The Amazing Schimmel Pegasus Grand Piano

This piano looks like it came straight out of a science fiction movie. The Schimmel Pegasus grand piano is not just all about good looks though, it features over 200 strings under a total tension of 176,520 newtons, and a key assembly composed of 10,000 pieces. It also sports a curved ergonomic keyboard and the lid is hydraulic, allowing you to control the amount of projection desired.
Only 14 were ever made ten years ago for big-wigs like Eddie Murphy, Lenny Kravitz, and Prince. Now’s your chance to own one and play like a Sci-Fi God, as it goes on sale March 15th.

YouTube questions Hot Sex video

YouTube is investigating a sudden surge in traffic that boosted a clip of a Brazilian pop band to the top of its most viewed video chart, it was reported.

The clip called Music is My Hot Hot Sex is by the Brazilian electro band Cansei De Ser Sexy and it has been viewed by nearly 90 million people.

However, in just three weeks, it got 40 million views pushing it from tenth place to YouTube's top position and the surge has left YouTube fans wondering if the 'books have been cooked'.
The clip is top of the Most Viewed (All Time) list and it beat Judson Laipply's Evolution of Dance which has been unchallenged at the top for over 18 months.

One comment on YouTube said: "This only had 4 million views 2 weeks ago. Someone must have refreshed it 80 million times or someone hacked."

Blogger Andy Baio looked at the YouTube statistics and suggested that there were inconsistencies in the traffic surge.

He compared the number of hits with user ratings which showed a "a very unusual 21,487-to-1 ratio" of views-to-ratings.

The average ratio for other top ten videos is 590:1 which is consistent with a ratio of 545:1 for the top 500 YouTube videos.

This could indicate that the number of clicks has been inflated by using an automated method rather than people actaully watching it.

A YouTube spokesman told smh.com.au: "We don't condone efforts to affect the integrity of our video rankings or view counts.

"We are looking into this matter and will take appropriate action when we resolve the investigation."

Cansei De Ser Sexy, or CSS for short, means "I got tired of being sexy" which is apparently a comment made by singer Beyonce Knowles five years ago.

Island's ancient dwarf men were not hobbits, but cretins

A new war of words has broken out over the diminutive "hobbit", whose fossilised remains were found in a cave on a remote Indonesian island four years ago.

Ecstatic Australian scientists insisted at the time that they had unearthed powerful evidence of a previously-undiscovered human species who had lived on the island while mankind as we know it continued to develop in the "outside world".

But now an opposing group of Australian researchers say the tiny people on the island of Flores were not a separate branch of the human family tree after all, but were stunted Homo sapiens - early modern man - who did not grow because of iodine deficiency while in the womb.

They claim the so-called "hobbits" were in fact a backward group of humans, suffering from what the researchers describe as cretinism - caused by a nutritional deficiency.

The new claim is certain to start a fresh round of heated debate, centred around the tiny fossil of a woman, just over 3ft tall, who lived between 13,000 and 18,000 years ago in the hills in the centre of the island.

Scientists are due to start digging soon in the floor of the cave where she was found, hoping to find further evidence of a tribe of hobbits - but they may now be accused of wasting their time trying to find proof of an evolutionary fluke that never existed in the first place.

The scientists who first announced the find gave the tiny cave dwellers the name of Homo floresiensis, or Man of Flores.

Their theory was that the little people were descendants of prehistoric humans - Homo erectus - who reached Flores nearly a million years ago when it might have been possible to walk there from a larger land mass. Then, over the centuries, the seas rose, cutting them off.

Because they had to survive on what food they could find, they evolved a small stature, but the scientists said they were clever hunters because they had found evidence of toolmaking, butchering and fires.

A rival research team, however, yesterday claimed in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences that the little people were Homo sapiens whose mothers were deficient in iodine.

They lived 20 miles inland and were too far from the sea to reach iodine-giving fish, the study said.

In addition females would probably have relied on bamboo shots and root vegetables, which could have released cyanide into their bodies given the primitive cooking methods they were using.

This would have resulted in offspring being doomed to "dwarf cretinism" - missing a functioning thyroid that would have severely restricted their growth and mental and physical skills.

These cretins, explained the paper's co-author, Professor Peter Obdendorf, would have grown not much more than 3ft and their bones would have distinctive characteristics very similar to those of the Flores hobbits.

The new claims are the first to suggest that the small people resulted from diet, rather than inbreeding.

And in one fascinating observation, the researchers say there is also anecdotal evidence from the Nage people of central Flores who tell of ancestors who lived in caves, were short, roughly built, hairy, pot-bellied and stupid.

The owl who loves riding bicycles

An adventurous owl has given up on more traditional methods of owl locomotion, like flying, instead opting to travel around on a bicycle.

Treacle the tawny owl loves to hop on to the handlebars of the bike and go for rides with wildlife centre owner Jenny Smith. She has looked after Treacle since he was a baby and the two have become almost inseparable. He would get into such a flap when she left that she let him hitch a lift on her mountain bike. The 26-year-old said: 'When Treacle was little he used to perch on a grandfather clock – he has obviously graduated from that to a bike. 'He always enjoys being on the bike and stays still. People were surprised when they first saw him there but he is a real natural at riding now. It suits us both as I get to keep fit by cycling all the time and Treacle gets a bit of fresh air.' Treacle was brought into Gentleshaw Birds of Prey and Wildlife Centre in Eccleshall, Staffordshire, six years ago because his owners could not look after him. Now their bond goes beyond a shared love of bike rides. Ms Smith said: 'It is funny. Because the owls are hand-reared by people they sometimes think they are human. 'Sometimes you even find that they will share some of their food with you. Unfortunately they eat raw mice so it is nothing you would want to put in your mouth.'

Son shops dad over 'disgusting' dog sex

A son who watched a video of his 51-year-old dad having sex with dogs was so shocked he reported him to police.

Lorry driver, Paul William Langton, filmed himself carrying out the "disgusting" behaviour with a black Labrador and a brown mongrel.

Following a row, his son – who had seen the video by chance – took the tape to a local police station.
Married Langton pleaded guilty to letting three male dogs have sex with him, between 1974 and 2004, at Leicester Crown Court.

Barbara Graham, prosecuting, said: "There were disturbing video images explicitly showing, and suggestive of, sexual acts with dogs."
He had allowed the dogs to have sex with him and been involved in other acts.
In interview, Langton, from Beaumont Leys, Leicestershire, said it had happened so long ago he had tried to blank it out of his mind because he knew it was wrong.

Judge Michael Pert QC said that although the offences were "disgusting" it did not mean, according to sentencing guidelines, they automatically qualified for a jail sentence.

The case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to explore non-custodial options and possible treatment programmes.

Langton was remanded into custody to await sentencing next month.

After the court appearance, his 32-year-old son, who lives in Leicester but has a different surname and does not wish to be named, said his father was "rather sick and needs help".

"I used to have a pet dog and he used to look after it and take it for walks, but fortunately it was a bitch and I hope nothing happened," the son said.

"I don't know where he got the idea from in the first place – maybe he'd seen the film, Animal Farm or something horrible like that."

He said he handed over the video because his dad "was going around slandering me after we fell out over money".

"It's not as bad as child abuse, but an animal can never speak out however old it gets, so someone has to be their voice. That's another reason why I reported him," he added.

"One of the dogs was on a lead while my dad was bent over the sofa and couldn't escape."

He concluded: "I'm a bit ashamed that some people know I'm related to him. I hope he gets help and sorts himself out."