Blind girl Chords touched millions of people

South Korea a "re-print Mozart!" A local five-year-old blind girl Liu Yi Tu (Yoo Ye-eun), an astonishing musical talent who can play the songs after listening to it only once, and its performance clips online already attract more than 27 million visitors.



Liu Yi TU never received formal piano training, but relying only on talent she won the television show "Star King" of the title, which is the highest-ever points of the program participants, but also her performance moved the audience to tears, fragments Attract millions of people enjoy. Liu Yi TU every day practicing the piano, is a voluntary, "the great pianist." She has performed on National Day in South Korea, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week, more performances. She born blind, was born shortly after the adoption, the story received wide attention to the doctor more voluntary help restore eyesight Liu Yi Tu, but did not succeed.

Why do dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows?

Everyone has witnessed the rapturous joy dogs experience while sticking their heads out of car windows. Amazingly, we couldn't find any scholarly research to explain the behavior. Here are three theories we came up with...

1. The sensation of a brisk wind against your face carrying with it scents and fast-moving sights is appealing to many humans. So imagine speeding against the wind with the ability to sniff up to a million times better and to perceive movement at a much quicker pace. For a dog, sticking its head out a moving car must be an all-around sense-sensation the magnitude of which we olfactory-challenged humans can only imagine!

2. Everyone wants a better view. Dogs are no different.

3. Dogs sense what every teen instinctively knows: it's inherently cooler to travel on wheels than by foot.

While dogs may love the easy rider sensation, some pup-lovers believe the practice isn't safe. They recommend doggie seat belts or crates be used. This may sound extreme, but some dogs have actually mastered the use of automatic windows. In fact, lawmakers in Pennsylvania may pass a law requiring dogs to be constrained while traveling in cars. Freedom-loving dogs had better watch out -- the K-9 unit may soon be on their tails.

How did the Easter bunny become part of a religious holiday?

We hopped around the Easter History category in the Yahoo! Directory, and then returned to the front page and searched on "easter bunny history" to dig up the dirt on this rascally rabbit. As it turns out, the Easter bunny has a long history as a pagan symbol that predates the Christian holiday. In fact, our sources suggest that early Christians purposefully co-opted the pagan hare to popularize their own holiday.

Quite a few pagan cultures hold celebrations in the spring. It's the time of year when plants return to life after being dormant all winter and when animals mate and procreate. These festivities celebrate the renewal of life and promote the fertility of crops, animals, and even people, which was important in these agrarian communities. The Saxons believed in a maiden goddess of fertility named Eastre or Eostre (Oestre in Latin) and honored her with a spring festival. Hares and rabbits were considered sacred to Eastre because they are notoriously fertile animals.

In the second century A.D., Christian missionaries tried to convert northern European tribes. To help make Christianity attractive, the missionaries turned pagan festivals into Christian holidays. The pagan Eastre festival occurred around the same time as the Christian celebration marking Christ's resurrection so the two celebrations blended into one, rabbit and all.

Over time, Eastre became Easter, and the symbolism changed as well. Instead of the Easter rabbit symbolizing fertility, the rabbit may symbolize an innocent, vulnerable creature that can be sacrificed, similar to the lamb. To Christians, these innocents are tokens of Christ and the sacrifice he made.

The Easter bunny we know today was influenced by German traditions dating back to the 1500s. German children believed that the Oschter Haws (a magical rabbit) would leave them a nest of colored eggs at Eastertime if they were good. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers brought this tradition to America in the 1700s.

On a related note, eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth and thus associated with spring celebrations. In the 600s, Pope Gregory the Great forbade the eating of eggs during Lent (the 40 days proceeding Easter), and this helped make eggs a special treat at Easter. Many European cultures also have old customs of decorating eggs and giving them as gifts.

Exactly what is a "hollaback girl"?

Doesn't that song drive you bananas? The incessant beat, the stomping, the shushed-out swear words, and just what the heck is Gwen Stefani talking about? We don't want to get everybody fired up, so we put our pom-poms down and tackled this most important inquiry. After a few times around that track, we discovered what a Hollaback Girl is and why Gwen ain't one.

The OC Weekly's insightful analysis points to cheerleading as the source of the slang. The cheerleading captain 'hollas' a chant to the squad, and the girls 'holla' it back. So the hollaback girl is a follower, and by extension, she is treated like a doormat, especially by boys. Writers on the Urban Dictionary add that a hollaback girl is all talk, no action, and won't fight back.

Obviously, Gwen is gonna fight and give it her all. She even socks it to us by proudly confirming her cheerleader roots. And while similarly a cheerleader at heart, Toni Basil doesn't appear to be a hollaback girl either.

How did they figure that there are seven dog years to one human year?

The old rule of thumb that dogs age seven times as fast as humans comes from dividing the average human life span by the average canine life span. But it's not very accurate.

As Snopes points out, most dogs reach adulthood in roughly 18 months, which would be the equivalent of a 10-year-old child. Also, while a 15-year-old dog would be considered the equivalent of a 105-year-old person, many more dogs live to be 15 than humans live to be 105.

The handy Online Conversion site suggests that a more accurate formula would be: 10 and 1/2 dog years for the first two years, then four dog years per year. Maxie Beagle offers a scaled chart that distinguishes between small and large dogs (smaller breeds tend to live longer).

DogAge measures your dog's biological age in human years according to factors such as breed, weight, lifestyle, and behavior. You'll find another handy lifespan chart at (where else?) DogYears.com.

How many vacation days has George W. Bush taken to date as president?

While the president of the United States is never completely on vacation, most commanders-in-chief manage to enjoy a respite from the daily grind during their stay the White House. George W. Bush seems to have taken this to the extreme early in his tenure as president. A humorous, fake resume for Bush suggests that he set the record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history -- a bit of an exaggeration, but still cause for some teasing.

According to an August 2003 article in the Washington Post, President Bush has spent all or part of 166 days during his presidency at his Crawford, Texas, ranch or en route. Add the time spent at or en route to the presidential retreat of Camp David and at the Bush family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, and Bush has taken 250 days off as of August 2003. That's 27% of his presidency spent on vacation. Although to be fair, much of this time is classified as a "working vacation."

Bush isn't the first president to get away from his work. George Bush Sr. took all or part of 543 vacation days at Camp David and in Kennebunkport. Ronald Reagan spent 335 days at or en route to his Santa Barbara, California, ranch during his eight years in office. Of recent presidents, Jimmy Carter took the least days off -- only 79 days, which he usually spent at his home in Georgia. That's less than three weeks a year, which is closer to the average American's paid time off of 13 days per year.

What about Clinton? As of December 1999, President Bill Clinton had spent only 152 days on holiday during his two terms, according to CBS News. A former staffer noted Clinton was such a workaholic that "it almost killed Clinton to take one-week vacations during August." In 2000, Clinton cut his summer vacation short to just three days, so he and his wife could concentrate on her Senate race and fundraising for Democrats. While we couldn't find the exact tally for Clinton's last year in office, it's reasonable to expect he didn't increase his vacation rate. And in barely three years in office, George W. Bush has already taken more vacation than Clinton did in seven years.

Are cow farts really that bad for the environment?

Cows provide us with milk, meat, and footballs. Alas, all that fun and functionality comes at a price -- a very gaseous one.

This article from The Independent explains the seriousness of the problem. The United Nations has declared the methane from cow emissions the "greatest threat to the climate, forests, and wildlife." Livestock emissions are responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. That's more than all forms of transportation put together.

So, aside from corking every heifer in the world, how can humans address this? The Straight Dope mentions that administrating antibiotics to cattle could reduce their methane output. But the site goes on to explain that these antibiotics are already in use in the United States. Furthermore, they'd be difficult to administer in less affluent countries.

Truth be told, many sites explain that this is a huge problem, but few offer ideas on solutions. That's understandable because there are clearly no easy answers. As the human population grows, the demand for meat will also rise. That means more cows and more methane. Here's hoping scientists will find an answer soon.