Cookies cause teacher to hallucinate

Remember when students took apples to their teachers?

Yeah, me neither.

Whatever that whole thing was about, there's a new way for students to bribe their way to an A -- cookies, and not just a nice batch of chocolate chip cookies, but cookies laced with marijuana.

Apparently, a high school senior in Wilmington, North Carolina baked cookies made from dough that had been mixed with marijuana. The student's Spanish teacher ate one of the cookies, and claims to have hallucinated, experienced an increased heart rate, and higher blood pressure. The teacher might have been mistaken except that the student actually referred to the cookies as "weed cookies."

The student has been expelled from school.

Source : slashfood.com

Orange UFO over Japan -Osaka Airport

Orange UFO over Japan !

The Nazca Lines Mystery

This video contains the most beautiful Nazca and Palpa Lines, as well as an array of animal figures geometric designs and a map of the archaeological zone.

Two Mad Scientists Who Went Too Far in the Name of Science

Science sometimes creeps me out. Not so much because of the discoveries of new planets or animals, or even diseases. It creeps me out because of what we as humans, are capable of doing in the name of science. And as much as I'd like to think that these kind of experiments never happened, they did. Scientists go to far in their “madness.”

Perhaps you once upon a time read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? Some of the scientists listed (Ure, Galvani, and Dippel) were the inspiration behind Dr. Frankenstein. And despite Shelley's wonderful imagination, no amount of idealized creation could think of such things that these men were capable of doing.

Vladimir Demikhov (1916-1998)






Sergei Bruyukhonenko






His research led to the development of open-heart procedures. He developed a crude machine called the autojektor (a heart and lung machine). By using this primitive machine, Bryukhonenko kept the heads of severed dogs alive. In 1928, he displayed one of the heads in front of an audience. To prove it was real, he banged a hammer on the table. The head flinched. When a light was shone in its eyes, the eyes blinked. And when it was fed a piece of cheese, the remnants promptly popped out of the esophageal tube, much to the displeasure of disgusted viewers.

5 Unbelievable Medical Mistakes

1. The Fertility Clinic that used the wrong sperm

When Nancy Andrews, of Commack, N.Y., became pregnant after an in vitro fertilization procedure at a New York fertility clinic, she and her husband expected a beautiful new addition to their family. What they did not expect was a child whose skin was significantly darker than that of either parent. Subsequent DNA tests suggested that doctors at New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine accidentally used another man's sperm to inseminate Nancy Andrews' eggs.

The couple has since raised Baby Jessica, who was born Oct. 19, 2004, as their own, according to wire reports. But the couple still filed a malpractice suit against the owner of the clinic, as well as the embryologist who allegedly mixed up the samples.

2. Received the wrong heart and lungs, then died

17-year-old Jésica Santillán died 2 weeks after receiving the heart and lungs of a patient whose blood type did not match hers. Doctors at the Duke University Medical Center failed to check the compatibility before surgery began. . After a rare second transplant operation to attempt to rectify the error, she suffered brain damage and complications that subsequently hastened her death.

Santillán, a Mexican immigrant, had come to the United States three years before to seek medical treatment for a life-threatening heart condition. The heart-lung transplant that surgeons at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C., hoped would improve this condition instead put her in greater danger; Santillán, who had type-O blood, had received the organs from a type-A donor.

The error sent the patient into a comalike state, and she died shortly after an attempt to switch the organs back out for compatible ones failed. The hospital blamed human error for the death, along with a lack of safeguards to ensure a compatible transplant. According to reports, Duke reached an agreement on an undisclosed settlement with the family. Neither the hospital nor the family is allowed to comment on the case.

3. A $200,000 testicle

In yet another case of a wrongful operation, surgeons mistakenly removed the healthy right testicle of 47-year-old Air Force veteran Benjamin Houghton. The patient had been complaining of pain and shrinkage of his left testicle so doctors decided to schedule surgery to remove it due to cancer fears. However, the veteran's medical records suggest a series of missteps -- from an error on the consent form to a failure on the part of medical personnel to mark the proper surgical site before the procedure. The error, which took place at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, spurred a $200,000 lawsuit from Houghton and his wife.

4. A 13-Inch souvenir

Donald Church, 49, had a tumor in his abdomen when he arrived at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle in June 2000. When he left, the tumor was gone -- but a metal retractor had taken its place. Doctors admitted to leaving the 13-inch-long retractor in Church's abdomen by mistake. It was not the first such incident at the medical center; four other such occurrences had been documented at the hospital between 1997 and 2000. Fortunately, surgeons were able to remove the retractor shortly after it was discovered, and Church experienced no long-term health consequences from the mistake. The hospital agreed to pay Church $97,000.

5. An open heart invasive procedure... on the wrong patient

Joan Morris (a pseudonym) is a 67-year-old woman admitted to a teaching hospital for cerebral angiography. The day after that procedure, she mistakenly underwent an invasive cardiac electrophysiology study. After angiography, the patient was transferred to another floor rather than returning to her original bed. Discharge was planned for the following day. The next morning, however, the patient was taken for a open heart procedure. The patient had been on the operating table for an hour. Doctors had made an incision in her groin, punctured an artery, threaded in a tube and snaked it up into her heart (a procedure with risks of bleeding, infection, heart attack and stroke). That was when the phone rang and a doctor from another department asked “what are you doing with my patient?” There was nothing wrong with her heart. The cardiologist working on the woman checked her chart, and saw that he was making an awful mistake. The study was aborted, and she was returned to her room in stable condition.

Hitler and the secret Satanic cult at the heart of Nazi Germany

At first glance, the large circular room in the basement of Wewelsburg Castle appears to be harmless enough. Smooth, finely cut stones pave the floor. Glistening rock walls arch majestically towards a high vaulted ceiling.

In the centre of the room lies a sunken circular alter with polished steps leading towards a burnt and cracked stone. From here you can see thirteen lanterns flickering on the curved walls. But it’s only when you look directly upwards that the room’s significance becomes shockingly clear. At the centre of the dome lies a giant swastika.

This room was the central temple of the Satanic cult that created and directed Germany’s Nazi party. This so called Vril Society counted many of Hitler’s henchmen as members, including Himmler, Bormann, and Hess. Central to the whole cult was Hitler, who they believed to be a psychic medium in contact with powerful forces that would create an all-conquering Aryan nation. Some saw him as the Dark Messiah.

Historians have tended to downplay the occult foundations of Nazism for fear of trivialising its heinous war crimes, but a recent documentary on the Discovery Channel laid bare the untold story of the secretive religion at the heart of fascist Germany. And bizarrely, it is thought to have been based on a 19th Century science fiction novel that predicted flying saucers, an alien race at the centre of the earth, and a mysterious force known as Vril.

“Occult myths played a central role in Nazism,” says Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, head of the Centre for the Study of Esotericism at Exeter University. “When we look at these ideas today, we think of them as crazy, but they were central to the early Nazi Party and through them played a critical role in 20th century history.”

“The Vril society was dedicated to evil,” says historian Michael Fitzgerald. “Through their control of the Nazi party they committed the greatest acts of evil in the 20th Century.

“Vril occultists worked in complete secrecy doing anything that would promote Aryan power. This ranged from straightforward political assassinations, through to evoking the spirits of the dead, human sacrifice and summoning mysterious energies – or Vril - through sexual orgies.”

Full Article : newsmonster

'Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public, say experts

Experts at Britain's top climate research centre have launched a blistering attack on scientific colleagues and journalists who exaggerate the effects of global warming.

The Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, says recent "apocalyptic predictions" about Arctic ice melt and soaring temperatures are as bad as claims that global warming does not exist. Such statements, however well-intentioned, distort the science and could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions, it says.

In an article published on the Guardian website, Dr Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, calls on scientists and journalists to stop misleading the public with "claim and counter-claim".

Full Article : guardian

'Dark' comets may pose threat to Earth

SWATHES of dark comets may be prowling the solar system, posing a deadly threat to Earth.

Hazardous comets and asteroids are monitored by various space agencies under an umbrella effort known as Spaceguard. The vast majority of objects found so far are rocky asteroids. Yet UK-based astronomers Bill Napier at Cardiff University and David Asher at Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland claim that many comets could be going undetected. "There is a case to be made that dark, dormant comets are a significant but largely unseen hazard," says Napier.

In previous work, Napier and Janaki Wickramasinghe, also at Cardiff, have suggested that when the solar system periodically passes through the galactic plane, it nudges comets in our direction

Full Article : newscientist

Psychic claims to chat to dead pets

A Romanian psychic claims to able to put grieving pet owners in touch with their dead animals.

Nina Petre, from Brasov, says that, for a fee, she can help people communicate with departed dogs, cats, birds and other pets.

She communicates with her clients through a website where she posts both the owners' messages and the pets' replies.

One recently deceased dog, named Mexico, is quoted as saying to her owner: "I want to let you know that I am very happy here. I just came from the dogs judgement where I was told my good behaviour in life means I have a good chance to be sent back.

"But I couldn't have done this without your support, wisdom and love for which I will always be grateful to you.

"I also have one wish. Please give all my stuff - collar, leash, little coat - to a new dog which I know you will love as much as you did me."

Another dog, Dicky, apparently used the psychic to let his owner know that he died after a "mean neighbour gave me poisoned food".

The psychic charges a small fee to tell people if their pets are in heaven or hell - but as much as £80 for an online discussion.

Mystery fireball streaks across Texas sky

What looked like a fireball streaked across the Texas sky on Sunday morning, leading many people to call authorities to report seeing falling debris.

"We don't know what it was," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig.

The Williamson County Sheriff's Office used a helicopter to search after callers said they thought they saw a plane crashing, a spokesman said.

"We don't doubt what people saw" but authorities found nothing, said spokesman John Foster.

The U.S. Strategic Command said there was no connection to the sightings over Texas and Tuesday's collision of satellites from the U.S. and Russia.

"There is no correlation between the debris from that collision and those reports of re-entry," said Maj. Regina Winchester, with STRATCOM.

The FAA notified pilots on Saturday to be aware of possible space debris after a collision Tuesday between U.S. and Russian communication satellites. The chief of Russia's Mission Control says clouds of debris from the collision will circle Earth for thousands of years and threaten numerous satellites.

Can algae save the world - again?

Can algae save the world again? The microscopic green plants cleaned up the earth's atmosphere millions of years ago and scientists hope they can do it now by helping remove greenhouse gases and create new oil reserves.

In the distant past, algae helped turn the earth's then inhospitable atmosphere into one that could support modern life through photosynthesis, which plants use to turn carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars and oxygen.

Some of the algae sank to sea or lake beds and slowly became oil. "All we're doing is turning the clock back," says Steve Skill, a biochemist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

"Nature has done this many millions of years ago in producing the crude oil we're burning today. So as far as nature is concerned this is nothing new," he said.

The race is now on to find economic ways to turn algae, one of the planet's oldest life forms, into vegetable oil that can be made into biodiesel, jet fuel, other fuels and plastic products.

"So we are harvesting sunshine directly using algae, then we are extracting that stored energy in the form of oil from the alga and then using that to make fuels and other non-petroleum based products," Skill said.

He predicted that industry will be cultivating algae in viable quantities for commercial oil production with a decade.

Such fuels are considered to be net carbon neutral because the algae absorb greenhouse gases when they grow.

Full Article : news.yahoo

Animals not only use tools and perform math, but they also plan for the future, researchers say

Monkeys perform mental math, pigeons can select the picture that doesn't belong. Humans may not be the only animals that plan for the future, say researchers reporting on the latest studies of animal mental ability. "I suggest we humans should keep our egos in check," Edward A. Wasserman of the University of Iowa said Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Wasserman, a professor of experimental psychology, said that, like people, pigeons and baboons were able to tell which pictures showed similar items, like triangles or dots, and which showed different items.

This is the definition of a concept, he said, "and the animals passed it with flying colors."

He spoke at a symposium on "Animal Smarts," where researchers discussed the latest findings in the mental abilities of animals.

In the last 20 years there has been a major revolution in the understanding of animals, added Nicola S. Clayton, a professor of comparative cognition at the University of Cambridge in England.

Full Article : latimes

Short-sighted farmers sets fridge alight

A short-sighted Austrian farmer set his house on fire after mistaking the fridge for the fireplace.

Adolf Maier, 87, from Angerberg in Tyrol, had left the door of the fridge open.

He then decided it was so cold he ought to light a fire in the fireplace which was next to the fridge.

Mr Maier said: "I put firelighters and wood in what I thought was the usual place, and suddenly there was smoke everywhere. I thought it was cold when I lit the match - now I know why."

He promised firefighters who extinguished the blaze that he will get better spectacles in the future.

"Racist" Miley Cyrus sued for $4 billion

fig. : "Goofy faces": Miley claims that she didn't intend to mock any ethnicity

Miley Cyrus must be cursing the day she pulled a "goofy face" for a photo with her mates. Not only has the picture brought her a whole load of negative press and accusations of racism, now she's been slapped with a law suit to boot.

LA resident Lucie J. Kim has filed a class action against the 16-year-old on behalf of the one million Asian people living in LA county, claiming the image is offensive to Asian people and an invasion of their civil rights.

She says that Miley "knew or should have known that her image would be publicly disseminated via the media, which [she] knew focused on her private life."

The $4 billion price tag was calculated according to the minimum payout for a civil rights violation — $4000 … that's $4000 each for one million plaintiffs — a whopping four billion dollars.
Source : ninemsn

Scientists Discover Material Harder Than Diamond

Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) has a greater indentation strength than diamond. The scientists also calculated that another material, lonsdaleite (also called hexagonal diamond, since it’s made of carbon and is similar to diamond), is even stronger than w-BN and 58 percent stronger than diamond, setting a new record.

Full Article : physorg

The Vatican claims Darwin's theory of evolution is compatible with Christianity

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution should not have been dismissed and claimed it is compatible with the Christian view of Creation.

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said while the Church had been hostile to Darwin's theory in the past, the idea of evolution could be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.

Father Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome, added that 4th century theologian St Augustine had "never heard the term evolution, but knew that big fish eat smaller fish" and forms of life had been transformed "slowly over time". Aquinas made similar observations in the Middle Ages.

Full Article : telegraph

SA TV make 'Bush is dead' blunder

A South African TV station mistakenly broadcast that former US President George Bush had died during one of its news bulletins.

For three seconds ETV News ran a moving banner headline across the screen saying "George Bush is dead".

The "misbroadcast" happened when a technician pressed the "broadcast live for transmission" button instead of the one for a test-run.

The station said test banners would now be done in "gobbledegook".

The mistake happened when a senior staff member wanted to see how a rolling banner headline looked.

Full Article : bbc

US Military 50 Percent Robotic By 2015

The US military will be half machine and half human by 2015, a military expert told an audience on Wednesday.

Speaking before a group at the Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference, military expert Peter Singer said the implementation of robot soldiers was near.

"We are at a point of revolution in war, like the invention of the atomic bomb," Singer said.

"What does it mean to go to war with US soldiers whose hardware is made in China and whose software is made in India?"

The US military has already made great strides in unmanning the battlefield. The US uses attack drones and bomb-handling robots, and custom war video games have been used as recruiting tools.

But the introduction of compassionless robots to the battlefield is strangely similar to terrorism, said Singer.

"You don't have to convince robots they are going to get 72 virgins when they die to get them to blow themselves up," Singer said.

Singer also referred to so-called “war porn” – videos captured by robots on the battlefield that gets distributed on the Internet.

"It turns war into entertainment, sometimes set to music," Singer said. "The ability to watch more but experience less."

David Hanson creates robots with human features in hopes to achieve more “empathy.”

"The goal here is not just to achieve sentience, but empathy," Hanson said.

"As machines are more capable of killing, implanting empathy could be the seeds of hope for our future."

Source : redorbit

How being haunted affects a house's value

So, you've just moved into your new home. Beautiful house, fantastic location, and you got it for a good price. The previous owners seemed very keen for a quick sale. Wondering why? Well, could it be that they thought it was haunted? Stranger things have happened. Beautiful properties have become houses of horror thanks to unexplained happenings. Some families decide to move out. Others learn to live with their ghosts, or resort to exorcism.

Or, in the case of the actor Nicolas Cage, they simply don't sleep in the house. In 2007, he shelled out $3.5m for LaLaurie Mansion, reputedly the most haunted house in New Orleans. "At any given moment," said Cage, "I have five or six ghosts surrounding the house, all looking up at this haunted temple, and I'm in there. We'll [his family] come over and have dinner there but nobody sleeps there." The property is now up for sale.

Being saddled with an unwelcome spectral guest is more common than you might think. According to a 2005 study by the Portman Building Society (now merged with Nationwide), one in three people surveyed claimed to have lived in a house that was haunted, or rumoured to be. The question is, if you've got a resident spook, do you come clean about it to prospective buyers? And if you don't, could you be prosecuted under the Property Misdescriptions Act?

"The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 does not refer to haunted houses," says the London-based lawyer Conor Walsh. "But it does create a general duty to avoid making false or misleading statements." Theoretically, this should stop a seller from claiming that a house is not haunted – or, indeed, that it is haunted – when he or she believes otherwise.

In the US, it's a different story. There was a case in 1991 where a seller was ruled liable to the buyer for failing to mention that the property she was selling was haunted, which could have affected the value. "The court held that a buyer would be highly unlikely to discover the existence of such activity himself prior to purchase," says Mark Pawlowski, professor of property law at Greenwich University in London. "And therefore the onus was firmly on the seller to make disclosure."

Full Article : independent

Smelly student wins 10-year battle

A Dutch university student has won the right to attend lectures after a 10-year legal battle over his smelly feet.

Teunis Tenbrook was kicked out of Rotterdam's Erasmus University after professors and students claimed they couldn't study because of his foul foot odour, the Ananova news website reports.

But now a court has overturned the ban, saying it was no excuse for the student to be expelled from the university.

"Our considered opinion is that the professors and other students will just have to hold their noses and bear it," Ananova quoted the judge as saying.

During the court case, Tenbrook told how he had tried to continue his studies in the university library after he had been banned from lectures, but then he was barred from the library as well.

The university has said that it will fine students with smelly feet in future, instead of banning them.

Brand new 44-storey luxury hotel goes up in flames ignited by fireworks during Chinese holiday

A new 44-storey luxury hotel in downtown Beijing was engulfed in flames today after being showered with sparks from fireworks set off during China's biggest holiday.

The Mandarin Oriental hotel, still under construction, caught fire as the skies above the Chinese capital were filled with fireworks - part of celebrations of the lantern festival that follows the Lunar New Year.

The shooting flames sent off huge plumes of black smoke and showered the ground with embers.

The Mandarin Oriental was expected to be one of Beijing's most luxurious hotels, with 241 guest rooms.

Both buildings were designed by Netherlands architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren for the firm OMA. Both were nearing the end of construction.

The fire destroyed years of hard work, said Erik Amir, a senior architect at OMA, who rushed to the site.

'I think it's really sad that this building is destroyed before it can be opened to the public,' he said.

Man watches TV show 24 non-stop for 72 hours

TELEVISION addict Suresh Joachim has broken his own Guinness world record for nonstop broadcast-television watching, clocking 72 hours in Stockholm, Sweden.

"I feel fine, I drank between 25 and 30 cups of coffee," Joachim said yesterday after the feat.

His previous record was 69 hours, 48 minutes, set in 2005.

Mr Joachim, a Sri Lanka native who lives in Toronto, watched three seasons of the drama series 24 featuring Kiefer Sutherland, according to Swedish TV4 spokeswoman Janina Witkowski.

Source : daily telegraph

Animal-Human Embryos Questioned

It may be futile to try producing stem cells by putting human DNA into cow or rabbit eggs and making hybrid cloned embryos, a strategy that triggered controversy recently in Britain, a new study says.

The animal eggs don't reprogram human DNA in the right way to generate stem cells, researchers report.

"Instead of turning on the right genes, it turns out the animal eggs actually turn them off," said senior study author Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass.

Another scientist disputed that conclusion.

Full Article : cbsnews

Mystery over new 'Nessie' sighting

A COUPLE enjoying a romantic weekend in the Highlands believe they may have had a close encounter with the Loch Ness Monster

Experts are now investigating this latest photograph, which was taken by accident, to establish if it is in fact the Loch's most famous resident.

Ian Monckton, from Solihull, took his fiance Tracey Gordon to a cottage in Invermoriston on the shores of the loch to celebrate her 30th birthday.

On their way back to the village at about 11pm they pulled into a lay-by. The driver's window was wound down and before the couple stopped their car they heard a commotion in the water.

Using the car headlights and the flash from his camera to check their footing on the rocky shores of the loch, data analyst Ian unwittingly recorded this picture which he hopes could be the elusive monster.

"There is clearly a very large shape in the water that looks aquatic a few metres out from where I was standing and you just see the tips of the trees lower down the slope to the loch in the photo," said Ian who has passed the picture to naturalist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project to get his expert opinion.

"Myself and Tracey were always quite sceptical about Nessie but after having had this experience I would say we now have a very open mind on the matter.

"It was the highlight of our trip. We'll definitely be back and we are struggling to get an explanation for what we caught on camera."

Ian said the pictures were taken from a small cliff overlooking the loch. But it was only when they got back to their country retreat and checked the images they realised they significance of the what they had on their digital camera.

Ian said it was his first visit to Loch Ness and the weather was reasonably clear with only a light breeze.

"We decided to get away for a few days to celebrate Tracey's birthday and because it was off season we headed up to Drumnadrochit for a meal.

"On our way back to Invermoriston we stopped off at Urquhart Castle to take a few photos, but the lights that illuminate the castle were turned off, so there were no photo opportunities there.

"Then we pulled over at a parking point to let a car pass, as my fiancé doesn't drive as fast as the locals in the dark.

"I had the passenger window open as I was smoking at the time and as we pulled into the lay-by there was an rustling and a splash. It sounded as if a Mini had landed in the water. That's how loud it was.

Full Article From : highland-news

"Ancient" Syriac bible found in Cyprus

Authorities in northern Cyprus believe they have found an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus.

The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old.

The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on vellum and loosely strung together, photos provided to Reuters showed. One page carries a drawing of a tree, and another eight lines of Syriac script.

Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake.

Experts said the use of gold lettering on the manuscript was likely to date it later than 2,000 years.

"I'd suspect that it is most likely to be less than 1,000 years old," leading expert Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House, University of Cambridge told Reuters.

Turkish Cypriot authorities seized the relic last week and nine individuals are in custody pending further investigations. More individuals are being sought in connection with the find, they said.

Full Article from : news.yahoo.com

Saintly spectre or fishy tale?

IT’S a story likely to confirm whether you’re a true believer or a true sceptic.

Twins Phil and Mick Cahalane, 45, possess a family photo with an intriguing story.

According to the brothers, the photo was taken more than 100 years ago in Scotland and shows their great-grandfather with the image of a “saintly” figure.

The pair first saw the photo as children, when their mother produced it at a family gathering.

“What I heard was that he had gone on a boat trip out in the ocean somewhere and a really bad storm came through as he was fishing,” Phil, who lives in Quakers Hill, said.

“He started praying because he thought he was going to die. The storm passed and because he thought it was safe, he kept fishing, and that’s when he caught most of his fish.

“When he got to land he took a photo with all the fish he caught and this image showed up in the photo.”

The boys were told the figure was St Teresa of Avila .

Mick, who lives in Colyton, said his mother used to carry it around with her up until her death last year.

After that, his father carried it in his wallet until he died six months later.

At that point the family discovered it in their father’s possessions.

“I’m not a real big believer but this shows people that maybe something is out there, and that gives people hope,” Mick said.

The brothers’ inquiries into the photo’s origins proved futile.

“No one really talked about it (when we were younger). It was no big deal,” Phil said.

“Over 45 years I think I only saw it twice. Now no one really knows the story and everyone in the family who did has died.”

He said no one even knew his great-grandfather’s name because it changed when he migrated to Australia.

Phil said he would sell the photo if anyone wanted it.

“We’re not out to fool anyone,” he said.

“Mum was a very honest woman; it was a very personal thing for her,” Phil said.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks. I’m not out to waste anyone’s time and neither is Mick.

“I just think if someone wants to pay for it, why not? You only live once. Why not enjoy it?”

Source : mt-druitt-standard.whereilive.com.au

Schoolboy, 12, offers himself as gigolo

Hong Kong police are investigating a 12-year-old schoolboy who posted naked pictures of himself online and offered himself as a gigolo for women as old as 45.

The boy gave himself the nickname Little Leung and offered sexual services to "females between the ages of 10 and 45" on an adult friendship forum, the Hong Kong Standard reported on Monday.

His bizarre advertisement, which included a photograph of his private parts, described him as a Christian and offered to "make love" to girls and women for 450 Hong Kong dollars ($A91).

Outraged internet users published the boy's personal details online and threatened to report him to the secondary school where he is a first-year pupil.

The schoolboy's identity was revealed by a process known in China as "human search engine," in which internet users pool resources and information to track a person down.

After he was unmasked, the boy on Saturday posted an online appeal to his principal and teachers not to expel him from school, the Standard said.

Police said they were investigating the case but said no arrests or charges had been made. Soliciting for an immoral purpose carries a maximum six-month jail sentence in Hong Kong for adult offenders
.
Source : news.ninemsn