Amazing facts-The Buffalo whisperer

RC Bridges, nicknamed 'The Buffalo Whisperer' and his wife Sherron, share their Texas home with two enormous bison - 2,400 pound 'Wildthing' and recent 900-pound arrival 'Bullet'.

Wildthing, who is seven years old, acted as the best man when his owners renewed their wedding vows in 2006, after five years of marriage. RC, 63, said: 'He carried the rings on his horns and threw them off one at a time for us to catch.'

RC, who is a cowboy and horse trainer, has worked with bison - or buffaloes, as he refers to them - most of his life. After losing an eye in 2004, he had to sell his herd - except for one young male, Wildthing, who he decided to keep as a pet.

His photographer wife Sherron, 39, who is part Native American and makes traditional-style clothes and headdresses using the animals' hair, said: 'We love our buffaloes. I think if either one of them died, RC would probably go along with them.'

Bullet, a female, who is three and a half years old, still hasn't been house trained, or become familiar with the family's pet wolf, Jewell Spirit. She was given to the couple after her previous owner found her too hard to control. RC said: 'Her owner told me if I could catch her, I could have her. She kept getting out of the pen and the sheriff's department was mad about it. Well, I just caught her, put her in a trailer and brought her home.'

Bison can be very dangerous animals. Their curved, sharp horns are two feet long, and lethal, and they are able to run as fast as 40 mph. RC said: 'I knew they were crazy animals but it actually turned out way better than I thought it would be. I always dreamed of training a buffalo, but I never thought about training two. They're like my buddies. Bullet likes to be with me at all times, she'll even give up food to be close to me.'

RC, who insists his friends and relatives still visit the family home, said: 'They're not afraid to come over because I keep everything safe. But most of them think I'm going to get hurt or killed. I don't think you can ever take all of the wildness out of the buffaloes, though. I've been hurt a lot, so I guess its just part of the game.'

Nevertheless, the couple's two grown-up children, son Will and daughter Taylor, are proud of the family pets and have even broken world records with them. RC said: 'My son was the first person to ever ski behind a buffalo - on water skis and on sand. My daughter was the first person to ever snow sled behind a buffalo.'

Health facts-Mind body connection

In an evening class at Stanford the last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time' helps is to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well-being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very GOOD for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are 'exercising' we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

Inspirational facts-The story of Aimee Mullins

Aimee Mullins was born without fibula bones in her legs. When Aimee was just one year old doctors had to amputee her legs below the knees. But the girl never gave up.

She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run - competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta.

At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.

She acted in a couple of movies, has done modeling including a legendary show for Alexander McQueenand and even worked at the Pentagon. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

She has 12 prosthetic legs for any occasion.

Motivational facts-Wheelchair bound bodybuilder

Once a promising football athlete, a near fatal traffic accident in 1998 changed Wheelchair Bodybuilder Champion Nick Scott's life. He was diagnosed as paraplegic, and was told that it would be physically impossible to ever walk again. Paraplegia is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. It is usually the result of spinal cord injury or a congenital condition which affects the neural elements of the spinal canal.

Nick says, 'What's the one thing you gain from losing everything? Perspective. At that point, it wasn't about if my glass was half empty or half full, I am just grateful I have a glass.'

Weightlifting gave him something to strive for, to succeed in, and in doing so benefited him more then he could have ever imagined. Over the next few years he focused intensely on strength training and conditioning his body, and in doing so began to regain some of the sensation in his lower back and legs.

At first, bench pressing kept him motivated because he felt he couldn't do anything else and he wanted to be stronger than everyone. He desired to win bench press competitions in high school, which lead to bench press competitions out of high school and he just kept striving for more.

Then after graduating college he went to Florida and competed for the first time in the 2006 Wheelchair Nationals.

'We each have a story to tell, and if we choose to, the right and responsibility to use for good what we learn through overcoming our weaknesses and developing our strengths and abilities.'
- Nick Scott

Bizarre facts-Natural Harvest

Natural Harvest: A Collection Of Semen-Based Recipes

Fotie Photenhauer, author of Natural Harvest, describes this book as:

Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food.

This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cook book!

Amazing pictures-Shoal of Sardines

These breathtaking images show a vast school of sardines in the Philippines. The magnificent spectacle, known as a 'sardine run' sees the silver fish swimming in formation to create a shimmering wall in their annual migration.

The shoal was spotted off the coast of Pescador Island. It occurs in the region from May through to July when billions of sardines spawn in the cool waters of southern Africa and move north along the east coast and into the Indian Ocean.

Photographer Nadya Kulagina said: 'We were exploring the abundance of marine life - frog fish, moray eels, octopi, sea snakes when suddenly the sky grew dark as if overcast with unexpected clouds. 'I looked up and there were thousands, no millions of sardines moving as one organism. Their moving mass was blocking the sun turning day into night.'

'We would swim into the shoal and lose track of reality not being able to tell which way was the sky or the seabed,' explained Nadya. 'The shoal was so powerful it kept pulling us down and further off course. I was trying hard not to lose sense of direction'.

Amazing artwork with paper and scissors

Hina Aoyama, who hails from Yokohama, Japan, has an amazing talent for creating designs using just paper and a pair of scissors, and of course - a lot of hard work. The artist who currently lives in Paris, is known for her very fragile work of art, be it paper butterflies or flowery lace letters.

According to her, one job can take several hours to an entire week depending on the kind of work involved. She cuts her paper drawings, and glues them to fabric or glass. Such delicate work requires the hands of a child but Hina has created the most fragile of designs with her adult hands. Given below are pictures of some of the wonderful work that she has been doing.

Interesting facts-Queen Victoria building, Sydney

The Queen Victoria Building, now affectionately known as the QVB, was designed by George McRae and completed in 1898, replacing the original Sydney markets on the site. Built as a monument to the long reigning monarch, construction took place in dire times, as Sydney was in a severe recession. The elaborate Romanesque architecture was specially planned for the grand building so the Government could employ many out-of-work craftsmen - stonemasons, plasterers, and stained window artists - in a worthwhile project. Originally, a concert hall, coffee shops, offices, showrooms, warehouses and a wide variety of tradespeople, such as tailors, mercers, hairdressers and florists, were accommodated.

Inspirational facts-75 year old female bodybuilder

If you are feeling too lazy and thinking of skipping your workout session, then take a look at this amazing woman for motivation.

Ernestine Shepherd, of Maryland, started weight training at 71 and has not stopped since. Now she is 75. She is the Guinness Book of World Record holder for the oldest bodybuilder and attributes consistent physical activity, including a daily 10-mile early morning run, and a healthy diet to her success.

When she was 56, she and her sister attended a picnic where they wore bathing suits, but after seeing how badly she looked in her outfit she decided to begin exercising.

You can see the results!

Amazing pictures-Monkey orchid

Nature doesn’t need an audience. These wonderful orchids come from the south-eastern Ecuadorian and Peruvian cloud forests from elevations of 1000 to 2000 meters and as such not many people throughout history got to see them. However, thanks to intrepid collectors we do get to see this wonderful Monkey Orchid.

Its scientific name is Dracula simia, the last part nodding towards the fact that this remarkable orchid bears more than a passing resemblance to a monkey’s face – although we won’t go as far as to be species specific on this one. The Dracula (genus) part of its name refers to the strange characteristic of the two long spurs of the sepals, reminiscent of the fangs of a certain Transylvanian count of film and fiction fame.

The orchid was only named in 1978 by the botanist Luer but is in a family containing over 120 species mostly found in Ecuador. Up in the cloud mountains the monkey orchid can flower at any time – it is not season specific. It scent resembles that of a ripe orange.

The examples seen here are all cultivated – though it remains very rare in ‘captivity’. For that reason don’t make a dash down to your local horticulturalist. Yet for those lucky enough to have one, if kept quite cool and in partial shade and it can thrive and flower. Like all orchids, however, it needs a lot of care and patience.

Amazing facts-Woman who lives without money

Germany native Heidemarie Schwermer, when in her early 50s, wanted to see what it'd be like to leave her cushy job as a psychotherapist and live money-free. Sixteen years later, she hasn't looked back.

Her fascination with finding an alternative way of life goes back to her childhood. WWII refugees, Schwermer's family fled from Prussia to Germany in the 1940s. Her father had owned a successful coffee roastery and kept a nanny and full-time gardener on his payroll. Then they lost everything.

'We were well-off but ended up as riff-raff,' she says. Once her father was able to start over with a tobacco company, cash started pouring in again. But she still found herself at odds with their lifestyle: 'We became rich again and had to defend it. I've always had to justify myself, whether we were rich or poor.'

For all intents and purposes, you could call Schwermer homeless. She has no permanent address and drifts between lodgings, spending no longer than a week at each. Most of her hosts are acquaintances she makes at the speaking engagements she travels to across the country. Others are long-time friends.

In a documentary made about her life, 'Living Without Money', she's seen foraging for leftover produce at fresh air markets and trading a shopkeeper a few hours of cleaning services in return for food. She often receives clothing from friends, donating what she doesn't have room for in the small suitcase she carts from home to home.

But she bristles at comparisons to the homeless, explaining that she sees herself in a much different light.

'I'm always thinking about how I could make things better for life in the world,' she says. 'I am something like a peace pilgrim. I go from house to house sharing my philosophy.'

Part of that philosophy requires her to put a lot of faith in the unknown. Other than the small notebook she uses to keep track of her scheduled speaking engagements and housing arrangements, most of her plans are left to fate.

'I see a lot of miracles in my daily life. For example, in the beginning I found food. I thought about things and then I found them in the street or people came to bring them to me,' she explains. 'I think these miracles happen because of our thoughts.'

When seasons change, she gives away whatever clothing she has and waits for new items to come along. Most are given by hosts and friends she meets along the way.

The road wasn't always easy. With two adult children and three grandchildren, Schwermer admits her family wasn't exactly on board when she pitched the idea. She now sees them only a few times per year, but says they eventually warmed up to her come-and-go lifestyle.

'Now they're proud of what I'm doing. It's enough for us,' she says.

Although she never had plans to go public with her life, after a German book publisher pushed her to put pen to paper, Schwermer relented. The latest of three books on her journey, 'Seeing Miracles In Life Without Money,' will be released this summer in Germany. As with its predecessors, all her royalties will go to the various charitable groups she supports.

'Now, more and more young people want to change something in their lives and often they don't know what they can change,' she says. 'I changed something in my life.'