patti labelle blog: January 2007

Woman Applied Immigration Visa for Her Pet Dog

As her husband lived in Japan for so long time, Ms. Wen's pet teckle Niuniu who accompanied her for seven years has become the most cherished companion. In order to emmigrate to Japan together with her Niuniu, Ms. Wen, a resident from Chengdu City of Si Chuan Province, made a surprising decision that she postponed eight months to reunite with her husband while going through cumbersome application procedures to get an immigration visa for the dog. Niuniu officially embarked on a painstaking emigration journey after being implanted the Japan's only-certified ISO11785 chip which was air-lifted from Xiamen. In the following year, Niuniu will receive a series of stringent tests such as injection of rabies vaccine, serum screen by Japan, isolation, quarantine and so on. Any small problems will suspend its emigration. If Niuniu successfully emigrates to Japan, it will become Chengdu's first emigration dog to another country. Link

Braised Chicken Carved from Jade Stone

(Credit:Gong Hui/Xinhua)

Have you mouth-watered at the first sight of the chicken at the plate above? If yes, you are totally understandable, because the "braised chicken" carved from a kind of jade stone called Shou San Shi looks so lifelike. It was once displayed in Qilu Jewellery Shop of Jinan City, Shandong Province of China. The sculputure with a weight of around 2, 200 g was priced at 280, 000 Yuan (1USD = 7.8 Yuan).

Read also, World's Largest Jade Buddha Statue & Jade Bed

Chinese Doctors Successfully Operated on an Afflicted White Whale

Tina is a 5-year-old, 500-kilogram female white whale which was imported from Russia in 2004 to Qingdao Polar Ocean World in the coastal city Qingdao of East China's Shandong Province. It suffered from pus-filled lumps on her left abdomen and ulcerations on her right tail fins for more than a month. Not until January 19, doctors from Qiangdao City Hospital in collaboration with keepers of the marine theme park successfully removed the ulcerated area during a five-hour-long surgery, which is the first of its kind operation in China. Link to Chinadaily or Xinhua (in Chinese).

A Mini Baby Boy

This boy who weighed only 850g at the birth was attended to an intensive unit at a hospital in Xiangfan (yes, the city where previously observes a super boy's birth), Central China's Hubei Province this December 12, 2006. The mini boy has gone through life-threatening inborn defects and grown to nearly two kilograms recently after receiving treatment at the hospital.

World's Largest Jade Buddha Statue

From Wikipedia:

Anshan Jade Buddha is the largest jade Buddha statue in the world. It is located in Dongshan Scenic Reserve, Liaoning province, China.

The statue was sculpted from a piece of jade 7.95 meters high, 6.88 meters wide, 4.10 meters thick, weighing 260.76 tons. This piece of jade was found in the nearby Xiuyan town, known as "hometown of jade", on 22 July 1960.

China's Space Weapon Test Sparks Concerns

(Credit: Jason Lee/Reuters)

From Times:

It's springtime for anti-satellite missiles — again — now that China has fired a missile into space and destroyed an aging weather satellite orbiting 500 miles above the earth. The James Bond-style exercise left a several-hundred- meter-wide cloud of scrap metal floating around in space. Some of the debris could pose a threat to spacecraft passing through the region, scientists say, and will remain a problem for hundreds of years to come. And there will be repercussions on Earth, too.

Protests and expressions of concern were lodged over the test by the U.S., Japan, Canada, South Korea and Australia, but Beijing has so far refused to comment on the issue or even confirm the test took place. "The brazenness of this is a bit frightening," says Mike Green, former senior Bush Administration Asia adviser. "It shows that the Peoples Liberation Army has considerable leeway — a great deal of influence if not autonomy — to increase their capacity even at considerable diplomatic cost."

The reason for all the fuss is simple: the test potentially marks a major step forward in China's ability to nullify the huge technological advantage of the U.S. in any clash over Taiwan. While Western intelligence agencies have long been aware that the People's Liberation Army was attempting to develop an anti-satellite system, the successful targeting of a single satellite in high orbit marks a significant milestone. When the Pentagon issued its annual report to Congress on China's Military Power last summer it stated that "China can currently destroy or disable satellites only by launching a ballistic missile or space-launch vehicle armed with a nuclear weapon." All that has now changed.

Jade Bed

The Green Jade Dragon Bed that collector Yang Zhibing (not sure if one of two men in the picture) measures 305 cm long, 165 cm wide and 280 cm high, which is completely made up of deep green Xiuyan jade. It is composed of more than twenty big and hundreds of small jades with complicated traditional patterns carved. Currently, it is exhibited in a hotel of Panjin City, Liaoning Province, northeastern China. It is said that the bed was an Installation gift by Zhang Zuolin to Yuan Shikai when the latter then self-proclaimed as Emperor of the Chinese Empire.

Weird Cow Born With Six Legs, Two Vaginas and Six nipples

Residents of the Colombian town of Villa Vieja got a bit of a surprise when a calf was born with six legs, two sets of genitals and two udders.
'The calf has six legs, two vaginas and six nipples,' explained the animal's owner, Salvador Vanegas.
Vanegas, who has been raising cattle for many years, said it was the first time he has seen a calf born with that many legs and vaginas.

via A Welsh View

Giant Grass-and-flowers Abacus in China

The 10-meter-long and 8-meter-high huge abacus made of grass and flowers are seen on Yongan Square in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province.

Tibetan Centenarian--Dunzhu Lamu

Dunzhu Lamu, 104, enjoyed sunshine at her yard in Tiegong Village, about 40 kilometres from Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It's reported that she has 120 living descendants.

Video: Barack Obama -- Sex Offender?

Apparent not! It's a mistake made by Fox 9, the Fox Broadcasting Company television affiliate for Minneapolis/Saint Paul, which shows video of a Barack Obama rally during a story about a sex offender's sentencing. The anchorman's smirk at the end of the clip is totally embarrassing!

This Postwoman Delivers More Than Mail

I am touched!

Postwoman Luo Xiying carries a bicycle across a river on her way to a remote village in the mountains in Qianshan County, south China's Jiangxi Province, in this photo taken on January 6, 2007. In the 11 years that Luo has been delivering mail along this route, she has traveled 180,000 kilometers and has never dropped or lost a single piece of mail.

These Two Are A Centenarian Couple!

Centenarian couple Meng Qingrong (100, right) and Meng Nishi (101) show two rice tanks they made when they married at home in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province January 10, 2007. They have been married for nearly eighty years since 1927.

Video: A Group of Japanese Are Making a Huge Hamburger

via Uniquedaily

Man With His Head Pierced 800 Needles

More than 800 acupuncture needles were pierced on the head of Wei Shengchu, a Chinese medicine doctor from Guang Xi, Southwern China on January 9 . Dr. Wei was invited to Chongqing Municipality for the shooting of an adventure programme by Tokyo TV Station. He once won a Guinness World Record for piercing 1790 needles his his body in 2004. He said that his main purpose of self-piercings is to promote China's traditional acupuncture. He plans to pierce 2oo8 needles in his body as a special gift to Beijing Olympics in 2008, for which he has already reserved a hotel room in Beijing. Link (in Chinese)

South Korean Solders' Severe Winter Season Drill

A total of six awesome pictures show members of South Korea's Special Warfare Command scrub their bodies with snow during an annual severe winter season drill in Pyongchang, about 180km (113 miles) east of Seoul January 10, 2007. The special forces carry out the training course every year to improve their members' combat abilities in cold weather and heavy snowfall.

World's Smallest Country on Sale

The Principality of Sealand, the world's smallest country (with an area of 1800 sq. ft and population less than 20,any country yet to recognize its sovereignty and legitimacy) for sale!

Apply to Prince Michael of Sealand if you want to run your own nation, even if it is just a wartime fort perched on two concrete towers in the North Sea.

Built in World War Two as an anti-aircraft base to repel German bombers, the derelict platform was taken over 40 years ago by retired army major Paddy Roy Bates who went to live there with his family.

He declared the platform, perched seven miles off the east coast of England and just outside Britain's territorial waters, to be the Principality of Sealand.

The self-styled Prince Roy adopted a flag, chose a national anthem and minted silver and gold coins.

The family saw off an attempt by Britain's Royal Navy to evict them and also an attempt in 1978 by a group of German and Dutch businessmen to seize Sealand by force.

Roy, 85, now lives in Spain and his son Michael told BBC Radio on Monday his family had been approached by estate agents with clients "who wanted a bit more than a bit of real estate, they wanted autonomy."

A Kiss of Gratitude

Coloumbian Ana Julia Torres kisses Lion Jupiter

Through the bars of his cage, an African lion named Jupiter stretches his giant paws around the neck of Ana Julia Torres and plants a kiss on her puckered lips.

It could be a kiss of gratitude: Since Jupiter was rescued six years ago from a life of abuse and malnutrition in a traveling circus, Torres has fed and nursed him back to health at her Villa Lorena shelter for injured and mistreated animals.

My naughty junior lab fellow Christine recommended this touched story to me, thanks gal!

Celebrating Chinese Minority People

Members of a minority group perform during a traditional festival in Tongren county, in northwestern China's Qinghai province January 8, 2007. But shame to tell that even as a native Chinese myself, I didn't know which minority group has this weird celebrating ritual.

Video: Rabbit Attacks Snake

The rabbit amazingly overwhelms the snake in the late stage during a fight between them.via Neatorama

Skiing Thousand-hand Bodhisattva

There are a lot of fantastic pictures from 23rd International Ice & Snow Festival in Harbin, China. Seen here are artists performing the thousand-hand Bodhisattva while skiing in Harbin Jihua Skiing Resort January 6.

This Winter, New York City Is Hot!

It's the first time since 1877 that New York City saw a November and December without snow.

Cherry trees are already in full blossom. Meadows are ever green. People in T-shirts, pants and sandals do more outdoor activities.

Temperatures in New York have hovered around 10 Celsius degrees this week and soared to 21.7 degrees on Saturday, breaking the previous record high of 17.2 degrees set in 1950.

Bahrain Athlete Lost Citizenship After Attending an Israeli Marathon

Mushir Salem Jawher (Leonard Mucheru), the first athlete from an Arab country, who ran and won a marathon in Israel without permission has been stripped of his citizenship by the adopted country Bahrain which has no official ties with the Jewish state.

Bahrain's sport authorities said Mushir Salem Jawher, who was born in Kenya but moved to Bahrain in 2003, had violated the laws of the country. He won the Tiberias Marathon in just over two hours and 13 minute.

"This is outside the rules and he went to Israel without telling anyone," Mohammed Abdul Jalal, the head of the Bahrain Athletics Association, told Reuters news agency.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Bahrain Athletic Association said it had received news that a Bahraini national had competed in Israel with "shock and regret".

A committee of sport and government authorities decided to strike Mr Jawher's name off the sport union records and revoke his Bahraini nationality, the statement said.

Oldest Noodles Made in China

Unearthed in Lajia archaeological site in China, the noodles made of grains from millet grass (modern noodles are made with wheat flour) 4,000 years ago is thought to be the oldest noodles by the archaeologiests.

"Prior to the discovery of noodles at Lajia, the earliest written record of noodles is traced to a book written during the East Han Dynasty sometime between AD 25 and 220, although it remained a subject of debate whether the Chinese, the Italians, or the Arabs invented it first."

"Our discovery indicates that noodles were first produced in China," Professor Houyuan Lu from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, explained to BBC News.

Inventor of Instant Noodles Passed Away

From BBC:

The inventor of instant noodles, Momofuku Ando, has died in Japan, aged 96, of a heart attack.

Mr Ando was born in Taiwan in 1910 and moved to Japan in 1933, founding Nissin Food Products Co after World War II to provide cheap food for the masses.

His most famous product, Cup Noodle, was released in 1971.

Mr Ando said the inspiration for his product came when he saw people lining up to buy bowls of hot ramen noodle soup at a black market stall during the food shortages after World War II.

Mr. Ando, R.I.P!

Frozen Waterfall in Turufan

The 2o-meter-drop ice waterfall recently formed at the foot of Flame Mountain in Turufan of China's Northwestern Xinjiang. It's fantastic! When I was only 6-year-old, I once travelled with my parents who then worked at Urumuqi, Xinjiang to Turufan. Other than the grapes, I could't have any memories there now.

Chongqing Hotspring Fish Therapy

From Xinhuanet

A resident of Chongqing Municipality, Southwestern China receives his hotspring fish therapy on January 2, 2007. The small fish used in the treatment are believed to eat the dry skin human's normally shed, thus enabling them to heal some skin diseases.

According to Netease's report (in Chinese), the therapy only costs a customer 20~50 Yuan (1$=7.8Yuan) varing from different hotspring clubs which provide such service. If you are living in Chongqing, don't hesitate to enjoy it!

Frost Covers Mount Washington Observatory

All the constructions of Mount Washington Observatory which is dubbed as "Home of the world's worst weather" are seen being covered by frost on January 3.

Praying Mantis Preys on Hummingbird

What an ill-fortunate hummer! via

As you can see from the photographs this hungry mantis captured and killed a hummingbird not much smaller than itself. The mantis used its spiny left foreleg to impale the hummingbird through the chest while leaving his right leg free.

We surmised that the mantis ran the hummer through and dangled its full weight on its foreleg while he consumed the flesh of the hummingbird from the abdomen. After he had his fill, the mantis gave his foreleg several swift jerks and freed his leg.

Happy New Year!

Wish Everyone of My Family, Friends & Readers
A Happy, Peaceful & Prosper Year of 2007!