UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

UPDATE 4th January 2009

Main shareholder of the club, Thai-Chinese Wisuth Setsawat cried as he apologised to the families of victims.

Death toll: 62
Injured: about 250, 30 critical
Number of people inside during incident: up to 1,000
Operator of club: White & Brothers Co.
Club owner: Suriya Ritrabue

When fire broke out, the club plunged into darkness (no emergency lights) & the burning ceiling collapsed.

Club did not have police permit to operate. An application sent 5 years ago was not approved because “the building wasn’t ready”, but still it opened because of a court appeal and even now, the courts has not issued a ruling.

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This is possibly the worst disaster related to new year revelry ever recorded since 1956’s 124 deaths at Yahiko Shrine, Niigata, Japan.

More than 60 clubbers, mostly Thais with some foreigners have been confirmed dead at Santika, an upscale Bangkok nightspot when fire reportedly started around 12.30am, 1st January 2009 when the band set off fireworks / pyrotechnics which set ablaze a curtain located on the ceiling which then rapidly spread. Still others said it was caused by an electrical fault.

Having said that, the general consensus was that the blame fell squarely on the nightclub’s management, because:
- there were none, or at least insufficient fire exits
- there was no sprinkler system

The deaths were caused by either fire, smoke inhalation or being trampled upon.

Witnesses described shocking scenes of people with their hairs and clothes on fire desperately trying to escape.

Santika before fire:

Santika after fire:

Click here to read the rest of the post

There were many strange stories in the year 2008, but quite possibly the strangest one has to be the one about Pamela “Pam” Babcock, 35 of Kansas, USA who sat on a toilet bowl for 2 YEARS before being discovered on 27th February 2008.

Now how would one celebrate New Year like that???

That might not be so peculiarly strange in a year full of strange stories and weird people, but consider these:

(i) she sat there for so long that the part of her body touching the seat had developed open sores, causing it to become stuck to the seat. Police had to remove the seat from the toilet with a crow bar so that doctors could surgically remove it from her bottom.
(ii) She was found fully dressed, with her tracksuit bottoms pulled down to mid-thigh, suggesting that she was in the middle of “doing her business.”
(iii) her legs seemed to have “atrophied.”
(iv) there was an overpoweringly terrible smell emanating from where she was seated.
(v) the toilet was located at her boyfriend, Kory McFarren’s, 36 mobile home, he was around all the time and she was not confined in any way. So why did he not do anything? He said:

She refused to come out due to her fear about leaving the bathroom because of beatings she received in her childhood. I didn’t do this to her. It was her choice. She is an adult, she made her own decision. It was my fault I should have gotten help for her sooner - I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it.

Kory McFarren

(vi) McFarren claimed that he tried to “coax” her out of the bathroom every day, but her reply would always be:

Maybe tomorrow.

(vii) apparently she’d slept on the toilet bowl and never bathed or cleaned herself, even though her boyfriend claimed that Babcock did move around the bathroom, including bathing and changing into fresh clothes.
(viii) McFarren only called the police when his girlfriend apparently became “groggy.”

The mobile home where it happened

In fact, it could be MORE than 2 years, since he later added he was not sure, and that:

Time just went by so quick I can’t pinpoint how long. It just kind of happened one day; she went in and had been in there a little while, the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay - like it was a safe place for her.

The sheriff summed up the whole thing:

This truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity.

On that note, I’d like to wish my readers a happy and prosperous new year!

Source
The Telegraph (UK), 16th March 2008

User “theycallhimart” uploaded a video to youtube on 31st December 2007 with the following description:

My mom decides to buy my brother an Xbox 360 for Christmas. We leave that night and return the next morning to find he has sneaked a look, just as my mom thought he would, this is the result, and yes he did get the game i will try to post the second video.

Whether the brother (Jonathan) did eventually get the game or not, this is clearly not the way to entertain oneself at the expense of one’s young son, humiliating him in the process.

The boy’s disappointed expression was evident, and by the end of the video, he was in tears.

So to all parents out there, this is clearly not the way to celebrate Christmas.

Click here to see the video

Some transvestites (mak nyah) working as prostitutes in the city of Alor Star, Kedah, Malaysia have reportedly been taking “reggae coffee” (kopi reggae) to boost their energy levels to such an extent that:

(i) they could stay awake all night, even until dawn if necessary, and hence
(ii) they could entertain more than 10 customers in a single evening.

However, it is unclear why the name “reggae” was chosen. Nor could I find any mention of a recommendation for chilling out with Bob Marley’s “I Shot The Sheriff” while sipping from a glass.

Anyway, one of them who only wanted to be known as Syazliyana, in “her” 20s, said:

(i) the effects of the coffee could be felt within 5 minutes of drinking it: one would feel refreshed, energized and high.
(ii) it has a peculiar taste, unlike any other coffee

More information:

To boost its power even more, the coffee is laced with drugs like methamphetamine hydrocloride (syabu) or marijuana (ganja). This is the high end concoction. For a cheaper alternative, kratom leaves in powder form (daun ketum / daun biak) are added instead. Kratom leaves could be bought for RM30 per kg.

Source
Harian Metro, 22 Dec 2008 [in Malay]

The Star reported on 17th December 2008 that Che Ibrahim Che Abdullah, 57, a grocery shop owner in Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia has the perfect anti-theft system for his house-cum-grocery-shop.

For starters, it’s absolutely free.

Second, it’s so good that the would-be burglar would end up begging you for forgiveness.

So the next logical question is: how does one go about installing the system?

Answer: Ask God to protect your house when you’re away.

That’s all!

At least that’s what Che Ibrahim claimed he did.

He said every time he left the house empty to return to his village in another state someone would break in.

So this time he decided he had had enough; before leaving in early December 2008, he recited some prayers asking for “divine intervention.”

And no, it’s not sorcery, he added.

When he returned to his shop a few days later, he found a 36-year old man lying in a room in his house: hungry, thirsty and taumatised.

The man apparently said:
- he’d broken into the house 3 days earlier.
- once inside, he was at once blinded and “the place felt like a cave”
- every escape attempt would be thwarted by a “supernatural being” who would push him to the ground
- nobody could hear his screams for help
- since then, he’s been mysteriously trapped there
- please forgive me!!!

Now, wouldn’t you agree that’d make a perfect security system for your car or house?

Source
The Star (Malaysia), 17th Dec 2008

Within hours of that incident, at least 2 online games has been created and many animations and video mashups done.

Game 1 - apparently created by some Frenchmen: you play Bush who gets shoes of various shapes and sizes thrown at you, avoid them as long as possible by ducking to the left and right. It gets harder as time goes by since the shoes fly faster and faster!

Game 2 - you play a secret service agent with 2 guns. You need to shoot the shoes down before they even reach the president. Be careful, do not accidentally shoot Mr Bush!

Then there are the various mashups and animations mushrooming all over the place, reminiscent of the time Zidane headbutted Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup Final.

Click here to see them

At a media conference in Iraq on 14th December 2008, Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi TV journalist, shouted “this is a farewell kiss, you dog!”, then threw a pair of shoes at President Bush, probably the most protected world leader ever, which he deftly avoided. By this time, the world already knows that shoes touching faces are the ultimate insult in Arab culture.

At that time, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was standing next to Bush and did not even seem to flinch.

It is to Bush’s credit that he laughed it off and wisecracked:

I didn’t know what the guy said, but I saw his sole.

If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw.

A video of that moment:

Click here to see it

Tom Araya (born 1961) is the bass player and lead vocalist of arguably the world’s top thrash band, Slayer.

From the band’s name, you’d be right to guess that they never sings mushy tunes in the style of Backstreet Boys or even Foreigner, but rather about vampires, serial killers, war, drug addiction and of course Satan, concentration camps, demon possession and well, basically anything dark and doomlike.

He also wrote some of the band’s material, like 213 (about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer) and Dead Skin Mask, about Ed Gein.

Add to that Satanic symbols used in the band’s album art, like in the album Reign In Blood (1986), whom many regard as the greatest thrash metal album of the 1980s, certainly at least on par with any of Metallica’s best:

Tom Araya onstage. Note the pentagram at the back:

Click here to read more and see a video of Slayer in concert

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, 29, better known as Manny Pacquiao was born in the Philippines on 17th December 1978.

As of the time of writing, he’s the WBC Lightweight Champion, and former WBC Super Featherweight Champion, IBF Super Bantamweight Champion and WBC Flyweight Champion.

He is the first Asian boxer to win four world titles in different weight divisions.

His current record is 48-3-2, with 36 KOs.

And some might argue, the best boxer in the world due to his status as Ring Magazine’s top ranked pound for pound boxer since 9th June 9 2008 after Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired.

He underlined his stature in a match-up with legend Oscar “The Golden Boy” De La Hoya, 35 on 6th December 2008 at the MGM Las Vegas. Dubbed The Dream Match, De la Hoya quit before the 9th round started (officially a TKO).

It was an upset victory, since some pundits had speculated that “147 pounds could be too far above Pacquiao’s natural weight against the larger De La Hoya.”

The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, born in 1947 is the first openly homosexual, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination.

In contrast, the appointment of the self-declared celibate Dr Jeffrey John (born 1953) of the Church of England was announced on 20th May 2003 but he stood down before his ordination due to the controversy the news generated.

Gay bishops could’ve been around forever but for secrecy - apparently in the 11th century Ralph, the Catholic Archbishop of Tours installed his gay lover as Bishop of Orléans. Pope Urban II and his successor Pope Paschal II apparently knew about it but did not strip them of their titles.

Then there’s the case of Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles, bishop in Utah 1971-93 who announced his homosexuality after his retirement. Or Bishop Mervyn Castle who was made a bishop in Cape Town in 1994. Or Bishop Arthur Mervyn Stockwood who was bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. Or Bishop Terry Brown of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Or Bishop Derek Rawcliffe who came out in 1995 after his retirement.

Okay, back to Gene Robinson.

He attended seminary (training institution for would-be priests) in 1969 and received his Master of Divinity degree in 1973 and was ordained priest the same year.

He married Isabella “Boo” McDaniel in 1972, and “privately acknowledged” his gay tendencies to her a month before they married, but decided to go on with the marriage.

They had 2 daughters, Jamee (born 1977) and Ella (born 1981).

He publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, then divorced his wife, in the 1980s.

In 1987 he met his current partner, Mark Andrew. The next year, Robinson and Andrew moved into a new house which was blessed by Douglas Theuner, a bishop. He was married (perhaps the politically correct term is “legally joined”), in a civil union and religious ceremony, to Andrew in June 2008.

He was elected bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the USA in 2003, by delegates to an Episcopal convention, 62 to 45.

During his ordination as bishop, he wore a bulletproof vest. His parents, sister, daughter and their families and his ex-wife Boo all attended. Bishop Frank Griswold presided with 6 co-consecrating bishops. Apparently 48 bishops in all attended.

Indeed his life has not been easy. Some have held him responsible for the split in the 400-year old Anglican network. For example, on 13th July 2008 he was heckled by a long-haired man while giving a sermon at a church in London, who jabbed his finger and shouted, amongst other things, “repent, repent, repent” and “you preached the Gospel but departed from it.” After the man was escorted out, the Bishop asked the congregation to “pray for that man.”