Scuba-diving Santa brings holiday cheer to everyone

It’s a busy time for Santa Claus, but he’s making time to feed some fish in San Francisco. The California Academy of Sciences launched its holiday festivities Thursday by having a scuba diver dressed as St. Nick submerge into a coral reef exhibit while dozens of children watched from behind the glass. The “Scuba Santa” show runs through Christmas Day. It takes place during the morning feed at the Philippine Coral Reef tank at the San Francisco museum. Volunteer diver George Bell donned his Santa suit, from hat to coal black boots, and scuba gear for a recent feed and fielded visitors’ questions from inside the tank. The Philippine Coral Reef tank has thousands of reef fish representing about 100 species. People can watch Santa’s appearance online by webcam.

‘High-tech’ robot on TV was man in suit

Russian media say a contraption presented by Russian state television as a high-tech robot was in fact a man in a commercially available robot costume. The footage was shot at a high-tech show in the city of Yaroslavl that opened Tuesday, featuring “Boris the Robot.” Forum organizers used Boris to enliven the event, having him dance to a pop song.

But a crew for Russian state television apparently thought Boris was real, and used footage of him dancing and speaking as an example of Russian technological prowess. Online TJournal noted the lack of sensors, human-like movements and other discrepancies, and revealed that Boris was in fact a human clad in a costume sold under the name Alyosha by the Russian company Show Robots. (AP)

Worth the sting: Cuba’s scorpion pain remedy

Once a month for the last decade, Pepe Casanas, a 78-year-old Cuban farmer, has hunted down a scorpion to sting himself with, vowing that the venom wards off his rheumatism pains. His natural remedy is no longer seen as very unusual here.

Researchers in Cuba have found that the venom of the blue scorpion, whose scientific name is Rhopalurus junceus, endemic to the Caribbean island, appears to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties, and may be able to delay tumor growth in some cancer patients. While some oncologists abroad say more research is needed to be able to properly back up such a claim, Cuban pharmaceutical firm Labiofam has been using scorpion venom since 2011 to manufacture the homeopathic medicine Vidatox. The remedy has proven popular. Labiofam Business Director Carlos Alberto Delgado told Reuters sales were climbing 10 percent annually. Vidatox already sells in around 15 countries worldwide and is currently in talks with China to sell the remedy there. In Cuba, where tens of thousands of patients have been treated with Vidatox, each vial costs under a dollar. On the black market abroad it can cost hundred times that — retailers on Amazon.com are seen selling them for up to $140.

“I put the scorpion where I feel pain,” Casanas said while demonstrating his homemade pain relief with a scorpion that he found under a pile of debris on the patch of land he cultivates in Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Rio. After squeezing it long enough, it stung him and he winced. “It hurts for a while, but then it calms and goes and I don’t have any more pain,” he said. Casanas, a leathery-skinned former tobacco farmer who now primarily grows beans for his own consumption, said he sometimes keeps a scorpion under his straw hat like a lucky charm. It likes the shade and humidity, he says, so just curls up and sleeps.

(Reuters)

restaurant offering $500 gold brownie

A Los Angeles restaurant is taking dessert to new heights of decadence with a $500 brownie covered in 24-karat edible gold. Chef Jason Harley, owner of Baby J’s Burgers, said the opulent brownie is served in a humidor with a Monte Cristo cigar on the side.The brownie is coated in 24-karat gold and features glaze made with Johnnie Walker Blue Label scotch whisky. Harley previously made headlines in 2016 when his doughnut shop, Birdies, came out with a $100 doughnut similarly coated in edible gold.

(UPI)

Grinch on video driving through xmas display

An apparent Grinch was spotted on surveillance video plowing through a Christmas display outside a suburban Indianapolis home and tips are being sought to find the man. WRTV broadcast the video recorded Sunday night by a neighbor’s camera in Greenwood.

The video starts with a man getting out of a black SUV and then walking up to take a closer look at the front yard where Casie Arnold says her family had a 3.7-meter-tall inflatable snowman. The man gets back into the vehicle, backs up and drives through the family’s yard and over the decoration.

Arnold says they heard a pop while watching a Christmas movie. Tire tracks were in the yard. Arnold says she wonders if the driver was possibly a Grinch who doesn’t like Christmas.

Writer: Agencies

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Scuba-diving Santa brings holiday cheer to everyone

It’s a busy time for Santa Claus, but he’s making time to feed some fish in San Francisco. The California Academy of Sciences launched its holiday festivities Thursday by having a scuba diver dressed as St. Nick submerge into a coral reef exhibit while dozens of children watched from behind the glass. The “Scuba Santa” show runs through Christmas Day. It takes place during the morning feed at the Philippine Coral Reef tank at the San Francisco museum. Volunteer diver George Bell donned his Santa suit, from hat to coal black boots, and scuba gear for a recent feed and fielded visitors’ questions from inside the tank. The Philippine Coral Reef tank has thousands of reef fish representing about 100 species. People can watch Santa’s appearance online by webcam.

‘High-tech’ robot on TV was man in suit

Russian media say a contraption presented by Russian state television as a high-tech robot was in fact a man in a commercially available robot costume. The footage was shot at a high-tech show in the city of Yaroslavl that opened Tuesday, featuring “Boris the Robot.” Forum organizers used Boris to enliven the event, having him dance to a pop song.

But a crew for Russian state television apparently thought Boris was real, and used footage of him dancing and speaking as an example of Russian technological prowess. Online TJournal noted the lack of sensors, human-like movements and other discrepancies, and revealed that Boris was in fact a human clad in a costume sold under the name Alyosha by the Russian company Show Robots. (AP)

Worth the sting: Cuba’s scorpion pain remedy

Once a month for the last decade, Pepe Casanas, a 78-year-old Cuban farmer, has hunted down a scorpion to sting himself with, vowing that the venom wards off his rheumatism pains. His natural remedy is no longer seen as very unusual here.

Researchers in Cuba have found that the venom of the blue scorpion, whose scientific name is Rhopalurus junceus, endemic to the Caribbean island, appears to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties, and may be able to delay tumor growth in some cancer patients. While some oncologists abroad say more research is needed to be able to properly back up such a claim, Cuban pharmaceutical firm Labiofam has been using scorpion venom since 2011 to manufacture the homeopathic medicine Vidatox. The remedy has proven popular. Labiofam Business Director Carlos Alberto Delgado told Reuters sales were climbing 10 percent annually. Vidatox already sells in around 15 countries worldwide and is currently in talks with China to sell the remedy there. In Cuba, where tens of thousands of patients have been treated with Vidatox, each vial costs under a dollar. On the black market abroad it can cost hundred times that — retailers on Amazon.com are seen selling them for up to $140.

“I put the scorpion where I feel pain,” Casanas said while demonstrating his homemade pain relief with a scorpion that he found under a pile of debris on the patch of land he cultivates in Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Rio. After squeezing it long enough, it stung him and he winced. “It hurts for a while, but then it calms and goes and I don’t have any more pain,” he said. Casanas, a leathery-skinned former tobacco farmer who now primarily grows beans for his own consumption, said he sometimes keeps a scorpion under his straw hat like a lucky charm. It likes the shade and humidity, he says, so just curls up and sleeps.

(Reuters)

restaurant offering $500 gold brownie

A Los Angeles restaurant is taking dessert to new heights of decadence with a $500 brownie covered in 24-karat edible gold. Chef Jason Harley, owner of Baby J’s Burgers, said the opulent brownie is served in a humidor with a Monte Cristo cigar on the side.The brownie is coated in 24-karat gold and features glaze made with Johnnie Walker Blue Label scotch whisky. Harley previously made headlines in 2016 when his doughnut shop, Birdies, came out with a $100 doughnut similarly coated in edible gold.

(UPI)

Grinch on video driving through xmas display

An apparent Grinch was spotted on surveillance video plowing through a Christmas display outside a suburban Indianapolis home and tips are being sought to find the man. WRTV broadcast the video recorded Sunday night by a neighbor’s camera in Greenwood.

The video starts with a man getting out of a black SUV and then walking up to take a closer look at the front yard where Casie Arnold says her family had a 3.7-meter-tall inflatable snowman. The man gets back into the vehicle, backs up and drives through the family’s yard and over the decoration.

Arnold says they heard a pop while watching a Christmas movie. Tire tracks were in the yard. Arnold says she wonders if the driver was possibly a Grinch who doesn’t like Christmas.

Writer: Agencies

Courtesy: The Pioneer