Offbeat: meet baby 'Like' and Magneto-the early years
A round-up of the craziest, oddest stories from across the globe.
Fuzzy faces
With a dollop of wax, hairspray and curlers, German hairdresser Elmar Weisser beat off stiff competition from 159 other hopefuls with his elaborate facial hair sculpture of a moose and the Norweigan flag.
It is the third time the bearded wonder has won the World Beard and Moustache Championship. In 2005, he won with a beard styled into the shape of Berlin’s Brandenberg Gate and in 2007 with a representation of London’s Tower Bridge.
The finest facial hair of all shapes and sizes were on show during the competition, held this year in Trondheim, Norway. The competition has been running every two years since 1995 and organisers say it is the “premier event in the international sport of bearding.”
The competitors battle out their facial furniture in 17 different official categories ranging from Dali and Fu Manchu moustaches to Garibaldi and Imperial-style beards. The top three finishers in each category take the prizes.
This year, 150 contestants from 15 countries flocked to Norway to win a prize for the world’s best facial hair. Ole Skibnes, the president of the host Norwegian Moustache Club, says, “This is not a circus. You can’t just judge the size of the moustache — you have to see if the hair is well-groomed, see if it suits the person, see if it makes them look good.”
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK & THESUN.CO.UK
A meaty milestone
A retired prison guard ate his 25,000th Big Mac, 39 years to the day after eating his first nine.
Don Gorske was honoured after reaching the meaty milestone during a ceremony at a McDonald’s in his hometown of Fond du Lac. Guinness World Records recognised Gorske’s feat three years and 2,000 Big Macs ago, and the 59-year-old says he has no desire to stop.
“I plan on eating Big Macs until I die,” he said. “I have no intentions of changing. It’s still my favourite food. Nothing has changed in 39 years. I look forward to it every day.”
Gorske, who appeared in the 2004 documentary Super Size Me, looks nothing like one might expect of a fast food junkie. He’s trim and walks regularly for exercise. He said he was recently given a clean bill of health and that his cholesterol is low. Gorske’s obsession with the burger started on May 17, 1972, when he bought three Big Macs to celebrate the purchase of a new car. He was hooked, and went back to McDonald’s twice more that day, eating nine before they closed.
He’s only gone eight days since without a Big Mac, and most days he eats two. Gorske said he loves numbers and counting things and was inspired to start counting his burgers because McDonald’s noted how many hamburgers were served on their sign.
He said he probably has an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and that he likes repetition and doesn’t like change. He said he’s kept many of the Big Mac boxes and receipts over the years, and has noted his purchases in calendars he’s kept.
SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
It’s Orange peel man
Doctors in China are trying to treat a 51-year-old man whose severely swollen hands and feet have the texture of orange peel.
Yang Bing’s symptoms are a classic example of pretibial myxedema, a rare complication of Graves’ disease, say doctors. He was diagnosed with Graves’ disease six years ago and was put on medication indefinitely. However, Bing complained the drugs did not relieve his original symptoms and stopped taking them after two years. It was then that his hands and feet started to swell and — eventually — he went to the Xin Qiao Hospital in Chongqing for help.
Bing said, “To begin with several water blisters started to appear on the back of my hands and feet, then the blisters grew bigger and bigger. They eventually formed a hard shell and now I can’t do anything with my left hand, not even make a fist.”
Bing’s helplessness does not end here. “And I have to wear the largest slippers I can find and cut open the ends with scissors just to get them on my feet,” Bing lamented.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Life expectancy calculator!
A blood test that will tell users how long they have left to live will go on sale in Britain later this year. The test that will offer people the opportunity to estimate their lifespan will go on sale for £435 (Rs60, 519.1).
Scientists say the test could be vital in the study of age-related illnesses like Alzheimer’s and cancer. The test cannot predict exactly how long a person will live for — but scientists are confident it can offer a reliable estimate.
Maria Blasco, from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, who invented the test, said,“What is new about this test is that it is very precise. We can detect very small differences in telomere (a structure on human chromosomes) length and it is a very simple and fast technique where many samples can be analysed at the same time. Most importantly, we are able to determine the presence of dangerous telomeres — those that are very short.”
SOURCE: THESUN.CO.UK
Corpse bride
Two couples in China had their wedding in a cemetery — to publicly declare they would be together until parted by death.
All four are workers at the Yong’an Cemetery in Tianjin and exchanged their vows among the grave stones. Their wedding procession was made out of 26 cemetery carts, which were specially decorated for the occasion.
Groom Wu Di married his bride Yang Xi, while his friend Wei Jian married his fiancee Liu Ling. “We work here, and we know each other here. The cemetery witnessed our love. Only death could part us,” said Wu Di. “It’s a natural choice for us, as we work here and love this place. All the ancestors lying underneath are our wedding witnesses.”
During the wedding, each couple also planted saplings to wish their love and marriage would be long-lasting.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
A real-life magneto!
A six-year-old Croatian boy has attracted curiosity from his family, friends and relatives because of his magnetic attraction.
Ivan Stoiljkovic has the ability to hang up to 25 kilograms of metal from his chest, including cutlery, coins and even a non-stick frying pan. According to his family, when Stoiljkovic takes off his shirt, metallic objects such as spoons, mobile phones and even frying pans simply stick to his body. It is also claimed that he is much stronger than other children of his age and is able to easily carry bags of cement as heavy as 50 pounds (22.6kg).
And that isn’t the end to Stoiljkovic’s unusual talents, his family says he has also used his ‘healing’ hands to alleviate his grandfather’s stomach pains and take away the pain of a neighbour who hurt his leg in a tractor accident.
SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
A ‘point’ to be noted
The customer known only as ‘Cesar of Huizache’ had an odd request for shoemaker Dario Calderon: He showed him a cell-phone photo of a sequined cowboy boot with pointy toes so long, they curled up toward the knees. He wanted a pair, but with longer toes.
“I thought, what’s up with this dude?” Calderon said at his shop in Matehuala, a northeastern Mexican city of farmers and cattle ranchers accustomed to a more stoic cowboy look. The boot in the photo measured 60 centimetres (23 inches) “but we made him a pair that was 90 centimetres (35 inches) long.”
The mystery man from Huizache, a nearby village, wore his new boots to Mesquit Rodeo nightclub, where he danced bandido style with a handkerchief hiding his mouth and nose. “He was dancing and having a good time and he didn’t care what people were saying about him,” said Fernando Lopez, the master of ceremonies at the rodeo-themed disco.
Then he disappeared.
The next thing Calderon knew, it seemed like everyone wanted the bizarre, half-Aladdin, all-Vegas pointy boots, from little boys attending church ceremonies to teenagers at the discos. Calderon fashioned the elongated toes from plastic foam and charged 400 pesos ($34) for the extensions. The competition began charging 350 pesos ($30) per 15 centimetres (6 inches) of new toe.
SOURCE: EMIRATES247.COM
World’s priciest popsicle
A hotel resort in Mexico has launched the world’s most expensive ice lolly — selling for $1,000 (Rs85, 500).
The world’s priciest popsicle is served on a classic plastic stick but made from premium tequila, which sells for $1,464.4 (Rs125, 205.1) per bottle. The Tequilas Premium Clase Azul Ultra popsicle also includes 24 carat gold flakes.
Bosses at the Marquis Los Cabos resort in Baja California Sur say they expect the premium popsicle to prove popular. “From mini-indulgences like the Tequila Pop to indulgent fantasy services and programmes, Marquis Los Cabos allows guests to personalise their hotel stay as part of the resort’s new approach to service,” said general manager Ella Messerli. Those on a budget can opt for a straight shot of the Clase Azul Ultra — a relative bargain at $488.1 (Rs41,732.2) a shot.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
The name game
An Israeli couple has named their daughter after the ‘like’ feature on Facebook. Lior Adler and his wife Vardit, of Hod Hasharon, near Tel Aviv, said they wanted an original name that was ‘modern and innovative’.
Adler said that his daughter would be the first in the country to be called Like. “In our opinion it’s the modern equivalent of the name Ahava (Love). It’s just my way of saying to my fantastic daughter, ‘Love’,” he said.
Like’s parents have a fondness for unusual names. One of their daughters is called Pie — after the English food - and the other is called Vash — Hebrew for honey.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2011.
With a dollop of wax, hairspray and curlers, German hairdresser Elmar Weisser beat off stiff competition from 159 other hopefuls with his elaborate facial hair sculpture of a moose and the Norweigan flag.
It is the third time the bearded wonder has won the World Beard and Moustache Championship. In 2005, he won with a beard styled into the shape of Berlin’s Brandenberg Gate and in 2007 with a representation of London’s Tower Bridge.
The finest facial hair of all shapes and sizes were on show during the competition, held this year in Trondheim, Norway. The competition has been running every two years since 1995 and organisers say it is the “premier event in the international sport of bearding.”
The competitors battle out their facial furniture in 17 different official categories ranging from Dali and Fu Manchu moustaches to Garibaldi and Imperial-style beards. The top three finishers in each category take the prizes.
This year, 150 contestants from 15 countries flocked to Norway to win a prize for the world’s best facial hair. Ole Skibnes, the president of the host Norwegian Moustache Club, says, “This is not a circus. You can’t just judge the size of the moustache — you have to see if the hair is well-groomed, see if it suits the person, see if it makes them look good.”
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK & THESUN.CO.UK
A meaty milestone
A retired prison guard ate his 25,000th Big Mac, 39 years to the day after eating his first nine.
Don Gorske was honoured after reaching the meaty milestone during a ceremony at a McDonald’s in his hometown of Fond du Lac. Guinness World Records recognised Gorske’s feat three years and 2,000 Big Macs ago, and the 59-year-old says he has no desire to stop.
“I plan on eating Big Macs until I die,” he said. “I have no intentions of changing. It’s still my favourite food. Nothing has changed in 39 years. I look forward to it every day.”
Gorske, who appeared in the 2004 documentary Super Size Me, looks nothing like one might expect of a fast food junkie. He’s trim and walks regularly for exercise. He said he was recently given a clean bill of health and that his cholesterol is low. Gorske’s obsession with the burger started on May 17, 1972, when he bought three Big Macs to celebrate the purchase of a new car. He was hooked, and went back to McDonald’s twice more that day, eating nine before they closed.
He’s only gone eight days since without a Big Mac, and most days he eats two. Gorske said he loves numbers and counting things and was inspired to start counting his burgers because McDonald’s noted how many hamburgers were served on their sign.
He said he probably has an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and that he likes repetition and doesn’t like change. He said he’s kept many of the Big Mac boxes and receipts over the years, and has noted his purchases in calendars he’s kept.
SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
It’s Orange peel man
Doctors in China are trying to treat a 51-year-old man whose severely swollen hands and feet have the texture of orange peel.
Yang Bing’s symptoms are a classic example of pretibial myxedema, a rare complication of Graves’ disease, say doctors. He was diagnosed with Graves’ disease six years ago and was put on medication indefinitely. However, Bing complained the drugs did not relieve his original symptoms and stopped taking them after two years. It was then that his hands and feet started to swell and — eventually — he went to the Xin Qiao Hospital in Chongqing for help.
Bing said, “To begin with several water blisters started to appear on the back of my hands and feet, then the blisters grew bigger and bigger. They eventually formed a hard shell and now I can’t do anything with my left hand, not even make a fist.”
Bing’s helplessness does not end here. “And I have to wear the largest slippers I can find and cut open the ends with scissors just to get them on my feet,” Bing lamented.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Life expectancy calculator!
A blood test that will tell users how long they have left to live will go on sale in Britain later this year. The test that will offer people the opportunity to estimate their lifespan will go on sale for £435 (Rs60, 519.1).
Scientists say the test could be vital in the study of age-related illnesses like Alzheimer’s and cancer. The test cannot predict exactly how long a person will live for — but scientists are confident it can offer a reliable estimate.
Maria Blasco, from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, who invented the test, said,“What is new about this test is that it is very precise. We can detect very small differences in telomere (a structure on human chromosomes) length and it is a very simple and fast technique where many samples can be analysed at the same time. Most importantly, we are able to determine the presence of dangerous telomeres — those that are very short.”
SOURCE: THESUN.CO.UK
Corpse bride
Two couples in China had their wedding in a cemetery — to publicly declare they would be together until parted by death.
All four are workers at the Yong’an Cemetery in Tianjin and exchanged their vows among the grave stones. Their wedding procession was made out of 26 cemetery carts, which were specially decorated for the occasion.
Groom Wu Di married his bride Yang Xi, while his friend Wei Jian married his fiancee Liu Ling. “We work here, and we know each other here. The cemetery witnessed our love. Only death could part us,” said Wu Di. “It’s a natural choice for us, as we work here and love this place. All the ancestors lying underneath are our wedding witnesses.”
During the wedding, each couple also planted saplings to wish their love and marriage would be long-lasting.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
A real-life magneto!
A six-year-old Croatian boy has attracted curiosity from his family, friends and relatives because of his magnetic attraction.
Ivan Stoiljkovic has the ability to hang up to 25 kilograms of metal from his chest, including cutlery, coins and even a non-stick frying pan. According to his family, when Stoiljkovic takes off his shirt, metallic objects such as spoons, mobile phones and even frying pans simply stick to his body. It is also claimed that he is much stronger than other children of his age and is able to easily carry bags of cement as heavy as 50 pounds (22.6kg).
And that isn’t the end to Stoiljkovic’s unusual talents, his family says he has also used his ‘healing’ hands to alleviate his grandfather’s stomach pains and take away the pain of a neighbour who hurt his leg in a tractor accident.
SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
A ‘point’ to be noted
The customer known only as ‘Cesar of Huizache’ had an odd request for shoemaker Dario Calderon: He showed him a cell-phone photo of a sequined cowboy boot with pointy toes so long, they curled up toward the knees. He wanted a pair, but with longer toes.
“I thought, what’s up with this dude?” Calderon said at his shop in Matehuala, a northeastern Mexican city of farmers and cattle ranchers accustomed to a more stoic cowboy look. The boot in the photo measured 60 centimetres (23 inches) “but we made him a pair that was 90 centimetres (35 inches) long.”
The mystery man from Huizache, a nearby village, wore his new boots to Mesquit Rodeo nightclub, where he danced bandido style with a handkerchief hiding his mouth and nose. “He was dancing and having a good time and he didn’t care what people were saying about him,” said Fernando Lopez, the master of ceremonies at the rodeo-themed disco.
Then he disappeared.
The next thing Calderon knew, it seemed like everyone wanted the bizarre, half-Aladdin, all-Vegas pointy boots, from little boys attending church ceremonies to teenagers at the discos. Calderon fashioned the elongated toes from plastic foam and charged 400 pesos ($34) for the extensions. The competition began charging 350 pesos ($30) per 15 centimetres (6 inches) of new toe.
SOURCE: EMIRATES247.COM
World’s priciest popsicle
A hotel resort in Mexico has launched the world’s most expensive ice lolly — selling for $1,000 (Rs85, 500).
The world’s priciest popsicle is served on a classic plastic stick but made from premium tequila, which sells for $1,464.4 (Rs125, 205.1) per bottle. The Tequilas Premium Clase Azul Ultra popsicle also includes 24 carat gold flakes.
Bosses at the Marquis Los Cabos resort in Baja California Sur say they expect the premium popsicle to prove popular. “From mini-indulgences like the Tequila Pop to indulgent fantasy services and programmes, Marquis Los Cabos allows guests to personalise their hotel stay as part of the resort’s new approach to service,” said general manager Ella Messerli. Those on a budget can opt for a straight shot of the Clase Azul Ultra — a relative bargain at $488.1 (Rs41,732.2) a shot.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
The name game
An Israeli couple has named their daughter after the ‘like’ feature on Facebook. Lior Adler and his wife Vardit, of Hod Hasharon, near Tel Aviv, said they wanted an original name that was ‘modern and innovative’.
Adler said that his daughter would be the first in the country to be called Like. “In our opinion it’s the modern equivalent of the name Ahava (Love). It’s just my way of saying to my fantastic daughter, ‘Love’,” he said.
Like’s parents have a fondness for unusual names. One of their daughters is called Pie — after the English food - and the other is called Vash — Hebrew for honey.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2011.