African Union to take Mali to U.N. Security Council: source

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Talenthouse Helps Creatives, Brands Succeed On Facebook ...

Imagine a world where every creative person can pay their bills and all brands are happy advertising on Facebook. Sound impossible? Talenthouse?s sponsored engagement engine may make both a reality.

Talenthouse hosts ?creative contests? on Facebook that brands sponsor to become part of the high level of social engagement that these contests generate.

Talenthouse hosted a contest that found bands to play on the Warner Music Group stage at South by Southwest. The contest resulted in 1,922 band submissions, 798,534 social engagements, and 18,944,727 ?peer-to-peer impressions? ? and it was all ?sponsored by Nikon.?

Stop Interrupting My News Feed!

What is TV advertising?s biggest problem? People hate being interrupted by ads.

Brands have the same problem when advertising on Facebook. Talenthouse Chief Executive Officer Roman Scharf says users feel like their Facebook page is ?their personal space? on the Web, and they don?t like companies making changes to it. Imagine coming home to a Subway sandwich poster in your living room ? that?s how people react to finding random business-to-consumer ads in their news feeds, Roman says.

Talenthouse solves this B2C ad-interruption problem by filling users? news feeds with content they like ? or at least with content from people they like. Talenthouse content in users? news feeds only comes from people near them in the social graph.

Example: Your photographer friend submits a photo to a creative contest. You are notified of his submission in your feed, and then vote for him via the Talenthouse application. Your friends then see that you voted for him, as well his photo, in their feeds. They can friend him, and vote for him, too.

This emotional experience of helping a friend help a friend is very different from interruption advertising. As a result, Talenthouse boasts an unheard-of share rate: 45 percent of posts through its app are shared on Facebook. And its social engagement circle just keeps getting bigger. Look at the statistics to the right.

?Creative Influencers? Drive This Engagement

Talenthouse develops relationships with ?creative influencers? on social platforms ? 1.5 million of them so far.

Influencers are people who effectively share content on Facebook with a responsive friend group.

Creatives are people who have creative ability and express themselves through art and design.

Talenthouse discovered that most effective social media influencers are also creatives. These creative influencers are the 20 percent of people who generate 80 percent of the engagement activity on Facebook. Why? Creative influencers have the best content and most active social graphs, so Facebook?s graph rank algorithm gives their posts great social distribution.

Talenthouse?s platform was created to harness this creative social engagement in a way that benefits both artists and brands.

Creative People Love It

Creative people want to do what they love: creating. Talenthouse gives them the opportunity to be creative and receive benefits from sharing their creativity with their friends.

Creative people benefit by:

• Increased social followings
• Awards and recognition
• Actual money or prizes if they win the contest

Brands Sponsor It

Many major brands are already using Talenthouse?s sponsored engagement engine. I admit that it takes a pretty big brand name to benefit from a ?sponsored by? credit in someone?s news feed, but a company like Nikon certainly gains from the exposure and traffic to its Facebook page.

Will Social Change Advertising?

Talenthouse is showing impressive growth and engagement numbers. Our question is whether its platform can truly scale to fill social media with great content from creative people who pay their bills with money from brand sponsorships.

The company was recently honored by Red Herring as one of the top 100 private companies in North America.

Guest writer Will McGrouther is chief executive officer of ExecutiveRecruitingLA.

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Obama honors Presidential Medal of Freedom winners: Who's eligible? (+video)

Answer: Anybody who's accomplished anything the president of the United States likes. Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom to Bob Dylan, John Glenn, and 11 other recipients Tuesday.

By Peter Grier / May 29, 2012

President Barack Obama awards a 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom to astronaut and former US Senator John Glenn during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

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What do Bob Dylan, Bob Dole, Warren Buffet, Earl Warren, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Jackie Robinson, and Jack Nicklaus have in common?

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> President Barack honored a diverse group of political and cultural icons, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author Toni Morrison and rock legend Bob Dylan, with the Medal of Freedom at the White House on Tuesday.

No, they?re not characters in the longest ?walk into a bar? joke ever told. They are all recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award the United States government bestows.

President Obama handed out 13 of these coveted decorations in an East Room ceremony on May 29. The aforementioned Mr. Dylan was one of the recipients. As he and John Glenn, Toni Morrison, and other 2012 honorees bowed to have the spiffy white star hung around their necks, we got to thinking: Where does the Presidential Medal of Freedom come from, anyway? How does it compare to the Medal of Honor and other top US decorations? Why did Dylan wear sunglasses to Tuesday?s East Room investiture?

That last question is unanswerable by us. As to the rest we?re now in position to provide a little US Medals 101 education, courtesy of the always helpful work of Congressional Research Service scholars.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by Harry S. Truman to reward World War II-connected activities. In 1945, the first awards were bestowed on four women who had shown conspicuous service and/or bravery, including Anna M. Rosenberg, a member of the War Manpower Commission, and Marie Louise Dissard, a leader of the French Resistance.

Throughout the late 1940s and early ?50s the medal went to figures related to security or diplomacy. In 1963, however, President John F. Kennedy made a major change, establishing the award as we understand it today. Via an executive order, JFK expanded those eligible to include ?any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.?

In other words, pretty much anybody who?s accomplished anything the president of the US likes.

That?s the second interesting part of the Medal of Freedom equation: it is something the president alone decides.

?As such, recipients tend to reflect the personal and political interests of the President. The accomplishments of past recipients have been in wide-ranging fields, including public service, journalism, business, sports, and entertainment,? wrote Barbara Salazar Torreon of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in a 2004 report on the subject.

That?s how artist Andrew Wyeth (1963) can share an award with Red Sox slugger Ted Williams (1991), Pope John Paul II (2004), and Sen. Edward Kennedy (2009).

Presidents themselves often win the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At least, every president from JFK to George H.W. Bush has, as successors from their own party honor their brethren. (There is one exception ? Richard Nixon.) Military figures can win it as well. World War II hero Army Gen. Omar Bradley received one in 1977. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf of Gulf War fame got his in 1991.

However, to be clear, the military has its own top award for heroism in battle. That?s the Medal of Honor, which was first presented in 1863. ?It is the nation?s highest military honor, awarded for acts of personal bravery or self-sacrifice that are above and beyond the call of duty,? according to Torreon of CRS.

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Iraq holds 4th postwar oil and gas auction

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Video: Facebook's Latest Debut: Options

Facebook options began trading today on a bearish note. What does this indicate about the stock's future? The FMHR traders weigh in with the play.

Related Links:

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White House Petitioned to Make Research Free to Access

Image: Wkimedia Commons/Daniel Schwen

From Nature magazine

More than 17,000 people have signed an online petition urging US President Barack Obama to require all scientific journal articles resulting from US taxpayer-funded research to be made freely available online. The signatures, obtained within a week of the petition's launch after an active social media campaign, put it over two-thirds of the way towards the threshold that will require an official response from the White House.

It comes as the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) ? one of the largest biomedical institutions in the United States ? becomes the latest institution to require its researchers to make their articles freely available in an open-access repository. However, they can opt out if it brings them into conflict with publishers. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and various Harvard University schools are among those with similar policies in place.

The petition, on the White House website, was launched by Access2Research, a group of four open-access advocates who were frustrated by the lack of progress on the issue and so are trying a new tack. The petition urges the president to ?act now to implement open access policies for all federal agencies that fund scientific research?.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, is the only US government agency that requires researchers to deposit their articles in the agency's PubMed Central online archive within 12 months of publication, a policy that followed a bill passed by Congress in 2007. It is estimated that about 90,000 papers are deposited each year, with half a million people accessing the database of 2.4 million papers each day.
Getting the ball rolling

?We know the NIH policy works to provide public access and there have been no data presented that it hurts publishers? revenues, so we are asking for that policy to be extended,? says John Wilbanks, a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, and one of the four people spearheading the petition.

The proposed extension would see open-access polices cover all 12 federal-science agencies, including the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture. The petition does not stipulate a time period within which articles should be deposited or a particular repository, to give agencies flexibility, Wilbanks says.

The agencies together receive about US$60 billion in federal research dollars each year, with about half going to the NIH, so the number of papers available annually could double under the proposal, says Heather Joseph, another petition leader and executive director of the pro-open access Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, based in Washington DC.

Assuming the petition tops 25,000 signatures before 19 June, there must be an official response from the administration. ?It at least puts the issue in front of the president's staff for consideration. The response could be as weak as a simple acknowledgement, or as strong as a policy statement or directive?, such as an executive order telling agencies to expand the NIH policy, Joseph adds.

The timing of the petition is no accident. A bipartisan bill ? the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) 2012 ? that advocates extending the NIH policy to other federal agencies, and shortening the time frame in which papers must be deposited from 12 months to 6, is making its way through Congress. The White House is also currently reviewing its open-access policies.

?We want the White House to state its position because it could get the ball rolling with agencies, and we want FRPAA because it is much harder to overturn,? says Joseph.

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NBA 2K12 Thaddeus Young Cyberface Patches

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Fast Track To A Facebook Phone ? Buy INQ Mobile?

As the heat around the "Facebook Phone" story gets higher, our thoughts turn to the days a couple of years ago when it emerged Facebook had been thinking about developing an actual phone. Back then, it transpired that Facebook was working with INQ Mobile on a smartphone. The phone duly emerged - the INQ1 - and did indeed have great Facebook integration. Even if it hasn't exactly been a smash hit, it's fared well enough. Indeed, HTC has also released their own ?Facebook? phone, such HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa respectively. INQ's runs on Google?s Android operating system, but with deeper Facebook integration. When asked about the INQ phone back in 2010, Zuckerberg said it wasn't "some massive big thing". But quite clearly, a phone is now firmly on the agenda.

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Crazy Body Piercing Gallery: Swords, Guns And Other Insane ...

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Samkong, pierces his cheeks with wrenchs during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 11, 2010 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine parades with two small guitars piercing his cheeks during a street procession to mark the annual Vegetarian Festival in the southern Thai town of Phuket on October 2, 2011. During the festival, which begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts nine days, religious devotees slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Christophe Archambault, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

An Israeli competitor poses for a picture during the "Truck Pull", a test of endurance in which the challenger pulls a 7.5 tone truck over a 30 meters course, on June 8, 2010 in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. (Jack Guez, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Tattoo artist Antonio Carmona is suspended in the air from hooks put in his back and arms 13 December, 2006 in Mexico City. Carmona did his performance as a protest against the social discrimination suffered by people who use tattos and piercings. (Luis Acosta, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Elaine Davidson, the most pierced woman in the world, shows off some of her 2,520 piercings at the 50th anniversary of the Guiness World Records in London 16 November, 2004. (Nicolas Asfouri, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Jui Tui, pierces his cheeks with skewers during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 14, 2010 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

British tattoo artist Karma Webb poses during the Nepal Tattoo Convention in Kathmandu on April 22, 2011. Some 57 tattoo artist from 10 different countries participated in the convention. (Prakash Mathema, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A man hangs from hooks put in his back and arms during the First International Tattoo Convention in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on October 31, 2010. (Raul Arboleda, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine parades with a gun piercing his cheek during a street procession to mark the annual Vegetarian Festival in the southern Thai town of Phuket on October 2, 2011. During the festival, which begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts nine days, religious devotees slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Christophe Archambault, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Bulgarian Genislav Naidenov shows his piercings during an annual international tattoo contest in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Sunday, May 4, 2008. Over the past few years tattoos have become popular among teenagers and there are many new tattoo studios around the country. (Petar Petrov, AP)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese Jui Tui Shrine parades with a sword piercing his cheek during a street procession marking the annual Vegetarian Festival in the southern Thai town of Phuket on October 3, 2011. During the festival, which begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts nine days, religious devotees slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Christophe Archambault, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Maria Jose Cristerna poses for pictures during a press conference at a tattoo shop in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, June 3, 2011. The Mexican tattoo artist said she started to cover her body in tattoos, piercings, titanium implants and dental fangs to re-invent herself as a vampire, her reaction after suffering domestic violence. Cristerna is in Colombia to attend a tattooing international convention. (William Fernando Martinez, AP)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Kathu Shrine, pieaces his cheeks with swords during during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 4, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand.Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Kathu Shrine, pierces his cheeks with power drills during a procession at the Vegetarian Festival on October 4, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Kathu Shrine, pierces his body with needles during a procession at the Vegetarian Festival on October 4, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Sui Boon Tong Shrine, pierces his cheeks with skewers during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 5, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee pulls his procession burden connected by hooks pierced in his back during the Thaipusam procession at Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on February 7, 2012 in Singapore. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai. Devotees pray and make vows, when the prayers are answered they fulfill the vows by piercing parts of their body such as their cheeks, tongues, and backs before carrying a 'Kavadi' along a four kilometre route. (Chris McGrath, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee has his body pierced with hooks before taking part in the Thaipusam procession at Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on February 7, 2012 in Singapore. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai. Devotees pray and make vows, when the prayers are answered they fulfill the vows by piercing parts of their body such as their cheeks, tongues, and backs before carrying a 'Kavadi' along a four kilometre route. (Chris McGrath, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A Hindu devotee gets pierced with spikes, flowers, milk, lime and fruits sewed to his body during the annual Hindu Thaipusam Kavady festival held at Shree Emperumal Hindu Temple in Mount Edgecombe township, some 42 kms north of Durban on February 11, 2012. The festival is a purification ritual offering prayers, penance, observing a strict month long vegetarian diet and celebrating the birth of Hindu god, Muruga. (Rajesh Jantilal, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A young Kosovo dervish, adept of Sufism, a mystical form of Islam that preaches tolerance and a search for understanding, takes part in a ceremony in the prayer room in the town of Prizren on March 22, 2012. The Kosovo dervish community carries on centuries-old mystical practices, such as self-piercing with needles and knives as a way to earn salvation and find the path to God. (Armend Nimani, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

An Indian Hindu devotee with his tongue pierced with a metal rod looks on, during the ritual of Shiva Gajan at a village in Bainan, some 80 kms south of Kolkata, on April 13, 2012. Devotees believe that by enduring the pain, Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, will grant their prayers. Thousands took part in the month-long festival which culminates with the worship of Shiva on the auspicious day of Chaitra Sankranti, the last day of the Bengali calendar year. (Dibyangshu Sarkar, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Eddie Sinclair, a telephone operator by day, performs an act of Yogic endurance as 'Kahbulah, the English Fakir' at the Big Drum in Nottinghamshire. With numerous nails and pins sticking into his bare flesh, he hammers a six-inch nail through his tongue and into a table June 5, 1959. (John Pratt, Keystone Features / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A woman is suspended in the air from hooks attached to body piercings put on her back, during the annual "Virada Cultural" event, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 6, 2012. The Virada Cultural is a cultural party which offers 24 hours of uninterrupted attractions in stages around the city, such as music, dance, cooking, theatre, exhibitions of art and history and other forms of expression. (Nelson Almeida, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

An Indian Hindu devotee walks with a trident rod piercing in her tongue known as Trishula during a procession to honour the Hindu goddess Maha Mariamman in Amritsar on May 13, 2012. Devotees believe that the goddess protects whoever worships her. (Narinder Nanu, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Circus performer Lucky Rich, age 28, shows his stainless steel teeth at the preview of the controversial exhibition of tattooing, piercing and body painting at The Australian Museum in Sydney 10 February 2000. Lucky, who also sports titanium implants in his penis, will feature in the show "Body Art" which runs until 18 June 2000. (Torsten Blackwood, AFP / Getty Imagess)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

An Iraqi Sufi with metal pins piercing close to his eye and through his tongue during a ritual at a mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad 16 February 2002. Sufism, or tasawwuf, is generally understood by scholars and Sufis to be the inner, mystical, or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam. (Ramzi Haidar, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Street entertainers perform on the Royal Mile Edinburgh as part of the Fringe during the Edinburgh Festival on August 23, 2006 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Deborah Boer has a check up on a recent cosmetic enhancement to her eyeball, a platinum heart on April 27, 2004 at Briebergen in the Netherlands. Eyeball jewellery has become the latest extreme fashion trend in the Netherlands with tiny gems placed surgically under the mucous membrane of the eye. (Michel Porro, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A woman with her back pierced forming a tantra, takes part 13 December, 2006 in Mexico City, of a protest against the social discrimination suffered by people who have tattos and piercings. (Luis Acosta, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A Hindu devotee (R) is restrained with hooks pierced through his back as he makes his way towards the Batu Caves temple during Thaipusam near Kuala Lumpur, 01 February 2007. Thaipusam, a festival commemorating the day when Goddess Pavarthi gave her son Lord Muruga an invincible lance with which he destroyed evil demons, is celebrated by some two million ethnic Indians in Malaysia. The centerpiece of the celebration is held at the Batu Caves, where worshippers pierced with hooks and skewers in their tongues, cheeks, chests and backs shoulder heavy structures called kavadis as they walk barefoot up the temple's 272 steps in a form of penance. (Tengku Bahar, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A lady with facial piercings poses for a photograph at the International Tattoo Convention at the Truman Brewary on October 6, 2007 in London, England. (Chris Jackson, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Paraguayan Miriam Lopez shows the palms of her hands pierced with nails during a homeless' protest march May 12, 2009 toward the Congress in Asuncion demanding the dismissal of SAS (Secretaria de Accion Social) director Pablino Caceres. (Norberto Duarte, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

Tattoo artist Jorge Castro is hung from piercing hooks on his back on August 15, 2009, in an attempt to set a Guinness record of a 3-hour suspension, during the International Convention of Tattoo at the World Trade Center in Mexico City. (Ronaldo Schemidt, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A Hindu devotee, restrained with hooks pierced through his back, makes his way towards the Batu Caves temple at sunrise during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur on January 30, 2010. The Hindu festival of Thaipusam, which commemorates the day when Goddess Pavarthi gave her son Lord Muruga an invincible lance with which he destroyed evil demons, is celebrated by some two million ethnic Indians in Malaysia. (Saeed Khan, AFP / Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Samkong, pierces his cheeks with axes during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 11, 2010 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Athit Perawongmetha, Getty Images)

Insane Piercings and Implants!!

The leader of the "Coorong Mob''" performers wears feathers, painted face stripes and a quill piercing his nose during the opening of the Yeperenye Federation Festival September 8, 2001 in Alice Springs, Central Australia. The Yeperenye Festival involves traditional elders with thousands of dancers, artists, singers, musicians and spectators who gather at Blatherskite Park on the traditional lands of the Arrernte people. During a year that Australi

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