World's Smallest Fighter Plane - Unusual

General characteristics :-

Crew: 1
Length: 14 ft 10 in (4.5 m)
Wingspan: 21 ft 1 in (6.4 m)
Height: 8 ft 3 in (2.5 m)
Wing area: 90 ft² (8.3 m²)
Empty weight: 3,740 lb (1,696 kg)
Loaded weight: 4,550 lb (2,063 kg)
Max takeoff weight: lb (kg)
Powerplant: 1× Westinghouse XJ34-WE-22 turbojet, 3,000 lbf (13.3 kN)

Performance :-
Maximum speed: 664 mph (1,069 km/h)
Service ceiling 48,000 ft (14,630 m)
Rate of climb: 12,500 ft/min (3,810 m/min)
Wing loading: 51 lb/ft² (247 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.66

Armament :-
4x 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun

This unusual fighter plane McDonnell XF-85 Goblin was designed to meet a USAAF requirement for a single-seat "parasite" escort fighter that could be carried by a large bomber. Development of two prototypes was ordered in March 1947. The resulting design was entirely the product of design constraints, which required it to fit into the bomb bay of a B-36 (although it was actually tested under a B-29). The B-36 was the intended mother ship that would carry as many as three Goblins.

A tiny, short fuselage was fitted with low/mid-set foldable swept wings, of 21 ft 1.5 in (6.44 m) span. It was powered by a Westinghouse J34-WE-7 turbojet, of 3,000 lb. (1,361 kg) thrust. There was no landing gear except for emergency skids. The fighter was intended to return to the parent aircraft and dock with a trapeze, by means of a retracting hook.

Source: 13above.com

World's tallest woman dies in Indiana at age 53

A woman who grew to be 7 feet, 7 inches tall and was recognized as the world's tallest female died Wednesday, a friend said. She was 53.

Sandy Allen, who used her height to inspire schoolchildren to accept those who are different, died at a nursing home in her hometown of Shelbyville, family friend Rita Rose said.

The cause of death was not yet known. Allen had been hospitalized in recent months as she suffered from a recurring blood infection, along with diabetes, breathing troubles and kidney failure, Rose said.

In London, Guinness World Records spokesman Damian Field confirmed Wednesday that Allen was still listed as the tallest woman. Some Web sites cite a 7-foot-9 woman from China.

Coincidentally, Allen lived in the same nursing home, Heritage House Convalescent Center, as 115-year-old Edna Parker, whom Guinness has recognized as the world's oldest person since August 2007.

Allen said a tumor caused her pituitary gland to produce too much growth hormone. She underwent an operation in 1977 to stop further growth.

But she was proud of her height, Rose said. "She embraced it," she said. "She used it as a tool to educate people."

Allen appeared on television shows and spoke to church and school groups to bring youngsters her message that it was all right to be different.

After Allen was listed by Guinness as the world's tallest woman, she won a role in Federico Fellini's 1976 film "Casanova," appearing as "Angelina the Giantess." She was featured in the 1981 Canadian documentary "Being Different." She also appeared in a TV movie called "Side Show" in 1981.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he met Allen twice. "Then, and from a distance, I admired very much the way she handled a uniquely difficult situation with uncomplaining grace," he said.

Allen weighed 6-1/2 pounds when she was born in June 1955. By the age of 10 she had grown to be 6-foot-3, and by age 16 she was 7-1. She wrote to Guinness World Records in 1974, saying she would like to get to know someone her own height.

"It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life," she wrote. The recognition as the world's tallest woman helped Allen accept her height and become less shy, Rose said.

"It kind of brought her out of her shell," Rose said. "She got to the point where she could joke about it." In the 1980s, she appeared for several years at the Guinness Museum of World Records in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

"I'll never forget the old Japanese man who couldn't speak English, so he decided to feel for himself if I was real," she recalled with a chuckle when she moved back to Indiana in 1987. "At Guinness there were days when I felt like I was doing a freak show," she said. "When that feeling came too often, I knew I had to come back home."

Difficulty with mobility had forced Allen to curtail her public speaking in recent years, Rose said. She had suffered from diabetes and other ailments and used a wheelchair to get around.

A scholarship fund has been set up in Allen's name through the Blue River Community Foundation, Rose said, with proceeds going to Shelbyville High School.

"She loved talking to kids because they would ask more honest questions," Rose said. "Adults would kind of stand back and stare and not know how to approach her."

Source: Yahoo.com

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Babies born 8/8/08 at 8:08; 8 lbs., 8 oz

Two lucky newborns inspire hospital workers to buy lottery tickets

Xander Riniker, surrounded by sister Chloe Shumacher, 11, and father Chad Riniker, was born at 8:08 a.m. on August 8, 2008 and weighs 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

Meet Hailey Jo Hauer and Xander Jace Riniker, both born at 8:08 a.m. on 8/8/08, weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces, in neighboring states.

Xander, born at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the eighth grandchild for his mother’s parents. And he’s not the only one in his family with an unusual birthday: His 2-year-old brother, Kael, was born on 4/5/06.

Lindsey Hauer thought staff at Lake Region Hospital in Minnesota were joking when they told her the time of her daughter’s birth. And then she got a call from the birthing suite noting Hailey’s weight.

Nurse Jenny Harstad joked that she tried to shrink the baby to 18 inches from her actual 19.5 inches.

Several hospital staff members in Minnesota pledged to buy lottery tickets. And Chad Riniker, Xander’s father, said that eight hadn’t been his lucky number before, but that now he was thinking about buying a lottery ticket.

“I just might,” he said. “If nothing else, with four children I should probably play the lottery.”

Source: msnbc.msn.com