Lexus has created a real, rideable hoverboard

Back to the Future, eat your heart out. The year is 2015, and car company Lexus has created what it claims is the world's most advanced hoverboard

The day you have been dreaming of ever since Back to the Future II hit the big screen in 1989 has finally arrived.

Engineers at Japanese car company Lexus have been working with experts in super-conductive technology to create one of the most advanced hoverboards the world has ever seen.

The hoverboard uses magnetic levitation with liquid nitrogen-cooled superconductors and permanent magnets to give the hoverboard "frictionless movement" of a kind that had been thought impossible, according to Lexus.

"It’s the perfect example of the amazing things that can be achieved when you combine technology, design and imagination,”said Mark Templin, executive vice president of Lexus International.

^{Above: the Lexus hoverboard}

The hoverboard is the latest project in Lexus's Amazing in Motioncampaign, which aims to demonstrate the company's commitment to pursuing new possibilities in advanced design and technology.

Although a completely different form of transport, the hoverboard shares design cues with today’s Lexus cars, including the signature spindle grille. It has also been made using some of the same materials – both high-tech and natural – such as bamboo.

The prototype is being tested in Barcelona in the coming weeks. The sad news is, the Lexus Hoverboard is only a prototype, so will not be for sale.

This is not the first time engineers have tried to bring Marty McFly's gravity-defying vehicle to life. Last year, a company called Arx Pax in California launched a Kickstarter campaign to create what it claimed was the world's first "real" hoverboard.

The so-called Hendo hoverboard floats half an inch above the ground and is capable of supporting a 250-pound rider, thanks to electromagnets attached to the base of the board that repel any non-ferrous conductive surface.

^{Above: the Hendo hoverboard from Arx Pax}

Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk has tested a prototype of the Hendo hoverboard and given it his seal of approval. Arx Pax hopes to start shipping the hoverboards to backers on 21 October.

The news comes after British company Malloy Aeronautics struck a deal with the US Department of Defense earlier this week to develop and build the first truly functional "hoverbike" in the United States.

It is thought that the hoverbike, which can be flown unmanned or manned, could one day be used to transport military troops and supplies over difficult terrain, and could also operate as a surveillance platform.

Happiest Countries in the World: New Rankings

Panama tops the ranking of the world's happiest countries for the second year in a row, according to a new report.

In 2014, people living in the Central American country known for it's man-made canal scored the highest on a yearly survey of global well-being created by Gallup-Healthways. In contrast, Afghanistan scored the lowest out of the 145 ranked countries.

In the survey, researchers asked more than 146,000 people all over the world questions about five aspects of their well-being: Their sense of purpose, social relationships, financial situations, community involvement and physical health. Based on their responses, participants were considered "thriving," "struggling," or "suffering" in each of those five aspects.

In Panama, 53 percent of residents were thriving in at least three aspects of their well-being — the highest percentage of all the countries surveyed. Part of the reason for Panama's high ranking may be that people there, and in Latin America in general, tend to reportexperiencing positive emotions more often, and negative emotions less, compared with people in other parts of the world, said Dan Witters, research director at Gallup-Healthways. Panama also had a growing economy in 2014, and is relatively politically stable.

The other countries in the top 10, ranked by the percentage of people who were thriving in three or more aspects of well-being, were:

·       Costa Rica: 47.6 percent

·       Puerto Rico: 45.8 percent

·       Switzerland: 39.4 percent

·       Belize: 38.9 percent

·       Chile: 38.7 percent

·       Denmark: 37.0 percent

·       Guatemala: 36.3 percent

·       Austria: 35.6 percent

·       Mexico: 35.6 percent

The lowest ranking country, Afghanistan, had 0 percent of residents thriving in at least three aspects of their well-being, according to the findings. Other countries at the bottom of the rankings included:

• Bhutan: 3 percent
• Cameroon: 3.1 percent
• Togo: 3.9 percent
• Tunisia: 4.0 percent
• Congo Kinshasa: 4.1 percent
• Ivory Coast: 4.5 percent
• Benin: 4.8 percent
• Haiti: 5.3 percent
• Ghana: 5.6 percent

The United States saw a drop in its ranking, falling from the No. 12 spot in 2013 to the No. 23 spot in 2014. However, there was only a small absolute change in the country's well-being score, it dropped from having 33 percent of residents thriving in three or more aspects of well-being in 2013, to 30 percent in 2014.

"Overall, the decline in well-being was not substantial, but it was enough to lower [the U.S.] in a list of 145 countries," Witters said. [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]

For cultural reasons, there may be some differences between countries in how people interpret the questions asked in the Gallup survey, the researchers noted. However, Gallup takes a number of steps to reduce the effects of misinterpretation, including translating questions so that they are as close to the original meaning as possible, and conducting interviews face-to-face or over the phone, rather than using a paper survey, Witters said.

To some extent, a country's level of wealth correlates with well-being, but this is only true up to a point, Witters said. For example, Guatemala is a poorer country, yet it scored among the top 10 in overall well-being, he said.

Well-being is an important measure to consider, because studies show that people with higher well-being are healthier, more productive and more resilient in the face of challenges, Gallup says.

"Many countries struggle to achieve high well-being. This represents a huge opportunity for country and community leaders, employers, insurers and any population health stakeholder," said Peter Choueiri, president of Healthways International. "There are proven interventions that these leaders can and should leverage to improve the health and well-being of their population," Choueiri said.

For example, community organizations might create volunteering opportunities or walkathons, and encourage people to take part, Witters said. Employers might also find ways to coax people to be healthier, such as providing health insurance incentives, or replacing unhealthy food in the lunchroom with healthy food, he said.

"There's lots of smart tactical things that organizations can do that can help create this culture of well-being," Witters said.

11 Odd Facts About Marijuana

Marijuana, the most commonly used illegal drug in America, is going mainstream. Now legal for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, pot seems poised for wider use, too: 21 states allow the possession and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And legalization campaigns are underway in Oregon, California and even Alaska.

But just how much do you know about the wacky weed and its odd effects? How exactly does marijuana provide its high, and who discovered the effects of smoking the plant in the first place? Read on for some of the stranger facts about cannabis consumption.

1. Mythical origins

The hippie generation did not discover pot. But the drug's true origins remain a bit murky.

For example, one source, the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in Arlington, Virginia, states that the oldest written references to cannabis date back to 2727 B.C., when the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung supposedly discovered the substance and used it medicinally.

But there's one problem with this putative fact: Shen Nung, if he existed, was not the emperor of China. The first emperor of a unified China was Qin Shi Huang, who was born around 260 B.C. — significantly later than the supposed Shen Nung. Nor is it entirely clear where or how this Shen Nung recorded his medicinal marijuana experiments. The earliest examples of written Chinese characters date to the Shang dynasty, between 1200 B.C. and 1050 B.C., when oracles carved symbols on bones and turtle shells. Though the story of Shen Nung permeates pot histories online, his existence seems to be more marijuana myth than fact.

Still, the Chinese deserve some credit. The ancient Taiwanese were using hemp fibers to decorate pottery about 10,000 years ago, according to "The Archaeology of Ancient China" (Yale University Press, 1968).

But the identity of the first person to discover pot's intoxicating effects is lost to prehistory.

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2. Weird ways to use hemp

The marijuana plant isn't used only for smoking; its fibers can also be made into rope or fabric. Perhaps the oddest use of hemp rope on record is as a method for transporting giant stone statues. In 2012, archaeologists created reproductions of Easter Island's statues, trying to figure out how ancient people may have moved the iconic 9,600-lb. (4.35 metric tons) heads from their quarry. Theorists have suggested everything from log rollers to extraterrestrial help for the task, but in 2012, California State University Long Beach archaeologist Carl Lipo proved that all that was needed is hemp rope.

By attaching three hemp ropes to the statue and having a team of 18 people rock it back and forth until it "walked," Lipo and his team were able to move the hunk of stone 328 feet (100 meters) in less than an hour, they reported in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Easter Islanders would have had woody shrubs similar to marijuana plants to use in making rope, the researchers argued. 

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3. Hemp versus pot

What's the difference between hemp and pot, anyway? A single genetic switch. In 2011, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan announced that they'd discovered the genetic alteration that allows psychoactive cannabis plants (Cannabis sativa) to give users a high (as compared to industrial hemp plants, which are no fun for smoking).

Industrial hemp plants are the same species as marijuana plants, but they don't produce a substance called tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA). This is the precursor to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in pot. Hemp plants fail to produce this substance because they lack a gene that makes an enzyme to produce THCA, according to University of Saskatchewan biochemist Jon Page.

In contrast, marijuana plants do produce THCA but don't create much of a substance called cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), which occurs in abundance in hemp but competes with THCA for raw materials. Thus, hemp is rich in nonpsychoactive CBDA, while marijuana is chock full of mind-bending THC.

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4. Gender-bender

Smoking up could be a very different experience for men and women, according to a 2014 study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. In research on rats, Washington State University psychologist Rebecca Craft found that females were more sensitive to cannabis' painkilling qualities, but they were also more likely to develop a tolerance for the drug, which could contribute to negative side effects and dependence on marijuana.

The female rats' higher levels of the hormone estrogen seem to play a role in these sex-specific effects. Female rats are more sensitive to the effects of cannabis at ovulation, when estrogen levels are highest, Craftsaid in a statement.

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5. Pot for your pets?

People have used medicinal marijuana to ease everything from glaucoma to the side effects of chemotherapy. So why shouldn't man's best friend give medicinal pot a shot?

Pet owners are already using marijuana medicinally to help their suffering cats and dogs, according to a 2013 article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Most of the time, animals that ingest pot get over the effects within a few hours, veterinarians say. But in large quantities, pot can be deadly to animals.

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6. Does your heart hate pot?

Most of the debate about the health effects of marijuana centers on the brain changes that may come with using the drug, such as the drug's association with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. But could smoking a bowl mess with your heart, too?

In an April 2014 study, researchers combed through 2,000 cases of medical complications from marijuana in France and found that 2 percent involved heart problems, including nine fatal heart attacks. The study wasn't designed to determine why pot use might occasionally lead to heart problems, but previous research has found that marijuana can increase heart rate and blood pressure, which could tip a vulnerable individual over into heart attack territory.

"The perception is that marijuana is a magical drug, that it's totally safe, and we can use it in medical treatment. What we don't know about are the negative effects, the potential harms," Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York who was not involved in the study, told Live Science at the time.

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7. Naming traditions

A wine lover might choose between a pinot noir, a sangiovese and a viognier to go with dinner. A pot connoisseur, on the other hand, could choose between strains with names like "purple haze," "chocolope" and "green crack."

Bizarre names are a time-honored tradition among pot growers, going back at least to the 1970s, when strains such as "Maui Waui" (from Hawaii, naturally) came onto the scene. Why such goofy names? Well, one reason might be the process behind the naming decisions.

"So many times, we've finally got to the end of a strain, and we have it right there and it's done, and we're like, 'What do we call it?'" one of the co-owners of Amsterdam's DNA Genetics, a cannabis seed bank, told the LA Times in July 2014. "And we sit there, and we call all our friends and smoke. That's a brainstorm session."

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8. It's in the air

There are certain places where a haze of pot smoke is to be expected: Grateful Dead concerts, for example, or marijuana legalization rallies. But on the streets of Rome?

Yes, according to a 2012 study done in Italy, trace amounts of marijuanaare wafting through the air around the Colosseum and the Pantheon, as well as in seven other Italian cities. Researchers examined the air of Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Turin and Verona for psychotropic substances, including cocaine, marijuana, nicotine and caffeine. The scientists found all of these substances in all eight cities, with Turin having the highest total concentrations and Florence and Bologna having the highest concentrations of pot.

But even in Florence and Bologna, tourists don't need to worry about a contact high while taking in the sights. The levels of marijuana and other substances were far too low to affect human health — but researchers said they hope the findings can inform drug policy by helping to estimate drug consumption in each city.

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9. Baby soap oops

an unusual case, a hospital in North Carolina noticed an uptick in the number of newborns who were testing positive for marijuana in their urine, a finding that can suggest that mom has been smoking and can lead to social services getting involved. But it turns out that these babies weren't suffering from pot exposure. They were just soapy.

An investigation of the positive tests found that ingredients in several common baby soaps can cause a false positive on marijuana urine tests, researchers reported in 2012. The soaps, including formulas from Johnson & Johnson, CVS and Aveeno, don't contain pot, nor do the get infants high. A more sensitive test can show that the initial screening results were false positives, researchers reported in the journal Clinical Biochemistry.

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10. Pot isn't necessarily green

Here's a bummer for the eco-conscious: Pot isn't all that "green." The energy needed to produce 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of marijuana indoors is equivalent to that needed to drive across the country five times in a car that gets 44 miles to the gallon, according to a 2011 report by a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. All those grow lights suck up a lot of electricity.

Growing plants outdoors could lessen marijuana's carbon footprint, but year-round demand for the drug means that industrial growers keep their plants in warehouses and greenhouses. Innovations such asgreenhouses equipped with low-energy LED lights could help make pot greener, but like any large-scale agriculture, marijuana growing will require large-scale energy.

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11. Pot versus owls?

Outdoor grow operations have their downsides, too — particularly illegal plots of pot plants. Endangered spotted owls in California's Mendocino County are threatened by the rat poison put out by people who grow pot illegally on isolated stretches of public land. In 2012, two spotted owls found dead in Mendocino County tested positive for rat poison, as did the bodies of 85 percent of dead mammals called fishers.

The people who harvest illegal pot can find themselves with health problems, too. In June 2013, hospital workers in Albania reported a cluster of marijuana-related illnesses, with more than 700 patients treated at one village. Workers near the village of Lazarat who had prolonged skin contact with cannabis plants during harvesting and packing developed symptoms such as vomiting, stomach pain and irregular heartbeats, according to Reuters. Half of Albania's marijuana is grown illegally in the region. 

A new Amy Winehouse movie challenges everything you thought you knew about her

The new documentary Amy explores a side of Amy Winehouse that may shock even her most committed fans: her golden youth as a self-empowered round-the-way girl from North London with talent to burn and attitude to spare. Directed by Asif Kapadia (Senna), the film (out July 3) highlights the neo-soul diva’s path to superstardom, a period before—in the words of her epochal 2007 hit single—they tried to make her go to rehab and she said, No, no, no.

But now the star’s family and former boyfriend have come out swinging. Although the filmmakers secured the cooperation of the Winehouse estate and conducted in-depth interviews with the singer’s parents, this April a family spokesperson issued a statement claiming Amy “is both misleading and contains some basic untruths.”Featuring never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with her closest friends, ex-lovers, and collaborators (such as the hip-hop/R&B producerSalaam Remi who has kept his recollections of Winehouse largely private), the movie illuminates the Grammy winner’s early struggles with depression and bulimia en route to her evolution as an artist. “She was a really strong woman, this amazing personality who had an awful reputation and whose humanity got lost along the way,” Kapadia says. “It became a mission to make a film that does right by her.”

In the film, Winehouse’s father, Mitch, is portrayed as an absent parent more concerned with his own fame than supporting his daughter. He’s quoted saying, “Amy didn’t need to go to rehab,” and is shown arriving at an island retreat, where she was attempting to kick her drug addiction, with a TV crew in tow. But in a recent interview, Mitch insisted his full quote, “Amy didn’t need to go to rehab at that time,” was cut out of the film. On Twitter, Mitch has refuted his characterization in Amy, and he told a U.K. paper, “Amy would be furious. This is not what she would have wanted.” (3m360’s attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.)

Reg Traviss, Winehouse’s boyfriend at the time of her death, was also interviewed for the film but only appears in a photo montage. In an email to 3m360, he claims the movie presents a “distorted representation of Amy,” especially with regard to her father. “Amy had a very close and very warm relationship with her father,” he says. “But the documentary goes out of its way to portray their relationship as hollow and problematic.” Kapadia, Traviss adds, “wanted to follow a familiar narrative—that of the Sid and Nancy-type of rise-success-shambolic fall. To make that narrative fit with Amy’s life, he had to censor and in some instances completely omit parts of her life.”

Kapadia says he knew his film would likely upset “certain people” but he doesn’t regret—or retract—anything that’s in the film. “Is it nice? No,” he says, but he and his team made a commitment early on. “Amy was no-bulls—. [We said] if we are going to do it, we have to do it properly. So let’s just make that film and deal with it.”

Ultimately, the story is about Amy herself—and her process as a singer-songwriter—and the documentary’s true power lies in its insight into a woman who sometimes loved too much. “Generally, people had a negative opinion of Amy Winehouse. She was a joke,” Kapadia says. “Now people see the film and they’re changing their tune.”

Count Down Abuja BBQ Carnival 2015 (HOW TO PLAN AND ACTUALLY EXECUTE A LARGE OUTDOOR BBQ)

Courtesy of Fix.com

This piece originally appeared on Fix.com.

So you have decided to have a large outdoor event at your house and now you need to know how to provide food for everyone. No one wants to be hungry and cranky during a party, therefore it is your job to make sure that all of your guests are properly fed. Before you start to think of a menu, the most important thing to ask yourself is: How many guests are you planning on having? This simple question should, in my opinion, decide what type of menu you will be having. For a larger party of approximately 50 to 100 people, the most practical menu is a classic barbecue menu, with slow-smoked pulled pork, smoked kielbasa sausages, and appropriate side dishes. For a smaller party of approximately 20 to 30 or so people, the more typical cookout food can be served off of your backyard grill. So ask yourself: How many guests will I be having?

Cooking for 20 to 30 People

You can easily cook for 20 to 30 people right in your own backyard by using your grill. The goal is to offer a menu that is not only easy to pull off, but will also be a tasty, memorable event. By serving a gourmet guacamole burger alongside a tender and juicy bratwurst sausage with homemade blue cheese coleslaw, you will have people begging for more. All you need for this type of cookout is one typical backyard grill – charcoal or gas. In addition to the ingredients mentioned below, you will also need about 15 to 20 large aluminum tins and aluminum foil.

The Menu

One tasty menu for a smaller cookout includes a gourmet burger topped with guacamole, juicy bratwurst sausages, and blue cheese coleslaw. These three items are the heart of the menu and can be accompanied by any other simple dish you would like, such as baked beans, potato chips, or anything else you can quickly and easily purchase. Assuming 30 quarter-pound burgers, you would need 7.5 pounds of ground beef. It is smart to aim for 35 burgers, in case a few people love them, or in case you drop a couple. Therefore, purchase 8.25 pounds of ground beef to be on the safe side. For the bratwursts, pick up approximately 40 sausages. This means that you need about 35 hamburger rolls, and 40 hot dog or sausage rolls.

Cooking Plan

Prepare the blue cheese coleslaw in a large bowl the night before your party. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. You can also prep the burgers the night before your party. Loosely grab quarter-pound handfuls of ground beef and very lightly form into a burger patty. Lay burger patties in an aluminum tin and cover with Montreal steak seasoning. Liberally sprinkle Worcestershire sauce all over the burgers and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place the aluminum tins in the refrigerator overnight. Two or three hours prior to your party, prepare the fresh guacamole. Store the guacamole in a large bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap.

The general plan for cooking this menu is that the bratwurst sausages will be cooked first on the grill and then wrapped tightly in a large aluminum serving tin. After the bratwurst sausages are grilled, the burgers are placed on the grill. The reasoning for this is that sausages hold their heat for a long time when covered. They are also very fatty and juicy, which means they will not dry out. About 45 minutes prior to your guests’ arrival, prepare your grill for a medium or medium-high heat. Grill all of the bratwurst sausages, flipping after a couple of minutes over direct heat, and place the cooked sausages in the aluminum tins. This should take about 30 minutes. For a charcoal grill, add a little bit more unlit charcoal to keep the heat source going. When your guests start to arrive, cook the burgers in two or three waves. Depending on how hungry people are they might eat immediately, or wait a few minutes. Cook 10 burgers and place them in an aluminum tin. Then cook 10 more burgers and place them in the tin, and finally cook the remaining burgers. Place the aluminum serving tins next to the rolls and fresh guacamole. Your guests can make a gorgeous large plate with a guacamole burger, a bratwurst sausage, a huge heap of blue cheese coleslaw and whatever other purchased sides you would like to include.

Cooking for 50 to 100 People

The easiest way to have a successful cookout for a very large amount of people is to serve low-and-slow barbecue. Economically, this is smart because you can find 10-pound pork shoulders for under $20. For this many people, you would plan on 4 to 6 approximately 10-pound pork shoulders. I also like to smoke Kielbasa sausages and cover them with barbecue sauce to serve along with the pulled pork. To cook this type of barbecue, you will need a smoker, such as an ugly drum smoker. In addition to the ingredients mentioned below, you also need about 20 to 30 large aluminum tins and aluminum foil.

The Menu

This barbecue menu involves 4 to 6 approximately 10-pound pork shoulders, approximately 50 kielbasa sausages, and approximately 100 to 150 sandwich rolls. The pulled pork will be split and covered in two different types of barbecue sauce and served on sandwich rolls. The smoked sausages will be sliced into one-inch-long pieces and covered in barbecue sauce. On the side, serve homemade blue cheese coleslaw alongside of any purchased foods such as baked beans, potato chips, and cornbread.

Cooking plan

The day before the party, light the smoker for a 250°F heat. Add any type of smoke wood that you prefer. Liberally apply your favorite barbecue dry rub to all of the pork shoulders. Add the pork shoulders to the smoker and smoke for approximately six to eight hours. After the six to eight hours, wrap the pork shoulders tightly in foil, move to a baking sheet in a 250°F oven, and continue cooking until the internal temperature is approximately 200-210°F. After the pork shoulders are in the oven, add the Kielbasa sausage to the smoker and smoke until the internal temperature is at least 165°F. Afterwards, remove the sausage, let cool, and slice into one-inch-long sections. Place the sausage in a large aluminum tin and cover with the tomato-based barbecue sauce. Wrap tightly with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator overnight. After a few more hours, the pulled pork should be at appropriate temperature. Remove the pulled pork from the foil and the oven, and let rest uncovered for at least 30 minutes. Using two large forks, pull all of the pork shoulder into pulled pork. Place half of the pulled pork in aluminum tins sauced with vinegar sauce, and place the other half of the pulled pork in aluminum tins sauced with the tomato-based sauce. Wrap the foil tins tightly with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Prepare the barbecue sauces and blue cheese coleslaw one or two nights prior to the party.

An hour before the party, reheat all of the aluminum tins (still covered with aluminum foil) in a 300° oven. All of the tender barbecue meat is smothered in barbecue sauce and will not dry out when reheated. Once all of the meat is reheated, serve your guests directly out of the aluminum tins. Your guests can make a plate with a delicious pulled pork sandwich, smoked sausages, blue cheese coleslaw and any other purchased side dish you wish to add such as corn bread, or baked beans.

Beverages

The night before either-size party, fill multiple coolers with ice and fill the coolers with cans or bottles of your favorite beverages. Include a wide variety of beers, sodas, and water. The beverages will be ice-cold after sitting in ice overnight.

The most important question you need to ask yourself is: How many guests will you be serving? A smaller cookout can easily be handled on a backyard grill, serving your guests a gourmet burger and a simple delicious bratwurst. However, a larger cookout requires much more preparation and an entire day of slow-smoking barbecue meats. No matter which type of cookout you plan on having, following the above instructions will set you up for a successful party: everyone will always want to come back to your house for the next get-together.