UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Research findings produced in scientific journals are not exactly reader-friendly, at least to the general masses.

But when I saw Kurt Low’s post, which pointed to a research done, apparently in 1999 at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands which is intriguingly titled “Magnetic resonance imaging of male and female genitals during coitus and female sexual arousal” for sure one would think: now this is something never shown during biology class at school!

In the abstract of the paper it’s mentioned that the objective of the research is “to find out whether taking images of the male and female genitals during coitus is feasible and to find out whether former and current ideas about the anatomy during sexual intercourse and during female sexual arousal are based on assumptions or on facts.”

There are benefits for doing the research, not least that the researchers get paid to watch people having sex inside a gigantic electomagnet (method used was magnetic resonance imaging), which would produce images like this: (more…)

Popularity: 9% [?]

Back in January 2007 I mentioned that Sabahans are the world’s most inventive name-makers. I am dead wrong.

For celebrities, the strangest must be Akon, the American R&B singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer, whose real name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Locku Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam.

I think the most number of middle names is 24, Anna Bertha Cecilia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez Jane Kate Louise Maud Nora Ophelia Prudence Quince Rebecca Sarah Teresa Ulysis Venus Winifred Xenophon Yetty Zeno Pepper. Did you realise that her names follow the alphabet order? She was a British woman who lived in the earlier part of the 20th century. Her nickname is none other than “Alphabet.”

Then there is Zachary Zzzzzzzzzra (born Bill Holland) who legally changed his name as a marketing ploy so that “people could find him in the back of the phone book”.

Then there’s Praise-God Barebone of England, who was said to have the full name of Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebone (1598 – 1679).

Wolfe+585, Senior (born 1904), of the USA, whose full name is, wait for it: Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorffvoralternwarengewissenhaftschaferswessenschafewarenwohlgepflegeunds
orgfaltigkeitbeschutzenvonangreifendurchihrraubgierigfeindewelchevoralternzwolftausendjahresvorandieerschei
nenwanderersteerdemenschderraumschiffgebrauchlichtalsseinursprungvonkraftgestartseinlangefahrthinzwische
nsternartigraumaufdersuchenachdiesternwelchegehabtbewohnbarplanetenkreisedrehensichundwohinderneurass
evonverstandigmenschlichkeitkonntefortplanzenundsicherfreuenanlebenslanglichfreudeundruhemitnichteinfurcht
vorangreifenvonandererintelligentgeschopfs vonhinzwischensternartigraum, Senior.

Good grief, imagine having to say that over the phone. Definitely the longest personal name ever.

There are many other really strange people’s names, but IMHO, the strangest must be the case where the parents of a Swedish boy born in 1991 wanted to name him the utterly unpronouncable, 43-character “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116″. It’s supposed to be pronounced as “Albin” but I fail to see the connection, can you?)

Poor boy – can you imagine how much he will dread the question “how do you pronounce your name?” at primary school later?

As a matter of fact, his ultra-progressive parents went beyond that – they had planned never to legally name him at all, in protest to the naming law of Sweden which reads:

“First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.”

They managed to do so until the boy was 5, but then they were fined by a district court for the offence.

In response, they submitted the strange name, justifying it as “a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation.” The parents suggested the name be understood via pataphysics, which is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics (philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world). Oo-kay… Not surprisingly, the court rejected the name.

Undeterred, the parents went for a simpler name, the rather too simple, “A”, also pronounced “Albin”. Alas, again they were thwarted by the court because one letter names are not allowed either.

sources
Wolfe+585, Senior
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116
BBC

Popularity: 18% [?]

UPDATE 25 August 2009

Since the links at limadang.com and chedet.com are now dead, how about this marriage announcement by top local blogger Raymond of raymond.cc which has had 1,129 comments as of today. And he now has an incredible 77,000+ feed subscribers!

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UPDATE 30th June 2008

Looks like a post at limadang.com is now the Malaysian champ, at 1,400+ comments, from 7th August 2007 to 4th December 2007.

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UPDATE 4th May 2008

As of now, that particular blog post by Kenny Sia has attracted 1,048 comments. But even that number has been upstaged by a formidable opponent in the ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir’s just-launched blog. His first blog post, posted on 1st May 2008 attracted 1,095 comments as at 10.54pm, 4th May 2008.

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As of the time of writing, I saw that Kenny Sia’s blog post entitled “an unfortunate accident” posted 18th May 2007 has had 947 comments in 7 days, from 18th May 3.20am up to 25th May 11.42pm. This could be a record for a Malaysian blog.

Then I wondered, what is the most commented blog or forum thread in the world?

According to Jason Kottke in March 2006:

He’s seen 1000+ comment threads on Dooce and that posts on political blogs like Daily Kos probably have consistently more than 1000+ comments.

MetaFilter’s longest thread, posted 24th August 2001, entitled “metafilter parody” had 1729 comments, starting 24th August 2001 until commenting was finally closed on 20th September 2002, more than a year later.

The Matrix Reloaded thread at his blog posted 15th May 2003 had 1,767 comments in 6 months. It had to be spanned into 2 threads because the blogging software he used (Movable Type) was “beginning to buckle under the pressure”.

Engadget’s “It’s our 2nd birthday and we’re giving you the presents!” post on 7th March 2006 at 1.11pm attracted 3,324 comments. The first comment was posted 2 minutes after the blog posting and the last 24 hours later, 8th March 2006, 1.24pm. Amazing.

Slashdot’s thread at the end of the 2004 US Presidential Elections entitled “Kerry Concedes Election To Bush“, posted 3rd November 2004 at 12.39 pm got an astounding 5,687 comments, with the last one coming in more than 2 weeks later, on the 18th November at 11.24 am.

However, the mother of all comment threads is (more…)

Popularity: 31% [?]

According to the Asia-Europe Foundation website, Dr Patricia Martinez is an Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow for Religion & Culture, and Head of Intercultural Studies at the Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya.

She is also the Head of the Intercultural Studies Research Hub.

She is the first non-Muslim Malaysian with a Ph.D specialising in Islam.

Her current research project is as the Malaysian collaborator of a multi-nation study on Ethnic and Religious Conflict and Peace-building Capacities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.

She is on the International Board of Directors of the Islam and Pluralism Project, Indonesia, as well as a member of the International Advisory Council of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, Japan. Dr. Martinez has served as a consultant to UNICEF Indonesia in 2000-2 for a pilot education project to revise curricula to enable schoolchildren to deal with ethnic and religious difference.

She has been awarded a number of fellowships including at the East-West Center in Hawaii and a Fulbright Award at Stanford Univeristy, USA.

source

Popularity: 21% [?]

The biggest carbonado ever discovered in the world was found in Brazil, at 3,600 carats (300g short of a kilogram), but no gem-quality material could be cut from it. The biggest rough gem-quality diamond ever found in the world is the Cullinan Diamond, at 3,106.75 carats (more than half a kilogram) in 1905 at the famous Premier Mines, South Africa. It was named after the owner of the mine.

A miner posing with Cullinan – it doesn’t look like it’s worth very much, does it?

Another view – looks very ordinary, for now

A once in a lifetime chance to pose with the most precious stone ever found on the planet

The stone was broken into many pieces and the largest polished gem out of it is Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, at 530 carats (106 g). Estimated value: over USD400 million (more than RM1 billion).

Cullinan I: now this is one diamond perhaps even Bill Gates can’t give to his wife

It is now mounted in the head of the Sceptre with the Cross, part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

But Cullinan I is only the 2nd largest polished diamond in the world. Well, it was the biggest for about 80 years, until 1985, when the Golden Jubilee diamond was discovered from the same mine. At 545.67 carats, it’s about 15 carats heavier than Cullinan I. It now part of Thailand’s crown jewels. When the diamond was first publicly exhibited in Thailand, the queue was a mile long. It was brought to, and blessed by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch and the Supreme Imam in Thailand.

It’s of a different colour than is usually expected of a diamond

To get a general idea of its size

But wait! That’s not the end of the story. Those are the biggest diamonds on earth, but their size is pitiful compared to the biggest diamond in the universe: (more…)

Popularity: 7% [?]

First it was Bianca Ryan, 11 who won America’s Got Talent in 2006. This video was taken in June 2006. Amazingly powerful voice.

But she’s got serious competition in Charice Pempengco, 12. The video below was posted August 2006. At first I thought she was miming to Whitney Houston! Some people might dismiss her as being a mere Whitney clone, but I think there’s no denying that she’s extremely talented.

Others lower down the ladder:

Hollie Steel (born 1998), who in 2009 aged 10 was one of ten finalists on the 3rd season of the reality show Britain’s Got Talent. In the end she finished sixth. This was her audition:

Declan Galbraith (born 1991) who released his first single “Tell Me Why” in September 2002, a few days before his 11 years. Here he is singing it live in December 2002:

Jessica Sanchez (11 yrs old), was in the same season of America’s Got Talent as Bianca Ryan: she didn’t make the finals, but you judge for yourself:

Then I came across Dreamgirls Erica, apparently 9 yrs old in the following video posted in May 2006:

Popularity: 8% [?]

Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) could be the world’s most demanding film / movie director ever. Universally regarded as one of the greatest movie directors who ever lived, he directed several all-time classics such as 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980).

He is known for his seemingly wasteful shooting ratio and many takes.

According to imdb.com: he reportedly exposed an incredible 1.3 million feet of film while shooting The Shining (1980), the release print of which runs for 142 minutes. Thus, he used less than 1% of the exposed film stock, making his shooting ratio an indulgent 102:1 when a ratio of 5 or 10:1 is considered the norm.

While making The Shining: (more…)

Popularity: 9% [?]

According to vh1.com, the shortest celebrity marriages ever are between Robin Givens (pic above) and her tennis instructor Syetozar Marinkovic, who were married on August 22, 1997. She was then 33 years old. They were separated the same day they got married! Givens, the former Mrs Mike Tyson had divorced Tyson in 1989. 8 years later she decided to give marriage a second try. After her failed 2nd marriage she dated pro tennis player Murphy Jensen until today.

A close second is the marriage of Zsa Zsa Gabor and Felipe De Alba in 1982 (I don’t know the exact date). It also lasted a day, but at least they got separated on different dates.

Next up, those who separated less than a month after getting hitched:
* Dennis Hopper and Michelle Philips – 8 days, in 1971
* Robert Evans and Catherine Oxenberg – 12 days (they got married only 4 days after meeting in July 1998, annulled)
* Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell – 3 weeks (they married on FOX’s TV show “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire” in February 2000)
* Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas – 29 days (Mar – Apr 1994, after a 6-week courtship). Later she got married to Tom Green for 5 months (July – December 2001) – she is now reportedly just engaged to her boyfriend, Strokes’ drummer Fabriozo Moretti – she’s on a roll…

After reading about the above, the following marriages would seem to be “…and they lived happily ever after”:
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Popularity: 7% [?]

Flight attendants (also known as stewardesses) in Hong Kong went ballistic on 27th April 2007 over an advertisement that appeared on the front page of the South China Morning Post.

The ad was for the Swiss-made IWC Schaffhausen Big Pilot’s Watch, a luxury watch designed for pilots which carries a USD12,500 price tag.

Well, with taglines like these I suppose you’re courting trouble:

Often seen on stewardesses’ bedside tables.

Its seven-day power reserve “means you can afford to stay in bed that little bit longer than usual.”

Copies of SCMP are carried on board Cathay Pacific and Dragonair flights and given free to passengers. No wonder lah!

A flight attendant said summed it up: “…seems to make out that flight attendants are loose women who sleep with pilots just because they’ve got a nice watch.”

Interestingly, John Findlay, the general secretary of the Aircrew Officers Association, which represents Hong Kong pilots said no pilots in the association wore such a watch.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem find a copy of the advertisement anywhere. Anybody can help?
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Popularity: 16% [?]

The 19th March issue of Nature detailed how the world’s first tree looked like. It’s surprisingly big!

The earth’s oldest known tree is 385 million years old, was nearly 10m (30 feet) tall & looked like a modern palm.

It was discovered as a stump among hundreds more than 100 years ago by chance, when a flash flood in Gilboa, New York uncovered it.

Little was known about the tree’s actual appearance, but in 2004 scientists unearthed a fossilized top (crown) of the same genus nearby. Later, they discovered fragments of a trunk.

With knowledge about stump, trunk and crown gleaned, it can now be revealed what the full tree looked like:

(more…)

Popularity: 11% [?]

It’s only fitting that that person is Prof Stephen Hawking, 65, the world’s leading expert on gravity. On 26th April 2007 he went up on a specially modified plane (vomit comets) that flew a parabolic flight 2 hours over the Atlantic from the space shuttle’s runway at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For the first time 40 years, he moved freely beyond his wheelchair. The usual fee of of USD3,750 for 10-15 plunges was waived. The flight he was on plunged 8 times, meaning he experienced zero gravity eight times in 4 minutes, in 25-second spurts.

video:

(more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

After reading this, you’d think that the Ironman Triathlon is for wimps and the mere marathon is for toddlers.

Welcome to the world of extreme endurance events. These events can last for 24 hours, or even several days.

There is the 100-mile (160km, that’s like FOUR marathons strung together) ultramarathon. There are about 40 of them in existence, including the Western States Endurance Run, a run held every last weekend in June through the Western States Trail in Northern California. It has been in existence for more than 30 years. Runners descend a total of 7,000m on mountain trails. It begins at 5am and continues non-stop until you finish, or you drop. Competitive time limit is 30 hours.

The course record is held by Scott Jurek, with a time of 15 hours, 36 minutes and 27 seconds, set in 2004:

100 miles only? Well, you can try the Spartathlon: a 152 mile race.

Jurek won the 2006 edition, but Yiannis Kouros, winner of the first Spartathlon, still holds the record of 20 hours 25 minutes set in 1984. That’s amazing, considering the nearest any subsequent winner got to his record is more than 2 hours!

If that’s not challenging enough, there’s the Antarctic 100K. That’s right, you have to run 100km near the South Pole.

This year, the 3rd edition of the race is scheduled on 15th December. Dubbed “the world’s coldest 100”, runners will have to contend with Katabatic winds, -20C temperatures and 24-hour daylight. Fittingly, the website says: “Don’t apply unless you like to hurt!” Personally, I think the USD15,000 (more than RM50,000) entrance fee is enough to scare off most people already.

Russian Evgeniy Gorkov’s tells what it’s really like in his blog.

Still not challenging enough you say? Well, there’s the Marathon des Sables (the Marathon of the Sands / “the toughest foot race on earth), a 254km (156 miles) running race through the Sahara desert in southern Morocco. That’s equivalent to 6 marathons back to back. It’s so long it’s divided into 6 days, the longest single stage being 84km (52 miles) long.

As if running that far isn’t tough enough, competitors are required to carry all personal belongings and food for the entire event in their rucksack, apart from water and tents.

Apparently, during the 1994 edition, a competitor from Italy, Mauro Prosperi got lost in a standstorm and was only found 9 days later, having lost 13kg of his body weight.

The ultimate triathlon race should be the Ultraman races. As far as I know, there are 2 editions, one in Hawaii and another in Canada, where you have to swim 10km, ride a bike for more than 400km, then run 84km, a total distance of more than 320 miles (500km). In contrast, an Ironman triathlon “only” entails, a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and a 42km run, and in a typical triathlon, you only have to run 10km, *not* swim 10km!

Or perhaps the ultimate is the Enduroman, where one has to run 87 miles (139 km) from London City Centre to the coast, then swim across the English Channel (distance covered depends on how far the sea waves sweep you off), then ride a bike for 180 mile (288 km) to Paris City Centre. Apparently, on 3 persons have ever completed the race, the record currently being held by Eddie Ette at 81 hours, 5 minutes.

So how does one prepare for these crazy events? Todd Zagurski, an amateur ultra-competitor, has the following outline:

Off season:

* Monday-Friday: 1 hour of predawn training, either running, swimming, bike or gym workout.
* Weekends: 6-7 hours training.

On season:

* Monday-Friday: same as off season
* Weekends: 12-14 hours!

An interesting point to note is that most ultra-competitors are in their 40s, due to the costs of travelling and expensive fees, which can run into thousands of dollars.

sources:
The Final Sprint
bbc.co.uk

Popularity: 5% [?]

Background:

Pekemas (Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia, or Social Justice Party of Malaysia) was co-founded by Tan Sri David Tan Chee Khoon (1919-1996), the Opposition leader 1964-1978. He was co-founder of Gerakan, but later left to form Pekemas. Tan Chee Khoon and Onn Jaafar were 2 persons ahead of their time – they did not believe in race-based parties, rather multiracial (like Berjaya & PBS). Therefore when Gerakan cofounder Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu led it to join the race-based BN, Chee Khoon felt disillusioned. Tan Chee Khoon was a Christian, and peppered his Parliament questions with quotes from the Bible, leading The Tunku to remark how much he sounded like a preacher. Another co-founder is academic Syed Hussein Alatas, former VC of UM and also co-founder of Gerakan. I think Datuk Dr James Ongkili must’ve looked up to him since he’s also an academic at UM.

Pekemas had similar principles as Gerakan (liberal). It was formed in 1971 but collapsed in 1978 due to massive defections to DAP and Chee Khoon’s retirement in 1977 due to ill health. In the 1974 general election, Pekemas suffered a terrible defeat, with Tan being the only successful candidate out of 36 candidates for Parliament.

Chee Khoon held on to his Parliament and Selangor State Assembly seats until their terms expired in 1978.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Late 1992

August 1993

Mid 1980s

Popularity: 89% [?]

We have the usual nerds and jocks, but the most admired must be the groovies, those who are both good academically and at sports. In Malaysia, a hard act to follow is Datuk Dr M “The Flying Doctor” Jegathesan, 63. Not only is he a medical doctor and recently elected chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) Medical Committee, the first Malaysian to head an OCA committee in 32 years, but in his heydays, he was an Asian-class sprinter as well. The fastest man in Asia in the 60s, he was the leading person in the Golden Era of Malaysian Athletics in the 60s, culminating in the 100-200 sprint double at the 1966 Asian Games. That year, he was named Olahragawan Negara. He is still the only Malaysian sprinter to reach the semifinals of the Olympics (1964 and 1968).
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Popularity: 20% [?]