The weekly weird

Published December 31, 2022

Iranian man named world’s shortest

A 20-year-old Iranian man has been dubbed the Shortest Man Living by Guinness World Records, with a height of 2 feet and 1.6 inches.

Afshin Esmaeil Ghaderzadeh, from a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, was found to be 2.7 inches shorter than the previous shortest man living, 36-year-old Colombia man Edward ‘Niño’ Hernandez.

Ghaderzadeh was born at a weight of 1.5 pounds, and he now weighs in at 14.3 pounds.

Ghaderzadeh’s physical limitations make it difficult for him to find employment and hopes his newfound fame will allow him to support his family.

“My dream is to be able to help my parents. This global recognition might help me achieve my dream,” he said.

Nine-foot albino boa constrictor in the backyard!

Rhett and Taylor Stanberry, a pair of professional snake wranglers were summoned to a home in Naples, Florida, when a nine-foot albino boa constrictor was found in the backyard.

“That is one of the fattest — that’s a pet snake,” Rhett Stanberry said.

The snake measured 9 feet, 5 inches long and weighed in at 52 pounds. The snake may have been a pet that escaped a few months earlier during Hurricane Ian. The Stanberrys said the snake will have a new home in a special enclosure at their facility.

Headphones with personal air purifiers!

Dyson’s Zone headphones may boast noise cancellation technology, but its most striking feature is the attachable air purifier.

The £749 pair of high-end headphones equipped with a personal air purifier leave you looking like a Batman villain.

The attachable mouthpiece is a visor-like shield, which attaches to the cups of the headphone and sits over the user’s nose and mouth, pumping out filtered air to combat exposure to air pollution.

Chief engineer Jake Dyson said: “The Dyson Zone purifies the air you breathe on the move. And unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturised air pumps.”

An ‘unconscious’ woman or an art installation?

Police broke down the doors of London art gallery, Laz Emporium to save a woman slumped unconscious over a table — only to discover she was made of packing tape and foam filler.

The lifeless woman they had been trying to save was in fact an art installation entitled ‘Kristina’. London’s Metropolitan Police were responding to a call about a “person in distress” at the gallery.

“Officers forced entry to the address, where they uncovered that the person was in fact a mannequin,” a police spokesperson told.

The installation features a woman wearing trainers and a yellow hoody slumped face forward in a bowl of soup, her long blonde hair concealing her face. The realistic sculpture was made by American artist Mark Jenkins.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 31st, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

Token austerity
Updated 11 Mar, 2026

Token austerity

The ‘austerity’ measures are a ritualistic response to public anger rather than a sincere attempt to reform state spending.
Lebanon on fire
11 Mar, 2026

Lebanon on fire

WHILE the entire Gulf region has become an active warzone, repercussions of this conflict have spread to the...
Canine crisis
11 Mar, 2026

Canine crisis

KARACHI’S stray dog crisis requires urgent attention. Feral canines can cause serious and lasting physical and...
Iran’s new leader
Updated 10 Mar, 2026

Iran’s new leader

The position is the most powerful in Iran, bringing together clerical authority and political and ideological leadership.
National priorities
10 Mar, 2026

National priorities

EVEN as the country faces heightened risks of attacks from actual terrorists, an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi...
Silenced march
10 Mar, 2026

Silenced march

ON the eve of International Women’s Day, Islamabad Police detained dozens of Aurat March activists who had ...