Renee Williams became the largest person ever to have gastric bypass surgery earlier this year after ballooning to nearly seventy stone – but died 12 days later.
The bedridden 29-year-old begged doctors to perform the operation when she became so large that she couldn't hug her two children.
Her astonishing size meant that the operating table had to be specially widened for the procedure.
Larger than life: Renee Williams weight balloned from 40 to 70 stone after a car crash
The operation was successful and Renee lost four stone due to her reduced stomach capacity before dying of a sudden heart attack less than two weeks later. Her story is told in a Channel 4 programme next week.
Renee, from Austin, Texas, had battled with her weight since childhood and was classified as super-morbidly obese at the age of 12.
She was married by the age of 15 and had her first child, Mirina, at 16 weighing 30 stone.
Renee had grown to a massive 35 stone by the time she had her second daughter Mariah.
"When you don't have that thing in your head that tells you you're full, it's disgusting the amount of food you can eat," She said.
In 2003, she was hit by a drunken driver in an accident that left her unable to walk because her leg was crushed.
She became bedridden and began eating even more.
"She wouldn't stop eating until her stomach started to hurt," says 13-year-old Mirina.
"She would get about eight burgers and eat them all. I kept telling her she was eating her emotions. I think she was sick and tired of being in that bed."
Renee piled on more and more weight and by 2007 she was nearing 70 stone - six times the size of a healthy woman in her age group.
She begged doctors to perform gastric bypass surgery on her and was turned down by 12 who insisted that the operation was too dangerous for a woman of her size.
"I understand the risks but I am not going to make it if I don't have the surgery," Renee said at the time.
"I want to be able to care for my daughters and see them graduate high school."
Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. Patients feel full sooner, consume fewer calories and lose weight.
Houston's Renaissance hospital finally agreed to perform the surgery after Renee's condition deteriorated and she was given just a year to live by doctors.
The operation on February 20th took five hours as surgeons had to cut through masses of fat to secure the band.
"I feel like I've been run over by a truck," she said afterwards.
Renee began to lose weight immediately but suffered a sudden heart attack on March 4th which took her life.
"I wanted to sit down in a corner and die." Says a distraught Mirina.
"Mom was my best friend and now she has gone it hurts."'
Tragic story of world's heaviest woman
Biggest Diamond Mining Unit
Take a look at biggest open diamond mine in the world. Mirny, Russia, East Siberia.
525 m deep, 1200 meters in diameter.
Weird and wonderful hotel experiences from around the world
Fancy spending your holidays inside an old sewer pipe or doing a stretch in a prison cell, for fun? Incredibly, now you can. These are just two of the weird and wonderful places to stay collected in a new book, Extreme Hotels. So pack your bags and book in for the strangest bed and breakfast experiences in the world...
Cockpit and cocktails: An old Bristol freighter doubles as a motel in Otorohanga, New Zealand. There's one suite in the old pilot's quarters and one in the tail.
A woof over your head: When two chainsaw artists in Idaho, U.S.A, decided to create a roadside attraction to entice visitors to their studio, this was the result - Sweet Willy, the Beagle B&B.
Call the lifeboat: These two marine survival capsules in The Hague, Netherlands, have been converted to a hotel.
For cave men and their women: You can stay in these 5th century cliff dwellings in Cappadocia, Turkey, now warmly reappointed as rooms for rent.
What a dive: This is the visible portion of the Utter Inn in Sweden, a 'cottage' with an underwater room. You are just rowed out to it and left in peace, with only the fish for company.
Cold cuts only? The Igloo Village provides surprisingly warm accommodation in a ski resort high in the Swiss Alps
Pipe dream: Pieces of concrete sewage pipe in Austria have been fitted with beds, and you pay only what you think they are worth.
VAT included: Old winemaking barrels have been turned into bedrooms in Stavoren, Holland.
Doing porridge: A former military prison in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is now a youth hostel called Celica (which means cell)
Towel Elephant
Step by step instructions on how to fold a towel elephant like this one:
1. Lay your towel on a flat surface
2. Fold the ends in
3. Fold the folded ends once again
4. Roll the left and right end of the towel towards the middle
5. Fold the rolled towel so that rolls are facing out and the smooth side is facing in. This is the body and the legs of the elephant.
6. Put the legs aside and lay a new towel on a flat surface (this time use a smaller towel)
7. Pin the center of the long towel side down so that it doesn't move
8. Roll the top edges toward inside
9. Continue rolling to the center until you can't roll anymore
10. Turn the roll over so that the rolled side faces down and the flat side up toward you
11. Roll the tip up in a tight roll to form a trunk. Squeeze slightly to help the towel keep a curl once it's released
12. Grasp the flat area of towel between the two towel points at the side that is facing down and unroll it away from the center. This will spread the wide end points into shape of ears and form the forehead of the elephant.
13. Tuck in the sides of the face
14. Place the head on top of the legs
And your towel elephant should look something like this:
Matching Album Covers
Great advertisement campaign for N9UF Music Radio in which record and CD album covers were combined into a cool looking collage.
Four Seasons In A Single Picture
Amazing collection of pictures showing a place throughout all four seasons all in one picture. You really notice the difference between winter, fall, summer and spring when have it all in one photo.
Bryony Matthewman has been crowned queen of video website YouTube
This is the girl who has been crowned queen of video website YouTube.
Bryony Matthewman has built a huge international fan club for her one-woman comedy sketches.
The 24-year-old, who uses the internet pseudonym Paperlilies, films herself in her bedroom at her parents' Enfield home.
She impersonates singer Amy Winehouse, portrays a brainless teenage American beauty queen and takes on the persona of a stereotypical "chav" called Shazza.
In a recent addition to her repertoire, she plays Britney Spears giving childcare tips to her pregnant 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn.
Bryony Matthewman in two of her guises as Amy Winehouse (left) and Britney Spears
So far she has been watched by more than two million people and today she topped a poll commissioned by YouTube to find its 10 mostwatched Londoners.
Bryony, a graphic designer, insisted that it was all just "a bit of a laugh".
She said: "I'm freelance at the moment so I have quite a lot of time on my hands to make the videos. When I first looked at the site it was full of Americans and I decided it would be good to have an English presence.
"I started by answering questions that people from around the world had about Britain. Then I started doing my own comedy sketches and they really caught on.
"It's great that so many people enjoy them but it's all just a bit of a laugh to me."
The number of people using YouTube in Britain has doubled since it launched a dedicated UK portal in June.
Bryony as herself by her computer where she produces her comic sketches
Broadcasting directly from their front rooms, back gardens and even bathrooms, some users are attracting more viewers than tune into prime-time TV shows.
About 10.8 million people in the UK use YouTube a month - a fifth of the population - according to analysts Nielsen NetRatings.
They found that Britons view more than 850 million YouTube pages a month, more than double the volume of a year ago.
Worldwide, more than eight hours of video are uploaded every minute, according to YouTube figures.
Watch Bryony as Britney Spears giving her sister JamieLynn childcare tips
Bryony 's impression of Amy Winehouse
Warning video contains strong language
The most expensive Christmas drink in the world
It may be wise to ensure it's not your round when someone orders a glass of Hennessy's new limited edition cognac - which comes in at a staggering £105,000 a bottle.
The Beaute de Siecle - created to celebrate a Hennessy patriarch's 100th birthday - costs a wallet-wilting £5,000 a glass.
France's exclusive cognac houses have often released special bottles of their pungent spirit. Courvoisier produced 2,000 bottles to mark the millenium costing £2,500 each.
Breathtaking: Hennessy's mouth-watering cognac for sale at an eye-watering £105,000
Remy Martin then made 1.5 litre magnum of Louis XIII cognac with a 4 carat diamond attached to the bottle for £25,000.
But Hennessy's new Beaute de Siecle - or which there are just 100 bottles in existence - is now officially most expensive tipple by a very wide margin.
The cognac itself is in a Baccarat crystal bottle contained in an ornate wooden chest embedded with mirrored glass and meted aluminium.
A bronze key opens the box which then triggers a concealed switch to make the bottle rise up on a velvet tray.
The drink itself is blended by Hennessy's cellar master Yann Fillioux from reserve cognacs between 50 and 100 years old.
Company spokesman Thibault Le Mailloux said: "It is truly a work of art in which there is a bottle of cognac.
"It was created in homage to a Killian Hennessy, the sixth generation descendant of the company's founder, who is 100 years old this year.
"He oversaw the merger between Hennessy and Moet et Chandon in 1971, and the creation of the LVMH group in 1987, of which he was the first honorary president."
One bottle of Beaute de Siecle has already been presented to Killian Hennessy as a birthday present, and another has been donated to Elizabeth Taylor's AIDS charity to be auctioned.
Several of the 100 bottle series have already been sold, to anonymous buyers in Asia, Europe and America. A bottle is also on display as a contemporary art work at the Galerie Nichidou in Tokyo.
At the other end of the cognac market, the drink's affectionados have been warned their could be a worldwide drought of their favorite tipple next year due to a very low 2007 grape harvest.
The price of an ordinary bottle of 25 pounds cognac could soar to over £35, Cyril Camus, CEO of Cognac producer Camus said.
He added: "Today there is enough stock to supply at the current rate of sales.
"But if the rapid sales experienced over the past two years continues then the very low grape harvests mean then there will be shortages in the near future, and the price will certainly go up."
Chinese ice sculpture festival celebrates all things French
French tourists visiting the renowned snow carving festival in Harbin, China, will find themselves in familiar surroundings.
This year's exposition features huge carvings inspired by France's culture and history. A traditional chalet, the Eiffel Tower and even a sculpture of Napoleon Bonaparte have been intricately etched into the snow.
A very cold Eiffel Tower is carved into the snow
This year the exposition was inspired by all things French
Soldier: Napoleon Bonaparte looks like he leapt out the ground
The largest work is more than 100 feet high and 600 feet across and many of the winter wonderland sculptures are lit up with dazzling neon lights at night.
Some of the structures are created by piling up ice blocks, carved with chisels and chainsaws, to make huge models of buildings. Lights are frozen in the middle of them creating the beautiful displays of colour.
At night the sculptures are lit up in dazzling colours
The festival attracts tourists from around the world
Giant: This Rodin inspired sculpture dwarves this man making an identical pose
The festival was set up in 1963 and re-established in 1985 following the cultural revolution in China. It now attracts hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors from all over the world who brave the sub-zero temperatures.
It is held each year on the Sun Island in Harbin, a city in northeast China. The arctic climate provides an abundant amount of ice and snow with average winter temperatures of minus 16.8 degrees.
10 Crazy & Creative Egg Designs for the Holidays
There are several known techniques for egg decoration with the most popular one probably being Carl Fabergè's. Drilling & Sawing is my personal favorite, usually done with compressed air and leaving very little of the original shell. Another popular form is a wax resist method named Pysanky in which the artist uses geometric, plant, animal motifs and color to tell a usually very detailed story.
Following are 10 spectacular examples title="Russ Hagen" from some of the world's greatest egg decoration artists as exhibited on the Eastern Ohio Egg Artistry Show (Ohio 2006 and 2007) and the Eggs-I-Bit (Phillipsburg, NJ, 2006).
All photos taken by and courtesy of Randall B. Farber and the International Egg Art Guild (IEAG), a non-profit association of artists, artisans, and craftspeople who work with natural eggs as an art or folk art medium. Enjoy.
10. Shihori Kato
9. Satoko Kano
8. Mildred Davis
7. Russ Hagen
6. Mary Lou Crawford
5. Lisa Sensinger
4. Kyoko Jewell
3. Helen Badulak
2. Harumi Baloy
1. Gloria Harrison
12 Reasons Why You Should Have Sex Tonight
Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright is a sex educator and relationship expert
Sex – it does the body good.
Yet most of us are quicker to hit the gym before hitting the sheets when it comes to taking care of ourselves. Believe it or not, huffing and puffing your way through a hot, sweat-inducing sex session may be far more beneficial to your overall health than the time you spend on the treadmill.
As research confirms time and time again, good sex in a healthy, stable, monogamous relationship can only better our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. Sex, in this context, offers us tons of benefits, most of which aren’t touted nearly enough.
Here are just a few benefits:
— Weight loss and weight control. Forget torturing yourself with the latest fad diet or hours on the elliptical machine when you can burn about 200 calories in 30 minutes of sex! Lovemaking lends itself to improved strength, flexibility, muscle tone, and cardiovascular conditioning. Plus, there’s something super sexy about getting to sleep with your very own “personal trainer.”
— Pain management. Forgo popping a pain killer and opt for something a bit more “au naturel.” Sex has been shown to offer migraine and menstrual cramp relief, as well as alleviate chronic back pain thanks to the endorphins and corticosteroids released during sexual arousal and orgasm.
— Stress relief. Sex, even if only with ourselves, impacts the way we respond to stress, increasing levels of oxytocin and stimulating feelings of warmth and relaxation. What better way to unwind from a tough day than sharing its most climactic moment with your special someone?
— Immune booster. Stop spending late nights at the office. Sex wards off colds and the flu. And sexually active people take fewer sick days, giving the phrase “working late” an entirely new meaning. Bosses, take note.
— Better heart health. A little bit of heart and soul in the sack should be part of every doctor’s orders when it comes to cardiovascular care. Sex may help lower cholesterol and the risk of heart attack.
— Increased self-esteem and intimacy. When sex is consistent and involves mutual pleasure, it can increase bonding since the surge in oxytocin at orgasm stimulates feelings of affection, intimacy, and closeness. When spiritual in nature, sex can lead to an even better quality of life and stronger relationship. Is it any wonder that good sexual energy in a positive relationship can make you feel better about yourself, your partner, and life in general?
— Sleep enhancement. There’s no need to count sheep when sex, including masturbation, helps insomnia. Plus, making love sure beats tossing and turning your way to zzzz’s.
— A better, younger looking you. Sex keeps you looking and feeling younger and, according to some research, may lead to shiny hair, a glowing complexion and bright eyes. This is because it increases the youth-promoting hormone DHEA (dehydroepiandrostone). And feeling more attractive charges your sex life even more.
— Mood lifter. Sex releases pleasure-inducing endorphins during arousal and climax that can relieve depression and anxiety, and increase vibrancy.
— Longevity. There is a significant relationship between frequency of orgasm and risk of death, especially with men. Men who orgasm two times a week have a 50 percent lower chance of mortality than those who climax one time per month. The bonus: Living longer also gives you and your honey the opportunity for even more lovin’!
— Decreased risk of breast cancer. One study of women who had never given birth found that an increased frequency of sexual intercourse was correlated with a decrease in the incidence of breast cancer.
— Reproductive health benefits. According to at least one study, sex appears to decrease a man’s risk of prostate cancer, and the prevention of endometriosis in women. It also promotes fertility in women by regulating menstrual patterns.
In a nutshell, the health benefits of sex in a good, solid relationship are practically endless. Yet, in planning our New Year’s resolutions, how many of us are declaring, “I think I’ll have more sex with my lover” in fulfilling any 2008 health and self-improvement goals?
While exercise on a regular basis is important to your health, sex can do so much more for you and your relationship. So before signing any dotted line for a new gym membership, consider how time allotted to an athletic club could be far more effective in your boudoir.
You can get a lot more bang for your buck in the bedroom, double your “membership” benefits, and, with sex breeding the desire for more sex, thanks to a boost in testosterone, it’s a workout plan you’re likelier to stick to.
Dr. Yvonne KristÃn Fulbright is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder of Sexuality Source Inc. She is the author of several books including, "Touch Me There! A Hands-On Guide to Your Orgasmic Hot Spots."
Hollow Earth May Be the Weirdest Theory of the World
So wait, what? The Earth … hollow? Yes, it’s an insane theory, and yes it is as fictitious as the fairy tales that gave rise to it, yet at the same time it can’t be directly disproved. Why? Because we have never actually dug more than about 15 miles below the surface of the Earth, so there is no 100% direct evidence the Earth is solid through an through! Does this mean Hollow Earth Theories could hold true? Sure, and Santa might actually drop by 6 billion houses a year on a sled pulled by a glorified pack of deer.
What may be most amazing about Hollow Earth theories is the fact that some people believe them even today. One self-identified scientist and explorer is currently trying to raise two million dollars to mount a mission where no man has ever gone before: through a polar ice cap and into a supposed ‘Inner Earth’ with its own oceans, continents and of course its own sun. What is strangest about his video presentation on the subject (above) is the deadpan, candid and intelligent-sounding way in which he presents his arguments.
Shocking as it may seem that some people still believe the world to be empty at its core this idea is unsurprisingly nothing new. Early theorists held that there were a series of concentric spheres within the Earth while more recent models have posited a viable interior space or even that we occupy the center rather than the interior surface of sphere with everything else in orbits within this sphere.
Eco-boat powered by human fat attempts round the world speed record
The fastest eco boat on the planet will attempt to break the round the world speed record using fuel made from human fat.
Pete Bethune, the New Zealand skipper of Earthrace, said the attempt to circumnavigate the globe would begin from Valencia in Spain on March 1 next year.
Bethune and his wife mortgaged their house and sold everything they own to help make the project happen, while continuing to seek support from sponsors.
Record breaking attempt: Earthrace will attempt to circumnavigate the globe running 100 per cent biodiesel, and with a net zero carbon-footprint
Earthrace is a 78 foot alternative fuel powered wave-piercing trimaran, it can carry 3,000 gallons of fuel, and weighs 23 tonnes when fully fuelled
Demonstrating further commitment to the cause, Bethune underwent liposuction and donated enough to produce 100ml of biofuel, while two other, larger volunteers also had the procedure, making a total of 10 litres of human fat.
This in turn produced seven litres of biofuel, which could help the boat travel about 15km.
Earthrace is fuelled on 100 per cent biodiesel and has a net zero carbon footprint.
The announcement was made at the QE2 pier in Greenwich where Earthrace is being hosted by Greenwich Council until January 1.
Circumnavigating the globe represents the pinnacle of powerboat challenges, and more than 24,000 nautical miles is the world's longest speed challenge.
Pete Bethune, the New Zealand skipper of Earthrace, believes the boat can help advance biodiesel as a genuinely viable alternative to petroleum diese
The current record holder is British boat Cable and Wireless Adventurer which took 75 days in 1998.
From the start in Valencia the boat will cross the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and travel through the Panama and Suez Canals..
From there the boat will cross the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans as it thunders along the planet's circumference at a maximum speed of 40 knots.
When it attempts to break the Round the World Speed Record, the goal is to do 20-25 knots (23-29mph) almost continually for 65 days.
The not-for-profit project aims to promote awareness of the environment and the sustainable use of resources.
Inside Earthrace: The not-for-profit project aims to promote awareness of the environment and the sustainable use of resources
Earthrace, which cost about £1.5 million to build, can carry 3,000 gallons of fuel, and weighs 23 tonnes when fully fuelled.
The boat is designed to cut through waves rather than sail over which enables the boat to go faster through big seas compared to conventional craft.
Bethune believes Earthrace can help advance biodiesel as a genuinely viable alternative to petroleum diesel.
He said: "Governments have a role to legislate to make biofuels happen.
Route to success: The boat will cross the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and travel through the Panama and Suez Canals
"If it were up to market forces, biofuels wouldn't happen at all.
"Politicians in Western Europe must be prepared to stand up to the oil industry, and be more supportive of the biofuels industry to make sure the production of biofuels is sustainable."
A successful attempt by Earthrace would mark the first time in history that an official UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique - The International Powerboating Association) Powerboat world record has been broken using only renewable fuel.
Google Talk's translation bots
Chatting with people who speak another language just got a lot easier thanks to Google's translation bots.
The translation bots provide a way to translate between Google Talk contacts in a group chat or as a translation tool. All you have to do is add one of 29 bots as a contact using their two letter language abbreviation. So in order to translate from an English conversation to a French one, you would add "en2fr@bot.talk.google.com" as a Google Talk contact. Now you can enter a group chat with a user who speaks French, bring the chat bot into the conversation, and the bot will translate everything you say into French and everything the other person says into English.
If you have a Blackberry, the Google Talk client will also function as a translator while on the go. It works the same way, by adding the appropriate translation bot to your chat conversation.
Google is also calling all developers to build their own XMPP based bots for such things as weather services and games that can be added into the Google Talk open protocol.
Update: Our initial list of available bots included some languages that are not actually available. There are 24 bots currently available: ar2en, de2en, de2fr, el2en, en2ar, en2de, en2el, en2es, en2fr, en2it, en2ja, en2ko, en2nl, en2ru, en2zh, es2en, fr2de, fr2en, it2en, ja2en, ko2en, nl2en, ru2en, zh2en. As some have guessed, this is a 20% project, and while machine translation isn't perfect, we hope these bots can be helpful in bridging language barriers.
Animal activists' anger after aquarium puts Santa hats on whales
It's a scene that brings laughter and cheers from visitors to a Japanese aquarium - two white beluga whales wearing Santa hats.
But environmentalists are saddened by the sight of what they say is the final humiliation for the whale in a country that hunts them down with harpoons.
The beluga whales have been fitted out with the cute Santa hats to entertain the crowds at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise on Yokohama Island.
There's even a chance to receive a wet kiss under the mistletoe from a yuletide beluga.
Beluga whales have been fitted out with the Santa hats in a bid to draw in the Christmas crowds at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise on Yokohama Island, Japan
Yet while the white belugas are entertaining the crowds, their humpback cousins are facing a brutal end in cold storage at the hands of Japanese whalers in Antarctica.
Hunting ships are already on their way to the icy reaches of the Southern Ocean, where this year's catch of 1,000 will include humpbacks for the first time in 40 years.
Ironically, among the possible targets is another extremely rare, if not unique, white whale - a humpback - Australians have named Migaloo, which means 'white fella' in the Aborigine language.
Greenpeace said it was 'unfortunate' most Japanese people only got to see whales in novelty type contexts
The hunting expedition also plans to kill 50 fin whales, the world's second largest animal after blue whales, as 850 smaller minke whales.
Wildlife officials say the display of the white belugas wearing Santa hats is both sad and ironic against the background of the Antarctic hunts, due to start in the region after Christmas.
"While whales are being used for entertainment in Japan, the Japanese fleet is subjecting whales to a cruel death in the Southern Ocean," said Mr Darren Kindleysides, a Sydney-based campaigner for the International Fund for Wildlife.
"Sadly, the aquarium owners seem to be showing as little respect for whales as their Government."
An Australian whale-watching official, Mr Peter Lynch, said the aquarium display was disrespectful to the whales, adding: "The real irony lies in the fact that the general population in Japanhave no idea what's going on in Antarctica."
While the white belugas are entertaining the crowds, their humpback cousins are facing a brutal end in cold storage at the hands of Japanese whalers in Antarctica
Greenpeace said it was "unfortunate" most Japanese people only got to see whales in novelty type contexts.
However, the Australian government will be casting a different eye over the activities of the Japanese whalers in Antarctica - it plans to send a former P&O cruise ship, now converted into an armed vessel, to the region to monitor the hunting.
Following high-level talks, the vessel, Oceanic Viking, which has a reinforced hull to cut through ice, will be leased to the government to track the Japanese whaling ships and keep a check on their activities.
The crew is trained for polar conditions and they will use 'super-telephoto' lenses to record the whale slaughter.
In addition, the ship will have two .50-calibre machine guns manned by a customs boarding party should a clash of any kind with the Japanese vessels occur.
Australia's new Labour Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has accused the former John Howard government of doing nothing to save the endangered whales, adding that nobody took seriously Japan's claim that it was conducting scientific research.
The magnificence of dawn breaking
As the sun rises over the remote settlement of Burketown in the Australian outback of northern Queensland, the first, pale rays of light illuminate an awesome sight.
It makes its first appearance as nothing more than a narrow, dark line on the horizon.
But as dawn breaks and it comes sweeping at high speed across the sky, its shadow rushing across the sandy ground and engulfing Burketown's few houses, the full majesty of this enormous cloud makes itself felt.
A huge, shimmering roll of white and grey, it blows in from the coast like an airborne glacier, hangs around 1,000ft above the ground, reaches perhaps a mile up towards the heavens, moves at up to 35mph and stretches up to 600 miles wide (about the same as the distance from Inverness to Exeter).
The meteorological phenomenon is known as the Morning Glory and usually occurs at first light in the months of September and October, drawing crowds of visitors, in particular gliders, hoping to catch it for an exhilarating and dangerous "cloud-surf".
Locals know it well enough to recognise the first signs that it might be on its way: a film of condensation on the clear doors of the beer fridges in the bar is a sign that the air is humid enough for the cloud to form.
Its arrival is preceded by a wind that whisks up the dust and dead leaves from the ground. But when it comes, the air falls suddenly still.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney, author of The Cloudspotter's Guide, made a trip halfway around the world simply to see the Morning Glory and calls it "the most amazing cloud in the world", and says he couldn't get over "the immensity of it, blocking out the moon and the Southern Cross as it passes".
The cause of this incredible natural phenomenon is not well understood, though it's thought to be linked to opposing sea-breeze currents that form over the Cape York peninsula to the north-east.
When these currents collide, the air rises upwards like a spine, and if the conditions - which are thought to include high humidity - are right, this eventually forms into the cylindrical Everest of clouds that astonishes all those who see it.
Top 10 security threats for 2008
McAfee Inc has released its top ten predictions for security threats in 2008. Researchers at McAfee Avert Labs expect an increase in Web dangers and threats targeting Microsoft Corp's Windows Vista operating system, among other new or increased threats. At the same time ad-serving software known as adware is expected to continue to decrease.
"Threats are increasingly moving to the Web and migrating to newer technologies such as VoIP and instant messaging," said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs and product development. "Professional and organised criminals continue to drive a lot of the malicious activity. As they become increasingly sophisticated, it is more important than ever to be aware and secure when traversing the Web."
Compromises and malware at Salesforce.com, Monster.com and MySpace, among others, represent a new trend in attacking online applications and social networking sites.
Attackers are using Web 2.0 sites as a way to distribute malware and are datamining the Web, looking for information people share to give their attacks more authenticity. McAfee Avert Labs expects a large increase in this activity in 2008.
With a handful of high-profile prosecutions of bot herders in 2007, criminals will be seeking better ways to cover their tracks. The Storm Worm set a worrying precedent. Also known as Nuwar, the Storm Worm has been the most versatile malware on record.
The creators released thousands of variants and changed coding techniques, infection methods and social engineering schemes far more than any other threat in history.
Storm created the largest peer-to-peer botnet ever. McAfee expects others will ride the coattails of that questionable success, pushing up the number of PCs turned into bots. Bots are computer programmes that give cyber crooks full control over PCs. Bot programmes typically get installed surreptitiously on the PCs of unknowing computer users.
The scenario of a "flash" worm via instant messaging applications has been foreshadowed for years. This threat could reach millions of users around the globe in a matter of seconds. There has been malware that spreads via IM, but we have yet to see such a self-executing threat. However, this may be closer than ever as the number of vulnerabilities in popular instant messaging applications more than doubled in 2007 compared to 2006.
More importantly, there were 10 high-severity risks in 2007, compared to none in 2006. Additionally, the top IM virus families of 2005 and 2006 were replaced with new active threats, signifying an out with the old and in with the new milestone. Skype saw its first batch of worms in 2007. Many more are expected to follow.
The threat to virtual economies is outpacing the growth of the threat to the real economy. As virtual objects continue to gain real value, more attackers will look to capitalise on this.
The evidence is already there. The number of password-stealing Trojans that targeted online games in 2007 grew faster than the number of Trojans that target banks.
In 2008, Windows Vista is set to gain additional market share and cross the 10 per cent barrier. The release of Service Pack 1 for Vista is also likely to accelerate the adoption of the Microsoft operating system. As Vista becomes more prevalent, attackers and malware authors will start in earnest to explore ways to circumvent the operating system's defenses.
There were 19 Vista vulnerabilities reported since its release earlier this year. We can expect a lot more Vista vulnerabilities to be reported in 2008.
The government crackdown against purveyors of ad-serving software has had a positive effect. The combination of lawsuits, better defenses, and the negative connotation associated with this form of advertising helped start the decline of adware in 2006.
This trend was confirmed in 2007 and with the major players out of the game, adware is expected to continue its decline in 2008.
Cybercrooks will increasingly target smaller, less-popular sites with data-thieving phishing scams. It has become tougher and riskier to target top-tier sites as the big-name brands are responding more quickly and providing increased security.
Knowing that a large percentage of people reuse their usernames and passwords, less popular sites are likely to be targeted more frequently than before, giving criminals the same access.
Parasitic infectors are viruses that modify existing files on a disk, injecting code into the file where it resides. While crimeware was storming ahead in recent years, parasitic malware faded to the background. In 2007 several crimeware authors turned old school to deliver threats like Grum, Virut, and Almanahe; parasitic viruses with a monetary mission.
The number of variants of an older parasitic threat, Philis, grew by more than 400 per cent, while over 400 variants of a newcomer, Fujacks, were catalogued. We expect a continued interest in parasitics from the crimeware community, with overall parasitic malware expected to grow by 20 per cent in 2008.
Security vendors will embrace virtualisation to create new, more resilient defenses. Today's complex threats will be easily defeated, but researchers, professional hackers, and malware authors will begin looking at ways to circumvent the new defensive technology, continuing the classic game of cat and mouse.
Already this year, more than double the number of security vulnerabilities have been reported in Voice over IP (Internet Protocol) applications, compared to all of 2006. We have also seen several high-profile "Vishing" attacks and a "phreaking" conviction.
It is clear that VoIP threats have arrived and there's no sign of a slow down. The technology is still new and defence strategies are lagging. McAfee expects a 50 per cent increase in VoIP-related threats in 2008.
Bizarre: The long-eared jerboa
A bizarre-looking rodent described as "the Mickey Mouse of the desert" has been turned into an unwitting movie star to try to ensure its survival.
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) today released the first known footage of the long-ear jerboa, which looks like a mouse-sized kangaroo with enormous ears.
The little jumping Mongolian rodent was filmed hopping about in its natural habitat in the Gobi desert by the scientists from the ZSL's Edge programme, which focuses its efforts on animals which are "evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered".
Bizarre rodent with ears bigger than its head
The jerboa, found in the deserts of Mongolia and China, is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.
It is threatened by disturbance of its habitat - with the domestic cat emerging as a newly-introduced predator into the rodent's range.
It is one of 10 species which has been selected for the focus of the first year of the scheme because it was receiving little conservation attention.
All the Edge species are highly distinct genetically, with few close relatives, but are extremely endangered and need immediate action to save them from becoming extinct.
Huge ears: The rodent is dubbed 'the Mickey Mouse of the desert'
Dr Jonathan Baillie, ZSL head of field conservation and leader of the expedition to Mongolia, said: "The footage and images from this expedition really are extraordinary and incredibly charming.
"The long-eared jerboa is a bit like the Mickey Mouse of the desert, cute and comic in equal measure.
"When people see ZSL's footage of this tiny, threatened creature I am convinced they will want to get involved in its conservation.
"Unfortunately, this is just one of many amazing and unusual animals that are highly threatened but receiving little or no conservation attention."
The long-eared jerboa (Euchoreutes naso) is a jumping rodent whose legs are specially adapted for jumping like a kangaroo and is easily recognised by ears which are about a third bigger than its head.
It is a primarily nocturnal insect-eating animal which spends its daylight hours in underground tunnels.
Long tail: The rodent has a huge tail
Endangered: The strange-looking rodent
world's most expensive christmas cocktail
The World's most expensive christmas cocktail is being launched today at a notorious, London A-list hang-out.
"Flawless", at £35,000 for a glass, promises to break the bank for all but the uber-rich, which some feel is a snub to the rest of us as economists panic over the credit crunch.
The Movida nightclub, which has hosted celebs including Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Jordan and Peter Andre, has already taken a few orders for the drink.
The Movida nightclub is launching the world's most expensive christmas cocktail
Ingredients in the costly cocktail include a large measure of Louis XII cognac, half a bottle of Cristal Rose champagne, some brown sugar, angostura bitters and a few flakes of 24-carat edible gold leaf, according to The Guardian.
But the real extravagance is an 11-carat white diamond ring - which can be found at the bottom of the glass.
And customers buying the exorbitant cocktail won't go unnoticed. Two security guards will be on watch as the drink is prepared and watch over the client's table until the last sip.
"They're definitely paying for the show as well," said Ed Rollason, the bar's manager.
The A-list bar claims to be in the top 5 in the world for sales of Crystal champagne
A property developer, who is among the first to order the drink, says it's a christmas present for his girlfriend.
"I just thought it would be a nice thing to do for her. She has so many other things."
Asked if he doesn't have anything better to do with £35,000, he said: "It's about the same as a holiday, isn't it?"
Movida is known for it's extravagance. It claims to be the "world's biggest supplier of Don Perignon" and boasts sailing "effortlessly into the Top 5 in the world for their sales of Crystal champagne."
Less than a quarter of workers could afford the fancy beverage, even if they saved every penny for a year.
The Movida has hosted private parties for celebs including Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Jordan and Peter Andre
Many received the news as further proof of the irresponsibility of the super-rich.
Labour MP Sion Simon said: "It's like sticking two fingers up at the rest of society.
"You might as well set fire to your money in front of those less well-off.
"It's a very deliberate way of saying 'We are not part of the same country as you.'"
Social commentator Peter York agreed: "It is so gauche, so crashingly crass, that everyone else will see the buyers as barely literate, as one step up from a potato.
"It will be one of those things that unite both the middle class and the old rich in a belief that the super-rich come out of some kind of primeval ooze."
Man builds record-breaking 25ft house of cards
Bryan Berg has a surprising gravity-defying hobby. The 33-year-old American builds huge structures out of playing cards and his latest 25ft skyscraper has broken all records.
The professional 'cardstacker' has created a variety of breathtaking sculptures over the years including models of cathedrals, skyscrapers and stadiums, without using anything to stick them together.
Berg said the combined weight of the cards and his special grid structures helped hold his constructions in place.
Bryan stands amongst his card creations
His latest creation, which took five weeks to build, stands at 25ft 9inches tall and was made from 1,800 decks of playing cards. It was limited only by the height of the building he was working in.
While Berg's remarkable feats may take unyielding concentration and patience he insists his work is highly rewarding.
"I like what I do. This is no kind of torture or boredom for me," he said.
"In my lifetime, cardstacking has gone from a hobby to an obsession to a livelihood."
Berg first started building card houses at the age of eight. He broke the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest House of Cards in 1992 at the age of seventeen, with a tower fourteen feet, six inches tall.
When asked recently if he could build a taller structure, perhaps even 100ft high, he was undaunted. "You bet!" he said.
Bryan has never suffered a paper cut though he has admitted his hands can shake
London's Tower Bridge out of 1.6million matches
Michael Williams spent 10 painstaking years designing and building a famous London landmark...out of matchsticks.
The 41-year-old road layer from Shoebury in Essex created a complete replica of London's Tower Bridge out of 1.6million matches.
He spent every evening after work lovingly crafting the 6ft-long structure which twinkles with 156 working lights. But Mr Williams nearly saw his masterpiece go up in smoke when the intricate model began smouldering.
"My brother said he saw smoke coming out of it and I looked across, switched it off and decided to rip all the lights out," he said.
"I've had to plan how to do this properly because I don't want to build something for someone to take it home and it goes up in flames."
The replica has two household bulbs lighting up the two towers and an illuminated 52 gun galleon underneath. It is lit up with long-life LED bulbs which last for 100,000 hours.
Although the model is just a tiny proportion of the real thing, it took two years longer to build. Construction began on the original in 1886 and finished in 1894.
Mr Williams' fire for matchstick modelling was lit after he began making small boats but his passion for historical structures led on to his big project. Using photographs and books he managed to recreate the bridge, carving each stick by hand.
Mr Williams said: "I never realised I was artistic until I started this. My teachers thought I was useless at art but they aren't always right.
"I just wanted to build something to leave behind in life which is not just bricks and mortar - something different."
He now plans to sell the model to fund a studio and his next top secret project.
How many of these movie blockbusters can you name?
These surreal pictures all contain clues to the titles of movie blockbusters.
How many can you name?
1 Could someone have sent Roman Abramovich a love letter?
2 He's all ears as he waits to make an important trunk call
3 The train standing at platform one is the blue spotty one
4 This thirsty little insect doesn't stand a ghost of a chance
5 And we thought the ex-PM's wife was known as the Wicked Witch?
6 This strange-looking fellow is all fired up to win the race of his life
7 The gloves are off if you can reveal the identity of this hard-guy boxer
8 A 24-carrot gold movie starring Bob Hoskins
9 Cartoon about the pride of the jungle was a roaring success
10 He's young, free and in search of a ghoul-friend
11 In this seedy neighbourhood, he'll have a hard job to rob the rich to help the poo
12 Put your best foot forward if you can see the funny side of life
13 With a teacher and pupils who look as bizarre as this, they are truly a class apart
14 A controversial film that made some temperatures rise
15 Don't like how you look today? Just rub it out and start all over again...
Disclaimer
Cafe surviving the humouress things all over the world and webs . this section is for some laughter, fun and entertainment.
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Disclaimer: All images here has been gathered from the email and community group.
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Many of them have been sent to me by anonymous and there is no way to validate where they obtained them.
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Toddler fools the art world into buying his tomato ketchup paintings
To the untrained eye, they appear to be simple daubs that could have been created by a two year old. Which is precisely what they are.
But that didn't stop the supposed experts falling over themselves to acclaim them.
The toddler in question is Freddie Linsky, who has fooled the art world into buying and asking to exhibit his paintings.
Freddie's efforts, which include works using tomato ketchup composed while sitting on his high chair, were posted by his mother Estelle Lovatt on collector Charles Saatchi's online gallery.
The toddler with some of his creations: Freddie is said to favour the 'spot and blotch' technique
She claimed her son was an art critic and and a familiar face at major exhibitions, and added ludicrously overblown captions to his offerings.
One creation of random red and green splodges called Sunrise was captioned: "A bold use of colour. Inspired by the 'plein air' habit of painting by Monet, drawing on the natural world that surrounds us all."
And his black scrawlings in a work entitled The Best Loved Elephant are captioned:
"The striking use of oriental calligraphy has the kanji-like characters stampeding from the page, showing the new ascent of the East. It is one of Linsky's most experimental works."
Two-year-old Freddie has recently progressed from ketchup to oils on canvas
Freddie is said to favour the "spot and blotch" technique pioneered by the American abstract expressionism movement in the 1950s.
The young artist is said on Saatchi Online to have "dedicated his whole life to art".
His mother wrote: "Freddie W R Linsky paints over and over, making us curious to know what is going on.
"It seems that one stroke is being repeated - the same stroke or one very close to it, hence the possibility of the infinite opening up of the structure of time."
According to mother Estelle, Freddie has been able to hold a paintbrush since he was eight months old
Freddie's mother, a lecturer at Hampstead School of Art and a freelance art critic, said she never dreamt anyone would be duped by her over-the-top descriptions.
But a Manchester artist and collector paid £20 for one of Freddie's works and a gallery in Berlin wanted him to showcase his talents.
She said: "Freddie has been coming with me to galleries since he was three months old. and from eight months he was dipping his fingers into paint and able to hold a brush loosely.
"He sits on his high chair with a piece of paper and gets very excited at the mess he gets to make.
Freddie gets very excited about the mess he is allowed to make when painting
He has progressed from ketchup to acrylics on paper or canvas. I wondered whether the art world would be encouraging or dismissive if I showed his work online.
"I thought people would figure it out. But a collector paid £20 for The Best Loved Elephant. He said he liked the flow and energy of the picture.
Artist at work: Freddie Linsky
"A gallery in Berlin emailed, saying they were having an exhibition and thought Freddie's work was of a high standard and would like him to participate.
"I wrote on his behalf thanking them and asked them to let us know how their plans progress. They still don't know he's only two."
The Best Loved Elephant: It was sold for £20
Sunrise: Described as being 'inspired by Monet'
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