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Collected by InsayneJayne # 1 # 2 # 3 # 4 # 5 # 6 # 7 # 8
Canadian, who was on sick leave, shown having fun at Chippendales, on trip. Photos on Facebook have cost a Canadian woman her long-term sick leave benefits. Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits. But when a Manulife insurance agent discovered pictures of Blanchard having a good time, the payments dried up. Blanchard said she was told by Manulife that the photos of her at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on vacation were evidence that she is no longer depressed. Blanchard told the CBC that on her doctor's advice, she had been trying to have fun. She is fighting to get her benefits reinstated and said her lawyer is exploring what the next step should be. Source
Hong Kong is a vibrant city chock-full of people — so much so that the quality of life for those at the bottom tier is atrocious. And I’m not talking about, “Oh my goodness, I have to share a bathroom with my brother and sister.” I’m talking about up to 18 strangers being smashed into a tiny 625 square foot flat with just one toilet to share. One such former cage-dweller is Chau Kam-chuen. Mr. Kam-chuen used to be one of over 400,000 working poor who paid approximately $167.6 USD to live in such an environment. According to him, it’s extremely uncomfortable, especially if you get the top bunk: “You hit your head on the ceiling.” The way it works is that a flat is chosen and then partitioned into multiple cubicles, each composed of wooden planks and wire mesh. Each cubicle then becomes home to one resident. The cage that the woman sits in above contains all her possessions, from clothes to cooking supplies and even family heirlooms. Realistically speaking, the cage is smaller than a jail cell; yet, these cages house thousands of poverty-stricken men and women who have nowhere else to turn. And they aren’t comfortable either. Oftentimes, the air-conditioning and heating doesn’t work. Or if it does work, it rarely gets turned on before 9m. As Lai Man-law, an employed man from Hong Kong explained, “It’s dirty and hot. There are cockroaches and bedbugs, and the air-conditioning doesn’t work.” One wonders though why someone would choose to live like this. Most of these people have no alternative option. These are normal everyday citizens who befell upon hard times and ended up unemployed, homeless, and struggling to make ends meet. The horrific floods of 2008 didn’t help either, as it forced many into homelessness and poverty. To bring this unfortunate situation to light, Hong Kong’s Schoeni Gallery decided to focus their annual art charity event on displaying these cages directly to the public. Their goal was to showcase the widening gap between the poor and rich in Hong Kong. The cages displayed are real cages from real flats. In fact, the man pictured above is Mr. Kam-chuen himself. He hopes that this event inspires more people to offer a helping hand to those in need — especially the poor cage dwellers of Hong Kong. Source
A 39-year-old Southern California man has been arrested for misdemeanor child annoyance after allegedly paying a teenager $31 to spit in his face. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department says Charles Hersel was arrested Wednesday in a sting operation at a mall in Thousand Oaks. He's free from jail pending a court hearing. A sheriff's statement says Westlake High School students claimed Hersel paid them to yell profanities, spit and slap him in the face. Several also claimed he offered them cash to urinate and defecate on him. A motive wasn't clear. Authorities say Hersel contacted some teens through the MySpace social networking site. Hersel couldn't be reached for comment Friday. He had no listed phone number in Thousand Oaks. Source
A teenager from Dorset has been told by the NHS that he must wait until puberty to have a sex change. The boy, known as Georgie Smith, has wanted to be a girl since he was a toddler. He said: "I'm old enough to know what I want. What I want is to be a girl." His mother Carole, 41, has criticised the NHS for preventing treatment until Georgie reaches puberty – meaning that his hormones will give him a manly appearance. She wants him to be given hormone blockers now. She told The Sun: "With his puberty suspended, he wouldn't grow to six foot or have big hands." The mother-of-three said that her son wanted to be a girl from the age of two, and twice attempted suicide after realising he was in the "wrong" body. Aged eight, he confessed to his mother that he wanted to be a girl like his favourite children's programme, Tracy Beaker. Carole said: "Even when he was into Thomas the Tank Engine, he only liked the girl engine." School bullies targeted her son from the age of eight, calling him a "freak". His secondary school in Dorset has refused to let him wear girls' uniform, so now he wears make-up and bangles with the boys' version. Ms Smith said that she had looked into sending Georgie to America, where teenagers can begin the sex-change process earlier, but did not have the £16,000 needed to pay for his treatment. She said: "It should be available on the NHS." The Department of Health has said it is reviewing the age at which youngsters can begin taking hormone blockers. Source
MOAB, Utah, -- A 48-year-old man who has not used money in nine years and resides in a desert cave in Moab, Utah, said he loves his simple existence. Daniel Suelo said he shops for clothes by going through garbage and he is content with living an existence in which he does not have to worry about a job, mortgage or other concerns that most people have to deal with, The Denver Post reported. "The understanding that, really, we all possess nothing is the cornerstone of all spiritual endeavors and religions," Suelo said. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Suelo said he also will not barter for food or rent because he considers bartering another form of currency. Suelo took up his lifestyle nine years ago despite having a master's degree in accounting and a degree in anthropology. He says he will never embrace a conventional lifestyle again. "I have no idea what the future holds, and I don't worry about it. But the longer I do this, it seems absurd to go back," he told the Post. "It would be like going back to slavery." Source
MELBOURNE, Australia – A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs. The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat. He said he was walking his blue heeler, Rocky, on Sunday morning when they surprised a sleeping kangaroo in Arthur's Creek northeast of Melbourne. The dog chased the animal into a pond, when the kangaroo turned and pinned the pet underwater. When Rickard tried to pull his dog free, the kangaroo turned on him, attacking with its hind legs and tearing a deep gash into his abdomen and across his face. "I thought I might take a hit or two dragging the dog out from under his grip, but I didn't expect him to actually attack me," Rickard, 49, told The Herald Sun newspaper. "It was a shock at the start because it was a kangaroo, about 5 feet high, they don't go around killing people." Kangaroos rarely attack people but will fight if they feel threatened. Dogs often chase kangaroos, which have been known to lead the pets into water and defend themselves there. Rickard said he ended the attack by elbowing the kangaroo in the throat, adding Rocky was "half-drowned" when he pulled him from the water. Source
A car crash victim who was believed to have been in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time. Rom Houben was paralysed but could not let doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying, reports the Daily Mail. "I dreamed myself away," said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state. Doctors conducted a series of coma tests before concluding that his consciousness was "extinct". But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. Mr Houben said: "All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt." His case has only just been revealed in a scientific paper released by the man who 'saved' him, top neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys. "Medical advances caught up with him," said Dr Laureys, who believes there may be many similar cases of false comas around the world. Mr Houben, a former martial arts enthusiast, was paralysed in 1983. He is never likely to leave hospital, but as well as his computer he now has a special device above his bed which lets him read books while lying down. Mr Houben said: "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth. "I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead." Source
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