Magnificent Mummies

More than 2,000 human mummies live the walls of an underground crypt in Palermo, Sicily all wearing their finest clothes. To make the spectacle even spookier, their jaws are loosely wired in place so that their mouths appear to be gaping wide at visitors.

Some are stretched out in niches carved into the limestone of the capuchin Catacombs, but, owing to lack of space, others simply hang from hooks on the walls. The mummies are grouped according to age, sex, and social status, ranging from tiny babies in cribs and rocking chairs to adult lawyers in their best suits and soldiers in uniform. There are also hundreds of coffins, the sides of which have been cut open to reveal the deceased.

The monks of Palermo began mummifying their dead as a status symbol more than 400 years ago. The Palermo mummification happened by chance. A monk, Brother Silvestro, died suddenly in 1599 and some months later it was found that the limestone and the lack of air in the crypt had combined to mummify his body. Thereafter, his fellow monks decided that they too, wished to be mummified after death and soon the wealthier local townspeople began to express similar desires.

The practice was finally discontinued in 1920s. One of the last people to be mummified was two year old Rosalia Lombardo, also known as the "Sleeping beauty". Her family frequently visited her open coffin. Although the dry air in the crypt has preserved many of the remains, body parts such as ears and hands have fallen off over the years, and other mummies are now little more than dressed skeletons.

Doggie dudes

Four legged surfing dudes get the chance to shine at the annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort surf dog competition in California. Forty seven Canines took part in 2007, the contest being divided into two sections- the first purely for dogs and the second for dogs and humans surfing together on the same board at the same time. Prizes included a gourmet doffie room service meal at the resort and a basket filled with dog treats.

Tiger Attack:

A stray dog had a lucky escape in January 2008 when it wandered into the tiger pit at Memphis zoo in Memphis, Tennesee. The 50 lb (23 kg) female retriever mix jumped over a railing and a wall before swimming across a moat to the center of the enclosure, where it was attacked bya 225 lb (100 kg) Sumatran tiger. Seeing the incident, zoo workers used fireworks and air horns to distract the tiger and, despite being held in the tiger's grasp for several minutes, the dog escaped with nothing worse than puncture wounds to its neck and shoulders.

Robotic Violinist

A Japanese company has built a robot that can actually play the violin. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation, the 5 ft tall (1.5 m) robot has 17 joints in its hands and arms to give it human like dexterity. At the product launch, it used its mechanical fingers to push the strings correctly while bowing with its other arm to give a near perfect rendition of Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstances”

Light lunch

Wang Gongfu, of Lianyungang, China, eats glass twice a week. He ate his first glass cup when he was 20 and in the intervening 22 years he has eaten more than 440 lb (200 kg) of glass. His favourite is teacup glass, but he is also quite partial to electric lightbulbs.

The risks associated with eating and swallowing glass depend on its size, shape, and sharpness, jagged pieces being far more dangerous than smooth. The human digestive tract can cope with many things - including bones in meat or fish - so small pieces of glass can travel right through the bowel and be passed out normally.

Sword swallowers must first eliminate the gag reflex, which they do by putting their fingers, then spoons, knitting needles, and eventually wire coat hangers down their throat. They must also relax their Pharynx, esophagus and the muscles of their neck, and make sure that the world is lined up perfectly. Another trick of the trade is to lubricate the sword beforehand with either saliva or butter.

Hair raising Yarn

Victoria Pettigrew hated throwing away the hair from her pet Chow's brush after grooming. So one day she decided to spin it into yarn. Her idea has prompted pet lovers across the USA to wear their pets hair with pride- in bed, to the shops, and even to the beach.

When Victoria's beloved 16-year old Lhasa Apso dog, Karly, died in 2001, she spun her fur and knitted it into a small scarf. Now customers send hair from their dogs and cats to her company- VIP Fibers of Denton, Texas- and she spins it into yarn before sending it back to them as maybe a pair of mittens, a scarf, a blanket, a pillow, or, for the more daring, a fun-fur bikini. Such items are proving to be popular keepsakes with which owners can remember their adored pets.

Dog fur is up to 80 percent warmer than sheep;s wool, but has to be thoroughly cleaned so that when the yarn gets wet, it does not smell like a wet dog. First the hair is washed in shampoo, then it is put through a process that removes the enzymes that cause odor, and finally it is soaked in softener and conditioner. Victoria also spins yarn from alpacas, rabbits, horses, and even hamsters, although it may need several years fur collection to create a hamster blanket!

Rampant Rat and Fearless Mice

A prehistoric skull found in a museum in Montevideo, Uruguay, has led scientists to conclude that a rodent the size of a cow roamed the forests of south America four million years ago. The monster rat stood 5 ft (1.5 m) tall, was 10 ft (3 m) long and weighed almost a ton, making it 14 times bigger than any rodent alive today.

Scientists at Japan’s Tokyo University have created a mouse that is not scared of Cats. The researchers succeeded in turning off the receptors in a mouse’s brain that react to the scent of its chief predator. The result has been the creation of genetically modified mice who show no fear when coming face to face with cats.

Posylane

Posylane is the shop site where you can trade children plates, backpack, nap mats for the children. The personalized children’s plates are one of the most important needs for the children across the globe. Through this site, lipstick shade with children’s plates can be bought at a very affordable price. Now days travelling has become quite frequent for all types of people, to carry their baby in the crowd without any hassle a toddler backpacks is necessary. In this site, there are different varieties of toddler backpack and ezy roller are available according to the needs of the people. Through this backpack, travelling has become easy for those who carry their children with them. Another important thing for the child is the nap mat which they need to carry frequently. The cavichi nap mats rolls are available in different sizes and colors which will make them feel comfortable at any stage. This site enables to purchase all kinds of children needs .

Ballon wedding

Laura dakin walked down the aisle at her wedding to Don Caldwell in 2006 wearing a dress made entirely out of twisted balloons. To add to the surreal nature of the blue Hawaii themed ceremony at the viva Las vegas wedding chapel in Las vegas, Nevada, "Elvis" was on hand and the groom wore Hawaiian shorts. The couple met at a balloon twisting convention and Caldwell ( aka Buster balloon) popped the question after stepping from a giant 6 ft (1.8 m) pink ballon.

At a wedding between professional balloon twisters, it was only natural that even the bouquets were made of ballons. It took the groom around eight hours to make the wedding dress from more than 200 white balloons. "I have worked on all sorts of projects before," said Don Caldwell, "but this was my first time making a life sized, wearable dress."

The human canvas

Chadwick Gray has to remain motionless for upto 15 hours at time so that artist Laura spector can paint him. Yet this is no ordinary still life, for the canvas is not a sheet of paper but Chadwick’s body. It is all part of the New york city collaborative team’s Museum Anatomy project, which began in 1996 and sees them re-create old painting onto a human canvas.

Chadwick admits he suffers for his art and enters almost a meditative trance in order to stay completely still for so long. Sometimes his feats of meditative endurance are made publicly. In 2001, for example, Laura painted a 19th century portrait of a bride onto his body in the front windows of the Henri Bendel department store in New York. Chadwick and Laura scour the storerooms of museums across the world for likely subjects, frequently looking for paintings that have been stored and hidden away from public view because of their controversial nature. Chadwick says: “We often had to convince conservative curators, and once, in Prague, even a panel of nuns, to allow us to reproduce rare paintings of the female form onto the often naked male body.”

Once the body art is completed, Laura photographs Chadwick and the prints are developed to the same size as the original painting. The resulting photographs reveal a new work of art in which the painting acquires curves and sometimes leaves the canvas unrecognizable as Chadwick’s human form.