Nature Recovers...

FoxNews reports that "Half a century after the atomic blasts that devastated Bikini Atoll, vast expanses of corals in the area seem to be flourishing once again, much to the surprise of scientists.
American government scientists detonated a hydrogen bomb on the tiny island (a part of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific) on March 1, 1954, and about 20 other nuclear tests were carried out on the atoll between 1946 and 1958.
Many of the natives were moved to Kili Island and today are compensated by the United States government.

Code-named Castle Bravo, the hydrogen bomb was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever exploded at the time at 15 megatons, making it 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II.
The massive explosion vaporized everything on three islands in the atoll, raised water temperatures to 55,000 degrees and left a crater that was 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) wide and 240 feet (73 meters) deep.

A team of scientists recently led a diving expedition into Bravo Crater and found an unexpectedly thriving coral community.
"I didn't know what to expect — some kind of moonscape perhaps. But it was incredible, huge matrices of branching Porites coral (up to 8 meters [25 feet] high) had established, creating a thriving coral reef habitat," said study team member Zoe Richards of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.
"Throughout other parts of the lagoon it was awesome to see coral cover as high as 80 percent and large tree-like branching coral formations with trunks 30 centimeters [12 inches] thick."
A nearby atoll is likely seeding the coral recovery, the scientists think, and because the island is rarely visited, the coral is left to recover.
Richards said that the healthy condition of the Bikini corals was a sign of the resilience of corals after a major disturbance, if left undisturbed to recuperate..."

Here is the entire story.

Mad Libs turn 50

MSNBC reports that "Do you remember playing Mad Libs as a kid? As the zany word game turns 50, TODAY has the story about how the game came to be. Plus, author Leonard Stern also wrote an exclusive Mad Lib about the TODAY show just for TODAYshow.com readers (see next page). But first, here's an excerpt about the game's history from "Best of Mad Libs."
The creation of Mad Libs is directly linked to my inability to spell hyperbole in a seventh-grade spelling bee. Humiliated and embarrassed beyond words, I ran home to take refuge in the family dictionary, determined to learn the correct spelling and exact meaning of as many words as humanly possible. The dictionary became my constant companion — my roommate. Even today, it’s by my bedside, and on sleepless nights I make a point of learning at least one new word. Last night it was orthogonal.
The first sighting of Mad Libs happened in 1953, and it remains indelibly etched in my mind. I was in my New York City apartment overlooking Central Park working on a Jackie Gleason Honeymooners script. Actually, I was sitting and staring at the typewriter (I still use one), searching for the precisely right adjective to describe the nose of Ralph Kramden’s new boss. After wallowing in clichés for 30 minutes, I was ready to throw in the thesaurus when Roger Price, my best friend, fellow wordaholic, and the most original thinker I’d ever met — one of a kind of which there was no kind — showed up at my apartment..."

Read more about the history of Mad Libs here.

'Youngest inventor' patents broom

The BBC reports that "A five-year-old boy is thought to be the UK's youngest person to patent an idea after inventing a labour-saving broom to help his father sweep leaves.
Sam Houghton, of Buxton, Derbyshire, was just three when he came up with a double-headed broom to collect large debris and fine dust simultaneously.
After passing the rigorous patenting process, his idea is now protected from anyone who might copy it.
His father, Mark, said there were no plans to market the broom.

Sam, who was inspired by animated inventors Wallace and Gromit and Archie the Inventor from TV series Balamory, said: "I saw my Daddy brushing up and made it. There are two brushes because one gets the big bits and one gets the little bits left behind.
"I don't know if I want to be an inventor when I grow up but this was fun."
Sam had been watching his father at work in the back yard, swapping between a large broom, for leaves and twigs, and a small one, for finer particles, when he came up with his idea.

Mr Houghton, who by chance is a patents lawyer, was so impressed he decided to help Sam apply for a patent.
He said: "It was such a simple solution that only a child could have come up with it.
"I was swapping from one broom to the other and he asked why. When I said it was to pick up the different leaves and twigs it must have got him thinking.
"He got a large elastic band from the shed and put it over the two brooms, holding them just the right way to use both together. He then called me and announced that had had made up an invention."
Insisting the broom itself was all Sam's idea, he said: "Putting the application together was just a matter of extracting the underlying principle and carefully describing that and Sam's specific way of using the invention."
"I do have experience of patents so I knew what to do next but I am convinced there are other young children who come up with ideas but never have the chance to get a patent for them."

The broom works with the coarser brush at the front to pick up larger objects and the finer brush at the back..."

Here's the rest of the story.

How A Movie Should Have Ended...

I just came across a site devoted to how a few talented people feel how certain movies should have ended. The picture to the left will take you to how "It's A Wonderful Life" left some scenes on the cutting-room floor. The picture to the right brings you how "Spider-Man 3" should have ended. Here is the site that has more of these clips. It is a free site. So swing by to give it a try...

They're back!

Well, it's the start of baseball season... And it is to time to bring back The Dancing Hotdogs!

Click here to enjoy the dancing...

"College Student Builds His Very Own Tank"

FoxNews reports that "A Flint, Mich., college student may never have to fight for a parking space again.

That's because he's built his own fully operational half-size replica German World War II Panzer tank.

"I took it home, driving it around in this white-picket-fence neighborhood, and one of the neighbors called the cops on us," Kettering University student Will Foster tells the Flint Journal. "[They] came and they just told us to head back home, but they were also laughing at it because they had never seen anything like that before."
Foster figures his mini-weapon of doom cost about $10,000 to build, most of it on trial-and-error research. It runs on a three-cylinder diesel engine and has a 360-degree turret with a working cannon powered by an air tank that can fire golf balls and empty cans of Red Bull.
He first designed the tank when he was 14, but only when Foster got to Kettering did he find a community of engineering geeks to help him build it. He parks it next to his Theta Xi frat house in a space labeled "Panzer parking. Violators will be totaled."

"Kids run after us like we're the ice-cream man when we take it out," Foster laughs."

Man falls into Wood Chipper

Channel 11 from LA reports that "A city worker is dead after a horrible accident in Inglewood. The man was trimming trees on 80th Street Tuesday when he fell into a wood chipper. It is being investigated as an industrial accident and [city officials] are looking for witnesses for more information. The victim has not been identified."

Click here for the news clip.

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Newly discovered pictures of Elvis...

FoxNews reports that "Never-before-seen photos have surfaced of Elvis Presley rocking Madison Square Garden in all his jumpsuited glory.
The images were taken in 1972 by legendary photographer George Kalinsky, the official shooter of the famed arena, the singer's estate said Wednesday.
Kalinsky came across the photos while working on a campaign for a billboard company called "Great Moments in New York." One of the only photos he printed from the 1972 show is currently on display as part of the campaign on a three-story billboard atop the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. The iconic image shows The King glancing up, his outstretched arms holding the cape of his glittering jumpsuit...Kalinsky said he didn't realize at the time that he had so many good shots.
"When I photographed the show, I thought I only had a few good ones," he said. "I just never really looked at the files until recently."
He said he remembers going backstage to meet Presley.
"He was electrifying in his white jumpsuit, with his cape on," Kalinsky said. "He was quite humble, but he had an aura. There are very few people who have triple-X charisma, and Elvis was one."...

Here is the rest of the story.

Here are some of the photos.

Can a car be too silent?...

Well, it seems a car can be too quiet. FoxNews reports that "A bill intended to protect blind people and other pedestrians from the dangers posed by quiet cars will be introduced Wednesday in Congress.
The measure would require the Transportation Department to establish safety standards for hybrids and other vehicles that make little discernible noise, including an audible means for alerting people that cars are nearby.
"The beneficial trend toward more environmentally friendly vehicles has had the unintended effect of placing the blind and other pedestrians in danger," said Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, who's sponsoring the bill with Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns.
The Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind has pushed for the legislation to protect those who rely on their hearing to know when to cross the street.
While the organization is not aware of people being struck by cars they couldn't hear, NFB President Marc Maurer has said he fears it's only a matter of time.
Preliminary results of an ongoing study at the University of California-Riverside have indicated the cars pose some risk. The study found that hybrids operating at slow speeds must be 40 percent closer to pedestrians than combustion-engine vehicles before they make enough noise for their location to be detected.

Hybrid vehicles operate on battery-powered electric motors when idling and traveling at slow speeds; internal combustion engines, with their distinctive rumble, kick in when the cars speed up.
The bill would require the Transportation Department to conduct a two-year study before issuing safety standards. Automakers would than have two years to comply.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is planning a listening session this spring to consider possible solutions to the quiet-car problem and is already working with manufacturers..."

Here is the entire story.

Man Falls From Roof Of His Moving Minivan, Runs Naked Along Bypass

The Reading Eagle reports that a man from Reading, PA, "climbed atop a moving minivan Friday on the West Shore Bypass, stood on the roof and rode the vehicle until it crashed and catapulted him into the woods, West Reading police reported.
Witnesses told police that the man then climbed up an embankment, stripped naked and ran several hundred yards down the busy highway bleeding from a foot-long gash in his side.
"I’ve never seen anything like this in 22 years," West Reading police Detective Joseph M. Brown said of the 3 p.m. incident. "It is not a common call we get as police."
Police responding to calls from frantic motorists used three separate jolts from a Taser and pepper spray to subdue the nude man.
The Taser had no effect, and police eventually tackled the 38-year-old from Reading, Brown said.
He was taken to Reading Hospital, police said. The hospital listed him in critical condition Friday night...

Brown said the investigation continues and police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.
The bizarre scene unfolded as witnesses reported seeing a minivan going about 55 mph and swerving in the westbound lanes of the bypass near the Penn Avenue interchange.
A witness, Les Miller of West Lawn, was driving west when he saw the minivan crash into the guide rail between Penn Avenue and North Wyomissing Boulevard.
Miller said he saw clothes on the highway shoulder and a naked man with a long cut on his torso running toward him.
"He was waving his arms in the air like he was lost or he was on something," Miller said. "It wasn’t like a panicked look on his face; he was just in a daze."...

West Reading police gave the following account:
Witnesses driving on the West Shore Bypass, or Route 422, saw the driver of the minivan climb out the driver’s side window and onto the roof. The vehicle swerved and crashed into a concrete median.
The impact sent the vehicle back across the westbound lanes, and the man was thrown down a wooded embankment. Witnesses told police they thought the victim had been killed.
"They were shocked when he got back onto the road," Brown said, adding that the man had a foot-long gash in one side and his internal organs were exposed.
Brown said it was fortunate that no one else was injured, considering that the driverless minivan swerved across a lane of traffic..."

Here is the entire story.

Dancing Bears...

One creative fellow Texan...

I just ran across this fellow Texan's site. He buys discounted action figures, and creates entire new figures out of them by hand. His dedication to details on these creations is amazing. It sure looks like he has a nice little business going for himself. Here are some examples of his handiwork. He even made the little penguin featured in his site's logo.

Fun With Jimmy Kimmel On His 1000th Show

Experience some of the fun from Jimmy Kimmel's 1000th show with Richard Simmons and Sam Elliott. Yes, I said "Sam Elliott." Plus a couple of other stars pop up in this funny clip. Enjoy.

Woman who asked to have wrinkles smoothed out gets bigger breasts

What is happening in Germany? In a previous post, you read about a German woman who got a new anus when she went to get a leg operation. Well, now the NY Post reports that another "German woman who wanted to smooth some wrinkles on her chest was aghast when she woke up with bigger breasts instead. Ingrid Bruelling, 33, wanted doctors to give her breasts firmer skin after she lost 200 pounds on a crash diet. But when she woke up after the operation, she found that doctors had put in silicone implants, increasing her cup size from a C to a D."

The web site Ananova.com reports that Bruelling is suing doctors over the procedure.

Tennis star's match turns bloody

ABC News reports that "A Russian tennis star drew blood on the court when things didn't go his way."

Yes, you are seeing Mikhail Youzhny beating his head with his tennis racket until he bleeds in this video.

A new fish that crawls and yawns...

FoxNews reports a "University of Washington professor says a recently discovered fish that crawls instead of swimming and has forward-looking eyes like humans could be part of an entirely unknown family of fishes.
The creature sighted in Indonesian waters off Ambon Island has tan- and peach-colored zebra-stripping. It uses its leglike pectoral fins to burrow into cracks and crevices of coral reefs in search of food..."

Believe it or not...But the picture to the top left is a photo of the newly discovered fish yawning. It crawls and yawns.

Click here for more about this newly discovered fish.

"Man wrestles croc to rescue wife"

The BBC reports that "A woman has been rescued from the jaws of a saltwater crocodile in Australia after her husband jumped onto its back and forced it to flee.
The attack took place in the Litchfield National Park near Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.
The crocodile lunged at its victim as she stood on the banks of a river, locking its jaws around her legs before trying to drag her into the water.
Police have said the heroism of her husband almost certainly saved her.
As the crocodile attacked, Wendy Petherick shouted to her husband Norm who told reporters he acted instinctively.
"I saw Wendy in the water, trying to pull something out of her leg, and I knew it was a croc," he said.
"I acted quickly, just jumped on top of it, and looked for the eyes. I found them, and poked its eyes, and that's when it released her, I think."
The 36-year-old woman suffered serious injuries and will have surgery in Darwin.
Her husband escaped unharmed.
Last week, police in the Northern Territory opened fire on a crocodile as it closed in on a drunken man who had accepted a dare to swim in dangerous waters."

"Top 10 April Fools' work pranks"

According to CNN, here are some of the Top 10 April Fools' Work Pranks:

1. Placed a pair of pants and shoes inside the only toilet stall in a men's room to make it appear someone was using the stall. It sat there for hours until someone called security to check if the person had died.
3. All the women in office individually spoke to the president, confiding that she is pregnant. By noon, he 'knew' that all of his female workers were pregnant and he could not tell anyone because each asked for confidentially.
5. Filled the vending soda machine with cans of beer.
6. Rigged the boss' chair to drop suddenly during a staff meeting.
7. Placed a sign on the restroom door that read, "The company ran out of toilet tissue; please use your own resources."
9. Shrink-wrapped everything in a co-worker's cubicle.

Here is the entire list.

So have you pulled or been subject to one of these pranks?

The Game Of Redneck Life

ABC News reports that The Game Of Redneck Life is "Similar to Life and Monopoly, but the player who retains the most teeth wins."

Here is the web site for this game.