venus williams blog: May 2007

Self-made 'F1' Car

Based on the draft of toy car, Zhang Jin-duo, a farmer from Shenyang City, spent two months in building his own 'F1' car. The 3-meter-long vehicle can reach a speed of 65 km/h without any problem! link

The Loch Ness Monster is Back?

An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45-feet (15 meters) long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video this past Saturday.
He said it moved at about 6 mph (10 kph) and kept a fairly straight course.
"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."
Holmes' footage is of such good quality that even the normally reticent BBC Scotland aired the video on its main news program on Tuesday.

Links: CNN | Xinhua
Update: The video added (via)

Father: Lindsay Lohan Addicted to Powerful Painkiller & Need to Get into God!

Lindsay Lohan suffers from multiple addictions to alcohol and drugs, including the powerful painkiller OxyContin, the 20-year-old actress' estranged father told E! Online on Wednesday.

"I spoke to the people treating Lindsay, because I wanted to make sure she was getting the right care," said Michael Lohan. "And I'm satisfied they are doing the right thing for her, helping her detox from the painkillers and things. That's a very important step."

Old Lohan also wanted to make sure Lindsay would be getting religious counseling.

"And I learned they use the 12-step program," Michael said, "which includes a lot of lessons based on God's teachings, so I was satisfied with that. First she needs to get clean, then she needs to let God into her life."

Links: Chinaview |Picture: Hollywood Hot

Alain Robert, aka French Spiderman, Climbs Shanghai Jinmao Tower

Even after Chinese authorities turned down two of requests, French 'Spiderman' Alain Robert still decided to climb China's (world's fourth) tallest Shanghai Jin Mao Tower.

On Thursday clad in a Spiderman costume, the 44-year-old made a barehanded ascent and descent of the 88-storey iron-and-glass structure, achieving the feat in 90 minutes.

But his feet had barely touched the ground, Chinese police immediately arrested him.

Now what is waiting for him is a custody of 15 days in a Chinese jail.

Robert has scaled the most tallest buildings in the world including Taipei 101, Empire State Building, Paris's Eiffel Tower.

Links WP & Xinhua

How to Get Access to Gmail Account of The Deceased?

Search Engine Roundtable provides the detailed information below:

According to Gmail Guide, the following steps need to be provided to Google in order to obtain access to the Gmail account:

1. Your full name and contact information, including a verifiable email address.
2. The Gmail address of the individual who passed away.
3a. The full header from an email message that you have received at your verifiable email address, from the Gmail account in question. (To obtain the header from a message in Gmail, open the message, click 'More options,' then click 'Show original.' Copy everything from 'Delivered- To:' through the 'References:' line. To obtain headers from other webmail or email providers, please refer to http://www.spamcop.com/help_with_headers/)
3b. The entire contents of the message.
4. A copy of the death certificate of the deceased.
5. A copy of the document that gives you Power of Attorney over the Gmail account.
6. If you are the parent of the individual, please send us a copy of the Birth Certificate if the Gmail account owner was under the age of 18. In this case, Power of Attorney is not required.
Gmail Guide requests that you send this information via Fax or Postal Mail:

Google Inc.
Attention: Gmail User Support
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
650-644-0358

It takes approximately 30 days for the information to be processed, but if the access is needed sooner, "it is Google's policy to only provide information pursuant to a valid third party court order or other appropriate legal process."

Sanyo Unveils World's First Waterproof Video Camera-- Xacti

On May 31, an employee of Japanese electronics giant Sanyo shows world's first fully waterproof camcorder--Xacti--in an electronic exhibition in Tokyo. This video camera can record the footage at a water depth of 1.5 meters without the watertight shell. On the coming June 15, Sanyo will officially put the camcorder on the market for sale to the consumers with a price tag of 60,000 Yen or around 470USD. Source:Xinhua

Most Luxury Villlage Wedding in China?

A set of photos show a lavish village wedding ceremony held in Yingkou, Northeast China's Liaoning province. According to the original post on Xinhua BBS, it attractsed numerous TV stations including China's Central Television Station. Unluckily, the post didn't provide any information on the background of either groom Wang Hao or bride Li Dan . Truly speaking, this is the most luxury village wedding I ever see in China.

Some Japanese Preteen Junior Idols

Japan always has abundant child stars, especially young girl stars. There those girl stars have a special name U15, who normally made a debut at an age of 9 to 10 years old. They often pose in bikinis and other provocative clothing for photo spreads in magazines aimed largely at men. However, they do not pose nude or perform sexually explicit acts in the work. Other than Mao Kobayashi, below are some more:

Risako Sugaya, born at April 4, 1994

Riho Iida, born on October 26, 1991

Mirai Shida, born on May 10, 1993

Maki Horikita, born on October 6, 1988

Azusa Hibino, born on July 26, 1990

Yuzuki Hoshino, born on December 23, 1995

Yuri Kojima, born on November 23, 1990

Tsugumi Shinohara, born on March 10, 1993

Takaou Ayatsuki , born on October 23, 1990

Saaya Irie, born on November 15, 1993

Source: QQ

First Bred-in-captivity Panda Released into the Wild Dies

Five-year-old male panda Xiang Xiang who last year became the first to be released into the wild after being bred in captivity in Sichua Wolong Giant Panda Research Center, has died, Xinhua news agency said today.
The body of Xiang Xiang was found February 19 on snow-covered ground in the forests of Sichuan province in China's southwest, but not report until May 31.

The long delay in announcing Xiang Xiang's death was attributed to the need for a full investigation.

He survived less than a year in the wild after nearly three years of training in survival techniques and defense tactics.

Photo below shows that Xiang Xiang, whose name means Auspicious, is being anaesthetized for a health checkup the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Research Center on April 27, 2006.

Source: Xinhua | Sh-daily

Blue-green Algae Bloom Caused Drinking Water Crisis in Wuxi City

Customers queue to buy bottled water at a supermarket in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province, May 30, 2007. Local residents in Wuxi rushed to buy bottled water when the tap water developed a strange smell. The blue-green algae outbreak in Taihu Lake [China's third largest freshwater lake] affected the underground water in Wuxi and caused the water crisis.

Oh my god! Almost all of our relatives, friends in China are living in Wuxi and now we really begin to concern their health. Links: photo 1, 3, 4, 2

India's Largest Slum Up for Sales

Dharavi in Mumbai is Asia's largest slum area. Authorities in India's financial capital invited a global tender on May 30 to tear down Asia's biggest slum and replace it with gleaming new apartments, but the project is suspect in the eyes of most of it inhabitants. The number of people living in slums in India, Asia's fourth largest economy, has more than doubled in the past two decades, the government recently said. Source: Reuters

World's First Virtual Embassy on Second Life Inaugurated by Sweden

Sweden has become the first country to open an embassy in the virtual world Second Life.

Created to promote The Nordic state's image and culture, the embassy does not offer any real or virtual consular services but provides information on its real world counterparts.

The opening of the embassy was attended online by Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in the form of an avatar, and at a real life press conference in Stockholm.

The embassy also includes a room dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg, who helped save thousands of Jews in World War II. It recreates his office in Budapest, where he worked as a diplomat and issued Swedish passports to Hungarian Jews to help them escape the Nazis.

More photos on Sweden.se

Norway, World's Most Peaceful Country

World's Most and Least Peaceful Countries

Norway is the most peaceful country in the world and Iraq the least, according to a study launched.

New Zealand ranks second and Australia is 25th on the list, which notably puts Japan near the top and Russia and Israel close to the bottom.

The Global Peace Index, published a week before a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany, rates 121 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe on factors including levels of violence, organised crime and military expenditure.

While most European countries including Britain rank in the top, more peaceful, half of the league table, the United States is nearer the bottom in 96th place, while Russia is fifth from last on 118th.

The index is backed by international figures including the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US president Jimmy Carter and US economist Joseph Stiglitz, all winners of the Nobel peace prize. It is also supported by Queen Noor of Jordan.

German Woman Drives Down Subway Stairs

Later she was more shocked and embarrassed than hurt, after blocking the entrance to an underground station when she mistook it for a subterranean car park.

The 52-year-old drove her Volkswagen Beetle across the pavement and into the entrance, where it came to a halt five steps down.

Police estimated the damage to the station at around 1,500 euros (£1,000).

The VW Beetle-Cabrio remained balanced on the fifth step and the woman was able to get out unaided and unharmed.

The accident happened in the Nordstrasse underground station, in the centre of Dusseldorf.

Source: BBC

Golden Bathtub Mysteriously Stolen from Japanese Hotel

A bathtub made of gold, worth 120m yen ($1m; £500,000), has disappeared from a Japanese resort hotel in circumstances that remain unclear, police said.

Staff reported the tub was missing on Wednesday at the Kominato Hotel Mikazuki, a resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean, east of Tokyo.

Police said they had no idea how it was stolen, saying they had found no sign it was dragged on the floor.

The tub weighed 80kg (175lb) and was made of 18-carat gold.

It was normally chained to the door and padlocked when the room was closed, Japanese TV reported.

A similar tub in the women's shared bathroom is still in place, the police spokesman said.

Source: BBC

Weird Belgian Playground Signboard

Kevin Cazabon submitted this weird playground signboard to Alex Papadimoulis of Worse Than Failure with the narration reading:

"Having moved overseas to Belgium a few years ago, from time to time I'm reminded that good, effective icon design is an artform best left to the true professionals. This is especially true when you consider that your software may be used across the world, and what may seem like common sense to you may befuddle a Belgian... or the other way around.

"Although the below image is not a computer icon, I think it illustrates the point rather clearly. Either I missed out on a lot as a kid, or the playgrounds here in Belgium are a LOT more fun than the ones back home. This is a picture that I took personally of an actual playground sign in a small suburb outside of Brussels.

Link

Video: Rejected WiiPlay Games

Annoying!

Playing 100 Hula Hoops at A Time

Stuntwoman Shi Hong-yan from Anhui wowed her audience by playing 100 hula Hoops simultaneously at the Second Zhuge Liang Cultural ang Tourism Festival in Yinan, Shandong Province. Zhuge Liang [wiki] (181 - 234), born at present-day Yinan County, was one of the greatest Chinese strategists of the Three Kingdoms statesman, as well as engineer, scholar, and inventor. His name (or even just his surname) has become synonymous with intelligence and wit in Chinese culture. Source: Shangdu

Video: Mind The Baby

A G8 viral commercial by a NGO --Dropping Knowledge-- to protest against G8 Summit to be convened from June 6-9 in Germany

Links: Dailymotion | Xinhua