This crazy USB Speedometer will not only measure how fast you type, but will also keep track of the total words.  So you can tell who is better - your fastest typist or your dedicated slow and steady worker. The WPM speedometer pegs at 260, so if you’re going faster than that you’re in your […]

Several areas around the planet are experiencing record cold and snow pack — in the face of all the predictions of global warming.
Now there is word that all four major global temperature tracking outlets have released data showing that temperatures have dropped significantly over the last year. California meteorologist Anthony Watts says the amount of […]

 
Is there any spot where flowers aren’t blooming this spring?
The latest addition to the bouquet comes from New York fragrance house Bond No. 9. Dubbed ANDY WARHOL UNION SQUARE, the spicy green floral comes in Bond’s signature (and appropriate) superstar bottle, […]

 
It’s finally official. India is indeed a trillion dollar economy.
The Economic Survey released on Thursday said the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for 2007-08 would be the equivalent of $1.16 trillion calculated at the average dollar-rupee exchange rate for the year.

If you think tattoos are so over, you’ve got another think coming. The latest in permanent ink? Tats on your eyeball. That’s right - a sharp stick in the eye.
When doctors do it, it’s called corneal tattooing; but when perfectly healthy folks looking for new horizons in tattooing, piercing, scarring, etc., do it, it’s […]

STOP by several of Europe’s thermal spa clinics and you will think you have dropped into a waiting room in purgatory. Sterile and dull hospital-like interiors are usually scattered with pale, slipper-clad clientele who look like they have not had much fun since celebrating the end of World War II.
At the Toskana Therme, however, at […]

Researchers had developed a new nanoscale crystal called ZIF (zeolitic imidazolate framerwork) that can trap 80x its volume of carbon dioxide!

Apples in a vibrant shade of red may soon be in Britain’s shops.
The new variety — so far unnamed — is being grown by Swiss experts seeking a healthier fruit.

There’s no chance of Robin, Rebecca and Ruby Mackriell’s parents forgetting their birthdays - because all three children were born on the same day.

Using the radiocarbon dating method and special proteins in the lens of the eye, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus can now establish, with relatively high precision, when a person was born. This provides a useful tool for forensic scientists who can use it to establish the date of birth of an unidentified […]

 
These people must hate bicyclists…

In the middle of May 2008, Kenichi Horie, an adventurer known for such feats as paddling a pedal powered boat 4,660 miles from Hawaii to Okinawa in 1993, will be sailing a wave powered boat from Honolulu’s Hawaii Yacht Club to the Kii Channel in Japan. The boat, a 3-ton catamaran named the Suntory Mermaid […]

The New York Times has an interesting graph depicting the movie box office receipts from 1986 to 2007:
Summer blockbusters and holiday hits make up the bulk of box office revenue each year, while contenders for the top Oscar awards tend to attract smaller audiences that build over time.
Link
via Neatorama

According to EE Times, a California-based company called QuantumSphere has developed nanoparticles that could make hydrogen cheaper than gasoline. The company says its reactive catalytic nanoparticle coatings can boost the efficiency of electrolysis (the technique that generates hydrogen from water) to 85% today, exceeding the Department of Energy’s goal for 2010 by 10%.

Even with its increased hiring estimates of 1,200 patent examiners each year for the next 5 years, the US Patent and Trademark Office patent application backlog is expected to increase to over 1.3 million at the end of fiscal year 2011 the Government Accounting Office reported today.
The USPTO has also estimated that if it were […]