Higher IQ than Einstein...
(SUPPLIED)
BRITAIN: She is 11 years old and enjoys swimming and playing the recorder. But while Victoria Cowie insists she is just like any other girl her age, in one respect she is very different.
The schoolgirl has just been admitted to Mensa after scoring 162 in an IQ test – better than the 160 thought to have been achieved by Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates, reports Daily Mail.
The result puts her in the top 1 per cent of the British population in terms of intelligence, says the paper.
Victoria, who has been offered scholarships to four prestigious fee-paying schools, said: ‘When I got the results, I was really surprised.
‘It’s quite daunting to be compared to great minds, but it feels good also to be thought of as that clever.
Victoria took the adult admission tests for Mensa, the society for people with a high IQ.
As well as surpassing brilliant scientists and Microsoft founder Mr Gates, her score gives her a higher IQ than Sigmund Freud, who is thought to have had an IQ of 156, Napoleon Bonaparte, with 145, and Hillary Clinton, with 140.
Only those with an IQ of 148 and above – the top 2 per cent of the population – qualify for Mensa. The average IQ is 100.
Victoria, an only child, said she hadn’t yet told her friends about her astonishing results.
Victoria, who plays the piano, cello and saxophone as well as the recorder, hopes eventually to do a veterinary science degree, said the paper.
But her parents aren’t quite sure where she gets her intelligence from.
Landlord visits house to collect rent, finds house has gone
A Malaysian wooden house like this was swiped (AGENCY)
MALAYSIA: All that remained of Zuria Ali's house, which he had inherited from his parents, were 24 concrete pillar holders, a smashed TV and pieces of broken wood.
The main structure of the house, including its walls, had disappeared, along with items like cutlery, cupboards, a dining table and a refrigerator, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported.
Police confirmed they have received a report of a 'missing' property.
'I had heard that my house had vanished and was curious to find out the truth,' Mr Ali said.
One neighbour told the news provider the dwelling had been missing since the beginning of last month.
'I thought the three were carrying out the dismantling work on instructions from the landlord. I did not suspect anything until he [Zuria] asked me about it,' he said.
Treasures the size of thumbnail
(AGENCY)
DERBYSHIRE: Forget glasses, you’ll need a magnifying glass to read the tiny print in these antique miniature books.
But simply because they’re small doesn’t mean they don’t tackle big subjects.
These thumbnail-sized publications – which are to be sold at auction after they were discovered in a house clearance – include The Bible and the London Almanack from 1842.
The smallest of the 16 books measures just 11/8in by 1in and the largest 31/8in by 31/8in – a perfect size for the tiny inhabitants of Lilliput in Gulliver’s Travels.
And yet, incredibly, each edition contains every word that the full-size version does.
Experts at Bamfords Auctioneers, in Derbyshire, who discovered the books, say they are expected to fetch a total of more than £2,000 when they go on sale next week.
Miniature books – defined as those smaller than 31/8in in height, width or thickness – became fashionable in 1475 when the first, a tiny version of religious text the Officium Beatae Virginis Maria, was produced.
Originally novelty products, they quickly became a sign of a printer’s skill and rival firms competed to outdo each other.
And the fascination with mini-printing continues. In 1985 a 1/32in by 1/32in edition of nursery rhyme Old King Cole was produced in Scotland.
Auctioneer Steven Iredale said the newly found collection was incredibly rare.
Would you like some popcorn with that fat?
(AGENCY)
US: US cinemas are up in arms over a plan that would require them to reveal the fat in their popcorn is equal to nearly three Big Macs.
Under the proposed rule, movie theatre chains will be required to display that their popcorn contains as many as 1460 calories.
According to Margo Wootan, the director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, it’s enough to make you pop!
"It's easy enough to blow your whole diet for a week from one snack at the movie theater," she said.
"Just because you happen to be watching a movie while you’re eating doesn’t mean you aren’t eating out."
The new rule being proposed this month will require chain restaurants with at least 20 US locations to post the calorie content of menu items, and can include snack bars and grocery stores.
With the big theatre chains generating as much as one-third of their annual revenue from snack bars, it’s no surprise they are fighting the move.
Cinemas and grocery stores have united to convince the Food and Drug Administration not to go ahead with the new health law.
National Association of Theatre Owners spokesman Patrick Corcoran said his trade group is recommending the FDA exempt companies that get less than 35 percent of gross revenue from food sales.
``Congress didn’t mention theaters in the law and the idea of regulating them never came up at legislative hearings,’’ Corcoran said.
``In the basic history of the bill there is no real intent to include movie theaters that we could discern.’’
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