- Title: VARIOUS: LIFE REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2007 - YEARENDER
- Date: 24th December 2007
- Summary: SINGAPORE (FILE - FEBRUARY 1, 2007) (REUTERS) DEVAN, A DEVOTED HINDI, HAS CHEEK BEING PIERCED WITH SPIKE VARIOUS OF LONG SPIKES PIERCING DEVAN'S STOMACH AND BACK CLOSE OF DEVAN'S CHEST MUSICIANS DEVAN'S BACK PIERCINGS
- Embargoed: 8th January 2008 12:00
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- Topics: General,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAC3GRPK2N2AEHUQ63NV8601P17
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: FESTIVALS Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome was at full steam as the first six top samba schools began to parade down the world's hottest Carnival avenue in a party televised world-wide. The 13 elite samba troupes take centre stage for about one hour each over the two nights, with themes this year that range from Norwegian cod fish to South African culture. They feature about 5,000 performers each, including dancers, drummers and beauty queens. While decadant costumes are on display on the Brazilian capital, getting down and dirty with the white stuff is the way Greeks in the seaside village of Galaxidi celebrate Carnival. "Clean Monday" marks the beginning of Lent before Greek Orthodox Easter and the end of carnival festivities and sees 3000 revellers throwing flour at each other.
Instead of baking products, Italians in the tiny northwestern village of Ivrea hurled oranges at each other to honour Carnival. Thousands of people re-enacted the medieval Battle of the Oranges in which the evil king was overthrown, or maybe just juiced to death. Small round pieces of food were also the weapons of choice for Spain's annual "La Tomatina" fight.
Tens of thousands of people left rivers of tomato sauce pouring down the streets of the eastern town of Bunol after the one-hour battle. Local lore says it began in the mid-1940s with a food battle that broke out between youngsters near a vegetable stand on the town square in Bunol, 300 kilometers (190 miles) southeast of Madrid.
Spain's former colony El Salvador took an altogether hotter approach to their annual festival commemorating a volcanic eruption. Young Salvadorian men in Nejapa (located some 30 kilometres north of San Salvador) threw gasoline-soaked rags of fireballs at one another in what has become an annual church occasion. A huge volcanic eruption in 1922 forced all of the residents to abandon the town. The fireballs were used because locals say the hot lava that spewed from the volcano was actually the local Christian Saint Jeronimo fighting the devil with balls of fire.
If suffering is the path to enlightenment then one Singaporean Hindu could be a step closer to nirvana. Devan, is your average Singaporean family man with a government job and lives in a condominium. But once a year, he pierces himself with an assortment of hooks, spikes and rods numbering over 150 and walks down the street to a Hindu temple. It's all to honour the Hindu god Murugan during the Thaipusam festival, an event held in the Tamil month of Thai celebrate in the 10th month of the Hindu calendar Thousands of his fellow Hindus in the northern Indian city of Allahabad braved the morning chill on the most auspicious day of the six-week long Ardh Kumbh Festival, or Half Pitcher festival, by taking a dip in the Ganges River.
As the world's largest religious congregation, tens of millions of pilgrims gathered to wash away their sins and free themselves from the earthly cycle of reincarnation.
Hindus in central Indian Ghatiya village celebrated a unique festival called 'Gal' which coincides with Holi, the Hindu festival of colours.
'Gal' is native to this village, which is situated 125 kilometres (77.67 miles) from central Madhya Pradesh's Indore city. In this ancient tradition, the tribals suspend themselves from pillars or 'Laat' at a height of around 50-60 feet (approximately 18 meters) by the aid of hooks and revolve mid air to get their wishes fulfilled. The tribals believe it is a divine ceremony and regard it as sacred.
Flying over the the beach at Cervia in northern Italy weren't holy men but hundreds of kites. As one world's largest kite-flying festivals, there was an awe-inspiring assortment of colours, shapes and sizes as families gathered to watch the spectacle on the Italian bank holiday.
Lanterns took to the sky in a Thai festival celebrating Loi Krathong, a dazzling festival of light traditionally held on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month. During the festival people toss their troubles into the "krathong", which are traditionally lotus-shaped vessels made from banana leaves laden with candles, flowers, money and burning incense. The krathong are then floated ("loi") away down the river, along with people's troubles.
YOUNG & OLD A Siberian woman was stunned to find that her little bundle of joy turned out to be a larger-than-average bundle of joy when Nadia weighed in at a massive 7.75 kg (17.1 lb). Nadia was delivered by caesarean section in the local maternity hospital in the Altai region on September 17, joining eight sisters and three brothers, a local reporter said. 43-year-old Tatyana said she and her husband were shocked at how large Nadia was, though all her other 11 children had been born at over 5 kg (approx 2.5 lbs) as well.
Sympathetic in South America, an overweight one-year-old is proving to be a medical mystery to Brazilian doctors who are trying to find the reasons behind his obesity. Mateus Araujo weighs twenty-five kilos (55 pounds). The baby underwent a series of exams but doctors have still not identified any obvious problems. According to the medical experts working with Mateus' case, he has difficulty moving around and therefore exercises less than a boy his age should.
Three thousand children in Tokyo were flexing their musical muscles for a three-hour concert of Brahms, Paganini and Bach. The day-long concert showed that even the smallest of children can hold themselves up to playing full concerts to a packed house with skill and maturity that many a seasoned musician would envy.
Not to be outdone by their younger counterparts, eighty-nine-year old Hilda Pearson showed that age wasn't a problem when taking the plunge. A year after her daughter died of cancer, Pearson skydived to raise money for the oncology unit at the local hospital. It's a bit of a bump on landing, but after it's over Pearson looks the part of a daredevil, defiantly pulling off her goggles and hat - although her feet need a little time to recover.
Her fellow elder - Wu Ying, at 71, "battled" the notion that only youth can bump and grind to hip-hop. Unlike most retired Chinese, Wu has started a career out of teaching hip hop dancing. Over the past four years, Wu and her team, have performed all over China and collected dozens of awards.
They call themselves hip hop grannies.
ANIMALS Born in Antarctica, the penguins at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo may be home sick, missing the days when they were able to freely walk long distances on the ice.
That had been the concern of zoo officials, who say that's why they have started allowing the King Penguins to walk once a week inside the zoo during the winter time to "make their living environment closer to the one they had". During their 30-minute march, the penguins waddle through the zoo and walk about 300 metres, charming children and adults alike.
It's baby steps for a rare white tiger baby who was brought up by foster parents in Hodenhagen in Germany. The white tiger baby "Paul" is only three weeks old, but became quite a handful for a young cat. He was reared by Hamid and Regina Hamza. Hamid is the head of the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, where Paul will eventually live when he is let out into the wild.
That will be later in the Spring, but then the young animal already has quite a journey behind him.
His fellow feline in South China was born in the Free State province of South Africa in December, the first time the animal has been born outside China, the Save China's Tigers organization said. The cub was born healthy and larger than normal at 1.2 kilograms on a wildlife conservation reserve, the group said in a statement. The cub was being hand-reared and would be taught to hunt for itself.
Barely stong enough to do anything for himself, much less hold scavage for food was "Snoopy", was an owl monkey so tiny it fit into the palm of a human hand. He was rejected by his mother at his birth - and is now looked after and cared for by Dorothea Meyer, a substitute mother and carer for the little monkey, in the northern German city of Osnabrueck.
Another rejected baby animal which was reared by humans was Elmo, a Borneo orangutan born in Indonesia's Safari Park in July. Mother Sherly, who already has one baby, was not interested in her newborn so the tiny ape is being bottle-fed by nurses.
It's survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom which could sometimes mean finding a nurturing soul from an unlikely ally. A young puppy and a duckling struck an unexpected friendship in the Chinese city of Zibo in the eastern province of Shangdong. The owner of the animals said she had bought the young duck two weeks ago for her daughter to play with, while the puppy, who had been abandoned in the street, had been found by her father and taken in as a pet. The puppy and duckling have since become inseparable. The young duck follows the puppy's every move, often struggling to keep up with his four-legged friend.
Attempting to steal the spotlight from its fellow Berlin baby animal was a baby elephant who was rescued from the pool after his mother apparently tried to crush and drown him. The little elephant remains at the enclosure in the capital's Tierpark zoo.
From small elephant to another tiny four-legged creature -- kids at the Specialized Children's Hospital school in the American city of Fanwood, New Jersey enjoyed a special treat when the smallest horse in recorded history visited them. At 17.5 inches (44.5 centimetre) high and weighing around 57 pounds (26 kilograms), Thumbelina was like a fairy-tale come true for the youngsters.
It looks like something from the fantasy world and if the world isn't careful, soon a rare Mongolian rodent could also be a thing of the past. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) released footage of the long-eared jerboa in the wild, an extraordinary mammal found in the deserts of Mongolia and China. The tiny creature looks like a mouse-sized kangaroo with enormous ears.
Its legs are also unique in that they are adapted for jumping like a kangaroo.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has classified the species as "endangered", with habitat disturbance the species' key threat.
No fear here as a rat and cat seem to be bosom buddies. Japanese researchers at Tokyo University on mice which were genetically modified to get rid of certain receptors on the olfactory bulb of their brains which react to aversive odors of cats.
Medical miracles also helped an ailing dolphin which was struck down with a mysterious life-threatening illness and ate away at her fin. But it was her lack of exercise and her weight gain that soon became a bigger problem. A friend of the handler's working at one of Japan's leading tyre makers, Bridgestone Corp, offered to make them an artificial tail fin for Fuji, the first of its kind in the world. After a few sinkers, the final result was a tail fin 30 centimetres in length and 70 centimetres wide -- a bit smaller than the tail of a healthy dolphin of Fuji's size. As for Fuji, the fins frightened her at first but she soon got used to them and now she can jump like her peers.
Pandas in a Thai zoo were presumably more than a little chuffed when they were shown videos of the tricks of the mating trade. The Thai zoo, which has had the panda couple for four years, played a ten-minute "panda porn" video for the male to encourage him to mate. The pair -- six-year-old male Chuang Chuang and five-year-old female Lin Hui -- have been living together at the Chiang Mai zoo, about 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, since they arrived from China in 2003. Zoo officials believe the sound in the video will encourage him to mate with his partner. The video has been shown to Chuang Chuang in the evening after the zoo closed. However, it was all in vain as veterinary staff resorted to artificial insemination.
However, what goes on after dark proved to be a sticking point with a Belgian iguana. Mozart was stuck with a permanent erection after a mating session at a Belgian zoo and had to have his penis amputated as the erection turned to infection. But fear not for Mozart, the good news was that, because male iguanas have two penises, he was still be up for the job next mating season.
With his sticky tentacles, "Octi" the octopus had a very clever trick. The New Zealand-born sea creature opened bottles to retrieve a tasty treat inside. In this case, it was crab meat.
Treats were also in store for one of the oldest celebrities alive.
Cheetah was best known for his role in the early Tarzan movies and in 2007, celebrated his 75th birthday. On turning another year older and all the wiser, he became recognised as the world's oldest chimp in the Guinness book of world records. He was given a birthday hat, cake and sugar-free Diet Coke for the big day.
And the crown for most celebrated animal of 2007 went to a cuddly white cub whose rejection by his mother lead to a warm embrace by both the human and marketing worlds, churning out an estimated nine million euros (approx nine million USD) in his first year of existence. "Knut" transfixed the world when he was turned away by his mother at Berlin zoo. The rejected bear became an instant celebrity as he tried his paw at music, releasing a single called "Knut the little polar bear" performed by a 9-year old. Next was the Knut candy which lead to sweet manufacturer Haribo churning out marshmellow-like cuddly Knut-Kiss (Knuddel Knut'-sch). All the hype lead to a record one millionth visitor to gaze the cuddly white ball of fur. And at one year old on December 5th, he's not a cub, not year a full-grown bear.
FOOD Worms abound in the central Mexican state of Oaxaca - providing an alternative source of livelihood for peasants in the region. The worms thrive in the roots of the agave plant - also known as a maguey - a kind of cactus from which the liquor Mezcal is made. The worm is then added to bottles of Mezcal - adding to the liquor's mystique and some say, flavour. The worm is actually a larva of one or two moths that live on the agave plant.
From squirmy side dish to creepy crawler, or rather hopper - crickets are seen as delicacies across Kompong Thom in Cambodia. Millions swarm the plains of this provincial area of the country in an annual plague-like appearance, but their presence does not create panic amongst residents -- it's a cause for celebration. This region of Cambodia is known as the country's leading cricket exporter and these jumping-flying insects which flourish in its watery soil are hunted by locals in the now famous annual cricket catch.
In neighbouring Japan, the controversial consummation of whale meat was being revived on the menu at Akiji Ichihara's restaurant outside Tokyo. The sea mammal was served as sushi but due declining sales, the restaurant tried a new tactic - placing the meat between two pieces of bread in a combination of east and west - a whale burger.
Their Asian counterparts in Taiwan feasted at a restaurant where the owners considered it a compliment to be labelled an outhouse. The Modern Toilet diner is one of a chain of theme eateries appealing to largely young clientele with a toilet humour. All 100 seats in the crowded diner are made from toilet bowls, not chairs. Sink faucets and gender-coded "WC"
signs appear throughout the three-storey facility, one of 12 in an island-wide chain of eateries with a toilet theme. Customers eat from mini plastic toilet bowls. They wipe their hands and mouths using toilet rolls hung above their tables, which may be glass-topped jumbo bathtubs.
From the out house to the dog house, canines in Germany were treated to their very own bakery. Table scraps weren't enough for this pesky pooches.
28-year-old Janine Saraniti opened "Dog's Goodies" in the western city of Wiesbaden, outside Frankfurt, after seeing a television report on a similar shop in the United States. Her hand-made cookies are made in the store and dogs can try before they buy, or rather, their owners do.
In Japan, a pastry chef and jewellery decorator presented a cake covered with platinum ornaments valued at 15 million yen (1,300 US dollars). It would be an invigorating treat for stressed-out women to receive their favourite confectionery and jewellery at the same time, so thought one jeweller in Japan, who decided to give it a try.
Men's "jewels" were on display on kinky cakes in Manila. The cakes in the shapes of women's breasts and men's penises stood out amongst mediocre baked goods and proved to be a bang on winner for Valentine's Day.
Something old, something new, and for 25,000 U.S. dollars, there isn't much brides won't do, including stuffing their face with cake, not necessarily from the Philippines. It seemed the new trend in weddings this summer was sticky. At least that's how 15 brides-to-be ended up after taking part in a cake-eating competition in New York City. Dressed in bridal gowns, the women shovelled miniature cakes down their throats for money towards their dream wedding.
Monkeys also took to shovelling copious amounts of food in their mouths in the Thai city of Lopburi, some 158 kilometres from Bangkok for the annual town buffet for the animals. wenty chefs from some of Bangkok's top hotels prepared the feast for the primates, Lopburi's most famous residents which draw thousands of tourists to the city every year.
ARTS & EXHIBITONS An exhibition of mammoth proportions and significance brought many of the treasures of Egypt's boy king Tutankhamun back to Britain, 35 years after the last exhibition of the funeral artefacts caused a sensation among the British public. In 1972 when nearly 1.7 million people queued for hours to pay 50 pence (1 USD) each to see the spectacle at the British Museum in central London, Egypt received nothing. This time the entry price is 30 times higher at 15 pounds a head and Egypt gets three quarters of the ticket price to go towards preserving its antiquities.
A few days before the exhibition, tourists in Egypt visiting the tomb of Tutankhamun saw the boy pharaoh's face for the first time as part of an effort to preserve the mummy. It was visitors first chance to see the face of a ruler who died more than 3,000 years ago.
London's other massive exhibition in 2007 saw a small troupe of terra-cotta soldiers more than 2000 years old march into the British Museum's record books. Before it even opened, more than 750,000 people bought tickets to see the mesmerising terra-cotta army whose sole purpose was to protect the country's first emperor into afterlife.
Going back to their roots, dozens of mummies found in the Peruvian Amazon went on display in Lima after touring the world. The mummies, discovered in 1996, include babies, children, adults -and even a puma- thought to be from the Inca Chachapolla tribe. Two of the mummies are believed to be more than a thousand years old, some have become skeletons and others have been preserved in funerary bundles, according to Leymebamba Museum Director, Sonia Guillen.
Immortilization probably wasn't the aim for artists in London's East End when they etched Amy Winehouse's face in a potato. The singer-songwriter joined fellow songstresses Britney Spears, Kylie, Bob Marley along with Mr. T to have their faces forever etched in spud.
Round objects were also the subject of a Chinese artist hoping to change the public's perception of plastic surgery. Shu Yong's sculpture grandly titled his exhibition "How big do we want our breasts to be?" -- judging by the size of the sculpture, more than a handful.
Naked body parts made photographer Spencer Tunick a household name. His choice of shooting naked people took him to the tulip fields of the Netherlands where 150 stripped down to their birthday suits in the name of art.
It wasn't the body but a rather stinking secretion which a New York City artists transformed into his canvas. Bring new meaning to street art, three masked men calling themselves the "Sprinkle Brigade" decorated dog poop to take on urban beautification to a new level.
FASHION Forget Paris, Milan or New York, the "burkini" swimsuit trumped all the fashionistas cards by being both form and functional at the same time. Aheda Zanetti, a Muslim Australian who runs a small tailor shop in Sydney's western suburbs came up with the design in 2004. With local media interest and sales running high, she's hoping the design will continue to allow all female Muslim Australians to hit the beach without offending their religion.
Other functional fashion sees the mobile phone as the latest fashion must have. Mobile phone giant Sony Ericsson joined Japanese street fashion houses in a show to promote cellular phones as fashion items. The company hopes to ring in profits with designs that even Paris Hilton could love.
From flashy diva to discreet miss, a Japanese designer offered a "vending-machine dress" for women to elude pursuers. Designer Aya Tsukioka's inconspicuous dress transforms into urban camoflauge in the shape of a coke-machine dress. Just don't try to buy any beverages.
One might need a drink after seeing the less-than-flattering faces of some ugly models in London. Seeing a gap in the modelling market, entrepreneur Marc French casts people who have faces only their mothers could love. But don't be sympathetic, their unusual looks have given them a unique advantage over their Adonis-like counterparts and given them an unlikely career which has pocketed them extra money.
RECORD BREAKERS And now for something completely different. The famous words from the ground-breaking 1970's comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus could not have been more apt. For in the middle of Trafalgar Square in central London, on England's national day, St George's Day, thousands of fans turned out to break a world record. "Give that man a coconut" cried the organisers. In fact, around 5,000 coconuts, all of them split in two, were handed out. And then everyone clapped them together. The aim? To create the world's largest coconut orchestra. And led by the cast of the hit musical 'Spamalot' along with Monty Python's Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, they did just that.
World records are the game and Guinness is the name. In man's quest for immortality - or at least making a fool of themselves for a place in the record books, Guinness celebrated the men, women and animals which kept them in business. One saw a man hanging by a thread, or rather a rope, from a helicopter. The only thing separating him from the ground was a suction cup which attached to his stomach. Another man got in a bathtub full of live rattlesnakes in the name of history. And it was a meeting of big versus small dogs in the United States.
Chinchilla is a small Australian outback town some 300 kilometres west of Brisbane and yes it's also a small furry animal. But with 5,800 residents, Chinchilla Shire relies predominantly on agriculture. Grapes, watermelons and rock melons are some of the most valued produce from the area. Every two years, the town pays tribute to it's melon harvest by holding the Chinchilla Melon Festival where people not only eat, but engage in some of the wackiest activities using watermelons -- like headbutting.
This year, 29-year-old local melon picker John Allwood smashed his way into the Guinness Book of World Records, literally, by headbutting 40 watermelons in 58 seconds.
AUCTIONS From melons to anything but a lemon. In New York, a Rothko piece broke the record for post-war art at an auction fetching, 73 million U.S. dollars.
The biggest contemporary art auction in history at Sotheby's was held in May and led by the Rothko and a Bacon that went for 53 million USD. Both works obliterated the old mark for any post-war work at an auction of 27.1 million USD set only last November, and far exceeded their pre-sale estimates -- ushering in a new world of price points for contemporary art.
It was an all together different story for Marie Antoinette's pearls.
After much media hype, the jewels from the famed French royal renowned for her love of material excess failed to sell. The 33-pearled necklace was supposed to fetch between 350,000 to 400,000 British pounds (700,000 to 800,000 USD) but seems to suffer a fate similar to its owner - infamy.
A previously unrecorded Faberge egg fetched nine million pounds in November, setting an auction record for the jeweller, any Russian art object and any timepiece. The translucent pink egg contains a clock and animated cockerel and had never been seen in public before the sale was announced.
An ancient Mesopotamian lioness sculpture expected to sell for 14 to 18 million wowed auctioneers by fetching 57.2 million dollars. The tiny and very rare 5000-year-old white limestone sculpture smashed records for both sculptures and intiquities.
Another piece of history which went under the hammer was the Eiffel Tower which was auctioned at a price of 150,000 euros. The 700 kg (1,543 lb)
5 metre (yard) section of a former stairway of Paris' most famous landmark would make the ultimate collector's piece.
Witness the moment a star was born. Hundreds of legal documents from Hollywood's golden era went under the hammer in New York including the moment Norma Jean Baker was re-christened Marilyn Monroe.
MOST EXPENSIVE Coincidentally, the most expensive items in Reuters' Life! yearender were from the United States. An expensive dessert, worth 25,000 U.S. dollars, set a Guinness World Record. Serendipity 3 restaurant in New York, offers the "Frrrozen Haute Chocolate" where one can experience you can experience the rare blend of 28 rare and exotic cocoas from around the world, whipped cream, black truffle shavings and 23 karat edible gold for a small fortune.
Momma mia! Across town in New York city, an Italian restaurant sold pizzas for a cool grand. At 1000 dollars, the Italian dish was made with caviar that could have sent both Italian mothers and accountants into a fit.
Not to be outdone, the world's most expensive water made a splash in Beverly Hills. "Bling H2O," was the latest product to hop on the uber-rich celebrity marketing machine, selling bottled water in the showroom for upwards of 40 dollars and in restaurants and nightclubs for 60 to 90 dollars. The water comes from an award winning spring in Tennessee, has a perfect pH balance and a subtle, sweet taste to it, but that's not why it is so costly -- the bottle it is sold in has acid etched, frosted glass with hand-applied genuine Swarovski crystals and has the look of sleek, high-end vodka. Is the company selling the fountain of youth in a bottle? At 90 dollars a bottle, it might lead to an early grave.
DISCOVERY Scientists in Germany found the fossilized claw of a 2.5-metre (8-foot) sea scorpion, a nightmarish creature living before the age of dinosaurs. The discovery of the 400-million-year-old specimen in a German quarry suggests prehistoric spiders, insects and crabs were much larger than previously thought, according to researchers at Britain's Bristol University and the archaeology institute of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
From underground to underwater - A Japanese aquarium struggleed to keep a deepsea prehistoric shark alive but failed again. Another deep sea monster has turned up again off the shores of Japan just a month after deep sea 'living fossil sharks' were caught by Japanese fishermen at the same shores.
The deep sea 'living fossil' shark, called the goblin shark due to its large snout, usually lives 1,200 meters underwater but had been first spotted swimming in shallow waters off the coast of Tokyo bay at the end of March. The sharks, while not rare in deep sea, are rarely seen alive and very little is known about them.
However, in Italy, the ancient tale of Romulus and Remus was told time and again throughout history and while some thought it may only be a myth, archeologists proved it may be a reality. Scientists believe they have found sacred cave where legend says a wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, twin founders of Rome. An underground vaulted cavity decorated with seashells, mosaics and niches was discovered near the ruins of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine hill, with archeologists adding it is likely to be the long-lost worship place known as Lupercale. The 16-metre deep cave was found during restoration works of the decaying palace as archaeologists decided to investigate whether ancient descriptions of the sanctuary were accurate.
In a nearby northern Italian city, archaeologists discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, their arms still wrapped around each other in a hug. The details of the discovery, were being verified by a laboratory which will try to determine precisely how long ago the couple roamed the Earth and their age at the time of death. Menotti said she believed the two -- almost certainly a man and a woman, but that is also in need of confirmation -- died young since their teeth were mostly intact and not worn down. Just in time for Valentine's Day.
WEIRD WORLD In Japan, people soaked themselves in chocolate bath at a spa resort offering the ultimate Valentine's Day pleasure for men and women of all ages.
This is not just another therapeutic mud bath. It's sweet and addictive, just like love.
They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach but maybe the way to his childhood is through his ear. In Japan, ear cleaning parlours are a booming business. Stressed businessmen longing to relive their youth can have their canals cleaned. Clients say a 30-minute sensation is simploy soul soothing.
One man which seemed not to long for the past but for the future, unveiled an android which was the spitting image of him. A researcher at ATR, a robotics laboratory based in Kyoto, developed the latest version of its android called "Geminoid," which looks and moves exactly like its source, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro. Ishiguro, created his identical, but robotic twin by modelling and moulding it after his own body. The android's skin looks real and its hair was implanted with real specimens from the professor's head. When touched on the face, the android shows facial expressions as if it really felt pain, thanks to more than 50 sensors and a number of motors embedded under the skin. Even from up close, it may be difficult to tell the difference between human and humanoid.
Stay far away from this cat. Felines are known for having nine lives but in one Rhode Island hospice, there's one cat that can sense when your number is up. "Oscar," a Rhode Island cat, seemingly has the ability to predict within hours the impeding deaths of residents at a hospice. He curls up next to patients who die within hours.
Sacked from his job, deserted by his wife, shunned by neighbours -- "tree man" Dede has been treated as a freak for most of his life because of the strange gnarled roots that sprout from his hands and feet. But now the 35-year-old Indonesian, who lives in the small village of Tanjung Jaya about 150 km south of the capital Jakarta, hopes that a doctor in the United States will be able to treat the horn-like growths that started to appear on his body when he was a teenager and which have ruined his life. Dede, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said he first noticed warts growing on his body after he cut his knee as a teenager. According to media reports, Dr.
Anthony Gaspari from University of Maryland tested Dede's blood and said that the growths are the result of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts.
Beard and moustache proved to be a big trend in 2007 as a competition was held in the U.K. to find the world's best facial hair. In its seventh year, the over 250 Hirsute competitors from around the world and 10 nations put their 'tache to the test.
After a while, this crocodile and Costa Rican seem inseparable. Gilberto Graham has seemingly domesticated a 16.5 foot-long (5 metre) 992 pound (450 kilogram) crocodile. In his show held every Sunday and known as 'Chito's Show' after Graham's nickname, Graham cavorts with the crocodile in the water and gives commands that the animal follows. When asked if he doesn't fear attack, Graham said that he trusts the animal.
Unusual activities outside of big cities brought thousands to descend to India's northern Punjab,to put to test their sporting skills at a four-day rural sports fair. Horse races, bullock-cart races, tug-of-war, kabaddi (wrestling) are some traditional sports featured in the event.
The organizers, however, ensure the event encapsulates the traditional and modern with the cultural fervour of the country.
With their love of cricket, it's no surprise an automobile designer showing his love for the game came from the subcontinent. K. Sudhakar has been designing cars from the age of 14 and has displayed over 150 cars molded in unusual shapes, all now exhibited in his car museum. The innovator says he will continue to design and come up with better and crazier vehicles for his wacky car museum.
If all stereotypes were true then the Germanic sense of specificity and innovation certainly contributed to one man's choice of transportation. A German cycling fanatic built the "world's largest biking fish" out of 10,000 bicycle bells.
Choosing to pull rather than push his transport, a Georgian set the record of hauling a military helicopter with his ear. 27-year-old Georgian athlete, Lasha Pataraia, might not be the strongest man on earth, but he may have the strongest ears. He pulled almost eight tones heavy military helicopter 26 meters with his ear.
Van Gogh cut off his ear when jilted by his lover and this stuntman in India seemed to have a similar view of romance -- love hurts! But a little masochism goes a long way in the form of entertainment. A rejected Indian lover takes to stunts in memory of his beloved by performing hair-raising feats, like smashing bottles on his head. There's no word on weather she has responded to his self-harm charms.
His fellow countrymen was sent to marry a dog to atone for sins. After killing two dogs fifteen yeas ago, 33-year-old P.Selvakumar married a female dog. But judging by the dog's response, she seemed more scared of his past then looking to any future together.
COMPETITION In the UK, lawnmower racers competed to be world champion. Not only did some of the world's best racers take part in the competition, but the field used in East Sussex also got a much-needed trim.
In the bizarre British tradition of cheese rolling, brave or some would say unstable people hurl themselves down a 200-metre steep slope to chase after the molded dairy blocks. One of the most dangerous English custom, unsurprisingly, leads to a large number of injuries every year.
Also in Britain, mascots from English soccer teams took part in the annual running of the mascot. The sight is a humourous scene to behold as grown men dressed in costumes try to outrun, outwit and outfox each other to cross the finish line first. This year, Wacky Macky Bear won top dog, or rather top bear.
Down under, 'Melon-skiing' proved to be a popular event at the annual Chinchinilla watermelon festival. Organisers on both sides of a sloppy track pulled participants wearing watermelons as skis on their feet.
In Thailand, racers hoped on their favourite oxcarts to take part in this quirky race. While the event was fun, one spectator died in the dangerous competition.
Safety was the last thing on the minds of this strappy women as they took part in the high heel race in the U.S.
Ready, steady, pie -- the World Custard Pie Throwing Championships returned to Britain after 20 years. As one of the country's favourite desserts, what better way to show your appreciation for the food than to chuck it at other people? "Flanning", or the art of throwing custard pies, it seemed, was back with a vengeance.
It was all smalls albeit perhaps superficially at the Miss World competition in China. Pre-contest favourite Zi Lin Zhang, from Beijing, beat 105 other contestants to become the first Chinese winner and the 57th Miss World.
Her male counterpart hailed from Spain but needed more than good looks and a lean body to win, he needed to find his inner chi. It seems the path to enlightenment is paved with lots of exercise.
FOR CONSIDERATION In a year of the bizarre, wacky and funny, however, is a serious note.
As Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" won this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary and the former U.S. Vice-President was one of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in bringing awareness to climate change, he and a handful of scientists made the world sit up and take notice at the planet humans share with other species.
Global warming was not only a top issue for politicians and celebrities but the impact of climate change could be seen and felt across the planet.
For years scientists have said that global warming is melting the world's glaciers, but Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier is bucking the trend - highlighting the complexities of the science of global warming. Pedro Skvarca, one of the world's foremost experts on Patagonia's glaciers, said that is because Perito Moreno is one of the only glaciers in the world that doesn't appear to be melting. According to Skvarca, for hundreds of years Perito Moreno's ice mass has been trapped in by a large peninsula. Therefore the glacier is incredibly deep but not very long, and fresh snow can still reach its borders. However, other experts say that is not what is happening across the rest of the ice shelf. Some 31 miles (50 kilometres) north of Perito Moreno is the Upsala glacier, that began receding at an alarming rate in 1978.
Images show where a lake has now replaced what was once a sweeping ice field.
Global warming was blamed for the worst floods in recent British history as it paralyzed parts of the country, shutting down transport, power and electricity in what is supposed to one of the world's richest nations. The worst flood in 60 years made thousands of homeless and plunged entire towns under water.
In the Balkans, it was fire which residents fought as record-high temperatures. Forests in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia have been ravaged by flames, blamed on record-high temperatures after the dry winter. A forest fire broke out early morning in the dense pine forest of Jelinjak Hill, overlooking Primosten, in the central part of the Croatian Adriatic coast on Tuesday (July 24). High winds caused it to spread quickly to nearby camping grounds and threatened houses in the villages of Sparadici and Bilo.
In Australia, Britain's top scientific adviser Professor Sir David King says he is optimistic there will be a new global climate change agreement by 2009 which will be in place for 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol is due to end.
Britain's chief scientific adviser warned new energy technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases need to be economically driven. King, a chemist who has held the chief science adviser post since 2000, has been an outspoken advocate of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming, describing climate change as a greater threat than terrorism.
In Indonesia, the growing demand for palm oil as a green fuel and a foodstuff is threatening the survival of Indonesia's orangutan, the Center for Orangutan protection (COP) said. Indonesia and Malaysia are racing to convert the forests into profitable palm crops, destroying the orangutan's natural habitat. As their forest home dwindles, orangutans are increasingly venturing into the palm oil plantations and eating young palm shoots.
Plantation workers are not impressed. For plantation workers and owners, the apes are pests and a risk to their livelihood. The COP said they have found apes that have had their hands chopped off, others have been slashed to death with machetes and others shot in the head on trespassed plantations. The organisation said there was no enforcement of laws protecting the apes and corruption was often to blame for failing to bring the firms responsible to task.
Thousands of protesters formed a humpback whale figure on Sydney's Bondi beach to raise awareness for the plight of the endangered species.
A ring of hope as thousands of protesters met in Sydney's Bondi beach and formed a figure of a humpback whale to protest against the killing of whales. The protesters aimed to raise awareness to whale hunters.
As a final for 2007, the scientists who mind the Doomsday Clock announced in Washington that they are moving it two minutes closer to midnight -- symbolising the annihilation of civilisation. For the first time they added the perils of global warming to acute nuclear threats as reasons for changing the time from seven minutes to midnight to five minutes to midnight. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons, advanced the clock to five minutes until midnight. It was the first adjustment of the clock since 2002.
They pointed to North Korea's first test of a nuclear weapon last year, Iran's nuclear ambitions, U.S. flirtation with "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, the continued presence of 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia and inadequate security for nuclear materials. But the scientists also said the destruction of human habitats wreaked by climate change brought on by human activities is a growing danger to humankind. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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