Uber Creepy Tour: Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans

By Angie

From: http://weburbanist.com/

All of us are like excited children when turned loose for a fun-filled day at an amusement park. The commotion of the enthusiastic crowd combines with mouthwatering scents of delicious snacks waiting to be gobbled up, and then mingles with flashing lights and pounding music from rides and attractions. Yet when an amusement park becomes abandoned and an eerie silence descends to blanket the decay, the atmosphere seems to twist and takes on a nightmarish vibe. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, leaving Six Flags as another of its victims. Here are 69 uber-creepy urban exploration photographs as we tour the abandoned amusement park Six Flags New Orleans.

Flooded From Hurricane Katrina

(image credits: themeparkreview,nola,forumgarden)

Everyone knows that Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans in utter devastation. That happened on August 29, 2005, and by August 31, New Orleans, Louisiana, was 80% flooded. Parts of it were under 15 feet of water, but the storm surged to over 20-feet high in some areas. This drowning of the city included Six Flags. At the time, an amusement park was the least of people’s worries. However, 4 1/2 years have passed, and the good people of New Orleans have suffered more than their share. Does that mean they will also never regain this former place to play? In theory, the fate of Six Flags is undecided.

You Are Here: Abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans

(image credits: Sophie Germer, malamutechaos, Brynne Photography, Google Maps)

You are here, Six Flags New Orleans, a defunct amusement park. It closed in 2005 for the oncoming storm and never reopened. Four and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags New Orleans is still abandoned. Six Flags officials claim the park was 70-80% damaged or destroyed. The defunct park is too expensive to rebuild and too expensive to abandon, so it sits and waits for decay to claim it. The park opened as Jazzland in 2000, but Six Flags bought this amusement park in 2002. Before Jazzland, the area was swamps. If no one steps up and does something, will the swamps reclaim the abandoned amusement park?

Mardi Gras Character

(image credits: Brynne Photography)

The worn and weathered Mardi Gras character hanging over the roof of the haunted car ride seems menacing now. But New Orleans is the home and heart of the Mardi Gras. Before Six Flags was abandoned, it would have surely been a happy reminder to see this jester holding beads. Beads are a highly valued prize when one is lucky enough to catch those that are tossed into the parade crowd.

Tickets Please

(image credits: Annie Wentzell, EvenShift, Liquorhead, malamutechaos)

Tickets please…? Oh that’s right, the mannequin in the booth is as lifeless as the abandoned amusement park. On the city’s eastern edge, serving as a constant reminder to the people of New Orleans, the stark silhouette of Six Flags is like an unhealed wound. The big stuffed dog has dealt his last hand. The creepy clown has been beheaded and broken.

Hungry?

(image credits: riomcthorne,terrastories,Brynne Photography, A. Baker, A. Baker)

Hungry? There’s no scrumptious food to found in concession stands here. Instead, the walls, shelves, stoves, and glass food displays still show a scummy waterline where 4–7 feet of rainwater and sea water submerged the park for over a month when Katrina tried to swallow New Orleans whole. Six Flags tried to get out of the park, since it was going under even before the storm. Trying to get out of its contract and 75-year lease in 2006, they offered the city of New Orleans $10 million in cash and another 86 acres of land it owned in the area. The city refused on the basis of the amount being too small to repay a HUD loan or to clear the property.

Stormy Stark Silhouette

(image credits: static)

The amusement park suffered fatal damage. Six Flags collected only a portion before suing the insurance company for the remaining $175 million in coverage. At one point, Six Flags removed Batman: The Ride roller-coaster and other salvageable pieces. The city of New Orleans owned the land, yet Six Flags was pursuing legal action to keep the park closed. Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. The city fined Six Flags $3 million dollars and ordered them to vacate the lease. Nickelodeon was supposed to redevelop the park into a water and thrill ride theme park, but that fell through late last year. In December 2009, California-based Big League Dreams expressed interest in possibly turning the amusement park into a 50-acre sports complex. For this to occur, New Orleans would need to cough up about $25 million for the cost of construction, and then Big League Dreams would staff and maintain the complex for 30 years.

Wooden Roller Coaster Mega Zeph

(image credits: skyscraperpage, nola, EvenShift///3, Liquorhead)

Mega Zeph, a wooden hybrid roller coaster, first opened as Jazzland’s signature ride. It has been decaying, the wood rotting and the steel rusting. Riders would climb a 110-foot lift hill before plunging into the first drop. The delightful magic of riders’ excited screams has not echoed through the abandoned park for over 4 years now. According to wikipedia, this park once operated these roller coasters: Zydeco Scream, The Jester, Mega Zeph, Muskrat Scrambler and The Road Runner Express which has since been moved to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.

Zydeco Scream

(image credits: *brynne,Brynne Photography)

Most amusement parks feature a “boomerang” steel coaster, taking riders forward and flinging them backwards for the thrill of upside-down loops and drops. The Zydeco Scream at Six Flags sits silent, but had a history before coming to New Orleans. It began its life in 1990 at Parc de Montjuic in Barcelona, Spain, and was called Boomerang. In 2000, this roller coaster was moved to New Orleans and renamed Zydeco Scream. This is probably its final resting place, where it will most likely die for good and be remembered only as a ghost of good times.

The Jester

(image credits: *brynne,thesouthernsniper,Brynne Photography,*brynne)

Flooding from Hurricane Katrina peeled away the green paint from The Jester as if revealing Jester’s former life as the Joker’s Revenge. From 1996 through 2001, Joker’s Revenge operated at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This roller coaster which took riders through a corkscrew backwards left many people complaining about the rough ride. Mechanical problems added to the dilemma, so the roller coaster was unused in 2002. In 2003, the coaster was painted a bright green, renamed The Jester, and moved to Six Flags New Orleans where it’s now a ruined wreck.

Look Around at the Urban Decay

(image credits: Brynne Photography, Eric Paul)

From gifts shops to Gotham City, crumbled and decayed Six Flags New Orleans suffers from catastrophic damage. Dark, desolate, and dejected, this post-apocalyptic setting might be the perfect place to make a movie about zombies or some such horror/disaster film. Revamped or refurbished, is there a chance for Six Flags to end up as more than another defunct amusement park?

Creepy Sad

(image credits: smwarnke4, Liquorhead)

Way beyond the state of falling into disrepair, what was once cheerful is now cheerless and downright creepy. Although there has been some cleanup after Katrina ripped the amusement out of this park, it’s still left to be ravaged by the elements and unmaintained. The creepy clown, menacing jester, and other statues with once happy open mouths now seem to utter a silent yet never-ending scream. These dismayed busts have “seen” their home destroyed. The stuffed animals which should bring children of all ages great joy, now seem hopeless and an ever-present and depressing reminder of 4 1/2 years passing after abandonment.

Monster’s Mouth & Krewe of Kreeps Ride

(image credits: Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography)

The Krewe of Kreeps ride was never supposed to be this creepy. The trains sit parked as if awaiting phantom riders, but the tracks are a rusted wreck. According to wikipedia, flat rides at Six Flags New Orleans that are still standing but not operating include: Catwoman’s Whip, Dizzy Lizzy, Krazy Krewe, Gator Bait, Lex Luthor’s Invertatron, Mad Rex, Zydeco Zinger, Joker’s Jukebox, Lafitte’s Pirate Ship, The Big Easy, Jocco’s Mardi Gras Madness, and Mardi Gras Menagerie.

Death At Every Turn

(image credits: malamutechaos, Brynne Photography)

Now it appears as if death is awaiting urban explorers at every turn. The Mardi Gras skeleton seems an ominous omen for those who venture out of curiosity into this abandoned amusement park. A piano hangs outside a building as the supports weather and rot as if waiting to claim another victim and add another ghost to roam New Orleans.

Forlorn, Forgotten, Battered

(image credits: smwarnke4,Brynne Photography, malamutechaos,smwarnke4)

The statues and busts appear beyond sad into miserable. With mud and mildew on his face, the man seems morose and forlorn. With chipped faces and bodies overturned, the southern belles are a gloomy reminder that Six Flags will probably never regain the glory and good times it once claimed. Even the lonely mermaid and merman seem melancholy.

Rides Are Rotting

(image credits: EvenShift, malamutechaos, Doobybrain, Brynne Photography, malamutechaos, Brynne Photography)

The bumper cars went from bumpless to rusted-out bummer. Here are more dead rides on our tour of Six Flags New Orleans, clearly showing that the abandoned amusement park is going to hell in a giant 140-acre hand-basket. Even the former water rides Ozarka Splash and Spillway Splashout did not pass unscathed by Katrina’s wrath.

Main Street

(image credits: Liquorhead)

The eerie silence at Six Flags is beyond unnatural for an amusement park. Left abandoned, Main Street is as deserted as a ghost town. Destroyed by a horrific hurricane and flood waters years ago, the rides rust, the attractions rot, and the buildings crumble.

In Shambles

(image credits: ilxor, Liquorhead, malamutechaos, *brynne , Liquorhead, Liquorhead)

Urban explorers first have to find a way into this forsaken park and then they risk their necks out of curiosity. In one case, after sneaking in and then back out, some of the explorers were handcuffed by the waiting cops and the film was destroyed. In other cases, the explorers are simply told to vacate the premises. Is it the park or city officials, or both, who don’t want the water-damage and despondent decay documented as photographed proof and becoming public knowledge? Or is it simply too dangerous, too painful, after all the hardships and tragedies the people of New Orleans have had to endure?

Fade to Black…Darkness

(image credits: Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography, Brynne Photography)

The Big Easy Ferris Wheel paints a pretty picture against the sunset. Darkness falls, but the curtains closed years ago on the final show at the abandoned amusement park. It’s sad yet intriguing, pulling at the curious who want to see inside the park, pulling at our hearts for the people of New Orleans who still need our help. Thank you, urban explorers, for finding the courage to go inside. Thank you for bringing us these photographs so we could share your adventures at abandoned Six Flags New Orleans.

Headstones to die for

Click above to see the gallery

Just because you're dead, doesn't mean you can't have an interesting headstone. Check out these bizarre / creative / funny odes to the dead.

From: http://www.chicagonow.com/

Is credit card debt a hindrance?

By Ross Densley
From http://www.usfst.com/

US Credit Card Debt

With the recession forcing more and more Americans to burden their credit cards with debt, it's time to ask whether the increasing accrued costs are manageable, or are detrimentally impacting lives.

Unless you've had your head in the sand for a few years, you know times are hard. For those old enough to remember they aren't Great Depression hard, but for most of us, poor economy, lack of opportunities and a loss of jobs equal a rolling snowball which carries with it exceeding pressure to find money we don't have, and in turn means we turn to the plastic more than we would like.

And the numbers don't lie. In the last decade, 22 million more Americans have got their hands on a credit card, bringing the figure to 181 million, up from 159 million in 2000. This doesn't tell the whole story, as around half of the cardholders have more than one credit card, with 14 percent having up to ten credit cards, (yes you read that correctly, ten!) meaning the total number of credit cards in circulation in the U.S is estimated at around 1.5 billion. That means the potential for spending is gargantuan ($2.1 trillion in 2008 to be precise, up from 1.4 trillion in 2003) and in turn, the potential for crippling debt ($972 billion in 2008, up from less then $8 million in 1968).

Alarmingly, almost 15 percent of families have debt exceeding 40 percent of their income.

The average outstanding credit card debt for households that have a credit card was $10,679 at the end of 2008.

Debt by the numbers

In 2006, fee's alone cost consumers $17.1 billion. Over the past 10 years, household debt has grown by 147 percent, with credit card debt growing by 69 percent. Credit card debt slowed to less than half of household debt primarily because consumers borrowed against equity in their homes to pay down credit card account balances, says lowcards.

One look at the top ten some top credit card issuers in 2008 shows that credit card issuing is a profitable business. Topping the list is US Bank, recording profits of £1.07 billion, with Capital One also recording profit over £1 billion. Other top profits belong to Wells Fargo at $990 million, and American Express with $850 million. Only Citi Bank recorded a loss, at $530 million. This in part is because the average credit card APR is 14.9%, the average penalty/default rate is 23.9%, going as high as 32.24% (Chase), and the average late-payment fee is $25. Cardholders also pay $25 on average for encroaching over their limit fee.

The debt, it appears, is spread evenly geographically and demographically.

Undergraduate spending

Undergraduates have long been a target of cardholders, and with rising college fees, undergraduate credit card debt is averaged at £3,173 per student. One investigation highlighted nearly 30 percent of undergraduates put tuition on their credit card, an increase from 24 percent in 2004. In total, 92 percent of undergraduate credit cardholders charged textbooks, school supplies, or other direct education expenses, up seven percent from the previous study.

Thankfully this could become a thing of the past, as new laws are coming in to protect those students buying stuff on the plastic. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) is an attempt for consumer protection and should hold credit card companies more responsible, the CARD Act ends certain fees and the increase of high interest rates.

"This marks a turning point in helping to protect consumers from practices that have gotten us in the hole we’re in now,” said Jared Bernstein, chief economic advisor to Vice President Joseph Biden. “It’s unfortunate when young people get in over [their] head with credit cards."

In the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken measures to protect those cardholders most vulnerable to rising debt, namely by forcing credit card lenders to change the way they make consumers pay off their debt.

Eighty-four percent of undergraduates indicated that they felt they needed more education on financial management topics. And with no light at the end of the recession tunnel, it seems its not only undergraduates who could do with help with regard to spiralling debt.

Credit Card debt accounts for just over 2 percent of America's total debt.

Peruvian man teaches pet alpaca to surf

SAN BARTOLO, Peru -- A Peruvian man has trained his pet alpaca to surf with him.

His alpaca, named Pisco, wears a floatation vest to stay safe in the water.

The Peruvian surfer says that he has seen kangaroos and koalas riding the waves. He had even trained dogs to surf with him before.

Alpacas are normally found in the highlands

(Copyright (c) 2010 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Wal-Mart's firing of employee for using medical marijuana incites boycott

By Troy Reimink | The Grand Rapids Press

From http://www.mlive.com/

WZZM-TV (Channel 13)

Joseph Casais, 29, was fired from a Battle Creek Wal-Mart for using medical marijuana. He suffers from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor.

Supporters of marijuana law reform are rallying behind 29-year-old Joe Casais, a cancer sufferer and registered medical marijuana user who was fired from his job at Wal-Mart in Battle Creek.

Casais, who had worked at the store for five years and in 2008 was named Associate of the Year, tested positive for marijuana during a worker's compensation screening after he sprained his knee on the job.

Marijuana advocates are calling for a boycott of the chain, and recently a rally took place in support of Casais:

Beyond the immediate fallout from the boycott -- such as a sharp decline in the sale of snack foods -- the story raises questions about how employers are to reconcile their drug policies with laws regarding the use of marijuana, particularly medical marijuana.

Wal-Mart wants no part of it. In a statement, a company spokesman said: "In states, such as Michigan, where prescriptions for marijuana can be obtained, an employer can still enforce a policy that requires termination of employment following a positive drug screen. We believe our policy complies with the law and we support decisions based on the policy."

It may be legal, but is it the right thing to do?

"It's despicable that Wal-Mart would fire such a hardworking and seriously ill employee simply for treating his symptoms with a medicine that he is authorized to use under state law," Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project and lead drafter of Michigan's medical marijuana law, told the Michigan Messenger. "Would Wal-Mart also fire someone for taking doctor-prescribed Percocet, or any of the other legal medications sold in many of Wal-Mart's own stores?"

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan also sides with Casais, telling the publication, "It's immoral and it's illegal to fire somebody for treating their disease with a medicine that's legal and recommended by someone's physician."

Wal-Mart also is contesting Casais' unemployment benefits claim since any marijuana use still is a violation of federal law, even if states are allowing it in some cases. The Obama administration said it will not seek to prosecute marijuana users who are in compliance with state law. Michigan legalized medical marijuana in 2008.

What do you think of Wal-Mart's actions here?

Email treimink@grpress.com

Treadmill Bike Concept

Tech
From http://www.toxel.com/

Treadmill Bike is an innovative fitness device that promises to revolutionize urban transportation.

Treadmill on wheels offers the same fat burning benefits as a conventional treadmill without the expensive gym membership fees. [more info]

Trailer: Al Pacino is Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Adam Best

The one and only Al Pacino is playing Jack Kevorkian, Dr. Death himself, in an HBO original film called You Don’t Know Jack. Whooo-ha! Let’s hope ol’ Al has one more great performance left in him. Here’s the trailer…

Man appears free of HIV after stem cell transplant

By Jacquelyne Froeber
From http://www.cnn.com/

A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The patient underwent a stem cell transplant and since, has not tested positive for HIV in his blood.

"The patient is fine," said Dr. Gero Hutter of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany. "Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication."

The case was first reported in November, and the new report is the first official publication of the case in a medical journal. Hutter and a team of medical professionals performed the stem cell transplant on the patient, an American living in Germany, to treat the man's leukemia, not the HIV itself.

However, the team deliberately chose a compatible donor who has a naturally occurring gene mutation that confers resistance to HIV. The mutation cripples a receptor known as CCR5, which is normally found on the surface of T cells, the type of immune system cells attacked by HIV.

The mutation is known as CCR5 delta32 and is found in 1 percent to 3 percent of white populations of European descent.

HIV uses the CCR5 as a co-receptor (in addition to CD4 receptors) to latch on to and ultimately destroy immune system cells. Since the virus can't gain a foothold on cells that lack CCR5, people who have the mutation have natural protection. (There are other, less common HIV strains that use different co-receptors.)

People who inherit one copy of CCR5 delta32 take longer to get sick or develop AIDS if infected with HIV. People with two copies (one from each parent) may not become infected at all. The stem cell donor had two copies.

While promising, the treatment is unlikely to help the vast majority of people infected with HIV, said Dr. Jay Levy, a professor at the University of California San Francisco, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. A stem cell transplant is too extreme and too dangerous to be used as a routine treatment, he said.

"About a third of the people die [during such transplants], so it's just too much of a risk," Levy said. To perform a stem cell transplant, doctors intentionally destroy a patient's immune system, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection, and then reintroduce a donor's stem cells (which are from either bone marrow or blood) in an effort to establish a new, healthy immune system.

Levy also said it's unlikely that the transplant truly cured the patient in this study. HIV can infect many other types of cells and may be hiding out in the patient's body to resurface at a later time, he said.

"This type of virus can infect macrophages (another type of white blood cell that expresses CCR5) and other cells, like the brain cells, and it could live a lifetime. But if it can't spread, you never see it-- but it's there and it could do some damage," he said. "It's not the kind of approach that you could say, 'I've cured you.' I've eliminated the virus from your body." Health.com: 10 questions to ask a new partner before having sex

Before undergoing the transplant, the patient was also found to be infected with low levels of a type of HIV known as X4, which does not use the CCR5 receptor to infect cells. So it would seem that this virus would still be able to grow and damage immune cells in his body. However, following the transplant, signs of leukemia and HIV were absent.

"There is no really conclusive explanation why we didn't observe any rebound of HIV," Hutter said. "This finding is very surprising."

Hutter noted that one year ago, the patient had a relapse of leukemia and a second transplant from the same donor. The patient experienced complications from the procedure, including temporary liver problems and kidney failure, but they were not unusual and may occur in HIV-negative patients, he said.

Researchers including Hutter agree that the technique should not be used to treat HIV alone. "Some people may say, 'I want to do it,'" said Levy. A more logical -- and potentially safer -- approach would be to develop some type of CCR5-disabling gene therapy or treatment that could be directly injected into the body, said Levy.

Less invasive options to alter CCR5 could be on the horizon within the next five years, said Levy. "It's definitely the wave of the future," he said. "As we continue to follow this one patient, we will learn a lot."

One drug that's currently on the market that blocks CCR5 is called maraviroc (Selzentry). It was first approved in 2007 and is used in combination with other antiretroviral drugs. Health.com: Who's most at risk for STDs?

In 2007, an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS, and 2.7 million people contracted HIV. More than 15 million women are infected worldwide. HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through sexual intercourse, sharing needles, pregnancy, breast-feeding, and/or blood transfusions with an infected person. Health.com:What should I do if the condom breaks?

"For HIV patients, this report is an important flicker of hope that antiretroviral therapy like HAART [highly active antiretroviral therapy] is not the endpoint of medical research," Hutter said.

Copyright Health Magazine 2009

7 Sexiest Female Chess Players

by Billy D
from http://egotvonline.com/

You just know that all the hot chicks in high school were in the chess club. Cheerleaders, no thanks. We want girls with brains,(and beauty, if possible). Here are some specimens who not only made it in the ranks of professional chess, but also make for a nice swimsuit calendar, if Sports Illustrated will finally ever get to the chess/swimsuit issue we’ve all been hoping for. In no particular order:

1. Alexandra Kosteniuk

Alexandra Kosteniuk is a Russian chess grandmaster (that’s right, Grandmaster, bitches!) who won the 2008 World Women’s Championship title in Nalchik, Russia. Alexandra has been in the finals of 2001 Championships also at the age of just 17, but she lost on that occasion. She was the European champion in 2004 and the Chess960 (Fischer Random) world champion in 2006 which she defended this year also. Kosteniuk also won the 2005 Russian Women’s Championship which were held in Samara.

Besides chess, Alexandra also hosts a popular podcast Chess is Cool, which keeps its listeners up to date with all the chess events. In her personal life, she is married to Diego Garces of Switzerland and has a daughter. Which is unfortunate, if you’ve ever seen her whoop some ass on the chess board all while wearing a sexy loud dress.

2. Sanja Dedijer

Dedijer hails from Bosnia-Herzegovina and is only 24 years old. Therefore, she has very little biographical information (I don’t believe she has won any titles) other than the fact that she is damn hot. Look at the concentration.

3. Regina Pokorna

Vladislav Tkachiev, talking about beauty in chess, called the 27-year-old Slovakian beauty Pokorno “a child-woman, an eternal girl”. It’s probably those incredible blue eyes, though you can never ignore her beautiful games and 2400+ rating. (Apparently that’s pretty darn good in pro chess… I wouldn’t know).

4. Valquira Rocha

I can’t find much info on Valquiria, except that she hails from Angola, she plays professional chess, and she is daaaaaamn hawt! A traditional Angolese expression for “hot.”

5. Anna Sharevich

Anna a Belarusian chessmaster, having achieved the required norms for the title Woman Grandmaster in 2006. She won the Ladies’ Belarusian Chess Championship in 2002, 2005 and 2007 and played for Belarus in the Woman’s Chess Olympiad of 2002 to 2008 (four times). She’s smart, blonde, sultry, and can kick your sub-mental ass!

6. Arianne Caoili

Arianne Caoili began playing chess at the age of six. At one point during 2002, she achieved a FIDE rating in excess of 2300, but this has been in decline since she scaled down her chess activities to concentrate on her studies, as she is still only 23! Nevertheless, she remains one of Australia’s leading women players and played top board for the national team at the Dresden Olympiad in 2008.

She’s has her share of scandals (for a chess player), though! In June 2006 it was reported that the British Granmaster Danny Gormally had thrown a punch at Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian (who was at the time the number three on the FIDE world ranking) in a Turin nightclub during the chess Olympiad. Gormally apparently became jealous when he saw Aronian dancing with Caoili. In 09, Aronian and Caoili were reported to be in a relationship…. Sorry Danny.

Caoili has also been on Dancing With The Stars, so she’s got that goin’ for her, too… which is nice.

7. Eva Repkova

Eva is a Slovakian-born chessmaster who once had a relationship with fellow chess champion Vladimir Kramnik. Eva, as you can see is incredibly hot. And she’s recently divorced from a Lebanese businessman, so all you chess fanboys still have a shot!… No, not really. It’s nice to dream, though.

So remember… if you want to impress these ladies, stop hitting the gym and start hitting the boards! The chess boards, that is.

Humans could regrow body parts like some amphibians

Regrowing amputated limbs, broken backs and even damaged brains could one day be a reality after scientists discovered a gene that is key to the almost magical ability.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Researchers have found that the gene p21 appears to block the healing power still enjoyed by some creatures including amphibians but lost through evolution to all other animals.

By turning off p21, the process can be miraculously switched back on.

Academics from The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia found that mice lacking the p21 gene gain the ability to regenerate lost or damaged tissue.

Unlike typical mammals, which heal wounds by forming a scar, these mice begin by forming a blastema, a structure associated with rapid cell growth.

According to the Wistar researchers, the loss of p21 causes the cells of these mice to behave more like regenerating embryonic stem cells rather than adult mammalian cells. This means they act as if they creating rather thane mending the body.

Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide solid evidence to link tissue regeneration to the control of cell division.

They turned off the gene in mice which had damaged ears and they regrew them. While they say it is early days, there is nothing theoretically different about applying the same process to humans.

Professor Ellen Heber-Katz, the lead scientist, said: "Much like a newt that has lost a limb, these mice will replace missing or damaged tissue with healthy tissue that lacks any sign of scarring.

"While we are just beginning to understand the repercussions of these findings, perhaps, one day we'll be able to accelerate healing in humans by temporarily inactivating the p21 gene.

"In normal cells, p21 acts like a brake to block cell cycle progression in the event of DNA damage, preventing the cells from dividing and potentially becoming cancerous.

"We propose that any future therapy would involve turning off p21 transiently during the healing process and only locally at the wound site. This might be done through locally applied drugs. This should minimise any side effects."

6 Beers....10 Seconds...

25 Things You Can Remote Control With Your iPhone - iPhone - Gizmodo

The author of this post can be contacted at tips@gizmodo.com

One of the more interesting things you can do with the iPhone is use it as a remote control for other devices. Since the iPhone App Store launched almost two years ago, developers have created hundreds of remote control applications.

Some of them are for entertainment — designed to control A/V equipment in your living room. Others control household appliances, functions on your computer, or even expensive corporate security systems.

For now, most remote control apps operate over the Internet, or via a wi-fi or Bluetooth link between your iPhone and another device. But one company is developing an infrared iPhone accessory, which will open the doors for even more remote control applications.

It's conceivable that, with these apps and accessories, an iPod touch could replace the fanciest of universal remotes, and have the bonus of shipping with a Web browser and all the other apps on the App Store.

DVR

More TV providers are releasing iPhone apps to use as DVR remotes. Recently, Comcast published an app that allows some of its digital cable subscribers program their DVRs remotely. And free apps from DirecTV, DISH Network, and AT&T let you program your digital video recorder from anywhere.

Zipcar rental car

The free Zipcar app lets you find and book rental cars. But the impressive part is that you can also use your iPhone to unlock the car or make its horn beep.

Click here to see the rest of the article and apps: 25 Things You Can Remote Control With Your iPhone