Wuhan's Heaviest Man

Zhou, 26, gained 225 pounds during COVID-19 quarantine, becoming Wuhan's heaviest man

A 26-year-old Chinese man was recently labeled Wuhan’s fattest person after gaining a whopping 100 kilograms during the city’s five-month lockdown.

The man, referred to only as Zhou, to protect his privacy, wasn’t exactly fir before the coronavirus started wreaking havoc in Wuhan, prompting the authorities to impose a strict lockdown. But at least he kept his weight in check, worked at a local cafe and lead a relatively normal lifestyle. But that all changed when Zhou started spending most of his time indoor. Unable to burn off any calories, he started gaining weight, and in a few months’ time he had ballooned to 616 pounds (280 kilograms), over 200 pounds more than he weighed before the Covid-19 epidemic. 

The images of Zhou, released by the Wuhan University Central South Hospital on Chinese social media platform Weibo, showed that medical workers were examining the Wuhan man after he was admitted on June 1. 

The Wuhan's heaviest man, Zhou had been working at an internet café before the coronavirus outbreak. He stopped getting out of his residence when the city went into lockdown in January after the COVID-19 cases started increasing rapidly in the Chinese city. He did not step out of his shed for almost five months and gained 224 pounds of extra bodyweight. 

Zhou's story was revealed by a senior doctor at the hospital in a social media post. He wrote that the man had sought treatment in major hospitals in Jiangcheng but in vain. On May 31, Dr Li Zhen, the deputy director of the Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Center of the Central South Hospital of Wuhan University, received a phone call from Zhou, who desperately sought his help. "Doctor, I haven't closed my eyes for 48 hours. It's so uncomfortable. Can you help me?" 

The next day, an ambulance was rushed to his place and Zhou was taken to the hospital's ICU. He was weighing 278 kg at the time of admission and doctors found that he had many life-threatening symptoms such as heart failure and respiratory dysfunction. 

In its Weibo post, the hospital mentioned that the doctors at Hospital Sleep Medicine Center hope to conduct sleep monitoring for Zhou but he was too obese for any test. "The length of the chest and abdomen belt cannot be satisfied, and there is more fat in the brain, which affects the collection of EEG signals," the post said. 

Since obesity is prone to sweat, it would affect the interpretation of EEG results and his thick arm has made it impossible to detect conventional physical health indicators such as blood pressure levels. It took more than a week for them to give symptomatic treatment to control Zhou's condition and on June 11, doctors declared him out of danger. Now Zhou has been transferred to the general ward of the Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Center. 

Dr. Zhen explained that Zhou was overweight when he was admitted to the hospital and he occupied the entire hospital bed surface without even turning over. He said Zhou's obesity was caused by genetic factors and endocrine abnormalities. 

The social media post noted that an effective treatment method could be to induce weight loss by removing a part of the stomach through gastric-band or stomach reduction surgery. Otherwise, the excessive weight would soon overload the heart and lungs, posing a bigger to Zhou's life, it said. 

However, Dr. Zhen is very cautious as the risk of surgery is equally high. "I can only hope that by adjusting diet and rest and other methods, it (body weight) can reduce more than 50 pounds in three months so that the risk of surgery will be greatly reduced," he said. 

Until then, Zhou will continue in the general ward of the hospital. Doctors are hopeful that he would adjust to his new physical condition and cooperate to reduce his bodyweight as much as possible before a feasible stomach reduction surgery is performd on him.

Britain's Youngest Entrepreneur become a Millionaire

Brave Alfie Bradley Britain's youngest entrepreneur has launched a garden and maintenance business aged six - and vowed to become a millionaire. 

 Brave Alfie Bradley has battled a severe speech disorder to set up his own firm Alfred's Cutting Services during lockdown.

He already has a string of regular clients and is re-investing all profits into growing the business.

The socially conscious go-getter - who charges £10 a job - even offers a discount to NHS staff who employ his services.

Alfie, of Redruth, Cornwall, said: 'I want to be a millionaire.'

The schoolboy is assisted by his dad Anthony, 45, but the family say all the work carried out and the idea behind it was all his.

And he has already upgraded his mower and bought with a jet-wash with the wages he has earned.

Mum Amy Bradley, 34, said: 'There's no stopping him. He's like a mini Richard Branson.

He's always on his feet doing something so lockdown really restricted him from doing things outside of our home.

'Then he figured out a way of keeping moving as well as helping other people.'

Alfie is busy building his customer base through word of mouth and a dedicated Facebook page. He has three 'regular clients' and several others who have paid him for one-off work.

He has also produced a fully liveried 'work uniform.'

Amy said her son's achievements were all the more remarkable as he was diagnosed with a speech disorder when he was just four.

This affects how he hears and pronounces sounds but with help of his teachers, speech therapy and support he has started to improve.

Amy continued: 'Alfie was completely non verbal until he was nearly four, that impacted a lot on his social skills and made him terrified of the outside world.

'This business is just a massive thing for Alfie.

'Academically he's very behind and has to have personal help from an assistant but it's never stopped him from being so hands on and determined.'

Alfie is now branching out from garden services into cleaning windows.

The grass cutting idea first came to him when his dad Anthony came across two strimmers that needed fixing.

Amy added: 'Sadly, the strimmers couldn't be fixed but Alfie's grandad got involved to let him know he had a lawn mower for sale and the business grew from there.

'His dad goes with him on every job and all the work is done with social distancing in place.

After a few jobs Alfie was able to find himself a better lawn mower, strimmer and pressure washer from the money he'd made from all of his clients.'

'He has a few regular clients and so many other people who have paid for the odd job.

'He charges £10 but if someone is elderly or an NHS worker he does it a bit cheaper.'

Alfie said he wanted to become a millionaire so he could buy a garage for his dad and Uncle Lee 'so we can all work together.'

He added: 'Granddad is 83 and still tinkers with cars.

'I just want everyone in the world to be happy.'

Only The Dog knows for Sure

Did he or didn't he?

Totally Unique Language in the Himalayas (Researchers Discover )

A Koro speaker talks to National Geographic Fellow Gregory Anderson in Arunachal Pradesh, India, as he makes a recording of the language.

In the foothills of the Himalayas, two field linguists have uncovered a find as rare as any endangered species—a language completely new to science.

The researchers encountered it for the first time along the western ridges of Arunachal Pradesh, India's northeastern-most state, where more than 120 languages are spoken. There, isolated by craggy slopes and rushing rivers, the hunters and subsistence farmers who speak this rare tongue live in a dozen or so villages of bamboo houses built on stilts.

The language—called Koro—was identified during a 2008 expedition conducted as part of National Geographic's Enduring Voices project. The researchers announced their discovery Tuesday in Washington, D.C. So many languages have vanished world-wide in recent decades that the naming of a new one commanded scientific attention.

"Their language is quite distinct on every level—the sound, the words, the sentence structure," said Gregory Anderson, director of the nonprofit Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, who directs the project's research. Details of the language will be documented in an upcoming issue of the journal Indian Linguistics.

Prized for its rarity as an unstudied linguistic artifact, the Koro language also offers researchers a catalogue of unique cultural experience, encoded in its mental grammar of words and sentence structure that helps shape thought itself.

Languages like Koro "construe reality in very different ways," Dr. Anderson said. "They uniquely code knowledge of the natural world in ways that cannot be translated into a major language."

In an era of globalization, languages have been disappearing by the hundreds, edged out by English, Chinese and Spanish or suppressed by government practices. Of the 6,909 known languages, about half are expected to disappear in this century; every two weeks, the last fluent speaker of a language dies. This newest, with only 800 or so speakers, may be no exception.

"Even though this is new to science, this language is on the way out," said linguist K. David Harrison at Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia. Many younger villagers, often educated at boarding schools where only Hindi or English are spoken, are abandoning their parents' language. "Young people are not speaking it in the villages," Dr. Harrison said. "If the process continues, Koro will almost certainly become extinct."
Link via Ace of Spades HQ

Anime characters made out of paper for adults

Our hero creates anime characters out of paper , and then mocks them , torturing , killing , just like in horror movies . Look carefully, too much violence over the paper , for adults only

Dangerous Surgical medicine instruments pictures

These surgical tools look scary, like those in Hostel movie.
It will never be good to be ill, but nowadays at least it's not so scary.

Hysterotome/Metrotome (1860s-90s)

This hysterotome or metrotome was used to amputate the cervix during a hysterectomy.

Amputation Knife (1700s)

Knives used for amputations during the 18th century were typically curved, because surgeons tended to make a circular cut through the skin and muscle before the bone was cut with a saw.
By the 1800s, straight knives became more popular because they made it easier to leave a flap of skin that could be used to cover the exposed stump.

Amputation Saw (1600s)

While some surgeons chose to flaunt their wealth with elaborately decorated saws like this, the crevices in the intricate engravings proved to be a breeding ground for germs.

Arrow Remover (1500s)

Not much is known about this tool, but it is hypothesized that it was inserted into the wound in a contracted position, with the central shaft used to grasp the arrow.
The blades, which appear to have their sharp edges facing outward, were then expanded using the scissor-like handles, thus expanding the flesh around the arrow to prevent the arrowhead from ripping through the meat as it was pulled out.

Artificial Leech (1800s)

Bloodletting with leeches was such a popular treatment for a range of medical conditions that an artificial leech was invented in 1840 and was used frequently in eye and ear surgery.
The rotating blades would cut a wound in the patient’s skin, while the cylinder would be used to produce a vacuum that sucked up the blood.

Bullet Extractor (1500s)

Elongated bullet extractors could reach bullets embedded deeply in the patient’s body.
Extractors like this one had a screw tip that could be inserted in the wound and lengthened to pierce the bullet so that it could be pulled out.

Cervical Dilator (1800s)

This instrument was used to dilate a woman’s cervix during labor, with the amount of dilation measured on the scale by the handle.
Such dilators fell out of favor because they often caused the cervix to tear.

Circumcision Knife (1770s)

Ritual circumcision is performed around the world in varying extents and for varying reasons, but few instruments used in the process are as intimidating as this European knife from the 18th century.

Ecraseur (1870s)

This ecraseur was used to sever hemorrhoids and uterine or ovarian tumors.
The chain was looped over the mass and tightened using the ratchet, stopping the circulation of blood to the area.

Hemorrhoid Forceps (1800s)

These forceps were used to grasp a hemorrhoid between the blades and apply pressure to stop the blood supply, causing the hemorrhoid to drop off.

Hernia Tool (1850s)

This unique tool was used after the restoration of a hernia.
It was inserted into the body near the affected area and left there for a week to produce scar tissue that would help seal off the hernia.

Hirtz Compass (1915)

The Hirtz compass was used to accurately determine where bullets were located in the body so that they could then be removed with precision.

Lithotome (1740s-1830s)

This lithotome was used to cut the bladder in order to remove stones. The shaft contained a hidden blade that was inserted into the bladder and then released using a spring handle.

Mouth Gag (1880s-1910s)

This wooden, screw-shaped mouth gag would be inserted into an anesthetized patient’s mouth to keep the airway open.

Scarificator (1910s-20s)

Scarificators were used in bloodletting. The spring-loaded blades in this device would cut into the skin, and a special rounded glass cup could be applied over the wound. When warmed, it would help draw the blood out at a faster rate.

Skull Saw (1830s-60s)

This hand-cranked saw’s blades were used to cut through sections of the skull, allowing for access by other instruments.

Tobacco Smoke Enema (1750s-1810s)

The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient’s rectum for various medical purposes, primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims. A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke towards the rectum. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration, but doubts about the credibility of tobacco enemas led to the popular phrase “blow smoke up one’s ass.”

Tonsil Guillotine (1860s)

This method of removing tonsils worked much like a traditional guillotine, slicing off the infected tonsils. This “double guillotine” design meant that both tonsils could be removed at the same time. Tonsil guillotines were replaced by forceps and scalpels in the early 20th century due to the high rate of hemorrhaging and the imprecise nature of the device, which often left tonsil remnants in the mouth.

Trephine (1800s)

This trephine was a hand-powered drill with a cylindrical blade that was used to bore into the skull. The spike in the center was used to start the procedure and to hold the blade in place while cutting.

Vaginal Speculum (1600s)

Specula have been used for thousands of years to allow doctors better vision and access to the vaginal area (or other body cavities) by expanding after insertion. This 17th century European example, which appears to use a cranking motion to expand, is more ornate and intimidating than most.

Tags: Dangerous, Surgical, medicine, instruments, pictures

A-Z Custom Chocolate Scupltures Art

Whether it's replications of historical sculpture, of everyday objects or modern abstract creations crafted with actual, edible chocolate, here are some you can admire, some you can order and all you can eat.

Custom Chocolate Sculptures by Paul Wayne Gregory:



Inquire about them here. (special thanks to Betsy Wills for this one)

Chocolate sculptures by frenchman Patrick Roger.
Below the chocolatier with "Harold":

and his chocolate penguins:


Chocolate City:

created by Naoko Tone and Atsuyoshi Iijima from the Chocolate exhibition at the 21_21 Design Sight space in Tokyo.

Canadian-born Cosimo Cavallaro created this controversial life sized chocolate Jesus in 2005:



And followed it up with more Chocolate Saints in 2007:



And here's artist George Heslop with his life-sized chocolate Jesus on the Cross (this one's not edible, folks):


Beautiful Valentine's sculptures in chocolate by Joseph Schmidt:




the above sculptures are not for sale

Artist and award winning Pastry Chef Gerhard Petzl's chocolate sculptures:






Here's the Gerhard with his World's Largest Chocolate Santa made just last December:


Not going to travel the world to attend Chocolate fairs, museums and exhibits, but still want a sweet piece of art? Perhaps not as artfully crafted, but certainly as delicious tasting, consider these other fun chocolate items:

Chocolate Gifts You Can Buy Now.

Endangered Species Chocolate Wall Trophies:


available from the W Hotel Store or Walteria Living


The Chocolate Pie Chart:


From Matt and Mary. Buy it here.



Painter Girl's Animal Print Bars, Chocolate Frida Tribute Bar and caramel filled chocolate paint tubes are made to order. Get them here.

Jessica Walters' handmade chocolate shoes.
Available as one large shoe:

a pair of medium sized chocolate shoes:

or a small chocolate pair in a box:

buy them here.

And of course, the fab white or milk chocolate Nike's by Blondel Chocolates in conjunction with +41:


buy them here.

And fnally, Vosges Flaming Heart Chocolates, available in 3 different flavors:



buy them here.

Yes, I know there are a many pieces of sculpted chocolates in the shapes of things like cell phones, 3D roses, gold bars, et cetera, but I'm focusing on hand made pieces that embody the craft of an artist which is why I did not include them in this post. Bon Appetit!
Source:- ifitshipitshere

Tags: custom chocolate, exotic chocolate, chocolate art, chocolate jesus, chocolate scupltures, chocolate shoes