8 limbed baby takes first steps

A young baby was born in one of the most discussed about countries here at Unusual people. you guessed it India.  Lakshmi Tatma is now two years old and has taken her first steps after a life saving operation. The young girl was worshipped in her country and the ocals thought she was like a goddess because of her unusual medical condition.

She was believed by village locals to be a reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi. At first her parents were hesitant to perform the operation whch would remove the additional limbs, however they quickly changed their mind after doctors advised the parents it would be difficult for her to survive into adulthood. The operation took a total of 27 hours to remove the remains of her parasitic twin. The parasitic twin used her body for nutrition and respiration although the young child was unable to move the additional limbs.  She has been featured on shows on television such as National Geographic and will require additional surgeries to correct her spine and feet which are pointed inward.

 Lakshmi has certainly lived quite the unusual and extraordinary life in her short span of two years.

 

 

 

 

 

Man has sex with 1000 cars

Edward Smith, of Washington has recently made headlines after admitting he has had sex with over 1000 cars, thats right, cars. He currently lives with a 1967 volkswagen beetle whom he named vanilla and also calls the car his girlfriend. He writes poetry about his car experiences, and lost his car virginity at the tender age of 15. Smith also doesn’t just have sex with cars, he says his most intense sexual experience came from a helicopter from a 1980s tv show.

Smith’s last relationship with a woman was 12 years ago, and he could not bring himself to having sex with the woman although he has said that he has had sex with women previously. Smith also says that certain cars will be randomly parked and he will get an urge to walk up to them and kiss and hug them. According to one website there is a community of 500 car lovers who have met one another through internet forums.

I must admit, I’m quite fond of Lamborgini’s, but I don’t think I could bring myself to lubing up a tailpipe.

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Another hyperthymestic story: Brad Williams

 

With the interest generated not only by this site, but on the internet in general on Jill Price, the woman who could remember every detail of her life since she was 14 years old, comes the story of Brad Williams, of Wisconsin. Remember Price, who compared the syndrome to having a movie reel playing by every memory she had when she was presented with certain stimuli. Williams however, seems to be a little more in control, or less afflicted by the syndrome. In fact it only became apparent to his family when they heard the story of Price, who was then only known to the public as AJ.

Like Price, the part the researchers are most impressed with is the speed at which they recall the events. Researchers give them a day, and ask them about the events and immediately Williams can rattle off a series of events in great detail, indicating there is almost no calculation going on, it is just readily available in their mind. Researchers have been running images on Price and Williams, and another man in Ohio and have concluded that some structures in the prefrontal cortex are substantially larger in hyperthymestics. The prefrontal cortex sits at the front of the brain and has been associated with complex thinking, not learning or memory.

woman remembers everything since teen

Imagine every detail, of every hour, of every day, of every year, since you were 14. Useful? Annoying? Unusual? Interesting? Well, this has been Jill Price’s life since she was 14. Price considers it a curse instead of a gift since she is unable to not remember things. Very detailed memories such as what time she awoke, what she ate, who she met is in her brain and can be triggered by songs, smells, or locations.

Price described the condition as a split screen television, one side showing what is currently going on, the other a whirlwind of memories that she cannot hold back. The condition, called hyperthymestic syndrome, and is extremely rare with only 5 other confirmed cases, and 50 possibles. Price says the condition has afflicted her with depression because she remembers everything, which means every bad decision, insult and embarrassment.  A researcher commented on her extraordinary ability, “you can give her a random day years ago, and in a few seconds she can tell you what day it was, what she did, and key events of the day.” Price kept a diary from age 10-34 and scientists use the diary of how she remembered them now against how she put them down years ago.

This is an amazing story but I would be a little skeptical that she has just not read her diary over and over again and simply memorizing the events that way, however I haven’t viewed the actual research so I won’t be a skeptic.

real life macguyver’s

Cracked.com posted an interesting article that detailed some of the most unbelievable Macguyver like  solutions imaginable. They include a WWII soldier that copied a map with Jello, Astronauts building a airscrubber with space junk, a scientist who made a breakthrough with Shrinky dinks, and two stories of prison escape; one by way of dental floss, the other via raincoats.

The spacecraft crew worked 1.5 days without sleep in order to construct a air-scrubber which was held together with random junk and duct-tape in order to survive when Nasa miscalculated oxygen needs for two members instead of three. (Rocket scientists eh)

The Scientist had been studying microfluidics (fluids on the microscopic scale) and was strapped for materials so she used the SlinkyDinks and based the design off of the pattern of the platic.

Three inmates escaped the world famous Alcatraz prison relying only on a lifeboat made out of raincoats. They made a drill out of a vacuum cleaner motor to drill through the prison walls, and made dummy heads out of toilet paper and soap so that they would appear to be in their respective beds. Supposedly one of the inmates had spent his entire life in and out of prison and possessed an extremely high IQ. The inmates constructed a raft out of 50 raincoats either stolen or borrowed from their time spent in prison. The three were never found.

In the second prison escape story Vincenzo Curcio used dental floss to saw through the metal bars in his prison cell. In the same year Antonio Lara also escaped by using the same method, although he only made it out of his cell to kill another inmate, not escape from prison.

Finally, the  WWII pilot copied a map using jello which they pressed onto the map, and then pressed the jello onto a sheet of clear greaseproof paper. They used to Jello to copy over thirty maps without raising the suspicion of the enemy because the maps remained intact.

You can read the whole story here.

Woman that lives with hundreds of rats and snakes

Authorities discovered a woman in Washington that apparently was living with hundreds of rats and four snakes. The woman was reported over a month ago but aparently was reluctant to cooperate with officials. The woman called the rats “her friends” When authorities finally entered the home they found the floor covered with rat shit and soaked in urine. The woman aparently bought a few rats to feed the snakes but they escaped and the situation got out of control fast.

I’m wondering, how is there a house full of rats, with 4 boas and they don’t eat them?

Full story here

Blind teen sees with sound

Californian teen Ben Underwood has been without vision since the age of two when retinal cancer deprived him of his vision. His mother recalls been awakening from surgery calling out “mom I can’t see you.” She reassured him he still had his other senses, and around the age of 5 Ben discovered echolocation which enables him to navigate using noises surrounding him. Interestingly enough Ben has discovered a system where he uses dolphin like clicks to help him see. He uses the ability to play sports, run, and play video games as well as other everyday activities.

Although Ben is not the first human who purported to using Echolocation, (google James Holman, or Daniel Kish) he does appear to be the only human to develop the clicking system.

Read about Ben here.