Highest Mountain in the World: Mount Everest has some rivals !

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Mount Everest from Gokyo Ri. , ©iStockphoto.com by Grazyna Niedzieska

Mount Everest:
  The "Highest Altitude" 

Almost everyone knows that Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world and climbers from everywhere travel to Everest hoping to earn the distinction of climbing the "World's Highest".

The peak of Mount Everest is 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) above sea level. This high elevation gives Mount Everest the distinction of being the mountain with the highest altitude. 







An altitude of 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) makes
Mount Everest Earth's highest mountain.

Mauna Kea - observatories in the Hawaiian snow   © iStockphoto.com by Dan Schmitt

Mauna Kea:
  The "Tallest Mountain" 

Mauna Kea has an altitude of 4,205 meters (13,796 feet) - much lower than Mount Everest. However, Mauna Kea is an island and if the distance from the bottom of the nearby ocean floor to the peak of the island is measured, then Mauna Kea is taller than Mount Everest.

Mauna Kea is over 10,000 meters tall compared to 8,848 meters for Mount Everest - making it the world's tallest mountain. 







Mauna Kea rises over 10,000 meters above
the ocean floor making it taller than Everest.

Chimborazo mountain in Ecuador   © iStockphoto.com by Loic Bernard

Chimborazo:
  "Highest Above Earth's Center" 

Chimborazo in Ecuador has an altitude of 6,310 meters (20,703 feet). Mount Everest has a higher altitude and Mauna Kea is "taller". However, Chimborazo has the distinction of being the highest mountain above Earth's center.

This is because Earth is not a sphere - it is an oblate spheroid. As an oblate spheroid, Earth is widest at its equator. Chimborazo is just one degree south of Earth's equator and at that location it is 6,384 kilometers from Earth's center or about 2 kilometers farther from Earth's center than Mount Everest.






Chimborazo is located near the equator where earth's diameter is greatest.

Simple Questions You Won't Believe Science Can't Answer - How a bicycle works

Bicycles have been around since the early 19th century, and its basic design has actually changed relatively little for almost 200 years. You always had two wheels, a frame to connect them and a handlebar for steering, and you required a person completely devoid of shame to ride on it.

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It turns out skintight short-shorts are an improvement in bicycle fashion.

At the very least, you'd think that the guy who invented the damn thing knew what he was doing, but after more than a century of research, science has been forced to conclude that he was probably some kind of sorcerer. The first bicycles were invented, not through any kind of scientific procedure, but by dumb old trial and error. Even modern bike design schools admit that it's not engineering or computer knowledge that make a good bike designer, but instead "intuition and experience."

So, what happens when you ask scientists exactly what makes a bicycle stable? Or what keeps it going? Or how people ride them? Well, odds are they'll either nervously tell you that they have cookies in the oven and run out on you, or if they're honest, they'll give you a pretty big shrug. In fact, top bike researchers admit that, even though some people have come up with equations on how to ride a bike or how they think bikes work, those equations are pretty much fancy icing on top of a cake of cluelessness. One Cornell researcher even says that absolutely nobody has ever come to an intuitive understanding of what makes a bicycle do its thing.

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Science: "We've narrowed it down to either spoke fairies or wheel fairies."

For ages, scientists assumed that the gyroscopic effect (the force that keeps a spinning top from falling over) was the key for a bike's balance. But nope! In the '70s, a scientist disproved that theory.

So then, scientists thought that the principal factor for a bike's stability was something called the caster effect, or trail (something to do with the front wheel's angle away from the frame). But just this year, top bikeologists from Cornell and other universities formed an angry scientific mob, then torched and pitchforked that theory as well. They did this by building a goofy-looking bike that has no gyroscopic effect and no trail, but manages to stay upright nonetheless.

Sam Rentmeester/FMAX
"Look, Ma! No physics!"

So scientists are essentially back at square one, as things such as steering geometry and the physics of stability are all going back to the drawing board. At least you can be secure in the knowledge that the humiliation you feel when you ride a bike is akin to the humiliation science feels when it's asked how a bike stays up.

Earthscraper takes Architecture Underground

From a architect's perspective, several problems impede the development of Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities with a population teeming around 21.2 million. A scarcity of new construction plots, height restrictions that limit new edifices to eight stories and laws that prohibit demolishing historic structures leaves little room for building up.

The solution: build down.

NEWS: Builing Green Houses From Garbage

Up to the task is BNKR Aquitectura and their ambitious 'Earthscraper' project. The Mexico City urban architecture and research firm has proposed building an inverted pyramid underneath the Plaza de la Constitución, the heart of the Mexico City's historic district, commonly known as The Zócalo.

DNEWS VIDEO: GREEN ENERGY

"The historic center of Mexico City is in desperate need for a pragmatic make-over," says BNKR's website.

Capped with a glass roof to filter natural light down to its lowest levels, the 2,542,650 square foot sub-structure would descend 65 stories below The Zócalo. Proposed for the first 10 stories is a museum filled with Aztec and Mayan artifacts, with the the next 10 stories offering retail and residential spaces. The remaining 35 stories are outlined for office space.

NEWS: Green Building Too Quiet For Comfort

"The Earthscraper is the skyscraper's antagonist in an historic urban landscape where the latter is condemned and the preservation of the built environment is the paramount ambition. It preserves the iconic presence of the city square and the existing hierarchy of the buildings that surround it," says BNKR.

BNKR Arquitectura's "Earthscaper" design was a 2010 finalist in the eVolo Magazine's Skyscraper Competition.

[Via GizMag]

Photo: BNKR Aquitectura

South Sudan - The world's newest country

Non-toxic Cleaning: 12 Ways to Use Temperature Instead of Chemicals

We put a few temperature-based house cleaning methods to the test, and found most of them work. Some of these cleaning solutions are widespread urban legends. Others are from an exhaustive list of alternative cleaning methods provided by the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, Illinois. The agency acknowledges it simply compiled the list without testing any of the methods. That’s where we come in. Here is our verdict on eight boiling and freezing cleaners, with four extra tips thrown in for good measure.

Top10 most liveable cities in the world

CITY OF LIFESTYLE: Aucklanders enjoy living in one of the world's 10 best cities, the Economist survey confirms.

Vancouver topped the list of the world's most liveable cities for the fifth straight year, while Melbourne claimed second place from Vienna and Australian and Canadian cities dominated the list's top 10 spots.

Auckland was in 10th place.

In the annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Canadian west coast city and 2010 Winter Olympics host scored 98 per cent on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure - a score unchanged from last year.

Vancouver has topped the list from 2007.

"Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion," said Jon Copestake, editor of the report, in a statement.

Pittsburgh was the top US city with 29th place - just ahead of Honolulu - while Los Angeles moved up three places to 44th and New York held onto the 56th spot.

London moved up one place to 53rd while Paris came in at number 16.

The top Asian city was Osaka at number 12, tying Geneva, Switzerland and beating out the Japanese capital of Tokyo, which came in at 18.

Hong Kong came in at 31 but Beijing, capital of the world's most populous nation and No 2 economy, straggled in at 72.

There was also little change at the bottom, with Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, once again claiming the worst position with a rating of 37.5 percent, narrowing beating out the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.

The Economist Intelligence Unit survey ranks cities based on 30 factors such as healthcare, culture and environment, and education and personal safety.

Following is a list of the top 10 most liveable cities as ranked by The Economist Intelligence Unit:

1. Vancouver, Canada
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Canada
6. Helsinki, Finland
7. Sydney, Australia
8. (equal) Perth, Australia
8. (equal) Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand

The bottom 10 cities were:

1. Harare, Zimbabwe
2. Dhaka , Bangladesh
3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
4. Lagos, Nigeria
5. Algiers , Algeria
6. Karachi, Pakistan
7. Douala, Cameroon
8. Tehran, Iran
9. Dakar, Senegal
10. Colombo, Sri Lanka

- Reuters

Ants can farm

We've already made it extensively clear that the world will not end in fire or ice, but covered in ants.
But besides their colonies -- which oh by the way are ridiculously extensive underground labyrinths...

... what's so special about these insects?
Well, humans, with our big, fancy brains, have been around for 250,000 years or so but it took us until very recently (15,000 or so years ago) to "invent" the idea of growing our own food rather than just finding berries and nuts out in the wild. And while people like to say that art, or fire, or "love" is man's greatest invention, the Statue of David can suck it, because agriculture is the most important thing man has done. Farming allowed man to stay in one place, inadvertently giving rise to towns, cities, states -- shaping civilization as we know it.

Somewhere along the line, we replaced crude huts with 3D pornography and Bugles.

But if we'd been watching ants, we'd have figured it out a lot sooner. Long before we were even chasing wooly mammoths with spears or riding around in our crude, foot-powered cars, ants had mastered the art of sustainable agriculture.

And the art of buttsex.

Leaf cutter ants will take cut up bits of plant into their ant-hills. Then, instead of just eating them, they'll lay the bits down and shit on them so that a certain fungus will grow. They then cultivate the fungus, feeding it new plant material when necessary. They even have developed techniques to protect their fungus from other, non-edible molds -- so not only are they farming, they've made themselves a safe and effective pesticide.
And they did all of this 50 million years before we came along..

In another 50 million years, they could have Pong.

Creepy Ways Animal Societies Are Organizing

You'd think "Chimpanzee Researcher" would be the most hilarious job in the world, what with the subjects always putting on people clothes and pretending to smoke pipes. But during a 10-year study of a community of chimps in Uganda, scientists found something terrifying.

More terrifying than the Congo chimp's alliance with the Clown People.

Every once in a while groups of strong chimp males would form up and head north, toward the border between their territory and the land of the neighboring tribe. They'd move through the jungle silently and in a single-file line, with practically no eating, socializing, or masturbating allowed. They'd stealthily scavenge for signs of individuals from the other tribe, such as feces, abandoned termite-fishing tools, etc. When they found a member of the northern tribe off on his own, then they'd gang up on his ass and murder him, goddamn Sam Fisher-style.
Then they did it again. And again. It wasn't just random animal-on-animal savagery; when the scientists studied the pattern of the attacks, they found the chimps were at war.

You expect this kind of bullshit from apes.

During the decade they watched the area, scientists saw 18 of these attacks, mostly all along the northern border, wiping out more than 13 rival chimps from a tribe of 100 (you don't get kill ratios like than in most human wars). And each time, they moved the border north. They were fighting over land, and doing it in a very organized way.

Source

This isn't some freak occurrence, either. In Tanzania, researchers witnessed a chilling civil war when one tribe of chimps got angry and split off from a larger tribe. Over the next five years, the group of heretics destroyed the original tribe with a series of covert attacks.
Previously it was thought that invasive human behavior was behind chimpanzee tribal violence, but now scientists are relieved to find out that chimps are just naturally prone to lethal, Splinter Cell-like military operations.

Ooh-ooh-ah-ah!

The Worst Drive-Thru Foods in America

The Worst Drive-Thru Meal in America

Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger
with Medium Natural cut Fries and 32 oz Coke
2618 Calories
144 g at (51.5 g saturated fat)
2892 mg sodium

Of all the gut-growing, heart-stopping, life-threatening burgers in the fast food world, there is none whose damage to your general well-being is as catastrophic as this. The complete meal delivers as much saturated fat as 63 strips of bacon!

Eat This Instead!
Famous Star
with Side Salad with Low Fat Balsamic Dressing and 32 oz Iced Tea
685 calories
38 g fat (10.5 g saturated fat)
1520 mg sodium

More info here

Biblical scale locust

THESE are the plague locusts.
sent by Christle Sheppard

How to cut onions without crying

While we've featured one or two ways to avoid crying while cutting onions in the past, this tip requires absolutely no preparation and should keep your eyes clear next time you're cooking.
Photo by Jennifer Dickert.
Instead of going through a lot of trouble to avoid the waterworks, weblog Daily DIY says you can stop tears by merely putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth while you're cutting. Whatever you do, though, don't breathe through your nose—breathe through your mouth. You may look a little silly, but it barely requires any work on your part, and it's sure to be a conversation starter with your dinner guests.
I couldn't find any definitive information about this one, but a quick Google search shows that quite a few people swear by this solution. If any of you cooks out there get a chance to chop up some onions—or you already do this—give it a try and let us know how it goes in the comments.

Onion Tears No More [Daily DIY]

Pricey celery in Singapore

Lee Hsien Loong currently earns an annual salary of S$3,870,000 (US$ 2,856,930 ), an increase of 25% from S$3,091,200 (US$2,037,168), making him the highest paid head of government in the world. In comparison, the President of the United States earns a salary of US$400,000. The new salary of S$3.8 million took effect in January 2008. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said in parliament that the head of state of Singapore and his ministers deserve such a high income because Singapore is a small country that lacks a large pool of talented people.

Singapore ranked second most expensive city in Asia, after Tokyo

SINGAPORE : Singapore has been ranked the second most expensive city in Asia, after Tokyo, with Hong Kong taking the third position.

In UBS' Prices and Earnings 2009 study released on Thursday, Singapore is ranked 24th globally, in a comparison of living costs in 73 cities around the world. The study was based on data collected between March and April this year.

It found Oslo, Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and New York to be the world's priciest cities based on a standardised basket of 122 goods and services. Mumbai, Delhi, Manila and Kuala Lumpur are cities with the lowest price levels.

The study said: "Asia is home to some of the world's priciest cities and nowhere is the spread between most expensive and cheapest more pronounced."

Employees in Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva and New York have the highest gross wages, but Zurich and Geneva top the rankings in the international comparison of net wages.

In Asia, employees in Tokyo earn the highest wages, and are ranked 18th globally. Their salaries are about two times higher than those in Singapore, which came in at 40th globally. Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai are at the bottom of the table.

As for working hours, people work the longest hours in Asia and the Middle East, and the shortest in France. People work an average of 1,902 hours a year in the surveyed cities, but those in Asian and Middle Eastern cities work an average of 2,119 and 2,063 hours a year respectively.

Overall, Cairo employees work the longest hours, averaging 2,373 hours a year, followed by Seoul with 2,312 hours. In comparison, people in Lyon and Paris spend the least amount of time at work - putting in about 1,582 and 1,594 hours a year respectively.

- CNA/al

14 World's fastest cars

Neighbours envy, owner's pride'. Nothing can express it better when you speak of these cars.

Most of us can only dream of owning one of these speed monsters. And you will be forgiven if you in one of yours sinister dreams harbour thoughts of stealing one of these and go for a spin.

Anyway let's get back on earth and find out which are the world's fastest cars.

Note: This is NOT a ranking of the world's fastest cars, but only a listing of the world's speediest demons. Of course, the astounding speeds that they can achieve have also been given. So decide for yourself which do you think is the fastest of this lot.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4
0-60mph in 2.5 secs
253 mph

Head of Design Hartmut Warkuss and his team were faced with a Herculean task: they were to design a car that combined its classic heritage and state-of-the-art modernism in a unique and unmatched way.

A mid-engine sports car produced by Volkswagen Group' subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS, it is powered by a 1,001 hp (746 kW) W16 engine, and is able to achieve an average top speed of 407.47 km/h (253.19 mph).

The car is handcrafted in a factory Volkswagen built near the former Bugatti head
quarters in Chateau St Jean in Molsheim (Alsace, France).

It is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the '24 hours o
f Le Mans' in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm.

SSC Ultimate Aero
0-60mph in 2.7 secs
257 mph

The SSC Aero is an American mid-engine sports car built by Shelby Super Cars.

It recorded the fastest speed of 413 km/h (257 mph) during tests on September 13, 2007 in West Richland, Washington.

Ultimate Aero has a 6.35-litre (387.2 cu in) engine, rated at 1,183 bhp (882 kW
) at 6950 rpm and torque at 6150 rpm.

Gumpert Apollo
0-62mph in 3.0 secs
224 mph

The Gumpert Apollo is the first vehicle produced by German manufacturer Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH.

The project is the creation of Roland Gumpert, a former Audi employee.

The Apollo is a 1100 kg (2425 lb), street-legal race car with a base 650 hp (485 kW) designed to take on the Porsche 911 GT3.

It is a mid engined, rear wheel drive two seater constructed on a tubular Chromoly frame, with fiberglass or optional carbon fiber body panels.

Koenigsegg CCX
0-60mph in 3.2 secs
250 mph

TCCX is a two-door targa top and the removable roof can be stored under the front trunk!

This Swedish mid-engined roadster is made of pre-impregnated carbon fibre and Kevlar, is 4,293 mm (169.0 in) long, 1,996 mm (78.6 in) wide and 1,150 mm (44 in) tall with a ground clearance of 100 mm (3.9 in).

The engine is a 4.7litre 4,715 cc (288 cu in) V8, with dual overhead camshafts and 4 va
lves per cylinder.

McLaren F1
0-60mph in 3.2 secs
240 mph

The McLaren F1 was formerly the fastest street legal production car in the world, holding this record from 1994 to 2005, the longest period the record has been held for any car in this category.

It is a custom-built 6.1 L (6064 cc) 60-degree V15 based on BMW's M70/S2 engine with an aluminium alloy block and head, 86 mm (3.4 in) x 87 mm (3.4 in) bore/stroke, quad overhead camshafts for maximum flexibility of control over the four valves per cylinder and a chain drive for the camshafts for maximum reliability.

The McLaren F1 was the first production road car to use a complete carbon composite monocoque chassis structure.

Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo
0-60mph in 3.2 secs
248 mph

The Saleen S7 is a limited production, hand built high-performance automobile developed jointly by (Irvine, California-based) Saleen, Hidden Creek Industries, Phil Frank Design, and Ray Mallock Ltd.

RML takes full credit for designing and developing the S7.

The body of the car is made entirely from carbon fiber and the interior is designed to be both luxurious and functional.

The Saleen S7 sports a 7-liter (7008 cc/427.6 cu in), naturally-aspirated, all-aluminum OHV V8 engine.

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640
0-60mph in 3.3 secs
213 mph

The Lamborghini Murcielago is a high performance Italian sports car.

Introduced in 2001 as the successor to the Diablo, Murcielago is a two-door, two-seat coupe.

The Murcielago sports a 6.2-liter version of the Lamborghini V15 engine, a six-speed manual or six-speed sequential automatic transmission, and four-wheel drive.

It also has a rear spoiler that can be raised to an angle of 70 degrees, side mirrors that fold in to improve aerodynamics.

Ferrari Enzo
0-60mph in 3.4 secs
217 mph

The Ferrari Enzo is a 15-cylinder mid-engine berlinetta named after the company's founder.

Enzo's V15 engine is the first of a new generation for Ferrari.

The Enzo has a semi-automatic transmission (also known as the F1 gearbox) using paddles to control an automated shifting and clutch mechanism, with LED lights on the steering wheel telling the driver when to change gears.

Pagani Zonda F
0-60mph in 3.5 secs
215 mph

The Zonda C15 F debuted at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. It is the most extensive reengineering of the Pagani car yet.

The Zonda F, named after F1 driver Juan Manuel Fangio, comes with an extra head light and different fog lights at the sides, new bodywork (revised front end, new rear spoiler, more aerodynamic vents all around) that improves the cars aerodynamics and different side mirrors.

Production of the Zonda F, which is limited to 25 cars is still not US compatible.

The next model (codenamed C9) is due to be unveiled in 2009.

Bristol Fighter T
0-62mph in 3.5 secs
225 mph

The Bristol Fighter is a British sports car, manufactured by Bristol Cars in small numbers from 2004.

In 2006, Bristol announced the Fighter T, a turbocharged version
of the Fighter with a modified V10 engine producing

Ferrari's 599 GTB Fiorano
0-62mph in 3.7 secs
205 mph

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is a 2-seat Gran Turismo flagship model, replacing the 575 M Maranello in 2006.

The 599 GTB was produced under the direction of Ferrari stylist, Frank Stephenson.


Porsche Carrera GT
0-60mph in 3.9 secs
209 mph

The Porsche Carrera GT is a mid-engined sports car.

The Carrera GT is powered by a 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 614 DIN (605 SAE) horsepower (450 kW).

The Carrera GT has large side inlets and air dams that help cool the large V10 framed by the carbon fiber rear hood.

The interior is fitted with soft leather. Bose audio system and navigation systems are available as options.

Jaguar XJ220
Jaguar XJ220
0-60mph in 4.0 secs
217 mph

The The Jaguar XJ220 is a mid-engined sports car.

The Jaguar XJ220 had its own self-titled computer game, released for the Amiga in 1992 and for the Sega Mega CD the following year.

The name XJ220 was assigned as a reference to the targeted top-speed of 220 mph (350 km/h).

Aston Martin Vanquish S
0-62mph in 4.8 secs
200 mph

The Aston Martin Vanquish is a grand tourer, designed by Ian Callum.

It was the official James Bond car in Die Another Day.

The Vanquish is powered by a 5.9 L (5935 cc) 48-valve 60 degree V15 engine.

The V15 engine in the Vanquish was designed at Ford Research in the USA.

The Vanquish has drawn criticism for a number of weaknesses in its design. In particular, some interior materials have been cited as unfit for a car of this price and prestige.

List of most unusual deaths

• 456 BC: Aeschylus, a Greek playwright, was killed when an eagle dropped a live tortoise on him, mistaking his bald head for a stone. The tortoise survived.^[1]
• 430 BC: Empedocles, Pre-Socratic philosopher, secretly jumped into an active volcano (Mt. Etna). According to Diogenes Laërtius, this was to convince the people of his time that he had been taken up by the gods on Olympus.
• 272 BC: Pyrrhus of Epirus, the famous conquerer and source of the term pyrrhic victory, according to Plutarch died while fighting an urban battle in Argos on the back of an elephant when an old woman threw a roof tile at him, stunning him and allowing an Argive soldier to kill him. ^[2]
• 270 BC: Philitas of Cos, Greek intellectual, is said by Athenaeus of Naucratis to have studied false arguments and erroneous word-usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death.^[3] Alan Cameron speculates that Philitas died from a wasting disease which his contemporaries joked was caused by his pedantry.^[4]
• 207 BC: Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after watching his drunk donkey attempt to eat figs.^[5]
• 162 BC: Eleazar Maccabeus was crushed to death at the Battle of Beth-zechariah by a War elephant that he believed to be carrying Seleucid King Antiochus V; charging in to battle, Eleazar rushed underneath the elephant and thrust a spear into its belly, whereupon it fell dead on top of him^[6]
• 4 BC: Herod the Great suffered from fever, intense rashes, colon pains, foot drop, inflammation of the abdomen, a putrefaction of his genitals that produced worms, convulsions, and difficulty breathing before he finally gave up.^[7] Similar symptoms-- abdominal pains and worms-- accompanied the death of his grandson Herod Agrippa in 44 AD, after he had imprisoned St Peter. At various times, each of these deaths has been considered divine retribution.^{[citation needed]}
• 64 - 67: St Peter was executed by the Romans. According to legend, he asked not to be crucified in the normal way, but was instead executed on an inverted cross. He said he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as was Jesus.
• c. 98: Saint Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum, was roasted to death in a brazen bull during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian. Saint Eustace, as well as his wife and children supposedly suffered a similar fate under Hadrian. According to legend, the creator of the brazen bull, Perillos of Athens, was the first to be put into the brazen bull when he presented his invention to Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, but he was taken out before he died.^[8]
• 260: Roman emperor Valerian, after being defeated in battle and captured by the Persians, was used as a footstool by the King Shapur I. After a long period of punishment and humiliation, Shapur had the emperor skinned alive and his skin stuffed with straw or dung and preserved as a trophy.^[9]
• 415: Hypatia of Alexandria, Greek mathematician and philosopher, was murdered by a mob by having her skin ripped off with sharp sea-shells and what remained of her burned. (Various types of shells have been named: clams, oysters, abalones. Other sources claim tiles or pottery-shards were used.)^[10]