Welcome to The Destruction Company — where wealthy youngsters pay big bucks to use weapons and tools to destroy objects such as computers and pianos. The members-only club offers its rich clients the unique chance to smash anything they desire with any weapons they choose. Members can pick from a list of objects to smash — including furniture, televisions, guitars, fax machines, motorcycles, laptops and pottery. But the credit-crunch defying members can also request a particular item they want to destroy — including cars and pianos — which they pay to have brought in. They are then given a choice of weapon including baseball bats, golf clubs, battle axes, sledgehammers, lump hammers, swords, and chainsaws. The members then visit the club’s warehouse and roof top space to don protective clothing and destroy the object bit by bit.
Based at a secret location in New Jersey the club has just opened and its membership is already swelling — mostly with young heirs and heiresses and wealthy bankers. The club says 40 per cent of the members are female — proving that women are also keen to let off stress with a weapon and inanimate object. A spokesman for the club said, “Our message to our members is very clear: It is okay to destroy things. This is not about violence, but the art of destruction.”
It all takes place in a controlled, safe environment. “We have had some odd requests — someone wants to smash a Ferrari and one lady destroyed all her ex-husband’s suits. However, one common theme is technology such as computers, laptops and iPads — there seems to be a desire out there to smash them.”
The Destruction Company is hoping to expand its business to Los Angeles and London. The smashing — either individually or in group sessions — is filmed on camera so members can visit a control room and watch back footage of themselves in action. All members sign a legal waiver and as in the film ‘Fight Club’ there are rules: no firearms can be used, no living things or paperwork can be destroyed, and no alcohol or drugs. The spokesman said, “I think people are using the club for different reasons. Some want to let off steam, some want to shed executive stress. Some want a bit of revenge on the technology that rules their lives and some think it’s just a great work out. To others it has a real primeval appeal. We are not endorsing violence, but we are giving people the chance to feel free. Sometimes it really is okay to destroy things.”
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
The sweeping dog
A golden retriever loves cleaning so much that he sweeps the streets while walking with his owner. The dog became an online star in China after he was photographed using a broom to sweep up while walking in Changchun, Jilin Province.
Under owner Xu Ming’s instructions, the dog runs in zigzag pattern to sweep the streets clean. As he works, he repeatedly looks back at its owner as if to seek approval for his efforts. Ming said, “He is very smart and tame. I decided that I would use some of my spare time to train him to do something special. To my surprise, what he seems to love best is sweeping up so I made him a little broom which he takes with him everywhere.”
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Paralysed teen to publish novel
A girl with cerebal palsy who is almost completely paralysed and who never had a day’s schooling in her life is set to have her first novel published. Wang Qianjin, 18, of Zhenjiang, in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, can only write by touching a computer keyboard with her lips. But she has built up an online following for her fiction and has now been offered a contract to have her first novel published. Qianjin can only communicate by computer but taught herself Chinese and can also understand Japanese and Korean. She said, “I watched a lot of TV dramas, which all have captions. I learnt the pronunciation along with the structure of the characters. I can remember anything after seeing it once.”
She writes under the online pseudonym The Exiled Fairy and her latest work is a 200,000 character love story, depicting the story of a girl from a rich family who falls in love with a gangster. She is still working on the novel, which she posts chapter by chapter, but it has already attracted more than 340,000 hits. Qianjin added, “Many readers leave messages for me, asking me to update more quickly, but I write as fast as I can. I write from 9am to 1am. Besides meals and sleep, I spend all my time on the computer.”
Her father, Wang Yunqi, didn’t even know about his daughter’s talent until she was offered the deal by an online publisher. “She just stays at home and never had a day of school education. It’s hard to believe that she can write, and can even write novels,” he said.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Is that a square-rel or a cuddly rodent
Despite living in image conscious California, this is one resident who’s throwing caution to the wind. The grey squirrel has ballooned to twice its normal size after tourists repeatedly fed it nuts in the Morro Rock State Preserve. Marina van der Linden, a software engineer, captured the chubby creature on camera during a visit to the park. The 46-year-old, from Los Angeles, said, “I had been in the park taking photos but couldn’t get any clear pictures because it was so foggy. I got out a bag of peanuts and suddenly I saw a family of squirrels. It was hilarious because they were all quite big but there was one that was enormous. I concentrated on it since it was the fattest of them all but it kept hiding between the rocks. She was so big and I think it’s because they get well fed by tourists.”
She further said, “When it finally sat still out in the open, I discovered that I was too close and I could not fit the entire squirrel in the camera’s viewfinder. It was so big that I had to walk backwards in order to get her in the frame. She finally looked directly at me and I got the one good shot before she ran off.” She added, “The next day I went to photograph her again but not a single squirrel was to be seen. I saw one with the same pattern on her head but she ran off before she could be photographed. I think she was self-conscious about her weight.”
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
Loo with a view
A man in Britain has purchased a 100,000 pounds (Rs13.8 million) beach-side toilet for his beloved wife as a present on their wedding anniversary.
When builder Nick Willan spotted the property at an auction, he decided to turn it into a perfect 30th anniversary present for his wife Sue. The 53-year-old Willan intends to turn the two-storey Victorian toilet into a perfect room with a view looking out onto the gorgeous Norfolk coast. Dad-of-three, Willan said it was worth paying the price to own something a little out of the ordinary. He said, “My wife and I used to holiday on the Norfolk coast and this was my idea of a 30th anniversary present, our very own beach house.” It’s two-storey high with rooms six metres by four metres, we’re hoping to get planning permission for a spiral staircase and to put in some big windows to look out onto the sea,” he said.
For Sue, 51, the news came rather as a little shock when Willan told her what her anniversary present was. Sue, who lives with Willan in Cawston, Norfolk county, said, “It perhaps isn’t everyone’s idea of an anniversary present but it’s going to be great when it’s finished.”
The couple looks forward to being able to move in by Christmas.
SOURCE: IANS.IN
Iron Man 4 in the making
No, it’s not the sequel to the movie Iron Man but a Telecom worker, Wang Kang in China turned up to work wearing a home-made Iron Man suit.
Kang spent three months crafting the 50 kilogram suit, made from high density foam, wires and an assortment of tubes. When he showed up for work in Shanghai, China, he was initially refused entry by security, but managed to convince guards he was under the suit.
When he finally got up to the office he caused quite a stir among his colleagues. “No colleagues knew my mission, and some of them froze there in seeing me approach. Some were even screaming after being scared,” revealed Kang. He added that the armour had proven to be a runaway success, with his bosses praising him and women falling in love with him.
Kang has now become a Chinese internet sensation after his photo was posted on Weibo (a Chinese version of Twitter), and a video of his suit is on Youtube. He was inspired to make the suit after watching 2008 film Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Junior and Gwyneth Paltrow.
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
The centennial light bulb still glowing strong
An American town is preparing to celebrate a light bulb that has been glowing more-or-less continuously since 1901. The four watt bulb, installed in a fire station in Livermore, California, has been declared the oldest known working light bulb by the Guinness Book of World Records.
The bulb was a gift from a businessman in 1901 and with the exception of a brief period in 1903, a week in 1937 and some power outages between then and 1976, the light has remained on. Lynn Owens, the chairman of the town’s light bulb centennial committee, said that the light’s longevity has baffled scientists. He said, “Nobody knows how it’s possible. It is a 60 watt bulb and it’s only turned on for about four watts but nobody knows why it keeps burning. We’ve had scientists from all over the country look at this light bulb. Of course nobody has ever been able to touch this it,” he added.
The bulb has become a major tourist draw for Livermore and a celebrity in its own right.
SOURCE: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
Larry the cat kills his first
The Downing Street official mouser — Larry has made his first kills since being brought in to deal with rats at Number 10, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced. But the tabby tomcat has not been catching rats, but mice, said Cameron.
The PM revealed that his historic London townhouse is infested with mice, and that he has even spotted one in the flat he occupies with wife Samantha and their children above 11 Downing Street. “I’m a big Larry fan,” the PM said.
“We have got big mouse infestation in Downing Street and Larry has caught some mice. I actually took a picture of one in my flat on my mobile phone, because it was looking at me.” Cameron said he was not scared of mice, but added, “Rats I’m frightened of, but I haven’t seen any of those.”
SOURCE: MID-DAY.COM
Armless but on target
A US man born with no arms is on course to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics — as an archer.
Matt Stutzman, 29, from Iowa, had the highest score on the day of people qualifying for the US Olympic archery team. He now goes on to Italy for team trials and, if successful there, will be taking part in the able-bodied Olympics. And he says he is confident of making it to London — and of winning a gold medal when he gets there.
His technique of holding the bow with his foot gives him an advantage, he says, because his leg is stronger than his rivals’ arms. Stutzman has never let his handicap slow him down, and can do most things with his feet as well as a person with arms. He does not have a disabled badge on his car nor is it adapted for someone without arms. The father of two says he purposely challenges himself to do everything a “normal” person can do.
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Listen to your tunes as you sunbathe
A new beach towel with built-in speakers, allows users to connect their iPod to it and listen to their favourite tunes as they sunbathe. The hi-Sun towel has two speakers built-in to a soft cushion that can be easily removed from the towel for washing, and they are positioned on either side of the head, and connect to any portable music player.
A long-life lithium battery that is recharged through an integrated USB port powers the amplified speakers. These are attached to a 3.5mm universal jack for your iPhone, iPod or any other type of MP3 player. The 100 per cent cotton towel, which measures 180cm long and 80cm wide and even rolls up into its own backpack style bag, is available in blue, pink, red or black and costs 54.99 pounds (Rs7, 627.7).
“This towel is guaranteed to make you the envy of all beach-goers this summer,” a hi-Sun spokesman said. “As others get in a tangle with their headphones and get tan lines from the trailing cables, you can relax and listen to your favourite tunes pumping out of the speakers on this soft and convenient towel,” he stated.
SOURCE: MID-DAY.COM
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2011.
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