Has the entire nation of Japan lost thier minds?

A Japanese artist cooked his own genitals and served them to five paying diners in Tokyo to cover the medical costs, in a bizarre act to raise awareness about sexual minorities.

Mao Sugiyama had his penis and testicles surgically removed in March and kept them frozen for two months before dishing them out -- seasoned and braised -- to customers at an event hall on May 13, according to postings on his Twitter account and local police.

Diners paid 20,000 yen ($250) for the plate with a portion of genitals. Pictures published on a website appeared to show the meal came complete with mushrooms and a parsley garnish.

The painter, who is reportedly 22, said on Twitter the organ had been removed by a physician and certified to be free of infections.

The meal was prepared under the supervision of a certified cook and diners were required to sign a waiver indemnifying Sugiyama and event organisers.

In May 18 tweets, the artist said steps were taken so the act met all relevant laws, including a ban on organ sales, processing of medical waste and even food sanitation requirements.

"I receive questions from some women and men... asking 'Will there be a next time? Please host it again.' But there is only one set of male organ," he tweeted on May 16.

"Unfortunately, I have no plan for the next time."

Sugiyama, who considers himself "asexual", that is without gender, initially thought about eating the genitals himself, but decided to solicit paying customers to help pay his hospital bills for the surgery.
In an email to AFP, he confirmed the event had taken place and said it was organised to raise awareness about "sexual minorities, x-gender, asexual people". He said he was readying to publish an official account of the day.

Police in Tokyo said they knew of the episode, but added that it had not broken the law as cannibalism was not illegal in Japan.

"We are aware of the case. There was nothing (criminal) to it. It does not violate any detailed rules. There is nothing to take action about," an officer at Suginami police said.

Sugiyama sparked a firestorm of interest on April 8 with one tweet:

"[Please retweet] I am offering my male genitals (full penis, testes, scrotum) as a meal for 100,000 yen …Will prepare and cook as the buyer requests, at his chosen location."

On April 13, five of six diners who signed up for the $250-a-plate feast, sat down to dinner. The sixth person was a no-show.

The next day, an organizer posted a blog -- subsequently deleted -- containing pictures of the event. Images showed dozens of people who attended the event just to catch a glimpse of the rare treat.

The extra diners were served crocodile-based dishes while Sugiyama cooked up the exclusive meal.

The story went viral in Japan. Some showed even more interest, while others complained. But Calorie Lab called Japanese authorities, who deemed the banquet legal because there is no law against cannibalism in the country.

More people have brain tape worms than you think.

The number of people afflicted with brain tapeworms worldwide has been "grossly underestimated," a new study warns. The brain tapeworms, which cause a disease called neurocysticercosis, are most common in Central and South America. While the disease is rare in the US and Europe, the disease is "still frequently diagnosed" in migrant populations from the endemic areas, the study says. The researchers also estimate that in areas where the disease originated, 29 percent of epilepsy cases are caused by brain tapeworms. "Overall, 1.7 to 3 million persons are conservatively estimated to suffer from epilepsy due to NCC worldwide," the study says.




“Nobody knows exactly how many people there are with it in the United States,” the study's lead author, Theodore Nash, told Discover Magazine. Nash and other experts on the topic have been traveling through Latin America with CT scanners and blood tests to test populations for the disease, Discover reported. In a study in Peru, they found that 37 percent of the people they looked at had been infected by the tapeworm. Nash's study also shows that in Latin America, brain tapeworms may afflict up to 29 million people.
People can contract tapeworms from eating undercooked pork or from ingesting food or drink contaminated by feces from an infected person, the New York Times reported.
Nash sees a few dozen patients a year with brain tapeworms at his clinic in Maryland, Discover reported. His patients have come in paralyzed on one side of their body, unable to walk, unable to speak or partially blind. Some have had violent seizures and one went into a coma. But Nash stresses there are solutions to stopping the disease from starting, such as vaccinating pigs or giving drugs to people already infected so it won't spread. “All of this seems to be very feasible, but nobody wants to do anything about it,” he told Discover. 
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/120523/brain-tapeworms-are-more-common-previously-thought-study-warns

A man, a Zebra and a Parrot walk into this bar and...

DUBUQUE, Iowa - It sounds like the beginning of a joke. A man, a zebra, a parrot walk into a bar.

This is the guy

A Cascade man was arrested outside of a Dubuque bar on Sunday night with a pet zebra and a macaw parrot in the front seat of his truck.

Officers charged Jerald Reiter, 55, with OWI. Police reports say officers stopped him in the parking lot of the Dog House Lounge as he drove away in his truck. According to police, field sobriety tests showed Reiter had a blood alcohol level of .14. The legal limit in Iowa is .08.

Reiter tells KCRG.com that he and his girlfriend, Vickey Teters, see the animals like their kids and often take them for rides. On Sunday night, they say they took the zebra and the macaw to the bar because it often lets people bring their animals inside.

Reiter says the owner told him they were serving food that night and he couldn’t bring a zebra inside the bar. Bar owners tell KCRG.com that no animals are ever allowed inside the establishment.

At that time he went outside to put the animals in his truck and several people were in the parking lot taking pictures. He believes one of those people called police.

Reiter disputes the charges and says he realized he was too drunk to drive and was about to let a passenger in the truck to take the wheel when he was arrested.

Online records show Mr. Reiter was released from the Dubuque County Jail May 21, 2012.

 

Drunken weightlifting is not a good idea.

BRIGHTON, England -

A British man was crushed to death while attempting to lift weights in his garage.
Chris Bailey, 28, decided to go for a workout Saturday after going out drinking with his landlord until 3:00am local time in Brighton, southeastern England, the Brighton Argus reported.

Landlord Oliver Steel, 57, found his body in the garage later that day after he woke up to find the front door open.

He told the newspaper, "I found him on the bench with the bar across his chest. I tried to wake him, but I knew he was dead. I had to try and lift the weight off him, which wasn't easy because it was so heavy. I tried to resuscitate him, but he was gone."
Paramedics were initially called to the home just after noon local time Saturday. His death is being treated as unexplained. An autopsy was underway Monday.


SOURCE LINK: http://www.theargus.co.uk

Ride-By Groper on Mountain Bike Strikes in Santa Monica

A man accused of groping women as he rides past on a mountain bike has struck at least six times in the Santa Monica area. The first of the six similar assaults was reported Jan. 27. In all cases, the suspect uses his mountain bike to get away. “The suspect just rides up and gropes women,” said Sgt. Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police Department. Three of the case occurred on Broadway between Princeton and Stanford. Two others were reported on Stanford just north of 6th Street. The final attack happened on Franklin and Arizona. The suspect has been described about 30 years old, between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a medium to heavy build, having straight black hair, slicked back. His clothing has varied with each incident. If you have any information you’re asked to call Santa Monica Police at 310-458-8427.

Cascade Creature

A mysterious creature was caught by underwater cameras recently during deep-sea drilling near the United Kingdom.

The camera catches the giant blob – which looks brown in color and appears to have scales — floating around, with organs and appendages sticking out, something rarely ever seen before.

So … should we be afraid of this new sea creature and will it take over the world?
Steven Haddock, a scientist for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., says that the mysterious creature is a Deepstaria enigmatica jellyfish, much to the chagrin of some Reddit users who thought it was a whale placenta.

“This bag-like jelly is not that rare, but is large, so rarely seen intact,” Haddock said on his “JellyWatch” Facebook page. “In the video, the swirling from the sub makes the medusa appear to undulate and it even turns inside-out.”

This type of jellyfish is usually found in the south Atlantic Ocean, some 5,000 feet below. According to the Marine Species Identification Portal, the jellyfish has “oral arms […] terminating in curious hook-shaped organ[s].”

Here kitty, kitty!

A local woman’s arm was injured severely after her boyfriend’s pet lynx attacked her at home.
According to KING-TV, the woman was attacked Friday while she was cleaning. It reportedly escaped from its cage and bit her.

“There was a lynx cat – a pet that lived in the house – and a girlfriend,” Jenee Westbend, King County Animal Control officer, told the station. “The cat got jealous of the girlfriend, who was vacuuming, and it jumped on her and bit her.”

When medics arrived on the scene, the lynx was still out in the open. When the victim’s boyfriend came home and secured the animal, medics and local authorities entered the premises to check on the woman.

She should recover fully, though neighbors have allegedly noticed the animal wandering around inside the house on other occasions.

“I kind of felt sorry for the cat living in a house, pacing back and forth, back and forth,” Bruce Walker, the couple’s neighbor, to KING-TV.

Animal Control took the animal to a local veterinarian’s office, where it remains in quarantine. It is illegal to house a wild cat in most situations, and Animal Control is looking further into the situation. Investigations are usually conducted any time a pet attacks a person.

Cannibal pills seen as cure all and stamina booster

 I have to admit this is more than fairly odd. This is way odd. weird in fact. ~ Editor

Thousands of pills filled with powdered human flesh have been discovered by customs officials in South Korea, it was revealed today.

The capsules are in demand because they are viewed as being a medicinal 'cure-all'.

The grim trade is being run from China where corrupt medical staff are said to be tipping off medical companies when babies are aborted or delivered still-born.

The tiny corpses are then bought, stored in household refrigerators in homes of those involved in the trade before they are removed and taken to clinics where they are placed in medical drying microwaves.

Once the skin is tinder dry, it is pummeled into powder and then processed into capsules along with herbs to disguise the true ingredients from health investigators and customs officers.

The discoveries since last August has shocked even hardened customs agents who have pledged to strengthen inspections.

Chinese officials are understood to have been aware of the trade and have tried to stop the capsules being exported but thousands of packets of them have been smuggled through to South Korea.

There is a huge demand for alternative Chinese remedies - which include ground up rhino horns.

The Chinese have historically consumed human placentas to improve blood supply and circulation.

Health authorities in Asia are concerned that if the powdered foetus trade is allowed to continue the capsules will find their way onto the internet and be sold to gullible or sick desperate people in other parts of the world.

The South Korean Customs Service said today that it had heightened its searches of suspicious packages being brought into the country by travelers from China in an attempt to stamp out the sickening trade.

According to customs agents, 35 smuggling attempts have been made since August last year involving more than 17,000 capsules disguised as 'stamina boosters'.

Hospitals and abortion clinics in China reportedly pass the remains onto drugs companies when a baby is stillborn or aborted, the South Korean SBS documentary team reported last year.

The San Francisco Times reported that tests carried out on the pills confirmed they were made up of 99.7 per cent human remains.

The tests were successfully able to establish the genders of the babies used.

There is a huge demand for the pills which are thought to enhance stamina. Microwave-dried placenta is also sought after for its alleged 'medicinal' benefits.

However, in reality the human flesh capsules contain super-bacteria and other harmful ingredients.

A number of smugglers who have been detained by the South Korean authorities have claimed they did not know what the ingredients were or the manufacturing process behind them.

'Ethnic Koreans from north-east China who now live in South Korea are those who were mostly intending to use the capsules or share them with other Korean-Chinese' said a customs official.

'They are normally brought into South Korea in luggage or posted by international mail.'

Chinese newspapers have identified the north eastern provinces as the source of the human flesh capsules, in particular the Jilin region which is close to North Korea.

There have been disturbing reports that some babies were those who had perished in China's notorious 'dying rooms' where youngsters are deliberately left to die because they were born into families that already had the limit of one child in country areas.

In order to keep its population down, China performs 13 million abortions a year - mainly because mothers sacrifice their newborns to avoid punishment such as severe fines or even a beating by the authorities.

The Chinese authorities have confirmed that 38 per cent of women of child-bearing age have been sterilized - but the babies that are aborted do not go to waste because of the sickening trade in using their corpses for purported medicinal purposes.

Despite their disgust at discovering packets of the so-called rejuvenation pills being brought in from China, South Korean officials have refused to confirm where the babies came from or who made the capsules.

Sources said this was because they were not prepared to create diplomatic friction with Beijing, preferring to leave it to Chinese officials to do something about the horrific trade in powdered babies.