INVISIBILITY CLOAK IS REAL

The Elder Wand and Resurrection Stone may still be locked away in J. K. Rowling's imagination, but the third Deathly Hallow made a rare appearance on stage in Long Beach this week.

Baile Zhang, an assistant professor of physics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, showed off his "invisibility cloak" on Monday at the TED2013 talks in Long Beach.

Speaking as part of TED Fellows Day, when young researchers, artists, and techno-geniuses seen as being worthy of mentoring give short four-minute presentations, Zhang wowed the crowd with his amazing cloak.

As you might guess, Zhang's cloak is a bit different than the one Harry Potter wore. It's tiny right now, very much in the prototype phase. And while you might expect it to have some grand purpose, it doesn't. Zhang created it solely for fun.

Speaking with editors at Boing Boing, Zhang explained that the cloak is made of two optical crystals that are found in nature. When cemented together, they bend light and suppress shadows to the point that they can hide objects. The demo at the show saw the cloak (which is kept in a tiny clear box) make a Post-It note vanish.

The TED talk was the first time Zhang’s Invisibility Cloak has been shown publicly to a large audience, though scientists have been enamored with it for years. In 2010, an earlier version of the cloak ranked fourth among the year's top 10 breakthroughs, as ranked by Physics World.

Some people on Twitter were even more enthusiastic – although, it wouldn't be Twitter without a little snark.

"In race to invent cool random stuff, invisibility cloak on track to beat flying car," noted Luke Buckmaster.

Lord Voldemort, we're guessing, is a little less enthused.





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CHINESE RESTO FLAUNTS RACISM VS FILIPINOS

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METEOR SHOWER EXPLODES IN RUSSIA ON FRIDAY

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LIGHTING STRIKES WHEN POPE DECLARES TO STEP DOWN

A flash of lighting is seen over St.Peter's Basilica during a rainstorm at Vatican in this picture provided by Ansa on February 11, 2013. Pope Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church on Monday when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on.

A flash of lighting is seen over St.Peter's Basilica during a rainstorm at Vatican in this picture provided by Ansa on February 11, 2013. Pope Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church on Monday when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on.

Lightning strikes St Peter's dome at the Vatican on February 11, 2013, the day the pope announced he was resigning.

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FULL TEXT OF POPE'S RESIGNATION

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he plans on resigning the papal office on February 28th. Below please find his announcement.

Full text of Pope's declaration

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. 

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013 

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Listen to Pope's declaration here.

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POPE BENEDICT XVI TO RESIGN

The Pope is to resign at the end of this month in an entirely unexpected development, saying he is too old continue at the age of 85.

He became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 following John Paul II's death.

Resignations from the papacy are not unknown, but this is the first in the modern era, which has been marked by pontiffs dying while in office.

At 78, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest new popes in history when elected.

He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breaking.

In a statement, he said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry...

"In today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."

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OKA TOKAT! A DOPPELGANGER ON MY BROTHER'S BED

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This happened about a year ago. One night after I got home from school, I went straight to our room, which my brother and I share. We have a bunk bed adjacent to the door, and when I entered our room, I found my brother on the upper bunk, facing the wall. I thought he was already asleep, so I never bothered turning the overhead light on, instead, I used the small lamp on my computer table parallel to the bunk bed.

After a minute, as I prepared to take a night bath, I heard him giggle, I looked at him wondering if he was laughing in his sleep, or if he was still awake just reading something in his cellphone. "gising ka pa pala." (so you're still awake) I said to him, but he didn't reply. I grabbed my towel and went to the bathroom. When I got there I found the door locked. I knocked and asked who was in there, and to my surprise, I heard my brother answer from inside.

At first I couldn't believe what was happening. I just stood there in front of the bathroom door, and shifted my eyes to look at our room's door. Something was telling me I have to go back in our room and see again if there really was someone on my brother's bed, but after I returned in our room, the person I saw there before was already gone.

I told my brother that night what just happened but he didn't believe me. Next morning I told our mom while we were having breakfast. That's when she told us that sometimes during the day, when my brother and I are at school, she could hear noises from inside our room like someone opening and slamming the cabinet doors, footsteps, and one time she said she even heard the starting tone of Windows XP, but when she went inside to check if either me or my brother had returned home, she would only be surprised to learn that she's alone in the house.





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KPOP: WATCH ROOFTOP PRINCE

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KPOP: ROOFTOP PRINCE

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KILIG MUCH: KAHIT KONTING PAGTINGIN

#WHERENEXT TAGS AS IMMORAL

Fr. Tony Navarette, parish priest of the San Juan Nepomuceno de Malibay in Pasay City called on the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) to dismantle the billboard of Victoria Court which the prelate finds "immoral."

In an interview with Radyo Veritas, the parish priest condemned the placing of the giant billboard of Victoria court motel in the city. "Ang billboard, it's inviting people to commit something bad or immoral," Navarette said, adding that the Pasay City government should have not allowed the structure to be put up in the first place.

The motel billboard shows two teenage couple watching a movie with a text "After the movie, what next?". The billboard also indicates how to make a reservation in the motel.

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NEW STUFF FOR TODAY: THE NORTH FACE BIG SHOT

I got this from SM North EDSA Annex. It costs Php 5,751.00 from original price of Php 6,390.00 less 10% off (Php 639.00).