Categorie: Stil de viață

Uniunea Sovietică și Rusia în general sunt cunoscute pentru că au unele dintre cele mai extreme invenții asamblate vreodată. Rușii posedă cu adevărat o ingeniozitate unică de a crea ceva nebunesc din nimic. Când Uniunea Sovietică era o putere mondială, ei cheltuiau sume nebunești de bani dezvoltând o tehnologie militară nemaiauzită. Cum ar fi Ekranoplanul mortal care a fost pus în producție. Acest lucru era o aeronavă absolut masivă, care trecea deasupra apei cu viteze mari pentru a evita detectarea de către radarul inamic. Rușii împing în mod constant limitele când vine vorba de tehnologia inventiva, iar aceste bărci numite bărci cu hidrofoil care au fost dezvoltate în anii 1970 și 1980 sunt cu siguranță una dintre cele mai nebunești vase de apă pe care le-am văzut vreodată.

Privind-o din față, acest lucru ar putea fi o navă spațială din Razboiul Stelelor sau Star Trek.

Acești imitatori de rachete ar accelera oamenii în sus și în jos pe căile fluviale rusești.

Bărcile foloseau un sistem numit tehnologie hidrofoil. Aripioarele de pe fundul bărcii au permis ca barca să fie ridicată din apă, reducând rezistența.

Acest lucru le-ar permite unora dintre aceste bărci să ajungă până la 60 km/h.

Au fost supranumiți „raketas”, care înseamnă rusă pentru rachetă. Unele dintre ele erau chiar echipate cu motoare cu turbină de avion pe laterale.

Designul original al bărcilor cu hidrofoil a venit din mintea inventatorului sovietic Rostislav Alexeyev.

Aproape 3.000 dintre aceste mașini incredibile au fost produse pentru a transporta oamenii încoace și înapoi pe râurile rusești și ucrainene.

Prăbușirea economică a Uniunii Sovietice a oprit însă producția acestor bărci. Acum mulți dintre ei stau în cimitirele navelor la fel ca acesta.

Văzând acestea din nou pe râuri ar fi chiar un eveniment.

Din nefericire, timpul și neutilizarea și-au afectat aceste simboluri odată naționale ale mândriei.

Unii și-au găsit încă folosirea în alte țări. Vietnam încă mai folosește unul dintre modelele de bărci din anii 1970. Încă mai rulează o rută zilnică între insula Cat Ba și orașul Hai Phong.

Puteți găsi, de asemenea, hidrofoile care conduc încă râurile în loc, cum ar fi Canada, Grecia, Iugoslavia, Țările de Jos, Thailanda, Turcia și această imagine care operează în China.

Pentru mulți ruși, hidrofoilele sunt un simbol al copilăriei. Un om de afaceri rus a transformat chiar unul într-un iaht de lux.

Mă întreb cât ar costa asta în comparație cu un iaht real?

Oricum, aceasta nu este o modalitate rea de a-ți menține în viață o parte din copilărie.

Acesta din Ucraina a avut chiar soarta unică de a fi transformat într-un bar.

Mi-ar plăcea să văd aceste lucruri navigând în sus și în jos râuri aici, în Statele Unite.

Acestea sunt mașini destul de incredibile și chiar mi-aș dori să fie încă în uz popular astăzi. Tehnologia cu hidrofoil este destul de fascinantă și pare o modalitate solidă de a efectua călătoriile pe apă. Aceste lucruri chiar pot fi considerate piese de artă. Fiecare nume de model diferit a fost inspirat de programul spațial sovietic. Nume precum „Sputnik”, „Cometa”, „Meteor” și „Stormbringer” au evocat mândria națională și un sentiment de împlinire. Din păcate, această tehnologie pare retrogradată în paginile istoriei.

Prietenii sunt prieteni, indiferent de speciile în care apar. O vedem adesea cu animale. Multe tipuri diferite de animale sălbatice vor refuza să-și lase prietenii sau familia în urmă atunci când sunt în pericol. Se pare că există ceva în majoritatea viețuitoarelor care ne obligă să fim acolo pentru cei la care ne pasă. Câinii nu sunt diferiți în acest aspect. Acești doi pui de mai jos au primit mâini destul de dure în viață. Nu lasă situațiile lor nefericite să-i împiedice să iubească viața și să fie cei mai buni câini care pot fi.

Acestea sunt Holly și Susie. Holly este paralizată la picioarele din spate, iar Susie este oarbă și surdă. În ciuda ambelor handicapuri, acești doi sunt cei mai buni prieteni. Holly are un cărucior special pe care îl trage cu cea mai bună prietenă a ei Susie înăuntru.

Mama lor, Norma Miedema este extrem de mândră de bebelușii ei cu blană și nu i-ar lua altfel decât sunt acum. Ea postează în mod constant videoclipuri și poze cu ele pe Facebook.

Urmăriți videoclipul despre cum se desfășoară acești doi!

Acești doi sunt absolut adorabili împreună! Par prietenii perfecți. Holly pare foarte loială și dedicată iubitei ei, și sunt sigur că Susie este la fel cu Holly. Sperăm că acești doi au o viață lungă și fericită împreună.

Ni s-a întâmplat tuturor, cea mai urâtă surpriză vreodată. Intri mâna în cuptor pentru a recupera acel deliciu gustos care tocmai s-a terminat de coacere. Îți lasă gura apă pe măsură ce deschizi ușa cuptorului și ești explodat de parfumul delicios al creației tale. Căldura este insuportabilă totuși, începi să te grăbești ca să poți scăpa rapid de cuptorul aprins. Mergi prea repede, mișcările tale nu sunt suficient de precise pentru decalajul mic în care ajungi. Greșeala costisitoare: ai atins grătarul cuptorului. Îți poți auzi pielea sfârâind pe metalul super încălzit în timp ce îți retragi brațele mai repede decât un glonț. Ar fi putut fi totul diferit dacă ați fi avut aceste apărătoare geniale pentru suport pentru cuptor.

Se atașează la capătul raftului cuptorului prevenind arsurile urâte.

Fiecare pachet vine cu patru dispozitive de protecție, transformând efectiv cuptorul tău sfârâit într-o zonă de coacere mai sigură.

Similar cu proprietățile lemnului, materialul din care este fabricat nu transferă ușor căldura; nu te va arde când îl atingi.

Nu trebuie să vă faceți griji, protecțiile sunt sigure pentru alimente și sunt aprobate de FDA.

Fiecare apărător are 14 inci lungime, asigurând acoperirea unei suprafețe mari a raftului.

Se taie usor, astfel incat se potrivesc pe orice dimensiune de cuptor.

Le poți instala chiar și în cuptoare de pâine!

Fabricate din silicon rezistent la căldură, nu se vor topi niciodată și vor rezista toată viața.

În siguranță până la 450° F, va trebui să le îndepărtați doar când treceți cuptorul printr-un ciclu de curățare.

Protecțiile sunt rezistente la apă pentru a împiedica pătrunderea ceva în ele.

Curățarea lor este, de asemenea, ușoară! Pur și simplu clătiți-le și lăsați mașina de spălat vase să facă treaba murdară.

Gardienii au un rating extrem de bun de patru stele și jumătate pe Amazon.

Posibilitățile sunt nelimitate cu versatilitatea dispozitivelor de protecție din silicon.

Un accesoriu la fel de eficient pentru copt sunt aceste mănuși de cuptor din silicon.

Lucrând cu aceleași proprietăți ca și aceste apărătoare pentru cuptor, sunt, de asemenea, extrem de eficiente în blocarea căldurii.

Prin combinarea acestor două lucruri, veți fi imun la orice arsuri suplimentare la cuptor!

Nu mai suporta acele arsuri groaznice la cuptor! Pentru prețul mic de 15 USD nu trebuie să fii ars din nou. Cine știa că soluția este atât de simplă? Și împreună cu mănușile de cuptor din silicon, vei fi practic de neînvins! Puteți achiziționa aceste apărătoare pentru suport pentru cuptor de pe Amazon aici.

În vremuri de situații stresante, există într-adevăr doar două tipuri de oameni. Tipul care intră în panică și abandonează nava, preocupat doar de siguranța lor sau tipul eroic. Tipul eroic are ceva în interiorul lor care aproape intră în auto-pilot și pur și simplu realizează lucrurile! Acest tip evaluează aparent instantaneu situația și acționează instinctiv asupra acesteia. Indiferent de ce este nevoie, aceștia lucrează la limita corpului lor și fac tot ce este necesar pentru a obține remediul dorit. Fetița din această poveste este exact acel tip. Indiferent de motiv, această canoe începe să se scufunde și toți ocupanții sunt forțați să abandoneze nava.

Pe măsură ce canoa care se scufundă devine complet scufundată, gândirea rapidă a acestei fetițe poate fi singurul lucru care va salva canoea.

Cred că răspunsul inițial al tuturor ar fi să oprească canoa să cadă în fundul golfului.

Fata vine cumva cu ideea de a legăna canoa care se scufundă înainte și înapoi

Ea găsește cumva modelul ritmic potrivit pentru a trânti apa cu forță, făcând-o să scape din interiorul canoei care se scufundă.

Odată ce cea mai mare parte a apei este afară și canoa plutește din nou, copiii sunt liberi să se urce înapoi la bord.

Tânărul nostru erou nu a terminat încă. Ea își continuă actele de bunătate ajutându-i pe ceilalți copii să se întoarcă în canoea pe care tocmai a salvat-o.

Cu puțină apă rămasă în fundul canoei, copiii folosesc căni pentru a o scoate.

Urmărește videoclipul de mai jos pentru a vedea această fată uimitoare salvând o canoe care se scufundă.

Această fetiță este destul de uimitoare prin gândirea ei rapidă și reacțiile dezinteresate. Îmi este greu să cred că majoritatea adulților ar fi fost capabili să acționeze în așa fel încât să împiedice de fapt ca canoa care se scufundă să se deplaseze spre fund. Această fată nu numai că previne catastrofa, dar prezintă și o demonstrație uimitoare de atletism și o familiaritate evidentă cu acțiunile ei în apă.

Tindem să uităm cât de frumos este Pământul nostru când ne uităm mereu la un computer sau un televizor. Aceste imagini arată că nu aveți nevoie de altceva decât de mama natură pentru a produce unele dintre cele mai frumoase priveliști pe care le-ați văzut vreodată. Fotografiile de mai jos par ca ar fi putut fi scoase direct dintr-un calendar. Sunt uluitoare, superbe și vă arată adevărata frumusețe de care este cu adevărat capabilă Mama Natură. Vreau să vizitez fiecare dintre aceste locații. Cu priveliști frumoase din întreaga lume, cum ar fi cele din aceste fotografii, lista mea de găleți a devenit puțin mai lungă, asta e sigur!

1. Toamna în Alpii elvețieni

2. Maroon Bells din Aspen, Colorado

3. Muntele Thor din Insula Baffin, Canada. Nu numai că este absolut frumos, este și cea mai mare cădere verticală de pe Pământ, la 4.101 de picioare!

4. Canyonlands, Utah

5. Lacul Thousand Islands, China

6. Boulder, Colorado

7. Vulcan din Etiopia care este mereu activ.

8. Plaja ascunsă din Kapaa, Hawaii

9. Erupția vulcanului în Eyjafjallajökull, Islanda

10. The Giant’s Causeway din Insula de Nord. Acesta este alcătuit din aproximativ 40.000 de coloane de bazalt de-a lungul coastei.

11. Dolomiți, Italia

12. Muntele Fuji, Japonia

13. Muntele Kilimanjaro din Masai Mara, Kenya

14. Morondava, Madagascar

15. Parcul Național Glacier, Montana

16. Dunele din Namibia

17. Peștera Glow Worm din Waitamo, Noua Zeelandă

18. Holul misterios din Oregon

19. Cueva Ventana, Puerto Rico

20. Lacul Baikal, Rusia

21. Insula Skye, Scoția

22. Soca in Slovenia

23. Parcul Național Yosemite

24. Noua Zeelandă

Aceste locuri frumoase îmi fac imaginația să rătăcească atât de mult. Mă întreb despre toate lucrurile care mi-au rămas de făcut și locurile pe care încă nu le-am văzut. Ce locații ați adăugat la lista dvs. de informații? Dacă aș putea, aș vrea să vizitez fiecare dintre aceste locuri! Viața este scurtă, așa că mișcă-te!

Leoparzii de zăpadă sunt una dintre cele mai evazive creaturi de pe planetă și, personal, unul dintre animalele mele preferate din lume. Habitatele lor sunt aproape inaccesibile de oameni și trebuie să îndurați temperaturi înghețate și teren accidentat odată ce ajungeți acolo. Fotografiile și videoclipurile cu aceste creaturi magnifice sunt destul de rare și sunt sărbătorite atunci când sunt aduse înapoi pentru ca lumea să le vadă. Fotograful care a surprins aceste fotografii incredibile se numește Inger Vandyke. Ea și un grup de alți fotografi au făcut călătoria periculoasă în Himalaya indiană pentru a încerca să urmărească acest leopard de zăpadă camuflat în habitatul său natural. Aceasta este o sarcină foarte dificil de îndeplinit, deoarece un leopard de zăpadă camuflat este aproape complet ascuns în împrejurimile sale. Leoparzii de zăpadă sunt, de asemenea, creaturi foarte ascunse, care este unul dintre lucrurile care îi face atât de dificil de urmărit și de aproape. Acest grup de fotografi a reușit să îndure cele 17 zile de temperaturi înghețate (uneori la fel de reci ca -13 F) și teren muntos pentru a obține câteva fotografii uimitoare ale acestui evaziv leopard de zăpadă camuflat. Problema este că în unele dintre ele sunt aproape imposibil de observat! Leoparzii de zăpadă se ascund atât de bine în habitatul lor natural, încât fotografii vor face uneori călătoria și nici măcar nu vor putea face fotografii. Din fericire pentru noi, Inger Vandyke a reușit să surprindă unele incredibile și să lase lumea să se bucure de ele. Nu veți dori să ratați aceste fotografii uimitoare ale unui leopard de zăpadă camuflat.

Puteți observa leopardul de zăpadă în această imagine? Mi-a luat ceva timp.

Încearcă încă o dată. Acesta poate fi chiar mai greu decât primul.

Iată-te! Leoparzii de zăpadă s-au adaptat mediului lor mai bine decât aproape orice alt animal. Camuflajul lor este atât de eficient, încât chiar și camerele de înaltă definiție nu le găsesc uneori.

Aceste pisici mari sunt unele dintre cele mai frumoase creaturi de pe planetă. Sunt uimită de fiecare dată când văd o poză cu unul. Leoparzii de zăpadă vor rămâne ascunși pentru o perioadă foarte lungă de timp pentru a-și urmări și a urmări prada.

Când în cele din urmă ies, se duc la ucidere. Dexteritatea și echilibrul de care trebuie să fie nevoie pentru a putea alerga cu viteză maximă peste aceste roci este incredibilă.

Leoparzii de zăpadă sunt urmăritori și vânători excelenți. Își vor urmări prada zile întregi, așteptând momentul potrivit pentru a lovi.

Uneori, totuși, chiar și cele mai bine puse planuri dau greșit.

Aceasta este în mod clar o privire de dezamăgire și foame. Fotograful Inger Vandyke a spus că de șapte din opt ori acest leopard de zăpadă a încercat o ucidere, a fost în pierdere.

Aceste fotografii au fost făcute în timpul sezonului de împerechere.

Mi-ar fi și rușine dacă mi-ar lipsi mâncarea de șapte din opt ori.

Tipul ăsta pare să fi fost prin bloc.

Poate că această piatră va oferi un oarecare confort de a nu mânca.

Capturarea fotografiilor acestei specii evazive este o experiență o dată în viață.

Privirea interacțiunilor naturale dintre aceste creaturi maiestuoase trebuie să fi fost o priveliște de privit.

Leoparzii de zăpadă camuflati au haine de blană extrem de groase pentru a supraviețui temperaturilor friguroase sub zero din habitatul lor.

Tot ce mă pot gândi când îl văd pe acest tip este Scar de la Disney Regele Leu.

Terenul pe care trăiesc aceste animale uimitoare este de necrezut.

Dacă nu ați putut găsi leoparzii de zăpadă camuflati în fotografia de sus, aici este.

Iată-l pe al doilea. Destul de bine nu?

Aceste fotografii cu leoparzi de zăpadă camuflati sunt niște imagini fantastice. Când fotografi sunt capabili să captureze și să partajeze fotografii incredibile ca aceasta, într-adevăr face foarte mult pentru conștientizarea animalelor. Observăm o privire rară în viața de zi cu zi și luptele acestor animale și știu că pentru mine personal, mă face să-mi pese mult mai mult. Cu toții ar trebui să facem un pas înapoi și să apreciem pur și simplu frumusețea naturii și a creaturilor din jurul nostru.

Corpurilor noastre adoră să stea într-o cadă cu hidromasaj după o zi lungă de muncă. Ei bine, acum bărbații se pot plimba chiar în același tratament cu jacuzzi cu această nouă cadă cu hidromasaj inovatoare numită „Testicuzzi”. Sunt sigur că poți spune cu ușurință din nume ce este și ce face.

Da, este o cadă cu hidromasaj pentru testicule.

Testicuzzi are un biban din silicon ultra moale pentru… ei bine, știi, margine conturată și un bazin interior dublu de dimensiunea unui sac pentru a înmuia totul.

Această mini cadă cu jeturi este un dispozitiv de relaxare alimentat de baterii care eliberează bule de aer pentru a relaxa toți acești mușchi.

Imaginile lasă foarte puțin imaginației cu privire la modul în care funcționează.

Este disponibil în 3 modele – alb, negru jet și aur de 14k.

Edițiile alb și negru jet se vând cu 69,69 USD, iar aurul de 14K va costa 10.000 USD.

Puteți verifica toate clopotele și fluierele (fără joc de cuvinte) aici:

Mai multe informații: Testicuzzi

Așa că acum ai în sfârșit acel cadou perfect de Crăciun pentru acel bărbat special din viața ta. Vizitați site-ul lor pentru mai multe informații.

There are two different possibilities when a woman gives birth to twins. The most common type of twin is the fraternal twin, which happens when two eggs are fertilized by different sperm.  They are no more genetically alike than any other sibling with the same mother and father in the family.  Then there are identical twins. This is a little more rare because in order for a pair of twins to be identical, a single egg needs to have split after being fertilized, which results in two people with the exact same genetic makeup. Being an identical twin is rare considering the splitting of a fertilized egg is more of a fluke than a common occurrence.

When I was young, I saw the movie Big Business which was about two sets of twins who were switched at birth; each being separated from their own identical twin and sent home in the wrong pair. Of course, they weren’t aware of the mix-up until they ran into their own doppelgangers as adults and deduce what must have happened years before.  I haven’t watched this movie for many years, however, I do recall thinking it was very funny, if not just a bit unrealistic.  Little did I know that the year ‘Big Business‘ was released in 1988, there was something very similar happening in the city of Bogotá, Columbia.

The Velasco Twins – William and Wilber Velasco were born in a very rural and remote village called Santander. They were two of six children who worked on the family sugar cane farm. They were taken out of school when they were 12 years old because the nearest school was a 5 hour walk away. In order to attend school further, their family would have had to pay to let them board near the school which they could not afford, especially since school would also include the added cost of uniforms and losing the labor they would provide on the farm itself.

William Velasco – Unfortunately, this lack of a high school education had a negative impact on William, who while serving in the army with his brother, Wilber, earned a full-ride scholarship to attend petty-officer training which would have elevated his status in the world, but he was ineligible because he didn’t have the equivalence of a high school diploma.

Wilber Velasco – William moved to Bogotá, the largest city in Columbia in 2009 with Wilber following shortly after.  William was a hard worker who soon became the manager at a butcher shop. Wilber also worked with William at the shop, as well as their cousin Brian, who had a hand in the fraternal twins discovering what they couldn’t have imagined was going to happen.

The Castro Twins – Carlos and Jorge Castro were born in December 1988 in Bogotá, Columbia.  They had an older sister and were raised by their mother who was a housekeeper. The family of four lived in a single bedroom in a house owned by their grandmother. However, they didn’t feel like they were deprived growing up because they lived near good public schools, which enabled them to complete their educations and they were able to cram a TV and a refrigerator into that small room!

Jorge Castro – Jorge worked as an engineer at a company where he designed pipes for oil transport, whereas his fraternal twin Carlos worked at an accounting firm. Both brothers were also taking college courses to continue their education while living together in a 2 bedroom apartment in a middle-class neighborhood.

Carlos Castro – Carlos and Jorge’s mother passed away 4 years earlier due to stomach cancer and the brothers, along with their older sister, were disappointed they weren’t able to provide her with a better life while she was still alive. They were not well to do, but they were able to provide themselves with a better home than that which they had been raised in.

The Initial Realization For Jorge

Because the Castro brothers were not aware of the Velasca brothers and vice versa, they didn’t know such a huge part of their lives was missing. And if not for a coincidence of fate, they still might not know they each had an identical twin that was being raised apart from themselves.

One day, William was working in his butcher shop when his cousin’s girlfriend, Janeth, stops by with a friend to get some ribs for a BBQ they were both attending.  Her friend recognizes William as someone she works with and wonders why he would be moonlighting as a butcher, and she also wonders why he was pretending not to know her.  She mentions the oddity to her friend who corrects her assumption by telling her it was not Jorge behind the counter, but William whom she was very familiar with.

Several months later Janeth got a new job working at the same company where Jorge Castro was working.  She was shocked by the similarity and shows a picture of her co-worker Jorge to her boyfriend’s cousin William. When William sees the  picture of this eerily similar stranger he thinks it’s hilarious! However, other than showing the picture to some of his grocery store co-workers and laughing about the coincidence he dismissed the man in the picture as just that, a coincidence.

On September 9, 2014, almost a year after showing William the picture of Jorge, Janeth was still wondering if she should discuss the matter with Jorge and tell him about the man who shares his looks. Jorge was amazed by the likeness of William to himself. However, it wasn’t until he was flipping through William’s Facebook photos and saw a picture of William taking shots with someone who looked identical to his own twin brother that he realized they had more of a connection than just looks.

Jorge told his brother Carlos that he had a twin that evening by opening the subject with “‘‘What would you say if I told you I had an identical twin?’’ which failed to amuse his more serious brother.  He followed up with, ‘‘Do you believe in telenovelas?’’  A telenovela is a soap opera. This question only caused Carlos to lose his patience, so Jorge finally stopped beating around the bush and showed his brother the picture of the identical strangers.  Carlos’ reaction was slightly different from Jorge’s. He wanted nothing to do with William and Wilber and felt that investigating would only invite trouble.  They both knew that Carlos, must have been the switched twin because he did not fit in with their family in looks or personality. When Carlos learned the truth he hugged Jorge while saying, “I want to be your brother”.

William Learns The Truth

The day after Jorge and Carlos discovered they were not fraternal twins, but rather each a part of a set of identical twins, William’s cousin showed up to work with the strange story.   William investigated how a switch might have occurred after seeing proof that he was most likely related to the man in the picture.  He discovered that, although ‘he’ was born in Santander, he was shortly sent to Bogotá after his birth due to some digestive problems from being born at 28 weeks. The hospital he was sent to happened to be Matron Infantil where Carlos and Jorge were born. The infant from Santander was switched with one of the Castro babies becoming Carlos Castro, fraternal twin to Jorge Castro.  And the true Carlos was raised as William Velasco with his fraternal twin Wilber Castro in Santander.

When William confirmed the truth of the matter, what started off as an amusing coincidence swiftly brought him to tears where he exclaimed that he was a, “missing person that no one had known to miss.”

William quickly called Wilber, who was working at another butcher shop and broke the news to his brother by showing him pictures.  Wilber caught on immediately and his response in discovering the mix-up was, “I don’t care who they are.  You’re my brother. And you’ll be my brother until the day I die.”

Thus the fraternal twins discovered that they actually have identical twins and had the switch not happened William and Carlos would have lived vastly different lives.

Carlos Castro With His Identical Twin Wilber Velasco

Jorge Castro With His Identical Twin William Velasco

Reunited

Jorge and William, although raised apart are both excited to meet one another, whereas Carlos and Wilbur are more reserved and reluctant to further a relationship with the identical strangers. However, William called on his brother for moral support and the two went together, along with Janeth and their cousin to meet Jorge.  The meeting had to be strange. Not only to see someone you hadn’t known existed who looks exactly like you, but to also see their brother that looks identical to your own. It would be impossible to wrap your mind around it.

They eventually all met up at his and Jorge’s apartment where all four were together for the first time.

They visited in the duplex for some time, discussing their upbringing and comparing themselves to their identical twins. They discovered that Carlos and Wilber were the cry-babies.  Jorge and William had sweet tempers. Carlos and Wilber were organized and were also known to chase girls. whereas Jorge and William were the strongest. They also found out that both Carlos and Wilber were slower to show their affection. Carlos also noticed that Wilber had a speech impediment, which he too had as a child, but it was corrected with speech therapy.

There were differences between the identical twins as well… Wilber was quicker to laugh and liked small children, whereas Carlos was more cynical. It must have been an amazing night discovering who their missing twin was and seeing how similar they were. It would have been so difficult as well to see what they were missing all their lives.  Especially William who discovered his biological mother had passed away before he could meet her. It was especially difficult for William to come to terms with the fact that he would have finished school had he been raised with his biological family instead of on the small sugar cane farm.

These are the biological parents of Carlos Castro and Wilber Valesco in the home where William and Wilber were raised.

Carlos Sitting On The Porch Of His Would Be Childhood Home – Carlos felt like more of an outsider than he had ever felt growing up because his fraternal twin was developing a relationship with his own identical twin and he felt as though he was being left behind. The group agreed to be a part of a study of identical twins that were raised apart, which involved a trip to the Velasco’s home town where Carlos was able to see where he might have grown up had the switch not occurred.

After learning of his identical twin, Jorge honored his fraternal twin, Carlos, by adding his portrait next to one of their mother.

Because Carlos was so down about the growing relationship between Jorge and his identical twin William, Jorge gave him an amazing gift.  Jorge had the portrait of Carlos, his brother, tattooed on his chest next to the portrait of their mother.  When Carlos saw the tattoo it brought tears to his eyes and he claimed it was the best present anyone had ever given him.

Although Carlos and Wilbur were nervous to include strangers in their lives, it all worked out for the best. The brothers have even been part of a research project studying the effects of raising identical twins in different environments because of their extremely unique situation. It’s amazing that they are able to turn such a life-changing experience into something good.

“All that has happened is that our families have gotten bigger.” ~ Jorge Castro

H/T

Their story is something you would think only happened in the movies.  It is amazing that they ever found each other. Hopefully they all stay close together as one big happy family. My hope for them is that they don’t look back and think of what might have been, but look forward and concentrate on where their lives can go from here!

Traveling is an amazing way to keep yourself grounded and humble. You get to see different parts of the world, then come home to the comfort of your own home reflecting on your ventures and the sights that you saw. But for some of us, traveling can be very expensive. Even just going a few thousand miles could end up costing a few thousand dollars between gas, flights, hotel, and food. And if you want to do that regularly, you better start saving as soon as you get back from your vacation. Well this group of college students had an amazing idea. They decided to buy an old school bus that was about 20 years old and turn it into an RV that they named the Serendipitibus. What they did to this old bus was perfect for their need of traveling, and it had plenty of space for all eight of them! Wait until you see the finished product.

Here is a group picture behind the blood, sweat, and tears that came with turning this old school bus into a usable RV. From left to right you have Amy, John, Dan, Sam, Michael, Nicky K, Rory, and Nick M. They all had an important role in the renovations as well. Amy is a marketer and blogger who handled all social media and blogging of this product. John was the plumber and photographer. Dan was the detail carpenter and house maid. Sam took care of the interior design and was also the videographer. Michael created the roof deck and is the designated sleepyhead. Nicky K is the bus dad and also painter. Rory handled the electrical and managed to be the group optimist. Then there is Nick M who decided he was the dictator of the group.

They found this bus for sale and knew what they had to do. It was about 20 years old at the time of purchase and had been used by a local school district in years past.

The inside wasn’t in the best condition, but they were optimistic about their venture.

Mike, the guy pictured to the right, had purchased the old school bus with dreams of renovating it one day. He didn’t have the time, so he agreed to sell it to these college students. When they told him their plans of renovating it, he felt okay about letting it go.

They knew this bus would be perfect, so they signed on the dotted line and considered it theirs!

Mike offered to give them everything that was inside as well. He had already started collecting old furniture and he had torn out some of the old seats found in the bus originally. He also had started to paint the bus red, but had run out of time.

Now that they had the bus, it was time to start on the design they wanted. They wanted to make sure it would fit all 8 of them comfortably. They started with the plan on the left, but after a lot of debate they ended up with the design on the right. This would give each of them individual sleeping bunks, while still having plenty of space in the common areas.

Because they were going to spend a lot of time in this bus, they decided to bolt down runners to the floor. They contained insulation in between which would help keep out excessive road heat and noise.

For some odd reason, they decided that the best time to lay down the runners would be in the middle of a Midwest winter. Rory and Michael were the ones that had to tighten the bolts underneath the bus.

I bet that was pretty chilly! And from what it sounds like, they are still getting a bit of sass from everyone else who had to help out during this time. But it’s all for a greater good!

They cleared out the inside of the bus as much as they could, then added plywood subflooring. They attached this flooring to the runners with screws and liquid nails.

Now it was time to start adding the furniture and different compartments. They built boxes around the wheel wells and made sure they were insulated really well, which would keep out the added road noise.

Once most of the furniture was framed, it was time to start adding the bunk beds. This was a lot of work and it definitely took its toll on the crew members.

Once the bunk beds were framed, they worked on framing the couches and the kitchen. They had originally put the kitchen on the driver’s side of the bus with a design that included a booth, but decided to change this up a bit. They moved it to the passenger side so they could run the PEX water lines under the driver’s side for the RV hookups.

At first they considered doing gas appliances, but after seeing the amount of fire the stove produced while trying to hook it up, they decided to go with electric appliances instead.

You can see it slowly coming together, one piece of wood at a time.

Next up on the list was installing all of the electrical. This was going to be quite the project!

With the framing all done, they were able to get the wiring where it needed to be without too much of a hassle.

Once the electrical was done, they framed the beds into place. They designed the bunks so they’d be half the size of a queen size bed. Once the beds were framed in, they used Amazon Prime to order 6″ memory foam mattresses, then cut them in half with a hand saw. The beds cost about $80.00 per person and were extremely comfortable.

Anytime they had extra hands offering to help, they’d put them to work by removing the red paint that Mike had quickly thrown up. It was a tedious task, but it was also one of the bigger tasks that had to be tackled.

Once they had removed a lot of the red chipped paint, they started to coat the bus with a white primer.

Once it was completed, they took this bus to the Kentucky Derby. I mean they had beds and a kitchen set up, so why not. While there they found a school bus that was being used by a group of Notre Dame seniors. It wasn’t until this moment that they realized how truly massive the Serendipitibus was.

One thing that they were really proud of is that they didn’t use a single ladder or saw horse during the renovation of this school bus. This included when they were building the roof deck. They did use their apartment garbage can a lot.

Once they got back from the Kentucky Derby, it was time to start painting the interior of the bus.

When it comes to a big renovation like this, finding friends with different skills than yours is key. The next big project was building the roof deck. This would be made of steel and would need to be welded together. One of the group’s friends named Mike and his Baja team members offered to weld the entire deck together in exchange for a case of beer. Doesn’t seem like that bad of a deal for either one.

Here they are at work, making sure the deck is very secure. You don’t want anyone falling off while enjoying the views across the United States.

For the flooring, they used vinyl planks which were light, flexible, waterproof, and very easy to install.

Since Sam was in charge of interior design, she really wanted it to stand out. She started to modge podge nine early 1900s maps that she found showing Yellowstone. She stitched them into one large map and printed it so it’d be tiled together across 30 – 11×17 sheets.

Because of the shape of the RV, they needed to find a company that would make them custom cushions for their couch. Luckily a couple of the moms knew how to sew, more specifically Nick W’s mom and Michael’s mom. They spent an entire day sewing the cushion covers while visiting for graduation.

Time for plumbing! If you’ve ever been on a road trip, you know how important this is. John started to install all of the plumbing. The plumbing would include fresh and gray water tanks, two sinks, a faucet that could also be used as a shower, an electric water pump, and an external RV hose hookup.

Now that everything had been completed and they were all graduated, it was time to hit the road! But first, they lucked out by getting a sponsorship through a McDonald’s in their area! This sponsorship allowed them to eat at a lot of McDonald’s on their trip, but they also set up a big party to send the group off in style. The party included buying meals for unsuspecting guests. Because it was South Bend’s 150th birthday week, the mayor and news stations were also there.

Putting in a ton of time into this project, they ended up working up until 4am the morning they were supposed to leave. They had to make sure everything was perfect before traveling the United States.

Are you ready for some pictures of the final project? I know I am! This is a view from the middle of the bus towards the back where the bunks are located.

Here is a picture of the finished electrical panel. Rory did a great job on this, making it so there were five house batteries and a Schneider inverter/converter that could be used to charge things such as phones and small electronics, but it would also provide power for the computers, a mini-fridge, the microwave, and don’t forget the AC unit! This counter not only stored the breaker box, but it also had a small area where shoes could be stored.

They chose bright colors to provide a bigger sense of space while inside the RV.

They even installed storage under all 21′ of couches.

They also decided to include six boards that they stored in the back of the bus. These would help fill up the space between the couches creating a MEGAcouch!

They installed outlets at the end of each couch to provide plenty of phone charging space.

Nick W. said about this space, “Books to make us look intelligent and Advil to be realistic.”

In the kitchen, they left enough space where a double hot plate could be used or even a propane camp stove as long as the windows were opened.

A view of the microwave and mini-fridge area. It seems like they thought of everything during this renovation.

This may be the most important drawer in the rebuild. It was designed and built by Dan, and contains all of the liquor!

It’s the perfect height for most tall bottles of hard liquor.

This is the pull out trash can, which is a great idea. It keeps the trash secure, so you don’t have to worry about it spilling when you go around a corner. They also put a cut out hole above the trash for easy disposal.

You can really see Sam’s modge podge skills here. They purchased these doors, along with the kitchen cabinets, at the Habitat Humanity ReStore. These doors were only $2.00 each. If you’re looking to renovate something but want to save some money, check out your local Habitat Humanity ReStore. From a distance the wall looks like it may be made of marble, but it’s just printed maps of Yellowstone. What a cool design feature.

They installed curtains leading up to the bunk beds for added privacy.

Each bunk also has its own set of curtains, and the color helps keeps the sun out when you really want to get some sleep.

The plywood under each bed is also attached to hinges, which provides storage for each person. This helps condense what’s brought on the bus, making it so nobody needed to bring luggage.

The rope handles are provided for easy lifting.

Each person had their own bunk bed, and within the cubby, everyone had their own power outlet.

They also left the original lights that were found in the bus, but they made it so each one had its own switch.

The curtains definitely provide a lot of privacy, which is hard to find on any road trip.

The bathroom has a removable toilet and offers enough space when needed.

They had a small area for group storage. They put a bungee cord on top of the hangers to keep everything from flying off while driving. This storage area also houses the AC unit which is below the shelf. It has a collapsible pipe, which allows for the unit to be slid out towards the bunks on hot days and nights.

There are six compartments for storage along the bottom of the bus, but the roof deck was also used for storage as well. It was perfect for storing bikes.

Here is the group by the San Fransisco Bay.

They even found turn signals that showed the arrow, rather than just being a single color light.

The views they saw across the country must have been incredible.

Those are some pretty fancy pants! They found these at a thrift store and had to buy them. They became their go-to outfit when they stopped at the major tourist spots.

H/T

This group of college friends had an amazing trip. They were able to see national parks, major cities, and landmarks, but now their trip has come to an end. Four of them are going onto real jobs, while the other four are securing jobs for themselves. But don’t let that discourage you from making one of these school buses turned RV’s on your own.