By Lauren Musacchio  |  March 13, 2013   |  rollingstone

Trust Lady Gaga to turn injury into spectacle. After canceling the rest of her Born This Way Ball Tour and going into surgery for an inflammatory joint infection called synovitis, she is currently confined to a wheelchair – but, per usual, the chair is an elaborate one covered in 24-karat gold.

According to the Daily Beast, the chair was commissioned by Gaga’s stylist to jewelry designer Ken Borochov. Borochov, of the label Mordekai, completed the throne with only a week’s notice and worked with manufacturers across the country on each costly component. “It was a huge undertaking,” Borochov said. “It was made all over the United States. My assistant had to run around everywhere.”

The chair is plated with 1.5 ounces of gold, an approximate $2,600 value. It’s a functional chair but not state-of-the-art – Gaga will have to power herself manually in it – with a tufted leather seat that was inspired by leather jackets. It also has a removable canopy to keep Lady Gaga guarded from the sun. The singer has not been seen in public with the chair except at a Terry Richardson photo shoot.

The Mordekai jewelry line was launched two years ago by the 30-year-old Borochov and has received attention from Gaga, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. Borochov has not met Lady Gaga yet but says he hopes to “when the time is right.”

Dylan Hayes was hospitalized for 20 hours, but left with barely a scratch. PHOTO: KCNC

Toddler Survives Three-Story Fall, Lands On Feet

8:47 AM, Mar 4, 2013  |http://www.wusa9.com

AURORA,COLORADO (CBS/KCNC) — A four-year-old boy from Colorado survived a three-story fall, miraculously landing on his feet.

The third-story window where Dylan fell from
Dylan Hayes fell out the window of his Aurora apartment while his mother was shampooing her carpets, CBS Denver affiliate KCNC reports. She had moved her couch to the wall when Dylan climbed on it to talk through the windows to the downstairs neighbors.

“I fall … really, really far,” Dylan told CBS reporter Evrod Cassimy.

His mother, Jessica Hayes, said she hopes the scary event serves as a warning for parents with young children.

“I was terrified,” Jessica said. “I didn’t know what I was going to see when I got down to the ground floor.”

Dylan fell out of the third story window, did two somersaults in the air, and landed on the rock below on his feet. The screen he broke through suffered more damage than he did, KCNC reports.

The boy was hospitalized for 20 hours, wearing a neck brace as a precaution. But he was released with barely a scratch.

“it’s gotten easier since it happened two weeks ago to not blame myself,” Jessica told the station. “I wish the danger would have crossed by mind, which it didn’t.”

Jessica told KCNC she has since moved out of her apartment to live with a relative, and is looking for a new home — on the first floor.

The undated photo provided by University of Stuttgart shows an ancient Buddhist statue that a Nazi expedition brought back from Tibet shortly before World War II. The statue was carved from a meteorite which crashed on Earth thousands of years ago. What sounds like an Indiana Jones movie plot appears to have actually taken place, according to European researchers publishing in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science this month. Elmar Buchner of the University of Stuttgart, said Thursday Sept 27 2012 that the statue was brought to Germany by the Schaefer expedition. The Nazi-backed venture set out for Tibet in 1938 in part to trace the origins of the Aryan race _ a cornerstone of the Nazis’ racist ideology. The existence of the statue _ known as “iron man” _ was only revealed in 2007 when its owner died and it came up for auction, Buchner told The Associated Press. Image AP Photo/University of Stuttgart, Elmar Buchner

Ancient statue discovered by Nazis is made from meteorite

By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC World Service  |  27 September 2012

An ancient statue that was recovered by a Nazi expedition in the 1930s was originally carved from a highly valuable meteorite.

Researchers say the 1,000-year-old object with a swastika on its stomach is made from a rare form of iron with a high content of nickel.

They believe it is part of the Chinga meteorite, which crashed about 15,000 years ago.

The findings appear in the Journal, Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

The 24cm (9-inch) tall statue is 10kg (22lb) and is called the Iron Man.

Origins unknown

The story of this priceless object owes more perhaps to an Indiana Jones film script than sober scientific research.

It was discovered in Tibet in 1938 by German scientist Ernst Schafer. His expedition was supported by the Nazis, in particular by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Himmler was said to believe the Aryan race originated in Tibet and was keen to recover objects from the area.

Brought back to Germany, the statue became part of a private collection and disappeared from view until 2007. A new owner then sought scientific advice on the origins. He turned to Dr Elmar Buchner from the University of Stuttgart.

“I was absolutely sure it was a meteorite when I saw it first, even at 10 metres” said Dr Buchner.

He said that the clue was in small, thumb like impressions caused by the melting of the surface. Further analysis showed that it was a rare ataxite class, a type of meteorite not often found on Earth.

“It is rich in nickel, it is rich in cobalt. Less than 0.1% of all meteorites and less than 1% of iron meteorites are ataxites, so it is the rarest type of meteorites you can find.”

Meteorites have been seen as a sign of divine activity across many cultures since the dawn of time. Knives and jewellery were made from iron meteorites by ancient Inuit. But tracing their exact origins is often extremely difficult.

The German and Austrian scientists who worked on the Iron Man with Dr Buchner were surprised to be able to trace the statue to a specific event in meteorite history.

Absolutely priceless

The researchers believe it was carved from a piece of the Chinga meteorite that fell in the border region of eastern Siberia and Mongolia about 15,000 years ago.

The debris from the crash was only discovered in 1913 by gold prospectors, but the individual fragment from which the statue was carved was collected many centuries before.

“We were quite astonished by the results,” said Dr Buchner.

“OK, it’s a meteorite but what amazed me was that we could also say it was from Chinga, that we could find the provenance, that was really astonishing for me.”

The statue is believed to portray the god Vaisravana. The researchers think it belongs to the pre-Buddhist Bon culture that existed in Asia about 1,000 years ago.

“If we are right that it was made in the Bon culture in the 11th Century, it is absolutely priceless and absolutely unique worldwide,” observed Dr Buchner.

Neither the person who carved it or the Nazis had any idea it was made from such a rare substance, he said.

In keeping with the Hollywood element in the story, Dr Buchner said the statue had a certain aura.

“It is extremely impressive, it was formerly almost completely gilded – there is a great mystery represented by it.”

Prince Bertil and his companion Lilian Davies smile on Jan. 13, 1976, shortly before their marriage. Image Keystone-France via Getty Images

A young Lilian. Image Added by: Lucy Caldarelli to www.findagrave.com

Princess in Sweden’s best-known love story dies at 97

By Patrick Lannin, Reuters

STOCKHOLM — The British-born Swedish princess whose secret 33-year romance with her royal husband became Sweden’s best-known love story, died on Sunday at the age of 97, the court said.

Princess Lilian was the commoner wife of Prince Bertil, who died in 1997. They met and fell in love in London during World War Two, but had to keep their relationship secret for decades for the sake of the crown and to avoid a constitutional crisis.

“It is with sorrow that I have learnt that H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness) Princess Lilian is dead,” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a statement.

“A much loved and appreciated member of the royal family has now passed away,” he added.

The royal court said in a statement that the princess, born Lillian Davies to a working class family in Swansea in August 1915, died peacefully in her sleep in the afternoon at her home in Stockholm. Local media said members of the royal family had managed to make their farewells to Lilian before she died.

Lilian, a divorcee, and Prince Bertil had to keep their love secret as Bertil’s elder brother and heir to the throne, Prince Gustaf Adolf, had died in a plane crash in 1947 while the next brother, Sigvard, waived his right to the throne by marrying a commoner.

That left Bertil next in line until his infant nephew, Crown Prince Carl Gustaf came of age. If Prince Bertil had married a commoner he would have had to renounce his right to the throne, probably sparking a constitutional crisis.

It was not until after the crown prince became king in 1973, and married a few years later, that Prince Bertil and Lilian could finally get married themselves and appear in public.

The prince also had a house in the south of France and that was where the couple were most relaxed in the times before they could officially become a couple.

After Prince Bertil’s death, Lilian carried out many ceremonial duties close to his heart, particularly those linked with sport. She wrote a book about their life together in 2000, including the pain she felt at not being able to accompany her partner on official duties. She dropped out of the public eye after the court said in 2010 that she had Alzheimer’s disease.

In a black and white television interview from the time of the wedding, shown on the website of tabloid Aftonbladet, Prince Bertil said the main thing he regretted was that they had to wait so long to get married that they could not have children.

“That is something that is rather sad,” he said, before turning to Lilian and adding: “After all, we are still very happy, aren’t we?”

“Very, very happy,” was Lilian’s reply.