FerRari wOrlD aBu dHaBi tHeMe pArK

Here are some pics of the Ferrari World Abu Dhabi theme park.
It is under construction now, but it will be the world's largest indoor theme park and the first Ferrari theme park in the world, when it opens its doors to visitors in 2010. The park is located on Yas Island (between Abu Dhabi and Dubai), it covers a surface area of 2.15 million square ft (200,000m²) and will include the world's fastest rollercoaster with top speed of 124 mph (200 km/h), a racetrack that will host the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, shops, various attractions, rides, hotels, etc.

FAitH, A biPedAl fEmaLe dOg...!!!!!!!

Faith, a bipedal female dog, was born in December 2002 with only three legs; two fully-developed hind legs and a deformed front leg, which was amputated when she was 7 months old after it began to atrophy. Her owner, Jude Stringfellow, adopted Faith when the mother dog was found trying to smother the deformed puppy-- her son rescued the puppy and brought her home. Many people, including veterinarians, advised that Faith be euthanized. Instead, using a spoon with peanut butter as an incentive, Jude taught Faith to hop but Faith decided on her own to walk; the family's corgi would bark at Faith from another room, or nip her heels to urge her to walk.

tHe oRigiN oF fiTneSs gYm iN 19th cEntUry

Cabinet Magazine posted a great feature on the secret history of Cybex-like exercise machines. Apparently, the first "gym" filled with mechanical fitness contraptions was built by Swedish physician Gustav Zander in the late 19th century.

Zander's mechanical horse was an early version of the Stairmaster, a contraption for cardiovascular fitness designed to imitate a "natural" activity. His stomach-punching apparatus evokes contemporary "ab-crunching" machines. What makes Zander so important, for anyone trying to trace the Cybex family tree, is what happened when his machines, created in a European cultural context, immigrated to the US in the early twentieth century. They are prototypes of the workout equipment now ubiquitous in American life.

pAlm iSlaNd dUbAi

The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates, who hired the Dutch dredging and marine contractor Van Oord, one of the world's specialists in land reclamation. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira.

Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 kilometres of beaches to the city of Dubai.

The first two islands will comprise approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. Palm Deira will be composed of approximately 1 billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All materials will be quarried in the UAE. Between the three islands there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.

The creation of the Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001. Shortly after, the Palm Jebel Ali was announced and reclamation work began. The Palm Deira, which is planned to have a surface area of 46.35 square kilometre. Construction was originally planned to take 10–15 years, but that was before the impact of the global credit crunch hit Dubai.

10 sPecTaCuLar cOckPit pHotOs

Mi-26 cArriEs Tu-134!

Moscow airport Pulkovo donated a non-functional Tu-134 to St.-Petersburg's M.Ch.S. (Russian FEMA) S&R team for training purposes. Transporting the plane by land was impossible without disassembling it, so the brave guys simply airlifted it 650 km in windy/gusty conditions (had to delay the operation for several hours).