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Sunday, August 24, 2008
Indian teenager has unusual diet
Her unusual food habits have become a subject of discussion in the entire district. Banita Behera of Simulia village, Orissa consumes kerosene like water.
She can consume 500 ml of kerosene at a time and one litre a day. It is not that the 17-year-old daughter of Bimal Behera and Minati Behera can only consume kerosene. She claims she has been taking soaps and pain-killer balms - Amrutanjan and Mentho-plus - like pickles regularly.
"I am consuming kerosene and other non-edibles not for sake of record or media coverage. I like the taste of these items and love to consume that. I prefer to take biscuits with kerosene than tea," said Banita, who studies in a women’s college in Soro.
Her parents claimed she developed the uncommon food habit ten years ago. "We first spotted her when she consumed kerosene by draining out lamps and lanterns. Though we tried a lot to prevent her from doing so but she didn’t stop," said her father Bimal.
Surprisingly despite her unusual food habit for past ten years she has developed no health complications. "Moreover, I feel irritated the day when I don’t take kerosene and balms," Banita said.
But the physicians see it otherwise. "Kerosene is toxic to human body. It has very low surface tension and hence it can sustain more time in stomach," said Dr Santanu Das, a physician, warning that regular intake will lead to clinical manifestation including fever and respiratory complications and neurological manifestation. "Similarly, consuming of soaps can lead to renal trouble and gastric irritation while intake of balms can lead to eye-site defect and gastric irritation," Das added.
She can consume 500 ml of kerosene at a time and one litre a day. It is not that the 17-year-old daughter of Bimal Behera and Minati Behera can only consume kerosene. She claims she has been taking soaps and pain-killer balms - Amrutanjan and Mentho-plus - like pickles regularly.
"I am consuming kerosene and other non-edibles not for sake of record or media coverage. I like the taste of these items and love to consume that. I prefer to take biscuits with kerosene than tea," said Banita, who studies in a women’s college in Soro.
Her parents claimed she developed the uncommon food habit ten years ago. "We first spotted her when she consumed kerosene by draining out lamps and lanterns. Though we tried a lot to prevent her from doing so but she didn’t stop," said her father Bimal.
Surprisingly despite her unusual food habit for past ten years she has developed no health complications. "Moreover, I feel irritated the day when I don’t take kerosene and balms," Banita said.
But the physicians see it otherwise. "Kerosene is toxic to human body. It has very low surface tension and hence it can sustain more time in stomach," said Dr Santanu Das, a physician, warning that regular intake will lead to clinical manifestation including fever and respiratory complications and neurological manifestation. "Similarly, consuming of soaps can lead to renal trouble and gastric irritation while intake of balms can lead to eye-site defect and gastric irritation," Das added.
South African schoolgirl killed for staying a virgin
Teenage schoolgirl Nobuhle Khumalo was beaten to death because she had decided to remain a virgin, it was revealed yesterday.
Three 17-year-old girls and a 24-year-old woman from Wasbank, near Ladysmith, were arrested on Thursday in connection with the July murder of Nobuhle Khumalo, 17.
One of Khumalo’s teachers, Samkeliso Chiliza, said that a gang had attacked her with knobkerries because they were jealous of her.
Photo from here.
“The other girls were angry with Nobuhle because she had decided not to have children now, and all the parents held her up as an example,” said Chiliza. “It made the other girls, who already have children, look bad.”Chiliza described Khumalo as an excellent pupil and “an example to women across the whole country”.
Khumalo, who had dreamt of passing matric and overcoming her impoverished background, was found dead with a bottle of pills next to her. Initially, it was thought that she had committed suicide. But a postmortem examination showed she had died of head injuries.
Police spokesperson Captain Shooz Magudulela said the 17-year- olds were charged with the murder of Khumalo and appeared in the dock at the Wasbank Magistrate’s Court in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday afternoon with the 24-year-old woman who is accused with them.
Three 17-year-old girls and a 24-year-old woman from Wasbank, near Ladysmith, were arrested on Thursday in connection with the July murder of Nobuhle Khumalo, 17.
One of Khumalo’s teachers, Samkeliso Chiliza, said that a gang had attacked her with knobkerries because they were jealous of her.
Photo from here.
“The other girls were angry with Nobuhle because she had decided not to have children now, and all the parents held her up as an example,” said Chiliza. “It made the other girls, who already have children, look bad.”Chiliza described Khumalo as an excellent pupil and “an example to women across the whole country”.
Khumalo, who had dreamt of passing matric and overcoming her impoverished background, was found dead with a bottle of pills next to her. Initially, it was thought that she had committed suicide. But a postmortem examination showed she had died of head injuries.
Police spokesperson Captain Shooz Magudulela said the 17-year- olds were charged with the murder of Khumalo and appeared in the dock at the Wasbank Magistrate’s Court in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday afternoon with the 24-year-old woman who is accused with them.
Woman 'too fat for jail'
A woman is accused of killing her two-year-old nephew but prosecutors in Texas do not yet know how to get her to jail and court - because she weighs nearly half a ton.
Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, from La Jola, Texas, is bedridden and weighs nearly 1,000lbs. But she cannot get through her front door to be taken to jail and, later, court.
A grand jury has already agreed she should face charges of murder and injury in connection with the death of Eliseo Gonzalez Jr. He died while in her care in March and the 27-year-old is accused of killing her nephew with two blows to the head.
She explained away the injuries by saying she had slipped, landing with her right hand on Eliseo's head while trying to pick him off the floor, and that he fell off a chair. But a post-mortem found that Eliseo's injuries were "consistent with blunt force trauma" and that Mayra Rosales' explanations were inconsistent with the injuries.
The morbidly obese woman has since been photographed and finger-printed at home but released on a "personal recognizance bond" because of the logistics problem.
The local sheriff at Hidalgo County, Lupe Trevino, says it would be impossible to keep her in jail pending her trial because she needs extensive medical care. So, currently, the lady remains at large.
Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, from La Jola, Texas, is bedridden and weighs nearly 1,000lbs. But she cannot get through her front door to be taken to jail and, later, court.
A grand jury has already agreed she should face charges of murder and injury in connection with the death of Eliseo Gonzalez Jr. He died while in her care in March and the 27-year-old is accused of killing her nephew with two blows to the head.
She explained away the injuries by saying she had slipped, landing with her right hand on Eliseo's head while trying to pick him off the floor, and that he fell off a chair. But a post-mortem found that Eliseo's injuries were "consistent with blunt force trauma" and that Mayra Rosales' explanations were inconsistent with the injuries.
The morbidly obese woman has since been photographed and finger-printed at home but released on a "personal recognizance bond" because of the logistics problem.
The local sheriff at Hidalgo County, Lupe Trevino, says it would be impossible to keep her in jail pending her trial because she needs extensive medical care. So, currently, the lady remains at large.
Led Zeppelin classic 'too racy' for Olympics
It has been delighting fans for almost 40 years but Led Zeppelin's rock classic "Whole Lotta Love" has been deemed too racy by Olympics organisers.
After choosing the song for the closing ceremony today they decided that some of the lyrics would have to be omitted or re-written amid concerns that they could cause offence.
The song was chosen as the centrepiece of an eight-minute £2.5million British segment at the event in Beijing at which the Olympic flag will be officially passed to the London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Organisers of the London 2012 Games commissioned the band's guitarist Jimmy Page to record a new version of the song to be performed on top of a special red double-decker bus accompanied by Leona Lewis, winner of the ITV reality television show The X Factor.
But, according to London 2012 officials, Lewis requested a change to the song's second verse because she was worried they would not make sense for a female singer.
In the original, recorded in 1969, frontman Robert Plant sings, "I'm gonna give you every inch of my love". But in the version that will be sung today, however, Lewis changes the words to "every bit" of my love. The band also agreed to a request from organisers to drop the third verse, which includes similar sexual innuendoes, to fit in to the eight-minute performance.
After choosing the song for the closing ceremony today they decided that some of the lyrics would have to be omitted or re-written amid concerns that they could cause offence.
The song was chosen as the centrepiece of an eight-minute £2.5million British segment at the event in Beijing at which the Olympic flag will be officially passed to the London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Organisers of the London 2012 Games commissioned the band's guitarist Jimmy Page to record a new version of the song to be performed on top of a special red double-decker bus accompanied by Leona Lewis, winner of the ITV reality television show The X Factor.
But, according to London 2012 officials, Lewis requested a change to the song's second verse because she was worried they would not make sense for a female singer.
In the original, recorded in 1969, frontman Robert Plant sings, "I'm gonna give you every inch of my love". But in the version that will be sung today, however, Lewis changes the words to "every bit" of my love. The band also agreed to a request from organisers to drop the third verse, which includes similar sexual innuendoes, to fit in to the eight-minute performance.
Typo fixers get probation for damaging rare sign
Two self-styled vigilantes against typos who defaced a more than 60-year-old, hand-painted sign at Grand Canyon National Park were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year.
Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson pleaded guilty on Aug. 11 for the damage done March 28 at the park's Desert View Watchtower. The sign was made by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the architect who designed the rustic 1930s watchtower and other Grand Canyon-area landmarks. Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States this spring, wiping out errors on government and private signs.
Authorities said a diary written by Deck reported that while visiting the watchtower, he and Herson "discovered a hand-rendered sign inside that, I regret to report, contained a few errors."
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The fiberboard sign has yellow lettering with a black background. Deck wrote that they used a marker to cover an erroneous apostrophe, put the apostrophe in its proper place with white-out and added a comma.
The misspelled word "emense" was not fixed, Deck wrote, because "I was reluctant to disfigure the sign any further. ... Still, I think I shall be haunted by that perversity, emense, in my train-whistle-blighted dreams tonight."
Deck, of Somerville, Mass., and Herson, of Virginia Beach, Va., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property. They were sentenced to a year's probation, during which they cannot enter any national park or modify any public signs. They were also ordered to pay $3,035 to repair the watchtower sign.
Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson pleaded guilty on Aug. 11 for the damage done March 28 at the park's Desert View Watchtower. The sign was made by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the architect who designed the rustic 1930s watchtower and other Grand Canyon-area landmarks. Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States this spring, wiping out errors on government and private signs.
Authorities said a diary written by Deck reported that while visiting the watchtower, he and Herson "discovered a hand-rendered sign inside that, I regret to report, contained a few errors."
Click for bigger.
The fiberboard sign has yellow lettering with a black background. Deck wrote that they used a marker to cover an erroneous apostrophe, put the apostrophe in its proper place with white-out and added a comma.
The misspelled word "emense" was not fixed, Deck wrote, because "I was reluctant to disfigure the sign any further. ... Still, I think I shall be haunted by that perversity, emense, in my train-whistle-blighted dreams tonight."
Deck, of Somerville, Mass., and Herson, of Virginia Beach, Va., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property. They were sentenced to a year's probation, during which they cannot enter any national park or modify any public signs. They were also ordered to pay $3,035 to repair the watchtower sign.
Honour for restaurant that doesn't exist
With a menu boasting roast piglet with foie gras and grilled prawns on an aubergine crisp, and a wine cellar containing no fewer than 2,100 bottles, the Osteria L'Intrepido on Via Filipetti in central Milan seemed a fitting addition to the list of centres of gastronomic excellence featured in the oenophile's bible, Wine Spectator.
Indeed the magazine, which boasts two million readers worldwide, this month added the Osteria L'Intrepido to its list of global restaurants worthy of its Award of Excellence. The only problem was that the Osteria L'Intrepido – along with its roast piglet and impressive list of Chiantis and Brunellos – did not exist.
For it emerged yesterday that the high-flying restaurant was an illusion cooked up by a wine writer to expose what he claimed was a lack of rigour in the granting of many food and drink awards.
Robin Goldstein, a wine critic and author, added to the embarrassment faced by Wine Spectator, which has run its "Awards of Excellence" scheme to highlight laudable restaurant wine lists since 1981, by inventing a special "reserve wine list" for the Osteria L'Intrepido consisting largely of highly priced bottles which had been previously panned by the magazine.
One of the wines, a 1988 Amarone Classico La Fabriseria, was described by the periodical as smelling "like bug spray", while another, a 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe, earned the description: "Just too much paint thinner and nail varnish character." Mr Goldstein said he had executed his hoax by creating a sham website for his restaurant and submitting the $250 (£133) entry fee to the magazine along with a covering letter, a sample menu, which he described as a "fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes", and an exhaustive wine list.
In its defence, Wine Spectator said that it made no claim to visit every one of the 4,500 restaurants that apply for its award each year and had gone to "significant efforts to verify the facts" by repeatedly calling the Osteria L'Intrepido's phone number, Googling its location, looking at the restaurant's website and reading reviews – subsequently proved to be fictitious – on Chowhound, a dining website.
Indeed the magazine, which boasts two million readers worldwide, this month added the Osteria L'Intrepido to its list of global restaurants worthy of its Award of Excellence. The only problem was that the Osteria L'Intrepido – along with its roast piglet and impressive list of Chiantis and Brunellos – did not exist.
For it emerged yesterday that the high-flying restaurant was an illusion cooked up by a wine writer to expose what he claimed was a lack of rigour in the granting of many food and drink awards.
Robin Goldstein, a wine critic and author, added to the embarrassment faced by Wine Spectator, which has run its "Awards of Excellence" scheme to highlight laudable restaurant wine lists since 1981, by inventing a special "reserve wine list" for the Osteria L'Intrepido consisting largely of highly priced bottles which had been previously panned by the magazine.
One of the wines, a 1988 Amarone Classico La Fabriseria, was described by the periodical as smelling "like bug spray", while another, a 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe, earned the description: "Just too much paint thinner and nail varnish character." Mr Goldstein said he had executed his hoax by creating a sham website for his restaurant and submitting the $250 (£133) entry fee to the magazine along with a covering letter, a sample menu, which he described as a "fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes", and an exhaustive wine list.
In its defence, Wine Spectator said that it made no claim to visit every one of the 4,500 restaurants that apply for its award each year and had gone to "significant efforts to verify the facts" by repeatedly calling the Osteria L'Intrepido's phone number, Googling its location, looking at the restaurant's website and reading reviews – subsequently proved to be fictitious – on Chowhound, a dining website.
Hong Kong leader 'risks bad feng shui'
Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang's luck may be about to nosedive - because of a satellite dish.
An expert in feng shui reportedly said that the second dish now adorning Government House was a bad move.
Mak Ling-ling said that a dip in Mr Tsang's popularity earlier this year coincided with the arrival of the first dish.
Photo from here.
One of his first actions on becoming chief executive was to hire an expert to check feng shui at Government House. Feng shui is the practice of arranging objects to help people achieve goals.
Ms Mak said that, in Cantonese, a satellite dish is known as a wok, which can also mean blunder or getting the blame. They give out negative energy which unbalances magnetic fields in Government House, she said, and could affect Mr Tsang's health as well as his fortunes as an official.
As a remedy, Ms Mak suggested tree-planting in the opposite direction.
An expert in feng shui reportedly said that the second dish now adorning Government House was a bad move.
Mak Ling-ling said that a dip in Mr Tsang's popularity earlier this year coincided with the arrival of the first dish.
Photo from here.
One of his first actions on becoming chief executive was to hire an expert to check feng shui at Government House. Feng shui is the practice of arranging objects to help people achieve goals.
Ms Mak said that, in Cantonese, a satellite dish is known as a wok, which can also mean blunder or getting the blame. They give out negative energy which unbalances magnetic fields in Government House, she said, and could affect Mr Tsang's health as well as his fortunes as an official.
As a remedy, Ms Mak suggested tree-planting in the opposite direction.
Blind Frenchman fined for drunk driving
A blind journalist was given a month's suspended jail sentence and fined 500 euros (750 dollars) by a French court on Friday for driving while drunk and without a license.
The owner of the car, who was also drunk as he sat next to the blind man when he drove the vehicle, was given the same sentence and had his license suspended for five months by the court in the northeastern town of Nancy.
The pair were arrested on a country road in the early hours of July 25 by police who spotted their car zig-zagging suspiciously and moving at a very low speed. The police were astounded when the 29-year-old driver informed them that he was blind, and when they breathalysed him and his passenger, a 52-year-old photographer, they found they had drunk twice the permitted level of alcohol.
"I really wanted to do it (drive the car)," the blind man told the court. "I expressed this wish. He (the owner of the car) agreed."
The owner said he saw "a lot of happiness emanating from him" as he drove, adding that he had "one hand on the handbrake and one hand on the steering wheel" as the blind journalist drove. "I was very concentrated on the road," he said.
The judge retorted that, as he was well over the legal alcohol limit, "that didn't make you a vey reliable monitor."
The owner of the car, who was also drunk as he sat next to the blind man when he drove the vehicle, was given the same sentence and had his license suspended for five months by the court in the northeastern town of Nancy.
The pair were arrested on a country road in the early hours of July 25 by police who spotted their car zig-zagging suspiciously and moving at a very low speed. The police were astounded when the 29-year-old driver informed them that he was blind, and when they breathalysed him and his passenger, a 52-year-old photographer, they found they had drunk twice the permitted level of alcohol.
"I really wanted to do it (drive the car)," the blind man told the court. "I expressed this wish. He (the owner of the car) agreed."
The owner said he saw "a lot of happiness emanating from him" as he drove, adding that he had "one hand on the handbrake and one hand on the steering wheel" as the blind journalist drove. "I was very concentrated on the road," he said.
The judge retorted that, as he was well over the legal alcohol limit, "that didn't make you a vey reliable monitor."
Timmy the tortoise found 13 miles from home
Timmy the tortoise might well feel a little shell-shocked yesterday - after being found 13 miles from home.
But mystery surrounds just how the 50-year-old pet got that far.
Owners David and Jean Hipperson feared they would never see Timmy again after she vanished from her hut in the back garden. Two weeks went by and the couple of Trowbridge, Wilts, put up missing posters but had no luck.
Graphic from here.
But then a woman spotted Timmy walking along a main road 13 miles away in Midsomer Norton.
The Moroccan spur-thigh tortoise clocked up an average speed of 0.038mph during her long walk - well below the average tortoise top speed of 0.3mph. At her fastest Timmy could have completed the incredible 13-mile trip in 43 hours.
David, 63, admitted yesterday: "I'm baffled how she could have walked so far. Tortoises are not exactly famous for being quick off the mark and Timmy isn't even energetic for a tortoise - so how she made it that far is a mystery. I would love to find out how she did it."
But mystery surrounds just how the 50-year-old pet got that far.
Owners David and Jean Hipperson feared they would never see Timmy again after she vanished from her hut in the back garden. Two weeks went by and the couple of Trowbridge, Wilts, put up missing posters but had no luck.
Graphic from here.
But then a woman spotted Timmy walking along a main road 13 miles away in Midsomer Norton.
The Moroccan spur-thigh tortoise clocked up an average speed of 0.038mph during her long walk - well below the average tortoise top speed of 0.3mph. At her fastest Timmy could have completed the incredible 13-mile trip in 43 hours.
David, 63, admitted yesterday: "I'm baffled how she could have walked so far. Tortoises are not exactly famous for being quick off the mark and Timmy isn't even energetic for a tortoise - so how she made it that far is a mystery. I would love to find out how she did it."
Hotel charges fat children more for their lunch
Hotel chiefs were rapped yesterday for planning to weigh children - and charge fat ones more for Sunday lunch. Youngsters will be asked to step on the scales to see how much their restaurant meal should cost.
A child weighing five stone will pay £5 while a youngster who tips the scales at 10 stone will have to fork out £10. Bosses at five-star Oulton Hall near Leeds claim the idea is "just a bit of fun".
But outraged child obesity experts say it could hold overweight youngsters up to ridicule. Prof Paul Gateley, said: "It's a cheap shot but ultimately they could end up shooting themselves in the foot. What child wants to go out for a meal and suddenly be pulled on to the scales?" And Dr James Stubbs, the obesity researcher at Slimming World, said: "Families and children who are overweight need friendly support.
"Stigmatising young people who are struggling with their weight is hardly 'a bit of fun'."
But bosses at Oulton Hall, owned by De Vere Hotels, were unrepentant last night - and claimed the idea is about cutting the cost of dining out.
Spokesman Nigel Massey said: "There will no doubt be people who say it's not politically correct. Well, frankly, they should get a life and stop being so miserable."
A child weighing five stone will pay £5 while a youngster who tips the scales at 10 stone will have to fork out £10. Bosses at five-star Oulton Hall near Leeds claim the idea is "just a bit of fun".
But outraged child obesity experts say it could hold overweight youngsters up to ridicule. Prof Paul Gateley, said: "It's a cheap shot but ultimately they could end up shooting themselves in the foot. What child wants to go out for a meal and suddenly be pulled on to the scales?" And Dr James Stubbs, the obesity researcher at Slimming World, said: "Families and children who are overweight need friendly support.
"Stigmatising young people who are struggling with their weight is hardly 'a bit of fun'."
But bosses at Oulton Hall, owned by De Vere Hotels, were unrepentant last night - and claimed the idea is about cutting the cost of dining out.
Spokesman Nigel Massey said: "There will no doubt be people who say it's not politically correct. Well, frankly, they should get a life and stop being so miserable."
Flawed escorts demand refund
Two friends forked out £200 to join an agency as professional male escorts — then discovered that no women wanted to date them.
Baldies Alan Gunn and Mark Hill hoped to earn £40 an hour for accompanying lonely female clients.
But seven weeks after they registered they had not received a single reply. Now the disillusioned pair — both single security guards — are demanding their money back from agency chiefs.
And they are facing sniggers on the streets of their home town where one local said: “How could they expect any woman in her right mind to pay to go out with them?”
Yet both men, who signed to Rebecca’s Nationwide Male Escorts in Sheffield to raise money for a DJ business, insisted: “There’s nowt wrong with us.”
Each spent £35 on registration plus another £65 for a portfolio of photos when they joined up. “We think we’ve been conned. We’ve paid out all this money and not had one call or date.”
Baldies Alan Gunn and Mark Hill hoped to earn £40 an hour for accompanying lonely female clients.
But seven weeks after they registered they had not received a single reply. Now the disillusioned pair — both single security guards — are demanding their money back from agency chiefs.
And they are facing sniggers on the streets of their home town where one local said: “How could they expect any woman in her right mind to pay to go out with them?”
Yet both men, who signed to Rebecca’s Nationwide Male Escorts in Sheffield to raise money for a DJ business, insisted: “There’s nowt wrong with us.”
Each spent £35 on registration plus another £65 for a portfolio of photos when they joined up. “We think we’ve been conned. We’ve paid out all this money and not had one call or date.”
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