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Britain's oldest dad of twins is 71
Proud Richard Roden grins with delight after becoming Britain's oldest father of twins - at 71.
He posed with 25-year-old wife Lisa and identical daughters Emily and Ruby.
Ex-welder Richard is getting used to the looks of amazement from strangers when he explains the girls are his children, not grandchildren.
Richard and Lisa met in 2005, when he stopped his car during a storm and offered Lisa a lift to stop her getting a soaking.
They were attending the same college, with Richard, from Walsall, West Midlands, on a basic literacy course while she studied English and maths.
Their friendship blossomed after he gave her parenting advice as she struggled alone to raise her daughter Bethany - now eight - from a previous relationship.
In 2006, the couple went on a seaside trip to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and Lisa declared her love for Richard. They married last month.
He told The Sun: "My first impression of her was her lovely, big blue eyes. I never thought we'd end up together because of my age.
"But we are just like any other couple in love."
Source - The Sun
Man swallows 13 toothbrushes in two years
He tried to tell his parents that he had swallowed a toothbrush, but they thought their mentally-slow son was lying as an X-ray two months earlier did not show anything out of the ordinary.
Over the course of two years, the 24-year-old man from Johor, Malaysia, swallowed a total of 13 toothbrushes.
After losing more than 20kg within a few weeks and running a high fever a few days ago, he was finally taken to a hospital.
An endoscopy was performed on him and six toothbrushes were found lodged in his throat, reported China Press.
After a five-hour operation, the surgeon removed a total of 13 toothbrushes from his digestive system.
His condition has stabilised but he remains in the intensive care unit. His father said he had previously taken his son to the doctor for X-rays after being told by him a few times that he had swallowed a toothbrush.
But the X-ray results did not reveal anything unusual and the doctor suggested the man might be mentally unsound.
Thinking his son had lied to him, the angry father had even demanded a toothbrush-swallowing demonstration, but he said his son might have been too afraid to do so at the time.
The father was later told that an X-ray cannot detect objects made of plastic, and he's upset with the doctor for not informing him of this during the examination.
His wife said their son, the second of five children, was born prematurely with the umbilical cord almost strangling him and cutting off oxygen to his brain.
She said: "We will put away the toothbrushes at home after this and help him to brush his teeth for the time being."
Via - AsiaOne News
Black Jesus worshipper kills family
A demon worshipper who worshipped a 'black Jesus' and paid daily homage on Papua New Guinea's mountaintops hacked his family to death with an axe before killing himself, a report said Wednesday.
Rodney Sinod, 37, had repeatedly warned his family he was going to kill them so the world could be free. He turned upon them in a gruesome murder-suicide on Misima Island, 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of mainland PNG.
Sinod attacked his father, sister-in-law and a niece and nephew aged two and five years after returning from his morning worship at the top of a mountain on October 10, The National newspaper said.
He also set upon his 17-year-old niece, chopping off part of her lower hand and striking her in the head with the axe. She survived and is recovering in hospital.
Sinod then fled away from the house, stabbing himself in the chest with a knife and slamming himself against a tree to drive the blade in deeper.
Local police said demon worship posed a serious threat to Misima's residents, with at least six villages engaging in such activities.
Witchcraft and black magic practices are common in PNG and at least six villages following demon cults and even a police officer starting his own demon worshipping church. Locals often blame unexplained deaths and those resulting from illnesses such as AIDS, which is rife in the country, on sorcery. The old and the weak are usually targeted.
Via - Capital News
Woman eats dozens of forks and spoons
A woman complaining of stomach pains left doctors stunned after they operated on her and discovered she had scoffed 78 forks and spoons.
The find came after 52-year-old estate agent secretary Margaret Daalmans was admitted to a hospital in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Doctors had to remove dozens of forks and spoons from her stomach one by one.
Officials revealed it wasn’t the first time that Margaret had been treated for eating cutlery. She is said to be responding well to therapy for a ‘borderline personality disorder’ in order to cure her of her bizarre appetite.
A surgeon said:’ She seems to have been suffering from sort of obsession and every time she would sit down for a meal, she would ignore the food and eat the cutlery.’’
Margaret told medics: I don’t know why, but I felt an urge to eat the silverware. I could not help myself.
A spokesman for the hospital said that Margaret had made a full recovery from her operation and was responding well to therapy for her obsession.’’
The photographs of her X-ray were taken 30 years ago but recently came to light when a Dutch medical magazine asked readers to send in bizarre medical tales. A doctor at a hospital in Sittard in the Netherlands sent in the tale of Ms Daalman.
Margaret never ate knives but couldn’t explain why. Psychiatrists said hers case was not unique and that the urge to swallow foreign objects. sometimes referred to as pica, was a form of self harm. No one else has been known to have consumed so much silverware.
According to the article it is nearly impossible to prevent access to all potentially ingestible objects making the behaviour difficult to stop without psychiatric treatment.
Source - STV
The biggest Mona Lisa in the world
The biggest painting of Leonardo Da Vinci's popular Mona Lisa has gone on display at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham. Measuring 17.5m, covers 240m sq and is 50 times bigger than the 16th century original which is hanging in the Louvre art gallery in Paris.
The Wrexham version, which could accommodate 22 London buses, is more than double the size of the previous biggest version painted by Rolf Harris in Edinburgh in 2005.
Leading by artist Katy Webster, this project involved 245 people and took 987 man hours to paint, using 86 litres of acrylic paint.
It was painted on scores of different segments by community groups including Victoria Primary School and the Haulfan Centre for people with disabilities.
"It took over a week to do her face - that was the hardest because everybody knows what it looks like so we had to make sure it was exactly right", Katy said.
Via - Telegraph.co.uk
Starfish pump up to cool down
One starfish has a remarkable strategy to avoid overheating in the sun, scientists have discovered. The starfish pumps itself up with cold seawater to lower its body temperature when exposed to the sun at low tide.
It is equivalent to a person drinking seven litres of water before heading into the midday sun, scientists say. However, global climate change may drastically interfere with this vital mechanism by increasing sea temperatures, the researchers warn.
The ochre starfish or sea star (Pisaster ochraceus) is found in the intertidal zone along the Pacific North American coast. It mainly feeds on mussels while underwater. During low tide it is exposed to the air and cannot move until it is submerged again at high tide.
When exposed to the warm sun at low tide, the ochre starfish can suffer heat stress. Now scientists based in California, US reveal how it manages this excess heat in the journal American Naturalist.
Pump up the volume
"We have discovered a quite novel thermoregulation strategy in the animal kingdom," says Dr Sylvain Pincebourde, formerly of the University of South Carolina, Columbia but now at the François Rabelais University in Tours, France.
"We found that the weight of the sea stars increased during the days after exposure to high temperature at low tide."
"The sea stars were not allowed to feed. So this increase can be explained only by an increase in seawater uptake. When sucking up water, the body mass of a sea star increases," he says.
The increase in body mass allows the starfish to be buffered against environmental temperature changes in the subsequent low tide. "Because its body mass is now higher, body temperature increases more slowly," Dr Pincebourde explains.
"The thermoregulatory strategy we have revealed in our study indicates that the sea star is well adapted to such a variable environment."
Dr Pincebourde and colleagues at the University of California, Davis and Bodega Marine Laboratory, Bodega Bay, California, made their discovery by studying the starfish in an aquarium, and replicating tides and environmental conditions.
They used heat lamps to adjust the aerial temperature and an infrared camera to measure body temperature.
Finally, they weighed the star fish to estimate the amount of body fluids.The scientists were especially surprised by the amount of water the starfish were able to store in a few days. "It's as if we decided to suck up more than 15 pounds of cold water in the morning to prepare ourselves to the high temperature we will get at noon," Dr Pincebourde says.
They were also amazed to see the degree of control the starfish had. "This quantity of stored water allows a decrease of almost 4°C in excess body temperature, which is enough to avoid reaching dangerous body temperatures," he explains.
Hot water
Dr Pincebourde is concerned that this novel strategy may have limitations in a rapidly changing world. "This discovery is quite important for us to formulate expectations on what could be the impact of climate change on the sea star," he says.
As oceans warm together with air temperature the thermoregulatory mechanism used by the starfish will cease to work, he warns. "The colder the sea water, the more it is able to lower its body temperature. The efficiency of this thermoregulation strategy therefore might be annihilated by ocean warming."
"Sea stars will reach more frequently high aerial body temperatures, leading to higher mortality rates, for example."
Source - BBC Earth News
Russian robotic soldier revealed in Moscow
A prototype track-mounted combat platform tailored to use Russian weapons has been unveiled at an arms show in Moscow. Producers say it beats the similar American bot widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.
The bot, called MRK-27-BT, was produced by the robotics lab of the Moscow Bauman Technical University. It was shown to the public at the Interpolitex-2009 arms exhibition.
MRK-27-BT’s standard armament includes two Shmel rocket launchers, two grenade launchers, a Pecheneg machine gun with a 100 round ammunition belt, and six smoke grenades. It is operated with a couple of joysticks and has a maximum range of 500 meters. All the weapons are standard issue used by human soldiers and can be detached in the field.The project is similar to SWORDS, a weaponized version of Foster-Miller’s TALON platform. While the platform is extensively used by US military for disposing of explosives and other tasks, the real weapon-wielding bot was never used in actual combat.
Russian developers say their project beats the American counterpart in mobility and speed thanks to a superior track design. Its weapon mount is more flexible and can extend over a foxhole edge. It also has a built-in recoil suppressor. At the same time the Russian robot is larger, standing 1.5 meters tall with its mount raised, while SWORDS is barely knee high.
Designers hope that Russian Defense Ministry will order a trial series of the platform. However, according to RIA Novosti’s sources, top brass want a developed doctrine about the use of combat robots before committing.
Source - Russia Today
Two-Headed Northern Water Snake Found In Couple's Drawer
Two-Headed Snake Found In Couple's Drawer
Tiny North American water two-headed snake has been discovered in a drawer full of rubbish in Illinois. When Jerry Williamson's wife first told him she had found the scary reptile he thought she was pulling his leg.
But to his surprise she was telling the truth. The couple decided to keep the reptile and don't mind about the terrifying stigma attached to the two-headed Hydra of Greek mythology.
They were worried it would not be able to survive on its own. The Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sometimes also known as Natrix sipedon) is a large, non-venomous, well-known snake in the Colubridae family that is native to North America. They are active during the day and at night.
Via - Sky News
Patterned Snout Beetle on a ceiling
Best viewed large - Patterned Snout Beetle on a ceiling
Best viewed large- Patterned Snout Beetle on a ceilingI want to have lunch when suddenly i spotted this tiny creature (a fly size) on a ceiling in my room. So i don't waste my time and shoot it. First time i see this kind of Snout Beetle. :)
Snout Beetle photo, Insect image, Macro, nature picture, close up picture
Camera used : Sony Alpha 200 DSLR , with Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro Telephoto lense
Location : Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
© NeeZhom Photographic
Giant shark bites Great white
A giant shark that could be up to 20ft long has sent shockwaves across Australian beaches after a great white was nearly bitten in half.
A stunning picture shows a 10ft predator thrashing about with two massive chunks missing on either side of its body, off the Queensland coast.
Experts said its rival may be 20ft (about six metres) long, judging by the size of the huge bites.
The great white was savaged after it got snared on a drum line - a baited hook attached to a buoy - near North Stradbroke Island, east of Brisbane.
The wounded creature was still alive when a crew hauled it onto a boat, close to Deadman's Beach.
"It certainly opened up my eyes. I mean the shark that was caught is a substantial shark in itself," Queensland Fisheries' Jeff Krause told Australia's Daily Telegraph.
Swimmers have been warned to stay out of the water near the island. The attack also worried many at a nearby tourist Mecca - Surfers Paradise, south of Brisbane.
Surfer Ashton Smith, 19, of the Gold Coast, told the Courier Mail: "I've heard about the big one lurking. Every surfer is always cautious over here."
Drum lines and shark nets are used to defend swimmers from sea predators, but they have been criticised for occasionally trapping migrating whales.
Fisheries minister Tim Mulherin told the Mail that the capture of the bitten shark - and the indication of a larger one feeding in the area - bolstered the decision to keep defences in place.
He added there were no special plans to hunt the attacking shark but contractors had reset the drum lines.
Via - Sky News
