Confession App

An application for the iPhone that guides the faithful in the sacrament of confession was released with the blessings of the Catholic Church in the USA. This app does not distribute digital indulgences, but offers an individual examination of conscience of every user. It includes lists of sins and improprieties in order for the user to have a clear conscience. This application encourages the faithful to admit their mistakes, as defined by their religion, and eventually record them. It also urges them to examine their conscience, based on personal factors such as age, sex and marital status. 

The small company Little iApps that developed the plan states that it worked with Catholic priests and ultimately secured the blessing of Bishop Kevin Rhoades, head of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana. This is clearly an answer to what the Pope stated in his speech on January 24th, which acknowledged that the Catholic Church can not be absent from the digital world. This is a very interesting way of bringing people to confession. All of this can be achieved with a small price of $1.99. 

Times Square

The centre of New York is one of the 'brightest places' in the world, even during the night hours. Times Square is a major intersection in N.Y.C. and is known as "The Crossroads of the World". It is located at Broadway and Seventh Avenue and extends from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. 

Like city squares in many other major cities around the world, Times Square has become an illustrious landmark and a symbol of New York City. 

Times Square, named for the New York Times offices, has a history as lively as its street life. Theatres, hotels and restaurants sprang up in the 1920s. At the end of W.W. II more than 2 million people crowded into the area to celebrate V-J Day. But by the 1960s, Times Square was known mainly for its sleaze, crime and pornography. In the 1990s, the square was transformed back into a tourist magnet for the more than 20 million annual visitors. 

Tourists and locals alike are attracted to the vibrant energy and exciting atmosphere in Times Square. The bright lights and animated advertisements radiating across buildings throughout Time Square are not only a brilliant sight to behold, they are required of business owners in the are per zoning ordinances.

Times Square is a dynamic retail, commercial and residential environment; it stands as one of the most concentrated markets in New York City, also known as the Big Apple.  

It is a hub of entertainment and home to famous Broadway theatres featuring some of the most popular productions in history. 

It also acquires clubs, bars, music venues, quality shops, cinemas, hotels and restaurants, making it one of the most lively places on the planet, every hour of the day and night. 

Naming Hurricanes

I have always wondered why hurricanes are given names and seeing that the last hurricane was given ironically the name Irene, which in Greek means Peace, made me research this topic. The first hurricanes to receive human names where in the Caribbean two centuries ago. There they used to give the name of the Saint who was venerated the day it was formed. 

Since 1953 the hurricanes were 'baptised'  according to a list formed by the National Hurricane Centre in the U.S.A. The names were small in order to be remembered. The name basis was simpler than using coordinations and areas the hurricanes actually hit. 

 

This list constituted of female names until 1979 when male names were introduced. Currently there are six lists of names and when a catastrophic hurricane occurs the name given to that is then replaced by a new one. For example in 2004 Mitch was replaced by Matthew due to the fact that in 1998 it killed nearly 10.000 people in Honduras.    

Reverend Bit

A couple who met through the social network "Sweet on Geeks" decided to get married using a computer program, the " Reverend Bit".

The wedding of Miguel Hanson and Diana Wesley was one of the most unusual weddings in human history. Hanson is a web developer and consultant from Houston and he got this crazy idea since he could not find a priest for the wedding. So he decided to write his own e-priest to marry them.

All we can do now is wish them a fruitful future together!

The road with the most turns in the world

Hyde and Leavenworth Road in San Francisco is known for having the most turns in the world. It has 8 consecutive turns while the speed limit is only 8 km/h. 

This route is downhill, located on a steep hillside. That is why the bends were created in order to limit the vehicles' speed. At least they have decorated it with beautiful flowers and trees, making it probably the most green road.

Largest Hamburger in the World

Last weekend at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, CA, Juicy's (an outdoor concession company) smashed the previous world record for the World's Largest Hamburger by creating a 352.4 kilos burger 152.4 cm in diameter and 91.4 cm thick. The beef was coked on a custom made grill. 

Guinness rules state that the burger must be consumed by the public present at the occasion. This of course was the case here, where a piece cost 99 cents. The funny thing is that Juicy's will cook one for anyone for $5000. An interesting fact is that this burger contained 1.4 million calories. 

A boutique in the middle of nowhere

I can't say that I understand all the new trends and the commercial side of things but this belongs in the sphere of 'odd things'. A Prada boutique was built in the middle of a desert motorway in the Western part of Texas, USA. It was built for an artistic and commercial project in order to promote bags designed by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, who spent for the whole project 80.000 dollars.

I just have two questions...Who works there and who will buy these designer bags in the middle of a motorway in Texas???

The largest library in the world

The largest library in the USA is also the largest one in the world, i.e. The United States Library of Congress in Washington D.C. It holds the astronomical number of books which are about 118 million items. They require 500 miles of shelving. As seen in these pictures the building is a work of art on its own, with lovely decorations, paintings and architecture. This is a new 'Library of Alexandria', a one which should be preserved, even in the modern digital and internet epoch we live in. 

But I am not sure if it has the largest book in the world. This book contains 10.000 pages. It belongs to the University of Iowa and is called 'Marathon of Poetry' and is considered the 'fattest' book to ever be printed. This book was created for the celebration of "The City of Literature" from UNESCO.

They were counting for an hour...!

Nick Ramos, a student at the University of Colorado, wanted to send a message towards the Universities for the rise in the tuition fees. He paid his $14.000 fee by giving one dollar bills. To collect all of these bills, the twenty year old student had to go and collect them from two banks. He then put them into bags and took them to the University. The University staff did not see the funny side to this "protest" since they were counting the money for an hour. 

The message Nick Ramos wanted to point out was the fact that it is currently too expensive for someone to  study and wanted to remind the leaders of the Universities that many students will have to abandon the University due to this enormous and astronomical rise in fees. 

Unfortunately this is the case in many countries now, making it impossible for millions of people to continue their studies, which inevitably means that they will have to abandon their dreams of a better and secure life, since good jobs will only go to those who can afford a good high education. The richer are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer..!