Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Friendly Post: New Games from Zheke

Ok. Put aside your work and give yourself some time to relax.

Find out some fresh and addictive games from the BigFish guys.


Bakery dreams come true! You will help Jill open her own bakery, bring in customers, and earn enough money to re-open her grandparents' bakery! With 48 levels and four different bakeries, Cake Mania is full of mouth-watering fun time management game. Let's get cookin' and let's start having some fun!

Hidden object mystery games are so popular these days that developers can't seem to make them fast enough to keep up with the demand! The latest seek-and-find whodunit is Mystery Chronicles: A Murder Among Friends, a game that puts your sleuthing and puzzle-solving skills to the test in 19th-century France.

With just over a year in the making, Azada: Ancient Magic, the sequel to the enormously successful adventure/hidden object hybrid Azada, has finally arrived!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Creative Food Artworks

I've decided to collect some creative sculptures made from fruits, bread and other edible stuff ) You've seen some of them, but I can bet most of them will be new for you.

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This guys are best apparently.

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Be natural ;)

Saturday, June 23, 2007

How To Become a (Real) Cyborg

The DIY Guide to Becoming a (Real) Cyborg

A scientific duo at Tel-Aviv University discovered this past month that the injection of a chemical stimulant into an artificial culture of live neurons at crucial points in time could create an environment that can store multiple rudimentary memories. (which is considered to be a critical step towards cyborg-like integration of living material into memory chips.) While many individuals might be disturbed about the fact that artificial intelligence has become a reality, advocates might applaud the scientists' conclusion that chemical stimulation may be crucial to learning and memory formation in living organisms. Still other individuals might wonder if a middle ground in this debate about artificial intelligence is possible, or if any semblance of humor can be injected into a serious subject to lighten the atmosphere.

Individuals who resist the artificial intelligence development often believe that this technology bodes nothing but evil, especially if research falls into nefarious hands. Others are grateful for this research. Witness Jesse Sullivan, an electrician who accidentally touched an active cable that contained 7,000-7,500 volts of electricity in 2001 and, as a result, lost both arms at the shoulder. Since then, he's become the recipient of a 'bionic arm' created by scientists at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. His experience, while truly unique, may help others lead active lives in the near future with these life-like prostheses.
The middle ground, perhaps, comes when society realizes that progress is inevitable, "evil" may exist alongside altruism, and — while hindsight is 20/20 — a little foresight and humor can help to create a gray area for a future where machines may outsmart a Mensa member. Even if you live on a limited budget, you can try a few of the following ideas on for size. Who knows? You might decide that you enjoy being less human and more resistant to all the limitations that the flesh endures.

1. RFID Implants

Perhaps the closest any average individual can come to cyborg-like transformation is through an RFID (Radio Frequency ID) transplant. When Amal Graafstra implanted an RFID chip into his left hand in 2005, he didn't break any laws, but he did raise some eyebrows. Since 2005, Graafstra's implants (now one in each hand), have ceased to engender shock. At first, many people wondered why Graafstra would consent to implant a chip in his hand merely to gain access to his locked doors without a key. Now, people agree to implants to gain access to nightclubs.
Many individuals have discovered that when there's a will, there's a way to accomplish the task at hand (so to speak). Mikey Sklar, a third-generation geek, "chipped" his own hand for only $105.49. If you grow woozy at the thought of self-surgery, the price of a tattoo artist who can commit the deed would be considerably less expensive than the cost of a surgeon.
With that said, the price of healing an infection could ravage your savings when you implant a chip without professional guidance. Do your research first, as you'll learn that the antennae needs to face forward unless you want to learn how to become a contortionist as well as a semi-cyborg. Also, you might discover that phidgets (physical widgets) have emerged as low-security and low-price alternatives to RFID chips.

2.Talk to the Wired Hand

The Data Glove, or ShapeHand™, is a portable, lightweight, hand motion capture system composed of flexible ribbons that capture hand and finger motion. ShapeHand's flexible sensors are not physically built into a glove, so you can attach this technology to virtually any glove and hand size to export hand motion data into gaming engines and other enterprises.
You can go further with the ShapeHandPlus™, where the data glove is integrated with arm tracking ShapeTape. ShapeHandPlus tracks complete hand and arm movements and poses, including contortions you create when you implant your RFID antennae the wrong way.
You know that when you need to call or email for a price, as you do with this technology, that the price probably lands light-years beyond any normal budget. But, you can build your own DataGlove with a regular glove and raw materials found at any local RadioShack. A rough upper-limit cost for this glove could reach about $500; but if you have some of the components lying around (like an A to D converter), you could save at least $90.00.

3.Dress Accordingly

If the iJacket and iSuit don't represent your personality, you might go for a variety of shirts and T-shirts that can alter the way you look and feel. One example includes the Sound Activated Illuminated T-shirt ($48.65) that reacts to sound with bars that mimic an equalizer. The bars keep rhythm with any music, so you can stand still and just pretend like you're dancing. The Animated Retro Table Tennis shirt is a bit more complex, yet it can make you appear simple or make you disappear altogether if you're in a dark room. This T-shirt ($24.99), like the previous one, runs on a battery pack.

On days when you don't feel loved, you can wear the Hug Shirt. Embedded sensors and electronics react to a wireless mobile phone message that allows you to feel the physical closeness of a distant loved one as the shirt simulates the sensation of a hug. This shirt was developed by CuteCircuit, a company that specializes in wearable computing, including kinetic clothing that reacts to the wearer's activities and mood. These items are in test mode, and are not yet ready for sale.
While this technology can be fun, it can also be used for covert operations. Two students in Singapore developed textiles that use Electrochromism so that a uniform can blend into any surrounding. This invention is far more mobile than traditional attempts at camouflage.


(3D art by: Aleksey Mityshkin, Render.ru)
4. Refuse to Live with Your Genes
If you want to shoot golf like Tiger Woods, you'll need laser surgery that enables 20/15 vision. This means that Tiger can see objects at 20 feet that a normal person would see at 15 feet. If you can't afford laser surgery ($1,000–$2,500 per eye), then try contact lenses like former baseball hero Mark McGwire. McGwire's lenses improved his vision to 20/10, so he could see objects at 20 feet that a normal person would see at 10 feet. Of course, McGwire was also using a legal, performance-enhancing steroid precursor, androstenedione, when he obliterated the record for the number of home runs in a season back in 1998. So it's a toss-up as to whether the lenses worked or not.
But, the lenses currently are available to the general public, along with built-in colors like amber (best for fast-moving sports like baseball and soccer because it blocks out annoying blue light and accentuates the reds) and gray-green (best for slow-moving sports, such as golf, that are played in the bright sunlight). They cost no more than traditional lenses, which average about $20 per pair when the price is right.
Either way, you get the point. Why live with your genetic makeup when you can enhance your body? The list goes on: Instead of hearing aids, you can gain access to digital signal processors, little gadgets that fit in your ear and that can be programmed to pick up conversations from across a crowded room. You can also take calcium to avoid a genetic tendency toward osteoporosis. Or, you can get a hair transplant if you think you're going bald.
The line is being drawn, however, between what appears to be life-enhancing products and products that could turn great athletes into uber-competitors. Eventually, if you've replaced a body part, you may not be eligible to compete in the Olympics. But, you may be able to communicate telepathically, and that ability may be more important in the long run.
5. Get a Futuristic Life
If you continue to carry out your transformation research with earnest, you eventually will encounter Kevin Warwick, a professor at the University of Reading and the first human cyborg. Warwick carried out a series of experiments that involved the neuro-surgical implantation of a device into the median nerves of his left arm. This device linked his nervous system directly to a computer so that he could assess the latest technology for use with the disabled. He also has been successful with the first extra-sensory (ultrasonic) input for a human and with the first purely electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans — actually, between Warwick and his wife, Irene.
His next project involves the implant of a computer into his brain to experiment with memory alterations and to record those memories, perhaps dreams, to play them back. This technology may make thought communication possible, a means to enhance a sixth sense that goes beyond anything humanly possible. In other words, Warwick is trying to replace Bluetooth technology with the human nervous system.
While you may suffer through horrible nightmares about machines that take over the world, progress in using technology to help others is far more pronounced. But, don't let this news lull you into thinking that you can battle a cyborg without technological help — or even without laughter. After all, how many cyborgs would dare touch you when you signal a left and right turn with your ears at the same time while wearing fuzzy dice, a pair of Powerizers, and a cape?

(3D art by: Rudolf Herczog)

Saturday, June 9, 2007

What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like?

Here is a selection of meals that are in the 300-400 Calorie range. The visual representation gives an idea of portion size.

Breakfast - 290 Calories
1 whole wheat English muffin
2 pats low fat butter
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 cup of fruit
8 oz fruit juice
8 oz water

 

 

Cereal - 300 Calories
2 cups of cereal
8 oz 2% milk
1 banana
1 coffee or tea

 

 

 

Baked potato - 305 Calories
1 medium baked potato
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons salsa
1 cup sliced melon
12 oz water

 

 

Oatmeal - 325 Calories
1 cup oatmeal with raisins
1 cup of fruit
1 cup coffee or tea
1 banana

 

 

 

Soup - 350 Calories
1 bowl of soup
1 small tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
12 oz water
4 saltine crackers

 

Chicken - 345 Calories
6 oz of chicken
1 cup of green beans
2 pats of low-fat butter
1 small tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
12 oz water

 

Chicken Salad - 350 Calories
1 large tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
6 oz sliced chicken
1 cup of low fat wheat thin crackers
12 oz water

 

Scrambled eggs - 360 Calories
2 scrambled eggs
2 strips of turkey bacon
1 piece whole wheat toast
1 pat of low fat butter
1 coffee or tea
8 oz water

Chicken and Rice - 395 Calories
6 oz cooked chicken
2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce
1 cup of mixed vegetables
1/2 cup of brown rice
1 small tossed salad
2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing
12 oz water

 

Consumption
It's hard to believe that the average American consumes around 3,800 Calories per day. That's more than all the food shown on this page. Highly processed foods are very easy to overeat.

10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas That Made Someone Rich

1. Million Dollar Homepage

1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that’s perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire.

2. SantaMail

Ok, how’s that for a brilliant idea. Get a postal address at North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for every letter you send to their kids? Well, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer. Full Story

3. Doggles

Create goggles for dogs and sell them online? Boy, this IS the dumbest idea for a business. How in the world did they manage to become millionaires and have shops all over the world with that one? Beyond me.

4. LaserMonks

LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yeah, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! Their 2005 sales were $2.5 million! Praise the Lord. Full Story

5. AntennaBalls

You can’t sell antenna ball online. There is no way. And surely it wouldn’t make you rich. But this is exactly what Jason Wall did, and now he is now a millionaire. Full Story

6. FitDeck

Create a deck of cards featuring exercise routines, and sell it online for $18.95. Sounds like a disaster idea to me. But former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black reported last year sales of $4.7 million. Surely beats what military pays.

7. PositivesDating.Com

How would you like to go on a date with an HIV positive person? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating site for HIV positive folks last year. Projected 2006 sales are $110,000, and the two hope to have 50,000 members by their two-year mark.

8. Designer Diaper Bags

Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers around in a freezer bag. The 34-year-old mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her infant son into freezer bags to keep them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein wanted something that was compact, sleek and stylish, so in November 2004, she sat down with her husband, Marcus, who helped her design a custom diaper bag that's big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $180,000 in sales for 2005, Christie's company, Diapees & Wipees, has bags in 22 different styles, available online and in 120 boutiques across the globe for $14.99.

9. PickyDomains

Hire another person to think of a cool domain name for you? No way people would pay for this. Actually, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free. PickyDomains currently has a waiting list of people who want to PAY the service to come up with a snappy memorable domain name. PickyDomains is expected to hit six figures this year. Full Story

10. Lucky Wishbone Co.

Fake wishbones. Now, this stupid idea is just destined to flop. Who in the world needs FAKE PLASTIC wishbones? A lot of people, it turns out. Now producing 30,000 wishbones daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $1 million.

Artist unveils $98M diamond skull

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Damien Hirst, former BritArt bad boy whose works infuriate and inspire in equal measure, did it again on Friday with a diamond-encrusted platinum cast of a human skull priced at a cool $98 million.

The skull, cast from a 35-year-old 18th-century European male, is coated with 8,601 diamonds, including a large pink diamond worth more than $8 million in the center of its forehead.

"It shows we are not going to live for ever. But it also has a feeling of victory over death," Hirst said as the sparkling skull was unveiled to the public for the first time amid tight security at central London's White Cube gallery.

Hirst, who has a preoccupation with blood and death and whose works range from diced and pickled quadrupeds to bloody depictions of birth, said he was inspired by similarly bejeweled Aztec skulls. While the skull is platinum and the diamonds flawless -- and ethically sourced, Hirst stressed -- the teeth are real.

"It was very important to put the real teeth back. Like the animals in formaldehyde you have got an actual animal in there. It is not a representation. I wanted it to be real," he said.

The skull is missing one tooth, which Hirst initially replaced with a gold one and then decided to leave out.

"We felt we didn't need it, so we took it out. It feels sort of human and quirky," he said.

Hirst, whose works regularly fetch millions of pounds, said he hoped the skull would not be snapped up by a private buyer and taken away from public view.

"It would be sad it it ends up in a vault somewhere that nobody sees. Obviously I would like it to be on display.

"If anybody buys it, I would make that part of the conditions," he said.

He rejected suggestions that his works were more a standing joke against the art establishment than real works of art.

"I've stopped worrying about what art is. There is good art, bad art, indifferent art. It is art but it is more timeless than contemporary art," he said.

Other works in the new exhibition include pickled creatures, a flying dove suspended in mid-air, a flayed human statue holding its own skin and a series of pictures of an operation being carried out.

As an indication of the wealth he has amassed since being spotted in 1991 by BritArt mogul Charles Saatchi, Hirst, who financed the skull himself, said he couldn't remember whether it had cost £10-15 million pounds ($20-30 million).

"I hope this work gives people hope -- uplifting, take your breath away," he said in response to a question on what he expected the public to get from the skull.

[Via - CNN

Teen Finds 2.93-Carat Diamond Worth Up To $60,000 In A State Park

Walking along a path taken by thousands of others at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Nicole Ruhter noticed something everyone else had missed - a tea-colored, 2.93-carat diamond.

Ruhter, 13, of Butler, Mo., said she would name her find the "Pathfinder Diamond" after pulling what she described as a broken pyramid from the ground. Her parents, grandparents, brother and two sisters had already spent the day digging in two other fields before heading down the path just after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

"We were walking through the path and I just walked and saw this little shine," said Ruhter, who has just finished the seventh-grade. "We wrapped it up in a little dollar bill and took it back and showed them."

Ruhter said both park rangers and her vacationing family got excited about the diamond, found along a service road. So far this year, visitors to the park have found 332 diamonds, three of them Tuesday alone, said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent.

While the park does not do appraisals, Henderson said experts appraised a 4-carat diamond found previously in the park between $15,000 to $60,000. Henderson said Ruhter's diamond did have chips and several imperfections.

"It's a nice diamond," he said. "It looked like it had been broken off at one side."

For now, Ruhter and her family said they'd keep the diamond for a time and find out how much it is worth before attempting to sell it.

"I was kind of praying to God. I was saying, 'I don't care if it's worth whatever it's worth, I don't care if it's a tiny little sliver of something, I just want something,'" Ruhter said. "Ten minutes later, I just found it."

Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public and visitors are allowed to keep the gems they find. On average, two diamonds are found each day at the park.

The largest of the 25,000 diamonds found since the state park was established in 1972 was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found by a visitor from Texas in 1975.

[Via - Excite News]