Cheers to the cup of tears

For those who believe in drowning their sorrows, a bar in the Chinese town of Nanjing is just the place. Broken-hearted patrons are provided tissues and menthol drops along with their drink. Friendly bartenders also provide onions and red peppers for those who have some difficulty in letting out the tears.

The mood is decidedly downbeat with sad music in the background and dolls available for customers to throw around or beat to vent their anger. Customers must pay the equivalent of US$6 an hour, in addition to their drinks' bill, to weep and wail. But it would seem that drinking to forget is a favoured option.

Interestingly, the drinking habit in China has marked a rise in the past couple of years. The country, boosted by increasing incomes and a rising number of women drinkers, has replaced the United States as the world's largest beer brewer since 2002. » Continue reading

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Tears of stone

Photos fade, but memories in granite do not vanish. For the sculptors of Barre, Vermont, immortality is a perk of their job.

The 85-acre Hope Cemetery, opened in 1895, is an example of their classic art. Every one of the 10,000 plus monuments here is made of Barre Gray granite.

One carving has a couple sitting up in bed wearing pajamas and holding hands. A stone race-car celebrate local driver Joey Laguerre. Ace sculptor Brusa's grave has his statue of 'The Dying Man,' slipping away, held by his wife.

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Hitching a ride

When a ship carrier aircraft, you call it an aircraft carrier; and when an aircraft carries space shuttles? Yes, a shuttle carrier aircraft (SCA). In picture is the Atlantis riding piggyback on the NASA 911. The NASA's SCAs are two modified Boeing 747 jets. The SCAs are used to ferry shuttles back to the Kennedy Space Center from landing sites too distant for ground transport. The SCA-shuttle combo burns 100 litres of fuel per kilometre and can fly non-stop for 1,900 km. Each transcontinental trip costs about $1.7 million and its ground handling crew alone is 170-strong! » Continue reading

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Sacred odours

Father Henryk Jankowski, popular for his support to the solidarity movement, announced that he planned to launch perfumes, clothing and cafes branded with his image.

Jankowski already has a wine branded after him under the name 'Monsignore'. While many Catholics admire him for his role in ousting the communists, many do not approve of him being on the panel for selecting the waitresses for the 16 cafes he plans to open. » Continue reading

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RoyalTube

The Queen has a YouTube channel. As the Observer points out, she beat the White House. Sadly, they disabled embedding. » Continue reading

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Don't say yech!

Before you click away from the page, let me tell you that the cockroach is not that a scary or dirty as you think, says a Taiwanese study. To start with, its eye is an arrangement of around 3,000 lenses and it can smell food over 20 metres away.

It breathes through body holes called spiracles that can be closed with a kind of hairy lid. So, if you flush a roach down the toilet, it doesn't drown; it just shuts off the holes and swims to safety! The best thing it does is eat up your garbage. You don't scream when you see the garbage man just because he works amongst rubbish, right? » Continue reading

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Colonial Aroma

Habana 1791, a perfume shop in Cuba, is thriving even though it sells just 12 fragrances. Its speciality is colonial fragrances, both perfumes and room fresheners. Rose, jasmine and lilac petals, Rangoon creeper and orange blossoms, tobacco leaves, lime peel, sandalwood resin and lavender oil go into these perfumes.

The ingredients are crushed and soaked in an alcohol solution. This matures for two months before being strained and sold at $7 to $20 per bottle. What's more? Your choice will be mixed and bottled in front of you. » Continue reading

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