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Girl Lifts Car To Save Her Father

Most of us would do anything for our loved ones. It doesn’t matter how far away they are or how difficult it may be, family and close friends (and in some cases even strangers) will be there for one another through thick and thin. The following story shows just how far the human body can be pushed when it comes to saving the people we love.

Lauren is a 22-year-old basketball student and trained lifeguard. One day, as she came home from work, she heard a huge thump coming from the driveway of her family’s home. She quickly rushed to the scene and saw her father being crushed by the family car.

Miraculously, out of her love for her dad, all this adrenaline ran throughout her body allowed her to do the unthinkable. She grabbed the corner of the car and somehow managed to lift it off of her father and move him to safety.

Lauren realized that she needed to administer CPR to her father and get his heart beating. She was her fathers life support. If Lauren hadn’t trained to be a lifeguard and learned the techniques for administering CPR, who knows where her father would be today.

Two days later, Lauren visited her grateful father in the hospital as he was recovering from his injuries with a huge smile on his face. He was able to get up and walk again and give her a huge hug for saving his life.

Although Lauren doesn’t have superpowers as such – there are many similar stories of mothers and fathers lifting heavy objects to save the lives of their children – she certainly performed an amazing feat. Nobody can explain what Lauren has experienced, and if you asked her to do it again she’d probably tell you that she can’t. She herself doesn’t understand the miracle that she was able to perform. The fact of the matter is that she managed to save her father’s life and for that he is forever grateful.

These last six individuals have truly remarkable abilities and each one has touched the lives of many. But the truth is, you don’t really need to have super strengths to be a superhero. It’s what’s in the heart that truly matters. Earlier this week, I saw a husband-wife team pack groceries into twenty backpacks and drive around and start handing the backpacks out to homeless people. They are heroes. Some readers may recall the recent story of a police officer who bought baby food for a mother who was caught shop lifting baby formula. To me, these people are the true superheroes who set examples for us all.

It’s not only people who can help out in a pinch, however. Some major corporations also chip in and do their part, donating millions of dollars each for medical research, sanitation, combatting hunger, and cleaning water. The world we live in is a network within itself. Our actions affect each individual around us. By just smiling at someone, you could change his or her view of life completely. If we all do our part (and I always say that deeds can’t be measured in size), we can make this world a better place. We are now paving the way for the future. We need to ask ourselves every day what kind of a world we want to live in and what we can do to bring about the change we desire.

http://blogglez.com/6-real-people-with-real-life-superpowers/

Girl With X-ray Vision

For most, having ‘superpowers’ is just a dream. For others, it may be a myth. But for these six extraordinary individuals, their superpowers are not just real, they are incredible. We recommend that our readers don’t try to pull any of these stunts at home. The people you are going to read about in the next few posts have extraordinary powers and years of experience.

Natasha Deminka, a Russia citizen, claims to have X-ray vision. She is capable of seeing through the human body and diagnosing patients with all sorts of medical conditions. It all began when Natasha was 10 years old. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, she was able to look inside her mother’s body and examine her mother’s internal organs.

Natasha explains that she has two types of vision: her regular vision and her ‘X-ray’ vision. She claims that she can see people’s internal organs in various colors, which allows her to give the patient a diagnosis of their medical condition. Natasha further states that internal organs that are not functioning properly emit a sort of radiation that her ability allows her to observe.

Despite many people’s skepticisms regarding Natasha’s powers, she has been invited to take part in various television shows and conduct live analysis of patients who have suffered internal complications in the past. Without having prior access to any information regarding the patients’ medical conditions, Natasha was capable of pinpointing their conditions the majority of the time.

Despite all the skeptics, Natasha wants to continue pursuing a medical career and helping others. It’s important to note that Natasha isn’t claiming that she’s a doctor. She still recommends her patients go and seek proper medical attention. Natasha’s ability only compliments the medical profession and until such time as she has a medical doctorate, it should probably remain that way.

Her father claims that they have tried to keep Natasha’s gift out of the public eye for some time, but they have fallen victim to the media, which has resulted in many people coming to their house for a diagnosis. It has also resulted in a fair amount of fame for Natasha since many people are intrigued by her unique ability.

Now, Natasha and her family are seeking support from credible people and institutions who can verify Natasha’s abilities and give her the credibility that she deserves.

It’s a little bit difficult to determine what exactly Natasha sees as there is no objective data regarding her ability. For now, all we can do is take the word of the people she has diagnosed and the research that is currently taking place regarding her ability and that of others like her. If what she says and sees is true, I think it’s rather cool to have ‘X-ray’ vision, and I wonder if it can be put to good use in other areas of medicine such as veterinary science.

There may be other practical applications as well. I wonder if Natasha could use her powers playing poker and see other players cards. Regardless of all the skepticism, Natasha has chosen the right path. No matter what means she decides to use, whether its modern science or her natural ability to delve into the human body, she is helping people and we therefore need to give her credit.

The Man that Can Run Forever

Have you ever seen the battery operated “bunny” that just lasts forever and ever? Do you think it’s humanly possible to run forever? You’d think that at some point in time one would get tired and eventually his or her body would request a break.

Dean Karnazes, a long distance runner from the United States, has broken records in every state in the U.S. over 50 consecutive days. If that isn’t enough, he has also run a marathon on every continent on the planet!

Karnazes, ranked one of the top 100 most influential characters back in 2007, is a role model to many. Even after some setbacks in his career, he has gotten back on his feet and has run again in marathons that he couldn’t finish the first time, showing the world that anything is possible.

For some, it’ s hard to comprehend where this super runner gets his strength. After his cross-continental run from New York to San Francisco, which, might I add, he finished within 75 days, doctors were amazed by his condition. They concluded that the muscle damage sustained by Kanazes in his 75 day run was less than that which would be apparent in your average athlete after just one full day or running.

Furthermore, doctors also concluded that if you kept Karnazes hydrated and well fed he would be able to run forever at a ten minutes mile pace. I want to watch the famous bunny compete against Dean Karnazes and see who wins that race.

Karnazes also goes on to say that he has created a formula for “injury-proofing your body”:

No Sitting. Karnazes believes that sitting is bad for your body and posture. In his office and house he has a stand-up desk, which he uses to write emails and work on his book. He believes that there are huge benefits to standing up, as it increases the body’s metabolism for those who exercise regularly.
Constant Crossfit. Whenever he has a few minutes to spare, Karnazes does pushups, chin-ups and sit-ups.
The Right Shoes. Karnazes advises avoiding all fancy-shmancy running shoes. He believes that minimalism is the key to choosing the right pair of shoes.
This superhero is a great example to us all. Life goes on, and it’s never to late to accomplish your dreams. We shape our futures with our willpower, and it’s amazing what our bodies can achieve. Dean Karnazes is a great example to us all and hopefully we can all learn something from his remarkable story.

There is a lot of truth behind the advice that Dean has shared with the world. For instance, some of the world’s greatest leaders refused to sit and believed that the best ideas they had , those that shaped our modern world, came from standing up and being more active. We need to keep our bodies moving, not just from time to time, but on a consistent basis. Being stationary creates all sorts of muscular problems, but exercising regularly and watching our diet can help us live a better lifestyle.

Electric Man, a Real Human Conductor

Okay, so we have all heard of Kung Fu Panda and the incredible things that come out of China. This next person isn’t quite a superhero like Kungfu Panda, but I can say he has an incredible ability. The way he found out about his ability, however, was not the smartest way of doing so.

Ma Xiangang from china has a very interesting trick up his sleeve. Known to some as the ‘Electric Man,’ Ma Xiangang can touch 220 Volt live wires and feel no pain. That’s right, no pain.

Ma Xiangang found out about his unique ability whilst watching TV one day with his wife, when all of a sudden the television stopped working. Just like every clever cookie would do, Ma Xiangang went to see how he could fix it. (Sarcasm warning: Kids, please don’t try this at home).

Without properly assessing the safety situation at his home, Ma Xiangang accidentally touched a live wire. Amazingly, he felt nothing at all and lived to tell his story. It doesn’t stop there. Moments after getting shocked, Ma Xiangang wanted to confirm his unique ability, so he stuck out his hand to touch the wire again in order to make sure that what he felt, or rather didn’t feel, was real. If not for Ma Xiangang’s unique ability, he would likely have received a Darwin Award for his stunt.

What’s even more unbelievable is that Ma Xiangang constantly strives to push his limit by seeing how many Volts his body can handle. He also claims that he is capable of giving someone a diathermic magnetic massage through his unique ability.

According to his medical examination results, Ma Xiangang is capable of handling an electricity wave through his body seven times higher than the average person.

Despite having this incredible ability to handle electricity, many medical practitioners would advise their patients to stay away from such dangerous activities as the ramifications of exposure to (and survival of) such high levels of electricity is unknown. For most people, the risk of electrocution as a result of touching a live wire is extraordinarily high, so don’t try this at home.

However, there are practical applications for Ma Xiangan’s ability as well. If I were his neighbor and I needed an extension cord for my television, but I were too lazy to go out and buy one, I would give my good friend Ma Xiangang a call and ask him to give me a ‘hand’ with the set. Better yet, I wonder if he can convert 220 volts to 110. That would definitely help out when I’m traveling with all of my appliances from the United States.

I urge readers to never play with electricity, it’s dangerous and should be left alone at all times. Should you face a situation where you do have any problems, you should call an electrician or switch off the main power switch and attend to the matter. Ma Xiangang’s decision to touch the electricity a second time to see whether what he experienced could be repeated was really just plain silly.

The Rain Man

There are some really incredible people out there that have the extraordinary ability to remember almost everything they see or experience. These unique individuals are rare and each one has a story to share with the world. Some were born with this gift, while others came to possess it following an event or an experience they went through in their lives. Only now do we have the ability to understand through modern science which parts of the brain they use and how they really perceive reality.

We all seem to have photographic memories, the only thing is that more than 99% of us seem to keep running out of film. Our next superhero is Kim Peek, the savant that was the inspiration for the movie ‘The Rain Man,’ starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. He remembered absolutely every experience he went through since he was 18 months old.

Kim had an incredible ability to remember almost everything he had experienced in fine detail. He was able to remember shopping lists, flight itineraries, phone numbers, and dates in extraordinary detail. More impressively, he also managed to memorize over 12,000 books word for word.

Kim was able to read two books at the same time, one with each eye. His friends and family found him difficult to deal with at times because he would always find a way to outsmart them, but most of the time having an encyclopedia beside them worked in their favor. Kim never used his gift to gamble, though, as he thought it would be unethical.

Unfortunately, Kim passed away in 2009 from a heart attack. Throughout his life, his father, Fran, stood beside him, showing him around, protecting him, and aiding him in areas of his life where he encountered difficulties due to his poorly developed fine motor skills and autism.

It will be very difficult to find another Savant like Kim Peek. Kim and his father had a bond that many admired. Kim used to say that he and his dad used to share the same shadow. Their love for each other inspired many people from all over the world. Having Kim and his dad share their stories with us all allowed researchers to delve into the lives of savants and better understand their behavior and unique abilities.

Kim and Fran travelled the world to share their stories and educate people about savant syndrome. Their message was one of hope and love and it is estimated that they touched the lives of close to 900,000 people with their story. Many people had written letters thanking Kim and his father for sharing their story with them and telling them how their story created awareness of how to treat people who are different from themselves and how to be more accepting of people with special needs and abilities.

Through education and stories such as Kim’s and Fran’s, we can make this world a better place. We need to eradicate discrimination from our society. The next time you see someone with a disability or who is unique in some other way, approach them and introduce yourself and get to know their story. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone famous like Kim who has travelled the world and is a walking encyclopedia.

By Tom Anderson. Published on July 16, 2014 1
Controlling Body Temperature with Your Mind

In the last decade, there have been a number of studies conducted regarding the importance of thought. From success in one’s life to improving one’s health, positive thinking has proven to help many in life’s journey.

During his trip to the United States in the 1970’s, the Dalai Lama introduced a novel application of the concept of mind over matter. In his talk to professors and students at Harvard, the Dalai Lama set forth the notion of someone controlling their body temperature with their mind.

Some 16,000 feet up in the mountains of Tibet, it can drop to below freezing temperatures during the wintertime. Wearing only their robes, a group of Tibetan monks have managed to increase the temperature of their skin by eight degrees Celsius using nothing but their minds while their core body temperature remained unchanged. The monks didn’t even shiver and made it seem like it was a walk in the park. They were able to do this by affecting the flow of blood to their brains and the rate at which they metabolize oxygen, thus somehow causing the temperature of their skin to increase.

The mind works in mysterious ways, and some argue that we only use 10 percent of our brains’ capacity to function in everyday life. (Okay, so science doesn’t support that claim, but I’m pretty sure I know at least some people who seem to validate that statistic). It makes one wonder what we could accomplish if we all just applied a bit more of our brain power every day. I get frustrated when someone tells me they can’t do something or just quit trying out of sheer frustration. Many people have gone through diverse challenges in their lives and still managed to come out with their heads held high. I think more people could achieve positive changes in their lives through meditation.

Some argue that through positive thinking or meditation one can cure himself or herself from certain ailments. It is scientifically proven that stress is bad for the body. We only know a fraction of what we would like to about our bodies and minds and how they operate. These Tibetan monks have baffled scientists with their unique ability to keep themselves warm throughout the winter, and we should learn from their experiences and achievements.

Every day, new light is shed on this field of study and, every day, new instances of these sorts of incredible superpowers emerge. It makes you wonder what the world will be like ten years from now. Our minds are G-d’s gift to us; we can use them to our physiological benefit, as we saw with the Tibetan monks, and hopefully someday we may be able to use our minds to make this world a more peaceful place for our children to live in as well.

Knowledge is power, and the knowledge we acquire from others is invaluable. Who knows, maybe ten years from now the knowledge we have acquired from these Tibetan monks can help us cure hypothermia or fevers through a unique combination of science and meditation. We need to open our minds and hearts and absorb the lessons of the world around us.

A Medical Take on Piercings

At first glance, body piercing seems easy to perform. Just punch a hole in your ear or another designated body part and you’re done. Actually, things are not that simple. It is not only the issue of pain that should be considered, but also that of the considerable health risks associated with practically any insertion of a foreign object into the body. So, in order to diminish the risks, there are now specialized centers that offer body piercing services in the safest conditions.

Tools and Procedure

Right before the procedure, the equipment to be used and the jewelry to be inserted are sterilized in special, professional autoclaves.

After the tools have been prepared, the victim, er, client must be prepared as well. In some countries, an anesthetic is first applied, usually by injection, so that the client won’t feel any pain during the process (notice the word ‘during’; after the anesthetic effect fades away, pain returns and lasts until the healing process is complete). However, this is not the case in all countries. In the U.S., for example, it is illegal to use or administer anesthetics outside the medical field – and piercing is certainly not considered a medical procedure.

Then comes the piercing itself. There are numerous methods and tools involved in the procedure. A needle, catheter, or dermal punch can be used, as well as forceps or a cork, in some cases. There is no global standard for piercings, as each country has its own regulations and each piercing studio its own equipment. The single tool that is generally rejected and considered unsuitable, even by the Association of Professional Piercers, is the piercing gun. While it has quite a few flaws in comparison to the other tools, the first reason why anyone should reject it is that it was designed to pierce and tag the ears of cattle. Now why would anyone want to be associated with that idea? Even so, it is still the most popular method of ear piercing in the West. Go figure!

The Price you Pay

Piercing is a painful and risky pleasure. As with any incision, the highest risk is that of infection, as there is a wide variety of viruses and bacteria eager to enter any little hole you make in your body. Estimates show that somewhere between 10 and 30 percent of piercings result in local infection. Worse still, there have been a significant number of cases where people contracted serious diseases, such as Hepatitis B or C or HIV. Others have had to undergo surgery and have a part of their body removed, or even lost their lives. Although some situations are unavoidable, adequate daily cleaning of the pierced area and leaving the spot alone for some time should reduce the danger of infection.

Another risk is that of allergy, firstly to the anesthetic, and, more importantly, to the metal from which the piercing stud is made. Moreover, the wound takes quite a lot of time to heal, ranging anywhere from one month to two years to heal completely, depending on the body part affected.

Apart from this, there’s probably no need to mention that piercings leave permanent scars. Once the wound made by a piercing heals, the hole will never close up again. One day, you may decide to remove your body jewelry, but the mark will be forever there.

The Big WHY

As stated previously, the traditional aspect of body piercing has a deep religious and societal meaning. In other words, each needle that goes through a woman’s cheeks or lips represents something: it can be that she is at mating age or that she is a widow, that she has performed some sacred ritual or has been punished by the society for some reason or another.

In modern culture, however, the reason behind the trend, and its possible meaning is more difficult to pinpoint. Piercing could be a means for young people to challenge the standards of the society they live in (just like aboriginal youths could show rebellion by refusing to be pierced). Everybody knows that teenagers don’t like to abide to any rule and will do exactly the opposite of what they are supposed to!

Another possible cause might be a lack of self-confidence and the increase in self-esteem provided by the pieces of jewelry adorning a person’s body. It is about standing out from the crowd, being noticed for something, getting some attention.

No matter why it was first taken up, massive body piercing can be considered a type of self-mutilation. In these cases, there is no positive answer to the question “WHY?” There is no rational explanation. Psychologists – at least the un-pierced ones – believe that excessive piercing denotes some sort of mental breakdown, a wound in somebody’s personality. The more piercings there are, the more extensive the damage.

The Norm and the Extremes

It is difficult to define a benchmark in a world of diverse (or even contrary) cultural, social, and religious standards. Nevertheless, we can mention some major norms in the Western world and other developed countries, as well as a few standards specific to indigenous people in different corners of the world.

A few decades ago in the Western world it was only acceptable for women to wear a single pair of earrings. Any other form of body piercing was criticized and rejected by society. It was the gay movement that crossed the gender boundary, so that men started to wear earrings just like women did – although nowadays earrings are no longer linked with homosexuality. As expected, each generation took a step further in the number of piercings and body areas adorned. Unlike the expectations, the limits have been pushed to hard-to-imagine extremes.

Elaine Davidson is the current world record holder for The Most Pierced Woman. As of March 2012, the Scotland-based Brazilian woman has over 9000 piercings. Elaine had her first piercing in 1997, at the age of 32, so it was not a reckless decision taken by a giddy teenager. She, as a mature woman, decided to pierce her body inside and out – did I mention that a few hundreds of her piercings are on the inside? – and give up on her face and body for a bunch of knickknacks. Incidentally, her nickname is Nik-Nak.

Elaine’s feat, if we can call it that, is even more impressive when we consider that her male counterpart, Rolf Buchholz, who holds the record for The Most Pierced Man, has merely 453 piercings. The most striking difference between the German man and the Brazilian woman is that his piercing rate still enables you to recognize his face, while Elaine may not even remember what she used to look like.

What Body Parts Can be Pierced?

All of them. Any of them. Usually smaller, thinner body parts are chosen, because they can be easily punctured and penetrated, and they also heal faster. At the same time, soft-skinned, highly vascularized parts should be avoided, as they imply higher health risks and are less likely to hold jewels in place.

Ear, nose or eyebrow piercing is seen as normal, acceptable, even boring in some countries. Therefore, liberal youths started piercing other body parts. Navel piercing also gained popularity in the 1990s, but now it is not edgy anymore. In the same positions are tongue, lip and chin piercing, all of them are still popular but considered somewhat ordinary.

A fanciful piercing style is the monroe. As you may have guessed from the name, it implies the insertion of a stud above the upper lip, on the left side, meant to resemble Marilyn Monroe’s notorious mole – if you insert in on the right side, it’s called a madonna. No need to explain why, is there?

Lesser-pierced spots are fingers, although the trend was once flourishing. Finger ornaments were supposed to replace rings, but they proved to be much more uncomfortable.

However, discomfort was not an issue when people decided to pierce some more sensitive regions. From the ancient Indian kumaz, which was allegedly used as a chastity ring for women, to Prince Albert’s piercing, this type of body piercing is so surrounded by urban legend that nobody knows anymore how it started and what its purpose was. Nipple piercing falls in a similar category, with sources claiming that it dates back to the Roman Empire.

A Little Bit of History

It seems that ear piercing is the first type of piercing that people came up with. Scientists have found mummies believed to be over 5000 years old which were wearing earrings. By comparison, the oldest known mummy to have sported a nose ring was ‘only’ 3500 years old. From India to South America, archaeologists have found remains, statues, paintings, jewels, and other artifacts which prove that body piercing has been around for quite a few millennia.

Of course, piercings moved from simple to heavy, from avant-garde to tradition, from secular to religious. Piercings have also had a darker undertone during some periods, for example, marking people as slaves who chose not to be released during biblical times. Despite the roller coaster of meanings and influence that piercings have had, it has gained much importance and significance and remains embedded in many peoples’ traditions to this day.

Yet these traditions and norms have not remained unchanged everywhere. In the West, the number of acceptable piercings has increased over the last generation, yet aboriginal populations have maintained their traditions and have exhibited neither an increase nor a decrease in the mean number of piercings among their members relative to what was the norm hundreds of years ago. That is because in their culture piercing is not only used for decorative purposes but has deep significance, usually related to different rites performed at birth, before marriage, after the death of a close relative and so on.

Pierced!

Set aside fancy clothes, elegant headpieces, killer shoes, and all removable accessories. Now you are left with a bare, simple, skin-adorned body. While for many people this is the epitome of beauty, for others it is just a dull, boring sight. And since adorning has always been one of people’s best loved hobbies, it didn’t take them long to come up with ornaments that not only covered the body, but went straight through it. This is how body piercing was born.

There is no clear evidence on how and why body piercing began. However, logical reasoning can give us an answer. Probably, people started wearing embellishments on their bodies – hung on their earlobes; around their neck; and on their head, hands wrists and fingers. However, most of these ornaments were quite uncomfortable, as they would fall off at any sudden movement. So, one day some ancient guy came up with the idea to drill a hole in his body and hang the jewel through it. This way, it wouldn’t fall off anymore. Perhaps at first people thought he was crazy, but, like any crazy idea, its popularity increased quickly and the trend he set spread throughout the world.

It all started thousands of years ago – as ancient mummies testify – and though the practice had its ups and downs throughout history, it eventually won the fight with time. Piercing is now one of the most popular methods of embellishing the body, more popular even than tattooing.

Most people who choose to get pierced wear a pair or two of earrings. Others, however, have gone to extremes and put hundreds or thousands of beads all over their bodies. What makes them go this far? What religion or life philosophy can resolve an individual to making irreparable holes in their body? And how do they do it and what risks do they face?

The Feline Cyclops

This poor little cyclops kitty looks like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s the genuine article. The kitten was born on December 28, 2005 in Oregon City, Oregon with one large eye in the place where its nose should have been. The unfortunate feline succumbed to the inevitable after only two days on this earth. Our hearts go out to the unique creature who graced this world with its presence for too short a time.

This kitten’s condition is the result of a disorder known as holoprosencephaly, an affliction in which the embryonic forebrain fails to develop into two distinct hemispheres. That means that the brain looks like one undistinguished mass rather than an organ with two distinct sides. That can result in deformities of certain facial features, including the upper lip, the eyes, and the nose. Although this ailment can also occur in humans, it is rare for an affected fetus to survive to term, especially with the more severe forms of the disease, as this kitty exhibited.

The specific form of the disorder suffered by this kitten is known as alobar holoprosencephaly, and it is characterized by the complete absence of one of the lobes of the brain. Rather than possessing a right lobe and a left lobe, the brain is merged into a single body. The typical presentation of this version of the condition includes the absence of an olfactory gland and the merging of two eyes into a single unit in the center of the face.

Other forms of the malady include semilobar holoprosencephaly, lobar holoprosencephaly, and syntelencephaly. Semilobar holoprosencephaly involves the partial separation of the forebrain into distinct lobes, although the division can be nearly complete in the event of lobar holoprosencephaly. Syntelencephaly is somewhat different and is characterized by incomplete separation of the parietal lobe and the posterior frontal lobe rather than the right and left lobes. It is unclear whether syntelencephaly is truly related to the other types of holoprosencephaly or a separate disorder, but it is currently classified in the same category.

The version of the disorder that this kitty suffered from, alobar holoprosencephaly, is the most severe form of the malady. The failure of the facial features to divide and form symmetric units on either side of the face (two eyes, two nostrils) mirrors the failure of the brain to divide into separate lobes. It is nearly impossible for a creature to survive under those conditions.



http://blogglez.com/5-people-and-one-cat-with-the-craziest-eyes-youve-ever-seen/

Incendiary Eyeballs

Okay, so maybe his eyeballs don’t really set things on fire all by themselves, but that is how Guinness World Records performs its test for the grand title in this category. In order to gain the coveted title of best eye squirter, one must chug milk through their nose, plug their olfactory gland, and then squirt milk out of their eyes toward a series of targets.

That’s right, the milk, after being snorted up the nose, can then be directed to come back out of one’s eye. Moreover, the milk acts as an incendiary agent, which allows the judges to easily identify whether a sufficient amount of liquid has been aimed at the appropriate target.

The competitor shoots the milk toward a set of five glasses lined up on a table, each of which contains a combustible material, and the fluid in each glass is then set aflame as it comes into contact with the milk. The title goes to the individual who can set the five targets alight in the shortest amount of time.

Brandon Youngblood Kee, a 22 year old from Madison, Wisconsin, successfully displaced the previous record holder in this category on June 13, 2013. Competing in Los Angeles, CA, Kee beat the old record by over a minute, reducing the time that it took to ignite the contents of the martini glasses from 1 minute, 44 seconds to an astonishing 34.9 seconds. That means that Kee managed to complete the task in approximately one third of the time that it took the last record holder to accomplish the same feat. That is a pretty impressive margin by which to displace a previous title holder.

Kee first began developing this talent after attending the popular show Ripley’s Believe it or Not. He then promptly ignored all warnings to not try this at home and successfully shot milk out of his eyes. One would guess that he practiced quite a bit in order to get his time down to such a small sliver of the previous record.

Kee was only in middle school at the time and I sincerely hope that he didn’t try the old ‘I set my homework on fire with my eyeballs’ excuse on his teachers. While honing one’s talents, especially in rare skills, is very important for young and ambitious athletes, I do hope he didn’t neglect his studies. Regardless, I am sure his parents are very proud.

Myth or Reality?

The prime candidate for crazy eyes remains a mystery until today. Who is this man, where is he from, and how does he manage to pull his eyes so far down toward his cheeks? This man’s identity remains a giant question mark, but what about the ability to move ones eyes around (outside of the socket) in general. Is it truly possible or is it just a myth? And if it is possible, what makes some people able to do it while others can’t (or won’t dare risk it)? Oh yeah, and kids, don’t try this at home.

When I was in primary school, I knew a girl who could pull her eye right out of its socket and then pop it back into place. However, I have never seen it done in real life with both eyes and with the skin being pulled into place along with them. What I saw, was the ability of to remove the eye from the socket by just a few centimeters. The clearly visible optic nerve looked pretty gruesome, I must admit. As for what drove her to do it, I imagine it was much the same reason that drives so very many second graders to do kind of crazy and vaguely repulsive things: the desire for attention and prodigious curiosity.

So, it begs the question, is this image myth or reality?

Well, let’s first consider the length of the optic nerve and whether such a feat would be physically possible. The optic nerve extends through several areas and is commonly divided into four sections including the globe, the orbit, the optical canal, and the cranial space. The length of the optical nerve in each of these regions is 1 mm, 24mm, 9 mm, and 16 mm respectively, for a total of 50 mm. That’s just under two inches. Since a good portion of those two inches is probably used up connecting your eye to your brain, that seems to be stretching the optic nerve a bit too far for comfort.

Now, what about other areas of the face? Stretching the skin to that extent would probably have an observable impact on the surrounding facial features, yet the eyebrows and forehead show no visible signs of being stretched or strained in any way. It seems as though that would be highly unlikely if this image were genuine.

Final Verdict: Myth

Eyelid Weightlifting

It is a well known fact that the tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body, but apparently our eyelids are none too shabby either, at least when it comes to the task of bearing weight. Dr. Satyajit Hota of India currently holds the world record for the greatest amount of weight borne with one eyelid.

The feat is usually performed with a special hook and line mechanism whereby a rounded piece of metal is inserted underneath the eyelid (worry not, nothing gets pierced) and the desired weight is connected to the attached line. The individual in question then holds that weight with nothing but his or her eyelid for a specified amount of time.

Dr. Hota initially set this record in Mumbai on March 10, 2011, after successfully carrying an astounding 6.61 lb using nothing but the strength of one eyelid. He later outdid his earlier performance, however, setting a new record on the Lo Show dei Record in Rome. On March 12, 2012, Dr. Hota and his brawny eyelid lifted a mass weighing in at 7 lb, 8 oz.

When Dr. Hota is not weightlifting with unexpected body parts, he works as the principal of Allons Public School, a kindergarten and primary school in Bemetara, Chattisgarh, a rural area of India. It is curious whether he has led any of his pupils down the same path he has traveled, or if perhaps it was one of the children he oversees that gave him the initial idea to attempt eyelid weightlifting in the first place. Its unlikely that the activity was ever part of the gym curriculum, but children get up to some pretty bizarre diversions and it would be interesting to know if one of them inspired Dr. Hota’s peculiar pastime.

In his capacity as a school principal, Dr. Hota has been outspoken about the need to take into consideration the socioeconomic disparities that exist in the country when designing school curricula, rather than simply taking a one-size-fits-all approach to the education of Indian youth. He has also advocated greater community involvement and resource mobilization in schools as a means of improving outcomes. Dr. Hota feels that his school, which lacks such necessities as computers and internet connectivity, would be better served by greater resource allocation than by a bureaucratic teaching framework that the pupils and parents seem to neither fully comprehend nor appreciate.

The Talking Eye …

or is it The Seeing Mouth?

Sandra Holmbom, 27, has just made it onto our crazy eyes shortlist due to her fanciful make-up. The young Swedish woman painted her lips to make them look like an eye. And she did a pretty good job! If you saw a picture of it showing only the closed mouth, it might even fool you into believing that it’s a real eye. What’s the coolest thing about all this? It’s the fact that Miss Holmbom can keep her mouth shut and her eye wide open in one move. (Maybe this skill will get her hired as a spy or private detective.)

While the trend is by no means new – we all know Grimm brothers’ creepy story of the girls with one, two, and three eyes respectively, and I’ve seen scores of photoshopped pictures of celebrities wearing an eye as a mouth accessory – the original technique and true to life result are absolutely remarkable. The process of turning a mouth into an eye is pure make-up art – or rather, child’s play for make-up experts and teenage girls.

It requires the use of eye make-up products, no need for lipstick here. The first thing Sandra does is paint her lips white. Then, using black eyeliner, she draws the contour of her upper lip. If you want to try it out (for Halloween, of course), you can pick a color of your choice for your third eye – Sandra makes it green, to resemble her natural eyes – and draw the iris and the black pupil in the middle. Half of it should be on the upper lip, half on the lower one, so that when the lips close, the iris and pupil will form a perfect circle. Use iridescent hues in short lines to make the iris look real. Depending on how much make-up you want your made up eye to wear, you can paint it smoky, colored, glittery, or leave it all natural.

To enhance the realistic look, all you have left to attach are eyelashes. Stick a pair of false lashes lining the upper lip, and draw some lashes under your lower lip using short curved strokes. Now you’re done: you’ve got three eyes and no mouth. You will certainly be more careful and attentive from now on, and never again will anyone complain that you’re a chatterbox, as long as you keep your pupil perfectly rounded.

The Green Eyed Monster

Body modification has been the center of an active subculture in the United States and abroad for decades, yet this particular form of anatomical alteration is rather new. While tattooing of the cornea is an established practice, and most commonly used for medical purposes, especially in the event of scarring, dying of the sclera (the white of the eye) as a fashion statement is a rather new fad. It also might make you question just who initiates these fads, what on earth they were thinking, and who these puzzling people who follow the fad are.

In the bod mod scene, such extreme actions as scleral tattooing are known as career stoppers – the type of bodily adjustment that cannot be covered up by a suit and is so shocking as to greatly diminish one’s chances of successfully pursuing employment with reputable firms in the future. The willingness (or lack thereof) of an individual to undergo such drastic transformation firmly places them in either the extreme or the moderate camp of the body modification subculture. After all, you can be tattooed from clavicle to ankle and your employer need never know, but trying to cover up an eye tattoo is nigh on impossible.

Not only is such a radical move as the dyeing of one or both eyes not for everyone, it is not even for every state. Oklahoma has banned the practice at the behest of the Oklahoma Academy of Ophthalmology, which cited the inherent risks of such a procedure, up to and including blindness. Cliff Branan, an Oklahoma state senator, filed the legislation, and it was passed into law on April 21, 2009.

For those who do choose to color their whites, and who live in or can travel to a state where the practice is legal, the method used to dye their sclera involves injecting a dye with a syringe at precisely the correct depth beneath the surface of the eye. Because there are no nerve endings in the top layers of the sclera, the procedure is relatively painless, although pain-free does not equate to risk-free. An earlier attempt using a needle and dye and a hand-poked technique was unsuccessful.

So why would anyone subject themselves to such an experimental and dangerous operation, you may ask? Well, what else would one wear if one wanted to be crowned king or queen of ModProm?

Furthest Eyeball Displacement

Kim Goodman looks like a scary mom that you don’t want to cross, but that eye popping of hers is not just a reaction to catching her child with his hand in the cookie jar one too many times. (I shudder to think at the trauma that poor child would endure).

Goodman’s eyes are much more than that; they are also the focal point of a world record. Eyeball protrusion is a category in the Guinness World Records and Goodman is the proud holder of the title. (Okay, so that title might be better described as Scariest Angry Mom Eyes Ever). The extent to which her eyeballs protrude was measured in Istanbul in 2007, and she has held the record since then.

Goodman, who lives in Chicago, can pop her eyes with a protrusion of 12 millimeters. That’s just under half an inch, which may not sound like much, but is quite a distance when you’re talking about things popping out of your head. Goodman also holds the honor of being included in the 50th anniversary special of the Guinness World Records. Her eyeball trick is listed as one of the top ten feats of all time. The ability is formally known as ‘globe luxation.’

The talent that Goodman has developed is not a long honed skill, but rather the result of an accident. Ms. Goodman first popped her eyeballs accidentally after sustaining a head injury due to an out-of-control hockey mask. Ever since that dreadful yet fortuitous event, she has been able to control her gift (somewhat) and pop her eyes of her own accord. However, they also happen to pop involuntarily when she yawns. (That might be a tad embarrassing at dinner parties. Try stifling that yawn).

The coveted title of best eye popper is not one to be held lightly, however. Ms. Goodman has some up and coming competition in Brazilian Claudio Paulo Pinto. Pinto, a former haunted house employee, learned to pop his eyeballs from their sockets at the tender age of nine.

Pinto has been practicing ever since and can now pop his eyes with a protrusion of over 10 millimeters. That’s up 50% in the space of only a few months, as he only started training in earnest after being laid off from his scaring people gig. Pinto has since been demonstrating his knack on national television, and he hopes to give Ms. Goodman a run for her money in the near future.

Fourwinds: ur moniker is weired. and looking at ur pix., I was shocked and frightened until I took a closer look.
BTW. separating couples should not be condoned in preaching d word of God

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