RoyalTube

The Queen has a YouTube channel. As the Observer points out, she beat the White House. Sadly, they disabled embedding. » Continue reading

Read more on Tid Bits

Don't say yech!

Before you click away from the page, let me tell you that the cockroach is not that a scary or dirty as you think, says a Taiwanese study. To start with, its eye is an arrangement of around 3,000 lenses and it can smell food over 20 metres away.

It breathes through body holes called spiracles that can be closed with a kind of hairy lid. So, if you flush a roach down the toilet, it doesn't drown; it just shuts off the holes and swims to safety! The best thing it does is eat up your garbage. You don't scream when you see the garbage man just because he works amongst rubbish, right? » Continue reading

Read more on Home

Colonial Aroma

Habana 1791, a perfume shop in Cuba, is thriving even though it sells just 12 fragrances. Its speciality is colonial fragrances, both perfumes and room fresheners. Rose, jasmine and lilac petals, Rangoon creeper and orange blossoms, tobacco leaves, lime peel, sandalwood resin and lavender oil go into these perfumes.

The ingredients are crushed and soaked in an alcohol solution. This matures for two months before being strained and sold at $7 to $20 per bottle. What's more? Your choice will be mixed and bottled in front of you. » Continue reading

Read more on Gifts, Grooming, Travel and Holiday

Signal Bench

Residents of East Prawle village in Devonshire, UK have been queuing to use a bench on their village green. Apparently, it is the only place from where they can make a mobile phone call. Villagers discovered that by standing on the seat they could receive a signal from the nearest mast, which is 3.5km away. Now the parish council is building a 2ft podium for cell-phone users! » Continue reading

Read more on Humour

Speed trance to perfection

Do you want to develop a great sense of humor or overcome your fear of dogs? Would you like to reverse the aging process, overcome an illness or improve your driving skills? You can find a solution to these and 300 other problems in Instant Hypnosis.

It is a misconception that induction into hypnosis is time consuming and requires complete relaxation. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to hypnotize a subject in just a few seconds by causing confusion, loss of equilibrium, misdirection, shock, and eye fixation.

Instant-Hypnosis.com provides a huge collection of hypnosis downloads for almost anything you can think of -- self-improvement, fear and phobias, body image, illness, skill improvement, personal development, business success, addictions and habits, mental health, love & emotions, sleeping disorders, pain relief, relaxation, and general health.

You could give it a try and if you are not yet ready to hypnotize yourself, you can definitely take the FREE five-part hypnosis mini-course to get you started. » Continue reading

Read more on Health

Genetic elixir

It looks like genes will keep you in your jeans till kingdom come. The buzz is that a nematode worm holds the key to eternal youth. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, California, have identified a gene that links calorie restriction to longevity. The over-expression of a gene, encoding the protein PHA-4, led to increased lifespan in worms. This might lead to development of drugs that mimic the effects of calorie restriction.

» Continue reading

Read more on Health

Just design

They call it 'Design for the Other 90%'. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is holding the exhibition to emphasis that popular design benefits only 10 per cent of the world's population, as only they can afford most things. The exhibition showcases 30 design projects addressing basic needs in developing countries.

The LifeStraw (in pic) is a water purifier which turns any surface water into drinking water. Other designs include a bamboo treadle pump for farmers to pump up groundwater, the Big Boda Load-Carrying Bicycle for carrying cargo or two passengers, and the Q Drum which helps people transport water by rolling the tyreshaped drum along the ground, rather than carrying it. The most innovative is One Laptop Per Child's X01 laptop computer that costs around $200. » Continue reading

Read more on Gadgets