Decius wrote:
] ] A set of four glass ramps positioned in a square clearly
] ] show water travelling up each of them before it pours off
] ] the top, only to start again at the bottom of the next
] ] ramp.
] ]
] ] It is a sight which defies logic, and has become probably
] ] the most memorable image of this year's show.
] ]
] ] Mr Dyson says his inspiration was a drawing by the Dutch
] ] artist MC Escher (he of Gothic palaces where soldiers are
] ] eternally walking upstairs, and of patterns where birds
] ] turn into fish).

Neat! I wonder if there's a movie of it on the web somewhere. I'd like to see it in motion.

RE: BBC NEWS | UK | How does Dyson make water go uphill?

] Welcome to the most respected, domesticated penguin
] dealer on the Internet! Relax and take a look around our
] site where you can find information on our company, our
] products, and what goes into the care of a penguin.
] Penguin Warehouse, Inc. sells certified purebred
] penguins, useful penguin books, and many other items to
] make you and your new pet happy.

Penguin Warehouse, Inc. - Buy a Pet Penguin Today

] I had recently driven down Route 9 in the Pleasant Plains
] section of Dover Township. As I passed several gas
] stations, I noticed that their price for regular gasoline
] was an average of $1.29 per gallon, with the cheapest the
] Wawa station at $1.26 a gallon for regular gasoline.

NOT FAIR!!!!!!!! I WANT $1.26 FOR FULL-SERVE!!! I'm paying about $1.65 for self-serve!!!!! NOT FAIR!!!!
All hail New Jersey, land of refineries, and cheap gas.

$1.26!?

] TARRYTOWN, New York (AP) -- An Arab-American woman who
] was in court to fight a parking ticket fainted when the
] judge asked her if she was a terrorist.

Both tickets were dismissed. The judge (79 years old) should be dismissed as well.

Woman collapses after N.Y. judge asks if she's a terrorist

] It's nice down here, 220 feet below ground. It's dry and
] cool -- a springlike 60 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a
] breeze coming through the tunnels that smells like dust
] and something older than dust, the souls of the limestone
] miners, maybe, who began dynamiting this catacomb into
] existence 101 years ago.
]
] The only sound is a constant low thrumming, like the din
] of a ship's engine. There is a narrow roadway no wider
] than a country lane. A service van drives by, and then an
] electric golf cart. There are security guards, too,
] around every corner.
]
] "Keep it with you at all times," the guard at the gate
] had said, passing a fire extinguisher into the car as
] he'd waved me ahead toward a dim gray plaza, from which a
] maze of identical-looking gray tunnels snaked off in
] every direction.
]
] A fire extinguisher?
]
] Welcome to Iron Mountain, the largest commercially owned
] underground storage facility in the world. This is where
] Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has deposited his huge
] and growing collection of historical photographs --
] approximately 11 million negatives, prints, slides -- a
] cache that represents a culturally significant chunk of
] the visual history of the 20th century.

Buried Treasure (washingtonpost.com)

I remember this was linked a few months ago, but I just got it over e-mail at work (took the engineers a few months to discover it, but they're all pretty erect about it) and I don't remember that it came with the story.. I thought the story was pretty cool.
-Jessica

Check this out. Click the link before reading the rest of the email. Is
this an engineers dream or what? This is a commercial for the new European
Honda Accord, which will be sold here as an Acura (TSX):
http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/honda-ad.html

It's a two-minute ad done without any computer graphics, but will surely
go down as one of the most amazing commercials of all time. If you are
interested, watch the movie first before reading the narrative below. "Six
hundred and six takes it took, and if they had been forced to do a 607th
it is probable, if not downright certain, that one of the film crew would
have snapped and gone mad. On the first 605 occasions something small,
usually infuriatingly minute, went just slightly awry and the whole
delicate arrangement was wrecked. A drop too much oil there, or here maybe
one ball-bearing too many giving a fraction too much impetus to the
movement. Whirr, creak, crash, the entire, card-house of consequences was
a write-off and they had to start again.

Honda's latest television advertisement, a two-minute film called "Cog",
is like a fine-lubricated line of dominoes. It begins with a transmission
bearing which rolls into a synchro hub which in turn rolls into a gear
wheel cog and plummets off a table on to a camshaft and pulley wheel. All
the parts are from the new Honda Accord - #16,495 to you, guv'nor, or #6
million if you want to pay for the advertising campaign. And what an
amazing ad campaign it is, too.

Back on Cog, things are still moving, in a what-happened-next manner
redolent of "there was an old woman who swallowed a fly". With a ting and
a ding of metal on metal, a thud of contact and the occasional thwock,
plop and extended scraping sound, the viewer watches as individual,
stripped-down parts of car roll into one another and set off more
reactions. Three valve stems roll down a sloped bonnet. An exhaust box is
pushed with just enough energy into a rear suspension link which nudges a
transmission selector arm which releases the brake pedal loaded with a
small rubber brake grommit. Catapult! Boing! On goes the beautiful dance,
everything intricately balanced and poised. Nothing must be even a
sixteenth of an inch off course or the momentum will be lost. At one point
three tyres, amazingly, roll uphill. They do so because inside they have
been weighted with bolts and screws which have been positioned with
fingertip care so that the slightest kiss of kinetic energy pushes them
over, onward and, yes, upward. During the pre-shoot... [ Read More (0.9k in body) ]

] NEW LONDON, Connecticut (CNN) -- Touting U.S. generosity
] in fighting AIDS and poverty, President Bush said
] Wednesday he would challenge European allies to make a
] "similar commitment" on those fronts when he travels to
] the continent next week.

Bush touts U.S. generosity, calls on Europe for 'similar commitment'

] Woman Finds She Can Bank On Strangers' Honesty
]
] Purse Containing $40,000 Is Returned By A&P Employees

Way too much money to be carrying around.

] MAY 19--Meet Brenda Orme and John Meyers. The Louisiana
] couple got nabbed last Friday when they tried to have sex
] atop a water tower more than 200 feet above the ground.
] Meyers, 44, told Slidell cops that he and Orme, 45,
] wanted to get busy "on top of the world." We know this
] thanks to the amusing press release work of Lt. Rob
] Callahan, whose handiwork can be found on the following
] pages. Along with his initial report on the bust, we've
] included Callahan's entertaining update, which includes a
] quip from his boss, Chief Freddy Drennan: "I guess this
] is the poor man's version of the 'mile high club.'"
] Meyers and Orme each face criminal trespass and
] disturbing the peace charges. (3 pages)

The pictures are the best part!

They needed a change of scenery. Trailer too boring.

] Delivering the commencement address at the U.S. Coast
] Guard Academy on Wednesday, Bush is expected to highlight
] "the great role America's compassion abroad plays in
] averting wars and in solving problems," White House press
] secretary Ari Fleischer said.

Yes. Compassion. Averting wars. Solving problems.

Bush to tout U.S. generosity overseas