US armless girl Jessica Cox gets pilot certificate

    US armless girl gets pilot certificate

    Jessica Cox, 25, a girl born without arms, stands inside an aircraft in this undated photo. The girl from Tucson, Arizona got the Sport Pilot certificate lately and became the first pilot licensed to fly using only her feet.

    TUCSON -- Jessica Cox of Tucson was born without arms, but that has only stopped her from doing one thing: using the word "can't."

    Her latest flight into the seemingly impossible is becoming the first pilot licensed to fly using only her feet.

    With one foot manning the controls and the other delicately guiding the steering column, Cox, 25, soared to achieve a Sport Pilot certificate. Her certificate qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.

    "She's a good pilot. She's rock solid," said Parrish Traweek, 42, the flying instructor at San Manuel's Ray Blair Airport.

    He runs PC Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Services and has trained many pilots, some of whom didn't come close to Cox's abilities.

    "When she came up here driving a car," Traweek recalled, "I knew she'd have no problem flying a plane."

    Finding a plane that was compatible with her abilities was a task within itself. She found it in the Ercoupe, a plane manufactured in the mid-1940s. Locating one took her to Florida and California, although she finally find one less than 70 miles away in San Manuel.

    US armless girl gets pilot certificate


    Flight lessons usually run more than $100 per hour, but Cox was able to get her 40-plus hours of training through an Able Flight Scholarship.

    "Once you're with Jessica for about 20 minutes, you don't even notice she doesn't have arms," Traweek said from the one of the airport's hangars.

    Cox, unwrapping a piece of chewing gum with her toes nearby, was clad in a yellow T-shirt sporting a stick figure with truncated arms beneath the phrase: "Look Ma, No Hands."

    "Jessica's showing people there are no limits," he said.

    Most who meet her, especially on her motivational speaking circuit, agree. She's spoken at hundreds of gigs, from Wisconsin to Phoenix, where she shares her upbeat philosophy and incredible story.

    Doctors never learned why she was born without arms, but she figured out early on that she didn't want to use prosthetic devices.

    "I realized it was more important to celebrate my difference," she said.

    She gave up the prosthetic arms for good when she turned 14 and her family moved to Tucson from their hometown of Sierra Vista.

    "When we moved to Tucson, I had a fresh slate," she said.

    That slate is now covered with achievements from a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Arizona to two black belts in tae kwon do. She's also seeking a publisher for her life story.
    US armless girl gets pilot certificate

    US armless girl gets pilot certificate

    US armless girl gets pilot certificate

holding scorpion in her mouth sets new world record

    It's a feat worthy of a Bushtucker trial on reality TV show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

    But even the likes of I'm A Celebrity winner Joe Swash would be unable - or unwilling - to match this.

    Thailand's Scorpion Queen has set a new world record - by holding a poisonous scorpion in her mouth for just over two minutes.
    holding scorpion in her mouth sets new world record

    Don't do it! Thailand's Scorpion Queen Kanchana Kaetkaew is given a scorpion by her husband Boonthawee Siangwong as she makes her record attempt today


    holding scorpion in her mouth sets new world record

    Toying with her food: Kaetkaew dangles the scorpion before placing it in her mouth

    And Kanchana Kaetkaew, 39, may be able to hold that title for a while - it's doubtful she will see any challengers any time soon.

    Kaetkaew went for the record today in a mall in Pattaya, a city on the Gulf of Thailand known for its nightlife and cabaret.

    She was handed the arachnid by her husband - who, coincidentally, is known as the Centipede King - and held it in her mouth for 2mins 1.8secs before spitting it out.
    holding scorpion in her mouth sets new world record

    Victory: Kanchana Kaetkaew celebrates with her husband, the Centipede King

    The pair were married in a haunted house on Valentine's Day in 2006. The Centipede King - Bunthawee Siengwong, 31 - placed a centipede in her mouth, while she wore a white lace dress covered in scorpions.

    Kaetkaew wore a similar dress - also covered in scorpions - for her record-breaking success today.

    But the feat wasn't enough for the ever ambitious Kaetkaew.

    Now she has gone on to begin her second world record attempt: entering a glass compound where she hopes to stay for 33 days and nights along with 5,000 scorpions.

    But again, the field of competition remains thin. The previous world record 32 days was set in 2002 - by Kaetkaew herself.

Lingerie maker presents bras for men

    Lingerie maker presents bras for men
    Lingerie maker presents bras for men

    Wishroom Representative Director Masayuki Tsuchiya puts on his company's men's bra in Tokyo.. The Japanese online lingerie retailer is selling bras for cross-dressing men and they've quickly become one of its most popular items.

    Lingerie maker presents bras for men

    Lingerie maker presents bras for men

    Lingerie maker presents bras for men

    Lingerie maker presents bras for men

Chinese man hangs girlfriend out the window

    It's not the best way to resolve an argument: Hang your lover out the window until the police take you away.

    But that appears to be just what this man tried.

    The unidentified man was caught by a passing photographer forcing a woman, said to be his girlfriend, out a third-storey window in the Chinese city of Kunming today.
    Chinese man hangs girlfriend out the window

    Lovers' spat?: The man hangs the woman upside down from the window in Kunming, China


    Chinese man hangs girlfriend out the window

    Terror is clear on the woman's face as the man appears to be on the verge of climbing out the window with her and sending them both to their deaths

    The enraged man kept the woman pinned to the windowsill and in fear for her life for more than two hours.

    Horrified crowds gathered before the building as police frantically tried to talk him down.

    They finally succeeded - but he took the woman with him as a hostage, holding a knife to her neck.
    Chinese man hangs girlfriend out the window

    The man finally pulls the woman inside - but holds a knife to her neck

    Chinese man hangs girlfriend out the window

    Crowds watch as the man is taken away by police

    Her terror can plainly be seen on her face.

    Finally specialist hostage negotiators were able to persuade the man to give himself up. He was swiftly taken away by police.

    It is not yet known what happened to the woman - or, more tantalisingly, what they could have been arguing about that drove him to such extremes.

Indian girl has heart and liver outside body

    Indian girl has heart and liver outside body

    A four-day-old female child whose heart and part of her liver is growing outside her body is seen at the north Bengal medical college on the outskirts of the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri November 26, 2008. "This is a very rare case, we are not sure if we can perform surgery to put her heart and liver back, but we'll try our best," a child specialist Miridula Chatterjee said on Wednesday

    Indian girl has heart and liver outside body

    Indian girl has heart and liver outside body

Chinese Man Drives with no Arms

    Chinese police got a surprise when they pulled over a brand new 4x4 for a routine check - the driver had no arms.

    Zing Shen, 42, was steering the vehicle with his feet and was amazed when officers decided issue him with a public safety summons.

    He told the traffic officers he had been driving like that for years after losing both arms below the elbows in an industrial accident.
    Chinese Man Drives with no Arms

    An officer in Beijing tells Mr Shen why it isn't a good idea to steer a car with his feet

    A police spokesman in Beijing said: 'The man said that he was a very safe driver and felt he was as good as anyone else on the road, despite his disability.

    'He had an automatic so did not need to worry about changing gears and said he had put a lot of practice into learning to control the steering wheel with his legs.

    'He said he was actually even more careful now with driving than he had been before he lost his arms. He was surprised when we arrested him.'

    Chinese Man Drives with no Arms
    Caught red-handed: Police arrested Zing Shen who has no arms beneath the elbow but had been steering with his legs

Total Pageviews