2. New engine sends shock waves through auto industry Prototype could potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent 4/6/2011 Discovery Channel Despite shifting into higher gear within the consumer's green conscience, hybrid vehicles are still tethered to the gas pump via a fuel-thirsty 100-year-old invention: the internal combustion engine. However, researchers at Michigan State University have built a prototype gasoline engine that requires no transmission, crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel compression, cooling systems or fluids. Their so-called Wave Disk Generator could greatly improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles and potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent when compared with conventional combustion engines.The engine has a rotor that's equipped with wave-like channels that trap and mix oxygen and fuel as the rotor spins. These central inlets are blocked off, building pressure within the chamber, causing a shock wave that ignites the compressed air and fuel to transmit energy.The Wave Disk Generator uses 60 percent of its fuel for propulsion; standard car engines use just 15 percent. As a result, the generator is 3.5 times more fuel efficient than typical combustion engines.Researchers estimate the new model could shave almost 1,000 pounds off a car's weight currently taken up by conventional engine systems.Last week, the prototype was presented to the energy division of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is backing the Michigan State University Engine Research Laboratory with $2.5 million in funding.Michigan State's team of engineers hope to have a car-sized 25-kilowatt version of the prototype ready by the end of the year.

3. Yellowstone Supervolcano Bigger Than ThoughtOurAmazingPlanet StaffDate: 11 April 2011 The gigantic underground plume of partly molten rock that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano might be bigger than previously thought, a new image suggests.The study says nothing about the chances of a cataclysmic eruption at Yellowstone, but it provides scientists with a valuable new perspective on the vast and deep reservoir of fiery material that feeds such eruptions, the last of which occurred more than 600,000 years ago. Earlier measurements of the plume were produced by using seismic waves — the waves generated by earthquakes — to create a picture of the underground region. The new picture was produced by examining the Yellowstone plume's electrical conductivity, which is generated by molten silicate rocks and hot briny water that is naturally present and mixed in with partly molten rock. Seismic images of the plume made by Smith in 2009 showed the plume of molten rock dips downward from Yellowstone at a 60-degree angle and extends 150 miles (240 kilometers) west-northwest to a point at least 410 miles (660 km) under the Montana-Idaho border — as far as seismic imaging could "see."

4. April 12, 2011 The Washington Post Scientists warn of years of aftershocks in Japan, and risks on other faultsJapan won't stop shaking. One month after the horrific March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the island was rattled anew by aftershocks: A magnitude-6.6 quake on Monday was followed by a 6.3 quake on Tuesday.Japan's nuclear-safety agency has raised the severity rating of the crisis at its damaged nuclear plant to the highest level, on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster as the government widened the surrounding evacuation zone yesterday. The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan said Tuesday the rating was raised from 5 to 7, saying the amount of radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was around 10 percent of that in the Chernobyl accident.The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale classifies levels 1 through 3 as incidents and those from 4 to 7 as accidents. Level 7 means there has been a "major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures.“Now scientists are warning that the March 11 event not only will lead to years of aftershocks but also might have increased the risk of a major quake on an adjacent fault. A new calculation by American and Japanese scientists concluded that the March 11 event heightened the strain on a number of faults bracketing the ruptured segment of the Japan Trench."There's quite a bit of real estate on which stress has increased by our calculations," said Ross Stein, a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geophysicist. "The possibility of getting large, late aftershocks to the north and south of the main shock is real.“Stein and two Japanese colleagues, including lead author Shinji Toda of Kyoto University, have submitted their research to the journal Earth Planets Space. The scientists are not making a formal prediction of another big earthquake. But they believe the section of the Japan Trench east of Tokyo now has more stress than before March 11.

5. Safes, cash wash up on Japan shores after tsunamiAssociated Press – Sun Apr 10, 11:29 pm ETOFUNATO, Japan – There are no cars inside the parking garage at Ofunato police headquarters. Instead, hundreds of dented metal safes, swept out of homes and businesses by last month's tsunami, crowd the long rectangular building.Any one could hold someone's life savings.Safes are washing up along the tsunami-battered coast, and police are trying to find their owners — a unique problem in a country where many people, especially the elderly, still stash their cash at home. By one estimate, some $350 billion worth of yen doesn't circulate.There's even a term for this hidden money in Japanese: "tansuyokin." Or literally, "wardrobe savings.“So the massive post-tsunami cleanup under way along hundreds of miles (kilometers) of Japan's ravaged northeastern coast involves the delicate business of separating junk from valuables. As workers and residents pick through the wreckage, they are increasingly stumbling upon cash and locked safes.One month after the March 11 tsunami devastated Ofunato and other nearby cities, police departments already stretched thin now face the growing task of managing lost wealth."At first we put all the safes in the station," said NoriyoshiGoto, head of the Ofunato Police Department's financial affairs department, which is in charge of lost-and-found items. "But then there were too many, so we had to move them.“Goto couldn't specify how many safes his department has collected so far, saying only that there were "several hundreds" with more coming in every day.The government has estimated that the cost of the earthquake and tsunami could reach $309 billion, making it the world's most expensive natural disaster on record. The figure includes direct losses from damaged houses, roads and utilities. But it doesn't take into account individual losses from home-held cash washed away by the powerful waves. With more than 25,000 people believed to have died in the tsunami, many safes could to go unclaimed. Under Japanese law, authorities must store found items for three months. If the owner does not appear within that time, the finder is entitled to the item, unless it contains personal identification such as an address book. If neither owner nor finder claims it, the government takes possession. But all those who survived and are seeking to retrieve savings will need to offer proof. That proof could include opening the safe and providing identification that matches any documents inside, said Akihiro Ito, a spokesman for the disaster response unit in Kesennuma, among the worst-hit cities in Miyagi prefecture. Instead of waiting, police in Iwate are considering a more proactive measure. Individual stations will likely start opening safes to try to identify their owners, said Kiyoto Fujii, a spokesman for the prefectural police. And the safes are likely to keep on coming. "There's probably a lot of valuables still left in the rubble, including safes," Fujii said. "We are expecting and preparing for that."

6. The Sun Motor: GE’s Solar Power at the 1939 World’s FairA key goal in solar energy is to make it available and affordable on a large scale. Last week, GE hit a major milestone on that path, having achieved the highest-ever reported efficiency for CdTe thin film solar panels. The research that led to the breakthrough built on decades of discovery — some of it from the space-age labs of today, and some of it from the same technology that was within reach of the millions who came to the 1939 World’s Fair and saw GE’s “Sun Motor,” a device that used photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight to electricity.

7. Is Sugar Toxic? The New York Times Published: April 13, 2011 On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology. Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country. He published his first paper on childhood obesity a dozen years ago, and he has been treating patients and doing research on the disorder ever since. The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.” It doesn’t hurt Lustig’s cause that he is a compelling public speaker. His critics argue that what makes him compelling is his practice of taking suggestive evidence and insisting that it’s incontrovertible. Lustig certainly doesn’t dabble in shades of gray. Sugar is not just an empty calorie, he says; its effect on us is much more insidious. “It’s not about the calories,” he says. “It has nothing to do with the calories. It’s a poison by itself.” If Lustig is right, then our excessive consumption of sugar is the primary reason that the numbers of obese and diabetic Americans have skyrocketed in the past 30 years. But his argument implies more than that. If Lustig is right, it would mean that sugar is also the likely dietary cause of several other chronic ailments widely considered to be diseases of Western lifestyles — heart disease, hypertension and many common cancers among them.

8. Sources: Predator drone may have killed US troops– Tue Apr 12, 3:31 pm ETWASHINGTON – The military is investigating what appears to be the first case of American troops killed by a missile fired from a U.S. drone.The investigation is looking into the deaths of a Marine and a Navy medic killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator after they apparently were mistaken for insurgents in southern Afghanistan last week, two senior U.S. defense officials said Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.Unmanned aircraft have proven to be powerful weapons in Afghanistan and Iraq and their use have expanded to new areas and operations each year of those conflicts. Some drones are used for surveillance and some, such as the drone in this case, are armed and have been used to hunt and kill militants.Officials said this is the first case they know of in which a drone may have been involved in a friendly fire incident in which U.S. troops were killed, and they are trying to determine how it happened.Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Smith of Arlington, Tex., and Seaman Benjamin D. Rast of Niles, Mich., were hit while moving toward other Marines who were under fire in Helmand province.Military officials in Afghanistan declined to provide any details, saying only that it was a friendly fire incident. "A formal investigation will determine the circumstances that led to the incident," the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement last week.But reports from the field indicate that the Marines who were under attack mistook Smith and Rast for militants heading their way and called in a strike from a U.S. Air Force Predator, one official said.

9. Arizona Business & MoneyFlexible screens nearer to commercialization- Apr. 10, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona RepublicA plastic screen that rolls up and doesn't crack when you drop it may sound like science fiction, but the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University is investing millions to liberate electronic devices from the constraints of rigid glass.And reality could come sooner than you think.The project was initiated by the U.S. Army in cooperation with a number of companies, including Boeing and Hewlett-Packard, to expedite the development of the technology."Flexible ... black-and-white screens for e-readers are very close to commercialization," said Nick Colaneri, Flexible Display Center director. Black-and-white screens are less complicated to create, and he estimates flexible screens capable of rolling up and displaying color images are three to five years away.Manufacturers see vast potential for consumer applications. DisplaySearch, an industry research company, says the market for flexible screens will likely surpass $1 billion this year and reach $8.2 billion by 2018.From the beginning, the project has been pushed along by the U.S. military, which is interested in flexible screens for their portability, durability and miserly use of power.The military, high-tech manufacturers and academia have made Arizona ground zero for bringing the technology into mainstream use. They are pinpointing key materials and testing manufacturing techniques needed to make the sophisticated screens at the Flexible Display Center.Colaneri, who has been director of the project for two years, said about $90 million has been spent on the project since the center was launched in 2004 under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Army, and about $10 million more will be needed for completion.

11. Greta Garbo is on Swedish cash. What American movie stars should be on ours?EW.com4-8-11 Sweden is paying tribute to two of its most famous movie legends by immortalizing them on that nation’s money, according to the Associated Press. Greta Garbo will grace the new 100-kroner bill beginning in 2014, and director Ingmar Bergman will appear on the 200. In this country, we’ve limited our universal acclaim for artists and entertainers to honorary stamps, but maybe it’s time we wiped bloody Andrew Jackson off the $20 and replaced him with a genuine movie star.

12. Barbie" statistics:• There are two Barbie dolls sold every second in the world. • The target market for Barbie doll sales is young girls ages 3-12 years of age.• A girl usually has her first Barbie by age 3, and collects a total of seven dolls during her childhood.• Over a billion dollars worth of Barbie dolls and accessories were sold in 1993, making this doll big business and one of the top 10 toys sold.• If Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5'9" tall, have a 39" bust, an 18" waist, 33" hips and a size 3 shoe.• Barbie calls this a "full figure" and likes her weight at 110 lbs.• At 5'9" tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia. She likely would not menstruate.• If Barbie was a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.• Slumber Party Barbie was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs with a book entitled "How to Lose Weight" with directions inside stating simply "Don't eat.“Huffington Post

13. As oil supply dwindles, Saudis turn to renewable energy World's largest oil exporter to spend $100 billion on new energy sources 4-11-2011MSNBC Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, may not be panicking quite yet about its ever-declining oil supply —but the country is certainly concerned. Consider: In February, a Wikileaks document revealed that Saudi Arabia might be overstating its oil reserves by 300 billion barrels, and the country recently asked for a slice of the UN's $100 billion climate change fund to help diversify to other energy sources (a galling request from such a wealthy country so dependent on other people not diversifying to other energy sources).And now the kingdom has announced that it plans to spend $100 billion on solar, nuclear and other renewable energy sources. They haven't announced over what time period they will spend it, but that's a lot of cash. Private investments in Chinese renewable energy projects totalled $54.4 billion last year, which was the highest of any country."Fuel supply is one of the major challenges facing the power sector and the nation," Saleh Al-Awaji, Saudi Arabia’s deputy minister for electricity at the Ministry of Water, said at a recent conferencein Abu Dhabi. "The policy is to work intensely on saving energy and making sure every barrel of oil that can be saved is, and is made available for export.“That means Saudi Arabia wants to wean itself off oil but keep the rest of us hooked (unless it has plans to become the world's largest solar-panel exporter, too). The country still has a long way to go in reducing its reliance on oil — Saudi Arabia consumes 2.4 million barrels a day, and is expected to need at least 8.3 million barrels by 2028 if no action is taken. But the U.S. consumes a staggering 18.8 million barrels daily, making it the most oil-hungry nation in the world. A large portion of our oil comes from Saudi Arabia, which exports nearly 9 million barrels each day.Saudi Arabia does, at least, have an advantage in the solar power arena: plentiful sun. In September, the kingdom will complete a 3.5 megawatt solar array — the largest solar power plant in the country. That's not very large considering that the largest solar plants in the world produce nearly 100 megawatts of power, but it's a much-needed start for a country that has grown in proportion to its oil wealth.

15. Philadelphia Condom Campaign Targets Kids as Young as 11Published April 13, 2011 FoxNews.comThe website, which instructs visitors to use condoms "each and every time," provides an interface where users can request free male condoms mailed directly to their doorstep. (TakeControlPhilly.org)A new campaign by Philadelphia officials to reduce sexually transmitted diseases allows children as young as 11 to receive free condoms via mail order, outraging some parents who believe that's too early to start getting physical.The program, offered by the city's Department of Health, features a website that includes facts on diseases like Chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV/AIDS, as well as detailed -- and playful -- instructions for young girls on how to use female condoms."Every girl is different," TakeControlPhilly.org reads. "Figure out what position works for you. You can stand with one foot on a chair, sit on the edge of a chair, lie down, squat, or for fun, have your partner help you out."The website, which instructs visitors to use condoms "each and every time," also provides an interface where users can request free male condoms mailed directly to their doorstep.

16. Thursday, April 7, 2011Study: Beer beats water for hydration A new study says that drinking beer after strenuous physical activity helps the body retain liquid better than water. GRENADA, Spain(UPI) -- Researchers at Granada University in Spain said drinking beer after strenuous physical activity can be beneficial for the body. The scientists said their study found beer can help dehydrated people retain liquid better than water alone, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported Friday. Professor Manuel Garzon, who led the study, said the bubbles in beer can help quench thirst and the carbohydrates in the beverage can help make up for burned calories. The study involved a group of students asked to perform strenuous activities at a temperature of about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Half of the students were given a pint of beer after their exercise and half were given a pint of water. Garzon said the hydration affect on the beer drinkers was "slightly better" than the sober group. Juan Antonio Corbalan, a cardiologist who has worked with Real Madrid football players and Spain's national basketball team, told The Telegraph he has long recommended beer to professional sportsmen after exhausting activities, as the drink is optimal for rehydrating the body.

18. Top 5 Coffee HacksHouston PressThu., Apr. 7 2011 Tips for making a great cup of coffee even better…………………..1. Start with good beans.2. Clean your machine.3. Add a pinch of salt.What? Yes. Salt. Just a pinch. And use kosher salt; the large crystals work better here. You can either add in a pinch on top of your coffee in the filter or in the bottom of your French press. The salt adds a whole other dimension of flavor and opens up the coffee in the same way that adding salt to desserts and other sweet items works wonders. You'll never drink unsalted coffee again.4. Use a French press. 5. Don't keep your coffee in the freezer.

19. Son writes off his dad's £275,000 supercarThursday, 14 April 2011 10:09 UKA 20-year-old has written off his dad's £275,000 Gumpert Apollo after taking it for a spin in Germany.He lost control of the rear wheel drive supercar on a sharp bend near Brokdorf, just north of Hamburg. After the crash the driver's door ended up 100ft (30m) away and the car was described as a "total loss".The man was driving with a 19-year-old female passenger and both of them walked away from the accident with minor injuries.Police are investigating whether he was speeding when he lost control of the car on the 50mph road.The Gumpert Apollo has a top speed of 225mph (360kph) and goes from 0 to 60mph in less than three seconds.The Gumpert Apollo is one of the world's fastest supercars

20. Elfin Ears The Newest Cosmetic Surgery Craze 04/ 7/11 "Good Morning America" brought us up to speed on the latest in cosmetic surgery: elfin ears -- a life decision we'd vaguely heard about before, entirelyignored, but will now accept as reality after being picked up by themainstream media.The procedure involves slitting open the cartilage at the top of the ears and sewing them back together to create a point. Jordan Houtz, who's had it done, remarked, "It was just something I thought would be fascinating...I wouldn't go so far as saying [I'm] a Trekkie, but definitely 'Lord of the Rings,' all the Sci Fi kind of stuff, and it just fit my personality.“Steve Haworth, a three dimensional artist making leprechaun-esque dreams come true, explained, "There's a lot of people out there who have an inner vision of themselves and they want to express that to the world around them." GMA found a few of those people on an online message board -- one wrote, "I want to have elf ears too. but I'm not sure in what season to do it...cause in the winter I'm always wearing a cap/beanie and I guess it would hurt.“Hurt is right. Haworth, who charges $600 for both ears, can't use anesthetic on his pixie patients because he's not an actual doctor. Because actual doctors know that altering such important body parts can result in major deformities and infection that could entirely destroy the ear within days. But some people are into that sort of thing.

22. Woman accused of baring buttocks in Fellsmere 'hot pink' pants caperApril 14, 2011 7:43 AM Things got out of hand after Tammy Ann Roseman is said to have begun unbuttoning her "hot pink" pants. bus driver for Indian River County schools spotted the woman identified as Roseman, 39, in the "hot pink" pants Tuesday afternoon. He was driving south on North Willow Street approaching Vernon Street in Fellsmere, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.The driver told Fellsmere police the "hot pink" pants woman started unbuttoning her trousers.As the bus passed, he said, about a half dozen elementary school students started screaming, with some covering their eyes. The bus driver in a rear view mirror noticed the woman's pants were down and her buttocks exposed.The affidavit didn't specify whether anything prompted the apparent impromptu derriere display, a practiceinformally known as "mooning" that's often intended as a sign of defiance or disrespect. The affidavit also didn't specify whether the "hot pink" pants were jeans, capris, dungarees, corduroys, Bermudas or some other style or type of pants or shorts. Roseman, a Melbourne resident who appears to have a scar on at least one of her cheeks, was arrested on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and taken to the Indian River County jail.

23. Iceland's Phallological Museum finally gets human specimenAssociated Press – Tue Apr 12, 2011LONDON – In life, Pall Arason sought attention. In death, he is getting it: The 95-year-old Icelander's pickled penis will be the main attraction in one of his country's most bizarre museums.Sigurdur Hjartarson, who runs the Phallological Museum in the tiny Icelandic fishing town of Husavik, said Arason's organ will help round out the unusual institution's extensive collection of phalluses from whales, seals, bears and other mammals.Several people had pledged their penises over the years — including an American, a Briton, and a German — but Arason's was the first to be successfully donated, Hjartarson said."I have just been waiting for this guy for 15 years," he told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview.Hjartarson's museum started in Reykjavik but has since moved to Husavik, a small community better known for its whale watching. The Phallological Museum is an important part of the region's tourist industry, bringing in thousands of visitors every summer.Highlights of the museum's collection include a 170-centimeter (67-inch) sperm whale penis preserved in formaldehyde, lampshades made from bull testicles and what the museum described as an "unusually big" penis bone from a Canadian walrus.

24. The Sex Lives of the Presidents– Tue Apr 12, 12:25 am ETThe Daily BeastNEW YORK –America’s most famous pornographer, Larry Flynt, talks about his new book, One Nation Under Sex, that reveals the salacious lives of presidents—and which politicians today he’s going after.This week historians and Civil War buffs are marking the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, but according to porn king Larry Flynt, there is much that historians don’t want us to know. In an exclusive first interview about his new book, One Nation Under Sex, he takes a break from gathering dirt on 2012 candidates to talk about how sex influenced the lives and political choices of presidents and first ladies, from the Founding Fathers to Abe Lincoln to today.“There’s been a lot left out of history books, and we wanted to be more inclusive,” Flynt tells The Daily Beast. “For 35 years I’ve been exposing corrupt politicians, and I wanted to know if our Founding Fathers had the same follies or not.”Turns out they did.A sampler: Ben Franklin helped save the American Revolution by seducing French women, Dolley Madison slept around, and James Buchanan’s gay love affair with a slave owner was a boon for secessionists. Abe Lincoln liked to share beds with men (in wealthy homes where there were many beds to choose from) and Eleanor Roosevelt’s lesbian affairs helped her become a crusader for equal rights. Oh, and Bill Clinton is a less selfish lover than JFK ever was. “Don’t get me wrong—I’m the first person to defend a philandering president if he can still balance the budget,” explains Flynt. “But I think discretion should play a part in it.”

25. Fake Coventry teacher jailed for sex abuse of boy, 15Coventry TelegraphApr 8 2011A FAKE teacher who lied about his qualifications to gain access to children at a Coventry school has been jailed.Coventry Crown Court heard Steven Bartlett lied about his professional credentials in order to groom a boy with learning difficulties into having sex with him when he was just 15.Yesterday, he was jailed indefinitely for the protection of the public.Judge Philip Gregory, sitting at Coventry Crown Court, ruled the 33-year-old would not be released until it was proven he was no longer a risk.Bartlett pleaded guilty to eight counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two counts of fraud.Prosecutor Steven Thomas told the court that Bartlett faked references for a recruitment agency which found him work at a Coventry school as a supply English teacher and teaching assistant. He then set up his own recruitment agency to secure more work at the school.It was only when he later took a permanent position at the school that he was pressed for his qualifications and documentation.At this time, allegations about his relationship with his victim had already been made to the police.Mr. Thomas explained Bartlett had known his victim since he was 10 years old but it wasn’t until the boy was 14 that anything untoward took place.He said: “When he was 14 or 15, (the boy) had questions about his own sexuality. “He was also autistic. He was a vulnerable young man... The defendant took advantage of him.”

27. A few of the oddest personalities from the…….American Civil War

28. The American Civil War was rife with large-than-life (and stranger-than-fiction) characters. Case in point: Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, the first person in U.S. history to use the temporary-insanity defense -- and to win acquittal with it. In 1859, while serving as a congressman from New York, he shot and killed Philip Barton Key II, his wife's lover and the son of "Star Spangled Banner" writer Francis Scott Key. He also once escorted a prostitute into the chambers of the New York State Assembly, and then went to England and presented the same prostitute to Queen Victoria. During the Civil War, he and notorious carouser Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker set up a headquarters together that was more often compared to a brothel and 24-hour party than a military camp. When his left leg was amputated after a cannonball shattered it during the Battle of Gettysburg, Sickles had the bones of the leg preserved, and donated them to the Army Medical Museum, where he'd visit them on the anniversary of his amputation. He was later made the U.S. ambassador to Spain, where (rumor says) he had an affair with Queen Isabella II.

29. Best remembered for his scorched-earth tactics during his march through Georgia, Sherman was racked by self-doubt and admitted to seriously considering suicide while in charge of Union defenses in Kentucky and Missouri. Newspapers labeled him insane. Experts today believe that he suffered a nervous breakdown. Later, he told Gen. Ulysses S. Grant of his troubled times: "Before the battle of Shiloh, I was cast down by a mere newspaper assertion of 'crazy,' but that single battle gave me new life, and I'm now in high feather."

30. Among the most celebrated military commanders on either side of the war, Thomas Jonathan Jackson was also one of its most legendary eccentrics. Deeply devout, he went into battle with his left hand raised up, as if he were asking for God's help. According to several (likely apocryphal) stories, he was obsessed with lemons, and was rarely seen without one in his hand or mouth. "Tom Fool" Jackson was notoriously unconcerned about his appearance, to the point that his closest friend, the famously dandyish Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, felt obliged to buy him a new uniform during the Maryland Campaign. He was also known to fall asleep during meals in mid-bite.

31. The man commonly credited with firing the first shot at Fort Sumter, SC, Virginia farmer Edmund Ruffin was one of the most pro-slavery members of the Confederacy, having argued for Southern secession well before it became a serious mainstream idea. When abolitionist John Brown was executed for his armed revolt at Harpers Ferry -- an undertaking that only the military was allowed to view -- Ruffin convinced the head of the Virginia Military Institute to let him sneak in among the cadets. Soon after he got word that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Ruffin had a pleasant lunch with friends and family, then covered himself with a Confederate flag and shot himself in the head. His suicide note read that he would "rather be dead than live in a country subjugated by the Yankee race."

32. Whereas Stonewall Jackson was an introvert in threadbare uniforms, popular Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was a party going clotheshorse who reveled in flashy uniforms and parades. Though he was by all accounts a gifted cavalryman and leader, he sometimes let his love of panache get in the way of the work of war. In 1862, when he was supposed to be gathering intelligence on the Union advance in Maryland, he instead held a five-day gala for his men and the local civilians. Before the Battle of Brandy Station (June 1863) -- the largest cavalry engagement of the entire war -- Stuart staged an exhausting military review, replete with mock battle, for the entertainment of the local populace. And then he did it again to impress Gen. Robert E. Lee, who couldn't make it the first time. Thus his men's horses were thoroughly tired when it was time for the actual fighting.

33. The odd-looking subordinate to Stonewall Jackson had the habit of muttering bizarre phrases in the midst of conversation, like, "Now why do you suppose President Davis made me a major general, anyway?" Nevertheless, the profanity-spewing, fidgety Confederate officer was, by all accounts, adored by his men.

34. Not one to kiss up to his superiors, McClellan is now roundly derided by the majority of historians as one of the most tactically ineffective yet egotistical generals of the war. His disrespect for his superiors was legendary, even when he became the leader of the Union's Army of the Potomac. When President Abraham Lincoln came to visit McClellan at his home, he was forced to wait for the insubordinate general, who was busy upstairs. Finally, after he had waited half an hour, someone came down and informed the president that Gen. McClellan couldn't see him because he'd already gone to bed. McClellan referred to Lincoln as "nothing more than a well-meaning baboon" and a "gorilla." Lincoln finally sacked McClellan after the titanically bloody Battle of Antietam (September 1862).

35. Considered one of the hardest men to get along with in the entire Confederate Army, West Point-educated North Carolinian Bragg was so punctilious about military regulations that he allegedly put in requests for supplies while acting as a fort commander, only to reject the same requests while acting as the fort's quartermaster -- twice. His men loathed him so much that they tried to kill him twice, once by exploding a 12-pound artillery shell under his cot. (He survived unscratched.) During his command of Confederate forces in the West during the Civil War, his prickly personality became -- according to many modern assessments -- one of the primary causes of the South's defeat there.

36. The Virginia-born leader of the South's unsuccessful Missouri Campaign, Price refused to accept surrender and took his army with him to Mexico, where he tried to find work as a hired gun for the Mexican emperor. He ended up starting up a colony of Confederate expatriates in Veracruz, but eventually returned to the U.S. and died in St. Louis of "chronic diarrhea."

37. Routinely ranked dead last by historians when it comes to effective presidencies, Pennsylvanian James Buchanan's obstinate legalistic dithering and head-in-the-sand inertia during his time in the White House prior to Lincoln's administration probably made the increasingly inevitable Civil War even worse than it had to be. A lawyer to the core, he considered secession to be illegal, but also believed that doing anything to stop it was also against the law -- and so felt he was justified in basically doing nothing. He vetoed an educational bill, saying he thought the U.S. already had too many educated people. On top of it all, his sexual orientation has been a rich source of conjecture. The only president to remain a bachelor, his contemporaries mocked his exceptionally close relationship with former Vice President William Rufus King as "Mr. Buchanan and his wife" or "Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy." Welcoming the Lincolns to the White House, he said to the Great Emancipator, "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland [Buchanan's home in Lancaster, Pa.], you are a happy man."

38. Revere him or (as many still do) loathe him, few will dispute that Lincoln was one of the most fascinating figures of the 19th century. He was self-taught, immensely strong, and deeply thoughtful. The president who many historians consider America's best was also a profoundly tortured soul, and frequently battled melancholia -- now termed clinical depression. His wife, who herself battled severe mental illness (likely bipolar disorder), probably would have called him absent-minded, as well: Lincoln was once so wrapped up in reading a book that she was forced to hit him on the head with firewood to get him to tend to the fireplace. As a boy, people called him lazy, and thought it odd that he wouldn't hunt or fish because he hated the thought of killing something. Historians, meanwhile, continue to debate whether he was a closeted homosexual, or bisexual (with, it should be noted, the vast majority of Lincoln experts arguing that the 16th president was not gay -- or, at least, that there is no incontrovertible evidence that he was).

39. mug shots

53. Garbage Truck Living