Astrology buffs all over the world are in a tizzy after learning of a thirteenth sun sign yesterday, along with the fact that changes in the earth’s axis have affected the star sign they are born under.

According to the Washington Post, Minnesota Planetarium Society board member Parke Kunkle announced the existence of the new sign, Ophiuchus, on an NBC TV show.

The constellation Ophiuchus is in the same plane as the other constellations of the zodiac, occurring between Scorpio and Sagittarius — meaning that in Western astrology, people born between November 29 and December 17 now fall under that sign.

So how did all this come about? According to several Western astrologers quoted on the Internet, the existence of Ophiuchus is not a new discovery. The Western astrological chart is derived from that of the ancient Babylonians, who created the star signs by tracking where the sun was in the sky each month. They then got rid of the thirteenth sign to bring the number down to an even 12 over 2,000 years ago.

Kunkle further added that the moon’s gravitational pull has slowly moved the Earth on its axis in the last 3,000 years, creating about a one-month bump in the stars’ alignment. The International Business Times quoted the astronomer as saying, “Because of this change of tilt, the Earth is really over here in effect and the sun is in a different constellation than it was 3,000 years ago.”

In other words, all star signs have changed. According to the ancient Babylonian chart that is followed today, those born between September 23 and October 22 are Librans. If, however, we take into consideration the shift in the earth’s axis over the last two millenia, Libra now falls between October 30 and November 23!

Here is the system we’ve been following so far:

Aries: March 21 – April 19
Taurus: April 20 – May 20
Gemini: May 21 – June 20
Cancer: June 21 – July 22
Leo: July 23 – August 22
Virgo: August 23 – September 22
Libra: September 23 – October 22
Scorpio: October 23 – November 21
Sagittarius: November 22 – December 21
Capricorn: December 22 – January 19
Aquarius: January 20 – February 18
Pisces: February 19 – March 20

Now, compare it to the completely revised list as per the Minnesota Planetarium Society:

Capricorn: January 20 – February 16
Aquarius: February 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11 – April 18
Aries: April 18 – May 13
Taurus: May 13 – June 21
Gemini: June 21 – July 20
Cancer: July 20 – August 10
Leo: August 10 – September 16
Virgo: September 16 – October 30
Libra: October 30 – November 23
Scorpio: November 23 – December 17
Sagittarius: December 17 – January 20

Let’s take a look at some of the best fighter aircraft around the world today.

F 22 Raptor

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As the world’s only operational fifth-generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor is, and will remain, unprecedented in its total integration of stealth and advanced avionics

Primary Function: Air dominance, multi-role fighter

Contractor: Lockheed-Martin, Boeing

Power Plant: Two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines with afterburners and two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles.

Crew: One

Fuel Capacity: Internal: 18,000 pounds (8,200 kilograms); with 2 external wing fuel tanks: 26,000 pounds (11,900 kilograms)

Speed: Mach 2 class with supercruise capability

Range: More than 1,850 miles ferry range with 2 external wing fuel tanks (1,600 nautical miles)

Ceiling: Above 50,000 feet (15 kilometers)

Armament: One M61A2 20-millimeter cannon with 480 rounds, internal side weapon bays carriage of two AIM-9 infrared (heat seeking) air-to-air missiles and internal main weapon bays carriage of six AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles (air-to-air loadout) or two 1,000-pound GBU-32 JDAMs and two AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles (air-to-ground loadout)

Unit Cost: $143 million

Typhoon Eurofighter

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The Eurofighter is the product of a consortium of British Aerospace, Deutsche Aerospace (Germany), Alenia (Italy), and CASA (Spain), with the United Kingdom and Germany providing technological leadership

Function: Multi-role fighter

Crew: 1

Engines: 2 Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofans, 60 kN dry, 93 kN with afterburner

Maximum speed: Mach 2.0+ (2390 km/h at high altitude)

Supercruise speed: Mach 1.3+ at altitude with typical air-to-air armament

Service ceiling: 18,290 m (60,000 ft)

Range: 1390 km

Armament: The Eurofighter carries NATO’s best weapons. It has a high load Capacity with flexible missile configurations. It has thirteen carriage points, three of which are capable of holding external fuel tanks. The maximum fuel or weapons payload is 6,500 kg (14,330 lb.).

A mixture of at least 10 ASRAAMs (advanced short range air-to-air missiles) and AMRAAM (advanced medium range air-to-air missiles) can be carried with four of the AMRAAMs housed in low drag, low observability fuselage stations. A wide variety of air-to-surface weapons can be carried on seven stations, including avionics stores such as laser designators.

F/A 18 Hornet

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The F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets (F/A for Fighter/Attack).

Contractor: Boeing [McDonnell Douglas Aerospace] and Northrop Grumman (Airframe), General Electric (Engines), and Hughes (Radar)

Power Plant: Two F404-GE-402 afterburning engines, each in the 18,000 pound thrust class, which results in a combat thrust-to-weight ratio greater than 1-to-1. Depending on the mission and loading, combat radius is greater than 500 nautical miles

Mission and Capabilities: The F/A-18 Hornet can perform both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. Cockpit displays and mission avionics are thoroughly integrated to enhance crew situational awareness and mission capability in high threat, adverse weather/night environments. Cockpits are night vision goggle compatible. Multi-sensor Integration and advanced data link capabilities further enhance situational awareness.

Seating capacity/crew options: Model F/A-18C: one-seat (pilot-only); Model F/A-18D: two-seats (one for the pilot and one for the weapons/sensor officer [WSO])

Top speed: Mach 1.8

Combat radius: 500+ nm (900+ km)

Armament: F/A-18C/D can carry up to 13,700 pounds of external ordnance. Weapon stations include two wingtip stations for Sidewinders, two outboard wing stations for air-to-air or air-to-ground weapons, two inboard wing stations for fuel tanks, air-to-air, or air-to-ground weapons, two nacelle fuselage stations for AMRAAMs, Sparrows, or sensor pods; and one centreline station for fuel or air-to-ground weapons.

Unit cost: $39.5 million

Saab JAS 39 Gripen

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The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a light-weight single engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. The aircraft is in service with the Swedish Air Force, the Czech Air Force, the Hungarian Air Force and the South African Air Force, and has been ordered by the Royal Thai Air Force.

Role: Fighter/attack/reconaissance

Crew: 1

Wingspan (including Launchers): 8.4m

Ceiling: 50,000ft

Maximum Speed: Supersonic at all altitudes

Engine: The RM12engine, supplied by Volvo Aero, is a development of the GE F404 engine from General Electric. A digital engine control system automatically monitors the engine parameters and automatically switches on the back-up systems if required. A condition monitoring system registers the flight data.

Armament: The Gripen has seven external hardpoints for carrying payloads – one at each wingtip, two under each wing and one on the fuselage centreline. The Sidewinder, mounted on the wingtips, is an all-aspect attack, short-range missile for enhanced dogfight capability. Air-to-surface missiles include the radar-guided Saab RBS15F anti-ship missile and Raytheon Maverick missile. The internally mounted 27mm Mauser high-energy gun can operate in an automatic radar-guided aiming mode. The stand-off dispenser is the DWF39 from EADS (formerly DaimlerChrysler Aerospace) and Bofors.

Unit cost: $40.61 million

Dassault Rafale

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The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engined delta-wing agile multi-role 4.5-generation jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation

Primary Function: Multi-role fighter / reconnaisance

Crew: Single or twin seater

Powerplant: Two SNECMA M88-3 turbofans each rated at 19,555 lb (86.98 kN) with afterburning

Speed: Maximum level speed ‘clean’ at 36,090 ft (11000 m) 1,321 mph (1,147 kt / 2125 km/h)

Ceiling: 60,000 ft

Range: 1000 nautical miles

Armament: Cannon: 1 30mm DEFA 554; Mica missile, R 550 Magic 2 missile, BGL 400 (French counterpart to the American Paveway laser guided bombs)

Unit Cost: $82.3 million

Su-30MKI

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The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a variant of the Sukhoi Su-30 jointly-developed by Russia’s Sukhoi Corporation and India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force. It is a heavy class, long-range air superiority fighter which can also act as a multirole, strike fighter aircraft.

Crew: Two seater

Engines: The Su-30MKI is powered by the two AL-31FP turbofans, employing AL-100 vectoring nozzle

Ceiling: 17,500 m (57,415 ft)

Endurance: 10 hours

Max Range: 3,000 km (1,620 nm)

Top Speed: 1317 mph (Mach 2)

Armament: Main gun is 30 mm caliber. The combat load is mounted on 12 stations. The maximum advertised combat load is 8000 kg. Over 70 versions of guided and unguided weapon stores, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, may be employed which allows the aircraft to fly the most diverse tactical missions.

Unit Cost: $36.55 million

F-15 Eagle

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The F-15 Eagle is an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat.

Primary Function: Tactical fighter

Crew: One (F-15A/C), two (F-15B/D/E)

Powerplant: Two P&W F100 turbofan engines in 29,000 lb (13,154 kg) thrust class with afterburning

Speed: 1,875 mph (Mach 2.5 plus)

Ceiling: 65,000 feet

Range: 3,450 miles ferry range with conformal fuel tanks and three external fuel tanks

Armament: One internally mounted M-61A1 20mm 20-mm, six-barrel cannon with 940 rounds of ammunition; four AIM-9L/M Sidewinder and four AIM-7F/M Sparrow air-to-air missiles, or eight AIM-120 AMRAAMs, carried externally.

Unit Cost: A/B models $27.9 million, C/D models $29.9 million

F-16 Fighting Falcon

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The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. It provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the United States and allied nations.

Primary Function: Multirole fighter

Crew: One (F-16C) / Two (F-16D)

Powerplant: F-16C/D: one Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-200/220/229 or one General Electric F110-GE-100/129

Speed: 1,500 mph (Mach 2 at altitude)

Ceiling: Above 50,000 feet

Range: Over 2,100 nautical miles

Armament: One M-61A1 20mm multibarrel cannon with 500 rounds; external stations can carry up to six air-to-air missiles, conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and electronic countermeasure pods

Unit Cost: F-16A/B: $14.6 million, F-16C/D: $18.8 million

MiG-29 Fulcrum

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The MiG-29 Fulcrum is Russia’s most important tactical fighter. Developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau, it entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1983, and remains in use by the Russian Air Force as well as in many other nations, including India.

Primary Function: Multi-role fighter

Crew: One

Powerplant: Two Klimov/Sarkisov RD-33 turbofans at 18,298 afterburning pounds of thrust each

Speed: Mach 2.3 (1,520 mph)

Ceiling: 55,775 ft (17,000 m)

Range: 932 miles (810 nm/1500 km) with internal fuel

Armament: One 30mm GSh-301 cannon with 150 rounds, Six AAMs, including a mix of SARH and AA-8 Aphid (R60), AA-10 Alamo (R27T), AA-11 Archer, (R73), FAB 500-M62, FAB-1000, TN-100, ECM Pods, S-24, AS-12, AS-14

Unit Cost: $29 million

Chengdu J-10

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The J-10 is a fourth-generation multi-role fighter, produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Co. (CAC). The secretive Chinese programme started in the late 1980s, and is reportedly based on the Israeli Lavi fighter, Israels attempt to develop its own F-16.

Primary Function: Multi-role fighter

Crew: 1

Powerplant: 1x Lyulka-Saturn AL-31FN turbofan, rated at 79.43 kN dry, 122.58 kN with afterburning (17,857 lbf, 27,557 lbf)

Maximum speed: Mach 1.2 at sea level; Mach 2.0 at altitude

Combat radius: 550 km (300 nm, 340 mi)

Maximum range: 1,850 km (1,000 nm, 1,150 mi)

Service ceiling: 18,000 m (59,055 ft)

Armament: Guns: 1 23 mm internal cannon; Hardpoints: 11 – 3 under each wing and 5 under the fuselage; Missiles: air-to-air (PL-8, PL-11, PL-12, R-73, R-77), air-to-surface (YJ-9, YJ-9K); Bombs: laser-guided and unguided bombs

Unit Cost: 190m yuan ($27.84m)

Here goes Argentina

Algerian Fans

Here goes BRAZIL

CAMEROON

CHILE

DENMARK

ENGLISH

FRENCH

THE GERMANS

GHANA

GREEK

ITALIANS

THE MEXICANS

NETHERLANDS

PARAGUAY

PORTUGAL

SLOVAKIA

SLOVENIA

THE HOSTS- SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

Switzerland

USA

Image Courtesy: Getty Images

Cribber:

Women who crib, talk negatively and belittle people are a great turn-off. Sure we all have our bags full of complaints, but it is one thing to complain once in a while, and it’s something else to crib big time 24×7 about every issue or every person one comes across. Men can’t understand why a woman has to crib and bitch all the time. Either you do something about the issue or stop complaining – it’s as simple as that.

Weight-watcher:

‘Oh can’t have beer, it has 150 calories’, ‘I must hit the gym everyday’ – if these are your favourite catchwords, you have trouble coming your way. There is only so much diet, exercise regimens men can take and if you are too conscious, a man is likely to be exasperated. Women need to know when to give in ‘without throwing their weight around’!

In-law basher:

Agreed only the fortunate are blessed with a good set of in-laws. So if you are not one of the lucky ones, will you constantly bash them up verbally? They are somebody’s parents and if you don’t have anything nice to say something about them, don’t say anything. How does that sound?

Worker bee:

If you are buzzing nineteen to a dozen only about the presentations you have to make for the boss, deadlines, colleagues, HR head and the office

janitor – it’s obvious you have nothing else to talk about. A man may want to know about your interests, your views on him, and more, but you prefer to hide behind ‘work’ all the time. If you want a man, any man actually – get a life first.

Agony aunt:

There are some women who constantly feel they are an ‘advisory body’. They feel it is their business to hear out the whines of everyone around them and suggest suitable solutions. They are so deeply involved in this part-time job that they inadvertently sound like they are advising you as well. Nobody wants to date a mom, you know.

1. Lose a Hammer, Find a Horde

In November 1992, a farmer living near the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, lost a hammer in one of his fields, so he asked Eric Lawes to use his metal detector to search for it. While looking for the hammer, Lawes happened upon something else of interest – 24 bronze coins, 565 gold coins, 14,191 silver coins, plus hundreds of gold and silver spoons, jewelry, and statues, all dating back to the Roman Empire.

As required by British law, the so-called “Hoxne Hoard” was reported to the local authorities, who declared it a “Treasure Trove,” meaning it was now legally the property of Britain. However, the government is required to pay fair market value for a treasure trove, meaning the farmer and Lawes split a cool £1.75 million. The Hoxne Hoard is now on permanent display at the British Museum, drawing thousands of people every year.

Sadly, there is no word on whether or not the hammer was ever found.

2. Arkansas is a Girl’s Best Friend

W.O. Bassum found a giant of a gemstone in 1924 – a 40.23 carat diamond. It might surprise you to hear that he wasn’t digging in one of the famous South African diamond mines at the time, but was near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, at a site that is now the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Sitting on top of a volcanic pipe (a geologic tube formed by an ancient underground volcanic explosion), the park is the only diamond site in the world that is open to the public. Best of all, the park’s policy is: “You find it. You keep it. No matter how valuable it is.”

Bassum’s big find – nicknamed “The Uncle Sam Diamond,” the largest diamond ever discovered in North America – was later cut down to 12.42 carat and sold for $150,000 in 1971 (About $800,000 today). But his wasn’t the last valuable rock dug out of that Arkansas soil.

In 1964, “The Star of Murfreesboro” was discovered at the same site, weighing in at 34.25 carat. Then, in 1975, came the 16.37 carat “Amarillo Starlight Diamond.” The 6.35 carat “Roden Diamond” was found in 2006. And the crown jewel of the park has been the “Strawn-Wagner Diamond” (pictured), a comparatively small 3.09 carat diamond, that was dug up in 1990, and expertly cut down to 1.90 carat. Despite its smaller size, the Strawn-Wagner stands out because it was given a “Perfect” rating by the American Gem Society – the first diamond to ever receive such a high grade.

But don’t think this list of big gems means the site has been tapped out. On average, two diamonds are found every day at Crater of Diamonds. They’re not all as big as The Uncle Sam Diamond, but maybe you’ll get lucky. There’s only one way to find out…

3. The Declaration of (Financial) Independence

We’ve all heard of the man who bought a $4 painting at a garage sale, found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence inside, and sold it for $2.4 million. A once-in-a-lifetime story, right? Not so much, actually.

Michael Sparks was visiting a Nashville thrift store, where he bought a candleholder, a set of salt and pepper shakers, and a yellowed print of the Declaration of Independence. Sparks figured the document was a worthless, modern reprint, so he paid the asking price – $2.48 – and headed home.

After looking over the document for a few days, he wondered if it might be older than he initially thought. So he hopped on the internet to do some research and soon realized he had purchased one of only 200 official copies of the Declaration of Independence commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820. Of those 200, 35 had been found intact; he had number 36.

It took a year for Sparks to have the print authenticated and preserved, and then he put it up for auction, netting a final sale price of $477,650.

The salt and pepper shakers, on the other hand, were still worthless.

4. A Good Heade for Bargains

One day, an employee at a tool-and-die company in Indiana spent $30 for a few pieces of used furniture and an old painting of some flowers. When he got his new stuff home, he decided to strategically hang the picture to cover up a hole in the wall that had been bugging him.

Some years later he was playing a board game called Masterpiece in which players attempt to outbid one another for artwork at an auction. Much to his surprise, one of the cards in the game featured a painting of flowers that looked a lot like the one he had on his wall. So he went online and found that his painting was similar in style to the work of Martin Johnson Heade, an American still-life artist best known for landscapes and flower arrangements.

Through his research he found the Kennedy Galleries in Manhattan, which handles many of Heade’s works, and asked them to take a look at his painting. They agreed and were able to verify that the piece of artwork covering the hole in his wall was a previously unknown Heade painting, since named Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth. In 1999, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston purchased the painting for $1.2 million dollars.

I emailed the Museum to ask if the painting was covering a hole in the wall, but I didn’t get a reply.

5. It’s nice, but it’s no Middleham Jewel…

Every Sunday afternoon for the last seven years, Mary Hannaby had gone for a walk with her metal detector. She’d never really found anything of value, but she liked getting the exercise, so she kept at it. On one Sunday in June 2009, her detector beeped, and she bent down to dig up what she thought was going to be another common coin or old nail. Instead, she uncovered a postage stamp-sized gold pendant featuring an intricate carving of the crucifixion of Jesus. Maybe she had finally hit the jackpot.

Upon inspection by the British Museum, the pendant was described as “an important find,” and they estimated the market value to be around £4,000. Still, they decided not to purchase it for their collection, so Mary took the pendant to Sotheby’s. The experts at the auction house felt the piece was much more valuable, because it was believed to be one of only three similar items known to exist. Their initial estimate was £250,000, but said it could easily sell for as much as £2.5 million thanks to its resemblance to another English treasure also found with a metal detector, the Middleham Jewel.

But as the saying goes, “Never count your millions until the auctioneer bangs his gavel.” Sotheby’s put the pendant up for auction on July 9, 2009, making it the highlight of a large lot of antique sculptures. Clearly the expectations were high. The bidding started at £30,000, but as the final call was made, the best offer was only £38,000 – far below the reserve price to make a sale.

6. A Possible Pollock

In 1992, Teri Horton, a retired truck driver, went to her local thrift store to buy a depressed friend a gag gift. She found a rather large painting – 66” x 47” – that she thought was pretty amusing because it was, in her opinion, so ugly. When she asked the thrift store employee the price, they said $8. She haggled and only paid $5. In the end, her friend didn’t want it (she, too, thought it was ugly, plus it wouldn’t fit through the door of her trailer), so Teri took it home and tried to unload it at her garage sale. A local art teacher saw the painting and suggested it could very well be a Jackson Pollock. In response, Teri famously asked the teacher, “Who the f*** is Jackson Pollock?”

Since that day, Teri Horton has been struggling to prove that her thrift store treasure is a lost piece of artwork potentially worth well over $100 million. However, due to the painting’s lack of verifiable history of ownership (called “provenance”), the piece is disputed by many fine arts experts as simply another artist’s work inspired by Pollock. To find proof of Pollock, Teri had the work examined by a forensic specialist who claims to have found a fingerprint that matches one in Pollock’s studio. But even the fingerprint evidence has been disputed by the art world, leaving the painting, as yet, unsold.

Teri, her painting, and her battle with the art world elite became the subject of a 2006 documentary called, appropriately, Who the *$&% is Jackson Pollock?

HERE’S THE COMPLETE LIST

Overbearing, obsessively rude, noisy, and opinionated – there are so many things that can be found annoying in that one person in Office. So, what actually are some of the ‘universally’ bad behaviors for office work? Here’s a look at the top 10 annoying office habits…

1. Office drummers - There are lesser annoying office habits than the person who has to tap out a rhythm while waiting for their brain to submerge into the work they’re assigned.

2. Foghorn phone voice – The breed of office worker who raises their tone several decibels as soon as they pick up the phone.

3. Pod pong - Well, these are those people who marinate themselves in perfumes overnight.

4. Key smashers – All offices have at least one person who appears to think that to make the little symbols on their keyboard appear on the screen, they need to exert the force of an atomic bomb through the ends of their digits.

5. Paid for nothing – In this case, an employee gets paid for standing out in the sunshine chatting to wheezy and addicted mates while the fresh-lunged members of the workforce are indoors putting their mind to work.

6. Snot funny - What is it with people, who riddled with pleurisy, the bubonic plague or cancer of the entire body, still think it’s a good idea to come in to work? The world really won’t stop if that report doesn’t get finished and the boss more likely regards you as a mug than a martyr. Your work mates, of course, will shower you with love for ruining their plans for the weekend and keeping their kids out of school.

7. Lucifer’s lunch – Egg and mayonnaise sandwiches, tuna fishcakes, blue cheese with crackers, breakfast burritos with extra onion and chips with salt and vinegar – all food items which should be banned from the workplace, thanks to their smell.

8. Ringtone hell - This section includes all those people who play bits of their favourite heavy metal music collection from a speaker on their desk, via their mobile phone.

9. Space invaders – You distinctly remember hearing the boss bring your new work mate over to his or her work area and say, “This is your desk”. The boss did not follow that up with the words, “but feel free to use your colleague’s desk for overspill if there’s not enough room for your inane gossip magazines and pictures of your 17 children”.

10. Eau de underarm – There are fewer things more noxious than a damp-shirted male who, after working up a sweat running for the bus, is left to “mature” over a keyboard for eight hours.