Awesome Light Transmitting Concrete!!!

Ok, this stuff is amazing, I have never seen this before in my life and it’s just nuts. This is pretty much concrete that light can get through. It’s just as hard but has a more pleasing appearance. Check it out!

Three years ago, Hungarian architect ron Losonczi invented LiTraCon, the first light transmitting concrete.

A wall made of LitraCon has the strength of traditional concrete but thanks to an embedded array of optical glass fibers, view of the outside world, such as the silhouette of trees, houses and passersby, are transmitted inside the building.

The wall can be quite thick as the fibers work without any loss in light up to 20 m.

He even created a lamp
Three years ago, Hungarian architect ron Losonczi invented LiTraCon, the first light transmitting concrete.

A wall made of LitraCon has the strength of traditional concrete but thanks to an embedded array of optical glass fibers, view of the outside world, such as the silhouette of trees, houses and passersby, are transmitted inside the building.

The wall can be quite thick as the fibers work without any loss in light up to 20 m.

Top 15 Bizarre True Stories

These are nuts!! I found this online, I didn’t create the list so full credit goes to the creator at http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-15-bizarre-true-stories/

Check out this amazing list!

This list was compiled by the co-editor of the Fortean Times, a Journal of Strange Phenomena, a monthly British magazine.

1. Bees who pay their respects

Margaret Bell, who kept bees in Leintwardine, about 7 miles from her home in Ludlow, Shropshire (England), died in June 1994. Soon after her funeral, mourners were amazed to see hundreds of bees settle on the corner of the street opposite the house where she had lived for 26 years. The bees stayed for an hour before buzzing off over the rooftops. The local press ran a photograph of the bees hanging on the wall in a cluster.

2. Phantom Car Crash

On December 11, 2002, two motorists called police to report seeing a car veering off the A3 trunk road with headlights blazing at Burpham in Surrey. A thorough search uncovered a car concealed in dense undergrowth and the long-dead driver nearby. It turned out that the crash had actually happened five months earlier when the driver, Christopher Chandler, had been reported missing by his brother.

3. Enigmatic Earth Divot

Am irregular shaped hole, about 10ft by 7ft with 2ft vertical sides, was found on a remote farm near Grand Coulee, Washington State, in October 1984. It had not been there a month earlier. ‘Dribblings’ of earth and stones led to a three-ton grass-covered earth divot 75 ft away. It was almost as if the divot had been removed with a gigantic cookie cutter, except that roots dangled intact from the vertical side of both hold and slab. There were no clues such as vehicle tracks and an earthquake was thought very unlikely.

4. Balloon Buddies

Laura Buxton released a helium filled balloon during celebrations for her grandparents’ gold wedding anniversary in Blurton, Staffordshire, in June 2001. Attached to the balloon was her name and address and a note asking the finder to write back. Ten days later she received a reply. The balloon had been found by another Laura Buxton in the garden hedge of her home in Pewsey, Wiltshire, 140 miles away. Both Lauras were ages 10 and both had three year old black Labradors, a guinea pig, and a rabbit.

5. Hum Misty for Me

A noise a bit like amplifier feedback had been heard for three years coming from the right ear of a Welsh pony called Misty, according to the Vetinary Record (April 1995). It varied in intensity but stayed at a constant pitch of 7 kHz. Hearing a buzzing in one’s ears is called Subjective Tinnitus; much rarer is when others can also hear the noise. This is called Objective Tinnitus and the cause is still largely a matter of debate.

6. Whirlwind Children

A nine-year old Chinese girl was playing in Songjian near Shanghai, in July 1992 when she was carried off by a whirlwind and deposited unhurt in a treetop almost two miles away. According to a wire report from May 1986, a freak wind lifted up 13 children in the oasis of Hami in Western China and deposited them unharmed in sand dunes and scrub 12 miles away.

7. Riverside Mystery

Gloria Ramirez, 31, died of Kidney failure at Riverside General Hospital, California, in February 1994, after being rushed there with chest pains. Emergency room staff were felled by ‘fumes’ when a blood sample was taken. A strange oily sheen on the woman’s skin and unexplained white crystals in her blood were reported. A doctor suffered liver and lung damage, and bone necrosis. At least 23 other people were affected. One hypothesis was that Ramirez, who had had cervical cancer, had taken a cocktail of medicines that combined to make an insecticide (organophospate) but tests yielded no clue.

8. Boulders in Trees

In April 1997, a turkey hunter in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana, came upon a huge sandstone boulder wedged between three branches of an oak tree about 35 feet from the ground. The arrow shaped rock was estimated to weight 500lb. Subsequently, four more large boulders were found wedged high up in trees elsewhere in the forest. All were in remote areas. None of the trees were damaged and there were no signs of heavy equipment begin used or of tornado damage and no one recalled any mishaps involving dynamite anywhere nearby.

9. Helpful Voices

While on holiday a woman, referred to by the British Medical Journal (1997) as AB, heard two voices in her head telling her to return home immediately. Back in London the voices gave her an address that turned out to be a hospital’s brain scan department. The voices told her to ask for a scan as she had a brain tumour and her brain stem was inflamed. Though she had no symptoms, a scan was eventually arranged and she did indeed have a tumour. After an operation, AB heard the voices again: ‘We are pleased to have helped you,’ they said ‘Good-bye.’ AB made a full recovery.

10. La Mancha Negro

A Hazard unique to Venezuelan highways is a slippery goo called La Mancha Negra (the black stain), although it is more of a sludge with the consistency of chewing gum. Although the government has spent millions of dollars in research, no one knows what the goo is and where it comes from, or how to get rid of it. It first appeared in 1987 on the road from Caracas to the airport, covering 50 yards, and spread inexorably every year. By 1992 it was a major road hazard all around the capital and it was claimed 1,800 motorists had died after losing control. The problem remains to this day.

11. Postcard Farewell

When Jim Wilson’s father died in Natal, South Africa, in April 1967, both Jim, living in England, and his sister Muriel, living in Holland, were informed. Muriel contacted her husband who was on business in Portugal, and he flew to South Africa right away. Changing planes at Las Palmas airport in the Canary Islands, he bought a postcard showing holidaymakers on Margate Beach, Natal, and sent it to Muriel. It was she who noticed that the photograph showed her father walking up the beach.

12. Notecase from the Sky

In October 1975 Mrs Lynn Connolly was hanging washing in her garden in the Quadrant, Hull, when she felt a sharp tap on the top of her head. It was caused by a small silver notecase, 63mm by 36.5mm, hinged, containing a used notepad with 13 sheets left. It was marked with the initials ‘SE’, ‘C8′, ‘TB’ (or ‘JB’) and ‘Klaipea’, a Lithuanian seaport. No one claimed it at the police station, so it was returned to Mrs Connolly. It seems likely it fell only a short distance but from where? If it had dropped from a plane, it would have given her more than a tap.

13. Fiery Persecution

The village of Canneto di Caronia on Sicily’s north coast has been plagued by mysterious fires. The trouble began on January 20, 2004, when a TV caught fire. Then things in neighbourhood houses began to burn, including washing machines, mobile phones, mattresses, chairs and even the insulation on water pipes. The electricity company cut off all power, as did the railway company, but the fires continued. Experts of all kinds carried out tests, but no explanation was found. The village was evacuated in February, but when people returned in March the fires resumed. Police ruled out a pyromaniac after they saw wires bursting into flames.

14. Bovine Enigma

On June 28, 2002, in the middle of a spate of unexplained cattle mutilations in Argentina, something macabre was found in a field near suco, west of Rio Cuarto in San Luis province. Nineteen cows were stuffed into a sheet metal water tank, closed with a conical cap. Nine were drowned, the rest barely alive, having endured freezing temperatures, not to mention the shock of their lives.

15. Boy Turns into a Yam

Three pupils of the Evangelist Primary School in the northern Nigerian town of Maiduguri rushed into the headmistresses office in March 2000 and said that a fellow pupil had been transformed into a yam after accepting a sweet from a stranger. The headmistress found the root tuber and took it to the police station for safe-keeping. Following local radio reports, hundreds of people flocked to see the yam and police were hunting for the sweet-giver. What happened next failed to reach the media.

I don’t exactly know what the rest of this story is…but it’s still pretty interesting. If anyone can finish this story please write it in the comments or message me! Thanks!

20 Useless Body Parts

We all have parts in us that we don’t need, that maybe we did need, or were going to need. Anyway here is just an interesting list of 20 body parts we have that we just don’t need, what we did need them for, or what they could have been used for. Check it out.

This list was found on the net and was originally drafted by Jocelyn Selim.

VOMERONASAL ORGAN
A tiny pit on each side of the septum is lined with nonfunctioning chemoreceptors. They may be all that remains of a once extensive pheromone-detecting ability.

EXTRINSIC EAR MUSCLES
This trio of muscles most likely made it possible for prehominids to move their ears independently of their heads, as rabbits and dogs do. We still have them, which is why most people can learn to wiggle their ears.

WISDOM TEETH
Early humans had to chew a lot of plants to get enough calories to survive, making another row of molars helpful. Only about 5 percent of the population has a healthy set of these third molars.

NECK RIB
A set of cervical ribs—possibly leftovers from the age of reptiles—still appear in less than 1 percent of the population. They often cause nerve and artery problems.

THIRD EYELID
A common ancestor of birds and mammals may have had a membrane for protecting the eye and sweeping out debris. Humans retain only a tiny fold in the inner corner of the eye.

DARWIN’S POINT
A small folded point of skin toward the top of each ear is occasionally found in modern humans. It may be a remnant of a larger shape that helped focus distant sounds.

SUBCLAVIUS MUSCLE
This small muscle stretching under the shoulder from the first rib to the collarbone would be useful if humans still walked on all fours. Some people have one, some have none, and a few have two.

PALMARIS MUSCLE
This long, narrow muscle runs from the elbow to the wrist and is missing in 11 percent of modern humans. It may once have been important for hanging and climbing. Surgeons harvest it for reconstructive surgery.

MALE NIPPLES
Lactiferous ducts form well before testosterone causes sex differentiation in a fetus. Men have mammary tissue that can be stimulated to produce milk.

ERECTOR PILI
Bundles of smooth muscle fibers allow animals to puff up their fur for insulation or to intimidate others. Humans retain this ability (goose bumps are the indicator) but have obviously lost most of the fur.

APPENDIX
This narrow, muscular tube attached to the large intestine served as a special area to digest cellulose when the human diet consisted more of plant matter than animal protein. It also produces some white blood cells. Annually, more than 300,000 Americans have an appendectomy.

BODY HAIR
Brows help keep sweat from the eyes, and male facial hair may play a role in sexual selection, but apparently most of the hair left on the human body serves no function.

PLANTARIS MUSCLE
Often mistaken for a nerve by freshman medical students, the muscle was useful to other primates for grasping with their feet. It has disappeared altogether in 9 percent of the population.

THIRTEENTH RIB
Our closest cousins, chimpanzees and gorillas, have an extra set of ribs. Most of us have 12, but 8 percent of adults have the extras.

MALE UTERUS
A remnant of an undeveloped female reproductive organ hangs off the male prostate gland.

FIFTH TOE
Lesser apes use all their toes for grasping or clinging to branches. Humans need mainly the big toe for balance while walking upright.

FEMALE VAS DEFERENS
What might become sperm ducts in males become the epoophoron in females, a cluster of useless dead-end tubules near the ovaries.

PYRAMIDALIS MUSCLE
More than 20 percent of us lack this tiny, triangular pouchlike muscle that attaches to the pubic bone. It may be a relic from pouched marsupials.

COCCYX
These fused vertebrae are all that’s left of the tail that most mammals still use for balance and communication. Our hominid ancestors lost the need for a tail before they began walking upright.

PARANASAL SINUSES
The nasal sinuses of our early ancestors may have been lined with odor receptors that gave a heightened sense of smell, which aided survival. No one knows why we retain these perhaps troublesome mucus-lined cavities, except to make the head lighter and to warm and moisten the air we breathe.

In 1859, Charles Darwin (1809–1882) published The Origin of Species, which articulated the first full-fledged theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin viewed the history of life like a tree, each fork in the tree’s limbs representing a shared ancestry. The tips of the limbs represented modern species and the branches represented the common ancestors shared amongst species. To explain these relationships, Darwin contended that all living things were related and descended from a few forms, or even from a single common ancestor, in a process he described as “descent with modification”.

Darwin’s view was controversial because humans did not receive special consideration in this evolutionary tree: they were merely one of its many branches. Though he did not make this explicit at first, his friend and supporter T. H. Huxley soon presented evidence that humans and apes shared a common ancestor. The popular press of the day misinterpreted this as an assertion that humans were descended from monkeys.

Darwin’s explanation of the mechanism of evolution relied on his theory of natural selection, a theory developed from the following observations:

1. If all the individuals of a species reproduced successfully, the population of that species would increase exponentially.
2. Except for seasonal fluctuations, populations tend to remain stable in size.
3. Environmental resources are limited.
4. The traits found in a population vary extensively. No two individuals in a given species are exactly alike.
5. Many of the variations found in a population can be passed on to offspring.

From these observations, Darwin deduced that the production of more offspring than the environment can support leads to a struggle for existence, with only a small percentage of individuals surviving in each generation. He noted that the chance for surviving this struggle is not random, but depends on how well-adapted each individual is to its environment. Well-adapted, or “fit” individuals will more likely leave a greater number of offspring than their less well-adapted competitors. Darwin concluded that the unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce leads to gradual changes in the population as the traits which help the organism survive and reproduce accumulate over generations and those that inhibit its survival and reproduction are lost. Darwin used the term natural selection to describe this process.

The variations in a population arise by chance mutations in DNA, but natural selection is not a process of chance: the environment determines the probability of reproductive success. The end products of natural selection are organisms that are adapted to their present environments.

Natural selection does not involve progress towards an ultimate goal. Evolution does not necessarily strive for more advanced, more intelligent, or more sophisticated life forms. For example, fleas (wingless parasites) are descended from a winged, ancestral scorpionfly, and snakes are lizards that no longer require limbs. Organisms are merely the outcome of variations that succeed or fail, dependent upon the environmental conditions at the time. In reality, when the environment changes, most species fail to adapt and become extinct.

An Automated Car Wash Story

Amazing, we underestimate animals intelligence all the time. It really is incredible what they are capable of. Check out this amazing story with these amazing pictures!

Bill owns a company that manufactures and installs car wash systems. (Magic Wand Car Wash Systems, just in case you want to buy one.) Bill’s company installed a car wash system in Frederick, Md.

Now understand that these are complete systems, including the money changer and money taking machines.

The problem started when the new owner complained to Bill that he was losing significant amounts of money from his coin machines each week.

He went as far as to accuse Bill’s employees of having a key to the boxes and ripping him off.  Bill just couldn’t believe that his people would do that, so they setup a camera to catch the thief in action. Well, they did catch him on film!


That’s a bird sitting on the change slot of the machine.

The bird had to go down into the machine and back up inside to get to the money!

That’s three quarters he has in his beak! Another amazing thing is that it was not just one bird — there were several working together. Once they identified the thieves, they found over $4000 in quarters on the roof of the car wash and more under a nearby tree.

Insurance and Women

Honestly…This does not seem fair at all. I found this vibe on http://www.madebig.com and I really wanted to share it with you because I think this is a real problem. Please give credit to the creator of this vibe by clicking on the link below and rating the vibe and giving them a High5 to show they did a great job.

MORE INSURANCE COMPANIES DOING BAD BUSINESS ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN.

Keeping Them Barefoot and Pregnant

	“If an insurance plan covers Rogaine for cosmetic male hair loss, is it not only fair that it should cover prescription birth control, which allows women to decide when and if they want to face the serious health and lifestyle implications of pregnancy? Union Pacific Railroad does not think so. The companies insurance plan covers prescription drugs like Viagra and Rogaine affecting mens sexual health and quality of life. Yet it does not cover prescription contraceptives that allow women to enjoy sex while deferring pregnancy. Retail costs for prescription oral contraceptives run approximately $360 per year. So without coverage, women who are struggling to make ends meet may be forced to turn to less reliable methods of contraception and stand a greater chance of getting pregnant. Sound like a double standard? Not according to the Eighth Circuit, which held earlier this month in a discrimination suit brought by female employees of child-bearing age that Union Pacific’s plan did not violate Title VII, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). “

RELATING TO PREGNANCY

	“The PDA provides that women may not be treated differently than men simply because of pregnancy or medical conditions “related to” pregnancy. The ability to become pregnant is a condition clearly “related to” pregnancy. Seemingly then, a plan covering quality-of-life and preventative drugs for men but not covering drugs designed to address similar health needs of women who are able but do not wish to become pregnant would be discriminatory. If Union Pacifics plan covers Viagra, it should cover drugs that allow women to have sex without risking the health and lifestyle changes that go with pregnancy. A slam dunk, you say. Well, the district court judge sure thought so, and ruled in favor of the employees. But on appeal, two conservative judges on the Eighth Circuit got their mitts on this case and employed twisted logic to argue that Union Pacifics health plan did not discriminate. Bush II-appointee Raymond Gruender, joined by Reagan-appointee Pasco Bowman, concluded contrary to the Supreme Court and common sense that the PDA did not require Union Pacific to provide prescription contraceptive coverage to its female employees.” NOT PROTECTED BY THE PDA

	“The majority speciously contended that the female employees in this case were not protected by the PDA. According to the two judges, the employees contraceptive use was not a condition “related to” pregnancy because the use of contraceptives “is only indicated prior to pregnancy” and “prevents pregnancy from even occurring.” However, as Clinton-appointee Kermit Bye asserted in dissent, the language of the PDA as interpreted by the Supreme Court reveals that it was broadly intended to proscribe classifying employees on the basis of childbearing capacity, whether or not they were already pregnant. So the fact that contraceptive use occurs prior to pregnancy, as the majority pointed out, is irrelevant what matters is that the affected women are of childbearing capacity. And the majoritys suggestion that the female employees in this case are not protected by the PDA just because they are trying to defer pregnancy makes no sense either imagine an employer being able to deny promotions to women capable of getting pregnant but who have chosen not to do so.”

NONDISCRIMINATORY???

	“The majority in this case further held that, even if the PDA did cover women who wished to use contraceptives, Union Pacifics plan was still nondiscriminatory because it excluded all contraceptives, whether utilized by men or women. However, as Judge Bye pointed out, the failure to cover contraceptives only medically affects females, as they bear all of the health consequences of unplanned pregnancies. … [E]ven if we were to look at its exclusion coverage of vasectomies, the policy nonetheless discriminates against females. … [A]s the record demonstrates, women are the only gender which can become pregnant.”

INSURANCE

	“And, Judge Bye observed, Union Pacific covered prescriptions designed exclusively to treat mens health problems, but denied women who might become pregnant coverage for prescription contraceptives leaving them to less reliable birth control methods. Because the insurance plan prevented these women from having sex without the risk of “bear[ing] all the health consequences” of getting pregnant while covering various medications designed to improve mens lives the plan was discriminatory, according to Judge Bye. The majoritys analysis is contrary to the intent of Congress and to the precedent of the Supreme Court. This setback for gender equity, written by a Bush II appointee and issuing from a court dominated by Bush II appointees, is a stark reminder that, of all his legacies, the judges appointed by President Bush will have an impact on our everyday lives for years to come. But at least we know that the male employees at Union Pacific are well taken care of.” Standridge v. Union Pacific, No. 06-1706 (8th Cir., March 15, 2007)

As I said before I was not the creator of this vibe and I would like to give full credit to the actual creator. Please click the link below which will take you to the vibe on www.madebig.com and give them a good rating and a high5.
Thank You

CLICK HERE to view vibe.

There are a lot of things on MadeBig that I love. I want to show you the BrainTrust part of the site. You can ask and answer questions about anything there. Here is one of my questions about family and how to deal with them.
CLICK HERE to see my question.

The MarketPlace is a great section of the site as well. You can buy and sell things there and you don’t pay with money. You earn MB Coins on other sections of the site by doing stuff like answering questions in the BrainTrust and making vibes, etc…and you use those MB Coins to buy things. I have found tons of stuff that I’m so happy I got for free on there. Here is something really interesting I found for sale.

CLICK HERE to see jewelry.

If you would rather buy from a store than a person then there is a shopping section where you can search by sales price. I like that because I can know I’m getting a good price for something. Here is a list of some great jewelry for 25% off.

CLICK HERE to see list.

There are also pictures, blogs, forums, a local listing business section where you can rate and review businesses for coins and sometimes find great coupons, and a lotto game where you can win coins. It takes up most of my computer time just playing around on the site. Check it out, see if it’s something you will like. Have fun!

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