Choosing what to see isn’t necessarily the hardest part of a night out at the movies. Sometimes the bigger question is, where do you sit? On the aisles for easy access to Twizzlers and Diet Coke refills? Or do you map out the closest fire exits and plant yourself there, just in case? Do you sit in the front row because you enjoy the feeling of being swallowed by the film? Or do you chose the middle? There’s a reason that people sit in the middle, I’m just not sure what it is.
Fire is a different beast in space than it is on the ground. When flames burn on Earth, heated gases rise from the fire, drawing oxygen in and pushing combustion products out. In microgravity, hot gases don’t rise. So an entirely different process, called molecular diffusion, drives flame behavior.
It’s the end of the year, and even as we wind down with the best games of the year like Modern Warfare 3, and Skyrim, we look to see what the next year has to offer us and empty our wallets once more. There’s no end to great games to look forward to, and 2012 looks like it’ll shape up to be just as good as everything this year, though it’s certainly hard to top.
If you’re anything like us, your to-do list for the next year is already packed full of great games that you just didn’t have time to play. 2011 has been, without question, one of the busiest years in the Xbox 360’s six-year lifespan, especially over the last few months. Between Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Gears 3, Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, and far too many more to list, you and your rapidly dwindling bank account are probably desperately hoping for a reprieve.
Tommaso, a four-year-old, one-time stray from Rome, is thought to have become the world’s richest cat. Since the death of his 94-year-old mistress last month, he has become a property magnate — or perhaps mognate — with flats and houses worth an estimated €10m scattered from Milan in the north to Calabria in the south.
In a handwritten will, signed on 26 November, 2009, Tommaso’s mistress — the childless widow of a successful builder — gave her lawyers the task of identifying “the animal welfare body or association to which to leave the inheritance and the task of looking after the cat Tommaso”.
Sam Walton opened his first discount store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962 and the company was officially incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores seven years later. The first Walmart distribution center opened in 1970. In 1983, Walmart introduced People Greeters in its stores and Walton opened the first Sam’s Club in Midwest City, Oklahoma. By 1987, Walmart had more than 1,000 stores. Today, there are nearly 9,000 locations worldwide and the company boasts revenues of more than $400 billion. And in case you were wondering, a single Walmart grocery distribution center can store four million bananas.
From the moment Ron Shaoul took it upon himself to investigate the practice of reading on the toilet, scouring medical literature and turning up nothing of note as to its public health consequences, the situation became clear that here, on his hands, was a big job.
Shaoul’s curiosity was driven by his work as a doctor specialising in paediatric gastroenterology. He mustered some colleagues, drew up a questionnaire and had hundreds of people of all shapes and sizes complete it. What resulted was perhaps the most scientific attempt yet to shine light on a habit that rustles unseen behind closed doors.
