Blind man bowls a perfect game

On the evening of May 3, 2008, A 78-year-old man nicknamed “The Hammer” has bowled a perfect game. Dale Davis of Alta, Iowa, nailed 12 consecutive strikes and reached 300 on Saturday night during league play. What's more astonishing is that Davis is also legally blind! Davis has suffered from macular degeneration, a chronic eye disease, for the past decade. He can’t see out of his left eye and has limited peripheral vision in his right eye.

Davis’ perfect game came at a roll-off to conclude the league season at a four-lane alley in the small northwest Iowa community of about 1,800 people. Century Lanes owner Clem Ledoux said Davis’ game didn’t draw much attention until he reached 10 strikes. That’s when folks poured out of the bar to watch his final two shots.

Davis, who stands 5-foot-8 and just 115 pounds, threw a “Brooklyn,” where a right-hander strikes the left side of the head pin, for his final strike. The feat brought wild cheers from Davis’ fellow bowlers and onlookers. “It went down there and somebody hollered ‘Brooklyn!’ It was just a solid sound in the pocket,” said Davis, whose average score is 180. “It was quite a thrill. For just a few minutes there I felt like a pro.”

In the past, he had come close before, once throwing 11 strikes before pulling the 12th ball and settling for a 299. But that was many years ago. Before he had half his stomach removed because of a tumor. Before he had a bypass done on his left leg to improve his circulation. And before he had lost his vision in 1997.

Davis sister encouraged him to start bowling again. "I told her, 'I can't see,'" Davis said. "'What makes you think I can bowl?' But she convinced me and, for the second time in my life, I was hooked." Davis now bowls twice a week, and his fellow bowlers help him with pin placement and in making sure he picks up the right ball.

This past season, Davis averaged 180, often stringing four and five strikes together. Despite standing a fragile 120 pounds, he earned the nickname, "Hammer," for the power with which he threw his ball. Davis said the only time he sees the ball is when he picks it up, but he can usually tell how his throw went by sound. All 12 tosses sounded great to Davis, who bowled the first 300 that Ledoux could recall at the alley since he took over in 1984. “He’s got good coordination. He’s got good timing,” Ledoux said. “We’ve always kidded him that we think his bowling ball has eyes.”

Source : ESPN

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Big breast helps to win verdict

She used to hate her body so much. To her, her 44-inch bust was a burden. But this time, it was her breast that helps her to overturn a court verdict. The bikini model and actress, who goes by her professional name Serena Kozakura, was cleared after a court decided she was too well-endowed to squeeze into a room through a hole, as she had been found guilty of earlier.

Kozakura 38, was charged with having kicked down the door of a man's apartment after she had been kicked out following an argument with another woman there in November 2006. In July last year, the Tokyo District Court found her guilty of willful destruction of property, but she appealed against the conviction.

During the appeal hearing, the court heard testimony from the man and a witness who both said Kozakura had kicked a hole in the door, through which she wriggled through to re-enter the apartment. The hole in the door was a rectangular shape 72 centimeters long by 22 centimeters wide. But Kozakura has a 101-centimeter bust and her breasts alone extend out 29 centimeters from her chest bone.

The appeal hearing conducted a reconstruction of the alleged crime and found that it would have been extremely difficult for Kozakura to squeeze through the hole in the door as witnesses testified she had. Further doubt was cast on the validity of the man's testimony because the clothes she had been wearing at the time of the incident were not damaged as they would have been had she gone through the hole, nor did her feet show any signs of marks that would have occurred had she kicked the door.

Tokyo High Court presiding judge Kunio Harada agreed and threw out the guilty verdict on Monday, saying there was reasonable doubt over the man's account. Kozakura was delighted by the ruling. "I lost work after being charged, but justice prevailed in the end," she said at a news conference she held in Tokyo after the conviction was overturned. "I was always worried about being a bit fat, but this time I was glad."

Source : www.news.com.au

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World's smallest park

If you’re visiting Portland, Oregon, U.S, be sure not to miss one of its biggest attraction, the Mill Ends Park. But don’t expect anything big or else you’ll missed it. That’s because Mill Ends Park is the smallest park in the world located in the middle of Front Avenue, one of the busiest streets in Portland. Unbelievably, the park only measured 452 square inches, barely two feet across.

In 1946, Dick Fagan returned from World War II to resume his journalistic career with the Oregon Journal. His office, on the second floor above Front Street (now Naito Parkway), gave him a view of not only the busy street, but also an unused hole in the median where a light pole was to be placed. But the pole never came and weeds took over the space. Fagan decided to take matters into his own hands and to plant flowers.

Fagan wrote a popular column called Mill Ends (rough, irregular pieces of lumber left over at lumber mills). He used this column to describe the park and the various "events" that occurred there. Fagan billed the space as the "World's Smallest Park." The park was dedicated on St. Patrick's Day in 1948 since Fagan was a good Irishman. He continued to write about activities in the park until he died in 1969. Many of his columns described the lives of a group of leprechauns, who established the "only leprechaun colony west of Ireland" in the park. Fagan claimed to be the only person who could see the head leprechaun, Patrick O'Toole.

The Guinness Book of Records granted it the title of "world's smallest park" in 1971. After Mill Ends officially became a city park on St. Patrick’s Day in 1976, the park continued to be the site of St. Patrick's Day festivities. Over the years, contributions have been made to the park, such as the small swimming pool and diving board for butterflies, many statues, a miniature Ferris wheel (which was brought in by a normal-sized crane), and the occasional flying saucer. The events held here include concerts by Clan Macleay Pipe Band, picnics, and rose plantings by the Junior Rose Festival Court.


Source : portlandonline.com

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World record nobody wishes to attempt

This is one world record that nobody wishes to neither attempt nor break. That's because this record is about "Greatest Distance Thrown in a Car Accident" and is currently held by Matthew McKnight. The 29-year-old record-holder lived to tell about being thrown 118 feet by a car that hit him while traveling about 70 mph. He was struck on Oct. 26, 2001, while trying to help accident victims along Interstate 376 in Monroeville, about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh.

He suffered two dislocated shoulders plus a broken shoulder, pelvis, leg and tailbone. He spent two weeks in the hospital and 80 days in rehab before returning to work in April 2002. McKnight is a volunteer firefighter and paramedic, though he was not on duty when he stopped to help the accident victims. He works full-time as a communications specialist at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.

McKnight's emergency room physician, Dr. Eric Brader, submitted paperwork for the record, which Guinness recognized in 2003. It was not listed in the book until the 2008 edition, however. "I thought it was a big joke. Dr. Brader is known for joking around a lot," McKnight told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "But when he brought (the paperwork) to me, I saw how serious he was." Mcknight hopes that nobody will ever break his record for a good reason.


Source : MSNBC News

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The real Papa Smurf

Fourteen years ago, Paul Karason developed a bad case of dermatitis, which results in swollen, reddened and itchy skin. He started self-medicating, using a treatment called colloidal silver, which is made by extracting silver from metal. Instead of curing him, it turned him into a real life Papa Smurf!

The substance is usually consumed orally but Mr Karason also decided to rub it into his peeling skin to accelerate the effects. According to the 57-year-old, his skin slowly turned blue that neither he nor he friends noticed the change at first. "The change was so gradual that I didn't perceive it and other people around me likewise," said Karason. "It wasn't until a friend I hadn't seen in several months came by my parent's place to see me and he asked me 'what did you do?.'"

Karason, who recently moved from Oregon to Madera, California, said it hasn't been easy living with blue skin. He try to avoid public places as much as he can. Karason made the move in hopes of fitting in a little better. "I hope that they just accept me," he said, "And I think that will happen here. Where I was, I rather doubt it would have. This is different kind of community here." So far, Karason hasn't sought any medical attention for his condition. When he was asked if he's still drinking the colloidal silver, he said yes, but much less.

The FDA does not consider colloidal silver safe or effective to treat any disease or condition. In fact, taking it could have serious side effects such as Argyria, an irreversible blue-gray discoloration of your skin, nails and gums; Seizures and other neurological problems; Kidney damage; Indigestion; Headaches; Fatigue and Skin irritations.

Source : Fox News

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Science changed mice fear of cat

In nature, rodents are afraid of cats when they smelled their presence. But this may be a thing in the past as scientist found how to genetically erase the mice's phobia! Scientist at the University of Tokyo used genetic engineering to successfully switch off a mice instinct to run at the presence of cats. This new method shattered common believes that fear is learned through experience.

Mice are naturally terrified of cats and usually panic or flee at the moment they smelt its presence. Humans will shy away at certain smell too, we are born with a dislike of curdled and moldy food and when we detect rotten food we will distance ourselves from the smell instinctively. The findings suggest that the human aversion to dangerous smells could also be genetically predetermined, according to research leader Ko Kobayakawa.

The genetic surgery had only affected the nerve cells in the nose (dorsal zone olfactory sensory neurons) that can trigger fear, but they did not lose the feeling of fear entirely. They found that the altered mice still froze if they heard a cat meow. "This observation may suggest that the mice only lacked the innate fear responses to cats' odors, but they did not lose the feeling of fear," said Dr Kobayakawa.

The technique has great potential in neuroscience, he said "We think it as the power to clarify many unrevealed principles of the brain, those which generate emotions and behaviors in mammals." There is increasing evidence that humans do respond to the smell of signaling chemicals - pheromones, - added Dr Denise Chen, of Rice University, Houston. "Only a few years ago, many in the scientific community would not even entertain the idea of a human pheromone.

"The past couple of years have witnessed a paradigm shift in this belief, as a result of an explosion of findings about the involvement of the main olfactory system in pheromone sensing." The idea of the presence of both learned and innate systems for processing smells within the main olfactory system may shed light on understanding and elucidating the differences in which humans process salient social chemo signals (for example, fearful sweat) and other types of smells (for example, non-emotional body odor or non-social smells)."

Source : news.nationalgeographic.com
Watch Video : www.guardian.co.uk

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Chimp vs. Human - Chimps won!

Young chimps have been competed against university students in laboratory tests of working memory and unbelievablely the chimps outsmarted humans. The assumption that the brain of a human can outperform that of close relatives is overturned today by a study that adds to research that brings chimpanzees closer to humans.

Young chimpanzees have an "extraordinary" ability to remember numerals that is superior to that of human adults. "There are still many people, including many biologists, who believe that humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions," said Professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University.

Prof Matsuzawa, a pioneer in studying the mental abilities of chimps, said even he was surprised by the results of his study. He and colleague Sana Inoue report the findings in the journal Current Biology. "No one can imagine that chimpanzees-young chimpanzees at the age of five-have a better performance in a memory task than humans.

The chimps' memory ability is reminiscent of what scientists call "eidetic imagery", a special ability to retain a detailed and accurate image of a complex scene or pattern. Such a "photographic memory" is known to be present in some normal human children, and then the ability declines with the age, he added.

Prof Andrew Whiten of the University of St Andrews commented: "I have seen Prof Matsuzawa's chimpanzees performing this task and one's first response is 'that's impossible!' because they remember a sequence of numerals so well and 'list' them so fast. I have also attempted the task myself and my limited recall only underlines how extraordinary is the apes' achievement."

In the new work, the researchers took three pairs of mother and infants and taught them Arabic numerals from 1 to 9. They were then pitted them against university students in a memory task. The chimps or humans were briefly presented with various numerals from 1 to 9 on a touch-screen monitor. Those numbers were then replaced with blank squares, and the test subject had to remember which numeral appeared in which location and touch the squares in the appropriate order.

Nine university students, three young chimpanzees and the chimps' mothers were tested. In the hardest tests, where numbers are flashed for 0.21 seconds on a screen, the star five-year-old chimp averaged 80 percent accuracy, double that of the university students. The young chimpanzees could grasp many numerals at a single glance, with no change in performance as the hold duration - the amount of time that the numbers remained on the screen - was varied. In general, the performance of the three young chimpanzees was better than that of their mothers and also all of the students.

One chimp, Ayumu, did the best. The researchers believe that the young chimps' newfound ability to top humans in the numerical memory task is "just a part of the very flexible intelligence of young chimpanzees".

Source : news.nationalgeographic.com

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M. Schumacher the fastest taxi driver

When one cabbie in southern Germany apparently was not driving fast enough, his customer, former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, took the wheel himself. The seven-times world champion shocked a cab driver by taking over the wheel in order to be on time for a flight.

Schumacher, 38, flew into the aerodrome at the Bavarian town of Coburg on Saturday and took a taxi to the village of Gehuelz, 30 kilometres away, to pick up a new puppy - an Australian Shepherd dog called "Ed". But when the former Formula One ace, plus his wife and two children, caught a taxi back to the airport they were short on time and, afer a polite request, cab driver Tuncer Yilmaz watched in wonder as Schumacher took the wheel.

"I found myself in the passenger seat, which was strange enough, but to have "Schumi" behind the wheel of my cab was incredible, he drove at full throttle around the corners and over-took in some unbelievable places." Mr Yilmaz was well rewarded for the unusual journey - on top of the 60 euros (88 US dollars) fare, he was also given a 100 euros (146 US dollars) tip.

Schumacher’s spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, confirmed the story. She said Schumacher had flown in from Switzerland on Saturday on his private jet to buy a puppy from a breeder in the town of Gesuelz. The German track ace, who now lives in Switzerland, retired from Formula One in 2006 after a glittering career and, despite test drives for his old team Ferarri, has insisted there is no chance of a return to racing.

Source : BBC News

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Kill with a kiss

A woman has been sentenced to death for killing her lover with a kiss! Xia Xinfeng and her childhood sweetheart, Mao Ansheng, swore an oath that if either was unfaithful, they would have to die. Xia took action after she saw her man talking to a woman in a way that made her suspicious, a court in Henan province, central China, was told.

They had arranged to meet the next day at a public bath-house. She filled a plastic pellet with rat poison, hid it under her tongue, and while they were kissing, nudged it into his mouth. Mao failed to notice it, swallowed it and died shortly afterwards.

Rat poison is one of the common methods of murder and suicide in China, so much so that one variety, "dushuqiang" was banned three years ago. In one case, a widow used it to kill 10 guests, with whom she had been engaged in a feud, at her husband's funeral banquet.

Despite the crackdown, however, besides Xin Xinfeng, a couple from Yunnan province, Chen Lihua and Huang Jianxiao, were also sentenced to death this week, suspended for two years, for lacing their respective spouses' dinners with rat poison.

Source : The Shanghai Daily

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London bridge may fall, paper bridge may not

Shigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims. Shigeru Ban was the winner in 2005 at age 48 of the 40th annual Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He was profiled by Time Magazine in their projection of 21st century innovators in the field of architecture and design.

Shigeru Ban studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and later went on to Cooper Union’s School of Architecture where he studied under John Hejduk and graduated in 1984. Hejduk was a part of the The New York Five. From Hejduk, Ban learned not only fundamental elements of architecture, but also gained an interest in ‘architectonic poetics’ or the creation of three-dimensional poetry. Hejduk, the most experimentally minded of the New York Five, had a lasting influence on Ban, whose work has continuing explorations into basic geometric elements. Ban’s formal explorations with basic building materials helped to lead him into unique structural solutions.

Ban is most-famous now for his innovative work with paper and cardboard tubing as a material for building construction. He was the first architect in Japan to construct a building primarily out of paper, with his paper house and required special approval for his building to pass Japan’s building code. Ban is attracted to using paper because of its low-cost, its recyclable, low-tech and they’re replaceable. The last aspect of Ban’s influences is his humanitarianism and his attraction to ecological architecture. Ban’s work with paper and other materials is heavily based on its sustanability and because it produces very little waste. As a result of this, Ban’s DIY Refugee shelters (used in Japan after the Kobe earthquake, in Turkey, Rwanda and around the world) are very popular and effective for low-cost disaster relief-housing.

When the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was asked to build a footbridge over the Gardon River in the south of France, he designed one that was keenly sensitive to its surroundings. He constructed it from locally available materials and based its geometry on the nearby Pont du Gard, a historic Roman aqueduct. Ban used a mixture of cardboard tubes, recycled labels and creative engineering.

The surprisingly strong structure can withstand the load of at least 20 people, rose triumphantly against the backdrop of the ancient monument. The 72-foot-long frame was made primarily from 281 cardboard tubes — each four and a half inches in diameter and about three-quarters of an inch thick. The tubes were held together by steel joints. For the steps, Ban used a new material called ProFi, assembled from paper and plastic left over from the manufacture of self-adhesive labels. Wooden boxes buried underground and packed with local sand formed the foundations.

The bridge diameter and curvature were modeled on the classic proportions of the Pont du Gard’s arch. “It was an interesting contrast,” Ban says. “But it was both a contrast and a harmony.” The design of the bridge allows for easy assembly and dismantling. It took a team of architecture students only a month to complete the installation, which remained open to the public for six weeks before being dismantled in August before the rainy season. Ban says he expects it to be rebuilt next year.

The main challenge, Ban says, was not mastering the engineering of the bridge but persuading skeptics to rethink basic principles of design. “The strength and durability of a structure has nothing to do with the material,” he said. Ban fits well into the category of “Ecological Architects” but he also can make solid claims for being modernist, a Japanese experimentalist as well as a rationalist. “I don’t like waste” is an apt quote from Ban, summing up his philosophy, known as “Paper George's Architecture.”

Source : www.shigerubanarchitects.com
Source : www.nytimes.com

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Anencephaly - Neckless baby

Anencephaly is a cephalic disorder that results from a neural tube defect that occurs when the cephalic (head) end of the neural tube fails to close, usually between the 23rd and 26th day of pregnancy, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp. Infants with this disorder are born without a forebrain, the largest part of the brain consisting mainly of the cerebral hemispheres.

Such is the case that happens in Nepal as it is reported by eKantipur.com. The birth of a bizarre-looking baby in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, drew a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight. The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot.

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death. The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

"We wouldn't have been able to save it, even if it had been brought here alive" said a nurse attending to the mother at the hospital, adding "This is an extremely abnormal case". The baby weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period.

Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy. Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby's death. I am happy that nothing happened to my wife, he said.

Note : Though Anencephaly does exist, the story and the 2nd attached photos authenticity is undetermined. Also, it was not known why the baby was paraded.

Source : library.med.utah.edu
Source : kantipuronline.com

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It's dove at first sight

It's like a tale straight out of Disney. An abandoned baby monkey, close to death, is revived by the love of a bird. The 12-week-old macaque was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Guangdong Province, China, after being abandoned by his mother.

Taken to an animal hospital, he was weaned back to physical health but still showed little appetite for life. It was not until a fellow patient, a white pigeon, took him under her wing and showed him love and affection that he perked up.

The blossoming relationship helped to revive the baby macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary. Now the unlikely duo are never far from each other's side.

Source : dailymail.co.uk

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Rich bitch Trouble in trouble

Trouble is a white Maltese dog that inherited $12 million from late New York hotelier Leona Helmsley since she passed away in August 2007. But now, Trouble is really in trouble after receiving about 20 death threats. And Trouble was flown on a private jet to Florida two months ago to throw her pursuers off the track.

Helmsley cut two of her four grandchildren out of her will, but established a $US12 million trust fund for Trouble. The dog used to live in luxury in a 46th-floor apartment on top of the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, eating food prepared by the hotel chefs.

The will stipulated that Helmsley's 80-year-old brother should care for her beloved pet, but he refused to do so and it passed to the care of her staff. John Codey, who manages the dog's trust fund, said the cost of Trouble's security, medical care, chef-cooked meals and grooming was about $300,000 a year.

"We were alarmed by the number of threats - 20 to 30, something of that order," said Helmsley's former aide John Codey. He told CBS's Early Show that blackmailers had threatened: "I'm gonna kill the dog. I'm gonna kidnap the dog. I need the $12 million."

Trouble's penchant for biting people has earned her many enemies over the years, but Mr Codey said he had been astonished at the animosity toward her. "I think the reaction was really quite bizarre," he said. Mr Codey said the 2kg pooch had a rotating security team and used an alias when she flew out of Connecticut.

When Trouble dies, any remaining money from her trust will go to the charitable foundations that inherited the lion's share of Ms Helmsley's estimated $US4 billion estate.

Source : BBC News
For previous written article about Trouble, click here

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Ancient Egyptian plays bowling

Italian archeologists have found in Egypt what may be the world's oldest indoor bowling alley. A spacious room, with a shallow lane running through into a pit and two heavy stone balls lying nearby, was found at an ancient site in the province of Al-Fayyum, 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Cairo, and appears to be man's first attempt to create an area for a game that was to become the prototype for modern-day bowling.

The site dates back to the Ptolemaic era, which began in 332 B.C with Ptolemy I Soter declaring himself Pharaoh of Egypt following Alexander the Great's conquest, and ended with the Roman conquest in 30 B.C. The bowling room was apparently part of a residential building, with papyruses, pottery and copper utensils found at the site in abundance.

It's believed that two players would throw balls from the two ends of a lane. The one throwing a smaller ball aimed to get the ball in a hole, while one throwing a larger ball tried to block the other's shot. The lane is made from three pieces of joint marble.

Source : dsc.discovery.com

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Bigfoot appear in a smaller form?

Natasha, a black Macaque in the Safari Park Zoo near Tel Aviv, Israel surprised scientist by the difference between her from others Macaque. Black Macaque, like others monkey usually walks on all four and occasionally they will walk upright for a short period of time. Natasha walks upright all the time, bearing similarity to the walking style of the legendary creature Bigfoot with not such a big foot.

In 2004, Natasha went through a death experience, a stomach ailment that almost killed her. She and three other monkeys were diagnosed with severe stomach flu. At the zoo clinic, she slipped into critical condition. The veterinarian Igal Horowitz that's treating Natasha said "I was sure that she was going to die," he said. "She could hardly breathe, and her heart was not functioning properly."

After intensive treatment, Natasha's condition began to stabilize. But a day after she was released from the clinic, she soon starts to walk upright from this day onwards. Horowitz was baffled, and said that the possible explanations to her advanced evolution of movement might due to her brain being damaged from the illness. Probably she thought that she has become Bigfoot. But apart from her evolutional walking style, her others monkey behavior remain unchanged.

Source : MSNBS News
Source : CBC News

Tags : Natasha Black Macaque Macaque Tel Aviv Safari Park Zoo walk upright human evolution bipedal Bigfoot

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Half cooked or half raw lobster?

For 20 years, Alan Robinson of Steuben, Maine, has been catching lobsters but first time in his life saw something he never did in his entire life. The lobster that caught his attention is obviously different from the others.

In one of his catch in 2006 near the town of Bar Harbor, Maine, US, he noticed that one of the lobsters has two toned color! On one half, it looks like any regular lobsters. But on the other, it has bright orange that similar to the color lobsters turned after they've been cooked.

"I thought someone was playing a trick on me. Once I saw what it was, it was worth seeing". Alan wanted others to see it, too, so he donated his unusual catch to Maine's Mount Desert Oceanarium, where experts were able to shed some light on the find. Two-toned lobsters, they explain, are rare but not unheard of.

The shells of American, or Maine, lobsters usually sport a combination of yellow, red, and blue pigments. But the animals grow symmetrically, with each half of the body developing independently of the other. In the case of Robinson's catch, half of the Crustacean's shell was lacking the blue pigment, giving it the appearance of having been cooked to a turn.

All this makes Robinson's fifty-fifty find one for the record books, the Oceanarium's staffers say. The aquarium has received only three two-toned lobsters in the last 35 years, they note, and the odds of finding one that's exactly half and half is about 1 in 50 million.

Source : nationalgeographic.com

Tags : Alan Robinson Crustacean lobster two face two toned two colors Mount Desert Oceanarium

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Dead priest image appeared on a book about him

A "spooky" image of a priest executed for treason over the Gunpowder Plot has appeared on a 17th century book thought to be bound in his skin, it is claimed. Auctioneers said the face of Father Henry Garnet could be seen peering from the cover of the "rare and macabre" book about the Jesuit priest's death.

The item will go under the hammer at Wilkinson's Auctioneers in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on Sunday. Garnet, was hanged in May 1606 for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot. Sid Wilkinson, from Wilkinson's Auctioneers, said: "It's a little bit spooky because the front of the book looks like it has the face of a man on it, which is presumed to be the victim's face."

The book, called A True and Perfect Relation of the Whole Proceedings Against the Late Most Barbarous Traitors, Garnet, a Jesuit and his Confederates, was published in 1606 just after his execution. The lot is considered so unusual there is no reserve price attached to it. Garnet's involvement in the plot to kill King James I was controversial. He claimed he knew about the conspiracy but was not involved.

Some scholars now believe he had been trying to prevent the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament rather than conspiring to kill the King. According to legend, a piece of bloodstained straw found at the scene of his execution started to develop an exact image of the priest's face.

Source : BBC News

Tags : Father Henry Garnet A True and Perfect Relation of the Whole Proceedings Against the Late Most Barbarous Traitors King James I Gunpowder Plot conspiracy Jesuit image priest book 1606 executed

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Uninhabited town sold for $3 mil on E-bay

A small, uninhabited town in Texas has been sold on the internet auction site, eBay, to a buyer in Italy for a little over $3m. The town, called Albert, is about 100km (62 miles) outside San Antonio and features a schoolhouse, a dancehall and a bar.

Albert, a 13-acre town about 50 miles north of San Antonio with a resident population of four, is in the Texas Hill Country. The town's current owner, Bobby Cave, said he was checking the identity of the buyer, to confirm the deal. He added he had several other serious bids should the sale fall through.

Mr Cave, 47, an estate agent, said he sold the land after three-and-a-half years as he was ready to move on to his next project. "I bought it with the intention of creating a little family camping venue where people could come out and drink and enjoy local live music," he told PA news agency.

He said the town's population consisted of himself and groundsman at weekends. The winning buyer will take over an icehouse created from the frame of the old general store, a pavilion, an 85-year-old dance hall, a tractor shed and a three-bedroom house, together with peach and pecan orchards.

Source : BBC News
Source : alberttexas.com

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Shark is not the top predators

The North Pacific Giant Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is a large cephalopod belonging to the genus Enteroctopus. It can be found in the coastal Pacific Northwest, usually around the depth of 65 meters (about 213 ft.). It can, however, live in much shallower or much deeper waters. It is arguably the largest octopus species, based on a scientific record of a 71 kg (156.5 lb) individual weighed live.

Octopuses are thought to be one of the most intelligent invertebrates and can change the color and texture of their skin to blend in with rocks, algae, or coral to avoid predators. Some species of octopus have been reported to unscrew jar lids to retrieve food and mimic the behaviors of other octopuses and also other sea creatures such as sea snakes and lion fish. Giant Pacific Octopuses are capable of solving complex puzzles. This species of octopus commonly preys upon shrimp, crabs, scallops, abalones, clams, and fish. It procures food with its suckers, which is then crushed with its tough "beaks" of chitin.

The Giant Octopus is extremely calm and they held a regular spot on display at the Seattle aquarium over the years. Then the keepers decided to move one of the Giant Octopus in to a large tank filled with sharks and other big fish. They purposely picked a larger octopus fearing that it'll get killed by predators like shark. They assumed that the octopus strength and camouflage would keep it safe. As it turns out, they were tragically mistaken.

Since then, each week keepers were finding shark carcasses in the bottom of the tank. The 3-4 foot sharks kept vanishing at an alarming rate. Curious by the fact that the so called top of the food chain was defeated by an unknown predator, the keepers decided to stay up and film the culprit. To their surprise, the predator is none other than the Giant Octopus! They learned some thing about this species they never imagine. It was a big surprise to find out that sharks were taken by octopus, a mere invertebrate. Now school books might need to re-categorize top predators.

Source : marine.alaskapacific.edu
Watch Video at nationalgeographic.com

Tags : North Pacific Giant Octopus Pacific Northwest shark predator prey eaten Seattle aquarium

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Swimsuit that you'll never wear to swim

We've heard of diamond-studded lingerie and gold brassieres, now it's time for the swimsuit turn with the latest gold-weave swimsuit from Tokyo, Japan. Ginza Tanaka, the designer popular for his Midas touch, created these gold-thread-woven swimsuits that were on display at his Jewelry store in Tokyo on July 4, 2007.


The method used to make the outfits is more than 1,300 years old. The swimsuits are hand-woven with 500 grams of a thread that was twined with 6 wires of 90-micron-thin gold (K24) in 32 days. Also available is a golden long dress woven with 1,500 grams of a thread that was twined with 4 wires. The gold-weave swimsuit weighs 500g and is on sale at a price tag of 10 million yen (USD 92,000). The dress weighs 1.1kg and costs 30 million yen (USD277,000).

A spokeswoman for the store said "The dress and swimsuit can be worn normally like any other clothes but should be treated as jewelry, and so shouldn't be washed in the washing machine". But I doubt anyone would wear such expensive swimsuit just to go for a swim.

Source : taipeitimes.com

Tags : swimsuit gold golden weave woven long dress Ginza Tanaka tokyo Japan hand-woven

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