A dog is truly man's best friend, in some cases even saving lives. A German shepherd called the emergency call centre and thus saved his master's life.

Buddy was an 18-month-old German shepherd at the time of the story. His owner had got him when he was 8 months old and had trained him to call the police if necessary.

When dog owner Joe Stalnaker suffered a stroke, the loyal dog remembered his training, picked up the phone and dialled the emergency number. The man at the emergency call centre who answered the call was initially surprised that all he could hear was barking and whimpering. A patrol car was sent to Stalnaker's house and he was taken to hospital. After a few days, the man recovered from his seizure.

Joe Stalnaker suffers from occasional seizures caused by a previous head injury. That's why he bought a dog and trained it. In two other cases so far, his dog Buddy has made the emergency call when his master suffered another acute seizure. 

A young woman and her eight-year-old son from Wisconsin, USA, decided one day to get a pet. When they got the new cat "Pudding" from the shelter, they could not have imagined that this cat would save the young mother's life within a few hours. 

It was love at first sight, says Amy Jung, the mother, when she decided on an older, orange-coloured cat. They took the new cat home with them. That evening they went to bed at about half past nine. Amy suffered from type 1 diabetes and hadn't realised her blood sugar levels were dropping. About 90 minutes later, as her sugar levels dropped rapidly, her body began to twitch. While she was shaken by spasms, she felt something warm and soft lying on her chest, namely Pudding the Cat.

The cat began to meow and gently touch her new owner's face with her paws. When Amy didn't respond, the cat bit her nose. The cat's insistence brought Amy's consciousness back far enough for her to call for her son. He called his father, who was away on business. The father gave his son instructions on how to inject his mother with medication so that he could save his mother's life.

If Pudding hadn't kept trying to wake Amy up, she wouldn't be alive today. 

Everyone has heard it said that a chicken can walk around for a few seconds after its head is cut off, until the reflexes of the nervous system stop and physical death occurs. But this is nothing compared to the story of Mike, who lived without his head for a year and a half and became world famous.

On 10 September 1945, Lloyd Olsen, an American farmer, was planning to get his five-and-a-half-month-old rooster ready for dinner. With a sharp axe he cut off the rooster's head, but the rooster didn't seem to mind at all because it continued to run around looking for food.
By sheer coincidence, the blow severed only half of the brain stem and one ear, leaving the rest intact and allowing the cock to control its body and survive.
Without a beak, the cock had to be fed with an eyedropper.

The rooster lived another eighteen months and ended up weighing a healthy 4 kilograms instead of the previous one kilo. Thus was born the legend of the headless rooster, which was entered in the Guinness Book of Records and paraded all over America.

At the end of a performance, Mike the Headless Rooster passed away, leaving behind the memory and respect for his will to live.

Numerous websites underline my own personal experience with the India Information and Reservation Center (IIRC) in New Delhi, India. Many tourists have had the same experience with this travel centre and this manager (Zaffar Badyari).

We booked three nights in a luxury hotel for the whole family and paid 400 euros in advance. Despite the receipt, we found that the booking was never made and the manager of the centre put the money in his own pocket.

The agency initially promised a refund to correct the "error". Since then, it has been impossible to reach anyone by phone. Emails are not answered and the website does not exist at all.

Those travelling to New Delhi should definitely not enter the following travel centre (see photo):

Information and Reservation Center India
11 Punchkuin Road
New Delhi-1 10001 India
Tel. +919873442300
Email zaf80@hotmail.com
www.indiabackpackers.com

Manager: ZAFFAR BADYARI

Beware: The agency works with several hotels that offer a free taxi to the tourist information office and send unsuspecting tourists there. In our case, it was the more than shabby Ivory Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh.

It becomes critical when there is no vegetarian meal on the menu and you want to have a vegetarian dish put together. For most ignorant people, "no meat" means that poultry or fish are allowed. Or they pass a dish off as vegetarian because it only contains a bit of ham.

For most people, soups seem to automatically become vegetarian when the meat is strained out.

What I recently experienced as a vegetarian in a Thai restaurant, however, puts the icing on the cake. I ordered a soup with various vegetables and tofu. The discussion that ensued between the chef and the waiter after I ordered should have alerted me, but as nobody said anything, I thought nothing more of it.

When the soup arrived, I wondered about the strange consistency of the tofu floating in the soup. So I asked the chef what it was. He replied with the greatest naturalness: "Chicken". 

What is probably no big deal for a non-vegetarian will make any real vegetarian tear their hair out. For me it is incomprehensible that such a mistake can be made at all! Is it just complete ignorance or recklessness?

No doubt you have heard about the earthquake disaster in Cristchurch, New Zealand. We at Neuropool would like to help together with you. You can help those affected by the disaster get back on their feet by following the link below. Many residents in Christchurch have lost their homes and will need months or even years to build a new one. It is estimated that it will take 5 years to rebuild the destroyed city. With your Euro, you can make a difference.

The Red Cross New Zealand is a reliable, non-profit organisation. You can send donations to the 2011 Earthquake Appeal to help the citizens of Christchurch. Payment is made through a secure payment gateway.

On behalf of all the earthquake victims, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts:

2011 Earthquake Appeal

Here is the 2011 Earthquake Appeal New Zealand donation appeal in German translation by Google:

2011 Earthquake Appeal

No one is above the law, not even the four-legged ones. In the past, animals have been tried and convicted.

As absurd as it sounds nowadays, animals used to be tried in court, whether for a crime against individuals or because they posed a danger to society.

When these animals were declared guilty, they were usually executed or exiled. Most documented court cases against animals took place in Europe between the 13th and 18th centuries. In the Middle Ages, rodents, birds, flies, grasshoppers, eels and snakes were often charged with destroying crops. If the animals did not appear in court themselves, they were tried 'in absentia'. The accused animals were even given a defence lawyer who was allowed to call and interrogate witnesses.

Pigs

The first court case against a pig took place in Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1266. In 1386, a sow was charged with mutilating an unattended infant left in its pen. The sow was arrested and locked in a cell with human criminals. During the trial, several witnesses were called and evidence was presented.

The verdict was: Guilty of murder. On the day of its execution, the pig wore a man's coat and a white shirt to symbolise the equality of man and animal before the court. The pig was brutally mutilated like the infant.

Elephants

In 1916, Mary the circus elephant killed an elephant trainer during a circus parade in Erwin, Tennessee. The cow elephant, weighing a whopping 5 tons, was charged, convicted and hung from an industrial crane.

Monkeys

A monkey was once convicted of cigarette smoking in Indiana.

In addition, in 11877, there was the monkey of an organ grinder who was sued for attacking Mary Shea, the owner of a junk shop in New York, during a performance. The monkey, Jimmy, had been given a piece of sugar by her as a reward. When he ate it, she playfully tried to take it away from him, whereupon Jimmy got angry and bit off the ring finger of her right hand. When the judge acquitted Jimmy, he jumped on the judge's table, took off his fedora and shook the judge's hand.

The police report afterwards said: Name: Jimmy Dillio, profession: monkey, verdict: acquittal.

Donkey

In cases of sexual intercourse with animals, the animal was usually considered compliant and therefore charged and executed along with the human perpetrator. In 1750, it happened that Jacques Ferron was caught with a donkey and brought to trial. Fortunately for the donkey, a witness came forward who testified that he had known the defendant for years to be virtuous and obedient. The donkey was acquitted. Since no one testified on Ferron's behalf, he was burned at the stake.

Trials against animals existed well into modern times, but they became less frequent after the Age of Enlightenment. Today, the legal system sees animals as creatures without moral agency, who therefore cannot be pleaded guilty to a crime.

The ghostly apparitions began after he took over the house. When he bought it, the house was in a desolate state. The windows had been shot out and graffiti covered the outside walls. Ensor and his friends repaired and restored the old house.

• Meanwhile, he experienced the following apparitions.
• A black-haired woman with only one leg floated through the corridors.
• The smell of coffee and roses was in the air, even though nobody was there.
• Mysterious piano music.
• High heels clicked on the back porch.
• Crockery was scattered on the floor.
• A chandelier fell from the ceiling for unexplained reasons.
• Knocking on the front door.
• Room doors that slammed shut by themselves.

Due to the publicity that paranormal activities receive in the USA, Ensor found it impossible to sell the house. In 1985, he decided to put it up for auction. Larry Cozart bought the house, but cancelled the sale when he learned that the house was haunted.
Two years later, Ensor sold the house to Lucien Albert, a paediatrician from Haiti who was sceptical about paranormal phenomena. He sold it in 2003 and Marc Swedroe, a property agent, is the current owner. As he bought the house as an investment, he has not spent much time in the house and has not made any unusual discoveries.
Cuban fashion designer Fernando Garcia had rented the house in the meantime. Although he doesn't believe in ghosts, he had a few strange experiences. One day, a batten fell out of a window behind him while he was sitting at his desk. He got up to investigate when a 20-kilo chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling where he had just been sitting. He heard footsteps on the wooden floor by the back door.

The haunted house in 2008

Cliff Ensor, now 81 years old, recently gave an interview. He still believes that the house in question is haunted. When Reardon's daughter, who lives in Alaska, heard about his experiences, she wrote him a letter. There was one room that was strictly forbidden to enter. Muriel was terrified of this room. A self-proclaimed Satanist was called in to help, who entered the forbidden room and immediately gasped for air as if he were being strangled. Could it be the room where Paula had died?
The current caretaker of the house lives in the villa. He often experiences objects being moved to other locations. One night, three light bulbs began to flicker and switch on and off in random order. He ordered Paula to stop and the flickering stopped. The man claims not to be afraid of ghosts. He says he has not yet seen Paula as an apparition, but he feels her presence.

When our daughter was 3 months old, I started working from home. I thought I was lucky to have got such an opportunity. It went well for exactly two months. Then one evening I got a call from my mum saying that she wanted to prepare me for the fact that the boss at the haulage company had sacked me. I no longer understood the world, because I had done a good job and had done nothing wrong. Even when my parents came round later, I didn't get a clear answer or a letter of dismissal.

When my husband heard the story, he went to see a lawyer the next day to find out about the legal situation. He said quite openly that the matter was rotten. I then learnt that, in addition to the statutory 8 weeks of maternity leave, I had 4 months' protection against dismissal and that I was entitled to pay for this time. We confronted my father with this fact, whereupon he became very aggressive. But I insisted on my rights. At the time, we didn't understand what role my father played in all of this.

A few months later, I bumped into my former boss by pure chance. For a split second, I thought about just walking past. But then we said hello and she said that she and her husband were very sorry that I hadn't come back. When I replied that her husband had told me through my father that I had been discharged, we decided to go for a coffee and talk about it. And then I found out that my father had told them that I wouldn't be coming back after my maternity leave. He had also submitted a letter of resignation from me, which I had never written. My father must have paid for the two months of working from home out of his own pocket and as this would have come out at some point, I was "dismissed" without further ado. He just hadn't reckoned with our resistance.
During our conversation, I asked my former boss to let the matter rest.

I then drove to my parents' house and confronted my father - without my mother being present - about the outcome of the conversation. The reason he gave for his behaviour was that he and his wife had fared badly in the war and he thought my husband and I should learn to fight too. We shouldn't have roast pigeons flying into our mouths. So the whole thing was basically directed against my husband! I was almost sick with anger. I told my father that only the fact that he was my father would stop me from going to the labour court. Maybe he would have lost his job, maybe my parents' marriage would have fallen apart, but that price was too high for me. And I realised at that moment that my father was a man who spoke up for his family, but at the same time tried to manipulate people to his advantage.

I swore at that moment that I would never set foot in an office to work again. I have kept that vow to this day.

After the birth of my second daughter, I got a job on a farm near our home. My duties were very varied and I was treated like a member of the family. I worked there for 28 years until my husband retired and we moved away.
When my mother-in-law died, I mourned her for a long time, but when my father died 11 years ago, my grief was limited. I was never able to forgive him for his behaviour.
My mistake before this story was that I trusted my father and didn't think he was mean.

Here is a story about a mother's determination to save her child's life, told by the daughter who was saved.

Kudos to Franziska, who never gave up.

<<Shown are the rescued daughter and her dog (also grateful for this).

"I had a lovely childhood. There were hardly any houses where I grew up and we had the whole heath at our disposal as a playground. And there were still real winters with snow, so there was a lot of tobogganing.

At some point, the "serious side of life" began, i.e. you started school. At that time, it was first primary school and later secondary school or grammar school. When I reached the quarta at grammar school, I wasn't exactly what you'd call a school fan that year and my grades were accordingly. My promotion was in jeopardy. But "staying in school"? Shocking - what would the neighbours think and???? So my parents decided that I would have to leave school and start an apprenticeship in the office. For me, the office was the equivalent of prison. All day in one room - terrible. But it didn't help - I started the apprenticeship. This change was terrible for me mentally: during the day I had to function like an adult, at home I was a "brat". And I was only 14 years old! Well - I gritted my teeth, passed my exam and received my commercial assistant certificate and then enrolled in a seminar to train as a secretary. Here, too, I received a specialised certificate. At the time, my father worked in a furniture removal company as an accountant, but was also responsible for the staff. One day he offered me the chance to come and work for him, which I did. He was really great as a trainer, even with the other newcomers.

Then came my fateful year of 1967, when I had been suffering from severe headaches and back pain for months. But as is the case when you're young, you simply don't have back pain, it's all in your head! One of my father's pieces of advice was that if my back really did hurt, I should sit down from time to time and not make such a fuss. After all, I had to make a "good impression". But one day I couldn't do it any more - I collapsed. I got cramps in my hands, I was running out of air and I really thought my last hour had come because I had no idea what was wrong with me. There was a general practitioner near the company and I was taken to him. He gave me a calcium injection and then I felt better again. I learnt that I had suffered a tetany attack and was told to come back to his surgery, but at the same time to bring my "body water" with me. The doctor said he suspected what was wrong with me but wanted to make sure. I followed his advice and a short time later I had the result: my kidneys were not working properly. So I went on sick leave and they tried to treat it with tablets first.

Then came another difficulty: my father. He raved at home that I had only been at the company for a short time and wanted to take sick leave "all the time". The row escalated and in the end I was "persuaded" to work despite being on sick leave. Of course, that didn't last long; after 3 weeks I collapsed again, but this time worse than the first time. A big compliment from my boss at the time. She told my father quite rudely that he should let me get better in peace first. I didn't need to make a good impression, she knew I could work. Then I was admitted to hospital.

I was stuffed full of antibiotics and other stuff. Of course, I wasn't told what it was for or against. I was told to just trust the doctors. Today I think I was a so-called guinea pig. As a lifelong memento of this time, I have retained a solid allergy to medication that I had previously had. not had. After weeks, my condition was unchanged - sometimes fever, sometimes no fever, sometimes pain, sometimes no pain, etc.
There was a doctor among the doctors: we didn't like each other straight away. I don't know why, it was just the way it was. This doctor also repeatedly took it upon himself to give me all the bad news in a very callous manner. After 2 months, I also had a very bad sore throat that didn't let up. I was faced with a conundrum. And then one day this doctor came to my bedside and told me, without any emotion whatsoever, that in a meeting about me they had established that I could not be cured. He told me to accept the fact that although I was 19 years old, I wouldn't live to be 20. It was just fate, nothing could be done about it. How I hated this person for his behaviour!

At first, I cried all night. Of course, my parents saw my puffy eyes during visiting hours and then found out why. And that's when my mum grew to greatness. She said: "Let's see. Come home, we'll try everything we can and if that doesn't help, you can always die. But giving up is not an option!"

As the sore throat didn't subside, an ENT doctor was finally called in, who realised that my tonsils were completely ulcerated and ordered an immediate operation. 2 days later I was feeling really well - no fever, no major pain. But of course the demigods in white didn't want to believe that. But it was true, I was very thin during those three months, but I felt much better. The cause of my whole illness was those damned tonsils. The family doctor explained it to me like this: the blood was poisoned by the suppuration and this blood then attacked the kidneys. I had to follow a strict diet for 2 years, during which time my mum ate a lot of raw food and fresh juices, so I was actually doing quite well. She did a lot of work and the whole family followed my diet.

Then I was informed that I was coming to Bad Wildungen for a cure. My mum went with me for the first week. My roommate and I sipped our healing water, which we then imagined was sparkling wine, so it didn't taste so bland. There was a young clarinettist in the spa orchestra who I quite liked, but as I assumed that he was married like the others in the orchestra, I wasn't interested in him. He was the only one who wasn't married, engaged or with a girlfriend. So he was really free - just like me! Well, at some point we got talking and arranged to meet up for an evening. It turned out to be a wonderful evening!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peter Alexander has been our "friend" ever since. We danced to one of his songs and then we were hooked.

After finishing my cure, I went home. We wrote a lot of letters, visited each other from time to time and after 1 1/2 years we got engaged and after another 1 1/2 years we got married.
When I was introduced to my future parents-in-law in the Rhön, there was only one obstacle: I didn't understand the Rhön dialect at the time. But as you know, everything can be learnt. As I had a super-loving mother-in-law, I decided that if I ever found myself in the position of mother-in-law, I would also try to be a good mother-in-law. I hope that I have succeeded, because both my sons-in-law are totally fine. One of our daughters lives in Spain with her husband, their young son and all their animals. However, the husband is not from Spain, but from New Zealand. The other daughter lives with her partner and young daughter near Düsseldorf.

And so everything turned out to be a happy ending after all." - Gisela