Sunday, November 1, 2009

10 Strangest Body-Part Insurance Policies

Cristiano Ronaldo's Insured his legs, $144 million.


It's normal that if you posses something valuable you insure it, right? Well, in some soccer news Real Madrid announced that they have insured their new star player Cristiano Ronaldo's legs, for an estimated $144 million.




13-year-old World
Yo-Yo champion Harvey Lowe insured his hands for $ 150,000

Representing the Cheerio Yo-Yo Company of Canada, 13-year-old Harvey Lowe won the 1932 World Yo-Yo championships in London and toured Europe from 1932 to 1935. He even taught Edward VIII, the Prince of Wales, how to yo-yo. Lowe was so valuable to Cheerio that the company insured his hands for $150,000!.



Coffee Taster has a To

ngue Insurance for $14 million

Costa Coffee's Coffee taster, Gennaro Pelliccia has a tongue insured for $14 million dollars. Pelliccia has tasted tens of thousands styles of coffee

, and t

hru his tongue

is able to discern the differences. “The t

aste buds of a Master of Coffee are as important as the vocal cords of a singer or the legs of a top model, and this is one of the biggest single insurance policies taken out for one person," said a spokesman for Lloyd's broker Glencairn Limited, which arranged the insurance cover.

Actress America Ferrera ha

d her teeth insured for $10,000,000

Ugly Betty's leading l

ady America Ferrera has had her smile insured

for $10 million by Lloyds

of London insurance market. But the insurance wasn't taken out for pure vanity. The policy was taken out by Aquafresh Wh

ite Trays, a teeth whitening manufacturer that is working with the actress on a charity campaign that gives jobless women free dental care.


Actress Bette Davis bought a $28,000 policy buffering herself against losses due to gains


In the '40s, actress Bette Davis bou

ght a $28,000 Policy buffer

ing herself against losses due to gain

s - her own weight gain, that is. The insurance was issued by Lloyd's of London.



Keith Richards's middle finger – $1,600,000

Fearing that his foes would break his left middle finger he so often uses to flip them off, the 63 year-old guitari

st for the Rolling Stones and poster boy for longevity through hard living had it insured. The Star article said he “recouped after an injury”. The actor is all

egedly suffering from arthritis in his index finger.



Cricket player Merv Hughes insured his moustache for $ 370,000.

While playing on Australia's natio

nal cricket team from 1985 to 1994, Merv Hughes took out an estimated $370,000 policy on his trademark walrus mustache, which, combined with his 6'4" physique and outstanding playing ability, made him one of the most recognized cricketers in the world.




Three sisters insured their virginity for £1 million

An Essex insurance company has cancelled what may have beenthe most bizarre insurance policy in Britain. In the policy, three sisters inthe Scottish highlands, who apparently were members of a "Christian group" of some sort,had insured their virginity for £1 million, against the event of any of them immaculately conceiving the second coming of Jesus Christ. Essex-based Britishinsurance.com confirmed it had provided the policy.


The burden of proof that it was Christ had rested with the women and any premium on the insurance was donated to charity, said Mr Burgess. The siblings had paid £100 annually since 2000. If they had secured a payout, they stood to receive £1m. The policy was apparently cancelled partly because of complaints from the Catholic Church, which doesn't look kindly on unauthorized immaculate conceptions.












Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Unfortunate Bodies: 7 Unbelievable Genetic Accidents

Frog-like Baby (unidentified baby - Nepal)

On 2006, this bizarre-looking baby was born in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, attracting a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight.
The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot. The Karki couple is a permanent resident of Dolakha's Bhirkot VDC.

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death. The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wil
dfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

The baby weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period. Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy. Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby's death. "I am happy that nothing happened to my wife," he said.

NOTE: Our readers, Becca and Andrew, report us that "the baby has a condition called anencephaly, a neural tube defect (like the cyclops baby), with no proper brain formation. The baby would have died a few days later. That's why women are advised to take folate in early pregnancy." --Thank you!

Cyclop Baby (unidentified baby - India)

On 2006, this baby was born with a only one eye in India. Medical staff who helped deliver the child believe that the child's condition was caused by an experimental anti-cancer drug. Another cause written in the report by the hospital was that it could also be the result of a chromosomal disorder. The child was diagnosed with a rare chromosomal disorder, known as cyclopia. She was born with a single eye in the center of her forehead, no nose and her brain fused into a single hemisphere. With such severe deformities, it was a miracle that the girl survived even a few minutes after delivery. The baby died days later.

World's Largest Hand (Lui Hua - China)

Lui Hua suffers from a rare condition known as macrodactyly. When he

was hospitalized in Shanghai on July 2007, his left thumb measured 10.2 inches and his in de x finge r measured close to 12. On July 20 surgeons undertook a seven-hour operat ion to reduce the size of Liu's fingers and thumb. Doctors removed 11 pounds of flesh and bone in the procedure. A second surgery is scheduled to take place. Enlarged limbs can be caused by a number of medical conditions. Lymphedema is perhaps the most common cause and results in some extraordinarily enlarged limbs.

Baby with Three Arms (Liu Junjie - China)

This 2-month-old baby named Liu Junjie from Anhui Province, China, was born with a third arm on 2006. Doctors successfully removed the extremely rare and well-developed third arm, but the baby required long-term physical therapy to gain function in his remaining hand, which has no palm and flexes in either direction. "We're hoping to exchange information with doctors who've dealt with similar cases anywhere in the world," said Chen, head of the orthopedics department at Shanghai Children's Medical Center. "This is so rare that we have virtually no information to go on."

Nipple on the foot (unidentified 22-year-old woman - Brazil)


The bizarre paper describing the case reads: "A 22-year-old woman sou

ght medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands. Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot."

Insects

Igor Siwanowicz is the photographer who captured all these incredible photos. Igor used macro photography techniques while taking shots. Macro photography is a technique, which allows photographers to take close-up shots of subjects. Though it once referred exclusively to photography, which rendered the subject in life-size on the negative, it has come to encompass almost all magnified photographic techniques. Macro photography differs in many ways from other types of photography: it often requires specialized equipment and it requires that the photographer make a number of special considerations when planning their shots. Just take a look and imagine that how beautiful looking they are.







http://thewondrous.com/2009/10/30-incredible-insect-photographs-by-igor-siwanowicz-part-i/