Thursday, March 26, 2009

Six Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle

From Small Planes to Warships, Hundreds of Lives Were Lost in Mystery

Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda are separately some of the most sought-after vacation spots in the world.

But together, lines between them make up the approximate boundary of one of the most mysterious and deadly areas on the planet: the Bermuda Triangle.

Ever since Christopher Columbus sailed through the region in 1492, some weird, unexplained stuff has taken place over the Atlantic Ocean there.

Everything from bad weather to supernatural forces have been blamed for several high profile disappearances.

Here are just a few of the tales that deliver more questions than answers.

1945: Bomber Squad Disappears, So Do Rescuers



Although it was not the first unexplained occurrence in the area, many say that what happened to a bomber squadron in December 1945 sparked the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.

The five-plane squadron, Flight 19, with 27 men, set out on a training mission from their base in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and never returned.



1918: U.S. Battleship Goes Missing With 306 on Board
The USS Cyclops was a collier that operated between the East Coast and the Caribbean, servicing the Atlantic fleet for a time and then ran trans-Atlantic journeys until February 1918.


After fueling British ships in the south Atlantic in Brazilian waters, the ship embarked from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 16, 1918, came into Barbados in early March and then promptly disappeared completely.

The 306 crew and passengers were never heard from again and, while there are many theories, according to the Naval Historical Center, it "is one of the sea's unsolved mysteries."


1948: DC-3 Commercial Flight Vanishes
On Dec. 28, 1948, Capt. Robert Lindquist took off from San Juan with two crew members and 29 passengers heading for Miami.

When the plane was 50 miles away from Miami, Lindquist reportedly radioed the Miami airport for landing instructions. The airport's reply was met with silence. The plane was never seen again.

According to an investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board, the plane had electrical difficulties and low battery power. Those findings have not stopped many from blaming supernatural forces on the disappearance.





1976: Panamanian Ship Trades Cargo for Mystery




The Panamanian ship Sylvia L. Ossa was a cargo ship that was a regular near the mysterious waters of the Bermuda Triangle.

But in 1976, the Sylvia L. Ossa fell victim to the mysteries of the triangle when she and her 37-person crew disappeared without a trace.



The Coast Guard is reportedly still looking for clues to what happened to the 590-foot ship, pictured above.






1948: Star Tiger Drops Out of the Sky
On its way from England to Bermuda in January 1948, a Star Tiger passenger plane vanished with more than 30 people on board.

England's Civial Air Ministry conducted an investigation and found that a ship, the SS Troubadour, reported seeing a low-flying plane about halfway between Bermuda and Delaware Bay. If that plane was the Star Tiger, it was horribly off course.

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The fate of the Star Tiger is still considered an unsolved mystery.

1963: Something Smells Funny With the Sulphur Queen's Disappearance
The Sulphur Queen was a 523-foot tanker that was originally intended to carry oil, but was converted to carry sulphur.


On Feb. 3, 1963, the ship sent a radio report that placed it 230 miles southeast of New Orleans, La., according to a report by Time magazine. Then nothing.

There was no SOS and no warning of trouble. The ship simply disappeared.

Two weeks later, pieces of a raft, a life vest and a broken oar washed up on Florida beaches.

An investigation launched by the Coast Guard shortly after the disappearance concluded that the vessel was nowhere near seaworthy and likely caught fire at sea.

Such a conclusion was not far-fetched. According to the article, "once, the Queen actually sailed into a New Jersey port with fires smoldering, unloaded her cargo, and sailed off again -- still burning."

Watch a video...n get ur queries cleared..

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7168091

Animals Battle Extinction...!!!

From Videos

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The future beneath your fingertips

The success of the iPhone has given rise to a new grammar of touch control while the advent of multi-touch in Windows 7 will further accelerate the evolution of human computer interfaces, the South by SouthWest festival has been told.
The minute-long sequence in the film Minority Report in which Tom Cruise manipulated images on a screen using simple gestures has quickly become a cliche of future human computer interfaces.
While based on the real world science of John Underkoffler, who has since co-founded a company called g-Speak that sells the technology, it has become both the vision and barrier for many user interface and user experience designers.
The reality of standing at a giant screen and wearing special gloves may eventually render the Minority Report vision impractical, but it does reflect one certainty: the days of the mouse keyboard and desktop graphical interface are numbered.

Follow the link to Know more.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7945680.stm

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Coca-Cola "Max" by Tugboat Japan


The campaign, which aims to promote the extra sweet coffee drink amongst extreme sports enthusiasts, transforms the toilet cubicle so that the person sitting on the loo feels as though they are the top of a dramatic ski jump.


In order to target its key audience, Tugboat transformed the toilets of a number of major ski resorts, with branding on the toilet holder reading: "Seriously kick-ass intensely sweet for the real coffee super zinging unstoppable Max! Taste-explosion!"
sweet cold drinks.....
will it work wat say....

No Holi for 150 years...

There is one village in Jharkhand has not celebrated Holi for 150 years, fearing a natural calamity if they do so.

Famine and deaths will follow if they celebrate Holi, believe residents of Durgapur village on the banks of the Khanjo river in Bokaro district, around 170 km from Ranchi.
Since my childhood I have not seen any celebration of Holi in the village. Some people who celebrated the festival some 50 years ago died," 85-year-old villager Maghi Mahto said.

Narrating the incident, he said: "Just after independence a few traders stayed on the day of Holi in our village. Going against our suggestion they celebrated Holi and died within a month. The cattle in their possession also died."
He said the incident reaffirmed the belief of villagers.

Villagers believe that Holi was last celebrated in Durgapur about 150 years ago during the reign of King Durga Prasad Singh.
"When Holi was celebrated in the village, cattle died and no crops grew for three successive years. The fear of famine prevents people from celebrating Holi."

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?

JOHN Thain has one. So do Richard Fuld, Stanley O’Neal andVikram Pandit. For that matter, so does John Paulson, the hedge fund kingpin.

Yes, all five have fat bank accounts, even now, and all have made their share of headlines. But these current and former giants of finance also are all card-carrying M.B.A.’s.

The master’s of business administration, a gateway credential throughout corporate America, is especially coveted on Wall Street; in recent years, top business schools have routinely sent more than 40 percent of their graduates into the world of finance.

But with the economy in disarray and so many financial firms in free fall, analysts, and even educators themselves, are wondering if the way business students are taught may have contributed to the most serious economic crisis in decades.

Monday, March 2, 2009

BA's T5 blunder knocks it out of Superbrands top 10

Setbacks for British Airways (BA), including the bungled launch of Terminal 5, have resulted in the airline falling out of the top 10 of the annual Business Superbrands survey for the first time.

The survey of 500 brands is voted on by a panel of 1,500 managers and organised by the Centre for Brand Analysis (CBA). It found the opening of Terminal 5 had severely damaged BA's business reputation and resulted in it dropping 28 places to 36.


Another brand to drop out of the top 10 was BBC Worldwide, which fell from four to 15. The BBC’s commercial arm held the top spot in 2007. The number one position has been retained by Google. Other new entries into the top ten include Sony, Nokia, Michelin and the London Stock Exchange, while Rolls-Royce rose from sixth to second. Business Superbrands Top 10 2009:

Google
Rolls-Royce
Sony
Microsoft
Nokia
GlaxoSmithKline
London Stock Exchange
Michelin
BP
Bupa