UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

After reading the scary story about Ricardo Navarro stabbing Svetlana Orlava a few days after his marriage proposal was rejected on Spanish TV show “Patricia’s Daily Show”, there was a mention that this was not the first time something like this happened.

Probably the first time was on The Jenny Jones Show. On 6th March 1995, on an episode called “Same-Sex Secret Crushes”, Scott Amedure, 32 said he was sexually attracted to his neighbour, Jonathan Schmitz, 25, who was present during the taping. During the show, Schmitz was seen to be shaken and embarrassed, said he’s not gay, and nervously laughing.

Scott Amedure

Jonathan Schmitz

Schmitz was lured to the show by the producers who said he had a secret admirer, but they didn’t tell him the gender of the person. Schmitz later claimed that what Amedure said during the show humiliated and angered him. In addition, Schmitz was told that the title of the show was “Secret Admirers”, in fact it was the suggestive “Same Sex Secret Crushes”.

The thing was, Schmitz had a history of mental illness and alcohol/drug abuse. The tape was due to be aired in 2 weeks, but 3 days after the taping, Schmitz bought a shotgun, then went to Amedure’s mobile home, shooting him twice in the chest. He was later sentenced to between 25 and 50 years in prison.

Due to the murder, the episode was never aired, apart from snippets of it on TV newsreports.

Amedure’s family sued the producers of the TV show, and won USD25 million, but the verdict was later overturned.

Source
JACQ
wikipedia on Jenny Jones Show

Jan Kristian Silva was born on 17th November 2001 in California. At the age of only 4, he began studying at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Paris, reputedly the world’s top junior tennis academy.

Yes, that meant the whole family moved to France. All of his family’s expenses (around USD140,000 per year) are paid by Patrick Mouratoglou, the owner of the academy, hoping that Jan becomes a tennis star one day.

He has been dubbed “The Tiger Woods of Tennis”.

While he can barely able to see over the net, he has already mastered the fundamentals of the game.

His mother is Finnish tennis player and coach Mari Maattanen.

Here’s a video of him in training. It says that tennis experts said nobody under 5 has ever managed to do a one handed backhand, but Silva has been doing that since the age of 3!

Click here to see the video

Up until 16th October 2007, there were 2 living survivors of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Then one of them, Barbara West Dainton, died on the abovementioned date in a nursing home in England at the age of 96.

That leaves only Elizabeth Gladys “Millvina” Dean, 95 of Southampton, England as the last living Titanic survivor, as confirmed by the Titanic Historical Society.

Millvina in 1999

She was born 12th February 1912 and the sinking happened on 15th April 1912, meaning she was a mere 2 months old then and was too young to remember it. The tragedy also killed her father.

Her family were about to emigrate to Wichita, Kansas where her father hoped to open a tobacconist shop.

There were not enough lifeboats for all 2,200 people. 1,500 perished. Her father’s body was never identified, even if it had actually been recovered.

Millvina has never married. It wasn’t until she was in the 1980s that she became a celebrity; and has since been in great demand to appear at various events related to the Titanic.

In 1997 she traveled aboard the QE2 and finally completed her journey to Wichita, Kansas.

Source
Yahoo News, 8th November 2007
Encyclopedia Titanica

John Wesley Jermyn, 56 is a homeless man who wheels around on roller skates everyday in Beverly Hills while dressed in spandex. He has been doing this for the last 20 years or more. His favourite spot is Robertson Boulevard, the city’s trendiest place.

He played one season of pro baseball in 1969, and in the late 70s he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, with symptoms ranging from shouting to cursing, but he refused to take medication.

Do you think he has sexy shoes?

His nicknames are “The Crazy Robertson” and “The Robertson Dancer”.

Now, he has a clothing label named after him, created by two savvy 23-year olds. It has proven to be a hit at Kitson, a clothes retailer.

The clothes bear images of the guy, including these designs displayed at Kitson’s website:

They might look plain but are not cheap: USD48 a pop.

The Crazy Robertson shirts are being sold next to USD290 “Victoria Beckham” jeans and USD50 baby shoes designed by pop star Gwen Stefani.

Not bad huh?

The following of a video of Mr Jermyn spending his days apparently skating around in circles. Doesn’t he look good for a 56-yr old?

(more…)

In January 2006 the BBC did a survery of 2,000 TV viewers to find out the most shocking TV chat show moment of all time.

This is the result, and the videos (where available) will follow at the bottom:

10. Rod Hull and Emu on Parkinson (1976)
Rod Hull’s hand puppet Emu was launched into an unprovoked and sustained attack on Michael Parkinson, knocking him off his chair and leaving him dishevelled and disoriented.

Click here to see numbers 9 to number 1

According to Forbes Traveler, it is located on the island of St. Lucia, an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean.

The resort is called Jade Mountain Resort, located on top of a volcanic bay and officially opened December 2006.

From the rooms, you can see the Pitons, St. Lucia’s most famous landmarks. The Pitons are two volcanic mountains within a World Heritage Site. The Gros Piton is 770 m, and the Petit Piton is 743 m high; they are linked by the Piton Mitan ridge.

Note that there is no door or wall from the bed to the balcony.

This is the view from the balcony (well, the entire room is actually a long, covered balcony). In fact, there are no sliding doors, screens, or French windows at all:

There is an infinity pool in every room, and they are not small: up to 900 square feet! Lined with iridescent glass tiles. They fill nearly half the suite and at night they change colour.

Specs
- 24 suites
- infinity pools are located 16 stories above ocean
- designed by Nick Troubetzkoy, a Russian Canadian architect
- rates start at USD950 per night, topping out at USD1,470 per night
- no TV, phones or electric communication: no internet
- totally open air layout, even toilet and shower are exposed. In fact, even insects and birds can fly in and out!
- going to the beach entails quite a long and tedious walk

Not surprisingly, despite the steep price, it’s full booked for the rest of this year.

The resort management claims that the current client record for not stepping out the door—not even once—is five days.

Apparently, this is what those who have been there said:

The reviews from most of the travel glossies to date have been almost embarrassingly breathless. Online comments from recent patrons feature a more nuanced range of opinions—some near incoherent with praise, others more measured, especially considering the prices involved.

Source
Forbestraveler.com

A pure CBT in operation would involve essentially a human being trained by a computer. Of course it has its pros and cons, as does a traditional training environment. Within the scope of computer courses, someone undergoing a computer training would particularly benefit. Where such a person is learning to use a particular software, CBT training is probably the best option since they are using the software directly.

However, nowadays the scope of CBT can also include any subject imaginable. Leadership training included! In this kind of training, advantages of CBT over traditional instructional methods shine through. A quick learner can customise the pace of learning to his own preference, while on the other side of the coin, slower learners can take their time and still not slow down the whole class.

This November 2006 video has got to be one of the greatest I have ever taken. Chris looks like s/he cannot wait for the song to end because of the pesky short, drunk old man who’s become his/her biggest fan. And who can forget that dancing partner’s totally original dance moves, complete with robot walk and silat shuffle!

KitchenAid makes high end dishwashers that do not need the usual, tiresome procedures needed for lesser dishwashers. Yes, that means no more pre-rinsing, no more pre-soaking and definitely no more pre-scrubbing, ever!

You just need to plonk anything: plates, pots, pans into one of their dishwashers, even the greasiest ones you can find, switch it on, and it will do everything.

The secret to this is the proprietary ProScrubâ„¢ cleaning technology, where concentrated, powerful bursts of water will get rid of any unwanted mess.

Logically, all this should make an almighty racket, but incredibly, their dishwashers are amazingly quiet. I have even checked at epinions.com, and reviewers concur. This is due to another proprietary technology they’ve developed called the Whisper Quiet® sound reduction system, which basically provides noise insulation.

So, if you’re in the market for the coolest-looking, quietest dishwasher available anywhere, you might want to consider
KitchenAid Dishwashers.

Which octogenarian made the world’s de facto style bible Vogue’s top 50 list of the world’s most glamorous women? For its December 2007 edition, Vogue has included 81-year old Queen Elizabeth II.

She joined top names like Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell in the list, as well as more estoteric names like Agyness Deyn.

In doing so, she has defeated Posh Spice, who was knocked off this year’s list because “she doesn’t have her own style, she takes a look and copies it.”

In its own words, Vogue declared that “she’s as glamorous in her brogues and headscarf at (her country estate) Balmoral as she is wearing the crown jewels.”

It defined glamour as “about how you wear something, not about what you wear. You cannot buy glamour and you can’t fake it.”

Source
Vogue, December 2007 issue