Marina Bay Sands SkyPark opens

As infinity pools go, this particular one takes the concept right to the edge. 55 floors above the streets of Singapore, the pool at the city's newest resort - the £4billion Marina Bay Sands - is open for business.

Via: Dailymail
Photos via: Reuters

Life In A Bubble

David Phillip Vetter was a boy from Shenandoah, Texas, United States who suffered from a rare genetic disease now known as severe combined immune deficiency syndrome (SCID). Forced to live in a sterile environment, he became popular with the media as the boy in the plastic bubble.

David's parents first son died seven months after birth. Doctors said that the baby boy had been born with a defective thymus, a gland which is important in the functioning of the immune system, due to a genetic condition, SCID. Each further son the couple might conceive would have a 50% chance of inheriting the same condition. The doctors from Baylor College of Medicine told the Vetters that if they had another child with SCID, the child could be placed in a sterile isolator until a bone marrow transplant could be performed, using the older sister, Katherine, as a donor. 

A special sterilized cocoon bed was prepared for David at his birth. Less than 10 seconds after being removed from his mother's womb, David entered the plastic germ-free environment that would be his home for most of his life.

The doctors had decided that a bone marrow transplant might give David's immune system a jump start; however they had expected that David's sister, Katherine, would be a match. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Now, what was set up as a temporary solution had become his home, and as he grew, they had to allocate a hospital room in which he could live. As the years went by, David moved to other environments in the hospital, each one bigger to fit him and the bubble.

The researchers and his parents tried to give him a life as normal as possible: he had formal education and watched TV (the Hospital provided him with a small television set in his bubble). However, he longed to participate in the outside world that he could see out the window and on television. He said on one occasion: "Whatever I do depends on what somebody else decides I do. Why school? Why did you make me learn to read? What good will it do? I won't ever be able to do anything anyway. So why? You tell me why."

When David was four years old, he discovered he could poke holes in his cocoon using a butterfly syringe that was left in his possession by accident. This led his doctor to tell David about germs and David's special condition for the first time. Untill he was five, he aready recognized his difference and dreaded what the future held - limited choices, feelings of alienation and an increased need to be polite and compliant so as not to reveal his anger.

Water, air, food, diapers, clothes, all were disinfected with special cleaning agents before entering his cocoon. He was handled only through special plastic gloves attached to the walls. Before anything could go into the bubble, extra glue and labels would be removed, the product would be placed in a chamber filled with ethylene oxide gas for four hours at 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60˚C), and then aerated for a period of one to seven days before it could finally go in the bubble.

The bubble had very loud motors that would keep it inflated, which made it difficult for David to have conversations and for people listening to hear him. When David was three, a playroom was added to his bubble, measuring 11 feet (3.4 m) long, six and a half feet wide and eight feet tall.
When a United Press International photographer arrived to document David's first venture into his new playroom, David refused to go into the new addition to his bubble. David's mother called in Mary Murphy, a woman working on her doctorate in psychology and who had met David once before. Murphy convinced David to go into the playroom section to get a better glimpse of a goldfish she held, and she was then invited back for therapy sessions with David.

By 1974 around age 3, David could spend up to two or three weeks at a time at his parents' home in Conroe, Texas in a bubble set up for him there. When he was home, his sister would sleep in the living room next to his bubble. The two siblings were close, although they would sometimes even have physical fights and shoving matches using the gloves into the bubble. Once, David punched Katherine using the gloves and then went to the other side of the bubble, where he couldn't be reached with the gloves. However, in the end Katherine would have the upper hand in their disagreements: she could threaten to unplug his bubble, which she did a few times. Even if his primary bubble deflated, he had a separate area he could go into while he asked her to plug the bubble back in.

After many years, David's situation became unbearable. The small expectations for finding a cure were still the same as a preteen as when he was a baby. Doctors feared that as a teenager he would become even more unpredictable and uncontrollable. The U.S. government spoke about cutting the research funding as it showed no results and there was a growing debate over the ethics of that experiment, with public opinion becoming less supportive of the project. A total of more than $1.3 million was spent on David's care.

David did have friends and classmates who would come to his house to play with him, and in one case, a friend arranged for a special showing of Return of the Jedi at a local movie theatre that David could watch from his transport bubble, used to take him from his home to the hospital.

In 1983, at the advice of the original trio of doctors who had encouraged them to have David in the first place, David's parents decided to allow his medical team to perform an unmatched bone marrow transplant, with marrow donated by his sister Katherine. Attempts to find a matched bone marrow donor since his birth had been unsuccessful, and advances had recently been made in unmatched bone marrow operations. Baylor filmed the operation against David's wishes, and the marrow was given to David through intravenous lines running into the bubble.

The 1984 transplant operation went well, and for a few months hope was high that David would be able to leave the bubble. However, a few months after the operation, David became sick for the first time in his life; he started having diarrhea, fever and severe vomiting from intestinal bleeding. These symptoms were so severe that David had to be taken out of the bubble for treatment. In response to a direct question from his father on whether he wished to be taken out of the bubble, David replied, "Daddy, I will agree to anything to feel better." Out of the bubble, he continued to get worse and sank into a coma; his mother was able to touch his skin for the first and last time before he died. He died on February 22, 1984 of Burkitt's lymphoma at the age of 12.

Via: [link]
Images source: [link]
David Vetter image gallery:[link]

Former center Manute Bol dies at age 47

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Manute Bol, a lithe 7-foot-7 shot-blocker from Sudan who spent 10 seasons in the NBA and was dedicated to humanitarian work in Africa, died Saturday. He was 47.

Bol died at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, where he was being treated for severe kidney trouble and a painful skin condition, Tom Prichard, executive director of the group Sudan Sunrise, said in an e-mail.

Bol played in the NBA with Washington, Golden State, Philadelphia and Miami, averaging 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks for his career. He led the league in blocks in 1985-86 with Washington (5.0 per game) and in 1988-89 with Golden State (4.3 a game).

Bol joined the NBA with Washington in 1985 and played three seasons there. He returned to the team briefly toward the end of his career. The Wizards lauded him as a "true humanitarian and an ambassador for the sport of basketball."

"Despite his accomplishments on the court, his lasting legacy will be the tireless work and causes he promoted in his native Sudan and the cities in which he played," the club said in a statement.

After the NBA, Bol worked closely as an advisory board member of Sudan Sunrise, which promotes reconciliation in Sudan. .

Bol was hospitalized in mid-May during a stopover in Washington after returning to the United States from Sudan. Prichard said then that Bol was in Sudan to help build a school in conjunction with Sudan Sunrise but stayed longer than anticipated after the president of southern Sudan asked him to make election appearances and use his influence to counter corruption in the county.

He said Bol had undergone three dialysis treatments and developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a condition that caused him to lose patches of skin. Prichard said the skin around Bol's mouth was so sore he went 11 days without eating and could barely talk.

Prichard said it's believed Bol contracted the skin disease as a reaction to kidney medication he took while in Africa.

Janis Ricker, operations manager of Sudan Sunrise, said Saturday the organization will continue its work building the school in Bol's home village in southern Sudan. She said Bol's goal was to build 41 schools throughout Sudan.

Via: [link]

Japanese Acrobats

Japanese acrobats, filmed by Thomas A. Edison on April 29, 1904 at his New York City film studio.
A Japanese man and boy perform a series of acrobatics...really amazing.

The Coolest Car Door Handles

I've never thought there can be so many different cool looking door handles. Take a look at our top list.

▲ TVR Tuscan door handle

▲ Nissan GTR door handle

▲ Lamborghini LP560-4 door handle

▲ Fiat Barchetta door handle

▲ Ferrari F430 door handle

▲ Ferrari 512TR door handle

▲ 2000 Dodge Viper GTS Coupe door handle

▲ Aston Martin V8 Vantage door handle

▲ Nissan GT-R door handle

▲ 2003 Nissan 350-z door handle

▲ 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlehhaut Coupe door handle

▲ 2008 Lincoln Mark door handle

▲ Lamborghini Miura door handle (So sleek it takes you a minute to realize it's there.)

▲ 2006 Chevrolet Corvette door handle

▲ The old Lincoln push-buttons (From the 60's)

▲ 1970 AMC Rebel "The Machine" door handle

▲ 1969-72 Pontiac Grand Prix door handle

Man in Brazil imprisoned daughter for 12 years and had 7 children with her

RIO DE JANEIRO - A man in a remote fishing village in Brazil kept his daughter imprisoned for 12 years, raped her repeatedly and had seven children with her, police said Wednesday. The man is also accused of abusing a young girl he had with his daughter.

Police allege that Jose Agostinho Pereira, 54, kept his daughter, now 28, under virtual house arrest in a two-room, thatched-roof hut near a tiny fishing village in northeastern Brazil.

An officer who aided in the arrest said the home was located in such a remote, jungle area that the only way to reach it was by using canoes. Authorities said the children appeared to suffer from malnutrition and could barely communicate with others. Most were unclothed.

The alleged abuse began when Pereira's wife left him in 1998, said police inspector Jair Lima de Paiva.

Pereira has been in jail since Tuesday in the city of Pinheiro in Maranhao state, about 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers) north of Rio de Janeiro. Charges have not been filed against him. Under Brazilian law, prosecutors only file charges after police have ended their investigation.

It was not immediately known if Pereira had a lawyer.

Paiva said Pereira kept his daughter and the children in nearly complete isolation in the countryside near the village of Experimento, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) outside of Pinheiro.

While the exact ages of the children — four girls and three boys — were not known as none of their births were registered, police believe they range in age from 2-months-old to 12.

"None of them were allowed to leave the house. None can read, they can barely communicate with other people," said Paiva. "They were all threatened with their lives if they tried to escape or tell anyone about the situation."

Paiva said police were tipped off about Pereira's alleged crimes by an anonymous phone call.

Officers from Pinheiro were sent to the remote area about 10 days ago, where they located Pereira's house, kept it under observation for a few days and then arrested him.

"He confessed to everything," said a police officer who helped arrest Pereira, speaking on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to discuss the case.

Pereira's daughter and the seven children are now under the care of the government's protective services.

It was last year in Austria that Josef Fritzl was found guilty of locking his daughter in a dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.

Via: [link]

Tallest man in the NBA

Manute Bol was born October 16, 1962 in Sudan. His father, Dinka tribal chief, gave him the name "Manute", which means "special blessing".
Until the debut of Gheorghe Mureşan, Bol was undisputedly the tallest player ever to appear in the National Basketball Association. Manute Bol is 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) and 225 lb (102 kg).