UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Most of us have been to school, and taken the obligatory class photos to put in the school yearbook, usually to be laughed at as years went by. The more years, the louder the laugh.

Usually these photos are extremely boring, like the following:

Probably the classroom chairs are more interesting to look at?

Another common variety is of this oft-repeated attempts (usually failing) at making the photo more interesting:

But one that managed to stop me in my tracks was when I saw this one:

Bigger size.

I wonder if this is genuine. Anyway, that’s an example of a class photo that definitely will never ever be allowed in any school yearbook, in Malaysia for sure.

Popularity: 1% [?]

ONE

In the 2008 Democratic primary election, Rob Andrews, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg. During that campaign, Jay Lassiter, a member of his campaign staff sent a bawdy come-on Facebook message to supporters, resulting in him being reprimanded.

TWO

Apparently, in earlier versions of Facebook it is possible to set incestuous relationships.

THREE

If you’re a parent and your child is a friend on Facebook, be careful what quizzes you take.

FOUR

You don’t need to post incriminating photos of yourself on Facebook, sometimes words will be enough to get you fired.

FIVE

This lady “slipped off” his man during intimate moments, resulting in 13 stitches to her womanhood, and now the whole world knows about it.

SIX

Tracy’s message to Michael is definitely meant for him, and for him alone.

But there’s a twist to the story.

SEVEN

A certain Adam Devine demonstrates how to quickly clean out one’s friends list.

If you have any more good ones, I’d love to know about them. Thanks in advance!

Popularity: 36% [?]

Bio-chemist Dr Cai Minnjie, 57 has a PhD in biochemistry from top US educational institution Stanford University.

He had to become a cabbie in Singapore starting October 2008 because he failed get another job as a researcher after losing his job at the nation’s premier A-Star biomedical research institute.

Most probably he’s the only taxi driver in the world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments.

He’s born in China but is now a Singapore citizen.

He has had 16 years of research experience, and specialises in yeast proteins.

Apart from him, other highly qualified taxi drivers in Singapore in recent years, include retrehched managers, stockbrokers and engineer.

This has shocked Singaporeans, with comments like the following:

If he has to drive a taxi, what chances do ordinary people like us have?

In my opinion, PhDs are useless, especially in Singapore. It’s just another certificate and doesn’t mean much.

I won’t want my child to study for years to end up driving a taxi.

The future favours graduates with multiple skills and career flexibility, people who are able to adapt to different types of work

Dr Minnjie runs a blog to document his experiences as a cabbie.

And he’s not the only one. US research-scientist Douglas Prasher just missed the 2008 Chemistry Nobel Prize but ended up being a driver of a courtesy shuttle (minivan) in Alabama!

Source
The Star, 29th August 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

The case in a nutshell: on 10th June 1991 convicted rapist Phillip Garrido, 58 abducted Jaycee Lee Dugard, then 11 who was on her way to school. 18 years later, on 26th August 2009 Garrido was exposed by chance.

There have been the British, Colombian, Argentine and Italian Fritzls, and now comes this latest case.

As I wrote earlier, a case is comparable to the original Fritzl if it involves a man who kept at least a daughter (whether adopted or not is immaterial) locked up for at least 20 years while raping her repeatedly.

In Garrido’s case, the girl is not his daughter and he kept her in captivity for less than 20 years.

Of course this is not to say that what he did was not “bad enough” – it was a horrendous crime by any measure, and the way he defended his actions was disturbingly bizarre.

I am only saying that by the yardstick set by the original Fritzl and 4 other “Fritzls”, Garrido did not make the grade.

Note: Garrido is apparently a religious fanatic but I wouldn’t rule out investigators discovering sexy adult costumes in his home.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Yang Yong-eun (Y.E. Yang), 37 of South Korea won the 91st PGA Championship [one of the 4 major championships in professional golf] on 16th August 2009, his first major championship, stunning world number one Tiger Woods.

Yang celebrating while Woods can be seen on the right:

image source

Video of the moment of triumph:

Yang turned pro in 1996 and currently ranked a lowly 110th in the world.

With that achievement, he became the first Asian-born golfer to win a major championship. The previous best achievements by an Asian-born golfer were second place finishes:
(i) by Lu Liang-Huan in the 1971 Open Championship
(ii) by Isao Aoki in the 1980 U.S. Open
(iii) by Tze-Chung Chen in the 1985 U.S. Open.

His achievement would make him even more visible in web searches; it’s like listing his name in a paid web directory.

More remarkably, Yang’s playing partner was none other than Tiger Woods. That alone would affect a player’s composure. And he came into the final round with a two-shot deficit, but still managed to finish three strokes ahead of Woods, who finished second.

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 6th Sept 2009

Well, perhaps I did not get my prediction quite right; it’s like predicting that a manufactured home would be the first choice for young couples in the next few years.

———————————

Dr Conrad Murray, 51, the doctor at the centre of the investigation into Michael Jackson’s death has spoken publicly for the first time since the megastar died on 25th June 2009. Dr Murray was with Jackson when he suffered a cardiac arrest.

He posted a video on YouTube thanking his supporters and saying “I told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail.”

It was recorded last week in Houston, Texas.

Although he has not been named as an official suspect in the investigation, court records have identified him as the subject of a manslaughter enquiry and has been interviewed twice by police.

In no time it has been spoofed many times, and could well be on the way to be the most spoofed youtube video of all time.

The video:

Some spoofs:

Source
The BBC, 19 Aug 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

Savannah Sanitoa, 22 of the American Samoa’s speciality is the shot put and competed at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

Q: She failed to qualify for the short put, so what else is there to do after flying 15,000 kilometers on a 22-hour flight?
A: She took up a wild card entry for the 100m.

Being a short put competitor, you can imagine that her 90-kilogram physique is not exactly suited for sprinting:

A video of the race:

Predictably she came last in her heat, clocking 14.23 s. It did not better her personal best which is 14.07 s set 6 years ago. The winner of that heat was Chandra Sturrup (Bahamas) who clocked 11.28 s. Sturrup went on to the finals where she finished 7th.

Compare her to Indonesia’s Serafi Unani (left) who clocked 12.05s (4th place) and Russian Anna Geflikh (right) who clocked 11.47s (2nd place):

But amazingly she did not come last overall – 2 other people were even slower. The slowest was Tioiti Katutu of Kiribati: 14.38 s.

Source
The Daily Mail UK, August 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

IMHO, it’s during Act 1 of The Curse of Mr. Bean, first aired 31st December 1990. When I first saw it, I laughed till I cried.

In the following video snippet of the funniest moments, Bean tries out the highest diving board but chickens out until two impatient boys push him off by stamping on his hand as he attempts to climb down.

The video above has been seen more than 17 million times on youtube.

This episode is notable for the following:
(i) first appearance of Irma Gobb (Matilda Ziegler), Bean’s neglected girlfriend.
(ii) first appearance of Mr. Bean’s green Mini.

Of course Rowan Atkinson’s physique added to the comic effect: no need for him to get the best weight loss product; although the opposite could be true.

What is your favourite Mr Bean scene, either in the TV series or the movies?

Source
Wikipedia

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATED 2nd October 2009

Mr Blair also visited the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Sepilok, Sandakan during his stay in Sabah.

Thanks Hinompuka for the head-up.

————————————-

Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 had visited Malaysia before, but never this part of the country.

So when he turned up for Sunday mass at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in the state capital, Kota Kinabalu on 2nd August 2009 almost nobody noticed, but when he finally made his way out, and people recognised him, he attracted more attention than baby announcements:

He stayed at the Nexus Karambunai resort, which is the same resort preferred by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen everytime he comes here.

What struck me most was what he reportedly said to civil servant Christopher Chiu, who said “he told me that he liked the cathedral and was glad that many people had come for mass.” When I was a student in the UK I remember reading an article that said 94% of Britons do not go to church regularly on Sundays. That’s almost, well, everybody.

Popularity: 2% [?]

On 8th August 1969, photo shooting for the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover was done on a very ordinary-looking street in the north of London.

It has become one of music’s most famous album covers.

That day, the Fab Four walked out of 3 Abbey Road around 11.30am, after completing some work on their second last album.

A policeman helped to control traffic while the band “walked back and forth a few times,” while being photographed by the late Iain Macmillan standing on a stepladder.

He took 7 or 8 photos, all now in Apple’s archives.

The other photos could’ve include the following:

It was over within 15 minutes: not exactly enough time to demonstrate a “how to lose belly fat by walking” theory …

The zebra crossing today is still a popular destination for Beatles fan; you can see it via a webcam permanently trained on the intersection.

Source
The BBC, 7th Aug 2009

Popularity: 2% [?]

… and possibly the world’s most feared teacher / the world’s most violent teacher.

On 20th September 2006, Li Hengyi, 28, a Chinese history teacher beat up pupil Zhang Yaoyi / Yaoyin, 11, then THREW her body from a fourth-floor classroom window, killing her.

It happened at the No. 12 Middle (secondary) School in Yongzhou city in the central province of Hunan, China.

An unnamed witness said: in front of Zhang’s terrified classmates, he first knocked her head against the desks repeatedly. When she fell, he stomped on her. Then, he picked up a steel bar and beat her up with it. He then picked up the now-motionless Zhang and told the class he was going to to take her to the school clinic, but instead opened a window and threw her out.

In shock, the whole class ran out of the room by the back door. Many of the girls cried.

The state of the classroom after the incident:

News report by Shanghai Oriental Television [WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES]

Li and Zhang had argued in the past and that Li was known to beat his students. Whether it’s over pet supplements, we might never know.

A few days later – as reported in the Beijing News on 9th October 2006 – the police dropped criminal charges against Li Hengyi: he was a schizophrenic. The school reportedly paid USD25,000 to Zhang’s parents as compensation.

The school’s principal had called Li “unsociable”. In 2001 he had shown signs of “mental disorder” and 2 years later spent 2 months being treated for mental illness. Yet, shockingly, he was allowed to continue teaching!

Source
The Mail (UK), 25th Sept 2006
The First Post (UK)
The Observers, 2008

Popularity: 1% [?]

Previously, the HIV-1 strain, with 33 million cases worldwide, was thought to have originated from Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), a virus in chimpanzees.

But for the first time ever, gorillas have been found to be a source of HIV on a 62-year old Cameroonian woman living in Paris. Before Paris, she lived in a suburban area in Cameroon and had no encounters with either gorillas or bush meat. That probably means she got the virus from someone else who was carrying the gorilla strain.

That someone else could be almost impossible to identify, even with top notch gps systems.

It’s a relief to read that current drugs “might still be good enough to combat its effects.”

She was not ill, but “there is no reason to believe that it will not lead to Aids.”

Source
The BBC, 3rd August 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]