Woodsider at the War Memorial

Almanac reporter Dave Boyce wrote a nice story this week about young Henry Phipps, a 12-year-old Woodside resident who's spending his September singing in the San Francisco Opera. You know, that old thing.

Henry's fortunate enough to perform in a world premiere: "Heart of a Soldier" is a new opera about a British-born Vietnam vet who led 2,700 people to safety from the World Trade Center on 9/11. Henry, who also sings with the Ragazzi Boys Chorus, plays the man as a boy, and has a solo song and a duet.

"I love singing," he told the Almanac. "I love music. I don't know. It's kind of like a break from life. It gets me out of my routines. It's just a wonderful thing."

Dave's story can be read here.

Pictured: Henry Phipps in a photo from sfopera.com.

Going Gray

Going gray?  Given it much thought?  I have. It's the current neutral in the design kingdom. I'm not afraid of it... Actually I'm embracing it. As summer ends and fall begins to move in it's a great time to start thinking about holiday visitors and preparing a guest room. Before you know it friends and family will be trekking to your house and that lonely guest room probably needs some sprucing up.  Pull out all the stops this year with paint and fabric. Go gray and create an inviting space for welcomed guest.  Show them how deft you are at using the latest color trend. Email me if you want tips on the best grays for your space. 

Always tie paint and fabric together for a cohesive look. 

image by: Fay Lartey

Well, hi there.

They're rather an odd couple, but I think they like each other.

Photo: Street scene on Palo Alto's California Avenue, by Rebecca Wallace

Ten years ago, ten years later

As I write about the 9/11 memorial events this weekend, I think about the Mozart Requiem concert happening Sunday in Stanford's Memorial Church and imagine how peaceful the air will be inside. I always feel a breath of Europe there; even thousands of miles apart, historic churches have that wonderful cool smell.

I was an ocean away when 9/11 happened, sitting in my flat in Budapest planning an English lesson. The phone rang, I turned on CNN, and everything was different.

How did life change for Americans living overseas? I can say only that a few days later I wrote a column about how life was for this Yankee. It was never published, but now, feeling safe again in warm Palo Alto, I share it with you.


The jars of salsa are covered with dust. So are the bottles of barbecue sauce and maple syrup. These products, apparently, are not big sellers in Hungary.

I pick up the jar of El Rio anyway. I brush off the dust and stand up from where I have been squatting close to the floor. The American products are all on the bottom shelf.

Since the terrorist attacks, I have begun a new routine. Whenever I go into a grocery store here in Budapest, I make sure to buy something American. I don't mean a Coke or a Pepsi or something that any Hungarian would buy. I mean the hard-to-find items, the things that seem so strange to the locals but to me look like home.

The choices are slim even at the giant supermarkets. But I buy something, anything. Instant mashed potatoes. Pancake mix. Chocolate chips. It makes me feel like I am doing something to help.

When I moved to Budapest two months ago to write and teach, I wasn't thinking about supporting the U.S. economy. I was more concerned with finding a flat, making friends, learning to say more in Hungarian than "The fish soup in Szeged is delicious." With great excitement, I bought paprika, sour cream and cabbage.

But since Sept. 11, everything has changed.

There's one sentiment we expats seem to share: America seems very far away right now, farther than ever. The Atlantic was an impassable barricade right after the attacks, when flights were canceled and we knew we couldn't go home even if we wanted to.

The day of the attacks, a Hungarian friend called me and simply said, "Turn on CNN." I watched for hours until I had to go downtown, knees shaking, to teach an evening English class. It was peculiar to have my students looking at me so sympathetically.

Afterward, I joined the crowd of English-speakers gathered around a television in an Internet cafe. I must have gasped when I learned that one of the downed planes had been headed for San Francisco, because a guy turned and stared at me. "Are you from San Francisco? Me too," he said. And then we both turned back to the TV.

At home, I got a message from my kind, paternal landlord, who said, "My deepest condolences for the tragedy in your country." I stayed up late watching CNN, the BBC and the French news.

Hungarians have been enormously sympathetic. I have not heard one anti-American word. But the strange thing is that life here for people who aren't Americans doesn't seem to have changed that much. I get on a crowded Metro car or escalator, surrounded by incomprehensible words, and think that I'm the only American there and perhaps the only one thinking about the tragedy across the pond. Sometimes it feels lonely, sometimes reassuring. It's good to be in a small country that has a low profile on the global radar screen.

At the same time, we are the ones being told by our embassy to keep our heads down. We are cautioned not to speak English too loudly in public or to open suspicious packages. We avoid known expat hangouts like the Iguana Mexican restaurant, refrain from yelling "God bless America" in a crowded theater, and so on. But I think, I hope, that I am relatively safe here.

The American Embassy in Budapest was closed right after the attacks and has been so thoroughly cocooned behind metal barricades and blue-and-white police tape that it's impossible to go anywhere near. Officers with large weapons and helmets patrol. At the edges are flowers and candles and Hungarian red, white and green ribbons. One of the most touching notes was from a Spanish man who praised America for always taking in the downtrodden.

Last Friday there were black flags everywhere to mark the NATO day of mourning. Black flags at the neo-Gothic Parliament building and beneath the massive dome of the basilica, Hungarian flags at half-mast by the Danube. I kept thinking about Aug. 20, which was St. Stephen's Day, similar to an American Fourth of July. I had watched a fireworks display on the river from a party up in the Buda hills. There were Hungarian red, white and green flags everywhere that weekend.

The fireworks were beautiful, but as I watched I couldn't help thinking that it must have sounded like that during World War II, when all the bridges across the Danube were blown up. Hungary has had a difficult history, including being war-torn and losing a huge portion of land with the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Our past is nowhere near as painful.

But now, it seems we are the ones at war.

Pictured: Stanford's Memorial Church. Photo from stanford.edu.

Animals Who Have Genetic Abnormalities

1.Two-headed crocodile (Thailand)

Is a baby crocodile-headed conjoined twins two twins discovered in 2001 by the staff of a crocodile farm in Thailand.

2. Two-Headed Snake

Two-headed python was found by a team of veterinarians at the zoo in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Both head operates independently and has the ability to eat. Snake with a length of 25 inches is used to control the movement of his head, while on the left to follow naturally. In general, python, live in a natural ecosystem, can reach up to seven meters long and can swallow animals much larger than his own body.

3.Six-Legged Cat

In Tegal no incongruity experienced by a cat, ie, bi-and six-legged. Rare cat's owner, Totok Irianto, a resident of Jl Ruslani HS No. 1 RT 5 RW 2, Kemandungan Kelurahan, Kecamatan Tegal Barat, Tegal meberi pet name is Si Manis.
Besides hermaphrodite (male and female), the sugar turns out to have six legs and is now less than two months old. ''To me it is very strange. It's become my favorite cat,
Each day, the cat who was born at about 18:15, on Saturday January 17 Kliwon ago, it often becomes a spectacle and entertainment of local people. Residents who are always curious to see the funny little cat. Height 18 cm, length about 25 cm (up to end of tail 34 cm), and beratnnya 2 kg.
Two foot addition on the left side right near the tail.
Meanwhile, four other legs grow normally like other cats. No signs of weirdness before the birth of the cat. However, due to abnormalities of the cat, he became very fond of her.
Nutritious Food In terms of food, he initially tried to give nutritious food. Such as milk drinks cans. But pets like to know myself do not want to be treated special.

''Finally, yes I feed like other cats. But if sleeping on a mattress, with the same me. Because of my diligent bathing and mengeramasinya. So no fleas, look clean and fragrant,
Not only he is so fond of. His wife, Isminarni also give more attention as she was. Likewise, her three children. Even the youngest daughter, Maya Agustin who sat in Class 9 SMPN 6, are so familiar with the cats that are often called The Sweet.
No strange behavior in the cat. Because like other cats. Totok also does not specifically keep animals like that. Only after the birth of a six-legged cat and the hermaphrodite, he became so fond of these rare cats.
4. Human Giant Catfish fish eaters
 
Fish had been killed 3 people. First of April 1988 in Nepal a boy of 17 years who was swimming in the river, according to witnesses, suddenly pulled to the bottom of the river by 'something'.

Three months later a child jd victim again, the severity of the child's father witnessed the incident but could not do more to save her son, and the latest happenings are in the past year, a teenage boy 18 years of age is also rumored to have been eaten by giant fish .

5. Two-Headed Turtle


The pet store owner to obtain a two-headed turtle from a man in Florida who saved a bunch of eggs after an adult female was killed by a car. Casey was the one who take care of turtles at home, and then took him to the pet store. Unfortunately the popular pets that ultimately was stolen from a pet store.

6.Two-headed gecko


Gecko with a head on each end was found at an antique store Huaihua city, Hunan province, China on 3 June 2008. This gecko has a length of about 10 cm. Geckos can crawl slowly and can move toward the opposite direction without turning his head.

Fastest Man In The World

1.Usain Bolt (runner)

Who is the world's fastest man? If you answered him Usain Bolt, not wrong. On the track he was the fastest 100 meters in the earth. Currently competitors like jogging and always finish far behind. But the title of fastest in the world not only belongs to Usain Bolt. Some people also registered himself as the fastest in the world as well.

Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter, is the record holder of the world's fastest man on the cross racing 100 yards (and 200 meters). On the track 100 meters at World Athletics Championships in Berlin in August 2009 was recently Bolt broke the record in its own name with a time of 9.58 seconds. Record time of 0.11 seconds was faster than the length of the printed record last year at the Beijing Olympics. Rival weight of U.S. origin, Gay, which just broke the U.S. record is like jogging behind Bolt and finish in second place behind Bolt a few lines. It seems the current competitors Bolt just hours timepiece alone


2.Jerry Miculek (shooter)

Living,. Is Jerry Miculek, is the shooter with the highest speed of 0.57 seconds to fire the gun with as many as five shots. Miculek currently holds five revolvers shooting record in the exhibition world. Now, Miculek a shooting instructor with the ability to customize the revolver to function optimally.

3.Steven Purugganan (Composer glass)

move and arrange the affairs of the speed of glass, steven purugganan expert. in the official record of Guinness World of records steven able to prepare 12 cups into pyramid formations 3, two pyramids and one big pyramid in 6.21 seconds.

4.Fastest Secretary

with the world's fastest secretary who can stamp the document in its ability to 100 documents in 2 seconds.

5.Fastest Rubic's Cube solver

"macki" rubik cube solver makisumi is the fastest in the world today. he was able to break the world record speedcubing. his record on the 2x2x2 speedsolve is 2.28 detikdan in 3x3x3dalam 12.11 seconds

6.David R Adamovich (knife throwers)



david r adamovich, known as "the great throwdini" means the fastest knife thrower. he was able to throw three knives less than 1 second (0.97 seconds) is recorded with high speed video. transform and his record is 144 throw knives in one minute. and threw the knife on the ladder of death. He had 16 knife in 6.1 seconds or 0.38 seconds per knife.

7.Fastest Water Drinkers

men can drink 1.5 liters of water in 4.88 seconds!

Unique And Amazing Natural Phenomenon

1.Mystery Stone Moving Yourself

 

In the eastern Panamint mountains in the region Death Valley National Park, California, there is a place called the Racetrack Playa. It is located 3708 above sea level, length of 2.8 miles and 1.3 miles wide. Tampat has almost the same height position of the north end to south end. North end is only higher than 5 cm from the south end. This is where one of the mysterious phenomenon that appears puzzling. Stones that move by themselves
Mean dry playa lake. When the period of heavy rain, water will flow down from nearby mountains into Playa and forming a shallow lake that was short-lived. When the weather turned hot, shallow body of water that evaporates and leaves a thin layer of mud and soft.
When the mud dries, he began to shrink and break down to form a beautiful mosaic. And this is where a strange phenomenon occurred.
It looks like when no one's looking, dolomite rocks which split from moving on its own cliff walking across a dry lake surface. The stones that leave a trail clearly visible above ground, the only evidence that they actually move.
This phenomenon has actually been known to be more than a hundred years ago by the explorers and gold miners. But a more serious research just done in 1948. To this day, the phenomenon is still not explained satisfactorily.

 

2.Rainbow Fire

An extraordinary phenomenon occurs in the sky Bandung today (26/05/2010). ITB students managed to capture a rainbow forming fire Arabic writing in the form of GOD.
Students who do not know the religion of Islam is not fire rainbow formed a writing GOD, he just said that the fire rainbow it resembles the Arabic script.
When vetted if the photo is real or just a result of editing, it turns out these photos prove its validity because there is one resident bandung who also admitted that he had time to capture these extraordinary phenomena.

3.Basalt columns in the Canary Islands (ireland)

On cooling, thick lava flows made ​​at a vertical angle to the direction of flow, resulting in strange geometric figure. This is a process that produces regular hexagonal shape of basaltic columns, and perfection is almost artificial. Among the most famous is the "Giant's Causeway in Ireland and" Devil's Tower "in the U.S., but does not detract from the" Bodies "on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

4.clouds mammatus

Its emergence is a sign of a storm of this kind of weird cloud view is a sign of severe storms or unpleasant arrival of bad weather. These clouds contain mostly ice crystals can be extended in a line hundreds of kilometers can be measured. Some of these cloud formations can remain static even for 10-15 minutes.

5.Blue hole in the Bahamas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This "big hole" suddenly sank into the sea. As I looked from the air, solid blue color indicates the presence of darkness and impenetrable, especially in contrast to the water around them. Those divers who had stepped on it tens of meters, have found that at this depth, a serious shortage of oxygen levels and that there is life other than just a lack of ocean currents.
Nevertheless, it has a very high scientific interest, and so far have been found in dozens of remote ancient fossils. These "holes" are found in Belize, the Bahamas blue hole deeper, about 400m east of Belize has some 123m.

6.Striped Icebergs

Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have a line formed by a layer of snow that react in different conditions. blue lines are often made when a crack in the ice sheet is filled with a mix of water freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.
When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze the bottom. If this is rich in algae, can form a green line. Brown, black and yellow is the color of the line caused by sucking sediment collected when ice fell into the sea.