The House of Plastic Bottles

The House of Plastic Bottles
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Apart from the breathtaking Iguazu Falls, one of the most important tourist attractions in the Iguazu area is the House of Plastic Bottles, built out of plastic bottles and other recyclable materials.

Alfredo Alberto Santa Cruz got the idea of building a house from plastic bottles while he was creating a playhouse for his little daughter. After he finished it, he noticed the plastic the structure was pretty sturdy and realized he was on to something. That’s when he decided to build a one-bedroom cottage out of plastic bottles, for him and his family.

Mr. Santa Cruz’s bottle house features a bed, chairs, shelves and even a fake hanging plant, all made out of PET bottles. Practically everything inside the house is recyclable, apart from the wood framing and a few metal bolts. The walls are made from 2-liter plastic bottles, while the roof consists of hundreds of tetrapak cartons (the boxes you drink juice from). Alfredo has flattened them into shingles and turn them aluminum side up, to reflect the sun and keep the place cool. They would only last for 4-5 years, due to rains, but he covered them up with a layer of plastic, cut from bottles and says this combo could last even 20 years.

The House of Plastic Bottles

Snap goes the alligator: What one woman saw when she opened her front door

An American woman was forced to make a snappy retreat after an 11-foot alligator took up residence on her doorstep.Concerned neighbours phoned Belinda Donaldson to warn her not to leave her house when they spotted the giant reptile.
But the Florida woman got the surprise of her life earlier when she realised they weren't joking.She was forced to phone 911 after the animal refused to budge.Ms Donaldson, who lives in Westchase, Hillsborough County, was ordered to stay inside while wildlife rescue crews moved the animal.
A wildlife expert arrived to catch the unexpected visitor, but it wasn't giving up its new home easily.Witnesses said it took the trapper at least an hour to move the alligator, which was then loaded into the back of a truck and taken a distance away.Alligator sightings are not uncommon in the southern American state as the creatures flourish in the warm environment.Wildlife experts predict there are an estimated five million of the creatures scattered across the country.

Snap goes the alligator: What one woman saw when she opened her front door

New 007 Laser Weapon

Lasers can be dangerous! Never point them at any living object! Do not look at the beam! This is not a toy, and this should not be used like a conventional laser pointer. In other words, don't use it in presentations, or to play with pets, or allow children to use it. It should only be operated by responsible persons who understand and respect the potential laser safety hazards.

New 007 Laser Weapon

Shotgun Flashlight

A grenade-style pin removes the safety, and the flashlight fires a .410 shotgun round out the back when a button is pressed. A Mini-Mag size fires a .380 round

Is This The Real Home Of Flintstones ?

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It’s charmed a generation. The modern Stone Age family with a new-age American twang and 21st century concerns.

And this fascinating stone house, pictured in Nas montanhas de Fafe in Portugal, looks like the perfect place for the Flintstones to live.

Like most contemporary homes, it has a front door, roof, and selection of windows – while the huge spherical boulder on the uphill side of the house and scoop-shaped end give it that prehistoric feel.

Is This The Real Home Of Flintstones ?

19 Wild and Outrageous Aircraft Graffiti

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some particularly wild and even outrageous airliner paint schemes, from all over the world

19 Wild and Outrageous Aircraft Graffiti

Cool Pics Famous Places and Postcards

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Famous Places and Postcards‏

15 Most Unusual and Creative Pens

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15 Most Unusual and Creative Pens

Some of the most unusual and creative collection of ballpoint pens. Though some of them may look refreshing on your office desk others might just give you a laugh on the inventions of 21st century.

Check out 14 more pics on unusual pens and have your say in the comments below as to which one is useful for you and which one's are the real stupid inventions of this era.

Chihuahua with a fork in the Head

Chihuahua with a fork in the Head

The trouble with Chihuahua puppy named Smokey befallen the picnic. Owners are not caught sight of a puppy and fell for a barbecue fork, which pierced him in the head.  12-week puppy, of course, from such pain was stunned and disappeared into the woods, where he found only three days later and taken to the hospital. The operation was successful and according to veterinarians in the future there should be no problems and the puppy will be able to fully recover.

Creative matchboxes

Some people really have really great ideas. All of these matchboxes are brilliantly created so they are small, but they can say you much.
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Creative matchboxes

The New World’s Tallest Man

Sultan Kosen, a former basketball player from Turkey, has been acknowledged as the world’s tallest man, by the Guinness Book of Records.

26-year-old Kosen is 2 meters 46.5 cm tall and he also holds the record for the world’s biggest hands (27.5 cm) and the world’s biggest feet (36.5 cm). He grew as a normal child until he turned 10, then, due to a dysfunctional pituitary gland, his body developed at an accelerated rate.

During the presentation of the 2010 Guinness Book of Records, in London, Sultan Kosen declared he hopes this new found fame will make him more successful with the ladies. Because of his unusual stature, women have always been afraid of him, but now he hopes he will finally find his soul-mate and get married.

The former world’s tallest man, Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk, allegedly measures 2.57 meters, but refused to have his height officially measured, saying fame brought him nothing but problems and he needs peace and quiet.

world tallest man

Two Headed Cow‏

A Chinese farmer found his cow in pain and having complications giving birth. Finally the baby cow was born and the farmer was shocked to see that the baby cow had 2 heads.

5 Things You Didn't Know about Google

Google has a sense of humor

Google also offers full language support for Pig Latin, Klingon and even Elmer Fudd. Anyone else still feeling lucky? Try typing, “French military victories” and clicking “I'm Feeling Lucky.” Behold the result.

Some might remember the “miserable failure” fiasco when one typed those words and clicked “I'm Feeling Lucky,” and they were instantly connected to a biography of President George W. Bush on the White House website. Now, before you jump to conclusions, this trick -- which no longer works -- was carried out by members of the online community through the art of “Google bombing.” Google bombing works because of Google's backlink search strategy.

5 Things You Didn't Know about Google

Google loses $110 million a year through "I'm Feeling Lucky"

There's not much to see on Google's main search page, and perhaps simplicity is one of the keys to Google's success. When searching Google, you are given two options: “Google Search” or “I'm Feeling Lucky.” By clicking the former, you are given that familiar list of search results; by clicking the latter, however, you are automatically redirected to the first search result, bypassing the search engine’s results page.

besides the fun factor, the idea behind the “I'm Feeling Lucky” feature is to provide the user with instant connection to the precise page they are searching for, thus saving them time that would normally be spent perusing endless search results. Sounds harmless enough, right? Not so fast. Because “I'm Feeling Lucky” bypasses all advertising, it is estimated that Google loses about $110 million per year in advertising-generated revenue. So why in the world would any Fortune 500 company not patch such a gaping leak? "It's possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here," Google Executive Marissa Mayer told Valleywag, an online tech-blog.

5 Things You Didn't Know about Google

Google spends $72 million a year on employee meals

Seventy-two million dollars a year -- that works out to about $7,530 per Googler (a term Google uses to identify employees). While the exact details vary depending on location (the Google empire spans the globe), employees at Google's California headquarters, aptly entitled the Googleplex, are welcome to at least two free meals a day from 11 different gourmet cafeterias. As if that weren’t enough, another thing you didn’t know about Google is that in addition to the cafeterias, Google offers numerous snack bars that are chock-full of healthy morsels to munch on.

And that's certainly not all. Is your car in a bit of a rut? Not to worry; Google offers on-site car washes and oil changes. The list of perks for working at Google is never-ending, making it no surprise that it's considered the No. 1 place to work, offering: on-site haircuts, full athletic facilities, massage therapists, language classes, drop-off dry cleaning, day cares, and on-site doctors, just to name a few. Oh, and if your dog is stuck at home and feeling a little lonely, just bring him to work -- Google doesn't mind

5 Things You Didn't Know about Google

Google scans your e-mails

 Nothing in life is perfect -- or without controversy -- and Google is no exception. Google scans your e-mails (at Gmail) through a process called “content extraction.” All incoming and outgoing e-mail is scanned for specific keywords to target advertising to the user. The process has brewed quite a storm of controversy, but Google has yet to back down on its stance.

Google has remained similarly headstrong about other criticisms; in an attempt to remain partisan to local governments, Google removes or does not include information from its services in compliance with local laws. Perhaps the most striking example of this is Google's adherence to the internet censorship policies of China (at Google.cn) so as not to bring up search results supporting the independence movement of Tibet and Taiwan, or any other information perceived to be harmful to the People's Republic of China.

Google Street has further been cited for breaching personal privacy. The service provides high-resolution street-view photos from around the world and has, on numerous occasions, caught people committing questionable acts. Moving from street to satellite, Google Earth has also come under fire from several Indian state governments about the security risks posed by the details from Google Earth's satellite imaging. When all is said and done, there are a lot of criticisms about Google and these few examples merely scratch the surface.

5 Things You Didn't Know about Google

Google was originally called BackRub

 

Like many other booming internet companies, Google has an interesting upbringing, one that is marked by a lowly beginning. Google began as a research project in January 1996 by cofounder Larry Page, a 24-year-old Ph.D. student at Standford University. Page was soon joined by 23-year-old Sergey Brin, another Ph.D. student, forming a duo that seemed destined for failure. According to Google's own corporate information, Brin and Page argued about every single topic they discussed. This incessant arguing, however, may have been what spurred the duo to rethink web-searching and develop a novel strategy that ranked websites according to the number of backlinks (i.e., according to the number of web pages that linked back to a web page being searched), and not based on the number of times a specific search term appeared on a given web page, as was the norm.

Because of this unique strategy, another thing you didn't know about Google is that Page and Brin nicknamed the search engine BackRub. Thankfully, in 1998, Brin and Page dropped the sexually suggestive nickname, and came up with “Google,” a term originating from a common misspelling of the word "googol," which refers to 10100.

The word “google” has become so common, it was entered into numerous dictionaries in 2006, referring to the act of using the Google search engine to retrieve information via the internet.

10 Creative Doorstops

6 Creative Doorstops

Creative Doorstops

USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard

USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard is portable, washable and durable. It fits in your briefcase, backpack or carrying bag and you don't have to worry any sharp edges. Its illuminated function lets users work at night or dark place conveniently.

USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard

Longest Dosa‏

AHMEDABAD based Restaurant (Sankalp Chain Of Restaurants) who already holds the Guinness Recordfor making 30 ft 5 inches long dosa in February 2006, broke their own record by preparing 32.5 ft long Dosa in less than 40 minutes on 19^th August 2009.
 
The Dosa was named after "Quick Gun Murugun", an upcoming movie that highlights the merits of vegetarianism.

A team of 16 chefs and eight helpers practiced for the past 10 days to get the correct length. It required proper coordination among the men for spreading the batter across the hot platesimultaneously

," one of the chefs Swami Goda.

Another member of the team, Sajjan Singh, said it was difficult to handle the dosa on a 35-feet-long hot plate (tawa) and to maintain a steady temperature across the length.

Sankalp restaurant first entered the Guinness Book of Recordsin March 1997 by making a 25-feet-long dosa.

Doza

 

2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG

AMG, Mercedes' in-house hot-rod shop, might have recently called an end to the horsepower war it helped instigate, but the 518-hp 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG indicates the company is not exactly ready to lay down its arms completely.

True, this new model, which will be unveiled at the New York auto show, brings only an additional 11 hp to the E-Class hot rod, compared to the E63 it replaces. We grew accustomed to great leaps in power every time the E-Class AMG was renewed. The big 6.2-liter that arrived for 2007 brought a 38-hp bump from the previous car. And by slapping a supercharger on the 5.5-liter in 2003, AMG added a whopping 120 hp to the existing E55 AMG.

So, by adding the powertrain of the SL63, AMG might not be catapulting over the new horsepower heavy in the class, the 556-hp Cadillac CTS-V, but 518 is still a staggering amount of juice. And its bark is as gnarly as its bite. An AMG official started up a 2010 E63 at a sneak peek of the car in Affalterbach, Germany, and gave the throttle a few quick stabs. It sounded very perturbed.

2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG

15 Photos

Inside a Fish Hospital

Inside a Fish Hospital

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The Fish Hospital of Chandannagore, India, is the only one of its kind. Halder, together with his wife and son, has set up a 32-aquarium facility where they observe and treat sick ornamental fish. The fish doctor does rounds, takes blood sample, checks them for fungus and bacteria and even gives the tiny fish injections.

Fish Hospital

Ski Boots

The right design can make it easier to release pressure from the buckles when needed without having to undo the bottom of your pants. The POC Tarsus boots eschews buckles for laces connected to a tension wheel you dial in for the perfect fit. I’m a snowboarder, not a skier so I can’t comment on how comfortable this might be.

Ski boots

70,000 Beer Cans Found in Ogden Townhouse

You know how some people, after they use something, just can’t bear to throw it away.That might make sense if it’s magazines or clothes. But what if it’s empty beer cans?In astounding numbers?

BeerCan house

Painful Moments

painful

Turning Roads Into Solar 'Power Stations' - A Brilliant, Fresh Approach From Solar Roads

Every once in a while, a really brilliant idea comes along, and we find ourselves wondering: Why didn't I think of that?

Well, this has got to be one of those brilliant ideas. Energy, especially solar energy, is a very hot topic these days. And with good reason. As the world's energy demands grow, the resources needed to supply this power seems to be getting less and less.

So, we have to think 'out of the box' to come up with a sustainable solution.

And that is exactly what Scott Brusaw from Solar Roadways, in Idaho USA, has done. What's more is that U.S. Department of Transportation is so impressed with his proposal that they have granted Solar Roadways USD$100,000 to further develop his prototype that turns roads into giant solar panels. The idea and the research behind it also makes a lot of sense in terms of cost, and environmental impact. 

 

Firstly, Mr Brusaw believes that solar panel roads may last up to three times longer than current petroleum-based asphalt surfaces which have an average lifespan of about 7 years at a cost of USD$16 per square foot. Mr Brusaw hopes to produce solar panels with a lifespan of 21 years for USD$48 per square foot, which would not only save the inconvenience of road maintenance, but would also cost the same as a conventional asphalt road. Allright, so if it costs the same, then why implement solar roads instead of asphalt? Well, the answer is simple.

Although it costs the same, the solar power generated from the solar roads could potenially be more than what is needed for every home on the entire US power grid. In fact, if you were able to convert all the existing roads, parking lots and driveways in the US to solar panel roads, there would be more than three times more electrical power available than what all the homes in the entire US requires.

These calculations are not based on a more efficient type of solar panel, they are based on the average efficiency of a solar panel (which is only 15%). In effect, for this to work you do not even need to build more efficient solar panels. The efficiency on existing models produced will be enough.

Now, in addition to homes being powered just from this 'road grid', these roads can also be fitted with LED's that would further enhance driver experience by lighting up the roads much like the runway lighting seen at airports. The challenge now, is just to design the glass for the solar panels to have the same traction and load bearing qualities as current asphalt roads. But, Mr Brusaw says he has already spoken to scientists at Penn State University’s Materials Research Institute, and they have assured him they would have no problem in producing the type of glass with these requirements

More Info: solarroadways.com Images and animation by Dan Walden

Fun with HTML Tags

In here HTML tags are added in real life. Those who are a little but known to HTML

Will actually enjoy this collection.

funy html tabs

Nokia N99 (mind blowing)‏

Latest Mobile Set Of Nokia Company

Having:

20 MEGA PICEL CAMERA
20 HOUR MOVIE RECORDING
BLUE TOOTH
MP3 PLAYER
External Memory Card (64 GB)

Bluetooth headphone and interpreting software

Luckily there is some though process being invested in the Braille Interpreter, a single-finger glove that features a tactile sensor, a Bluetooth headphone and interpreting software.

The index finger portion of the glove hosts the said tactile sensor. Skim it over the Braille surface and it sends a feed to the main device housed on the back of the glove. Over here the feeds are interpreted and beamed to the headphone via Bluetooth as voice data.

Bluetooth headphone and interpreting software

Solar Powered Aircraft

The project was launched by Bertrand Piccard – described variously as aeronaut and adventurer – as a mechanism to inspire the development of the new technologies that he believes should be demanded in order to preserve the planet's resources. Through this high profile challenge, he wants to inspire an ethos of sustainable development, engender better respect for the environment and reinforce the idea that technology can work hand in hand with sustainability."Exploration is not about breaking records, but breaking preconceptions," he says. Using the analogy of dropping ballast from a balloon to gain altitude rapidly, he advises that, to climb out of a crisis, we may have to throw our certainties overboard and identify a new way of thinking. Piccard emphasises the Solar Impulse project is unachievable without pushing back current technological limits. "The greater the challenge, the better the technology needed to meet it."Solar Impulse provides nothing if not a challenge. With an 80m wingspan and severe weight restrictions, the solar powered aircraft is stretching the developers working on all areas of the project.Solar Impulse has attracted an impressive array of sponsors and technology partners, including Altran, Dassault, ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Services Industriel de Genève (SIG) and Solvay, as well as many specialist suppliers.

Solar Powered Aircraft

Infiniti G37 Convertible Car

It used to be that Japanese car companies were just copy machines: They seldom came up with anything original, preferring to replicate (while refining) someone else's idea. That hasn't been the case for decades, but there's no doubt Infiniti keeps a close eye on what BMW does. If a sporty, well-appointed, front-engine, rear-drive, retractable hardtop coupe with a lusty six-cylinder engine is good for BMW, it must be good for Infiniti.

Infiniti G37 Convertible Car‏

The G37 Convertible is only the second drop-top in the brand's history. No mere chop job this, as the body panels and chassis components aft of the A-pillar are new for this application. The top is built by Germany's Karmann, an outfit known for this kind of thing. Its opening-and-closing act takes about 30 seconds either way, and the interior headliner covers every bit of the top's frame and mechanism. The strange proportions common to retractables built on coupe architecture don't afflict the G; it's nicely balanced from any angle, and overall length increases by a mere quarter inch. Infiniti offers a removable windblocker that reduces buffeting and noise levels substantially. It's possible to drive without this component in place, but you wouldn't want to (unless you have guests who need to ride in back, which can't be done with the blocker installed). The blocker also covers the back-seat area, giving the car a bit of a roadster look. It's a shame Infiniti has the nerve to charge extra for it on a car that will average around $50K. Hidden rollover-protection bars snap into position with the onset of impending doom.

Nissan GT-R SpecV Full Test‏

s been breaking the law since last year. Before then, the Japanese car industry kept its high-performance cars below a ceiling of 280 horsepower, an unwritten, yet very real limit established by the Japanese government back in 1989.

But the Nissan GT-R shattered the glass ceiling with its 480-hp twin-turbo V6. And now the 2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV pushes even farther past the barrier, further reinforcing the GT-R's status as a true supercar. Just over a year since the car's introduction, Nissan has given a shot of steroids to Godzilla, creating the most extreme road-going machine that Japan has ever seen.

Nissan GT-R SpecV Full Test‏

Dangerous Clouds

A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals.The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air.Looking west southwest at a wall cloud that was located south of El Dorado, Oklahoma.

Dangerous Clouds‏

The Launching ( Dubai Metro Red Line )‏

The Launching Of Dubai Metro Red Line

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The Dubai Metro Red Line was launched on 09/09/09 at 09:09 AM. As announced, Dubai’s Red Line made its first trip with passengers. Dubai Metro will have a total of 79 trains which will run on the Red and the Green Lines to carry around 27,000 passengers per hour per direction once the metro is fully operational in March next year.

The Launching ( Dubai Metro Red Line )‏