Weird News

[Mac 5]

US man tries to repair hernia with butter knife

A 63-year-old California man has tried to operate on his own hernia by cutting open his stomach with a six-inch butter knife

The man tried to repair his hernia with a butter knife Photo: ALAMY

7:00AM BST 27 Jul 2011

The man was apparently frustrated with the painful medical condition, and took matters into his own hands - alarming his wife, who immediately called 911.

"She said her husband was trying to remove a hernia. He was frustrated," said Sergeant Tom Lorenz of Glendale police, east of Los Angeles, after the incident Sunday.

"Pending arrival of paramedics, he removed the butter knife himself," he said.

The man was placed on a psychiatric hold - a legal term meaning confining a patient to prevent them from self-injury - and taken to hospital where he was reported to be in a stable condition.

But doctors said he had probably only made his condition worse.

"It is absolutely impossible for someone to fix their own hernia," Sam Carvajal, a surgeon at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
"Obviously, there is some amount of psychosis going on," said Mr Carvajal, adding that repairing a hernia is relatively easy, and usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes for a trained surgeon.

[Mac 5]

It's July - so time for Harrods and Selfridges to open their Christmas shops

It is a tradition for Harrods to start their Christmas festivities early, but this year is the earliest in their entire history. At 8am, 28th July, Harrods opened their Christmas range to the public.

Father Christmas and Mrs. Christmas taste the '12 ice-creams of Christmas at the opening of Harrods Christmas World department in London Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Jyoti Rambhai and Patrick Hulbert
2:36PM BST 28 Jul 2011

Harrods stressed the need for the early launch, saying that there is an increasing demand from international shoppers for Christmas products.

“The peak for international shoppers begins at the start of July so we tried to cater to this early demand where possible," said a spokeman.

Part of the Christmas range includes an exclusive ‘12 ice-creams of Christmas’ collection.

Flavours include Mince Pie, Christmas Pudding with Brandy Butter, and the rather peculiar Brussel Sprout. The flavours were chosen after a survey about what foods makes people feel the most ‘Christmassy’.

The ice-cream will be available to sample from this weekend.

This years’ theme is ‘A Crystal Christmas inspired by Swarovski,’ so customers can expect a glittering exhibition.
There are over 250,000 decorations alone, and prices in the store range from £1.95 for a tree decoration, to £2,999 for a life-sized Santa Claus ornament.
And for the first time there will be an ice-rink on the roof.
Selfridges also launched it's Christmas display early.
Customers were invited into a wintery world despite temperatures outside soaring to 77F (25C), the festive atmosphere told a different story with Christmas trees, tinsel, Santa hats and best-selling Union Jack baubles decorating the shelves.
Its 'hot list' for 2011 includes Christmas trees up to 8ft high, which will set shoppers back a hefty £159, and exclusive stag and polar bear faux fur hats for £100 - a cult item in Japan.
And, after a slow start, customers began to make their way to the tills with their early festive buys.
Lesley Herbert, 56, a cookery teacher from Romford, Essex, snapped up six ‘Santa’s workshop’ signs and said she had travelled in to London especially for the Selfridges opening.
She said: “I think it is brilliant.
"Some years ago I started to send my dance friends letters from Santa and now I also send gifts with that. I haven’t got any grand-children to buy for so I do it for them.
“It takes so long to do, there about 30 of them, that I have to start early. I saw the sale advertised so I have come in especially for it.
"I always start Christmas shopping around this time. I only have an hour or so a week to do it and I can’t do it overnight.
“I love the decorations here, they are beautiful. I am going to go to the Harrods sale as well.� Helen Lobichenko, 20, a chemistry student from Moscow visiting London, bought a snowman tree bauble and said: “I think it is pretty good they have started early.

[Mac 5]

Swedish man tries to build nuclear reactor in kitchen

4 August 2011 Last updated at 13:18
A Swedish man, arrested after experimenting with radioactive material in his kitchen, has said he was trying to find out if it was possible to split the atom at home.
Richard Handl was detained for unauthorised possession of nuclear material when police found quantities of radium, americium and uranium in his flat.
He told the BBC he bought some of the material off the internet.

Audio/Vid Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14403432

[Mac 5]

Strange New Insect Creatures Infesting Galewela Village in Sri Lanka - July 2011

[Mac 5]

Big Awesome Face in the Clouds

August 2, 2011
New Brunswick, Canada

Starts at 1:10 into video.

[Hackle]

Stand by for some nut to claim it is a manifestation of Jesus...

[Mac 5]

Originally Posted by Mac 5

Strange New Insect Creatures Infesting Galewela Village in Sri Lanka - July 2011

Has anyone seen one of these before ???


Edit:

Homopteran, possibly immature Fulgorid Planthopper

Posted by bugman December 1st, 2008 at 11:11 am
Categories

Aphids, Scale Insects, Leafhoppers, and Tree HoppersPure White insect on floor of sulawesan rainforest
Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Viewing the variety of colors and shapes in the insect world on your site is a truly humbling experience. What I have found distinctly lacking are “bugs� that are pure white. When I have come across insects that are white, they always have some markings.
While walking the Tangkoko Rainforest in North Sulawesi a few weeks ago, I asked my guide to identify the white object on a leaf. He stated that it must be some feather of a bird. Clearly, my guide had never seen such a bug before. As Ralph Emerson said: “People see what they are prepared to see.�
This is the second pure white insect I have seen, the other in a woodpile in Rwanda which I sent to you without response.
Can you identify this one for me? I would be interested on thoughts on pure white insectss.
Thanks!
Dr. Sal Sclafani, Brooklyn, New York
Tangkoko Rainforest, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Probably Fulgorid Planthopper Nymph

Dear Dr. Sal Sclafani,
This is some species of immature Homopteran, a member of the now defunct order that includes aphids and planthoppers. Some immature Homopterans secrete a white waxy substance that forms filaments and the wax is a protection for the soft bodied insects. We suspect this may be one of the Fulgorid Planthoppers, but we are not certain. There is a spectacular Central American Planthopper, Cerogenes auricoma, that also produces the waxy filaments as an adult. In the interest of correct modern taxonomy, the Fulgorid Planthoppers are, according to BugGuide, now classified thus: “Order Hemiptera – True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies
Suborder Auchenorrhyncha – Free-living Hemipterans
Superfamily Fulgoroidea – Planthoppers
Family Fulgoridae – Fulgorid Planthoppers “

[Mac 5]

American sets off on record 103-mile Cuba to Florida swim

Sixty-one-year-old US swimmer Diana Nyad sets off from Cuba on a 60-hour swim to Florida in shark-infested waters.

Vid Link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/active/8688156/American-sets-off-on-record-103-mile-Cuba-to-Florida-swim.html

10:18AM BST 08 Aug 2011

With a calm sea before her, 61-year-old American swimmer Diana Nyad plunged into the Straits of Florida at dusk on Sunday to begin what she hopes will be a world record 103-mile swim from Cuba to Florida.

Wearing a black bathing suit and blue swimming cap, she methodically stroked her way north through crystal clear waters, accompanied by a small fleet of boats that included Cuban well wishers seeing her off and the 45-member team that will accompany her on the 60-hour journey.

Before heading out to sea, she confidently told the crowds that had gathered at the Marina Hemingway on the outskirts of Havana that she would return to celebrate the feat with them.

"I'm standing here in the prime of my life ... Now I look out at a dead, flat calm, so I think this is my day," she said.

Nyad waited until the daytime winds had died so she could start her quest in quiet seas.

Weather forecasters had predicted doldrum-like conditions until Thursday in the straits that separate the United States and Cuba, giving her a good window for the grueling voyage.
Nyad tried the crossing from Cuba in 1978 when she was 28, but failed in the face of winds and heavy waves.
The same swim was completed successfully by Australian Susan Maroney in May 1997. But Nyad's claim to a world record will be that, unlike Maroney, she is doing it without a shark cage in the strait's warm, shark-infested waters.
Instead of a cage, Nyad will be protected by a surrounding electrical field and by divers who will watch for sharks and drive them away if they get too close.
Maroney was only 22, but Nyad said her comparatively advanced age is one of the reasons she will try the swim. She hopes the swim will help people her age and older realize they still can accomplish many things.
She retired from swimming more than 30 years ago, but still has the muscled body and broad shoulders of a marathon swimmer.
In her heyday, she set several world records, including swimming around Manhattan in 1975 in less than eight hours and a 102.5 mile swim from Bimini to Florida in 1979.

[Mac 5]

Cow leaps three foot fence and squashes car

Motorist Robert Gould is lucky to be alive after a startled cow leapt over a three-foot fence and landed on his car.

Amazingly Robert escaped with just cuts and bruises despite skidding almost 80 yards and ending up on the wrong side of the road as he tried to stop Photo: CATERS

8:00AM BST 12 Aug 2011

The frightened Friesian has written off Robert's Citroen C5 after denting the bonnet and breaking a wheel after bounding onto the busy road.

Stunned police later breath-tested Robert after he called 999 to report the collision.

It is understood the cow which died at the scene had been trying to escape from a farmer when it jumped into the road on the outskirts of Leek, Staffs.

Robert escaped with cuts and bruises despite skidding almost 80 yards and ending up on the wrong side of the road as he tried to stop.

The 24-year-old said: "I am now looking out for low-flying cows when I am driving ."

House-hunter Robert was travelling at 60mph and had been on his way to view a property in Cheddleton at the time of the accident in Macclesfield Road.
Safety officer Robert, of Barlaston, Staffs, said: "I was driving along when a cow jumped out and landed on my bonnet.
"It had hurdled a three-foot high fence and hit the front of my car.
"I had no time to brake and my car veered to the other side of the road.
"I was very lucky that nothing was coming in the opposite direction.
"The police were very nice about everything, although I don't think they could quite believe it either.
"They breath-tested me which came back negative."
Dad Chris, aged 53, said: "To see a cow flying over the top of the car made Robert jump and it has left him in shock. It was a good job the road was not busy at the time."
The dead cow was later removed by a digger.
Bob Lee, who retired from Staffordshire Ambulance Service after 30 years dealing with emergencies, said: "I have heard of someone being trampled by a cow, but never a cow jumping over a fence and landing on a car."
Farmer Clive Langford-Mycock believes the cow must have been very frightened to have jumped the fence during last weekend's incident.
The farmer, a former Staffordshire National Farmers' Union chairman, said: "Accidents involving farm animals are very rare.
"Something must have happened to frighten the cow. Possible causes could be thunder or lightning, low-flying aircraft or one of those stupid Chinese lanterns.
"I hope the driver gets over it."

[Mac 5]

Otis the skydiving dog makes 64th tandem jump

Otis the pug has become something of a celebrity among skydivers after making dozens of tandem jumps with his owner in California.

5:30PM BST 17 Aug 2011

Wearing a custom made harness and special 'doggles' to protect his eyes, Otis appears quite calm as he waits his turns to jump out of the plane at 3000ft.

Ten-year-old Otis has been skydiving at Lodi Parachute Centre in Acampo, Los Angeles for the past nine years and his owner Will DaSilva claims he loves it.

"He's totally aware of what's happening when he free falls. Just like any first-time jumper he gets all excited about it and gets nervous at the door.

"Once he's out though he's just having a ball like a dog with its head out of the car window," he said.

Mr DaSilva denies the jumps are cruel, pointing out that Otis doesn't hesitate to kick up a fuss about going to the vet but will happily hop into an aeroplane.

Video Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/8706746/Otis-the-skydiving-dog-makes-64th-tandem-jump.html