David Hughes, an entomologist at Penn State University, made the morbid discovery while studying various fungal growths and insect victims according to his study published March 2 in the journal PLoS one. Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani is actually comprised of four different species of killer fungi.

The infected insect victims wander through the rainforest until they reach a pre-determined location and clamp into the leaves of a shrub. At this point, the killer fungi bursts out of the ant’s head and neck.

Suddenly that cheesy B-list sci-fi movie about mind control and exploding heads doesn’t seem that far-fetched anymore. And this makes you hope that these so-called “zombie” fungi stay far, far away from humans.

To read more, check out National Geographic news.

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The Amorphophallus titanium, also known as the corpse flower because of the strong, nasty odour it emits when in bloom, is a large rainforest plant that has been growing in a greenhouse in Ohio State University.

The sweet smell of rotting corpses.

According to the Associated Press, Joan Leonard, greenhouse co-ordinator, has been lovingly caring for these exotic flowers for the past decade. One of the five flowers is set to bloom in May.

Once the 2 metre-tall flower blooms, it withers within a few days, which is unfortunate for the plant-lovers vying to see the rare plant, but perhaps a good thing for their noses.

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SPFX Masks, the company that produces the silicone mask to make his transatlantic trip makes a bunch of seriously creepy and realistic masks. Deception doesn’t come cheap – the masks range in price from approximately USD $500 to over $1000 depending on if you want eyebrows and hair included. SPFX’s handcrafted masks apparently “behave like real flesh and muscle” and are used by serious haunted house professionals (and those looking to sneak into different countries).

Check out a few of their masks:

Besides sneaking into other countries, I can think of a few ways these disguises could be used…

The Elder mask was used by that sneaky-sneakerton to pull a fast-one on airport authorities. He completed the look with a pair of spectacles and some old man attire. The Old Woman mask would have been perfect for his companion, if he had one. If all else fails, these masks should at least get you a discount on senior’s day. And don’t forget the details – your hands. My mom used to tell me that one way to tell a lady’s true age is to look at her hands as the hands don’t lie.

Do you have people who owe you money but have been avoiding you like the plague? Get one of your friends to sport the Boss mask, give his best mobster impression and hammer the message home that you want you money back NOW.

I could see the Handsome Guy being used by underage boys to score some booze with a fake ID and try their best pick-up lines on older girls at the mall. The only glitch would be to control the occasional squeak in their voice.

The Zombie and Vampire masks are perfect for Halloween. Scaring little kids is cruel, but I wouldn’t feel too bad about scaring those trick or treaters that look like they graduated from high school years ago who come knocking on your door at 9:30 pm demanding candy. Actually, these masks would also be great for warding off unwanted visitors any time of the year.

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I remember reading an article a few months ago in Reader’s Digest about a privacy expert, Frank Ahearn, who helps people hide and start new lives for a living. His relocation expertise has been highlighted on CNN, BBC World News and a number of print publications. His clients seeking a new life vary from business tycoons, medics, real estate professionals, to men and women desperate to escape a troubled domestic life.

His experience working as a ‘skip tracer’ (someone who helps the authorities and private investigators find people who have ‘skipped town’) is now invaluable as he works on the other end – hiding people. Ahearn found Monica Lewinsky when she was hiding from the media by pretending to be a UPS delivery man.

Ahearn has three principles necessary in pulling off a disappearing act:

1. Misinformation – destroying every piece of identifying data about you such as bank accounts and phone numbers.
2. Disinformation – this step is Ahearn’s favourite as it involves leaving false breadcrumbs and confusing the private investigator, or whoever is trying to locate his client.
3. Reformation – executing the actual relocation process.

Most of us at some point in time have wished to disappear and start a new life. While most of us don’t actually go through with it, many of us have growing concerns about protection of personal information and identity theft. So aside from cross-shredding sensitive documents before discarding them, here are a few ways we can all live a more private life if we so choose.

• Use cash. Banks and credit card companies keep tabs on your spending habits, your location, and demographic info, so use good old fashioned money if you don’t want to be traced. Be wary of companies who ask for your email address and don’t give out your personal information to stores.
• Avoid social networking sites. While it’s fun to keep in touch with family and friends, and post photos, be aware that things posted online remain online.
• Avoid using your personal computer. Users can be easily tracked with an IP address. To surf anonymously, go to an internet café or use anonymiser software which protects others from accessing your personal information and computer ID.
• Use pre-paid cell phones. Ahearn uses separate ones for incoming and outgoing calls and even has the incoming one forwarded to another pre-paid phone to add an extra layer of privacy.

If I ever wanted to relocate and start a new secret life, I think Ahearn would have his work cut out for him. Right now, I might as well have a neon sign over my head saying ‘HERE I AM.’ I leave behind more crumbs than Cookie Monster.

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Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, this Canadian icon later became a naturalized American citizen. During his 60 year acting career, he has appeared in 150 live television dramas filmed in New York and over 100 films. He started his film career as a dramatic actor but soon gained a reputation as a prankster on set.

Nielsen’s comedic career was launched with his role in Airplane! His scene with a passenger is fondly remembered:

When his character asks a passenger if he can fly the plane, the man replies, “Surely you can’t be serious.”
Nielsen responds: “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

Nielsen’s character in the Naked Gun movies cemented his status as an everyday funnyman. He is honoured on both Hollywood’s and Canada’s Walk of Fame.

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Move over white-collar criminals — scamming shareholders of their life’s savings is so passé; now the new crime to shock and anger the public involves faking a terminal illness and watching the generous donations and heart-felt sympathies come rolling in.Times are tough, and sometimes in life you do things you’re not proud of to get by, but faking terminal cancer? Really?! I guess the feel-good lesson from Jiminy Cricket (“Always let your conscience be your guide”) fell on deaf ears with these two young women.

If you want to follow in their honorable footsteps, do the Kirilow Method:

1. Tell everyone who will listen that you are dying of cancer and that you only have a few months to live.
2. Look the part—shave your head and pluck your eyebrows and eyelashes.
3. Start your own charity and Facebook page.
4. Sit back, relax, and watch the money come rolling in.
5. When caught, blame the entire scheme as an out-of-control plan to get your divorced parents back together.

Aside from the people who got scammed by generously donating money, the real shame is that these incidents make the public more wary of “charity” campaigns and may be less willing to help genuine worthy causes.

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It all started in 2003 in Australia when a bunch of friends were sitting around, quaffing beers and joking about how great it would be to put the beloved moustache back in the spotlight while bringing attention to men’s health issues. Since then, the Movember campaign has spread around the world to places such as the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, the Netherlands and Finland. In 2009, Movember’s global campaign raised $47 Million for prostate cancer.

So what’s a girl to do if she wants to help out but can’t grow a mo? Become a Mo Sista by donating money, recruiting guys to join the campaign and organizing events. We’re all familiar with women’s fight against breast cancer and the pink ribbon campaign. Let’s also support our Mo Bros in their hairy battle against prostate cancer.

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However, die-hard fans can rest assured that Walkmans will continue to be manufactured in China and distributed to parts of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.

Some of you may be thinking, “What? They still made those things?” After all, since the release of the Walkman on July 1, 1979, the Discman (which I still have somewhere in my parents’ basement), MP3 players and most notably iPods have come along with newer, slicker technology.

Apparently Apple’s Steve Jobs was inspired by the Walkman when it first was released according to an interview with former Apple CEO, John Sculley. Can we even imagine a world without iPods?

Although I haven’t thought about the Walkman in years, the demise of the cassette player makes me a bit nostalgic that another little piece of my childhood is becoming obsolete. I remember trying very hard to tape my favourite songs from the radio and either cutting off the end, or including part of a commercial. *Sigh* I guess this is what my parents’ generation felt about the end of eight-tracks…

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In the last century, 97% of wild tigers have been killed due to habitat destruction, demand for tiger parts used in Eastern medicine, and illegal hunting. The striped feline is well on its way to extinction if nothing drastic is done to save them soon.

WWF has launched a Save Tigers Now campaign with the lovely Leonardo DiCaprio as its spokesperson. This campaign runs during the current year of the tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar; it’s goal is “to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.”

Here are a couple of good reasons to support this campaign according to the website:

• Tigers are an “umbrella species,” and protecting their habitat benefits hundreds, even thousands, of other species in the process, including people.
• Stopping the poaching of tigers can help save other vulnerable species, strengthen local communities, improve law enforcement and solidify regional cooperation.

Many nay-sayers grumble that authorities have been saying that tigers have been close to extinction for eons now. But it would be a sad, sad thing to see this beautiful creature lost forever.

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Since 2005, Heart Attack Grill has been serving its infamous double bypass burgers and flatliner fries in its Chandler, Arizona restaurant. Nothing about the fast-food joint is quiet or subdued from its sexy nurse uniforms worn by the servers to its unabashedly calorific menu. Its unique concept has sprung copy-cat restaurants. Recently HAG sued a similar outfit, Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Florida.

Its simple menu offers an array of different burgers starting from the single bypass burger (for the faint of heart) to its quadruple bypass burger which contains a measly 8,000 calories. It also has flatliner fries cooked in pure lard and an assortment of beverages such as Jolt cola and beer to wash down the salt.

Sure the food is bad for you, but it apparently it’s so, so good. With a tagline like, “Taste worth dying for” the grub better live up to the hype; well, according to numerous blog reviews it does.

While this restaurant has got nurses’ panties in a twist about its sexist portrayal of their industry and health critics have nearly croaked upon hearing about the nutritional contents (or lack thereof), I think its refreshing that a business is so frank about the ‘badness’ of its food. I hate it when you think you are ordering a so-called healthy salad at a fast food joint only to find out that afterwards that you just consumed more calories than if you had decided to satisfy your hankering for salty fries and a cheeseburger.

Obviously if you go to HAG once a week you’re going to need a defibrillator soon. But it definitely makes for a memorable dining experience (if you live to tell it). Heart Attack Grill: when I pass through Arizona someday, there’s a single bypass burger with my name on it.

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