The Top 15 Skylines Worldwide

Compiled by Luigi Di Sergio, this list is his raking of the top 15 cities worldwide with the best skylines. With cities throughout the globe, it's a cool look at some amazing skylines.

Seattle makes his #15 spot, yeah! With several major construction projects in the works, Seattle's skyline will certainly improve over the next several years.

Here are some pictures I've taken of Seattle:

Downtown Seattle at night

Seattle's Pike Market

The Seattle Skyline

Montage-a-google

I found this really neat app while surfing the net today. It's called Montage-a-google. Using Google's image search it generates a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user.

Check out some examples of what other people have made with Montage-a-google, by viewing photos tagged with 'Montage-a-google' in Flickr.

Created by New Zealand digital designer Grant Robinson, you can check out his online creative space at http://grant.robinson.name. It's a very cool site, I highly recommend browsing through.

Who looses the keys at the Nuclear plant?

Apparently someone. Reuters informs that German authorities are changing 150 locks at a nuclear power plant after its owner said they had lost keys to a security area. The nuclear plant is located in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

EnBW, the operator of the plant has been unable to recover the 12 lost keys, although it has undoubtedly searched long and hard, high and low for the missing keys. (How embarrassing!)

Lost in March, EnBW has put extra safety measures in place to control access to the secure area of the nuclear plant.

"This has never happened anywhere in Germany before," the environment ministry spokesman said. "The keys have simply disappeared." As you might expect, an investigation is underway into the disappearance of the keys.

Wow, when I loose things, it's usually no big deal. I forget where I've put my keys or cell phone. But when someone misplaces the keys to a nuclear power plant, that's a completely different situation with much greater consequences!

(Via Reuters)

The English Language: Strange spelling

The Simplified Spelling Society aims to reform of English spelling for the benefit of learners and users everywhere. Their objectives and six axioms make perfect sense, check them out.

They have several poems displayed on their website, "showing the absurdities of English spelling."

The English language and spelling is a strange one. Check out the following poem.

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead -
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose -
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart -
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five!

Quoted by Vivian Cook and Melvin Bragg 2004,
and by Richard Krogh, in D Bolinger & D A Sears, Aspects of Language, 1981.
The classic poem is Chaos in J17.

(Discovered via Boing Boing)

Three New Motorola RAZR colors

If you are getting bored of your current phone or have been waiting for some more colors to be released by Motorola for their RAZR series, you are in luck! Motorola announced that their popular RAZR phone will be available in three additional colors: dark blue, maroon and violet.

So this makes Motorola's RAZR available in a dizzying array of colors: Black, silver, three shades of pink and now dark blue, maroon and violet.

Although not available yet, look for these phones to be hitting the market this quarter.

Check out Motorola's press release.

(Via Gizmodo)

NBC Said to Be Close to Signing Vieira for 'Today Show'

Recent television host buzz has been all about Katie Couric. Will she leave NBC's Today Show? Will she anchor the CBS Evening News? Who will replace the bubbly Couric?

Never fear, dear reader. The New York Times has the latest scoop on the story. Read it here.

The time is: 1 2 3 4 5 6

New York Times columnist David Pogue has shared a factoid about time that truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and gives us something to ponder.

Pogue writes: Late tonight -- specifically, 123 seconds after 1:00 a.m. -- the time and date, for the first time in all of humanity, will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

Pogue also points out that this moment will never come again.

He is correct; to a point. In Europe, which displays the date before the month, this moment will occur next month, at 123 seconds past 1 a.m. on 4 May. These two occurrences will truly never happen again.

(Via Wired.com)

There's a wise cookie on the horizon

A fun twist on Mattel's Magic 8 Ball, this Fred designed fortune cookie is one you won't want eat. This version of the Magic 8 Ball provides a bit more wisdom from Confucius with an added dash of Fred's attitude. Delivered to you in a clear box shaped like a Chinese take-out container. :)

Look here to find a store near you that carries Fred's wares.

(Via Popgadget)

Diamonds made from Human Hair

If you're looking for a truly unique and personalized piece of jewelry, look no further than "Your Personal Diamond." Created by Russian New Age Diamonds, this is no ordinary man-made diamond. Combining carbon with and extract of human hair (approx. 1-2 grams) these diamonds are truly personalized.

Since this is a man-made and controlled process, "Your Personal Diamond" can be ordered in a variety of different shapes, colors and weight:

Shapes: Round, princess, emerald, radiant, asscher and others on request.
Colors: Fancy intense yellow, vivid yellow, greenish and deep red chameleon. (No clear diamonds are offered.)
Weight: For round shapes from 0.25 to 0.50 carat, for square shapes from 0.20 to 1 carat.

These unique diamonds don't come cheap. Prices range from $2500-$10277 and depend on the shape, color and weight chosen.

(Via Strange New Products)

Ecstasy: The side effects of excessive abuse

In a story in the Times Online (UK) doctors have treated a man believed to be the world's heaviest user of ecstasy. According to researchers at the University of London, the 37-year-old man took an estimated 40,000 tablets over the course of nine years, 20 times the previous reported record lifetime usage of 2,000 tablets. For the last four years he was taking 25 tablets a day. Does that strike anyone else as insane?!

The man, known as "Mr. A" finally stopped using ecstasy seven years ago. For a few months after he stopped using, he suffered withdrawal symptoms, including tunnel vision.

Long term effects of excessive ecstasy use had started to show. The muscles in Mr. A's head and neck went rigid. He became anxious, depressed and suffered severe panic attacks, despite having no personal or family history of mental problems before he started abusing drugs.

The most debilitating effect was on his memory and concentration. He has lost all sense of time and was unable to remember facts even for short periods. This has affected his daily life, as he repeats activities several times because he cannot remember having already done them, and stops in the middle of simple tasks because he cannot remember how to complete them.

Doctors have suggested that the heavier use of the drug (ecstasy) the more apparent the effects. (Doesn't that make sense? Heavy use of anything will affect a person, no matter if it's drugs, alcohol, or tobacco.)

(Via Times Online)

The #1 American TV show Worldwide

According to a recent story on CNN.com, CSI: Miami is the most popular U.S. series in the world, ahead of current U.S. favorites "Desperate Housewives", "Lost", "Grey's Anatomy", and "American Idol". CSI: Miami is even more popular abroad than the original "CSI" series, set in Las Vegas.

While the CSI: Miami drama, currently in its fourth season, ranks 12th thus far this season among U.S. viewers aged 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research. It has proved to be an overwhelming success in Germany, Europe's largest TV market. Now the #1 series in Germany, the show launched to record ratings on cable channel Vox in 2004 before being nabbed by Vox parent channel, and market leader, RTL.

While I'm a bigger fan of the original CSI and enjoy its characters, development, and plot more than "CSI: Miami", I'm glad that Germany is a fan of it. Perhaps we can forgive them for David Hasslehoff. :)

(Via CNN.com)

Ever wondered about Domain Names?

Have you longed to create your own space on the web? Got an idea for a new product/service/portal and want to secure your unique name? Good luck with that domain name. Dennis Forbes of yafla.com has released his findings on internet domain names.

It's a fascinating look into what has been taken and what is available regarding domain names. There are approximately 50 million .COM domains registered (yes, 50 million; amazing!) According to Dennis' research, all two and three letter .com domain names, while not all in use, are taken. The most popular registered domain name length is 11 characters long.

Check out his findings for more statistics on domain names. It's fascinating!

(Via Boing Boing)

1906 Bay Area Earthquake Simulations

Like earthquakes? Like simulations? Like simulations of earthquakes? Well then, my friend, you're in luck! The United States Geological Survey has a really cool website where you can watch computer simulations of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The quake measured an impressive (and equally devastating) 7.8 on the Richter scale.

An overview from the site:

To better understand the distribution of shaking and damage that accompanied the great 1906 earthquake, seismologists have constructed new computer models to recreate the ground motions. The simulations show how ground moved on the two sides of the San Andreas fault and how seismic waves radiated away from the fault to produce the shaking. The earthquake, which began 2 miles offshore from the City of San Francisco, ultimately grew to cause shaking and damage along more than 300 miles of the San Andreas Fault.

There is a lot of earthquake information on this site, not only about the 1906 San Francisco quake, but also US earthquake info by state, world/region, geographic area and more!

(Via Boing Boing)

Here come higher gas prices

A friend sent me the following article on the climbing price of gas in the U.S. Yes, I know that Americans are blessed with relatively cheap gas prices, especially considering the amount that Europeans pay. (Check out the prices and the conversion to US Dollars at the homepage of Gasoline Watch.) But Americans do like to complain, sometimes loudly, about price inflation so I thought I'd share this story.

While my car isn't the most economical when it comes to gas, I'm glad I don't drive a huge truck or SUV.

From the Dow Jones Newswires:

Get Ready For Record Gasoline Prices

Buckle up for a rough ride.

U.S. retail gasoline prices could top last summer’s record high average of $2.37 by 11% to as much as 34%, if historical trading patterns hold.

The first-quarter national average price for retail regular gasoline was $2.34 a gallon, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. That’s the highest non-inflation adjusted price ever for the first quarter, and up nearly 21%
from a year ago.

In the peak demand spring-summer driving season prices typically post hefty gains from first-quarter levels. In the past five years, gasoline pump prices rose by an average of near 12% from their first-quarter level. A similar move this year
would put second-quarter prices at $2.611, a gallon, the highest for any quarter, topping the near $2.56 quarterly average of the 2005 third quarter. In that quarter, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita sent prices soaring to record-high weekly level of $3.069 a gallon.

If the second-quarter rise matched last year’s near 13%, prices would average $2.637, up nearly 21% from a year ago and 4%, or 10 cents a gallon, over EIA’s projection.

In this scenario, when peak demand season comes, in the July-September third-quarter, retail prices would be nearly 14% higher than their first-quarter levels, a review of EIA data shows. Applying that average performance over the past five
years, retail gasoline would average over $2.66 a gallon over the entire third quarter.

Perhaps I should go out and buy a hybrid.

Via Dow Jones Tomorrow's News Today