(Text link to video)

(Text link to video)

This was a originally a seed i wanted to delete-- but couldn't. 

Eventually a very useful discussion began (About how to delete seeds when the "Delete This Seed" button doesn't seem to be working) -- so I decided to keep the seed up after all.

(But please note that the link to the original source goes to something different than what the discussion turned out to be-- useful as it is! LOL :-)

--> (Original link broken-- use this one of these  instead)

"Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Here is a type of science fiction that will surely catch your eye. Steampunk is mostly associated with fantasy stories and is related to an era when steam engines were widely used. It is an attempt to merge steam motorized objects and machines with contemporary themes and technologies. Today we’re featuring a good number of artists who have created some really amazing steampunk digital artworks and gadgets to spark your imagination.

Thousands of unbelievable places to see with the best of all that is weird, amazing and bizarre in the world today. Open up a wonderland of curiosities you never knew existed and amaze your friends, your family, and yourself. Seeing is believing!

We've worked long and hard here at Cracked to make it clear that the past was badass. All you have to do is sift through old-timey photos, and you quickly realize that people back then possessed neither sanity nor a sense of self-preservation.

Trust us, the explanation behind these seemingly inexplicable photos tends to make them even more baffling.

 

Some of the best fan-inspired artwork that portrays this franchise in many interesting styles and forms.

Sensual forms, sublime innuendos, lush entanglements:
the whole over-the-top emotional palette is present in these rare art masterpieces

HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS TEXT WHILE DRIVING IF YOU WANT TO MEET HIM

There's nothing quite like a book that has you gripped from the very first line. As the first thing the reader reads, it's been said that the opening line sells a book whislt the closing line sells the author's next one.

With this in mind, we've raided the Stylist book shelf to put together our 100 best - and, in some cases, the most iconic - first lines from some of our favourite works of literature. From classics such as Little Women and Emma and landmark novels such as Virgina Woolf's A Room Of One's Own through to modern day works including Harry Potter and Atonement, these are lines to capture the imagination.

Having a bad day.

(Watch what happens near the end of the video)

Former ‘American Idol’ Season 9 finalists Todrick Hall is a dancer, singer and writer from Dallas, Texas. Recently, in his new project, Todrick took his Flash mob to Target and spontaneously started dancing into Beyonce’s famous song ‘End Of Time’ accompanied by six backup dancers followed by increasing number of performers.

test to delete

Who doesn’t love a city? Lonely Planet has scoured the globe for next year’s hottest cities. Our top picks show that a city doesn’t need to be a heaving metropolis to get on the list. Then again, sometimes it helps.

One of our favourites is the world’s largest city that cannot be reached by road. And there are even a couple of European cities that remain criminally underrated. Here they are, Lonely Planet’s top 10 cities for next year, ranked in order:

People have been traveling the seas for thousands of years. We have inhabited nearly every corner of the Earth, and we’ve done so with gusto. Humans have a long history of making incredible journeys and carving out a living in even the most inhospitable and unforgiving environments Earth has to offer. The vast oceans of Earth are filled with countless remote islands, and many are still uninhabited. Here are 6 islands that just a few people have chosen to call home: the 6 most remote inhabited islands on Earth:

When the New York Senate voted to approve same-sex marriage last month, news reports immediately cut to celebrations erupting at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, where—as June Thomas recently described in Slate—a 1969 riot between patrons and raiding cops sparked the gay rights movement.

Stonewall may be the historic bar brawl most on our minds today, but as Christine Sismondo shows in her new book America Walks into a Bar, our country has had its share of spectacular tavern fights. Here, she shares five of the greatest. Don’t let it give you any ideas this weekend.

Even the ghosts inhabiting these houses are sad and miserable

We admit, there is a certain beauty in decay (see our article), but the houses shown on this page hold not only historic and architectural value - they are also fascinating in a "Despicable Me" sort-of way: they all housed at one time the most notorious villains in Earth's history.

A moving video: Mavis Staples "Eyes On The Prize"

Some pretty impressive waterfalls!

"The issues in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Egypt differ, but yesterday anger boiled over in all three countries as grievances were brought to the streets. In Tunisia, where protests have already overthrown President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, continued demonstrations sought to depose his allies still in their positions. Meanwhile Tunisia's interim government has issued an international arrest warrant for the former president and members of his family. In Lebanon, Sunni supporters of ousted Prime Minister Saad Hariri took to the streets in a "day of rage", burning tires and blockading roads in Tripoli and Sidon.

"Prostrate on the icy tundra of the Antarctic, they appear the picture of misery after the deaths of their chicks.

The extraordinary image capturing penguins in an act of mass mourning was taken on the Riiser Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica by photographer Daniel J. Cox.

An excellent experimental video:"A myriad of details in an evolving fractal landscape".

"Brisbane, Australia experienced major flooding last week, and one guy decided to make the most of it by filming himself canoeing through a McDonald's and posting the video on the internet.

"High-resolution aerial photos taken over Brisbane last week have revealed the scale of devastation across dozens of suburbs and tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

The aerial photos of the Brisbane floods were taken in flyovers on January 13 and January 14.

Hover over each photo to view the devastation caused by flooding.

Photos.

From Strippers World to Voodoo and Witches' supplies...

"A filmmaker and adventurer takes us on a simply incredible tour of the rarely seen ancient and stunning infrastructure built under New York City. Make sure you watch the end as well for a special view of Manhattan from above"

Girls in bikinis eating popcorn and reading Shakespeare!

Interesting stuff...

'The good thing about concept design is that you don't have to worry too much about how the actual thing is going to be made. Can the existing technology support your concept? Is the design feasible or practical enough, or is it just a "geek magnet" like some alien gizmo from Star Wars? These questions may not seem that important at concept stage. In some cases you don't even need to build a prototype! Just come up with a wild idea, dream BIG, dish out impressive 3D renders - and you're good to go.

Here's a look at some downright weird and whacky cell phone designs.

"As we've demonstrated many times before, sometimes the truth is stranger than Photoshop. For those of you still unconvinced, we present the latest installment in our ongoing quest to show you every picture that has ever looked ridiculously fake, but isn't.

"This is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to 1:11. From space we look like a bee hive of activity. What you will see, is a video showing air traffic around the world for 24 hours, taken from a satellite. The yellow dots are airplanes in the sky during a 24 hour period.

"2010 has been the deadliest year yet for coalition troops in Afghanistan, with 709 troops killed, 497 of those from the U.S. American officials have spoken of a fragile progress, with a possible small drawdown of troops starting next summer, keeping 2014 as the goal date for Afghans to take control. (43 photos total)

From Wikipedia:

"Rockin' Robin" is a song written by Leon René under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas and recorded by Bobby Day in 1958. It was Day's only hit single, becoming a number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Michael Jackson recorded and released a cover version of "Rockin' Robin" in 1972, which was taken from his 1972 first solo album titled Got to Be There. It was the biggest hit from the album, peaking at number two on the Hot 100 and R&B charts.

"As in the real world, cyberspace has bad neighborhoods. But unlike the real world, risks in cyberspace are not easy to spot -- and the location of those digital bad neighborhoods can change all the time.

When security experts look back at 2010, they will see a major turning point in the world of cyberscares. The virtual and the real collided in new, dramatic ways during the past 12 months, and the Internet will never be the same.

"Return of the Pink Panther

"Inspector Clouseau is put on the case when the Pink Panther diamond is stolen, with the Phantom's trademark glove the only clue.'

This is a short excerpt from the film-- Sellers is hilarious as always!

"Namibia's beauty is wonderfully surreal and alluring, and I, for one, fell in love with it! When we visited Namibia, we didn't know that we were embarking on a highly addictive journey, one we wished would never end, as the surprises in scenery are endless. Namibia has so much to offer to those who love nature and wide-open spaces.

In the land of the bizarre, you will find harsh landscapes, vast deserts of surreal beauty, moments of solitude, and the opportunity to see wildlife in its natural habitat.

A few really, really bizarre commercials for toys that may make you say...WTF???

"This toast animation stuff is really cool (and probably took ten thousand years to make), but I can't help but wonder how far OK Go's videos are going to go before they aren't music videos anymore and they're just plain internet art.

"Airport security checks are not only intrusive, demeaning and a mind-numbing drain on our precious time. They don't actually work. But as David Rose reports from Israel, a new generation of scanning systems are so good they can pick out a terrorist by asking a terribly simple question: Are you or are you not a terrorist?

"Those people who have been avidly following the BBC TV series Merlin may have wondered about the wonderful set used to recreate Camelot.

Many people believe that the Camelot seen in the TV series is an elaborate, expensive set. In fact, the place exists in reality. Situated North of Paris near the Forest of Compiègne, Château de Pierrefonds makes the perfect setting for the Camelot of the Arthurian legend re-imagined for the twenty first century.

"We're just wrapping up the highly-anticipated lunar eclipse which coincided with 2010's winter solstice for the first time in some 400 years. You can catch up on all the action you missed below with photos, video and our live blog.

"Heart and Soul" is a popular song, with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser, published in 1938. The original 1938 version was performed by Larry Clinton & his Orchestra featuring Bea Wain. The song's A-section is often simplified as a repeating I-vi-IV-V progression and taught to beginning piano students as an easy two-hand duet (About this sound example (help·info).

Much like the song, "Chopsticks," this (somewhat inaccurate) version became widely-known, even to those who have never studied piano. The chord progression, often referred to as the "'50s progression," later became very common in the doo-wop hits of the 1950s and 1960s." LINK

"When designing a building, you have to account for things like terrain, materials, weather, handicapped accessibility and, of course, ghosts.

"You can design a building more awesome than the Guggenheim and nobody will want to go in it if there's evil spirits just running through it willy-nilly. With that in mind, here's how people in different parts of the world build guaranteed demon-free housing.

One of the most elaborate...

"With his eccentric personal life and air of mystery, the flamboyant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seems to be doing his best to impersonate a James Bond villain.

"How appropriate, then, that he has chosen what looks like an 007 film set as the back-up store for the thousands of confidential emails and documents that have shaken the world.

"These pictures show the Pionen data centre, 100ft below ground in a former Cold War nuclear bunker, where all the WikiLeaks files are being kept.

"A fish with "hands," a T. Rex leech, and a self-cloning lizard are among our picks for the weirdest new species in 2010."

"The iron, that relic of households past, is no longer required to look neat and freshly pressed. Why bother when retailers like Nordstrom offer crisp "wrinkle-free finish" dress shirts and L. L. Bean sells chinos that are "great right out of the dryer."

"Though it is not obvious from the label, the antiwrinkle finish comes from a resin that releases formaldehyde, the chemical that is usually associated with embalming fluids or dissected frogs in biology class.

"Yesterday, in central London, thousands of students and others gathered to protest as Britain's Parliament met to vote on a proposal to raise university tuition fees significantly - nearly tripling them - as part of a continuing set of austerity programs. During the protest, several clashes took place between police and protesters, resulting in numerous injuries and 43 arrests.

"The Antikythera Mechanism is what you call truly old school technology. Argued to be the world's oldest known computer, this ancient Greek invention was used some time circa 100BC to calculate and "predict celestial events and eclipses with unprecedented accuracy."

Skipping past the two millennia in which it lay lost on a sea floor somewhere, the Mechanism has now been recreated by an Apple software engineer by the name of Andrew Carol, who has lovingly pieced 1,500 Lego Technic blocks together, creating 110 gears and four gearboxes in total."

"At only 26 years of age, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the world's youngest billionaires, but he's not keeping it all for himself. By signing onto Bill Gates and Warren Buffet's initiative called the "Giving Pledge," Mark agreed to give most of his wealth to charity.

"You have to give props to those who go all-out during the holidays, especially those people who turn thousands of tiny lights into a full-fledged light show for the entire neighborhood to enjoy.

"To get you into the holiday spirit, Best Week Ever Video Editor Pete Schultz has put together this fantastic compilation of over 100 crazy Christmas light displays."

Great article-- wonderful photos!

"In 1985, boys got He-Man or Transformers while girls got Cabbage Patch dolls or My Little Pony. Those were the choices, not because there were no other gifts available but because they were the only gifts that were acceptable. This graphic by Milo takes a look at the progression over the last 25 years. (Click to enlarge.)

Small World is regarded as the leading forum for showcasing the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope. For over 30 years, Nikon has rewarded the world's best photomicrographers who make critically important scientific contributions to life sciences, bio-research and materials science.

""American Dream", as seen in the vintage ads

Long gone since the 80s (finished by gasoline prices and "imports" competition) these dinosaurs still hold power over public imagination and true car connoisseurs; their outrageous size and engine's unbridled power give off a statement of pure excess, and some wild optimism.

"Admittedly pipe smoking has long since passed its peak of popularity. The days of gentlemen sitting in their book-lined studies puffing at a fine pipe whilst sipping at a tumbler of brandy are long gone, thrown out with the servants, the wife-ruling, the mistresses, and the dishwater. With them so too has passed the glory days of the pipe carver. Sure there are stragglers, both smokers and carvers, but I'd wager that today most pipe smoking is done sans tobacco and I think anyone who has ducked into a head shop, out of need or curiosity, can attest to the fact that pipe craft now strives to fulfill a different set of demands, and adheres to a very different "aesthetic." So, digging now into the "dying arts" file, I bring you some images and some history of the once great meerschaum pipe.

"The resurgence of the James Bond franchise with Daniel Craig's recent performances on film as 007 have us all thinking about spies again. Despite the end of the Cold War, espionage, whether between governments or industrial espionage between companies, remains very much with us. Yet, despite the cool gadgets seen in movies, whether used by James Bond or those depicted in comedy films like Get Smart and others, the technology of the spy world is never quite as advanced as Hollywood would have us believe.

"Gordon Bennett makes robots out of mid-century machine parts. They are beautiful and oddly human.

"What do you get when you combine deep-sea diving and sculptures? Answer: an enormous underwater museum. Sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor has turned a part of the National Marine Park of Cancun in Mexico into a beautiful sea attraction. His creation is said to be the largest underwater sculpture museum in the world with about 400 cement sculptures.

"Yuyuan Garden is believed to be built in the Ming Dynasty more than 400 years ago. Built in traditional Chinese style with numerous rock and tree garden areas, ponds, dragon-lined walls and numerous doorways and zigzagging bridges separating the various garden areas and pavilions. In the past over 400 years, Yuyuan was restored and reopened several times.

"Israeli billionaire Stef Wertheimer, who helped start 5 other industrial parks throughout Israel, has just opened a new one in Nazareth. Using his model of combining business stimulation with technical education, Wertheimer believes that economic success is the best road to peace.

"Vietnam's coastline is spectacular. Its cities buzz with capitalist vitality – and a zillion mopeds. The food is mesmerising. How much has changed since the war, marvels veteran reporter Michael Buerk, as he travels the length of the country.

"Imagine that a company could use the Web to rate your health, your employability—even your dating appeal. Welcome to the credit score of the future.

"From the geysers of Dominica's Valley of Desolation to the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, we showcase 10 of the world's most bizarre landscapes.

"Up until a couple of years ago, I used to say that the average person could protect his or her privacy on the Web. Even as the founder of an online reputation-management company, ReputationDefender, I believed it was possible—so long as you were willing to commit some time to doing it.

"Butchart Gardens is one of the most famous gardens in the world which is counted among the best of the best. Its no less than a heaven out there at Butchart Gardens located in British Colombia. The breathtaking views will keep you stunned for some time when you first visit the Butchart Gardens. Spread over an area of 50 acres, the Butchart Gardens is placed close to Vancouver Island. Theres never a dull season at Butchart Gardens, which keeps itself vibrating all throughout the year from the summers to the chilly winters.

"With Halloween approaching, I thought it would be amusing to write a bit about candy, or more specifically, a system that aims to rank it. In this case, the rubric would be according to "emotional zeal" or something more jargony sounding like "joy induction."

"Halloween is almost upon us, and along with candy, scary movies, and souls rising from their graves to torment the living, that means it's time for the annual parade of "sexy" Halloween costumes.

"If you've watched even five minutes of TV lately, you've probably seen the commercials featuring "Flo the Progressive Girl," the insurance company's perky spokesperson.

"We spoke to actress Stephanie Courtney about how she came to portray Flo, her own new-found fame, and which bespectacled spokesperson she finds "crushable."

"This post features the festival of twins (the national day celebration) held in Beijing. This year's theme Was "Happy To Have happy couple." Over 500 pairs of twins from all over China participated in the "Beijing Twins Culture Festival" pulling on the red carpet at the "Avenue of Stars" at the Pioneers Park. The couple had a few months younger, while the older ones about sixty years. Check out the amazing pictures of this festival of twins.

(Note: click on "English" on top right to see text in English).

The re are many more links HERE

"A Colossal Undertaking

"The laying out of the gardens required enormous work. Vast amounts of earth had to be shifted to lay out the flower beds, the Orangerie, the fountains and the Canal, where previously only woods, grasslands and marshes were. The earth was transported in wheelbarrows, the trees were conveyed by cart from all the provinces of France and thousands of men, sometimes whole regiments, took part in this vast enterprise."

Scary stuff!

"Not all the world's dictators are clotheshorses, but as these leaders show, sometimes politics, power, and polyester combine to make fashion magic. "

"Whether you're looking to meditate, work out, or both, you probably think of yoga as a healthy experience. But are you really achieving inner peace when that ubiquitous purple yoga mat is made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)? This nasty plastic releases carcinogenic dioxin during its production and disposal, and its soft, supportive surface gets that way thanks to harmful plasticizing chemicals called phthalates. Known as endocrine disruptors, phthalates are linked to reproductive-health problems. Talk about a downer during your Downward Dog.

"Over two months have passed since the August 5th collapse of the San Jose mine near Copiapo, Chile, when 33 miners were trapped 700 meters (2,300 ft) below ground. The men were kept alive over that time by supplies delivered through narrow holes drilled down to them, and kept hope through video conferences with family - until last night, when the first of the 33 miners was successfully lifted to the surface in a specially-designed rescue capsule.(34 photos total)

"What are the best quotes of all time for you? Have you ever heard a simple line that inspired you to make a major change in your life? Has a quote ever changed your mind on an important issue or made you think about something in a different way? Do you just enjoy reading daily quotes, seeking a smile or a bit of motivation?

Everyone's choices for the best quotes of all time will vary based on what influences them. But we've looked through hundreds of quotes and picked some of the best quotes of all time across several different categories to share with you here today. Enjoy them below, and if another quote didn't make the list but you absolutely love it, please share it with us in the comments.

"People have been complaining about computer glitches since the punch card days. Honestly, it's 2010. Why don't we have simple stuff like drivers and software compatibility fixed yet? Can we blame it all on Bill Gates?

Well, the bad news is that there are really good reasons your PC doesn't work quite right, even now. The worse news is that it's probably never going to get better.

You can blame ..."

"Billboards have eclipsed the all other contemporary means of advertisements. Since the world of advertising is progressively prevailed more by high-production multimedia occasions, acts of revolutionary marketing and viral Internet marketing campaigns, billboards have become the key component of any successful advertising campaign.
In this post, we are bringing some amazing examples of the awe-inspiring billboards of recent years. Let's have a look!

An unusual instrument...
This starts rather plain then picks up.

"

If Europe has one defining cultural characteristic, it is that it has none. This may sound like too neat a paradox, but it's not that far from the truth. There is not a single state, language, religion or ethnicity that even comes close to dominating the continent as a whole - although at least one in each category at some point in history had the pretension to try

"Whether you're looking for balance and harmony in your home, office or diet, feng shui is the latest (by Western standards, anyway) miracle cure for all that ails you. But, in fact, the concept of "chi," the energy that feng shui strives to balance, can be traced to Taoism, a Chinese philosophy that dates back to the sixth century B.C. The Taoist belief asserts that human language is incapable of ex­plaining our existence in the world. Chi is a power beyond the physical world."

"Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

"What makes normal people fall so hard for the cute and perky pitchwoman known as 'Flo'?

"She's bubbly and beaming, high-volume, with a flip of dark hair and a face like a lollipop. She irks as she endears, bemuses as she bewitches. She's a bundle of energetic contradictions, bursting here, retracting there. Her expressions blink and change like a neon sign. Her eyes are popping globes. And she just sold you a bunch of car insurance.

"First she caught our eye; now she's snatched our heart. Viewers are smitten. They're crushin'. They want to know: Who's that girl?

"As a pianist, "The Killer" Jerry Lee Lewis always complained because he had to sit down during his shows. Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash suggested him to stand up. Jerry Lee accepted their advice. So he started to kick the chairs, to go up on the keyboards and even to burn pianos."

"Dr. Burns's Quest for Truth

"A New York opthalmologist collects and shares millions of photographs in what he sees as a mission "to help and to heal."

[Note: Many of these photos are quite upsetting]

"Browse through a few typical online comment threads, and the need for anger management quickly becomes clear, likely sending sane people scurrying off to more pleasant corners of the internet

. Now scientists at Yahoo and their colleagues are devising ways to automatically flag inordinately irate commenters to keep them from ruining online conversations for others.

"In a world full of government regulations where every light bulb comes in a package explaining how you shouldn't eat it, it's easy to forget that it wasn't always like this. Once upon a time, not only did manufacturers not care what we did with their product, they seemed to build entire ad campaigns around tempting us to use them to kill our children.

"As part of the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition, Florian Schulz took home first prize for this shot of a group of devil rays congregating off the shore of Baja California Sur.

"Today gadgets are making our live much easier, if they become part of us it's hard to get out of them. Some of them are cool, funny, interesting, but also weird and unusual. Some people think that there is no charm left in life if simple things are done in a simple way. We reserve the title 'crazy' for those who look for something more out of an ordinary one. In the name of innovating new products some geeks have come out with products that you can not but laugh at. It was also fun for us to compile the list of Weird and unusual gadgets to present them you. Check them out!

"Steampunk is a speculative intersection of technology and romance where the future meets the past: Victorian era inventions clash with often dark alternate realities. What started as a literary genre has since evolved into an amazing urban art form which delights in making real-life inventions that are a blend of the modern and anachronistic. Meet some of the coolest steampunk gadgets we've seen!

"Reading a book can be boring but if you have very nicely and creatively designed bookshelf and reading area, this boring task can be turned into fun. If you don't believe then you must browse through this post.
Here we have gathered a collection of some very impressive and creative book shelve that would be of your interest. This compilation will help you in nourishing your imagination with fresh and imaginative ideas even for furniture design range."

"Long exposure photography entails using a long-duration shutter speed to sharply capture the stationary elements of images while blurring, smearing, or obscuring its moving elements. Long exposures are easiest to accomplish in low-light conditions, but can be done in brighter light using neutral density filters or specially designed cameras. Here are the 20 incredible examples of Long exposure photography done by Yury Prokopenko, a professional photographer from Sydney, Australia."

"Behind these groundbreaking walls is an idea -- we should be free to live in an environment that is non-toxic; one that helps clean rather than contaminate the air, the earth, and our bodies. That was the pivotal point of my conversation with design/builder Anthony Brenner on his house made from hemcrete based on industrial hemp-- the first in the US."

"Today we have a recent roundup of animals making the news - from the study of newly identified species to genetic modification, to racing, hunting, play, rescue and preservation. From a minuscule frog to an albino whale, fluorescent fish to a deep-sea Chimera, collected here are a handful of recent photographs of animals and our interactions with them, as companions, caretakers, observers, hunters and stewards. (57 photos total)"

In this Sept. 1, 2010 photo, two goats are stranded on a railroad bridge south of Roundup, Mont.

"The past several months in China have brought devastating floods, a mysterious North Korean jet crash, the Mid-Autumn festival, crackdowns on gambling and much more. A country with nearly the same land area as the United States, China is home to over a billion more people than the U.S. (1.3 billion to be more precise), and as it grows economically, it is grappling with environmental, social and political issues that affect people and places around the world. Collected here, from the past several months, are photographs from around China, the land and the people - their daily lives, challenges, work and play. (43 photos total)

Interesting infographic-- also-- some "other uses' that may surprise you!

"

Airman 1st Class Patrick Connolly of Dayton, Ohio, demonstrates the placement of a water disruptor developed at Sandia National Laboratories near its target in a simulated village used to train soldiers heading overseas. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

A device developed by Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, N.M.) researchers that shoots a blade of water capable of penetrating steel is headed to U.S. troops in Afghanistan to help them disable deadly improvised explosive devices, or IEDs — the No. 1 killer and threat to troops in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.