Tallest building in the world turns into giant fireworks show

Earth Hour

I was looking for something over the net and typed "google.com" and I found the whole web page in black background!!! (click on the bottom image for bigger view) on Mar 29 8.31pm. On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., millions of people around the world made a statement about climate change by turning off their lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund. I have also provided a link below for more information.

Earth Hour Link

sculpture worth $57 million dollars...

The above sculpture is worth $57 million dollars. Check out
this link for more info.


Courtesy : Yahoo News

Columnist Art Buchwald dead at 81

Art Buchwald, who took humorous jabs at Washington politicians in syndicated columns for decades, died on Jan-18-2007.















About Mr.Buchwald
Buchwald launched his career as a columnist in 1949 in Paris, where he wrote about the light side of Paris nightlife in the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune. He returned to the United States around 1962 and moved to Washington, where he began writing columns filled with political satire for The Washington Post.

Some of Buchwald's Achievements/observations:
0)Buchwald won a Pulitzer Prize for outstanding commentary in 1982, and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

1)During the Watergate scandal, Buchwald explained that the sound in the 18 1/2-minute gap in the White House tapes actually was Nixon humming.

2)"Just when you think there's nothing to write about, Nixon says, 'I am not a crook.' Jimmy Carter says, 'I have lusted after women in my heart.' President Reagan says, 'I have just taken a urinalysis test, and I am not on dope.'"

3)"Have you ever seen a candidate talking to a rich person on television?"

4)"Every time you think television has hit its lowest ebb, a new program comes along to make you wonder where you thought the ebb was."

....
Mr.Buchwald has always been humble and accessible. He's listed in the phone directory and always has been. People see his name and can't believe it's the real Art Buchwald

Gaint Squid Filmed For The First Time

A Japanese research team has succeeded in filming a giant squid live -- possibly for the first time -- and says the elusive creatures may be more plentiful than previously believed.

The research team, led by Tsunemi Kubodera, videotaped the giant squid at the surface as they captured it off the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo earlier this month. The squid, which measured about 24-feet long, died while it was being caught.

"We believe this is the first time anyone has successfully filmed a giant squid that was alive," said Kubodera, a researcher with Japan's National Science Museum. "Now that we know where to find them, we think we can be more successful at studying them in the future."

Giant squid, formally called Architeuthis, are the world's largest invertebrates. Because they live in the depths of the ocean, they have long been wrapped in mystery and embellished in the folklore of sea monsters, appearing in ancient Greek myths or attacking the submarine in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

The squid, a female, was not fully grown and was relatively small by giant squid standards. The longest one on record is 60 feet.

Kubodera and his team had been conducting expeditions in the area for about three years before they succeeded in making their first contact two years ago. Last year, the team succeeded in taking a series of still photos of one of the animals in its natural habitat -- also believed to have been a first.

Until the team's successes, most scientific study of the creatures had to rely on partial specimens that had washed ashore dead or dying or had been found in the digestive systems of whales or very large sharks.

Kubodera said whales led his team to the squid. By finding an area where whales fed, he believed he could find the animals. He also said that, judging by the number of whales that feed on them, there may be many more giant squid than previously thought.

"Sperm whales need from 500 to 1,000 kilograms (1,100-2,200 pounds) of food every day," he said. "There are believed to be 200,000 or so of them, and that would suggest there are quite a few squid for them to be feeding on. I don't think they are in danger of extinction at all."

Courtesy: AOL Click Here!

Money Matters ... America's RiCheST!!!

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, left, and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett top Forbes' list of richest Americans.






For the first time, Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans consists exclusively of people worth $1 billion or more. As a group, the people who made the rankings released Thursday are worth a record $1.25 trillion, compared to $1.13 trillion last year.

In the billionaire-athon, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson pole-vaulted to No. 3 from 15 in last year's ranking, finishing behind the mainstays at Nos. 1 and 2: Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Read the list)

Adelson is now estimated to have $20.5 billion, Buffett $46 billion and Gates $53 billion. Gates has held the No. 1 spot for the last 13 years while Buffett has been No. 2 every year since 1994 except 2000, when Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. held that spot.

Adelson's expanding net worth is related in no small part to his decision to open a casino two years ago on the island of Macau, an emerging gambling haven off the southeastern coast of China. Profits are growing rapidly thanks to the Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Macau casino. Adelson personally and through family trusts controls 60 percent of the company.

Forbes estimates Adelson earned about $1 million an hour over the past two years. In the second quarter alone, the Sands Macau property saw net revenue jump to $310.4 million, up from $205.1 million a year ago. To tap the demand from gamblers in Asia going forward, the Sands Corp. plans a second property on Macau and a casino in Singapore.




The two GOOGLE Inc. founders were also big earners. Sergey Brin (right) and Larry Page (left) gained about $13 million a day over the last two years, according to Forbes. That puts them in 12th and 13th place, up from a tie at 16th place last year.

Page and Brin also share the distinction of being, at 33 years old, the two youngest people on the list and two of only eight who are younger than 40.

The list was led off by technologists, such as Gates, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Dell Inc.'s Michael Dell and Ellison, and rounded out by five members of the Walton clan who have fortunes amassed from sales by the world's largest retailer.

For a detailed list check out here...

Pope praises slain Italian nun

Pope Benedict XVI praised an Italian nun for pardoning her killers as she lay dying from an attack in Somalia that may have been linked to worldwide Muslim anger over his recent remarks about Islam and violence.


Some are asked to give the supreme testimony of blood, as it happened a few days ago to the Italian nun, Sister Leonella Sgorbati, who fell victim to violence.

This nun, who for many years served the poor and the children in Somalia, died pronouncing the word 'PARDON,"' the pope told pilgrims during his traditional Sunday noon appearance. He said "This is the most authentic Christian testimony, a peaceful sign of contradiction which shows the victory of love over hate and evil."

HATE...
Rosa Sgorbati, an Italian missionary who worked in a pediatrics hospital in Somalia under her religious name Sister Leonella, was slain in Mogadishu Sept. 17, the day that Benedict said he was deeply sorry his remarks had offended Muslims.

What he said...
"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war" ...

"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." ...

Gulf oil discovery may be bigger than Alaska's Prudhoe Bay!

Geoscientists may have made the biggest oil discovery in 38 years off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.
It could be the biggest domestic oil find in 38 years, but production is years away, and even then it won't reverse America's growing reliance on imports or have any meaningful effect at the gasoline pump.

A group led by "Chevron" has tapped a petroleum pool 270 miles south of New Orleans -- and almost 4 miles beneath the ocean floor -- in a region that could hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil, or more than Alaska's Prudhoe Bay.

The proximity of the Gulf of Mexico to the world's largest oil-consuming nation makes the discovery extra attractive to the industry. However, analysts said the find could bring pressure on Florida and other states to relax limits they have placed on drilling in their offshore waters for environmental and tourism reasons.

Chevron estimated that the 300-square-mile region known as the lower tertiary, a rock formation that is 24 million to 65 million years old, contains between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels. The upper end of that range would be enough oil to expand the country's reserves by 50 percent. But the first drop of oil from the lower tertiary isn't expected to hit the market until at least 2010, and at best it will only slow the decline in annual U.S. production.

Challenges...
While the industry was mostly upbeat about the potential of this new discovery, it also acknowledged some challenges, including a dearth of rigs capable of drilling in such deep water and the long lead times required to drill and complete deep-water wells.

The U.S. consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude-oil in a year, while its reserves currently exceed 29 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Department. To put that into perspective, Saudi Arabia's reserves are believed to exceed 250 billion barrels.

The well was drilled in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf, 175 miles off the coast of Louisiana. It is an area the industry has been exploring for about five years.

San Ramon, California-based Chevron said the well set a variety of records, including the deepest well successfully tested in the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron said the well was drilled more than 20,000 feet under the sea floor.

Japan's Princess Kiko has boy...YAY finallyyyyyy

Japan's Princess Kiko has given birth to a son, likely postponing a long-running debate over whether Japanese law should be changed to allow women to succeed to the throne - info from the imperial palace. (In the Pic: Princess Kiko, accompanied by husband Prince Akishino, arrives at a Tokyo hospital.
)

The boy is third in line to the throne, after Crown Prince Naruhito and Kiko's husband, Prince Akishino.

When the government previously proposed changing the law, polls showed that an estimated 70 percent of Japanese approved. Once Kiko's pregnancy was announced, however, public opinion switched, with Japanese saying it would be easier for Kiko to bear a son and resolve the succession issue for now.

Reigning empresses have been rare in Japan, usually serving as stand-ins for a few years until a suitable male could be installed. The last reigning empress was Gosakuramachi, who assumed the throne in 1763, according to AP.

Debate over the succession law was divisive and emotional. Some conservatives proposed a revival of concubines to produce imperial heirs, and others argued that allowing a woman on the throne would destroy a precious Japanese tradition.

Ford names new CEO

Struggling No. 2 automaker says Bill Ford Jr. will be succeeded as CEO by Alan Mulally, from Boeing.

ALLAN MULALLY
Ford Motor Co. Tuesday surprised the auto industry by tapping senior Boeing executive Alan Mulally as its new chief executive officer, succeeding current CEO Bill Ford, who will stay on as chairman. Mulally was most recently executive vice president at Boeing.


Bill Ford, the 49-year-old great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, was making a smart move but that more would be needed to halt the slide in market share for the nation's No. 2 automaker.


Upon taking over as CEO in 2001, Ford pledged that the company would take a leadership role in environmental issues. Under his watch, Ford introduced the hybrid Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs and announced plans to create hybrid versions of cars like the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans.

BILL FORD

Meanwhile, sales of some of its most profitable vehicles, like the recently redesigned Explorer and Expedition SUVs, have fallen. Despite a redesign that improved the vehicle's ride and handling, sales of the Explorer have tumbled about 31 percent this year.

The automaker said last week that it wanted to sell its Aston Martin line - the car made famous in the James Bond movies - to free up funds to invest in its other brands amid a sharp downturn in sales.

Ford declared last month it was cutting production plans and said 10 North American plants will be shut for extended periods much of the rest of the year as it tries to cut costs and deal with slumping sales of its light trucks.

"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin dies...

Almost the whole world might have seen this guy on "DISCOVERY"...playing around with deadly animals like crocodiles, snakes ...

Steve Irwin, 44, died on 4-sep-2006 when a deadly stingray barb pierced his chest.


Irwin's manager John Stainton said Irwin was being videotaped diving on a reef off Australia's northeast coast for a television show and the video tape shows him (Irwin) pulling a deadly stingray barb from his chest just before he died. He is survived by his American-born wife, Terri, and their two children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Robert (Bob), 3.


Man...that was a horrible death... (There is a saying..."The Good Die Young...")

How about a $10,000 tip on a $26 tab !

The regular customer eating dinner at the end of the bar always tipped well -- $15 or so on $30 tabs. The $100 tip two weeks ago was a nice surprise, but the amount he left bartender Cindy Kienow this week left her stunned. On the check, the tip read: $10,000.

The restaurant is in the final stages of verifying that the tip is a valid charge, said Rhodri McNee, vice president of operations for JS Enterprises, owner of the Hutchinson Applebee's.

Kienow said that while she always talks with the man when he comes in -- usually about current events or the weather -- she can't think of anything that would have prompted the huge tip. His tab for the night had only been $26.

"We'd just talk across the bar. He's a really nice guy. I hope he comes back in so I can tell him thank you, because the other day I was kind of dumbfounded," she said.

"I'd like to take care of my parents, since they always took care of me," she said. "But I feel like he wanted me to buy something for myself, and there's a Jeep that I've had my eye on for a while."

Guys...10,000 bucks tip... (gulp...)

Madden scores $100 million hit

Electronic Arts Inc.'s latest Madden football video game grossed more than $100 million in its first week, the biggest launch in the franchise's 17-year history and the latest sign of an improving outlook for the industry.

EA, the world's largest video game publisher, said consumers snapped up more than 2 million copies of "Madden NFL 07" in its opening week, up 12 percent from last year's game launch. The Madden game is the flagship franchise for the Redwood City-based game maker, with new versions each year ranking consistently as a best seller. To date, more than 53 million copies of the game have been sold.

Microsoft Corp. said its Halo 2 game reached $125 million in sales within the first 24 hours in 2004 -- robust interest in the Madden game is a welcome development in a year where game makers are struggling amid a video game console transition period.

Still, the success of the latest Madden game illustrates how lucrative the video game industry has become. Its opening-week gross sales rivals some of this year's biggest movie box office draws: "The Da Vinci Code" movie, for instance, drew $102 million in its first week, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Jetliner pilot locked out of cockpit after toilet break...

The pilot of a Canadian airliner who went to the washroom during a flight found himself locked out of the cockpit, forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in!

The incident occurred aboard a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg on Saturday. The regional jet, capable of carrying 50 people, was operated by Air Canada's Jazz subsidiary.

Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stewart said that with 30 minutes of the flight to go, the pilot went to the washroom, leaving the first officer in charge. But when he tried to get back into the cockpit, the door would not open.

"The door malfunctioned ... this is a very rare occurrence," Stewart said, adding that the crew's decision to remove the door had been in line with company policy.

A report in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper said that for about 10 minutes "passengers described seeing the pilot bang on the door and communicating with the cockpit through an internal telephone, but being unable to open the door."

Stewart said the paper's report was "a bit dramatic" and stressed that at no time had the plane or passengers been in danger. She did not say how many people had been on board.

Now imagine yourself in a situation like this as a passenger.... ;-)

GM unveils new diesel

General Motors Corp. will introduce a new V-8 turbo-diesel for its light trucks such as pickups and SUVs after 2009.




The company has offered diesel engines on its larger heavy- and medium-duty pickups, as well as on its commercial vehicles, which have different emission rules than the better-selling light-duty trucks.

While higher gasoline prices have led to more than half the vehicles sold in Europe being powered by the more fuel-efficient diesel engines, Americans have been slow to embrace the technology. Less than 1 percent of the 17 million cars and light trucks sold in the United States use diesel.

DaimlerChrysler is the only other automaker to offer diesel engines in cars and light trucks for the U.S. market that will meet tighter environmental regulations taking effect here in 2007.

In June Daimler announced that a diesel 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee would be available early next year, and it had previously publicized diesel offerings for its luxury Mercedes brand. Ford Motor has limited its diesel offerings to its super-duty pickups to date.

Did he do it or Not? Is he Crazy or Not???

John Mark Karr believes he killed JonBenet Ramsey even though "he is not the killer," sayz Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy.

In California, Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Cerena Wong sealed documents, including the arrest warrant, in the child pornography case. Wong acknowledged that Karr is "newsworthy" but said sealing the documents protects his right to a fair trial. The privacy rights of minors involved in the case also need to be protected, she said.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles, Karr appeared in a blue jail uniform with a white undershirt. He appeared calm during most of the hearing but grew agitated when prosecutors refused to return a photo to him -- a copy of the last known photograph of JonBenet Ramsey and her mother, Patsy.

"John Karr sincerely believes he killed JonBenet Ramsey, there's no question in his mind about that," Lacy said. She said Karr still believes, even now, that he killed the young girl even though evidence points to someone else.

"The way he told the story (of how JonBenet died), the DNA would have been his and it was not," Lacy said. "He is not the killer." However, she explained, experts in the case said that the sample found in the young girl's underwear was a mixed sample, as were the samples taken from Karr without his knowledge. The experts wanted a clean sample from Karr and didn't want to compare a mixed sample with a mixed sample, she told reporters in a news conference about the case.

To get such a sample, they would have needed Karr's permission, and they didn't want to tip him off that he was under investigation, she said. Lacy has been sharply criticized for detaining and arresting Karr. "The decisions were mine," Lacy said Tuesday. "The responsibility is mine and I should be held accountable for all decisions in this case."


What do u say guys??????????

Gas may be headed back near $2

Hmmm...sounds great isnt it???

Industry analysts see prices between $2 and $2.50 by Thanksgiving 2006!
The recent drop in prices at the pump could pick up steam, driving gasoline sharply lower in coming months.

So far the average cost of a gallon of gas peaked this year at $3.036 on Aug. 10 and has come down largely due to diminishing hurricane fears.

Rretail gasoline prices of around $2 a gallon by Thanksgiving were certainly possible, although not likely since crude prices would need to drop by about $20 a barrel to have that effect

The price of gasoline's main component, crude oil, has also been falling in recent days. Crude oil, accounting for about half the price of gasoline, closed below $70 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since June-20-2006

one-year anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina...

President Bush, marking the one-year anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, promised a "better and more effective response" in the event of another hurricane, saying the catastrophic storm exposed government failure at "all levels."

Speaking at the oldest public school in New Orleans, Bush also said he supports legislation that allows tax-preferred industrial zones to promote more investment and new laws that would enable Louisiana to collect more revenue from oil companies drilling offshore so the state could invest in wetland protection to safeguard New Orleans's levees.

In a theme he has returned to several times since the storm, Bush chronicled the severity of Katrina, the costliest disaster in American history. He said the hurricane caused "flooding on a biblical scale" and "perhaps the greatest dislocation of American citizens since the dust bowl of the 1930s." He said the debris from the storm was "more than any previous disaster."

Today, he repeated that he takes "full responsibility for the government's response" and that the government has looked at both what was right and what was wrong with its response.

The Moment...

At 9:38 a.m. Central Time, they knelt for a moment of silence to mark the first breaching of the New Orleans' levees, which were built to protect the city from precisely the kind of flooding it suffered.

Residents held public and private vigils throughout the city and the region to mark the anniversary, news agencies reported.

The president began the day by meeting with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in a neighborhood where the houses are still stained with high-water marks from the flooding. They had breakfast at Betsy's Pancake House.

U.S. waistlines continue to grow!!!

The gravy train -- make that the sausage, biscuits and gravy train -- just kept on rolling in most of America last year, with 31 states showing an increase in obesity.

Mississippi continued to lead the way. An estimated 29.5 percent of adults there are considered obese. That is an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year's report, which is compiled by Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group that promotes increased funding for public health programs.

"Populations are not equal in terms of experiencing these health problems," saya a doctor... "Low-income populations tend to experience all the health problems we worry about at greater rates."

Indeed, the five states with the highest obesity rates -- Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky -- exhibit much higher rates of poverty than the national norm.

The five states with the lowest obesity have less poverty. They are Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Note:
The government equates obesity with a body mass index, or BMI, of at least 30. Someone who is 5 feet 4 would have to weigh 175 pounds to reach that threshold.

The report says those health costs are in the billions of dollars annually. Citing a 2004 report, the advocacy group said $5.6 billion could be saved when it comes to treating heart disease if just one-tenth of Americans began a regular walking program.

So guys & gals...be cautious when it comes to fast food!!!

Gas Prices Record Steepest Decline

The declining prices of crude oil and ethanol combined with rising gasoline supplies have brought a bit of welcome relief at the pump as the summer driving season draws to a close.

Average gas prices have dropped about 15 cents in the past two weeks, to $2.87 per gallon nationwide and $2.99 in the Washington metropolitan region. The gasoline monitor surveys more than 6,000 stations nationwide every two weeks.

The decline, based on a survey , is the largest drop since November, when prices fell 18 cents after the price increases that followed hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In recent weeks, ethanol prices have dropped to about $2.30 a gallon. Worries over supply have largely subsided as oil companies have made the transition.