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Fun_Topicz is all about giving a SMILE on people's face. Since now days everyone's life is so stressful, so this is an attempt to reduce a bit.
Jun 29, 2011
Jun 25, 2011
Jun 24, 2011
Miss USA 2011 bikini competition. (WHICH STATE YOU THINK ITS HOT?)
Miss USA 2011 bikini competition. Enjoy.
Jun 23, 2011
Moving Platforms by Priestmangoode ( WE NEED THESE IN NYC....;))
Industrial designers Priestmangoode have revealed a concept for high-speed trains that would transfer passengers to local services while still moving, instead of stopping at stations.
By avoiding time-consuming stops, the Moving Platforms concept would allow faster long-distance journey times.
Trams and local trains would dock alongside the high-speed trains while still in motion, allowing passengers to walk between the two services.
As part of a fully integrated network, passengers would be able to journey from a local stop to any international destination without disembarking.
Watch an animation of the Moving Platforms concept on Dezeen Screen »
Watch an interview with Paul Priestman about Moving Platforms on Dezeen Screen »
Watch an interview with Paul Priestman about Moving Platforms on Dezeen Screen »
The following details are from Priestmangoode:
Britain’s leading transport designer unveils the future for 21st Century train travel
Britain’s leading transport designer has unveiled his idea for the future of train travel. Moving Platforms is a completely inter-connected rail infrastructure where local trams connect to a network of non-stop high speed trains enabling passengers to travel from their local stop to a local address at their destination (even in another country) without getting off a train.
Paul Priestman of Priestmangoode is the designer of the Virgin Pendolino train and last year’s hugely successful Mercury high speed concept train. Moving Platforms is a totally joined-up network that allows passengers to transfer directly from one moving tram or high speed train to another. This new integrated infrastructure mimics the way the internet works, creating a system similar to the one that allows your home PC to connect to a computer on the other side of the world via a series of connected networks.
Moving Platforms involves a network of high speed trains that run non-stop between two ends of a continent, New York to San Francisco for instance. The high speed trains run on a line that passes outside towns and cities with a network of local feeder trams that carry passengers from local stops out to meet them. As they near each other, the high speed train slows down slightly and the tram speeds up alongside it, at which point the trains physically connect via a docking system allowing passengers to transfer directly across from the tram to the high speed train and vice versa. Once transfers are complete, the trains separate, with the high speed train speeding up again along its route, and the tram slowing down and going back into the town or city centre with the newly disembarked passengers. The tram, in effect, acts as a moving station. The same system could also be used by passengers transferring from one high speed train to another.
This idea is not as crazy as it sounds. There are plenty of examples in every day life where we step onto a moving vehicle: escalators, moving walkways, paternoster lifts, ski lifts and Ferris wheels like the London Eye.
We are trying to build a new 21st Century train service on a station-based infrastructure that was designed in the 19th century for steam trains. We should be re-thinking infrastructure and building an inter-connected local-to-global rail network.
Current plans for high speed rail will require a new network of major stations, taking up huge amounts of space and with a cost and environmental impact that is potentially vast. These stations function for the most part as large car parks that are packed during working hours and empty the rest of the time, and are only in use by passengers for short periods of the day.
The big problem with high speed trains is that they are not very fast. Slowing down and speeding up as they move between stations means they are only able to travel at their full speed for limited periods of time (wasting vast amounts of energy in the process). On long journeys, the non stop high speed train could save a vast proportion of any journey time.
We lose huge amounts of time in transit waiting at stations as we change trains. Moving Platforms would enable passengers to travel from their local stop to an address of their choice in another town or country without getting off a train.
Many rail passengers use cars to get to their main-line embarkation station, so being able to link up to the high speed train directly from a local tram or train service means we could reduce car usage in towns and cities.
Track infrastructure is already in place in many areas. On each train line, there are two tracks, one high speed and one local, next to one another. This means that potentially, Moving Platforms would not take up any more land.
Existing local stations would serve the feeder trams, enabling passengers from rural areas to access the high speed line easily.
Moving Platforms could also be used for local deliveries and freight. This will help get trucks off the road and ease congestion on motorways and in towns and cities.
A journey planner App would tell you what local tram or train to get on in Boston to go to a local address in San Francisco for instance, making travel simpler and easier.
A journey planner App would tell you what local tram or train to get on in Boston to go to a local address in San Francisco for instance, making travel simpler and easier.
“I can’t believe that across the world we are spending billions on high speed rail making it run on a network that was invented in the 19th Century. I’m under no illusion that Moving Platforms is a big idea, but if we really want high speed rail to be successful and change the way we travel, getting people off the roads and reducing the number of short haul flights, it is imperative that the infrastructure we use works with, not against, this new technology to enable a seamless passenger journey from start to destination. The days of the super-hub train station are over, connectivity is the way forward,” says Paul Priestman.
Jun 22, 2011
California mom accused of killing baby in microwave
SACRAMENTO, Calif (Reuters) – A California mother was arrested and charged with murder on Tuesday after police said she cooked her baby in a microwave.
Ka Yang, 29, was taken into custody three months after her week-old baby was found dead, Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said.
Leong said it took several months to determine the child's burns did indeed come from a microwave, using medical analysis and findings from three other U.S. cases.
Among them was a case involving Dayton, Ohio, woman convicted this year of baking her baby in a microwave.
Yang's baby was found dead at the family's residence on March 17, after a male relative called to report the incident, Leong said.
Child welfare workers have since removed Yang's three boys, who are all under age 7, from her home, Leong said.
Sacramento police said they do not know what would have led Yang to allegedly put her baby in the microwave.
She was being held without bail in Sacramento County jail.
(Reporting by Leidhra Johnson, writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Greg McCune)
Jun 21, 2011
Designers Plan Swimming Pools in New York City’s Rivers
MANHATTAN — Imagine jumping into the East or Hudson river and swimming laps in clean, filtrated river water.
It could happen.
A group of designers — Dong-Ping Wong of Family, Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeffrey Franklin of PlayLab — have spent the last year working with engineers, swimmers, consultants and planners on studying the possibilities for such a project, which they're calling +Pool.
"It was a really hot summer and we were thinking, wouldn't it be great if we had more pools?" Franklin said.
Then they started considering bigger issues: the need for more recreation in the city, the issue of water cleanliness and whether something could be created in an environmentally sound way, using actual river water.
They released a preliminary engineering report on Friday conducted in collaboration with engineers from Arup New York examining the water quality, filtration, structural, mechanical and energy systems of their plans.
Now they are moving into the next phase: raising $25,000 through the micro-financing site Kickstarter to begin testing the filtration membranes studied in the report.
The pool filters river water through its wall, Franklin explained.
"It's like we're dropping a big strainer into the river," he said. "You're still in the river water. It's just a little cleaner and safer."
The filtration system has three layers to remove bacteria, contaminants and odors and, finally, to disinfect the water so it's safe and swimmable under city, state and federal standards of water quality.
The designers have so far raised more than $9,500, but need to reach their $25,000 goal by July 15 in order to get any of the money for the testing device.
They hope to develop that into a full-scale working prototype of a section of the 9,000-square-foot pool. Their design includes four pools in one for different uses — for children, sports, laps and lounging.
The group has not selected any sites for its pool dreams — it will largely depend on whether a developer or city agency expresses interest, Franklin said.
Their mock-up drawings situate it in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which had been home to the Floating Pool Lady barge in 2007 before it moved to the Bronx.
But they looked at several other possible preliminary locations, including in Manhattan along the East River near Stuyvesant Town at 23rd Street, and along the Hudson above 59th Street, just above Battery Park and at Riverbank State Park at 135th Street.
"Our main criteria thus far has been finding places where the water is relatively still and away from heavy traffic," Franklin said.
He doesn't know how much a full scale pool would cost, but estimates it would be more than the $5 million Floating Pool Lady.
Manhattan has a rich history of floating pools. The city's elite swam in them off the coast of the Battery in the early 19th century and in the early 1900s, immigrants flocked to bathhouses along the East and Hudson rivers since many lacked proper bathing facilities at home.
"It's an old idea, but especially with the water becoming cleaner, it's coming around again," said Roland Lewis, of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.
"Getting it permitted, funded and built is no small endeavor, but this is how progress is made," Lewis continued.
"I applaud their vision. It's a double good thing: cleaning the water and providing recreation," he said.
"The more we open up our waterfront, the more people touch and feel and use the water for recreation, education, for their jobs using ferries, the more people realize its an immense resource."
Jun 18, 2011
The Best Diet-Friendly Frozen Pizza on Shelves!
If gooey, cheesy pizza is your weakness, read on. Check out the TOP ATE guilt-free supermarket picks below, courtesy of Hungry Girl...
Newman's Own Thin & Crispy Pizza
PER SERVING (1/3rd of pizza): 240 - 320 calories, 7 - 16g fat, 540 - 800mg sodium, 31 - 33g carbs, 1 - 3g fiber, 2 - 3g sugars, 11 - 16g protein
These all-natural, thin-crust, multi-serving pizzas are the latest addition to our list of favorites, and we're glad they decided to join the party! (Better late than never.) The flavors are very traditional, so everyone will LOVE them. The Roasted Garlic & Chicken, Roasted Vegetable, and White varieties have the best stats in the line.
Kashi Mexicali Black Bean Stone-Fired Thin Crust Pizza
PER SERVING (1/3rd of pizza): 210 calories, 7g fat, 27g carbs, 4g fiber, 2g sugars, 13g protein
Not only does Kashi make our favorite frozen meal ever (Mayan Harvest Bake), but the all-natural food company also makes one of our favorite frozen thin-crust pizzas -- this one! It has two cheeses, a spicy black bean and tomato sauce blend, and fire-roasted corn and peppers. Oh, and did we mention that the crust is made with seven whole grains? UNREAL!
More from Hungry Girl: A Mexican breakfast pizza recipe!
A.C. LaRocco Ultra Thin Sprouted Grain Bruschetta Style Pizza
PER SERVING (1/2 of pizza): 170 calories, 8g fat, 290mg sodium, 17g carbs, 1g fiber, 0g sugars, 11g protein
If you love crunchy and delicious pizza without lots of calories from doughy crust, then you've gotta try this. It's not just thin crust, it's ULTRA thin crust -- almost like a tortilla, but with a slightly sweet, wheat-y taste. Although it's frozen, it tastes fresh... almost homemade. Seek it out at select markets!
Lean Cuisine Wood Fire Style Pizza
PER SERVING (1 pizza): 310 - 350 calories, 7 - 9g fat, 430 - 670mg sodium, 42 - 48g carbs, 2 - 3g fiber, 4 - 11g sugars, 16 - 23g protein
Can't be trusted around multi-serving pizza items? Here's a pizza made just for one. Choose from four delicious varieties: BBQ-Recipe Chicken, Roasted Garlic Chicken, Margherita, and Bacon Alfredo. And although they don't quite taste like pizza fresh from the oven, they're still crave-worthy!
More from Hungry Girl: BLT Pizza!
Weight Watchers Smart Ones Anytime Selections Pizza Minis
PER SERVING (4 pieces): 270 - 280 calories, 7 - 8g fat, 460 - 490mg sodium, 37 - 42g carbs, 6g fiber, 4 - 6g sugars, 11 - 13g protein
These mini pizza rounds -- which come in Cheese, Pepperoni, and Vegetable -- are cute and tasty! Four of them equal one serving. They're not the most filling, so we suggest pairing 'em with a side salad (with light dressing, of course)!
Amy's Cheese Pizza Toaster Pops
PER SERVING (1 pastry): 160 calories, 6g fat, 220mg sodium, 21g carbs, 1g fiber, 2g sugars, 5g protein
This is like a pizza-packed Pop-Tart! No, it's not a sweet pastry; it's a toastable, savory snack filled with tomato sauce and gooey cheese. Just the right amount of food to satisfy a pizza craving fast... and it's easy to eat on the go! But make sure you stop after one -- the box comes with four.
More from Hungry Girl: Triple-Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Poppers!
DiGiorno 200 Calorie Portions
PER SERVING (1 pizza): 200 calories, 8 - 9g fat, 450 - 520mg sodium, 21 - 23g carbs, 1g fiber, 2 - 3g sugars, 9 - 11g protein
We love how pizza products come in all shapes and sizes... more fun ways to eat 'em! And this one happens to be a rectangle. Each box comes with two servings, but even if you eat both, you won't do too much damage. Pretty impressive coming from DiGiorno, maker of stuffed-crust pizza and pizza-cookie combos (yes, a frozen pizza that comes with frozen cookies in the box).
Lean Pockets Pepperoni Pizza
PER SERVING (1 piece): 290 calories, 8g fat, 610mg sodium, 40g carbs, 2g fiber, 10g sugars, 12g protein
Another easy-to-carry pizza option, these pockets are stuffed with meaty, cheesy goodness. They don't taste guilt-free, but we promise they are!
More from Hungry Girl: HG's Ultimate Supreme Pizza Pocket!
PER SERVING (1/3rd of pizza): 240 - 320 calories, 7 - 16g fat, 540 - 800mg sodium, 31 - 33g carbs, 1 - 3g fiber, 2 - 3g sugars, 11 - 16g protein
These all-natural, thin-crust, multi-serving pizzas are the latest addition to our list of favorites, and we're glad they decided to join the party! (Better late than never.) The flavors are very traditional, so everyone will LOVE them. The Roasted Garlic & Chicken, Roasted Vegetable, and White varieties have the best stats in the line.
PER SERVING (1/3rd of pizza): 210 calories, 7g fat, 27g carbs, 4g fiber, 2g sugars, 13g protein
Not only does Kashi make our favorite frozen meal ever (Mayan Harvest Bake), but the all-natural food company also makes one of our favorite frozen thin-crust pizzas -- this one! It has two cheeses, a spicy black bean and tomato sauce blend, and fire-roasted corn and peppers. Oh, and did we mention that the crust is made with seven whole grains? UNREAL!
More from Hungry Girl: A Mexican breakfast pizza recipe!
PER SERVING (1/2 of pizza): 170 calories, 8g fat, 290mg sodium, 17g carbs, 1g fiber, 0g sugars, 11g protein
If you love crunchy and delicious pizza without lots of calories from doughy crust, then you've gotta try this. It's not just thin crust, it's ULTRA thin crust -- almost like a tortilla, but with a slightly sweet, wheat-y taste. Although it's frozen, it tastes fresh... almost homemade. Seek it out at select markets!
PER SERVING (1 pizza): 310 - 350 calories, 7 - 9g fat, 430 - 670mg sodium, 42 - 48g carbs, 2 - 3g fiber, 4 - 11g sugars, 16 - 23g protein
Can't be trusted around multi-serving pizza items? Here's a pizza made just for one. Choose from four delicious varieties: BBQ-Recipe Chicken, Roasted Garlic Chicken, Margherita, and Bacon Alfredo. And although they don't quite taste like pizza fresh from the oven, they're still crave-worthy!
More from Hungry Girl: BLT Pizza!
PER SERVING (4 pieces): 270 - 280 calories, 7 - 8g fat, 460 - 490mg sodium, 37 - 42g carbs, 6g fiber, 4 - 6g sugars, 11 - 13g protein
These mini pizza rounds -- which come in Cheese, Pepperoni, and Vegetable -- are cute and tasty! Four of them equal one serving. They're not the most filling, so we suggest pairing 'em with a side salad (with light dressing, of course)!
PER SERVING (1 pastry): 160 calories, 6g fat, 220mg sodium, 21g carbs, 1g fiber, 2g sugars, 5g protein
This is like a pizza-packed Pop-Tart! No, it's not a sweet pastry; it's a toastable, savory snack filled with tomato sauce and gooey cheese. Just the right amount of food to satisfy a pizza craving fast... and it's easy to eat on the go! But make sure you stop after one -- the box comes with four.
More from Hungry Girl: Triple-Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Poppers!
PER SERVING (1 pizza): 200 calories, 8 - 9g fat, 450 - 520mg sodium, 21 - 23g carbs, 1g fiber, 2 - 3g sugars, 9 - 11g protein
We love how pizza products come in all shapes and sizes... more fun ways to eat 'em! And this one happens to be a rectangle. Each box comes with two servings, but even if you eat both, you won't do too much damage. Pretty impressive coming from DiGiorno, maker of stuffed-crust pizza and pizza-cookie combos (yes, a frozen pizza that comes with frozen cookies in the box).
PER SERVING (1 piece): 290 calories, 8g fat, 610mg sodium, 40g carbs, 2g fiber, 10g sugars, 12g protein
Another easy-to-carry pizza option, these pockets are stuffed with meaty, cheesy goodness. They don't taste guilt-free, but we promise they are!
More from Hungry Girl: HG's Ultimate Supreme Pizza Pocket!