Tiger vs Toyger

Sumatra, a registered "toyger," displays the rusty colored fur and unique black stripes of the relatively new breed. Toygers have been registered with the International Cat Association (TICA) since 1993. This May they will join more familiar purebred felines, such as Persians and Siamese, that can be judged as championship cats at TICA-sponsored cat shows. Toyger creator Judy Sudgen said she hopes the playful pets will inspire more people to care about wild tiger conservation. "We use part of the price of the kittens to help the conservation of tigers, since that's our inspiration," she said. For now the toyger is a work in progress, and fanciers hope to produce cats that more closely resemble tigers within the next few years.

One Big Egg!!

Wow! That's one big egg! Is it real? Yes it is... Oh hey, here's another one. These are eggs laid by Vorompatra (a.k.a. Aepyornis; Elephant Bird; Vouroupatra/Vouron Patra) - The largest bird known to science. The Vorompatra (Aepyornis maximus) roamed the woodlands, marshes, and sand dunes of Madagascar until its relatively recent extinction. The bird laid the largest eggs known to have ever existed; these eggs may have inspired tales of the mythical elephant-lifting bird, the Roc (or Rukh) of the Arabian Nights. Man arrived on Madagascar about two millennia ago; hunting, egg predation, and gradual loss of habitat to agriculture all probably contributed to the demise of this ten foot tall, half-ton avian wonder. Did Vorompatra really look like this picture? No one knows for sure. Maybe he looked more like this. Or this. Vorompatra was a ratite, a bird which could not fly because its breast bone had no keel (the term derives from ratis, Latin for "raft"). This "keel" serves to anchor the strong musculature other birds need for powered flight. Flightless birds evolved early in the Cenozoic Era, when the departure of their dinosaur ancestors cleared the stage for the evolution of new megafauna--mammals and birds were free to move into the niches so long occupied by the "Terrible Lizards". Other ratites are still found throughout the southern hemisphere; this circumstance gave rise to the "traditional" theory that these birds originated on the former continent of Gondwana, but the lack of key supporting evidence for this idea calls it into question. Here is an egg comparison created by the Wyoming Dinosaur Center Eggs of various modern reptiles and birds: Clockwise from the upper-left: an ostrich egg crocodile eggs one set of tortoise eggs another set of tortoise eggs and an Aepyornis Maximus egg (the extinct Elephant Bird of Madagascar). All based on the same scale. The ostrich egg is 145mm long. Cool, huh?

Eating Live Frogs?

A man in southeast China says 40 years of swallowing tree frogs and rats live has helped him avoid intestinal complaints and made him strong. Jiang Musheng, a 66-year-old resident of Jiangxi province, suffered from frequent abdominal pains and coughing from the age of 26, until an old man called Yang Dingcai suggested tree frogs as a remedy, the Beijing News said on Tuesday. "At first, Jiang Musheng did not dare to eat a live, wriggling frog, but after seeing Yang Dingcai swallow one, he ate ... two without a thought," the paper said. "After a month of eating live frogs, his stomach pains and coughing were completely gone." Over the years Jiang had added live mice, baby rats and green frogs to his diet, and had once eaten 20 mice in a single day, the paper said. So there you have it... the secret to health!

Eclipse

This image was taken about 30 seconds before totality (the total phase) of the Aug. 1, 2008 solar eclipse, from the window of a jet flying over the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Joe Rao

Stupid Funny Signs

NO PANTS - NO SERVICE LOL - too funny! STOP and then what?? CAUTION WATER ON ROAD DURING RAIN Well duh! ENTRANCE ONLY DO NOT ENTER say what? NO! POLICE STATION TOILET STOLEN COPS HAVE NOTHING TO GO ON I okay ??? HAND CAR WASH At least there's plenty of water. NO TRESPASSING VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT - SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN Ooooh... scary!!

A Tin Can Camera

Here's a camera made from two matchboxes, electrical tape, and a tin beer can. Yes, it actually works - here's a picture taken in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Adrenalin Junkies

Now that's what I call living dangerously!

These Guys Are Too Cute!

Okay... Maybe "cute" isn't the right word. They are pretty interesting, though. Looks like aliens live among us!

Fantasy Art by Schimmel

Bed of Clouds Waters of Life Safe at Home Please Mother and Father Final Embrace Earth Song Children of Earth Beneath the Grand Master All the World's Children

Interesting Trivia

Did you know... Multiplying 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321, Did you know... Each King on playing cards represent a King in real history; Spades: King David Clubs: Alexander The Great Hearts: Charlemagne Diamonds: Julius Ceasar Did you know... A ducks quack has no echo, and nobody knows why. Did you know... A statue in a park with a soldier on a horse with its 2 feet in the air means the soldier died in combat. If the horse has only one foot in the air, the soldier died of injuries from combat, if the horse has all 4 feet on the ground, the soldier died of natural causes. Did you know... It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Did you know... Starfish have no brains. Did you know... Mosquitoes have teeth. Did you know... The word "cemetery" comes from the Greek koimetirion which means dormitory. Did you know... Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark. Did you know... When the English settlers landed in Australia, they noticed a strange animal that jumped extremely high and far. They asked the aboriginal people using body language and signs trying to ask them about this animal. They responded with "Kan Ghu Ru" the english then adopted the word kangaroo. What the aboriginal people were really trying to say was "we don't understand you," "Kan Ghu Ru." Did you know... Humans and Dolphins are the only animals that have sex for pleasure?

9,000 Miles to the Gallon - Wow

The Microjoule competition car is an amazingly green vehicle that can "make the journey between New York and Los Angeles over three times on just one gallon of gas." It has won Shell's Eco-Marathon every time since the car's original inception in 1992. "Amazingly the Microjoule doesn't have any fancy tricks — it's just an aerodynamic, lightweight one-seater that runs off gasoline, but runs for a long time." Wow! That's nearly 9,000 miles on a single gallon of gas. I want that car!! source: dvice

Four Legged Chicken

I don't know why that woman looks so pleased. I think this is really creepy and sad. Poor little baby!

Glow in the dark tattoos