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

… Now fire up your Garmin GPS and track the place down!

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 ProScrub™ 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

PaydayLoanQuotes.com provides free comparison service for licensed lenders, for those in need of Payday Loans (also known as cash advance).

They even accept those with a less-than-perfect credit rating.

A payday loan is a small short-term loan that usually range from USD100 to USD1,500.

From their website, one can do the following:
- request quotes from lenders for free
- get information to help one make decisions about short-term cash loans.

How it works is this:
- you key in the information needed into a one-page online form
- they will try to match you with a lender. No fee is charged for this service. Usually, lenders will contact you quickly (within seconds even!). Loan approval usually follows shortly.

It must be borne in mind that there is no guarantee of a match; however offers from various lenders are compared to find the lowest rate available based on your financial profile.

They guarantee that all information keyed in is treated as confidential and secure, via technology as well as a privacy policy.

If you are not comfortable using a computer, you can always call their toll-free number: 1-888-615-4346

This rather effeminate male vagrant was photographed unintentionally posing with a Honda Accord. The last photo is especially exclusive - complete with apparent nose cleaning operation.

Click to see the last photograph

Dion Tiu, 20 of Australia set this world record in April 2007.

Expert Mode is the most difficult setting in Minesweeper, a computer game that comes standard with Microsoft Windows.

He has held and broken the world record 3 times.

His best times at Beginner and Intermediate level is 1 and 10 seconds respectively.

See how he did it:

This can only mean one thing: countless hours spent sitting in front of that computer. Add to that relentless practice, total dedication to that art form of clicking on computer mice. Being involved in IT professionally, I personally would not even attempt to break that record - I’d rather go out and play football. Now, I wonder if he’s also good at recommending computer memory?

…Oakley watches might appeal to him.

The usual urinals have us staring at walls, so what could be a better way to perk up the experience than to replace concrete with glass and have them on top of highrises?

Source
techchee.com and lackcolor.com

Extreme Ironing (EI) is a combination of extreme sport - performance art where one would take an iron and an ironing board to a remote location and well, iron some clothes. The more unlikely the location, the better, example:

Other locations have included:
- a canoe
- while skiing or snowboarding
- on top of large bronze statues
- whilst parachuting
- in warzones

Its official website defines EI as:

the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.

Sounds crazy? Well, they seem deadly serious about making the sport go to the Olympics.

It’s argued that the “sport” was started by Englishman Phil Shaw in 1997 at the back garden of his house in Leicester. Not surprisingly, Phil Shaw, himself a former world champion is pushing for the sports’ recognition as an Olympic sport.

If you think he’s fighting a lonely battle, consider the fact that on the other side of the world, Japanese Hitoshi Matsuzawa is also concurring. In 2005, he established Extreme Ironing Japan. He explained:

Think about the total number of people doing ironing in the world. If you were the gold medalist of extreme ironing in the Olympic Games, you would be the real champion as you are the best of the huge number of ironers in the world. We have curling in the Olympic Games. We have synchronized swimming. Extreme ironing? Why not?

Why not indeed.

Here are some more pictures of crazy people doing ironing at the unlikeliest places:

Click here to see the pics

David Zald is a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, specialising in fear. Naturally, at his home every Halloween, his house becomes a fear lab, where he watches kids adjust to it whilst presumably keeping time with Festina watches.

Therefore, I’d think his house located in Nashville is the best place to visit during Halloween - you even get candy if you survive.

Unfortunately I can’t find any pictures of the *inside* of his house, but here’s a picture of his front door:

And here’s a pic of his lawn:

And this is a list of things to expect:

Click here to see the list

The Washington Post reported on 30th October 2007 that Mosul dam, Iraq’s largest dam has been assessed by experts from the US Army Corps of Engineers and other US officials and proclaimed to be the most dangerous dam in the world in a report released recently. It said the dam is unsafe in any definition, could collapse under water pressure and has an unacceptable annual failure probability (situation continually getting worse).

Location map (in this map it’s called Barrage Saddam)

The dam is located in northern Iraq and if the worst happened, would put as many as half a million lives at risk from deluge in the cities of Mosul and Baghdad. The report said Mosul could be under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet.

The dam was originally completed in 1984.

There’s a special interest for the US military too - at least an airfield and a military hospital are in the path of the 12 billion cubic feet of water.

Not that they’ve tried to fix the problem before, however a USD27 million dam strengthening project during Saddam’s time was a failure due to incompetence and mismanagement (reportedly the dam was built with gypsum!). The US proposed building a second dam downstream, but was dismissed as unnecessary by top Iraqi officials.

The debate between US and Iraqi officials is taking place behind closed doors because doing so in the open would risk “frightening Iraq citizens”.

Some pictures of the dam:

The spillway

Click here to see more pictures of the dam

For those into playing in a casino online, pro360.com is a welcome tool to your arsenal: it tells you which online casinos out there are the best. That means you don’t have to sift through all 3,000 or so of them yourself.

The review points include factors like game experience, trust score and bonuses offered.

Each game offered is also reviewed, including online poker, craps, slots and roulette. Review points for each game include features, bonus structures and graphics.

Currently there are 4 pages of reviews, each page holding 20 reviews.

There’s a signup bonus on each review page, and pro360.com’s signup bonuses are for the most part, bigger than what the online casinos offer if you signup with them directly.

I checked just now, and the current top online casino, with an Editor Rating of 100 and Player Rating of 95 is Fortune Room. Clicking on the Full Review button reveals in excellent detail the reasons why. There’s a good overview of the casino, followed by several screenshots, so that you’d have a feel of the interface without actually going to the site yourself. Then there’s a quick, no-nonsense section entitled “Reasons to Play,” telling you the plus points of the site. More details are presented, if you are seriously into objective evidence, in out-of-100 score format, in Game Exprience and Trust Scores.

All in all, a worthy online casino review site to bookmark.

Budding entrepreneurs can check out Ashop Commerce, an Australian-based company offering complete solutions to enable one to sell merchandise online, including software to run their own shopping cart.

With the tagline “selling online has never been so easy”, they offer installation-free web based administration, fully customisable design and the ability to start selling online immediately.

They will even let one try their services out for 10 days, and unlike other providers, they won’t even ask for you credit card number for that purpose.

The cost of signing up is also affordable, directly competing with other, more established sites, starting at USD39.95 per month.

They claim to have helped thousands of merchants become successful, so that is a track record to be proud of.

The shopping carts have comprehensive features, including full integration with all major banks, gateways and third party processors including the popular PayPal. Checkout security via 128 bit SSL is built in.

In addition, their shopping carts are 100% Search Engine Optimised (SEO), meaning they will ensure products you offer rank as high as possible on major search engines. They also assured that since this is a dynamic field, it will be a continuous process.

Your website’s design will also be fully customisable without the usual restrictions, meaning you can create your own images and even flash animations.

Finally, they host all shopping carts on powerful and secure infrastructure, which includes fraud alerts, 24×7 monitoring, multiple daily backups and guaranteed 99.8% uptime.

Perhaps the final word is from a satisfied customer who said “It’s so easy my 12 year old son built my store as a class project!”

There have been many purported evidence of the existence of the creature known as bigfoot / sasquatch / yeti over the years. The most recent newsmaker is perhaps the images taken by Rick Jacobs on 16th September 2007, of which one of them looks like this:

Some people said it *could* be a bigfoot, but others derided it as merely “a bear with a bad skin infection.”

In the not too distant past, bigfoots have also made the news in Johor; unfortunately there’s no really compelling images to show for it.

However, the most compelling evidence that bigfoots really do exist is the Patterson-Gimlin film, which was taken on 20th October 1967. Even though some have declared it a hoax, I think the arguments supporting for it are indeed very compelling and interesting. With recent advances in image enhancing technology, more details have emerged from the film which makes the case supporting the existence of bigfoots stronger. I am not saying that the debate has been won, but it is definitely not lost yet.

The following is the original video:

Click here to see the video

Judging from recent results, it seems Yuuki Spencer (USA) and Hiroyuki Suzuki (Japan) [pic above] are heads and shoulders above the rest.

There are several categories at the world championships, so it’s arguable, but I’ve chosen the style most people can identify with i.e. 1A: one yo-yo on one hand/finger.

Spencer is 2007 World Champion, with Suzuki the runner-up. Spencer scored 93.7 and Suzuki 92.4. Paul Han (USA) was a distant third at 73.0.

Suzuki himself was the 2006 World Champion.

Here are videos of Spencer’s performance at the 2007 worlds and Suzuki’s performance at the 2006 worlds:

Click here to see the videos