Bubbles & Michael Jackson in 1986

How many signed words did Michael Jackson know? How did he learn American Sign Language?  Nobody really knows. Fookem and Bug team found a rare footage from Jackson on a tour of Japan in 1987. This video shows that Jackson signed “SIT” to his monkey Bubbles.  He understood Jackson’s sign language. Michael Jackson almost wanted to sign “sit” to Bubbles at 0:27 but a chimp did not see it. Finally, Jackson signed to him at 0:36.  View this video of Jackson signing to Bubble. And they are doing the moonwalk:

For many years the baby chimp Bubbles was always beside Jackson until he grew up and became less cute and more unpredictable.  Jackson claimed that Bubbles had slugged him.  Also, he was afraid that Bubbles may attack Jackson’s newborn son, Prince Michael II. He gave his 11 year old chimp friend to a private zoo.The singer stated he regretted having to remove the chimp, as they can live to 60 years old.

How did Michael Jackson meet Bubbles?  In 1985 Jackson rescused him from a cancer-research lab in Texas.  He adopted three year old baby chimp as his pet and friend.  Bubbles lived at Jackson’s Encino home, but moved to Neverland Ranch in 1988. He slept in a crib in Jackson’s bedroom. He was allowed to use Jackson’s private toliet. His chimp sometimes wore a diaper.

Bubbles was taught how to moonwalk and he famously made a cameo in the video for “Liberian Girl” and accompanied Jackson during the recording sessions for Bad.  “Liberian Girl” was not one of Jackson’s bigger hit but was still the ninth and final single from the bad album. See Bubbles in this video at 2:08 – 2:14 but no closed captions or subtitles:

Bubbles and his little Bubbles

The sad news of Michael’s death made many people thinking of Bubbles. The news of his death still doesn’t seem entierly real, and there are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered. Good news is that Bubbles is still alive and enjoying his life at a ranch in Sylmar, California.

At last does Bubbles know his beloved friend Michael Jackson’s death? It is possible because the animals can sense the death of someone they are loyal too.

Bubbles’ life saved by Michael Jackson. He is probably the luckiest chimp. Over years Jackson out to animals for their unconditional love and non-judgmental companionship, he often gave back to them in return. Bless Michael Jackson.

By Bug

 Most of us have better visual skill than most hearies? Let’s try and play the online Tic-Tac-Toe game (see the link below). It must be special to be in this spot, right? Good luck !

http://tinyurl.com/2uof4m

Boy, 11, who was deaf for NINE years regains hearing… after cotton bud pops out of his ear

For nine years, Jerome Bartens had to cope with the handicap of being half deaf.
Ever since he was a toddler, the 11-year-old had been unable to hear anything on his right side and doctors said they were unable to help.

Then suddenly the reason for his problems became clear – when the end of a cotton bud popped out of his ear.

Jerome with the cotton bud that was stuck in his ear for nine years. It popped out while he was playing pool with friends

His family believe that he must have poked the bud in the ear at the age of two and the tip must have broken off the plastic stem.

The result was that he has always struggled at school, was constantly forced to turn up the volume of the television and music, and became used to everyone shouting at him.

But now he is waking up to a whole world of noise – while his father Carsten is demanding to know why medical experts failed to identify the problem for so long.

Cured: Jerome Barten can now hear perfectly
Yesterday Mr Bartens, 45, told how Jerome was playing with his friends in a church hall when he heard a popping sound in his right ear.

He put his finger in and found the tip of a cotton wool bud.

“It was just incredible – his hearing returned to normal in an instant.

“He was cured as suddenly as he became deaf. I had always suspected Jerome had stuck something in his ear when he was little and that was causing the problem.

“But the doctors and hearing specialists said it was wax and he would probably grow out of it.

“I am amazed they didn’t spot something as obvious as a cotton wool bud.”

Mr Bartens, an HGV driver from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, has now complained to his GP and hearing specialists who examined Jerome over the years.

He said: “It has held Jerome back in school and caused him problems in communicating with his friends.”

The cause: Experts could not figure out why Jerome was deaf but a simple a cotton bud was to blame

Mr Bartens – who also has two daughters Takita, 16, and Tiffany, 14 – says he is “thrilled” that Jerome’s hearing has come back.

He said: “If he was playing in the garden I would have to shout for him eight or nine times before he would respond.

“But now he has 100 per cent hearing and he’s just a normal boy again.”

Jerome is due to be examined by hearing experts this week – and his father is taking along the cotton wool bud as proof of his “miracle cure”.

“I can hear much better now and I think I’ll be much happier at school now my ear does not ache all the time,” said Jerome.

“I was just playing pool in the church hall when my ear made a popping noise. It was very strange at first to be able to hear everything.

“But now I’m getting used to it – it’s great that people don’t have to shout to me and that I don’t have to turn my head all the time.”

An article can be found at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=326_1201656363

In 1999, Sign Language Barbie was developed in partnership with the National Center of Deafness at California State University to ensure the doll instructed sign language accurately and was not offensive to deaf people or those hard of hearing. They are rare to be found at the stores. You might want to read more about Sign Language Barbie Doll, click: http://www.calstate.edu/newsline/Archive/99-00/000605-Nor.shtml

The quadbike world record attempt with Graham Hicks driving and Matt Coulter riding pillion.

On 21st May 2001, Graham ‘G-Force’ Hicks from Peterborough, who is totally deaf and blind made it into the record books again. On the two mile airstrip at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire, Graham set the first ever quadbike world speed record at 99.26mph! He broke the record for the fasted speed on a quad bike and fastest England to Holland on a jetski. Mike Coulter rode behind guiding him by means of touch.

Graham became blind when he was 3 year old. At age of five, he became deaf. If the people need to talk with Graham, they need to use the fingerspelling. Fingerspelling, the Deafblind Manual Alphabet is a method of spelling out words onto a deafblind person’s hand. A particular sign or place on the hand represents each letter.

To learn more about Graham Hicks, go to http://deafblind-access.com/6.html

A deaf and blind man who has travelled 300 miles by land and sea has completed his journey on a jet ski.

By Bug

Watch this video and see a Deaf girl asking Santa Claus to call her. Did Mr Claus call her through VRS? Yes!

So is there a Santa Claus?

Well, we live in a world where the idea of someone rewarding good behavior in this life, rather than the next (or at the door to the Disneyland) sounds darn nice, and particularly for children, is a good reminder of the rewards of thrift, virtue, compassion and honesty. And those are sorely missing attributes in our modern world, if you ask me.

So yes, I think that there is a Santa Claus.

I’ll certainly make sure we leave a plate of cookies and glass of milk out on Christmas Eve. How about you?

Enjoy the video.

click on picture to enlarge it

By JFLMad

Hello I want to tell you something happened to me today about 2 hours ago. Today is my day off, I work for U.S. Postal Service. There’s no weekends off for me as we follow their policy of going by seniority ranks. My days off are on Wednesday and Thursday, today is Wednesday and what am I doing? I am going to xmas shopping and yes that’s last minute…that’s me. I am going to that shopping plaza where they have Kohl’s store, my favorite store, Xsport fitness and right across is Portiollo’s restaurant. As I enter the parking lot…all of sudden, I did not see other car coming toward to my right side and rammed my car. Lucky, nothing serious happened to me and I am okay. It’s really unexpected event as it’s my first time to have car accident in my life! It’s good thing that it happened in the rear of the car, not in the front of the car…less impact, I think. We pulled off and found out that the other driver is only 20 years old woman, that explained! She has old Jeep Wrangler and has steel bumper, my car is Ford Escape and the steel bumper rammed and destroyed my right rear passenger side badly. But good thing that my right rear wheel look fine but don’t know if it will be in good shape if drive in the long distance because the accident site to my home is only less than a mile. I got out of my car and check out the damaged area and whoa! my passenger door is tilted to left side a little bit and some damaged on the door, can’t open the door too. The lady’s jeep look perfect with minor damaged to her wheel well hub, the plastic thing. Important thing is that I am ok and she is ok too. I am showing you the pictures now. I plan to videotape it but the outside is dark and hard to see so the pictures will do and you can get idea what it looks like. *thumb up*, thank you.

P.S. – After the incident, of course I went back to home and my plan of xmas shopping was dropped. Maybe I will do it tomorrow or so. Btw, there’s no oil spill on the driveway as it is from the melting of the snow.

By Bug

Look at Deaf children smiling at Santa Claus in this video. Here is the proof: He knows our American Sign Language. Do you believe in Santa Claus? It’s an age-old question, which has become intertwined with the spirit of giving, with the magic of Christmas, and a wish to have one time of the year when truly anything is possible. Seeing is believing. Enjoy this video.

Can the bears express their needs in sign language? Check this video and decide for yourself

Written by Bug

In 2002 I lost my beloved hearing dog Fancy after a drunken driver crashed into my vehicle. I was injuried at the site where I held her close to my chest while she was struggling to catch her last breathe. My spirit was broken. A few days later I buried her at Precious Pet Cemetery not far from where I live. Since then it started with strange feeling around the familar  feeling (“sound”) of her nose touching my shoulder while I was sleeping. It would take a second for me to realize, to remind myself, that she was dead. Was my mind playing tricks on me? Was I feeling something else, perhaps squeaks in the bed that my mind interpreted as dog sounds because I was so used to feeling her. Did I ever she her in ghost? No.

Two or three year ago my mother came from another state to visit me. She said that it started with strange noises at night …the familiar sound of Fancy’s whimpers and barks in the empty room. My mother felt the dog licking her hand while she slept.

When thinking of ghosts, we usually evision people, but what about animals? Are they any different from us? Who knows?