Africans In China

For a 19-year-old community college student in Pembroke Pines, Fla., the message boards on BodyBuilding.com were a place to post messages, at least 2,300 of them, including more than one about his suicidal impulses. In a post last year, he wrote that online forums had “become like a family to me.”

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Abraham Biggs

“I know its kinda sad,” the student, Abraham Biggs, wrote in parenthesis, adding that he posted about his “troubles and doubts” online because he did not want to talk to anyone about them in person.

Last Wednesday, when Mr. Biggs posted a suicide note and listed the drug cocktail he intended to consume, the Web site hardly acted like a family. On BodyBuilding.com, which includes discussions of numerous topics besides bodybuilding, and on a live video Web site, Justin.tv, Mr. Biggs was “egged on” by strangers who, investigators say, encouraged him to swallow the antidepressant pills that eventually killed him.

Mr. Biggs’s case is the most recent example of a suicide that played out on the Internet. Live video of the death was shown online to scores of people, leading some viewers to cringe while others laughed. The case, which has prompted an outpouring of sympathy and second-guessing online, demonstrates the double-edged nature of online communities that millions of people flock to every day.

Online communities “are like the crowd outside the building with the guy on the ledge,” Jeffrey Cole, a professor who studies technology’s effects on society at the University of Southern California. “Sometimes there is someone who gets involved and tries to talk him down. Often the crowd chants, ‘Jump, jump.’ They can enable suicide or help prevent it.”

On blogs and forums last week, some people wondered whether Mr. Biggs had hoped that by broadcasting his suicide, he would attract attention and cause someone to intervene. Viewers eventually called the police, but only after he had lapsed into unconsciousness. The video streaming Web site, Justin.tv, said Monday that it hoped its members would be “more vigilant” in the future.

It was not the first time someone had used the Web in this way. In Arizona in 2003, a man overdosed on drugs while writing about his actions in a chat room. In Britain last year, a man hanged himself while chatting online and webcasting. In both cases, other users reportedly encouraged the individual.

Sometimes other users show support in troubling ways. In a number of well-publicized cases in Japan, South Korea and elsewhere, people have formed suicide pacts on the Internet and met in person to carry out their plans.

“If somebody threatens suicide or attempts suicide, it’s never a joke,” said Joshua Perper, the chief medical examiner for Broward County, where Mr. Biggs lived. “It always requires attention. It’s basically a cry for help.”

Much of the evidence of Mr. Biggs’s suicide and the reactions of users was removed from BodyBuilding.com and Justin.tv after his death was confirmed. But according to a chronology posted by a fellow user, Mr. Biggs listed the pills he had obtained and posted a suicide note that he had copied from another Web site. He directed people to his page on Justin.tv, where anyone can plug in a webcam and stream live video onto the Internet. In a chat room adjacent to the live video, the “joking and trash talking” continued after Mr. Biggs consumed the pills and lay on his bed, according to the user, who said he tried to reach the local police from his home in India.

Several other concerned users called the police when it appeared that Mr. Biggs had stopped breathing. As officers entered the room, according to a screen capture of the incident that circulated online, 181 people were watching the video. In the chat room, users typed the acronyms for “oh my God” and “laugh out loud” before the police covered the webcam.

After his death was confirmed, words of sympathy were interspersed with complaints about Mr. Biggs’s behavior on the free-wheeling “Miscellaneous” section of BodyBuilding.com, where he frequently posted. Some users claimed that Mr. Biggs had threatened to commit suicide repeatedly in the past.

Mr. Biggs’s family has said he suffered from bipolar disorder and was being treated for depression. Telephone messages left at the home of Mr. Biggs’s father, Abraham Biggs Sr., were not returned Sunday. But in an interview with The Associated Press, the father said he was appalled by the lack of responsiveness on the part of the users and the operators.

“As a human being, you don’t watch someone in trouble and sit back and just watch,” he said, before suggesting that “some kind of regulation is necessary.”

The case remains under investigation by the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

Justin.tv said in a statement, “As a result of this event we are confident that all online community members will be ever more vigilant in monitoring and protecting their fellow users in the future.”

While sites like Justin.tv will remove content they find objectionable after the fact, the content of video sites and chat rooms are largely at the control of the users.

M. David Rudd, chairman of the psychology department at Texas Tech University, said the Internet did not fully live up to its potential to help with suicide prevention. “Most of what’s available via the Internet only serves to make the problem worse,” Mr. Rudd said, whether it is information about how to commit suicide or immature comments from chat room users.

Mr. Cole of the University of Southern California described the death of Alethea Gates, a teenager in New Zealand, who killed herself after using Google to read about different methods of suicide. Rather than blaming the Internet, her parents said they wished that the Google search had turned up links to suicide prevention Web sites. In effect, they wished the Web had shouted “step back from the ledge” instead of “jump.” (Many Google searches that include the word suicide include sponsored links to prevention Web sites.)

Mr. Rudd said he believed that Mr. Biggs was not seeking an audience online.

“What he was really doing was expressing his ambivalence about dying and, in an awkward manner, asking for help,” he said.

But the virtual nature of the community — distant, largely unaccountable and often seeking entertainment — was equally ambivalent. Hours after Mr. Biggs died, some of the forum users still sounded highly skeptical of the case. Others asked to see the video.

“The anonymous nature of these communities only emboldens the meanness or callousness of the people on these sites,” Mr. Cole said. “Rarely does it bring out greater compassion or consideration.”

(nytimes)

In case you haven’t kept up-to-date on the rise in Internet fraud, watch out. They’re out there waiting to steal your money.

Internet thieves from West Africa and elsewhere send out millions of emails recruiting unsuspecting people to transfer funds and ship stolen merchandise, usually purchased on the Internet. In return, the “mules” who do the dirty work, get paid for transferring funds in-and-out of bank accounts and shipping stolen goods.

In my case, a thief in Africa (could wring his/her/its neck) ordered a Compaq computer and an Xbox from MobileDiscoveries, my eCommerce site (now offline) using a stolen credit card. The transaction was approved by Authorize.net and the issuing bank, even with a bill-to name that did not match the credit card. Yes, that’s true. Despite advanced security used in credit card transaction approvals, most transactions are authorized without even checking the card holder’s NAME. Figure that one out.

MobileDiscoveries was a new consumer electronics site and I was still learning the ropes about people and organizations who don’t think twice about ripping you off.  So I shipped the two items to West Virginia, even though the ship-to address differed from the bill-to address. At that time, I hadn’t turned on all of my merchant account’s fraud controls and my shopping cart’s IP identifier that tells you the location of the computer used for credit card transactions.

Well, you know the story. The real owner of the credit card saw the charges on his bill, notified his bank, which immediately notified my merchant account company, which debited my business checking account for the chargeback.

I contested the chargeback and asked for further investigation, including my calling the police department in a small West Virginia town.  I had previously called the mule’s neighbor, who didn’t know her but commented “she does seem to receive a lot of packages.”

Just received a callback from the sheriff investigating the lady, who claims she had an “arrangement” with a Steve Hackson, who moved to Africa from Pennsylvania (nice switch in climates) and only lately became suspicious of the “arrangement” when Steve (or whoever) asked her to ship increasing loads of products. (The sheriff impounded all the merchandise in her apartment.)

Too late for me, unfortunately. The Xbox and Compaq computer already shipped to Africa…and I’m out $2.500 (the cost of merchandise from my wholesaler and the chargeback). While MobileDiscoveries was live, I canceled over 60 suspicious orders after receiving fraud alerts within minutes of the purchase.

If you’re wondering why your credit card company, even in low-interest times, charges outrageous interest rates, look no further than the BILLIONS of dollars written off by banks and other credit card issuers due to Internet and retail fraud. In fact, if a credit card is actually stolen (not in my case), and the thief buys from a retail store, the credit card issuer writes off the loss and makes up for it by raising YOUR interest rates and shark-loan default rates approaching 30%.

A closing comment. I received a notice from CitiBank, notifying me they are increasing interest rates, over-credit line fees and other charges this past Sunday. Although I’ve been a loyal CitiBank credit card customer for years and pay off my balance each month, the bank on the same day the Feds were bailing them out tried a fast one.

Although the increased interest rates and fees don’t affect me directly, I was on the phone with CitiBank customer service in five minutes to “opt-out” of the additional fees once my credit card expired.

Know what’s amazing? The CS rep didn’t seem a bit concerned that CitiBank was losing a loyal customer who charges thousands of dollars a year, pays on time and generates profits for her bank.

After the rep asked “is that all,” I said “yes.” I told her that I would immediately stop using the card and close the account. She didn’t seem a bit disturbed. So I asked her: “Aren’t you concerned about losing loyal, paying customers?…Aren’t you even going to try saving my account?”

She finally got my message, put someone else on the line, who immediately lowered my interest rate but claimed he couldn’t change the other increased fees.

There’s more to tell about CitiBank and its efforts to destroy Morgan Stanley, the investment bank. But I’ll leave that for another post.

Meanwhile, go chase some mules for me, eh? And if you find Steve Hackson in Africa, get my merchandise back, please.

(marketingbeyond)

“So when will China elect it’s first black president?” I posed this question to my Chinese friend Clark sitting across the table as we enjoyed some really good Japanese food. (It’s good to have a break from Chinese food every now and then!) I think this question caught him off guard as he looked very confused and immediately answered, “It is impossible!” The day Obama was elected I was very proud–proud at how far we had come as a country and excited at the historical magnitude of the event. I won’t lie, I would have liked to have been in the US for just this day, but on the other hand being in Beijing on election day gave me some insight into how the “other side” sees American politics.

The shared excitement over Obama’s victory led to many conversations about race, politics, and culture between my Chinese friends and I that ended up giving me the best insight I have into for a long time…

It is easy for us (as Americans) to assume that the whole world is like us–or at least that they want to be like us. As I have travelled here to China and even lived in a dorm of other international students from countless other countries, I see just how different America is than much of the world. I tend to over-criticize our country and point out her flaws more than most. This is not one of those flaws…

I love America. I love America because she is the unwanted step-child of the nations. We are a people of people. A culture of cultures. Although I have always “known” this to be true, seeing a country on the opposite end of the spectrum has aided in my perception. After I asked this question about Obama, I realized a very simple conclusion–China is not just a country. China is a race. China is a people. China is a language. China is a culture. China is China. The idea of a “non-Chinese” being president makes absolutely no sense. After this revelation, I frantically started thinking to other places– Germany (language, race, culture) –Japan (language, race, culture) — Korea (language, race, culture) — and the list goes on.

A terrible feeling came over me– I call it “perceived cultural illegitimacy”. As an American i suddenly felt like an overshadowed, sickly orphan boy wandering through the rows and rows of defined cultures wondering who I was and where I really came from. Who are we? I asked this out loud with a dismayed look and my Chinese friends didn’t really seem like they knew the words to make me feel better! Think about it– Anyone can be an American. Within 1 generation, any family can fully become English speaking, voting, working, Americans. This includes Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Senegalese, Kenyan, French, or anyone else you can think of. Who are we? We are us. This is the beauty of America that keeps bringing me back to her even in times of my deepest discouragement…

We are indeed the great experiment– a hodgepodge of peoples from every corner of the globe all coming together to risk a new life. America is beautiful because it is for anyone and everyone. We see this so much that we tend to take it for granted. Living in China for the past few months I have began to appreciate the beauty of diversity. Here, everyone knows I am not Chinese. I will definitely never be president here- no matter how much time I spend here. In America you can never pin-point the “foreigners” or the “real Americans.” Some attempt this and in doing so deny the very fabric of our flag –the very definition of our land. We are us. Whatever your political persuasion- you have to be in awe at a country where it is possible that the son of a Kenyan immigrant and Kansas woman can become president where just 50 years ago he would have been denied even the most basic of rights! That is something to be proud about. American identity is both a blessing and a curse. One one hand, we lack the kind of national unity and understanding that is so present in a place like here in China. We are a mutt-country. On the other hand, we were an experiment that worked– a beautiful bouquet of the world’s most colorful cultures coming together in one land.

American is a young country. We are a country that is constantly evolving and re-inventing herself. This is so incredibly different from this ancient culture that is had made me question my own identity. Here, family and ancestry is so important. It’s all about where you come from and who you come from. Some friends of mine who say they are “from” Shanghai although they had never been there–their family is from Shanghai. In a culture like this, how can an American not feel slightly left out? They want to hear me say I am British/Irish/German, but I am not-I am American–but what does that mean? Who are we? We are American. WE–And thank God it’s not just people who look, talk, and believe like me.

As I have come to appreciate and love this side of America, I realize the danger in creating our own “pseudo-nation.”With a recent rise in racist events and anti-immigrant behavior, it seems like many people need a lesson on America. I have met many people in the States that seem to imagine a Chinese-type society where everyone shares a race, language, and culture. (Coincidentally, this is white and English speaking.) I’m sorry–you can’t have it both ways! America is not like this. We never have been and we never will be, and the sooner people realize that the better off we will all be off! If you claim to be a patriot, then you need to love the real America–not the idealized and uniform version you have built up in your culturally monolithic communities. I love America precisely because she is a country unable to be defined– a country of countries. I love this America–complete with all the blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, and languages involved.

America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos. ~Max Lerner, Actions and Passions, 1949

America! half-brother of the world!
With something good and bad of every land.
~Philip James Bailey

(http://matthewdb.blogspot.com)

written by Liz Dwyer, Anti-Racist Parent columnist

My seven year-old son is very tall for his age. He’s been in the 90th percentile for height his whole life. He’s also African-American. It seems like in our country, Black + Tall + Male = having to constantly hear, “You better put him in basketball! He could be the next Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.”

Yes, if you’re a tall, African-American boy, you are destined to be a basketball player.

Never mind that he’d rather spend his time at a science center, and never mind that if you ask him what sport he really wants to play, he’ll tell you football because his grandpa works at Notre Dame.

Even though he could have begun playing in our local sports leagues when he was five, I was reluctant to register him because I didn’t want to feed into the stereotype that the only thing of value in an African-American boy is athletic ability. But, when he turned six he begged to play soccer. I felt a little like I was putting my own baggage about sports and black males onto him, so I signed him up.

No one assumed that he knew how to play at all, and the coaches emphasized that the goal was exposure to the sport. However, I noticed that the performance expectations seemed to be much higher for the Latino boys on his team than it was for him. One Latina mother explained to me that it was because soccer is so much more popular in Latin America. She claimed that Latino fathers give their children soccer balls before they can walk. Clearly, this seemed like questionable stereotyping to me, but I found the sentiment echoed quite frequently by other parents.

When the soccer season came to a close, it only seemed natural to move my son on to the next sport, basketball. He was assigned to a team and it quickly became clear that he was the tallest kid on it. He was also the only black child in the entire division. I can’t begin to tell you how excited his coach was. “Come on over here! You’re going to be our rock star.”

I was immediately irritated. I found myself sitting in the bleachers, watching the first practice and thinking, “That coach only said my son’s a rock star because he thinks that since my boy’s black, he knows how to play.” The truth of the matter was that up till then, my son had only played basketball a couple of times. My husband never played competitive sports so it doesn’t come natural to him to toss a basketball or football around every day. I was a cheerleader, not a basketball player, and quite frankly, his learning to read above grade level has been our top priority, not sports.

The very first game of the season, my son scored three baskets and led his team to victory. Afterwards, the coach gushed about my son, saying, “He’s really got some natural talent there.”

I wanted to ask, “What do you mean ‘natural talent’?” but before I knew it, the coach was talking to another parent.

Even though it feels like black folks are always treated like they’re naturals at sports, dancing, singing, joke-telling and hip-hop, I again asked myself if I was reading too much into such a comment. Was this coach just being complimentary or did he assume that blackness = basketball like everybody else?

As the weeks passed, it became clear that my son was not the best shooter on the team. Making three baskets in the first game was a bit of beginner’s luck. But, one of his Latino teammates managed to hit 80% of his baskets. Instead, because of his height, my son became the king of rebounds. Needless to say, they won every game and my son genuinely enjoyed playing on the team.

This year we were out of town and so we missed soccer registration, but back at the beginning of August, the guy working in the recreation center office made sure to mention that basketball registration would be happening in November.

Again, I found myself wondering, am I only being told this because the guy behind the desk figures a black kid will like basketball more, or does he genuinely not want my son to miss out?

It made me realize that this is one of the most insidious things about racism: It takes a psychological toll on you since you constantly have to turn this stuff over in your head. The vigilance it requires to be sure my son is not being treated in a prejudicial manner gets exhausting. I don’t like having to wonder whether something I’m told or the way my boy is treated is a symptom of either conscious or subconscious racism.

Come to think of it, one of the reasons I like my son’s pediatrician so much is that after checking my son’s vision, the doctor said to him that he has such perfect eyesight that he could be an airline pilot. The doctor never says, “Wow, you’re tall! You should be a ball player!” I wish no one else did either.

Liz Dwyer lives in Los Angeles with her husband of eight years, Elarryo Bolden and her two sons, ages six and three. Her great sense of adventure and desire to learn about diverse cultures took her to Guangzhou, China where she taught English to third and fourth graders, picked up some Mandarin, and managed to get into seven bike accidents. Liz taught in Compton, CA for three years and later worked for national education non-profit Teach For America. Liz has written and reflected on the world around her for the past three years at Los Angelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness. She’s currently freelance writing and working on her first novel.

Image courtesy of Balakov on Flickr
(antiracistparent)

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says “You’re all idiots”, and pours two beers.

An 81-year-old Chinese man has married a 58 year-old woman he met online, proving that love conquers all… well at least age.

Wu Jieqin, a retired art professor who has spent time in an aged-care home, married Jiang Xiaohui, 23 years younger, in a very special ceremony.

“The Internet doesn’t belong to the young alone. There are no rules against old people seeking love online,” said the professor, who has been using the internet since 1998.

The bride’s parents, aged 85 and 86, were not too happy about their daughter’s choice for a husband at first because they felt he was too old. However, she won them over in the end.

“His voice is very youthful. Not like an 80-year-old and he is very romantic,” said Jiang of her new husband.

The couple met last year after the lonely divorced professor placed an ad on a Chinese website.

He knew he wanted a woman who was younger and was very picky. Over 50 women responded positively to his ad, which a student helped him write, and some were as far away as the US, Australia and the Ukraine!

Wu met several of the women, but nothing clicked until he set sight on his new bride.

Ain’t love grand!

Kudos to the happy couple.

(weirdasianews)

On June 22, 2008, 130 couples gathered in Linshanpi, Taipei, to be married in a mass beach wedding ceremony.

The event was organized by the Taipei County Government and Tourism Agency, in hopes of promoting the local beaches as a great place for a wedding ceremony.

“This place has nice scenery, and it is romantic to get married with so many couples. I am happy,” said bridegroom Chen Chia-hong.

“I like weddings with a relaxing style, and I like beaches,” added bride Kao Ya-ying.

The local government has been sponsoring large weddings since 1970, in a continued effort to keep couples from spending large amounts of money on individual ceremonies.

(weirdasianews)

Last night, my Mac Book Pro became very ill. I had put it on Sleep, then disconnected the flat screen monitor attached to it, moved it to another room, opened it up but nothing appeared on the screen. I could hear the hard drive. I pressed the on/off button and heard it shut down, pressed it again several minutes later to restart it. I heard it restart but nothing appeared on the screen. So I took it to the Apple Store. They performed a few diagnostic tests, then told me they’d have to send it to the repair center. I asked where this repair center was located and the Apple Store guy told me it was in Houston, Texas. Seems like an odd place for a laptop to get repaired. I mean, aren’t there enough people in northern California who can fix a Mac? He claimed a lot of computer repair centers are in the South and Midwest where the humidity is high. Dry air creates a lot of static which is not good when you are repairing electric devices.

So posting will be light this week. I miss my Mac Book Pro and I am writing this on an ancient Dell.

(rosecantine)

Robben Island, the wind-swept site where Nelson Mandela spent so many years in jail, has been home to thousands of lepers and political prisoners. But now it’s struggling to cope with its latest inhabitants — rabbits.

South Africa’s iconic tourist attraction will be closed for the first two weeks in November so authorities can hold a “humane culling program” in a desperate battle against the bunnies.

The precise number of rabbits on Robben Island is unknown, but there are so many they threaten to permanently damage the island’s sensitive vegetation and starve themselves and all other animals, according to Robben Island Museum interim chief executive Seelan Naidoo.

“Immediate action will be taken to avert an ecological crisis on the island,” Naidoo said.

The Society for the Protection of Animals said in the absence of a feasible alternative, it would reluctantly monitor the operation.

“It’s a very unsavory issue to have to be involved with,” society spokeswoman Sarah Scarth said Wednesday. “But having reached this decision, we have a responsibility to make sure it is done in a humane manner.”

State veterinarians, environmentalists and volunteers will coax the rabbits into cages and give them lethal injections. In a gesture to animal rights activists, a small number of rabbits will be sterilized and released back onto the island.

The island just outside Cape Town was once a leper colony, and during South Africa’s apartheid era, a maximum security fortress for political prisoners. Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison there.

Robben Island became a national monument and museum in 1997 and the United Nations declared it as a world heritage site in 1999. It attracts hundreds of visitors each day, all hoping to see the small cell where Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president, was incarcerated.

It is also a biological treasure trove, hosting about 132 bird species, including the protected black oyster catcher and about 7,000 breeding pairs of African penguins.

In 2006, museum authorities killed nearly 100 wild cats on the island, saying they were an alien species that violated U.N. heritage rules. That made the rabbit population explode.

The rabbits are just the latest problem to batter Robben Island.

Three top managers were suspended in July for alleged financial irregularities and the museum has a large budget deficit. A new tourist ferry has had numerous problems and strong winds and rough seas from June to September caused a high number of boat cancellations.

(Yahoo News)

A couple in rural Cambodia has terminated their 18-year marriage with a divorce settlement that entailed sawing in two the wooden house they once shared, villagers said Friday.

The husband, 42-year-old Moeun Sarim, has taken away with him all the bits and pieces of his half a house, said his 35-year-old wife, Vat Navy.

“Very strange, but this is what my husband wanted,” she said by phone from a village about 62 miles east of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. She said they ended their marriage last month.

“He brought his relatives and used saws to cut the house in half,” she said, adding that she now owns the other half that is still standing. The house is made from wood with a tile roof and propped up on wooden pillars, a typical style for a Cambodian country home.

She said her estranged husband and his relatives, after ripping apart half of the house, carried all the debris to his parents’ house nearby.

She said the divorce was prompted by her husband’s jealousy about her alleged relationship with a policeman in the village. She denied having an extramarital affair.

“He wanted a divorce, and I said, `Let’s divorce,’” she said.

The husband could not be reached for comment.

Bou Bout, a village chief, said local officials and police were present as witnesses the day the couple split their 20-by-24 1/2 foot house into half.

“Local officials tried three times to get them to mend their differences, but the husband would not budge,” Bou Bout said by phone.

(cbsnews)

You expect to see something a little strange from time to time while traveling through Asia, but one establishment has something to really shock you.

Kayabuki, a Japanese tavern in Utsunomiya, recently employed 2 Macaques monkeys to act as waiters. Fuku is 12 years-old and Yat is a young 4 years of age and both seem to enjoy their new work.

Kaoru Otsuka, owner of the tavern, says the 2 monkeys are their household pets, but one day he noticed one of them mimicking a waiter by giving the customer a hot towel in the restaurant.

Mr. Otsuka thought it would be an interesting idea to have them actually serve the customers.

Both monkeys works 2 hours a day, serving drinks and handing customer hot towels.

They don’t seem to mind the work and are happy to do it in exchange for some Edamame (soybeans) from the customers as tip.

The monkey waiters have done such a good job and brought so much business to the restaurant, Mr. Otsuka admits they’re better than his real son at the job.

(weirdAsianNews)

A double-headed tortoise weighing only 17g (6 ounces) was recently found in Wuwei, Anhui Province, China.

Chinese scientists were shocked to discover a rare Mediterranean spur-thighed, two-headed tortoise among a shipment of baby tortoises ordered from a local farm where a worker was said to have bought it from a fisherman some two months ago.

They are currently studying this creature that is in good health and is being cared for by the scientists conducting the research.

Initially worried that the tiny mutant reptile would not survive, their fears have been allayed by the fact that in comparison to its siblings, which are all developing at a steady and very normal rate of growth at their home at the Water World Aquatic Farm in the town of Anhui in eastern China, this little baby is thriving and eating twice as much!

“We got it two weeks ago and it’s growing fast, probably because it can eat twice as fast as the others. It’s very rare to see a turtle with two heads, and we plan to keep it and raise it carefully for future research,” said Jimmy Hu, a Water World spokesman.

Is that old axiom about two heads being better than one really true?

Only time and possibly turtles will tell.

(weirdasianews)

Nero, a Doberman-Great Dane crossbreed, found his eyes were bigger than his stomach when he snatched a Nokia mobile phone from his owners hand and swallowed it.

The giant canine paid the price for his greedy nature, when he was the subject of a major operation leaving him with a large scar and ten stitches on his belly.

Nero’s owner, Marie Matthews, 67, from Valhalla in Pretoria, South Africa, how the dog swallowed the phone just over two weeks ago.

Her daughter, Driekie Boojens, was busy feeding Nero when he snatched the phone from between her fingers and swallowed it whole.

“My daughter screamed terribly because we were scared that Nero would die,” recalled Matthews.

They immediately took Nero to a local animal clinic where the mobile flashed up in an x-ray.

“We were very worried. I couldn’t stop crying,” said Marie.

Nero underwent an operation the next day, and everything went well.

The operation cost Matthews and her husband Archie, 72, 6,000 rand (£420).

“They not only found the cellphone, but also a lot of stones,” she added.

The couple had to throw away the phone as it hasn’t worked since Nero tucked into it.

Archie said Nero was “almost normal”. The dog, who will turn 12 in November, has heart problems according to the couple’s grandson, Dyllan Armstrong, 13.

The Matthews were relieved to have Nero back home.

(Telegraph)

A Tokyo man has been arrested for housing more than 50 poisonous snakes, including cobras with highly toxic venom.

The arrest occurred after he recovered from being bitten by an eastern green mamba, which is considered one of the world’s most poisonous snakes.

Biting the hand that feeds you is a maxim that snakes apparently don’t understand or have no regard for.

Nobukazu Kashiwagi, aged 42, called an ambulance and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition from his condominium in the Jingumae district of the city.

He was arrested after recovering from a bite on his finger for violation of the Law Concerning the Protection and Control of Animals.

According to Michihisa Toriba, director of the Japan Snake Institute of Gunma Prefecture, the 185-cm-long snake that bit him has one of the most powerful venoms in the world.

“Snake enthusiasts usually keep non-poisonous snakes. This one is a kind of cobra that usually lives in African savannas, often in trees.”

No one seems to know why Kashiwagi kept these snakes in plastic boxes all over his home.

Maybe they are afraid to ask.

(weirdasianews)

The world richest continent in terms of natural ressources and the poorest according to the world bank ranking system should learn many things from Asia. Malnutrition is still a big concern, meat in the plate is a miracle. But you know what ?  If Cambodians where there, they would be eating meat every single  minute.

In Africa, if a rat comes out, all the kids waste their left energy running after it and when they catch it, it’s simply killed and thrown away. however, it’s not the same here in Asia.

In Cambodia, no rat is left to waste… especially not when inflation has increased the cost of meat almost double in the last year.

Many Cambodians already believed rat meat to be a great source of protein and a tasty little snack when gathered together drinking, but the popularity of the meat really began to increase when beef hit around $10 a pound.

At around $2.50 a pound, rat meat favorites like the garlic-flavored field rat have quickly replaced the standard beef dishes.

“Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us.” said an agricultural official from Koh Thom.

Not only have the locals saved money by eating more rat meat, they have also been able to earn more money by catching rats and making them table-ready.

(weirdasianews)

In China, It’s All About the Numbers

Why are the Chinese so attracted to numbers? Do they hold the key to ancient secrets or are they merely an odd fixation?

The Chinese believe that some numbers are lucky and some aren’t, as do their counterparts throughout the world.

The difference is that lucky numbers are a big industry in China where people can actually select their own phone numbers, license plates, and other random things, which is an expensive, as well as lucky, purchase.

In China, numbers are often integrated with sounds and have associative meanings. For example, the number eight is considered the luckiest number of all because it is pronounced “ba” which sounds like “fa,” the Chinese word for prosperity.

House numbers and telephone numbers containing the number eight are extremely sought after, and it is no coincidence that the Beijing Olympics began on 08/08/2008 at 8pm.

Conversely, the number four is considered bad luck because it is pronounced “si” which is similar to the Chinese word for death.

When ordering dishes in a Chinese restaurant, the courses are usually even-numbered, such as four, six, eight, etc. It is also customary if a guest visits a home bearing a gift of fruit the number will be even.

When buying apartments in China, those that are on even numbered floors are always the first to sell out. The fourth floor, on the other hand, is usually the cheapest, and usually foreigners, oblivious to the number’s connotations, occupy it.

The number six is considered very lucky, because the pronunciation sounds like the word for ‘flow’, suggesting that everything will go very smoothly.

The car license plate ‘AC6688’ recently sold for 80,000Y ($11,700 US dollars).

The number two is lucky as well, because it suggests harmonious existence and reproduction.

Some odd numbers are also considered favorable. Five is very significant because it relates to the five elements of Feng Shui (metal, wood, water, fire and earth), the five basic colors (red, green, yellow, black and white) and the five tastes (sweet, sour, salty bitter and pungent).

The number one is favored by young lovers and is exemplified in the Chinese idiom, “one heart and one soul.” A man will usually send one flower to his beloved to express undivided love or he may send nine (jiu), which is a homonym for the word denoting forever.

The number seven has experienced a bit of a renaissance as it was traditionally associated with anger. In recent years it has become more acceptable as it sounds a little bit like the words for ‘wife’ or ‘family’.

What’s in a number?

Who can say, but do YOU dare to find out?

(weirdasianews)