US TOWN DEMANDS THAT ‘UGlY’ CHRISTMAS TREE BE REPlACED

The sad ‘Charlie Brown’ Christmas tree ruining the holiday spirit in a Pennsylvania town will come down after disgruntled residents complained that the tree was too ugly to be on display. During a recent tree lighting, many Reading residents called the 50-foot Norwood spruce “pathetic,” “horrible,” and even “pitiful.” One resident told local news station WFMZ that not even a squirrel would take up residence in the tree. According to the city’s Downtown Improvement District, the sad looking spruce was a last-minute replacement taken from a city park.  The city had planned to get its tree from a nearby farm, but when the crews went to pick it up, the owner wouldn’t let them drive on the wet ground. Following the cries to take the tree down, a group led by City Council President Francis Acosta began raising money to purchase decorations and a new, better-looking tree. “My family will be paying for the tree,” Acosta told WFMZ. City officials are hoping to have a do-over tree-lighting ceremony once the new pine is in place.  As for the poor ugly tree, it will be donated to a local business after the replacement tree arrives.

(Yahoo)

A VIDEO GAME THAT SUCKS BlOOD WHEN YOU lOSE

Playing console games until you bleed just became an actual thing. While some of us have played for hours on end, blistering our thumbs into the process, actual blood is a rarity. Or at least it was until now, thanks to the brainchild of a couple of advertising executives who want to suck blood from gamers’ arms. They’ve come up with a tool called Blood Sport that connects the gaming controller (Xbox, PlayStation or any other controller that has a rumble mechanism) to a “blood collection system”. This blood collection system uses a needle inserted into a vein and an Arduino. Each time in the game when the rumble pack would usually be triggered, a bit of blood is extracted instead. Blood Sport players would play against each other, with the winner being the one that loses the least claret during the showdown. Helpfully, the modified controller has a setting that shuts it down before either player loses too much blood.

The makers, Brand & Grotesque, say that the blood taken during the game would be later donated for use in medicine. That should put a stop to any complaints from people who think it is barbaric and disgusting. Brand & Grotesque are hoping to raise £140,000 for the project via Kickstarter. They previously caused a stir with their reality show in which viewers paid to subject contestants to electric shocks and water bombs.

(Mirror)

CHINA HOSPITAl AllOWS MEN TO EXPERIENCE PAIN OF CHIlDBIRTH

A hospital in eastern China is offering fathers-to-be a chance to experience the pain of childbirth after several new moms complained they got little sympathy from their partners. Free sessions are held twice a week at Aima maternity hospital in Shandong province and about 100 men have signed up to be tortured. Most are expectant dads but there are thrill seekers too among the volunteers for “taster sessions”.

For the simulations, pads attached to a device are placed above the abdomen, giving electric shocks that induce pain. The test subjects writhe in agony for up to five minutes as a nurse gradually raises the intensity on a scale of one to ten.

Song Siling, who is trying for a baby with his girlfriend, shut his eyes and grimaced as the needle on the electrode monitor inched forward with a beep. “It felt like my heart and lungs were being ripped apart,” said Song, who made it to level seven before frantically waving to the nurse to turn off the system. Others dropped out within minutes when they couldn’t take the pain. Despite their obvious discomfort, the on-duty nurse said the simulations could never match the torment of actual childbirth.

“Still, if men can experience this pain, then they’ll be more loving and caring to their wives,” said lou Dezhu. Wu Jianlong, who braved the pain right up to level 10, says the experience radically altered his views on childbirth. “Because all women have children and it usually takes quite a long time, I had thought of it as being something really natural, something really normal that they can get through,” he said.

Unlike in the West, Chinese men are often not in the room when their partners or wives give birth. Some state-run hospitals do not allow expectant dads to enter even if they want to.

(Reuters)

CIA’S OSAMA BIN lADEN DOll SEllS FOR NEARlY $12,000

An Osama bin laden prototype action figure created by the CIA to be distributed across Afghanistan sold at auction for nearly $12,000. The 12-inch doll, code-named “Devil Eyes”, was one of three dolls created by the CIA in 2005 to scare children and their parents from supporting bin laden or al-Qaida.

The auctioned doll came with a removable head depicting bin laden as a demon with a red and black face and green eyes. The winning bid was $11,879, more than four times the asking price of $2,500. It is unclear who won the auction.

The doll was created by Donald levine, a former Hasbro executive best known for creating the first GI Joe.

(UPI)