WILL HOPKINS AND WRIGHT MAKE A NOISE?

From left: Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright at MGM Grand in Las Vegas .

LAS VEGAS – You know the age-old question don't you? If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a noise?

This same question can be applied to this summer’s match between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright.

While Golden Boy Promotions and HBO are still delirious over the record setting success of last week’s Floyd Mayweather, Jr. versus Oscar De La Hoya blockbuster, they kick-off this week with the press tour for the July 21st contest between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright. Notice I call it a contest and not a fight?

Unfortunately, Richard Schaefer, Mark Taffett of HBO pay-per-view and the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino have a tough sell on their hands.

The initial press conference for this fight actually took place last weekend in Las Vegas on the morning of the Mayweather versus De La Hoya fight. It was scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. and boxing scribes were told to show up at the 740-seat Hollywood Theatre inside the MGM Grand hotel and casino. I showed up there at the anointed hour, and while the press conference was tedious and monotonous, I’ll say this for Golden Boy Promotions and Richard Schaefer – they do put on a helluva spread. I helped myself to several pieces of fresh fruit, a delectable serving of scrambled eggs, home fries and a cold glass of orange juice.

My plate and me managed a seat in the front row and as close to the center of the stage as we could get. I sat next to Claude Abrams, the editor of Boxing News magazine from the United Kingdom. The first thing Claude said to me was, “How the hell are they going to sell this one?” I just shook my head because this fight makes no sense to me and I have no idea how they plan on making money at it. But, that is likely the reason why I’m a writer - and not a big-time fight promoter.

This fight is only happening because Bernard Hopkins didn’t like his life in retirement and because nobody at heavyweight, namely WBC titlist Oleg Maskaev, wanted to bother with Hopkins’ outrageous financial demands. Bernard apparently played his own version of pin the tail on the donkey and eventually managed to stick the tail on Winky Wright’s behind. So the fight was made.

According to Richard Schaefer, who was the master of ceremonies on this morning, “Bernard Hopkins called me and told me he wanted to solve the puzzle. The puzzle that is the southpaw Winky Wright and a man who has not been beaten in 10 years.” Apparently calls were then made back and forth and a deal was hammered out between the two and now they’ll meet in the sweltering summer of Las Vegas.

There is a lot that is wrong with this fight and it has gotten a lukewarm reception from boxing fans. The new mantra of Golden Boy Promotions and those that are behind the purse strings at HBO is “to make fights that fans want to see” and “to match the best against the best”.

While Hopkins and Wright are certainly two of the best fighters in boxing there is a lot about this fight that just doesn’t make sense. Fights should be made for many reasons and I can’t think of one good one as to why this one was made or why it matters.

Firstly, neither fighter has much of a fan base. Whenever either of them has been in a big fight it has been because they had an opponent in with them who was the real headliner and the real draw. Bernard Hopkins once defended his Middleweight title against Antwun Echols in Miami, Florida and less than 300 people bothered to show up.

All of Hopkins’ big fights since then have come against opponents that have been responsible for selling the majority of the tickets. Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Antonio Tarver all sold the majority of the tickets when they fought Hopkins. Bernard may point to his fight against Howard Eastman in Los Angeles at the Staples Center as a ticket selling success, but many of the tickets for that bout were actually given away.

Same goes for Winky Wright. What is his fan base and when has he ever attracted large amounts of fans that come just to see him? Most of his fights, even the two against Shane Mosley, were fought inside half empty arenas. His fight against Sam Soliman in Connecticut had more empty chairs than a barroom at closing time. His fight against Jermain Taylor was also another empty seat festival. Like with Hopkins, it was Felix Trinidad that was responsible for the full house when Winky fought him in 2005.

Secondly, this fight is taking place in the middle of the brutally hot Las Vegas summer. Only a few creatures are in Vegas in July, scorpions and rattlesnakes. It is so hot in Vegas in July that your skin begins to sting after just a few minutes in the sun and you feel like a cat on a hot tin roof. Temperatures will be in the triple digits and many people avoid Vegas in the summer for the very reason that it is just too damn hot.

With Hopkins being from Philadelphia and Wright having been born in Washington, D.C. this fight is a natural for that area of the country. The fight would have been much more appealing were it being held in Philadelphia or 50 miles away on the beach in Atlantic City.

Thirdly, there is no title at stake in this fight and it is being fought at a catch-weight of 170 pounds. Say what you want about meaningless title belts, but one of the first questions a casual boxing fan will ask about a fight is who the champion is and what title they are fighting for. In this fight you would have to explain that even though the fight is on pay-per-view, neither one of them is an actual world titleholder nor is there a title at stake. It’s also being fought at a weight that is make believe and not even a real weight class.

Lastly, neither one of these guys has a style that is crowd pleasing. At age 42, Hopkins is a safety first boxer who is content to figure out a way not to get hit. He’s a guy that lives by the saying, “He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day”. Truth be told, Hopkins hasn’t looked like he really wants to fight anymore. The last person he knocked out was his business partner, Oscar De La Hoya, and that was with a kidney shot against a guy whose best days were at much lighter weights. Seven of Hopkins’ last eight fights have gone the distance so to say he is a go getter would be a gross misrepresentation. Yes, the science of boxing is to hit and not get hit, but lately Hopkins as been interpreting that phrase to an absurd degree.

Same rule applies to the 35 year-old Winky Wright. While Richard Schaefer misspoke when he said Wright had been unbeaten for 10 years, he has been unbeaten since losing to Fernando Vargas in 1999. And of the thirteen fights Wright has fought since then only one ended in a knockout while another ended on a disqualification. Aside from that, every fight went the distance.

Both Hopkins and Wright are safety first boxers that don’t take risks or chances. Neither fighter really wants to get hit or go toe-to-toe. While not every fight is going to be Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward, neither should they be ballet dance recitals either.

At the initial press conference, Bernard, as usual, did most of the talking. He said he was going “to solve the Winky Wright puzzle” and defeat him. He said that Wright only fought his “sloppy seconds” and because Hopkins fought Felix Trinidad and Jermain Taylor before Wright did that “I destroyed Trinidad and “Jermain Taylor hasn’t been the same since he fought me,” claimed Hopkins.

Even Bernard seems to know this fight is going to be a tough sell. He tried to goad Wright into a verbal exchange by asking, “How is a 42 year old man gonna’ whoop your ass?” Then he went on to poke fun at himself when he said, “I even got a cane,” meaning he is so old he needs it to help him walk. Try as he might to egg Wright on, Winky just sat at his table next to the Hopkins, smiled, shook his head, stared off into space and didn’t say a word. Way to sell a fight Winky.

The problem with this fight is that there is no animosity between Hopkins and Wright. Neither guy really resonates with fans and neither fighter has anything to prove. If Hopkins wins it will be because he’s Bernard Hopkins and win is what he’s always done for the most part. If Wright wins then everybody will say it’s because Bernard was an old man.

So, July 21st is not noteworthy for anything boxing related, but it is the day that the seventh Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book is being released by author J.K. Rowling. Even though Richard Schaefer claims, “50% of the arena is sold already with $2 million worth of tickets,” he really means that’s the amount of tickets that sponsors and the casinos in Las Vegas have purchased for their customers.

Hopkins claims “I’m going to solve the puzzle of Winky Wright and I’m going to be right again.”

While that may be the case, will anybody hear it?


May 2007

Ways to LIVE Longer

Here's a reason not to hit the snooze button anymore: Sleeping too much can reduce life expectancy, according to a February 2002 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study found that people who sleep more than eight hours per night had a significantly higher death rate than normal. But late-night-party-goers shouldn't rejoice: researches say that sleeping less than four hours also increases death rates. People who sleep between six and seven hours per night were shown to live the longest.

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Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that optimistic people had a 50% decreased risk of early death compared with those who leaned more toward pessimism. The results, published in the August 2002 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, make sense: Those with a positive outlook on life are probably less stressed, better equipped to deal with adversity and, consequently, healthier. Optimists also tend to have lower blood pressure than pessimists, which, again, is most likely related to how positive thinkers respond to stress.

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No complaints here. There's decent evidence that sex helps keep us healthy, and thus increases longevity. But according to researchers, it's not necessarily an actual biological response generated by sex that makes us live longer. What's more likely is that having intimate sex means you are less stressed, happier and better rested--all factors that can lower blood pressure and protect against stroke and heart disease. A study published in the April 2004 Journal of the American Medical Association found that "high ejaculation frequency was related to decreased risk of total prostate cancer."

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People who own pets, especially dogs, have been shown to be less stressed and require fewer visits to their physicians than non-owners. Survival rates for heart-attack victims who had a pet have been shown to be 12% longer than for those who did not have one, according to one of the first studies dealing with the impact pets can have on our health, led by researcher Erica Friedmann. Pet owners have also been shown to have lower blood pressure. The reasons are most likely related to an array of psychological factors, such as the facts that owning a pet decreases loneliness and depression, encourages laughter and nurturing, and stimulates exercise.

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It's estimated that about half of the people with heart disease--the No. 1 killer in the U.S.--have normal cholesterol levels, which raises serious doubt about the ability of traditional cholesterol tests to detect risk. But more advanced cholesterol tests, like the VAP test, made by the Birmingham, Ala.-based lab Atherotech, may remedy that. VAP measures important metrics that traditional tests miss. Regular tests only detect half of the people with heart disease, while the VAP has been shown to detect 90% of heart disease patients. That's important because lipid abnormalities can most often be rectified with medication and dietary changes. And the sooner you start making changes, the better.

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According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 24% of Americans whose family income is less than $20,000 are "limited" by chronic disease, whereas only 6% of people with an income of $75,000 or more have this problem. In general, population groups that suffer the worst health have the highest poverty rates and the least education. One possible explanation: Higher incomes permit access to better food and housing, safer neighborhoods and increased medical care. Higher incomes also increase the opportunity to engage in health-promoting behaviors. Of course, being a chief executive certainly exposes you to a high level of stress that can decrease life expectancy. But according to the data, striving to be financially comfortable is a good goal for aspiring centenarians.

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© Getty

To say that smoking is bad for your health is, of course, not revelatory. But it still cannot be denied that quitting can significantly improve your prospects for a long life. Middle-aged men who are long-term, heavy smokers face twice the risk of developing more aggressive forms of prostate cancer than men who have never smoked, according to findings that appeared in the July 2003 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. According to a recent study in the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, cigarette smoking has been clearly linked to the most common causes of death in the elderly.

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A study led by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2002 found that men classified as having the highest level of anger in response to stress were over three times more likely to develop premature heart disease than men who reported lower anger responses. They were also over six times more likely to have a heart attack by the age of 55. One possible explanation is the correlation between anger and high blood pressure, a condition that commonly develops in highly stressed individuals. The lesson is simple: Try as much as you can to let unavoidable, everyday stresses roll off your shoulders.

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Antioxidants, substances that are found in foods ranging from cinnamon to blueberries, can scavenge free radicals, compounds whose unstable chemical nature accelerates the effect of aging on our cells. Until these excess free radicals are quenched by antioxidant molecules, cellular damage accumulates. This contributes to an array of degenerative diseases, including atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's and cancer. Research shows that certain types of beans (kidney, pinto, black) are among the best sources of antioxidants, while blueberries and other berries follow close behind.

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While the phrase "marry well" is typically used to describe people who marry someone rich, we are talking about something entirely different: genetics. Apparently, longevity genes can be inherited. According to a February 2005 study in Mechanisms of Aging and Development, exceptional longevity and healthy aging is an inherited phenotype across three generations. So, for the single people out there, pick a spouse whose grandparents are still alive. This won't make you live longer, but it might help your children.

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Get up and start moving. Not only does exercise help us maintain our weight, it improves our cardiovascular health, strengthens the bones and increases endorphins in the body--hormones that give us energy, make us happier and help ward off stress and disease. "If you don't use it, you lose it," says Dr. Merl Myerson, director of cardiovascular prevention at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. "We find that active people will do better, live longer."

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Laughter reduces levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. It also releases endorphins that work as pain killers and gives your blood circulation a boost. Not to mention it relaxes blood vessels and keeps a person from being angry--a significant predictor of heart disease. "The higher you score on anger and hostility, the greater the likely hood you'll have a heart attack," says Dr. David Fein, medical director at Princeton Longevity Center in New Jersey.

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For people who are overweight or obese, life is a ticking time bomb. They have increased risk of heart disease and several types of cancer, along with higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes--a condition that is becoming an epidemic in the U.S. "The real way to lose weight is to cut back on food intake," says Dr. David Fein, Medical Director at Princeton Longevity Center in New Jersey. "People are under the impression that they can exercise weight off, but exercise is a means to maintain weight.

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Everyone has stress to a certain degree, but not everyone knows how to manage it. The key is to recognize what the big factors are in your life and how to mitigate them. Constant stress produces high levels of cortisol, which has been shown to impair cognitive functioning and weaken the immune system. "I think stress kills more people than just about anything else," says Dr. David Fein, medical Director at Princeton Longevity Center in New Jersey.

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According to Dr. Woodson Merrell of Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, the most powerful healing tool for stress and prolonged life is meditation. It clears the mind of thought and lets a person concentrate on tranquility. Fifteen minutes of meditation has been shown to produce a much more relaxed state of mind than one hour of the deepest sleep. Even starting the day with just two minutes of meditation can be beneficial. Sit with your spine erect and try to quiet your thoughts; it may help to concentrate on one word.

The 7 Most Sugar Filled Drinks

Added sugars are the bane of our modern diet - and drinking sugar is arguably the easiest way to over-indulge.

What are the most sugary drinks?

Hype
Per 8oz: 64 grams
Per 8.45oz / 250ml can: 67.5

Hype is an energy drink that is known for it's "cotton candy" taste. That's because it has an impressive amount of sugar in it.
Sources: 1

Minute Maid Cranberry Grape
Per 8oz: 38 grams
15.2oz bottle: 72.2 grams

Note: "25% Fruit Juice". Also - Cranberry drinks often have a lot of added sugar because cranberry is a very bitter fruit.
Sources: 1

Tropicana Twister Soda - Orange
Per 8oz: 35 grams
Per 20oz bottle: 87.5 grams
Sources: 1

Sunkist Orange Soda
Per 8oz: 35 grams
Per 12oz can: 52 grams
Per 20oz bottle: 87.5 grams
Sources: 1

Fanta Orange
Per 8oz: 34.3 grams
Per 12oz can: 51.5 grams
Per 20oz bottle: 85.8 grams
Sources: 1, 2

Sun Drop
Per 8oz: 33 grams
Per 20oz bottle: 82.5 grams

Sources: 1

Sobe Adrenaline Rush
Per 8oz: 33 grams
Per 8.3oz can: 35 grams
Per 16oz bottle: 66 grams
Sources: 1

Reference

Teaspoon of granulated sugar: 4 grams (source).

Go do the math. Knocking back a 20oz bottle of Fanta is the same as chowing down on around 21.5 teaspoons of sugar.

A TARNISHED GOLDEN BOY

LAS VEGAS - Oscar De La Hoya was the last one to arrive at Saturday’s post fight press conference held inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions was on the dais and he interrupted Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to introduce De La Hoya. In his thick and heavy Swiss accent, the boyish faced Schaefer announced: “Ladiez and zentlemen, pleeze give a big hand for zee Golden Boy, Oscor Dee La Hoya!”

Only an hour earlier, De La Hoya had been out-pointed again in another blockbuster fight, and already the deep lines of disappointment had etched themselves into his handsome face. It was all finally over and after several months of promotion, many long weeks spent in training camp and after answering thousands of questions this odyssey was near its end.

De La Hoya and Schaefer knew now that if this was to be the fight that was going to save boxing it was going to have to do so with Oscar De La Hoya as the loser by split-decision.

Flanked by business partners and former foes Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley, and attired in a gray, pinstripe suit and off white shirt, a tie-less De La Hoya addressed the assembled media. His face showed the red scrapes of the twelve rounds he had just spent in the ring with “Pretty Boy” Floyd.

De La Hoya slowly made his way to the microphone and solemnly declared; “I don’t feel like a loser, because I came to do what I had to do.”

His words were measured due to the fact that he and Schaefer’s stated mission is to clean up boxing, make it appealing again to long absent corporate sponsors and remove the bad taste that is usually left in the mouths of many fans after controversial decisions rendered by Las Vegas judges. As a result, De La Hoya didn’t want to call into question the decision of the officials that went against him. “They are professionals and you just have to respect the judges at this point,” said an obviously peeved De La Hoya through pursed lips.

It ended up being a very close fight and it was closer than many of the cynics figured. Most believed Mayweather would win in a near shutout and the odds at the Vegas sportsbooks favored Mayweather from the time the bout was first announced several months earlier right up until the first bell. On the day of the fight, a quick check of the odds at 7:00 am and again at 3:00 pm at the MGM Grand sportsbook revealed no movement one way or the other.

The official judges scores after twelve rounds were 8-4 in rounds for Mayweather by Chuck Giampa, 7-5 in rounds for Mayweather by Jerry Roth, while Tommy Kaczmarek, who I saw show up at the arena at 4:30 pm, went the other way and saw it 7-5 in rounds for De La Hoya.

Oscar felt he won the fight and said so as he nursed his bruised ego. “I landed the harder, crisper punches and I felt when I landed my punches I could see I was hurting him. If I hadn't pressed the fight, there would be no fight.”

Despite De La Hoya’s strong personal views of the night, a quick survey of press row told much the same story as the official judges.

Only Ron Borges of the Boston Globe had it 7-5 for De La Hoya while Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports had it dead even at 6-6. Michael Katz of boxingtalk.com had it 8-4 for Mayweather. “And I was bending over backwards to give De La Hoya that many rounds,” chimed the curmudgeonly Katz. Michael Marley of boxingconfidential.com had it for Mayweather, although I never did get his official score, but by looking over his shoulder he appeared to have it about 8-4 for the “Pretty Boy”. My card ended up reading 6 rounds for Mayweather, 5 for De La Hoya with one round scored for a guy named “even”.

But before the ink was dry on the official scorecard of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Richard Schaefer, in a Don King (post Mike Tyson versus Buster Douglas) moment, caused a momentary stir in press row when he claimed the scoresheet was tallied incorrectly and that in fact De La Hoya was the winner.

“I have zee official scorezeet here,” announced Schaefer. “There does appear to ve a miztake and there iz two deeferent scorecards from zee Commission.”

At the top of the official scorecard there is a man listed as the World Boxing Council Supervisor who is from Thailand and he goes by the name “General Kovid”. When I asked out loud, “Who the hell is General Kovid?” the comedic boxing scribe Michael Marley retorted, “I don’t know who he is, but they’ll make him a private after this! Private Kovid!”

After a great deal of consternation on Schaefer’s part he examined the scoresheets for several minutes and determined that De La Hoya was indeed the loser and that the scores on one of the sheets had been put in the blue column instead of the red but the end result was still the same. Schaefer later acquiesced and said, “Zee decision stands and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. iz zee vinner.”

But before Schaefer, a former Swiss banker finally gave up he said he was giving the scoresheets to an HBO television network attorney to review. Although he is a relative newcomer to boxing, Schaefer has learned well the various machinations of the fight game.

As for De La Hoya, he claims he’s going to take some time to ponder his future before deciding what to do next. After the fight his wife Millie announced that she was pregnant with their second child and it would seem that she might be leaning toward advising her husband to hang up the gloves. After the decision was announced she could be seen at ringside shaking her head in disagreement with the decision. She consoled her despondent husband and helped lead him from the ring back to his dressing room.

However, at age 34 and the loser of three of his last five fights, De La Hoya made no mention of retiring. “I’m going to be very smart about the situation,” said Oscar. “I will go home and watch the fight and see how my movements were, how my body reacted, and analyze the situation. I’ll wait and see. I’ll analyze the whole thing and think about it.”

Whatever the case, Oscar is showing the physical signs that it’s time to become a full-time promoter and businessman. He appeared heavy on his feet and in key times throughout the fight against Mayweather he just couldn’t pull the trigger to let his hands go. While he was up on his toes on a few occasions like the Golden Boy of old, he mostly just looked like an old Golden Boy. Gone was the blazing hand speed and electric reflexes that he had used to burn through six weight divisions while vanquishing some of the best fighters the decade of the 1990’s had to offer.

De La Hoya was pasted cleanly time after time on Saturday night and even Mayweather seemed incredulous at the ease of which he could land his shots. “He didn’t move his head at all,” said Floyd. “I remember thinking to myself during the fight, ‘How did he beat all of those world champions?’ because he didn’t move his head at all.”

If this was the fight to save boxing as the cover of Sports Illustrated declared then perhaps the sport may not be in as much trouble as many people believe. The actual fight didn’t live up to all of the hype and the hot air of a multi-pronged promotion - but as an event the night was spectacular. The arena was sold out, Las Vegas was more alive than ever and everyone on the strip was talking about the big fight.

The winds blew hard in Las Vegas on this weekend as the palm trees that line the strip bowed and bent under the heavy gusts. If this was boxing’s last gasp then a good time was had by most that showed up.

I sat beside a great boxing man named Frank Meehan from Long Island, New York and as the many celebrities at ringside were being introduced by ring announcer Michael Buffer I turned to Frank and said, “It’s just like old times.”

And Frank agreed. Yes it was.


May 6, 2007

World`s biggest moving machine

The bucket-wheel excavator is a continuous excavation machine capable of removing up to 12,000 cubic metres of material per hour. BWEs are used most often in coal mining in Europe, Australia, and India. There is also one in use at the Athabasca Coal Sands project in Alberta. These huge machines, possibly the largest moving machines on earth, can weigh 11,000 tonnes and stand more than 100 meters tall, with a length of about 200 meters.
They move on huge sets of crawlers, and can mine more than 240,000 m³ of material per day. These machines take 5 years to build.

Below are some images of bucket-wheel excavators. Click on each small picture to see a large version.

Celebrity Homes-click to enlarge pics

A needle or syringe can save a stroke patient

I cannot verify the efficacy of this but there is so much we do not know about Oriental medicine, it can't hurt.
i only receive it from my email but who knows it might work..

1. When stroke strikes, the capillaries in the brain will gradually burst. When a stroke occurs, stay calm. No matter where the victim is, do not move him/her, because, if moved, the capillaries will burst.
2. 
   Help the victim to sit up where he is to prevent him from falling over again, and then the bloodletting can begin. If you have in your home an injection syringe, that would be the best, otherwise, a sewing needle or a straight pin will do. Place the needle/pin over fire to sterilize it (use a match or candle), and then use it to prick the tip of all 10 fingers. There are no specific acupuncture points, just prick about one mm from the fingernail. Prick till blood comes out. If blood does not start to drip, then squeeze with your fingers. When all 10 digits are bleeding, wait a few minutes, then the victim will regain consciousness.
3. 
   If the victim's mouth is crooked, then pull on his ears until they are red. Then prick each ear lobe twice until two drops of blood comes from each ear lobe. After a few minutes the victim should regain consciousness.
4. Wait till the victim regains his/her normal state without any abnormal symptoms then take him to the hospital, otherwise, if he/she was taken in the ambulance in a hurry to the hospital, the bumpy trip can cause capillaries in his/her brain to burst.

I learned about letting blood to save life from Chinese traditional doctor Ha Bu-Ting who lives in Sun-Juke. Furthermore, I had practical experience with it. Therefore I can say this method is 100% effective.

In 1979, I was teaching in Fung-Gaap College in Tai-Chung. One afternoon I was teaching class when another teacher came running to my classroom and said in panting, "Mr. Liu, come quick, our supervisor has had a stroke!" I immediately went to the 3rd floor. When I saw our supervisor, Mr.Chen Fu-Tien, his colour was off, his speech was slurred, his mouth was crooked-all the symptoms of a stroke. I immediately asked one of the practicum students to go to the pharmacy outside the school to buy a syringe, which I used to prick Mr. Chen's 10 fingers tips. When all 10 fingers were bleeding (each with a pea-sized drop of blood), after a few minutes, Mr. Chen's face regained its colour and his eyes' spirit returned, too. But his mouth was still crooked. So I pulled on his ears to fill them with blood. When his ears became red, I pricked his right earlobe twice to let out 2 drops of blood. When both earlobes had two drops of blood each, a miracle happened. Within 3-5 minutes the shape of his mouth returned to normal and his speech became clear.

We let him rest for a while and have a cup of hot tea, then we helped him go down the stairs, drove him to Wei-Wah Hospital. He rested one night and was released the next day to return to school to teach. Everything worked normally. There were no ill after-effects. On the other hand, the usual stroke victim usually suffers irreparable bursting of the brain capillaries on the way to the hospital.

As a result, few victims ever recover. Therefore stroke is the no. 2 cause of death. ”The lucky ones” will stay alive, but can remain paralysed for life. It is such a horrible thing to happen in one's life. If we can all remember this bloodletting method and start the life-saving process immediately, in a short time, the victim will be revived and regain normality.