Bodyguard of Hitler stops replying Fan mails!

Did you know that one man who served Adolf Hitler as a bodyguard is still alive? 93 years old Rochus Misch, the last surviving bodyguard of Adolf Hitler, is saying goodbye to fan mails! Misch, who served Hitler during World War II has said that he can no longer reply to fan mails that he receives from different corners of the world because of his age.

Rochus Misch served Hitler as telephone operator, bodyguard and courier boy. After Hitler's suicide he was captured by Soviet forces. He is believed to be the last person alive who have seen Hitler. Misch has a large fan base who writes to him mostly for autographs. In the past he used to send fans autographed copies of wartime photos of himself in a SS uniform. Now the incoming fan mail, including letters and packages, piles up in his flat in south Berlin.

German tabloid Berliner Kurier quoted him as saying that "They (letters) come from Korea, from Knoxville, Tennessee, from Finland and Iceland - and not one has a bad word to say". But due to his age it was "no longer possible" to reply all those fan mails. Misch now depends on a walking frame to move around his apartment.

More about Rochus Misch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochus_Misch

World's Smallest Baby Boy Survives

Doctors in Germany have released the photographs of the world's smallest baby boy, who was born prematurely at 25 weeks weighing just 275 grams. He was so little at birth that a tape measure laid next to his body was wider than his limbs. According to recorded information he is the lightest boy worldwide who has survived an early birth. Take a look at the picture.

The boy was born in June 2009 in the University Hospital at Goettingen through a Caesarean section. The boy was only 27 centimeters long. Doctors did not believe he would live when he was born but tried hard to keep him alive. And finally they win and the baby boy survived! In December, after six months in intensive care, the baby was allowed home with his parents. Now the boy weighs 3,700 grams, a normal birth weight.

World Record for Holding Breath Underwater

Swiss freediver Peter Colat has just broken the Guinness World Record for holding a breath underwater by holding his breathe for 19 minutes and 21 seconds. The 38-year-old freediver from Zurich performed the feat in a water tank in St Gallen, Switzerland.

According to Colat, the first 12 minutes were easier. He was allowed to breathe pure oxygen for 10 minutes before the attempt. Colat beat the previous Guinness World Record, held by Nicola Putignano of Italy, by 19 seconds. Congratulations Colat. It was really impressive and impossible!

Ideas Stolen at Work? One in Four said 'Yes'!

According to a recent survey, more than one in four employees have had their ideas stolen at work and more than half of those who have had their ideas stolen never did anything in response. It means idea theft is prevalent in workplace and most idea thieves get away without any problem. This is really scary, specially when we talk about teamwork. Isn't it?

The interesting survey was developed by OfficeTeam, a staffing service, and was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 444 workers 18 years of age or older and employed in an office environment. At the end of the survey, it was found that 29% employees had said 'Yes' to the question: "Has a coworker ever taken credit for your idea?". It means more than one-quarter of employees have had their ideas stolen at work. Surprisingly 51 % of them said 'Nothing' to the question "What did you do in response?". So, more than half of those ideas thieves get away without

"Today's workplace is more competitive than ever and, unfortunately, there are people who will go to great lengths to make themselves look good or get promoted, including taking credit for someone else's ideas," said Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. "Being proactive in sharing your vision with your manager and colleagues early on can help ensure others know the concept originated with you."

OfficeTeam offers the following tips for getting the credit you deserve:

• Report up. Use status updates to remind your manager of your ideas and the progress being made to implement them.
• Look for patterns. If a minor contribution is occasionally overlooked, you may decide to let it go. However, if other people routinely get credit for your ideas, it's a sign that you need to be more assertive.
• Don't act in haste. When someone receives credit for your idea, try to get to the bottom of the situation. It could be a misunderstanding. Be sure to give your colleague the opportunity to present his or her side of the story to you.
• Set the record straight. If you are credited with a coworker's idea, be sure to swiftly correct the situation. Your colleague will appreciate it.
  

via: OfficeTeam

Credit Card Fraud : Miss Singapore Quits

Miss World Singapore 2009 winner Ris Low, who was revealed to be a convict of a credit card fraud, has decided to back out of the finals at Miss World 2009 to be held in South Africa in December. I think it was for the first time in Miss World history, a contestant backed out because of revealed fraud.

Ris Low was already under presser after a slew of negative media reports, where she incurred the ire of the public for her poor English, according to local radio 938 Live. Later, news of her conviction for credit card fraud in May also surfaced, which put her in the spotlight again. She was sentenced to two years' probation for using illegally obtained credit cards to purchase expensive items and dining at posh restaurants, running a bill close to 8,000 dollars.

There was controversy on whether she could or should represent the country. Many Singaporeans wanted her to be stripped of her title, while others requested her not to represent Singapore in the finals of the Miss World pageant to be held in South Africa in December. China Press reported that Low pleaded to be given a second chance, and asked for forgiveness from Singaporeans.

The 19-year-old beauty said that it would be better for everyone and that giving up the crown is the best choice she could make. ERM World Marketing, organizer of Miss Singapore World pageant, said it will be interviewing a new representative to represent Singapore at Miss World 2009 in the coming days.

Asteroid named after Rescuer of Anne Frank's Diary

On Sunday, an asteroid between the planets Mars and Jupiter has been named after Miep Gies, the woman who saved the diary of Anne Frank. The asteroid, discovered in 1972, orbits between Mars and Jupiter and has an estimated diameter of seven kilometers. From now on it will be known as Miep Gies. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) said it wanted to draw attention to the steadfast courage of the now 100-year-old last surviving helper of the Frank family who hid in a building behind a house in Amsterdam during World War II.

Gies, now aged 100, took care of the Franks - the teenaged Anne, her parents and sister - and other Jews who hid from the Nazis in the Netherlands. Anne kept the diary from 1942-1944, while living in a building at 263 Prinsengracht. After they were discovered and deported, it was Gies who found and hid Anne's diary.

Anne Frank died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, shortly before her sixteenth birthday and the end of the war. After the war, Gies gave the only surviving family member, Otto Frank his daughter's diary. The world famous diary of Anne Frank, which is now in Anne Frank museum, attracts nearly a million visitors as year from all over the world.

In a diary entry dated July 11, 1943, Anne wrote: "Miep is just like a pack mule, she fetches and carries so much. Almost every day she manages to get hold of some vegetables for us and brings everything in shopping bags on her bicycle."

Anne Frank Video on YouTube

Take a look at the video. This is the only existing video footage of Anne Frank, now published on YouTube by Amsterdam museum the Anne Frank House. The footage, filmed on 22 July 1941, shows Anne's neighbor on her wedding day. A 13-year-old Anne can be seen nine seconds into the video, leaning out of a second-floor window to get a better look at the bride-to-be next door.

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who was born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, and who lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. Anne gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

Guy Laliberte : The First Space Clown

Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte, who founded Cirque du Soleil, has become the "first clown to go into orbit". A Soyuz capsule carrying Laliberte and two other astronauts blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Russian rocket on Wednesday. Guy Laliberte put on a red nose like a clown when he boarded the spacecraft.

Mr Laliberte is also is taking nine red clown noses into space, one each for members of the orbiting ISS crew. He says he will make the ISS astronauts laugh during his 12-day stay, and produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for all. He intends to lead a "poetical social" performance from orbit. The two-hour show will link up with contributions from 14 cities worldwide and will be streamed on the web. Guy Laliberte reportedly paid more than £20m for his ticket to the International Space Station.

Sultan Kosen : World's Tallest Man is 8ft 1in Tall!

Sultan Kosen, a 26-year-old Turkish man, is now the officially recognized tallest man in the world. At 8ft 1in (2.47m) Kosen is about 4in (10cm) taller than the previous title-holder Bao Xishun. Kosen also has the largest hands and feet in the world. His hands measure 10.8in (27.5cm) and his feet 14.3in (36.5cm). Kosen's name will enter Guinness Book of Records for 2010.

On Thursday Guinness World Records confirmed Kosen's titles at the launch of the 2010 edition of the Guinness World Records book in London. A spokesman for Guinness World Records said Mr Kosen was the first person in more than a decade it had recognized as being more than 8ft in height.

Sultan Kosen grew normally until he was 10, but then a tumor caused him to develop a medical condition called pituitary gigantism, which affects hormone production and results in extreme growth, thickening of bones and large extremities. The tumor was removed last year and his growth stopped.

Take a look at some pictures of Sultan Kosen.

People, Life, Happiness and Living Life Fully

Are you happy? Do you think that your life is complete? Or how to feel like your life is complete? In exploring his own and others' lives, a wise man has identified the following four rules of living that give a sense of completeness to our days on earth :

1. Accept challenge and pain: We have to be prepared to accept pain, or else we will never dare to hope or to live. Without the readiness to feel, which must include feeling pain, we will never know joy. We have been led to believe that for every hurt there is a pill we can take to stop it. But when the pain of rejection, deteriorating health or dashed dreams does not go away, many do not know how to deal with it. Pain is part of being alive, but it does not last for ever, and it is bearable. Broken hearts, like broken bones, ultimately heal and there is life beyond the hurting.
2. Be close to People: We need to belong intimately to a few people with whom we share our lives. All the structures for which we spend so much time and energy to create are built on sand. At any time a wave may knock them down. When that happens, the person who has somebody's hand to hold will be able to laugh, and start over.
3. Know that you have made a difference: While not all of us have great wealth or talent, we can invest our creative energy in ways that remain after we are gone. We can all make a difference by teaching. By this I mean not only the classroom teacher but also the experienced accountant or factory worker passing on advice to the new arrival. Having an impact on another person, shaping his or her life in some small but vital way, is one of the most enduring satisfactions we ever know.
4. Live life until you die: The philosopher Horace Kallen once said, "There are persons who shape their lives by the fear of death, and persons who shape their lives by the joy of life. The former live dying; the later die living. Whenever I die, I intend to die living." We should think of life as the accumulation of treasures. Every new friend made, every new truth learned or experience undergone makes us richer than we were. You should keep it in mind that, it is only when you are no longer afraid to die, you can say you are truly alive.

Beauty Contest for Earthquake Survivors

It is reported that a beauty contest was organized for refugees of Italy's L'Aquila earthquake to give recovery hopes a head start. That was definitely a good cause. Stunning beauty Sara Iervolino, 26, was made Miss Tent City in the contest aimed at cheering up victims of the quake, many of which are still living in tents erected by the Italian government.

Organiser, hairdresser Antonello Durastante, said: "These girls have been through hell and back and now they have to live in a tent which doesn't do anything for a girl's self-esteem. We want to give them back dignity and beauty." Yes, after all we all are humans!

The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake was an earthquake of 6.3 moment magnitude that occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo on 6 April 2009. The majority of the damage occurred in the medieval city of L'Aquila and the surrounding villages. 297 people are known to have died, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

Wikipedia turned into a 5000 page Book!

Wikipedia is free online encyclopedia built collaboratively using Wiki software. Right now it contains more than 2,922,121 articles and is considered as one of the most reliable sources of information on various topics.

But Rob Matthews, a graphic design student from Brighton, Sussex, thought differently. He gave a shape to the popular online resource by converting it into a gigantic book of 5,000 pages. Take a look at the picture.

The book contains 437 featured articles from Wikipedia, which were selected on the basis of quality, accuracy, neutrality, completeness and style. It took Rob two weeks to produce the book, which is 1ft 7ins thick!

"I'm comparing the Internet Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopedia by putting it in the same format", Rob said. "I wanted to make a comment on how everyone goes to the Internet these days for information, yet it is very unreliable compared to what it has replaced", he added.

via: http://www.rob-matthews.com/index.php?/project/wikipedia/

Lady who missed Flight 447 dies in accident!

An Italian woman, who arrived late for the Air France flight 447 that crashed in the Atlantic last week, was not so lucky after all. Call it coincidence or fate, she has been killed in a car accident in Austria.

 

 

Johanna Ganthaler was holidaying in Brazil with her husband and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31, The Times reported. Later, the couple managed to get a flight back to France and all the 228 people aboard flight 447 lost their lives after the plane crashed into the Atlantic.

 

But destiny had something else in store for her. Ganthaler died when their car turned across a road and swerved into an oncoming truck on an Austrian road earlier this week. Her husband who was in the car with her escaped death with seriously injuries.

 

This reminds us of the movie "Final Destination", where air crash survivors dies after someday, like everything was already planned! Yes, this is life. No one can be sure about what will happen next.

Snake-Bitten Chicken Dish!

Earlier this week, news agency Reuters reported that Chinese health authorities banned a chicken dish prepared from snake-bitten chicken! What? A snake-bitten chicken? I was shocked when I read that? How people can do such things to innocent animals? Okay, chicken is a food item and it must die before going into our stomach. But why such cruelty? Why snake-bite induced slow death?

China is country where people have different odd food habits. The chicken dish was served by some selected eateries in the southern province of Guangdong and the southwestern city of Chongqing. Recently, a video posted on local site sina.com.cn showed how cooks forces poisonous snakes to bite live chickens before cooking. The video caused outraged locally and the may people termed it disgusting and cruel.

The video can be found here:
http:/you.video.sina.com.cn/b/21145091-1405053100.html

Friendship and Some Tips

True friendship is hard to find and even harder to keep! Many people don't realize this fact, which ultimately harms their relationships. When friends clasp their two hands, five plus five, ten fingers come closer to each other. If you want to keep those fingers close forever, you must give some efforts towards the relationship. Here I would like to tell you about some genuine tips.

Guidelines For Lasting Friendship

1. To be friend, you must be a good listener. It was Benjamin Disraeli who said, nature has given us two ears, but only one mouth. The ears cannot be closed whereas the mouth can be closed. Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot get it back. Think twice before you speak anything. You are the master of the unspoken word; you become a slave of the spoken word. Listen not only with your ears, but with your heart.
2. You must learn to appreciate others. Do not find fault with others in the midst of people. Leonardo da Vinci has said: "Blame in private, but praise in public."
3. If you would be a true friend, you must grow in the sprit of forgiveness.
4. Never forget a friend's name, because that lapse on your part can never be pardoned. That will show up your insincerity.
5. Make promises sparingly, but when you make one, fulfil it with the least delay.
6. You must not preach what you do not practice yourself.
7. Be cheerful; smile as much as you can. Learn to laugh. Laughter is a good mental tonic. Don't laugh at others. You may laugh at yourself.
8. Discuss, but do not argue. You may win an argument, but lose a friend.
9. Do not feel hurt when friends criticize you. Whenever you find yourself in the wrong, admit it.
10. If you want to win friends, you must be on the look out for opportunities to serve them. The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Emerson has said: 'The only way to get a friend is to be a friend'. And Henry Davidson has said: 'Radiate friendship, and it will be returned tenfold'.

Gold Plated Wii for the Queen

A Nintendo Wii for the Queen of England! According to news reports, THQ, a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, has sent a gold plated Wii to the Queen of England - Queen Elizabeth II. Finished in gold, the unique Wii console was specially commissioned for the Royal Family to mark the launch of brand new "BIG Family Games" for the Wii.

The golden Wii was delivered to Buckingham Palace along with one of the first copies of the new "BIG Family Games". The "BIG" series has been successful in the UK. According to THQ product manager Danielle Robinson, it's "the ultimate Wii game to get all family members, from grandparents to young children, playing together."

This is not for the first time Queen Elizabeth got a gadget as gift. In April, when US President Barack Obama visited Queen Elizabeth in Britain, he gave her an iPod, loaded with video and photographs of the queen's 2007 visit to Jamestown, Richmond and Williamsburg, Virginia. In my view, that was really a cool and modern gift. What you think?

1 in 4 Americans Texting While Driving

One in four US drivers text while driving, even though there are bans in some states, the findings of a new survey reveals. The survey, conducted by mobile voice application company Vlingo, also found that 83 percent of the 4,800 people surveyed believed the practice should be banned.

Interestingly, sending text messages while driving is more prevalent in states where it is already banned or legislation is pending for a ban. Drivers in Tennessee were the most prolific texters, with 42 percent of those questioned admitting to the habit. A ban on using a cell phone to text while driving will go into effect in Tennessee in July. Currently texting while driving is banned only in seven US states and the capital city.

During the survey 26 percent of the respondents said they could not resist a bit of texting while driving. This is really scary. Because texting while driving increases the risk of accidents. Texting was responsible for a train crash in Los Angeles last September which killed 25 people, and a Boston trolly crash this month injured nearly 50 people.

Injured Stork gets Artificial Beak

It is reported that an injured stork in Hungary recently got a new life when some experts replaced it's damaged beak with an artificial one. Take a look at the picture.

The stork damaged it's beak in an accident and was taken to the Hortobagy Birds' Hospital. After one-hour operation the experts successfully repaired the lower beak and replaced the top beak with an artificial one made out of synthetic resins. Without the artificial beak, the bird would have needed hand-feeding for the rest of its life and would have been unable to return to the wild.

Now the bird is recovering and will be released back into the wild after it fully recovers. Is it not a good example of humanity? I think wildlife activists must thank Tamas Kothay and Dr Deri Janos, who helped the injured stork by providing an artificial beak.

Obese Heart Patients Live Longer!

Obesity is one of the major causes of heart disease. I am sure that you know it. But, now the findings of a new study suggests that obesity may actually help heart patients. What? Yes, studies have shown that obese heart patients have better survival and have fewer strokes and heart attacks than normal-weight or underweight heart patients.

According to cardiologist Carl J. Lavie, MD, of the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, "Obese patients with heart disease respond well to treatment and have paradoxically better outcomes and survival than thinner patients". But, though many studies proved that fact many cardiologists haven't heard of this or don't believe it.

Yes, obesity is harmful. And compared to lean people, overweight and obese people have a much higher incidence of heart attacks, strokes, and death from other cardiovascular causes. But when when normal or underweight people get heart disease, their prognosis is worse than obese heart patients.

Why obese people do well? Dr. Lavie thinks that excess weight may be somewhat protective because obese patients have more reserves to fight disease than thinner patients. Another explanation might be that lean heart patients have more aggressive disease because they are genetically predisposed to develop heart disease and have worse outcomes.

Dr. Lavie warned that patients with heart disease shouldn't assume that gaining weight will protect them. The findings of the study appeared in the May issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

US Soldier Fights in Pink Underpants!

Recently an US soldier battled against the militants wearing his pink "I love New York" underwear. Take a look at the picture. No, this is not a Photoshop stuff. This is real and it appeared on the front page of The New York Times.

Zachary Boyd, the 19-year-old soldier, was sleeping when his platoon came under a sudden attack by militants in Afghanistan. Before standing against the enemy, Boyd managed to grab his helmet and body armour only. So, an Associated Press photographer got the chance to capture the rare moment - a soldier battling the enemy in his underwear!

That was definitely a funny situation. But in my view the soldier did his duty perfectly. What you say?