In most Hotels, you'd complain if your room temperature dropped to an icy -5 Celcius degrees (23 Fahreneit). But at the Jukkasjarvi Ice Hotel in Sweden, visitors are pleased to freeze. there is an old Scandinavian saying,"There is no such thing as Cold weather, only bad clothing," so the hotel provides padded suits, gloves, thermal boots, and warm reindeer skins, Some people prefer a spell in the sun, but the Ice Hotel has proved very popular with pop stars, supermodels, politicians, and royalty checking in and chilling out.
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How do they actually build the Ice Hotel? Construction begins each October, when 30,000 tones of snow are blasted by cannons onto a specially molded metal frame. Thsi structure is then reinforced with 10,000 tones of ice, cut into vast sheets and blocks using special machinery. The ice comes from the Torne river - a clean, fast-flowing stretch of water, which guarantees crystal - clear ice. Once the structure is complete, sculptors start crafting the interior, carving tables, chares, beds, even doors, and windows. By mid-December, the hotel is open for business, although work continues on the interior until January. The hotel will normally melt from May onwards, with the water eventually flowing back into the river from where it came.
The Ice Hotel first opened in 1990 and it is 43,055 square feet (4,000 square meters).
for more info link to www.icehotel.com
The larva of the polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) of North America consumes an amount equal to 86,000 times its own birthweight in the first 56 days of its life. In human terms, this would be equivalent to a 3.17 kg (7 lb) baby eating 273 tons of food.
The maximum known extension of a human neck is 40 cm (15.75in) and was created by the successive fitting of copper coils, as practiced by the women of the Padaung or Kareni tribe of Myanmar (Burma) as a sign of beauty. Their neck eventually become so long and weak that they cannot support they heads without the coils. In some tribes the coils are removed to punish women who have committed adultery.
According to the International Association of Firefighters, the unprecedented tragedy of September 11, 2001, claimed the lives of 344 New York City fire personnel. Their gallant rescue efforts saved thousands of civilian lives, althought it was the largest single-event loss of life sustained by modern-day fire service personnel in war or peace times.
In contrast, 102 US fire fighters died nationwide in the entire year of 2000. The most US fire fighters ever lost due to one incident prior to September 11 was 24, during an incident that occurred more than 100 years ago.
Kismet, created by Cynthia Breazeal at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is a robotic head powered by 15 networked computers and 21 motors. It is designed to recognize and respond to different emotions while interacting with humans. Nine of the computers are used to control Kismet's vision alone.
For more info on Kismet check out www.ai.mit.edu/projects/kismet/kismet.html
Big boy Robert Earl Hughes, who was born in 1926 in Fish Hook, Illinois, started bursting his shirts as a toddler. His parents worked hard to keep him clothed and fed. They watched their son double his weight more than four tmes from age of six to the age of 25 - from 92 kg to 406 kg (203 - 896 lbs). At his death in 1958 he topped the scales at an amazing 484 kg (1,067 lbs) and was buried in a coffin the size of a piano case and was lowered into the grave by a crane..
The Steel Dragon, which opened on August 1, 2000, at Nagashima Spaland in Japan, is an out-and-back roller coaster with a total track length of 2,479 m (8,133ft).
Designed by Morgan Manufacturing of La Selva Beach, California, USA, the ride begins with a fall from a 95 m (311 Ft 8 in) lift followed by two further hills and dips. At the top of the third hill there is a maze-like spiral section. The return run has a further eight bumps and seven dips.
For more information on the Steel Dragon go to
www.oocities.org/coaster_feature1/sd2000.html
