Totally Strange Events,News And Facts

In 1874, a letter written by a German traveler named Karl Leche was published in journals, magazines, and newspapers in the United States and Europe in which he described a most unusual plant: a man-eating tree!
        According to his letter, Leche was traveling in Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa, to find and catalogue unusual plants. A local man named Hendrick, whom Leche had a hired as a combination of guide and assistant, advised Leche to visit a secluded section of the island that was rumored to be inhabited by cannibals... Hendrick was friends with the tribe, named the Mkodos, and insisted their reputation was false and that the valley they lived in had many strange plants indeed. Leche, intrigued, agreed to go to the valley with Hendrick. After many days travel to the isolated valley, the Mkodos led Leche and Hendrick deep into a swampy forest in the valley, to a clearing that contained the most unusual tree the botanist had ever seen.
        Leche described the tree as having a trunk like an eight-foot-tall pineapple, colored a dark brown, and as hard as iron. From the top of this trunk hung eight gigantic and stiff leaves, "like doors swung back on their hinges." These were around twelve feet long, closely resembling the leaves of the American agave, or century plant, and were three feet wide at the widest, and two feet thick at their thickest. The upper surface of the leaves were lined with tiny hooks, and these leaves were tipped off by a sharp point like a cow's horn. The top of the tree's trunk, in the area where the eight leaves all met, had a white bowl shape structure that was filled with a sweet smelling liquid. Eight foot long hairy green tendrils stuck out stiffy in all directions from the base of this bowl, and six white tendrils also sprouted from the base of the bowl, and actively waved in the air above it like snakes.
        Leche's first observation of the tree was then interupted by the Mkodos... at spearpoint, they forced a young woman to climb up the tree and drink some of the fluid from the bowl. She immediately went into a stupor as the white tendrils grabbed her, and the hairy green tendrils slowly wrapped around her, squeezing the life from the woman. Finally, the great hooked leaves rose up and shut upon her like a vise, and soon both gore and sap was dribbling down the trunk of the tree. At the sight of this, the Mkodos all leaped forward, catching the vile fluid in a variety of containers, or just plain sucking it off the tree directly... soon, they were all in a horrible state of drunken bawdiness, and Leche and Hendrick quickly left the scene.
        Over the next ten days, Leche kept checking back on the tree... on the tenth day it had re-opened, and a new white skull lay at its base.

A family of divers were stunned when they discovered £600,000 worth of buried treasure in the wreck of a ship that sank almost 300-years-ago to the day.

The Schmitt family, from Florida, retrieved 51 gold coins, a 40 foot ornate gold chain and a single coin, called "Tricentennial Royal", thought to have been made for King Phillip V of Spain.

All together, the family's plunder totals a whopping $1million (or £638,000), with the Royal coin alone thought to be worth about half that amount.
Even more unbelievably, their haul was found by diving in water just 15 feet deep.

The treasure, which has been verified by 1715 Fleet - Queen Jewels LLC, is from a ship that sank on July 30, 1715, during a hurricane, which killed the entire crew.

The vessel was en route from Havana, Cuba, to Spain and was one of 11 to sink in the terrible weather.

It is thought that more than 3.5 million pesos worth of treasure were being carried on board - including the queen of Spain's jewels.

Brent Brisben, a spokesperson for the 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels LLC, said: "The treasure was actually found a month ago."

But keeping the news quiet has been "particularly hard for the family that found it. They've been beside themselves."

The Schmitts are subcontractors of Brisben's company, and have had success in their searches in each of the past two years. In 2013, the family found several pieces of a solid gold chain that ultimately measure more than 60 feet. Last year Schmitt found the back portion of a handcrafted gold-filigree pyx, a vessel used to hold the Eucharist during the observance of Holy Communion.
Under federal and Florida law, up to 20 percent of the treasure will be turned over to the state for display in a museum, while Brisben's company and the Schmitts will split the remainder.

Within 10 minutes of drinking one 330ml can  of regular coke, 10 teaspoons of sugar will rush into your internal system, which is more than the recommended allowance for one day
We've all seen videos of what Coca Cola does to a penny, but now someone has reportedly worked out exactly what it does to our insides - and if right, it is not good..

The Renegade Pharmacist, a blog run by pharmacist Niraj Naik includes a seven-step breakdown of the drink's supposed effects.
Within 10 minutes of drinking one 330ml can of regular coke, 10 teaspoons of sugar will rush into your internal system, which is two and a half more than the recommended allowance for one day.

The sugar hit is so intense, he says, that you would normally vomit, but for the phosphoric acid which inside the coke ‘cuts the flavour’ so you can keep the liquid down.

In the next 40 minutes or so your pupils will dilate, your blood sugar will spike and you’ll get a huge caffeine hit.

After 60 minutes and the ‘rave’ inside of you is complete, you will crash, need to urinate, and become irritable. You’ll probably want another coke.

Niraj said: "Coke is not just high in high fructose corn syrup, but it is also packed with refined salts and caffeine.

"Regular consumption of these ingredients in the high quantities you find in Coke and other processed foods and drinks, can lead to higher blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

"If you care about your heart, health and mind then please remember this article next time you reach for that bottle of Coke!"

Nutritionist Ella Allred told the Metro: "These facts on Coke may shock you, but it is a good indication as to why we shouldn’t be drinking it.

"The NHS has just changed the total added sugar allowance from 10 teaspoons per day to 7.5 teaspoons per day."
What Niraj says happens when you drink Coke:

When somebody drinks a can of Coke or any similar sugary caffeine drink, watch what happens…

    In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
    20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
    40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
    45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
    >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
    >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
    >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

Coke is not just high in high fructose corn syrup, but it is also packed with refined salts and caffeine. Regular consumption of these ingredients in the high quantities you find in Coke and other processed foods and drinks, can lead to higher blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

If you care about your heart, health and mind then please remember this article next time you reach for that bottle of Coke!

We should all know by now the health risks associated with soda due to its highly acid forming recipe of sugar, carbonated water and additives like salt and phosphorous.

But a recent Gallup poll reveals that 48 percent of surveyed Americans  – nearly half! still drink soda on a daily basis. What’s more, among those who drank soda, the average daily intake was 2.6 glasses per day.