Twilight's Robert Pattinson related to Dracula?

Genealogy web site Ancestry.com said on wednesday that Robert Pattinson was distantly related to Vlad III Dracula - the cruel ruler on 15th century who inspired Bram Stocker to write Count Dracula on 1997.
"Tracing Pattinson's family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompanient to The Twilight Saga,"said Anastasia Tyler, an genealogist from Ancestry.com
Family history experts said that Robert an d Vlad are related to British royal family. Even Pattinson is a distant cousin of Prince Harry and Prince William on their father side, Prince Charles, probably through Pickering family< who live in Northern England in the early 1500s.
"Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson's life - making his story just as supernatural as the one he is playing on screen" Tyler said.

source: The Jakarta Post, 25th June 2010
written by: Joel Ryan - Reuters

House maid arrested for 'raising fund' for terrorists

Three house maid arrested recently in Surabaya for stealing may be part of a large money raising racket set up by terrorist group,police say.

Three women working as a house maid were arrested for raising fund for terrorist group.The three women have connection to the Central Java terrorist syndicates,They stole their employer valuable in separates incidents,Malang and Yogyakarta,on June 20 and June 23.The three were identified as Siti Fatonah,24,from Sragen in Central Java,and Sibling Darwati,alias Nanik,28,and Mutmainah,alias Nur/Ayu,25,from Grobogan in Central Java.
Polices confiscated a number of document describing the women oath to two organization-The Indonesian Muslim Women Military and The indonesian Islamic States.
The Surabaya arrest came a series robberies in surabaya.A resident in Kupang,Gunung Timur,Surabaya on May 22,claimed 1kg of gold jewellery and about US$12,500 in cash had been stolen from him.
Their method is surprisingly bold"The suspect went from door to door offering their services as a house maid. After being Hired and Stealing money and valuable,then abandoned their job without the knowledge of the employer.
National Police Chief Gen.Bambang Hendarso Danuri said The police were still on high alert for more terrorist alert.

Fantasy fairs: Tokyo theme parks for the stressed

No one does escapism quite like the Japanese, and the most creative ways to escape can be found in Tokyo. This is a city where stress, and finding ways to shake it off, are a part of daily life. The theme parks in and around Tokyo are prime examples of Japan’s excellent diversions, mostly erected during Japan’s 1980s economic bubble.

Today there are 20 theme parks remaining in the vicninity of Tokyo; the indoor ocean and ski-field, alas, both closed for business. One of these though -- Tokyo Disneyland -- is the third most-attended theme park in the world. According to the 2009 Theme Index, a report on global attractions and their attendance, over 13 million people visited Tokyo Disneyland in 2009, a 4 percent decrease from the previous year. But that decrease will do little to damage the profits of the Disney empire. Instead it’s the smaller, more eccentric theme parks that are threatened by the current financial crisis.

Plus, the huge theme park developments across Asia (particularly China) are nearing completion, which will likely lead to fewer Asian tourists visiting Tokyo. Theme parks that are not visited die, and if you look in the right places you can see the evidence -- parks abandoned and overgrown as haikyo (ruins). Here are five of these outsider theme parks, resisting their fate with panache; eccentric parks that have heart, charm and elicit real nostalgia for a time when Tokyo had more money than it knew what to do with and when life seemed a little simpler.

Lies About Your Parents Tells You About Food

- Eating carrots does not give you night vision: During World War II, British Intelligence didn't want Germany to be aware of the newly developed radar technology assisting the Royal Air Force in shooting down enemy planes before they reached the English Channel. The government began planting stories in the papers, profiling an RAF pilot who credited his uncanny accuracy to his love of Vitamin A and beta carotene-containing carrots. Carrots are great for healthy eyesight, but won't make an avid chomper into a super-seer.

- Eating too many carrots can turn you orange (or at least a muted yellow-orange color): Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a highly pigmented compound. An extreme excess of carotene in the bloodstream will build up under your skin, causing an yellow-orange discoloration (mostly evident on the bottom of the feet and palm of the hands). To get rid of the harmless orange hue, just lay off the carrots and other orange vegetables (like sweet potatoes) for a bit.

- Hot, spicy foods on a sweltering day will cool you down: Fiery foods raise your body temperature slightly, bringing heat to the skin's surface and causing you to sweat. This perspiration will ultimately cause your body to cool down by evaporative cooling (temperature reduction through the evaporation of water).

- Spinach makes you strong, but not that strong: Spinach was originally selected as Popeye's power source because of a German study which mistakenly attributed the vegetable with ten times the iron it actually packs. When the mistake was corrected in 1937, Popeye had already been gorging on the stuff for years and it was too late to backtrack.

- Chocolate doesn't cause acne: 1950s dermatology books made the claim that chocolate causes acne, asserting that because chocolate is rich in fat and sebum (oil), consuming chocolate would cause the sebaceous glands to be affected. No studies have been able to show any association between chocolate and acne. To the contrary, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently reported that the flavanoids (antioxidants) in dark chocolate may actually help regulate sebum production, thus helping with acne.

- Gum doesn't stay in your stomach for seven years: It's true that gum is indigestible, but it passes through the body's waste system like any food would.

Darth Vader robbed a bank in Long Island?

Long Island may be far from the Death Star, but that didn't stop Darth Vader from paying a less-than-friendly visit to a bank in East Setauket, New York.

Or at least he looked like Darth Vader, except for the camouflage pants.

The costumed man, with a mask and cape, entered a Chase bank Thursday morning and demanded cash. Although he didn't have a lightsaber, his gun was more than enough to persuade the teller to hand over the money.

The caped criminal then fled east through the bank's parking lot.

Suffolk County police said they are searching for the man, described as around 6 feet tall.

source: www.cnn.com

Anime: Full Metal Alchemist [FMA]

Plot:
Edward and Alphonse Elric are two alchemist brothers searching for the legendary catalyst called the Philosopher's Stone, a powerful object which would allow them to recover their bodies (which were lost in an attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy). Born in the village of Resembool from the country of Amestris (アメストリス, Amesutorisu?), the two brothers lived there with their mother. Their father, Van Hohenheim, left home for unknown reasons and years later, their mother Trisha Elric died of a terminal illness, leaving the Elric brothers alone. After their mother's death, Edward became determined to bring her back through the use of alchemy, an advanced science in which objects can be created from raw materials. They researched Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create or modify a human being. However, this attempt failed, ultimately resulting in the loss of Edward's left leg and Alphonse's entire body. In a desperate effort to save his brother, Edward sacrificed his right arm to affix Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor. Some days later, an alchemist named Roy Mustang visited the Elric brothers, and told Edward to become a member of the State Military of the country to find a way to recover their bodies. After that, Edward's left leg and right arm were replaced with automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb, created for him by his close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako.

Edward then became a State Alchemist (国家錬金術師, Kokka Renkinjutsushi?), an alchemist employed by the State Military of Amestris, which infamously annihilated most of the Ishbalan race (Ishbal) in the past decade. Becoming a State Alchemist enables Edward to use the extensive resources available to State Alchemists, but it also turns him into what many call a "dog of the military". His more friendly relationship with Mustang however, whom he reports to and who recruited him, allows the brothers freedom to search for the Philosopher's Stone as part of Edward's research, as each State Alchemist is expected to independently research new things which may be of a use to the State Military of Amestris. The brothers set off in search of the Philosopher's Stone as a means to restore their bodies. Throughout their journey, they meet many antagonists, including those who are willing to do anything to obtain the Philosopher's Stone; Scar, one of the few surviving Ishbalans, who seeks vengeance on the State Alchemists for the destruction of his race; and the homunculi, a group of human-like creatures who carry pieces of the Philosopher's Stone inside themselves, and from it derive the ability to survive almost any harm.

As the story progresses, Edward and Alphonse discover the vast expansion of Amestris was the result of the homunculi, who created and secretly control the State Military. The homunculi and much of the high-ranking military officers are commanded from behind the curtains by the creator of the homunculi, a man simply known as "Father", who gained immortality through a Philosopher's Stone, which he created by tricking Hohenheim centuries before the series' timeline. He plans to use Amestris as a gigantic transmutation circle in order to transmute the entire country for reasons unknown to the Elrics. When Edward and Alphonse discover Father's plans, they, along with other members of the State Military, set out to defeat him.

As the forces collide, one by one, the remaining homonculi are defeated and Central city's troops are enlightened about the truth of the situation. However, Father temporarily harvests all the souls in Amestris, numbering several million, and using that power traps "God" and gains immense power. However, due to Hohenheim's earlier actions, the souls are brought back to their bodies by their spirits, and Father becomes unstable. Everyone joins in to fight Father, forcing him to use more and more of his stone. He is finally defeated by Edward with his original arm, Al having sacrificed himself to bring it back. After Father is trapped within the Truth, revealed to be God, Ed sacrifices his ability to use alchemy to bring Al back in his original body. The Elrics return to Resembool, but two years later, they separate in order to repay the people who helped in their journey.

CANVAS RANGER (CR)

What's Canvas Ranger? is it a new power ranger sequel?
Wrong Canvas Ranger is a name of a community group in DeviantArt(DA) and have a mission to destroy Artblock that have been invading many Illustrator in Indonesia.

History:The Born,Death,Rebirth of Canvas ranger

Everything start by a deviant Azure-Lycoris that submitted a drawing called "canvas putih" the content of it was just a blank sheet of paper,after that there's a new trend of submitting other canvas with many other colour,Because of this a deviant KazenoKaze,build a club named "Canvas Ranger",based from the idea of the canvas,and the add the ranger because of the colourful canvas just like a ranger.

But of course a club with only canvas is boring,and there's the idea of Original Character (OC) based on all those canvas. With 2 opposite sides,Hero and Villain.
these idea was accepted with full of enthusiasm of the member,but for some reason the club was dead for few month and revive by JohanxQua and NanayaRyougi with new and improve concept from it's previous owner.

ALL ABOUT CANVAS RANGER

For some of you that doesn't know what's is artblock,for short artblock is a state where you fell that you are out of ideas to do creative thing.in these case drawing of course,and There's Canvas Ranger to rise the creativity of it's member with a unique,interesting,and sometimes funny.

If a group only say "let's draw,"to erase the artblock,of course it would be not interesting and clear enough to erase artblock,and to make it more interesting there's 2 opposite side Hero and Villain.where in the script,Hero are Anti artblock, and are the one spreading the artblock. Even though in the end where ever side it's still spreading anti artblock together OC in CR in any form.Normal human,golem,vampire,witch,robots,strange creature from another dimension,Artificial intelligence,etc.in here the creator need and must makes their own background story
for thier character.

If you're interested in joining or at least wondering what are Canvas Ranger looks like,plese see their blogs at deviant arts in

Destroy all artblock and have fun drawing.

Thanks to admins of Canvas Ranger
founder:JohanxQua
co-founder:quantum-force,bigstars,kuroha AI,NanayaRyougi,WolveForger,Phuteras,Saint-Chimaira,GustavIX
Contibutor:sawamura-sama

source: Animonster Volume 136 july 2010.
Devianart.com