Dog groomers experience busiest week of the year leads up to Christmas

Dog groomers across Sydney have experienced their busiest week of the year leads up to Christmas.

While most dog owners are chooses for basic treatments, others have gone for holiday-specific treatments such as Christmas costumes, collars and even festive nail polish or "paw-di-cures".

Many customers upgrade their treatments during the holiday period, opting for something "fancier" to impress friends and family.

While Christmas-themed treats such as turkey and cranberry dog biscuits have been fashionable, Christmas outfits have proved the most admired.

Watchout the Halloween Contestants

World’s Top Smallest People

Ajay kumar (world smallest actor)
32-year-old Indian comedy star Ajay Kumar, who is just 2 feet 6 inches tall has been officially recognized as the world's smallest actor.

Chen Guilan & Li Tangyong (World's Shortest Couple)
The Chinese pair Chen Guilan, 2ft 4ins and Li Tangyong 3ft 7ins hope to get into the record books as the world's shortest couple since their marriage in October 2007.

Edward Nino Hernandez (Previous World's Smallest Man)
On September 4, 2010, Edward Niño Hernández, 2ft 3 1⁄2 in and 10 kg, was officially named as the world's shortest living man.

Jyoti Amge (World's Smallest Girl)
At a weight of 11lbs (around 5kg) and height of 1ft 11inch (around 58 cm), Jyoti Amge 15-year-old Indian teenager is the smallest girl in the world.

Junrey Balawing (Current World's Smallest Man)
In June 2011, right on his 18th birthday anniversary, Junrey Balawing was officially recognized as the world’s smallest man by Guinness World Records at a height of 23.6 inches (59.93cm) and a weight of 5kg.

Boo the Pomeranian: World’s Cutest Dog has Two Millions Fans on Facebook

Boo the Pomeranian, 5, has nearly two million fans on social networking site facebook and a book deal. His owner uses the pseudonym J.H Lee, but conceals her identity and location in the US. Boo is now busy promoting his new £8.99 book that includes exclusive photos of him “doing all his favorite things, lounging around, playing with friends, exploring the whole wide world, and making those famous puppy-dog eyes” entitled “Boo, the life of the world's cutest dog”.

Seven Genetic Differences among all Dog Breeds

While the physical difference between a great dane and a chihuahua is apparent, the genetic makeup of all dog breeds is pretty much the same. In fact, there are only seven genetic variations that differentiate the thousands of dog breeds living today.

Spaniels have notably floppy ears, basset hounds have extremely short legs, and St. Bernards are large and big boned. Not to mention Chihuahuas.

But a new study reports that the physical variance among dog breeds is determined by differences in only about seven genetic regions. These seven locations in the dog genome explain about 80 percent of the differences in height and weight among breeds, said Carlos Bustamante, a geneticist at Stanford University and one of the study’s authors.

“We are trying to identify genes that might be important in governing the differences between different dogs,” Dr. Bustamante said. The project was conducted jointly by researchers at Stanford, Cornell University and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

A stronger understanding of dog genomes may shed more light on how genes are involved in disease processes, said Elaine Ostrander, a geneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute and another author of the study. For instance, it has been hypothesized that osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, is a common disease in long-legged breeds, she said.

Discoveries about dog genomes may in turn help researchers understand the role of genetics in human disease.

World’s Most Shocking X-rays

Six nails embedded in the skull of construction worker Isidro Mejia, 39, after an industrial incident caused a nail gun to shoot nails into his head and brain on April 19, 2004, is seen in this X-ray image from Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Los Angeles.

This photo taken aug. 6, 2011 and released Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 by the Cicero Police Department shows an x-ray revealing a diamond ring inside Wilfredo Gonzalez-Cruz, 30, of Chicago, that he allegedly stole from the home of a women in Cicero, Ill., and then and swallowed.

An X-ray of an four foot long pine snake who swallowed a couple of light bulbs is on display during the grand opening of Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium Thursday, June 21, 2007 in New York's Times Square.

An x-ray made on February 13, 2011 in Lyon, shows a pair of surgical pliers in the abdomen of Anne, a women who complained of abdominal pain after a surgery.

In this undated photo, an X-ray image of Chinese woman, Luo Cuifen, 29, released by Richland International Hospital, needles are seen in her body.

An undated X-ray shows steel balls and magnets inside of 8-year-old Haley Lents, after the Huntingburg, Ind. child swallowed the pieces from a magnetic toy set on May 8, 2008. The child required emergency surgurky and was hospitalized for two weeks.

An X-ray showing a 17centimeter (6.7 inches) pair of surgical scissors in the abdomen of 69-year-old Pat Skinner in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 20, 2004.


The X-ray picture shows a 5-centimeter nail stuck in an unidentified South Korean patient's skull Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004. According to a Seoul hospital, doctors found the nail after the man came to the hospital, They speculate that the nail stuck in the man's head four years ago in an accident but the man didn't know about it. The nail was removed in a surgery last Saturday.

Most peculiar Hotel Designs on Earth

Magic Mountain Hotel

The Magic Mountain Hotel is the most popular four-star hotel in Southern Chile situated in the heart of the Huilo Huilo Reserve. The luxurious hotel is located in a magical mountain behind a waterfall that offers you great views of the rainforest, high chances of kayaking and hiking and great sound of waterfall cascading from the pinnacle of the roof.

Costa Rican Hotel

The unbelievable Costa Rican hotel has two air-conditioned bedrooms with one queen-sized bed, hand-carved furniture and its own private bath.

Everland Hotel

Hotel Everland is the one room movable inn that is placed on the roof of the Palais de Tokyo museum through 2008.

De Vrouwe van Stavoren Hotel

The hotel is located in the ancient port of Stavoren; thus, it provides views over picturesque harbor and green terraced fields

Propeller Island City Lodge Hotel

Propeller Island City Lodge is the most innovative and creative hotel in the world

Boot B&B Hotel

Boot Bed N' Breakfast in New Zealand is the creation of Steve Richards. The hotel is actually a two-story cottage in the shape of a giant boot

The Hobbit Motel, Woodlyn Park, New Zealand

The pint-sized, barrel-shaped motel in Waiton, New Zealand takes its inspiration from the famous movie “Lord of the Rings”

Crowning Moment of Miss Universe 2011, Leila Lopes

The Angolan beauty pageant has won the Miss Angola 2011. 25-year-old Leila Lopes, whose real name is Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes, is Miss Universe 2011 representative from Angola. Leila Lopes, Miss Universe 2011 winner, was born on February 26, 1986 in Benguela, Angola as a daughter to parents of Cape Verdean background. She is a business management student in Great Britain.

Beautiful Stadiums on Earth

Allianz Arena Stadium

Beijing National Aquatics Center

Yoyogi National Gymnasium

Beijing National Stadium

Qi Zhong stadium

Olympic Stadium