Man to walk marathon backwards | The Week UK

A man who once crawled the London Marathon while dressed as a gorilla is to walk the entire 26.2 miles backwards in aid of Ukraine. Tom Harrison said he is taking on the challenge as a way of “looking over my shoulder for Ukraine”. The project manager said he hopes the “quirky” and “eye-catching” scheme idea will help to draw attention to the cause. His funds will be donated to the Red Cross.

Titanic-tongued man sets Jenga record

A US man with the world’s longest tongue set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest time to remove five Jenga blocks with the tongue. Nick Stoeberl of California, managed to remove the five Jenga blocks from a stack in 55.526 seconds, winning the curious honour. He also uses his “record-breaking tongue” to paint, said UPI.

Dinosaur had longest neck

The Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum had the longest neck of any animal that has ever existed, measuring nearly 50ft, a new study has found. The Telegraph said that the “crane-like projection” allowed the creature to stand in a single spot “hoovering up tons of vegetation” but “expending little energy”. The Mamenchisauridae family “roamed East Asia” approximately 174 to 114m years ago, claim scientists.

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Guinness combs world for largest Afro and finds Napoleonville native

Thad Angelloz Staff Writer

From the same south Louisiana community that brought the world athletes like New York Giants' Brandon Jacobs, Green Bay Packers' Tramon Williams and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Kim Willoughby, comes the town's newest claim to fame: Aevin Dugas.

The difference between Dugas and her cohorts is what sits atop her head.

Dugas recently made the Guinness Book of World Records where she's listed as the woman with the world's largest female Afro, measuring 7.3 inches high, 7.7 inches wide and 4-feet, 4-inches in circumference.

“It's actually a random type thing,” the 35-year-old native of Napoleonville said. “My sister posted some pictures of my Afro on Facebook. A friend saw some of the photos and told me I should check into Guinness.”

After finding information about the contest at Nappturality.com, Dugas said she was blown away when the British record-keepers contacted her. To qualify, no hairspray, mousse, gel or other products could be used.

Dugas said she submitted a bunch of hair-related pictures to Guinness officials in May 2010. Her record was authenticated three months later.

“The toughest thing is even though I was told I had the record in August of last year I couldn't tell anyone about it,” she said. “I basically had to keep the whole thing a secret until last month.”

While Guinness would typically feature the world's tallest man or heaviest dog, largest Afro is something new to Guinness.

“This is the first ever year that Guinness has recognized the largest Afro,” Michael Whitty, a Guinness photo editor who came to New Orleans last year to meet with Dugas, said through an email. “We looked long and hard around the world for suitable potential candidates with help from various hair consultants and specialists. Aevin's photos lept out at us and she made the short list. Once we had everyone's measurement evidence she was clearly our standout winner.”

Dugas said she was inspired to go natural with her hair 12 years ago as a way of protesting against chemicals she says, “are destroying African-American women's hair.”

Deciding to grow an Afro that was similar to the one her mom had in the 1970s felt right for a person that acknowledges having a sincere love for vintage clothing and jewelry.

“I guess you could call me old school,” Dugas said. “I'm just a person that appreciates older fashions and hair styles.”

Tricia West said what's amazing is how Dugas managed to grow her impressive “do” naturally without the use of any hair sprays or chemicals.

“When I saw a picture of her, my first thought was she's beautiful and has gorgeous hair,” said West, a former teacher at Paul Mitchell School in Charlotte. “To think she's been able to do what she has without even as much as setting foot in a salon is something that is absolutely incredible.”

West, a Thibodaux native currently living in Charlotte, where she works as a hair stylist and makeup artist for Groove Salon, said she's heard of many African-American women taking a similar natural approach to their overall hair care, but noted it is obvious Dugas' hair differs from others she's seen during her career.

“She has a really good curl pattern,” she said. “That allows her hair to be more workable and easier for her personally to care for. The other thing I was blown away by was her hair color. From a stylist's perspective, I can't state enough about how impressed I truly am with her hair.”

Dugas said the comments directed at her have been overwhelmingly positive because “going natural” has become more commonplace in today's society.

“When I was still in Napoleonville and decided to start the whole natural thing, people used to make fun of me, but as of late, that doesn't happen anymore cause natural is what's in right now,” she said.

On the day Dugas was contacted, her hair was actually down and braided.

“I don't just go wearing my hair like that every day,” Dugas said about her record-setting Afro. “There's a time and place for it, and even when I don't pick it out all the way it can be a hindrance because it gets in my eyes and knocks up against people.”

Besides upkeep, Dugas said her hair has presented its fair share of problems, like the time she got caught up in a low-hanging tree that pulled her and her hair backward.

“My younger sister, Sarah, is always playing jokes on me,” she said referring specifically to the time when Sarah threw some coins in her hair. “I was able to remove all of them, but one. That coin fell out while I was taking a nap. When I woke it scared the heck out of me because I thought it was a roach at first.”

Dugas said her sister has even been known to put her Blackberry phone in her hair and call it repeatedly.

“I don't like that too much,” she said with a chuckle.

Dugas, who works for her parent's residential-care facility for adults with developmental disabilities, said officials with “2012 Guinness Book of World Records,” that hit store shelves in mid-September, flew her to London right before the book was released.

While there for a photo and video shoot, Dugas had the opportunity to meet some other world record-setters — like a woman with the world's largest tongue.

“It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen,” Dugas said. “I mean here I am from Napoleonville riding in a cab with this woman with a tongue the length of an iPhone. This definitely isn't something you see every day.”

Dugas said she still has trouble believing she's a world record-holder.

“Before I left London, I saw the book in the airport and picked it up,” she said. “I had to look up my name again just to make sure that this whole thing was real.”

Dugas said she has a blog, afromaniacs.com, where she shares her experiences with products and styling.

According to Dugas, she takes vitamins, works out and maintains a balanced diet that has contributed to her achieving her Afro record.

She rarely heat-styles it straight, but when she has, her hair stretches down her back, nearly to her waist.

To keep her Afro looking good, Dugas goes through a multiday process where she shampoos, conditions, towels off, plaits it into two French braids and let's it dry for a day or two.

When fully dry, she unbraids it, spritzes with a water-and-conditioner mix she keeps in a spray bottle, and picks it out.

Whitty said having the chance to work with Dugas was a rare treat.

“Aevin was a very popular record-holder and her fabulous Louisiana accent went down like a storm over here. She had great stories, a great message and a wonderful delivery style that did Louisiana proud!,” he said in an email.

“It is something I'm proud of,” Dugas added.

Staff Writer Thad Angelloz can be reached at 857-2207 or at thad.angelloz@houmatoday.com.

Final Iowa vs Iowa State wrestling thoughts, Team USA, World Cup ...

A lot of you guys asked about Sunday's Cy-Hawk dual, so before we rehash a lot of that again, some quick thoughts about the World Cup.

No, not that World Cup.

Wrestling's World Cup, the one where Team USA will actually, legitimately contend and is coming to Coralville's Xtream Arena this week.

For the first time ever, both the men's and women's freestyle World Cup competitions will be held in the same building at the same time. It's a tremendous opportunity for wrestling to put their top men's and women's wrestlers on the same stage and give them the same shine. That's a really cool thing.

We know the men's freestyle competition will be a banger. We saw as much in 2018, when Team USA beat Azerbaijan 6-4 in the finals. It was a fantastic few days of wrestling, despite not having Iran, Russia, or Turkey in the building, which was originally the plan.

But the women's competition deserves your attention, too. The popularity of girls and women's wrestling has skyrocketed in recent years, and the folks at Xtream Arena and Think Iowa City have helped facilitate that by hosting the girls wrestling state championships, adding a girls division to the Dan Gable Donnybrook, and now by bringing the women's World Cup to be contested alongside the men this week.

RELATED:How Coralville and Xtream Arena became America’s wrestling hotspot

The competition, set for Saturday and Sunday, will be an amazing confluence of different cultures and incredible wrestling and it's all going to be so much fun. It will also be a chance for Team USA to test its depth against some of the top wrestling countries in the world.

Neither the U.S. men or women's freestyle teams will field their full A-Team lineups this week, which is a bummer, but there's still some serious star-power on both squads. The men will have five returning world team members, led by world champs Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Snyder. The women will have five returning world-teamers as well, led by world champ Amit Elor and returning medalists Kayla Miracle and Mallory Velte.

We'd like to see the entire A Teams out there, sure, but it's also an opportunity for other Americans to get some shine against international stars. Iowa's own Felicity Taylor, for example, will go at 53 kilograms (116 pounds) for the women's team and will face two returning Senior world championship combatants. Nate Jackson, a universal fan favorite, will likely see a world medalist from September. Those are just two examples.

It's a little weird to inject some freestyle energy into a time normally reserved for folkstyle. But this weekend's action will be absolutely worth it if you can make it. I'll be there all weekend taking in some of the best wrestling the world has to offer. Hope to see you there.

OK, onto the Wrestling Mailbag. A lot of final Cy-Hawk thoughts today, plus a quick look back at the Dan Gable Donnybrook and another look ahead to the World Cup. Welcome to December, you guys. It's very cold.

Please give me a follow on Twitter and I’ll keep you up to date on all things wrestling in Iowa. Don't forget to tune into the Register's wrestling podcast, In the Room, each week. You can find the latest episodes below.

Thanks for your help here, and for reading.

Final thoughts on Sunday's thrilling Cy-Hawk wrestling dual

All of them. Can I say all of them? I'm going to say all of them.

That's a cop-out answer, but it's also the honest one. Seemingly every match had something great.

Real Woods made his Iowa debut, and Casey Swiderski wasn't scared. Paniro Johnson continues to look like one of the nation's top 149-pounders. Cobe Siebrecht! David Carr! Marcus Coleman and Abe Assad are fairly even. So are Jacob Warner and Yonger Bastida. Sam Schuyler has wrestled really well this season, but Tony Cassioppi reminded everybody that he's world class. And, oh yeah, Spencer Lee is back.

That's what the Cy-Hawk dual should look like and feel like all the time. Every match was intense. Every match, clearly, mattered. The dual ended 5-5, which sounds about right. If you wrestle that dual 10 times, a handful of those matches — 133, 149, 157, 165, 184, 197 — would go completely differently.

It is hard for me to pick one favorite because I liked so many matches for so many reasons. Lee's return injected more juice into an already-wound-up building. Woods-Swiderski poured gasoline on the fire. Johnson-Max Murin was a chess match, and then Siebrecht goes out and launched Jason Kraisser on his head. Carr was very tactical. Nelson Brands was a bulldozer, then 184 and 197 could've gone either way.

I wrote this yesterday, but the last time the Cy-Hawk dual went 5-5 in matches was 2018, when Iowa eked out a 19-18 win after getting upset at three weights, losing another due to an injury default, but rallied thanks to Jacob Warner beating Willie Miklus, Sam Stoll wrestling on a bad knee, and Austin DeSanto not getting pinned. But before that? It was 2004 … which was the last time Iowa State won the Cy-Hawk dual.

That tells me Iowa State is as close as they've ever been to the Hawkeyes, at least in a dual setting. They still have a ways to go in a tournament setting, but duals are often great barometers for program rebuilds, and it's clear the Cyclones have taken good steps forward under Kevin Dresser.

The best part? Not unreasonable to think we could see a lot of those matchups again. The matchups at 141, 149, 165, 184 and 197, especially, felt like NCAA quarterfinal/bloodround matches on Sunday. Put those matches on the dogbone mats inside Tulsa's BOK Center in March and see how much more intense they get.

MORE:19 things we learned from Iowa’s 18-15 win over Iowa State

Iowa's Jacob Warner vs. Iowa State's Yonger Bastida at 197 pounds

Went about how I expected. Here the full notebook dump from when I rewatched the match:

Bastida is so fast when he decides to pull the trigger offensively. We saw that when he scored two takedowns in the first period — including one at the buzzer, which was huge. Warner is a gamer, made positional adjustments (which can be hard to do against a fast-twitch guy like Bastida), and was in on shots in both the second and third periods. If he finishes the one in the third on the edge, he wins.

These are two All-American-caliber wrestlers, which, like, duh. Warner is a three-time podium finisher and returning NCAA finalist. Bastida won four in a row in the wrestlebacks en route to a fifth-place finish last March. Would not be surprise if they hit again in March, but 197 is a volatile weight class — returning champ Max Dean lost twice this past week — so who knows how the seeds will shake out three-and-a-half months from now.

Bastida likes to play mind games on the mat, even if only a little. Both guys were swiping at each other with heavy hands, but Bastida stuck his tongue out at Warner during the second period, probably as a way to frustrate Warner. Looked funny on video. Taunting can be hit and miss. Warner might've bit on that as a freshman and reacted with a poor decision. It likely still made him mad in the moment. He'll remember that.

When it comes to the actual wrestling, you got a real good look at Bastida's technique on his two takedowns.

His first came after a flurry of slight level changes, then he dropped to a low-ankle shot on Warner's left leg but used it more as a shot-entry because he immediately got his hips under him, came up, popped his head outside, cut across for a double. That speed is insane.

On his end-of-the-period takedown, Bastida muscled into double-unders, elevated on the left side while simultaneously dropping his right hand to pick Warner's left ankle and covers on the edge for the takedown at the gun — then he clapped in Warner's face after the buzzer sounded.

Bastida picked neutral in the second period, which tells me he respects Warner's top game. Noticed that throughout the match Bastida clubbed Warner's head or tried to snap him to the mat and often grabbed his headgear. Ref gave him a verbal warning in the second period, then he got dinged for it in the third, resulting in a point for Warner. Dresser pointed to his temple, telling Bastida to stay calm. Found that interesting.

You could tell in the second period that Warner's heavy hands and constant pressure were starting to get to Bastida a little. Late in the second, Warner went club-single to Bastida's right leg, but Bastida defended well enough to avoid the takedown. Warner about landed on Bastida's second leg. If he catches it, takedown, and it's 4-3 entering the third. Warner also wanted a call on Bastida for fleeing. Some refs might've given it.

More of the same in the third, and the wildest part to me was that Warner again went club-single and picked up Bastida's leg with 33 seconds left in the match. You have to finish that shot. You have to. Warner's track record suggests he'll work on that and finish that shot come March. But, man. Give Bastida credit, though. To stand and fight off another attack for 33 seconds at the end of the match like that was mighty impressive.

Great match overall. I'd watch it again.

Instant Analysis:#2 Iowa defeats #10 Iowa State, 18-15, in thrilling Cy-Hawk wrestling dual

Cobe Siebrecht's big throw against Jason Kraisser

Let's set the scene:

While tied up in the first period, Siebrecht swipes for a cross-body ankle-pick then immediately swings his right arm back up and goes seat-belt position. Kraisser counters with an overhook. Siebrecht comes up and goes full body-lock, but now Kraisser has double-overs and snaked his left leg inside Siebrecht's right leg. The crowd begins to roar and the wrestlers stop, trying to figure out each other's next move.

We didn't get to speak to Siebrecht afterward, so this is only from my perspective, but when you're in a situation like that, you're looking for where you're comfortable. That's a 'duh' statement, but against a guy like Kraisser, who's comfortable in a lot of weird positions, you have to get where you feel good, where you know you're good, to a place that you've felt before.

Most importantly, when you pull the trigger like Siebrecht did, go all the way. Too often, guys try half-attempts at a throw or inside trip, or they'll pull the trigger then hesitate because it doesn't feel right after they launch, and it bites them and they're the ones on their backs. If you're going to go in a position like this, commit to it — which is exactly what Siebrecht did.

Siebrecht adjusted his lock, likely to get a better grip, then pulled the trigger. Siebrecht swung his right leg up, literally like he was kicking a field goal, to unlace his leg, which eliminated any advantage Kraisser might've had when they landed. When they landed, Siebrecht kicked his right leg out like a post, giving him leverage as he held Kraisser there for the takedown and four backs.

This wasn't just a grip-it-and-rip-it type of throw. The whole thing was very calculated and beautifully-executed. Here it is again in like slow-motion. Watch how Siebrecht kicks his right leg up and see how it helps him cover.

Thanks for flying Siebrecht Airlines.

Or Air Curly.

Or Curly Air! That one is funny because, you know, he has curly hair.

*ba-dum, tish*

(Sorry, I'll show myself out.)

The Dan Gable Traveling Trophy

Great question. Short answer: I'm not sure. Sunday was Iowa State's best shot in a long while, and it may be another long while before they get another shot like that.

Here's the long answer: While driving home on Sunday evening, I thought for a minute that maybe Iowa State could win next year. Then I thought about the matchups and changed my mind.

This is a WAY too early lookahead, but here's what next year's Cy-Hawk dual could look like:

125 : Drake Ayala vs. Kysen Terukina

: Drake Ayala vs. Kysen Terukina 133 : Brody Teske/Cullan Schriever vs. Ramazan Attasaouv

: Brody Teske/Cullan Schriever vs. Ramazan Attasaouv 141 : Real Woods vs. Casey Swiderski

: Real Woods vs. Casey Swiderski 149 : Caleb Rathjen/Cody Chittum vs. Paniro Johnson

: Caleb Rathjen/Cody Chittum vs. Paniro Johnson 157 : Cobe Siebrecht/Aiden Riggins vs. Jason Kraisser/Connor Euton

: Cobe Siebrecht/Aiden Riggins vs. Jason Kraisser/Connor Euton 165 : Patrick Kennedy vs. David Carr

: Patrick Kennedy vs. David Carr 174 : Nelson Brands vs. Julien Broderson/Manny Rojas/MJ Gaitan

: Nelson Brands vs. Julien Broderson/Manny Rojas/MJ Gaitan 184 : Abe Assad vs. Tate Naaktgeboren

: Abe Assad vs. Tate Naaktgeboren 197 : Kolby Franklin/Bradley Hill vs. Yonger Bastida

: Kolby Franklin/Bradley Hill vs. Yonger Bastida 285: Tony Cassioppi vs. Francis Duggan

Think Iowa gets the nod at 125, 141, 157, 174, 184, 285, and 133 is another winnable match. Iowa may be losing a lot with Lee, Murin, Warner all leaving after this season, but with Coleman graduating, that flips 184 to Iowa's favor, at least in this matchup.

A few things to consider, too:

No guarantee that Swiderski stays at 141. He's pulling a lot of weight this year, and the eventual plan may be for him to grow into 157, if only because Johnson ain't going anywhere.

Unsure what 157 and 174 might look like for Iowa State, just because there's guys who are currently redshirting that I know Dresser is excited about. Same for 184. I plugged in Tate Naaktgeboren, who will be a true freshman next year, but could easily see Broderson or even Joel Devine bumping to 184.

There's also the possibility that Bastida could redshirt, or even bump to 285. Dresser hinted this past summer they're considering that as an option.

Iowa may be losing Lee, but they're going to be just fine with Ayala back at 125.

Unrelated, but the 149 and 157 lineup battles could be a lot of fun next year for Iowa.

So, yeah. Very early lookahead suggests the trophy won't travel. But, again, it's very early.

Recapping the 2022 Dan Gable Donnybrook

I was not surprised, but I was impressed.

Gabe Arnold, a future Hawkeye now reppin' Iowa City High after three years at Wyoming Seminary, blew through one of the Donnybrook's deepest weights. It was his Iowa high school wrestling debut, and he did not disappoint, outscoring his five opponents 76-25. He beat Linn-Mar's Tate Naaktgeboren 8-3 in the semifinals, then topped West Bend's Connor Mirasola 4-3 in the finals. All three are ranked in the top-10 nationally by MatScouts.

I was not surprised because Gabe Arnold is that good. He's a two-time national prep champ, a 16U freestyle national champ, and he won a four-man weight at Who's Number One a few years ago. Guy's talented. No question about it.

I was impressed because that was the first time I got to see him wrestle up close, and, man, he's incredible live.

He's got a wicked combination of speed and power. We're all mesmerized by the shucks and super-ducks and slide-bys. But his head-and-hands defense were just as impressive. Don't believe he gave up a takedown all weekend (he did give up a reversal to Mirasola in the finals, though).

Thing is, I wouldn't have been surprised if Naaktgeboren had won either. He's as mean as they come on the mat, and his relentless pressure and versatile offensive skillset makes him one of the top wrestlers in the country. He nearly scored two on the edge against Arnold in their semifinal match. Do that, the match changes.

The beauty of that particular matchup specifically is that we'll (hopefully) see it a few more times this season. City High and Linn-Mar are in the same conference, so there's a head-to-head dual meet in January, the conference tournament as well, and, presumably, the state tournament in February. Both City High and Linn-Mar are going to the Battle of Waterloo later this month, so maybe they'll hit there, too. Sign me up.

It would be easy to pick 182 as my favorite weight, and it definitely was one of my favorite weights, but there was so much to love about so many different weights from the Donnybrook.

You could argue that 195 was a deeper weight, and we saw a potential state finals preview in the third-place match, between Waverly-Shell Rock's McCrae Hagarty and Fort Dodge's Dreshaun Ross. At 113, we saw a ton of Class 3A's major players, with Dru Ayala, Jake Knight, Connor Fiser, Ryker Graff. At 132, Jayce Luna caught a heater like I've never seen from him before, beating both Carter Freeman and Kael Kurtz to reach the finals.

It was a fantastic way to kick off the 2022-23 high school wrestling season.

MORE:At the Dan Gable Donnybrook, an exciting first girls wrestling season continues to unfold

Iowa City West's impressive freshman Alex Pierce

Is there a fan club for Iowa City West's Alex Pierce? I would like to be a member. Please send me the application. I'll sign it right now.

But there's been a lot at successful 106-pounders who have gone on to find success at the college level and beyond. Here's a few names just off the top from the last two decades that won state titles and then went on to do some cool things:

Dylan Peters won in 2010 for Denver and went on to become a two-time All-American for Northern Iowa.

won in 2010 for Denver and went on to become a two-time All-American for Northern Iowa. Cory Clark won in 2009 for Southeast Polk, became a four-time state champ, then a four-time All-American, three-time NCAA finalist and national champ at Iowa.

won in 2009 for Southeast Polk, became a four-time state champ, then a four-time All-American, three-time NCAA finalist and national champ at Iowa. Joe Colon won in 2007 for Clear Lake, won a junior-college title, took third at the NCAA Championships, and ultimately won a bronze medal at the 2018 world championships.

won in 2007 for Clear Lake, won a junior-college title, took third at the NCAA Championships, and ultimately won a bronze medal at the 2018 world championships. Jay Borschel won in 2002 for Linn-Mar, became a four-time state champ, then a two-time All-American and NCAA champ at Iowa.

Disclaimer: all of these guys won their state titles at 103 pounds, not 106. But you get what I'm saying.

And not to be forgotten: both T.J. Sebolt and Dylan Carew were state champs as 103-pounders and now run two of the best wrestling clubs in the country, Sebolt Wrestling Academy and Big Game Wrestling Club. It just so happens that Pierce wrestles for Carew at Big Game.

This is not to say Pierce is the state's next incredible 106-pounder, but man, he sure looked the part this past weekend. He was also a tad undersized for the weight, making it all the more impressive. There will be others who emerge at this weight — or, in the case of Southeast Polk's Carter Pearson, are already here — but count Pierce among the early-season contenders and among the many freshman who have big futures ahead of them.

Matches to watch at the men's and women's freestyle World Cup

Oh man. There's going to be so many matches worth watching this weekend, but I'll stick with those that involve USA wrestlers — and, more specifically, the matches that we know will happen in the group stages. USA's men's freestyle team will wrestle Mongolia and Georgia. The women will wrestle China and the All-World team.

So, here we go:

Nick Gwiazdowski/Hayden Zillmer vs. Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) and Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (Mongolia)

Pretty fun group round-robin! Petrisahvili is a two-time Olympic medalist and three-time world champ. Munkhtur is a 2022 world finalist. Both of these matches will be incredible, whether Gwiazdowski or Zillmer get the nod.

Nate Jackson vs. Miriani Maisuradze (Georgia)

Nate Jackson is one of the most fun wrestlers to watch in America, and his run to Final X this past spring and summer was incredible. Maisuradze is the 2022 world bronze medalist. Great test to see how Jackson stacks up internationally.

Tyler Berger/Alec Pantaleo vs. Zurabi Iakobishvili (Georgia)

Iakobishvili won world bronze this year, and lost to Zain Retherford in the semifinals. This match will test USA's depth at 70 kilos.

Seth Gross vs. Narankhuu Narmandakh (Mongolia)

Gross finished fifth at the world championships in September while Narmandahk won bronze, but they were in opposite bronze-medal matches. This could be a high-scoring match that will be important in the USA-Mongolia dual.

Mallory Velte vs. Jia Long (China)

Velte and Long are both returning world medalists (Velte won bronze, Long won silver). They were on opposite sides of the bracket at the world championships, so this would be a big matchup in the USA-China dual.

Kayla Miracle vs. Xiaojuan Luo (China) and Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan)

Another fun round-robin group! Miracle is a two-time world silver medalist, a run that included a 17-6 first-round win over Luo, won rallied to win bronze. Tynybekova is a 2020 Olympic silver and a two-time world champ.

Jenna Burkert/Jacarra Winchester vs. Karla Godinez (Canada)

Godinez won world bronze in September, and she'll face either Burkert, a world bronze medalist in 2021, or Winchester, who won a world title in 2019 and finished fifth in September.

There are so many more matches that could happen and that I'll keep an eye out for this weekend, in both men's and women's freestyle. Xtream Arena is the place to be this weekend. Get your tickets now.

This week, I'm grateful for my couch. It's the kind you can sink into if you're not careful. Took a bomb nap on it Monday afternoon. That was nice.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at@codygoodwin.

What is the hottest pepper in the world? Top five spiciest peppers ...

Are you a fan of spicy foods? How about the hottest pepper in the world? The title is a coveted one, ranked by the Guinness World Records and held by chili farmers looking to challenge the meaning of the word “spicy.”

There are an estimated 50,000 types of chili peppers in the world, resulting from domestication over 6,000 years ago in Peru and Mexico. These peppers file into five categories — Capsicum annuum, Capsicum chinense, Capsicum frutescens, Capsicum baccatum and Capsicum pubescens.

But one ranks above them all as the world’s hottest pepper.

What is the hottest pepper in the world?

The world’s hottest pepper is the Carolina Reaper, grown by Ed Currie of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Ranked as the Guinness World Record’s hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper peaked at about 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units, the scale used to rank how spicy peppers are. It averages around 1.6 million SHU.

For comparison, jalapeño registers about 2,500 to 8,000 SHU and cayenne pepper is 30,000 to 50,000 SHU.

According to Man of Many, Currie created the Reaper by crossbreeding a pepper from a doctor in Pakistan and one from the island of St. Vincent.

What is the healthiest vegetable?:Check out these great nutrient-dense options

Switch up your salsa:Try spicy pear, pineapple-mint-jalapeño, tropical fruit

Can you eat the world’s hottest pepper?

Can you safely consume a Carolina Reaper? For some, the idea may never cross their mind. In 2018, a 34-year-old man went to the emergency room complaining of severe headaches just days after eating the pepper. Newsweek reported that brain scans revealed constricted arteries that eventually returned to their normal state five weeks later. In 2020, the National Center for Biotechnological Information reported an incident of a 15-year-old boy who ate a Carolina Reaper and had an acute cerebellar stroke two days later after being hospitalized because of headaches.

Others relish an opportunity to eat the world’s spiciest pepper. League of Fire ranks chili eating champions with a specific set of rules — they need the details of the official event, the credentials of the witnesses present and no more than 200 Carolina Reapers can be consumed.

Thetitle is held by Gregory “Iron Guts” Barlow of Melbourne, Australia, who ate 160 Reapers in one sitting. In second place is Dustin “Atomik Menace” Johnson of Las Vegas at 122 peppers.

Try a more mild pepper:Use bell peppers to make these fun summer squash recipes

Healthiest fruit:This one is high in antioxidants and has cognitive and cardiovascular benefits

What are the top five hottest peppers?

According to PepperHead, here are the five peppers that pack the most heat:

Carolina Reaper: 2,200,000 SHU Trinidad Moruga Scorpion: 2,009,231 SHU 7 Pot Douglah: 1,853,936 SHU 7 Pot Primo: 1,469,000 SHU Trinidad Scorpion Butch T: 1,463,700 SHU

How do you measure how hot a pepper is?

Pharmacist Wilbur Scoville invented the Scoville scale in 1912 to measure a pepper’s heat. According to Masterclass, Scoville tested peppers by mixing sugar water with an alcohol-based extract of capsaicin oil — the chemical compound in chili peppers that makes them hot. Scoville placed the solution with water on taste testers’ tongues and diluted it with water to rank how spicy the testers thought it was.

Now, scientists use a more high tech method instead of tongue testing. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography determines the concentration of capsaicin in a pepper but uses the same Scoville ranking system.

Pure capsaicin ranks at 16 million SHU.

Just Curious?:We're answering life's everyday questions

World record pepper eater finds nothing too hot to handle

Matt Frassica

The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

Eating the world%27s hottest pepper was on his bucket list%2C Jason McNabb initially told co-workers

Also on the list%3A Breaking a world record and making it into the Guinness Book of World Records

McNabb%27s contest%2C Episode 3 of %27Guinness World Records Unleashed%2C%27 originally aired Nov. 21

CRESTWOOD, Ky. — Edmund Hillary climbed Everest. Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

This year, dentist Jason McNabb performed a feat of physical endurance and mental toughness on par, probably, with those greats.

He ate a whole lot of very, very hot peppers.

Now, competitive eating doesn't get the same glory as, say, discovering a continent. But before you object to the comparison, consider: Columbus stumbled upon the Americas by mistake.

By contrast, McNabb intentionally ingested ghost peppers. Eating just one can cause profuse sweating, intense stomach cramps, vomiting and hours of extreme burning sensations from the tongue down to the gut.

McNabb downed about a dozen.

And he did it all on national TV.

It all started a couple of years ago when McNabb, who practices dentistry in the Louisville suburb of Shively, Ky., casually let slip to one of his co-workers the existence of a personal bucket list, a list of things McNabb intended to do before he died.

McNabb is only 34, but his co-workers thought they would help him get started. One item on the list, "eat the world's hottest pepper," seemed like an easy one.

McNabb grew up in Bullitt County just south of Louisville and has a quick smile and a shock of red hair. He has long had a taste for spicy foods — the collection of hot sauces on the shelf behind his desk at the office suggests as much — but he wasn't born with it.

"When I was a kid, I couldn't stand anything hot," he said. "An Atomic Fireball was too hot for me."

But his father ate jalapeños straight.

"I just thought that he was the toughest guy in the world for being able to do that," McNabb said. So one day, the young McNabb forced himself to eat one.

"It kind of escalated from there," he said.

Kristin Flynn, McNabb's office manager, said they found the ghost pepper — the world's hottest chili at the time — and McNabb ordered one.

The ghost pepper, or bhut jolokia, comes from the mountainous northeastern region of India. It registers more 1 million Scoville units, the international measure of spicy hotness. That's 200 to 400 times hotter than a jalapeño.

When McNabb's first ghost pepper arrived at the office, Flynn talked him into eating it at work.

"He was sweating," Flynn said. "The pepper affected him, but nothing like the YouTube videos we had seen." Yes, YouTube has videos of people eating ghost peppers, and they are recommended if you enjoy seeing grown men cry.

"I tolerated it very well, a lot better than I expected," McNabb said.

Check one off the bucket list. Moving on, Flynn spotted another attainable goal on the list: "break a Guinness world record." Why not try for a hot pepper record, she thought.

Flynn did some research and found that the record at the time was three ghost peppers eaten in 1 minute. McNabb, she thought, could beat that — so she filled out some paperwork and sent it to Guinness.

"About eight months later, the TV producers called me up and asked if I'd be interested in going on their show," McNabb said. Guinness, it turns out, has a reality TV show called Guinness World Records Unleashed, on truTV. He would compete for the one-minute ghost-pepper-eating title against two other challengers, onstage, in front of an audience and cameras.

McNabb agreed and started training. He would time himself and eat as many peppers as he could in 1 minute.

"The girls got a lot of laughs out of watching me suffer through eating all these peppers," he said of his co-workers.

One day, he made the mistake of eating a ghost pepper on an empty stomach.

"I had the worst stomach cramps," he said. "My face turned white, and I started sweating profusely. I had to sit down in front of a box fan for a little while."

Eventually, McNabb built his tolerance up to the point where he could eat eight peppers in 1 minute — more than twice the world record.

After a few months of training, the time came for McNabb to travel to Los Angeles for the show taping. But things did not go as planned.

"The night before the event, they called me and told me that they had changed it to 2 minutes," he said. "It was like telling somebody who has been training for a 5K that, tomorrow, you're going to run a marathon instead."

But the next day, McNabb got up on stage with the other challengers. Wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and shorts, he sat in front of a heaping plate of bright orange ghost peppers and a pitcher of milk.

The rules of the game: Eat as many peppers as you can in 2 minutes. No one could drink any of the milk until the 2 minutes were up.

To ensure fairness, the contestants were judged by the weight of the peppers they ate, not the number of peppers.

"I was prepared to eat about eight peppers, which would be roughly 40 grams," McNabb said. But with twice as much time, how many more would he be able to tolerate?

McNabb didn't suffer from stage fright. "It was pretty painful, so I didn't care what the audience thought," he said. "I was just getting through the 2 minutes."

When it was over, McNabb had eaten 66 grams, or 12 to 15 peppers. He had a new world record, set June 19 but one that he had to keep mum until the show aired Nov. 21.

The certificate from Guinness hangs framed on the wall in the kitchen of McNabb's Crestwood, Ky., home. In the fridge is a collection of hot sauces, including about a gallon of Frank's Red Hot.

"Eating hot peppers, it'll give you a food high," he said. "It'll give you a dopamine rush, and you do get a bit of a buzz from it.

"But it's also something more," McNabb said. "It's kind of addicting. You have to have something hotter in order to satisfy that craving."

In case you're wondering, McNabb said capsaicin, the chemical that causes the spicy sensation, has no negative health consequences.

McNabb eats very hot peppers like the red savina — which had the hottest pepper title until the ghost pepper dethroned it — every other day or so. He has also tried the Trinidad Moruga scorpion, the current world record holder for hottest chili, but it's not a regular menu item.

"I usually don't eat ghost peppers or scorpions for enjoyment," he said.

McNabb's wife, Gina, who teaches English at ATA College in Louisville, bet her husband that she would try a ghost pepper if he won the world record.

"I wasn't going to make her, but she did it anyway," McNabb said.

But she did have to take some liquid courage to do so.

"One night I had two margaritas or so, and I was like, 'Just give me a pepper,' " she said. "So I ate the pepper, took it like a champ. I would not do it again."

That's an understatement, her husband said.

"She laid on the floor for about 30 minutes," McNabb said. "I've got that on film. It's on Facebook."

How to get rid of hiccups: Causes and how to effectively cure them

Caught a bad case of the hiccups? Chances are you've already been offered 10 different ideas on how to get rid of them: a spoonful of sugar, drinking water from the wrong side of the cup, a series of deep breaths. The truth is, any one of these cures might work.

Though we know what happens to the body during a bout of hiccups, tracking specific causes and cures remains a challenge for doctors. Some cases last five minutes while others last five months; some come from anxiety while others come from a fizzy beverage.

Here's everything you need to know about what causes hiccups and how you might get rid of them.

How do youget rid of hiccups?

To stop hiccups, many of the cures might feel just as startling as the condition itself. In fact, you’ve probably heard of asking someone to jump out and scare the hiccups right out of you. This is actually a pretty accurate reflection of the science.

According to Harvard Medical School, the idea is to create a stimulus that will interrupt the signals causing the hiccup reflex, effectively startling the nervous system out of the behavior. There is an ever-growing list of ways to do this. A popular one involves drinking water from the wrong side of the glass which excites nerves that are not normally stimulated by this behavior.

Alternatively, it has been shown that when carbon dioxide levels go up in your blood, hiccups tend to subside. That’s why breathing into a paper bag sometimes works.

Deep breaths might also work – take one deep breath in, hold it for 10 seconds and then breathe in again twice more without exhaling. This increases CO2 and immobilizes the diaphragm. This is called the “supra-supramaximal inspiration."

Common cures, according to AARP, Healthline and Harvard Medical School include:

Breathe into a paper bag (be careful not to get light headed, though)

Pull your knees up to your chest and lean forward

Sip ice-cold water

Put a cold compress on your face

Drink a cup of water quickly

Gargle with water

Swallow granulated sugar, bread or ice

Bite on a lemon or sip vinegar

Pull on your tongue

Drink from a straw

Hold your breath for 10 seconds, breathe in again twice

What causes hiccups?

There is no main cause of hiccups; it varies case to case. According to the Mayo Clinic, anything from a large meal to consumption of alcoholic or carbonated beverages to sudden excitement can prompt a bout of hiccups. You can even get them from swallowing air while chewing gum or sucking on candy or a sudden shift in the temperature.

In some cases, hiccups can also signal an underlying medical condition – either nerve damage, a central nervous system disorder, metabolic disorders or drug use.

Mystery of what causes hiccups:Hiccup causes and cures remain a mystery

Does gripe water get rid of hiccups?

Sometimes gripe water is offered as a solution to hiccups, especially in babies. Sold at retail locations like Target and Walmart, Healthline calls it a “combination of herbs and water.” The supplement, unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, has yet to be clinically proven to help with hiccups in infants.

Healthline recommends parents and caretakers of children, before giving your baby something new, like gripe water, discuss it with the baby’s doctor.

Does sugar stop hiccups?

A common home remedy for hiccups involves swallowing granulated sugar, dry bread or ice. The "why" here has to do with how the sugar affects the vagus nerve which connects the brain and the stomach. The sugar causes irritation in the back of the throat and interrupts the diaphragm spasms.

How to stop hiccups with medication

There is only one FDA approved medication for hiccups, and it is used for cases that are not considered "mild," lasting over 48 hours. The drug is chlorpromazine, which has also been used to treat psychotic disorders.

Notable cases of hiccups:Hiccups for days: Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro may need emergency surgery

What are hiccups?

The Cleveland Clinic defines hiccups as repeated spasms of the diaphragm which is the muscle that separates your chest and stomach, located just below the ribcage. You make the "hic" sound as your diaphragm pulls downward in between breaths and you suck in air. Your glottis, which is the space between your vocal cords, then closes, preventing any further air from entering.

How long do hiccups take to go away?

Most cases last only a few minutes. Bouts of hiccups can last for months or years, though, in rare cases, causing exhaustion and weight loss.

Fun fact: The world record for the longest hiccups is 68 years. Charles Osborne suffered a bout from 1922 to 1990.

Long lasting hiccups:Man hospitalized after eight days of hiccups

Are hiccups life threatening?

Hiccups themselves are not life-threatening, and most mild cases are entirely benign. However, prolonged bouts, labeled “intractable,” can signal a number of serious underlying health conditions including stroke and cancer.

In short, if your hiccups persist longer than a few days you should visit your doctor.

Syrinx: This 'artificial larynx' prototype aims to give cancer survivors ...

CNN —

Although he’s retired, 60-year-old former fashion brand executive Hirokazu Ogitsu still wears outfits that make a statement – even when he can’t.

“I got cervical esophageal cancer and lost my voice about 10 years ago and made a smooth recovery,” Ogitsu said. “But I had a recurrence almost two years ago and ended up being unable to speak without a device.”

Ogitsu had a laryngectomy, a surgery in which all or part of the larynx – also known as the voice box – is removed. This procedure can be a part of treating laryngeal cancers, which impact more than 184,000 people worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization.

These days, Ogitsu volunteers his time at Ginreikai, a laryngectomy support group in Tokyo, Japan, where he helps people learn to speak again using a speech device called the electrolarynx.

The traditional electrolarynx is a razor-sized device that is held up against the neck and creates vibrations that in turn transmit sound through tongue and lip movement.

But there have not been many improvements in sound quality and functionality since it was invented over 100 years ago.

Masaki Takeuchi began engineering the artificial larynx prototype, Syrinx, in 2019. Daniel Campisi/CNN

After speaking with the members of Ginreikai about their struggles, Masaki Takeuchi, a young engineer, decided to create something new and better.

In 2019, Takeuchi and a group of graduate students from the University of Tokyo developed Syrinx – a machine-learning, hands-free, wearable electrolarynx.

“The patients said that they want to talk in public without any inconvenience or embarrassment,” Takeuchi told CNN. “This project was launched to develop a good device to make that happen.”

Speech restoration options

For patients who lose their ability to speak after a laryngectomy, there are currently three speech rehabilitation options, according to Yvonne Knapp, a speech-language pathologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

There’s the traditional electrolarynx, which is what Ogitsu currently uses. Another option is esophageal speech, says Knapp – a learned technique where air is swallowed into the esophagus and forced back up, creating vibrations on the throat which are then formed into speech. This is the oldest and hardest of the voice restoration options, Knapp says, adding that less than 40% of patients can achieve it, and only 5% can do it well.

The third form of speech rehabilitation, and the most popular according to Knapp, is the tracheoesophageal puncture, or TEP. This surgical procedure creates a small hole between the trachea and esophagus, where a prosthesis can be inserted to allow air from your lungs to vibrate muscles in your throat to create speech.

Knapp, who has worked with laryngectomized people for 26 years, says TEP is much easier than esophageal speech and “is far superior in sound quality to the electrolarynx.”

However, not every patient is able to get the TEP procedure. And for those who can’t – external speech aids like the electrolarynx can present as a good option for voice restoration. But the devices can produce speech that sounds monotone and unnatural, and they can be hard to use. Ogitsu also pointed out that he can’t use both hands freely with the traditional electrolarynx.

“The problem with the electrolarynx is it’s very robotic,” Knapp says. “People don’t like it and they tend to shove it in a drawer and never use it again.”

A more human-sounding electrolarynx

The main difference between the traditional electrolarynx and Syrinx is the way Takeuchi’s device creates sound.

“Conventional devices use pulse waves, which can produce a loud sound, but be far from a human voice – more robotic and mechanical. So, we used human recordings and processed them to create sounds more like a human voice,” he said.

Additionally, a traditional electrolarynx has one transducer (an electromechanical vibrator that creates sound) while Syrinx has two – which generate a wider range of sound-wave frequencies that the user can turn into speech through tongue and lip articulation.

The Syrinx prototype has two transducers, which Takeuchi says allow for more vocal pitch. Daniel Campisi/CNN

These two components combined can create a more natural sounding voice, according to Takeuchi, but the device is still in the early prototype phase and the technology is always evolving.

“We used (artificial intelligence) only in the early days, but now we don’t,” he said. “In the near future, we would like to introduce AI again to create sounds much more like human voices.”

Takeuchi says the device can also incorporate a user’s old voice recordings, if they have any, to sound even more like their former voice – an important option for many patients.

Our voices are so closely connected to our identity, Knapp said.

“[Say someone calls] you and you don’t know who’s on the other end, but that person says one syllable and you know who it is, and you know how they’re feeling from one syllable,” she said. “That’s what a voice can impart, and that’s super powerful … When they’re robbed of that, it is really, really hard.”

Voicing strong opinions

As part of the research and development of the device, Syrinx is continually tested by the Ginreikai members.

Takashi Sugiyama, a 75-year-old pharyngeal cancer survivor, has tested the devices about seven times. He said that it still sounds too mechanical but that progress has been made over time. During his most recent testing, he says that the sound is clearer and that it’s very easy and comfortable to wear.

Takashi Sugiyama, a 75-year-old pharyngeal cancer survivor, tests the Syrinx prototype periodically. CNN

Ogitsu, who tests the device about once a month, says he would like Syrinx’s straps to be more elastic to fit better around his throat.

While Knapp has not seen the device in use in person, she said that it may have a bit more depth than a traditional electrolarynx but that it doesn’t sound too different than what’s currently on the market.

But she added that the hands-free feature could be a game-changer for some patients.

The device is already gaining recognition in Asia, with Syrinx winning the 2021 Grand Prix at the Japan Healthcare Business Contest and the Microsoft Imagine Cup Asia Regional in 2020. Eventually, Takeuchi would love to expand his product globally and have US testers.

For now, he says he’s working on reflecting the feedback he’s getting from Ginreikai into future iterations of the device.

“I am so glad to hear that people were surprised by this device and said, ‘I can’t wait to talk with this device’ and ‘I hope it will be commercialized soon,’” said Takeuchi, adding that he hopes to pass the strict screening criteria required for clinical trials and get Syrinx to market in the next decade.

Ogitsu agrees he’d like to see this device fully developed and available as soon as possible.

“I strongly feel how grateful I am to use my own voice for communication and how important communication is for human beings and society,” he said. “I believe that we will be able to lead a more normal social life by using both hands while speaking like a healthy person.”

Cubans are arriving to the US in record numbers. Smugglers are ...

Havana, Cuba CNN —

As Cuba confronts the worst shortages of food and medicine in decades and runaway inflation, a new exodus of the island’s citizens is underway.

In March, more than 32,000 Cubans arrived at the US-Mexico border, almost twice the number from the previous month, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.

Desperate to leave Cuba, Claudia, her husband and their young son managed to obtain visas to Mexico in Havana – the first step in a journey that placed them in the hands of criminal smuggling networks that are known to charge migrants thousands of dollars for safe passage to the US border.

Claudia, who requested her real name not be used in this story for her safety, said she decided to leave Cuba after the July 2021 widespread protests over power outages, food shortages and a lack of civil liberties, boiled over.

The Cuban government said the protests were orchestrated by Washington to topple the communist government. Prosecutors have charged over 700 people with sedition and civil disobedience in the largest mass trials since the beginning of the Cuban revolution.

“I was done after July 11,” Claudia told CNN. “I am leaving for my son, for his future. I spent all day waiting in lines so he can have yogurt. I work at a [government] hospital for $50 a month. I basically work for free.”

Cubans that have just crossed the US-Mexico border huddle near a fire in Yuma, Arizona in February. Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

After pretending to be tourists for two days in Cancún, Mexico, Claudia and her family were told by the Mexican smugglers they contacted to fly from Mexico City to Mexicali, a city of more than one million inhabitants right on the US border.

Claudia said the small plane to Mexicali was full of fellow Cubans. She said the smugglers had warned her that Mexican police would stop them as they arrived at the Mexicali airport and to place $100 in each of their passports.

Claudia said Mexican police detained all of the Cubans from their flight and from another flight – from Guadalajara, that was carrying mostly Cuban passengers – that arrived at the same time.

The Cubans from the two flights were taken to a nearby police station and the officers kept their passports, she said. There, she said, the police let her and her family, along with the other Cubans who had placed a $100 bribe in their passports go free. The others remained detained, she said.

Police in Mexicali did not respond to a CNN request for comment. Migrants regularly complain that police in Mexico solicit bribes and rob them.

After leaving police custody, Claudia said that the smuggler they had been in contact with picked them up in a car and drove them to an unfinished house in the Mexican desert.

There, she said a handful of armed smugglers told more than 30 migrants to wait in two stiflingly hot rooms until they could attempt the border crossing. One room was full of people from different countries, she said.

“There were Colombians, Bangladeshis, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians. It felt like the whole world was in there,” she said. The other room, Claudia said, was packed with Cubans.

Cubans collect donated food at a supermarket in Havana in August 2021. Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty images

A mass exodus

Cubans have mass emigrated in waves throughout the years.

In 1994, some 35,000 Cubans made the dangerous journey to the US on makeshift rafts. And in 1980, during the “Mariel Boatlift,” an estimated 125,000 Cubans fled to the US on a flotilla of boats.

However, this current exodus is on track to be even larger. According to US Customs and Border Protection data, nearly 80,000 Cubans reached the US border from Mexico from October through March.

The rise in migration comes as the Cuban government has begun to ease Covid-19 related travel restrictions.

For much of the pandemic, the government kept the island on a tight lockdown. People wanting to travel often waited months to get a spot on one of the handful of weekly flights out.

A power outage in Havana. Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket/Getty Images

As Cuba relaxed the restrictions in November, the Cuban government’s ally Nicaragua lifted their visa requirements for Cubans – sparking a surge of people who tried to travel to the Central American nation as a way to eventually reach the US.

Suddenly Cubans began posting online ads selling their homes with “everything inside” to pay for the expensive airfare. Others joked about “going to visit the volcanos” in Nicaragua, a tongue-in-cheek way of saying they were emigrating to the US.

Many Cubans flew through Panama to reach Nicaragua – and in March, when the Panamanian government said it would require Cubans traveling via the country to obtain a transit visa, a large crowd of desperate Cubans mobbed Panama’s embassy in Havana.

Cubans protest outside the Panama Embassy in Havana as the country tightens visa requirements in March. Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

Increasing shortages on basic goods are what’s driving many people to leave the island, English teacher Kailen Rodríguez told CNN in April as she waited outside Panama’s embassy for a visa.

“We don’t have the possibility to buy many things here. There [outside of Cuba] we can buy all the things,” she said.

Critics say the economic crisis and subsequent migration is the fault of the Cuban government which then uses the wave of migrants to force the US to the negotiating table.

“Tyrannies cause massive migrations,” said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in April. “It’s not just a hostile act, if it reaches a certain level, it’s considered an act of war.”

Cuban officials say that increased sanctions, put in place under former US President Donald Trump’s administration are contributing to the economic turmoil on the island.

“In the case of Cuba, it’s not just the consequence of the pandemic, it’s the consequences of the reinforcement of the policy of maximum economic pressure of the US towards Cuba,” Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Josefina Vidal told CNN in an interview last month.

The US and Cuba held their first migration talks in four years in April, but failed to reach a new agreement.

Meanwhile, migrants like Claudia will likely continue to pay criminal organizations to take them on the dangerous and uncertain journey to the US.

A family from Cuba waits to be transported to a US Border Patrol processing center in December 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. John Moore/Getty Images

‘I feel liberated’

Claudia said smugglers left her and the other migrants on a dirt road close to the US border in the dark after signaling the path to take.

The path was littered with trash and the coats of other migrants who had gone before them.

“They told us to not use the lights on our phones and to keep the children quiet,” Claudia said.

But the group quickly got disorientated until one of the people in the group, a Colombian, used a map application on his phone to guide them back towards the US border, she said.

As they reached the border, Claudia said the group could see lights – a McDonalds – from the Arizona side.

The migrants then reached a gap in the wall where someone had left a case of water and bars of chocolate, she said. Shortly after, US Customs and Border Protection agents arrived to transport them to a detention center in Yuma, where they were interviewed, fingerprinted and tested for Covid. Claudia’s son was examined by a pediatrician, she said.

Less than 24 hours later, the family was released after they requested asylum. They contacted their relatives in Florida who bought them airplane tickets to Miami.

Under the 1996 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who spend a year in the US are able to apply to become permanent residents.

Claudia says she is still disorientated by life in the US, but that her family’s dangerous journey was worth the risks.

“I feel liberated,” Claudia said. “I am another person now, I feel reborn.”

The incredible true story of the time an astronaut played golf on the ...

CNN —

February 6, 1971, was a relatively uneventful day for US sports.

Larry Costello’s Milwaukee Bucks swept past the San Francisco Warriors in the NBA, the Boston Bruins defeated the Buffalo Sabres to continue an eight-game unbeaten NHL streak, and Arnold Palmer shot 68 to tie for the lead at the Hawaiian Open.

Nothing out of this world you might say, incorrectly. Because some 230,000 miles away, Alan Shepard was playing golf on the moon.

Beamed back to TV sets on Earth in grainy images, Shepard’s exploits on Apollo 14 – the eighth crewed Apollo mission and only the third to land on the lunar surface – left viewers stunned, including those at mission control in Houston.

An avid golfer, Shepard had sought out Jack Harden, a club pro at River Oaks Country Club in Texas, to build him a modified club. The resulting creation, a Wilson Staff Dyna-Power 6-iron head, was tucked away in Shepard’s space suit for launch, with a few balls hidden in a sock.

None of this was on NASA’s inventory. The Apollo program cost almost $25 billion – some $246 billion today according to a 2019 analysis by The Planetary Society – bringing a new meaning to the phrase “time is money.” With minutes worth millions, moonwalk schedules were meticulously strategized to ensure maximum efficiency.

It is rumored that only mission director Bob Gilruth knew of the astronaut’s plan, with Shepard gaining Gilruth’s reluctant permission only on the promise that any golfing would be saved for the end of extravehicular activities (EVA), and only if there was time.

The incredible true story of the time an astronaut played golf on the moon 03:22 - Source: CNN

After nine hours walking the surface and several scientific experiments, Shepard was returning to the lunar module when he saw his chance. Attaching the modified club head to a tool designed for scooping lunar rock samples, the commander prepared to take on one of the universe’s biggest bunkers – one-handed.

“Houston … you might recognize what I have in my hand as the handle for the contingency sample return. It just so happens to have a genuine six iron on the bottom of it,” Shepard said, speaking directly into the camera.

“In my left hand, I have a little white pellet that’s familiar to millions of Americans … Unfortunately, the suit is so stiff, I can’t do this with two hands, but I’m going to try a little sand-trap shot here.”

After two botched efforts, Shepard’s first shot shanked into a nearby crater, much to the joy of Capsule Communicator Fred Haise in Houston.

“That looked like a slice to me Al,” Haise jabbed, but the moon’s first golfer had one more ball left to play.

Blowing up plumes of lunar dust, the second shot was struck with a sweeter connection, and Shepard liked what he saw.

“Miles and miles and miles,” the jubilant astronaut remarked as the ball sailed out of his view, swallowed by the infinite blackness of space. Needless to say, shot-tracking technology was unavailable, and so Shepard returned to Earth with the whereabouts of his second shot unknown.

Alan Shephard lining up a shot in December 1995. J.D. Cuban/Getty Images North America/Getty Images

Camera shy

Three years later, in the Northwest of England, Andy Saunders was born. After graduating from Loughborough University, he carved out a career in property renovation, but harbored a passion for photography.

What does any of that have to do with an astronaut playing golf on the moon? Almost 50 years on, Saunders would be the man to show that, actually, the astronaut’s second shot traveled just 40 yards – roughly the length of two 10-pin bowling lanes.

Saunders has had an obsession with all things space since childhood. Andy Saunders

Saunders did not set out to rain on Shepard’s parade. Instead, he began with a nagging desire to amend a lifelong frustration, expressed neatly in a 2012 piece in The Atlantic titled “There Are No Good Pictures of Neil Armstrong on the Moon.”

Because while Armstrong may have been the astronaut tasked with taking one small step for man, he was also the astronaut on camera duty. As a result, effectively all the iconic astronaut images captured on the surface during Apollo 11 are of Buzz Aldrin.

“If you think in today’s world how absolutely ridiculous that concept is; the first person on another world, but they only took one camera,” Saunders told CNN.

“They didn’t take a selfie as we would do now.”

Using a modern digital enhancement technique known as stacking, whereby frames are separated then stacked and consolidated to coax out more detail, Saunders produced the clearest ever image of Armstrong on the moon.

When he released the picture on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July 2019, it made world news. Shortly after, NASA opened access to a sprawling library of Apollo flight film – long sealed in a frozen vault at Johnson Space Center in Houston – and Saunders applied his techniques en masse.

NASA's original 16mm film footage of Armstrong on the surface (L), and Saunders' restored version (R). NASA / Andy Saunders

Faced with 35,000 still photos and more than 10 hours of film footage, over the next two years he put his properties career on hold to spend more than 10,000 hours restoring each and every frame. The result was “Apollo Remastered,” a book of Saunders’ favorite 400 stunning images that show the space program in unprecedented clarity.

The book’s front cover, a shot of Apollo Nine astronaut Jim McDivitt, is a perfect encapsulation of the water-to-wine magic of Saunder’s restoration techniques. Previously an image of near total blackness, barring a dim outline of McDivitt’s helmet, it is hard to believe that the illuminated, cinematic portrait can possibly be mined from the original.

Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke described the pictures as an “exact representation” of his memories on the moon, “the next best thing to being there.” For Saunders, there is no better appraisal.

“I want people to feel like this is as close as they can get to walking on the moon themselves,” he said.

“You think of the subject matter for any photographer – you’ve got fellow humans doing these incredibly extraordinary things in an extraordinary place against a backdrop that’s literally otherworldly.

“Every several hundred images I’m going through, there is something of interest, something of significance, or something that just looks incredible.”

Shooting stars

When he reached Apollo 14, Saunders tasked himself with finding Shepard’s elusive second ball. Picking it out from the original, murky footage – where almost everything on the surface resembled small rocks – made for an impossible game of interstellar Where’s Waldo, but with Saunders’ array of tricks, he quickly found his prize.

Working out how far the ball had traveled was a little trickier, given there was no reference for scale. Saunders’ workaround was to superimpose the images onto footage captured from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a satellite that orbited the moon in 2009.

With no wind or erosion at play, nothing had moved; the scene was perfectly preserved from 38 years prior, and Saunders had his answer: 40 yards. Some 318 yards shy of the 2022 PGA Tour average driving distance, even the most casual golfers would write such an opening shot off as a disaster.

But casual golfers aren’t playing in a restrictive, bulky spacesuit and thick gloves, aren’t swinging a weightless club in one sixth of Earth’s gravity, barely able to see their feet, and – with the exception of a certain Tik-Tok star – aren’t swinging one-handed.

Saunders' restoration finally revealed the location of Shepard's second ball. NASA / Andy Saunders

“He didn’t get preferred lies, he just dropped the ball – full of rocks and footprints and like an unraked bunker – so to even make contact, I think was pretty impressive,” Saunders said.

Saunders believed Shepard’s “miles and miles” remark to have been made tongue-in-cheek, an almost instinctive reflex of his hyper-competitive, “fighter-jock” nature. The fact that Shepard, who died aged 74 in 1998, later lowered his estimate to – a still generous – 200 yards would seem to support this assessment.

And yet, ironically, there was some innate truth beneath the astronaut’s bold claim. By Saunder’s calculations, if famed big-hitter Bryson DeChambeau was able to replicate his earthbound clubhead speed at a 45-degree angle on the moon, he would blast his drive 3.41 miles.

“So actually, funnily enough, that is miles and miles and miles as Shepard said,” Saunders added.

“It is possible, given a flexible enough suit … because there’s no air resistance, because there’s one sixth gravity, you could hit it almost the length of a whole golf course.”

Shepard is lifted up to the helicopter after he splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Mercury capsule in May 1961. AFP via Getty Images

Finders keepers

With the launch of the Artemis I earlier this month, NASA edged towards a long-awaited return to the surface of the moon, untouched by humans since Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan’s final steps in December 1972.

Theoretically, it could make Saunders a millionaire. A 2021 ESPN article put the auction value of each ball at a minimum of $10 million, and Saunders joked that he would be chasing NASA for his 10% finders fee should they be retrieved.

Though Saunders isn’t planning an early retirement just yet. He is content in his conviction that the site of Shepard’s exploits will never be disturbed, a belief supported by NASA’s chief historian Brian Odom.

“Maybe one day we’ll have colonies on the moon and it’s like Stonehenge – we don’t want to be messing around in the Apollo landing sites,” Odom said.

“We want to make sure that we treat these landing sites as national landmarks, make sure that they’re preserved, make sure that they’re not contaminated, make sure that they’re there in perpetuity.

“I think they (the balls) are where they need to stay and we need to make sure they’re preserved as they were.”

Shepard is commemorated as one of two USPS stamps released in 2011 to celebrate Project Mercury and the MESSENGER Mission respectively. Bill Ingalls / NASA / Getty Images

The pair’s hopes touch on something that has contributed to the enduring legacy of Shepard’s shots: not their distance or monetary value, but their human resonance.

As odd as it may seem, by the time of Apollo 14, Odom explained, the American public had developed a desensitized “been there, done that” attitude towards the space program, and the prospect of a predominantly science research mission did little to change the mood.

That all changed with news of golf on the moon, even more so due to the man wielding the club. As the first American astronaut in space in 1961, Second World War navy veteran Shepard had become a national celebrity, a remedy to the shame of the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin pipping the US into space.

“People love Shepard, they know Shepard,” Odom explained.

“It seems like maybe a lot of people want to see themselves as an Alan Shepard at times.

“Folks who knew Shepard, that I’ve talked to – he had this zest for life. He had this appreciation for doing your job but having fun too … those two things come together in that moment on the moon when he’s smacking golf balls around.”

Shepard's EVA suit on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Matt Stroshane / Getty Images

History’s longest drive or not, Shepard’s lunar golfing exhibition has captured the imagination for half a century, and not just of those interested in golf.

“We always talk about getting to the moon, landing on the moon, returning back to Earth – that’s how we think of the moon,” Odom said.

“But when it comes to a human activity, something that’s done just for the joy of being alive, that’s something that people can appreciate.”

Saunders agrees. “A lot of people know that someone played golf on the moon,” he said, “But not a lot of those people would know that it was on Apollo 14, that there even was an Apollo 14.

“Those human moments resonate forever.”

Andy Saunders’ “Apollo Remastered” book is out now.

Pythons can kill a human in minutes and swallow them in an hour

Sean Rossman

USA TODAY

The length of time it takes to watch an episode of Games of Thrones is about all it takes for a reticulated python to kill and swallow a human being.

Death comes quickly, notes Cornell Professor Dr. Harry W. Greene. The reticulated python, the longest living species of snake in the world, are constrictors, meaning they coil around their prey and squeeze them until they're dead in just a couple minutes. The swallowing takes most of the time.

"It would be extremely difficult for me to save my life without help," Greene said. "It wouldn't take very long and it would be awful."

Such a nightmare occurred earlier this week, when a 23-foot reticulated python swallowed whole an Indonesian farmer. It's a rare occurrence for that part of the world, but not unheard of, Greene said. There are, he said, examples of people being eaten by reticulated pythons, particularly on Sulawesi, the island where 25-year-old Akbar Salubiro was eaten.

Humans, unfortunately, fit into the general, mammal-heavy diet of the reticulated python, which can grow between 20 and 25 feet long. The Guinness World Records notes a reticulated python named Medusa, which lives in Kansas City, Mo., holds the title as the world's largest snake ever in captivity at over 25-feet long. Pythons often eat primates, including monkeys, sometimes orangutans and, seldom, people.

Pythons bite first and would attack a human in two ways: 1. A startled snake could bite as a form of defense; 2. The python stealthily lies in wait along a game trail, edges of waterways or any other place where they would find unsuspecting prey. On Thursday, CBS reported villagers said Akbar was attacked from behind.

Reticulated pythons bite first. Then, Greene said, "literally within a few seconds," it would wrap its powerful coils around a person's body, cutting off blood circulation to the brain, blocking off airways and preventing the chest from expanding. From one or all of those reasons, he said, a person would quickly die.

"Big pythons are incredibly powerful animals with huge muscles to both move and eat and constrict," said Stephen Ressel, a professor at the College of Atlantic. "They certainly can pack a huge force as they're constricting."

Then comes the swallowing. Pythons can swallow humans because their lower jaw is indirectly attached to their skull, allowing it to expand. Also, a python's lower jaw comes apart, allowing it to further open up. Over the course of about an hour, Greene estimates, the snake would walk its teeth over a person's body until it is completely inside the animal's stomach.

A person's body would be digested by the snake's stomach acid, Greene said.

Akbar's death, noted Greene, isn't the first one. In a study he did with Thomas N. Headland, Greene found reticulated pythons killed at least six Filipino hunter-gatherers from 1934 to 1973. Once, a python went into a thatched house, killed two children and was swallowing one of them when the father came home and killed the snake with a bolo knife.

The study found it was pretty common for humans to be attacked by reticulated pythons. Among the nearly 60 hunter-gatherers interviewed, more than a quarter had been attacked by a python and had the bites and scars to prove it. Most often, they were able to escape by using a knife or a shotgun.

Greene, an emeritus professor in Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, said the case of Akbar is special because there's video evidence of his body being pulled from the snake. Usually, he said, we don't hear about people being eaten because pythons rarely leave a carcass as a trace. The animals can digest flesh and bones.

"I'm pretty sure it happens every year," Greene said.

Follow Sean Rossman on Twitter: @SeanRossman


US women's hockey team falls to Canada in Beijing Olympics group ...

BEIJING — The players of the U.S. women’s hockey team could still be out there shooting, and Ann-Renée Desbiens would still be stonewalling them.

That’s if the American attempts even made it past the Canadian goaltender’s teammates, who were intent on blocking anything and everything the U.S. could muster on Tuesday.

For 60 minutes at Wukesong Sports Centre, the Canadians were content to let the Americans dictate play. They controlled the scoreboard.

In the end, that’s all that matters.

Canada (4-0) defeated the U.S. 4-2, despite being outshot 53-27, to wrap up Group A play for both teams. The Canadians will be the top seed in the Olympic tournament’s quarterfinals that begin Friday. Knockout round matchups aren't yet finalized.

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Desbiens stopped 51 of the Americans’ 53 shots, while her teammates blocked dozens more.

“Shots don’t win games,” Team USA coach Joel Johnson said. “Goals do.

“We’ve got to find a way to create different, higher-quality scoring chances if we expect to win a game like this.”

The theme for this result was established during the fall, when the U.S. dropped four of six exhibition games to Canada. It was never outshot in any of those contests, either.

“It’s just numbers,” U.S. forward Hilary Knight said. “You got to put more on net and put yourself in a better position to have Grade-A scoring opportunities and maybe crack that perimeter a little bit better.”

Knight and her teammates didn’t account for the second half of that equation she laid out. Asked if she was satisfied with the caliber of scoring opportunities, Knight (four shots on goal) replied:

“No, because we didn’t win. Seriously, I think you run into hot goalies. Every goalie is good here. You have to really find a way to find the back of the net. … I see how good we are at shooting. I can’t wait for it to sort of fall in when we get into a game atmosphere.”

Finding different angles and using the flanks, rather than directing the offense from the top of the offensive zone, will be a necessary adjustment if these two teams face each other on Feb. 17 in the gold-medal game – an expected inevitability that has proved true at the last three Winter Olympics.

Neither team scored in the third period Tuesday, as Canada packed it in and the U.S. could not break through.

“When we shoot from the top, they’ve got three, four goaltenders in there,” Johnson said. “Only one of them is wearing pads, but they’re all doing the same thing.”

The one with the pads, though, is one of the best in the world.

“Kind of to be expected,” Canadian forward Natalie Spooner (one assist) said of Desbiens’ performance. “She is, I think, the best goalie in the world.”

Canada forward Sarah Nurse has had a front-row seat to Desbiens’ prowess for eight years, dating back to their college days at the University of Wisconsin.

“I think that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen her play,” Nurse (one assist) said. “She was just calm, collected and poised. Really made it look easy.”

Desbiens is not infallible, though. She was beaten twice in the second period, as Dani Cameranesi and Alex Carpenter scored four minutes apart to give the U.S. a brief 2-1 lead. The advantage was short-lived, though.

Canada scored two goals within 26 seconds not long after, thanks to a pair of defensive breakdowns – one a turnover near the blue line that led to Brianne Jenner’s second goal of the game, the other an inability to clear the zone.

“We can’t let that happen,” forward Abbey Murphy said about the sequence, which sucked away any momentum the U.S. had built.

“We had a little bit of a defensive breakdown,” said U.S. goalie Maddie Rooney, who made 23 saves on 27 shots. “They capitalized on it.”

Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin put an exclamation point on the scoring and the Canadian comeback by taking an errant pass by Jincy Dunne on the U.S. power play for a breakaway that resulted in a penalty shot. Poulin buried the attempt on Rooney’s stick side.

At the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, Canada defeated the U.S. 2-1 in group play before the Americans won in a dramatic shootout to claim their first gold since 1998. And earlier this year, at the 2021 world championships, Canada blasted the U.S. 5-1 in the preliminary round.

That tournament's final went into overtime, with Poulin scoring the game-winning goal – which is nothing new for her. She also had the game-winning goals in the 2010 and 2014 gold-medal contests.

In the aftermath of another Poulin backbreaker, Johnson acquiesced that his skaters looked “a little off” in some sequences.

“Almost every time (a mistake) happened, it ended up in the back of our net,” he said. “There’s no excuses. There’s only finding solutions.”

If the U.S. wants to repeat as gold medal winners, the answers better be in hand by the time next Thursday rolls around.

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.