Extraordinary Things From The 80's Retro-awesomeness

Here is some retro-awesomeness for all of you who grew up in the 80's.

Vostok - The World's First Space Beer

Vostok - The World's First Space Beer - From the dawn of civilization, people brewed beer, and wherever people went, beer followed. In the middle ages, beer helped monks survive long periods of fasting. Sailors commonly drank beer to help ward off scurvy. During the age of exploration, traveling long distances caused brewers to create new recipes.

To meet this challenge, space engineers from Saber Astronautics Australia have teamed with 4 Pines Brewing Company in a space race - to produce the world's first beer drinkable in space.







Source : Vostok Via Presurfer

Gujarati Navaratri festival create temporary tattoos (mumbai)

Navaratri festival is very hot Gujarat.this festival is nine days long. Navrati starts and all youth activities start to his body Tattoo. Young people create temporary tattoos on his body to the enormous variety of styles and designs. In Mumbai Gujarati person creates a tattoo in his body, and a premium is to start at Rs 25 and goes up to Rs 399, depending on the size and quality of work.

Johnson's World of Softness pop up billboard

People walk past Johnson's World of Softness pop-up billboard featuring live models advertising 24 hour body lotion, at Westfield Shopping Centre, in west London.

Source : Metro

Vietnamese Bank Offers Beer to Customers

A Vietnamese bank has started giving away beer to customers who make deposits. Western Bank launched the nationwide promotion on Wednesday, offering a large can of Bitburger beer imported from Germany for each one-month deposit of at least 7.5 million dong (£242) made until Nov. 25.

"We started this award before Tet, as every other bank has its own promotion," said a teller at the Vietnamese bank, which is based in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

In the run-up to Tet, Vietnam's Lunar New Year festival, which usually falls in February, cash demand rises as companies pay year-end bonuses and consumers splash out.

Tropical Vietnam has a long tradition of beer drinking, introduced by French colonists in the late 19th century. Although local brews dominate the market, rising living standards have allowed city dwellers to taste foreign brands.

Authorities have been trying for months to get banks to cut interest rates, both on loans and deposits, so lenders have had to get creative in the fight for depositors.

Inducements have ranged from a tour of Europe to cars, crash helmets, bed sheets and blood pressure monitors.

Source : Telegraph

Automatic Cake Decorator

Mischer'traxler's automatic cake decorator uses a rotating platform to draw a flowery, spirograph-like design on its cakes. As a final touch, the mechanical arm drops sugar-pearls across the cake's surface.

The automatic cake decorator is part of an exhibit entitled "til you stop - how much is enough." You determine how decorated the cake gets by telling the machine when to stop. More icing please! (as long as it's of the cream cheese variety)











Source : Design Boom

Totally Unique Language in the Himalayas (Researchers Discover )

A Koro speaker talks to National Geographic Fellow Gregory Anderson in Arunachal Pradesh, India, as he makes a recording of the language.

In the foothills of the Himalayas, two field linguists have uncovered a find as rare as any endangered species—a language completely new to science.

The researchers encountered it for the first time along the western ridges of Arunachal Pradesh, India's northeastern-most state, where more than 120 languages are spoken. There, isolated by craggy slopes and rushing rivers, the hunters and subsistence farmers who speak this rare tongue live in a dozen or so villages of bamboo houses built on stilts.

The language—called Koro—was identified during a 2008 expedition conducted as part of National Geographic's Enduring Voices project. The researchers announced their discovery Tuesday in Washington, D.C. So many languages have vanished world-wide in recent decades that the naming of a new one commanded scientific attention.

"Their language is quite distinct on every level—the sound, the words, the sentence structure," said Gregory Anderson, director of the nonprofit Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, who directs the project's research. Details of the language will be documented in an upcoming issue of the journal Indian Linguistics.

Prized for its rarity as an unstudied linguistic artifact, the Koro language also offers researchers a catalogue of unique cultural experience, encoded in its mental grammar of words and sentence structure that helps shape thought itself.

Languages like Koro "construe reality in very different ways," Dr. Anderson said. "They uniquely code knowledge of the natural world in ways that cannot be translated into a major language."

In an era of globalization, languages have been disappearing by the hundreds, edged out by English, Chinese and Spanish or suppressed by government practices. Of the 6,909 known languages, about half are expected to disappear in this century; every two weeks, the last fluent speaker of a language dies. This newest, with only 800 or so speakers, may be no exception.

"Even though this is new to science, this language is on the way out," said linguist K. David Harrison at Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia. Many younger villagers, often educated at boarding schools where only Hindi or English are spoken, are abandoning their parents' language. "Young people are not speaking it in the villages," Dr. Harrison said. "If the process continues, Koro will almost certainly become extinct."
Link via Ace of Spades HQ

Electric Bike Runs on Water

SiGNa’s fuel-cell powered electric bike will run for 60 miles on a single charge. More impressive is that it runs on water.

The bike itself is really just a showcase for the fuel-cell tech from the energy company. The cells uses sodium silicide in the form of a sand-like powder. Add this to water and it “instantly creates hydrogen gas.” This hydrogen is then used to generate electricity. Because no hydrogen is stored, the cells are safe, and excess electricity is stored in batteries for an extra boost when you get to a hill. The cartridges are hot-swappable and are fully recyclable.

The main advantage (apart from the safety aspect) is that you can just swap-in a new cartridge when you need it, instead of having to stop to recharge (the units weigh around 1.5-pounds each, less than most batteries). You also get better range: a battery-powered bike typically gets 20 to 30-miles on a charge. The downside is infrastructure: you can find a power-outlet pretty much anywhere in the world. Try finding a compatible fuel-cell in a backwater general-store.

The current units can be designed to put out anything from 1-Watt to 1-Kilowatt. Their futire is probably not in electric bikes but in bigger transportation. Imagine driving your car into the gas-station, popping the hood and swapping in a fuel-cell, just Like Doc Brown drops a tube of plutonium into his time-traveling DeLorean.

Pre-orders for the cells cartridges are being taken by SiGNa. For a bike, you’ll probably have a long wait [UPDATE: The bikes will be available next summer]

Source : Wired

5 Spectacular Beaches in Italy | Mondello Beach | Maria Beach

Italy, one of Europe’s most beautiful countries, is endowed with spectacular beaches to esteem. Spend the most amazing vacations, enjoy the sun and feel the smooth sand of the peninsula. Complemented by breathtaking scenery and joyful people, explore our top 5 best coastlines and have fun on the amazing Italian land.

Domus de Maria Beach – Domus de Maria is a one of the most famous coastlines in Sardinia. For travelers looking for innovation, the site is spectacular. Wild and unspoiled by urbanism, Domus de Maria is an amazing location to spend a relaxing vacation. Throughout the shore, tourists will also find camping opportunities, as well as plenty of dwellers who want to have fun. Appreciate the gorgeous sun, feel the breeze of the sea and enjoy a ravishing retreat along such rejuvenated Italian shore.

Castiglione della Pescaia – Unlike other regions in Italy, Castiglione della Pescaia Beach is more traditional and cultural. The superb country view and the inspiring sea will recreate the best ambiance for tourists. Eye catching, mysterious and old fashioned, visitors will definitely be amazed by the overview. The coastal city nearby, as well as the medieval castle will make up for the perfect ambiance for romantic travelers. Furthermore, you can even esteem how fishermen are putting their skills to the test, or participate at their traditional beach parties.

Mondello Beach – Mondello Beach is more than just a simple coastline in Palermo, Italy. It’s also an entertaining avenue full of shops, pubs and bars for the people to take advantage of. In addition, the location offers plenty of activities as well, especially during the summer season. Appreciate the beautiful sea, dive into the blue waters and try out diving with the fish, or snorkeling for instance. As for the food, tourists will have the amazing chance to uncover magnificent Italian tastes available along the inviting bistros spread all over Mondello Beach.

Piscinas Beach – Recognized for its attractive dunes of sand, Piscinas is like a small Italian wasteland but gorgeous and out of this world. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its astonishing sites, the location is perfect for couples and families alike. Enjoy the relaxing vibe of Piscinas Beach, benefit from the array of amenities and have a great time. The landscape is additionally surreal, while the unique dunes make the beachs so spectacular. The relaxing surroundings and the sound of the sea will make people fall in love with Piscinas, especially because it has a private vibe appealing to visitors.

Marina Piccola Beach – The small bay of Marina Piccola is located on Capri Island. Suitable for tourists who want to escape from the urban and noisy Italy, the coastline is the right place to appreciate. Enjoy the tranquility and sense the romantic tone of Marina Piccola Beach. Accommodate at the nearby hotels, have fun and spend quality time with your loved one. Explore the breathtaking Italian setting, walk along the shore and get your skin tanned under the baking sun. Moreover, swimming and diving are also highly recommended for tourists interested to discover the marvelous underwater life of Italy.

Top 5 Bicycle Friendly Cities In The World

Bicycle has to be the best eco friendly, healthy and cheap vehicle till now. There are number of cities which are recognized as bicycle friendly cities, here are few of them.

5. Beijing, China

Beijing is the capital of the People’s Republic of China. The city is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural centre of China. Cycling is very popular in the city that hosted the summer Olympics in 2008. During the 2008 Olympic Games cycling was ideal way to get around in Beijing. New cycle paths were constructed before the Games to accommodate cyclists and it became popular thereafter.

4. Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain. It is recognized as a Global City due to its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education and tourism. On 22 March 2007, Barcelona’s City Council started the Bicing (a community bicycle program) service. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the 100 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station.

3. Bogota, Colombia

Bogota is the capital city of Colombia. In terms of land area, Bogota is the largest city in Colombia. Despite the city’s chronic congestion, the city is regarded as one if the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. The ciclorruta (Bogota’s bike paths network) is one of the most extensive dedicated bike path networks of any city in the world. Since its construction, bicycle use has quintupled in the city, and it is estimated that there are between 300,000 and 400,000 trips made daily in the city.

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. It is a bicycle-friendly city and 36% of all citizens commute to work, school or university by bicycle. The city’s bicycle paths are extensive and well used. Bicycle paths are often separated from the main traffic lanes and sometimes have their own signal systems. The municipality is also developing a system of interconnected green bicycle routes, greenways, the aim being to facilitate fast, safe, and pleasant bicycle transport from one end of the city to the other.

1. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands. The city is considered one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world and is a centre of bicycle culture with good facilities for cyclists such as bike paths and bike racks. Bicycles are used by all socio-economic groups because of their convenience, Amsterdam’s small size, the large number of bike paths, the flat terrain, and the arguable inconvenience of driving an automobile. In the city centre, driving a car is discouraged.

3D TV Without Glasses Unveiled

The world's first 3D Without Glasses television that doesn't require glasses has hit the market.

Toshiba unveiled the high-definition liquid crystal display 3D television that does not require the special glasses - one of the biggest consumer complaints about the technology.

The Tokyo-based company hopes this could be the breakthrough that brings 3D TV to the masses.

Glassess-less 3D: The Regza GL1 Series TV which combines image processing technology with a double convex sheet to render depth-filled images from any angle using parallax

Toshiba describes the TVs as being for 'personal use'.

Whether consumers embrace the new TVs remains to be seen. Many might be put off by the fact that they'll have to be very close to the screen for the 3D effect to really work - not to mention the steep price tag.

Electronics and entertainment companies around the world are banking on 3D to fuel a new boom in TV, movies and games.

Most 3D TVs on the market today rely on glasses to deliver separate images to each eye, which creates a sense of three-dimensional depth.

In its new TVs, Toshiba uses a 'perpendicular lenticular sheet,' which consists of an array of small lenses that direct light from the display to nine points in front of the TV. If a viewer is sitting within the optimal viewing zone, the brain integrates these points into a single 3D image.

Small: Masaaki Osumi of Toshiba with the 12-inch 3D TV and the 20-inch

'The result is a precise rendering of high-quality 3D images whatever the viewing angle within the viewing zone,' Toshiba said.

The system is similar to what's used in Nintendo's 3DS, the company's highly anticipated hand-held device that features glasses-free 3D gaming.

Toshiba will offer two sizes - 12 inches and 20 inches. The technology is not advanced enough yet to integrate into larger screens. Suggested viewing distance for the 20-inch model is 90 centimetres (35.4 inches) and 65 centimetres (25.6 inches) for the 12-inch size.

The TVs will go on sale in Japan in late December, Toshiba said. The smaller version will cost about 120,000 yen (£912), and the larger one will be double the price.

The company did not release details on overseas availability.

Rev7 : Non Stick Chewing Gum

A non-stick chewing gum that dissolves within 24 hours went on sale yesterday.

Rev7, which has been formulated by British scientists, has the same taste and texture as normal gum, but is water soluble.

It can be removed easily from clothes using soap and water and tests show it can largely be cleared up by conventional street cleaning.

Any gum washed into the drains will break down into minerals and biodegradable materials.

The development could help cut the £150million annual chemicals bill to remove the sticky substance from the nation’s streets.

Professor Terry Cosgrove, who led the research at Bristol University, said the gum contained a special polymer which made it far less sticky.

‘The motivation to invent the product came from seeing chewing gum on the streets in this country and in America. It’s everywhere,’ he said. ‘The materials developed can be used for lots of other uses such as anti-graffiti paint and bacterial protection.

‘But because chewing gum is such an enormous problem at the moment we decided to target this as our main area.

‘This is like a dream come true for me, seeing academic research result in a real commercial product.

‘There are also several other exciting ventures in the pipeline.’

Revolymer, a company set up by Bristol University, used a £10million grant from investors to launch the product, which has now gone on sale in the United States.

Available in spearmint and peppermint flavours, it should go on sale here in 2011.

Normal chewing gum is made from synthetic latex, which is resistant to the weather and strongly adhesive

Secrets of the Ocean

Weird and wonderful creatures of the deep: Decade-long 'sea census' uncovers 6,000 new species of marine creature Now more than 250,000 different sea creatures beneath the waves

A 'riot of species' has been uncovered in the world's oceans by the most comprehensive survey ever conducted of life in the seas, scientists announced today.

But the decade-long Census of Marine Life, the first global attempt to map the wildlife of the oceans, showed many species - from turtles to seabirds and sharks - were in decline in the face of human activity.

Blind Lobster

A blind lobster with bizarre claws belonging to the very rare genus Thaumastochelopsis, previously known only from four specimens of two species in Australia

Dr Ian Poiner, chairman of the project's scientific steering committee said that, from the Poles to tropical waters and the deep sea, there was an abundance of life.

Many discoveries had been made of new life, with around 6,000 potential new species found by the project and the overall estimate of known marine species increasing from 230,000 to nearly 250,000.

One shrimp-like creature, known as Ceratonotus steiningeri, has several spikes and claws and looks intimidating. It was first discovered five years ago three miles beneath the surface off the Atlantic coast of Africa.

It was one of 800 species found in that research trip, said discoverer Pedro Martinez Arbizu, a department head at the German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research.

He was astonished to find that the tiny creature also was within the cataloguing he'd made earlier 8,000 miles away in the central Pacific.

'We were really very, very surprised about that,' Arbizu said. 'We think this species has a very broad distribution area.'

But after a decade of work researchers warn they could still not reliably estimate the number of species in the oceans, and it is thought there could be at least a million species in the Earth's seas in total.

Some of the 'most beautiful and wonderful' species found in the decade of discovery included a Jurassic shrimp thought to have become extinct 50 million years ago and a crab named the Yeti crab.

The census also included genetically sequencing tiny microbes to tell them apart, and Dr Poiner said there could be as many as one billion different types in the ocean.

The project, which involved more than 2,700 scientists spending a total of 9,000 days at sea on more than 540 expeditions, also used new technology such as tagging fish to see where they were swimming, fitting seals with monitors to record data as they dived and acoustic systems which measured fish populations as large as Manhattan Island.

Discoveries included the revelation that North Atlantic tuna on the eastern US seaboard were the same fish as those off the coast of Spain or in the Mediterranean as they migrated across the ocean.

The census also showed life was found in the most inhospitable places, and was much more connected than previously thought, through genetic relationships between creatures, the movement of species around the oceans and the 'snow' of food falling from the upper layers of the sea into the deep.

Dr Poiner said: 'It's the first time we truly have a global census of marine life, and have a global baseline which we can use to monitor change in the future - be the changes fishing activity, development of emerging energy, extraction of oil and gas, impacts of climate change, warming oceans or oceans becoming much more acidic.'

The census also looked back in time, using historical records of fish catches, sightings and even restaurant menus and photographs of family fishing trips to see what had happened to our seas.

Dr Poiner said that while 'wherever we went, there was a riot of species', many creatures had suffered significant declines.

In some cases, populations had plummeted by 90% from historical baselines, and fish such as swordfish which were being caught now were also much smaller than in the past.

And creatures at the bottom of the food chain known as phytoplankton, near the surface had declined globally, analysis of observations from ocean-going vessels since 1899 showed.

Dr Poiner said: 'Sadly the seas have been changed much more than we expected, these changes occurred much earlier than we expected and occurred quite quickly.'

And he warned that while recoveries were possible, and had occurred in some cases, to restore the population of species such as whales or degraded habitat took much longer than it took to do the damage.

According to the research, numbers of some species have declined within a human generation.

It also revealed that people began catching marine creatures a long time ago and on a much broader scale than previously thought.

The census will not only provide a baseline for measuring change but is already producing data which can be used by policy makers around the globe to introduce conservation efforts and to govern the high seas.

Victor Gallardo from Chile, vice chairman of the scientific steering committee, said: 'A human census is used for many practical purposes, like government allocations of seats in a legislature, or funds for education or healthcare.

'Likewise, this ocean life inventory constitutes a true census which can guide conservation.'

The project has also generated a website, iobis.org, on which anyone can see the distribution of a species in the ocean from a giant database of names and 'addresses' of marine creatures.

And it reveals just how little we still know about the seas, as the Census database has no records at all for around a fifth of the oceans' volume, while vast areas have very few records.

A yeti crab

A hairy-clawed 'yeti crab' is seen in this picture taken in 2006

hydrothermal vent snail

A hydrothermal vent snail found in Suiyo Seamount at the Tokyo Hydrothermal Vent

leafy Seadragon

A leafy Seadragon, Phycodurus eques, which is camouflaged to resemble a piece of drifting seaweed

Polychaete Worm

A polychaete worm found at a whale fall at Sagami Bay, Japan at a depth of 925 metres

Tiny Copepod

A tiny copepod collected from the Atlantic abyss during the DIVA 2 cruise in February/March 2005

Squid Worm

A recently discovered species called a squidworm found in the Celebes sea in Southeast Asia

Ceratonotus steiningeri

The Ceratonotus steiningeri, that was first discovered 5,400 metres deep in the Angola Basin in 2006. Within a year it was also collected in the southeastern Atlantic, as well as as in the central Pacific Ocean

Census Map Show Seafloor Biomass

Census scientists used nearly 200 studies to estimate the biomass on the seafloor globally from bacteria through fish and other large animals. The yellow-to-red zones in the map show seafloor biomass reaching 3 to 10 grams of carbon per square metre

Dr Niel Bruce Studying Specimens

Dr Niel Bruce of the Museum of Tropical Queensland studying specimens in lighted aquarium on Lizard Island Reef in Australia as part of the census

Human Mattress Dominoes

king koil Mattress Dominoes Springs were in the air yesterday when the world record for human mattress dominoes was broken.

The attempt was made by Palantine Beds, in Newcastle, and saw 400 mattresses toppled - beating the current world record set by a team in America.

After four months of planning, the team behind the event were last night celebrating in style.

The firm's sales and marketing manager Andrew Waters, is now awaiting official confirmation from the Guinness Book if World Records that his team are now the current world record holders in human mattress dominoes.

Mr Waters said: 'We didn't have the turnout we were hoping for so we had to improvise.

Volunteers in Newcastle breaking the World Record for human mattress dominoes when they toppled 400 mattresses in succession

The event took place at the spacious Newcaslte Furniture Service warehouse in Newburn Riverside, where excited participants whooped as they passed the current record

'The first two rows that toppled then had to pick their mattresses up and run around and join the end. But it actually made the whole thing more exciting to be honest.

'It was a great morning. I had a lump in my throat at the end of it.'

Until two weeks ago, the world record as held by a group in China, who toppled 256 mattresses in May this year.

Then a team in New York toppled 380 mattresses, making the record harder to beat.

But yesterday's attempt saw 400 mattresses fall, after colleagues from Palantine Beds, owned by Newcastle City Council, Your Homes in Newcastle (YHN), and other volunteers, took three minutes and 41 seconds to set a new record.

The event took place at the spacious Newcaslte Furniture Service warehouse in Newburn Riverside, Newcastle, where excited participants whooped as they passed the current record.

The Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Coun Brenda Hindmarsh, started the event, which involved hundreds of Geordies and their mattresses.

Mr Waters added: 'We followed their rules to the letter so there is no reason why we shouldn't have the record. It's what we set out to do.

'It was a lovely atmosphere and it just wouldn't have been possible without all of the volunteers who gave up their time on Saturday morning to take part.

'When we originally set out to do this it was going t be 301 mattresses, but a few weeks ago America did 380.

'So we upped ours. We had to extra staff working overtime to makae extra mattresses and they have all been absolutely fantastic.

'It was just a daft idea that snowballed, but it couldn't have been done without everybody who has taken part.'