10 Most Beautiful Stunning Bridges Around The World

Bridges have long been a thing of fascination in the human mind because of what they connote: connection. Even though much of our communication is carried out via email or telephone, we are still nonetheless a sociable bunch. We go places, see things, visit people and experience life, all of which requires movement and interaction. Bridges are therefore a facilitator of connection in the broad mesh of human social life.

Continuing on from our previous exploration of 18 stunning bridges, we take a further look at 10 more of the oldest, newest, biggest and best bridges in existence today from around the globe.

Stari Most, Mostar



Stari Most: Commissioned originally by Suleman the Magnificent in 1557, Stari Most connects the two parts of the city of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina, crossing the River Neretva. In 1993, during the Bosnian War, the bridge was destroyed by the Croatian Council of Defence, however its reconstruction was completed in 2004 and the bridge still stands proud today.

Popular with locals and tourists alike as a platform to dive from, the bridge is 24m above the river below, 4m wide and 30m long. It is supported by two limestone abutments which connect to wing walls along the water cliffs, each erected to a height of 6.53m. The unusual hump shape of the bridge is claimed to be caused by buckles in the inner arch, allowing for its unique and photogenic appearance.

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York City



Verrazano-Narrows Bridge: Named after Giovanni da Verrazano, the first man to sail into New York Harbour, the Verrazano-Narrows bridge connects Brooklyn and Staten Island, and was the world’s longest suspension bridge upon completion in 1964. Each of the enormous towers weighs 27,000 tonnes, and they are further apart from one another at their tops than at their bases, as the 4,260ft distance between them forced construction to compensate for the earth’s curvature. However, it is the steel cables which allow for the more interesting reading, as the expansion of the metal makes the bridge a full 12ft lower is summer than in the winter months.

Mackinac Bridge, Michigan



Mackinac Bridge: The Mackinac Bridge, often referred to affectionately as ‘Mighty Mac’ or ‘Big Mac’, connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of the US State of Michigan, and its 8,614 feet suspended length makes it the longest suspension bridge in the Americas. Although the bridge itself is just over half a century old (construction having been completed in 1957), plans to cross the straits of Mackinac originally emerged as a reaction to the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, with locals happy to facilitate easier crossing of the waters.

Two years after the $99.8 million construction was completed, US Air Force pilot Captain John Lappo lost his flying privileges after taking his plane underneath the bridge, its 200m vertical clearance violating rules on flying altitudes. For a slightly safer (and legal) way to enjoy the view, the bridge functions as a $3 toll for Interstate 75 today.

Confederation Bridge, Canada



Confederation Bridge: Although aesthetically the Confederation Bridge may not be able to compete with other bridges on the list, its size and the amount of effort which went into its construction more than make up for its physical beauty. The idea to cross the Northumberland Strait with a ‘fixed link’, as opposed to the increasingly inefficient ferry service, had been around for a number of years, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that plans began to develop to link Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

The bridge was finally completed in 1997, at a total cost of $1.3 billion. It is supported by 62 piers, the majority of which keep the bridge around 40 metres above sea level, although there is a 60m peak which allows shipping traffic to pass underneath. The bridge will be managed privately until 2032, when management will be handed over to the Government of Canada.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay



The Sunshine Skyway Bridge: With its 5.5 mile length, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida is the longest cable-main stayed bridge in the world and cost an enormous $244 million to build, construction being completed in 1987. This steel and concrete structure is supported by 12 steel cables, each one clad in 9 inch steel tubes. However problems arose when the steel inside the concrete precast segments began to corrode, but workers were able to get inside the hollow segments and provide vital reinforcement.

In 1980, a freighter collided with one of the bridge’s support columns, causing a section of the bridge to collapse into Tampa Bay, sending six cars and a Greyhound bus into the water from a height of 150 feet. Of the 36 people involved, only one survived, although he did managed to sue the freight company for a hefty $175,000!

New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia



New River Gorge Bridge: Built in 1974, the New River Gorge Bridge is the world’s second highest vehicular bridge, second only to the Milau Viaduct in France. It’s unpainted steel appearance may not make it that spectacular to look at, but it saves what would have been the $1 million needed to regularly repaint bridge, and more often than not, it’s not the bridge you find yourself looking at.

876 feet above the New River rapids, the bridge is 3,030ft long and offers spectacular views of the gorge below, one of the largest draws for those who flock to the bridge on the third Saturday of October each year to celebrate ‘Bridge Day’, an annual tradition which halts Highway 19’s traffic for the day as base jumpers and abseilers take full advantage of the picturesque location for an adrenaline rush.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Fayetteville



Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel: Although not strictly a bridge on its own, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) simply has to be included because of its sheer size and engineering prowess; it was labelled as ‘One of Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World’ in 1965. Stretching to around 23km, CBBT is the primary way of crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and connects Virginia Beach / Norfolk with Virginia’s eastern shore via a series of bridges and tunnels.

Construction began in 1960, to be completed 4 years later, and the $200 million project was funded completely by private toll revenue bonds. In 1995, for almost the same cost as the original project, new two-lane parallel trestles were added to decrease traffic volume, although plans to replace the two underwater tunnels were scrapped as cost estimations came in at an enormous $900 million.

Rio Antirio Bridge, Greece



Rio Antirio Bridge: If ever a construction deserved recognition for the sheer difficulty of the task, the Rio Antirio bridge in Greece must be it. It is impressive in itself that is boasts the second longest cable-stayed deck in the world at 2.252m, beaten only by the Millau viaduct in France, but such an achievement is only enhanced by the conditions placed on the construction. The piers which support the bridge could not be buried in the 65m deep seabed, made up of mostly loose sediment, thus a painstakingly levelled bed of gravel was laid under water to provide something for them to rest on. The risk of seismic activity and tectonic plate movement also had to be taken into account, with the piers able to move laterally underwater in the event of an earthquake allowing the gravel beds to absorb the vast majority of the shock.

The parts of the bridge itself are connected using jacks and dampers, allowing for movement of the parts during an earthquake without seriously damaging the bridge structure itself. Opened just in time for the Athens Olympics in 2004, the bridge is perhaps one of the most spectacular of its kind as far as engineering is concerned in the world.

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City



Brooklyn Bridge: Upon its completion in 1883, Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world, and was generally considered as one of the most technically spectacular achievements of the day. The bridge soon developed into a vital transport link between Manhattan and Brooklyn, and is still used extensively today with over 140,000 people crossing the bridge, whether it be in the car or on foot, on a daily basis.

The bridge was originally designed by prolific German bridge designer John Augustus Roebling and is generally considered as his greatest achievement, although he didn’t actually live to see the bridge completed. Ill health also disabled his son, Washington, who inherited the project from his father, and it was left to Washington’s wife, Emily, to oversee project completion. Roebling’s design legacy however was vital in the bridge’s longevity; he designed the bridge ’six times stronger’ than it needed to be, which is why it remains fully functioning today, 125 years after construction finished, when other bridges of the same era built with a similar lack of technology have perished.

Puente del Alamillo, Seville



Puente del Alamillo: Easiest translated into English as ‘The Alamillo Bridge’, Puente del Alamillo crosses the Canal de Alfonso XIII in Seville, and was built to provide access to La Cartuja island, the site of the World’s Fair in 1992. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the bridge is noted for its striking design, a huge pylon which, with the aid of 13 connecting cables, counterbalances the 200m main bridge span.

The bridge is renowned for looking particularly spectacular at night time when lit up, and is supposed to represent the ësoaring aspirations’ of the city itself. Originally, the bridge was designed as half of a pair, the symmetrical reproduction of the current construction to go at the other end of the island. However, designers decided the current one pylon construction was more spectacular aesthetically, and the sister bridge was abandoned.

14 Simple Ways to Super Charge Your Brain

Have you ever felt exasperated when you bumped into someone at the store but absolutely couldn't remember their name? Sure, it happens to all of us.

Despite being the strongest computer on the planet, our brains do lapse. It's hard to blame them really. As humans, we spend much of or existence stuffing our brains with stuff. Some stuff is worthless, some of it's meaningful, some of it, well, it's just stuff and there is an endless amount of it.

No matter how powerful our brains are, they need recuperation time, to be kept in shape, and even an occasional charge. Think of it as a tune up for your brain. Skipping brain maintenance is as silly as the person wandering the parking garage because they forgot where they parked. Is that you? Are you that person? Sure. We all are at some point. No worries, there is hope.

Now I am not a brain surgeon and I am not going to suggest you do anything surgical or dangerous. I am however an astute student of human behavior, so I always look for simple ways to super charge my brain.

Here are some things you can begin doing as soon as today to begin the great brain tune up.

1. Eat Almonds
Almond is believed to improve memory. If a combination of almond oil and milk is taken together before going to bed or after getting up at morning, it strengthens our memory power. Almond milk is prepared by crushing the almonds without the outer cover and adding water and sugar to it.

2. Drink Apple Juice
Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increased memory power.

3. Sleep well
Research indicates that the long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying the images of the experiences of the day. These repeated playbacks program the subconscious mind to store these images and other related information.

4. Enjoy simple Pleasures
Stress drains our brainpower. A stress-ridden mind consumes much of our memory resources to leave us with a feeble mind. Make a habit to engage yourself in few simple pleasures everyday to dissolve stress from your mind. Some of these simple pleasures are good for your mind, body and soul.

* Enjoy music you love
* Play with your children
* Hug a stranger
* Appreciate others
* Run few miles a day, bike or swim
* Start a blog
* Take a yoga class or Total Wellness routine

5. Fast for a day
Fasting cleans and detoxifies our body. It is known fact that heavy food not only causes stress on our digestive system but also drains our brainpower. Fasting relieves toxic emotions such as anger, grief, worry, and fears - before they accumulate and cause disease. By cleansing toxic emotions, fasting strengthens metal clarity with increases memory, concentration, creativity and insight.

6. Exercise your mind
Just as physical exercise is essential for a strong body, mental exercise is equally essential for a sharp and agile mind. Have you noticed that children have far superior brainpower than an adult does? Children have playful minds. A playful mind exhibits superior memory power. Engage in some of the activities that require your mind to remain active and playful.

* Play scrabble or crossword puzzle
* Volunteer
* Interact with others
* Start a new hobby such as blogging, reading, painting, bird watching
* Learn new skill or a language

7. Practice Yoga or Meditation
Yoga or Meditation relives stress. Stress is a known memory buster. With less stress, lower blood pressure, slower respiration, slower metabolism, and released muscle tension follows. All of these factors contribute significantly towards increases in our brainpower.

8. Reduce Sugar intake
Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers illusionary energy, only to cause a downhill slump once the initial burst has been worn off. Excess intake of sugar results in neurotic symptoms. Excess sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.

9. Eat whole wheat
The whole wheat germs contain lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.

10. Eat a light meal in the night
A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.

11. Develop imagination
Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses - touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.

12. Sex
Our sexual imagination often empowers our ability to daydream, which strengthens our brainpower with greater imagination, visualization and association.

13. Control your temper
Bleached food, excess of starch or excess of white bread can lead to nerve grating effect. This results in a violent and some time depressive behavior. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate or practice yoga to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and violent mood swings.

14. Take Vitamin B-complex
Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat food and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from the starch food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.

I don't believe these are that tough. If you find yourself increasing stumped, give a couple of these a try.

Scary Cats Optical Illusion

Calculate the number of cats you see in this illusion.
Hint : The number is more than 7

Robo Chess

Incredible Soap Bubble Foto To Achieve Like Planet

I don’t see anyone else out there catching the most simple images of the world and having them look so beautiful.



Incredible Soap Bubble Photos by Jason Tozer

An old coat hanger bent into a wire loop and a good recipe for bubble mixture - some of the hi-tech essentials for producing great images






“I looked online for bubble recipes and a bit of glucose is apparently the key,” says Tozer. “Ten parts water, one part washing-up liquid and a little bit of glucose. We also used distilled water as well because hard water isn’t so good.”

Tozer’s first experiments produced several close-ups of elongated bubble shapes. Poised in front of a black background, his assistant was charged with bringing the detergent-loaded hoop through the air in front of the camera. Only occasionally would the bubble pass by the correct position…









To achieve the more planet-like images, Tozer began by blowing through a straw into a plate of the solution and turning the camera on what formed on the near-side of the dish.







Interestingly, Tozer found that as further bubbles were made from a particular batch of solution, less colors appeared on the surface. “The first bubble you make has loads of colour in it, when you make another couple they seem to have less detergent in them, so less colour,” he says. “The detergent sinks to the bottom of the bubbles, leaving the water behind, so you gradually get paler images.”

For example:









As for the settings on the camera itself – Tozer kept it all to manual. “I was trying to get the highest shutter speed we could, with the lowest ASA, so the shots were less grainy,” he says. “When we got some beefier lights we were able to go down to about 100 and then 200 ASA.”

What seems most remarkable about Tozer’s shoot is how a seemingly transparent film of liquid actually revealed a whole multitude of colors when caught in mid-air and photographed. Because of this Tozer was able to play around with scale and perspective and create a fantastic series of otherworldly pictures.

New Hair styles For Ladies

What if a few things went invisible (Photoshop fun)

50 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than A Woman

At some point in time you’re going to wish you had a beer instead of a woman, and here’s the reasons why:

1: Beer doesn’t mind if you share it
2: You can enjoy a beer all day, every day
3: It’s OK to have a beer anytime of the month
4: A beer is always satisfying
5: You can take as many beers as you want home
6: Beer doesn’t get jealous when you grab another
7: You can have a beer whenever you want
8: Beer can’t get pregnant
9: You can always trust your beer
10: It’s easy to get rid of beer you don’t want
11: You can’t catch STD’s from your own beer
12: Beer gets lighter the longer you hold it
13: Beer doesn’t grow hair in places it shouldn’t
14: It’s ok to go home with a different beer
15: Beer always looks good no matter the packaging
16: It’s ok to go to sleep when you’ve had a beer
17: Beer doesn’t complain how cold it is
18: Your last beer won’t fight with your new beer
19: You don’t have to talk to your beer
20: You know how much a beer costs when you get it
21: Beer doesn’t have interfering parents
22: A beer won’t mind if you lock it up
23: A beer doesn’t need to wash before it tastes good
24: You can’t get arrested for burying a beer
25: A beer isn’t embarrassing when you take it out
26: A beer doesn’t expect you to marry it
27: It’s OK to have a beer on the bus
28: A beer won’t file a divorce suit against you
29: When you have a beer you know what you’re getting
30: A beer wont cheat on you with another man
31: Beer doesn’t take hours for it to be ready
32: A beer doesn’t care how much you earn
33: A beer doesn’t care where you take it
34: A beer won’t call you when you’ve had enough
35: Beer doesn’t need an answer for everything
36: It’s not illegal to sell your beer to a friend
37: You don’t need to drive a beer to its friends house
38: A beer won’t tell you to change the channel
39: A beer is always wet
40: A beer always hits the spot
41: You can give unwanted beer away without hassle
42: Beer doesn’t complain when it goes flat
43: If the beer is poured correctly, you get good head
44: A beer won’t say to you, “does my ass look big in this”
45: You can sleep with as many beers as you want
46: Beer doesn’t expect you to buy it presents
47: Beer doesn’t bleed on a regular occurrence
48: You can do what you want with a beer
49: A beer won’t mind you going out with your friends
50: It’s OK to leave a beer outside in the cold

If you’re a woman and this article was offensive, please click send me hate comment.

Simple Tips to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

You know you need to work out, but you’re having trouble getting up the enthusiasm. How do you find motivation to exercise when you just don’t feel like getting off your butt? I ask myself this question every now and then, and I have the feeling I’m not the only one.

There are a million ways to motivate yourself to exercise, actually, but these are a few that have worked for me.

* Have fun. If you hate running, don’t go to the track for exercise. Find something you like. The list of different kinds of exercises are nearly endless. The only really important thing is to get your body moving and your heart rate up.
* How you feel after a workout. I always feel great after a good workout. It’s a high. And I let that motivate me the next time.
* Calories burned. If you count calories (and it’s really one of the most effective ways to lose weight), you know that the more you exercise, the more calories you burn — and the bigger your calorie deficit.
* How you’re going to look. Imagine a slimmer, fitter you. Now let that visualization drive you.
* Change it up. Even if you have a routine you enjoy, mix it up from time to time. Try entirely different exercises. You can check out a tape at the library and try yoga or kick boxing for an afternoon. This will not only keep you interested, it will break your muscles out of their routine and help produce better results.
* Get a buddy. Exercising with a friend introduces a positive kind of peer pressure. You will be more likely to go to the gym if you know someone is waiting there for you. Talking and laughing while exercising will also keep you from being bored.
* An exercise log/graph. For some reason, writing it down is extremely important. Really. Do it for a week and you’ll see what I mean.
* Get appropriate clothing. If you don’t have the appropriate clothes for the excercise, it can be irritating, uncomfortable, frustrating, or even unsafe. If you exercise outside after dusk, be sure you have reflective clothing to prevent traffic accidents. Also be sure the clothing looks nice; if you don’t like the way your clothing looks, you may feel uncomfortable, and less likely to exercise.
* Pack Ahead of Time: An iPod, athletic shoes, a towel… whatever. Walking around the house trying to find stuff is a good time to lose your resolve. Put everything together in your gym bag. When you finish working out, take out things that need to be laundered and replace them immediately.
* Have a Goal. What do you want to achieve? Make it specific, make it meaningful, make it obtainable. Be sure to have short-term benchmarks along the way. It’s OK to change your goals if the original plan doesn’t work, but have a goal. Regularly evaluate how you are doing on your goals.
* Success stories. I find the success stories of others incredibly inspirational. If a fitness website has success stories, I’ll almost always read them.
* Reward Yourself. Have a healthy reward when you reach a goal. Buy yourself that cute pair of bike shorts. Go for a weekend hiking tri. Soak in the sauna for your “workout” that day. Buy a new yoga video. Whatever works for you to celebrate in line with your healthy lifestyle!


80 percent of success is showing up

10 Interesting Facts About Dogs

There are more than 700 types of pure bred dogs in the world. They were first domesticated by cavemen in the Paleolithic Age. Here are some interesting facts about dogs.

1. Dogs can register sounds of 35,000 vibrations a second where as a human can only hear 20,000 vibrations.
2. A German shepherd has smell sensory cells of 220,000,000 where as a human has only 5,000,000 cells
3. Theobromine in chocolates, a substance similar to caffeine, can kill the dogs, or at the very least make them seriously ill.
4. The tallest dogs are the Great Dane and the Irish wolfhound. The smallest dogs are the Chihuahua, Yorkshire terrier and Toy Poodle.
5. The oldest age recorded for a dog is 29 years and 5 months.
6. The world's heaviest and longest dog is an English Mastiff named Zorba which weighed 3423 pounds and eight feet three inches long from nose to tail.
7. Laika was the world's first ever space astronaut dog which was sent into space in 1957 by the Russian government.
8. Greyhounds can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour in short bursts.
9. In Second World War, Russians trained dogs to run suicide missions between the tracks of German tanks with mines strapped on their backs.
10. In the Middle Ages, Mastiffs used to be dressed in light armor to which was strapped a pot of flaming sulphur and were then made to run into battle against mounted knights.

How to be lazy

Laziness is the key to success. Here are the rules of being lazy:

# 1. Never do anything. If you wait around long enough, someone else will do it.

# 2. Don't move. Moving is overrated.

# 3. Never run. Running is the worst thing you can do. I had to run once.. big mistake.

# 4. If something is not in your reach, you don't need it. Before you get up to get something across the room next time, think. Do you really want to get up and walk all the way there and all the way back to get it? Yeah, I know. I felt stupid for moving all those times.

# 5. Don't have an opinion. Opinions are thoughts, and thoughts are work.

# 6. Don't work. Working is for suckers. Be a CEO if you can, they never do anything.

# 7. If you have to move, fuss about it. Make it well known that you're pissed off because you have to move. Sigh a lot. Drag your feet and arch your back at 60 degrees (bad posture helps you to conform to the shapes of couches when you sit down, and it makes you look tired).

# 8. Sleep as much as you can. Contrary to common sense and popular belief, sleeping is very productive.

# 9. Don't talk. Talking requires the movement of your jaw.. way too much work.

# 10. If you have to work, do a half-assed job at it. Example: If you have to rake leaves, push them out into the road or into your neighbor's yard. If you have a riding lawn mower, run over them a few times until the pieces are small enough to hide in between blades of grass.

I have more rules, but this is taking more effort than I thought. I'll update this later.. if I'm not too tired.

The Best Card Trick In The World

World Class Magician David performs another stunning feat of card magic, and betrays magicians the world over by showing how the best card trick in the world is done.

The card trick

If you're as magical as you'll have a crowd around you. If not, you'll need to find two people for this card trick. Tell them both to pick a card from the deck. Tell them to look at it and show it to their mate and the camera. They may find this confusing. But persevere.

Tell the lads to dump the cards on the top of the deck, and now perform some flashy shuffles. Now the cards have been shuffled and slammed into the middle of next week, it's time to perform some M.A.G.I.C. illusions!

With razor-like fingers, cut the deck in half and give one half to a lad. Take half of the other half (that's a quarter of the whole deck for any maths fans out there) - and fan it out, face up. Now smooch the face up cards into the other quarter deck thus mixing face up and face down cards. Hand this mess of cards to a lad and take the other half of the deck, again, fan out half of this deck and smooch it face up into the other cards.

Take the mess back off the other lad, and bang all the cards together, truly mucking them up. With the cards all mixed together, cut and turn the deck, and ask a lad to tap the deck with his young fingers. This is when the magic happens. Now go through the deck to reveal that not only are all the cards magically returned to order but that the two cards they chose stand alone face-up in the deck.

How it's done

Other magicians have exiled David from the magic circle and various internet forums for exposing his tricks but that's not going to stop him from revealing all,Just remember to thank him, if you ever meet him. You'll know it's him because he only has one suit.

Once you've found some lads, tell them to pick a card each. You do not need to know what these cards are for this cool card trick to work.

Tell the lads to put their chosen cards on top of the deck. We are going to use two blue cards here so you can follow them through the card trick. Now you make what magicians call false cuts. These are used to confuse the lads with movement, making them think the deck is being shuffled without actually changing the order of the cards. Here's how it's done. As you can see no cards change position at all, but when performed at speed, it appears as though they are mixed.

Now peel off the top two cards with your thumb as you begin to shuffle and keep them at the bottom of the deck while misdirecting the lads with a question like "can you remember your cards?". Flip the bottom two cards upside down, so they are now face up. When you break the deck, surreptitiously pull off one card from the bottom, so that you are left with two half decks both with one chosen card face up on the bottom.

Now you give one half to a lad to hold. Cut your deck in half and when you fan the cards flip the other deck over so that the bottom card is now the top card. When you smooch the cards together you are only mixing face-up cards except for the chosen card. Now all the cards are face up except the chosen card. But the audience doesn't know this, and that is the crucial deception. Do the same with the other deck. And mix both decks together, all the cards are face up except the two chosen cards, cut and turn the deck. Now go through the deck and reveal to the audience what you already know - all the cards are face down except for the two chosen cards. Asking someone to tap the deck implies that the magic happens at that moment, but we know it happened a long time ago. And there's how to do a great card trick.

Thirsty Cat

Cool optical illusions video

10 optical illusions in 2 minutes have fun...

Tips for a Flat Stomach

Developing a lean, flat stomach takes time and patience, especially when it comes to those last few kilograms in those hard to lose places. There is only one way to lose fat in the so-called ’stubborn areas,’ and that is with the correct combination strength training (with a extra focus on mid-section), cardiovascular exercise (short, hard workouts), and stable blood sugar (keeps you from adding additional fat and makes it easier for the body to use body fat for fuel).

Spot Reduction is a Myth - The first thing you need to realize is that it is impossible to ’spot reduce’ fat from one specific part of the body. Fat loss occurs systemically, meaning that you can’t control where the fat comes from. When you burn fat for energy, you will draw it from all areas of the body, and the first place you tend to put it on will be the last place it comes off.

Cardio, cardio, cardio - Doing all the abs exercises in the world will do nothing if you have a layer of fat covering it. Doing strength training, or lifting weights, would help, but not as much as aerobic exercise. If you want to add some ab exercises in after the cardio, that’s great, but be sure to work your whole torso, not just the upper abs — that includes the lower abs, lower back and the muscles that wrap around your sides.

For example, Walking, jogging, bicycling, elliptical exercise and stair climbing are all great fat burners. Most give up early in the workout. During the first 10 minutes of aerobic activity, glycogen (stored carbohydrates) is the primary fuel source. Because you don’t burn significant amounts of fat until glycogen stores are depleted, the key to maximum fat loss is to work out aerobically for 30-60 minutes continuously per session.

Diet - Its best to stay away from fried food and too many sugary desserts. Abdominal fat loss is a 50% exercise, 50% nutrition combination. Regardless of how much you workout, if the number of calories you take in is greater than the amount you burn, you’ll still put on abdominal fat.

Eat Small Meals Regularly - You should try and spread your calories out into five small meals a day instead of 2 or 3 big ones so that you don’t overeat in one feeding.

Give it Time - If you want to have a flat stomach in 3 weeks, forget it. Losing fat takes time, and it’s unhealthy to lose too much weight too fast. Gradual weight loss is healthier, and more likely to be sustained over time. Go for a lifestyle change, something you can live with for the rest of your life, or you will just yo-yo. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer

If you want to learn how to write better where do you go?

Well, you can take a creative writing course.

Or read the books, biographies and studies of men and women hailed as literary geniuses throughout history.

For today, I´ve chosen to take some advice from one the most popular fiction writers of the last few decades: Stephen King.

Now, great sales figures aren’t always an indication of greatness in any field.

But it probably means that the creator knows what s/he is doing and what works. Plus, I have found that that quite a few of Stephen King´s books – like Insomnia, The Long Walkor The Running Man- are really good reads (and sometimes even greater films).

I’ve learned/been reminded about these seven tips by rereading King´s memoir/how-to-write book On Writing - highly recommended for many good insights into writing and a writer’s life - and by a whole bunch of his novels I’ve sacrificed sleep to keep on reading.

Many of these tips can be useful no matter if you are a blogger, writing reports at work/in school or quietly spending your nights secretly working on that great novel that will astonish the world.

1. Get to the point.

Don’t waste your reader’s time with too much back-story, long intros or longer anecdotes about your life. Reduce the noise. Reduce the babbling. In On Writing King gets to his points quickly. Get to your point quickly too before your reader loses patience and moves on.

2. Write a draft. Then let it rest.

King recommends that you crank out a first draft and then put it in your drawer to let it rest. Now, how long you let your text rest may vary. King puts his manuscripts away for several months before rereading and start the editing process.

I often let a post rest for a day or two before I start editing (as I´m sure many other bloggers do from time to time too).

This enables you to get out of the mindset you had when you wrote the draft and get a more detached and clear perspective on the text. It then becomes easier to edit, add and cut in a sometimes kinda ruthless way. The result is most often a better text.

3. Cut down your text.

When you revisit your text it´s time to kill your darlings and remove all the superfluous words and sentences. Removing will declutter your text and often get your message through with more clarity and a bigger emotional punch.

Don´t remove too much text though or you may achieve the opposite effects instead. King got the advice to cut down his texts by 10 percent from an old rejection-letter and has followed this advice for decades. While editing my blog I´ve found that 10 percent seems to be a pretty good figure not just for mammoth-sized books.

4. Be relatable and honest.

King has an honest voice in his fiction and in his memoir. He tells it like it is and makes us relate to him and his characters. Since King´s fiction often is of an odd kind with strange plots that seldom happen to normal people I think one of his strengths as a writer is being able to write relatable content anyway.

One of the keys to doing that is to have an honest voice and honest characters with both bad and good sides to them. People we can relate to with all of their faults, passions, fears, weaknesses and good moments. King´s characters seem human. That creates a strong connection to the reader who starts caring about the characters.

Another key to being honest and relatable is keeping a conversational style. Keeping it simple and using language that isn’t unnecessarily complicated. Using the words that first come to mind.

5. Don´t care too much what others may think.

King admits to being needy about the emotional feedback he gets when he lets his wife read a new story for the first time. He gets a kick out of hearing her laugh so she cries or just cry because something in manuscript really touched her. But he has also gotten tons of mail over the years from people who confuse his sometimes nasty characters with the writer. Or just thinks he should wind up in hell. And King hasn´t always been a favourite among literary critics either.

But from what I gather he just sits down at his desk and keeps writing every morning anyway. If you listen too much to your critics you won´t get much done. Your writing will probably become worse and less fun. And criticism is often not even about you anyway.

6. Read a lot.

When you read you always pick up things. Sometimes it might be reminders about what you know you should be doing while you write. Sometimes it’s some cool idea or just the world and atmosphere the writer is painting. Sometimes it’s something totally new that makes your jaw drop. That one is my favourite. And sometimes you learn what you should avoid doing. There are almost always lessons you can learn.

If you want to be a better writer you need to read a lot to get fresh input, broaden your horizons and deepen your knowledge. And to evolve you need to mix yourself up with new influences and see what happens.

How do you find time to read more? You can cut down on other evening activities like watching TV-shows you don´t care for that much anyway. Or, as King suggests, you can bring a book to waiting rooms, treadmills or toilets. I like to plug in an audiobook while I´m on the bus or walking somewhere.

7. Write a lot.

I’ve saved the most important tip for last. To become a better writer you probably – and not so surprisingly - need to write more.

Many of the best in different fields – Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods - have gone beyond normal limits of practise. And so they reap extraordinary results.

But what do you do when you don´t feel like writing? Waiting for inspiration can become a long wait.

One good way to get around this is to find an effective solution to reduce procrastination. You may have to try a few before you find one that works for you. Another way is well, just to do it. And if you just get going your emotions changes a lot of the time and any initial resistance becomes fun and enthusiasm instead.

Do you make these 10 mistakes in a conversation?

Can you improve your conversation skills? Certainly.

It might take a while to change the conversation habits that’s been ingrained throughout your life, but it is very possible.

To not make this article longer than necessary let’s just skip right to some common mistakes many of us have made in conversations. And a couple of solutions.

Not listening
Ernest Hemingway once said:

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”

Don’t be like most people. Don’t just wait eagerly for your turn to talk. Put your own ego on hold. Learn to really listen to what people actually are saying.

When you start to really listen, you’ll pick up on loads of potential paths in the conversation. But avoid yes or no type of questions as they will not give you much information. If someone mentions that they went fishing with a couple of friends last weekend you can for instance ask:

* Where did you go fishing?
* What do you like most about fishing?
* What did you do there besides fishing?

The person will delve deeper into the subject giving you more information to work with and more paths for you choose from.

If they say something like: “Oh, I don’t know” at first, don’t give up. Prod a little further. Ask again. They do know, they just have to think about a bit more. And as they start to open up the conversation becomes more interesting because it’s not on auto-pilot anymore.

Asking too many questions
If you ask too many questions the conversation can feel like a bit of an interrogation. Or like you don’t have that much too contribute. One alternative is to mix questions with statements. Continuing the conversation above you could skip the question and say:

* Yeah, it’s great to just get out with your friends and relax over the weekend. We like to take a six-pack out to the park and play some Frisbee golf.
* Nice. We went out in my friend’s boat last month and I tried these new lures from Sakamura. The blue ones were really great.

And then the conversation can flow on from there. And you can discuss Frisbee golf, the advantages/disadvantages of different lures or your favourite beer.

Tightening up
When in conversation with someone you just meet or when the usual few topics are exhausted an awkward silence or mood might appear. Or you might just become nervous not knowing exactly why.

* Leil Lowndes once said: “Never leave home without reading the newspaper.” If you’re running out of things to say, you can always start talking about the current news. It’s also good to stay updated on current water cooler-topics. Like what happened on the latest episode of Lost.
* Comment on the aquarium at the party, or that one girl’s cool Halloween-costume or the host’s mp3-playlist. You can always start new conversations about something in your surroundings.
* Assume rapport. If you feel nervous or weird when meeting someone for the first time assume rapport. What that means is that you imagine how you feel when you meet one of your best friends. And pretend that this new acquaintance is one of your best friends. Don’t overdo it though, you might not want to hug and kiss right away. But if you imagine this you’ll go into a positive emotional state. And you’ll greet and start talking to this new person with a smile and a friendly and relaxed attitude. Because that’s how you talk to your friends. It might sound a bit loopy or too simple. But it really works.

Poor delivery
One of the most important things in a conversation is not what you say, but how you say it. A change in these habits can make a big difference since your voice and body language is a vital part of communication. Some things to think about:

* Slowing down. When you get excited about something it’s easy to start talking faster and faster. Try and slow down. It will make it much easier for people to listen and for you actually get what you are saying across to them.
* Speaking up. Don’t be afraid to talk as loud as you need to for people to hear you.
* Speaking clearly. Don’t mumble.
* Speak with emotion. No one listens for that long if you speak with a monotone voice. Let your feelings be reflected in your voice.
* Using pauses. Slowing down your talking plus adding a small pause between thoughts or sentences creates a bit of tension and anticipation. People will start to listen more attentively to what you’re saying. Listen to one of Brian Tracys cds or Steve Pavlina’s podcasts. Listen to how using small pauses makes what they are saying seem even more interesting.
* Learn a bit about improving your body language as it can make your delivery a lot more effective. Read about laughter, posture and how to hold your drink in 18 ways to improve your body language.

Hogging the spot-light
I’ve been guilty of this one on more occasions than I wish to remember. :) Everyone involved in a conversation should get their time in the spotlight. Don’t interrupt someone when they are telling some anecdote or their view on what you are discussing to divert the attention back to yourself. Don’t hijack their story about skiing before it’s finished to share your best skiing-anecdote. Find a balance between listening and talking.

Having to be right
Avoid arguing and having to being right about every topic. Often a conversation is not really a discussion. It’s a more of a way to keep a good mood going. No one will be that impressed if you “win” every conversation. Instead just sit back, relax and help keep the good feelings going.

Talking about a weird or negative topic
If you’re at a party or somewhere were you are just getting to know some people you might want to avoid some topics. Talking about your bad health or relationships, your crappy job or boss, serial killers, technical lingo that only you and some other guy understands or anything that sucks the positive energy out of the conversation are topics to steer clear from. You might also want to save religion and politics for conversations with your friends.

Being boring
Don’t prattle on about your new car for 10 minutes oblivious to your surroundings. Always be prepared to drop a subject when you start to bore people. Or when everyone is getting bored and the topic is starting to run out of steam.

One good way to have something interesting to say is simply to lead an interesting life. And to focus on the positive stuff. Don’t start to whine about your boss or your job, people don’t want to hear that. Instead, talk about your last trip somewhere, some funny anecdote that happened while you where buying clothes, your plans for New Years Eve or something funny or exciting.

Another way is just to be genuinely interested. As Dale Carnegie said:

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the way to make a friend is to be one.”

Knowing a little about many things or at least being open to talk about them instead of trying to steer the conversation back to your favourite subject is a nice quality.

Meaning: talking for what seems like hours about one topic. Topics may include work, favourite rock-band, TV-show and more work.

Opening up a bit and not clinging desperately to one topic will make the conversation feel more relaxed and open. You will come across like a person who can talk about many things with ease. As you’ve probably experienced with other people; this quality is something you appreciate in a conversation and makes you feel like you can connect to that person easily.

Not reciprocating
Open up and say what you think, share how you feel. If someone shares an experience, open up too and share one of your experiences. Don’t just stand there nodding and answer with short sentences. If someone is investing in the conversation they’d like you to invest too.

Like in so many areas in life, you can’t always wait for the other party to make the first move. When needed, be proactive and be the first one to open up and invest in the conversation. One way is by replacing some questions with statements. It makes you less passive and makes take a sort of stand.

Not contributing much
You might feel that you don’t have much to contribute to a conversation. But try anyway. Really listen and be interested in what the others are saying. Ask questions. Make relating statements.

Open your eyes too. Develop your observational skills to pick up interesting stuff in your surroundings to talk about. Develop your personal knowledge-bank by expanding your view of interesting things in the world. Read the newspapers and keep an eye on new water cooler-topics.

Work on your body language, how you talk and try assuming rapport to improve your communication skills.

But take it easy. Don’t do it all at once. You’ll just feel confused and overwhelmed. Instead, pick out the three most important things that you feel needs improving. Work on them every day for 3-4 weeks. Notice the difference and keep at it. Soon your new habits will start to pop up spontaneously when you are in a conversation.

21 signs a geek girl likes you

21 Signs a 'Geek Girl' is like errr, totally into You

1. She tells you your hard drive is much bigger than her ex-boyfriend's.

2. She makes a point of telling you how the system upgrade you did for her totally revolutionized her life.

3. She stops blogging in front of the TV and talks to you.

4. She gets shivers up her spine when you raw-code her HTML.

5. The first time you used the Command Prompt in front of her, she screamed in excitement.

6. She invites you to "302 back to my place" after a night out.

7. She doesn't cook you dinner — she defrags your hard drive.

8. She thinks you're much cuter in person than in World of Warcraft.

9. She devotes an entire blog entry to you.

10. She invites you to a romantic night at her place that involves popcorn and Tron.

11. She leaves you a love post - its written entirely in Visual Basic.

12. She "casually" invites you to come with her to the next Linux Expo.

13. She gives you her telephone number in binary.

14. She gives you lots of link love.

15. She regularly Diggs articles she thinks you'll like.

16. You've overheard her telling her friends you are "so 2.0."

17. She always tags you for memes.

18. She puts memory cards in your stocking for Christmas.

19. She always sides with you when someone brings up the "Mac vs. PC" debate.

20. She likes your black jeans.

21. She reminisces with you about those old-school Commodores you both had as kids.

Naughty question asked by a teacher

A first-grade teacher was having trouble with one of her students.

Teacher: What is your problem?

Bog: I'm too smart for the first-grade.My sister is in third-grade and I'm smarter then she is.I think I should in the third-grade too.

The teacher took the boy to the Principal office.while the boy waiting in the outer office,the teacher explained to the principal what the situation was.

The principal told her that he would give the boy a test and if he failed to answer any of his questions he was to go back to the first-grade and behave.
She agreed.

The boy was brought in and the condition were explained to him and he agreed to take the test.

Principal:What is 3x3?
Boy:9

Principal:What is 6x6?
Boy:36

And so it went with every question the principal thought a third-grade should know."I think the boy can go to the third-grade",said the principal
The teacher said she had some of her own questions to ask.

The Principal and the boy agreed Teacher:What is that a cow has four and I have only two?
Boy: (after a moment) Legs.

Teacher:What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?
Boy:Pockets.

Teacher: What starts with a C and ends with a T,is hairy,oval,delicious and contains then whitish liquid?
Boy:Coconut.

Teacher: What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft and sticky?
The Principal's eyes opened really wide and before he could stop the answer,the boy was already answering.

Boy:Bubblegum

Teacher : What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and a dog dose on three legs?
The Principal's eyes opened really wide and before he could stop the answer
Boy:Shake hands.

Teacher:Now I will ask some "Who am I" sort of questions,okay?
boy: Yep.

Teacher:You stick your poles inside me.you tie me down to get me up.I get wet before you do.
Bo:Tent

Teacher:A finger goes in me.You fiddle with me when you're bored.The best man always has me first.
The principal was looking restless,a bit tense and took one large vodka peg.....
Boy:Wedding ring.

Teacher:I come in many sizes.When I'm not well, I drip.When you blow me,you feel good
Boy: nose

Teacher:I am a stiff shaft.My tip penetrates. I come with a Quiver.
Boy:Arrow

Teacher:What word starts with a 'F' and ends in 'K' that means lot of heat and excitement?
Boy: Firetruck

Teacher: What word starts with a 'F' and ends in 'k' and if u don't get it u have to use your hand?
Boy:Fork.

Teacher: What is it that all men have one.It is longer for some men then for others.The pope Doesn't use his.Normally a man gives it to his wife after they're married?
Boy SURNAME

The Principal breathed a sigh of relief and said to the teacher,"Send this boy to the University.I got the last then questions wrong myself!"

Most Famous eye illusion (optical illusions)

Lasik eye surgery can fix your eye, but these eye illusions will still trick on you.




It is quite interesting that all numbers can be created by using only two numerals - 4 and 8.



Is this really a spiral?



There is nothing moving on the picture.



Another static picture.



Motion is just an eye illusion.



Are the horizontal lines parallel? (of course they are)



There is nothing moving below.



Who do you like more - women or saxophone players?






See the face of a soldier and a man that is bending over on the below eye illusion



This impossible object is called "Devil's Fork" or "Schuster's Conundrum"



Try to arrange dices like this.



If you can read the following picture, then you can shout ...



Are there really just flowers?



Beautiful scene. But there is something more to it.



1st Color Blindness Test - can you see a "12" on this plate?



2nd Color Blindness Test - there is a "26" on this plate.



3rd Color Blindness Test - can you trace a line from one "X" to the other?



4th Color Blindness Test - you should see 58 (upper left), 18 (upper right), E (lower left) and 17 (lower right).



Given the wood do you think you could make this?



You may read across and upright.
A-B-C or 12-13-14?



Boats on the picture are not moving. It's just an eye illusion.



Given the wood do you think you could make this?



Or this one?



Another interesting building illusion.