2010 Beautiful Belly Painted Contest

Nothing is more beautiful than a big, pregnant belly. Readers had some fun while they waited, and emailed hundreds of beautiful painted bumps. Here are our 25 favorites, including the winning masterpiece!

Fish Bowl Belly

Snow Globe Belly

Pumpkin Belly

Hands & Henna Belly

Baby & iPod Belly

Mother Earth Belly

My Pod Belly

Whale Belly

Flowering Belly

Safari Belly

Tropical Belly

Toddler-Designed Belly

Henna Tree Belly

Bird Belly

Henna Design Belly

Moon & Stars Belly

Pomegranate Belly

Baby Face Belly

Beach Ball Belly

Pink Baby Face Belly

Obama Belly

Christmas Baby Belly

Floral Belly

Peacock Belly

Blue Baby Belly

Top 9 Deadly Plants on the Earth

1. Amanitas – Destroying Angel

There are no known antidotes for Amanita poisoning; however, victims have survived after receiving liver transplants.

2. Castor Bean

he castor-oil plant was found exclusively in Africa and India for both ornamental and commercial use. It is now found in North America and most tropical regions. It is most often grown for ornamental purposes.

3. Belladonna Atwpa belladonna

All parts of this plant are deadly, especially its roots, leaves, and berries.

4. Barbados Nut

The threat of ivy like plant lies in the deceptively pleasant taste of the seeds. They are so delectable that anyone who tastes one will instinctively eat more of them.

5. Hemlock

The hemlock is native to Europe and Asia, that has found a home in the United States. It is a common sight in unattended, pristine locales around farm buildings, especially in the states along the eastern and western seaboards.

6. Jimsonweed

The entire plant has an unpleasant odor, and the fruit, which appears in autumn, is prickly, ovoid or globular, and contains numerous wrinkled black seeds.

7. Lily of the Valley

The white bell-shaped flowers of the lily of the valley are well known, however, the plant occasionally bears orange-red, fleshy berries, which are lesser known to the general public.

8. Monkshood

Monkshood is found throughout the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Western monkshood is found at higher altitudes in the northern Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast states.

9. Rhododendron

The rhododendron is found just about everywhere. Rhododendron plants are evergreen shrubs often forming dense growths in Canada and in the United States.

young girl and a monkey isnt extraordinary friendship

This is an unbelievable story of true friendship. A young girl and a monkey became close friends. Emily Bland taught the orang-utan named Rishi how to pour tea and take strolls together.

This all happened at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in Florida when both friends were still at the crawling stage. Still the story isn’t over…

Tags: young girl, monkey, extraordinary, friendship

China's 3D Newspapers the Hottest Thing to read

Ever since China’s first 3D newspaper was released, back in April, the public has been asking for more. And they’re about to get it, as a limited number of the Hangzhou-based Daily Business editions are about to be issued, in 3D format.

British tabloid, The Sun, has announced it will be launching the first 3D newspaper today, a few days before the Soccer World Cup kicks off, in an attempt to raise awareness to the 3D broadcast of the sports event, by Sky News. Sorry guys, but you’re almost two months late, in China, 3D newspapers are already yesterday’s news.

Tags: China's 3D Newspapers, Hottest, Thing, read, Extraordinary Items

Top Russian machine guns Russian Arms, Military Technology

Various weapons are very often exposed in movies nowadays. Here are legendary Russian machine guns having their own history ever shown in the Soviet (and not only) movies.

1. Maxim heavy machine gun model 1910. It was a first self-powered machine gun with water cooling of the barrel. Gun produced after 1940 were upgraded in such a way that coolant circuit could be loaded not only with water but with snow or ice. This gun could provide only automatic fire so it was extremely effective against infantry.

2. Degtyaryov hand-held infantry machine gun was used by the Soviet Army starting from the year 1927. It was one the few weapon models developed solely in the Soviet Union but not changed or modernized western samples. It appeared to be rather fail-safe and easy in use and maintenance and for this reason was widely used till the end of the World War 2. In its combat characteristics Degtyaryov’s gun excelled similar foreign analogs of that times.

3. Kalashnikov hand-held machine gun abbreviated in Russian as RPK was developed in mid-50’s when a national program on modernization of army weapons was launched. It was aimed to produce a reliable infantry assault rifle and a light machine gun which would be of a rather similar construction and with similar and interchangeable spare parts. A tender was held in 1961 to determine the best designed products. As a result the modernized AK-47 and unified with it RPK were introduced into the Soviet Army. By the way, speaking about its appearance in the movies, you should remember it from Rambo series.

4. Degtyaryov-Shpagin Large-Caliber (DShK) heavy anti-aircraft machine gun developed in the far 1938 is still in use. This weapon provided very fast fire but still with high accuracy which caused ti effective use in many campaigns from WW2 till Iraq in 2004. This was the gun John Rambo (him again) used to hit down enemy’s helicopters.

5. NSV heavy machine gun was a universal anti-infantry, anti-aircraft and anti-armored-carriers weapon designed in 1971 in order to replace DShK. Its production was ended immediately after the Collapse of the USSR. Now its modification is produced in Ukraine and several licenses for production have been sold abroad.

Tags: Top guns, Russian machine guns, Russian Arms, Military Technology