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All photos courtesy: odditycentral
Guinness Rishi, formerly known as Har Parkash, who lives in Delhi, India, is going to be one colourful guy when he successfully completes his latest feat. He is in the process of setting another Guinness World Book of Records record. This will be Guinness' third world record once he completes his latest undertaking. He changed his name to Guinness to show his determination to keep setting world records.
The 67-year-old plans to have the flag from every nation on Earth tattooed on his body. He will be covered with 220 different banners and expects the process to take three years. He already has flags on his face from Canada, Britain, India, the USA, Cypress and the Indian Congress Party. He says he can probably fit about 60 of the flags on his head; but, he intends to cover his entire body with the flags, instead.
Guinness is so dedicated to his mission in life that he plans to have his genitals tattooed once he decides what to put down there.
Rishi's two other claims to fame are that he built the tallest sugar cube tower in the world at 64" tall; and, he became the father of the world's oldest adoptee when he took guardianship of his 61-year-old brother-in-law.
Everyone has their own personal dream. Here are pictures of Guinness in varying stages of tattooing following his.
Harry Chapple is one smart kid. So smart, that at age 4 he's been invited to join Mensa, the society for people with an IQ over 130. Harry, who lives in England, could say the alphabet backwards at two years of age. He likes to calculate the dimensions of circles and squares and can do it in seconds. His dad Simon, a marketing manager, says the child has loved numbers since he was a toddler. "He's very persistent and curious, and he can store all sorts of formulas in his head," he says. Develpmental psychologist George Crowther says Harry is well above the normal IQ and that only 0.1% of people have an IQ over 140. Harry's IQ is 144.
Office workers in New York City were excited when the Yankees won the World Series - so excited, in fact, that at the victory parade they started throwing paperwork out the window, in lieu of confetti. It might not have been so bad; but, the paperwork was actually some very important documents. Auditor Damian Salo said he found personal financial documents amid the shredded paper that floated down from office towers. He said he saw pay stubs, banking data, law firm memos and court files. One financial firm said they reprimanded an overzealous staffer who chucked things out the window which should have been shredded.
There was a mountain of soft toys - 5,884 to be exact - when the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida broke the world record for the largest gathering of soft toys. This happened on Sept. 6, 2008.
You may think goats eat anything in sight; but, they don't. They use their lips to explore things so it gives the appearance they're eating what they're nuzzling.
There are many landlocked countries in the world; but, Kazakhstan is the largest at 1,052,089 sq. mi. None of its border has access to the sea.
The most expensive shoes from a movie sold at auction were Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz". They sold at auction in New York City in 2000 for $666,000.
"As far as I can see, animal experiments are one of the most political questions we have ever had to deal with. To become a radical in this area means to slaughter one of the holiest cows in Western idolatry, the `freedom of science'."
- Rudolf Bahro, author/activist.
Snail Spit Chemicals from the saliva of marine cone snails can be used to make a powerful painkiller. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Call it a new form of rapture of the deep. Chemicals from sea snail saliva can be made into pain pills that work as well as morphine; but, without the risk of addiction, a new study says.
Researchers have already used the saliva of marine cone snails as a potent painkiller, but it has to be injected into the spinal cord with a special implanted pump, which limits its use. Researchers led by David J. Craik of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland in Australia figured out how to make the peptide orally active, so patients could simply pop snail-saliva pills.
Snails' saliva contains conotoxins, which are peptide toxins that interrupt various biological functions. Snails inject it into their prey using needle-like teeth that shoot from their mouths like harpoons, according to a report on the findings by the American Chemical Society.
Although peptides can be very potent drugs, they're difficult to use as pharmaceuticals because they are unstable and not typically available orally. But Craik's group found that "cyclizing" larger peptides -- basically tying them into loops -- can make them functional in pill form.
The research is reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, published by the German Chemical Society.
Craik's team used a string of six amino acids to tie the peptide together, because the amino acids don't interfere with the peptide's function. When the team tested it in rats, they found even a tiny dose was as potent as gabapentin, the most popular drug for neuropathic pain.
Other work on peptide painkillers includes manipulating scorpion venom to numb specific kinds of pain.
Craik has worked on naturally occurring cyclized peptides, which he calls cyclotides, since the 1990s, ACS says. They exist in several examples in nature, but the cyclized snail saliva peptide marks a new step in bioengineering drugs.
The next step is to start testing the use of saliva pills as a drug, Craik says.
Via popsci
Cloning controversy: Milk from the calves of a cloned cow is being sold illegally in Britain (file photo). Photo courtesy: dailymail
Last night the Food Standards Agency said it would investigate. It told the Mail that it believes the sale of milk from such cows is illegal under food regulations.
Research has identified serious concerns for the health and well-being of animals produced as a result of cloning. There is evidence of premature births, deformities and early death.
The cows being used to produce the controversial milk start life in the U.S. as embryos created from the eggs of cloned prize-winning Holstein cows and the sperm of normal bulls.
The embryos are frozen and flown to the UK, where they are implanted into host cows. The resulting supersize animals can be used to produce massive quantities of milk and for breeding purposes.
Dolly the Sheep was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. Photo courtesy: dailymail
The Mail blew the whistle on this trade in "clone farm" cows more than three years ago following the birth of Dundee Paradise on a farm in Shropshire.
Subsequently, we revealed that a total of eight such calves were born on British farms.
It now appears that milk from at least one of these animals; and possibly many more, is being sold for human consumption.
The Mail revelations in 2007 were a complete surprise to the Government's food and farming department, Defra, and the FSA, which had no knowledge of the births.
Subsequently, the EU and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) launched a major investigation in order to decide on how to handle the controversial technology. As a result, earlier this month, Euro MPs voted in favour of a ban on meat and milk from clones and their offspring going into human food without approval. However, the regime has not yet been passed into law.
Image courtesy: dailymail
Details of the claims that clone farm milk is reaching the public appeared in the respected International Herald Tribune.
It said a British dairy farmer had admitted using milk from a cow bred from a clone as part of his daily production.
The man said he was also selling embryos from the same cow to breeders in Canada. He said part of the reason he was staying anonymous was that he did not want to be required to get rid of a valuable cow.
An FSA spokesman said: "Since 2007 the FSA interpretation of the law has been that meat and products from clones and their offspring are considered novel foods and would therefore need to be authorised before being placed on the market.
"As the UK authority responsible for accepting novel food applications, the agency has not received any applications relating to cloning and no authorisations have been made.
"The agency will, of course, investigate any reports of unauthorised novel foods entering the food chain."
European experts have not identified a food safety risk associated with cloning. But some campaigners claim it could allow new diseases to pass from farm animals to humans.
The RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming (CiWF) are among a number of groups opposed to farm animal cloning for food. The chief policy adviser to CiWF, Peter Stevenson, said: "I would be appalled if milk from a clone offspring cow is coming into the food chain in the UK."
Image courtesy: dailymail
"As the farmer has acknowledged, the public is deeply concerned about this and does not want it.
"If this is happening, it demonstrates that there are very serious loopholes in the way food production is policed in this country. The Government has known these animals were in the country for at least three years, but it appears to have done nothing to ensure any milk or meat is not reaching the public."
A study conducted by the FSA found widespread opposition to clone farming and food. Dr. Steve Griggs, who led the research, said: "The majority of people came to the conclusion that they would not want to eat such food. The overwhelming majority either did not want it or were unsure.
"They struggled to identify any convincing benefits for them as consumers. There were concerns about the ethical side of animal cloning, indeed whether we have the moral right to go down this road."
Image courtesy: dailymail
Via dailymail
"What's the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
- Henry David Thoreau, American author/philosopher.
Photo courtesy: Wildlife Extra
Specially-trained sniffer dogs are now being used in Scotland's Western Isles in the hunt to find hedgehogs that have been preying on the eggs of native bird populations.The dogs are being used by the Uist Wader Project (UWP) as part of an ongoing drive to rid the Western Isles of the non-native hedgehogs.
New dog handler Stephen Robinson is in place to help the team along with golden Labrador Misca, who is fully trained and will mainly be used on the moorland on the east side of Benbecula, and parts of North Uist. She is expected to be extremely effective, especially in those areas where hedgehogs are thin on the ground and the terrain is tough going for the project's 16 trappers. The sniffer dog also gives us a means of determining the efficiency of trapping.
And Stephen has just got a second dog, Guss, who is just a few months old, but will be trained to search out hedgehogs.
The UWP is responsible for removing introduced hedgehogs from the Uists and Benbecula. Research has shown that hedgehogs have caused severe damage to the islands' biodiversity by eating the eggs of internationally important populations of wader birds.
UWP manager Gwen Evans confirmed: "We have already contacted many crofters and landowners to find out if they are willing for a dog to search part of their croft land, but we have more people to contact. Prior to appointing Stephen, we needed to be sure that Misca was suitable for the job, especially around stock, so we asked Pete Crichton to help."
Pete has impressive credentials as for the past 10 years he has been assessing the suitability of dogs for the Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA). This work is as a volunteer which he fits around his paid job as part of the SNH team based at Kinlochewe on the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. With Calum Watt, the local SSCPA Inspector looking on, the prospective dog and handler were assessed for control of the dog; coverage of the ground and especially how they reacted to stock. Each dog was expected to sit in the corner of a pen of sheep, while the sheep were moved around.
"We are pleased to report that Misca passed with flying colours. The next stage was to search a field looking for hedgehog smells - we used bedding that hedgehogs had been using overnight, hidden down rabbit burrows and in walls. Again, Misca was clearly suitable for the job."
Ross Minett, the Uist Hedgehog Rescue (UHR) spokesperson, said: "We are pleased to be helping both hedgehogs and the wading birds by removing the hedgehogs from the Uists in a humane manner. We have already translocated lots of these wonderful creatures back to mainland Scotland where they have been released to live out their lives."
Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said: "The introduction of hedgehogs on to Uist has been having a detrimental effect on the native bird population for many years now, therefore we fully appreciate the need to undertake this translocation project. So far this year the number caught in Benbecula stands at just 41 which represents significant progress with the trapping effort and a dwindling population of hedgehogs."
Via Wildlife Extra
DEATH TRAP: The fence stopped animals finding sources of food and water during dry spells. Photo courtesy: Wildlife Extra
A fence may have been starving gazelles and other ungulates to death in Saudi Arabia, according to the latest research.
Die-offs of large numbers of globally-threatened Arabian oryx and Arabian Sand Gazelles were recorded from 1991 to 2008 in the fenced Mahazat as-Sayd protected area in Saudi Arabia. Researchers found that most deaths occurred during the summer, when rainfall was negligible. The animals starved to death because of the reduced availability, accessibility and quality of food plants in the area.
Grazing of Arabian Oryx habitat depends on rainfall and animals move over great distance in response to rain. However, the fence around the protected area at Mahazat as-Sayd prevents the natural movement of animals and artificially concentrates animals into what may be an unfavourable habitat.
The Sand Gazelle is a highly gregarious and migratory species, moving long distances in search of a good quality pastures - in central Asia they are known to cover several hundreds of kilometers. Researchers believe that it is, therefore, likely that fences such as the one around Mahazat as-Sayd protected area are exacerbating the effects of drought.
In an attempt to reduce the catastrophic effects, a strategy and action plan has since been developed to manage the Oryx and Gazelle within the reserve, providing food and water at five camps as an emergency plan to minimise mortalities.
Via Wildlife Extra
All photos courtesy: odditycentral
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