Thursday, November 30, 2006

Most expensive things in the world

Do you know what is the price of the most expensive potato in the world? Or would you take a ride in most expensive car in a world? If you couldn’t get that opportunity, you can see here the list of most expensive things in the world.


Most expensive woman in the world is - Jennifer Lopez

Why? Her gorgeous body is insured at one of New York’s insurance companies for a sum of 1 billion euros.




Most expensive movie is – “Titanic”

For his filming they spent more than 200 million dollars




Most expensive advertising campaign is for – “Pepsi”

In the year 2002, “Pepsi” hired Britney Spears to advertise its products. Commercial that was 90 seconds long, was paid 7.53 million dollars




Most expensive election campaign is for – Mayor of New York

That record was set by Michael Bloomberg, while he was running for mayor of New York City in 2001. Each of 744757 votes for him cost 92 dollars 60 cents. The whole election campaign cost Blumberg 62 millions dollars.




Most expensive city in the world is – Tokyo

Life is nowhere that expensive as in Tokyo.




Most expensive car in the world in serial production is – “Maybach 62”

Everything that you need is in this car. Such luxury has a price, and that is 360000 euros.




Most expensive shoes are – high heel shoes

That was created by Stuart Weitzman, famous designer of the internationally famous, high-end shoe company, Stuart Weitzman Inc. They have 642 carat rubies on them, and theur price is 1.6 million Euros.




Most expensive lunch is - a lunch with billionaire

And it was paid by David Einhorn of “Greenlight Capital”. On an auction he paid 250100 dollars for a lunch with his idol Warren Buffett.





Most expensive painting is - Slaughter of the Innocents by Rubens

In 2002 it was bought for 75.3 million euros.




Most expensive cigarettes in are – “Treasurer”

One pack of this brand is approximately 24 euros. It is sold only in specialized stores.





Most expensive potato is – “La Bonnotte”

Sort "La Bonnotte" from France, 1 kg costs about 500 euro.




Most expensive coffee is - "Kopi Luwak"

Sort "Kopi Luwak" from Sumatra. A quarter of a pound costs about 75 dollars. An unusual small animal lives on Java and Sumatra coffee plantation – its name Luwak (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). It eats only ripe coffee-beans. Luwak cannot digest a coffee seed and gets rid of it naturally. Local aborigines gather such coffee seeds carefully and the most expensive coffee in the world is prepared of them. This drink’s rich taste is explained by special qualities of an animal’s digestive juices.




Most expensive suit is - American astronaut costume

It costs 9 million dollars and is at the same time the most expensive piece of clothing in the world.




Most expensive stock share is - "Berkshire Hathaway"

One share of an American investment company "Berkshire Hathaway" costs more than 64 thousands Euro. "Berkshire Hathaway" controls lots of companies, working in different branches of traditional economics, including financial services, candy manufacture, publishing industry, jewellery business, manufacture of furniture and carpets, manufacture of building materials and many others. "Berkshire Hathaway" holds large share holding of «Coca-Cola", "American Express", "Gillette", "The Washington Post" companies.




Most expensive hotel is - "Burj Al Arab"

7 stars hotel "Burj Al Arab" in Dubai. You will have to pay 770 Euro for the most modest room, and royal apartments will cost you 7700 Euro.




Most expensive stadium is - "Stade de France"

"Stade de France" near Paris. In 1998 a national French team won world Championship here. Its construction cost 460 millions Euro.




Most expensive footballer is - Zinedine Zidane

In 2001 a French player passed to from “Juventus” to “Real Madrid” for a record sum of 68.7 million Euros.




Most expensive bra is - Victoria's Secret

It costs 15 million dollars. A German cover girl Heidi Klum showed it on one of fashion shows in New York.




Most expensive comic is – about Tim and his dog

Comics about a boy named Tim and his dog. One collector paid 100 thousands Euro for an original of a title picture of “Black Island” edition.


Most expensive brand is – “Coca-Cola”

Its value is 68.9 billion dollars, what is almost 60% of the whole company’s value.




Most expensive doll is – “Barbie”

Price is 100 thousands Euro. She wears a dress, decorated by real diamonds.


Most expensive book is - “Codex Leicester”

By Leonardo da Vinci, written in mirror writing on expensive paper with lawn finish. Bill Gates bought it for 24 millions dollars.




Most expensive travel is to – Space

American businessman, Dennis Tito, and computer millionaire from South Africa, Mark Shuttleworth, paid 20 million dollars to be on International Space Station.





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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

New Advice - Don't Sit Up Straight

New researche suggests that it is not good to sit at your desk straight up.
Sitting up straight at your desk can do your back more damage.

Tests at Woodend Hospital, in Aberdeen, were carried out on 22 healthy people who have never suffered from back problems.




They were asked to sit in three positions: hunched over a desk or video console; perfectly upright at 90 degrees; and reclining back at 135 degrees with their feet on the floor.

Disc movement, which happens when strain is put on the back, was biggest in the upright position.

Results were studied by experts in in Canada.
Dr Wasim Amir Bashir, of Alberta Hospital, - "We were not created to sit down for long hours, but somehow modern life requires the vast majority of the global population to work in a seated position."

"A 135-degree body-thigh sitting posture was demonstrated to be the best biomechanical sitting position, as opposed to a 90-degree posture, which most people consider normal," said study author, Waseem Amir Bashir, a researcher at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada. "Sitting in a sound anatomic position is essential, since the strain put on the spine and its associated ligaments over time can lead to pain, deformity and chronic illness."

Back pain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is the most common cause of work-related disability in the United States. It costs Americans nearly $50 billion annually. Sitting appears to be a major cause of this ailment.

Some more info here.


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Saturday, November 25, 2006

Ban Santa - in Germany and Austria

Germans and Austrians are uniting against a kindly old man who brings joy to children all over the world. Their call: Ban Santa.




Campaigners in both countries claim Father Christmas is an invention of the Coca-Cola company in the United States and should be ditched.



In Austria, "Pro Christkind" - it means "For Christ Child" - want images of the baby Jesus and St Nicholas to replace the white-haired, portly old man dressed in red and white, who they see as symbolic of the commercialisation of Christmas. Their campaign, with a logo featuring a picture of Santa with a red line through him, begins on 2 December, the day before the first Sunday in Advent, at an event where traditional Christmas wreaths are made.



Thousands of "Santa Free Zones" stickers have been printed and pamphlets have been handed out reminding people that the traditional bringer of presents is St Nicholas. There are even kits on sale with stickers to turn chocolate Santas into St Nicholas.



Internet campaign is urging people in Switzerland, Germany and Austria to sign up to promote activities that support a traditional Christmas and not the Santa-led celebrations that have appeared in recent years.

In some places, such as the east Austrian town of St Wolfgang, Santa has even been banned from the local Christmas market and shopkeepers have been restricted to offering traditional Austrian products and gifts as well as typical local culinary delights.



Bettina Schade, of the Frankfurter Nicholas Initiative, said: "We object to the material things, the hectic rush to buy gifts and the ubiquity of the bearded man in the red suit taking away from the core meaning of Christmas.

"The Christian origins of Christmas, like the birth of Jesus, have receded into the background. It's becoming more and more a festival that is reduced to simply worldly gifts and commerce."



Swedish-American artist, Haddon Sundblom, created the jolly Santa character for Coke and it was used in advertising campaigns in the 1930s and 40s. He was based on a previous figure produced for Harper's Weekly in the 19th century by Thomas Nast, a German immigrant to the US.

Haddon Sundblom


Character is thought to have been based on several figures, including St Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop who had a reputation for generosity - Santa Claus is a corruption of the Dutch "Sinterklaas", meaning St Nicholas - the Russian character Ded Moroz, meaning Grandfather Frost, who gives presents to children, and the pagan Green Man.

Early depictions of Father Christmas in Britain often showed him wreathed in ivy and dressed in green. Before Coca-Cola made red his signature colour, the Victorians would dress him in a range of colours including red, blue and purple.


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Thursday, November 23, 2006

New toy with unusual shape

This new Aquapet toy really looks like...
Well it doesn't look like a children's toy.


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Thursday, November 16, 2006

New learner driver brings fear to local population

Partially-sighted learner driver says he's determined to pass his test - despite concern from local residents.
Peter Davies, from Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, has just 50% effective vision in one eye and 45% in the other.
25-year-old recently mounted a kerb and crashed into a fence and admits his parking leaves a lot to be desired.

Pam Every, a local town councillor and chairwoman of the Isgraig Tenants and Residents' Association, said he was not fit to drive.




Pam Every - "Just last month he mounted a kerb that was three or four foot wide and hit a fence. There could have been a child or adult walking there and he could have hurt or even killed them."

Mr Davies - "My driving is perfect. It has taken me about four years to get this far and I don't think I'm far off going in for my test."

Mr Davies is currently taking lessons from his father, Anthony, as his last instructor abandoned him without any notice or explanation.

Anthony Davies - "The residents around here are just a load of clucking hens. As far as I'm concerned he could become a good driver."

Spokesman for the DVLA said he could not comment on individual cases.

"All drivers must be able to meet the prescribed standard for eyesight, which is the ability to read a car number plate from 20.5m or 20m where narrower characters are displayed."


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Tolerance for Jedi

Two self-styled Jedi Knights are stepping up an intergalactic campaign for formal recognition.

Umada and Yunyun, also known as John Wilkinson and Charlotte Law, want the UN to acknowledge "The Force" is worthy of being called a religion.
Couple claim to be part of the UK's fourth largest religious group, after 400,000 people recorded their faith as "Jedi" in the 2001 Census.

They say that as a religion, they deserve tolerance and respect. November the 16th is the annual International Day for Tolerance.




And as part of a global battle worthy of Luke Skywalker's efforts against the Empire, the band of self-styled Jedis want the UN to re-name the day as Interstellar Day of Tolerance.

More people claim their religion to be Jedi in England and Wales than those who follow Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism. And the cause has global support.

There are also 70,000 Jedi knights in Australia, 53,000 in New Zealand, and 20,000 in Canada.



Umada and Yunyun's letter to the UN Association:

To whom it may concern,

For the last ten years the United Nations has marked today as the International Day of Tolerance.

While we support this important work, we feel the UN needs to move with the times.

In the 2001 UK census, 390,000 people identified themselves as Jedi Knights, making us the fourth largest religion in the country.

We have a proud heritage dating back 195,000 years to our first Jedi, the blue haired, blue eyed Kaja Sinis, who was born on Coruscant.

Like the United Nations, the Jedi Knights are peacekeepers, and we feel we have the basic right to express our religion through wearing our robes, and to be recognised by the national and international community.

We therefore call upon you to change the 16th November to the United Nations Interstellar Day of Tolerance, to reflect the religious make-up of our twenty-first century civilization.

Tolerance is about respecting difference where ever it lies, including other galaxies. Please don't exclude us from your important work.

May the Force be with you.


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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

What is Hinglish?

Doolally! Filmi! Bevakoof!
This is Hinglish, English with Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi.
And now novelist and teacher Baljinder Mahal has provided readers with a guide to this lively hybrid language - a new dictionary entitled "The Queen's Hinglish: How To Speak Pukka."




For British Asian families, it is the perfect way to enliven English. On the Indian sub-continent it is a fast-developing lingua franca.

Mahal said - "I had so much fun compiling it."
"Doolally is my favourite word, meaning crazy. It was military slang named after a town near Mumbai called Deolali, which was the location for a sanatorium."

She scoffs at academic linguists who fret over the purity of the English language. "Language is not set in stone. It is fluid and organic. Chaucer's English is not the same as Shakespeare's English."

She is fascinated by the different ways Hinglish has been adopted as one of the fastest growing hybrid languages in the world. "In India it has become quite trendy. The elite speak it, Bollywood speaks it in its films, Corporate India speaks it in its advertising slogans."
Children, as linguistic magpies, love to pick it up in the playground as a kind of secret banter that is incomprehensible to adults. "In Britain it has become fashionable, particularly among the young."

Dictionary unveils how this quirky clash of tongues has such choice words as "filmi" meaning melodramatic or "bevakoof", Hinglish for a fool.

Anyone feeling "glassy" is in need of a drink. A hooligan is a "badmash" and if you need to bring that office meeting forward, it is time to "prepone", as opposed to postpone, it.
She said that Hinglish, like the Spanglish spreading across the melting pot that is America, is also a language that underlines the globalisation of India, one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Satellite television, the Internet and movies effortlessly spread Hinglish around the world. Mahal, rejoicing in its rapid evolution, said "Language is never static - just like identity."

Other examples:

air-dash - to travel by air at short notice

chamcha - 1. a spoon 2. a lackey; an obsequious person; a sycophant. Thought to derive from the charge that native south Asians using cutlery were trying to ingratiate themselves with westerners

desi - authentically south Asian, eg, "Most desis had either black, blue or silver Beemers"

doosra - 1. second, eg, "You need to take the doosra turn on the left." 2. (cricket) a delivery bowled by an off-spinner that turns the opposite way from an off-break

eve-teasing - the sexual harassment of women, especially in public

filmi - melodramatic; reminiscent of a typical Indian film, eg, "You should have seen cousin Bela's wedding. It was very filmi"

ganja - having no hair on head; bald, eg, "Dad's gone all ganja since he's started working at the bank"

javaani or jawani youth, eg, "My mum used to wear tight clothes in her javaani"

kitty party - a gathering of women who meet regularly to host sweepstakes and exchange gossip

ladoo - 1. a golfball-sized sweet. 2. affectionate term for plump child

Ranjha - a male lover; a Romeo. Heer Ranjha is an epic Punjabi tale of two ill-starred lovers

stepney - a spare wheel for a car; a spare of anything; a mistress. The Stepney was originally a type of spare tyre manufactured in Wales. The term died out in Britain but expanded its meaning in south Asia and Malta

yaar - a friend, eg, Where's The Party, Yaar?


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Color for the hair down there

New York firm is making waves in the beauty world with its new range of pubic hair dyes.
Betty Beauty, which bills its products as 'colour for the hair down there', has been featured on television and in magazines such as Vogue.




Founder Nancy Jarecki came up with the idea when she was living in Rome three years ago, reports Advertising Age.

She noticed as women left the salon, the colourist would discreetly slip them little brown bags.

"They would receive it with such delight, kiss kiss, and away they would go."
Curious, she asked the receptionist what the women were getting in those little bags and was told "to match down there."

"I thought: 'Of course, who wouldn't want to be a true blonde?'"

So she worked with a chemist and toxicologist to develop a gentle, no-drip formulation and speciality application tools.

Betty Beauty is now sold in five colours - Brown Betty, Blonde Betty, Auburn Betty, Black Betty and Fun Betty (bright pink) - priced at about £10 a box.

Bettybeauty.com also sells T-shirts that ask: "Is your betty ready?" And the firm says its products are not just aimed at women.

"Men can be betties, too."


Here is what they say for each color.


Pink



Hot pink means play. Adventure down below! Celebrate! The first safe color for the hair down there. Funbetty is a hot pink party in a box! Funbetty color for the hair down there. Go girl, it's your birthday! Or your anniversary or your wedding or his birthday! It's the perfect gift.


Blonde



Are you a true blonde? Of course you are! Finally, the first safe color for the hair down there. Blondebetty answers the true blonde question. Blondebetty color for the hair down there naturally colors or enhances to match your glorious locks above.


Black



Get back to black or rev up the action! Gray? No way! Blackbetty rules below the belt. Blackbetty color for the hair down there naturally colors, covers gray and enhances to match your glorious locks above.


Brown



Brown downtown? Sunny, spontaneous and real. Finally, the first safe color for the hair down there. Brownbetty says, go away, gray! Rise and shine! Brownbetty color for the hair down there naturally colors, covers gray and brightens to match your glorious locks above.


Auburn



Auburn for your hotspot? Red means go there. Finally, the first safe color for the hair down there. Gray? No way! Auburnbetty says never a dull moment! Auburnbetty color for the hair down there naturally colors, covers gray and brightens to match your glorious locks above.


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Friday, November 10, 2006

Now we have perfect face for comedy

Scientist from Britain revealed - perfect face for comedy.
Scientists have blended the features of 20 top comics to come up with the perfect face for comedy.
They concluded a round face, small forehead and wide nose, with soft feminine features, is most likely to make us laugh.

Stirling University



And the researchers, from Stirling University, reckon Ricky Gervais has the closest fit.

Gervais said he was "shocked" by the results of the survey.

Ricky Gervais


"All these years I assumed my global success as a comedian was down to my acute observations, expert directorial rendering and consummate skills as a performer - turns out it's because I've got a fat girly face."

Findings emerged from tests carried out by Dr Anthony Little, a researcher in psychology.
Academic ran 179 different pictures of Britain's top 20 comedians, all taken from different angles, through a computer.

They included Peter Kay, Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard, Jack Dee, Steve Coogan, Jasper Carrott, Roy Chubby Brown, Jo Brand and Dawn French.

Perfect face for comedy


Dr Little - "The characteristics of a feminine face imply that the person may be agreeable and co-operative, which can be causal in our first impressions of comedians as being friendly and funny.

"In the same way that infants are pre-programmed to respond to the warmth and approachability of a mother's face, soft, feminine features put us at ease and encourage us to relax."

Here are some of the comedians they included in this:

Peter Kay


Steve Coogan


Jasper Carrott


Eddie Izzard


Billy Connolly


Jack Dee


Dawn French


Roy Chubby Brown


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