Offbeat: It’s albino... it has two heads... and it’s for sale!

The Honduran milk snake hatched a few days before Halloween at a conservation group in Florida.


Express November 26, 2011

Chillin’ like a villain

A Russian woman claims to have found proof of extra-terrestrial life — and has kept the ‘alien corpse’ chilling in her fridge for two years.

The 61-centimetre-long ‘creature’ was allegedly found by Marta Yegorovnam near the flaming wreckage of a crashed UFO beside her summer house in the Russian city of Petrozavodsk.

She claims to have heard a deafening crash one evening in 2009 but when she went outside to investigate, she found that the ET had not survived.

Ms Yegorovnam then lovingly wrapped the creature in plastic and shoved it in the fridge, not uttering a word to anyone.

The remains have apparently been examined by the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, although this has not been confirmed.

Paranormal writer Michael Cohen said the ‘possibility that this might be a genuine alien should not be discounted’.

But astronomer Dr Ian Griffin said, “If aliens were smart enough to travel vast distances between the stars, they’re probably smart enough to avoid being stored in a fridge for two years.”

Fortean Times editor David Sutton added: ‘The alien in the 1951 movie of The Thing was a super-intelligent vegetable, so who knows?’
SOURCE: metro.co.uk

It’s albino... it has two heads... and it’s for sale!

A two-headed albino snake has been put up for sale in the US with a price tag of at least £16,000 (Rs2,172,800).

The Honduran milk snake hatched a few days before Halloween at a conservation group in Florida.

Owner Daniel Parker, a University of Central Florida biologist, said he hoped it would be bought by a zoo, aquarium, or serpentarium where people could see it.

“In my opinion, this is the most beautiful two-headed snake to ever exist, not only is it insanely colourful, but the two heads are perfectly formed,” he said.

The snake has just eaten its first meal — a baby mouse — a significant event for a snake, especially for one with two heads as it suggests it is functioning normally.

The right head of the snake ate the mouse soon after it was offered while the extra head seemed content to watch.

Mr Parker added: “After hatching, baby snakes usually have a good reserve of yolk to last them for a while.”

“Honduran milk snakes usually shed their skins around two weeks after hatching and are ready to feed after that.”

“We were not exactly sure what was going on with this snake on the inside, but now we have a better idea.”

SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk

Say cheese!

Rich palettes have a new after dinner luxury to add to their Christmas menu this year — a British cheese made with real gold.

Clawson Stilton Gold is made from premium white Stilton and shot-through with a combination of real edible gold leaf and real gold-liqueur. At £60.87 (Rs8,266) per 100g slice, or £608 (Rs82,566) a kilo, it’s the world’s most expensive Stilton Cheese.

It costs a whopping £6 (Rs815) for a single wedge on a cracker for those who want real after-dinner luxury. Makers Long Clawson Dairy, in Leicestershire, say they have already been contacted by a variety of interested parties — including a Gulf-based oil sheikh and a famous pop star. Dairy spokesperson Janice Breedon said: “For confidentiality reasons I can’t publicly identify the people who have inquired about our Clawson Stilton Gold but, suffice to say, they are all very well known.”

“We wanted to create something special, a unique Stilton cheese, for the Christmas market — just a limited run, to hopefully, get more people interested in Stilton.”

“It does look amazing though — you can see the gold clearly in the slices and we’ve not been shy with how much gold we’ve put in the batch. It’s Britain’s blingiest cheese but, judging by the enquiries we’ve had, I’d say most of it will be leaving the country before Christmas.”
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk

Children shame robber into fleeing

An armed robber who held up a babysitter was shamed into leaving empty-handed when two young children offered him their pocket money.

The man had rung the doorbell of a house in the German town of Schwanewede, near Bremen, and then forced his way in.

Armed with a gun and wearing a balaclava, the man had the terrified babysitter at gunpoint when the children she was looking after, came downstairs.

When they offered him their savings, he was apparently overcome with shame and left the house without a word — or a penny.

“The children had heard what was going on from upstairs and came down with their money, all their savings,” a police spokesman said.

He said he was not releasing the ages of the children in order to protect them from being identified, but that they were both younger than seven.

“The robber must have realised what he was doing was awful, and simply put his gun away and left,” added the spokesman.
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk

One hairy dress!

A Liverpool dressmaker who shot to fame through My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding has created a gown made entirely from human hair.

Thelma Madine’s bizarre creation was made from 250 metres of hair extensions and now has a price tag of more than £50,000 (Rs6,790,000)

She worked with Voodou hair salon in Liverpool to create the dress, which took eight dress designers more than 300 hours to complete.

The brain child behind the hairy dress was Voodou stylist Ryan Edwards.

Mr Edwards said: “It’s something that we’ve been thinking about designing for a while as it’s just so different.”

“I approached Thelma and her team to see if they would be up for doing it and they loved the idea. It took a team of about eight people just over 12 days to make and as you can see, we used a lot of hair!”

Not only does the dress contain 250 metres of hair but tens of thousands of individual hair wefts and different pieces of hair, as well as 1500 crystals and 12 underskirts. It weighs approximately 15 stone.
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk

Thieves break into prison to steal cigarettes

Thieves broke into a prison to steal cigarettes worth £8,000 (Rs1,086,400), climbing a fence and evading officers to swipe the cases of tobacco from a workshop in a jail, near Preston.

Dozens of inmates work in the DHL workshop at Kirkham Prison, a Category D open jail, which is used by the courier firm to store supplies for other units.

“Normally the inmates can’t wait to get out of here... so having the opposite happen has caused much mirth,” one source said.

“One theory is it was an inside job. At night, security is pretty non-existent. There are not enough prison officers to check the whole perimeter.”

Staff at the jail in Lancashire are now examining CCTV footage in an effort to identify the ciggie-stealing culprits.
SOURCE: metro.co.uk

Dancing gerbil ballerina 

Gerbils who like Mozart are rare — gerbils who wear tutus and plié in time to the Austrian composer’s music are virtually unknown. Therefore, we present the world’s first gerbil ballerina.

This furry critter loves nothing more than being ‘en pointe’ — especially when he gets rewarded with a spot of grub for his troubles.

Twirling away to Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.3 in G Major, this gerbil shows excellent style and posture to earn the plaudits of his owners, and his thousands of YouTube fans.

“He looks like he’s enjoying himself,” one observer commented after seeing the 30-second clip.

One of the main stylistic features of contemporary ballet is the outward rotation of the thighs from the hip — a technique demonstrated with enviable poise by this ‘ballerina’.

Most ballet dancers would probably balk at the idea of being rewarded with a snack for every complete rotation, especially as having complete control of your bodyweight is a major component of modern dance. But not this one. He retains his love of grub while also showing his talent on the stage.

SOURCE: metro.co.uk

Obama gets free croc insurance

President Barack Obama made a fleeting visit to Australia’s tropical north, home to some of the world’s biggest and deadliest crocodiles, and received a unique gift to mark his stopover.

As an official gift, Obama was given crocodile insurance, which would have paid out A$50,000 (Rs4,260,500) to his wife, Michelle, if the president had been attacked by a crocodile.

“I was just presented with the most unique gift I have ever received as president — crocodile insurance. My wife, Michelle, will be relieved,” Obama told about 2,000 troops in Darwin.

“I have to admit when we reformed health care in America, crocodile insurance is one thing we left out.”

Darwin is the capital of the remote and sparsely populated Northern Territory, made famous in the legendary Crocodile Dundee movies.

The Territory’s Chief Minister Paul Henderson took out the crocodile insurance policy for Obama, worth about A$10 (Rs852), and presented him with the certificate as a memento of his visit.

Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow bigger than five metres (16 feet), kill about one to two people a year in Australia. Reuters

Stacking it up!

A man has settled for the record holder of the most coins stacked on a single dime.

Tai Star, from Tucson, Arizona, spent seven hours building a tower of 3,118 coins on a dime.

The impressive structure consisted of 600 quarters, 501 dimes, 313 nickels, 1699 pennies and five foreign coins. SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2011.

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