The Number 13
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The global fear of 13 is apparent in everything from skyscrapers missing a 13th floor to suburban streets without a house bearing the number 13.
Here are more factoids about infamous 13:
- The names of serial killers Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Theodore Bundy all contain 13 letters.
- The fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia.
- There's no car #13 in Formula 1 racing since two drivers were killed in crashes with vehicles bearing that number.
- There are 13 steps to the gallows and a hangman's noose contains 13 twists.
- In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.
- An estimated $750 million in business is lost each year because people won't travel, shop or take risks of any kind on Friday the 13th.
- In France, socialites known as the "fourteeners" make themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party of 13 from an unlucky fate.
- Months with Friday the 13th always begin on a Sunday.
- Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to arrive at the Last Supper.
Fun Animal Facts
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Male monkeys go bald just like men and a crocodile can't move its tongue.
Those are just two fascinating facts about our friends in the animal kingdom. Here are a few more:
- Elvis Presley had a pet monkey named Scatter.
- Snails can sleep for three years.
- Rabbits and horses can't regurgitate.
- A group of 12 or more cows is called a flink.
- Lobsters enjoy eating lobsters.
- Lions are the only cats that live in packs.
- Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue.
- A blind chameleon changes color to match its surroundings.
- You're more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by the bite of a poisonous spider.
- The average hippo's belly holds 400 pounds of food.
- Emus can't walk backward.
- The most dangerous beast in Ireland is the bumblebee.
- Giraffes have no vocal cords and communicate with their tails.
- A turtle can breathe through its behind.
- Toto, the pooch in The Wizard of Oz, made $125 a week.
- The housefly carries more than 25 diseases.
- Lions sleep 17 hours per day.
- All polar bears are left-handed.
- The testicles of a blue whale are the size of a family car.
- Cats and cows both get hairballs.
- Mouse sex lasts a scintillating five seconds.
- The tusks of an elephant never stop growing.
- The speckles on a bird's egg are as exclusive as fingerprints.
- Camel hair brushes are made from squirrel hair.
- The world's termites outweigh the humans on Earth 10 to 1.
- Ostriches run faster than horses.
- Hibernating bears can go six months without a bathroom break.
- When a crocodile is hatched, it's three times longer than its egg.
Clive Bevan - The Pumpkin Man
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Wanna sow the seeds of envy with neighbors this next Halloween? You could wow them by laying your hands on one of Clive Bevan's humongous pumpkins.
This beauty weighs in at a whopping 130 pounds - so you'd be out of your gourd if you decided to play toss-the-squash with your buddy. (LOL)
What's Clive's secret? He actually chats to his prize veggies to encourage growth!
A retired prison gardener from Great Doddington, England, Clive also cultivates 3-foot-long string beans and has built a profitable business as a modern-day Johnny Appleseed - selling seeds on Britain's popular Extreme Vegetable Circuit.
The 55-year-old amateur farmer is expected to be a big winner at the National Giant Vegetable Championships with his crop of record-breaking produce.
Pool With A Bull In It
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It took six firemen and a back-hoe to remove an uninvited guest that crashed businessman Jamie Stewart's pool party.
Stewart's friends were just about to take the plunge when a bull from a neighboring farmer's field bolted through the fence and did a belly flop into his just-installed heated pool. The animal created quite a splash.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," says the horrified host. "There was a bull swimming in our pool."
Stewart called authorities for help. Six firemen arrived with a veterinarian, a trnquilizer gun and a backhoe. It took them three hours to empty the 10,000-gallon pool and hoist the half-ton bull back onto terra firma.
"I think he had perfected his crawl stroke by the time we got him out," Stewart says.
The bull's owner, Alexander Jack, says the animal was tempted to escape by the allure of a couple of comely cows grazing in a field on the other side of stewart's property near St. Andrews, Scotland.
One Tough Granny
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An 85-year-old grandma didn't hide behind her needlepoint when a burglar broke into her house - she whipped out her gun and forced him to call the cops on himself.
Leda Smith, 85, had been keeping the .22-caliber pistol by her bed ever since a neighbor's home was burglarized a few weeks earlier.
"I just walked right on past him into the bedroom and got my gun," she says.
Smith kept the 17-year-old thief in her sights - her itchy finger on the trigger - and ordered him to call 911. She held him at gunpoint until the Point Marion, Pennsylvania, police arrived.
The suspect, whose name was withheld because of his age, faces charges of attempted burglary and related offenses in juvenile court.
Video Phone
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Portable videophones might seem like science fiction, but they're just around the corner - an engineering team is developing computer programs for deaf people to use sign language over their cell phones!
The idea is simple - instead of relying on text messages or still pictures to communicate via cell phone, sign language users can "talk" by signing.
"The point is, you want to be able to communicate in your native language," explains Eve Riskin of the University of Washington. "For deaf people, that's American Sign Language."
One of Riskin's collaborators, deaf psychology student Jessica DeWitt, explains that facial expressions make up the lion's share of her daily communication.
As a result, the videophones are designed to transmit high-resolution images of faces and moving hands.
The team's early experiments rely on cell phones imported from Europe, where networks run at up to 10 times the speed of their American equivalents.
But the goal is to have ordinary cell phones send and receive quick, clear video messages over cell phone services anywhere in the United States.
Dogs And Humans
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Living with people has increased the intelligence and morals of the average dog, says a scientific study.
The Canine Science Forum in Budapest attracted 200 experts to discuss the canine mind and how it's been influenced by man.
"Dogs show a strong aversion to inequity - what most people call a sense of fairness," says study leader Dr. Friederike Range, of the University of Vienna.
The experts also revealed that when dogs play, they adhere to a set of social rules similar to that of humans.
The scientists also found that canines have gained some remarkable mental skills as members of human households.
For example, dog barks are a profound means of communication, containing information that people can easily understand.
Distinct patterns of frequency, tone and duration convey a dog's mental state, whether it's happiness, lonliness or aggression.
Dr. Akiko Takoaka, of Kyoto University in Japan, presented findings that showed how the mind of a pooch works when it hears a stranger's voice.
She played recordings of people speaking, followed by pictures of human faces. If the gender of a face didn't match the voice, the dogs stared intently, as if trying to figure out why a woman had a man's voice or vice versa.
"Dogs generate an internal visual representation of a male or female to go with the voice," Takaoka declares.
The Bike Thief Master
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Cops nabbed the King of Bicycle Thieves, a man believed responsible for a whooping 2,865 thefts.
In response to a sharp increase in bike thefts this summer, Toronto police officers planted decoy bikes on sidewalks across the city and caught a suspect red-handed.
When they raided the man's shop, they found it so packed with bikes, they had to remove the upper story windows and lift the cycles out with a crane!
His home yielded another 200 bikes, and more were parked in 10 storage units across town.
More than 500 people have been reunited with their lost rides at the police station.
The suspect, currently out on $275,000 bail, faces 58 charges of theft, attempted theft, possession of stolen goods and possession of burglary tools.
Authorities believe he was planning to melt the cycles down for scrap metal.
Gay Marriage In 303 A.D.
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Politicians all across America are embroiled in bitter battles over whether to ban same-sex marriages, but that's old hat to researchers who've found evidence that homosexual nuptials were practiced by the early Christians!
"Same-sex unions have a heritage going back to at least 303 A.D.," explains Dr. Matthew McNabb, of Starkville, Mississippi. "That's when history records the martyrdom of Saints Sergius and Bacchus."
Icons from St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Israel depict the two male soldiers being married by Jesus Christ, and the earliest written records refer to the two saints as "erastai," or "lovers."
Throughout history, the gay saints were used as models for a ritual called "adelphopoiia" - ancient Greek meaning a same-sex union.
John Boswell, the late chairman of Yale University's history department, found other documents describing ceremonies called "The Office of Same-Sex Union" from the 10th century and "The Order for Uniting Two Men" from the 12th century.
"To celebrate these rituals, the entire church community would gather together, a priest would bless the couple as they held hands before the altar, vows were exchanged, the group would celebrate Communion and hold a feast afterward," McNabb explains.
At the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome - the church traditionally seen as the pope's home base - no less than 13 same-sex couples were joined during a high Mass as late as 1578.
"One of the most recent such ceremonies joining two women together, was recorded in Dalmatia, a region in what is now Croatia, in the 1700s," McNabb explains.
The same-sex marriage rites gradually fell out of favor as the church became less tolerant of relationships between two people of the same gender.
"The records are very clear that this rite was widely practiced," McNabb explains. "The Vatican archives, Eastern Orthodox cathedrals and even monasteries in the Sinai have documents describing numerous weddings between two men or two women."
"In the ancient church, these unions were simply seen as yet another expression of God's love for sinful humanity."
Is Kim Jong Il Alive?
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Brutal dictator Kim Jong Il of North Korea died years ago and was replaced by a double!
That's the controversial claim at the center of a soon-to-be published book, The True Character of Kim Jong Il, by renowned professor Toshimitsu Shigemura.
A leading authority on the isolated communist country, Shigemura says Kim developed diabetes in early 2000 and died in 2003.
Beginning with his illness, one or multiple look-alikes have taken his placeand fooled the world for the last eight years!
Shigemura says this explains why the leader of the hostile country, known as the "hermit kingdom," began making diplomatic overtures to foreign governments such as Japan and Russia from June 2000 until mid-2003.
"Then suddenly, the pace slows," writes Shigemura.
The professor believes the change came when the real Kim died in the midst of other family catastrophes.
In short order, Kim's wife reportedly succembed to breast cancer, although rumors she was assassinated still persist.
This was quickly followed by his favorite sister, a high-ranking communist party official, abruptly moving to Paris after her husband lost his cushy government post.
More proof came in 2006 when American satellite photos of the supposed Kim Jong Il showed he'd grown an inch in height!
"The person in question is someone other than Kim Jong Il," Shigemura declares.
Surfing On Hot Waves
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It takes more than rivers of molten lava to scare a real surfer off the waves - even when they're boiling!
When he saw a chance to ride waves no one had ridden before, pro surfer C.J. Kanuha grabbed his board and paddled out to where red hot rock from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano was pouring into the ocean.
He got to within 20 feet of the flow when 400-degree water started burning his feet and melting the wax off his board.
"It was an amazing feeling to get so close to the power of the lava," raved Kanuha, whose skin peeled off his legs after the stunt."
Photographer Kirk Lee Aeder, who watched the extreme feat from his helicopter, declared: "It was one of the most thrilling photo shoots I have ever had in my life."
Native Hawaiians hold Kilauea sacred to the volcano goddess Pele.
Before paddling out, 24-year-old Kanuha left an offering to Pele on the beach to make sure he came back in one piece.
Volcano To Doom Us All!
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A massive volcanic eruption will turn Hawaii into America's largest state while destroying the West Coast, warn alarmed scientists.
The doomsday scenario centers on the volcano known as Kilauea, a Hawaiian name meaning "much spreading."
The crater has been continually erupting since 1983, belching molten rock as high as 150 feet in tthe air while pushing a blanket-like surface flow of 2,190-degree lava east from the crater into the ocean.
At the same time, underground tubes are spewing lava directly into the ocean bed, covering the area in a shroud of superheated steam and noxious sulfur dioxide gas.
Several people have already died from inhaling the fumes, and at least one tourist died after standing on a flat area of freshly-cooled lava that crumbled and dropped him into the ocean below.
"Instead of gradually easing over the last two decades, the volcano is becoming more violent," explains geologist Robert Reyes, of Honolulu. "The flow dramatically increased last Novemeber, and the seismic indicators show that we can expect another dramatic increase within the next six months.
"This volcano is a crack in the Earth's crust that is only going to get bigger - and each time it expands, the whole planet is going to feel it more."
Reyes and other scientists warn that the next escalation could increase the landmass of the island of Hawaii by 18 percent and create a tsunami powerful enough to slam Los Angeles wit h10-foot waves.
But even after that, Kilauea shows no signs of slowing. Within three moths, Hawaii's size will have more than doubled, and lava flows will have swallowed highways, airports and thousands of homes.
At the same time, seismic events will slam California and Oregon again and again with deadly earthquakes and tidal waves.
Eventually, Reyes warns, the underground disturbances will reach the immense volcanic field underneath Yellowstone National Park - a roiling pool of magma with enough explosive potential to reshape the continent of North America, blasting the western half of the United States to smithereens.
"Different volcanoes might be separated by thousands of miles but they're all connected to the same system deep underground," Reyes explains. "When one volcano begins peeling open the way Kilauea is, it affects everything in widening circles - first the Pacific Ocean, the the American West Coast and the rest of the United States."
Haptic Devices Help The Impaired
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A breakthrough in software technology will soon allow you to communicate with your computer by touch as well as sight and sound.
The programs, called muti-modal software, are being developed to help blind students take full advantage of computers and the internet, but they will make computing a more rewarding experience for everyone.
For example, to learn about the solar system, students now have to rely on a picture of the nine planets in different colors and sizes circling the sun. Visually impaired children can't do this.
However, with a device similar to a robot arm, they can move a cursor over the screen of their computers and actually feel the various planets under their fingertips to get a concept of different sizes and different distances from the sun. As the cursor passes over each planet, a voice will describe it and tell them as much as they want to know about it.
The arm, called a haptic device, transmits tactile sensations from the screen to a pad where they can be felt as a series of raised lines.
Similar programs allow the visually impaired to draw computer images.
"Our aim was to allow blind people to create, manipulate and share information using hearing and touch to replace the use of vision and to see visually impaired people take a full role in society and work at an equal level with sighted people," says developer Roope Raisamo.
High Tech Washing Machine
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A consortium of three giant corporations is testing a washing machine that will monitor how your laundry is doing and alert you by cell phone if anything needs to be done.
The computerized machines can also flash messages on your TV screen or computer monitor.
The messages idicate when the wash is complete and ready for the dryer or let you know if the filter is clogged. They also remind you if you forgot to turn the machine on and allow you to do that remotely.
Whirlpool, Panasonic and Microsoft say the "smart" washer will be especially useful in Laundromats and college dorms. They're planning to sell at-home models within a year or so.
Dishwasher For The Lazy
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The dishwasher is a great labor-saving device. But to save water, electricity and detergent, most people switch them on only when they're full, and that can take days during which food festers, bacteria grow and foul smells arise.
Inventor Paul Frigout, from Coventry University in England, has come up with a solution: a dishwasher with a partition that can accommodate any sized load, so you can run the machine every day without wasting money.
The space on the other side of the partition can be used to store clean dishes.
The Toilet Built For Two
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For couples who really can't get enough of each other, a company called WiseRep has come up with the ultimate in togetherness - a two-seater toilet!
The up-close-and-personal potty comes with an LCD television and an iPod docking station to keep you and your bathroom companion entertained.
One flush empties both bowls, saving 2.6 gallons of water wit heach use, so it also brings you closer to the environment.
A privacy wall is available for those whp think this innovation brings people a little to close for comfort.
Bonus Video
The Man With 80 Wives
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Islam allows men to have multiple wives, but one Muslim Romeo has gone so marriage-crazy that he's been sentenced to death for having 80!
Mohammadu Bello Masaba faces the death penalty from an Islamic organization in Nigeria unless he chooses his four favorite and divorces the other 76.
"Unless Masaba repents within four days and takes only four wives from the herd, he remains condemned to death under sharia law," declares a statement issued by the Jamatu Nasril Islam group.
"Any Muslim who married more than the approved number of wives at a time either by mistake or out of ignorance is instructed to choose but only four and ask Allah's forgiveness."
Since 1999, a dozen states in northern Nigeria have turned to religious sharia law as a more efficient, less corrupt alternative to the government court system.
Senior Body Builder
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Growing old doesn't necessarily mean getting weak - and here's one tough senior citizen to prove it!
Ray Moon turns 82 next year, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the world's most renowned bodybuilders.
The former chef and restaurant owner only started pumping iron four years ago, but soon found himself climbing the ranks of the over-70 division of the Australian bodybuilding competition circuit.
Moon has now won four championships and is gearing up for a fifth victory while competing against musclemen a decade his junior.
The ripped retiree's past didn't prepare him for being a poster boy for physical fitness.
He survived polio, open heart surgery and, after suffering cardiac arrest and being declared clinically dead, was fitted with a pacemaker.
But now, the silver-haired muscleman is basking in the glow of vibrant health - and his status as a National Amateur Body Building Association champion!
Chocolate-Dipped Bacon
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Move over cotton candy, corn dogs and caramel popcorn. Chocolate-covered bacon is the latest fair-food fad and it's winning rave reviews!
"It's not just for breakfast anymore," exclaims Joseph Marini III, a fourth-generation candy maker in Santa Cruz, California.
The bacon bonbons are a big hit at the Minnesota State Fair, where the chocolate-covered bacon pieces are called Pig Lickers.
"It's just the most bizarre combination of salty and sweet," says fair spokesman Brienna Schuette. "I really like it."
Adds food vendor Ron Whiting: "Years ago, I think food tended to be more traditional and less fun."
"We all talk about the next corn dog, and here it is!"
Hope From A Fortune Telling Machine
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A magical dream, a carnival fortune teller and a mysterious stranger changed a tragic widow's life forever.
In just two years, Sarah Knowles lost her husband and her job - then watched helplessly as her home went into foreclosure.
"I had fallen into such depths of despair, I stopped answering the phone and the front door," Knowles confides. "Then one night, I dreamed about a trip to Coney Island with my dad when I was a kid."
She woke up smiling from the dream, got dressed and jumped in her car for the 45-minute drive to the boardwalk that was the scene of so much childhood happiness.
"The smell of the sea in the air immediately brought my spirits up as I strolled past the arcade," says the 58-year-old grandmother. "I saw the fortune-teller machine and decided to take a chance."
After dropping a coin in the slot, a printed card appeared in the tray that read: "Good times are coming soon - just look around you and you will find success."
"I got goose bumps," she said. "What did the fortune teller mean by 'look around?'"
"I did look around and noticed nothing unusual other than the antique mechanical slot machines."
"Then it happened. A tall, handsome mid-50s man walking with the aide of a cane approached me and muttered something about not being able to find good help for his business," she recalls.
"I told him I had 20 years banking experience before the layoffs, and he offered me a chance to work at his stock brokerage."
But the fortuitous meeting with the mysterious businessman was only the beginning of her life-changing run of luck.
"The bank was demanding $10,000 in back mortgage payments and even with my new job, I didn't have enough money to pay the debt," Knowles says.
"Next thing I know, my daughter Laura called from Florida to tell me she won the lottery!"
"She generously gave me enough cash to pay off the house completely!"
In July, Knowles happiness was complete when a co-worker named Jake Franklin asked her out to dinner.
"After years of nursing my husband before he passed away, followed by so many financial problems, I'd forgotten how delightful it is to have a man show you a good time," Knowles says with a big smile.
"I've never been so content with my life and it's all thanks to that old fortune-teller machine at Coney Island."
"It was the catalyst that brought me all these wonderful gifts and no one can tell me any different!"
Ruckus The Horse
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Ruckus has Kentucky Derby winners in his bloodline, so his purchase price of $15,000 was considered a steal. But bloodlines don't guarantee a champion.
When Ruckus failed to do well in races and couldn't compete physically as a jumper, he found himself homeless faster than you can open a starting gate. Luckily, he came to live at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, where a horse's worth is never measured by a stopwatch.
Eventually, Ruckus was adopted by a family who took care of him for five years. But when they recently moved and couldn't take a horse with them, he came back to the sanctuary.
At Best Friends, he'll have a home as long as he needs one - and he'll always be our champion!
For more information, please visit www.bestfriends.org.
Lottery Nightmare
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In 1990, Rhoda and Alex Toth were down to their last $24 when they bought a winning Florida Lottery ticket and cashed in on a $13 million jackpot.
But the blessing quickly turned into a curse. The couple, who said they hoped the money would buy them a "quiet life," high-rolled their way through the fortune and now Rhoda Toth is destined to spend the next chapter of her rags-to-riches-to-rags saga in a federal penitentiary for cheating the IRS out of more than $500,000.
Her husband would be joining her, but he died last year after they filed for bankruptcy.
The Toths spent their money on gambling, generous gifts and the high life.
Along the way, the loot caused a feud with Rhoda's son from a previous marriage.
In 1997, when their fantasy was beginning to unravel, Rhoda said the money "has torn us apart. It caused us to lose a lot of friends, some family member. Sometimes, I wish we could give it back."
But they didn't give it back - and even tried to scam illict tax refunds by filing faulty returns, the IRS charges.
Now Rhoda has lost her friends, her husband - and her freedom. Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich sentenced her to two years in prison.
Bao Xishun Is One Tall Guy
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The Mongolian shepherd who lost the title of "world's tallest man" two years ago can stand proud again - because Guinness has given it back!
Boa Xishun, 7-foot-9 and 57 years old, regained his official standing as world's tallest man when his successor, Ukranian Leonid Stadnyk, refused to be measured by the Guinness team.
Stadnyk won the title in 2006, after his doctor sent a copy of his measurements to the Guinness World Records staff.
At the time, they accepted the doctor's word that Stadnyk measured a whopping 8-foot-5.5 inches tall. But a new policy made it necessary for a group of specialists to measure Stadnyk six times in one day, lying down and standing up.
"We realized there was such interest in these categories to do with height that it was too important a category for us to leave it to a doctor alone," explains Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records.
Bao agreed to be measured, but Stadnyk says he never wanted the attention that comes with being a record-holder.
"He has gone on record saying he doesn't want to be bothered," explains Glenday. "Basically, he doesn't want the fame and publicity that comes with being the world's tallest man."
Stadnyk, who lives with his mother in a remote village, has publicly declared that his height is a burden.
"The world is built for medium-sized people," he said in a recent interview.
But Bao, the once and future champ, felt his height put him on top of the world.
"He was a bit of a recluse - he looked after goats," explains Glenday. "Then the fame that he got from being a Guinness World Record holder meant that he found himself a wife."
Bao married 5-foot-6 Xia Shujian in July 2007. They're expecting their first child later this year.
He also used his fame for compassionate causes. In December 2006, wildlife officials brough Bao to the aid of two river dolphins.
He used his exceptionally long arms to reach into the endangered animals' stomachs and pull out pieces of plastic.
Ghost At A Wedding
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A young guest at a wedding reception took more than flattering pictures of the bride and groom - he captured the image of a ghostly guest!
Jordan Martin was snapping away as newlyweds Nigel and Helen Davis swayed to their first dance as man and wife.
"I didn't see the ghost until a couple of days later when I was looking at the pictures I downloaded on my computer," says Jordan, 12. "When I saw it, I was like, 'Wow!' I couldn't believe what I was seeing - a real ghost in the picture."
Jordan's mom, Ann, was just as flabbergasted to see the disembodied head and shoulders of a woman floating beside the DJ booth as the happy couple twirled around the floor.
"It was a shock when I saw it," Ann says. "It looks very clear and real to me. Jordan is quite excited about it."
Paranormal expert Jasper Jenkins heard about the amazing photograph and initiated an investigation of the wedding hall.
"Once I delved into the history of the building, I discovered the identity of the uninvited guest," Jenkins explains.
"Another wedding celebration was supposed to be held there back in 1948, but the groom apparently got cold feet and left his bride at the altar.
"The poor woman was so brokenhearted, she hung herself from a rafter in the center of the dance floor a week later."
"And rather than cross over the other side, she had lingered all these years at the site of her tragic death."
Jenkins and his crew, from Northway, England, spent a weekend gathering evidence, of the jilted bride's ghost.
"We have an array of electronic equipment - photographic, audio and measuring devices - designed for paranormal investigations," says Jenkins. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to get any pictures or videos of her, but we did get a recording of the spirit's voice."
"In fact, she scared the devil out of us around 3 a.m., shrieking at the top of her lungs and nearly blowing out the microphones!"
The psychic sleuths' atmospheric monitor also registered a 30-degree drop in the temperature of the room that was simultaneous with the blood-curdling scream.
"It was frustrating that she stubbornly remained invisible to our cameras," Jenkins admits. "But with the evidence we did collect, I have no doubt her haunting spirit is the real deal."
Ruby Roman Grapes Sold For $910 In Japan
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The price of fruit may be on the rise in the U.S., but it's nothing compared to Japan, where a bunch of grapes recently sold for $910!
The manager of a high-class hotel bought the costly Ruby Roman grapes to impress his upscale customers.
"We believe the price was probably a record high," says agricultural official Hirofumi Isu. "They're delicious - sweet but fresh at the same time, very well-balanced."
The bunch of 35 grapes were each a bit smaller than Ping-Pong balls and sold at auction in the Ishikawa region.
The tomato-colored fruit - which cost a jaw-dropping $26 per grape -- is a new premium variety developed by a government-sponsored project begun in 1994.
Japanese consumers are accustomed to paying top yen for fruit, and consider it especially prestigious to buy the first crop of the year.
The Stone Circles Of The Neolithic Period
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Thousands of mysterious circular carvings dating back to the Stone Age prove that aliens visited our ancient ancestors, say researchers who've finally solved the riddle of the engravings.
Experts have long puzzled over the strange loops and whorls carved into cliff faces and stony clearings during the Neolithic period, 4,000 to 6,000 years ago.
Unlike cave paintings that feature outlines of hands and likenesses of prehistoric animals, these cravings show elaborate geometric patterns consisting of circles with cirlces.
"The resemblance of these remote carvings to contemporary crop circles is undeniable," explains archaeologist Dr. Robinson Fellowes. "Numerous theories have suggested that the stone circles were used in religious rituals or as some kind of territorial markers."
"But the one explanation consistent with all the facts is that the carvings are somehow related to encounters with UFOs."
Fellowes and other experts have identified 2,500 locations across the north of England where ancient humans gathered around the mysterious circles, including more than 100 engravings discovered only in the last four years.
Some of the carvings show signs of being made with stone or bone-cutting tools. But others show faint traces of scorched earth and rock melted by extreme heat, as if shaped by modern drilling tools or technologically advanced cutting lasers.
Little is known of the culture that flourished in Stone Age Great Britain. Experts believe society had made its first technological breakthrough, graduating from the simple life of hunting and gathering to planting crops, building homes and making the first astronomical observations to mark the seasons for sowing and harvesting.
"This was also the period when humans built the first known observatory, the massive monuments of Stonehenge," Fellowes explains. "All of a sudden, humankind had two driving interests."
"We were fascinated by geometrically perfect circular shapes, and we were mesmerized by the movements of the stars."
"This sudden development makes perfect sense in the context of ancient UFOs descending near the first human settlements."
Kate Wilson, an inspector of ancient monuments for English Heritage, the government- sponsored organization identifying and cataloguing the ancient circles, explains that the rock carvings are usually found in sites dedicated to worshiping unerathly beings.
"Those places where mountains touch the sky or the sea reaches the shore are often considered the domain of super natural ancestors," Wilson says. "Most rock art is found in those areas."
Scholars of ancient civilizations have uncovered numerous clues that UFOs visited Earth in the distant past. Prehistoric statues depict astronauts in space suits riding rockets, and paintings from North Africa and western China show tall, slender humanoids descending from the sky in glowing circular vehicles.
Some experts have even theorized that ancient astronauts helped erect the Mayan and Egyptian pyramids, aided in the construction of massive temples in India and were responsible for the eerie geometric designs on Peru's Nazca Plain, visible only from the air.
"The British stone carvings exist in areas where crop circles still appear overnight," explains Fellowes. "It could be that the UFOs somehow marked these places thousands of years ago and then left for some distant destination."
"Now and then, they return and seek out the human settlements they once had dealings with - and leave the circles so we recognize and remember them."
How To Get Your Way - Always!
Whether you're coaxing a toddler to eat his veggies or attempting to change a pal's point of view, the art of persuasion is vital to everyday life.
"It's the way we build consensus and common purpose," explains psychologist Eric Knowles, of the University of Arkansas.
Here, based of the latest scientific research, are eight effective ways to get what you want:
1. Be A Chameleon - Mirror the hand gestures, head movements and posture of the person you're trying to convince. Subtle mimicry is quite powerful and often elicts a positive response.
2. Remove Resistance - Offer arguments close to your target's position while using charm to bolster their self-esteem. Feeling good about themselves will increase their receptiveness.
3. Gender Matters - Women are more successful in convincing other females in face-to-face meetings. Men, who are naturally competitive, respond positively to written communication.
4. Frame Your Case - Present your views in a favorable light and use negative terms to describe the differing opinion. Pessimism about an opposing outlook is a forceful tactic that will win the day.
5. Be Relentless - Gently but firmly refuse to let the topic die until you've broken down the other person's defenses. Young children are masters of nagging their parents into submission.
6 Keep It Short - Rather than launch into an avalanche of reasons your idea is best, offer one or two positive thoughts to the person you're trying to persuade. Succinctness produces confidence in your judgement.
7. Style Matters - When delivering your idea, make an effort to speak clearly and without long pauses or hesitant language. The more steadfast you appear, the more believable you will become.
8. Anger Works - Hit the person's hot button while describing the problem. Once their emotions are charged up, propose your suggestion as the only logical remedy to the situation.
Childhood Alzheimer's
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Faced with the devastating diagnosis that their precious 7-year-old son has dementia, his valiant parents are making the most of every moment with their boy.
Andrew and Lyndsay Scott knew something was wrong when Ben was slow to develop as an infant.
"Whenever I mentioned my concerns, the doctor would say, 'Oh, it's just a boy thing, he'll grow out of it," recalls Lyndsay, 30.
Ben finally walked at 17 months, but he often fell, as if tripping over something that wasn't there.
"His speech was also slow," Lyndsay says. "By the time he started primary school, he could communicate and put three or four words together, but his speech was quite slurred."
At age 6, Ben was far behind his peers - unable to read, write or even hold a pencil. But his pediatrician continued to insist there wasn't a problem.
The last straw came when their child became incontinent. That's when the Scotts contacted neurologist Dr. Philip Jardine, who discovered Ben suffered from the rare genetic disorder called Niemann-Pick. The Alzheimer's-like condition causes cholesterol deposits to surround all vital organs, leading to mental and physical dementia and eventual death between ages of 15 and 20.
"Right now, his symptoms are a bit like he's drunk a bottle of vodka," Andrew explains. "It's quite hard to watch at the moment. He puts food in his mouth but he forgets to chew."
Despite their heartache, Lyndsay and Andrew are grateful Ben is blissfully unaware of his condition and that for the time being his memory remains intact.
"I find myself constantly looking at his face when he smiles, so I can remember him that way," Lyndsay says. "I want to remember that in his head, Ben is happy."
"Today is the best he is going to be, and we have to love evry minute."
"Every day is about making memories of the time we have."
Unfortunately, there's no predicting how fast the disease will consume their son, eventually leaving him in a vegetative state.
"I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I'll outlive my child," Lyndsay says. "It's surreal - like I'm talking about someone else's life."
Grumpy Old Women?
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The common belief that old men are more cantankerous than their female counterparts has been blown out of the water by a new study proving senior ladies are the real pains in the neck!
The latest research shows women are the sadder sex by age 48 - a time when males are actually enjoying the best years of their lives.
"In later life, men come closer to achieving their aspirations, are more satisfied with their family lives and financial situations, and are the happier of the two," declares sociologist Dr. Anke Plagnol.
The answers of the 10,000 participants in the Cambridge University study revealed that while women start life more satisfied, they are far less happy than their male friends and co-workers in their later years.
These new findings are a total contradiction of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, reported previously on ThePapNews, which stated that older women were the more positive gender.
The more recent survey also revealed that women often achieve their dreams of a happy marriage and career earlier in life, while the same period in a man's life is usually the saddest.
Younger men report more dissatisfaction over money than young women because they're striving to make much more.
But with maturity comes a more upbeat outlook for married men. Meanwhile, older women are more likely to be widowed and struggling financially in their later years because of their longer life span.
Toby Klauenberg's Bronze Clown Shoe Award
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Fun-loving Toby Klauenberg spent his life making people laugh - and now he's been rewarded with the highest honor of his profession, the Bronze Clown Shoe!
Klauenberg, of Des Moines, Iowa, received the award before a convention of his peers in Chicago. The designation as a "master clown" places him among the top in greasepaint peformers along with Bozo, Emmett Kelly and Ronald McDonald.
"The winner is chosen by other master clowns, so the recognition of my body of work is a huge honor," says Klauenberg. "This title joyously represents the end: The end of the nightmares of being inadequately talented to be a clown."
"The nightmares won't end, but now my wife can use the bronze shoe to smack me awake!"
Despite his self-deprecating humor, Klauenberg graduated from Iowa State University with an education degree and has managed to make a good living clowning around.
Working under the moniker "Toby Kid," he began his career with performances at theme parks and elementary schools.
As his popularity grew, Klauenberg moved into standup comedy, corporate entertainment and opened a booking agency, Funny Farm, with his wife Jennifer.
The busy joker even gained a national reputation as the best clown coach in the business.
With his latest achievement, all his boyhood dreams have come true and he never plans to stop making people smile.
"I've always, always wanted to be a clown ever since I was 6 years old," says Klauenberg, 45. "I hope I die clowning."
Julia Child - Spy?
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Secret agent 007 has nothing on super-chef Julia Child, reveal documents recently declassified by the CIA.
The jolly gourmet was a key spook in American intelligence gathering in Europe during World War II as a part of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA.
OSS agents were assigned to study Nazi military plans, infiltrate enemy organizations and inspire resistance.
Membership information was a closely guarded national secret, with even close family members being blocked from discovering if their relatives had once worked as spies.
But former CIA Director William Casey, who had also been an OSS agent, began changing the policies that prevented the release of World War II-era documents.
More than 35,000 personnel files have been finally handed over to the National Archives.
In addition to Child, the roster includes notable secret agents like actor Sterling Hayden, Supreme Court Justice Athur Goldberg, White Sox cather Moe Berg, President Kennedy's special assistant Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Ernest Hemmingway's son John and President Theodore Roosevelt's sons Quentin and Kermit.
"I think it's terrific," raves former OSS agent Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, of Woodbridge, Virginia. "They've finally, after all these years, gotten the names out."
