Pioneer Cabin Tree in California felled by storms

Storms in California have toppled one of America's most famous trees - the Pioneer Cabin Tree.
The giant sequoia was known for having a hole cut through its trunk - big enough for a car to drive through.
The tree, estimated to be more than 1,000-years-old, was felled by the strongest storm to have hit the area in more than a decade.
California and Nevada have been hit by unusually high rainfall levels, leading to flooding and falling trees.-read more

Parkour is now officially a sport – here’s to jumping for joy

Running, leaping and climbing through the city isn’t just a test of strength and stamina – it’s also now an official sport. Parkour – a form of urban acrobatics, originating in France – is now officially recognised by sports councils across Britain. On a practical level, this means that it can be on national educational curricula, apply for lottery funding and access the benefits enjoyed by other major sports.
This is a big step forward for the development of parkour, which already has about 35,000 practitioners – or “traceurs” – in the UK alone. There’s no typical traceur; participants can range from very young children to those with Parkinson’s disease, and there are new people starting up all the time.
As well as having obvious physical health benefits, parkour also continues to show signs in research of contributing to positive mental health. It’s often practised in groups, which fosters social bonds between people, as encouraging each other to engage with the city in a constructive way,-read more

The extraordinary story of the Chorlton nurse who spied against the Nazis in wartime France

The extraordinary story of the Manchester nurse who risked her life as an undercover spy against the Nazis has been pieced together by historians.
Thrice-married Madge Addy lived a life of dashing adventure... helping stranded British troops evade capture in occupied France.
But her heroic exploits would have come to a huge shock to her neighbours in Chorlton, where she had quietly worked at a hairdressing salon.
But local historians have now launched a campaign to honour Madge, who received a Royal honour for her spy work, with a blue plaque in the south Manchester suburb. They are also appealing for further information to complete the puzzle about her remarkable life.
Ms Addy, who was born in Chorlton at the turn of the century, served as a nurse in Spain during the Spanish Civil War then became an agent for the government in occupied France. Research has revealed she was awarded an OBE, or possibly even a CBE, for her work as a spy, with sources suggesting she risked death to carry secret documents for the Allies under the noses of the Nazis.-read more

Desmond T. Doss

"Fellows, come over here and gather around.  Doss wants to pray for us."

Corporal Desmond Doss, the lanky medic, cringed inside.  This was not what he had meant when he'd suggested prayer to Lieutenant Goronto.  Faced with an assault on the 400 foot sheer cliff that split the island of Okinawa, Doss had merely meant that each soldier might want to spend a few moments in personal, private prayer, before the attack began. 

Prayer certainly was in order that April morning in 1945.    Doss's 77th Division had landed on Okinawa after fierce fighting in Guam and Leyte.  The Japanese were dug in all over the island.   Presenting an additional barrier was the Maeda Escarpment, the 400 foot cliff that stretched across the island.  The escarpment rose with a steep, rugged rise for the first 360 feet, then rose another 40-50 feet as a sheer face.  Honeycombed throughout were multi-story caves, tunnels, and enemy gun emplacements.  Wresting control of the escarpment from the enemy would be a major struggle, the Americans fighting not only a well entrenched and often camouflaged enemy, but formidable terrain.  When the order to attack had come, Doss told Lieutenant Goronto, "I believe prayer is the best life saver there is.  The men should really pray before going up."

---

It really shouldn't have surprised anyone in Doss's company that he would suggest prayer.  Doss was always praying...or reading his Bible.  From the first day of training everyone could tell he was different.   A devout Seventh-Day Adventist, the first night Doss knelt beside his bunk in the barracks, oblivious to the taunts around him and the boots they threw his way, to spend his time talking to God.  Regularly he pulled the small Bible his new wife had given him for a wedding gift, and read it as well.  Among the men of the unit, disdain turned to resentment.  Doss refused to train or work on Saturday, the Lord's Sabbath.   Though he felt no reservation about caring for the medical needs of the men or otherwise helping them on the Sabbath, he refused to violate it.  The fact that he worked overtime to make up for it the rest of the week made little difference.  Doss was teased, harassed, and ridiculed.  And it only got worse.-read more

Robert Burns could have suffered bipolar disorder

Robert Burns’
tempestuous personality, intense creativity and unstable love life
suggest that he might have suffered from bipolar disorder, according to
Scottish researchers.

The 18th-century Scottish bard produced huge quantities of literary
works, including Auld Lang Syne and A Red, Red, Rose, in bursts of
creativity interspersed with periods of depression and heavy drinking.

According to scientific and literary experts at Glasgow University his
creative spikes, along with his volatile love life, point to the
possibility that he suffered from the condition that 
affects up to
three million 
people in Britain.

Dr Daniel Smith, from the university’s Institute of Health and
Wellbeing, said: “Burns had a complicated and some might say tempestuous
 personal history, with bouts of melancholic depression, heavy lifelong
alcohol consumption and considerable instability in relationships,
including a series of extramarital affairs.

“Although it is difficult to prove conclusively, it is possible that his
 life history and his prodigious literary outputs may have been
influenced by a recurrent disorder of -Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/robert-burns-could-have-suffered-bipolar-disorder-1-3427401

Robert Burns’ tempestuous personality, intense creativity and unstable love life suggest that he might have suffered from bipolar disorder, according to Scottish researchers. The 18th-century Scottish bard produced huge quantities of literary works, including Auld Lang Syne and A Red, Red, Rose, in bursts of creativity interspersed with periods of depression and heavy drinking. According to scientific and literary experts at Glasgow University his creative spikes, along with his volatile love life, point to the possibility that he suffered from the condition that 
affects up to three million 
people in Britain. Dr Daniel Smith, from the university’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing, said: “Burns had a complicated and some might say tempestuous personal history, with bouts of melancholic depression, heavy lifelong alcohol consumption and considerable instability in relationships, including a series of extramarital affairs. “Although it is difficult to prove conclusively, it is possible that his life history and his prodigious literary outputs may have been influenced by a recurrent disorder of

Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/robert-burns-could-have-suffered-bipolar-disorder-1-3427401

6 strange newspaper stories that shocked Victorian Britain

Somnambulists in peril

 

The Victorians in general, and readers of the weekly newspaper the Illustrated Police News (IPN) in particular, had a fascination with the mobile but unconscious female body. Sleepwalkers, or ‘somnambulists’ as the Victorians called them, were among the favourite subjects for the IPN’s bawdy-minded draughtsmen. Male somnambulists may have been news, but they were never Illustrated Police news, even if they performed a tap-dance on the roof of the House of Lords; the IPN’s somnambulists were all young, female, and scantily clad.

 

One of the earliest IPN somnambulists was the 17-year-old Clara Dalrymple, from a small village near Glastonbury. She was well known to often go walking in her sleep, but in May 1868, she rose from her bed in her bedroom on the second floor-read more

Mice are transformed into aggressive 'zombie' hunters after scientists flick a killer switch in their brain

They're known for their timidity and love of cheese, but scientists have tapped into the 'killer instinct' of mice, to turn them into aggressive 'zombies'.

Researchers isolated the brain circuitry in mice that coordinates predatory hunting, including one set of neurons in the amygdala - the brain's centre of emotion and motivation, making the animal pursue prey.

They also 'switched on' another set in the brain region signalling the animal to use its jaw and neck muscles to bite anything in its path – a little like a fictional zombie.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4113672/The-rise-killer-zombie-mice-Switching-rodent-s-predatory-kill-instinct-makes-bite-path.html#ixzz4VjvYkC8F

EDDIE HALL -STRONGMAN

About MeREAD MORE ON HIS WEB SITE

Hi and welcome to Eddie Hall's website, here you can find official links to Eddie's sponsors, contact his manager for bookings, buy merchandise including signed photos and t-shirts, tickets to his next UK Strongman contest, and keep up to date with Eddie's competitive accomplishments and lifestyle.

Eddie was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England 1988. His athletic career started as a National Championship swimmer; but bored of endless laps of the pool he turned his attention to the gym at 15. On leaving school, he worked as a truck mechanic up to the age of 26 and then became a full time strongman upon meeting his manager Mo Chaudry.

Eddie has since dedicated his life to becoming the world's strongest man, and his famous ever lasting words have been "if you never see me on the podium at world's strongest man, I probably died trying"

He's broken world records in front of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he's lifted things so heavy his eyes balls have burst out of his head, but mos

Thousands of toy eggs washed up on a German beach

What could be more enchanting and colorful than a thousand plastic round eggs washing up on to a German shore? Well, probably a lot of things, but a thousand colored plastic eggs washing up this week on the North sea coast on the island of Langeoog and it’s really a sight to be seen. Each little toy, lining the sand on the beach were greeted by tons of curious German children.

Reports say that police suspect the toy eggs came from a freighter that “lost part of its cargo during an intense storm,” according to NPR. Now, the eggs have been collected by the residents of Langeoog and everyone seems to be intrigued.

Of course with the happiness of the gifts also come the reality of the trash that washed up on their shoreline. Mayor Uwe Garrels told the Associated Press, “At first I thought this was a wonder, because everything was so colorful and so on, but then we realized that this is a huge mess in the end. ”-Read More

One-mile-long stretch of ancient trees is chopped down because squirrels have gnawed at branches causing them to fall in front of drivers

Gnawing squirrels have forced officials to chop down hundreds of thriving trees across a mile-long stretch of road.

Some 750 towering beech trees used to flank this section of the A38, a busy road running through picturesque parts of Devon and Cornwall.

But they have been reduced to barren, 4ft stumps because squirrels were chomping off branches, which then fell in front of drivers. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4092382/Health-Safety-gone-NUTS-One-mile-long-stretch-ancient-trees-chopped-squirrels-gnawed-branches-causing-fall-drivers.html#ixzz4V5Ajy6vn
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Baby elephant tries to forget her fear of water as she receives hydrotherapy in bid to learn to walk again after injuring her foot in a trap

THIS baby elephant is trying to forget her fear of water as she learns to walk again after losing part of her foot.

The nervous six-month-old grabbed a keeper for support as she was lowered into the pool at an animal hospital in Chonburi, Thailand.A baby elephant named Clear Sky is learning to walk again in a swimming pool after she injured her foot-Read More

Zombies Would Wipe Out Humans in Less than 100 Days

The zombie apocalypse won't take long.

A new article in a peer-reviewed student journal finds that the zombie hordes would take Earth's population down to a mere 273 survivors in 100 days.

The paper, published in the University of Leicester's Journal of Physics Special Topics, was a fanciful use of the so-called SIR model, which is used in epidemiology to simulate how diseases spread over time. It's not the first time zombies have been used as a public health metaphor. In December 2015, for example, the British medical journal The Lancet published a tongue-in-cheek paper titled "Zombie infections: epidemiology, treatment, and prevention." And a viral blog post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged zombie-apocalypse preparations as a a metaphor for real-life disaster preparedness.

In the new analysis, the University of Leicester undergraduates assumed that each zombie would have 90 percent success at finding and infecting one human per day — a rate that would make the zombie virus twice as contagious as the Black Death, the plague that devastated Europe in the 1300s. [Zombie Animals: 5 Real Cases of Body-Snatching]-Read More

Pedro Gets Rescued.

A  cat called Pedro managed to get himself trapped up a 40 ft tree and was saved by recuer standing underneath a ladder.Pedro was back home after his ordeal and got a check up.

Sepsis

Introduction 

Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of an infection.
Without quick treatment, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death.
Read on or go straight to:
Symptoms in children under five
Symptoms in older children and adults
Tests to diagnose sepsis
Treatments for sepsis
Recovering from sepsis
Who's at risk of sepsis
Different terms

Sepsis symptoms in children under five

Go straight to A&E or call 999 if your child

• looks mottled, bluish or pale
• is very lethargic or difficult to wake
• feels abnormally cold to touch
• is breathing very fast
• has a rash that does not fade when you press it
• has a fit or convulsion

Get medical advice urgently from NHS 111

If your child has any of the symptoms listed below, is getting worse or is sicker than you'd expect (even if their temperature falls), trust Read More

Cats are a part of our lives.

Recently we have adoped a cat called thomas ,will he is not ours but we feedhim and give him cuddles and he lives only a couple of doors down on same esate.Cats are never really owed as far too indepedant and i enjoy thier company as we had some in the past and would again but our jack russell may disagree.Our past cats were SOOTY who was the runt of the liteer and my wife had to fed him daily with a syringe ,he liked toeat crisps and steal next doors chicken pieces,LENNY liked shiny objects and once took a screwdriver from a workmans toolbox and ended up living in our old nieghbours house who he spent alot of time with,ONION was a pure white pursian cat who was not deaf who disappeared and never came back,my first cat was called BORIS who was a big farm catwho liked a scrap .

Is This Stop going to the stables?

  Passersby were surpised when ther saw a police horse called invictor poking his head through a bus door.T he police rider had stopped to help a paasenger on the number 43 who had fallen ill.

Giant scrap metal soldier is haunting reminder of First World War

An imposing figure of a First World War soldier has been created from scrap metal to commemorate those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-4088062/Giant-scrap-metal-soldier-haunting-reminder-First-World-War.html#ixzz4V55MPO00
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Thanks for the coin.

A homeless man who was begging at exeter city centre got a nice surpise when somenoe put a coin in his hat as when he inspected it he saw a silver piece featuring one of beatix potters chactacters.He asked a local policeman to check it for him online and found out it was a coin produced for the 150th anniversary of beatix potter and could be worth a up to 400 pounds so he gladly moved on when requested.

Two years old child saves his brother life

History buff gambles life savings to buy empty field in hope of finding lost medieval city - and strikes gold

A history fan was so convinced that secrets were hidden beneath the soil of an empty field he blew his entire life savings to purchase it.
Stuart Wilson has been finally proved right 12 years later after he dug it up to discover it was home to a medieval city .
The 27-year-old paid £32,000 for the 4.6-acre plot of land, where he found the site of the ancient industrial town of Trellech in South Wales.
The former toll booth worker lived with his parents so he could finance his field of dreams - and says the decision has fully paid off.Read More