Unconventional World Records

Pancho Gonzales (1928 – 1995), was the world’s top ranked tennis player for a still-unequalled 8 years in the 1950s and early 1960s. Gonzales played professionally during that period.

Astonishingly, he learnt the game on his own, without coaching of any kind.

As an amateur in the late 1940s he was US champion twice.

Prior to the Open era (before 1968), many considered him the greatest player in the history of tennis.

Unfortunately, due to the rules prohibiting pros from competing at the Grand Slams before 1967, he was ineligible to compete in them at the height of his career. He most definitely would have won a handful of them during 1949-1967 when he was at his prime.

The first Grand Slam of the Open era was the French Open in 1968, when Gonzales was already 40 years old. Still, he took part, despite having been semi-retired for a few years.

And amazingly, he defeated 1967 defending champion Roy Emerson in the quarterfinals, before losing in the semis to another legend, Rod Laver.

Later he participated at Wimbledon and lost in the 3rd round and went quite far (5th round/quarters) at the US Open.

An article from a 1999 edition of Sports Illustrated, named him 15th in their “20 favourite athletes of the 20th century” and wrote: “if earth was on the line in a tennis match, the man you want serving to save humankind would be Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez.” So apparently, not Pete Sampras, not Bjorn Borg, not anybody else.

Prominent tennis commentator Bud Collins seconded that in 2006 when he wrote in MSNBC: “If I had to choose someone to play for my life, it would be Pancho Gonzalez.”

Ref:
Wikipedia

Unsecured loan consulting and placement firm America One was established in 1999 and offers its services to both small business owners and general consumers across the country.

They had been the nation’s biggest provider of such services 7 years in a row and handles a whopping half a million applications every year.

The ideal customers for them are those that are looking into amounts of between USD10,000 and USD100,000. Any reasons are accepted: Business or Personal Loans.

Perhaps the thing most borrowers want to hear is that America One is exclusively dedicated to unsecured financing. This is in direct contrast to the practice of many financial instutions and banks. The result of America One’s practice is predictable: there are more approvals in Personal Loan applications and most importantly, satisfied customers.

So, check them out if you’re in the USA and looking for a Loan.

According to the Happy Planet Index (HPI), the level of happiness of the people of a nation is measured by “the success of countries in supporting good life for their citizens, whilst repecting the environmental resource limits upon which our lives depend.” The BBC’s website says it “shows the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered.”

The study was done by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in 2006, where the aim of the HPI was to demonstrate that well-being did not have to be linked to “high levels of consumption.”

Vanuatu came out tops, out of 178 countries surveyed. In contrast, its GDP is ranked only 207th out of 233 economies.

Blue waters contrast with black sand beach, Sulphur Bay, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Malaysia is ranked 44th.

My immediate thought was: at least our world happiness ranking is higher than our world football rankings. On a more serious note, we’re doing better than some of the largest economies: Germany is at 81st, Japan at 95th and the US at 150th.

HPI is based on unconventional factors like consumption levels, life expectancy and happiness, not the usual things like GDP.

Regarding Vanuatu, it is a tropical island in the South Pacific and has a population of 209,000. It has a GDP of USD2,900 and its main resource are forests and fish. Its economy is mainly based on small-time agriculture and tourism.

The rest of the top 10 are dominated by Latin Americans.

Now we know about the happiest country, how about the unhappiest? African and Eastern European countries dominate the bottom 10 of the list.

Some of the more interesting findings of the study:
- “Retail therapy” (=shop till you drop) does not bring happiness: ladies, take note!
- The last 50 years have seen standards of living in the West improved tremendously; but the level of happiness has remained stagnant.
- The main source of happiness is human relationships, not monetary wealth.

So if you want to go on vacation surrounded by happy people, you know where to go. Or perhaps, you’d like to retire there.

Source
Happy Planet Index
The BBC, 12th July 2006

Queen, and in particular Freddie Mercury’s finest hour was on 13th July 1985, during the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of 72,000 people (some say 80,000).

Live Aid is, until now still the world’s largest televised pop concert. Queen were onstage for 20 minutes, and were generally considered to have stolen the show. Live Aid was shown to 170 countries, and seen by 1.5 billion people.

Mercury’s performance, and Queen’s set has been described as “the greatest gig in the history of rock”.

I think that is rightly so, because he singlehandedly managed to get ALL 72,000, right to the last person at the back of the stadium, to sing along, to clap hands, to sway in unison to “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”

Queen performed 5 songs:

- “Bohemian Rhapsody” (partial only. Why? Because no tape playbacks or
soundchecks were allowed, to save time)
- “Radio Ga Ga” (in which Freddie got the ENTIRE stadium to clap in
unison to the chorus)
- “Hammer to Fall”, (during which he danced with a cameraman)
- “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”,
- “We Will Rock You” (partial) (in which Freddie got the ENTIRE stadium to sing along, word-for-word)
- “We Are the Champions” (in which Freddie got the ENTIRE stadium to sing along, word-for-word)

At any gig, no matter how small, it will usually impossible to get every member of the audience to do this.

Click here to see the performance

Who else but the late Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), lead singer of world-famous group Queen? Born Farrokh Bulsara, his parents were both Parsis from the province of Gujarat in India. He was born in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of eastern Africa because his father worked with the British Colonial Office.

Mr Bulsara legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury sometime in the early 1970s.

As well as an acclaimed rock vocalist and world-class showman, Mercury was a formidable songwriter, having composed international hits and all-time classics like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are the Champions”.

At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled Zanzibar, because of the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, and moved to Britain. He became a British citizen.

Just look at this list of achievements, can any other Asian mega/rock/pop star beat this:

- Queen has apparently sold 300 million albums;
- As of 2005, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,322 weeks (27 years!) on the UK album charts; even more than The Beatles or Elvis Presley!
- Their album “A Night At The Opera” (1975), which contains “Bohemian Rhapsody” is ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
- Their compilation album “Greatest Hits” (1981) has sold 25 million copies worldwide.
- In 2006, Time Asia named Mercury as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years.
- Their performance during Live Aid (1985) is considered the greatest gig in the history of rock.

Yes, Valentine’s Day 2008 is over. But keep this for next year. But hey, who said you can only give roses to your other half during the V-Day itself only?

Why not give her arguably the world’s tallest and biggest roses?

Costs USD250 per dozen as sold by Organic Bouquet.

It measures 5 to 6 feet in height, and each stem has a large head which opens to 3-4 inches in diameter!

These red roses were grown naturally in Ecuador, between 2 volcanoes at more than 9,600 ft high.

How did they become so tall? According to the website, this is due to “days of prolonged sunlight and cool nights.”

Source

Checking out the mike: but I thought you have to listen to the loudspeakers instead?

Click here to see the video

There’s so many things wrong: timing, pitch, melody, pronounciation: everything!

You can even see the incredulous faces of some young spectators in the background.

And it happened right in my backyard more than 20 years ago!!

Click here to see the video

You would NOT want this guy to borrow your car, he’d not even make it out of the driveway!!!

Click here to see the video

I’ve always been a sucker for one-of-a-kind performances, especially when they involve world-class celebrities.

In early 1999, Shania Twain performed, together with The Backstreet Boys, one of her best-loved songs, and a favourite at weddings, “From This Moment On”.

The Backstreet Boys might’ve been dissed left and right, but there’s no doubting that they can really sing:

Click here to see the video