AMAZING

Strange but True Facts - Space

2010-02-23T10:14:00.001-08:00

Strange but True Facts - Space

The ancient Greeks called our galaxy the Milky Way because they thought it was made from drops of milk from the breasts of the Greek goddess Hera.

Yuri Gagarin survived the first manned spaceflight but was killed in a plane crash seven years later.

Astronauts become a little taller in space. There is less gravity, so their bones are less squashed together.

Astronauts' footprints and Lunar Rover tyre tracks will stay on the moon for millions of years as there is no wind to blow them away.

About 1500 stars are visible at night with the naked eye in a clear, dark sky. There are 88 constellations altogether. The smallest star measures about 1700 km across. It is a white dwarf called LP 327-16.

The first object to orbit earth was Sputnik 1, launched by the USSR in October 1957.

The first animal in space was the Soviet dog, Laika, in November 1957. It died on the flight.

The first animals to survive in orbital spaceflight were the Soviet dogs, Strelka and Belka, launched in Sputnik 5 in August 1960.

The first person to orbit earth was Yuri Gagarin, from the USSR, in April 1961.

The first American to orbit earth was John Glenn in February 1962.

The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova, from the USSR, in June 1963.

The first person to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong in July 1969.

Strange but True - People

2010-02-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

Strange but True - People

The world's largest palace has 1788 rooms. It was built for the Sultan of Brunei.

The world's largest recorded gathering of people was at a Hindu religious festival in India in 1989. It was attended by about 15 million people.

Abraham Lincoln went to school for less than a year. He taught himself to read and write.

The longest recorded swim was 2938 km down the Mississippi River in 1930. The swimmer spend 742 hours in the water.

Humans are no match for some animals. The rhinoceros beetle can carry 850 times its own weight on its back. The Emperor moth can detect smells 11 km away. The cheetah can run at 70 km/h. The Polyphemus moth eats 86,000 its own birth weight in 48 hours. The cries of South American howler monkeys can be heard 16 km away.

The longest jail sentence passed was in the United States - 10,000 years for a triple murder.

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Try it!

Levi Strauss made the first pair of blue jeans in 1850. They were intended as work trousers for American miners looking for gold.

In Ancient Rome only important people wore purple clothes. This is because the purple dye came from a particular kind of shellfish and was very expensive.

Weird funny place names

2010-02-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Weird funny place names

Would you like to live here? These are names of actual locations:

Arsoli (Lazio, Italy)
Bastard (Norway)
Beaver (Oklahoma, USA)
Beaver Head (Idaho, USA)
Brown Willy (Cornwall,UK)
Chinaman's Knob (Australia)
Climax (Colorado, USA)
Cunt (Spain)
Cunter (Switzerland)
Dikshit (India)
Dildo (Newfoundland, Canada)
Dong Rack (Thailand-Cambodia border)
Dongo (Congo - Democratic Republic)
Effin (Limerick, Ireland)
Fuku (Shensi, China)
Fukue (Honshu, Japan)
Fukui (Honshu, Japan)
Fukum (Yemen)
Hold With Hope (Greenland)
Intercourse (Pennsylvania, USA)
Lickey End (West Midlands, UK)
Little Dix Village (West Indies)
Lord Berkeley's Knob (Sutherland, Scotland)
Middle Intercourse Island (Australia)
Muff (Northern Ireland)
Nobber (Donegal, Ireland)
Pis Pis River (Nicaragua)
Sexmoan (Luzon, Philippines)
Seymen (Turkey)
Shafter (California, USA)
Shag Island (Indian Ocean)
Shitlingthorpe (Yorkshire, UK)
Tittybong (Australia)
Tong Fuk (Japan)
Turdo (Romania)
Twatt (Orkney, UK)
Wank (Germany)
Wankendorf (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)
Wankener (India)
Wankie (Zimbabwe)
Wankie Colliery (Zimbabwe)
Wanks River (Nicaragua)
Wankum (Germany)
Wet Beaver Creek (Australia)

Weird but true shark facts

2010-02-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

Weird but true shark facts

Sharks can sense a drop of blood from 2.5 miles away. They can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.

Sharks are so powerful that their bite can generate a force of up to 6 tons per square inch.

Sharks, in their 400 million years on earth, have shown an extraordinary ability to resist cancer and other diseases. This has raised hopes among medical researchers that the oceans' most feared predator might turn out to be the cancer patient's best friend. Investigators continue to study the immune system of sharks to see if it can provide the answer to stopping the spread of cancer in humans.

Sharks can live up to 100 years.

The biggest shark is the whale shark which can be up to 50 feet (15 m) long. It has approximately 300 rows of teeth, with hundreds of tiny teeth in each row. It's a filter feeder and sieves enormous amounts of plankton to eat through its gills as it swims. It is also the biggest fish in the sea. The second biggest fish and shark is the basking shark which is about 40 feet (12.3 m) long and is another filter feeder.

Sharks can generate about six and a half tons per square inch of biting force.

Sharks have no bones - a shark's skeleton is made up of cartilage.

The biggest meat-eating shark is the Great White which grows to be up to 21 feet (6.4 m) long. The smallest sharks are the Dwarf Lanternfish (6-7 inches), Spined Pygmy Shark (7 inches) and Pygmy Ribbontail Catshark (6-7 inches).

The dogfish sharks are named for their tendency to attack their prey as a pack of wild dogs would.

The ostrich is often credited with laying the largest eggs, but the largest egg in the world was actually laid by a shark, the whale shark. The egg, 14 inches (36 cm) long, was found in the Gulf of Mexico in 1953.

Sharks can go up to at least 6 weeks without feeding. The record for a shark fasting was observed in an aquarium with the Swell Shark, which did not eat for 15 months.

Michael Salter Polystyrene Robot Sculptures

2010-02-19T10:57:00.001-08:00

Michael Salter, an associate professor of digital arts at the University of Oregon created these robot sculptures out of polystyrene (hence they are called styrobots) and his biggest creation stands at 22 feet tall. The smaller robots near its feet keep people from getting too close to it and accidentally knocking it over.

Salter took all winter to cut the pieces which are then glued together and his works are often destroyed at the end of showing. The styrobots may be short lived but they have gathered the audience attention at the shows.

Check out 10 more pics of the polystyrene robots after the jump.

Beijing Olympics Landmarks In Lego

2010-02-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

One of the most amazing Lego productions this year is the Lego Sport City which was themed after the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games. The landmarks featured are the Bird Nest Stadium, Swimming Cube and Sports Billage.

The Lego installation can be found at the Grand Century Place in Hong Kong until August 31st. Check out the behind the scenes part to see the true scale of the Lego works.

20 more pics of Lego Beijing Olympics after the jump.

Tokyo After The Apocalypse

2010-02-19T10:55:00.002-08:00

If you have been to Tokyo, chances are that these fantasy images will look familar with all the building landmarks. Devoid of human inhabitation, these shows how parts of Tokyo would look like if it would ever faced the apocalypse. Nature once again takes over eeriely to claim its land but instead of a brim outlook it does seem to be awfully peaceful. Above shows Shibuya and these images are created by Tokyo Genso (Tokyo Fantasy).

Check out 5 more pics of Tokyo after the Apocalypse after the jump.

The Big Picture Photo Mosaic

2010-02-19T10:55:00.001-08:00

The Big Picture is a project to create the biggest photo album in the West Midlands where the people there submitted over 110,000 photos

. The photos are then used to create a huge record breaking photo mosaic the size of three tennis courts which was unveiled at Birmingham’s Thinktank at Millenium Point on 23rd August 2008.

British artist Helen Marshall is the creative mind behind the project where she worked with photo mosaic specialists PollyTiles to realize the enormous image.

2 more pics of ‘The Big Picture’ photo mosaic after the jump.

Upside Down House Installation In Germany

2010-02-19T10:54:00.003-08:00

An installation of an upside down house in Trassenheide Germany was opened to the public two weeks ago and was designed by Polish partners Klaudiusz Golos and Sebastion Mikuciuk for the Edutainment exhibition company.

People who have visited the house reported feeling dizzy and disorientated. An interesting alternative view of every day items and the designers did a great job with the interior. Similar buildings have been designed upside down before but only from the exterior.

More of the upside down house interior in Germany with 9 more pics after the jump.

Lego Build Of USS Harry S Truman Aircraft Carrier

2010-02-19T10:54:00.001-08:00

Amazing Lego creation of a battleship that uses more than 300,000 bricks to build this huge scale model of the USS Harry S Truman nuclear powered aircraft carrier which is one of the largest carrier in the US fleet.

Malle Hawking, father of two is the creator behind this lego aircraft carrier that carries 85 warplanes and more than 5,000 airmen and crew mimicking its real life counterpart.

5 more pics of the big lego model of the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier after the jump.

Most famous erotic movie star

2010-02-16T13:18:00.002-08:00

Linda Boreman, who starred as Linda Lovelace in the infamous pornographic film Deep Throat, is probably the most famous erotic movie star.

Her 1972 movie, which focuses on the discovery by a sex-conscious young woman that oral sex can be fun, was the most successful pornographic film to be shown in America.

It was declared obscene by the state of New York, a circumstance which may have helped it to gross some three and a half million dollars. It became the first pornographic film to be seen widely at cinemas and made $600m at box offices.

Though it was the most successful blue movie of all time, its star Linda Boreman said she was never paid for it and she became an anti-pornography campaigner later in life.

She claimed she was forced into performing some scenes in Deep Throat by her former manager and husband, Chuck Traynor, and said that every time someone watched her on screen, "they are watching me being raped."

Linda Boreman died at the age of 53 after suffering massive trauma and internal injuries as a result of a car crash on April 3rd, 2002.

Oldest sex manual in the world

2010-02-16T13:18:00.001-08:00

The oldest sex manuals in the world are the Chinese 'Handbooks of Sex' written 5,000 years ago by the legendary Yellow Emperor Huang-Ti (2697-2598 B.C.)

Huang-Ti is credited with founding the Chinese nation and under this legendary ruler agriculture and husbandry and the silk clothing industry developed and flourished.

As well as the 'Handbooks of Sex' it is also believed that the 'Tao of Love Coupling' originated from Huang-ti. The Yellow Emperor is said to have had three female sex advisors, the Plain Girl (Su-nui), the Mystery Girl (Shuen-nui) and the Harvest Girl (Tsai-nui), and one male sex doctor, Pong Tsu. Their conversations (Questions & Answers) were compiled into a book entitled Su-Nui Ching, named after Su-nui. This book became the sexual bible and medical guidebook for many generations.

Struck by lightning record seven times

2010-02-16T13:17:00.002-08:00

US Park Ranger Roy C. Sullivan from Virginia holds the record for the person most times struck by lightning - and living to tell the tale. Between 1942 and 1983, Roy has the dubious distinction of being struck by lightning seven times. He was known as the Human Lightning Rod.

The first lightning strike in 1942 happened as he was working up in a lookout tower and the lighting bolt shot through his leg and knocked his big toenail off.

In 1969 while he was driving along a mountain road a second strike burned off his eyebrows and knocked him unconscious. Another strike just a year later, while he was walking across his yard to get the mail, left his shoulder seared.

He was standing in the office at the ranger station in 1972 when lightning set his hair on fire and Roy had to throw a bucket of water over his head to cool off. A year later, after his hair had grown back, a lightning bolt ripped through his hat and hit him on the head, setting his hair on fire again. It threw him out of his truck, knocked his left shoe off and seared his legs. A sixth strike hit him in 1976 while he was checking on a campsite, injuring his ankle.

The last lightning bolt to hit Roy in 1977 happened while he was fishing. It sent him to hospital with chest and stomach burns.

Roy Sullivan was never killed by lighting - he committed suicide while in his 70's in 1983 reportedly distraught over the loss of a woman.

Life in the 1500s

2010-02-16T13:17:00.001-08:00

The next time you're washing yourself and complain that the water temperature isn't to your liking, think how it was for the unfortunate people living in the 1500s.

Most people married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good in June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the sons and other men, then the women, and finally the children - last of all the babies. By then, the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it; hence the saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs; thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, rats, and bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained, it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof; hence the saying "it's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This was a real problem in the bedroom, where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. A bed with big posts and a sheet over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt; hence the saying, "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until it would all start slipping outside when you opened the door. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway, a "thresh hold."

In those days people cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight, then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while; hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which was quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale bread which was so old and hard that it could be used for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed. Sometimes worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burned bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock people out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up; hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small, and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and take the bones to a "bone house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 were found to have scratch marks on the inside, and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground, and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...whoever said history was boring?

Luxury Bus Way Better Than Your Home

2010-02-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

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Probably time to move out of your house if you own this cool bus. The interiors are even nicer than some apartments I’ve been and what’s great is that you can even store your own personal car in it. Check out 14 more pics of the cool luxury bus after the jump.

Cool Fashionable Watches

2010-02-14T13:06:00.001-08:00

Exclusive & limited edition cool watches where you can’t find elsewhere. You can only find these in specialist shops in Japan. The right picture shows one of the watches, which is a limited production 72 White L.E.D. by Maker Pimp. Its super flashy and is a great buy for those who loves to flash attention. The coating is done with IP Plating.

Good news is that the vendor is offering free shipping for purchases above 10,000 yen which is roughly around USD 85. Get your fashionable cool watch now!

VIEW FASHIONABLE WATCHES

Websites of Interest: Eilux Automatic Watch Winder for your automatic watches. Stop resetting your automatic watch buy an automatic watch winder and never set your watches again.

Keyboard Shoes

2010-02-14T13:04:00.001-08:00

This is one of the most unique designs that I have ever seen. A keyboard shoe! A pair of keyboard shoes was on display at the 14th China International Clothing and Accessories Fair which started on the 5th April. This pair won the top prize in the sports category at the 6th Hong Kong Footwear Design Contest. I wonder how the wearing feels though.

Mobile Phone As Earring

2010-02-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

Will this be the latest fashion for mobile phone geeks? I am utterly out of speech over the absolute awfulness of this. Sure you could be a diehard Motorala fan, but this is going way overboard.

Lifebuoy HandWash You Eat What You Touch Ads

2010-02-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a video compilation of the most amazing pen tricks that you can find online. How I wish I could play pen tricks like them.

Interesting Lifebuoy Handwash advertisements by advertising agency Lowe Jakarta that scares us into washing our hands more often. You eat what you touch - so before you eat something, think about what you have touched previously. Creative way to show how gross it can be when we don’t wash our hands.

Click on the ads to view in higher resolution.

Check out 2 more pics of Lifebuoy Handwash advertisements after the jump.

Eating insects for food, snacking on crickets, snakes, baby nestling sparrows, mice, scorpion soup

2010-02-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Entomophagy is the habit of eating insects as food. While it is common for many insects, birds and animals to indulge themselves, did you know that people in some parts of the world consider insects a very tasty delicacy?

If you live in Beijing or Bangkok, for example, you might fancy a taste of crickets. Or maybe you would prefer baby nestling sparrows, mice, snakes, or maybe a bowl of scrumptious scorpion soup?

These are all on the menu, as you can see from our pictures here. One man's meat is another man's poison, as they say. So, have a nice day. And enjoy your lunch.

Crickets on sticks - snacks in Beijing

More Beijing snacks - mice

Beijing - baby nestling sparrows

Beijing snacks - snakes

Deep fried insects food stall in Bangkok

Bangkok insect food

Cooking insects - scorpion soup

Insect food for sale

More insects snacks

First birth in 17 years on Pitcairn Island

2010-02-11T12:46:00.002-08:00

The remote Pitcairn Island in the Pacific Ocean - home of the descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers - has recorded its first birth in 17 years.

Emily Rose Christian was born just before midnight Sunday, September 14, 2003, in the Pitcairn Island Medical Clinic.

Her arrival brings the island's population to nearly 50. The island, which is just one mile wide and two miles long, is administered by Britain from its diplomatic post in New Zealand, about 3,200 miles away.

Baby and mother, Nadine Christian, are both reportedly doing well.

- September 17, 2003

Here comes the bride - number 12

2010-02-11T12:46:00.001-08:00

Swaziland's King Mswati III selected bride number 12, less than a week after he picked his 11th bride from thousands of young Swazi maidens.

Mswati's 12th bride was identified as 18-year-old Nomonde Fihla, who was crowned the first princess in the Miss Swaziland 2003 pageant.

In an interview at the time, she told a magazine she did not believe in polygamy.

Fihla was one of thousands of maidens who attended this year's annual reed dance ceremony, when the king, 35, chooses a bride. In the traditional ceremony, the young women dressed in little more than beads and traditional skirts dance before the king to impress him.

Mswati is Africa's last absolute monarch. He has resisted recent pressure from his subjects to introduce democratic reforms.

- September 12, 2003

Started fire to avoid sex with wife

2010-02-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

Does this quality for Bonehead of the Week Award? -

A man who tried to set fire to his home to avoid having sex with his wife was jailed for two years.

Svetin Gulisija, 26, from Seget in Croatia admitted to starting a fire in woods just behind his house because he was too tired for sex with his wife.

The pair had to be evacuated as firefighters tried to bring the blaze under control.

The damage was later estimated to be around £15,000.

- September 13, 2003

X certificate for Messiah

2010-02-09T07:54:00.001-08:00

Handel's world-famous Messiah, recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, has been given an X certificate by an online music store.

Apple Computer's online iTunes Music Store marked the baroque composer's masterpiece with the red warning that indicates the content might not be appropriate for young children or others with sensitive tastes.

That puts German born George Frideric Handel, who became a naturalised Englishman in 1727, in the same category as rapper Eminem whose music has also been slapped with an "explicit" warning.

The 1742 composition is on a recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Alldis.

According to Apple it wasn't a case that the music was too hot to handle. But the warning was a technical mix-up, though The Messiah does touch on love, violence and death.

"Obviously, there's been some sort of error," said Lara Vacante, an Apple spokeswoman.

- September 19, 2003

Naked male statue upsets Jamaicans

2010-02-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

A sculpture meant to celebrate emancipation has sparked heated arguments in Jamaica's capital Kingston over its explicit portrayal of a naked male slave.

The 11-foot bronze statue, named "Redemption Song" after the song by Jamaica's legendary reggae singer Bob Marley, was placed at the new Emancipation Park on Aug. 1, when Jamaicans celebrate the anniversary of the end of slavery in the former British colony in 1838.

The work shows a naked man and woman, hands by their sides and heads lifted in a prayer of thanks to God that slavery has ended.

However, some Jamaicans have complained about the nudity, and objected to the male statue, saying its penis is too large.

One resident Jenny Francis claimed: "There seems to be an interest by the sculptor to present the penis as the main attraction, when in fact there could have been other things highlighted.

"There should have been some clothes put on, it's not all about nudity," she felt.

The US$800,000 statue was commissioned by the state-run National Housing Trust and created by sculptor Lorna Facey Cooper.

It has attracted thousands of viewers who daily drive past the nude bronze figures or line up to get a closer look, take photographs or shoot videos. Many admire the sculpture.

Defending her work which she says extols emancipation, Cooper said: "My piece is not about ropes, chains or torture. I have gone beyond that. I want healing," she said.

The statue has sparked off heated arguments on radio talk shows and among newspaper columnists and letter writers over whether it is a celebration of the spirit of defiance that broght an end to slavery, or a tasteless affront to the innocence of young children who visit the park.

Mother of two Adrienne Thomas felt there was nothing wrong with the statue and accused fellow Jamaicans of being hypocritical. "Some of us go almost nude when Carnival time comes around. We do so many vulgar things, yet no one says anything about it. Now we are looking at a statue and focusing so much on a penis. It's so sad."

- September 10, 2003

Man ships himself home to parents in crate

2010-02-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

Criminal charges were filed by Federal Prosecutors against a man who climbed into a crate and had himself shipped by air from New York to Dallas to visit his parents.

Charles D. McKinley was charged with stowing away on a cargo jet.

McKinley, a 25-year-old shipping clerk at a New York warehouse, journeyed overnight about 1,500 miles by truck, plane and delivery van before startling his parents by popping out of the box at their home.

A driver for Pilot Air Freight, picked up the crate at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and delivered it to McKinley's parents' home in suburban DeSoto.

When the driver went to unload the 350-pound crate from his truck, he saw a pair of eyes and thought there was a body inside.

Then McKinley broke the box open and crawled out, said police Lt. Brian Windham.

McKinley's mother was stunned. The delivery driver called police.

McKinley's escapade occurred as Americans prepared to mark the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and it renewed debate over the air cargo system's vulnerability to terrorists.

"It certainly shows that we have more work to do on cargo security," Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary for transportation security, told ABC.

Federal officials were puzzled how McKinley got past airport security at several points, and investigators with the Transportation Security Administration interviewed him in jail.

McKinley said he was homesick and looking for a cheap way to visit his parents when he squeezed himself into the crate. It measured 42 by 36 by 15 inches. He is 5-foot-8 and weighs 170 pounds.

He told the NBS "Today" show that he was "scared and nervous" when he was nailed into the crate.

"This is the dumbest thing and the craziest thing I could ever do within my life," he added. "I was short of cash and truthfully I really should've waited."

McKinley was arrested and jailed on unrelated traffic and bad-check charges after the surprised deliveryman notified police in the Dallas suburb of DeSoto.

A number of companies were involved in handling McKinley's crate. All of them explained they followed security procedures.

UPS picked up the crate at the warehouse where McKinley worked. Pilot Air Freight took the box to Kennedy Airport, then it was trucked to Newark, N.J., and loaded on a Kitty Hawk Cargo plane.

After stops in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Fort Wayne, Ind., it landed in Dallas, where a deliveryman for Pilot Air Freight took it to the home of McKinley's parents.

The box was carried in pressurized, heated cabins, but could just as easily have been placed in the lower, unpressurized holds, according to Richard G. Phillips, chief executive of Pilot Air Freight.

"He could easily have died," Phillips said.

- September 9, 2003

Amazing Photos Of Earth From Space 2

2010-02-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

A gorgeous look at our planet Earth from outer space taken from a space shuttle. These collection of high quality photos speak for themselves and shows how our planet is so full of life with its vast seas and lands.

Amazing Photos Of Earth From Space

2010-02-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Celebrities without makeup

2010-02-02T12:03:00.002-08:00

Longest jail sentence

2010-02-02T12:03:00.001-08:00

The longest jail sentence passed was in the United States - 10,000 years for a triple murder. Dudley Wayne Kyzer was jailed for 10,000 years by a court in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1981 for murdering his wife. He was then sentenced to two life terms for murdering his mother-in-law and a college student.

In 1994 Oklahoma rapist Darron Bennalford Anderson received a 2,200-year jail sentence. When he appealed and won a new trial, he was convicted again and resentenced to more than 90 additional centuries behind bars - including 4,000 years each for rape and sodomy, 1,750 years for kidnapping, 1,000 years for burglary and robbery, and 500 years for grand larceny.

In July 1997, the state Court of Criminal Appeals held that the grand larceny charge was double jeopardy on the robbery conviction and thus dismissed it. So the court cut Anderson's sentence by 500 years, speeding up his release date to the year 12,744!

First newspaper front page streaker picture

2010-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Britain's Daily Mirror was the first big-circulation newspaper internationally to picture an active streaker on its front page. Its March 18th 1974 issue showed an attractive blonde streaker called Sally pinned against a wall by a London policeman.

Streaking - running naked from one point to another, for a dare, raising money for charity, exhibitionism, or whatever the motive - suddenly became a worldwide phenomenon in 1974. The press loved it as it gave them a ready excuse, as if they needed it, to print nude pictures and titillating stories of the streakers' escapades.

The press cameras were at Twickenham, England, in April 1974 to capture the sight of a Australian man who dashed onto the pitch nude in front of the 53,000 fans at the England v France rugby game. The 25-year-old was probably the first known streaker at a renowned sporting event.

First streaker at an Olympic Games was 23 year old Michael Leduc, who reportedly "cavorted nude" at the closing ceremony in Montreal 1976.

The 500 costumed young women pretended not to see him and continued on with their dance. A Montreal newspaper quoted Leduc as saying he wanted to show the world what a beautiful body he had. The police were not amused, hoswever, and they reportedly kicked and beat the streaker as he was removed from the stadium.

PHOTO UNIQUE 5

2010-02-01T00:38:00.001-08:00

PHOTO UNIQUE 4

2010-02-01T00:36:00.001-08:00

PHOTO UNIQUE 3

2010-02-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

Beautiful set of unique photos that you have probably never seen before in unique settings such as the migration of sting rays to the thousand hand buddha performance. Lovely photos that would intrigue anyone if they would take a more detailed look.

PHOTO UNIQUE 2

2010-02-01T00:33:00.001-08:00

PHOTO UNIQUE

2010-02-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

Famous Arabic sex manual - The Perfumed Garden

2010-01-30T10:13:00.001-08:00

The Perfumed Garden of Sheik Nefzaoui is the most famous Arabic sex manual and remains one of the world's great classic works of erotic literature.

It was originally written in Arabic in 16th Century Tunis - modern day Tunisia - by Umar Ibn Muhammad el-Nafzawi.

This fascinating manual on the erotic arts closely resembles its more famous cousin Hindu Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana in many ways. However, many who read both works have find The Perfumed Garden to be far more interesting, entertaining and erotic. The 22 stories contained in the Perfumed Garden are very like those found in the Thousand and One Arabian Nights. The Kama Sutra by comparison contains no stories and is a relatively dry work, depicting a very different cultural, literary and religious tradition.

In The Perfumed Garden there are many fascinating, surprising and humorous insights into the sexual mores and customs of medieval Arab Islamic society. For today's scholars it provides an abundance of important historical and anthropological insights. But it also holds for the ordinary reader many teachings that are timeless and universal, and are as useful today for understanding and expressing human sexuality as they were in medieval Islamic society..

- September 9, 2003

Most famous Roman sex manual

2010-01-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Roman poet Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 B.C. - A.D c. 17) wrote his Ars Amatoria of The Art of Love around the time of Christ.

The book was described as an "immoral book" representing the art of love as "the adulterer's art rather than the husband's art" by Irish writer H. Montgomery Hyde in A History of Pornography. But the book won the praise of Renaissance humanists. It begins with the words -

"Should anyone here not know the art of love read this, and learn by reading how to love. By art the boat’s set gliding, with oar and sail, by art the chariot’s swift: love’s ruled by art."

Marilyn Monroe was flatulent, dirty and ate in bed - claim

2010-01-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

One of the world's most glamorous women, Marilyn Monroe, was flatulent, dirty and ate in bed, it has been revealed in a new book.

Portraits of her as the image of womanly perfection may hang on walls of admirers' homes all over the world. But when it came to personal hygiene, the Hollywood star's habits were a huge turn-off to her co-stars.

Gable and Monroe appeared together in the 1961 movie 'The Misfits' which was written by the husband of Monroe, playwright Arthur Miller.

It had always been Hollywood legend that the two co-stars had a torrid love affair together.

This claim is rubbished in the book 'Clark Gable: Tormented Star' by author David Bret, to be published in the US in September 2007.

Bret dismissed rumors of the affair as rubbish. While Gable was a lover of cleanliness, "she could not have been less fastidious regarding her personal hygiene."

Bret says Monroe's interest in Gable was not returned, but was spurned by Gable, who was discouraged by her living habits.

"Like Jean Harlow, she bleached all her pubic hair and never wore panties. She suffered from what today would be described as irritable bowel syndrome," Bret writes.

Bret also claims: "She rarely bathed, slept in the nude and ate a lot in bed - shoving what was left on her plate under the sheets before going to sleep."

The Misfits was both Monroe's and Gable's last movie that either Monroe or Gable worked on before they died. Gable died from a heart attack two weeks after shooting finished. Monroe's suicide followed a year later. The movie's third lead, Montgomery Clift, died from drug and alcohol abuse four years later.

Miller and Monroe's marriage broke down during filming, and Monroe was turning more and more to prescription drugs and alcohol.

Filming had to be stopped in August 1960 so she could be sent to hospital for detox. It was this instability, and the steamy scenes on set that led people to believe an affair might have taken place.

- July 24, 2007

Kama Sutra - Oldest Indian sex manual

2010-01-30T10:10:00.000-08:00

The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana is the most famous of books on the ancient art of desire and love-making. It is the oldest and best known Indian sex manual.

Compiled somewhere between the second and fourth centuries B.C., it was written in Sanskrit by the Indian sage Vatsyayana. The work was based on earlier writings on sexual topics dating back as much as three thousand years.

Written for the wealthy male city-dweller, it was never meant to be a lover's guide for the masses. "Kama" means pleasure or sensual desire. It is the name of the Indian God that represents the sexual nature in man. "Sutra" means short books or aphorisms.

The Hindu "how-to" is divided into seven parts; general remarks, amorous advances, acquiring a wife, duties and privileges of a wife, relations with other men's wives, and a section about courtesans and occult means. The seventh part is an appendix to the main work.

The Kama Sutra details the many kissing techniques, courting practices, ways of treating marriage partners as well as consorts, and the concocting of aphrodisiacs.

The first English edition of the work was privately printed in 1883. Today this earliest surviving example of a written Hindu love-manual still has the power to fascinate with its insight into the ancient sexual mysteries of the Far East and the senual and sexual play of an ancient culture.

Yoda - the cat with four ears

2010-01-29T01:24:00.000-08:00

Meet Yoda, a household pet born with an extra pair of ears.

Chicago, Illinois, couple Valerie and Ted Rock took the cat in two years ago after they visited a local bar, where a group of drinkers were handing the animal around and making fun of him.

Since being adopted by the Rocks and after getting his picture posted on the Internet, the two-year-old feline has become an international media celebrity.

The Rocks have received calls from Good Morning America, Fox News and The Tyra Banks Show. The moggy's mugshot has graced the pages of the London Guardian and British tabloids.

Despite his strange appearance, Yoda - named after the pointy-eared Star Wars character (pictured below) - is a perfectly normal and affectionate cat and a delight to have around.

His extra ears are thought to be the result of a genetic mutation.

But Yoda's owners are keeping a close watch on their much-loved pet. They are concerned he could be catnapped because he is so different.

- Aug 31, 2008

Funny Toilets

2010-01-29T01:23:00.000-08:00

Some of these toilets are absolutely hilarious.

They are enough to make you wet yourself laughing.

Bet you thought going to do the business was just another unpleasant chore people just had to get on with.

When you gotta go, you gotta go, as they say. But some people, like the owners of these funny toilets, like to do with style, with imagination, with a flourish.

Don't these zany toilets make the dready job of relieving yourself a whole lotta extra fun!

Burj Al Arab Hotel - world's most luxurious and only 7-star hotel

2010-01-29T01:21:00.000-08:00

Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, which was opened in 1999, is unofficially billed as a 7-star hotel and is the world's most luxurious and tallest hotel.

Designed to resemble a billowing sail, the hotel soars to a height of 321 metres, dominating the Dubai coastline. The hotel's own website describes it as the best in the world. With your chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, discreet in-suite check in, private reception desk on every floor and a brigade of highly trained butlers who provide around-the-clock attention, this hotel promises the finest the world has to offer.

Here are a selection of pictures to give you a taste of what you can look forward to as a guest.

Al Falak Ballroom

Al Mahara Restaurant

Royal Suite

Royal Suite

Royal Suite

Jacuzzi

Atrium

The Lobby

The view at night, when it is surrounded by color sculptures of water and fire

Latte Art - making art out of latte coffee

2010-01-29T01:19:00.000-08:00

Weird Trees from around the world

2010-01-29T01:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some really strange trees from around this weird wonderful world. From the top down you can see: the Bike Tree, Fat Tree, Fork Tree, Six Branches Tree, Smiley Tree and the Snake Tree.

When you're finished being amazed at this lot, check out more of the same on our Amazing Trees page.

Cat with hypnotic eyes

2010-01-29T01:16:00.000-08:00

Cat with hypnotic eyes

"Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes. [click] You're under!"

That was a line from amazing hypnotist character Kenny Craig from the 'Little Britain' award-winning British TV series.

We don't know about you, but we think our two-year-old Saudi kitty above has very hypnotic eyes. Just keep looking into them, and you will soon be under their spell.

Kitty has one brown eye and one blue eye and is a mixture of Persian and Siamese. And Kitty comes from Riyadh.

Yes there are sea monsters!

2010-01-29T01:15:00.000-08:00

Yes there are sea monsters! The giant squid lives in the deepest, coldest parts of the sea, growing up to 18 metres in length. It can weight up to a tonne. Considered a mythical monster of the sea, often appearing in stories, it is only in the last hundred years that any convincing evidence has been offered of its existence. Very little is known about this creature. No giant squid has ever been captured alive. The only specimens we have of them are dead ones that have been washed up on shores around the world.

The huge eyes of the giant squid, which can measure as much as 25 centimetres in diameter, are the biggest eyes in the animal kingdom. Giant squid have eight powerful arms and two long tentacles, which surround a parrot-shaped beak that is strong enough to sever steel cable, and which is used to crush prey into bite-sized pieces. They are capable of attacking whales.

The existence of the even bigger 'colossal squid' has been suspected for many decades, as arms from the creature have occasionally been recovered from the stomachs of sperm whales. But it wasn't until an actual specimen was caught near Antarctica near New Zealand in March 2003 that the reality of this new type of squid was brought home to scientists. The specimen was larger than any previously seen giant squid, and it was only a young one, just half to two-thirds grown. It was the first recovered with all its bits intact from the surface of the ocean.

This squid has one of the largest beaks known of any squid, and seems to have more muscles attached to its tentacles. It also has unique swivelling hooks on the clubs at the ends of its tentacles. All of these things make it a very deadly predator.

The fully-grown colossal squid is bigger than a double decker bus. It has one of the largest beaks known of any squid and appears to have more muscles attached to its tentacles. It also has got 25 teeth-like hooks as sharp as razors on the clubs at the end of its tentacles. It can turn around 360 degrees. All of this make it one of the most frightening predators out there!

The first evidence of the colossal squid's existence came in 1925 when two arms were recovered from a sperm whale's stomach. Only six specimens of this squid were ever recovered prior to the 2003 Antartica find: five came from the stomachs of sperm whales and the sixth was caught in a trawl net at a depth of 2,000 to 2,200 metres.

Vampire bats really do drink blood. They feed on the blood of birds, cattle, horses, and pigs ... and the occasional sleeping human.

They need to consume a few tablespoons of blood every day. If the vampire bat doesn't eat for more than a few days it will starve. They can only be found in Central and South America.

Irish writer of horror tales Bram Stoker was so fascinated by these bats that drink blood, that he incorporated them in his book 'Dracula.'

Celebrities' real names

2010-01-29T01:13:00.002-08:00

Celebrities' real names
They weren't the names they were born with.
But we reveal the celebs real names below:

A
Alan Alda = Alphonso D'Abruzzo
Woody Allen = Allen Konigsberg
Muhammad Ali = Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.
Julie Andrews = Julia Elizabeth Wells
Fred Astaire = Frederick Austerlitz
Chet Atkins = Chester B. Atkins
Frankie Avalon = Francis Thomas Avalonne

B
Lauren Bacall = Betty Joan Perske
Anne Bancroft = Anna Maria Italiano
Brigitte Bardot = Camille Javal
Pat Benatar = Patricia Andrejewski
Tony Bennett = Anthony Benedetto
Jack Benny = Benjamin Kubelsky
Tom Berenger = Thomas Michael Moore
Chuck Berry = Charles Edward Anderson Berry
Billy The Kid = William H. Bonney
Robert Blake = Michael Gubitosi
Jon Bon Jovi = John Francis Bongiovi
Bono (U2) = Paul Hewson
Sonny Bono = Salvatore Phillip Bono
David Bowie = David Robert Jones
Boy George = George Alan O'Dowd
Charles Bronson = Charles Buchinski
Albert Brooks = Albert Einstein
Mel Brooks = Melvin Kaminsky
George Burns = Nathan Birnbaum
Ellen Burstyn = Edna Gilhooley
Richard Burton = Richard Jenkins

C
Nicholas Cage = Nicholas Coppola
Michael Cain = Maurice Micklewhite
Maria Callas = Maria Kalogeropoulos
Eric Carr (Kiss) - Paul Charles Caravello
Vikki Carr = Florencia Casillas
Ray Charles = Ray Charles Robinson
Chubby Checker = Ernest Evans
Cher = Cherilyn Sarkisian
Eric Clapton - Eric Patrick Clapp
Patsy Cline = Virginia Patterson Hensley
Claudette Colbert = Lily Chauchoin
Nat King Cole = Nathaniel Adams Coles
Chuck Connors = Kevin Joseph Connors
Robert Conrad = Conrad Robert Falk
Alice Cooper = Vincent Furnier
Gary Cooper = Frank James Cooper
David Copperfield = David Kotkin
Howard Cosell = Howard Cohen
Elvis Costello = Declan Patrick McManus
Lou Costello = Louis Cristillo
Joan Crawford = Lucille Le Sueur
Michael Crawford = Michael Dumble-Smith
Bing Crosby = Harry Lillis Crosby
Tom Cruise = Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
Tony Curtis = Bernard Schwartz

D
Rodney Dangerfield = Jacob Cohen
Bobby Darin = Walden Waldo Robert Cassotto
John Denver = John Henry Deutschendorf
Donovan = Donovan Phillip Leitch
Doris Day = Doris von Kappelhoff
James Dean = James Byron
John Denver = Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.
Bo Derek = Mary Cathleen Collins
Danny DeVito = Daniel Michaeli
Angie Dickinson = Angeline Brown
Bo Diddley = Otha Elias Bates McDaniel
Vin Diesel = Mark Vincent
Phyllis Diller = Phyllis Driver
Fats Domino = Antoine Domino
Kirk Douglas = Issur Danielovitch
Bob Dylan = Robert Zimmerman

E
Sheena Easton = Sheena Shirley Orr
The Edge (U2) = David Howell Evans
Elvira = Cassandra Paterson
Eminem - Marshall Bruce Mathers III
Enya = Eithne Ni Bhraonain
David Essex = David Albert Cook

F
Morgan Fairchild = Patsy McClenny
Adam Faith = Terence Nelhams
Fatboy Slim = Quentin Cook (aka Norman Cook)
Sally Field = Sally Mahoney
W.C. Fields = William Claude Dukenfield
Jodie Foster = Alicia Christian Foster
Michael J. Fox = Michael Andrew Fox
Connie Francis = Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero
Billy Fury = Ronald Wycherley

G
Greta Garbo = Greta Gustafsson
Judy Garland = Frances Gumm
James Garner = James Bumgarner
Crystal Gayle = Brenda Gayle Webb
Bobbie Gentry = Roberta Streeter
Kathie Lee Gifford = Kathie Epstein
Whoopie Goldberg = Caryn Johnson
Cary Grant = Archibald Leach

H
Hammer = Stanley Kirk Burrell
Laurence Harvey = Laruschka Skikne
Rita Hayworth = Margarita Cansino
Jimi Hendrix = Johnny Allen Hendrix
Pee-Wee Herman = Paul Reubenfeld
Barbara Hershey = Barbara Herzstine
Hulk Hogan = Terry Gene Bollea
Billie Holliday = Eleanora Fagan
Buddy Holly = Charles Hardin Holley
Bob Hope = Leslie Townes Hope
Harry Houdini = Ehrich Weiss
Rock Hudson = Roy Scherer Jr.
Engelbert Humperdinck = Arnold George Dorsey

I
Janis Ian = Janis Eddy Fink
Ice Cube = Oshea Jackson
Ice-T = Tracy Morrow
Billy Idol = William Broad
Iggy Pop = James Jewell Osterberg, Jr.
Burl Ives = Burle Icle Ivanhoe

J
David Janssen = David Meyer
Elton John = Reginald Dwight
Don Johnson = Donald Wayne
Al Jolson = Asa Yoelson
Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) = Lewis Brian Hopkins-Jones
Jenny Jones = Janina Stranski
Tom Jones = Thomas Woodward
Wynonna Judd = Christina Ciminella

K
Boris Karloff = William Henry Pratt
Danny Kaye = David Kaminsky
Diane Keaton = Diane Hall
Michael Keaton = Michael Douglas
Chaka Khan = Carole Yvette Marie Stevens
Carole King = Carole Klein
Larry King = Larry Zeigler
Ben Kingsley = Krishna Banji
Nastassja Kinski = Nastassja Naksyznyski
Billy J Kramer (The Dakotas) = William H Ashton
Kris Kristofferson = Kris Carson

L
Cheryl Ladd = Cheryl Stoppelmoor
Veronica Lake = Constance Ockleman
Dorothy Lamour = Mary Kaumeyer
Michael Landon = Eugene Orowitz
Mario Lanza = Alfredo Arnold Cocozza
Queen Latifah = Dana Owens
Stan Laurel = Arthur Jefferson
Steve Lawrence = Sidney Leibowitz
Brenda Lee = Brenda Mae Tarpley
Bruce Lee = Lee Yuen Kam
Spike Lee = Shelton Jackson Lee
Jay Leno = James Douglas Muir Leno
Huey Lewis = Hugh Cregg
Jerry Lewis = Joseph Levitch
Liberace = Wladziu Lee Valentino
Jack Lord = John Joseph Ryan
Sophia Loren = Sophia Scicoloni
Peter Lorre = Laszio Lowenstein
Courtney Love = Michelle Harrison
Bela Lugosi = Bela Ferenc Blasko
Lulu = Marie Lawrie

M
Shirley MacLaine = Shirley Beaty
Elle MacPherson = Eleanor Gow
Madonna = Madonna Louise Ciccone
Lee Majors = Harvey Lee Yeary II
Karl Malden = Mladen Sekulovich
Mama Cass Elliot (Mamas & Papas) = Ellen Naomi Cohen
Manfred Mann = Manfred Lubowitz
Barry Manilow = Barry Alan Pincus
Jayne Mansfield = Vera Jane Palmer
Marilyn Manson = Brian Warner
Walter Matthau = Walter Matuschanskayasky
Dean Martin = Dino Crocetti
Groucho Marx = Julius Henry Marx
Meat Loaf = Marvin Lee Aday
Freddie Mercury (Queen) = Frederick Farookh Bulsara
Ethel Merman = Ethel Zimmerman
George Michael = Georgios Panayiotou
Joni Mitchell = Roberta Joan Anderson
Moby = Richard Melville Hall
Marilyn Monroe = Norma Jean Mortenson (later Baker)
Demi Moore = Demetria Guynes
Rita Moreno = Rosita Alverio
Harry Morgan = Harry Bratsburg

N
Chuck Norris = Carlos Ray
Andre Norton = Mary Alice Norton
Notorious B.I.G. = Christopher Wallace

O
Ozzy Osbourne = John Michael Osbourne

P
Jack Palance = Walter Palanuik
Bernadette Peters = Bernadette Lazzaro
Edith Piaf = Edith Giovanna Gassion
Slim Pickens = Louis Lindley
Mary Pickford = Gladys Smith
Stephanie Powers = Stefania Federkiewicz
Prince = Prince Rogers Nelson

R
Tony Randall = Leonard Rosenberg
Johnnie Ray = John Alvin
Donna Reed = Donna Belle Mullenger
Della Reese = Delloreese Patricia Early
Cliff Richard = Harry Rodger Webb
Joan Rivers = Joan Sandra Molinsky
Edward G. Robinson = Emmanuel Goldenberg
Sugar Ray Robinson = Walker Smith, Jr.
Ginger Rogers = Virginia McMath
Mickey Rooney = Joe Yule Jr.
Axl Rose (Guns N Roses) = William Bruce Rose
Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols) = John Lydon
Winona Ryder = Winona Horowitz

S
Susan Sarandon = Susan Tomaling
Telly Savalas = Aristotle Savalas
Jane Seymour = Joyce Frankenberg
Del Shannon = Charles Weedon Westover
Omar Sharif = Michael Shalhoub
Charlie Sheen = Carlos Irwin Estevez
Martin Sheen = Ramon Estevez
Talia Shire = Talia Coppola
Sinbad = David Atkins
Eric Singer (Kiss) = Eric Mensinger
Slash = Saul Hudson
Slim Dusty = David Gordon Kirkpatrick
Dusty Springfield = Mary Isobel Catherine O'Brien
Suzanne Somers = Suzanne Mahoney
Robert Stack = Robert Modini
Barbara Stanwyck = Ruby Stevens
Sylvester Stallone = Michael Sylvester Enzio Stallone
Ringo Starr = Richard Starkey
Cat Stevens = Yusef Islam
Connie Stevens = Concetta Ingolia
Sting = Gordon Sumner
Donna Summer = La Donna Gaines

T
Mr. T = Lawrence Tero
Robert Taylor = Spangler Arlington Brugh
Danny Thomas = Muzyad Yakhoob
Tiny Tim = Herbert Khaury
Rip Torn = Elmore Rual Torn Jr.
Randy Travis = Randy Traywick
Sophie Tucker = Sophia Kalish
Tina Turner = Annie Mae Bullock
Mark Twain = Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Twiggy = Leslie Hornby

U
The Undertaker = Mark Calloway

V
Rudolph Valentino = Rudolpho D'Antonguolla
Frankie Valli (Four Seasons) = Frank Castelluccio
Sid Vicious = John Simon Ritchie

W
John Wayne = Marion Morrison
Sigourney Weaver = Susan Alexandra Weaver
Raquel Welch = Raquel Tejada
Gene Wilder = Jerome Silberman
Shelley Winters = Shirley Schrift
Stevie Wonder = Stevland Morris
Natalie Wood = Natasha Gurdin
Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones) = William Perks
Tammy Wynette = Wynette Pugh

Bram Stoker's Dracula - more Irish than Transylvanian?

2010-01-29T01:13:00.001-08:00

It has inspired more than 1,000 movies and after the bible it's the biggest selling book of all time. But does Bram Stoker's gothic novel Dracula owe more of its inspiration to Ireland than to Transylvania?

Was Count Dracula really a bloodsucking Irish landlord who preyed on his19th century tenants? And were the undead and the gaunt haunted figures that fill the pages of Stoker's famous book straight out of Ireland's Great Famine?

These are the claims of director of the Bram Stoker's Dracula Organisation Dennis McIntyre, who says that very few people know that Stoker was in fact an Irishman.

"A lot of people are under the impression that Bram Stoker was an American, an Englishman, or a Romanian, but he wasn't. He was very much an Irishman," McIntyre said in an interview with Ireland's RTE Radio 1.

First published in1897, the took has never been out of print and has been translated into over 50 different languages. But while the story of Dracula is known by every generation throughout the world, many moviegoers and readers are unaware of its origins.

It's widely believed that Bram Stoker's Dracula tells the story of the 15th century bloodthirsty Romanian Prince Vlad Dracula III, better known as Vlad the Impaler.

The Transylvanian prince earned this name because of his reputation for impaling his enemies and watching them slowly and painfully die.
But according to Dennis McIntyre there the similarities end, and with the exception of the setting the story is a very Irish one.

He points out that the name Dracula comes from the Irish word "Droch Ola", which means "bad blood". Stoker's mother was from the West of Ireland and she told Bram about a cholera epidemic in 1832 when she witness large graves and people being pushed into them with wooden poles while they were still alive.

"They were literally buried alive. Did he get the idea of the undead being one of these?" McIntyre asked. If you committed suicide in Stoker's time it was actually believed that you became a vampire unless you got the stake through the heart treatment, he added.

There was a suicide burial plot in Clontarf, Dublin, where Stoker lived. As a boy the author used to spend hours playing in that graveyard and St. Michan's Church, where the Stoker family had a burial vault. "By some atmospheric freak in this church bodies are preserved by a natural mummification or they were in the past," said McIntyre.

Bram Stoker was born in Dublin in 1847 at the height of the Great Famine. This was one of the most catastrophic events in Irish history, with hundreds of thousands of people dying from starvation and disease or emigrating in 'coffin ships' to America.

The famine may have inspired the visual characteristics of Count Dracula and also his infamous obsession with bloodsucking, McIntyre believes. "So metaphorically speaking we think that Count Dracula might be the landlord up at the big castle sucking the blood of the peasants."

Stoker's Dracula is also full of Irish symbols - storms, fog, rats, gypsies, castle, abbey, etc.

Stoker was educated in Trinity College Dublin, spend 10 years working as a civil servant in Dublin Castle and lived his first 31 years in Dublin before moving to England. But he has been the forgotten man of Irish literature, McIntyre believes.

"In Ireland we rightfully sing the praises of Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, Shaw, O'Casey, Swift, Goldsmith, Synge, Behan and Kavanagh - but where is Bram Stoker?"

His Dublin based organization was set up as a global focal point for the study of Stoker, and to gain for author the international recognition his work and achievements s deserve.

"Sadly and shamefully the author is totally neglected in his own birthplace, by his own people," the organization's website claims.

Dragons do exist!

2010-01-29T01:11:00.000-08:00

The Komodo dragon is the world's largest flesh-eating lizard and living reptile. This amazing creature is only found in the wild on four small Indonesian islands, where they are vulnerable to disease, volcanic activity, and competition with feral dogs and man. It lives on the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Padar, and Flores.
The Komodo is an endangered species and there are only about 5,000 of them in existence around the world, including a small number kept and bred in zoos.

This giant lizard can grow to 3 meters (10 feet) long, and has an average weight of 70 kg (155 pounds). Komodo dragons are dangerous predators with sharp serrated teeth more like a shark's than a reptile's. Swift runners, they can swim and climb trees, and they can use their tail as a weapon and swing it like a club. They find most of their food by smell. Like shakes they 'taste' the air with their tongues, which are deeply forked and collect scent molecules from the air. They have an acute sense of smell and can detect the scent of decaying remains from up to 5km (3 miles).

While Komodos like to eat dead things, they also prey on wild pigs, water buffalo and deer. They have a huge capacity for food, often eating up to half of their body weight in one meal. They are also cannibalistic, sometimes eating their own kind. They eat almost all of a carcass, consuming flesh, skin and even bones. A large Komodo can swallow a whole wild pig; their jaws expand like a snake's.

Their bite is often lethal because the bacteria in their mouths is so poisonous that wounds often do not heal, and their victim, if it manages to escape, dies in a day or two.

Although often regarded as pests, Komodos are not a serious danger to humans. In order to protect the dragon, the Indonesian government has made the islands of Padar and Rinca into nature reserves for both the lizard and its prey. Commercial trade in specimens or skins is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The Komodo dragon can live up to 40 years. Although often regarded as pests, Komodos are not a serious danger to humans. In order to protect the dragon, the Indonesian government has made the islands of Padar and Rinca into nature reserves for both the lizard and its prey. Commercial trade in specimens or skins is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Man marries dog to lift curse

2010-01-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

We have all heard the 'man bites dog' stories, but how about a real-life 'man marries dog' tale!

This one takes the biscuit, and it could only happen in India, the land of the Kama Sutra.

But you won't find this kind of love story between man and beast in the ancient Indian sex manual.

It took place for real during a traditional hindu ceremony at a temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The groom in question was a 33-year-old Indian farmer named Selvakumar, and he was wed to a female dog named Selvi.

He married his four legged bitch to atone for stoning two other dogs to death and stringing them up in a tree 15 years ago.

He believed the act cursed him and he had been suffering ever since, he told the Hindustan Times.

After he stoned the dogs he said his legs and hands got paralysed, he lost hearing in one ear, and his speech was impaired.

With doctors unable to help him, Selvakumar turned to an astrologer who told him he was cursed by the spirits of the dogs he had killed.

He could undo the curse only if he married a dog and live with it, the soothsayer warned.

Family members chose a stray female dog who was then bathed and clothed for the wedding occasion.

Selvi the bride was brought to the temple by village women and a Hindu priest conducted the ceremony.

The paper showed a picture of Selvakumar sitting next to his canine bride, which was adorned in an orange sari and flower garland.

The paper said the groom and his family then had a feast, while the dog got a bun.

It was reported that Selvi attempted to make a bolt for it -- apparently due to the big crowds -- but she was tracked down and returned to her new 'husband'.

"The dog is only for lifting the curse and after that, he plans to get a real bride," a friend of the groom said.

Deeply superstitious people in rural India sometimes organize weddings to dogs and other animals, believing it can beat certain curses.

- November 20, 2007.

The man with no face - medical science offers new hope to face-eating tumor man

2010-01-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Above: Jose Mestre and his sister Guida in London. Pictures below show Jose aged 14 when the tumor was still small, and as he is now.

A victim of horrific facial disfigurement - known as "the man with no face" - has been given new hope by the advancement of medical science.

Jose Mestre, from Lisbon, Portugal, has been losing his face to a huge growth for the past 35 years, distorting it out of all recognition - and it's still growing.

The tumor on 51-year-old Jose's face is a collection of blood vessels that have expanded, producing a raised red area on the skin.

Jose was born with a strawberry-coloured birthmark on his upper lip. At puberty it began growing, eventually smothering his lips, nose and one of his eyes. Now it is 33cm long and weighs 3kg.

But Jose's religious faith - as a Jehovah's Witness he refuses to accept a blood transfusion - has prevented him from having surgery to remove the growth.

Jose's rare condition was the subject of a Discovery Channel TV documentary 'The Man With No Face', part of the 'My Shocking Story' series.

It reveals how top medical experts in London have now held out hope of helping Jose, a well-known figure around the streets of Lisbon.

A leading British surgeon has offered to treat Jose using ultrasound waves to coagulate the blood before the operation.

This should remove the risk of heavy bleeding - satisfying his religious beliefs about blood transfusions in the process.

Dr Iain Hutchison, of St Bartholomew's in London, is confident an operation with a harmonic scalpel could make him look a lot more normal.

Discovery Channel said: "Surrounded by a loving family, it seems incredible that he has not been treated and his face was allowed to grow so big. However, through years of medical misinformation, some misdiagnosis, lack of finances, and reluctance to undergo treatment due to religious beliefs, the growth has continued to obliterate his face."

My Shocking Story follows Jose on a journey through Europe to seek medical advice for one last chance to stop his face from suffocating him.

In this journey of a lifetime he travels by train, via Paris, to Britain, to meet the top experts in London. He goes through a series of tests, consultations, and meets other patients with a similar affliction. In London he also spends time with his sister Guida and the rest of his family, enjoys being a tourist in London, while making the biggest decision of his life.

Jose's dream is to live a long and normal life. Following the showing of the Discovery documentary he continues to adhere to his 'no blood transfusion' religious principles. But he has agreed to go back to the London hospital in 2008, when doctors hope to carry out specialist surgery to begin removing parts of his tumor, without the need for blood transfusions.

- December 24, 2007.

Tree Man who grew 'roots' offered hope of new life by doctor

2010-01-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

Tree Man who grew 'roots' offered hope of new life by doctor

Above: Dr Anthony Gaspari believes that he has diagnosed Dede's rare condition. Below: Dede with his teenage daughter. He fears that his children may also become infected

An Indonesian fisherman who is "half man half tree" has been offered new hope of recovery by an American doctor - and Vitamin A.

32-year-old Dede, who lives in a remote village in Indonesia with his two children, feared that he would be killed by the tree-like growths that cover his body.

Known locally as 'Tree Man' his condition has baffled local doctors for 20 years.

He has root like structures growing out of his body - branches that can grow up to 5cm a year and which protrude from his hands and feet, and welts covering his whole body.

In an attempt to earn a living to support his family, he is part of a circus troupe, displaying his Tree Man limbs along with others afflicted with skin deformities in 'freak' shows.

The former fisherman was the subject of a documentary "Half Man Half Tree", part of the "My Shocking Story" series on Discovery Channel TV.

Dede's story began when wart-like "roots" started growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident. The medical world was completely baffled.

The welts spread rapidly across his body and soon he was not able to carry out ordinary household tasks.

Dede was sacked from his job and deserted by his wife. He has been raising two children, now in their late teens, in poverty. He is resigned to the fact that local doctors have no cure for his condition.

To try to support his family he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front of a paying audience along with victims of other peculiar diseases.

While he has the support of his extended family, he has frequently been a target of ridicule and abuse in rural fishing village where he lives.

But now new hope has emerged for Dede after an American dermatology expert flew out to his home village south of the capital Jakarta.

Dr. Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland claims to have identified Dede's condition, and has proposed a treatment that could completely change his life.

Following the testing of samples of the lesions and Dede's blood, Dr. Gaspari says his condition is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). This is a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.

Dede's problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system. This means his body is unable to contain the warts.

According to Dr. Gaspari, the virus was able to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells", instructing them to produce huge amounts of the substance that caused the tree-like growths known as "cutaneous horns" on both his hands and feet.

The doctor became involved in the case through the Discovery Channel documentary, and he is convinced that Dede's condition can be largely cleared up by a daily doses of a synthetic form of Vitamin A, which has been demonstrated to stop the growth of warts in severe cases of HPV.

Dr. Gaspari said that Dede's warts should reduce in size to the point where he can use his hands. He said he had never seen anything like this in his entire career.

- December 24, 2007.

Slim or die man sheds 44 stone

2010-01-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

Lose weight or die!

That's the stark ultimatum doctors delivered to a 39-year-old Englishman, who grew to a colossal 60 stone.

Colin Corfield's battle for survival was the subject of a poignant and moving ITV television documentary.

Filmed over two-and-a-half years, 'Lose 30 Stone or Die' depicts his bid to reclaim his life after drug and alcohol problems in his early 20s sent his weight spiraling out of control.

The Runcorn pub landlord in Cheshire was warned two years ago that his own body fat could suffocate him.

So he decided to take drastic action and have risky gastric surgery. It has proved such a success that he has now shrunk to 16 stone!

In the TV program screened in December 2007 he said life was "fantastic" and he was looking forward to his first real Christmas in decades.

"I won't be stuck in a corner watching everyone else, feeling like I'm putting people out. It's my first Christmas as the new me."

While Colin has a new appetite for life and can walk everywhere, work properly, socialise and feels good about myself, it wasn't always that way.

As a teenager he found it hard to deal with a drinking domineering father and he turned to food for comfort.

He was obese by the time he reached 30 and when he began running his own pub, his weight spiraled out of control. "I was a big fella so I could drink 20, 30 pints in a day and not get drunk," he recalled.

He ate takeaways at 2am. He snacked on crisps, chocolates and diners all day.
He tried diets and several times managed to lose 10 stone, but then he would put it back on again.

By the autumn of 2005, Colin was so big he couldn't leave his bed and simple tasks like going to the toilet and getting washed were impossible for him.

"I'd never let anyone weigh me. But I must have been 60 stone. I couldn't walk more than a few steps or go out," he remembered.

Whenever I could, he would go up on the roof and hose myself down with a hosepipe "like an animal" and he would use a bucket for a toilet.

Nights were especially dangerous. Colin needed an oxygen mask so his weight wouldn't crush his lungs.

"It was degrading. I was so depressed. I couldn't see the point of going on," he said, admitting he had contemplated suicide.

Then he saw a TV programme about gastric surgery and thought it would work for him.

His family found a surgeon willing to cut away most of his stomach and his mother sold her bungalow to raise the necessary £32,000.

But despite Colin cutting down on alcohol and food, and slimming to 48 stone, the surgeons' instruments were too small to cope with his size when they tried an operation in November 2005.

"I was distraught," Colin said, told he had to lose another 10 stone.

He went back to his diet and hired out a local pool to swim in private.

He reached his target weight of 38 stone in November 2006 and the drastic surgery finally went ahead.

The doctors had warned him that one in 19 people die during the procedure but Colin was happy to take the risk. If I hadn't he would have died anyway, he believed.

Colin has now been left with a stomach the size of an egg, enough for him to survive on. Instead of a large cooked breakfast, he now begins his day with a single Weetabix. He has also replaced the pints with an occasional Southern Comfort.

"Food isn't a big deal for me anymore. I was addicted but now I am full after my small meal. Now I feel fantastic.

"I was very, very sad at the time I was heavy. But I'm not sad anymore - I've got my life back.

"I can go back and watch the match at Everton. I used to do it all the time before I got too big to get through the turnstile," said Colin.

Ugly scenes as 12 million bees escape after California crash

2010-01-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

It must have been a driver's worst nightmare - cruising down the highway and suddenly running smack into millions of angry swarming bees.

The bees were on the loose in California after a truck in which they were being transported flipped on its side on the highway.

The California Highway Patrol said eight to 12 million of the honey bees escaped from the crates in which they were stored.

The truck was carrying over 400 beehives with 30,000 bees in each.

The bees stung police officers, fire crews, and tow truck drivers trying to corral them after the accident.

"People were being stung left and right. It was an ugly, ugly scene," one police officer said.

The great escape happened near Sacramento and the insects swarmed over an area of Highway 99.

For seven hours authorities brought in handlers who used smoke in a bid to calm the bees and coax them back into the hives.

Several beekeepers driving past the accident stopped to help the emergency services deal with the bees.

The highway had to be closed for a period.

Police did not know what caused the tractor trailer carrying the bees to flip over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Washington. But they said they believe the driver may have been driving too fast.

The bees had been used to pollinate crops in the San Joaquin Valley.

The honeybee is the world's premier pollinator and is invaluable to farmers for pollination.

But there has been a shortage of them in recent times because of "Colony Collapse Disorder". US beekeepers have been losing thousands of their bees, puzzling scientists. This has led to a rise in honey prices and has also threatened fruit and vegetable production.

After a seven-hour clean-up operation at Sacramento, police were unable to say how many bees remained unaccounted for. But they were not getting any calls from panicked drivers. "No news is good news," one officer said.

Werewolf boy appeals to doctors to find a cure

2010-01-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

An 11-year-old "werewolf" boy who desperately seeks a cure for his condition is baffling medical experts.

Pruthviraj Patil is one of 50 in the world who suffers from hypertrichosis, a rare genetic condition known as Werewolf Syndrome.

As a result his face and body is covered in thick, matted hair.

But he is hoping doctors will one day find a cure for his ailment.

Born in the Indian district of Sangli, near Bombey, he hardly ever leaves his village because of his fear of being traunted by strangers.

The only parts of his body that are not covered with hair are the palms of his hands and soles of his feet.

The son of a well off farmer, his parents have tried homeopathy, traditional Ayurvedic remedies and laser surgery. But none of them have worked.

It is believe his genetic condition was caused by a flaw during pregnancy.

"Why did God do this to us," his 32-year-old mother Anita pleads. "He looks so odd and whever we go people throng to see him."

Plastic surgeon Vinay6 Saoji has examined the boy and confirms that the condition is very rare.

"Hairy nevus, where a person has patches of excess growth, or hirsurism, is not uncommon, but hair persisting all over the body is very rare," he added.

Pruthviraj says he is anxious to get the hair removed but even after laser treatment it simply grows back.

The doctors don't have any answers to his predicament.

When he first went to school he said he got bullied and the other children laughed at him. But now they have got used to him and they treat him like normal.

He appealed to the doctors to help find him a permanent cure.

- June 30, 2008