Alexander D. Smith, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery after he walked into the bank and tried to open an account by depositing a fake $1 million bill.

The bank teller who refused to open the account called police while Smith started to curse at bank workers.

Read the full story here.

A ghostly image of Father Henry Garnet who was executed for treason over the Gunpowder Plot has appeared on a 17th century book bounded in his skin.

The book will be auctioned at Wilkinson's Auctioneers in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on Sunday.

Read the full story here.

This is the Boxster RS 60 Spyder Limited Edition. It pays tribute to the winning Type 718 RS.

Just 1,960 of these cars will be made available at a price of approximately $78,000.

Hurry up - this is definately a "while stocks last" offer.

See more here.

Existing next to the black market trade older white women are visiting Kenya for sex with young black boys. This is obvious at the bars and on the sand once the sun goes down. Thousands of elderly white women are seeking romantic short term relationships with very much younger Kenyan men.

The women are in their 50s and 60s and the boys are mostly in their early 20s. Experts say some of these older women thrive on the social status and financial power that comes from taking much poorer, younger lovers - its like returning a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions.

One 22 year old Kenyan boy who is built like an Olympic basketball star, said he has slept with more than 100 white women, most of them 30 years his senior.

Read the full story here.

An anonymous collector has paid more than $30 million for a collection of rare U.S. prototype coins, some from the 1700s, that never went into circulation.

The coin collection consists of approximately 1,000 coins that is referred to as pattern coins — trial designs that never went into production because the U.S. Mint chose other designs.

Read the full story here.

Aragawa (Tokyo): Expect to spend at least $550 a person at this exclusive but modest little steakhouse in Tokyo's Shinbashi District--most of that on steak, which is the only entrée.

L'Arpege (Paris): A meal here will set you back $495 for the mandatory nine-course tasting menu.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (London) At $224 (not including a 12.5% gratuity) the seven-course tasting menu here is the priciest dinner in town.

Joel Robuchon (Las Vegas) At this restaurant at the Mansion at the MGM Grand, expect to pony up $360 for his legendary 16-course tasting menu. The wine list is astronomically priced, with few wines below the $100 mark.

La Pergola (Rome) Its nine-course tasting menu runs $285, (choose six courses and the meal will only set you back $250--still a much better value than ordering a la carte).

Alinea (Chicago) Its 24 courses menu will cost you $195. The wine list starts at around $40.

Masa (New York) Fresh fish and shellfish flown in daily from Tokyo is just one of the reasons a meal at Masa will cost you $400 right off the bat.

The French Laundry (San Francisco): There is no a la carte dining here, only a $240 nine-course menu.

El Bulli (Roses, Spain): The restaurant closes six months out of the year so that the chef, foam king Ferran Adria, and his crew may spend time inventing new dishes at their Barcelona "kitchen lab." Fans know to always expect the unexpected from the $270 30-plus course menu.

Tetsuya's (Sydney, Australia): The 10-course minimum will set you back about $195.

Read the full story here.

Biologists in Oregon have already been using cloning to produce a monkey embryo and extract stem cells. Now, the possibility is very much higher than before that a human embryo will be cloned and that, inevitably, a cloned human will be born.

Whilst American and European scientists have made the most progress in biotechnology, God as defined by some Western religions is still a very large obstacle, in further pursuit of biotechnology.

Scientist in Asia, however, do not seem to face any religious restrictions.

“Asian religions worry less than Western religions that biotechnology is about ‘playing God,’” says Cynthia Fox, the author of “Cell of Cells,” a book about the global race among stem-cell researchers. She says, “Therapeutic cloning in particular jibes well with the Buddhist and Hindu ideas of reincarnation.”

“Most people in Hindu and Buddhist countries, have a root tradition in which there is no single creator God. Instead, there may be no gods or many gods, and there is no master plan for the universe. Instead, spirits are eternal and individual virtue — karma — determines what happens to your spirit in your next life. With some exceptions, this view generally allows the acceptance of both embryo research to support life and genetically modified crops.” says Dr. Silver, a molecular biologist at Princeton. Dr. Silver analysed the clashes of spirituality and science in his book “Challenging Nature”.

On the other hand, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is the master creator who gives out new souls to each individual human being and gives humans “dominion” over soul-less plants and animals. To traditional Christians who consider an embryo to be a human being with a soul, it is wrong for scientists to use cloning to create human embryos or to destroy embryos in the course of research.

Read the full story here.

Female Hysteria

The prescription for female hysteria was usually a good vaginal massage.

Seizures And Migraines

Historically trepanation was most commonly used as treatment. Trepanation is a fancy word for drilling holes in your head.

Being Fat

Taking capsules filled with dehydrated tapeworms or tapeworm eggs.



Flu

Bloodletting. If you were feeling under the weather back in the day there's a good chance it was because you just had too much damn blood.

For General Health

Drink urine. It was believed that the key to good health (and terrible body odor) was drinking one's own urine. It was said to cure an endless list of ailments and promotes good health if drank and was also applied to the skin.

Mercury - rub it where it hurts.

Depression And Mental Illness

The cure for depression was lobotomy. Lobotomy is a process where a 10-inch-long ice pick is inserted to your brain through your eye socket, then, wiggled it around to shred part of your brain.

Impotence

The remedy for impotence used to be mildly electrocuting your penis using strange devices such as penis electric belts.

Cough

The remedy for cough used to be heroin. Heroin, by the way, was originally developed by Bayer.

Problem Children

If you had a disobedient child, give it some morphine. Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, popular then, contained 65 mg of pure morphine.

Read the full story here.

Saint Bartholomew's church in London has begun charging visitors an entrance fee of more than $8 per person. It is the first British parish to do so.

The church officials, however, have offered parish members an annual pass for under $62.

The Church affectionately called Great St Barts was the location of the fourth wedding in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral and of some scenes in Shakespeare in Love.

Read the full story here.

Beijing may present a huge 2,293 pound pig at the Beijing Olympic Games next year. Xiao Shaohong, a Chinese farmer, turned down a $6,735 offer from the Chinese government to purchase his pig for the event. He intends instead to donate his giant pig, a 5-year-old white sow, to Beijing's Olympic Games.

The Chinese believe pigs bring nobleness and good luck.

Read the full story here.

In the Kelantan state of Malaysia, thieves have stolen an entire railway stop.

In Assam, India, "organised" Troupes monkeys are stealing mobile phones and breaking into homes to steal soft drinks from refrigerators.

An Assam lawmaker said that monkeys are causing havoc in his constituency by taking away mobile phones, toothpastes, sipping coke after opening the refrigerators. He adds that the primates were even slapping women who try to chase them.

Read the full story here.

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, a unique ensemble which performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables, including those shown in the photo above, is scheduled to perform at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK next week.

The orchestra was founded in 1998 and the 11 member group perform using celeriac bongos, carrot recorders and the multi-vegetable 'cucumberphone' playing contemporary to house, jazz to classical music.

Read the full story here.

These polymer preserved two humans bodies was exhibited in Barcelona, Spain for the Bodies Exhibition. Link.

Five-time champion John "Johnny Liar" Graham, 69, has been crowned again the "world's biggest liar" after he claimed to have stumbled upon a German World War II submarine invading Whitehaven, the first town in Britain to switch from analogue to digital television.

John "Johnny Liar" Graham won the annual competition of tall tales, which was held at the Bridge Inn in Santon Bridge, in the heart of the Lake District national park.

Read the full story here.

James Miles, founder of the London International Vintners Exchange (www.liv-ex.com), said its benchmark index, the Liv-ex 100, which monitors the most actively traded fine wines, has risen by 41 per cent this year.

Bonhams an auctioneer is selling historic stock from the Imperial Russian winery at Massandra on November 28 in New Bond Street, London.

Another sale from the same source - including vintages that survived the communist revolution and Nazi invasion - will follow next month in San Francisco.

According to James Miles, the reason for the increased in commercial activity and in prices of fine wine is that, fine wine has outperformed most equities and commodities in the past three years.

He also adds that the rich are getting richer, and wine investment has become a lot more transparent, which has led to an increased level of confidence and has brought new money into the market.

Read the full story here.

The Yab Yum club, one of Amsterdam's best-known sex clubs has had its permit revoked.

The Yab Yum Club, located in a historic canalside mansion in Amsterdam, has a reputation for being an expensive hangout for rich businessmen and foreign travelers, but the government now suspects Yab Yum's owners to be engaging in "criminal transactions" and have revoked its permit.

Whilst prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen wants to root out the organised crime links to the city's famed Red Light District.

Read the full story here.

This is a sculpture of Princess Letizia, made of chocolate, by Galleros Artesanos. It is on display in Rute, Cordoba, in the south of Spain. The sweet sculpture weighs 320 kilograms and took two craftsmen three months to make.

See more photos here.

Apparently, an increasing number visitors are bringing the cremated remains of their loved ones, and scattering the ashes throughout Disneyland. In the beginning the most popular spot was, “The Haunted Mansion” but recently visitors are scattering the remains everywhere. Disneyland has trained its employees to handle these sensitive situations, including arming them with special vacuum cleaners to remove the human remains and bone fragments from the park.

Read the full story here.

This Is A Map Of World Oil Consumption and Production. According to the map, the United Stated consumes the most oil in the world, followed by China. The map also reveals that Saudi Arabia and Iran have the the most oil reserves in the world. Link.

The list of Yale's elite Skull & Bones Society members has been compiled and released. The list include Prescott Sheldon Bush (father and grandfather of 2 US Presidents), former President George H W Bush, current President George W Bush, the Harrimans, the Rockefellers and former Democratic Party presidential candidate John F Kerry.

Read the full story here.

This is a school in Miao village in Ziyun county, southwest China's Guizhou province. Children attend class at the Dongzhong (literally meaning "in cave") primary school in this "cave School". This school is built in a large cave carved out of a mountain over thousands of years by wind, water and seismic shifts.

See more pictures here.

This is the 84.37-carat white diamond sold at Sotheby's auction to Guess clothing company founder Georges Marciano for just under $16.2 million.

The diamond, the largest top-quality, brilliant-cut white diamond ever to appear at an auction — had been valued by Sotheby's at between $13.3 million and $17.8 million.

Marciano's winning bid, made by telephone, was $16,189,769 including the buyer's premium.

Read the full story here.

When he died his wife commissioned this sculpture as an expression of her love for him.

This is an Axolotl (pronounced Ax-oh-lot-ul), scientific name Ambystoma mexicanum. The Axolotl are often referred to by the Australians and New Zealanders as the Mexican Walking Fish, although the Axolotl is not a fish, but an amphibian. It is a species of the salamander.

The Axolotl is native to both two high altitude freshwater lakes Lake Xochimilco, and Lake Chalco at the basin of Mexico, . The Axolotl is now on the CITES endangered species list.

Read this for more information.

Stoffel De Roover is an extraordinary photographer. The above photo, called Gemini, is an example of his niche: ‘Smoke Photography’.

Stoffel, 29, originally from Leuven, Belgium, currently lives in Montreal, Canada, where he moved to last year from the South of France.

I like this photograph. This one is simply called the Alien Boss.

To see more of Stoffel's work visit his website here.

This is Miroslaw Magola; the Magnetic Man. Miroslaw can make objects attach itself to his body simply using thought-power. He is able to move heavy items from the floor to his body and then creates a force to keep them there.

Miroslaw was born on May 29, 1958 in Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland. Whilst he has been tested numerous times, Miroslaw's strange talent, which he describes as psycho kinesis, still cannot be explained by conventional science.

Read here for more infomation.

Ice hotels are the latest trend in the hospitality industry. An ice hotel is essentially an elaborate styled igloo - where ice are carved into furniture and sculpture, and large blocks of ice make up the walls, ceilings and floors. Room temperatures are from -5 to -8 C.

The hotels are built by rivers where water can be drawn, frozen into ice and cut into large blocks. A complex and large ice hotel takes about 5 to 6 weeks to construct. After spring, it all melts away and the hotels must wait once more for winter to rebuild. Ice Hotel in the Arctic, however, can accommodate guests all year-round.

The IceHotel, above, located on the river Torne, 124 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden is the world's first ice hotel.

Read more here.

P. Selvakumar,33, of Tamil Nadu, India married a female stay dog called Selvi in a traditional Hindu ceremony as an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death 15 years ago — an act he believes cursed him.

P. Selvakumar married the sari-draped former stray named Selvi, chosen by family members and then bathed and clothed for the ceremony Sunday at a Hindu temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu

Read the full story here.

Cool tattoo. See more of her here.

An Iberia Airlines Airbus skidded off the runway upon landing on November 9 on Quito's international airport. Authorities confirmed that no one was hurt in the incident. Link.

Stanley Cubiss drowned when his ship, the HMS Opal, sank during the First World War - January 12, 1918. This engraved engagement ring from fiancee, Florence, went down the sea with him.

In September this year, amateur divers on a routine dive around the Opal found a gold band perfectly preserved and engraved "To Stanley from Flo, March 1916".

Read the full story here.

An international committee of 24 former pilots and government officials called on the U.S. government on Monday to investigate UFOs as a matter of safety and security given continuing reports about flying discs, glowing spheres and other strange sightings.

Read the full story here.

"If you invest in stocks, there is always the risk the value will go down. With whisky, we do not see that," said businessman Michel Kappen.

"It is a very stable investment. The annual rate of return is 12 percent," said Kappen.

He cited for instance a bottle of Black Bowmore Scotch malt whisky, distilled in 1964 and bottled in 1995 went from 150 euros ($218.9) in 1995 to 2450 euros ($3,602) today.

Read the full story here.

This urn from northern Honduras is similar to the ones found to the earliest known evidence of the use of the cacao plant -- the source of chocolate.

The chocolate was discovered at least 3,100 years ago in Central America but not as the sweet treat as we know today but as a celebratory beer- like beverage and status symbol, researchers claimed.

Read the full story here.

The sun bear, the world's smallest bear species, faces extinction because of deforestation and poaching in its native Southeast Asian habitat, stretching from India to Indonesia.

A geneva conservation group estimates there are little more than 10,000 sun bears left in the world.

Read the full story here.

Studies have confirmed that you are more likely to think other people are attractive if they are looking straight at you and smiling.

Several hundred Aberdeen undergraduates rated the faces for sexual attractiveness, and for likeability. Both men and women found faces looking straight at them to be more attractive and more likeable, even if the faces looked disgusted though unsurprisingly, there was a greater preference for smiles. Thus if you make eye contact and smile you're super attractive.

Read the full story here.

Italian police have found what they consider is the "Ten Commandments"-style code of behaviour for Mafia members, when they captured Mafia boss, Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the reputed new boss of the Sicilian Mafia.

The commandments are:

1. No-one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.

2. Never look at the wives of friends.

3. Never be seen with cops.

4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.

5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife's about to give birth.

6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.

7. Wives must be treated with respect.

8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.

9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.

10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

Read the full story here.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Massachusett is testing a fountain-of-youth pill in humans. The pill will not make you live forever, but it may slow aging thus increase lifespan.

Read the full story here.

People believe in magic for all sorts of reasons, including the desire to accrue wealth or advance in life but the belief is an outlet for a deep-seated human desire for equality, said Anne-Maria Makhulu a professor at Duke University.

"When people say they believe in magical forces, they believe in magic that can make the world equal and just in circumstances where it’s not," Makhulu said.

Read the full story here.

Medical experts have yet to find an approved and successful medication that will help a woman overcome a marked drop in sexual drive.

While testosterone products have been accepted abroad, related products have failed to gain approval in the United States because of arguments against their effectiveness and safety.

Read the full story here.

Exploding piggy-bank aims to scare Japanese into saving. The “Savings Bomb,” manufactured by TOMY Co Ltd, “explodes” and scatters coins if its user fails to save for a long time.

Read the full story here.

Martha Heller, 22, has taken out a newspaper ad in hopes of selling her breasts milk - the Gazette newspaper offering 100 ounces of her breast milk for $200 or the best offer.

Read the full story here.

The common belief is that men value looks; women value brains, money, and success. But do these old-fashioned stereotypes continue to hold today ? The research confirms this stereotypes - males are a gender of fragile egos in search of a pretty face and are threatened by brains or success that exceeds their own. Women, on the other hand, care more about how men think and perform, and they don't mind being outdone on those scores.

Another finding is that women of all the races revealed a strong preference for men of their own race: White women were more likely to choose white men; black women preferred black men; East Asian women preferred East Asian men; Hispanic women preferred Hispanic men. But men don't seem to discriminate based on race when it comes to dating. A woman's race had no effect on the men's choices.

However the studies found no evidence for white male's preference for East Asian women. But East Asian women did not discriminate against white men (only against black and Hispanic men).

Read the full story here.

This is how it works: You hire a hot woman from Wingwomen who goes to a club with you and talks you up to other women (pre-sell you) so its easier for you to meet more hot women.

A research of more than 5,000 youngsters in Switzerland has found those who smoked marijuana do as well or better in some areas as those who don't.

The research result revealed that those who used only marijuana were "more socially driven ... significantly more likely to practice sports and they have a better relationship with their peers".

Read the full story here.

Farmers in Thailand are cashing in on the current craze - roasted bandicoot rat.

The roasted bandicoot rat has become a popular delicacy at roadside stalls despite costing twice as much as pork or chicken.

Salvatore Lo Piccolo, 65, considered the supreme leader of the Mafia, the Cosa Nostra (Our Thing) was arrested. He had been a fugitive since 1983.

Open ambition is a dangerous thing for a mafioso. Salvatore Lo Piccolo managed to hide his highest aspirations as he rose from loyal foot soldier to the upper echelons of the Mafia hierarchy. Lo Piccolo, the Palermo native, always seemed to be on the winning side of internal feuds, a talent that helped him become supreme boss in Palermo. As he wanted to control the entire island of Sicily, he expanded cooperation with U.S. gangsters, even the title of capo dei capi — the boss of bosses.

Read the full story here and here.

Iglesia Maradoniana (Spanish "Maradonian Church") was formed by fans of the retired Argentine football player Diego Maradona. The fans believe Maradona to be the greatest football player of all time. This religion was founded in the city of Rosario, on 30th October 1998 (Maradona's 38th birthday).

Here are other weird religions and cults.

Unlucky gamblers at the Edogawa Kyotei boat race course in Tokyo have a new way to ease their frustrations if they lose a bet — they can feed their losing tickets to a robotic goat. Edogawa Kyotei enlisted the help of the ticket-munching robo-goat at the end of last month in an effort to reduce litter inside the facility.

Read the full story here.

The photo above is for illustration purposes only and has no relation to the story below. The photo is by lindsayrdean.

Intersepulture, a new French company, has launched a unique service where individuals can have fresh flowers placed on loved ones' graves by simply sending an e-mail.

Individuals place orders over the internet instructing the company to deliver flowers to the graves.

The service starts from about £40.

Read the full story here.

The dress of the students of the Bunka Fashion College in Japan, decorated with 325 gold coins is worth $233,000. Two jackets were also presented at the fashion show: one with 689 gold coins worth $579,000, and the other with 501 gold pieces worth $459,000.

Read the full story here.