A radio DJ from San Diego has created his own micronation called ‘Slowjamastan’ and has appointed himself ‘Sultan’ of the 11-acre territory in the Golden State. 

Randy ‘R Dub’ Williams has visited every UN designated country – more than 190 across the world – and has resorted to creating his own nation under his rules. 

‘I’ve seen some incredible places that many people do not get the chance to travel to … What’s next for me, it’s to make a country of my own,’ Williams told FOX 5.  

Like any country, the micronation has rules for residents. Outlawed actions include wearing crocs, eating string cheese by biting it instead of pulling it apart, and playing ‘mumble rap’ music. 

The micronation has not been officially recognized by the United States although Williams’ Slowjamastan passport has been stamped by 16 countries.  He also claims 5,000 people have signed-up to become citizens. 

Micronations like Slowjamastan are independent but are not formally recognized by sovereign states. There are an estimated 70 around the world. 

It was a micronation in Nevada called ‘Republic of Molossia’ that gave Williams the idea to come up with Slowjamastan. 

Since buying the land in 2021, the Sultan has put real elbow grease into cultivating the nation and putting it on the map. 

The country has a national anthem called ‘Slowjamastan (I think It’s Gonna Be an Awesome Place),’ a ‘parliament,’ and a national animal – the ringtail raccoon.

Slowjamastan also has its own currency – the ‘duble,’ which is a play on Russia’s currency, the Ruble. 

When asked what the structure of the government is, the ‘Sultan’ said it’s a  dictatorship that’s occasionally a democracy. 

‘We are a republic on some days, but on (other) days we have a dictatorship,’ the radio DJ told FOX 5. 

‘I am the great leader that makes the rules, although sometimes … we let the community chime in on issues that are important to the Slowjamastani,’ he said.

Aside from the ban on crocs and outlawing of ‘mumble rap,’ residents are not allowed to drive in the left lane unless actually passing another car.

No citizens live in Slowjamastan but there are thousands of citizens around the world and tons who are still waiting in line.  

Williams said the name of his new country is a reference to his time as a slow-jams DJ on Magic 92.5 in Southern California. 

‘The sultan is the sultan of slow jams,’ Williams said.  

‘He loves the Boys II Men, and the Usher, and the Alicia Keys, Luther Vandross and Anita Baker,’ the man said, speaking in third person. 

‘That’s just kind of the tie-in we wanted – the land of slow jams where people could come and just vibe out and relax,’ the ‘Sultan’ continued.

Williams said the micronation has no infrastructure but plans are in place to build solar power facilities, an armadillo farm, and a Mongolian BBQ restaurant. 

He said he hopes that the U.S. will recognize Slowjamastan with additional developments to the barren state and residents, of which they already have many. 

‘We have citizens from all over six continents,’ Williams told the San Diego outlet. 

‘We are very proud citizens … These people are proud to be a part of something new and fresh,’ the ‘Sultan’ continued.

Those who want to travel to ‘The United Territories of The Sovereign Nation of The People’s Republic of Slowjamastan’ will need to procure a visa. 

Without permission, visitors are unable to come into the area and are encouraged to take a selfie with the border sign on Highway 78 in Imperial County. 

Micronations are legal but are considered independent developments that exist as a state within a state, similar to Native American reservations. 

The concept of the small, self-governed countries is certainly not new. 

The Empire of Atlantium, a micronation founded in 1981 in a suburb of Sydney, was reported on by BBC in 2022 for the way that it came into the public eye. 

Founder George Cruickshank, a teenager at the time, declared the ‘nation’ independent from Australia and has maintained that status since. 

‘The idea of a sovereign nation state having complete authority over its citizens within defined borders is only a fairly recent development, and it led to all of the horrors of the 20th Century,’ said Cruickshank.

Millions of us already trust Dr Google, but now there’s a new online doctor in town.

A British medical student has created an AI chatbot which claims to provide ‘more reliable health information’ than the search engine.

BTRU — pronounced Better You — trawls through pages from the likes of the World Health Organization to give users personalised answers, just like ChatGPT.

Ian Soh, 22, who is in his penultimate year at St George’s Medical Hospital in south London, insists the bot he has created is ‘reliable’.

He said: ‘I believe in a time when people can take control of their health, find reliable health information and make sense of their health, no matter their background.’

But experts today insisted AI medical advice will never be able to replace that of a human doctor.  

Gynaecologist Narendra Pisal said that knowing someone’s personal history is ‘vital’ to diagnosis. 

Mr Pisa, of the private London Gynaecology clinic, said: ‘This is one of the reasons why AI will not replace medical expertise. 

‘Ability to ask relevant questions regarding the context is so important when giving a medical opinion. 

‘Often that comes from obtaining a detailed history.’

Other experts raised concern over some of the answers given by BTRU. 

MailOnline tested the chatbot by asking: ‘I am a man, can I get womb cancer?’

The bot said that men could get cancer in their womb if they have ‘a history of high oestrogen levels’. It added that symptoms in men are ‘vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain and discharge’. 

Women’s health expert Dr Semiya Aziz, a GP in north London, said: ‘It has failed to clarify the terminology of men, so it is an incorrect answer.’

Only biological women can get womb cancer because males aren’t born with one.

Women who transition to men, however, and get diagnosed with the disease might consider themselves males.

Dr Aziz added that AI can create ‘unnecessary anxiety’ for people who cannot see a doctor, as well have an impact on their mental health. 

BTRU did, however, dismiss the idea that men could get pregnant, describing male pregnancy as a ‘subject of science-fiction’ that has ‘no basis in reality’.

One NHS doctor told MailOnline she has seen an increase in people claiming to have an emotional connection with ‘health robots’.  

Dr Hana Patel, who works as a GP in southeast London, said: ‘I already have patients coming in with Dr Google diagnoses and expectations of how to manage their symptoms.

‘It may be even more difficult to manage patients who trust and feel that they have a connection with an AI health robot, especially if this gives them an answer regarding a question they have at that time.’

The search tool gave different responses to NHS advice pages, which have been criticised for erasing gender-based language. 

NHS guidance for the menopause is just one of the topics at the centre of a gender-neutral storm. 

It used to describe the condition as ‘when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally’. But it now reads: ‘Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels’.

The first mention of the term ‘women’ in the new version is found in the fourth page, in a section about drugs to treat the condition.

No such gender-neutral changes have been made to male cancers, like testicular cancer.  

The BTRU founder said he wants his platform to achieve better health advice online.

He said: ‘I believe in a time when people can take control of their health, find reliable health information and make sense of their health, no matter their background’, he added. 

Fancy a Slash of milk with that? Artist creates portraits of musical icons – using cornflakes

By Erin Clements

Published: 13:09 EDT, 18 June 2014 | Updated: 10:13 EDT, 19 June 2014

Sometimes it pays to play with your food: A New York-based artist has constructed meticulous portraits of famous musicians with cornflakes.

Illustrator and photographer Sarah Rosado used cereal to produce renderings of stars including Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and John Lennon.

Bob Marley, Slash and Alicia Keys are also part of Rosado’s breakfast club.

As Thrillist notes, ‘Ironically, the lead singer of Korn did not make the cut.’

Rosado tells Yahoo! that she came up with the idea while eating cereal and listening to oldies and R&B music, and that each piece took roughly five hours to make.

She says the process involved sketching the artists, crushing the cereal before placing it over the drawings and then using a pin to get the facial features just right.

According to her website, Rosado’s penchant for art began at age five when she ‘found herself scribbling drawings all over her notebook and everything she could get her hands on.’

She later ‘developed an interest in photography focusing on capturing images and other creative scenes that are intended to fool the eye of the beholder with thought provoking and illusional images that are open for different interpretations by the viewer.’

Last year, she told Virago magazine, ‘I find myself always stepping out of my comfort zone since I love to experiment and challenge myself with different ideas.’

She added, ‘I am always looking at other artists’ work online and was impressed by many works that include images created with food, flowers and other objects.’

No milk, no cry: Bob Marley’s sugary portrait looks good enough to eat

Rosado’s attention to detail can also be seen in her ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ series, in which she created illustrations of various objects using dirt as a medium.

‘I wanted to challenge myself to do something totally different to what I was used to doing and unlike anything ever seen before,’ Rosado told the Baltimore Sun in January. ‘That’s how my dirt collection was created.’

Artist, 24, creates stunning sculptures using beaches as her blank canvas just one month after picking up a rake for first time

• Chloe Dickey began sand sculpting less than one month ago
• Her drawings on the NSW coast have become a hit online
  
• 24-year-old has been asked to design sand art for couples getting hitched
  

By Sarah Dean

Published: 04:53 EDT, 22 June 2014 | Updated: 09:06 EDT, 22 June 2014

A young woman with a passion for art has begun using the beach as her blank canvas and is creating beautiful designs in the process.

But Chloe Dickey’s sand sculptures aren’t like the usual dolphin and turtle designs that are etched into beaches, she uses patterns and geometrical shapes to express herself.

The 24-year-old from Lake Cathie, NSW, works in the wet sand at low tide meaning her drawings don’t stick around for long when the waves roll in.

Scroll down for video

‘They get washed away quickly,’ Chloe told MailOnline.

‘But it makes it more special that it’s a temporary thing,’ she added.

Chloe only got into sand sketching by accident after she saw a story online and thought her art would translate well onto the sand.

‘I bought a rake one month later. I got it from Bunnings and it only cost me about $20,’ she explained.

Chloe has a full-time job as an exercise physiologist and squeezes in her artistic sideline whenever the low tide allows – namely sunrise at around 6am.

MailOnline captured Chloe creating a floral design in a cove at Port Macquarie, on the Mid North Coast of NSW, on Saturday morning.

Our time-lapse video shows how she created a stunning pattern in the sand in an hour and a half.

Chloe filled up the whole beach space with her intricate design.

But while drawing in the sand may look easy, Chloe said she it’s actually physically demanding.

‘I get a bit of a sweat on,’ she laughed.

‘It can be physically demanding after an hour or so my back gets sore. I’m also using my core strength on the hard wet sand.’

Since starting a Facebook group showing her drawings three weeks ago, Chloe has received over 500 likes and has been approached by couples who want her to sketch something special for their big day.

‘One couple wants to get married on the beach where I normally draw,’ she said.

‘People are also contacting me to find out where I will be next,’ she added.

But if too many people are watching Chloe explained it can be ‘distracting’.

‘I do get into the zone while I’m there,’ she said.

This gives a new meaning to face painting! Make-up artist who transforms herself into celebrities, including footballers from the World Cup Squad

• Always artistic, Maria used to paint her children’s faces
• Maria only uses paint and her natural talent to create celebrity faces
• Method is unusual as does not use any prosthetic materials
• Set up a website and her looks went viral
• Been asked to give talks and teach master classes around the world
• Would love to work behind the scenes in Hollywood productions
  

By Katy Winter

Published: 10:34 EDT, 18 June 2014 | Updated: 07:46 EDT, 30 July 2014

A London mother-of-two has the ability to transform herself into practically any person or creature using purely make-up.

In support of England’s first match at the world cup, Maria Malone-Guerbaa even turned herself into Wayne Rooney and World Cup goal-scoring footballer Daniel Sturridge.

Maria used only make-up and face paints to create the illusion of Sturridge and Rooney on her face.

She is also able to give herself a picture-perfect likeness of other famous faces including A-list stars Angeline Jolie, Morgan Freeman and The Queen.

After putting her passion on hold when she had her family, the 40-year-old’s work has become a hit after she put it online.

Maria, who lives with husband Billy and children Sophia, 12, and Adam, 10, has since been invited to teach at a prestigious make-up event in Miami in 2015.

What makes her face painting technique so unusual, is that unlike other special effects make up artists, she does not rely on any prosthetic materials to create her ‘faces’.

Maria only uses paint and her natural talent to create celebrity faces, footballers, zombies, 3D effects and even gory cuts.

As soon as she set up her make up page, her lifelike face painting went viral on Facebook.

Maria’s transformations, which have become known as ‘famous faces’ to her fans, also caught the eye of the International Make Up Artist Trade Show- commonly known as IMATS, who have invited her to be a guest speaker this summer.

The make up artist, who is originally from Limerick, has always had a talent and passion for art, and particularly enjoyed pencil drawing and charcoal sketches as a child.

After finishing school she applied to Limerick Art College, however Maria ended up turning down her place.

She explains: ‘I felt at the time that there wasn’t anywhere for me to go with what I wanted to do, I didn’t want to be a standard artist. I loved special effects, particularly body and face art.

‘I went to find out about it but there was literally nowhere in Limerick or Ireland that specialised in that kind up of make up art.’

Feeling frustrated she decided to move to London. Within three weeks she met her husband and together they have opened a line of cafe’s in the city.

Focusing on business and having two young children, Maria wasn’t left with much time to focus on her art. When she turned 33, she decided that it was time she invested in her talents.

She enrolled in Christine Blundell’s make up academy, which is based in Camden.

It wasn’t long before word of Maria’s skills spread and she was working at the Barbican on a play called The City Of Angels.

Soon after, she began working on BBC’s Switch and Channel Four production Horrible Histories.

‘I had to do the make up for one of Henry VIII’s wives, Katherine Howard. It was after she was beheaded so I had to make her look like she was dead, and as though she has been decapitated.’

The budding make up artist had not really explored face painting at this stage, until she was approached by a mother at one of her children’s school. She had heard that Maria was a make up artist and asked her to help out at the school’s summer fete.

‘I was practicing on the children at home but they used to get bored so that’s why I started painting my own face.

‘I would go up to the kitchen and start painting, it developed over the years, going from this level to the next and now people asking how did I learn to paint like this?

‘The famous faces are my favourite because they’ve made me very popular they went viral on Facebook which was a shock. People were messaging me from around the world, it was mad.

‘Then the make up world and face painting world started talking to me, and people in Miami called the World Face and Body Painting Association,’ says Maria.

The association got in touch with Maria at the end of last summer, after seeing her famous faces creations on Facebook and invited her to this year’s event. Maria and her husband Billy flew for over a week.

So that really spurred me on thinking I am doing something different, because to me I just thought I was clowning around.

Morgan Freeman and Elvis went viral and then I decided to do more and more famous faces. They take me about four hours to do as they are very detailed, and I literally use the smallest brush – an eyeliner brush,’ says Maria.

The Fabiac Face & Body Art International Event was held in May this year and the organisation asked her to be a special guest and teach some classes at the event in 2015.

She is currently sponsored by Superstar face paints who are based in Holland and Face Paint UK.

They provide her with the paints she needs and both have asked her to teach classes to their students.

Maria decided to wait until she had visited Miami and watched how others teach, before leading her own classes.

Maria says: ‘It’s a different ballgame and I want to do it the right way. Superstar said just be yourself, and I did see that in Miami. Everybody was very relaxed and doing demos and asking questions.’

‘My aim right now is to teach there next year in 2015. But I might start this year at some workshops in Holland and the UK. I just have to fit it in with the children. It’s doable.’

Maria says that although she would love to work behind the scenes in Hollywood productions, she will wait a few years before applying for those roles as she is very dedicated to being close to her children as they grow up.

‘I don’t feel comfortable about leaving them for months -which is how long it would be if I was working on a film.

‘I would also love to work in England or London, which is why I tried the West End shows. I thought I could do something while I’m still near home.’

The talented artist is extremely excited to present her work at the International Make Up Artist Trade Show (IMATS) in London this June.

IMATS is renowned for inviting the best make up artists in the world.

‘It’s a huge compliment; they even said they will put my Superstar paints out while they develop theirs. So they asked if I can bring some of my own- that’s in a few weeks time.’

However most of the FX make up artists they work with mainly use prosthetics to create their looks, in contrast to Maria who only relies on face paints.

‘I wanted to see how far I could get being an illusionist without using prosthetics, so I got a kick when I went to do face painting and someone asked if the nose was glued on.

‘And I could say no it’s all paint, and then people asked for tutorial so then I started doing those. That made it even more popular because people could see that I was just drawing it on,” adds the artist.

After IMATS, Maria hopes to arrange to teach classes in the UK and Holland, and prepare for her classes at the Fabiac Face & Body Art International Event in Miami next year.

Maria is currently sponsored by The Face Painting shop and Superstar face paints. She says they have both been extremely supportive of her work and of all their artists.

She explains that The Face Painting shop introduced her to the world of body painting and helped her put her video tutorials on Youtube.

The make up artist explains: ‘What I would like to do at the moment is teach, I think that would make me happy.

‘I thought about one day working as a teacher in a make up academy, but when you are freelance you get to do a lot of different things, which suits me because I bore easily. 

‘If I became better known then I would love to give back more to London, but I wouldn’t say no to anything.’

For more information and to view more of Maria’s make up designs and video tutorials:

Maria’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MakeUpArtistMariaMaloneGuerbaa/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mariamalone1122