A digital doomsday may be round the corner. In exactly 1,273 days there will be web confusion in the world as we run out of Internet addresses.

More than 85 per cent of the available addresses have already been allocated and the rest will run out by 2011, according to a prediction by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

These are not the normal web addresses that you type into your browser's window. These are the numerical Internet protocol (IP) addresses that denote individual devices connected to the Internet. They form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail and web pages to voice chat and streaming video.

IP addresses are so basic to the success of the Internet that you really do not need to know a website's domain name if you know their IP. In fact, domain names are only a convenience for people who have better luck remembering to type, say, www.google.com, than they would have trying to remember Google's IP address of 216.239.39.99.

Whenever you type http://www.google.com into your browser, the browser sends a query off to a big telephone book in the sky and asks "Hey, what's the IP address for google.com?". This big telephone book, more commonly called a "Domain Name Server" or DNS for short, returns 216.239.39.99 to your browser.

Your browser then heads off to Google's website using the IP address as a map.

When the current IP address scheme, called Internet Protocol Version 4 (Ipv4), was introduced in 1981, there were hardly 500 computers connected to the Internet. The address makers at that time allowed for four billion addresses, thinking they would last forever. They have been nearly gobbled up in just under 30 years!

As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: Internet speeds will drop and new connections and services (such as Internet phone calling) will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain.

The solution to the shortage is to upgrade to a new address protocol.

The Internet protocols are prepared by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers working for the smooth operation of the Internet.

The IETF is an organised activity of the Internet Society (ISOC), a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy. The Society's south and southeast Asian Bureau was established this January. The India chapter is headquartered in Chennai.

The IETF is already prepared for the doomsday. It has devised a replacement system, called IPv6, more than a decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of devices as well as improving Internet phone and video calls, and possibly even helping to end e-mail spam.
Then why the doomsday predictions? The problem is that the new system is not really compatible with the Internet of today. If, for example, Google wants to support IPv6, it will need to build a whole new IPv6 web service, complete with new domain names, servers and bandwidth. The costs run into billions.

The OECD notes that "immediate costs are associated with deployment of IPv6, whereas many benefits are long-term and depend on a critical mass adopting it", according to The Sunday Times.

A digital doomsday may be round the corner. In exactly 1,273 days there will be web confusion in the world as we run out of Internet addresses.
More than 85 per cent of the available addresses have already been allocated and the rest will run out by 2011, according to a prediction by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
These are not the normal web addresses that you type into your browser's window. These are the numerical Internet protocol (IP) addresses that denote individual devices connected to the Internet. They form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail and web pages to voice chat and streaming video.
IP addresses are so basic to the success of the Internet that you really do not need to know a website's domain name if you know their IP. In fact, domain names are only a convenience for people who have better luck remembering to type, say, www.google.com, than they would have trying to remember Google's IP address of 216.239.39.99.
Whenever you type http://www.google.com into your browser, the browser sends a query off to a big telephone book in the sky and asks "Hey, what's the IP address for google.com?". This big telephone book, more commonly called a "Domain Name Server" or DNS for short, returns 216.239.39.99 to your browser. Your browser then heads off to Google's website using the IP address as a map.
When the current IP address scheme, called Internet Protocol Version 4 (Ipv4), was introduced in 1981, there were hardly 500 computers connected to the Internet. The address makers at that time allowed for four billion addresses, thinking they would last forever. They have been nearly gobbled up in just under 30 years!
As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: Internet speeds will drop and new connections and services (such as Internet phone calling) will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain.
The solution to the shortage is to upgrade to a new address protocol.
The Internet protocols are prepared by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers working for the smooth operation of the Internet.
The IETF is an organised activity of the Internet Society (ISOC), a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy. The Society's south and southeast Asian Bureau was established this January. The India chapter is headquartered in Chennai.
The IETF is already prepared for the doomsday. It has devised a replacement system, called IPv6, more than a decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of devices as well as improving Internet phone and video calls, and possibly even helping to end e-mail spam.
Then why the doomsday predictions? The problem is that the new system is not really compatible with the Internet of today. If, for example, Google wants to support IPv6, it will need to build a whole new IPv6 web service, complete with new domain names, servers and bandwidth. The costs run into billions.
The OECD notes that "immediate costs are associated with deployment of IPv6, whereas many benefits are long-term and depend on a critical mass adopting it", according to The Sunday Times.

Scientists attempting to create a nicotine pill to treat Alzheimer's disease have suggested that smoking can help boost memory and concentration. Nicotine has long been known to have a stimulating effect on the brain.

However, the deadly side effects of cancer, stroke and heart disease, mean its benefits have been largely set aside by medical research.

Now researchers, who hope to develop drugs which copy the active ingredients in tobacco without causing heart disease, cancer, stroke or addiction, discovered that nicotine can boost the intelligence and recall ability of animals in laboratory experiments.

The researchers, who plan to present their latest findings at the Forum of European Neuroscience in Geneva, hope that the new drugs, which will be available in five years, may have fewer side effects than existing medicines for dementia.

However, the scientists stressed the new treatment at best will only give patients a few extra months of independent life instead of fully freeing them of Alzheimer's disease. "The substances that we call drugs have, in the majority of cases, do have a mixture of beneficial and harmful effects and nicotine no exception to this," Professor Ian Stoleman of Britain's King's College was quoted as saying by the Mail online.

Researchers led by Prof Stolerman studied how nicotine alters the brain's circuitry to boost concentration and memory. In his study, he showed that the concentration power in rats went up by 5 per cent when injected with nicotine, the report said.

No, it’s not because the airline hates you

Last year, U.S. airlines canceled 21,000 flights. Or rather, a small cadre of guys canceled 21,000 flights. Every gate agent reports up the ladder at a given airline to a set of command-center managers. We spoke with a few of the people who make the big decisions to learn what factors influence whether they cancel a flight.

Number one is no surprise: The Weather

No 2. : Repairs

One warning light is all it takes to ground a plane. Age-related corrosion is often the culprit. Airplanes also have mileage-based maintenance checks, so if a plane has just passed the mark (or will very soon), an airline may cancel its next flight to be safe.

No 3. : Crew Hours

Flight crews can work for only 30 hours every seven days and 100 hours a month. If delays have tacked on too many in-flight hours (idling on the tarmac counts) and crews will exceed their quotas during the next flight, the airline will cancel it.

No 4. : Full or Empty

Contrary to popular belief, it’s usually better to fly in the evening, since the airlines will work furiously to get the planes where they’re supposed to be for the next day’s schedule. It’s the early-morning flights that are more likely to be canceled.

I found this On:

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-%2526-space/article/2008-09/why-your-flight-got-canceled

Buying a 3G iPhone doesn’t have to mean that your first-generation model is now just a paperweight

Here’s a secret they didn’t tell you when you bought a 3G iPhone: One of its best features—the ability to run new applications found on iTunes—is also possible on the old iPhone with an easy software upgrade. Plus, you can hack your first-gen to run unofficial apps alongside the sanctioned ones (known as “jailbreaking” the phone). And remember that your deactivated iPhone still has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well. With all this at your disposal, there are lots of ways to give a first-gen a second life.

Remote Control
Apple’s free Remote application is the slickest way to control your AppleTV or Mac’s iTunes with an iPhone, but there are other free apps for controlling your TiVo (code.google.com/p/tivoremote), your MythTV home-theater PC (trac2.assembla.com/mymote/wiki) or any computer (code.google.com/p/telekinesis).

GPS Device

xGPS ($75; xgps.xwaves.net) uses a small GPS receiver that plugs into your phone, along with software to give you turn-by-turn directions (you must have a jailbroken phone to use xGPS). Coming in January, LocoGPS (gomite.com) will do the same thing with a GPS receiver that connects to your iPhone over Wi-Fi.

VoIP phone

Although your cell number is now on the 3G, your old phone can still make calls over the Internet using Wi-Fi. Truphone is found in the app store; calls cost between 6 and 30 cents a minute. Fring (fring.com) lets you use your Skype account, including SkypeIn, so you can receive calls too.

Media Center

With Apple’s Universal Dock ($50; apple.com), you can play video and music from your iPhone through a connected TV and stereo. Download movies and TV from iTunes or transfer them from your Mac, and install applications like Pandora and Last.FM for customized Internet radio.

Music Studio

From vinyl scratching (MixMeister Scratch; free) to more cowbell (More Cowbell; free), the iPhone can provide just about any sound you’re craving. One of the most versatile apps is MooCow Music:Band ($1.99), which gives you simulated piano, drums, bass, blues guitar, metronome and, of course, crowd noise. To get a little more utility out of your actual instruments, use any number of tuning applications, including Stay in Tuen ($4.99) and Tunic Guitar Free (free).

Shop Assistant
Our pal Chuck over at Toolmonger has put together a list of five uses for your iPhone around the shop including the rather analog straight edge, and a digital level using the phone’s built-in accelerometer and an app like Bubble Level ($.99). We’d add “calculator” to that list with the handy ShopCalc ($1.99), which can add fractional and decimal measurements interchangeably, and a more comprehensive unit-conversion app like Units (free), which handles everything from pressure to power

I found This on:

http://www.popsci.com/oldiphone

Spooked? In our first episode of The Science of YouTube, we take a ride down into the Uncanny Valley and explore why this robot might freak you out

Have a look around intresting stuff

Scammers take advantage of banking turmoil, incidents of fraud increasing as market falls

In the worst of times, don't expect the best in everyone. Scammers are reveling in the financial turmoil by taking advantage of consumers' fears, especially those who are customers of banks most affected by the Wall Street crisis. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which issued a warning this week, cautioned that people should watch out for e-mails or pop-ups, even if from their own banks, asking for any sensitive personal or financial information. People should double-check their bank and credit card statements for fraudulent activity, the report added.

Banks making the news like JP Morgan Chase, which bought out Washington Mutual in September, or Citigroup, which as of this week backed out of settlement talks with Wachovia and Wells Fargo, are prime targets for phishing. The report said that fraudsters may not necessarily be taking information to get credit using someone else's identity, but could be going a step further and breaking into accounts that already exist. Spammers are apparently also creating fake Web sites and malicious software to get information.

To learn more about scams, check out the FTC's site.

1. Coca-Cola was originally green.
2. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
3. The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with .
4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
5. There are two credit cards for every person in theUnited States
6. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
7. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!
8. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath ..
9. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
10. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
11. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
12. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
13. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
14. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.Spades - King DavidClubs - Alexander the Great,Hearts - CharlemagneDiamonds - Julius Caesar.
15. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
16. If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
17. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?Ans. - All invented by women.
18. Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.
19. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
20. A snail can sleep for three years.
21. All polar bears are left handed .
22. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
23. Butterflies taste with their feet .
24. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
25. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
26. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
27. Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
28. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
29. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
30. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
31. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
32. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
33. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
34. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match .
35. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
36. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different

Microsoft crazy facts

1 :
Nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the computer named as "CON".
This is something pretty cool...and unbelievable. ..

Explanation for 1:

In windows the folder name and the special system variables share the same interface, so
when you create a folder with a system variable name it will consider that folder already
exist!!
these special system variables are available irrespective of path
You cannot create a folder with these names also:
CON, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3,COM1 to COM9 and LPT1 to LPT9....
CON means console, COM1 means serial port 1, LPT1 means parallel port 1

2:
This is something pretty cool and unbelievable. ..
At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened!
Try it out yourself...
Open Microsoft Word and type
=rand (200, 99)
and then press ENTER

3:
For those of you using Windows, do the following:
1. Open an empty notepad file
2. Type "Bush hid the facts" (without the quotes)
3. Save it as whatever you want.
4. Close it, and re-open it.
is it just a really weird bug?

You can try the same thing above with another sentence "this app can break"

• In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
• You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.
• To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and......Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
• To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
• To clean corrosion from car battery terminals. Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
• To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
• To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, Remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.
• To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, And run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

FYI:

• The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its Ph is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.
• To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly corrosive materials.
• The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years

Still Want To Drink Up?????????

We all know that water is important but . . .

• 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world pop.)
• Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
• One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a U-Washington study.
• Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
• Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
• A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
• Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?

Totally useless facts that someone actually took the time to organize! (part 1)

• Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.
• Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
• The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
• American car horns beep in the tone of F.
• No piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times.
• Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
• 1 in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
• You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
• Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.
• The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
• The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.
• A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
• Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
• The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
• Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
• The 57 on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of Varieties of pickles the company once had.
• The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
• Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
• The first owner of the Marlboro company died of lung cancer.
• Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
• Betsy Ross is the only real person to ever have been the head on a Pez dispenser.
• Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
• Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
• Marilyn Monroe had six toes.
• All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.
• Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
• It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
• Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
• The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
• Average life span of a major league baseball: seven pitches.
• A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why.
• Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal." The second? William Jefferson Clinton

The answer to the eternal question "Is it better to be a jock or a nerd?":

Michael Jordan having "retired," with $40 million in endorsements, he makes $178,100 a day, working or not.

• If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
• If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
• If he decides to have a 5 minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.
• He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage.
• He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends.
• If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
• If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.
• He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.
• Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax deferred account (401k), his contributions will hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.
• If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you 'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.
• He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100 meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.
• While the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5600.
• This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.

Amazing isn't it? However...

If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today.

Game over. Nerd wins.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially that partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not allowed to practice their faith openly.? Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.? It has two levels of meaning; the surface meaning, plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church.? Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children could remember.

1. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
2. Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
3. Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
4. The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
5. The Five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
6. The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
7. Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
8. The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
9. Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.
10. The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.
11. Eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
12. Twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history lesson for today and now you know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol!

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like this:

There would be:

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans (14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north & south)
• 8 Africans
• 52 people would be female
• 48 would be male
• 70 would be non-white
• 30 would be white
• 70 would be non-Christian
• 30 would be Christian
• 6 would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth (and all 6
• would be from the U.S.
• 80 would live in substandard housing
• 70 would be unable to read
• 50 would suffer from malnutrition
• 1 would be near death;
• 1 would be near birth
• 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
• 1 would own a computer

A TAD MORE . . .

• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed that three billion people in the world.
  
• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the U.S. and Canada.
  
• If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed, because most of us can, but few do. If you can hold someone's hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you offer healing, and are therefore blessed. If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing because someone is thinking of you, and because two billion people in the world cannot read at all.

• The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929. "7" was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. "UP" indicated the direction of the bubbles.
• Mosquito repellents don't repel, they hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito sensors so they don't know you're there.
• Dentists have recommended that toothbrushes be kept at least 8 feet away from toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
• The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
• American car horns beep in the tone of F.
• No piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times.
• Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
• 1 in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
• You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
• Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are 50 years of age or older.
• The 1st product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
• The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.
• A Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's 1st flight.
• Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
• The 1st CD pressed in the U S was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".
• Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
• Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
• The 1st owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.
• Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
• Betsy Ross is the only real person to ever have been the head on a PEZ dispenser.
• Michael Jordan makes more money from NIKE annually than all the NIKE factory workers in Malaysia combined.
• Adolph Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
• Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes.
• All US presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.
• Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
• The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.

Dog owners and cat owners are as different as night and day, says an expert--who reveals the distinctive personality traits of each. People are like their pets, said Dr. Vinsey, Professor of Anthropology at Pace University in New York City, who made a six-year study of pets and their owners.

Dr. Vinsey characterizes dog owners this way:

• They tend to be more outgoing and sociable and they're more apt to be openly affectionate.
• Dog owners are more generous and helpful. They are more ambitious and assertive and more apt to take risks to reach their goals.
• Dog owners are more "outdoorsy" -- they love to tramp the hills, go camping and participate in active, energetic sports.

Cat owners are a different type says Dr. Vinsey:

• They tend to be well-read, articulate and cultured and more imaginative, creative and curious than dog owners.
• They're more apt to be loners. They enjoy privacy and tend to be aloof until they know someone well.
• Cat lovers are comfort lovers and tend to pamper themselves. They're more finicky and choosy, have exotic tastes and are nonconformists. They also tend to be more opinionated and independent.
• Cat owners are indoor people. Their greatest joy is to curl up in front of a fire with a good book or a TV miniseries to view.

But both cat and dog owners are far more flexible than people who don't own pets, said the doctor. They take a less rigid approach to life and adjust more easily to changes in plans or circumstances, she said.

Take out a one dollar bill and look at it. The one dollar bill you're looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it. It's not paper money at all...its fabric money. We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.

If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States Treasury Seal. On the top you will see the scales for the balance-a balanced budget. In the center you have a carpenter's T-square, a tool used for an even cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury.

That's all pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all know. If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States. The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.

If you look at the left hand circle, you will see a Pyramid. Notice the face is lighted and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization. The Pyramid is uncapped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, and ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklin's belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God could do anything. "IN GOD WE TRUST" is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT COEPTIS, means "God has favored our undertaking." The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means "a new order has begun." At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776.

If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States. It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery and is the centerpiece of most hero's monuments. Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States and it is always visible whenever he speaks, yet no one knows what the symbols mean.

The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons first, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong and he is smart enough to soar above it. Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England. Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own. At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation.

In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM", meaning "one nation from many people." Above the Eagle you have thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one. Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.

They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But think about this: 13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag, 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin above, 13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum", 13 stars above the Eagle, 13 plumes of feathers on each span of the Eagle's wing, 13 bars on that shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 fruits, and if you look closely, 13 arrows. And for minorities: the 13th Amendment.

Why didn't we know this? You probably don't know it and your children don't know it because no one ever felt it important enough to tell us about it. Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let that meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that doesn't care. Too many veterans never came home at all.

Tell your kids and grandkids what a dollar bill really stands for. Because if you don't, nobody else will.

• A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
• In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
• The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.
• The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
• The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
• The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
• Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
• Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
• Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
• The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
• Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."
• Camel's milk does not curdle.
• In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
• An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
• Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
• The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
• Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
• All porcupines float in water.
• Hang On Sloopy by the McCoys is the official rock song of Ohio.
• Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
• Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
• Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
• If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
• The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
• Non-dairy creamer is flammable.
• The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)
• Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.28. The only nation who's name begins with an "A", but doesn't end in an "A" is Afghanistan.
• Pamela Anderson Lee is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on the centennial anniversary of Canada's independence.
• When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
• The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
• The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• The average secretary's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
• The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
• All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.
• No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
• "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
• All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
• Almonds are members of the peach family.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
• There are only five words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, Timidous, and hazardous.
• Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula". And can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."
• A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
• Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
• In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
• Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
• The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross.
• When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
• The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life".
• A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
• A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
• A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
• On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
• It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
• Who's that playing the piano on the "Mad About You" theme? Paul Reiser himself.
• In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
• The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator,
  Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz."
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
• John Lennon's first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.
• The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
• There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
• Stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
• Typewriter is the only ten letter word you can type on the top row of your keyboard.

Which tree does your birthday fall under?

December 23 to January 1 Apple Tree
January 2 to January 11 Fir Tree
January 12 to January 24 Elm Tree
January 25 to February 3 Cypress Tree
February 4 to February 8 Poplar Tree
February 9 to February 18 Cedar Tree
February 19 to February 28 Pine Tree
March 1 to March 10 Weeping Willow Tree
March 11 to March 20 Lime Tree
March 21 Oak Tree
March 22 to March 31 Hazelnut Tree
April 1 to April 10 Rowan Tree
April 11 to April 20 Maple Tree
April 21 to April 30 Walnut Tree
May 1 to May 14 Poplar Tree
May 15 to May 24 Chestnut Tree
May 25 to June 3 Ash Tree
June 4 to June 13 Hornbeam Tree
June 14 to June 23 Fig Tree
June 24 Birch Tree
June 25 to July 4 Apple Tree
July 5 to July 14 Fir Tree
July 15 to July 25 Elm Tree
July 26 to August 4 Cypress Tree
August 5 to August 13 Poplar Tree
August 14 to August 23 Cedar Tree
August 24 to September 2 Pine Tree
September 3 to September 12 Weeping Willow Tree
September 13 to September 22 Lime Tree
September 23 Olive Tree
September 24 to October 3 Hazelnut Tree
October 4 to October 13 Rowan Tree
October 14 to October 23 Maple Tree
October 24 to November 11 Walnut Tree
November 12 to November 21 Chestnut Tree
November 22 to December 1 Ash Tree
December 2 to December 11 Hornbeam Tree
December 12 to December 21 Fig Tree
December 22 Beech Tree

Apple Tree, the Love Of slight build. Lots of charm, appeal and attraction, pleasant aura, flirtatious, adventurous, sensitive, always in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, scientific talents, lives for today, a carefree philosopher with imagination

Fir Tree, the Mysterious Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those close to it, rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious uncounted lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.

Elm Tree, the Noble-Minuteness. Pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends to not forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, tends to a know-all-attitude and making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humor, practical.

Cypress, the Faithfulness Strong. Muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give, happy content, optimistic, needs enough money and acknowledgment, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered, unruly, pedantic and careless.

Popular, the Uncertainty Looks very decorative, no self-confident behavior, only courageous if necessary, needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings, very choosy, often lonely, great animosity, artistic nature, good organizer, tends to philosophy, reliable in any situation, takes partnership serious.

Cedar, the Confidence of rare beauty. Knows how to adapt, likes luxury, of good health not in the least shy, tends to look down on others, self-confident, determined, impatient, wants to impress others, many talents, industrious, healthy optimism, waiting for the one true love, able to make quick decisions.

Pine Tree, the Particularity Loves agreeable company, very robust, knows how to make life comfortable, very active, natural, good companion, but seldom friendly, falls easily in love but its passion burns out quickly, gives up easily, many disappointments till it finds its ideal, trustworthy, practical.

Weeping Willow, the Melancholy. Beautiful but full of melancholy, attractive, very empathic, loves anything beautiful and tasteful, loves to travel, dreamer, restless, capricious, honest, can be influenced but is not easy to live with, demanding, good intuition, suffers in love but finds sometimes an anchoring partner.

Lime Tree, the Doubt Accepts what life dishes out in a composed way, hates fighting, stress and labor, tends to laziness and idleness, soft and relenting, makes sacrifices for friends, many talents but not tenacious enough to make them blossom, often wailing and complaining, very jealous, loyal.

Hazelnut Tree, the Extraordinary. Charming, undermining, very understanding, knows how to make an impression, active fighter for social cause, popular, moody and capricious lover, honest and tolerant partner, precise sense of judgment.

Rowan, the Sensitivity Full of charm, cheerful, gifted, without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.

Maple, Independence of Mind. No ordinary person, full imagination and originality, shy and reserved, ambitious, proud, self-respect, hungers for new experiences, sometimes nervous, many complexes, good memory, learns easily, complicated love life, wants to impress.

Walnut Tree, the Passion. Unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egoistic, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often admired, ingenious strategist, very jealous and passionate, no compromises.

Chestnut Tree, the Honesty of unusual beauty. Does not want to impress, well-developed sense of justice, vivacious, interested, a born diplomat, but irritate and sensitive in company, often due to a lack of self-confidence, acts sometimes superior, feels not understood loves only once, has difficulties in finding a partner.

Ash Tree, the Ambition. Uncommonly attractive, vivacious, impulsive, demanding, does not care for criticism, ambitious, intelligent, talented, likes to play with its fate, can be egoistic, very reliable and trust-worthy, faithful and prudent l over, sometimes brains rule over heart, but takes partnership very serious.

Hornbeam, the good taste of cool beauty. Cares for its looks and condition, good taste. Tends to egoism, makes life as comfortable as possible, leads reasonable, disciplined life, looks for kindness, an emotional partner and acknowledgment, dreams of unusual lovers, is seldom
happy with his/her feelings, mistrusts most people, is never sure of its decisions, very consciences.
Fig Tree, the Sensibility. Very strong, a bit self-willed, independent, does not allow contradiction or arguments, loves life, its family, children and animals, a bit of a butterfly, good sense of humor, likes idleness and laziness, of practical talent and intelligence.

Oak, robust nature. Courageous, strong, unrelenting, independent, sensible, does not love changes, keeps its feet on the ground, person of action.

Birch, the Inspiration. Vivacious, attractive, elegant, friendly, unpretentious, modest, does Not like anything in excess, abhors the vulgar, loves life in nature and in calm, not very passionate, full of imagination, little ambition, creates a calm and content atmosphere.

Olive Tree, the Wisdom. Loves sun, warmth and kind feelings, reasonable, balanced, avoids Aggression and violence, tolerant, cheerful, calm, well-developed sense of justice, sensitive, empathic, free of jealousy, loves to read and the company of sophisticated people.

• Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
• Pearls melt in vinegar.
• It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
• Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
• The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
• It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.
• Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.
• Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.
• The sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/two communications)
• Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
• A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
• The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
• The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)
• Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades-King David; Clubs-Alexander the Great; Hearts-Charlemagne; and Diamonds-Julius Caesar.
• 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
• Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression, "to get fired."
• Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
• The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
• The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
• The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA,NHL, or NFL), are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.
• Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
• The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
• If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
• Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
• Actor Tommy Lee Jones and vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
• The fingerprints of Koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
• All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
• James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger of his right hand.
• The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

1. A zebra is white with black stripes.

2. All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

3. Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards.

4. Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.

5. The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.

6. The word "listen" contains the same letters as the word "silent".

7. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot.

8. A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

9. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

10. The whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

11. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man.

12. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

13. 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' is the fear of long words.

14. Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school.

15. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

16. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start.

17. In 1883 the explosion of the volcano Krakatau put so much dust into the earth's atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost two years.

18. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

19. Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.

20. Electricity doesn't move through a wire but through a field around the wire.

Tea, a beverage that is consumed in almost every culture and is enjoyed by millions. Whether you brew it naturally hot or cold, many benefits can be obtained by drinking several cups a day. Almost everyone at some point has had a cup of tea.

Below are ten interesting facts about tea providing folks a helpful insight and fun read about the beverage enjoyed by many. Make your favorite cup and enjoy!

1) Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world! It is only beaten by water. Out of all the sports drinks, sodas, and even coffee, tea still holds (and probably will always hold) second place!

2) All tea, white, green, oolong (aka. wu long or brown tea), and black tea come from the same plant. Camellia sinensis is the mother of tea and gives us the leaves that can become those four main types. It is the processing the leaves go through that determines their classification or "color".

3) Tea is grown in many countries, but it is India that produces most of the world's exported tea! China produces the second, mostly green and white teas, and Sri Lanka comes in third for total world production. Japan produces a lot of green tea as well, but only around two percent is exported since Japan is a huge green tea drinking nation.

4) Even though there are only four main types of tea, literally thousands of varieties can be made from each! Many factors such as culture, climate, growing conditions, processing, and even time of day of harvesting all make that possible.

5) Tea is not graded by taste or color, but by leaf size and texture. There are eight main grading categories, with "Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe" (FTGFOP) as one of the highest to "Pekoe" (P) which is the lowest loose leaf grading. The common term "Orange Pekoe" is believed by many folks as being a variety of tea when in fact is just a grading of tea. The "orange" in orange pekoe has nothing to do with oranges or extracts from them either.

6) In America, over 90 percent of folks brew their tea by tea bag. The majority of the tea is black tea; green and white teas have only started to become popular, but continue to increase in sales every year.

7) There are many health benefits that can be obtained from drinking tea daily. Common benefits are help with certain tumor and cancer prevention, lowered cholesterol, and a healthier heart. But did you know that the properties in tea can also help your skin look younger by destroying free radicals which cause dark spots and wrinkles? Tea has shown to even fight cavities!

8) Black tea is the most common, most exported, and most consumed type of tea in the world, while white tea is the least. Black tea is also the most oxidized of all types, while white tea is the least.

9) Tea contains less caffeine than coffee. A cup of black tea has half the amount of caffeine compared to a cup of coffee, and green tea has less than half the amount of caffeine compared to a cup of black tea.

10) The most important yet basic of tea facts is that brewing tea loose leaf style over tea bags is the best way to obtain true tea flavor and benefits! There are also many more varieties of loose leaf tea which can provide folks a lifetime of drinking enjoyment.

Learn More Interesting Facts About Tea

David Carloni is the creator and webmaster of The Color Of Tea.com

Unless you are staying in an underground cave for more than a year without an internet connection, there's a healthy chance that you have at least watched, if not downloaded, an online video on Youtube or Google Videos.

The online video sharing space has exploded in the recent months with the entry of new players like Metacafe, Blip.tv, Revver, Yahoo Videos and so on. Millions of video clips, technology shows, music albums, movie trailers are available on these video sites for online viewing or they can also be downloaded to your hard drive for offline viewing.

The downloaded video files are generally in FLV format (Flash Video) which is an Adobe standard for video compression. It has fast becoming the web standard for delivering online video (replacing Apple QuickTime, AVI, Windows Media and Real rm formats) because Flash Video can be viewed inside Macromedia Flash Players which is shipped by default with most web browsers. [Flash Video Editing Guide]

A lot of us know how to download Google Videos or Youtube videos from the internet but what do we do next ? Can we make the FLV video files searchable ? How do you edit FLV files ? All your questions and concerns are answered here:

How do I download videos from Youtube or Google Videos or Metacafe ?

It's strange that none of the video sharing sites provide a simple one-click button to download videos. So we will have to take the help of easy workarounds to download the videos. Here are three different ways to download any video from the internet though internally, they employ the same hack (Right-click -> "Save Target As" OR copy the link into your download manager. but change the file extension to .flv)

Approach 1: The easiest way is to copy your video URL and paste it on KeepVid Lite. When you click submit, you will be provided with a link to save the video as an FLV file.

Approach 2: Bookmark this Link or drag it your browser links toolbar. When you want to download a certain video, open the link in your browser and click the KeepVid button.

Approach 3: For Firefox Users - Install the VideoDownloader Extension from Mozilla Addons website - It downloads all embedded objects on a webpage including the video clips.

What naming convention do I adopt for saving video files on my hard disk ?

With time, as the collection of FLV files on your computer grows in size, it may get impossible to keep a track of the video files. The drawback of flv files is that they are neither searchable nor indexed by media gallery software like Picasa or Apple iTunes. Hence, an intelligent approach would be save the files in such a manner that it becomes obvious even for a layman to understand what the video is all about.

Try to include a short context and duration of the video in the name. For instance, the Google Factory Tour video is 5hours, 39minutes and 41seconds long. You can save it as Google_Factory_Tour_053941.flv or GoogleFactoryTour_053941.flv.

Such files are easy to find later using desktop search programs. Alternatively, if you have the time and energy, the FLV Meta Data Injector can insert additional meta data into FLV files. It's a free command line utility. [Watch Video Tutorial]

How can I play FLV files on my computer - They don't open with Windows Media Player or Winamp or iTunes ?

You can download free FLV players to watch FLV files locally. My favorite FLV player has a simple and easy-to-remember name - FLV Player. Another nice alternative is the Riva FLV player.

I download a large 30 minute video from Youtube but I am only interested in the last 10 minutes of the clip. How do I split a large FLV file into smaller playable video clips?

This is the most common question among video enthusiasts - they want to split a large FLV video file into smaller chunks for editing or resharing only the interesting tidbits on the internet. To break an FLV file, get the free FLV Parser - a tiny command-line tool to split FLVs into pieces. Its intended use is to convert a large FLV into a series of shorter FLVs based on a series of millisecond-based timecodes. Using the -s switch will split the audio and video of the outputted files; the audio track will be extracted as a series of MP3 files, and the short FLVs produced will have no audio track at all.

How do I convert FLV videos to Flash SWF or Windows AVI or Apple Quicktime mov formats ?

The free Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer software from Super can convert FLV files to practically any other video format including MP4, MOV H.264, AVI, ASF or Flash SWF animations. Download here.

How do I convert my AVI MPEG MOV 3GP movie clips back to FLV format ?

Say you complete editing your movie in Windows Movie Maker or Avid and now left with an MOV file that you want to convert to FLV. Just get the free Riva FLV encoder and relax. The Riva encoder even lets you select parts of the video that you want to convert to FLV and crop the rest.

I have three small video clips that I download from Google Videos and now want to join them into one single video - How do I merge FLV files ?

I am not aware of any free software that let you join FLV files other than the expensive Macromedia Flash Professional. However, here's a simple workaround to join several flv video file - convert individual flv files to avi using Super [as mentioned above], then join the multiple Avi files into a single avi file using free VirtualDub and finally convert this avi back to FLV using Riya FLV encoder.

How do I watch Youtube Video on my iPod, PSP or Television ?

Again we'll make use of the Super Video Encoder mentioned above. Just convert the FLV file into a corresponding format (like Apple iPod or Sony PSP or MPG) and transfer it to your gadget.

I want to add my own music and photos to a Youtube video clip but don't have the budget to buy Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Macromedia Flash. Can I still create my custom video for free ?

Chances are that your computer already has a full fledged video editing application installed by default - it's called Windows Movie Maker and should satisfy the needs of most hobbyist film makers. You can add titles, transitions and even certain video effects.

Here's how to edit a Youtube video inside Windows Movie Maker - First convert the FLV to AVI format using Super Encoding software, then add your own pictures, music or video clips and finally export the completed file into any video format of your choice. It's that simple.

I don't like the FLV Video Player provided by Google Video. Can I create my custom skin for embedding the video clip ?

The problem with official video players, like the ones provided by YouTube or Metacafe, is that they cannot be customized and the embedded video content is completely contolled by the video hosting site. You cannot personalize the layout of the FLV players like the color settings, logos, etc.

Hence the best solution is to get your creative juices flowing and design the skin of the FLV player yourself. Instructions are available at Adobe Website. You may have to have to download trial version of Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash Professional software for this trick to work.

Google Videos are not available in my country yet - Can I set download them or view them online ?

Absolutely, you can still watch and download Google Video - read workaround.

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Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/07/10-interesting-things-you-can-do-with.html

Will Brinton, the founder of Woods End Laboratories, a bioenergy consultancy, predicts a future without landfills. Instead we’ll use table scraps and sewage to power our homes. Just dump the waste into a household digester, and bacteria will break it down and release the natural gas methane. Farms could sell their copious poop-based energy supplies back to the grid. But how much energy do animals yield? We ran the numbers and found that you might want to consider a pet elephant.

MANURE MAKER	DAILY OUTPUT	METHANE YIELD	POOP POWER
Elephant	200 pounds	230 feet3/day	39 kilowatts*
Cow	120	95	16
Llama	16	18	3
Pig	2.5	3	0.5
Dog	0.75	1	0.2
Chicken	0.2	0.3	0.05

^*The average U.S. household consumes 30 kilowatts a day.

i Found this on:

http://www.popsci.com/corey-binns/article/2008-09/stinkiest-fuel-earth

If you live in the United States it can be difficult to understand the role mobile phone technology plays across the globe. Here, you may use your phone for calls and messaging, perhaps for some computing lite, but likely little more. In Senegal, however, farmers are using phones to track crop prices, in Japan, writers are SMSing whole novels, and in Sweden, they're texting to apply for instant loans. An app that lets you kill time on the subway, this is not.

Within a year and a half, half the world will use cellphones, predict analysts, and with the bulk of new users emerging from developing nations, the question of what phones can do for their owners has never before had such potentially world-changing answers.

Enter Nokia and Dean Kamen.

Yesterday, a new partnership formed by the company (of largest cellphone maker fame) and the man (yep, the guy who invented the Segway) announced "Calling All Innovators." For the next three months developers can enter mobile apps with real-world value for a chance at a $25,000 purse (also, you know, the glory of helping to save the world). There are three categories the apps can fall into: ECO-Challenge calls for programs that help users make "sustainable choices," Emerging Markets is a catchall to encompass anything from microfinance to health care, and Technology Showcase lets developers strut their stuff. The apps will run on Nokia phones with the S60 platform.

Kamen has recently completed a field test of two inventions that he hopes will change the world. Both are based on Stirling engine technology: one is a water purifier, the other an electrical generator. "Cancer, diabetes, all those diseases, that's 50 percent," says Kamen. "The other 50 percent of all disease is caused by bad water. Getting clean water to people would knock out 50 percent of all disease."

Each purifier and generator provides enough power and water for a village; but, with one million villages in India alone, deployment is a challenge. In the past, Kamen has worked with multinational companies to launch his inventions, but the top-down approach of a big company doesn't mesh well with the million-village scale of this project.

The developing world has a high number of cell phones per capita -- the counterpoint to having very little in the way of landlines -- and the idea is that software running on Nokia's platform could be used to network and control a village's small-scale power and water supply.

Hence the contest. Kamen is hoping to tap the expertise of mobile software developers -- for instance, the three million of them enrolled in Nokia's "Forum Nokia" community -- to provide the infrastructural glue that will help get his inventions to the people who need them. Like Tim O'Reilly, Kamen hopes that developers, properly motivated, will pour some of their efforts into projects that help the world instead of endless widget toys and games.

It's an inspiring idea

i found this on:

http://www.popsci.com/gear-%2526-gadgets/article/2008-09/will-cellphones-save-world

It’s not necessarily laziness that makes people hit the “snooze” button in the morning. Most likely, your body clock is mismatched with the demands of your life.
Your clock is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a part of the brain that controls the body’s biological rhythms. But, says Jean Matheson, a sleep-disorders specialist at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, these preset natural rhythms often don’t align with daily realities—work or school start times cannot be adjusted to fit a person’s sleep schedule. People who have trouble crawling out of bed probably have an inner clock set to late wake-up and sleep times, a condition known as phase delay.
It is possible to adjust your phase-delayed body clock, Matheson says, but at a price: No sleeping in on the weekends. “When people sleep late on weekends, they revert to their natural phase-delayed rhythm,” she explains. This makes it harder to wake up early on weekdays. You can train yourself to wake up earlier, Matheson says, by setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier each day (and heeding its call).
Exposure to artificial light in the evening can also cause phase delay. The brain is very sensitive to light, and too much of it just before bed—from computer screens, televisions or bright reading lights—can trick the brain into thinking it’s daytime.
If you find it difficult to adjust your sleep habits, there’s some good news. Scientists at the University of California at Irvine recently discovered that a single amino acid regulates your internal clock. One day, says pharmacology professor Paolo Sassone-Corsi, this research could translate into a drug that controls the brain’s sleep cycle.

IBM's latest supercomputer crunches numbers at enormous speeds--and will soon be put to use for nuclear warfare.

IBM has broken its own record of computer processing speed by pushing its newest supercomputer past the petaflop barrier. The Roadrunner, a massive machine occupying 6,000 square feet of space, this week achieved a peak of 1.026 petaflops, or just over one million billion calculations per second. Just ten years ago, the fastest supercomputer in the world would have taken 20 years to finish a problem the Roadrunner is capable of finishing in a week.

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