WATCH FIRST PREGNANT MAN TO GIVE BIRTH TO HIS OWN CHILD
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husband has revealed how he carried and gave birth to his own daughter - because his wife could not
fall pregnant.
Pictured
sporting a beard as he showed off his pregnant belly, Chris Rehs-Dupin tells
how he and his wife Amy met and fell in love in their 20s, working at a
children’s summer camp. They always knew they definitely wanted a family.
With Chris -
who was born Christina - being a pre-op transgender male, however, they planned for Amy to be the
biological mum.
But when five
attempts of intrauterine insemination - fertility treatment that involves
placing sperm inside a uterus to facilitate fertilisation – failed, Chris
volunteered to carry their baby instead.
He finally gave
birth to their now two-year-old daughter, Hayden, naturally on December 20,
2014, after five rounds of IUI treatment and a miscarriage.
Having Hayden
made Amy even more determined to carry a baby herself and in 2016 she had Milo
by caesarean section after a further round of IUI.
IN SWITZERLAND ONION SKINS ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN ACTUAL ONIONS
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ith Easter just
around the corner, Christians around the world are stocking up on eggs and
dyes for the traditional egg dyeing. But while most of us have grown used to
chemical dyes, some still prefer the natural approach, like boiling white eggs
with onion skins.
This is apparently very popular in Switzerland, where people
actually pay for bags of onion peels selected specifically for egg dyeing.
Dyeing Easter
eggs with onion skins is not a Swiss tradition. In fact, I remember my mother
used to do it when I was little, taking differed plant leaves, and placing them
on the eggs before wrapping them in a large onion skin, putting them in a sock
and boiling them in a pot of water with more skins thrown in for a more intense
coloring effect. But she used orange skins saved up for weeks in advance,
instead of buying them from the supermarket, like some Swiss do nowadays.
Ukrainian
newspaper The
Observer recently published an article on the practice of selling packaged
onion skins in Swiss supermarkets. They apparently received a series of
pictures from readers who had recently traveled to the Solothurn canton of
Switzerland and were surprised to find bags of skins on sale in several shops
and supermarkets. They snapped some photos and asked their tour guide about
them. Turns out onion skins are very popular around Easter.
The pictures
published by The Observer show that a 85-gram bag of onion skins costs up
to 2.80 Swiss francs ($2.84), which means that a kilogram goes for 33 francs
($33.5).
That’s outrageously expensive considering that the same supermarket
sells a pound of onions for just 2.80 francs. Granted, you’re not going to get
as much skins from them.
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n Brielen, a
small Belgian village of only 700 inhabitants, it was customary for church
goers to meet up for a beer after every Sunday mass.
That became a
problem after the last bar in the village closed down, but the local priest was
more than happy to keep the tradition going by turning the church into a bar
after Sunday mass.
Some say
alcohol is the devil’s drink, but a Protestant church in Brielen, Belgium, is
using it to keep parishioners happy and bring more people closer to God. After
the last bar in town closed, church goers who used to get together every
Sunday after mass for a cold glass of beer were forced to either abandon their
tradition or travel to neighboring villages.
It was a sad
end to a very popular custom, but the local priest saw it as an opportunity to
do something good for his flock aAfter asking the permission of local
authorities, the priest announced that every Sunday, after mass, congregates
were more than welcome to use the church as a bar and drink as much beer as
they like, just like they used to before.
He even had an
actual bar set up in the church and, as soon as he ends his sermon, wooden
chairs and tables with white table cloths are brought out to make the people
feel like they’re in their old pub.
Parishioners
can drink as much beer as they like, but the priest has set a few clear rules.
The most
important one is that you have to attend the mass in order to be allowed into
the bar. This helps the church better fulfill its purpose of bringing people
closer to religion, and people get their bar experience back. Everybody wins and
attract more people to church.
To
keep the church from turning into a place of debauchery, music and dancing are
forbidden, and patrons must leave before 1:00 in the afternoon. This gives them
enough time to drink plenty of beer, but not enough to get too drunk.
INDIAN MEN DIVORCE THEIR WIVES VIA WHATSAPP BY TYPING A SINGLE WORD THREE TIMES
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wo Muslim women
in India have recently filed complaints against their husbands – who happen to
be brothers – for divorcing them via WhatsApp.
The “triple
talaq” is a controversial clause in Sharia Law that allows husbands to
instantly divorce their wives by uttering the word “talaq” three times. This
allows men to throw their wives out of the house for literally any reason,
without fearing any legal repercussions. The practice is frowned upon
by the vast majority of Muslims and banned in most of the Islamic
world, but not in India.
Here, triple talaq is still frequently used, keeping
women in a perpetual state of fear that their husbands could “give them talaq”
if they say or do anything that displeases them.
Ironically,
more an more Indian Muslims are using modern technology to make the archaic
triple talaq divorce even more effective. Data shows that a growing number of
men are now sending the words to their wives via email or messaging apps, which
is perfectly legit. ‘How can that be legal?’ you ask, well, according to the
law, the woman doesn’t even have to be present when the words are spoken, she
need not even be aware. If the guy says them, it’s done!
The sad story
of two women who were divorced by triple talaq over WhatsApp was recently
covered by Indian media. Syed Heena Fatima and Mehreen Noor, from
Hyderabad, were married to brothers Syed Fayazuddin Hussaini and Mohd
Abdul Akheel, both of which had left to work in the United States. But instead
of using this opportunity to provide for their families, the men decided to
divorce and abandon their wives in the most despicable way possible – by
messaging them “talaq, talaq, talaq” via WhatsApp.
Heena Fatima
received her triple talaq six months ago, while she was pregnant, and Noor
got the same terrible message recently, which prompted their in-laws to
throw them out of the house. The two women, along with their family
members, have since lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad police, and have
staged a protest in front of their old home.
“My husband put
‘Talaq Talaq Talaq’ as his WhatsApp display picture and messaged same saying
everything is finished,” Mehreen Noor told
ANI.
“He said this is how it is done these days. How can it be done on WhatsApp?”
“I have two
children, who will take care of my children?” Fatima
complained. “Sharia law lets you divorce me, but who is going to look after
our children? Doesn’t Sharia law ask of you to take care of your children?”
Unfortunately,
because their husbands opted for triple talaq rather than a divorce under
India’s secular law, the wives are also denied the right to receive a third of
their husbands’ salaries as alimony.
Last year,
several women have filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking
annulment of the triple talaq rule. India’s Central Government has also
stated that it is against gender injustice, and for equality between men and
women under the Constitution, but the controversial clause is unfortunately
still in effect.
The All India
Muslim Personal Law Board actually defended triple talaq, saying that it is
better to divorce a woman that kill her.
“The rights
bestowed by religion can’t be questioned in a court of law,” the AIMPLB added.
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But while he loves
the attention, he claims that he’s not your usual busker, he’s just doing this
to make his dear mother happy.
74-year Li Yinglai
says that his 96-year-old mother always wanted a daughter, but only had two
sons.
When he was 60, he
decided to do his best to make his mother’s wish come true by putting on
colorful women’s clothes and accessories and going out into the streets to show
off his girly dance moves.
He apparently made
quite an impression, as he’s been doing it every weekend since.
“I
do this for my mother,” Li said in an interview, two years ago. “My mother
has no daughters, and I want to make her happy by wearing women’s clothes. I’m
happy to wear women’s clothes, and I can make others happy too.”
Li,
who is not married, has no children, and has never held a steady job in his
life, spends most of his time looking after his 96-year-old mother. On
weekdays, he wears your average manly clothes, but when the weekend comes, he
paints his nails, puts on one of his many traditional attires – which now
outnumber his regular clothes – a pair of earrings, bracelets, rings and a
wacky pair of glasses, and heads to Green Lake Park to dance and pose for
pictures with fans and tourists.
Asked
how she feels about his weekend routine, Li’s mother simply said “”As long as
he’s happy, then it’s okay.”
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n an effort to help
people cope with the loss of their loved ones, a South Korean tech company is
developing an app that lets them take photos and converse with
digitally-rendered models of deceased friends and family.
Called “With Me”, the
controversial app was developed by ELROIS, a Korean firm that specializes
in creating realistic 3D avatars, and requires the featured person to sign
up for an avatar while they are still alive. Currently, they have to visit a
special booth where their bodies are scanned using special technology, but
ELROIS hopes that smartphones will soon come with built-in 3D-scanning
technology to streamline the process. The company then proceeds to create a
“realistic” 3D avatar based on the scanned images, followed by reshaping
and auto-rigging to make it animated.
Not only can users of
the With Me app take selfies with these digital avatars of their loved ones,
but thanks to artificial intelligence, they can also converse with them, or
have them react to certain commands or information uploaded to the app. “When a
user puts personal information in the app, the avatars remember the user from
that time and recognize if there’s some changes in the of users as well,” an
ELROIS spokesperson said. “For example, if there is a change in appearance or
an emotional change and the avatar will mention something about it, such as
‘you look younger today, what is your secret?'”
The avatars can also
track the user’s face and position and mimic their facial expression, posture
or hand movements.
“It was designed for
those who lost a friend or family member and are having trouble moving on,” the
spokesperson told the Daily
Mail. “3D photo-realistic avatar is based on the actual person and it has
some interaction with the users, so we think the avatars can be the new way to
overcome their wounded-heart with a good function of new technology.”
With Me was showcased
at the World Mobile Congress, last week, and has sparked quite the controversy
online. While the company claims that the app allows people to create memories
with their loved ones even after they’ve passed away, some have argued that
these are fake memories, as you’re using an AI avatar that, apart from
some basic features, captures nothing of who that person used to be.
“It is not fake
memories, I think, because it is 3D realistic avatars, and the actual person is
in my mind,” ELROIS’ Eun Jin Lim told the BBC. “It depends on
people’s opinion.”
But creating memories
and interacting with the dead is just one of the ways in which the
Korean company sees With Me being used. It also plans to contact various
celebrities and license their image so that fans can interact with them in
avatar form.
“We are working on
the development for making Avatar Cloud Service in the web and mobile to upload
their avatars and buy celebrities avatar, clothes and other stuff related with
avatars (We call it as ‘VAW’ or ‘vivid avatar world),” an ELROIS spokesperson
said. “Now it is still in the process and we have to contact with celebrities’
agent sooner to get their avatars.”
THE SHOCKING STORY OF A CUBAN COMMUNITY WHO CHOSE TO INFECT THEMSELVES WITH HIV TO ESCAPE PERSECUTION
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t’s hard to imagine
why anyone would voluntarily infect themselves with one of the deadliest
viruses in human existence, but for “Los Frikis” – a Cuban punk community
living under the regime of Fidel Castro during the 80s and 90s – injecting
themselves with HIV-infected syringes was the easiest way to escape persecution
and police harassment.
Los Frikis, the name
than became synonymous with punks, metalheads and pretty much anyone who didn’t
fit in with mainstream Cuban society, came together during the late 1980’s.
Their music, dressing style and culture were influenced by that of similar
communities in the United States and other European countries, something that
didn’t sit well with Fidel Castro’s communist regime. Most of the bands also
sang in English, which only made things worse for Frikis in general. Although
the language was purely an aesthetic choice, speaking English in those days was
considered a huge no-no.
Breaking social norms
was a risky affair in 1980s Cuba, and the Frikis paid a high price for it. Many
of them were rejected by their families, harassed, arrested and forced to do
manual labor for their “crimes”. Los Frikis would meet in safehouses located in
run-down areas, but other than that they didn’t have many places where they
felt accepted. Tired of the constant persecution, many of them took up a
form of protest that can only be described as extreme – infecting themselves
with HIV by injecting the blood of their sick friends into their veins.
At
about the same time that the Frikis community struggled to find its place in
Cuban society, AIDS was wreaking havoc around the world, and the Cuban
Government was taking precautions to prevent an epidemic on the island. Its
approach involved providing the population with free condoms, aggressively
testing the sexually active population for HIV and sending the infected to
quarantined sanitariums. Living the rest of your life in a walled medical
facility was scary for most people, but for los Frikis it was a welcomed escape
from persecution.
State-run HIV
sanatoriums were opened all over Cuba during the late 80s and 90s, and while
the rest of the nation suffered from massive food shortages, these facilities
offered plenty of free food and good medical care. Frikis simply saw them as a
better alternative to living on the streets and putting up with harassment from
police or imprisonment. And as word of the HIV infection trend spread within
the community, they realized that the more of them would do it, the more would
be sent to these sanatoriums, so they could live together in peace, free.
OLDEST AMERICAN MS. ADELE CELEBRATES 114 YEARS
Adele
Dunlap of Pittstown, New Jersey resides at the Country Arch Care Center where
she celebrated her 114th. Dunlap, who has been a resident of New Jersey her
entire life, became the oldest living American approximately six months ago.
Adele Dunlap, who assumed the title
of oldest American five months ago, marked her 114th birthday Monday with
a balloon bouquet and a "Happy Birthday" serenade from fellow
residents of the Hunterdon
County care center where she has lived since age 99.
But Dunlap made clear
through her facial expressions and her answers to questions that she
didn't appreciate the fuss. Asked what she was thankful for, Dunlap said,
"Gee, how should I know?" And asked what her birthday wish was, she
responded, "I've never thought of such a thing. I don't wish for
anything."
She also declared
that it was her 105th birthday. It's her habit to shave about a decade off
her age, according to nursing home staff and her family.
Dunlap was born in Newark on Dec. 12, 1902. Her birth date has
been validated by the Gerontology Research Group, which
tracks "supercentenarians," or people older than 110. Among the
documents attesting to her astonishing age is her diploma from South Side
High School in Newark. It is dated June 27, 1921 — 95 1/2 years ago.
There are believed to be several hundred supercentenarians
in the world. In addition to being the oldest American, Dunlap is the world's
ninth-oldest person. The oldest, according to the Gerontology Research
Group database, is an Italian woman, Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, who
marked her 117th birthday on Nov. 29. The next-oldest American is Meta Dishman
of Virginia. She turned 113 on June 1. Of the world's 46 oldest people in the
Gerontology Research Group's database, 44 are women.
Dunlap moved up to oldest American when Goldie Michelson of
Worcester, Mass., died on July 8, one month shy of her 114th birthday. She
said at the time that being the oldest American didn't make her feel any
different.
On Monday morning at the Country Arch Care Center in
Pittstown, Dunlap sat in a wheelchair with a blanket from the Tewksbury
Women's Club over her lap and moccasins on her feet. She had her usual oatmeal
for breakfast and then attended the "coffee club" in the dining room,
where staffers and a dozen other residents sang "Happy Birthday" to
her. That was the extent of the celebration. Country Arch recognizes birthdays
en masse, and the 15 residents with December birthdays were feted last
Wednesday.
The center has
111 residents, including five centenarians. The other four are more than a
decade younger than Dunlap.
"Ms. Adele has
requested that the celebrations become fewer because she says we are all
important, and that speaks volumes about who she is," said Susan Dempster,
Country Arch's marketing director.
Dempster described
Dunlap as a "passive participant" in nursing home activities. She
says the rosary every week and enjoys musical presentations, including
Christmas carols from visiting Girl Scouts, who clamor to have their picture
taken with the supercentenarian. "But we don't make Ms. Adele move
that much physically," Dempster said. "If she wants to move, she'll
move."
The former Adele
Henderson taught school briefly in Kearny and raised her three children in
Short Hills. Her husband, Earl Dunlap Sr., who worked in insurance, died in
1963. Before moving to Country Arch, she lived in Clinton with her son
Earl Jr., now 86, and daughter-in-law Barbara.
Others apparently
didn't get the memo about Dunlap not wanting to make a big deal about her age.
Last week, the mayor of Clinton arrived with a proclamation wishing the lifelong
"Jersey girl" continued good health. And in August, Kean
University wrote Dunlap a letter of congratulations on "capturing
a singular title that is reserved for the remarkable person in the United
States who has lived the longest and has witnessed more history than anyone –
oldest American." Dunlap received a bachelor of arts degree in elementary
education from the Newark Normal School, Kean University's predecessor.
Soon after basking in
birthday wishes Monday, Dunlap was looking ahead. Asked what her favorite part
of the day is, the 114-year-old said, "I guess just going to bed."
SOUTH AFRICAN HERBALIST WALKS AROUND LITERALLY DRESSED IN MONEY
Michael Andile
Dlamini, a successful herbalist from Nongoma, South Africa, has
become known as Mzimb’okhalimali (a body dripping with money) after he
started wearing a suit made of real banknotes, to show off his wealth.
Dlamini started
working as a healer three years ago, after finally listening to the voices of
his ancestors.
The 33-year-old claims that when he was 12, his ancestors spoke
to him in his dreams, telling him which trees and plants to mix remedies out
of, but he chose to ignore them. Then, in 2011, he started having these
weird dreams again, where his ancestors would tell him to go into the forest to
gather plants and roots for herbal remedies. He started filling ill, and had
his house broken into, and after seeing a ‘sangoma’ (healer) who scolded him
for not listening to his visions, Dlamini finally decided to become a
herbalist.
It turned out to be
the best thing he ever did, as his potions and creams became insanely popular
from the very beginning. Dlamini claims he makes between R15,000 ($1,000) and
R20,000 ($1,500) a day by selling herbal products, which include Pincode,
a herbal concoction to boost sex drive, a “lucky soap” that removes pimples and
stretchmarks, and “blessed water”.
But despite being famous all throughout South
Africa for his herbal remedies, Andile Dlamini is even better known for
his unusual way of flaunting his fortune – by walking around in a “money suit”
made up of hundreds of R100 ($7) and R200 ($14) notes pinned to regular
clothes. He started wearing it in 2014, and hasn’t stopped doing it since.
“The money I get from
people who thank me for helping them gets pinned to my clothes.
Wherever I go,
people stare,” the controversial people said. And to make sure they don’t try
anything more when seeing him walking around wearing a small fortune, Dlamini
is always accompanied by several bodyguards.
Andile has been
wearing his signature money suit to several high-profile events in South
Africa, but recently caused controversy on social media, after wearing his
blue-and orange banknote attire at the funeral of gospel Swiso Ncwane, which a
lot of people found disrespectful.
Ukrainian scientist Vladislav Kiselev claims that he
has developed a type of battery that can power gadgets like smartphones and
even cars for up to 12 years, without having to be recharged.
Kiselev,
a senior researcher at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and
Petrochemistry in Kiev, and professor at Ukraine’s National Academy of
Sciences, unveiled his intriguing battery prototype during the 2016
edition of Sikorsky Challenge, a prestigious international competition for
research projects.
The
matchbox-like device looks fairly unimpressive, but the Ukrainian scientist
claims that it has been continuously powering electrical devices for a year and
four months without a single recharge, and will continue to do so for the next
11 years. That’s because his “battery” produces energy instead of simply
storing it.
But with virtually all the world’s
battery manufacturers and researchers struggling to come up with a real
breakthrough in battery technology, how did Kiselev create one that he claims
lasts for 12 years? The senior researcher says he was able to do it by taking
advantage of a key property of tritium – the ability to emit electrons.
He
adds that American company City Labs also makes use of the radioactive
isotope of hydrogen, but whereas they use tritium-covered solar cells, he opted
for an enhanced electrochemical cells, which makes the battery 1,000 times
more powerful.
So
whereas City Labs NanoTritium™ batteries provide low power to devices like
medical implants and various sensors, Kiselev’s version can be used to
power large electronic devices and even cars.
The
scientist adds that electrochemical cells similar to the one he uses in
his battery have been used in Ukraine since the 1930s, but no one has ever been
able to use them for energy generation. He and his team were able to improve
the design in order to achieve this.
Interestingly
enough, Kiselev says that after failing to secure research grants for the
project, he and his colleagues funded themselves. Now, after presenting the
results of their labor at Sikorsky Challenge, Kiselev says that he is in talks
with both Turkish and Chinese businessmen to produce a version of his tritium battery
that can be used in mobile phones.
Regarding
the radioactive properties of tritium, Vladislav Kiselev emphasized the
fact that some radioactive substances are not hazardous to humans, and
tritium is one of them. It is actually used as a radioluminescent light source
in wristwatches.
Kiselev believes that tritium is the
future of energy, and claims that the fact that 11 of the world’s most advanced
countries are planning to build an international fusion reactor – also based on
tritium – to produce energy is proof of that.
However, he adds that while such
reactors cost tens of billions of dollars to build, his tritium batteries are
an affordable way to produce energy for up to 12
years.
If you’re sick of
running out of battery on your Smartphone when you need it the most, and don’t
mind paying a whopping $2,480 on a coat, you might want to consider getting
this solar-powered jacket that can charge your gadgets on the go.
COMME des GARÇONS’
alumnus Junya Watanabe first unveiled his FW16 solar-powered men’s coat
back in March, but his unique creation is doing the rounds once again, after
becoming available for purchase at the hefty price of $2,480.
So what makes
this coat so special, apart from being a designer item, you ask? Well, just in
case the four large solar panels on the back and the two in the front haven’t
given it away already, this coat harnesses the power of the sun, converts it to
electricity and stores it in a hidden power pack for on-the-go charging.
Considered
one of the most eccentric figures in men’s fashion, Junya Watanabe is
famous for his radical designs, and the FW16 marks his first entry into the
wearable tech sector.
While it’s unclear how much time the wearer would
have to spend in the sun to harvest enough energy to recharge a
power-hungry smartphone, I reckon it’s a lot. But if you’re the outdoorsy type,
that’s probably not a problem.
And
just in case you’re wondering, the FW16 also comes with a phone charging
cable, although it’s unclear whether it’s an iPhone connection, a microUSB
connection, or the new Type-C. Maybe, it’s customizable. At this price that
wouldn’t be very surprising.
While the idea behind
this solar-powered coat is definitely intriguing, with large capacity power
packs getting cheaper every day, do you really need to spend a whopping $2,480
on this thing? Luckily, you don’t have to, because SSENSE actually has it on sale for “just” $1,910. Still not
interested? Well, how about this solar-powered bikini then?
GHOST WORKERS INVADES KWARA CIVIL SERVICE
Kwara
State Personnel Database Development committee says it has uncovered a total of
8, 863 suspected ghost personnel on the payroll of both the state and local
governments.
The
alternate Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, made this disclosure
on while submitting the Committee’s report to the State Governor, Alhaji
Abdulfatah Ahmed at the Government House, Ilorin.
He
said the 8, 863 personnel could not be verified in the just concluded staff
biometric verification exercise, noting that the development could potentially
save both the State and local governments N437, 500, 513.56 monthly.
Alhaji
Gold said that, as at the time of commencing the verification exercise, the
total number of staff on the payroll of both the State and local governments
was 81, 446, but only 72, 583 of the workers and pensioners scaled through the
verification process.
Giving
a further breakdown of the report, the alternate chairman revealed that of the
35, 656 workers on the State government payroll, only 31, 652 were cleared and
verified, leaving a total of 4,004 unverified personnel.
He
said out of the 45, 790 workers and pensioners on the payroll of the 16 LGs in
the State, only 40, 931 were verified, which leaves a total of 4, 859
unverified.
The
Committee recommended that the verification exercise should be continuous and
that the State government should implement a harmonized staff identification
system, certificate verification and clock-in system, which will be deployed by
the consultant at no cost to the government.
In
his response, Governor Ahmed endorsed all the findings of the committee and
also directed the State Ministry of Finance to adopt the Committee’s report to
prepare the payroll of both the local and state government workers henceforth.
The
governor, however, said that the ministry should warehouse the projected
savings until it is ascertained that all workers and pensioners are verified.
Governor
Ahmed thanked the consultant and members of the committee for the quality work
done and expressed confidence that with the submission of the report, there
will be an effective payroll administration at both the local and state levels.
CHINESE COMPANY FORCES EMPLOYEES TO EAT LIVE WORMS FOR NOT MEETING SALES TARGET
Chinese
companies have been known to subject their employees to some of the most
unusual and degrading punishments imaginable, but this latest one takes the
cake. According to recent new reports, a company Hanzhong, Shaanxi
province, decided to punish who failed to meet their sales targets by feeding
them a disgusting cocktail of baijou liquor and live mealworms.
The degrading
punishment was reportedly carried out in in a plaza in downtown Hanzhong,
where 60 company employees were summoned for an outdoor meeting. Witnesses
took to the internet to report that the group of young workers was approached
by a a man carrying bags of live mealworms, who proceeded to pick various
numbers of them with chopsticks and drop them in plastic cups full of baijou.
Employees who had failed to reach their sales quota were asked to step forward
and drink the gag-inducing cocktail.
Five or
six poor-performing employees were reportedly asked to drink the
worm-infested baijou in front of their colleagues. One of the employees, who
chose to remain anonymous, later told the Huashang Daily newspaper that
each of the “offending” workers had to swallow four worms for every client they
lost.
One of the recipients
of the brutal punishment was a pregnant woman, who refused to drink the
cocktail for fear of losing the pregnancy. “I can’t eat worms now, I can’t
drink either, unless I don’t want my baby,” she reportedly told the sales
manager. Eventually, a male colleague received the cruel punishment on her
behalf.
Photos of the bizarre
event taken by passers-by quickly went viral on the Chinese social media, and
sparked the anger of millions of users. The company that staged the punishment
was soon identified as Ai Jia, a sales group formed by 10 construction
companies. A man surnamed Cao, the owner of a bathroom equipment company
part of Ai Jia group acknowledged the punishment, but added that the
employees were ‘willing to receive it’.
Emboldened by the
media coverage and the outrage of the general public, another employee of Ai
Jia came forward and reported that Every morning, employees of the group
set a business target for the day, and if they fail to hit it, they receive
various punishments the following day. “Other than worms, we have also eaten
live squid and ants before,” he said.
Despite the huge
backlash, another Ai Jia company owner maintained that the punishment was
actually just “a special form of encouragement”.
According to the
article 88 of China’s employment contract law, employers are not allowed to
humiliate or physically harm their workers, and the labor inspection
bureau of Hanzhong city told the Huashang Daily that forcing people to eat live
worms definitely counts as a violation of the law. They also urged employees
subjected to the cruel punishment to report the incident to the local labor
department.
I’m
thinking that the offending company doesn’t risk more than a small fin, if
that, because this is the latest in a long series of disturbing Chinese
employee punishments by their employers, and things don’t appear to be changing for the better.
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