December 6, 2006: Halved gent lives on

Yes, that's half a guy up there, being placed on his cart by his son as they head out on a tour of Beijing.

The very fine Spluch finds this news item at Xinhua, and translates for us:

Wonder if the increased blood flow to his (second) brain increased his mental abilities at all?

I had been wondering where all the Asian threads had gone off to.

They should put an angled mirror on his cart so that he can enjoy the view better as his son wheels him around town.

You know, some days I have trouble figuring out why it is worth it to go on, just because things aren't going exactly peachy for me. Then I see half a man, and have to feel incredibly guilty that I ever do anything besides sing Zippadedoodah and tap dance.

"I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man with no feet" - Unknown

"I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man with no cock" - Mr. Mike

I'm gonna have to try that diet. He lost half his body weight in no time!

I guess the doctors felt it was a challange..... but I can't help wondering if the guy appreciates it or not.

The Cellar: finding out how the other half lives.

Good thing he wasn't in Haiti with the face tumor girl. The doctors would have shaken a dead chicken at him and sent him on his way. Isn't modern superstition wonderful?

I was in Cambodia once and I was having lunch at some lunch stall place and a small boy pushed up a wheelchair containing a man with no arms and no legs - just a torso with a head on top. It tore my heart out to see... poor man unable to do anything but rely completely on his young brother to move him around.

Im not sure if he lost his limbs in a landmine accident (there are lots of those in Cambodia) but it seems a little unlikely to lose all four limbs neatly at the shoulder/hip joint and still survive the explosion. Then I started hearing stories about parents who do nasty things to their children when young to increase their begging potential and wondered if his parents had done it deliberately.

I gave him some money but wondered if I should have because they have begging syndicates and such where the beggars don't actually keep the money they beg, it goes to some master beggar somewhere.

Then I thought wouldn't it be amazing if I could get some money together and buy the guy a motorized wheelchair that he could steer with his mouth and give him a little independence from his brother. But someone would just nick it off him.

Damn its a cruel world.

Y'know...when you just skim read a title, cause like you've been on the computer too long and your eyes are tired......I entered this site expecting to see a halved giant, so I am somewhat disappointed.

blech, cambodia, that reminds me... im getting dragged there after christmas.
hooray for forced vacation...

i think it's cool his dad takes care of him like that. especially since there are so many dads out there who don't do that.

Why didn't they cast him as the bad guy in the latest "Wild Wild West"? They would not have needed any special effects.

And in perfectly bad taste: (singing) I'm half the man I used to be...

But Buster, I don't think his 'rents would let him visit the places you'd go.

I'm mit Bruce on this.

Nah thalidomide leaves little stumpy limbs, there was nothing to be seen there at all.

Going to Cambodia? Go to the place in Phnom Penh where you can fire the AK47!



oh yeah and see all the beautiful temples and things too...

Oh, i also forgot to say at the same place you can pay $200 and they'll let you fire a rocket launcher.

And if you fork out another $100 they will give you a COW to shoot it at.

That's just wrong on so many different levels SB...

Naw! Only one!

What's the half-life of a Chinese man?

Ow... my brain.