Matsumoto Castle Replica Built With Old Paper Money

Some folks at the Nagano branch of the Bank of Japan have created a 1/70 scale replica of Matsumoto Castle out of paper money. About 100 million yen [818,000 US dollars] of out of circulation 5,000 and 10,000 yen bills were used in its construction. The 70 centimeter tall replica was build to commerate the 100th anniversary of the creation of Matsumoto City.

Kissing competition in the Italian

An underwater kissing competition was held in the Italian Adriatic resort town of Riccione Claudia Petazzoni (L) and Fidel Rios in the above picture won the title. Quite like the idea to stay cool in a hot summer.

Tips How to look Happy at work

How to look Happy at work

As of today all personnel will be expected to look happy at work. Rubber bands and paper clips will be provided at no cost
Workload getting to you?
Feeling stressed?
Too many Priority 1 assignments?

Here is the new low cost way to cope with multiple Priority 1 assignments!

Take 2 paperclips and rubber bands.


Assemble them as shown on the picture


Apply as shown picture


Enjoy your day.
This new office equipment will help you to reach the end of the day with a smile on your face!

American brothers gored on the horns of the same bull

A bull that broke from the pack seriously gored two American brothers, catching one on each of its horns during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, where both were recovering Friday in the hospital.

Lawrence and Michael Lenahan were gored simultaneously by the bull, which also injured 11 other people Thursday. It was the worst day for injuries in the nine-day festival.

"I started yelling at my brother to show him I was bleeding everywhere but he showed me he was bleeding everywhere," said Lawrence Lenahan, a 26-year-old Air Force captain from Hermosa Beach, Calif., in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.

He was gored in the buttocks, while Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, was injured in his leg and was recovering well from surgery at the same hospital.

The computer program finds how you feel

New facial analysis software has been developed that claims to be able to recognize a person's mood in an instant. It could mean the start of personalised advertising campaigns that can tell how you feel by simply looking at your face.

The 'rapid facial analysis' technology is being developed by researchers at the German Fraunhofer Institute. It uses highly complex software to find a human face in an image, work our whether the face is male or female, and then analyse their expressions.

"The special feature of our facial analysis software is that it operates in real time," says Dr. Christian Küblbeck, project manager at the IIS.



The most important facial characteristics used by the system are the contours of the face, the eyes, the eyebrows and the nose.

The system first has to go through a training phase in which it is presented with huge quantities of data containing images of faces.

The computer compares 30,000 facial characteristics with the information that it has previously learned. "On a standard PC, the calculations are carried out so quickly that mood changes can be tracked live," explains Küblbeck.

The software package is not only of interest to advertising psychologists; there are numerous potential applications for the system.

The developers say that it can be used to test the user-friendliness of computer software programs.

The system monitors the facial expressions of the user in order to determine which aspects of the program arouse a particularly strong reaction.

The system could also be used to check the levels of concentration of car drivers.

Giant man

Giant Woman

Worlds apart: The moment the tallest man met the shortest

While Mr Xishun, 56, towers above everyone at an astonishing 7.9ft, 19-year-old Mr Pingping is a mere 2.4ft high Bao Xishun, a herdsman from Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, was recently married in a traditional ceremony to a 28-year-old saleswoman from his hometown. At 5ft 6" Xia Shujian only comes up to his elbow and is half his age. He claims he was of normal height until he was 16 when he experienced a growth spurt and reached his present height seven years later. Mr Xishun was confirmed as the tallest person by the Guinness Book of Records last year. Mr Pingping was born nearby in Wulanchabu city, Inner Mongolia. His father claims he was only the size of an adult's palm at birth. He is now seeking to be registered as the world's shortest man by the Guinness Book of Recrods. He could be in for a disappointment though. While Mr Pingping is 73cms tall, the current holder of the title Lin Yih-Chih was measured as 67.5cm.

World's Tallest Horse

Born to the extremely tall parents, the horse Tina on a working farm named Springbrook Inn in Niota of Tennessee comes by her height naturally, which measures 20.1 hands, or nearly 7 feet at the shoulder. The 1,600-pound horse has already ousted the record held by Goliath, who measures 19 hands and lives on a working farm in Mount Pleasant, Texas. Tina will be officially recognised as world's tallest horse after measured by representatives of the Guinness World Records

How To Make Bloody Tampon Heart Earrings

Wear your heart…on your ears. These tampon heart earrings display both your romantic sentiments and your menstrual pride.

Materials

* Tampax tampons
* Spray on acrylic sealant
* White glue
* Red food coloring
* Blank earring posts and backs
* Small heart-shaped beads or stones
* Hot glue gun
* Scissors

Instructions

Cut tip of tampons on the bias, at a 45-degree angle. The long side of the cut section should be no more than one inch. Cut so that the “crease” of the tampon runs along the longer side. Cut the strings off the tampons and set them aside.



Hot glue the cut surfaces together with the end of a tampon string in between them, so they form a V shape.



Put an extra dot of glue in the crook of the V and press together till they form a heart. Spray with acrylic sealant. Let dry.



Mix about ¼ cup of white glue with several drops of red food coloring until desired “blood” color is achieved. Mix thoroughly.



Dip hearts part way into the “blood”. Hang to dry.



Trim strings to appropriate lengths for earrings – about 1 and 1/2 inches.



Hot glue the end of the string to an earring post, then glue the bead or stone on top of the string.

Mexican mega-mushroom a savoury stunner

A mushroom weighing more than 20 kilograms has been picked in a forest in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, university officials say.

The white mushroom, macrocybe titans, measured a towering 70 cm tall, was found near Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, according to the Southern Border University Centre.

There is no word as to what the researchers plan to do with the specimen.

Soap shaped like little hand

This is actual soap.
shaped like little hands!
each ‘hand’ is hand made.
wash your hands with hands.
the soaps range from 1/2” to 2”.
it’s goat’s milk glycerin & has a light scent.
really quite lovely!
comes in a pretty bag… all ready for gifting to a friend with dirty paws!

Snake Drink : would u dare?

Spectacular Approaches

Scott Durga writes: "The picture on the left was taken by Ludovic Aubert, Imapress/Globe Photo. It was published in Life magazine. The location where the picture was taken is Simpson Bay, St. Martin a Dutch and French island. The island is so tiny that its Juliana International Airport abuts one of the famed Caribbean beaches." The hotel in the background at St. Martin is the Maho Beach Hotel. I have stayed there for some extended layovers. The first Air France approach that you show may well have been one of two separate approaches by the same pilot in which the rear main trucks took out a four foot high chainlink fence (there is no blast fence) at the approach end. This is a fence that locals and tourists like to hang on to when jumbos rev-up for takeoff (I imagine that it gets a little warm). Fortunately nobody was standing there or at least managed to getout of the way for the two Air France approaches. The runway is somewhat small for the jumbos. Rumor has it that the Air France captain was fired after the second fence killing. The last time that I was there the (1992?) you could easily see the new section of chainlink fence that was replaced

WINNER IN PET OWNER LOOK-A-LIKE CATEGORY

Bev Brey "Abu & Dad"

Weird Tunnel

This is China's Mona Lisa?

I don't mean to be rude, but I can't really see anything in this painting. But I suppose I've never been quite sure as to why the Mona Lisa is the Western world's "Mona Lisa." It's a beautiful painting, sure, Leonardo's magnum opus, but the puzzling facial expression of Lisa Gherardini (think I knew a girl from New Jersey with the same name), doesn't seem like it should be the most recognizable and revered piece of Western art in the world. In any event, this painting above, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," painted on a scroll by Zhang Zeduan in the early 12th century, is China's most famous painting, or as some call it, "China's Mona Lisa." Keith Bradsher, Hong Kong Bureau Chief of the New York Times, published a story Tuesday about "Qingming Festival," as it is part of a 32-piece exhibit of Chinese works now on display at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The exhibit, aptly titled "The Pride of China," commemorates the 10-year anniversary of Britain handing over Hong Kong to China and is aimed to drum up some Chinese nationalism in the territory. As Bradsher writes, "'Qingming Festival' is famous partly for its involvement over centuries in palace intrigues, theft and wars, and partly for its detailed, geometrically accurate images of bridges, wine shops, sedan chairs and boats beautifully juxtaposed with flowing lines for the depiction of mountains and other natural scenery." But as Hong Kong Keith also points out, that like the Mona Lisa, this painting is famous for being famous. For all of my under-16 readers, kind of like Paris Hilton. To me, again no disrespect to China's art lovers, "Qingming Festival" looks like an ornate welcome mat. But I've never professed to be an expert of Chinese painting.

Jaguar C-XF

This video shows the road version of Jaguar's S-Type, the XF being tested out on the road



The New Jaguar XF Prototype on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.



Jaguar Design Briefings are a compilation of online videos, photography and words that capture various themes of the future design direction for Jaguar.



The second video from Kenzo of the C-XF at the elegance contest in Villa D'Este held on...



The unveiling of the new Jaguar C-XF concept car in Detroit, at the 2007 North American International Auto Show.

Gisele Bundchen tops video