Kraven Moorehead

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese health authorities are putting a stop to restaurants serving chickens which have been bitten to death by poisonous snakes and cooked up for a supposedly detoxing meal.

The dish, served by a small number of eateries in the southern province of Guangdong and the southwestern city of Chongqing, has generated a storm of publicity and controversy in the Chinese media and amongst bloggers.

A video showing a cook holding a snake and forcing it to bite a live chicken until it dies has been widely circulated online,

Posted by Kraven Moorehead at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a … cat?

A kitty in Chongqing, China, is getting some extra-special attention these days: The furry feline has developed wings! Though born looking completely normal, once the cat hit the age of 1, he began growing wing-shaped appendages on either side of his spine, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reports.

While some think the bony limbs may be a mutation of some kind — or even a Siamese twin growing inside the cat — others speculate it's a genetic change perhaps caused by chemicals ingested by the kitty's mother while she was pregnant. According to the cat's owners, he doesn't seem to mind his new wings — and he’s loving the attention he's received because of them!

Strange as the case may sound, winged felines are not unheard of. Back in August 2008, the U.K. Telegraph reported that tomcats in China's Sichuan province developed wing-like growths on their backs.

Veterinary experts said then that despite the hard inner core, the "wings" don't harm cats' quality of life or safety. According to the Telegraph's report, scientists believe the appendages developed due to grooming habits, a genetic defect or a hereditary skin condition

Posted by Kraven Moorehead at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

LONDON (Reuters) - A sexually suggestive Venus figurine with oversized breasts and thighs dates back at least 35,000 years and shows ancient humans had sex on their minds, researchers said Wednesday.

The 60-millimetre-long figurine may be the oldest piece of its kind yet discovered and suggests Palaeolithic art was far more complex than many had thought, Nicholas Conard of Tubingen University in Germany wrote in the journal Nature.

Radiocarbon dating indicates the figure excavated from an archaeological dig in southern Germany, near the Danube valley, was at least 35,000 years old, the researchers said.

Continue reading "Sexy "Venus" may be oldest figurine yet discovered" »

Posted by Kraven Moorehead at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In 1336, King Ludwig of Bavaria sentenced nobleman Ditz von Shaunburg and four of his associates to death. They were sentenced to death for rebelling against His Majesty and for disturbing the peace in the kingdom. The nobleman and his friends were to be beheaded. Before the execution, the king asked Ditz to express his final wish. The nobleman asked the king to forgive his friends if his beheaded body runs by them. Schaunburg specified that the convicted were supposed to get in a line with eight steps between each other. The king burst into laughter, but he promised to fulfill the nobleman's last wish. Ditz got down on his knees in front of a block. The executioner cut his head off, but the body jumped up and ran by the other convicted people to the immense horror of the king and everyone who witnessed it. The beheaded body made 32 steps, having passed the last person in the line, tumbled down to the ground, and remained quiet. The king kept his promise.

Posted by Kraven Moorehead at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman was involved in three car accidents in less than an hour that left a total of seven vehicles damaged but she suffered only slight injuries from the series of mishaps, police said Tuesday.

The 69-year-old woman from Berlin first crashed into three cars while trying to pull out of a supermarket car park on the Baltic resort island of Usedom.

Then, she accidentally stepped on the accelerator and sped across a lawn before crashing into a nearby house, police said. She was taken to hospital in an ambulance but that vehicle was then hit by a truck.

"She was actually fortunate that no one was seriously hurt in any of the accidents," said Zinnowitz police spokesman Axel Falkenberg. "The accidents were a little bit like dominoes toppling."

Posted by Kraven Moorehead at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

BERLIN (Reuters) - A cat named Felix was found alive and well beneath the rubble of a six-storey building in Cologne that collapsed five weeks ago, the fire brigade in German city said Tuesday.

The 12-year-old cat was in surprisingly good health, authorities said. He was found beneath the city archives building that collapsed on March 3.

Rescue workers were clearing away the rubble from the ruins, in which two people were killed, when they spotted a pair of small paws.

"The men lifted some concrete blocks when suddenly a little cat came to light," said Dietmar Paust, fire brigade spokesman.

Posted by Kraven Moorehead at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)