Started fire to avoid sex with wife

Does this quality for Bonehead of the Week Award? -

A man who tried to set fire to his home to avoid having sex with his wife was jailed for two years.

Svetin Gulisija, 26, from Seget in Croatia admitted to starting a fire in woods just behind his house because he was too tired for sex with his wife.

The pair had to be evacuated as firefighters tried to bring the blaze under control.

The damage was later estimated to be around £15,000.

- September 13, 2003

Slim or die man sheds 44 stone

Lose weight or die!

That's the stark ultimatum doctors delivered to a 39-year-old Englishman, who grew to a colossal 60 stone.

Colin Corfield's battle for survival was the subject of a poignant and moving ITV television documentary.

Filmed over two-and-a-half years, 'Lose 30 Stone or Die' depicts his bid to reclaim his life after drug and alcohol problems in his early 20s sent his weight spiraling out of control.

The Runcorn pub landlord in Cheshire was warned two years ago that his own body fat could suffocate him.

So he decided to take drastic action and have risky gastric surgery. It has proved such a success that he has now shrunk to 16 stone!

In the TV program screened in December 2007 he said life was "fantastic" and he was looking forward to his first real Christmas in decades.

"I won't be stuck in a corner watching everyone else, feeling like I'm putting people out. It's my first Christmas as the new me."

While Colin has a new appetite for life and can walk everywhere, work properly, socialise and feels good about myself, it wasn't always that way.

As a teenager he found it hard to deal with a drinking domineering father and he turned to food for comfort.

He was obese by the time he reached 30 and when he began running his own pub, his weight spiraled out of control. "I was a big fella so I could drink 20, 30 pints in a day and not get drunk," he recalled.

He ate takeaways at 2am. He snacked on crisps, chocolates and diners all day.
He tried diets and several times managed to lose 10 stone, but then he would put it back on again.

By the autumn of 2005, Colin was so big he couldn't leave his bed and simple tasks like going to the toilet and getting washed were impossible for him.

"I'd never let anyone weigh me. But I must have been 60 stone. I couldn't walk more than a few steps or go out," he remembered.

Whenever I could, he would go up on the roof and hose myself down with a hosepipe "like an animal" and he would use a bucket for a toilet.

Nights were especially dangerous. Colin needed an oxygen mask so his weight wouldn't crush his lungs.

"It was degrading. I was so depressed. I couldn't see the point of going on," he said, admitting he had contemplated suicide.

Then he saw a TV programme about gastric surgery and thought it would work for him.

His family found a surgeon willing to cut away most of his stomach and his mother sold her bungalow to raise the necessary £32,000.

But despite Colin cutting down on alcohol and food, and slimming to 48 stone, the surgeons' instruments were too small to cope with his size when they tried an operation in November 2005.

"I was distraught," Colin said, told he had to lose another 10 stone.

He went back to his diet and hired out a local pool to swim in private.

He reached his target weight of 38 stone in November 2006 and the drastic surgery finally went ahead.

The doctors had warned him that one in 19 people die during the procedure but Colin was happy to take the risk. If I hadn't he would have died anyway, he believed.

Colin has now been left with a stomach the size of an egg, enough for him to survive on. Instead of a large cooked breakfast, he now begins his day with a single Weetabix. He has also replaced the pints with an occasional Southern Comfort.

"Food isn't a big deal for me anymore. I was addicted but now I am full after my small meal. Now I feel fantastic.

"I was very, very sad at the time I was heavy. But I'm not sad anymore - I've got my life back.

"I can go back and watch the match at Everton. I used to do it all the time before I got too big to get through the turnstile," said Colin.

Werewolf boy appeals to doctors to find a cure

An 11-year-old "werewolf" boy who desperately seeks a cure for his condition is baffling medical experts.

Pruthviraj Patil is one of 50 in the world who suffers from hypertrichosis, a rare genetic condition known as Werewolf Syndrome.

As a result his face and body is covered in thick, matted hair.

But he is hoping doctors will one day find a cure for his ailment.

Born in the Indian district of Sangli, near Bombey, he hardly ever leaves his village because of his fear of being traunted by strangers.

The only parts of his body that are not covered with hair are the palms of his hands and soles of his feet.

The son of a well off farmer, his parents have tried homeopathy, traditional Ayurvedic remedies and laser surgery. But none of them have worked.

It is believe his genetic condition was caused by a flaw during pregnancy.

"Why did God do this to us," his 32-year-old mother Anita pleads. "He looks so odd and whever we go people throng to see him."

Plastic surgeon Vinay6 Saoji has examined the boy and confirms that the condition is very rare.

"Hairy nevus, where a person has patches of excess growth, or hirsurism, is not uncommon, but hair persisting all over the body is very rare," he added.

Pruthviraj says he is anxious to get the hair removed but even after laser treatment it simply grows back.

The doctors don't have any answers to his predicament.

When he first went to school he said he got bullied and the other children laughed at him. But now they have got used to him and they treat him like normal.

He appealed to the doctors to help find him a permanent cure.

Ugly scenes as 12 million bees escape after California crash

It must have been a driver's worst nightmare - cruising down the highway and suddenly running smack into millions of angry swarming bees.

The bees were on the loose in California after a truck in which they were being transported flipped on its side on the highway.

The California Highway Patrol said eight to 12 million of the honey bees escaped from the crates in which they were stored.

The truck was carrying over 400 beehives with 30,000 bees in each.

The bees stung police officers, fire crews, and tow truck drivers trying to corral them after the accident.

"People were being stung left and right. It was an ugly, ugly scene," one police officer said.

The great escape happened near Sacramento and the insects swarmed over an area of Highway 99.

For seven hours authorities brought in handlers who used smoke in a bid to calm the bees and coax them back into the hives.

Several beekeepers driving past the accident stopped to help the emergency services deal with the bees.

The highway had to be closed for a period.

Police did not know what caused the tractor trailer carrying the bees to flip over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Washington. But they said they believe the driver may have been driving too fast.

The bees had been used to pollinate crops in the San Joaquin Valley.

The honeybee is the world's premier pollinator and is invaluable to farmers for pollination.

But there has been a shortage of them in recent times because of "Colony Collapse Disorder". US beekeepers have been losing thousands of their bees, puzzling scientists. This has led to a rise in honey prices and has also threatened fruit and vegetable production.

After a seven-hour clean-up operation at Sacramento, police were unable to say how many bees remained unaccounted for. But they were not getting any calls from panicked drivers. "No news is good news," one officer said.

The man with no face - medical science offers new hope to face-eating tumor man

Above: Jose Mestre and his sister Guida in London. Pictures below show Jose aged 14 when the tumor was still small, and as he is now.

A victim of horrific facial disfigurement - known as "the man with no face" - has been given new hope by the advancement of medical science. Jose Mestre, from Lisbon, Portugal, has been losing his face to a huge growth for the past 35 years, distorting it out of all recognition - and it's still growing. The tumor on 51-year-old Jose's face is a collection of blood vessels that have expanded, producing a raised red area on the skin. Jose was born with a strawberry-coloured birthmark on his upper lip. At puberty it began growing, eventually smothering his lips, nose and one of his eyes. Now it is 33cm long and weighs 3kg. But Jose's religious faith - as a Jehovah's Witness he refuses to accept a blood transfusion - has prevented him from having surgery to remove the growth. Jose's rare condition was the subject of a Discovery Channel TV documentary 'The Man With No Face', part of the 'My Shocking Story' series. It reveals how top medical experts in London have now held out hope of helping Jose, a well-known figure around the streets of Lisbon. A leading British surgeon has offered to treat Jose using ultrasound waves to coagulate the blood before the operation. This should remove the risk of heavy bleeding - satisfying his religious beliefs about blood transfusions in the process. Dr Iain Hutchison, of St Bartholomew's in London, is confident an operation with a harmonic scalpel could make him look a lot more normal. Discovery Channel said: "Surrounded by a loving family, it seems incredible that he has not been treated and his face was allowed to grow so big. However, through years of medical misinformation, some misdiagnosis, lack of finances, and reluctance to undergo treatment due to religious beliefs, the growth has continued to obliterate his face." My Shocking Story follows Jose on a journey through Europe to seek medical advice for one last chance to stop his face from suffocating him. In this journey of a lifetime he travels by train, via Paris, to Britain, to meet the top experts in London. He goes through a series of tests, consultations, and meets other patients with a similar affliction. In London he also spends time with his sister Guida and the rest of his family, enjoys being a tourist in London, while making the biggest decision of his life. Jose's dream is to live a long and normal life. Following the showing of the Discovery documentary he continues to adhere to his 'no blood transfusion' religious principles. But he has agreed to go back to the London hospital in 2008, when doctors hope to carry out specialist surgery to begin removing parts of his tumor, without the need for blood transfusions.

Yoda - the cat with four ears

Meet Yoda, a household pet born with an extra pair of ears.

Chicago, Illinois, couple Valerie and Ted Rock took the cat in two years ago after they visited a local bar, where a group of drinkers were handing the animal around and making fun of him.

Since being adopted by the Rocks and after getting his picture posted on the Internet, the two-year-old feline has become an international media celebrity.

The Rocks have received calls from Good Morning America, Fox News and The Tyra Banks Show. The moggy's mugshot has graced the pages of the London Guardian and British tabloids.

Despite his strange appearance, Yoda - named after the pointy-eared Star Wars character (pictured below) - is a perfectly normal and affectionate cat and a delight to have around.

His extra ears are thought to be the result of a genetic mutation.

But Yoda's owners are keeping a close watch on their much-loved pet. They are concerned he could be catnapped because he is so different.

Colors And Fashion: When To Wear Yellow

This article is a guide to knowing when to wear yellow. Yellow has the possibility of making or breaking a fashion look.

Yellow is a color that immediately grabs your attention in the most direct way possible.It's used liberally in various warning signs and labels.It's bright, loud, and holds the eye instantly""even more so than white.It's a color representative of spring and summer, at times festive and giddy.

When you decide to wear yellow, let's face it: you have just decided that you want to be noticed, and not in the most subtle way possible.


Wearing yellow with just about any other color in the spectrum can easily become a fashion land mine.For instance, alternating yellow and black in an outfit may make you look like a human-sized bumble bee.Yellow and orange in an outfit is rather garish, as two loud colors close to one another in the color spectrum tend to clash.In general it's the brighter shades of color that will clash badly.

Yellow and most other medium colors such as gray and brown can potentially become a fashion misstatement.Also, offshoots of these colors, beige, dark brown and the lighter grays may not compliment yellow very well.Strong colors like orange, green, purple and red should be avoided with yellow altogether in the same attire.

Surprisingly, certain shades of blue match with certain shades of yellow, and to clarify the earlier assessment, certain shades of gray.However, bright/light blues with yellow represent another range of garish color combinations to be avoided.When mixing with medium colors, the yellow should be toned down to a shade similar to pastels, and the medium color should be deep and rich.This makes for a pleasing contrast, for instance, a pastel yellow blouse and medium gray pants or skirt combination.

Below is a guideline to aid you in deciding how to wear yellow:

Women: a rich navy blue skirt compliments a pale yellow blouse or top.The skirt may even have a fine pattern print, like polka dots or hound's tooth.The same scheme may be applied with a charcoal gray skirt.Yellow should be avoided in any dress except for a formal gown or a sundress.In a formal gown, you want the yellow to be pale, a subtle effect while still drawing the eye.A bright yellow summer dress is likely to have some kind of design to break up the solid color, like a floral print.Yellow slacks should be avoided.A yellow cotton shorts outfit looks good and yellow should be avoided in shoes.

Men: A pastel yellow dress shirt (perhaps with a white collar) works well with dark gray, navy blue, or black slacks.Everything else in casual wear is a go; shorts, t-shirts and other casual wear.Yellow in paler shades is a light, summer color for just about every informal occasion.However, yellow should be avoided in all but a dress shirt in business and formal wear.In sportswear, yellow blends with white and other lighter colors, but should be avoided in footwear.

Oddly enough, weather conditions tend to play a factor for people when deciding what colors to wear.It is far more appealing to be seen wearing yellow on a bright spring or summer day than on a dark and rainy day in fall or winter.Even on rainy days in the spring or summer, people tend to tone down on the bright colors, more than likely a subconscious decision.

The range of colors that accentuate yellow in most clothing attire are the dark tones and shades.Charcoal grays, deep browns, royal blue and similar colors make a good pairing with yellow.A suggestion is to use muted shades of yellow in these color combinations so as not to jar the eye from one part of the outfit to the other.

In closing, yellow is a prominent color that walks a fine line between appealing looks and outright garishness, but with a good eye on coordinating it with other colors and a little care, can be very stylish.