Word first leaked out that Google had been developing a pair of eyeglasses with an integrated heads-up display back in December, and now 9to5Google claims it has some additional information about a prototype of Mountain View's electronic specs. According to the site's tipster, the glasses looks similar to Oakley's MP3-playing Thump line — somewhat of a departure from the "normal-people" eyewear that had been initially described — and incorporates a front-facing camera and flash. The on-board hardware is said to be in line with a "generation-old" Android phone, and while it's claimed that the glasses will operate as a smartphone, it's unclear if a cellular radio is integrated or if pairing with an Android device will be required.

The HUD itself is built into one of the lenses, but unfortunately isn't transparent, which would seem to limit the practical, day-to-day use of such a device. Users interact with the glasses either through voice control or via a head-tilting paradigm that allows the wearer to scroll through menus and make selections by moving their head. If the idea of walking around and nodding to maneuver through the UI of your glasses doesn't sound ideal, you may have a chance to weigh in with your opinion: the site reports that Google is considering a beta program for non-Googlers to help determine the real-world appeal of the glasses.

Japan's population of 128 million will shrink by a third, and over-65s will account for 40% of people by 2060, placing an ever-increasing burden on the working-age population to support the country's social security and tax systems.

The new figures, released on Monday by the health and welfare ministry, also showed that the national workforce of people between the ages of 15 and 65 will shrink to about half of the total population.

The estimated fertility rate, or the expected number of children born per woman over their lifetime, is put at 1.35 for 2060, down from 1.39 in 2010 and – well below the level needed to keep the country's population from declining.

At the same time, Japanese people will live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is estimated at 90.93 for women, up from 86.39 in 2010, and 84.19 for men, up from 79.64.

The Japanese prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has pledged to push for social security and tax reforms this year. A bill he promised to submit by the end of March would raise the country's 5% sales tax in two stages – to 8% in 2014 and 10% by 2015, but opposition both in parliament and among the public is significant.

The national institute of population and social security research, which produced the estimates, said Japan was the world's fastest-ageing country, and with its birthrate among the lowest, its population decline would be among the steepest globally in the coming decades.

Experts say that Japan's population will drop by a million every year and that the country urgently needs to overhaul its social security and tax system to reflect the demographic shift.

"Pension programmes, employment and labour policy and the social security system in this country are not designed to reflect such rapidly progressing population decline," Noriko Tsuya, a demography expert at Keio University, said on public broadcaster NHK.

"The government needs to urgently revise the system and implement new measures based on the estimate.

Romanian model Ioana Spangenberg has a freakish figure: She has a natural 20-inch waist in contrast to her 32-inch hips. At 84 pounds and with her wide hips and tiny waist, the 30-year- old model has been dubbed by the UK’s The Sun newspaper as “the human hourglass.”

Spangenberg said she eats three square meals daily but cannot gain weight in her mid area. She said when she was 13 years old her waist was around 15 inches wide.

“Someone could put their hands around it, their fingers would touch and they would still have extra room,” she told The Sun.

“No one seems to believe it, but every day I eat three big meals and I snack on chocolate and crisps all the time,” Spangenberg added. “I just have a small stomach. It’s a bit like having a natural gastric band – if I eat too much, I feel sick.”

“It’s definitely possible that she’s eating junk food every day but it depends how much,” Carolyn says. “It could be a small handful of chocolate and potato chips throughout the day.”

Even so, while Carolyn says the model could have a “super fast metabolism” eating a diet packed with junk food isn’t good, even if you’re skinny.

“If she’s eating all that salt and sugar she’s got to have cellulite,” the expert says. “She risks having problems with her reproductive system, her digestive track, as well as onset diabetes because she is eating so much sugar.”

Carolyn also says: “At 5ft 6 a healthy weight would be 130 lbs. But at 84 lbs that means she has very little to no muscle. It could mean she is so malnourished, starving even, that the muscles have atrophied causing the low weight.”

Although Carolyn says it is possible for someone to naturally have a fast metabolism she says it is less likely if you’re a 30-year-old woman.

“In order to be that thin, she would need to consume about 500 calories or less – about a quarter of a candy bar a day,” she says. “A high metabolism doesn’t work that well.”

NASA does something good?!
http://gizmodo.com/5882725/the-miraculo ... -of-lives/