Tuesday, February 20, 2007

News you probably haven't heard

Britney Spears cracked over the weekend. She shaved her head, got two new tattoos, and set up a web site auction for her hair and other items, for a minimum price of 1 million dollars. "This is it, the opportunity of a lifetime," according to BuyBrittneysHair.com. The winning bidder gets Spears' dark, knotty hair extensions, the clipper she used to cut them off, the Red Bull she drank at the salon and her cigarette lighter.

Speaking of shaving, Donald "Comb Over" Trump and WWE owner Vince McMahon will each pick a wrestler to represent them in the ring at Wrestlemania 23. Trump told his rival, "If my guy loses, you can shave my head. But if you guy loses, I'm going to shave your head."

The youngest surving premature baby was born after spending less than 22 week in the womb.
Amillia Sonja Taylor was born weighing only 10 ounces and measuring 9 1/2 inches. Amillia was born with a mild brain hemorrhage, respiratory problems and digestive problems, but her doctor said she showed a strong will to live. She made efforts at breathing, [an] attempt to cry at birth. She is now almost 4 months old, weighs 4 1/2 lbs., and is between 25 and 26 inches long. She still needs a little bit of oxygen, but that's to be expected. Her future looks bright at this point.

Jennifer Mee can't stop hiccuping. For more than three weeks now, the 15-year-old St. Petersburg teen has hiccuped close to 50 times a minute despite the best efforts of doctors and home remedies. She's had blood tests, a CT scan and an MRI. Drugs haven't worked. Neither has holding her breath, putting sugar under her tongue, sipping pickle juice, breathing into a paper bag and drinking out of the wrong side of a glass. And, yes, people have tried to scare them out of her. The hiccups do stop when she's sleeping. It is not clear what triggered Jennifer's hiccups, which started in school Jan. 23. Her mother, Rachel Robidoux, recently turned to the local newspaper for help. "I'm just looking for some answers where somebody's gone through this," Robidoux told the St. Petersburg Times. "At this point, we're willing to do anything."

A school in Massachusetts uses "aversive stimulation" to treat some students with the most severe cases of autism and emotional and behavioral challenges. Students receive an electric skin shock when they engage in aggressive or self-injurious behavior. Students carry a backpack holding the device, which is connected to electrodes that are strapped to their arms, legs and torso. Although many people are outraged over this, others, whose children have been treated in this manner claim it really does help.

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