MFS - Strange But True - People 16

Is happiness a matter of seize? I don't think so !

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - People 16


Junrey Balawing the next smallest man in the World?


He might only be slightly taller than a glass bottle, but Junrey Balawing is set to break big world records.

The tiny teenager will soon be crowned the world's smallest man, standing at a mere 22 inches.

The minuscule man from Zamboanga del Norte, in the Philippines, is already 17 years old but is just the same size as a one-year-old.

And when he celebrates his 18th birthday in June he is excepted to shave five inches of the current Guinness World Record.

He struggles to walk and can't stand for long, but he looks forward to wearing the crown with pride.

'If I were the smallest man in the world, it would be very cool,' he said.

His mother, Concepcion, 35, says she noticed something was wrong as Junrey approached the age of two but no doctor was able to help.

His mother, Concepcion, 35, says she noticed something was wrong as Junrey approached the age of two but no doctor was able to help

'He was always sick and we noticed he wasn't growing so we took him to see a doctor but they were baffled,' she says.

When Junrey was 12 the family took him back to the doctor but their only advice was to take more vitamins, which the family couldn't afford.Read more about this amazing boy on MFS , with one videoclip about him.

MFS - Strange But True - Things / Other 21

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - Things / Other 21


The Cursed Delhi Purple Sapphire


Some 34 years ago Peter Tandy, a young curator at the Natural History Museum, happened upon a jewel while working among the great lines of mineral cabinets. From a scientific perspective, the stone was nothing special, though its setting was rather bizarre, bound by a silver ring decorated with astrological symbols and mystical words with two scarab-carved gems attached. It was a typewritten note that accompanied the jewel, an amethyst known as the Delhi Purple Sapphire, that caught Tandy’s eye.

The Delhi Purple Sapphire was "trebly accursed and is stained with the blood, and the dishonor of everyone who has ever owned it," according to Edward Heron-Allen, a scientist, friend of Oscar Wilde and the last owner of the jewel.

The Delhi Purple Sapphire, actually an amethyst, was willed to the London Natural History Museum in 1943 by Heron-Allen. Supposedly he was so concerned about the curse of bad luck and tragedy surrounding the gem that he sealed it with protective charms in seven boxes.

Heron-Allen’s last words on the jewel: "Whoever shall then open it, shall first read out this warning, and then do as he pleases with the jewel. My advice to him or her is to cast it into the sea." The sapphire was only discovered again more than three decades ago though the discovery was kept quiet due to the supposed curse. Supposedly Heron-Allen, a scholar in his own right, knew what he was talking about. His descendants would never touch the jewel and knew well the story of the cursed amethyst.Read more on this "Cursed' Charm on MFS.

MFS - Strange But True - People

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - People 16

Blind woman catches record Albino Catfish.



A fisherman who introduced his blind wife Sheila Penfold, 59 to fishing has been upstaged twice - as he watched her break two world records for catching giant catfish.Retired gardener Alan Penfold, 63, decided to start bringing wife Sheila along on his fishing trips four years ago but wouldn't have expected to be upstaged by his partially-sighted partner.She has broken the record for the biggest catfish ever caught by a woman and then hooked the largest albino catfish ever caught in two fishing holidays.The 59-year-old housewife, who has three children, three grandchildren and one great grandchild, said her second record-breaker came on October 4 this year when she reeled in a rare albino catfish.She was rowed out into the middle of the river to place her bait before heading back to the shore - and within minutes she felt a tug on her line which she said 'felt like a car', she told the Angler's Mail.After nearly an hour of reeling the fish to the surface, she almost dropped her rod in amazement when she heard people shouting around her that it was a very rare catfish.Four fellow fishermen and the tour guide helped Sheila, from Wandsworth, south London, get the huge fish onto dry land.The previous world record for an albino catfish- caught by either a man or a woman - was just 179lb, almost a stone lighter than Sheila's catch.Picture and copyright by Stian Alexander.Read and see more on this catch at MFS,with 1 videoclip on Catfish angling.

MFS - Strange But True - People 16

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - People 16

The Tarahumara a.k.a. The super Athletes of the Sierra Madre.


The Rarámuri or Tarahumara are an indigenous people of northern Mexico who are renowned for their long-distance running ability.In their language, the term rarámuri refers specifically to the males, females are referred as muki (individually) or igomele (collectively).Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Rarámuri retreated to the Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. The area of the Sierra Madre Occidental which they now inhabit is often called the Sierra Tarahumara because of their presence.Current estimates put the population of the Rarámuri in 2006 at between 50,000 and 70,000 people. Most still practice a traditional lifestyle, inhabiting natural shelters such as caves or cliff overhangs, as well as small cabins of wood or stone. Staple crops are corn and beans; however, many of the Rarámuri still practice transhumance, raising cattle, sheep, and goats. Almost all Rarámuri migrate in some form or another in the course of the year.The Tarahumara language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family. Although it is in decline under pressure from Spanish, it is still widely spoken.The word for themselves, Rarámuri means "foot-runner" or "he who walks well,"in their native tongue.And they've been known to irritate American ultramarathoners by beating them while wearing huarache sandals and stopping now and then for a smoke.Read and see more about these amazing people on MFS,with 2 videoclips.

MFS - Strange But True - Places 18

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - Places 18

The Sigiriya fortress Sri Lanka.

Sigiriya (Lion's rock) is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures. A popular tourist destination, Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings (frescos), which are reminiscent of the Ajanta Caves of India. The Sigiriya was built during the reign of King Kassapa I (AD 477 – 495), and it is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.

Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times. It was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 5th century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the Buddhist Sangha. The garden and palace were built by King Kasyapa. Following King Kasyapa's death, it was again a monastery complex up to about the 14th century, after which it was abandoned. . The Sigiri inscriptions were deciphered by the archaeologist Senarath Paranavithana in his renowned two-volume work, published by Oxford, Sigiri Graffiti. He also wrote the popular book "Story of Sigiriya".Read and see more about this amazing place on MFS,with 2 videoclips.

MFS - Strange But True - Places 18

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - Places 18

The Train Graveyard at Uyuni - Bolivia.


Uyuni is a town in the Potosí Department in the south of Bolivia. The town's primary function is as a gateway for tourists visiting the world's largest salt flats - the Salar de Uyuni.One of the major tourist attractions of the area is an antique train cemetery. It is located 3 km outside Uyuni and is connected to it by the old train tracks. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals on their way to the Pacific Ocean ports. The train lines were built by British engineers who arrived near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizable community in Uyuni. The engineers were invited by British-sponsored Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Companies, which is now Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia. The rail construction started in 1888 and ended in 1892. It was encouraged by the then Bolivian President Aniceto Arce, who believed Bolivia would flourish with a good transport system, but it was also constantly sabotaged by the local Aymara indigenous Indians who saw it as an intrusion into their lives. The trains were mostly used by the mining companies. In the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly due to the mineral depletion. Many trains were abandoned thereby producing the train cemetery. There are talks to build a museum out of the cemetery.Read and see the full story at MFS,with 1 videoclip.

MFS - Strange But True Creatures/Animals 16

Updated on MFS - Strange But True Creatures/Animals 16


    The Ocean sunfish a.k.a. Mola mola.


The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate.Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.
Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, orcas and sharks will consume them. Among humans, sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, the Korean peninsula and Taiwan, but sale of their flesh is banned in the European Union.Sunfish are frequently, though accidentally, caught in gillnets, and are also vulnerable to harm or death from encounters with floating trash, such as plastic bags.
A member of the order Tetraodontiformes, which also includes pufferfish, porcupinefish and filefish, the sunfish shares many traits common to members of this order. It was originally classified as Tetraodon mola under the pufferfish genus, but it has since been given its own genus, Mola, with two species under it. The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the type species of the genus.Read more about this giant fish on MFS,with 3 videoclips.

MFS - Strange But True - Creatures/Animals 16

Updated on MFS - Strange But True - Creatures/Animals 16


      The Chinese Giant Salamander.


The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is the largest salamander in the world, reaching a length of 180 cm (6 ft), although it rarely - if ever - reaches that size today. Endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in China, it is considered critically endangered due to habitat loss, pollution, and over-collecting, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. Records from Taiwan may be the results of introductions.It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project.Read more about this rare animal on MFS,with 2 videoclips.