This Japanese Garden is BEAUTIFUL…and grew way faster than most

This Japanese Garden is BEAUTIFUL…and grew way faster than most

Japanese gardens traditionally take hundreds of years to evolve and mature into the beautiful landscapes they are.

They aim to help one realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Japanese gardens are extremely beautiful, and hundreds can be found outside of Japan.

Coming in at a close second in a study conducted by the ‘Journal of Japanese Gardening,’ the Portland Japanese Garden only took four years to make, opening in 1967. The garden occupies five acres of Washington Park, a public park of the City of Portland.

The Portland Japanese Garden features five sub-gardens, each with its own feel. Features of these gardens are rocks arranged in various styles, authentic pagoda lanterns, creaks, ponds, waterfalls, sand, bridges, a tea house and Japanese style pavilion.

Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.

The Portland Garden has a slightly larger scale, however, in order to incorporate some of the natural trees and plant life in the area.

Don’t think that just because you’re outside of Japan you can’t get a feel for what a real Japanese garden is like. The Japanese ambassador to the U.S., Nobuo Matsunaga, said "I believe this garden to be the most authentic Japanese garden, including those in Japan."

A pretty bold claim coming from a Japanese citizen!

(Source)

Gonorrhea might soon be untreatable!

Gonorrhea might soon be untreatable!

Gonorrhea is a common human sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.The usual symptoms for men include burning with urination and penile discharge. As for women, they usually are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain.

If gonorrhea is left untreated, it may spread throughout the body and cause epidymitis, pelvic inflammatory disease or it may even affect your joints and heart!Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report outlining the very real likelihood of an impending untreatable gonorrhea epidemic!

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is developing antibiotic resistance and this is growing as a public health concern. This bacterium has developed resistance to drugs such as sulfonilamides, penicillin, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin.

New treatment schemes are being created in order to fight back gonorrhea.And last but not least, we would like to give you an advice from everyone in the OMG-facts team: If you are a sexual active person, please use a condom and protect us all.

(Source)

Fairies might sound like little kid things… but around this bridge, they’re VERY real

Fairies might sound like little kid things… but around this bridge, they’re VERY real

Fairies (faeries) play a very prominent role in Scottish folklore.

There was a time when every well and loch and waterway had a name and it was believed that each had a specific fairy protecting it. These mythical creatures are thought to be the balance between good and evil.

Even to this day some people view them as important in rituals and due to prevailing superstition, they are believed to cause the failure of crops when they have been offended.

For instance, according to Scottish folklore, they do not like to be called fairies but prefer to be addressed as ‘fair folk.’

There is a bridge called the ‘Fairy Bridge’ in Ballalonna Glen in Scotland, and it is said that it will bring bad luck if you cross the bridge without greeting the ‘fair folk.’

An urban myth has it that taxi drivers on the route will stop and refuse to continue if the passenger does not observe the ritual and greet the fairies!

At least the ritual is taken very seriously by racers and spectators of the annual TT and Manx Grand Prix races, who make a point of visiting the bridge and greeting the fairies before practicing and setting up for races.

If any accidents or mishaps occur during these races, they are often blamed on the fact that the fairies are offended or displeased. And on the other end of things, escapes and near-misses are in turn attributed to the fairies offering their goodwill and protection.

(Source)

These fisherman have birds working for them, and they’re the best employees EVER

These fisherman have birds working for them, and they’re the best employees EVER

Fishing is for the birds—literally. Fishermen of the Li river, one of the cleanest in China, use actual birds (the Cormorants) to swoop down and catch their dinner for them.

It's a thankless job for the birds, and the fishermen get some pretty decent meals, but how do a fishermen and a bird end up working together?

One would probably think that it's a great deal for the birds. They are brought to a plentiful lake and set loose to prey on all the fish they can eat.

But it's not quite like that. The fishermen put a stop to that by tying a little noose around the bird's necks to keep them from swallowing their prize.

The fishermen then bounce on their rafts to give the signal and encourage the birds to move through the water like fish-seeking missiles. A single morning can yield a decent bounty, a couple of dozen decent sized fish!

The birds are trained to return to the raft after a catch and are rewarded for their work. In fact, the Cormorants can actually keep a tally of up to seven fish they catch. If they aren't rewarded properly, they will refuse to work!

(Source)

It may sound like just a book…but this man LITERALLY predicted the future in 1863

It may sound like just a book…but this man LITERALLY predicted the future in 1863

Jules Verne wrote the book ‘Paris in the Twentieth Century’ in 1863, but his publisher thought that his predictions of the future were too far fetched.

So far fetched, in fact, that it was never published until 1994 – 131 years after it was written.

It turns out his predictions were not far fetched at all, and that he was actually quite spot-on with most of them!

The novel paints a grim, dystopian picture of a technologically driven civilization. Here are just some of the predictions in the book that were very much on target:

He predicted cars, the widespread use of them and the infrastructures built to accommodate them. This was twenty years before the ‘modern’ car made its appearance.

He also wrote about refueling stations for the cars and about the powerful, wealthy and morally dubious company that held the monopoly for the fuel needed to power these vehicles.

Another of the many predictions is that of the Internet and the telecommunications revolution that would allow companies to conduct business over great distances via ‘calculating machines’ that can send information to each other remotely.

Verne also wrote about the electric chair in his effort to highlight how dehumanizing and cruel technology can become. His prediction that technology would make war impersonal and that soldiers will be killing each other remotely by operating the controls of a machineis now truer than ever.

(Source)

DON’T LOOK if you’re squeamish: this tattoo preserved on human skin from 500 BC is GROSS

DON’T LOOK if you’re squeamish: this tattoo preserved on human skin from 500 BC is GROSS

Squeamish stomachs may want to look away while the curious minds will probably get a kick out of checking this out: a tattoo preserved on human skin that is over two million years old!

The Siberian Ice Maiden is a female mummy that lived somewhere around the 5th century BCE. It was discovered in 1993 in a Russian kurgan (which are mounds of earth and stones over a grave).

It's considered one of the most significant archeological findings for Russia in the late 20th century, and the Ice Maiden currently resides in a special mausoleum at the Republic National Museum in Gorno-Altasik.

She had some preserved skin which had a marking of an animal-style deer tattoo on her shoulder, wrist, and thumb. It is the oldest preserved specimen of tattooed skin, however it is fading due to some mistreatment when being transported.

(Source)

When you see what famous comedian was also a BEST-SELLING musician, you might be shocked

When you see what famous comedian was also a BEST-SELLING musician, you might be shocked

Steve Martin is a man of many talents, a true living legend in the entertainment industry that will live on long after we're all gone.

Besides his infamous stint with Saturday Night Live, his storied movie career, and successful standup career, he was also a best-selling musician—for at least one song.

Martin didn't take the music industry by storm or revolutionize some new genre, he just made a simple novelty song that seemed to strike a chord with his fan base.

“King Tut” was released in 1978 as a single and went on to sell over a million copies as well a reach number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Martin initially showed the song off with a live performance on the April 22, 1978 episode of Saturday Night Live.

The song is about the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and his many treasures. The skit included his loyal subjects adorning the king with vast kitchen appliances and a saxophone player that steps out of a golden sarcophagus.

Martin released an album titled “A Wild and Crazy Guy” with the song included as the single.

(Source)

This homeless man in South Africa is helping children read more…he is SO inspiring!

This homeless man in South Africa is helping children read more…he is SO inspiring!

Philani Dladla is a 24-year-old man living in South Africa, a country where a quarter of the population is unemployed. Unfortunately, he falls within that 25%.

But Philani shatters the illusion so many people are under—the illusion that the impoverished among us are illiterate.

He has a passion for reading and has found a way to use that passion to make a living. He reads and reviews books on the corner of Gleneagles and Barry Hertzog Streets in Johannesburg, South Africa, and if you like the review, he will sell you the book.

He has an incredible knowledge of the authors and has an intricate understanding of the inns and outs of the plots of all the novels he recommends to commuters.

He believes in the power of knowledge and encourages children to get into the habit of reading by giving children’s books away for free.

A recovering addict himself, he encourages the youth to become addicted to reading as opposed to anything else because, as he puts it: “There is harm in cigarettes and other bad habits, but I promise you, there is no harm in knowledge.”

People have gotten to know about Philani and many often take unwanted books to him, which he can re-sell. With the money he earns, he buys food for himself and his homeless, unemployed friends.

If he has many books, he takes some to a school in Soweto because the government only supplies text books to schools and no novels.

Philani has learned that he can escape his circumstances if it becomes too much and he can travel anywhere using his imagination while immersing himself in a good book.

(Source)

In some parts of the world ants are used to close up wounds!

In some parts of the world ants are used to close up wounds!

In both Africa and South America, large army ants are used as surgical sutures.

The wound is pulled together, and the ant grabs the edge of the wound with its mandible and locks it in place. Then, the body is cut off from the head of the ant. The head stays attached to the wound as a suture until the wound is healed.  

(Source)

Alaska may seem like the most natural place on Earth, but guess again… it’s SO polluted

Alaska may seem like the most natural place on Earth, but guess again… it’s SO polluted

Fairbanks, Alaska is a beautiful place. In fact, many will think it is a great place to go to in order to escape city life and get away from the typical pollution city dwellers are submitted to on a daily basis.

But don’t let the scenery fool you—if it's pollution you wish to escape from, plan your trip to Fairbanks for the summer months, not the winter.

During the winter months the citizens make use of wood stoves and backyard wood furnaces that grey the sky with thick clouds of smoke.

The problem is that they don’t only burn wood, but coal as well. Fairbanks is no longer the place you see on postcards and in travel brochures.

In the beginning of what is referred to as the winter stove season, the greater Fairbanks area experience days that exceed health limits established by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. During November of 2012 air-quality readings were twice as bad as Beijing's!

This is absolutely shocking if you consider Beijing’s population is estimated to be about 21 million and that of Fairbanks is only about 32,312.

The tiny particles in this soot pollution are so small that they can lodge in lungs and cause respiratory problems, heart ailments and possibly even lung cancer.

(Source)