Sword swallower claims world record
“Some people call Chayne Hultgren the Space Cowboy for good reason, the Byron Bay street peformer has dared to go where no man had before – swallowing 18 razor sharp swords. The professional sword swallower set the new Guinness World Record in Sydney today by swallowing all of the 72 centimetres long swords at the same time.
The 31-year-old beat his own previous record of 17 swords, which he set in 2008. But for all those wannabe sword swallowers out there Mr Hultgren warned the stunt has taken years to perfect. “It’s amazing,” Mr Hultgren said. “I’ve been preparing for this since I was 16.” “It is definitely one of my greatest achievements so far.”
Hultgren began practising the art of sword swallowing at the age of 16 when he swallowed his first hose. A few years later he upped the ante and began using stainless steel blades. He swears his latest feat is not dangerous, but the cheeky entertainer conceded that “it wasn’t recommended by my doctor”. “It’s educated risk,” he said. “I don’t just straight away grab 18 blades and shove them down my throat – you’ve got to practise a lot and build up to it. “So I stretch my throat with hoses and use a few different techniques to basically enable me to do what, until now, has been impossible.”
Hultgren beat his own previous record of swallowing 17 swords – also a Guinness World Record, which he set in 2008. He is the only person in the world to down more than 13 blades simultaneously, he said.”
Read more at The Daily Telegraph
The Cutaneous Rabbit Illusion
“IF a rapid series of taps are applied first to your wrist and then to your elbow, you will experience a perceptual illusion, in which phantom sensations are felt along the skin connecting the two points that were actually touched. This feels as if a tiny rabbit is hopping along your skin from the wrist to the elbow, and is therefore referred to as the “cutaneous rabbit”. The illusion indicates that our perceptions of sensory inputs do not enter conscious awareness until after the integration of events occuring within a certain time window, and that the sensory events taking place at a certain point can be influenced by future events.
A group of Japanese researchers now shows that this illusion is not just confined to the body. In a new study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, they report that the cutaneous rabbit can easily be induced to “hop out” of the body, so that the illusory sensations are perceived to originate not from the body itself, but from external objects that interact with it. ”
Read more at NeuroPhilosophy Blog
Secret Soviet Town Sold For $3.1 Million
“Latvia sold a deserted town built around a Soviet-era radar station to a Russian investor who bid $3.1 million at an unusual auction yesterday, officials said.
The town formerly known as Skrunda-1 housed about 5,000 people during the Cold War. It was abandoned over a decade ago after the Russian military withdrew from Latvia following the Soviet collapse.
A representative of a Russian investor won the bidding contest in Latvia’s capital, Riga, with an offer of $3.1 million, said Anete Fridensteina-Bridina, a spokeswoman for the Baltic country’s privatization agency.
She said the buyer was Aleksejevskoje-Serviss, a Russia-based firm, though she could not provide details.
It was not immediately clear what plans the buyer had for the 110-acre property, which is located in western Latvia about 95 miles from Riga. The town contains about 70 dilapidated buildings, including apartment blocks, a school, barracks, and an officers’ club.”
Read more at the Boston Globe
China Unleashes Waves Of Superbugs
“China’s reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists.
Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats and the country’s farmers excessive dependence on the drugs has tainted the food chain.
Studies in China show a “frightening” increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA . There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and internation food sourcing.”
Read more at The Telegraph
