Perpustakaan

Chinese grandma, 101, grows mystery horn on forehead

2010-03-08T20:40:00.001Z

Grandmother Zhang Ruifang, 101, of Linlou village, Henan province, began developing the mysterious protrusion last year, a mystery horn on her forehead.

Since then it has grown 2.4in in length and another now appears to emerging on the other side of the mother of seven’s forehead.

The condition has left her family baffled and worried. Her youngest of six sons, Zhang Guozheng, 60, said when a patch of rough skin formed on her forehead last year ‘we didn't pay too much attention to it’.

‘But as time went on a horn grew out of her head and it is now 6cm long,' added Mr Zhang, whose eldest brother and sibling is 82 years old.

‘Now something is also growing on the right side of her forehead. It’s quite possible that it’s another horn.’

Although, it is unknown what the protrusion is on Mrs Zhang’s head, it resembles a cutaneous horn.

This is a funnel-shaped growth and although most are only a few millimetres in length, some can extend a number of inches from the skin.

Cutaneous horns are made up of compacted keratin, which is the same protein we have in our hair and nails, and forms horns, wool and feathers in animals.

They usually develop in fair-skinned elderly adults who have a history of significant sun exposure but it is extremely unusual to see it form protrusions of this size.

The growths are most common in elderly people, aged between 60 and the mid-70s. They can sometimes be cancerous but more than half of cases are benign.

Common underlying causes of cutaneous horns are common warts, skin cancer and actinic keratoses, patches of scaly skin that develop on skin exposed to the sun, such as your face, scalp or forearms.

Cutaneous horns can be removed surgically but this does not treat the underlying cause.

Source - Daily Mail

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Fish Boy from China born with fish scales skin

2010-03-03T19:33:00.000Z

This 14-month-old boy in eastern China apparently suffers from a rare genetic disorder in which his body cannot cool itself, according to the Daily Telegraph. Song Sheng, reportedly was born without pores in his skin and started to develop scales shortly after birth.

Locals call him 'fish boy', reports the Telegraph. Doctors say because the toddler cannot sweat or lose heat through his skin, it peels away in fish-like scales.

To control his body temperature, his family puts him in baths of ice.

Song Dehui, his father, said: "He is in a lot of pain all the time. And if we don't have enough ice he gets a fever."

There's no known cure for the condition, called Lamellar ichthyosis, doctors have reportedly told the child's family.

His father said, "It can be treated but not cured, so we are praying for a miracle or a folk medicine cure."

To help Song Sheng, you can go here.

Via - NYDaily News , Telegraph

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The rubber man from India set world record

2010-03-02T02:25:00.000Z

Vijay Sharma can wrap his legs over his head, wriggle through a tennis racket and wind his arms around his back.

His flexibility has earned him the title of 'Rubber Man' in the Limca book of Records, India's version of the Guinness book of World Records, and he hopes to one-day achieve global fame.

'It was when I was training for martial arts I realised my body was so bendable I might be capable of setting a world record in flexibility,' the 27-year-old said.

Shop assistant Vijay claims his bendy obsession stems from watching Jackie Chan movies when he was a youngster.

The village boy from Rajashtan's Jhunjhunu district started taking martial arts lessons in 1999 in a bid to learn Chan's acrobatic fighting style.

It was during these lessons he discovered the extent of his flexibility and started experimenting.

He squeezed into tiny spaces, curled his body into boxes and attempted to drink from bottles held between his toes.

Nepalese youth celebrate 'cursing festival' each year

2010-02-28T08:11:00.000Z

Nepalese youth in two villages in the south of the Himalayan country celebrate 'cursing festival' each year. The weird fest reaches its climax on Sunday.

Almost like a crazy people, the youngsters in the neighbouring villages of Parsawa and Laxmipur hurl insults at each other, their neighbours, villagers and passers-by - and then laugh, reports AFP.

They gather in parks and other areas around straw heaped in the shape of a phallus to launch into the insults.

Insults like, “Monkey face, I hope your sons are as ugly as frogs,” and “I hope your buffaloes die of diarrhea,” ring out along with more obscene curses.

Village elders say the annual festival, which is just for youngsters, has been going on for as long as they can remember.

“I know of this tradition from long ago and took part during my youth,”78-year-old Ram Kumar Mishra told AFP by telephone from the region.

“The best thing about this tradition is after the festival is over, everyone feels good about each other. There are no bad feelings,” Mishra, who lives in Parsawa, said.

On the last day of the festival - this year on Sunday - they set the heaps of straw ablaze and celebrate the Hindu festival Holi, which is marked by raucous fights using powdered coloured paints and water.

“We don't get to curse at any other time. But during the festival we're allowed to - even in front of our parents and we all have a jolly good time,”16-year-old Raju Raut said after cursing his best school friend.

“Everyone gets cheered up,” he said.

Camam-camam la mereka ni yer .......

Via - AFP

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Monkey playing basketball

2010-02-28T05:21:00.000Z

Do you ever watch a monkey playing basketball? Or more amazing, it can slam dunk or make a bank shot.

Nanning Zoo in Guangxi province, China said the monkey “Ji Ling” (cute one) is so smart that he learned to play basketball himself.

“Outside the monkey cage is a basketball court for our staff and over time Ji Ling learnt all the skills by simply watching people playing,” said the spokesman of the zoo. “We found his talent once a ball dropped into his fence and he started playing it like a human being.”

On February 16, the zoo hosted a show for Ji Ning to show off his skills. The show was a great success and there should be more of them in the future.

Via - Faded Tribune

Monkey playing basketball videos

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Amazing ant that carries 100 times its body weight

2010-02-20T10:59:00.000Z

An incredible image of a tiny ant carrying 100 times its own body weight, while hanging upside down from a glass-like surface, has won first prize in a national science photo competition.

The amazing picture was snapped by scientists at Cambridge University by a team in the department of zoology investigating the extraordinary sticky feet of ants and other insects.

The image, taken by Dr Thomas Endlein, shows an Asian weaver ant, upside down on a smooth surface, carrying a 500mg weight in its jaws.

Other pictures in the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) science photo competition included a crow using a stick to fish food, a killer whale and a salmon caught in a net.

"It won first prize because it was a beautiful image and managed to convey complex science," said the BBSRC.

Weaver ants use their feet and their legs to achieve their sticky feats.

Dr Endelin: said: "Ants can change the size and shape of the pads on their feet depending on the load they are carrying. If they have to carry heavy loads they increase the contact area, and when they need to run they decrease it."

The ants' legs also play a part in the insects' stickiness by making clever use of what scientists call "peeling forces".

"If you think about peeling off sticky tape from a surface, it's easiest when you peel at a steep, rather than a shallow, angle.

"Ants use the same mechanism: when they want to stick, they keep their legs at a shallow angle relative to the surface, and when they want to release their legs they increase this angle and peel off easily," he added.

Ant shatters world record, carries 101 times its weight

The Scallion , August 10, 2009 - An unnamed ant (because despite their complex communication and farming abilities, ants don’t have names) shattered the world record of weight carried by an ant Monday in the Ant Olympics.

The leaf-cutter ant cut and managed to hoist a leaf weighing 303mg, topping the record set in 1901. The previous record belonged to another unnamed ant which lifted 300mg, 100 times its own body weight.

The new record holder could not be reached for comment (because ants cannot communicate with humans), but Vince MacGee, the ant’s coach, said, “You know, that ant is a great competitor. He really worked hard all season, and in the off-season, too, and you really got to hand it to him. When that leaf had to be carried, he really responded like a champion and really showed the whole league he knew how to carry a leaf. I’m really proud of him right now. Or her. Do ants have gender? I don’t know. It’s a great day!”

Via - Telegraph , The Scallion

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Science takes the spotlight at Swiss film fest

2010-02-17T17:02:00.000Z

The European Organization for Nuclear Research is screening films dedicated to science at the CineGlobe festival near Geneva. Russia’s “Two or Three Things It Would Not Be Bad to Know About” has made it into the event.

CineGlobe, an international festival of short films and science documentaries, will be held from February 16 to February 20. Movies taking part compete for the titles of best general fiction, best science fiction and best science documentary.

Within five days a selection of some 80 films from 27 different countries from over 700 submissions will be shown in the Swiss town of Meyrin. This year marks CineGlobe’s second installment.

Russia’s entry, a documentary by Russian director Nikolay Makarov, is made as a media performance. It features six Russian philosophers rethinking the threats of the relations between a human and the technological world he has created. The film was made around the image of an anonymous Internet surfer, who happens to find a webpage revealing the catastrophic threats of the future. Step by step the hero discovers more and more dangers… The film ends with a symbolic scene of the hero being offered to choose either to “quit” or to “continue” this weird “race of curiosity” over how the world would come to its end.

Indeed, the town where the festival is taking place is an apt choice; nearby the Large Hadron Collider can be found buried under the French-Swiss border.

Open to film creators from around the world working in both French and English, the CineGlobe festival is a unique event organized and supported by the world’s largest physics laboratory, CERN, that has attracted more than 1,500 entries from more than 83 countries around the globe. The festival is poised to become one of the most important festivals worldwide for films about science.

Via - Russia Today

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The largest rodent pet is an internet star

2010-02-17T16:54:00.000Z

Many people have a hamster or guinea pig as a pet, but Melanie Typaldos decided to opt for a much larger rodent as her pet. In fact, she went for the largest rodent in the world - a capybara that weighs around a hundred pounds.

Now her capybara, named Caplin Rous, has become a bit of an internet star, with his own blog at gianthamster.com, a Facebook page and a Twitter stream with over 3,000 followers.

Caplin lives with Typaldos in her home town of Buda, Texas, where he goes for walks on a lead, swims in her pool, does tricks and even used to accompany her into work. However, she told the LA Times that the work visits stopped when 'someone complained there was a furry, pig-like animal in the building.'

Caplin Rous's name is a reference to the movie The Princess Bride, which featured the fearsome Rodents Of Unusual Size in a key scene.

Caplin, now two-and-a-half years old, has been with Typaldos since he was 11 days old (he was bred in captivity, not taken from the wild, but even captive-bred capybaras need to get used to their owners from a very young age). The idea of getting a pet capybara came from a trip to Venezuela, where Typaldos's daughter Coral got to hold a juvenile capybara and was instantly smitten.

Via - Metro

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Alien fish found in cave lake in China

2010-02-11T13:59:00.000Z

Villagers in China have caught some amazing alien-looking fish from a lake in a mountain cave 1,000m below the ground.

Experts have been unable to identify the fish caught in the cave, near Daluo village, Bama County in southern China's Guangxi province.

The waters of the lake are said to promote longevity in the region which has more than its share of centenarians.

The fish have a duck bill-shaped flat mouth and red lips, long, slim 'moustaches', and eyes close to their mouth.

The head of the village, Li Zuneng, said locals had previously heard the oldest members of the village speaking about the fish.

However, as none of the younger generation had ever seen them before, he says, many considered them to be a "fairy tale".

They were proven wrong when a number of the fish were caught deep in the cave, known as Fu Yuan Dong, which means 'Cave of Fortune'.

Speciments were sent to the Bama County and Guangxi provincial aquatics institutes for inspection, but none of the experts there knew what species they were.

In the remote and mountainous area, a census in 2000 recorded 74 centenarians out of the total population of 238,000.

That works out at more than 30 per 100,000 people - well above the international standard of 25 for "hometowns of longevity", recognised by the International Natural Medicine Society.

Via - Orange News

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Giant bizarre oarfish filmed in Gulf of Mexico

2010-02-09T19:47:00.001Z

A huge oarfish was caught on camera in the Gulf of Mexico recently, giving scientists a rare glimpse of the bizarre fish in its native deep sea habitat. It is believed to be the world's first sighting of the backwards-swimming, giant "serpent" oarfish alive in its natural habitat.

Using a remotely operated vehicle, they caught a rare glimpse of that giant bizarre fish.

Researcher Mark Benfield describes the fish, a likely inspiration for the sea serpent myth. The glowing, metallic-coloured fish can grow up to 17m-long and has only ever been seen dying on the sea surface or dead washed ashore.

Oarfish (Regalecus glesne) are one of the world's longest fish reaching 17m. Their strange appearance may have provided the basis for the sea serpent myths told by early ocean travellers.

Previously found Oarfish -->

Not only are they elongated, they also have a prominent dorsal fin which gives it an unusual "serpent" appearance.

Recalling the event Professor Benfield explained how at first, they thought the fish was simply a drilling pipe called a riser being lowered into the water.

"We saw this bright vertical shiny thing, I said 'are they lowering more riser?' as it looked like they were lowering a huge pipe."

Via - BBC News

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Chinese sisters wear bee clothing

2010-02-09T19:24:00.001Z

The Xinchun sisters, from a family of professional beekeepers in Jingmen, China, have no problem being completely covered in the honey-making insects.

They all work at the family apiary where their father, Liu Xinchun, taught them to "wear" what he calls "bee clothing".

Liu, 60, said: "We use special ways to attract the queen bee on to us and then other bees among the group will follow and hang on to the person."

The girls wear the special outfits for an hour to attract the Queen bee. The other bees then follow her onto the clothing. Liu also mentioned that a bee group can contain as many as 30,000 individual insects.

As for being stung — according to Liu, his family is naturally immune to the mild venom in bee stings, meaning they aren't harmful. They have developed antibodies to bee stings.

Via - The Sun , Faded Tribune

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Jackie Chan sells fish in Singapore

2010-02-08T08:13:00.000Z

Jackie Chan actually sells fish in Singapore. But this man is not that popular actor, but his face is almost similar with that Kung Fu hero.

Fish monger Zhang Sui Xing, 48, is a spitting image of the famous Hong Kong action movie star and has been mistaken for Jackie Chan by many who met him at the market in Empress Road.

Zhang, who has operated his fish stall there for over 20 years, has become a popular icon at the wet market, attracting many housewives - some even called "Aunty killer".

"My business is very good. Many customers will call me 'Chen Long' (Jackie's Chinese name).

"They also introduce many friends to buy my fish," he told Shin Min Daily.

Zhang said he has never met Jackie Chan in person but has watched all his movies.

"Many people had said I looked like Jackie Chan even when I was in my 20s," he said, adding that he also played the role of 'Jackie Chan' in the movie I Not Stupid.

He said many people have sought autographs from him.

"When I told them I am not Jackie Chan, they would ask if I'm his brother," he said.

Via - Asia One

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Cowboy swallowed eighteen swords busts world record

2010-02-08T00:42:00.002Z

An Australian street performer Chayne Hultgren, has set a new Guinness World Record by swallowing 18 swords at the same time.

The man with the nickname 'The Space Cowboy' swallowed the blades, each of which was 72 centimetres long, in Sydney this morning.

The 31-year-old from Byron Bay said he was thrilled to have made history.

"It's amazing," he said. "I've been preparing for this since I was 16."

Hultgren beat his own previous record of 17 swords - also a Guinness World Record - which he set in 2008.

Via - ABC News

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Scientists demonstrate the world's first germanium laser

2010-02-07T09:33:00.000Z

Researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium, the first works at room temperature that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication.

Traditionally used lasers are made from gallium arsenide and other expensive materials that have to be attached to computing chips after each component has been separately manufactured. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips.

The result could be useful for high-speed optical data pathways within computers - so the scientists hope to apply this new technology to the world of processors and begin moving data and (maybe) performing calculations using light instead of electricity.

But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief; a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.

As chips' computational capacity increases, they need higher-bandwidth connections to send data to memory.

But, conventional electrical connections will soon become impractical, because they'll require too much power to transport data at ever higher rates.

Transmitting data with lasers - devices that concentrate light into a narrow, powerful beam - could be much more power-efficient, but it requires a cheap way to integrate optical and electronic components on silicon chips.

Chip assembly is a painstaking process in which layers of different materials are deposited on a wafer of silicon, and patterns are etched into them.

Inserting a new material into this process is difficult: it has to be able to chemically bond to the layers above and below it, and depositing it must be possible at the temperatures and in the chemical environments suitable to the other materials.

The materials used in today's lasers, such as gallium arsenide, are "all tough fits," according to Tremont Miao, a marketing director at Massachusetts-based Analog Devices Semiconductor.

Integrating germanium into the manufacturing process, however, is something that almost all major chip manufacturers have already begun to do, since the addition of germanium increases the speed of silicon chips.

"The ability to grow germanium on silicon is a discovery of this group and the ability to control the strain of those germanium films on silicon is a discovery of this group," said Lionel Kimerling, the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, who leads the group.

"High-speed optical circuits like germanium in general. That's a good marriage and a good combination. So their laser research is very, very promising," said Miao.

Miao points out that the germanium lasers need to become more power-efficient before they're a practical source of light for optical communications systems.

MIT's primary germanium laser investigator was Jurgen Michel. Jifeng Liu was lead author of the paper, and Lionel Kimerling, Xiaochen Sun, and Rodolfo Camacho-Aguilera are coauthors.

Via - Cnet , DailyTech , Physorg

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Acupuncture lessens pain in brain not body?

2010-02-07T08:59:00.000Z

Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese method in which thin needles are inserted into the skin at selected spots to treat various ailments.

Acupuncture works by making the brain, rather than the body, no longer experience pain, according to new research.

Scientists who scanned the brains of volunteers as they were given the Chinese therapy found it deactivated pathways that govern pain.

Complementary medicine expert Dr Hugh MacPherson, of the University of York, said: "These results provide objective scientific evidence that acupuncture has specific effects within the brain which hopefully will lead to a better understanding of how acupuncture works."

When a patient receives acupuncture treatment, a sensation called deqi can be obtained, scientific analysis shows that this deactivates areas within the brain that are associated with the processing of pain.

Neuroscientist Dr Aziz Asghar, of the York Neuroimaging Centre and the Hull York Medical School, said: “The results are fascinating. Whether such brain deactivations constitute a mechanism which underlies or contributes to the therapeutic effect of acupuncture is an intriguing possibility which requires further research.”

"The Chinese have been using acupuncture for 2,000 years for wide ranging illnesses but we have only touched the surface at the moment.

"We believe it can help relieve a number of conditions, including depression which we have recruited 640 people for another study where half will receive acupuncture and the others counselling."

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of York and the Hull York Medical School and has been published in Brain Research.

Via - ANI , Telegraph

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Palestinian farmer finds giant lemon on his Jericho grove

2010-02-05T16:05:00.000Z

A Palestinian farmer from Beit Sahour found a two-kilogram giant lemon on his grove in Jericho on Tuesday.

Issa Rishmawi, 56, took the exceptionally huge citrus to the office of the PA Ministry of Agriculture in Bethlehem to try and find an explanation for the lemon's irregular size.

Head of the botanic department of the ministry Auda Sabarna said the lemon measured 53 by 61 centimeters and weighed a whopping 1,950 grams.

As for the scientific explanation for its huge size, Sabarna said it was an organic mutation as Rishmawi does not use chemical fertilizers on his grove.

The tree that yielded the oversized lemon was planted three years ago, Rishmawi said, and last year's yield produced lemons over one kilogram in weight.

Via - Ma'an News

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Amazing 700 years old stone houses in Iran

2010-02-04T11:36:00.000Z

Stone Houses in Iran, which age has been 700 years but still exist. They are carved out of cliff rock formations.

Photo credit - nevsedoma

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13 year old girl who looks like a grandma

2010-02-03T14:35:00.000Z

Zara Hartshorn, 13, lives at home with her mom, sisters and a brother. There is, of course, the usual rough-and-tumble and sibling bickering one would expect in a large family. But, Zara said, she feels safe and loved. No one makes fun of her, unlike every time she steps outside her front door, where she's scared.

She looks like a grandma because she suffers from lipodystrophy, a disease that causes the supporting fatty tissue under the skin to crumble even while the skin continues to grow, often at an alarming rate.

Zara Hartshorn’s mother Tracey also suffers from this disease, as do two of Zara’s siblings. Zara looks older than her 21-year-old sister Jolene and 16-year-old brother Tommy.

Zara was, she said, a confident little girl. Then at age 5, the bullying started. "The kids started calling me names," she said.

Zara went home in tears. "I asked my mom why I was different," she said.

As she grows older, Zara's anxiety has increased. She lives in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, in a hardscrabble, deprived neighborhood. Life here is tough. For her, it's tougher.

"I want a face-lift," she said.

Her mother had surgery when she was a teenager in an effort to smooth her wrinkled face. But, Pollard said, it didn't help much. "My expectations were too high," she said. "I thought I would look like a normal kid ... but I didn't."

Indonesian man loses six teeth when cigarette explodes in his mouth

2010-02-02T21:40:00.001Z

An Indonesian tobacco company has agreed to pay the medical expenses as a compensation to a man who lost six teeth when a cigarette he was smoking exploded.

Andi Susanto, 31, told Indonesian media the cigarette had blown up in his mouth while he was riding a motorcycle in Bekasi, near Jakarta. He lost six teeth and received 51 stitches.

Mr Susanto told Metro TV in an interview from his hospital bed that cigarette producer PT Nojorono Tobacco Indonesia was paying 5 million rupiah ($535 / £335) for his medical treatment.

"The company's officials have talked to my family and we agreed to settle it amicably, as an out-of-court settlement," he said through bandaged lips.

The cause of the explosion remains unknown. He told the Jakarta Post newspaper he had been smoking since he was a schoolboy and had never had any problems.

Mr Susanto who works as a security guard said he wasn't chewing anything when he lit the Clas Mild cigarette, and didn't notice anything strange about its odour, colour or taste.

He admitted that he was traumatised by the incident and would try to quit smoking.

Tulus Abadi, from the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation, said there was only a small chance the explosion was triggered by the ingredients of the cigarette.

"From around 4,000 chemical substances found in a cigarette, there is one substance that is identical to a substance used to formulate rocket fuel," Tulus told The Jakarta Post, referring to methanol.

"But although it exists in cigarettes, I think the amount is too small to trigger an explosion." Muhammad Warsianto, NTI's senior adviser, confirmed that its products, branded as Clas Mild, did not contain any explosive materials.

Mr Warsianto said the company assisted with the medical bill as a form of sympathy to "a loyal customer".

Indonesia has one of the highest smoking rates and the most profitable tobacco markets in the world, with more than 60% of men smoking regularly.

Via - Sky News , BBC News , Telegraph

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Poor baby boy believed Hindu 'baby god'

2010-02-02T08:29:00.001Z

Poor baby born abnormal but sadly worshipped as a god.

Januk Ghimire, the 32-year-old mother of the baby, has had to become used to visitors because thousands have descended on her village since Risab was born in January.

Thousands of people are flocking to a remote and mountainous village in Nepal to see a malformed baby which many are now worshipping as a God.

Suffering from a rare abnormality, baby Risab has a headless "parasitic twin" attached to his abdomen and was born with four arms and four legs.

His impoverished parents say all they want is for Risab to have a "normal body".

They are worried that some see the baby not as a blessing but a curse - the reason why monsoon rains are late.

To many locals, he is seen as a miracle and revered as the reincarnation of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant God, whose common forms have several arms.

Via - BBC News

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Poor Chinese girl with snake shaped spine to have corrective surgery

2010-02-02T08:18:00.000Z

Above are x-rays taken on January 31 of Xiao Rong of Chongqing, China, who has a severely twisted spine.

The 14-year-old is to receive surgery to correct her snake-shaped spine this February at Xinqiao Hospital.

Xiao developed a twisted spine when she was just 9-years-old.

“My grandmother found my shoulders are not on the same line,” she says. Her spine became more and more twisted, which makes it difficult for her to breathe as the twisted spine presses on her right lung.

Doctors have planned a two-phase surgery on Xiao - the doctors intend to cut off part of the twisted vertebra, and then the second phase of surgery is to make the snaky spine straight.

“The risk is very high,” says a doctor at the hospital, “as any mistake or unpredicted factors can make her paralyzed for her remaining life.”

Via - Faded Tribune

- May Xiao becomes normal back and live happier ever after .......

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Rabbit jumping, the new crazy game in Britain

2010-02-02T08:09:00.001Z

The new weird hobby, Rabbit Jumping (Or Hopping) is a popular hobby in Sweden, Denmark and the USA. It is also becoming more and more popular in the UK and the first competition was held at Honley Show earlier last year.

Rabbit Jumping UK is the country's only rabbit jumping club and began when retired office worker Maureen Hoyle visited a fellow breeder in Sweden and got inspired.

The unusual sport is popular there and in other parts of Scandinavia. Rabbit fan Maureen took the idea back home and appealed to others to join a new club.

The rabbits are trained by owners at home who use treats to encourage the animals to make a leap of faith over barriers.

On Saturday members met at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate, North Yorks. They treated visitors attending the Bradford Excel Small Animals Show to two competitions and rabbit jumping displays.

"The rabbits love it," said Maureen, from Huddersfield, West Yorks. "The rabbits are very agile and a lot of people are surprised by what they can do.

"The rabbits have to clear the jump without touching it.

"In more serious competitions the obstacle has a delicately balanced weight at the top which will fall if the rabbit makes contact. That will add a penalty to the rabbit's total time."

Nine competing rabbits wearing harnesses were guided by their owners on a lead through a course of six jumps.

The world's champion bunnies can clear heights of up to three feet.

Via - Telegraph

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How To Make Creamy Ice-Cream With Just One Ingredient

2010-01-31T01:51:00.010Z

Yes, that's right; you heard us. Creamy, soft-serve style ice cream with just one ingredient — and no ice cream maker needed! What is this one magic ingredient that can be whipped into perfectly rich and silky ice cream, with no additional dairy, sweeteners, or ingredients needed whatsoever?

If you guessed BANANA, congratulations! You're right!

It turns out that frozen bananas are good for more than just dipping in chocolate If you freeze a banana until solid, then whiz it up in a blender or food processor, it gets creamy and a little gooey, just like good custard ice cream. I assumed that a blended banana would be flaky or icy. But no — it makes creamy, rich ice cream.

Some bananas, depending on their ripeness, have a bit of that green aftertaste. You can experiment with adding in another ingredient or two, like a tablespoon of peanut butter and another of honey. Delicious!

The smidgen of fat in bananas makes a magic trick when they are frozen and blended up. They turn creamy instead of crumbly, with a smooth texture any home ice cream chef would love to have in their frozen treats.

Here's a step-by-step slide show of how to do it. The major tips can be summed up as:

Peel your bananas first and cut them into small pieces.
Freeze for just 1-2 hours on a plate.

Blend, blend, blend - scraping down the bowl when they stick.

And...

Enjoy the magic moment when they turn into ice cream!

Adapted from The Kitchen; images by Faith Durand

How to Improve Self Esteem: 10 Simple Tips

2010-01-30T14:38:00.004Z

Most of us face a time in our lives where we hit a rough patch and may not be as confident as we would like to be. And even though personality we have developed through life may contribute to the development of lower self esteem, we can increase confidence and learn ways on how to improve self esteem. There are many different techniques we can practice to improve the beliefs we have about ourselves.

Sometimes there are certain life events that can influence the development of low self esteem. When having low self esteem begins to affect the life of an individual in a negative way that is when they can take control of the situation and learn how to improve self esteem.

According to the University of Texas at Austin, “People with low self-esteem often don't ask for help because they feel they don't deserve it. But since low self-esteem is often caused by how other people treated you in the past, you may need the help of other people in the present to challenge the critical messages that come from negative past experiences.”

Learning how to improve self esteem can be done in a number of ways. People can educate themselves and learn techniques to help them feel more confident and believe in themselves. This can be done by taking time to look at why they have low self esteem. Once they pinpoint the reasons for having low self esteem they can determine which methods can help them adopt a healthier outlook and stronger belief about the self.

Having a strong sense of who you are and where you are going can have a profound effect on self esteem. This is why so many people set goals for themselves on a continuous basis. Without goals people tend to lose motivation and they can often feel like they are stuck in a rut.

Make a List

By making a list of desired goals and taking proactive steps towards achieving those goals are necessary to build confidence. It also makes you feel as though many of your endeavors are being accomplished. This can be as easy as making a to do list for the day, and once each task is complete, mark off each task. By the end of the day you can refer to the list and feel good knowing that you were able to complete all of these tasks within a day’s time.

Practice Positive Thinking

Many of us from time to time can feel a little down in the dumps. Why not focus on what you are able to do to get yourself out of a rut, instead of focusing on what you are not able to do? When you focus too much on things that you have no control over, this can make you feel helpless and you play the victim. This type of thinking is self defeating and does not help the situation. When you think positive, more can be accomplished and there is a good boost to the self esteem and mood.

Take Time Out for Yourself

Often we are caught up in taking care of others and we can lose sight of our own needs. Don’t worry about looking as though you are selfish. Everyone needs time for themselves, so don’t be afraid to get a new haircut, dye your hair, or get a massage. Sometimes by just taking time out to do something nice for the self can do wonders for the self esteem and well being.

Don’t Worry too much About what Other People Think

When you worry too much about what other people think you are putting your own happiness on the line. Of course most of us want acceptance and approval from others which is natural, but being caught up with trying to please everyone consumes too much time and adds unnecessary stress to your life. When you have enough confidence in the self less approval is needed from others.

Socialize with Others

Sometimes being around people and talking with others can help boost self esteem. When you share common interests with people and can share stories it does wonders for the self esteem. This also helps you to direct your attention elsewhere other then on yourself. Allowing yourself time to connect with others can help you to feel better about yourself and create common ground with others.

Keep Busy

Sometimes when you have too much time on your hands the mind tends to wonder and focus on aspects of your life that you may not be happy with. When you keep busy you are staying active, the mind is engaged and your productivity flourishes. All of these are great self esteem booster.

Don’t Be too Hard on Yourself

Of course many people, especially those with type A personalities want everything to go a certain way, but focusing more on imperfections creates stress and is detrimental to self esteem. According to the guide for “Three Steps to Better Self Esteem,” at the University of Texas at Austin website, “The first important step in improving self-esteem is to begin to challenge the negative messages of the critical inner voice.” Instead try focusing more on the positive aspects of what you have accomplished and take note of what didn’t turn out right, but do not dwell on it.

Change Environment

When you change the environment there are many changes that occur. It may be stressful in the beginning, but after a while people learn to adapt and become stronger because of this. “Change will be there forever, we must be susceptible to it.” (Holmes, 2005).

Take Active Steps Toward Believing in Yourself

Fox and Sokol state that confidence comes from belief that the greatest resource is you. When you believe in yourself you realize that you have what it takes to know that you can handle anything that comes your way. If you do not have the knowledge or resources to solve your problems you know of ways to find them. You have a good sense of competency and give yourself credit for a job well done.

Invest in A Self Help Book

Read up on qualities you would like to change about yourself. There are many choices to choose from, but books that are written by life coaches or psychiatrists usually have the most helpful information. This is because many studies have been performed to show the benefits of making these changes.

Leonard Holmes states that self improvement will flourish once we build self esteem. This is accomplished by taking responsibility for our negative actions, as well as taking a look at what we have and what we do. He describes it as a wildfire that spreads from the inside out.

“When we develop self esteem, we take control of our mission, values and discipline. Self esteem brings about self improvement, true assessment, and determination.”

In conclusion

Making changes to improve who we are is not an easy task; otherwise people would be more apt to change. Some of the hardest decisions in life might not be the easiest choice, but often they are the best and most healthy choices we can make for ourselves. And although the effects change may not be immediate, the long term benefits make changing a worthwhile process. When people want to learn ways on how to improve self esteem they will begin to feel more comfortable in their skin. This can be made possible by following some or all of these suggestions within this article. When you build self esteem it makes you feel more confident about what you have to offer yourself and the world around you.

Source: Victoria Rodriquez-Baziuk (Healthy Living)

Running shoeless is better, according to a new study

2010-01-28T02:15:00.001Z

The best running shoe may be none at all, according to a new study by U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

Writing in the British science journal Nature, they said three-quarters of runners runners who wear shoes tend to hit the ground with their heels first - about 1,000 times for every mile run, whereas barefoot runners put the balls of the feet down first.

But even well-cushioned sports shoes that help distribute weight across the foot cannot fully absorb the shock of these blows: 30 to 75 per cent of regular runners each year suffer repetitive stress injuries.

By contrast, the vast majority of unshod runners don't hit the ground with their heels, landing instead on the sides or balls of their feet, the study found.

The practice is especially common in several east African countries where long-distance running is nearly a national past time.

In 1960, for example, a shoeless Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the 1960 Olympics marathon in record time.

By not "heel-striking," barefoot runners avoid painful and potentially damaging impacts that concentrate the equivalent of two or three times one's body weight on to a coin-sized surface.

"People who don't wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike," said Daniel Lieberman, a professor at Harvard University and lead author of the study.

"By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision," he said in a press release.

The merits of shoelessness are hotly debated in specialty magazines and online forums, and major manufacturers have started to make thin-as-skin shoes in anticipation of new markets.

But up to now, there has been little scientific evidence supporting the claim that barefoot is better.

Lieberman and colleagues helped fill this void by studying the gaits of three groups of runners in the United States and Kenya: barefoot, shod, and those who had converted to shoeless running.

"Most people today think that barefoot running is dangerous and hurts, but actually you can run barefoot on the world's hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain," the study found.

"All you need is a few calluses to avoid roughing up the skin of the foot."

But making the switch to barefoot running is not simply a matter of kicking off one shoes, the authors caution.

Running unshod or in so-called "minimal shoes" requires the use of different muscle groups. "If you've been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in calf and foot muscles," Lieberman said.

The study also bolsters evidence suggesting the human foot evolved for rapid upright motion, said William Lungers, a professor at Stony Brook University Medical Centre in New York.

"Bipedalism" - walking on two feet - "has been around for millions of years, and we have been unshod for more than 99 per cent of that time," he wrote in a commentary, also in Nature.

A radical reshaping of the foot about two million years ago, including shorter toes and a fully-arched foot, probably occurred to enhance our ability to move quickly over sustained periods.

"Our endurance running abilities may have evolved to enable our ancestors to engage in 'persistence hunting'," the ability, in other words, to run down one's prey, he said.

"Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s," Lieberman said. Rival German companies Adidas and Puma made running shoes a household item.

Running shoes are big business. Nike Inc had $4.4 billion in revenue in its second quarter.

Via - AFP , Reuters

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