Archive for the Category "五花八門"
With a cock and a bird standing on his head for several years, Wu Qingxing(吳慶興), a Chinese street barber, is well-known as "cock king" in his hometown in Guangdong province of China.
The 60-year-old man is still single just because he only loves types of animals such as birds, geese and dogs, especially cherishes the beautiful cocks. He thinks the animals are his family members.
What a cool old man! (Random Citations & news.qq.com)
Parts adorned in .999 hardened 24ct gold inc front full surround and 3/4 of the rear, the stunning gold iPhone is to be launched by Goldstriker International since the middle of this month. (www.goldstriker.co.uk)
A bronze tobacco pipe weighing 116 kilograms is on display at an exhibition centre in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province on Saturday, October 6, 2007. At 1.16 meters in diameter and 2.8 meters in length, the pipe is reported to be the largest in China.(CRIenglish.com)
The giant space-bred pumpkin weighs 74 kilograms and is currently displayed in a supermarket in Xining, capital of Northwest China’s Qinghai Porvince.
On September 27, Sanrio announced plans to begin selling solid gold Hello Kitty playing cards, which the company will make available through its online shop beginning October 3. Each of the 54 cards (2 jokers included) measures 58 x 89 mm and is made from 0.73 gram of 99.99% pure gold. Pressed to a thickness of 7 microns with precision rolling technology developed by the Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, the cards are sealed in a protective laminate printed with colorful designs that depict Hello Kitty in royal dress.
The reverse side of the cards show Hello Kitty against a background featuring the Union Jack and apples, a reference to the fact that Hello Kitty was born in London and is said to be 3 apples heavy and 5 apples tall.
The cards are priced at 567,000 yen ($4,900).(pinktentacle.com)
As you can see from the photo, a clear comparison between 20 years ago and today’s one gigabyte memory is made. You must be stunned by the huge progress made in the computer products during the past two decades.(m3.bestpicever.com)
Acupuncture – real or sham – is more effective at treating back pain than conventional therapies, research suggests.
A German team found almost half the patients treated with acupuncture felt pain relief.
But the Archives of Internal Medicine study also suggests sham acupuncture works nearly as well as the real thing.
In contrast, only about a quarter who received drugs and other Western therapies felt better.
The researchers, from the Ruhr University Bochum, say their findings suggest that the body may react positively to any thin needle prick – or that acupuncture may simply trigger a placebo effect.
One theory is that pain messages to the brain can be blocked by competing stimuli.
Researcher Dr Heinz Endres said: "Acupuncture represents a highly promising and effective treatment option for chronic back pain.
"Patients experienced not only reduced pain intensity, but also reported improvements in the disability that often results from back pain and therefore in their quality of life."
Needles not manipulated
More than 1,100 patients took part in the study. They were given either conventional therapy, acupuncture or a sham version.
Although needles were used in the sham therapy, they were not inserted as deeply as in standard acupuncture. Neither were they inserted at points thought key to producing a therapeutic effect, or manipulated and rotated once in position.
After six months 47% of patients in the acupuncture group reported a significant improvement in pain symptoms, compared to 44% in the sham group, and just 27% in the group who received conventional therapy.
Dr James Young, of Chicago’s Rush University, said: "We don’t understand the mechanisms of these so-called alternative treatments, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work."
Acupuncture is based on the ancient Chinese theory that needles can be used to release the body’s vital energy, or qi.
Conventional therapies tested in the study included painkillers, injections, heat therapy and massage.
It is estimated that as many as 85% of the population experiences back pain at some point, and the problem costs the NHS around £500m a year.
The study echoes the findings of two studies published last year in the British Medical Journal, which found a short course of acupuncture could benefit patients with low back pain.
Mike O’Farrell, of the British Acupuncture Council, said: "Through these controlled research findings demonstrating the effectiveness of acupuncture, we believe that both the medical health profession and members of the public will see the benefits of acupuncture as part of an integrated healthcare service." (BBC)
After 250 million years, the now separating continents on the Earth may be again clustered together (OMG! there must be many disastrous earthquakes!).
Is this what will become of the Earth’s surface? The surface of the Earth is broken up into several large plates that are slowly shifting. About 250 million years ago, the plates on which the present-day continents rest were positioned quite differently, so that all the landmasses were clustered together in one supercontinent now dubbed Pangea. About 250 million years from now, the plates are again projected to reposition themselves so that a single landmass dominates. The above simulation from the PALEAOMAP Project shows this giant landmass: Pangea Ultima. At that time, the Atlantic Ocean will be just a distant memory, and whatever beings inhabit Earth will be able to walk from North America to Africa.(Astronomy Picture of the Day)
A piano-shaped building was rbuilt at the New District of Huainan city, Anhui Province, China (安徽省淮南市新城區). The building is like a piano, and its stairs is in violin shape. It’s learned that the building is primarily used to display models of the city new development projects.
A salesgirl shows a "moon cake" made of pure gold at a shop in Shijiangzhuang, capital city of Hebei province (河北省會石家莊市), September 12, 2007. The gold moon cakes are put on sale these days for the forthcoming Mid-Autumn Festival.(Chinanews.cn)
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