Largest nail & toothpick mosaic

Albanian artist Saimir Strati used tens of thousands of nails to create a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, making it the world's biggest nail mosaic. Strati was named in the Guinness Book of World Records on Monday (4 September) for his nail mosaic, which measures 8 square meters. Saimir Strati shows the portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci he created with industrial nails at the International Centre of Culture in Tirana, Albania. Strati, 40, were recognised by Guinness World Record officials for having created the world's largest nail mosaic with about 500,000 industrial nails.

But that's not the only world record he created. Alongside the nail mosaic, there's an image of a horse created with more than half a million toothpicks in homage to Antoni Gaudi has earned him a second entry in the Guinness Records. Ms. Andrea Banfi, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records, told a cheering crowd after checking that the mosaic followed the guidelines agreed with Guinness, "I've measured it; it is a new Guinness World Record". The Largest Toothpick's Mosaic is 8 meter square using approximately 1.5 milion of toothpicks.

Strati spent 13 hours a day for 40 days on the mosaic measuring 2m by 4m in a technique resembling digital camera pixels, using either sharpened or blunt ends of oak, poplar and bamboo toothpicks. He said the idea to produce the mosaic came to him while he tried to explain to a friend what La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished Barcelona cathedral of Spanish architect and artist Antoni Gaudi, looked like. He took some toothpicks from the table and opened them to show him how it looked like. The horse is named 'Reinless Spirit' to honour Gaudi's flight of genius. The mosaic was shown to the public in the round hall of Tirana's pyramid-shaped culture centre.

Source : www.news.com.au
Source : www.mosaicart-sast.com

WWII Aircraft discovered at popular beach after 65 years

For 65 years, beach strollers, sunbathers and swimmers often frolicked the beach in Wales. Unaware to them, there's a large fighter aircraft lies just a few feet beneath their favorite swimming spot. The aircraft was finally surfaced after unusual weather caused the sand to shift and erode.

In the summer of 2007, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft, with its distinctive twin-boom design presumed to be USAAF serial number 41-7677, emerged from the sand of a beach in Wales where it crash landed in 1942. The aircraft, largely intact and remarkably free of corrosion, is one of the most significant WWII-related archaeological discoveries in recent history

Upon learning of the discovery in September, Richard Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) alerted curators at the UK national aviation museums (Imperial War Museum, Royal Air Force Museum, and Fleet Air Arm Museum). Interest in the discovery was keen and, as a service to the national museums, Gillespie mobilized a seven person TIGHAR archaeological survey team to assess the aircraft’s condition, describe and record the wreck site, and collect data that will be useful in recovery operations planned for the spring of 2008. TIGHAR also notified the United States Air Force Federal Preservation Officer.

Based on its serial number and other records, "the fighter is arguably the oldest P-38 in existence, and the oldest surviving 8th Air Force combat aircraft of any type," said Ric Gillespie, who heads a U.S.-based nonprofit group dedicated to preserving historic aircraft. "In that respect it's a major find, of exceptional interest to British and American aviation historians."


Source : www.tighar.org

Outrages protester act

Mark McGowan is a UK-based performance artist currently working at the Camberwell College of Arts. He grew up in Peckham, on the North Peckham Estate, and has a degree in Fine Art from Camberwell College of Art, and an MA from Goldsmiths College. But neither his artistic skill nor his academics that caught the media's attention. He entered the news a number of times for his unconventional approach to public protest and demonstration. Listed are his history of performing outrages art and protests.

MONKEY NUT (2003)
Mark pushed a monkey nut along the road for 7 miles with his nose, starting at Goldsmiths College in South London and ending at Number 10 Downing Street where he handed his nut in, he was protesting against student fees.

YOU TURKEY (2003)
Mark walked backwards for 11miles with a 27lb turkey on top of his head shouting at fat people along the way through a homemade loud hailer, it was a piece about the obesity pandemic.




SAUSAGE CHIPS AND BEANS (2003)
Mark sat in a bath of beans with two chips stuck up his nose and 48 sausages strapped to his head for two weeks, he was advocating the consumption of the much maligned Great British breakfast.

OCEAN WAVE II (2003/4)
On December 28th 2003 Mark set out from Peckham in South East London and attempted to sail 400 miles to Glasgow in Scotland in a shopping trolley, along the way he collected gifts from English people intending to hand them out to the people of Scotland as a reconciliation for the William Wallace thing. He failed in his attempt after 17 days and 65 miles, due to bad weather conditions and poor equipment.

ARTIST KEYS CARS (2004)
In another controversial performance, Mark wandered the streets of Glasgow and South East London randomly keying cars, a practice involving the scratching of cars using a key. The performance/event was for a show called Glasgow International and was featured on several news programmes. But the London performance artist has since admitted the cars were already "keyed" and the photos were "staged".

AUTUMN LEAVES PROTEST (2005)
Mark nailed his feet to the gallery wall protesting against autumn leaves.



100,00 KISSES FOR TONY BLAIR (2005)
On Election Day, May 5th 2005, Mark successfully kissed an A4 color laminated photograph of Tony Blair 100, 000 times, the performance took place outside 10 Downing Street. He said that he was unsure at the beginning where to kiss the Prime Minister, on the forehead would be like kissing a baby, on the cheek would be like kissing my mum and on the lips just seemed gay. In the end he kissed him on the lips saying I’m not gay, Tony's not gay and everyone knows that. After 100,000 kisses things did get a bit weird towards the end.

EARLESS (2005)
Mark pulled a television along the road with his ear for six miles from Milan central train station to Silvio Burlesconi's house, protesting against politicians control of the media.





PEGGING (2005)
The intention was to attach 17,200 multi colored clothes pegs onto an alcoholic called Barry. In the end the alcoholics pegged Mark, but they got bored quite quickly and some friends pegged Mark instead, only managing 4,500.

RUNNING TAP (2005)
In an extraordinary protest against private control of water in the UK, He turned on a cold water tap in the House Gallery in Camberwell, London and planned to leave it running for one year, wasting 15 million liters of water. Due to the intervention of Thames Water, he had to turn it off again after one month. McGowan said, ‘Basically it was an art piece for people to come and look at and enjoy aesthetically, it was also a comment on a social and environment issue.'

A CANTERBURY TALE (2005/6)
Mark McGowan crawled on his hands and knees from London bridge to Canterbury with a rose clenched between his teeth 18 boxes of chocolates tied around his wrists and ankles and a triangular sign on his back saying could you love me. Mark McGowan started from London Bridge on the 26th December 2005 and finished at Canterbury Cathedral on 6th January 2006.

DEAD SOLDIER (2006)
The artist Mark McGowan dressed up in British army camouflage fatigues, with commando boots wearing a red beret, he then lay down in New Street, in Birmingham City Centre, curled up in a ball for one week. The performance was called Dead Soldier 2006 and was neither anti-war nor pro-military, put an artistic comment on current times.

ARTIST EATS SWAN (2007)
Mark McGowan ate a swan in a protest against the monarchy, the rich and the upper classes, outside the Guy Hilton Gallery in East London.


KICK GEORGE BUSH IN THE ASS (2007)
Crawling on his hands and knees Mark McGowan wandered the streets of New York with a George Bush mask on and a sign on his posterior saying 'KICK MY ASS'.


ARTIST EATS A CORGI (2007)
Mark ate a small corgi dog in a protest against the RSPCA's inability to prosecute Prince Phillip over the beating to death and shooting of a fox. The event happened live on the Bob and Roberta Smith radio show on Resonance FM.


ARTIST TO SET FIRE TO HIMSELF (5th November 2007)
In an extra ordinary art performance anti war protestor, Mark McGowan intended to set fire to himself in Parliament Square outside the Houses of Parliament which is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes night in the UK, at 6pm in a protest against the war in Iraq. The event is part of an exhibition by Andy Hunt, the curater at the Chelsea Space which is part of Chelsea College of Art and opens on Tuesday 6th November. This event never took place as when he arrived there was a massive riot police presence, armed with fire extinguishers. They gave him warning earlier that he'll be arrested if he would to continue on with his act.

Source : markmcgowan.org

German church broke leaning tower's record

A German church steeple has knocked the leaning tower of Pisa from the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most tilted building. The tower in the village of Suurhusen applied in June for the title and has now officially beaten the famous landmark in Pisa.

Guinness Book of Records confirmed the award after officials measured it leaning at a 5.19 degree angle compared to only 3.97 degree angle at which the tower of Pisa leans. Olaf Kuchenbecker of the Guinness World Records office in Hamburg said: "It is a world record."

The church was built in middle of the 13th century but a 90ft tower was added in 1450. The tower was built on wooden foundations and the combination of the oak wood foundations and wet soil has caused the tower to slowly lean to one side over the years.

Several attempts to stop the tower from leaning any further have been made since 1982, and it was eventually stabilised in 1996. The church is still in use and also offers guided tours but church officials are appealing for donations to help maintain the building. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was actually somewhat straightened, perhaps depriving it of Guinness fame.

Source : news.nationalgeographic.com

Cat returned home after dog died

Daisy is a cat owned by Lesley Sandford together with a dog named Jake, together they lived in a new home in Churwell, Leeds, UK. Daisy and Jake weren't the typical cat and dog that would fight each other all the time. Instead, the black and white cat and the white Alsatian Dog often cuddled up with each other in front of the fire. (Pic attached is for illustration purpose only, not the real cat and dog depicted in the story)

But one day, Daisy disappeared. Lesley tried to look everywhere but Daisy is nowhere to be found. She even launches a poster campaign, and publishes advertisements in the local press but failed to receive any feedback. Lesley said "At times when we went out for walks, I would call her name and Jake will run around trying to sniff her out". Days went into months, and months went into years, hopes of finding her slowly fades.

In August '07, Jake suffered serious spinal injuries after becoming trapped in a ditch while out walking with Lesley. Jake had to undergo extensive surgery but he suffered a relapse of his injury and Lesley and partner Mark had to make the heart-breaking decision to have him put down. Then just a day after losing Jake, Lesley received a call from Leeds Cat Rescue Centre who told her they believe they had found Daisy!.




Lesley Stanford together
with her son and Daisy

Lesley said "I thought it was some kind of sick joke at first. I told them I had a cat but it had been missing since June 2002 and there was no way it could be mine. But they told me to come and have a look and I couldn't believe my eyes." Staff at the centre thinks Daisy may have become confused as she went missing shortly after Lesley moved to her house in Churwell and may have been frightened off by traffic.

She was found in Morley, about five miles away from home, and it is thought she had been living in the wild and occasionally being fed by local residents. Lesley said "The woman who found her noticed she had been chipped and took her to the rescue centre and they information came up straight away on the computer. I can't believe I have got her back after all this time, especially just a day after I lost Jake."


Source : yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

Global warming is melting building?

Don't worry, this building deformation is not caused by global warming. No, your eye is not deceiving you, and Unbelievable Facts never published something that's fictional. What seems to be a melting building is actually an optical illusion called Trompe-l'œil, created by the society Anthem in Paris, France. Trompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being mere, two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from the French word "trompe" means to deceive and "l'œil" the eye.

Although the phrase has its origin in the 16th century, when it refers to perspectival illusionism, use of trompe-l'œil art dates back much further. A typical trompe-l'œil might depict a window, door, or hallway, intended to suggest a larger room. Trompe-l'œil can also be found painted on tables and other items of furniture, on which, for example, a deck of playing cards might appear to be sitting on the table. A particularly impressive example is the trompe l'oeil dome in the Jesuit church in Vienna, Austria by Andrea Pozzo. The actual ceiling is only slighty coved.

In Paris, it's a common practice that the facade of buildings under construction be covered with tarpaulin printed with Trompe-l'œil, as a way to mask the unsightly work being carried out. The Bleeker group asked the society Anthem, well known for the Vuitton suitcase on the champs-élysées, to imagine a cover for their building, 39 avenue George V. The plastician Pierre Delavie took clichés of the existing facade, distort the image and printed it on a huge canvas sheet of 2500 square meters. Some relief cornices are stuck to the photo to enhance the reality or unreality of the trompe-l'oeil. The theme is given the name "le surréalisme urbain".

The building will house the headquarters of Bleeker by the end of 2007, but now it's remained hidden while under renovation. Even though the approach is more commercial than artistic, the result is a parisian success. This ephemeral trompe-l'oeil will be removed at the end of the renovation.

Source : www.39georgev.org
Source : www.trompe-l-oeil.info

Pregnant twice on the same month

One day, when the husband is back from work, his wife said to him "Honey, Doctor said I'm pregnant!". The husband jumps with joy, went back to work, feeling excited and energetic. Two weeks later, when he reached home after work as usual, his wife said "Honey, I've another good news, I'm pregnant again!". Now the husband is really confused. Nothing wrong with her first pregnancy, the fetus is still growing while she got pregnant again few weeks later. Impossible? It turns out women can conceive again even if they're already pregnant, but the odds are a million to one! Superfetation occurs when eggs from two different menstrual cycles are released and fertilised separately.

Such is the case with Amelia Spence when she went on producing eggs despite having already conceived Lia. She got pregnant again with Ame three weeks later and both babies grew side by side. Shocked medics at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital only discovered the existence of the non-twins at the 12th week scan. The scan images show Lia taking on the distinctive shape of a baby with clearly defined features and limbs while Ame appeared as a tiny spot on the screen.

Doctors feared at least one of them could have died due to numerous potential complications. They eventually decided Amelia should undergo an emergency Cesarean on April 16 2007. Tiny Ame was born first despite being conceived second. She weighed 4lb 13oz after just 29 weeks in the womb and minutes later she was joined by 6lb 11oz Lia who had been 32 weeks in the womb. Because of the unusual nature of the new arrivals, George Herrity, 33, hit on the idea of naming them after mum Amelia's name split in two.

You may not hear another similar story again in your lifetime, since it's so rare. But Unbelievable Facts went on to dig deeper so that reading 2 similar stories at the same time making it much more rarer! Similarly, Superfecundation is the fertilisation of two or more ova but from the same cycle at a different time. The odds is still a million to one. Both Superfetation and Superfecundation are not to be confused with fraternal twins because although the babies are born at the same time, they are not twins of any kind.

Beverley Robson, 32, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham was still releasing eggs after her first conception and fell pregnant again two weeks later. Just like the first story, normally when this kind of dual pregnancy occurs, the second baby dies as the older gets better nourished in the womb. Remarkably, Beverley gave birth to healthy girls Leah weighing 6lb 6oz and Lara 4lb 4oz (pic).

Source : www.sundaymail.co.uk
Source : www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk

Smart seagull steal chips

A seagull has turned shoplifter by wandering into a shop and helping itself to some crisps/chips. The bird walks into the RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen when the door is open and makes off with cheese Doritos.

The bird first swooped in Aberdeen's Castlegate, Scotland, earlier this month and made off with the 55p crisps, and is now a regular. The seagull, nicknamed Sam, has now become so popular that locals have started paying for his crisps. Once outside, the crisps are ripped open and the seagull is joined by other birds.

Everyone is amazed by the seagull. For some reason he only takes that one particular kind of crisps and he intelligently waits until there are no customers around and the shop assistant standing behind the till, then he raids the place.

Shop assistant Sriaram Nagarajan said "At first I didn't believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He's very good at it. He's becoming a bit of a celebrity. Seagulls are usually not that popular but Sam is a star because he's so funny."

Perhaps it once tried some crisps in a shiny packet in the street, and then happen to see the same type of packets inside the store. Gulls can be very quick and fearless, and clearly this one is no exception.

Source : BBC News

Very young yet very smart

A two-year-old girl from Aldershot, Hampshire, U.K has become the youngest ever female member of British Mensa. Georgia Brown, the youngest of five children astounded experts by scoring 152 points in an IQ test, putting her in the top 2% of the population for her age. Those with an average IQ would score around 100 points in the same test.

Georgia's mother, Lucy, said "It's fantastic. We're so proud as a family." She had spotted that her daughter was a strikingly quick learner. Georgia was crawling at five months, walking at nine months and, by 18 months, was having proper conversations.

The Brown family called Professor Joan, from Middlesex University, to test her IQ level in relation to others of her age. Professor Joan said she used the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale test and was amazed by what she found. She said "Georgia is two years and nine months, and she is able to answer questions five and six years old can't."

Psychologist Professor Joan Freeman, who tested Georgia, said she thought the toddler could score even better, but needed a nap after 45 minutes of work. Concentrating for that long at that young age is not easy. The minimum accepted score on the Stanford-Binet is 132.

The test uses questions like 'If brother is to boy, then sister is to ...?'. If you take a normal two years old, they cannot hold a pencil, they don't know the colours and they would not be able to answer those simple questions. Lucy said she was impressed at her ability to copy circle. Most two-year-old and even some adults cannot do that but she drew a near perfect one.

Mensa is the largest, oldest, and best-known high-IQ society in the world. The organization restricts its membership to people with high testable IQ. Specifically, potential members must score within the top 2% of any approved standardized intelligence test. Mensa is formally composed of national groups and the umbrella organization Mensa International. Mensa confirmed Georgia was their youngest member at the moment and the youngest female member ever.

Source : BBC News

1000 year old Mickey Mouse

Mickey mouse, an Academy Award-winning comic animal cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 by Ub Iwerks. This inspiration became one of Disney's most recognisable characters in the world.

Unbelievably, someone has the similar imagination 1000 years before the first Mickey Mouse appearance! Before the cartoon character was even a glint in Walt Disney's eye, a French artist created a bronze brooch that looks remarkably like the famous Mickey, according to archaeologists at Sweden's Lund Historical Museum, which houses the recent find. The object, dated to 900 A.D., was excavated at a site called Uppåkra in southern Sweden.

The bronze brooch may remind modern viewers of Mickey Mouse, but archaeologist Jerry Rosengren from Lund University told Discovery News that in fact it is actually representing a lion. "Similar shaped jewelry representing lions originated in France around 700 A.D.," he said. Some French artist, who probably never saw a lion in his entire life, came up with this fantasy version, inadvertently stumbling upon the most famous cartoon character of all time.

Rosengren explained that lions became an important symbol to Scandinavian royals and warlords, particularly after Judeo-Christian teachings were introduced to the area. Prior to the lion symbol's introduction to Sweden, royals there associated themselves with the wild boar, an ancestor to pigs that aggressively defends itself with its sharp tusks when threatened. As Rosengren said, "An elite Swedish woman from the Iron Age never would have worn a mouse on her clothing, but the lion object certainly does look like our culture's modern Mickey Mouse."

A spokesman for the Walt Disney Company told Discovery News, "Mickey has always been a timeless Disney character with universal appeal across the generations. This certainly reinforces that notion in a way we never expected."

It is possible the connection between the two images might have to do with the simple "circle upon circle" design. The Disney company's website mentions that the earliest drawings of Mickey Mouse in the 1920's consisted of multiple circles, even for the character's body. Changes over the following decades, such as the addition of Mickey's pear-shaped body and eye pupils, gradually led to how the character looks today. Hard to imagine that one generation's fierce lion turned out to be another's most popular cute looking rodent.

Source : dsc.discovery.com

The four legged ugly duckling

A rare mutation has left the ugly duckling named Stumpy, with an extra two legs behind the two he runs about on. The creature would not survive in the wild, but owner Nicky Janaway who runs the farm in the Hampshire, UK, said "We will make sure he's OK and hopefully he will carry on running around and using the extra two legs as stabilisers."

A duck with four legs hardly survives, such was the case when a four-legged duckling was born in Queensland, Australia in 2002, but died soon afterwards. But stumpy, against all odds survived into adulthood and amazes even it's owner.

Stumpy's condition has earned him fame, he made the headlines and made television appearances across the globe after his birth and an online blog has been ensuring fans can follow his every move.

In April '07, one of Stumpy's extra legs caught in a pen that was specially made for him, he cleanly snapped it and he had no idea anything had happened. Now down to a three-legged duck, it's actually a positive outcome since now he can roam the farm freely. The other leg is tucked up so it has no chance of getting stuck.

Source : BBC News

Janitor's hidden talent

The sweet sound of a Chopin waltz ripples around the gothic vaulting and stained glass of Glasgow University. These are played by a young pianist from Poland now migrated to UK. Aleksander Kudajczyk, fresh from his music studies and seeing no future in Poland, stepped on a plane at Krakow Airport and flew to Prestwick.

So where to find this talented pianist's pieces? Perhaps we can grab a CD from the local stores and bring back home to enjoy. Or perhaps he has his own music school that we can send our kids to learn from this young, brilliant chap.

Believe it or not, Aleksander actually working as a janitor at the Glasgow University! In the hope of finding a teaching job after arriving in UK, instead he found himself working a few hours a day as a cleaner in Glasgow University's School of Law, starting every morning at 7am. It still earns him around $800 a month, more than what he earn in Poland for teaching music. In Poland, he believes he would be getting around 900 Polish zloties ($320) teaching music.

Eventually, the urge to play began to stir and he asked if he could practice on the grand piano in the chapel, just across the quadrangle from the law school. His casual performance was picked up on the chapel's webcam by astonished staff who suddenly became aware of the talent they had in their midst, hidden under a cleaner's overall. Chaplaincy secretary Joan Keenan said his music was so amazing that colleagues also logged on to watch. Since then, the University invited him to play a concert of Chopin pieces during Glasgow's West End Festival and received a rapturous applause from the audience.

Amazingly, this real life story is strikingly resemblance of the movie Good Will Hunting in 1997. Though Will Hunting acted by Matt Damon has genius-level intelligence such as a talent for memorizing facts and an intuitive ability to prove sophisticated mathematical theorems, he works as a janitor at MIT.

One day, Will solved a difficult graduate-level math problem that Professor Gerald Lambeau, a Fields Medalist and combinatorialist, left on a chalkboard as a challenge to his students and hoping someone might solve the problem by the semester's end. Everyone at MIT wonders who solved it, and Lambeau puts another problem on the board, one that took he and his colleagues two years to prove. Will is discovered in the act of solving the problem, and Lambeau initially thinks that Will is vandalizing the board and chases him away. When Will turns out to have solved it correctly, Lambeau tries to track Will down.

Source : BBC News

German Giant rabbit

Meet Herman, a 7.7kg (22lb), 3ft rabbit with ears alone measuring at 21 centimeters which is the total height of an average domestic rabbit. Herman belongs to one of the breed called the German Giant, but most of them will reach a maximum weight of 6kg (18lb). Herman just kept growing.

Lived in Berlin, Germany, owner Hans Wagner built a solid oak hutch and feed Herman about 2kg of food and supplements daily. Hans Wagner said his favorite food is lettuce. Herman could be the world's biggest rabbit, but Guinness World Records have stopped accepting entries because feared that people will over-feed their pets. German Giants do not exist in the wild, and have been developed by breeders.

Source : Herman

Noble Heineken beer bottle

Alfred Freddy Heineken, the man seen by many as responsible for the beer's global success, had been closely involved in the family brewing business since the age of 18. The richest man in the Netherlands designed the famous green Heineken bottle and the logo with the red star and the black banner bearing the brand name.

Famed for his flair for marketing and advertising, he once said: "Had I not been a beer brewer, I would have become an advertising man." His motto was said to be "I don't sell beer, I sell warmth." He enjoyed a reputation as one of the Netherlands' most flamboyant entrepreneurs.

During the 1950's, Freddy Heineken actually came out with a noble idea to use emptied beer bottle as building materials. One day, Freddy Heineken was strolling along by the sea in Jamaica, and was shocked at the number of beer bottles littering the beach. He was also concerned with the lack of cheap building materials, and at the resulting living conditions for the poor.

Combining the two together, he envisioned a “World Beer" bottle which would be imported for drinking but kept for construction. He developed the square beer bottle that he believed could be used as a brick to help solve environmental pollution and housing shortages in developing countries. A 10’ x 10’ shack would take approximately 1000 bottles to build an average home. Unfortunately, the Heineken management disagreed and therefore rejected the "World Beer" bottle idea.

He was the company's chief executive between 1971 and 1989. Later, he became president of the supervisory board. Freddy Heineken passed away in 2002 and his daughter Charlene de Carvalho Heineken will take over the family's controlling interest.

Source : BBC News

Car got stolen again and again

York Heiden of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, U.S is one unlucky crime victim. His car got stolen, found it, and got stolen again! His pearl-colored 1990 V8 Audi Quattro was stolen from a grocery store parking lot while his wife was running errands. The keys had been left inside the car. Heiden called some friends, and the car was found about a block from the grocery store but the keys were gone. After removing a bag of pet food, mail, and other personal items, Heiden asked a mechanic friend to disable the car's ignition. The mechanic removed a coil wire. Heiden, assured that his car is safe now, went back to pick up a spare key.

When he got back with the spare key, he got a shock of his life when his car was no longer there! "I was speechless, All I could do was hold the key up in my hand and look at it" Heiden said. What happen was the mechanic forgot that a V8 engine has two coil wires, one each for four cylinders. With only four of the car's eight cylinders disabled, the car still was mobile enough to be stolen a second time, apparently by the same thief.

Heiden got a call Wednesday, saying police found the car with a broken headlight and a piece of interior trim. A parts supplier spotted it in the same neighborhood. It's amazing that the car could be found since it's a rare version worth at least $4,000 because it had a V-8 engine. So, What lesson did Heiden learn from his ordeal? "Don't leave your keys in the ignition," he said. "And if you find it, do not leave it."

Think this story is bizarre? Hold your breath, here's more. In June '07 in Malaysia, a man said to be smartly dressed man walked into a Porsche showroom, flashed a cheque book, coolly asked for the key of the 911 Targa 4, started it and sped off after crashing it through the showroom’s glass pane. However, the thief abandoned the car just two km away because it ran out of petrol.

The local police then towed it back to their compound. Just nine hours later, the thief returned with a canister of petrol to the local police station where the car had been towed and drove off the Porsche right inside the police compound!

Embarrassed, they frantically setup roadblocks and search for the vehicle and fortune enough for them to recover the car 15km away after the thief ditched the car realising that roadblocks has been setup.

Source : www.msnbc.msn.com
Source : thestar.com.my

BMW Smartcar

Mercedes-Benz Smartcar, the idea behind the very short smart car is that the vehicle is easy to park. It is short enough to allow it to be parked front-in where a conventionally sized car would have to parallel park. City drivers may find a benefit of the Smartcar's size. Fuel efficiency in the city is lower than the 5-seat. The concept is good, having a small car in cities is just the perfect solution where big cars roamed, solving the difficulties in maneuvering through tight roads, and the problem of parking's too.

Believe it or not, BMW already has a smartcar over 50 years ago! This is the BMW Isetta 250. Although not originally designed by them, they obtained the licensing to manufacture the car. They redesigned the powerplant around a more reliable BMW one-cylinder, four-stroke, 247 cc motorcycle engine making 13 hp. Although the major elements of the Italian design remained intact, BMW re-engineered much of the car.

The top speed is 53 mph, and it gets 63 miles per gallon. Small (only 7.5 feet long by 4.5 feet wide, or something like 228 by 168 centimetres) and egg-shaped, with bubble type windows, the entire front end of the car hinged outwards to allow entry and in the event of a crash, the driver and passenger were expected to exit through the canvas sunroof. The steering wheel and instrument panel swung out with the single door, as this made access to the single bench seat simpler. The seat provided reasonable comfort for two occupants, and perhaps a small child. Behind the seat was a large parcel shelf with a spare wheel located below. A heater was optional, and ventilation was provided by opening the fabric sunroof.

The first BMW Isetta rolled off the line in April of 1955 and in the next eight months, some 10,000 of the "bubblecars" were produced. BMW built over 136,000 Isettas. Of the cars made by BMW, about 8,500 were exported to the U.S. of which it is estimated 1,000 still survive. A very well-kept example can be seen at the entrance to the Malta Classic car museum in Qawra. Elvis Presley bought a red Isetta as a Christmas gift for his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. In 1962, they stopped production of the little cars but continued to produce Isetta engines until 1964.

Source : www.bmwworld.com
Source : www.microcarmuseum.com