Offbeat: Two-faced cat beats the odds

The blue-eyed rag doll cat, called Frank and Louie, has made it into Guinness World Records.


Express October 18, 2011

Superhero on a smelly mission

A new superhero has emerged in the Czech Republic, with a mission to wage war on dog owners who don’t clear up their pets’ mess.

The caped crusader — complete with tights, helmet and a mask to protect his secret identity — patrols the parks of Prague.

The self-styled super hero, who also soaks inconsiderate smokers with buckets of water — says he was spurred into action after the city was dubbed the dog poo capital of Europe.

“I am SuperVaclav and I have decided to take action against the indifference and hypocrisy in society,” he said on his website.

“I’m tired of just sitting back and watching the injustice around us. It is my mission.”

One video for his campaign — posted on YouTube and his own website — shows him snatching up a handful of dog poo from the ground and pelting the dog’s owner with it.

“His only super power seems to be running pretty fast because the dog owner is furious and sprints after him as if he means to kill him,” said one observer.

SOURCE: orange.co.uk

Titanium treasure found on Moon

A new map of the Moon has revealed an abundance of titanium ore that is up to 10 times richer than on Earth, a finding that could one day lead to a lunar mining colony, astronomers said on October 7.

The discovery was made by a camera aboard the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which swept the surface of the Moon, scrutinising it in seven different light wavelengths.

Mark Robinson of Arizona State University, who presented the research at a conference in Nantes, western France with Brett Denevi of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, sifted through the data for telltale jumps in the ratio of ultra-violet to visible light.

They established this signature thanks to rock samples brought back to Earth by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 and images of the area around the mission’s landing site by the Hubble space telescope.

Titanium is as strong as steel but nearly half as light, which makes it a highly desired and expensive metal.

On Earth, titanium is found, at the very most, in roughly one percent of similar types of ore. But the new map found abundances in the lunar maria — dark, basaltic plains on the Moon — that range from about one to 10 percent, the conference organisers said in a press release. In the lunar highlands, abundance was around one percent. AFP

TV ad only meant for a dog’s ears

A new TV advert for dog food features a series of high-frequency signals beyond human hearing.

Nestle Purina produced the 24-second advert, for Beneful dog food, using a high-pitched whistle, which only dogs can hear.

The aim is to attract dogs to the screen during the ad which will in turn encourage owners to buy the product for them.

Behavioural experts from the US researched which sounds would have the most effect on canines in front of the television screen.

The advert features a dog twitching it’s ears with attention as its owner squeaks a toy duck, followed by the high frequency whistle.

The sound occurs twice within the clip and is near enough impossible for any human to hear.

Austria will be the first country to air the advert on national television this week.

Two-faced cat beats the odds

A 12-year-old cat with two faces has been recognised as the longest living in the world with the condition.

The blue-eyed rag doll cat, called Frank and Louie, has made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records, reports the Mirror.

Frank and Louise is a Janus cat, named after the Roman god with two faces, which don’t normally live longer than just a few days.

He was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes and several doubts about his future.

Frank and Louie was to be put down when he was just one day old before owner Marty Stevens decided to adopt him.

Ms Stevens, of Worcester, Massachusetts, said: “Every day is kind of a blessing; [it’s]12 and normal life expectancy with this condition is one to four days.”

“So, he’s ahead of the game; every day I just thank God I still have him.”

She was working at a veterinary practice when Frank and Louie’s breeder brought him in to be put down.

Ms Stevens offered to take him home, but experts told her not to get her hopes up as Janus cats suffer congenital defects that make it difficult for them to eat or drink.

But Ms Stevens used feeding tubes to nourish him for three months, and incredibly he grew up as healthy as any normal cat.

SOURCE: orange.co.uk

Is this silk or milk?

A young fashion designer from the German city of Hanover is revolutionising high fashion by designing clothes with a staple she can find in her fridge — milk.

Anke Domaske, 28, has developed a fabric called QMilch made from high concentrations of the milk protein, casein, — the first man-made fiber produced entirely without chemicals.

Made from all natural materials, the QMilch fabric is ecological but also has many health benefits, said Domaske, who also said the amino acids in the protein are antibacterial, anti-aging and can help regulate both blood circulation and body temperature.

Domaske’s fashion label Mademoiselle Chi Chi — a favorite among the likes of Mischa Barton and Ashlee Simpson - has now started weaving the milk fiber into its collection. Reuters

Big foot­ — literally

The first thing that people notice about Brahim Takioullah is not his feet — which he hopes will make him famous — but his enormous height. He stands more than eight foot (246 cm) tall.

As he strolls through downtown Paris people gasp, stare, take his picture and ask, “Are you the tallest man in the world?” He’s not but he officially has the biggest pair of feet on the planet.

Judges from Guinness World Records came to France to measure him and confirmed his suspicion that he had record-breaking feet — his left measuring one foot three inches (38.1 cm) in length and his right, one foot 2.76 inches.

Takioullah cannot stand up straight in the small flat he shares with his mother in the Paris suburbs, has difficulty getting into a taxi or the Metro, and can never move around without attracting attention.

But he is surprisingly good-humoured about his situation, smiling and posing for cell phone snaps and politely answering questions about his condition. He has acromegaly — a pituitary gland disorder that causes the body to produce excessive growth hormone. The brain tumour can lead to other problems aside from great size, and Takioullah was advised to seek surgery.

Takioullah, 29, is from Morocco, and grew up in a small village — and he surely grew up fast. In one year in his teens he put on more than three feet (one metre) in a spurt.

But apparently he decided to finish his university studies in geography. When he began treatment, he was already huge and closing in on the world’s tallest man, Sultan Kosen of Turkey who stands at eight feet and three inches.

Takioullah contacted Guinness himself to challenge for the record, and says he is proud to have it recognised, though daily life is not without its problems.

He hopes one day to have a custom-built car he can drive himself, but for now even getting a pair of shoes stretches his budget — he takes a European size 58, which no shop has ever stocked.

He recently met an orthopedic podiatrist to be fitted with a specially made pair designed to support his huge weight. French doctors are working to reduce Takioullah’s brain tumour, and he hopes his newfound fame will help him find the specialist treatment he needs.

“The record now will be known around the world, and experts anywhere around the planet may be able to help,” said Craig Glenday of Guinness World Records, publisher of the famous guide to the world’s extremes. AFP

Penguin spotted on Hampshire beach

Day-trippers enjoying the heatwave on a Hampshire beach were stunned to spot a lost penguin frolicking in the waves.

It’s believed it was a jackass penguin which normally makes its home in South Africa, 6,000 miles away, reported The Sun.

Visitors to Southsea beach, near Portsmouth, filmed the penguin diving in and out of the waves.

Joanne Gordon, 35, of Aldershot, said,“I couldn’t believe it when I saw it swimming around away just six feet from me.”

Earlier, the bird is said to have been seen waddling around the harbour to the surprise of onlookers.

SOURCE: orange.co.uk

Drunk driver finds odd parking spot

A drunk driver tried to park his car in a river after mistaking a slipway for an underground car park ramp in heavy fog.

Peter Thaler, 42, abandoned the car and walked home when he realised he’d almost ended up in the Ruess river in Sins, Switzerland.

But he was arrested the next morning when he returned to collect it while police were retrieving it and was still so drunk he failed an alcohol breath test.

“He was confused because of the fog but mostly because of the drink,” said a police spokesman.

“He lost his licence and will be fined and will have to pay all the costs of the recovery of his car.”

SOURCE: orange.co.uk

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.

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