TheEnigmaBytes (formerly TheUniverseBytes), blog was dormant due to personal reasons but now back in action.

Top 10 Scariest Travel Destinations in World


While some people think all things supernatural are unreal, others truly believe in the existence of ghosts, haunted buildings, and simply creepy existences. All around the world you’ll find creepy places littered with deserted buildings and haunted memories - and you don’t have to wait until Halloween to hunt them down.Here are some of our favorite creepy crawly and simply strange destinations. They’re not meant for the skittish, so be prepared.
10. Bermuda Triangle

To this day you won’t find a boat captain or airplane pilot willing to travel through the Bermuda Triangle. The triangle itself is comprised of a piece of ocean that ranges from Southern Florida, to Bermuda, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and back to Florida again.
Dozens of travelers simply disappeared, presumed dead, while traveling through this eerie spot on the globe. Rumors still circulate regarding their fates - some say it was aliens while others believe there’s some sort of time warp. Regardless of the true reason, no one who enters seems to come back out the other side.
9. Tower of London

The Tower of London is over 900 years old and served as both a prison and execution hall before it became a tourist attraction. The tower is the location where Henry the VIII had Anne Boleyn’s head chopped off, and several other infamous characters throughout history lost there lives there as well. Many have reported hearing chains and howling winds and seeing ghosts there. It’s up to you to decide if you believe the tower is haunted.
8. Gettysburg

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (not to be confused with Gettysburg, Virginia) was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Legend has it that the Union soldiers were losing the battle to the Confederates when, out of nowhere, George Washington’s ghost rode up and told them to keep fighting. Locals claim George still visits the area regularly.
7. Salem

Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, and Tituba are to thank for sparking the gruesome Salem Witch Trials back in 1691 and 1692. The hysteria they started by practicing magic in the woods led to the deaths of over 20 presumably innocent women and their ghosts are believed to continuously haunt the town of Salem.
6. Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is truly a mystery. Sarah Winchester started building the house in 1884 and decided that as long as she was alive there would always be some sort of construction happening on the premise.

Why? She believed that constant noise caused by construction workers would somehow make the ghosts of her husband and daughter happy. No one knows what she was thinking when she had doors installed that would open to blank walls or when she decided to construct a set of stairs leading nowhere.
5. Haunted Hollywood

The movies we see are only the end results of the goings on in Hollywood. What we don’t see are the places the rich and famous actors spend their time and, in some cases, die. The next time you’re in the area consider taking one of Tourland’s Haunted Hearse rides. You’ll get to see some of the famous places where the ghosts of some of Hollywood’s most popular stars still hang out.
4. Mutter Museum of Medical History
The Mutter Museum of Medical History itself isn’t as creepy as the things you’ll find inside. If you thought today’s medical advances were off the wall, consider what doctors and scientists were thinking years ago when they started this incredible collection of skulls and pathological oddities.

The regular exhibits are disturbing enough on their own, but the upcoming collections should prove interesting as well. Make sure you stop by if you’re interested in seeing a collection of shrunken heads from South America or the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition collection of temporal ear bones.
3. New Orleans

No matter where you go in New Orleans you’re bound to bump into some sort of oddity. The city is known for being the home of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, where the famous voodoo queen Marie Laveau is buried. Rumor has it that Laveau had such powerful voodoo strengths she could make your enemies die - for a fee of $1,000 that is. Visitors to the tomb claim to see ghosts dancing at night!
2. Roswell

Back in 1947 a local to Roswell, New Mexico found what he believed to be pieces of a UFO. He wasn’t the only one who believed aliens had visited the area, and at the International UFO Museum you’ll find information alleging that the government and town covered up the truth about the occurrence.
1. Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast

One day in 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally murdered. While their daughter, Lizzie, was acquitted, she was ultimately accused of the crime and the majority of historians still believe she was guilty. Today the house they lived in is a Bed and Breakfast and, if you’re daring, you can top off your stay with a reenactment of the exact meal the Borden’s ate the morning they perished.
Some of these places are simply strange while others will send shivers up and down your spine. It’s up to you to determine which ones you find authentic and which you think are a scam, but we have a feeling that a trip to most of these locations will leave you feeling just as creeped out as we were!

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Top 10 Supercomputers


The twice-a-year list of the Top 500 supercomputers documents the most powerful systems on the planet. Many of these supercomputers are striking not just for their processing power, but for their design and appearance as well.1.TIANHE-1A, National Supercomputing Center, Tianjin, China

The Chinese Tianhe-1A system at the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin earned the top spot, achieving a performance level of 2.57 petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second). Tianhe-1A is one of the 17 systems in the Top 500 that use NVIDIA GPUs (graphics processing units) to accelerate computation. China is also accelerating its move into high performance computing and now has 42 systems on the Top 500 list, moving past Japan, France, Germany and the UK to become the number two country behind the U.S., which has 275 of the top 500 supercomputers.
2.JAGUAR, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Jaguar has been knocked from the top spot it occupied in the June 2010 survey, ranking second with a 1.75 petaflop performance speed running the Linpack benchmark. Jaguar is a Cray XT5 system located at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Tennessee. While Jaguar fell a few flops short this year, it retains a leadership position in supercomputing style with its striking Jaguar motif.
3.NEBULAE, China

Nebulae, which is located at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen, China, achieved 1.271 PFlop/s to rank third overall, down one position from the June survey. Nebulae was built from a Dawning TC3600 Blade system with Intel X5650 processors and NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPU.
4.TSUBAME 2.0, GSIC Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Like the top-ranked Tianhe system, Tsubame 2.0 is a successor system that builds upon the design of a previously-ranked system. Tsubame 2.0 was developed by the Tokyo Institute of Technology in collaboration with NEC and HP, and is powered by more than 1,400 nodes using both HP Proliant servers and NVIDIA Tesla GPUs. It is Japan’s highest-ranked supercomputer. Plans are being developed for Tsubame 3.0.
5.HOPPER, NERSC at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs

The top new U.S. entry in the latest Top 500 is Hopper, named for American computer scientist Grace Hopper, which will power science research at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center’s (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. Hopper is powered by the Cray XE6 system. A pioneer in the field of software development and programming languages, Hopper created the first compiler. The Hopper system clocked in at 1.05 petaflops.
6.TERA-100, CEA, France

Tera-100 is now Europe’s most powerful supercomputer. The system resides at the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA), where it supports the French nuclear weapons simulation program. era 100 consists of 4,300 bullx S Series servers, which were introduced by Bull in April 2010. It features 140,000 Intel Xeon 7500 processing cores, 300TB of central memory and a total storage capacity of over 20PB.
7.ROADRUNNER, Los Alamos National Laboratory

When the Roadrunner system at Los Alamos first appeared at the top of the June 2008 TOP500 list, it was the world’s first supercomputer to achieve a top performance of more than 1 petaflop/s (1015 floating point operations per second). It has now slipped to seventh place in the latest survey.
8.KRAKEN, National Institute for Computational Sciences

Kraken, an upgraded Cray XT5 system at the National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS), claimed the No. 8 position with a performance of 831 teraflops. Kraken is used to enhance the efficiency of biofuels, develop more effective climate and weather modeling, and analyze disorders that throw the heart out of rhythm. The NICS is a partnership between the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Lab.
9.JUGENE, Juelich Supercomputing Centre, Germany

Clocking in at number nine is the Jugene supercomputer is housed at the Juelich Supercomputing Centre built on IBM BlueGene/p technology. With its 72,000 processors, Jugene is used for very compute-intensive simulations in materials science, environmental research and particle physics.
10.CIELO, Los Alamos National Labs

The new supercomputer named “Cielo,” the Spanish word for sky, will support all three national laboratories at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), including Los Alamos, Sandia, and Livermore. Cielo is the next generation capability class platform for the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program. We haven’t yet located images of Cielo, which was installed in third quarter of 2010, with additional capability planned for 2011 (if anyone at Los Alamos has images available, please contact us). Cielo’s architecture is based on Cray’s next generation “Baker” architecture with AMD’s new Magny-Cours processor, Cray’s “Gemini” high-speed interconnect and Compute Node Linux operating system.

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Top 11 Expensive Phones


11. Ulysse Nardin’s The Chairman – up to $49,500
The Chairman by Ulysse Nardin is the world’s most expensive Android smartphone, and includes both a touch screen and a physical number pad. The Ulysse Nardin name is most often associated with luxury watches and that fact shows in the Chairman’s sophisticated design. The volume controls look like watch buttons and the crown between them can actually be wound to generate power for the device. In fact, the phone features a kinetic rotor power system visible through the backplate.
10. Nokia 8800 Arte with pink diamonds - $134,000

Designed by Peter Aloisson, this solid 18k white gold phone features over 680 pink and white brilliant cut diamonds totaling over 21.5 carats. Some of the phone’s features are a 3.15 MP camera with autofocus and video, a music player, Bluetooth and voice memo.
9. Peter Aloisson’s iPhone Princess Plus - $176,400

The Princess Plus got its name from the Princess cut used on 138 of the 318 diamonds on its surface. The other 180 diamonds on the phone were brilliant-cut. In total, the phone has 17.75 carats of diamonds set in 18k white gold around its rim. The iPhone Princess Plus is worth $176,400 while the somewhat more pedestrian “Brilliants only” version sold for $66,150.
8. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond – $300,000

The price of this phone comes from actual state of the art technology instead of a bunch of shiny rocks—but that doesn’t mean it lacks visual appeal. OLED technology underneath the polycarbonate skin that covers the phones entire face gives the 4 megapixel screen a borderless look. The mirror finish gives the phone a sleek, futuristic look.
7. Vertu Signature Cobra - $310,000

This gaudy phone is so exclusive that only eight will ever be made. Designed by French jeweler Boucheron, the Signature Cobra is made with two diamonds, two emeralds and 439 rubies. For buyers who are only filthy rich, rather than obscenely rich, twenty-six of the less flashy (read: no rubies) Signature Python phones will be available for a mere $115,000. Both phones will feature the real draw—they have frikkin’ snakes on them. Awesome.
6. Gresso Luxor Las Vegas Jackpot – $1 million

This ultra-exclusive phone, limited to only three units, truly lives up to its name. Not only is it extraordinarily expensive, but its Egypt-inspired design will look right at home in the hands of a Vegas high-roller. The phone features 45.5 carats of black diamonds decorating the bezel and a back panel made from 200-year-old African blackwood—the most expensive wood in the world. As if that weren’t enough to ensure the Jackpot a place among the world’s most expensive mobile phones, each key is cut from a hand-polished sapphire crystal. All of these luxurious materials are set in a 180-gram solid gold frame.
5. The Diamond Crypto Smartphone – $1.3 million

Created by luxury accessory producer Peter Aloisson of Moscow-based JSC Ancort, this luxury smartphone’s price stems from the platinum body, the cover adorned with 50 diamonds—including eight that are rare blue diamonds. Additionally, the Ancort logo and the navigation key are made of 18k rose gold. Built on the Windows CE, this expensive cell also features a high-resolution color TFT display and a 256 bit cryptographic algorithm. This expensive mobile phone features SMS, MMS, E-mail and Internet capability, WAP, JAVA support and even a media player.
4. GoldVish ‘Le Million’ Piece Unique - $1.3 million

Guinness World Records certified GoldVish SA’s ‘Le Million’ Piece Unique on January 29th, 2008. The Geneva-based luxury communications company’s expensive mobile phone was designed by Emmanuel Gueit as an addition to the Illusion Collection. The phone is made of 18k white gold and set with 20 carats of VVS1 (only microscopically flawed) diamonds. The phone also features Bluetooth, 2 GB of storage, FM radio, a digital camera and MP3 playback. This expensive cell phone is available only by special order.
3. Peter Aloisson’s Kings Button iPhone - $2.4 million

The Kings Button iPhone is, surprisingly, a jewel-bedecked iPhone. This time, however, Aloisson had the iPhone 3G to play with—and, apparently, a bit of a bigger budget. One hundred and thirty-eight brilliant-cut diamonds line the sides of the phone, but the real prize is the home button—a rare 6.6 carat white diamond.
2. Goldstriker iPhone 3GS Supreme – $3.2 million

Stuart Hughes of Goldstriker International is known for giving luxury devices such as phones and video game consoles the “Supreme” treatment—covering them with gold and diamonds—and the iPhone is no exception. The iPhone 3GS Supreme features a casing made from 271 grams of solid 22k gold and a screen trimmed with fifty-three 1-carat diamonds. The home button is covered with a single rare 7.1-carat diamond. That’s not all, though—the iPhone 3GS Supreme comes in a chest carved from a single block of granite and sports Kashmir gold and an interior lining made with Nubuck top grain leather.
1. Stuart Hughes iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition – $8 million

If you thought his iPhone 3GS Supreme was impressive, check out the latest iPhone from Stuart Hughes–the iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition. Hughes has recreated the infamous antenna band that wraps around the sides of the latest iPhone, as well as the backplate, using rose gold. The band is adorned with 100 carats of flawless diamonds, and the Apple logo is formed with fifty-three more diamonds. Once again, the home button gets the most love–it’s made of platinum and features a rare 7.4-carat pink diamond.
The phone comes in an imperial pink 7-kilogram chest cut from a single block of granite and lined with nubuck top-grain leather. It also comes with an 8-carat flawless diamond that can be used in place of the pink one.

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15 People Who Changed The World


1. Sir Isaac Newton
Thanks to an apple falling from a tree, he came up with the law of gravity. Developed theories which became classical or Newtonian Physics. We still use his equations to this day.
2. Adolf Hitler 

Adolf Hitler was Germany’s leader from 1933 – 1945, during time which he led the world into the most devastating war in history. Hitler’s hatred of Jewish people and his desire for a blue-eyed, blond-haired master race led to the murder of six million people during World War II; most died in concentration camp in Eastern Europe.
3. Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi began his career as a lawyer but became a great political and spiritual leader. He led the peaceful civil disobedience of Indians against British rule in India and negotiated with the British Government until 1947, when India was granted independence. Gandhi became the first icon of a people’s struggleagains oppression. His simple lifestyle and his belief in religious tolerance have made him a symbol of decency and peace ever since.
4. Albert Einstein

Reinvented 20th century physics with over 300 papers. He actually spent 10 years figuring out the Theory of Relativity (e=mc^2) and the paper was just 3 pages long. Definitely one of the smartest people who changed the world in science.
5. Charles Darwin

Naturalist Charles Darwin established the theory of evolution. He began forming his ideas when he served as official naturalist on a world voyage on HMS Beagle (1831 – 36) and spent the rest of his life back in England developing them. When his famous book The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selections was published in 1859, there were violent reactions against it. Darwin challenged the Bible’s account of creation and explained that human being are descended from an ape-like ancestor. Another English naturalist, Alfred Russell Wallace, independently developed very similar ideas at the same time as Darwin.
6. Martin Luther King, Jr

Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of blacks in the Southern states of the United States. He was influenced by Gandhi and believed in peaceful protest. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King was assassinated in 1968, but will always be remembered for his dignified, passive resistance to an unjust society.
7. Michael Jackson

He practically created the Pop genre. For better for worse, we can thank him for the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and N'sync.
8. Bill Gates

Bill Gates created his first computer program while still at high school, co-founded Microsoft in 1977, and by 1993 was the richest man on Earth. In 2000 Gates and his wife formed the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, which is the largest charity in the world. One of its aim is to rid the Third World of polio and other deadly diseases.
9. Steve Jobs

Talk about making a comeback; he invents a user friendly computer for the masses, gets kicked out of his own company, then came back to reinvent media and mobile computing. Definitely one of the most technically creative people who changed the world.
10. Sir Charlie Chaplin

He made the funniest critically acclaimed silent films. He received a "Special Award" for the First Academy award ceremony for The Circus. Forty three years later, he received the longest standing ovation at the Oscars for receiving an honorary film award. Go to YouTube you'll see his classics; I thought the 'Table Ballet' was hilarious.
11. Walt Disney

Walt Disney founded Walt Disney Corp. from humble beginnings as an animator. His studio produced some of the most timeless children’s movies ever and still continues to do so.
12. Alexander Graham Bell

An eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Just think of life without telephone...
13. Fidel Castro

The former head of government of Cuba, a position that he held for 50 years. Castro overthrew the US-backed dictator Batista to seize power, and only let go of it by passing it on to his brother. Castro has been alternately reviled and praised for measures that he took with the country as dictator.
14. Bob Dylan

Dylan wrote the soundtrack to the American civil unrest of the 1960′s. Winning a number of awards for his music including an honourary Pulitzer, Dylan created some controversy for his fans when he switched from acoustic guitar to electric midway through his career. One of his most famous songs, “All Along The Watchtower”, was used as a key plot device in the 2003 incarnation of the science fiction series Battlestar Galactica.
15. Karl Marx

Karl Marx’s ideas on economic history and sociology changed the world. Marx was a social philosopher who attacked the state and predicted a future in which everyone was equal. He explained his theories in the Communist Manifesto (compiled with Friedrich Engels and published in 1848) and Das Kapital (1867 – 94). His ideas eventually led to the Russian Revolution and communism. By 1950 almost half of the world‘s people lived under communist regimes.

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