Jeffrey Lee is one Australian not interested in becoming the world’s next billionare.
As the last living member of an Indigenous Australian clan, he is the custodian to a sacred piece of land near the world famous Kakadu National Park, called Koongarra. A swath of land in Australia’s Northern Territory that French nuclear energy giant Areva would love to mine for pricey uranium.
At a potential Australian $5 billion (US$4.5B) plus windfall, Jeffrey isn’t interested in the temptation of riches; he’s much more interested in preserving this amazing part of the world for the future.
But he may be running of time. He has no partner and doesn’t have any children.
Although the Australian Government has promised the land won’t be mined unless the traditional land owners give the green light, if Lee doesn’t have any children before he dies and the land doesn’t become world heritage listed, then his wishes may be denied.
“I’m not interested in money. I’ve got a job; I can buy tucker; I can go fishing and hunting. That’s all that matters to me.”
Sydney Morning Herald has more on the last of the Djok clan.
Ahh yes, a love story to concur all heights.
China’s Bao Xishu, the world’s tallest man, has gotten himself hitched to a woman who only just stands up to his elbow.
Colourful wedding ceremony- Boa is nicknamed Xi Shun or “The Mast”
He had been searching for love for about a decade when he came across sales clerk Xia Shujun, the two had only spent one month together before they decided to get hitched.
Bao Xishu, a herdsman, is a huge celebrity in China, and has travelled to various parts of the world to be greeted with rock-star like crowds. But he isn’t just famous for his height.
Last year authorities in his homeland called him up to achieve something only a superhero could do, using his 1.06 meter long arms to reach into the stomachs of two dolphins who were dieing after they swallowed plastic.
The wedding was attended by hundreds of people and sponsored by more than a dozen companies hoping to cash in on the attention. Those new found capitalist Chinese sure know how to get in on the act.
At 29 Bao’s new wife stands at 1.68 meters (5ft 6) and at 29 is half her husbands age.
Xia said she was madly in love.
“You need to have feelings for someone to be in love. Even if he is a big shot, you can’t love him without feelings,” Xia said.
Mnaaa, makes you all warm and fuzzy inside….
Superhero Bao?
Big Ben indeed!
Video: Bao saves the day in China, Sky News UK, 2006.
Video: International celb, Bao treated like a rockstar in Vienna
See an interesting ”list of famous tall people” from Wikipedia.
Video: Up and away! Man goes skyward in lawn chair.
July 12, 2007
He’s either crazy or knows how to live life to the fullest.
A 47-year-old man from Oregon, USA, has bravely taken to the skies in his own lawn chair in an act known as Cluster Ballooning- carrying a parachute, snacks and some water as ballast, reports CNN.
Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks — and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons.
With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise — Couch headed into the Oregon sky.
Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer’s field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles (310 kilometers) from home.
“When you’re a little kid and you’re holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind,” Couch told local journalists.
“When you’re laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them,” he said. “This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It’s just like that.”
He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from below.
Couch said he could hear cattle and children and even passed through clouds.
“It was beautiful — beautiful.”
Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande, including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land.
He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He’s hoping to get them back some day.
See more from local TV news KTVZ.COM
Local news story “Balloon Man”.
Good news everyone!
For years imbibers have been told a big night on the drink wipes out entire sections of human brain cell function with much the same destructive equivalent as a napalm bombing strike.
According to Queensland Brain Institute director Professor Perry Bartlett, this is not true.
There is no evidence drinking alcohol leads directly to the death of brain cells, he said.
“Some of the best studies, done in Italy, show a bottle of wine a night can reduce the risk of dementia in old age,” Professor Bartlett said.
In moderation, alcohol has positive benefits for blood vessel health and stroke prevention. And, as an added bonus, new brain cells are generated every day of our lives.
Research by Professor Bartlett and his team has found we all have an inbuilt repair kit replenishing the more than 100 billion cells - or neurons - in our brain.
The new evidence will be presented at a conference in the tropical northern Australian resort city of Cairns.
Speakers at the conference will include distinguished scientists from Oxford, Cambridge and Yale.
So everyone, it’s party time! All the more reason to get into onto the piss, as we say in Australia.
