Wherefore art thou, Romeo

Meet the world's smallest bodybuilder

At just 2ft 9in, Indian muscleman Aditya 'Romeo' Dev is the world's smallest bodybuilder. Pint-sized Romeo is well-known in his hometown of Phagwara, India - for his ability to lift 1.5kg dumbbells - despite his overall 9kg body weight. Every day, crowds flock to the local gym to the see the mini-muscleman in training
Unlike many dwarfs, Romeo is well proportioned, with a head circumference of 15in and a chest measurement of 20in. Romeo said: "I've been training as a bodybuilder for the last two years and by now I think I must be the strongest dwarf in the world. "I have always been fit but since I started working out, I have become famous for my strength. "My size has never stopped me. I train with dumbbells and do aerobics and dance. People are always pleased to see me. I have been invited on TV shows and dance on stage."
His trainer Ranjeet Pal spents hours helping his 19-year-old protege build his small muscles to perfection. Because of his small size, I don't assign him hard exercises. But Romeo trains more or less the same as anyone else and he's much more determined.
"When he first started, I insisted he did a month of basic exercises like aerobics, push-ups and basic gymnastics to prepare his body.
























OK, besides seeing a 2ft 9in body builder with yellow hair and a black mustache and spindly legs there was a couple of things that kind of stood out when I first saw these *pictures above.
The first thing that I noticed is why the heck can’t he find some weight lifting clothes that don’t look like they came from the toddlers department at Kmart?
The other thing I noticed is that that you would think if you were 1/3 the size of an average person one of the few advantages you might have is not looking your full age. This guy looks at least 40 and it says in the article he is only 19!

*These are real pictures. (No Blogball photo manipulation could compete with the real thing in this case)

Some Current Events

Garbage collectors will wear uniforms made from the same recycled bottles they collect Muncie, Indiana - Employees of the Muncie Sanitary District will wear uniforms made from the same recycled bottles they collect each week. With a $5,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the district will purchase 100-percent recycled jackets, T-shirts and polo shirts for its 140 employees.Lina Gordy, grant specialist for the district, said securing the grant is the city's latest effort to "go green." It's also a way for local government to save money from its own coffers that typically gets spent on uniforms of city employees.






Ice from airplane potty crashes through Calgary roof
Last Updated: Thursday, February 7, 2008 5:00 PM MT
Chunks of ice that smashed through a Calgary woman's roof came from the lavatory of an airplane flying overhead, transportation investigators said Thursday.
Marian Liknes was sitting and talking on the phone in the bedroom of her southeast home Thursday morning when she heard what she thought was an explosion behind her, said her husband, Wade.
Firefighters found two to three 15-centimetre chunks of ice on a bed inside the home, along with pieces of shingles, plywood, drywall and insulation.
The falling ice broke a hole about 30 centimetres wide in the roof.
John Lee, a manager with the Transportation Safety Board, confirmed the ice — made up of toilet water, antifreeze, disinfectant and human waste — came from an airplane bathroom.
He told CBC News planes can't evacuate the contents of a tank while in flight, but flying into warmer air can trigger some melting, which can cause a holding tank to malfunction.

SOME SPORTING NEWS

South Korean players dislocate shoulders to dodge draft
SEOUL, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Ninety-two current and former South Korean soccer players have been indicted for dodging military service by intentionally dislocating their shoulders to receive medical exemptions, a prosecutor said on Monday.
South Korean men spend up to 24 months in the military as part of mandatory service in the 670,000-strong armed forces, a duty which can hamper the careers of athletes.
The players, including 15 professional K-League players, dislocated their shoulders by methods such as swinging their arms while holding heavy weights or having fellow players jump on their shoulders, the official said.

PITTSBURGH — A high school wrestling coach accused of biting a wrestler in the leg has agreed to resign rather than face possible criminal charges, police said.
Mike Marshall bit the Central Cambria High School wrestler at practice on Jan. 21, Cambria Township police Officer James McGough said.
"The coach was wrestling with him and bit him in the leg, the upper thigh," McGough said.
Marshall's attorney, John D. Messina, said the incident was "completely innocent" and not malicious."The incident occurred while he was joking around with one of the wrestlers," Messina said. "Certainly it was poor judgment and it cost him his job."
Marshall was expected to resign Wednesday, Messina said.