On the 27th of July, the torch will be lighted which signifies the opening of the London Olympics 2012. People in different parts of the world are waiting for it with great excitement and anticipation since much will be seen especially the place where the actual ceremony will be held in the next few weeks. There are various reasons why athletes and leaders who would be present on that event should look forward to this event with smile, and gladness. Here are the 10 reasons why one should watch and enjoy the London Olympics 2012.

The Opening of the Building

Amidst the controversies of the total cost of the venue of the London Olympics 2012, people are much excited to see the outcome of the preparation that the hosting city and country has made. It represents the fruits and dedication of the people in London. Imagine that they have laid out the blue print for the stadium along with the years of labor so that the world would witness the pride that London has for this year’s much awaited event.

Madonna’s greatest comeback


Madonna will make a better comeback this time on the right venue, and channel at London’s Hyde Park that will happen on July 17, 2012. She would also be present at Murrayfield on July 21, 2012 in Ediburgh which would also be her first ever show in Scotland.

Digital Art Exhibitions


This is much anticipated event as well wherein one of the featured exhibitions is the virtual exhibitions that will be headed by Kurt Hentschläger. This would be part of the displays that can be seen as well at the Iron Bridge George Museums that would last on September 30, 2012.

Yoko Ono’s Work Exhibition


This will take place on June 19 to September 09 2012 at the Serpentine Gallery. Another exciting part in the gallery is the newly designed wing which was made by Zaha Hadid which would also serve as the christening of the Serptentine Sackler Gallery.

The Presence of Damon Albarn


To all the fans and followers of Damon Albarn, this is your opportunity to see him perform live. In fact, he is expected to be part of the conclusion of the program during the ceremony. Take advantage of the chance to see him and person to be part of this big event.

Story of Different People


All of the participants especially the athletes who would be representing their countries have so much to share. Aside from activities, and other exciting events that will happen from day 1 wherein various opinions, and comments may be heard from the hosts, over the news, and from the spectators themselves. Nonetheless, majority of which are the introduction of the participating countries especially their chosen athletes for specific fields.

The Progress of the Current Champions


Those who have won on the last Olympics will have their share on this event. It will be shown their progress and growth since the last time that they got the title like on their professional career, personal lives, and as well with their families.

The British Band Elbow


They did compose the theme for Olympics 2012 which will be sung by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the opening program in London. It is also be part of the pieces that will be sung as well by the London Community Gospel Choir.

It happens every four Years


The last Olympics took place in Beijing China in 2008. This event is being looked forward most earnestly by the athletes who would be bringing pride and honor to their countries. Since it happens every four years, everyone is excited from leaders of the nations down to the common people who would be one of the spectators of the event. It symbolizes unity and harmony as well of the world because of this once in every 4 years gathering.

Arrival of thousand Athletes


Yes, prior to the said event, there had been athletes who already arrived ahead of time and who have made early booking and reservation. Some of them came from Russia, Cuba, and other countries. Everyone is really excited because they have been preparing for them for the last four years.

After a long time in a relationship, couples settled into a routine, and the excitement of being together vanishes. A lack of display of affection, even a calm and happy relationship can become a burden for both.

Surprises instill romance, beauty, excitement and strength in your relationship. Although girls want a man to take the initiative, it’s a misconception that only girls dream of getting surprises. Men, too, want special attention. A person who agrees to share his life, his happiness, his fears, his secrets, his miseries with you, is special. Celebrate that special person, celebrate love, celebrate each other, celebrate relations and celebrate days. Eventually, life will start celebrating you. If your partner expects some romantic surprises, and you, being a awfully boring person, get irritated by such demands, then you need to change this attitude. It should not be considered duty, rather should be accepted as a norm of being in a relationship.

These acts are not only a great way to show your feelings, but are a lot of fun too. Here are the top ten romantic things that you can do to surprise your other half.

Hide Love Messages

Hide love messages in different places where your partner can find them easily, but unexpectedly. You can put notes in their purse, wallet, coat pocket, drawer or in the car. Be creative and try the same with gifts and flowers. Let them find your surprises on thier own.

Give a Massage


A hectic and stressful routine can make anyone feel too exhausted. Giving a massage can be considered a means of having a smooth communication with each other. Pamper them with a mild body massage. This lovely act will be highly appreciated. The best part is that you can get time to talk to each other, in a good mood.

Pack Lunch

Pack lunch for them in a box and put a note saying “Missing you”. When they will open the lunch box after a hard work routine, this note will take away all the tediousness and will refresh them. You can try different messages and maybe make heart shaped food.

Dedicate Songs


Dedicate or sing a song for your partner during a dinner at a restaurant. Expressing your love in front of so many people always inspires the person in your life. But be careful; know your partner well. Some people find public displays of affection to be a huge turn off.

Pay Unexpected Visits


Visit him when it is least expected. A small visit at odd hours would be more exciting. Show up at their workplace. Bring a special meal for them. Show them that you just “dropped by” because you missed them.

Send Gifts


Buy different gifts and send each of them from a different courier services to their workplace. Each gift will reach your partner at a different time on the same day. If you are too busy with your work, or are unsure about their choice, leave an envelope with some money and a note at home. The note can say “I want to see a ring of your choice in your hand” or something similar, as per your desired gift.

Make a Photo Album


Compile pictures of the two of you and create a photo album. Caption each photo that expresses your passionate feelings, as love is incomplete until it has been expressed. Send it to your partner. It will show them how much the memories that you remembered, shared and recorded mean to you.

Plan a Trip


Plan a trip and surprise your partner. Pick a place where they have always wanted to go. Complete all the arrangements yourself and just ask them to meet you at a spot, or at a spot from where you would escort them to that place yourself. To spice things up, you can draft up a scavenger hunt to make them guess where they can meet you.

Moonlight Dinner


Candle light dinners are always romantic. You can also have dinner under the full moon. Arrange a seating for two at a private place, on the beach or on your roof top. Cook or order food with desert. Take your partner there blind folded and enjoy a romantic dinner.

Hide Rose Petals Under Sun Visor


Hide rose petals under sun visor of your car. When your partner is sitting on the passenger seat, make them conscious about something on her face. Suggest that they could use the mirror on the visor. As they pull it down, there will be a shower of rose petals on them. It would be such a sweet gesture.

Source: http://uptenlist.com/romantic/top-ten-ways-to-surprise-your-lover

We live in a base-10 world. The decimal system governs everything from the binary functions of computers to the amount of change you get when you buy a Mashed Potato Slurpee. So why isn't the standard Earth day just 10 hours long? Credit the Egyptians for that one.

As human civilization moved from transient hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural communities, people realized the need to tally their objects and property. (If you go out to pasture with five goats in the morning, then come back with three in the evening—and can't tell the difference—you're doing it wrong). The concept of written language was just catching on at that point, so people learned to count the same way kids do today—using their 10 fingers.

Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 3000 BC show the use of a base-10 decimal system. So why did they set their clocks to base-12? Many believe that the base-12 system arose from a counting system the Egyptians inherited from the earlier Sumerian culture, counting not by the whole finger but by each individual knuckle. That is, if you open your left hand and use the tip of your thumb to touch each of the three knuckles in your four fingers, you'll total 12. To measure time using this method, the Egyptians divided the day into 12-hour halves—or, more accurately, a ten hour day, two hours of morning and evening twilight, and 12 hours of darkness.

The Egyptians based the hours themselves on the movement of the heavens. They tracked a series of 36 small constellations, known as "decans," which rise consecutively over the horizon approximately once every 40 minutes. The rising of each decan marked the start of a new hour. The start of a new decade—the Egyptian 10-day period—began with the appearance of a new decan in the Eastern sky just before dawn.

By the 9th Dynasty (about 2100 BC), Egyptians had augmented their solar calendar with the regular appearances of these stars to create a unified annual calendar. Its 36 decades constituted the 360-day Egyptian year. The new system proved precise enough to accurately predict the annual flooding of the Nile with the rising of the star Sirius, even though the actual length of individual hours varied according to the season. "Tables were produced to help people to determine time at night by observing the decans. Amazingly, such tables have been found inside the lids of coffins, presumably so that the dead could also tell the time," Dr. Nick Lomb, the Sydney Observatory's consultant curator of astronomy, told ABC News.

While the new calendar made telling time dead simple, it's hourly flexibility made such a system useless to the Greeks—they needed a day with fixed-length increments. Hipparchus, considered by many to be the greatest astronomer in antiquity, is credited with synthesizing the Egyptian star clock into the standardized equinoctial clock we use today, wherein each period of light and dark on the Equinoxes is divided into 12 equal-length segments.

Now, if only someone could explain why we still bother with Daylight Savings.

These are some of the most mind-blowing facts about the brain. After reading these interesting facts you can store them in your brain and try and sound smart when you’re trying to impress someone. Check these amazing facts out!

Differences Between the Right and the Left Brain



The brain is split into two hemispheres. ft brain favors more rational, analytical thinking, while the right is more visually and conceptually oriented. Even if you loose one side of your brain you will survive.

Brain Feels No Pain



There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain. That is the reason why brain surgeries are performes on a patient that is still awake. In the way the surgent can check vision or motor functions.


There are 100,000 Miles of Bloof Vessels in the Brain



There are a hundred billion neurons that turn on the brain. Another interesting fact is that the brain produces between 10-23 watts of power when awake, what is enough to light a bulb.


They perserved Einsten’s Brain



One of the biggest scientific minds ought to be studied. After Einsten died r. Thomas Harvey performed the brainectomy. Some years after the brain vanished and was found in 1978 in the possesion of Dr. Harvey who had still had the brain but sliced in 240 pieced for research.

Men’s Brain is Bigger



Even though men’s brains are 10% bigger than women’s, women’s brains have more nerve cells and connectors and work more efficiently. Women’s brains work more on the emotional side while men’s work on the logical side.

“Inception” is real



In case you didn’t know there is something called Lucis Dreaming.It is the ability to become aware while you’re dreaming, to consciously “wake up” inside the dream world and control your dreams. The movie Inception had popularized lucid dreaming. It is something that can be thought, there are a lot of online resources that can help you learn.

Does Brain Size Matter?



Are brain size and intelligence connectd. An average brain size is 1400 grams, while Einstein’s brain weighed 1230 grams. The amount of glial cells is what determined how intelligent a person is. However, another study has shown that the bigger your head is, the smarter you are. People with pointier heads are thought to be less intelligent! Do you believe this?

These 14 items is easy to keep up that alternative health just in case, even when you’re 5000 miles from home.

1. Goldenseal (hydrastis canadensis)

A powerful antibacterial, antibiotic, and antiparasitical potion. Goldenseal in its powdered form can be applied to open cuts to help them from getting infected. On the road it’s best used in a tincture if you get something funky from dirty water or street food. It can zap parasites and help to keep your intestinal tract free of them. Coupled with echinacea, it can take on more serious colds like strep throat when you are in a pinch.

2. Echinacea (echinacea purpurea)

This is top of the list because it’s just so damn useful. Echinacea helps support a healthy immune system. It also has antibacterial and antibiotic properties. If you start to feel something coming on, dosing yourself with a tincture of echinacea is a good way to help you stay healthy. At the very least, you won’t stay sick as long. It works well in conjunction with vitamin C.

Echinacea. Photo by lemonjenny

3. Cramp Bark (viburnum opulus)

Few things can kill a travel buzz like bad menstrual cramps. Cramp bark is a herbal alternative to over-the-counter painkillers. Cramp bark goes farther than just dulling the pain, it also helps to chill out the muscles that are causing the pain, thereby stopping the cramps. Take it in a tincture.

4. All Heal (prunella vulgaris)

All-Heal, Self- Heal and Heal-All are all common names of a plant which has many uses: antibiotic, antiseptic, astringent. The primary use for travelers is as a salve or ointment. All-Heal salve is used in all the ways you would use Neosporin to help keep cuts clean and heal faster. It has antibiotic properties to help prevent infection and heals cuts with remarkable speed. Look for an All-Heal salve or ointment sold under many brands.

Ginger root. Photo by Crystl

5. Ginger (zingiber officinale) or Peppermint Tea

Stomach troubles are one of the most common issues among travelers. Both ginger and peppermint are adept at soothing stomach upsets. They work with remarkable speed and ginger especially has properties which actually aid your body in digesting. Ginger tea or pastilles are good for combating motion sickness and nausea.

6. Arnica (arnica montana)

Arnica is commonly found in two forms, either as a gel( look for Boiron brand) or in homeopathic pellets. The gel, when used externally, is wonderful for removing bruises, bringing down puffiness or swelling, and easing deep aches. Internally, it can be used to alleviate headaches and help your body recover from trauma, such as when you tip over your moped.

7. Tea Tree Oil (melaleuca alternifolia)

Native to Australia, the tea tree plant produces a powerful astringent oil. Strong smelling tea tree oil should always be diluted in water, as a few drops goes a long way. It can be used to cleanse scratches and abrasions, to clean the face and in a neti pot to clean the sinuses. Drop a few drops in water and swish in your mouth like mouthwash if you are out of toothpaste. It can also reduce skin irritations, especially of the fungal variety.

Licorice Root. Photo by aSIMULAtor

8. Licorice Tea

Licorice tastes delicious, is naturally sweet, and is super if you have a sore throat. It has mucilaginous properties that help keep dry throats from being scratchy, especially useful when traveling through smog and pollution. The tea can also be used to help get your digestion moving if you have cured the runs a little too well or eaten one too many fried morsels.

9. Emer-gen-C

While not a herb or homeopathic, Emer-gen-C is one of God’s gifts to travelers. Found in most US natural health and vitamin stores, it is a powdered, super-concentrated dose of Vitamin C that helps prevent you picking up whatever it was that guy next to you on the plane had. Better yet, Emer-gen-C is packed with electrolytes, which your body loses steadily when you sweat, especially in hot places. Pouring a packet into you water bottle is an easy way to replenish your body’s reserves of these essential nutrients and stave off dehydration. As a bonus, it also comes in many flavors, which can be nice when your water tastes like warm plastic. I recommend the “tropical” variety.

10. Bach’s Rescue Remedy

Alright, so nobody really knows how flower essences work. It may all be in your head, but they are so effective, who cares? Bach’s, a British company, sells their popular blend of five flower essences called Rescue Remedy throughout the UK, parts of Europe, and specialty health stores in the US. Rescue Remedy is useful for just about everything. It helps you stay calm when dealing with long lines, customs officials, touts and layovers. It can ease the shock of transitions into a new culture, or back into your home one. They now have Rescue Remedy Sleep and Rescue Remedy Energy, which really should be called Rescue Remedy Travel because its been formulated to provide “relief for emotional fatigue brought on by stress or strain during times of personal difficulty”.

11. Neem (azadirachta indica) Powder

Considered a sacred plant in India, neem has dozens of uses, from acting as a natural air conditioner when placed in gardens to helping to keep your gums healthy. Neem powder may be difficult to find outside the subcontinent, but it’s worth a look at your local Asian grocery store if you can’t find it elsewhere. For travelers, neem is great for keeping those terrible pests of the night away. A natural insect repellent, you can sleep a little easier after sprinkling your sheets with the powder. It has a clean medicinal smell, though the odor can also deter some people from using it. Sprinkle some in your shoes to help ward off foot fungus as well.

Clove Oil. Photo by amandabhslater

12. Clove Oil

This little spice packs a mighty aromatic punch, but clove oil’s real use is as a numbing agent. In dental emergencies, diluted clove oil can numb the gums, mouth, and teeth. It also may help keep tooth infections from spreading, as clove has anti-bacterial properties. Though its primary use is dental, clove oil can numb the skin as well and its aromatic properties can be reviving and motivating. Always dilute clove oil in water prior to application, and although it can be used in the mouth it should not be ingested.

13. Lavender (lavandula angustifolia) Oil

Have a headache, feeling low, need to chill out? Getting tired of the smell of exhaust/open sewer/ smoke/ fish? Lavender oil is easy to throw in your bag, and you can rub it on your temple, the pressure points on the inside of your wrists, and under your nose. Aromatherapy is a simple and effective way to help you maintain emotional balance while on the move. As a bonus, it can also deter some insects from biting you, though I wouldn’t substitute it for a mosquito repellent in a malarial area. If nothing else, you can always use it to disguise the fact that you haven’t been near a shower in over a week. Just remember never to ingest lavender oil: it is toxic in such a concentrated form.

14. Aloe Vera Gel

Getting sunburned sucks, especially when you have to carry a backpack on those peeling red shoulders. Rub some aloe vera on: it promotes healing and relieves that burning sensation. Your sunburn will ease into a tan faster.

The key to using herbal and alternative medicine while traveling is to be prepared. If you normally use a one ounce tincture bottle at home, bring two or four. Remember that some things are hard to find when you’re far from home. Knowing the Latin names of certain plants is a good practice to get into.

Lastly, know when you need something more conventional. Alternative medicine can be a fantastic way to prevent illness or treat more common ailments, but there’s no shame in going to the pharmacy if the alternatives aren’t working for you.

Exhaust fans and open windows only go so far toward eliminating foul odors. Making your sniffer happy oftentimes requires something extra, like baking powder, vinegar or special charcoal. For smells that make you run out of the room holding your nose, try these tricks:

1. ID the source and remove it

"The key to odor removal is removing the source of the odor," says Bob Smolka, restoration manager for ACR, Inc., a specialized cleaning services company in Wheeling, Ill. If mold, mildew, faulty plumbing or an animal carcass in your chimney is causing the smell, then spraying air fresheners and burning candles will only temporarily overpower the stench. You need to eliminate the source of the problem for a true fix.

2. Wash away foul dishwasher smells

Fill a dishwasher-safe cup with white vinegar, place it on the top rack, and run it through a cycle without any dishes. If you don't have a safe cup, pour two cups of vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher. Be prepared for the vinegar to smell for an hour or so, but then all smells will be gone.

3. Cover temporary kitchen odors, like burnt toast and fried bacon. Turn on the exhaust fan, open the windows and spray an air freshener.

4. Tame pet odor, including the kitty litter box

Activated charcoal, which is a form of carbon that has been "activated" to make it extremely porous, is great for absorbing a range of odors, especially those caused by pets. You can buy activated charcoal specifically designed for pet odors for $7. Put them in or near your litter box to help mitigate the stink.

5. Eliminate washing machine mold smells

The door on front-load washing machines seals so tight that air never circulates inside, allowing mold and mildew to grow-and stink up the laundry room. Wash away the mold and the smell by running a cycle with only two cups of bleach and warm or hot water. Or buy tablets like Affresh (three for $8) that you stick in the washer to clean it. Whichever method you choose, leave your door open between washings.

6. Keep your garbage disposal from smelling like garbage

Just because you stick waste in your disposal doesn't give it permission to foul up your kitchen. Cut a lemon, lime or orange into chunks and drop them into the running disposal. The citrus will get rid of most odors. If not, follow up with half a cup of white vinegar with cold water-if you can put up with a brief round of vinegar smell.

7. Deodorize the fridge

The age-old solution to tame fridge odors is to open a box of baking soda and stick it on a shelf or along the back. Change it annually and keep it away from vegetables since the sodium bicarbonate in the baking soda can cause leafy veggies to wilt quickly. Sodium bicarbonate has a unique chemical property that attracts and absorbs odors.

8. Rub out urine and bacteria smells in carpet

Vinegar is highly acidic, which enables it to kill bacteria and also remove urine smells. Mix one part vinegar with three parts water and rub it on the carpet with a cloth. Then rinse the carpet with water and let it air dry. Then train your pet to stop peeing on your carpet.

9. Overpower curry, fried fish and other food smells

If you do a lot of spicy or fried cooking, the smells can become engrained in your cabinets, which you'll need to wash with warm water and soap. But for immediate relief after cooking, boil a cup of vinegar on the stove. The vapors that release into the air cut the other smells, although the vinegar will cause the kitchen to smell bad for a bit.

10. Remove cigarette smoke stink

For an occasional infraction of someone lighting up in the house, an air freshener and open windows will eliminate the smell. But heavy smoking over a long period requires washing, sealing and painting the walls, Smolka says. It may also require cleaning the duct system. "There's no magic solution," he says, but there is a misconception that clean air machines—also known as air purifiers and ozone machines—are a good solution for getting rid of these types of heavy, ingrained smells. But Smolka recommends against those units; they can produce dangerous levels of ozone that can kill plants, deteriorate rubber and cause eye irritation and other health problems at high concentrations.

11. Hide embarrassing bathroom stank

Your fan can only do so much. For goodness sake, light a candle. Or better yet, use a long-term odor remover, like a Glade PlugIn.

12. Be proactive

To keep odors at bay, regularly use an air freshener like Febreze not only in the air, but also by lightly spraying, or misting, curtains or couches in a room. Be sure to read the label first-some products will stain cotton.

Whether you are or not, everyone just wants to be loved and envied. No, shh, it's true. And thanks to the ease of the internet, you can finally realize the dream. Here's how to be the center of Twitter attention.

Twitter, as delusional and perverse as it may be, serves as a social barometer of the day. Unlike Facebook, where piling on the friends becomes sort of gauche, the higher your follower count, the more influential and weight you appear to be. You may in fact be an idiot and a charlatan, but that doesn't matter—people love a growing number. With some sneaky steps and a little strategy, you too can bloat your followers, even if you're not worth following.

Spam all of your friends
Twitter makes it easy to import contacts, trawling your Facebook and Gmail accounts for people you know and maybe even like who are also tweeting. Load up both of these accounts, and follow everyone. All of them. If this list includes people you don't really care for, that's alright—you won't actually have to read their drivel cascade. All you want is for them to get the email notification that you're on Twitter, in the hopes they'll follow you back—so go ahead and hammer ‘unfollow' until you've culled out the crap contacts.

This gives you a nice foundation.

Be a hashtag sheep
This is so, so important! By and large, hashtags are worthless, inane, and linguistically cancerous. But everyone loves them, so get over it and start tweeting popular ones.
 Find what's trending on Twitter, and exploit that, hard.

Many hashtags take the form of a group joke—#neversaythisonafirstdate, or something like that, rather than news of a meteor explosion or celebrity death. These are ones you can participate in as much as you want, but more importantly, people will be scanning trending hashtags to read the jokes of others. If you tweet along, your name will show up in the list, exposing you to thousands upon thousands of potential followers and followees of would-be followers. You follow? Maybe your contribution is witty. Maybe your picture is attractive (subtip: pic an appealing picture). Maybe someone will just follow you because they like clicking things (these people exist!). No matter what, getting yourself out there is good.

Say something about current events too. Was there an earthquake? "Oh my god did you feel that earthquake? #earthquake." Is today the day Facebook goes public? Make some lame joke about the Winklevoss twins, Facebook blah blah blah. It'll show up in search results.

But one hashtag per tweet, please, or you'll get murdered.

Buy attention
There's nothing honorable about this, but for the price of lunch, you can spam hundreds of thousands of people with your name. Go to Pay4Tweet, pick a couple of accounts—fake celebrity profiles do well!—and tell everyone to follow you. Then immediately walk to the bathroom, look into the mirror at your own bloodshot eyes, and contemplate what you've just done.
Revel in praise

Did someone cool mention you in a cool tweet in a way that makes you cool? Don't retweet it. Reply instead. That way, it looks like you're "continuing the conversation" when it fact you're just "showing everyone else that you were mentioned by someone else," thereby making you look worthwhile.
Beg to be noticed by famous people

Celebrities will retweet you if pretend it's your birthday and write something like OHHHHH MY GOD RIRI I LOVE YOU PLEASE PLEASE RETWEET ME IT'S MY BDAY!!!!!!. No results guaranteed here, but it happens. And then you're in the limelight. Alec Baldwin and Ricky Gervais are usually pretty good about this. So is Lil B, if the stars align.

Be cool and smart, not an annoying asshole
Don't self-promote too much. Gizmodo reporter and Twitter self-promoter Mat Honan recommends a ratio of 1 self-promoting tweet to 10 tweets about whatever other shit you talk about. And if you have something really awesome to share about yourself, that could net you a ton of retweets. And retweets mean followers. And followers mean you, my friend, have made it.

Above all, be an interesting, cool person. Just be that way. Don't make bad jokes. Be smart.Can't you just be smart? Make astute observations and witty cracks. You can fish for all the follows you want, but ultimately, if you're just a boring suck, this is a lost cause. Perhaps that should've been mentioned earlier.

Kodak may be going under, but apparently they could have started their own nuclear war if they wanted, just six years ago. Down in a basement in Rochester, NY, they had a nuclear reactor loaded with 3.5 pounds of enriched uranium—the same kind they use in atomic warheads.



But why did Kodak have a hidden nuclear reactor loaded with weapons-grade uranium? And how did they get permission to own it, let alone install it in a basement in the middle of a densely populated city?

Nobody really knows. Kodak officials now admit that they never made any public announcement about it. In fact, nobody in the city—officials, police or firemen—or in the state of New York or anywhere else knew about it until it was recently leaked by an ex-employee. Its existence and whereabouts were purposely kept vague and only a few engineers and Federal employees really knew about the project.

It's extremely strange that Kodak managed to get something like this. According to Miles Pomper, from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington. it's "such an odd situation because private companies just don't have this material."

Kodak's purpose for the reactor wasn't sinister: they used it to check materials for impurities as well as neutron radiography testing. The reactor, a Californium Neutron Flux multiplier (CFX) was acquired in 1974 and loaded with three and a half pounds of enriched uranium plates placed around a californium-252 core.

The reactor was installed in a closely guarded, two-foot-thick concrete walled underground bunker in the company's headquarters, where it was fed tests using a pneumatic system. According to the company, no employees were ever in contact with the reactor. Apparently, it was operated by atomic fairies and unicorns.

It wasn't until 2006, well after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, that it was decided to dismantle it.

Much of the brain is still mysterious to modern science, possibly because modern science itself is using brains to analyze it. There are probably secrets the brain simply doesn't want us to know.

But by no means should that stop us from tinkering around in there, using somewhat questionable and possibly dangerous techniques to make our brains do what we want.

We can't vouch for any of these, either their effectiveness or safety. All we can say is that they sound awesome, since apparently you can make your brain...

#3. Think You Got a Good Night's Sleep (After Only Two Hours of Actual Sleep)

 

So you just picked up the night shift at your local McDonald's, you have class every morning at 8am and you have no idea how you're going to make it through the day without looking like a guy straight out of Dawn of the Dead, minus the blood... hopefully.

"SLEEEEEEEEEP... uh... I mean... BRAAAIIIIINNNSSS..."

 

What if we told you there was a way to sleep for little more than two hours a day, and still feel more refreshed than taking a 12-hour siesta on a bed made entirely out of baby kitten fur? No more sneaking naps at the fry station for you!

Holy Shit! How Do I Do It?
It's called the Uberman Sleep Schedule, and besides having a totally badass name, it's a way to get the maximum amount of essential sleep for your body without wasting hours of precious time you could be using to work or drink or farm for World of Warcraft gold. The schedule consists of taking six, 20-30 minute power naps, every four hours during the day. Of course, this new sleep pattern blows donkey-dick to get used to, but it's a price you have to pay to basically extend your waking life by several years.

We're pretty sure Kramer did this once on Seinfeld. So it's probably a great idea.

 

The best way to start it off is to just jump right in. Get to sleep at 8pm, set your alarm for 8:30. Get up, play some Call of Duty, sleep again at 12, alarm at 12:30, and so on. After three or four days of this you will start to get high as fuck because of sleep deprivation, and might just want to kill yourself, but don't do it! That would be absolutely counter-productive.

By day 10 or so, your brain will say, "Fuck! FINE, we'll do it your way," and will adapt to your new superhuman sleep schedule.

How Does It Work?
When you sleep normally, your body gets only about an hour and a half of REM sleep, the kind of sleep that is thought to be the most important to keeping your brain sharp. While other stages of sleep help your body to heal and grow, the REM sleep is what makes you feel rested.

Of course, sleeping in a bed doesn't hurt either.

 

The first few days of adjusting are tough because your body isn't getting ANY of this REM sleep, and your brain hates you for it. After the third day, or so, your brain figures out that you mean business, and every time you lay down for one of these naps, dives directly into REM sleep in an attempt to compensate for the deprivation. Do some quick math and that's two full hours of REM sleep, while those who are sleeping normally are only getting an hour and a half.

Before you know it, while the rest of the world snores away, you'll be up and drawing dicks on their faces.

#2. Hallucinate Like You Just Took LSD, Legally

 

Yes, that's right kids! Tell your dealer goodbye and worry no more about winding up on the roof of an office building after a bad trip. Now you can be stoned out of your mind by building a homemade deprivation chamber out of some regular, completely harmless household objects.
 

Holy Shit, How Can I Do It!
You are going to need three things: a ping-pong ball, a radio with headphones and a red light.
Step 1: Turn the radio to a station with just white noise (static), and put on your headphones.
Step 2: Cut the ping-pong ball in half and tape each half over your eyes.
Step 3: Turn the red light so it's facing your eyes.
Step 4: Sit there for at least a half an hour.
Step 5: Follow Ben Franklin and your new friend, Harold the unicorn, into the gumdrop forest, and live happily ever after.

How Does It Work?
It's called the Ganzfeld effect, and it works by blocking out most of the signals that go to your brain. It's the same kind of effect you get when looking into a soft light for a while and lose vision, except at a larger scale.
The sound of the white noise and the light from the outside of the ping pong ball are eventually ignored by your brain. With all those signals out of the picture, your brain has to create its own, and this is where the hallucinations come in. We can't guarantee they won't involve, say, the ghost of Lizzie Borden trying to hack off your scrotum with an ax, but that's the risk you take, dammit.

Now, if you want a little more control over your hallucinations...

#1. Dream Whatever You Want to Dream

 

What if we told you there was a way to make all your fantasies come true? You could have that sports car you've always wanted and the daily threesome with Sarah Palin and Cannonball Run-era Burt Reynolds. Hell, we'll even throw in a few superpowers for your enjoyment.

We never miss an opportunity to use this picture.

Welcome to the wonderful world of lucid dreaming.

Holy Shit, How Can I Do It?
Most of you reading this have had a lucid dream before. Every once in a while you wind up in a dream but somehow recognize it as a dream, and you may have found yourself able to pretty much program the dream to your specifications. While there are plenty of tips and tricks to make this happen on purpose, we've narrowed it down to what seems like the most useful, so that you can be riding dinosaurs with Gary Coleman in your sleep in no time:

Cowboy hat, optional.

1. Keep a Dream Journal
As soon as you wake up from a dream, write down every little thing you can remember about it. Supposedly by writing it down, your brain recognizes certain patterns that only occur in a dream (since most dreams are immediately forgotten) and if they are on paper, you can recall them easily.

2. Think about exactly what you want to dream right before you fall asleep. Makes sense. For instance you've probably fallen asleep watching MythBusters before and immediately dreamed you were flying through the air, using a giant version of Jamie's mustache as a hang glider.

Just us?

3. The best time to have a lucid dream is either right before you regularly wake up, or right after. Studies have shown that more people have lucid dreams when they take a nap shortly after they first wake up in the morning.

So you can do all that, or if you are the lazy type, get yourself something like the NovaDreamer, a device that detects when you've entered REM sleep and then makes a noise that's supposed to be not quite enough to wake you up, but enough to raise your awareness to, "Hey, this is totally a dream I'm having!" levels.
How Does It Work?

Obviously the big difference between a dream and real life is that if the Hamburglar came bursting out of your refrigerator right now and started screaming at you in Vietnamese, your first thought would be "This is a strange and unusual event that is occurring right now, and I should question my perceptions." If the same thing happens in a dream, you just go with it.

Yes, Mel Gibson is dressed like Col. Sanders. No, this is not a dream.

 

In a dream state, your mind mostly loses the ability to criticize anything that's happening because dreaming just doesn't involve the critical part of your brain. You're all worried that you're at work in your underwear, and don't even blink at the fact that your boss is a dragon who speaks in the voice of your old middle school gym coach.

But if you change your mental state ever so slightly, that critical part of your brain can keep functioning even while in dreamland. If you can perfect the technique of dreaming while not all the way asleep, the next thing you know you're ordering up a Smurf orgy.