Wordless Humor

Femen protestors

In the short five years since it came into being, feminist outfit Femen has become a force to reckon with thanks to its jaw-dropping mode of protest. The activists of the Ukrainian group has taken a stand against a number of issues by taking to the streets and taking off their tops. Not suprisingly, their eye-popping stunts ensure that irrespective of what they are protesting from patriarchy to sexual abuse of women to Russian President Vladimir Putin's autocratic ways their demonstrations make headlines across the world. On why they choose to bare their breasts instead of brandishing banners, Femen activists claim that this is, indeed, the only way authorities would pay any heed to their demands.

The answer

Gravity

Bird-of-paradise

This small bird from the rainforests of New Guinea has the strangest courtship display. The male has a large mane-like shield around his head that expands into a giant elliptical plane of plumage.

Tattoo location guide

First Intifada 1987-1993

Though there have been plenty of Intifadas throughout history, this one stands as one of the deadliest. The First Intifada began on December 8, 1987 when an Israeli army tank somehow got into an accident with Palestinians at the Erez Crossing who lived on the Gaza strip at the Jabalia refugee camp which killed four and seriously injured seven others. However, the Palestinians believed that this was no accident, as a few days earlier a Jewish man was stabbed to death in a nearby location. With this and long record of hostility between the Palestinians and Israelis, riots started to erupt in various locations.

How it started

For a pretty long time, the Palestinians and the Israelis have had nothing short of bad history. During the First Intifada, the Palestinians were outraged that Israelis were occupying Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They say that the Israelis had been deporting and executing Palestinians. Because of this, people began to gather and decided to show their disapproval at the Jabalia refugee camp, which then lead to various other uprisings in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Even though by the end of it all 2,326 were dead, the riot did start out very peaceful. The Palestinians practiced resistance, strikes, barricades, tax refusal, and other methods that weren’t harmful to anyone. However, these acts eventually turned very violent and deadly and much more widespread. During the riots, plenty of Palestinian leaders were killed, including Abu Jihad. By the end of it all, 2,326 people were dead, and scores more injured.

How it ended

The riots began to die down in 1991, was the Palestinians weren’t getting anywhere and a clear direction was no longer in site. Palestinian people were being slaughtered each day, and the Palestine Liberation Organization was losing members. However, the Intifada did change numerous things. For one, the decision to combine Palestinian areas with Jordan was no longer considered. Also, many countries, including the U.S. spoke nationally about Israel’s wrong-doings, which isn’t something that many countries do. The rioting also brought about plenty of international discussion as to who should own the Gaza Strip and various other locations.

Last Geochelone Abigdoni Tortoise

This handsome fellow is known as “Lonesome George,” and he is a 200-pound tortoise whose entire species' survival relies upon him mating with a similar species of giant tortoise. George is between 90 and 100 years old and has an expected lifespan of 150 years. Though he hit a “sexual prime” in his early nineties none of the giant tortoise eggs that he fertilized were viable, so for now he is still the world's last example of his breed

Ice Towers of Mount Erebus

Mt. Erebus in Antarctica is one of the largest active volcanoes on Earth. It reaches nearly 4 km above sea level, and is renowned in volcanological circles for its persistently active lava lake, which is sited in the summit crater. The hot volcanic gas steaming from Erebus does more than fuel for the lava lake. Hot gasses traveling up through cracks and fractures in the volcanic rocks surrounding the Erebus summit have created an intricate system of ice caves all over the mountain.

Banana Diet

You have to be early to get a banana these days in Tokyo. Such is the appeal of a new banana diet craze sweeping Japan that importers can no longer satisfy demand for the previously unfashionable staple. Many Japanese have decided the best method is that advocated by Hitoshi Watanabe, 31, a salary man who ballooned after leaving university and entering the rat race - until he discovered the nutritional appeal of the banana. In 2006, his girlfriend Sumiko, a pharmacist with training in Chinese herbal medicine, recommended a simple, stress-free diet that revolved around one straightforward (nutritionists say questionable) premise: a breakfast of raw bananas and room-temperature water can boost the metabolism so much it allows the dieter to eat almost anything for lunch and dinner and still lose weight. Over the next six months he dropped a further 13 kilograms, married Sumiko and posted his story on Mixi, Japan's version of MySpace, to instant acclaim from other desperate dieters.

The story became the first of a series of banana-diet books which have sold more than 600,000 copies - making Hitoshi a publishing sensation. The saturation media coverage has helped drive a huge run on bananas. And since, Tokyo Broadcasting System ran a TV program last month about how the former opera singer Kumiko Mori knocked 7 kilograms off.

The fruit's newfound popularity has been attributed to the simplicity of Hitoshi's weight-loss method. Dieters are expected to dine by 8pm and be in bed by midnight. They should avoid, but not necessarily cut out, alcohol and fatty foods. Best of all: they should feel no obligation to exercise. Although Hitoshi's approach has been endorsed by biomedical expert Dr Noboru Motohashi, who says he lost 12.6 kilograms on a similar fruit diet, it has raised the eyebrows of other nutritionists. "Eating only one kind of food in the long term is not healthy because you cannot get the necessary nutrition."

Lobster Louse-Worms

Though shaped very much like lice, the Histriobdellidae are actually tiny annelids (like leeches or earthworms) who live a louse-like existence on the outer shells of crayfish, isopods and other crustaceans. While our lice have specially hooked claws for gripping hair, these louse worms have suckers for clinging to a smooth exoskeleton, and a powerful set of drilling jaws for getting at that tasty sea-bug blood.

World’s Prettiest Russian Hacker

A group of students from the New York University were arrested in the USA on suspicion of 3 million dollars theft from American banks and 9.5 million from British ones. One of the hackers deserves special attention and this is Kristina Svechinskaya – who has already been called the second Anna Chapman and the world’s hottest hacker

Armless Fitness Woman

Meet a living inspiration, Barbie Guerra. Barb lost her arms at the age of two in an accident, yet she is a remarkable fitness model

Rare Albino Elephant

Matrix

Taxidermy shop in Paris

If you want to buy a stuffed elk, a frog's skeleton, a Goliath beetle as big as a fist, or a Stone Age axe head, where would you go? For people living in Paris that would never be a question, for they have Deyrolle: Unofficially the world's creepiest, yet strangely enchanting Taxidermy Shop, on their doorstep. The shop was opened in 1831 by entomologist Emile Deyrolle, and since then an enormous variety of animals have been lugged through the front door by customers ranging from budding young scientists through to overly-wealthy collectors. On entering the entomology room of the shop, the public come face to face with creatures of all sizes: butterflies, rabbits, foxes, geese, elks… but to turn the creepiness up a notch a number of the larger animals have been dressed in human clothing

OAT shoes

What do you do with your shoes when you’re done with them? Like most people, you probably just toss them in the trash with no concern of where they go from there. Your shoes will probably sit in a landfill for a very long time once you’re done with them, but that doesn’t have to be the case. OAT shoes are completely biodegradable, and that means rather than throwing them out, you can bury them in your garden, you can bury them in the woods, or you can throw them on your compost heap. Once you bury these shoes, they’ll begin to biodegrade, making them extremely environmentally friendly

Million dollar vacation

A battle is brewing for bragging rights to the most expensive vacation. The Emirates Palace resort in Abu Dhabi announced a Million Dollar Travel package that “incarnates pure opulence.”Along with first-class airfare and seven nights at a giant suite at the Palace, the package includes:

Chauffeur-driven Maybach at your disposal daily during your stay in Abu Dhabi.
Daily spa treatments.
Day trip in private jet to Iran where you'll create your own Persian carpet with the country's most-exclusive and best-renowned hand-maker.
Day trip to Bahrain in private jet for “a pearl deep sea experience,” with the pearl hand-designed settings.

The Emirates is hoping the trip gets it a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records. But it turns out that Leading Hotels of the World has its own ode to opulence. Its $1 million Around the World in 80 Ways trip, which plays off the storied journey of Phileas Fogg, lets travelers recreate the 19th-century around-the-world fantasy experience with 21st-century comfort and flair

Pope Sergius III (? – 911)

The son of a Roman noble and a member of the ultimately unsuccessful faction which opposed the policies of Pope Formosus, Sergius III must chiefly be understood through the biased writings of his enemies, since almost all sympathetic accounts have been destroyed.

Nevertheless, what we do have on Sergius suggests that he didn’t quite measure up to Christian standards for piety. He was accused of ordering the murders of his predecessor Pope Leo V and Antipope Christopher in prison. It is said that his mistress was the young Marozia (later to become a powerful Roman noblewoman), and it was their son who became Pope John XI in 931.

It gets weirder, though. Pope Stephen VI’s infamous Cadaver Synod had been declared void by succeeding popes, but when Sergius came to power, he voiced his displeasure with Formosus by annulling all of his recently reinstated ordinations. There is even a report that Sergius had the corpse of Formosus exhumed, tried, beheaded, and thrown into the Tiber – all over again!

Crotch Kick Man

Yong Hsueh, a Shaolin monk, appeared on the Chinese version of Britain's Got Talent to demonstrate his ability to get kicked in the crotch without suffering injury. He told the audience: “Steel crotch Kongfu is an ancient art, with roots stretching back to ancient China. “It's a practice to strengthen and protect the male genital organs so there is less chance they are injured or incapacitated in battle.”

Cross legged male members of the audience watched in shock as various members of the panel were invited to boot the monk – who simply bowed and smiled after each blow – between the legs. The monk said this skill could only be learned by a student that started in childhood – and it involves pushing the testicles into the body where they could not be hurt

Man who can throw up anything

Liang Yuxin trumps even the very worst hangovers to become world throwing-up record holder. The Chinese man, 25, from Xia Mei has stunned doctors with his ability to regurgitate anything from a live fish to a 50-inch chain. While the process of dispensing with ten or more mojitos in the morning may feel unnatural, Liang Yuxin's ability to throw up jewellery puts even the bitterest katzenjammer to shame. The champion chunderer said: ‘I found out I could do it when I was a boy and I accidentally swallowed a ball and found I could bring it back up at will. 'Now I seem to be able to swallow pretty much anything.'

Liang has taken to regularly swallowing fish and whatever else will fit down his oesophagus for kicks, and is now talking about going for the Guinness World Record in coin-swallowing. ‘The record is ten by a man in Britain and I can do 11,' he said

Hummingbird smugglers