Poetry

Touched by An Angel
by Maya Angelou


We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.


Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.


We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

...just a sec

Three of the 'craziest' road signs ever!

#1: Travel at your own risk...

#2: Oh snap!

#3: I was dumbfounded when I first saw this sign, just couldn't believe it was for real! These sings can be found on the California hwy by the Mexican border *blank stare*

Historic First: A Spacecraft Orbits Mercury

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Mercury at approximately 9p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 17, 2011. This marks the first time a spacecraft has accomplished this engineering and scientific milestone at our solar system's innermost planet.

MESSENGER's main thruster fired for approximately 15 minutes at 8:45 p.m., slowing the spacecraft by 1,929 miles per hour and easing it into the planned orbit about Mercury. The rendezvous took place about 96 million miles from Earth.

NASA engineers received telemetry data confirming orbit insertion. NASA's engineers Operations Center, received the anticipated radiometric signals confirming nominal burn shutdown and successful insertion of the MESSENGER probe into orbit around the planet Mercury where it started transmitting data. Upon review of the data, the engineering and operations teams confirmed the burn executed nominally with all subsystems reporting a clean burn and no logged errors.

The journey took Messenger six and half years to travel 4.9 billions miles to the planet Mercury. The mission's primary science phase began on April 4, 2011.

Deep, Deeep Sea Diving

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group of companies, has revealed his plans to explore the deepest spots in each of the five oceans.

Sir Branson, along with American sailor and explorer Chris Welsh and submarine designer Graham Hawkes, has launched the Virgin Oceanic, a project to explore the last frontiers of our own Blue Planet: the very bottom of our seas. They intend to hit the deepest depths using the Virgin Oceanic’s flying submarines. For the dives, Virgin oceanic will use the DeepFlight Challenger submersible built by Hawkes Ocean Technologies of Point Richmond, Calif.

The Virgin Oceanic project proposes journey to the five deepest parts of each of Earth’s five oceans in 2011 and 2012. The first dive is planned to reach the deepest place on the planet i.e. the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is roughly 11 kilometers straight down. The subs will hit the Mariana Trench (Pacific), Puerto Rico Trench (Atlantic), Diamantina Trench (Indian), South Sandwich Trench (Southern), and Molloy Deep (Arctic). Interestingly, the second dive, planned to hit the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench (the deepest in the Atlantic), will be piloted by Sir Richard Branson himself.

They have even partnered with Google to assist with the charting and mapping of the sea floor during the missions.

On the launch of Virgin Oceanic, Sir Richard Branson said: "What if I were to tell you about a planet, inhabited by ‘intelligent’ beings that had, in the 21st Century, physically explored 0% of its deepest points and mapped only 3% of its oceans by unmanned craft, when 70% of that planet’s surface was made up of water. Then I tried to convince you that only 10% of the life forms inhabiting that unknown world, are known to those on the surface - you’d think I’d fallen asleep watching the latest sci-fi blockbuster! Then you discover that planet is Earth".

Virgin Oceanic Flying Sub Designed by Graham Hawkes, the flying submersible resembles a dolphin, and is made from 8,000 pounds of carbon fiber and titanium. It boasts an operating depth of 37,000 feet (7 miles) and is capable to operate independently for 24 hours. The Virgin Oceanic Flying Sub has been designed to survive enormous pressures, 1500 times than that of an airplane. The sub can fly up to 10km over the ocean floor, travel at a maximum of three knots and can dive at 350 feet per minute. This sub also has a mothership, which is a 125′ racing catamaran.

Sir Richard Branson says: "Virgin Oceanic will expand the reach of human exploration on our planet. By promoting and utilizing new technology, Virgin Oceanic will aid human kind’s ability to explore our Oceans, assist science in understanding our eco system and raise awareness of the challenges facing our Oceans".

BBC Earth has announced to work with Richard Branson’s Virgin Oceanic Five Dives expedition to produce a theatrical film and TV series.

Poetry

Eros

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sense of the world is short,

Long and various the report,

To love and be beloved;

Men and gods have not outlearned it,

And how oft soe'er they've turned it,

'Tis not to be improved.

Some of the World's Most Expensive Foods

Hot Dog: A New York restaurant, Serendipity 3, which is the city’s first coffee house boutique in Manhattan has now added the world’s most expensive ‘haute’ dog on their menu.

This 30 cm foot long hot dog is made of wholesome beef, grilled in white truffle oil. A pretzel bun that is used in it is imported from Germany and toasted with white truffle butter. With a delicious topping of medallions of duck foie gras with black truffles it is served with mouth-watering condiments of black truffle Dijon mustard, caramelized Vidalia onions and heirloom tomato ketchup.

Sushi #1: 12-yr-old Italian balsamic vinegar, Japanese rice, 70-yr-old virgin water, Muscovado sugar, Norwegian pink salmon, cucumber, mango, foie gras, sea cucumber (smoked then pickled and steamed ’til tender sticky), genuine crabmeat, wild saffron, mayonnaise with butter and garnished with 12 local Palawan pearls and 4 .20ct African diamonds of VVS clarity. This most expensive sushi is available for sale for a price of $4,300. The prices for this new and expensive sushi rolls are subject to change without prior notice, depending on stone clarity and ingredients used, and even takes into account the customer’s budget.

Sushi #2: Next on the list is world’s most expensive sushi made by Filipino chef Angelito Araneta Jr.

What makes this plate of sushi consisting of five pieces the most expensive is not the fish, but the garnishing in gold leaves and diamonds. The sushi is garnished with .20-carat African diamonds and wrapped with 24-karat gold leaves and is available in a restaurant in Manila for $2,750.

FleurBurger 5000. This one is available at Fleur de Lys, Chef Hubert Keller’s restaurant in Mandalay Bay.

This burger that’s stuffed with Kobe-beef burger topped with foie gras, black truffles, and Keller’s secret sauce, that go inside a brioche bun. Now, what makes it so pricey is the ingredients together with the presentation. It comes with a bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus served in imported Italian Ichendorf Brunello stemware, which is again a something enchanting. They deliver as well…they ship the stemware and the certificate of authenticity right at your doorstep

Thoughts

Ask people, "What is your passion?" and they often freeze. They feel as if they have to give an amazing answer, like "feeding the orphans of the world" or "writing a novel that changes the landscape of literature." Or they feel as if "I don't know" isn't an option.

You might be one of those passionate people who have hearts aflame, pumping with desire. But you might have the kind of heart that's quieter, softer. It's harder for people to hear these whispers—I know, that sounds like a country and western song—but the way you tune your ear to hear them is to simply watch what you do. Some people don't take whispers seriously, thinking they're somehow not legitimate, because they're spoken with a softer voice.

I actually learned this myself. I went to law school and then worked in government and on Capitol Hill. I was an economic policy guy, but for 10 or 15 years, I was writing articles on the side. If someone had asked me, "What's your passion?" I never would have said, "Oh, writing about business and technology." I would have seized up and stammered. Now if someone had asked, "What do you think about when you're spacing out at work? What do you do on Friday afternoons?" The answer was clear. As a result, it's what I do now.

So, what do you do when no one's watching? What do you read in your spare time? I've noticed that if people are interested in something, they'll steer the conversation to that topic. So, where do you seem to inevitably take your conversations? Too often the question, What is your passion? leads to an answer you've come up with for other people, whereas the other questions I've mentioned will lead to an answer for yourself. Some people don't take whispers seriously, thinking they're somehow not legitimate, because they're spoken with a softer voice. I think you have to remind yourself that this is what your heart is telling you. It may not be screaming at you, but it might be giving you something more valuable.

By Daniel Pink

—As told to Oprah.com's Jancee Dunn

Source: Oprah.com

ASTRO Gaming has announced limited edition pre-orders for “The Gold Edition,” a line of gaming gizmos that have been created using solid 22K gold. The products in the new lineup include the A40 headset, Xbox 360 Controller, MixAmp 5.8 Rx wireless receiver and the Urban Lanyard, all done in solid gold. The Gold Edition A40 headset comes with gold cables and connectors. The modified Gold Edition Xbox 360 controller is accompanied with diamond-tipped buttons and gold wiring.

The ASTRO Gaming is selling The Gold Edition for $1,000, and you need to send them your email address to be notified of its availability.

Source: bornrich

The Bacterium Toothbrush

Researchers have identified a new ally in the war against tooth decay: an enzyme produced by a mouth bacterium that prevents plaque formation.

The finding could eventually lead to the development of toothpaste that harnesses the body's own plaque-fighting tools.

The human mouth is awash with bacteria. More than 700 species thrive in the hot, moist conditions, including Streptococcus mutans, one of the main components of plaque. Clinging to the teeth in thin layers called biofilms, S. mutans digests sugars and produces acids that can eat into enamel and cause cavities. Other bacteria are more gracious guests. In 2009, for example, scientists found that S. salivarius, a type of bacterium found on the tongue and other soft tissues in the mouth, decreases the buildup of S. mutans biofilms.

The protein FruA, an enzyme that breaks apart complex sugars, was the most powerful biofilm blocker. The researchers also found that a form of FruA, produced by the common fungus Aspergillus niger and available off-the-shelf, stymies plaque equally well. This commercial FruA worked despite the fact that its amino acid sequence is somewhat different from that of S. salivarius FruA. That might speed the development of toothpastes that include FruA, says Senpuku.

The findings, reported in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, are not a license to eat all the candy you want, however. When researchers increased the concentration of sucrose, a type of sugar, in mixtures containing S. salivarius FruA and S. mutans, the beneficial bacterium lost its ability to prevent biofilm formation. The authors write that this observation may help explain why a 1996 study found that FruA contributed to cavity formation in rats.

The findings could spur the development of better toothpaste but it won't be an easy task; finding "the formulation" that would 'guarantee' that the enzyme remained enzymatically active on the shelf of your favorite drug store is a big challenge

Source: Sciencemag