1997 to 2003, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence spent $580,000.

The National Rifle Association has an additional advantage over all other groups in the debate. As a membership organization, the NRA can spend unlimited funds on communications to its 4 million members that identify pro-gun candidates. Those members also contribute millions of dollars in limited donations to the NRA's political action committee, which runs ads aimed at the general public that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. Since 1989, the NRA has spent more than $22 million on communications costs and independent expenditures, with more than $18 million spent in support of Republican candidates.

ANALYSIS OF PRIOR CONGRESSIONAL VOTE

The Center did the following analysis of votes on gun control proposals that Congress considered after the Columbine massacre in 1999. The results shed light on the relationship between campaign contributions and the way lawmakers voted on the issue.

Senate: Just weeks after the Colorado school shooting, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), approved immediate floor consideration of S. 254, the Senate Juvenile Justice Bill. The bill, ultimately amended to include tough provisions on background checks and safety locks, was approved by a vote of 73-25.

However, senators voted three times on proposed background checks at gun shows, first voting against a three-day waiting period, then approving a 24-hour waiting period, then giving final approval to the mandatory three-day background check. [see Senate vote chart]

House: The House rejected legislation loaded with gun control provisions similar to those approved by the Senate. However, House Republican leaders split the gun debate into two separate pieces of legislation –- one focusing on youth culture and violent crime and another specifically dealing with gun shows. Among the more contentious points of debate, gun-rights backers passed an amendment limiting gun show background checks to 24 hours, rather than the Senate-approved mandate of three days. The provision meant that if a background check on a potential gun buyer was not completed within 24 hours, the sale would be approved automatically. Discontent with that amendment –- among gun-control advocates who viewed it as too weak and gun-rights advocates who thought it went too far –- led to the bill's demise.

The House voted 218-211 in favor of the amendment that would limit background checks at gun shows to 24 hours. In a 193-235 vote, lawmakers voted down the amendment that would have mandated a three-day waiting period. The House vote to kill was 280-147. [See House vote chart].