Friday, October 31, 2008

7 Incredible Bugs With Man Faces

The insect world never ceases to amaze. These colorful bugs boast familiar patterns like faces or tribal masks on their shields. While potential predators waste prescious time wondering whether it's food, enemy or prey, the masked creatures plot their protection tactics or escape.

We take a look at seven of these insects that prove: Bug is beautiful!

These mini warriors have pretty smart warfare defences. Shield bugs, or stink bugs, have glands in their thorax (the part between the head and the abdomen) between their first and second pair of legs that produce a foul-smelling liquid, which is used for defense and released when the bug feels threatened.



SideView

This is a picture example of how the sheild pattern resembles a face. Like a huge sign saying "don't even think about it" to predators - including humans - the casperonian looks slightly grumpy, and for good reason. Just recently, scientists have discovered the nutritional value of edible stink bugs. They're a good source of protein, fat, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Stink bug stew, anyone?

Casperonian

In the photograph, this barca branca stink bug looks huge but it is only about 1 cm long in real life, making the markings on the mask all the more intricate.
Barca Branca

This too-sexy-to-be-eaten bug with his/her sunglasses is actually a crop pest. Known as cotton stainers, these bugs feed on cotton and get crushed with it during harvesting. Their red bodies leave stains, which are hard to remove.
Wesley Sng

These firebugs seem to huddle together to discuss their strategy. They are common in Europe and are also part of the cotton stainer family. Their scientific name is pyrrhocoris apterus.
Landersz

The Tomasz Gorny is another stink bug, also found in Europe, whose shield looks like it is made of leather.
Tomasz Gorny

This stink bug from Singapore looks like it's carrying a gorilla-mask on its back. Amazing, isn't it?

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Ring of Brodgar

The Ring of Brodgar is located in the outskirts of Orkney, Scotland. One of the many rock circles across Britain, The Ring of Brodgar is the third largest of them all, with 27 stone monoliths ranging from 2.1 to a maximum of 4.1 meters in height.

It was one of the first ceremonial places in the British Isles and it was first recorded in the 16 century, in one of Jo Ben�s writings. The exact date of the site is unknown and there hasn�t been any digging inside the stone circle to determine its age, but it is believed it dates back to 2500 BC.

There were originally 60 stones in the Ring of Brodgar but only 27 still stand tall today. the last research was conducted here back in the 70s.









Ten Most Difficult Words to Translate

Sometimes even the finest translators come up against words that defy translation.

Many languages include words that don�t have a simple counterpart in another language.

Here are ten words that are particularly difficult to translate.

Mamihlapinatapei
From Yagan, the indigenous language of the Tierra del Fuego region of South America. This word has been translated in several ways in English, always implying a wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.

Jayus
From Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Prozvonit
In both Czech and Slovak language, this word means to call a mobile phone only to have it ring once so that the other person would call back, allowing the caller not to spend money on minutes.

Kyoikumama
In Japanese, this word refers to a mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.

Tartle
A Scottish verb meaning to hesitate while introducing someone due to having forgotten his/her name.

Iktsuarpok
From the Inuit, meaning to go outside to check if anyone is coming.

Cafun�
From Brazilian Portuguese, meaning to tenderly run one�s fingers through someone�s hair.

Torschlusspanik
From German, this word literally means �gate-closing panic� and is used to describe the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages. This word is most frequently applied to women who race the �biological clock� to wed and bear children.

Tingo
From the Pascuense language of Easter Island, it is the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.

Ilunga
From the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, this word has been chosen by numerous translators as the world�s most untranslatable word. Ilunga indicates a person who is ready to forgive any abuse the first time it occurs, to tolerate it the second time, but to neither forgive nor tolerate a third offense.

Restaurant Names That May Surprise You

Many restaurants have weird names. Here are a few I found.


Anybody want some Chinese food? This place looks nice, looks like they are the kings of fu. Who knew a restaurant can be the king of fu. Please before you open a business, think of a decent name. And if you do read it and think about it before you put it up. If you are trying to be funny with it, at least make the sign look like your joking!



I love to lick chicks for dinner don't you? This one I actually laughed when I saw it. I could tell they were joking unlike fu king. Some people thing these types of restaurants are gross, but they attract more people than you think. When you see something like these try and make the best out of it and let out a laugh.



How come china has all the weird serious names? This one is just weird, but in china many things are weird to me. One thing is that they eat scorpions. Otherwise this sign is what I was talking about before. Think before you put up a sign for your restaurant. Things like this I would think would gross out customers more than please them!



This has to be the most funniest name every. Even though it is kind of leaning to black person slang, I find it hilarious. I would just want to eat there just to say I at here. Although by the look of the store it doesn't look like they are doing that good. That's fine with me; the name just cracks me up.



I don't know about you but this sounds gross. But believe or not I ate there once, it was okay. But they need to clean up their act. Seriously it's a bad influence for young children and they need to censer it before they get sued. They should reconsider a new name, or at least cut out one part, it drives me nuts!

This one just upsets me. There is no point in making a buffet
with a name like that. Austin Powers already made they joke, you can do it again. This just upsets me, for some reason I don't find this one as hilarious as it seems. But some people may get a kick out of it and eat there some day. So don't take my advice, if you like the names try it!



I love this one. It is censored enough and it is funny. I respect who ever made this store because I love the name. This isn't my favorite name but it is up there. I defiantly want to eat there at one point in my life. It looks so cool and cute. Although they look like they are out of business because no one is inside.