Polish born Pawel Kuczynski (Pawła Kuczyńskiego) was born in 1976 in Szczecin. He graduated the Fine Arts Academy in Poznan with specialization in graphics.
You can see more of Paul Kuczinski’s images on capu.pl, and below you can see some samples from that site. These images definitely make you think about what’s going on in the world today.
The new study ran by Hotels.com found prices for booking in March this year for August are 102% higher than for the same months last year.
The website, which is part of the Expedia group of companies, says the average price of a hotel room in London will be £213 ($337) this summer.
Between 2010 and 2011 room prices worldwide rose 4%.
The survey, of 142,000 properties in almost 20,000 locations found political events had a marked impact.
Greece’s economic woes led to a 10% fall in the price of a hotel room in Athens.
Elsewhere there were sharp movements in accommodation prices as a result of the Arab Spring and prices in Japan were affected by the earthquake.
Japan’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011 saw price cuts in Hiroshima by 16% to $106 and in Kyoto by 11% to $144.
The Arab Spring protests and war in Libya hit prices across the Middle East and North Africa with average rates falling in Egypt by 22%, in Tunisia by 9%, in Lebanon, which borders Syria, by 21% and in Qatar by 27%.
Last year, prices fell 2% in Asia year-on-year but rose in all other areas: 8% in the Pacific, 5% in North America, 4% in Latin America, 3% in the Caribbean and 2% in Europe and the Middle East.
David Roche, president of Hotels.com, said: “Price volatility in 2011 meant UK travelers found it more expensive to stay in the majority of their favorite destinations abroad.
“A variety of factors, including currency movements and a growth in corporate travel, pushed up prices at a time when many consumers were already struggling to pay their bills at home.”
David Roche added though that room rates were still generally lower than they were in 2005.
Here are some highlights of Bobbi Kristina Brown interview with Oprah Winfrey:
Whitney Houston’s last moments
Whitney Houston was found in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on February 11. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, said the night before Whitney Houston’s death, she asked her mother to spend the night with her. “I slept in her arms all day, all night long.”
Whitney Houston is always there for Bobbi Kristina
“She’s always with me,” said Bobbi Kristina. “Her spirit is strong, it’s a strong spirit. I feel her pass through me all the time. I can hear her voice in spirit talking to me.”
Bobbi Kristina’s family is helping her to cope
Bobbi Kristina credited her family and God for helping her cope. “It comes in waves. One moment I can be happy and laughing, but then it comes over me. It’s my mom,” she said.
Coming Home
Bobbi Kristina has been spending time in her mother’s Atlanta mansion. The 19-year-old explained: “Sometimes, it’s so surreal. I still walk into the house like, <<Mom?>> But I’ve accepted it.”
Carrying on Her Mother’s Talent
“I have to carry on the legacy,” says Bobbi Kristina. “We’re going to do the singing thing. Some acting, some dancing.”
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Whitney Houston’s family interview, which aired on OWN’s “Oprah’s Next Chapter” from 9:00 to 10:30 p.m., racked up 3.5 million total viewers, according to the network.
That’s a dramatic improvement over OWN’s previously most-watched program Oprah Winfrey’s January 8 interview with celebrity pastor Joel Osteen, which drew 1.6 million total viewers.
Oprah Winfrey’s Bobbi Kristina Brown interview also drew a 3.1 rating in the key women 25-54 demographic, with a 3.3 household rating.
Sunday’s installment in “Oprah’s Next Chapter” represented a 444 percent increase over the season average in the key demographic. It jumped 417 percent boost in total viewership and 378 percent in the household rating.
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Now, Courtney Love, 47, is hoping to a smoother domestic situation in her new home.
Courtney Love is now living in a rented condominium in the Nolita district of Manhattan and is getting on famously with her new landlords.
The singer revealed she is now living in “the Lafayette building – everyone calls it that – near the New Museum”.
When Courtney Love moved in last month, she even got U2 rocker Bono to write her a character reference.
The singer told the New York Daily News: “They didn’t even credit-check. They chose Bono (from my character references). And he wrote me a paragraph.”
So far, Courtney Love was only run into one clash with neighbors, when she was playing loud music, but has vowed to keep the volume down from now on after finding out one was pregnant.
The singer said: “It’s all good now. I didn’t know! I don’t do noise complaints.”
Judge Jean Schneider of New York County Housing cancelled the case saying Donna Lyons had improperly relied on outdated lease provisions.
Courtney Love had been renting the $27,000-a-month townhouse on West 10th Street for 11 months, but has apparently not been missing payments.
Her lawyer Eric Sherman said: “We are pleased with the court’s decision.
“The judge decided there was no <<non>> in the non-payment. She has always paid her rent on time, in fact sometimes in advance of when it was due.”
Given her recent tweeting, Courtney Love is very happy in her new abode.
She wrote on March 10: “I like this pad better – and my landlord teddy and mrs teddy are so very very cool and chic and live next-door – not a nasty fatty from Chi.”
Scientists have even drawn conclusions to suggest that people are often drawn to things and people that sound like their own names.
These experts claim that “implicit egotism” is the reason that someone called Dennis might become a dentist or even that a child whose name begins with a B or C may fare worse in school examinations.
A controversial 2007 study linked higher scoring peers to names that begun with A or B.
That a person’s name may be bound to his or her destiny is far from a new phenomenon.
Studies have indeed shown that those with more conservative, “Caucasian” names are more successful when submitting resumes for employment.
And a recent poll conducted in Australia revealed that people respond more warmly to colleagues and politicians with names they can easily pronounce.
Yet parents nowadays are putting that much more effort into giving their offspring original names that are largely unfamiliar.
Though historically names have been passed down through families of gleaned from the Bible, in recent days the tendency has been to think outside the box and consider movies, songs and stories for inspiration.
When Britney Spears rose to fame the slightly altered Brittaney became wildly popular among new parents and recently, thanks to the Twilight series, Isabella has made a comeback.
But today, about half of all boys and girls born are given names in the current top 200 list.
One study found that 30% of African American girls born in California during the 1990’s were given unique names that they shared with not a single person born in the same year in the same state.
Most surprisingly, however, are the statistics that show how these trends differ across the nation.
According to naming expert Laura Wattenberg, “classic, Christian, masculine” names like Peter and Thomas prevail in the more liberal states whereas an “androgynous, pagan newcomer like Dakota” would not be out of place in a red states.
Dr. Martin Ford of George Mason University, however, believes a name does not stand for much either way.
He explained: “Names only have a significant influence when that is the only thing you know about the person. Add a picture, and the impact of the name recedes.
“Add information about personality, motivation, and ability, and the impact of the name shrinks to minimal significance.”
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, and Nick Gordon, 22, were spotting kissing and holding hands together last Friday outside a Target store in Johns Creek, Georgia, Hollywoodlife.com have reported.
And now it appears Nick Gordon, who has lived with Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina since he was 12-years-old, confirmed their relationship status.
Nick Gordon tweeted: “Yea we got a little closer and what!!!”
He also posted a picture of himself and Bobbi Kristina to his Twitter page on Friday.
Nick Gordon, who was never officially adopted by Whitney Houston, also told fans only to follow Bobbi Kristina’s real account.
He tweeted: “Good morning everyone. Their lots of fake people pretending to be MY Krissi. The real one is @REALbkBrown. Fakes need to get un followed (sic)”
Bobbi Kristina Brown has not been on the social networking website since December but she and Nick Gordon tweeted each other regularly in the months towards the end of last year.
While they appeared to each other as sister and brother, Nick Gordon’s latest tweets seem to suggest their relationship has become something more.
The study of more than 120,000 people suggested red meat increased the risk of death from cancer and heart problems.
Substituting red meat with fish, chicken or nuts lowered the risks, the authors said.
According to The British Heart Foundation, red meat could still be eaten as part of a balanced diet.
The researchers analyzed data from 37,698 men between 1986 and 2008 and 83,644 women between 1980 and 2008.
The figures for processed meat were higher, 20% for overall mortality, 21% for death from heart problems and 16% for cancer mortality.
The study said: “We found that a higher intake of red meat was associated with a significantly elevated risk of total, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality.
“This association was observed for unprocessed and processed red meat with a relatively greater risk for processed red meat.”
The researchers suggested that saturated fat from red meat may be behind the increased heart risk and the sodium used in processed meats may “increase cardiovascular disease risk through its effect on blood pressure”.
Victoria Taylor, a dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Red meat can still be eaten as part of a balanced diet, but go for the leaner cuts and use healthier cooking methods such as grilling.
“If you eat processed meats like bacon, ham, sausages or burgers several times a week, add variation to your diet by substituting these for other protein sources such as fish, poultry, beans or lentils.”
Two of President Hamid Karzai’s brothers and several top security officials are in the delegation in Panjwai in Kandahar province.
Afghan forces are returning fire and it is unclear whether there are any casualties.
The US soldier who allegedly carried out Sunday’s attacks is under arrest.
The unnamed 38-year-old staff sergeant is being held at an undisclosed location.
A senior Afghan official said: ”I can confirm that the Taliban have launched an attack from several directions against a government delegation. The delegation was there to meet villagers and tribal elders. This is an area where the Taliban exist and operate. At this stage, our forces are returning fire.”
Anti-US sentiment was already high after soldiers burned some copies of the Koran at a NATO base in Kabul last month, sparking deadly riots across the country.
On Tuesday morning, some 600 students took part in a rally in the eastern city of Jalalabad, condemning the Kandahar attack and chanting “Death to America! Death to Obama!”.
US President Barack Obama said the shooting was “absolutely heartbreaking and tragic”.
But he said international forces must be withdrawn from Afghanistan in a responsible way, and would not “rush for the exits”.
Barack Obama said the international forces had to make sure Afghans could secure their borders and stop al-Qaeda from getting back into the country.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the soldier in question could face the death penalty, if found guilty.
Details about Sunday’s shootings are still unclear, but the American soldier left his base in Kandahar in the early hours and went on a rampage in nearby villages.
Locals told reporters how they cowered in fear as the man made his way from door to door, trying to get into their houses.
“I saw a man, he dragged a woman by her hair and banged her head repeatedly against the wall. She didn’t say a word,” one witness said.
The soldier broke into three houses and killed 16 people, most of them women and children. He then burned their bodies, according to reports.
The US defence secretary said the soldier “came back to the forward operating base and basically turned himself in, told individuals what had happened”.
Pentagon officials said they would not release his name while the investigation was going on.
Reports said the soldier, who has three children, had been deployed to Afghanistan in December for his first tour of duty there after serving three times in Iraq.
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Facebook denies the allegation.
The move comes ahead of Facebook’s planned flotation later this year.
Patent litigation has become common between the smartphone makers, but this marks a new front in the battles between the tech giants.
A statement from Yahoo suggested the web portal believed it has a strong case.
“Yahoo’s patents relate to cutting edge innovations in online products, including in messaging, news feed generation, social commenting, advertising display, preventing click fraud and privacy controls,” Yahoo suit said.
“Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo’s patented social networking technology.”
“We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation,” it added.
The case has echoes of Yahoo’s decision to sue Google ahead of its flotation in 2004. That dispute centred over patents that Yahoo had acquired the previous year as part of its takeover of pay-per-position specialist Overture.
Google ultimately settled the case by issuing 2.7 million shares to its rival.
“It’s reasonable that Yahoo would want to try this tactic again as it worked in the past,” said BGC Partner’s New York-based technology analyst Colin Gillis.
“But there’s an air of desperation about this – it’s unlikely that they will get easy money from Facebook. This isn’t going to derail the IPO.”
Yahoo recently overhauled its board appointing Scott Thompson as its chief executive in January. The former Paypal executive replaced Carol Bartz who had been ousted in September.
Yahoo’s co-founder, Jerry Yang, also resigned from the board in January. The firm’s chairman and three other board members announced their decision to step down shortly afterwards.
Scott Thompson’s decision to sue may secure fresh funds or other assets if the courts rule in his favor.
“This is particularly interesting as it is one of the first patent cases concerning social media,” said Andrea Matwyshyn, assistant professor of legal studies at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
“The patentability of computer code is uncertain and recently several groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Computer and Communications Industry Association have asked the US Supreme Court to examine the state of the law and accept a case to clarify when computer code can be protected through patent.
“This may be a case that advances past the district court and at least reaches the appellate court level – one notch below the Supreme Court – if the two parties do not settle first.”
The latest suit was filed in the US district court for the northern district of California.
In an interview with “Extra,” the former X Factor contestant talked about the February 9 tussle.
Stacy Francis explains that “there was an exchange, but it wasn’t a violent exchange…She didn’t push me in the head…If it were not Whitney Houston, it could have been very bad.”
She adds more color to the event, saying: “I looked at her and she moved my face away.”
Radar Online has previously reported that Whitney Houston and Stacy Francis got into it at Hollywood’s Tru Nightclub. It appears that the cause of the ruckus was when Stacy Francis was talking to Whitney Houston’s sometimes boyfriend Ray J. But for that, Stacy Francis explained that they’re just family friends.
“It was a misunderstanding. We went back and forth for a little while, but all I kept saying to her is that <<I love you very much and I respect you so much>>. I’ve known [Ray J’s] family for a long time. Ray is honestly like a brother to me,” Stacy Francis said.
Two days after the incident, Whitney Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hilton hotel room. The cause of her death is not yet known.
The two-minute video mixes techno music with Shimon Peres asking viewers to “speak up and save the world …world … world.”
During a 41-minute interview with Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, streamed on Facebook Live, President Shimon Peres said Facebook is a technology that can be used as an instrument of peace, especially as the youth of the world use social media to communicate directly with each other.
“I don’t look upon it as a technology, I look upon it as a change, a revolution, for the better,” Shimon Peres said.
Peace “is no longer the business of governments, but the business of the people,” he said.
“Today, the people are governing the governments. And when they begin to talk to each other, they are surprised, they can be friends. Why should we hate each other?”
Shimon Peres also had meeting with Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers and other Silicon Valley executives to encourage more investment in technology in Israel.
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The Chinese brothers grew up surrounded by vegetables on a farm in central China with a music teacher father.
The idea of playing music with vegetables came to Nan Weidong, 43, and Nan Weiping, 41, only two years ago, but it has since become a passion and a career.
Now they specialize in making and playing musical instruments fashioned from vegetables.
Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping have been making playable flutes with everything from leeks to carrots.
Frequent projects see them using a sweet potato as an ocarina, a bamboo shoot as a flute, and a yam might become a whistle.
Each does, however, require a new set of instruments, as the vegetables begin to rot after just a few days.
The brothers learned to play conventional instruments from their father, a music teacher, when they were children. Now Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping live and work in a narrow apartment in Beijing, drilling holes in carrots, marrows, lotus roots and Chinese yams to make vegetable instruments that they perfect using an old electronic tuner.
According to the brothers, different vegetables have different scales and are therefore suited to different melodies: a sweet potato makes an ocarina, a bamboo shoot becomes a flute, a yam, a whistle.
But controlling the pitch is still extremely difficult, because changes in the air temperature, humidity and other factors can warp the shape of the holes and put the notes out of tune.
The Nan brothers, whose repertoire ranges from traditional Chinese flute music to modern pop to western folk songs like Auld Lang Syne, have appeared on talent shows in China and can receive payments of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan ($5,000 to $8,000) for a performance.
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The show ran for just over five years, until it was taken off air on Friday.
Every Monday morning, reporter Ding Yu and her team scoured court reports to find cases to cover on their programme. They had to move quickly, as prisoners in China can be executed seven days after they are sentenced.
To Western eyes the show’s format may seem exploitative, but reporter Ding Yu disagrees.
“Some viewers may consider it cruel to ask a criminal to do an interview when they are about to be executed.
“On the contrary, they want to be heard,” Ding Yu says.
“Some criminals I interviewed told me: <<I’m really very glad. I said so many things in my heart to you at this time. In prison, there was never a person I was willing to talk to about past events>>.”
The move follows a handful of reports about the show in foreign media, which were triggered by a documentary to be screened on the BBC tonight and on PBS International in the near future.
The aim of “Interviews Before Execution”, the programme-makers say, was to find cases that would serve as a warning to others. The slogan at the top of every programme called for human nature to awaken and “perceive the value of life”.
In China, 55 crimes carry the death penalty, from murder, treason and armed rebellion to bribery and smuggling. Thirteen other crimes, including VAT fraud, smuggling relics and credit fraud, were only recently removed from the list of capital offences.
“Interviews Before Execution”, however, focused exclusively on cases of violent murder.
The reporter never interviewed political prisoners or cases where the crime was in question, and the team received the Henan high court’s consent in every case.
“Without their consent, our programme would end immediately,” said Ding Yu.
Broadcast every Saturday night, the programme was frequently rated one of Henan’s top 10 shows, with nearly 40 million viewers out of the 100 million who live in the province.
If people failed to heed the warnings the programme offered, Ding Yu says, then it was right that they should face the consequences.
“I feel sorry and regretful for them. But I don’t sympathize with them, for they should pay a heavy price for their wrongdoing. They deserve it.”
Many of the cases featured in the programme were motivated by money and one case in particular stands out for Ding Yu.
The perpetrators were boyfriend and girlfriend – young, educated college graduates.
The couple planned to rob her grandparents but it went wrong and the young man, 27-year-old Zhang Peng, ended up killing them both.
“They are so young. They never had the chance to see this world, or to enjoy life, a career, work, and the love of family.
“They’ve made the wrong choice, and the price is their lives,” said Ding Yu.
But after more than 200 interviews, little surprises her.
“I’ve interviewed criminals even younger than that young student, some just 18 years old. That is the minimum age you can be sentenced to death.”
Homosexuality is still a huge taboo in China, and when in 2008 the show covered the case of Bao Ronting, a gay man who murdered his mother, ratings soared.
It was the first time Ding Yu had ever met an openly gay man.
“I had never come close to a gay man, so I really couldn’t accept some of his practices, words and deeds.
“Though he was a man, he asked me in a very feminine tone, ‘Do you feel awkward speaking to me?’ Actually I felt very awkward,” Ding Yu recalls.
Ding Yu and her team made a further three episodes on the case of Bao Ronting and followed him until the day he was executed in November 2008.
During one of these meetings, Bao Ronting asked Ding Yu: “Will I go to heaven?”
Remembering these words, Ding Yu reflects: “I witness the transition from life to death.”
Bao Ronting was paraded in an open top truck on the way to his execution with a placard around his neck, detailing his crime. The practice is illegal in modern China – but the law is not always observed.
Judge Lui Wenling, who worked closely with the programme-makers, says things are changing in the Chinese legal system.
“The present criminal policies in China are <<To kill less and cautiously>> and <<Combining lenience and strictness>>.
“It means, <<If the case is fit for lenient treatment, give it lenience>>, and, <<If the case should be strictly treated, give it a strict punishment>>,” he says.
Ding Yu recently covered the case of Wu Yanyan, a young mother who murdered her husband after allegedly suffering years of abuse.
She was initially sentenced to death for the murder. But since 2007, every execution verdict in China has to be approved by the Supreme Court, and in this case it took the view that the abuse provided mitigating circumstances.
The higher court kept returning the case to the local court until the death sentence was suspended.
Ding Yu visited the prison with Wu Yanyan’s daughter for an emotional reunion. If the young mother continues to behave well in prison, after two years she could ultimately be released – a small sign of changing attitudes in China.
One of China’s more liberal judges, Judge Pan, along with some other senior figures in the justice system, foresees more far-reaching reforms in future.
“A life could end in the twinkling of an eye after a trial. I’d say this is also very cruel,” he says.
“It’s also a means of getting rid of evil deeds through an evil deed.
“Should we abolish the death penalty? Since the death sentence for criminals is itself a violent act, then we should abolish it. However, I don’t think our country is ready yet.
“But in the future, it would be good to abolish it.”
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Researchers assumed Charles Darwin kept a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, also with theories about natural selection, for two weeks – enabling him to revise elements of his own theory of evolution, before announcing it to the world in July 1858.
However, scientists turned detective have now vindicated Charles Darwin from the accusations by tracing historical shipping records to prove he received the letter a month later than previously thought.
Historians already know Alfred Russel Wallace had a “eureka” moment while living in Indonesia – discovering natural selection independently of Charles Darwin.
Researchers accused Charles Darwin of keeping the letter for two weeks – lying about the date of receipt to give him time to revise his own ideas.
The essay was published alongside one by Charles Darwin in 1858, marking the first publication of the theory of evolution – one of the greatest revolutions in the history of science.
The controversy all began in 1972 after a researcher found another letter from Alfred Russel Wallace to a friend sent on the March 1858 steamer from the island of Ternate in modern Indonesia.
The letter still had postmarks from Singapore and London that showed it arrived in London on 3 June 1858 – two weeks before Charles Darwin said he received the essay from Alfred Russel Wallace.
Historians could not understand how two letters on the same steamer can travel along the same mail route back to London, yet Charles Darwin did not receive his until two weeks after the other letter arrived.
The mystery led to numerous conspiracy theories – including the accusations Charles Darwin stole ideas from the letter, which plagued Darwin’s reputation.
Dr. John van Wyhe – a historian of science and Senior Lecturer – said: “I initially assumed that it was impossible to solve since so many historians had examined it before. But it occurred to me that we really have no contemporary evidence of when Wallace sent the essay to Darwin, only his much later recollection that he sent it by the next post after writing it in February.
“That suggested that the essay was sent in March 1858. But this recollection from years later seemed to me not very reliable as evidence of what really happened at the time.
“The other evidence that Darwin received it on 18 June 1858 seemed more likely. All of his correspondence changed dramatically after that date for example.
“Since that side of the correspondence was all one really had to go on, it occurred to me to trace the letter from Darwin’s end, rather than Wallace’s.
“If Darwin really received it on 18 June- how could it get there? It had come to his house in the countryside from London the day before, the 17th.”
Dr. John van Wyhe discovered a steamer had arrived in England on the 16th – the day before – with mail from India and South East Asia – Alfred Russel Wallace’s letter must have been on that ship instead.
He traced back the remainder of the 9,240 mile journey from England, through the Mediterranean, across Egypt, to Sri Lanka, Penang, Singapore, Jakarta and so on.
His Dutch-speaking research assistant on the Wallace Online project, Dr. Kees Rookmaaker, checked the ship arrival and departure times in Dutch newspapers, while Dr. John van Wyhe trawled through English papers.
Dr. John van Wyhe added: “Eventually our mail itinerary was completed all the way back to Ternate and we were astonished to find that there was an unbroken series of mail connections to Ternate – not in March as all other writers before had assumed, but in April 1858.
“My further research has clarified why Wallace mailed it later than we assumed and many other parts of this famous, but misunderstood chapter in the history of science.
“First of all, we now know that Wallace was replying to an early letter from Darwin- and that letter from Darwin arrived in Ternate on the March steamer.
“We have assembled the first complete collection of all the surviving Wallace correspondence from Ternate and nearby islands.
“These reveal that he never replied to a letter on the same steamer which delivered it – apparently the turn over time was too short.
“Therefore this is an additional reason to doubt that Wallace could have sent the famous letter to Darwin in March as so long assumed.”
Dr. John van Wyhe is currently completing a major new book on Wallace in South East Asia, which aims to radically revise the traditional story of Alfred Russel Wallace and his famous independent discovery of evolution.
Tiny probes, sent through drilled holes in Giorgio Vasari’s The Battle of Marciano in the Palazzo Vecchio, found black pigment also used in the Mona Lisa, project workers claimed.
“These data are very encouraging,” said the project’s leader Maurizio Seracini.
They added that further chemical analysis needed to be carried out.
“Although we are still in the preliminary stages of the research and there is still a lot of work to be done to solve this mystery, the evidence does suggest that we are searching in the right place,” said Maurizio Seracini, who works at the University of California in San Diego.
The probes also discovered red lacquer and brown pigment on the hidden wall.
The research has been controversial, with some art experts signing a petition to stop the investigation because the drilling is damaging Giorgio Vasari’s existing work.
Tomaso Montanari, an art historian who has led the opposition to the research said that he did not “consider the source of these findings credible.”
He added: “What do they mean by saying the findings are compatible with Leonardo? Any painting from the Renaissance would be. Anything from that era could be painted on that wall.”
“What lacked here is a neutral team that has the scientific authority to evaluate this. It is very complex.”
It is believed Leonardo Da Vinci started painting his fresco – which is considered by some to be his finest work – in 1504 but abandoned the project because of problems arising from his experimental oil painting technique.
The room was later renovated and Giorgio Vasari painted his fresco in 1563.
Maurizio Seracini believes Giorgio Vasari did not want to destroy Leonardo Da Vinci’s work and instead bricked it up behind a new wall on which he painted.
His theory was stimulated after finding a soldier on Giorgio Vasari’s work holding a small flag bearing the words: “He who seeks, finds.”
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Hailing from Welland, Ontario, Canada, 20-year-old Shannon began drinking gasoline a year ago and she is now consuming about 12 teaspoons per day.
“I am addicted to drinking gasoline,” said Shannon.
“It tastes like sweet and sour, like a tangy sauce. It tingles at first, then it burns the back of my throat.”
Always prepared for her fix, Shannon keeps jugs of gasoline under the sink in the washroom of her Ontario home. Then, when she is not a home, she packs a water bottle full of gasoline, keeping her fix handy.
It is safe to say the inherent risk of drinking gasoline far outweighs the addictive properties for most people. It is even more surprising when you read about the dangers of toxic gasoline additives, including: benzene, toluene, naphthalene and trimethybenzene.
For Shannon, the addiction started at a young age. She says that her addiction began as a small child, hovering in the exhaust of her mother’s car, enjoying the aroma of unburned gasoline. The attraction to gasoline was then compounded by her mother and father splitting up when she was a young girl.
“When I fill up my car, I put it all over my hand,” admitted Shannon.
“Even though it hurts me, it makes me feel good.”
The latest episode of My Strange Addiction bounced back and forth between Shannon’s drinking binges and her loved ones pleading for her to stop the deadly addictive behavior. Shannon has consumed more than 5 gallons of gas in just one year, and her behaviors have escalated to other habits like eating gasoline soaked newspapers.
Convinced she cannot survive without her daily supply of gasoline, Shannon is forced to come face-to-face with a demon that very well may kill her the next time she swallows gasoline.
Louis Sarkozy, 15, and two friends launched the attack on the female officer from the courtyard of the Elysee Palace in Paris – also hitting the officer in the cheek with a marble.
The female officer filed an official criminal report, but the case was dropped after the hugely embarrassed Nicolas Sarkozy apologized to her in person.
There were accusations that aides close to President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to “hush up” the scandal because he is currently standing for re-election.
It also raised serious questions about the discipline of the presidential children, who are largely kept out of the public eye by Nicolas Sarkozy and his third wife, Carla Bruni.
The tomato was among a volley of marbles and rolled up pieces of paper which went flying over the palace gates on Thursday, hitting the woman as she walked up and down the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore outside.
The woman filed an official report, which led to a high-level enquiry, including a meeting between Paris police chiefs and officers of the Republican Guard, who are directly responsible for the safety of the presidential family.
The director of the Paris prefecture is also said to have become involved, with a Paris police source saying: “A criminal complaint was considered, but the police woman was finally persuaded to drop it.
“In the end she made do with an apology from the President, after being told that Louis and his friends frequently played in the courtyard of the Elysee.
“However, the fact that there is an election campaign in progress clearly played a significant role in the complaint not proceeding.
“It may well have been hushed up to save Mr. Sarkozy embarrassment. These were not childish pranks – Louis is 15-years-old.”
Louis is the son of Nicolas Sarkozy’s second wife, Cecilia Attias, whom he famously divorced within a few months of becoming president in 2007.
Cecilia Attias now lives full time in New York, having remarried, but Louis Sarkozy frequently travels to Paris to see his father.
Last month Nicolas Sarkozy spent $47,000 of French taxpayers’ money repatriating Pierre, a 26-year-old DJ, from Ukraine after he fell ill after complaining of “food poisoning” before a nightclub performance.
Five years ago Nicolas Sarkozy was accused of using the police force to help his son Jean, now 27, after he was accused of committing a hit-and-run crime on his scooter.
A motorist claimed that Jean Sarkozy ran into the back of his car in the Place de la Concorde, made an obscene hand gesture and then rode away. Jean Sarkozy was eventually cleared of all charges.
Nicolas Sarkozy has also a baby girl, Giulia, with Carla Bruni. However, France’s First Lady refuses to allow the child to be seen in public, and tends to keep her at a town house well away from the Elysee.
Carla Bruni also has a son, Aurelien, 11, from a previous relationship, and he too is kept well away from the public eye.
For nearly 3 years, millions of gamers have used physics in the battle between birds and pigs in the video game Angry Birds.
NASA and Rovio are working together to teach people about physics and space exploration through the internationally successful puzzle game.
Game developers have incorporated concepts of human space exploration into the new game. From the weightlessness of space to the gravity wells of nearby planets, players use physics as they explore the various levels of the game set both on planets and in microgravity.
“This collaboration began with a simple Twitter exchange about birds and pigs in space, and it has grown into a tremendous outreach and education opportunity,” said David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“Games are fun and entertaining, but they also can be inspirational and informative. This ongoing collaboration with Rovio and Angry Birds is an exciting way to get people engaged with NASA’s missions of exploration and discovery, and get students energized about future careers in science and technology.”
Aboard the International Space Station, Flight Engineer Don Pettit of NASA created a video using Angry Birds Space to explain how physics works in space, including demonstrating trajectories in microgravity by catapulting an Angry Bird through the space station. The video was shown this week to an audience at the South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals, an annual convention of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies in Austin, Texas. It is also available on NASA’s website at http://www.nasa.gov.
“We focused on every detail in development of Angry Birds Space to build a special experience for our fans,” said Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer and mighty eagle of Rovio Entertainment.
“I believe we have succeeded well with the game, and we wanted to create something as unique around our launch events. NASA has been the perfect partner for our Angry Birds Space program, and we can’t wait to work with them on creating more compelling educational experiences.”
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“I first saw Whitney in London in 1984 in a little room. I can’t remember where it was, but it wasn’t very many people. I was easily 15 feet from her,” Meatloaf said.
Then the singer added: “There’s a lot of great singers – a lot have great vocals. Then there’s singers who know how to give you a song. Mick Jagger’s not a great vocalist, but boy can he sing a song. I don’t think Bono’s a great vocalist but boy does he know how to sell a song. Freddie Mercury was one of the best rock singers in the world.
“But there are three singers that I know that have something ever so slightly different. They have what a professional golfer has… when the ball tees off it goes about 100 feet, then all of a sudden it’s like it’s got little jets on it.
“Aretha Franklin – I saw her live back in a club in Detroit in 1971. She would be singing along, and it’s incredible, then all of a sudden she hits this overdrive and it’s just whoah. Whitney had it. And there’s one other singer that has it that I know of and that’s Adam Lambert. They have that overdrive.”
“I knew Whitney. I used to go to the Clive [Davis’s pre-Grammys] parties. This year I was in Vancouver and I didn’t want to fly back and I’m glad I didn’t because after finding out I wouldn’t have gone to the party.
“I’m not saying anybody’s wrong for going, but I personally would not have gone. If I would have been here and dressed and ready to go and heard that on the news, I would have stayed home. I couldn’t have gone.
“I’m an emotional kind of guy. When I heard about it, I cried. She had this amazing thing and then to have gone through what she went through on tour. People don’t show compassion anymore. There’s no compassion. There’s no understanding. It’s all about <<me>> and <<what I want>> and <<screw you and who cares what you’re going through>>.
“If I would have paid and gone to see Whitney on the last tour I would have enjoyed it. I would have gone, <<You know what, she’s up here, she’s going for it, she’s trying>>. And confidence is a major, major player for any performer.
“Bruce Springsteen is full of confidence. In his brain he can do no wrong. And that’s great. With Whitney I really believe it was a matter of confidence. Instead of everybody attacking her and tearing her down, she needed to be built up.
“The real fans of Whitney didn’t do that. It’s what I call tourists. They’re not fans, they’re tourists. They buy tickets to come to a show. <<Oh look, Whitney’s here, let’s go out>>. They’re not fans. Fans wouldn’t do that. They’re tourists through the world of life.
“That’s how they are throughout their life. They have no foundation, they have no boundaries, they have no self esteem. They’re miserable. And so, they need to do that. Instead of doing that, Whitney needed to be built up.
“I felt bad for her. Any time I see people struggling on TV with a performance, and you see it all the time, I empathise. I go, <<Oh man, that’s horrible, they can’t hear, the sound’s not right, something’s wrong>>. When Bruce did the Super Bowl everybody praised it. But for two songs he was a quarter of a tone flat for both songs. I just went, <<Hey man, this is good, he’s rockin>>.
“People have a hard time. You don’t put them down for it. You don’t put somebody down because they lost their job and they’re struggling. You don’t write hate mail to them. People need more compassion.”
Meat Loaf last month released his 12th studio album Hell in a Handbasket.
In a March 11 special shot in Atlanta, Oprah Winfrey interviewed those closest to the singer: her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, longtime manager and sister-in-law Patricia Houston and brother Gary Houston.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, spoke first, saying that she still feels her mother’s spirit around her.
“I can sing her music but to hear it right now – I can’t,” Bobbi Kristina said.
“I can hear her voice talking to me in spirit: <<Keep moving baby, I got you>>. I can always hear her with me.”
“I start crying and deal with it, but then I hear her voice again: <<Keep moving>>,” Bobbi Kristina said.
Patricia Houston spoke next, saying that she thought drugs might eventually play a role in her death.
“The handwriting was on the wall,” Patricia Houston said.
“I would be kidding myself otherwise. But things were really changing with her.”
Furthermore, she said Whitney Houston was really focused on starting the foundation of a career for Bobbi Kristina.
“She loved Krissy with everything she had, and was trying to make things right with her,” Patricia Houston said.
“I never thought anything like this would happen,” Gary Houston said.
“I never thought it would be like this, but it always crosses your mind that this can happen.”
Gary Houston also spoke on behalf of his mother Cissy Houston, who declined to participate in the interview.
“I think she’s doing better now,” Gary Houston said.
“But she lost her only daughter. The gift came through her and it’s rough for her.”
The 90-minute television special also touched on Bobbi Kristina’s father, Bobby Brown, who had a tumultuous marriage with Whitney Houston.
While some have accused Bobby Brown of introducing Whitney Houston to drugs, Pat Houston, and Whitney’s brother Gary said that was untrue, and had warm words for Bobby.
“I loved Bobby Brown. Bobby was a good guy,” said Gary Houston.
“I don’t know how good they were for each other.”
Patricia and Gary Houston said Bobbi Kristina has a relationship with her dad, but that the two have not spoken since the funeral.
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US officials warned of reprisals after the soldier went on a rampage in villages near a base in Kandahar. Nine children were among those killed.
President Barack Obama phoned his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to express condolences. But President Hamid Karzai has said the massacre is “unforgivable”.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said a full investigation is under way.
The soldier, believed to be a staff sergeant, is reported to have walked off his base at around 03:00 a.m. on Sunday.
In the villages of Alkozai and Najeeban, about 500 m from the base, he reportedly broke into three homes.
At one house in Najeeban, 11 people were found shot dead, and some of their bodies set alight. At least three of the child victims are reported to have been killed by a single shot to the head.
The soldier is being detained in Kandahar and the military is treating at least five people wounded in the attacks, officials said.
The detained soldier has not been identified, although US officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency said he was from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, 38 years old, married with two children, and had served three tours in Iraq and was on his first deployment in Afghanistan.
The killings come amid already high anti-US sentiment in Afghanistan following the burning of Korans at a NATO base in Kabul last month.
US officials have repeatedly apologized for the incident but they failed to quell a series of protests and attacks that killed at least 30 people and six US troops.
However, the latest incident has damaged already fragile relations between Kabul and Washington.
The Taliban is using the shooting as a propaganda victory, placing President Hamid Karzai in a difficult position.
Angry tribal elders are now demanding an immediate end to US night raids on Afghan homes.
Afghan MPs passed a strong resolution to condemn the killing and demanded an open trial on Afghan soil. However, Afghanistan has signed an agreement with NATO that foreign soldiers should be tried in their own countries.
The killings could further fuel calls for a more rapid withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, US personnel in Afghanistan were warned of possible reprisal attacks.
“The US Embassy in Kabul alerts US citizens in Afghanistan that as a result of a tragic shooting incident in Kandahar province involving a US service member, there is a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days, especially in the eastern and southern provinces,” the embassy said in an emergency statement on its website.
In a statement released by the White House on Sunday, President Obama said: “This incident is tragic and shocking, and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan.”
Afghan officials also fear there will be violent demonstrations and have deployed extra police and troops around Kandahar.
President Hamid Karzai described the killings as the “intentional killing of innocent civilians” and said they could “not be forgiven”.
This is the first time Afghan civilians have been targeted by foreign soldiers in this way.
However, one US soldier was convicted last year on three counts of premeditated murder after leading a rogue “kill team” in Afghanistan.
A recent poll by ABC News and The Washington Post found 60% of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth its costs. Nearly the same number advocated an early US pullout from the country.
On a previously unannounced trip to Afghanistan, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said she could not be sure German troops would withdraw by 2014 as originally planned, but they were working towards that target.
Startram, designed by one of the inventors of the “magnetic levitation” trains in use in countries such as China, would be a railway driven by superconducting cables suspended in the air by magnetic forces.
Trains would shoot to orbit in seconds in an 80-mile sealed tube – and the scientists behind the $60 billion proposal claim it could revolutionize industry, allowing for cheap space-based solar power and generating unimaginable wealth from mines on asteroids.
“Startram is based on existing maglev technology and basic physics. A motivated nation could build a startram system capable of launching 300,000 tons of payload into orbit for less than $40/kg,” say the space train’s creators.
“The resources of our own solar system are vast. The energy from the Sun hitting our small planet everyday is roughly 10,000 times our current energy needs. The raw materials locked up in asteroids and comets could support economic growth for millennia to come,” say the scientists.
Startram’s creators say that it would be the “next great step” for human civilization – and would provide a “safety net” if life on Earth was threatened by wars or disaster.
“A cargo-only version would cost on the order of $20 billion to build and could be completed within 10 years. A people-capable version could be built for $60 billion and be completed within 20 years,” say Startram’s designers, physicists including Dr. James Powell, the co-inventor of “maglev” train systems.
“Human beings are at the dawn of a new age. Either we will become a true spacefaring people, or we will be trapped on an overcrowded, strife-ridden planet with ever-dwindling resources,” say Startram’s creators.
However, the physicists warn: “Startram will necessarily be an international program, otherwise the potential for a expensive and dangerous arms race between nations is too great. Therefore, the must come from you, the people. This is simply too important to leave up to individual nations and militaries.”
Made in partnership with tablet-maker Asus, Google’s tablet could sell for as little as $200, and will have a seven-inch screen, according to a leak reported in Digitimes.
Google’s tablet would be a competitor to Amazon’s Kindle Fire – and like Fire, would be built to sell content such as video and music via Google’s own online store.
Google recently rebranded its Android Marketplace as Google Play, streamlining services such as its video store, e-book store and app marketplace, so the timing would make sense.
The company already offers similar Google-branded smartphones, made in collaboration with Samsung.
Leaks from hi-tech suppliers in the Far East had already hinted that a small, cheap Android “entertainment tablet” might be released in the first half of this year.
In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt reportedly said: “In the next six months, we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.”
Digitimes also reports that Google spoke to other tablet companies such as HTC before deciding on Asus.
Asus makes the hit EEE Pad Transformer, one of the most distinctive Android devices, and was showing off a seven-inch tablet at CES.
“Asustek’s motivation for cooperating with Google is to win Google’s confidence to facilitate development of its Android-based devices, learn Google’s technology to develop software and content, as well as enter the tablet US market,” said Digitimes.
The demand means that consumers will only be able to buy the new iPad by queuing at Apple retailers or through one of the company’s authorized resellers, when it is released on March 16.
According to an Apple spokeswoman, customer response to the latest offering had been “off the charts”.
However, Apple refused to release any specific sales figures.
Apple’s US website now indicates that preorders will ship by March 19 whereas earlier the site had said the newest tablet would arrive at customers’ homes by next Friday.
The delay indicates strong demand for the new iPad, which was announced Wednesday to a positive response from partner companies, analysts and potential customers.
Apple typically has allotments prepared for its online preorders, but they often are depleted within days.
Analysts expect Apple to sell roughly 9 million iPads in the current quarter.
The iPad launch came as Apple reached a rare milestone: the previous week, it was worth more than $500 billion.
Only six other U.S. companies have been worth that much and none have held that valuation for long.