WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS AIRPORTS

1) Princess Juliana International Airport (Saint Martin) Princess Juliana International Airport serves Saint Maarten, the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean. The airport is famous for its short landing strip — only 2,180 metres/7,152 ft, which is barely enough for heavy jets. Because of this, the planes approach the island flying extremely low, right over Maho Beach. Countless photos of large jets flying at 10--20 m/30-60 ft over relaxing tourists at the beach have been dismissed as fakes many times, but are nevertheless real. For this reason as well it has become a favourite for planespotters. Despite the difficulties in approach, there has been no records of major aviation incidents at the airport.

2) Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba)

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is the only airport on the Caribbean island of Saba, in the Netherlands Antilles. It is well known among experienced fliers for the way in which airplanes must approach or take off from the airport. Yrausquin Airport covers a relatively large portion of the small island of Saba. Some aviation experts are of the general opinion that the airport is one of the most dangerous in the world, despite the fact that no major tragedies have happened at the facility. The airport's sole runway is marked with an X at each end, to indicate to commercial pilots that the airport is closed for commercial aviation. The danger arises from the airport's physical position. It is flanked on one side by high hills, and on the other side and at both ends of the runway by cliffs dropping into the sea. This creates the possibility that an airplane might overshoot the runway during landing or takeoff and end up in the sea or on the cliffs.

3) Courchevel (France)

Courchevel is the name of a ski area located in the French Alps, the largest linked ski area in the world. It's airport has a certain degree of infamy in the aviation industry as home to a relatively short runway, with a length of 525 m (1,722 ft) and a gradient of 18.5%. It's so short that you have to land on an inclined strip to slow down and take off on a decline to pick up enough speed. Who gets to land here? Well, Pierce Brosnan made the short list. This was the airport used in the opening seen of Tomorrow Never Dies. For the rest of us, private plane, helicopter, or charter are the only ways to go, and your pilot is going to need some serious training before he or she is allowed to land at CVF.

4) Gustaf III Airport (St. Bart)

Gustaf III Airport also known as Saint Barthélemy Airport is a public use airport located in the village of St. Jean on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. Both the airport and the island's main town of Gustavia are named for King Gustav III of Sweden, under whom Sweden obtained the island from France in 1785 (it was sold back to France in 1878). The airport is served by small regional commercial aircraft and charters. Most visiting aircraft carry fewer than twenty passengers, such as the Twin Otter, a common sight around Saint Barth and throughout the northern West Indies. The short airstrip is at the base of a gentle slope ending directly on the beach. The arrival descent is extremely steep over the hilltop traffic circle and departing planes fly right over the heads of sunbathers (although small signs advise sunbathers not to lie directly at the end of the runway).

5) Barra International Airport (Barra)

Barra Airport is the only airport in the world where planes land on the beach. BRR is situated in on the wide beach of Traigh Mhor, on Barra island, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. If you want to fly here commercially you will want to book with British Airways, which flies to Barra from Glasgow and Benbecula. The airport is literally washed away by the tide once a day, and if you arrive on a late afternoon flight, you may notice a couple of cars in the parking lot with their lights on, which provides pilots some added visibility, since the airport is naturally lit. Needless to say you probably don't want to hang out at Barra Airport beach, unless you are a aviation junkie, in which case Barra Airport has a fool proof system, as sign that reads: "Keep off the beach. When the windsock is flying and the airport is active."

6) Madeira Airport (Madeira)

Madeira Airport also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina Airport, is an international airport located near Funchal, Madeira. The airport controls national and international air traffic of the island of Madeira. The airport was once infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The original runway was only 1,400 metres in length, but was extended by 400 metres after the TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 incident of 1977 and subsequently rebuilt in 2003, almost doubling the size of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns, each being about 70m tall. For the enlargement of the new runway the Funchal Airport has won the Outstanding Structures Award, given by International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). The Outstanding Structures Award is considered to be the "Oscar" for engineering structures in Portugal.

7 Lukla Airport (Nepal)

A huge mountain on one end, a thousand meter drop on the other. And it's at 2900 meters elevation, so you don't exactly have full power. Lukla Airport is a small airport in the Town of Lukla in eastern Nepal. In January 2008, the government of Nepal announced that the airport would be renamed in honor of Sir Edmund Hillary[1], the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, who passed away on January 11, 2008. The airport is quite popular as Lukla is the place where most people start their trek to climb Mount Everest.

MAGIC TRICK - FREE

Effect :

You take out a box of matches and go to light your cigarette or candle but when you open them they are all used.
You then say I hate that when people put used matches back in the box, oh sorry it was me I hate it when I do that. You then proceed to take out the used match and strike it and it lights. You can have them already stashed in the dirty ashtray and take one out and then light your cigarette or candle.

Secret:

All you have to do to make it look like it is a used match is dip the match in black ink, and then wait for it to dry. Then dip it in ash and it will look like a used match but when you strike it the match will light like any normal match.

HISTORY OF PLAYING CARD

The mystery of playing cards is that we don't know exactly who invented them.

Playing cards date back to somewhere between A.D. 800 and A.D. 1100. There is reference to them in an ancient Chinese dictionary that said they were originated during the time of Seun-Ho around 1120. Supposedly, he used them to amuse and entertain himself and the people he lived with. In Egypt and India they were used for religious purposes.

Playing cards started off as what we now know as Tarot cards, the cards now used by palm-readers, witches, and other fortune tellers who practice in both black magic and white magic.

We know that King Chales VI of France had special cards made for him by a painter at the time. In one of his diaries it notes the playing cards were used for "diversion.". Royalty were many of the first users of playing cards. We can assume that they were used for gambling, telling the future. And with that, it couldn't have taken long for the first card trick to be invented, any time money or future fortunes are involved!

At first because they were so expensive -- the printing press hadn't exactly been invented yet -- that only royalty and the supremly rich used them. Perhaps that added some mistique to them by the common people.
At first, cards were round in shape. If you've ever dropped a deck of cards, you can appreciate how much easier it would be to pick them all up and get them aligned with circular cards! In about 1500, the cards changed and started depicting the kings and queens that ordered the cards. That's also the time that they became rectangular. At one point, cards became outlawed aroudn 1541, with the king only allowing the commoners to play them around Christmas time.

You can imagine that perhaps the first card trick invented used marked cards. Unlike today, when a card gets slightly bent or warped or nicked, you can just go out and buy another deck for a few dollars. But back then, people would use the same decks of cards for years. You could put a tiny scratch on the back of a card at one of your friends houses, and be able to come back years later and still have the same scratch -- of course, that is also true today, especially if your friends are like mine and use the same deck for years and years!

Also, cards have a strong relation to dominoes and dice, which were other popular games of the time.

Howard Thurston, the great magician and illusionist, used cards in his act. Houdini deemed himself "King of Cards" and entertained for huge audiences. Cardini was a magician who also focused on cards in the early years.

Card Tricks have become more popular in recent times because of the fact that everyone can relate to them, and just about everyone owns a deck of cards. For that reason, card tricks are within reach of just about anyone who wants to get started off in magic. Many of the greatest magicians of all time first got interested in magic when someone showed them a card trick.

Also, with Texas Hold 'em becoming so popular lately, I think it has brought a renewed interest to card tricks. Just as Blackjack rose to popularity in the 70's, with books by Ken Uston and others explaining how to win at Blackjack.

Here are some other quick facts about cards :

There are 52 cards in a deck and 52 weeks in a year.

Their are four suits in a deck of cards: Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, and Spades. Their are four seasons as well.

Their are 13 values in each suit: Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, and King. There are 13 lunar cycles in a year.

At one point, each court card: (The Jacks, Queens, and Kings) all represent a real member of royalty.

About this history of cards:

This is just a brief history of the origin of playing cards, with some random facts. I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy, although I've been using this info for a long time. The point of this is that it will add entertainment value to your magic show if you talk even just a little bit about the history of playing cards.

LELE RAKSASA

KENAPA LALAT SUSAH DIPUKUL?

Sudah berapa kali Anda berhasil memukul lalat dengan tangan? Sulit bukan? Rahasia di balik kemampuan tersebut kini telah diketahui penjelasannya.

Selama 20 tahun meneliti biomekanika sayap lalat, Michael Dickinson dari Institut Teknologi California (Caltech) baru memecahkannya sekarang. Itu pun karena dia selalu penasaran terhadap pertanyaan yang sederhana dan sering dilontarkan banyak orang yang ditemuinya.

"Sekarang saya punya jawabannya," ujar Dickinson yang melakukan penelitian bersama Esther M dan Abe M Zarem. Ia menemukan rahasia tersebut setelah merekam manuver sejumlah lalat yang terancam pukulan menggunakan kamera digital yang dapat merekam dengan kecepatan dan resolusi tinggi.

Mereka menemukan bahwa lalat dapat mengenali ancaman berdasarkan lokasi. Otanya akan menghitung seberapa jauh ancaman terhadapnya sebelum memutuskan untuk mengepakkan sayap dan kabur.Setelah memprediksi arah ancaman, kakinya bertumpu untuk terbang ke arah yang berlawanan. Semua persiapan meloloskan diri dapat dilakukannya dengan sangat cepat, hanya 100 milidetik setelah ia mendeteksi adanya bahaya.

"Ini menunjukkan begitu cepatnya otak lalat memproses informasi sensorik menjadi respons gerakan yang sesuai," ujar Dickinson. Bahkan, lalat mengatur postur tubuhnya sesuai besar ancaman.

Artinya, lalat telah mengintegrasikan dengan baik antara informasi visual dari mata dan informasi metasensorik di kakinya. Temuan ini memberikan petunjuk mengenai sistem saraf lalat dan menunjukkan bahwa di otaknya terdapat sistem pemetaan posisi ancaman.

"Ini sebuah transformasi rangsangan menjadi gerakan yang sedikit kompleks dan penelitian berikutnya mencari bagian otak yang mengaturnya," ujarnya.

Dari sistem tersebut, Dickinson juga dapat menyarankan cara paling efektif memukul lalat. Menurutnya, waktu terbaik memukul lalat bukan saat posisinya siap terbang sehingga waktu yang dibutuhkannya untuk mengantisipasi ancaman tersebut relatif lebih lama. Tentu tak mudah melakukan gerakan akurat kurang dari 100 milidetik.

WAH

Sumber : PHYSORG

FAKTA-FAKTA MENGERIKAN TENTANG KELAPARAN

1. Tiap hari kurang-lebih 24.000 orang meninggal karena lapar atau hal-hal yang berkenaan dengan kelaparan. Angka ini telah menurun kalau dibandingkan dengan sepuluh tahun yang lalu yang berkisar sekitar 35.000 dan 45.000 untuk duapuluh tahun yang lalu. Tiga perempat dari angka-angka kematian ini adalah anak-anak berumur dibawah lima tahun.

2. Kini, 10% dari anak-anak di negara berkembang meninggal sebelum mereka berumur lima tahun. Angka ini menurun 28% dari lima puluh tahun yang lalu.

3. Kelaparan dan perang menyebabkan hanya 10% kematian karena lapar, meskipun hal ini merupakan hal yang biasa kita dengar sehari-hari. Kebanyakan dari kematian karena lapar disebabkan oleh malnutrisi yang kronis akibat dari (keadaan bahwa) penderita tidak dapat mendapatkan makanan yang cukup. Hal ini disebabkan oleh kemiskinan yang sangat parah.

4. Disamping kematian, malnutrisi juga menyebabkan kerusakan indra penglihatan, kurang semangat, kelambatan pertumbuhan badan dan meningkatnya kerawanan terhadap penyakit. Penderita malnutrisi berat tidak berdaya untuk berfungsi melakukan kegiatan ringan sehari-hari.

5. Diperkiran bahwa didunia ada kira-kira 800 juta penderita kelaparan dan malnutrisi, yaitu 100 kali lebih banyak dari yang meninggal karena kelaparan dan malnutrisi itu setiap tahunnya.

6. Pada hakekatnya, dibutuhkan hanya sedikit bahan dasar saja untuk memungkinkan si miskin berkesinambungan dalam memproduksi makanan. Termasuk dalam bahan dasar ini adalah bibit yang berkualitas tinggi, alat-alat yang sesuai dan kemudahan dalam mendapatkan air. Sekedar peningkatan dalam teknik pertanian dan cara penyimpanan makanan juga akan menolong.

7. Banyak pakar dalam bidang kelaparan percaya bahwa pada akhirnya jalan terbaik untuk mengurangi kelaparan adalah lewat pendidikan. Orang-orang yang berpendidikan adalah bibit yang terbaik dalam meningkatkan diri dari kemiskinan yang menjadi penyebab kelaparan.

"Sayangilah makanan anda. Masih banyak saudara-saudara kita yang kesulitan untuk makan, walaupun hanya 1x dalam sehari. Bayangkan kesulitan mereka sebelum anda menbuang makanan anda yang berlebihan."

sumber : lonweb

BAYI TERBESAR DI DUNIA

Bayi laki-laki di Kolombia ini memang baru berusia 11 bulan, namun ukuran tubuhnya telah mencapai ukuran tubuh layaknya anak berusia 8 tahun. Bayi ini mempunyai berat badan 28 kilogram dan ukuran tubuhnya empat setengah kali lebih besar dari tubuh kakaknya.

Karena ukuran tubuh yang terlalu lebar, bayi itu terpaksa mengenakan popok raksasa. Menurut penuturan ibunya, Milena Orosco de Agudelo, bayinya itu mulai terus membesar tubuhnya saat memasuki usia 2 bulan.

"Bayiku telah menjalani beberapa tes dan hasilnya menunjukkan ia mengalami gangguan fungsi hormon tiroid," kata Orosco. "Kemudian, bayiku itu diikutkan untuk menjalani tes kardiogram dan hasil tes menunjukkan ia mempunyai struktur tulang layaknya anak berusia 8 tahun, namun para dokter tidak mengatakan padaku bagaimana hal itu bisa sampai terjadi.

"Bayi ini seharusnya memiliki berat badan antara 6 hingga 7 kilogram pada usia sebayanya. Para dokter di Kolombia sedang berupaya mencari tahu bagaimana bayi tersebut terus membesar ukuran tubuhnya.

Dokter David Dias dari Rumah Sakit Anak Barranquilla menerangkan bayi itu akan kembali menjalani beberapa pemeriksaan. "Bayi itu akan kembali diperiksa untuk menentukan apakah tubuhnya membesar akibat obesitas atau karena overfungsional kelenjar tiroid".

Sumber : daily mail