UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Jordan Romero (born 12th July 1996) of the USA became the youngest person ever to successfully scale Mount Everest on 22nd May 2010. He was 13 years 10 months old then. The previous record was held by Temba Tsheri of Nepal who was 16 years old when he did it in 2001.

Laura Dekker (born 20th September 1995) of the Netherlands is bidding to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. After initial opposition from the Dutch government when she announced her plans in 2009, she was finally given the go-ahead in July 2010.

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The Miss World and Miss Universe beauty pageants are generally acknowledged to be the world’s top two showcases of female beauty.

We often hear about Indians and Venezuelans winning them.

So how about Malaysia?

The first Malaysian lass to crack the top ten at a Miss World is Arianna Teoh Lai Poh who was a semifinalist i.e. top 10 in 1997.

Arianna (right) and Sarita Carreon

[photo credit - Sarita Carreon]

A year later, Lina Teoh (Angelina Teoh Pick Lim) created history by finishing third at the 1998 Miss World – the best ever achievement by a Malaysian in an international beauty pageant. For the record, the title that year was won by Israel’s Linor Abargil, while the runner up was France’s Veronique Caloc.

[photo credit - The Talent Factory]

Does that mean Lina is the most beautiful Malaysian who ever lived? Anyway, the best Malaysian achievement since then was Deborah Priya Henry’s top 16 finish at Miss World 2007.

As for Miss Universe, it proved to be an even tougher nut to crack.

Malaysia’s best ever showing there was way back in 1970 when Josephine Lena Wong Jaw Leng (now known as Datin Josephine Fonseka) managed a top 15 finish. For the record, Miss Universe 1970 was Puerto Rico’s Marisol Malaret and Japan’s Jun Shimada placed 4th.

That means, as far as Miss Universe achievements go, we’re still behind countries like Belize, Angola and Guam, and level with Vietnam. Doesn’t sound so good huh?

Incidentally, Datin Fonseka is the mother of Andrea Fonseka, Miss Malaysia/Universe 2004.

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What can be worse than being involved in a plane crash? Probably only one thing: a door suddenly opens and you are sucked out of a plane in mid-flight, thousands of feet above.

It was reported that on 8th May 2003 a 20-year old Ilyushin 76 (IL-76), a Russian-made 4-engined cargo plane was flying from Kinshasha to Lubumbashi (both in Congo) when the rear loading ramp suddenly burst open around 8 pm local time, 45 minutes after takeoff.

A view of the rear loading ramp – measuring about 10ft by 10ft

One newsreport said it was at an altitude of 8,000 ft, another said 10,000 ft, but yet another said 33,000 feet!!

The weather was clear at that time.

Result: up to 140 were apparently sucked out, including women and children, out of about 400 (some say 200) passengers and crew.

Can you imagine that happening? For those on Lipovox, probably that would be the only time in your life that you regretted taking it – for your weight would make it more difficult to be blown away.

Other passengers immediately ran to the plane’s front and the plane successfully turned back to Kinshasha.

But why did the door open?

The pilot was quoted to have said that:

A passenger could have been touching the button for special opening device; this is a very realistic option. But there could also be the possibility of an electronic problem with software.

Source
CNN, May 2003

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The Pritzker Architecture Prize, founded 1979 is widely considered to be the world’s top architecture prize, and is often dubbed “the Nobel Prize of architecture.”

It is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation and any living architects all over the world are eligible. The stated criteria is “…demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture”.

The award recipient gets, among other things, USD100,000 and a bronze medallion:

It would seem that amongst Asians, the Japanese are the best architects: they have won it 4 times, including the 2010 award which went to Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa:

They designed the unassuming-looking 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan in 2004:

Interesting, and having a career in architecture is one way to answer the perennial question of how to lose weight fast, with all the moving about, studying buildings and stuff.

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Hannah Ocuish (1774-1786), an American Indian, is the youngest person ever executed in America, and probably the world, when she was hanged at the age of 12 years and 9 months on 20th December 1786 in Connecticut.

12 years! She didn’t even have the opportunity to have a credit score done!

She was accused of choking Eunice Bolles, 6, a white girl, to death after they quarreled over strawberries in the summer. The body was found on 21st July 1786.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Lionel Tate (b. 1987) is the youngest American, and possibly the world, to ever be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001, for beating up Tiffany Eunick, 6 to death. He was just 11 at that time, yet weighed 166 pounds.

At the time of the crime, Tate’s mother was Eunick’s babysitter. Tate’s mother was having a nap upstairs, so Tate was left alone with the girl. For some reason, he then stomped on the little 46-pound girl so violently that her liver tore apart, her skull and rib fractured, and her brain swollen, which the prosecution described as like falling from a 3-story building.

According to him, he was merely imitating moves of pro wrestlers.

In sentencing, the judge said:

The acts of Lionel Tate were not the playful acts of a child [...] The acts of Lionel Tate were cold, callous and indescribably cruel.

Later in life, he was in and out of trouble many times, including armed robbery. It would seem he’s destined to remain behind bars for the rest of his life. Blame it on his upbringing perhaps, but surprisingly I didn’t find any reference to drugs in his case. If that were the case, a rapid opiate detox could’ve done the trick. But if his living environment did not support a complete personal overhaul, not much could be ultimately hoped for.

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In recent times, William Henry Gates III, better known as Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft has topped the list of the world’s wealthiest individuals countless times, with an all-time high hitting USD101 billion in 1999. A distant second is Carlos Slim Helú at a mere USD69.8 billion in 2007.

But is Bill Gates the richest man who ever lived?

Not even close.

The following people were wealthier than Gates by a very long shot; that yes, they could afford to pay for the best hemorrhoid treatment!

The Rothschild family (The House of Rothschild), that German-Jewish European business dynasty that established banking and finance companies, during the 19th century, owned the world’s largest fortune in private hands, and surely in modern history. In today’s USD dollars, the total wealth they owned would’ve easily been in “the many hundreds of USD dollar billions, if not in the US dollar trillions.” In their prime, the family had at least 41 palaces, “of a scale and luxury perhaps unparalleled even by the richest Royal families.” The very name “Rothschild” has become synonymous with extravagance and seemingly unlimited wealth: the family was famous for its art collection and its philanthropy.

Pictured above is Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744 – 1812), the man who started it all, one of the most influential businessmen of all time and a “founding father of international finance”.

Marcus Licinius Crassus (115 BC – 53 BC), Roman general, politician, part of the First Triumvirate, and has a legendary greed for amassing riches. At the height of his powers, some historians put his wealth at more than 200 million sestertii. That’s equal to the total annual budget of the Roman treasury! He is surely the richest individual of that time and probably of all time. He’s noted for assisting the then young and poor Julius Ceaser. Apparently molten gold was poured into his mouth shortly after his death to quench his thirst for worldly possessions.

John D. Rockefeller (1839 – 1937) revolutionized the petroleum industry and in 1916 became America’s, and possibly the world’s nominal first US dollar billionaire. Often regarded as the richest person in all of history. Adjusted to today’s dollars, his wealth has been placed between USD392 billion and USD663.4 billion!

Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919), founder of the Carnegie Steel Company was one of the most famous industry leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his life was a true “rags to riches” story. A business rival of Rockefeller, some has estimated his wealth to be USD297.8 billion in today’s US dollars.

Tsar Nicholas II (1868 – 1918), the last Emperor of Russia, who, with his family were killed by the Bolsheviks reputedy had a net worth of USD290.7 billion in today’s US dollars. That would make him the wealthiest monarch / head of state of all time.

Asaf Jah VII (1886 – 1967), was the last ruler of the State of Hyderabad and Berar, before it became part of India. During that time, he was reputedly the world’s richest man, at USD2 billion in the early 1940s. Inflation adjusted, that may be equivalent to USD225 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars.

How about King Solomon? Any guy who had 700 wives and 300 concubines must’ve been damn rich!

Source
Wikipedia

Popularity: 4% [?]

Here’s a list of the world’s most treacherous peaks – you’d need more than the usual physical training to even consider going up any of these; you’d need to consume colon and body cleansers too.

The world’s most dangerous mountain could very well be Annapurna I, at 8,091m the world’s 10th highest mountain. It has the world’s highest climber fatality rate: an incredible 40%. That means out of every 5 climbers attempting to conquer it, 2 would die. Still, it has been conquered even in winter (unlike K2), and it was the first “eight thousander” (at least 8,000m high peak) to be conquered. That honour went to Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of a French expedition on 3rd June 1950. That’s 3 years earlier than the Edmund Hillary/Tenzing Norgay conquest of Everest. As of 2005, only 103 summit attempts have been successful, with 56 fatalities, most of them due to avalanches. Those killed include famed Russian climber Anatoli Boukreev in 1997, Christian Kuntner in 2005 and Iñaki Ochoa in 2008. The great Slovienian climber, the late Tomaž Humar climbed it solo in 2007.

The second could be K2, which, at 8,611m, is the second-highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest. Dubbed “The Savage Mountain”, it is extremely difficult to conquer and has the second highest climber fatality rate among the “eight thousanders”: 25% i.e. for every four people who have reached the top, one has died trying. It has never been attempted during winter.

In terms of intimidating factor, nothing comes close to Nanga Parbat, the world’s 9th highest mountain. Dubbed “The Man Eater” and “Killer Mountain”, it boasts the largest mountain face in the world, the Rupal Face – a 4,600m vertical drop – that’s higher than Mount Kinabalu! Apparently only two climbers have ever succeeded ascending up this face all the way to the summit. In August 2005, renowned Slovenian mountaineer Tomaž Humar, was rescued on the Face at 5,900m after being stuck there for 6 days. He’s circled in the following photo – surely the loneliest place in the world:

Compare what I mentioned above to Everest’s stats: as of 2008, there had been 4,102 successful ascents by around 2,700 people, with 210 deaths.

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What is THE greatest fiction book that has ever been published?

J. Peder Zane, a book editor attempted to answer that question by asking 125 top British and American writers to name, in ranked in order, their 10 favourite books, hence the theory here was “the greatest writers would know best what are the greatest books”. Each book would get 10 points when it’s ranked number 1, 9 points when ranked number 2 and so on.

He then collated the results in a, what else, book called “The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books”, published 2007.

He asked luminaries like Andrea Barrett, Edwidge Danticat, Ha Jin, Reynolds Price, Tom Wolfet, Norman Mailer, Annie Proulx, Stephen King, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, Margaret Drabble, Michael Chabon and Peter Carey.

The 125 produced a list of 544 books, but the resulting top ten is as follows… but wait! Don’t blame me if you end up sitting down so long without doing any exercise to read them that you forget all about your top 10 fat burners.

1. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (1878), which “tells parallel stories of an adulterous woman trapped by the conventions and falsities of society and of a philosophical landowner, who works alongside the peasants in the fields and seeks to reform their lives.” Published in several parts, over a 4-year period starting 1873 in a periodical. The front page of the first edition of the novel, published 1878:

Full text in English.

2. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert (1857), the French writer, his first novel and masterpiece. It focuses on the adulterous doctor’s wife, Emma Bovary, who lives beyond her means to run away from “the banalities and emptiness of provincial life.” It is considered a seminal work of Realism.

Full text in English.

3. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy (1869), an epic which describes in detail happenings that led up to Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Russia and its impact on society from the point of view of five Russian aristocratic families.

Full text in English.

4. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (1955), the top-ranked English novel and the top-ranked, and probably most controversial novel published in the 20th century. The very word “Lolita” has entered general consciousness to describe “a sexually precocious young girl.”

The rest of the top 10:

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
6. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust
9. The stories of Anton Chekhov
10. Middlemarch, by George Eliot

Looking at the list, it can be concluded that Russian Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is the greatest novelist who ever lived, with 2 of his masterpieces in the top three.

The only known colour photograph of the man himself in 1908 aged 80, 2 years before his death:

The top 3 novels were not written in English.

Shakespeare is the most-represented author; his best, Hamlet, placed 6th on the all-time list.

2nd ranked Madame Bovary made more lists (26) than top-ranked Anna Karenina (25) but 3rd ranked War and Peace ranked higher on its lists 11 more points than Madame Bovary.

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Impatiens psittacina, or more commonly known as “parrot flower” is a very rare species of balsam that was first discovered in upper Myanmar (then Burma) by A.H. Hildebrand in the late 1890s, and first described by botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1901.

Note that “very rare” phrase, a total opposite of “daily deals.”

It is known to exist naturally in a small region in northern Thailand (near Chiang Mai), Myanmar and in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur.

Its most striking feature is unquestionably its flowers that looks like a parrot or a cockatoo in flight when looked at from the side.

Source
Snopes.com

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% [?]

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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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You won’t be able to find bottled water for sale in Bundanoon, New South Wales, Australia.

The rural town with a population of 2,500 has decided to ban the sale of bottled water because of its impact on the environment.

It could be the first community in the world to do so.

In a public meeting in the town hall to vote on it, at least 350 voted for it and only two voted against, one a resident, and another a representative from the bottled water industry.

If New Jersey ever decides to implement this, then less junk for the NJ junk removal company.

Still, locals have promised not to “punish” visitors ignoring the ban, but they will be advised to put used bottles in a reusable container.

Source
The BBC, 8 July 2009

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More than 12 million copies sold worldwide.

For those old enough to have seen her in the original Charlie’s Angels, you’d surely remember this poster sporting THAT hair. That hairstyle was copied by millions of young women. She was an international sex symbol in the 1970s and 1980s:

Heck, I can even remember this poster being displayed in my house in the village!

The photo shoot for the original poster was held in 1976 by Pro Arts Inc., and first published in Life magazine the same year.

Her husband at that time was another hugely popular star, Lee “The Six Million Dollar Man” Majors.

RIP, Ferrah Leni Fawcett.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The BBC reported on 18th June 2009 that South Africa’s Medical Research Council conducted a survey on 1,738 men in 2 provinces, and found that:

- 1 in 4 men in South Africa *may* have raped someone.
- Even more shockingly, almost half of that have attacked more than one person.
- 73% who admitted rape have attacked for the first time while still in their teens.
- 1 in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the past year.
- Perhaps most shockingly, 1 in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.
- About 3% said they had raped another man or boy.

Practices like gang rape were common because they were considered “a form of male bonding.”

South Africa has a total population of about 48 million, hence there could easily be millions of rapists there.

According to a survey for the period 1998–2000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, South Africa was ranked first in the world for rapes per capita. The rate has shown no signs of abating, resulting in country being referred to as the “rape capital of the world”.

Source
The BBC, 18 June 2009

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Jacqueline Fleming, 38 of Scotland is the first person to die of the virus outside the Americas.

The mother of 2, who had only given birth to her second son, a premature baby on 1st June while having been critically ill for weeks, died in intensive care on 14th June 2009.

She had “underlying health problems.”

If it was any consolation, the baby does not have the virus.

The death rate is now 1 in 200 infections.

There have been almost 500 people in Scotland infected, mostly in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 9 now being hospitalised.

As for England, 752 have been infected, mostly around Birmingham.

As for the whole of Great Britain, more than 1,000 have been infected.

As for the rest of Europe, 680.

Worldwide, there have been 145 confirmed deaths, mostly in Mexico and the US.

Now this is getting scary, you could get infected even while shopping for home lighting in your local supermarket!

Source
The Guardian (UK), 15 June 2009

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Did David Carradine, 72 die of erotic asphyxiation (EA), or more accurately auto-erotic asphyxiation (AEA)? We might never know, but if he did, he could be the most famous person ever to have done so.

He was found dead 4th June 2009 in his hotel room in Bangkok, hanging by a rope in the closet. Apparently no other persons were involved. A highly controversial photograph published by Thai Rath, a local tabloid, showed his hands apparently bound together above the head. Then not one but two of his ex-wives, Gail Jensen and Marina Anderson revealed that he liked self-bondage.

According to Go Ask Alice!, it’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 deaths due to EA/AEA occur annually in the United States alone, and exactly how many people engage in AEA is unknown, because the practice almost always remains a secret until someone dies accidentally.

The first recorded case of death from EA is of the Czech composer Frantisek Kotzwara who died in 1791, when he tied a ligature around the doorknob of the room in a prostitute he visited, while the other end was fastened around his neck, then had sex with her. When it was over, he was well… dead.

Arguably even more controversial is AEA, which is basically committing suicide… almost.

Sometimes, it goes wrong, and you’re dead, and if you’re a public figure, it’s explosive.

Possibly the most lurid AEA case involving a politician was that of Stephen Milligan, then 45, who was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. His corpse was reportedly found draped across a kitchen table at his London home in 1994 by his secretary Vera Taggart, who let herself in when she became worried he had missed his appointments.

He was found almost naked, save for suspenders and women’s stockings which he wore, with an electrical cord tied from around his neck to his ankles, a plastic trash bag over the head and a segment of orange in his mouth.

Three days later, it was determined that he died due to suffocation by that cord.

Then of course there’s the case of Michael Hutchence, then 37, lead singer of INXS, who *might* have died from autoerotic asphyxiation in 1997, although officially, suicide was cited as the cause of death.

INXS was in the final leg of a world tour and was in Australia. On the morning of 22nd November 1997, Hutchence, was found dead and in the nude in his hotel room in Sydney. There was a belt found at the scene suggesting that he had died by hanging.

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On 11th June 2009, Dr Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic.

It was done after holding an emergency meeting.

The virus first appeared in Mexico in April.

It has since spread to 74 countries.

Particulary worrying is the rising number of cases in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile.

There has been nearly 30,000 cases worldwide, with 141 deaths and the numbers are rising every day.

Points to take note:

- keep calm

- the current pandemic seems to be moderate i.e. only causes mild illness in most people. We don’t know if there’ll be a more severe second wave.

- most of the infected are young working age adults

- By declaring a pandemic, it does not imply that we will see increased in deaths or serious cases.

- Symptoms usually similar to seasonal flu – but deaths have been recorded

- The virus is a new version of the H1N1 strain which caused the 1918 flu pandemic

Current treatments do work, but as yet there is no vaccine

Good personal hygiene, such as washing hands, covering nose when sneezing advised.

Dr Chan’s full press statement

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On 11th June 2009, it was reported that given the current situation with the H1N1 virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is set to declare the first pandemic in 40 years.

There was a spike in the number of cases in Australia, while a few days earlier Hong Kong closed all its nurseries and primary schools for 2 weeks following the case of 12 students being tested positive for the virus.

The last global pandemic was the Hong Kong Flu of 1968-1969.

It killed 1 million people globally.

It infected half a million in Hong Kong alone, 15% of the population, mercifully with a low mortality rate.

In the United States, about 34,000 died.

The virus was a “strain of H3N2 descended from H2N2 by antigenic shift, in which genes from multiple subtypes reassorted to form a new virus.”

The first recorded outbreak was somewhere in Hong Kong on 13th July 1968. It reached maximum intensity in 2 weeks and lasted 6 weeks in all.

In a few days, extensive outbreaks were reported in Vietnam and Singapore. By September the same year, it had reached India, Philippines, northern Australia, Europe and the USA – from returning Vietnam War troops. By 1969, it would reach Japan, Africa and South America.

Source
Wikipedia

Popularity: 1% [?]

This is a list of songs that will get everybody, no matter what their age is (10 to 100), as long as they love good music, to hit the dance floor, anywhere, anytime.

Perhaps the older generation won’t get that excited by Lady Ga Ga’s Just Dance or the younger generation won’t start swaying their bodies to the Hollies’ Stay, but the following surely could change that:

Kenny Loggins – Footloose (1984)
Los Lobos – La Bamba (1987)
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – You’re the one that I want (1978)
Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
Bee Gees – Night Fever
Bee Gees – You should be dancing
Bee Gees – Jive talkin’
Village People – YMCA
Billy Idol – Mony Mony (live)
Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music
Kool and The Gang – Celebration
Aretha Franklin – Respect
Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby (1990)
Beatles – Twist and Shout
AC/DC – You shook me all night long (1980)
B-52s – Love shack
The Chicken Dance
Macarena
I Will Survive
Mambo #5
Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer
Def Leppard – Pour some sugar on me
Whitney Houston – i want to dance with somebody (who loves me) Whitney Houston – how will i know
Madonna – Holiday
Donna Summer – I Feel Love
Bananarama – Venus
Eurythmics – sweet dreams (are made of this)
Sister Sledge – we are family
Queen – we will rock you
Aerosmith & Run DMC – walk this way
MC Hammer – you can’t touch this

If you have any additions/deletions etc, please do so in the comments section. Thanks!

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These are not foods that would make you balloon up so quickly you’d need to get a move on on reading those diet pill reviews, however these yummies are definitely not recommended for a romantic date:

Spaghetti , because for one, very few people could actually wrap the strands around a fork, the proper way of bringing the stuff to your mouth. Then there’s that unromantic slurping sound that invariably goes together with spaghetti-eating. Better alternatives are bite-size varities of similar stuff like penne, rigatoni, or tortellini.

Raw Onions , because the strong smell goes around the room quickly everytime you let out a breath. The thing is, they are present in many types of salad and so finely done you won’t even see them, and they won’t even be declared to be part of the menu. So ask before ordering, otherwise that kiss might be repelled mightily!

Other no-nos include:

Steak tartar
Chili
Stinky Cheese
Ribs
Truffles
Tacos
Spinach salad
Heavy garlic

Reasons why explained in detail.

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On the 13th of February 1994, Bruce Handy wrote in the venerable newspaper that:

One Wisconsin man who lost his [penis] in a 1989 lawn-mower accident had it grafted onto his forearm as a kind of stopgap measure until it could be returned to its rightful place.

Whoa, what do you think of that?

I can’t find any other reference to that man anywhere else; could this be real?

The sense of disbelief is succintly put into words by Mocking Words when he wrote recently:

Holycrapholycrapholycrap!!! WHAT?!?!

Grafted to his forearm?? Lawnmower accident?! How in the hell does one have a lawnmower accident that involves one’s penis? That is not an approved ‘manscaping’ method, I’m fairly certain of that! And the guy had it grafted (which, until it’s un-grafted is rather permanent) to his forearm?! Not his upper-arm, where it would be easy to conceal! Oh, no! No, they had to stick it directly on the forearm so it would be incredibly hard to miss! Might as just as well have put it on his forehead! What year was this 1687? What?! 1989?? Clearly a bad year to have your schlong shlopped off. I’ve heard of scientists growing things like ears on the backs of mice, which is also quite strange, I’m not trying to imply that it isn’t! But having your groin-age on your forearm is just beyond my ability to comprehend. That’s mainly because a) I don’t even have one and b) even if I did, I couldn’t imagine having it attached to my arm. And since guys love the thing so much, that would be the epitome of wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve, wouldn’t it? I think it would.

Source
The New York Times, 13 Feb 1994

… what if the word mesothelioma appeared in that sentence?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Major Steven Hutchison, 60 survived the Vietnam War, but not the war in Iraq. Joining the army in 1966, he served two one-year tours in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 as a member of the famed 101st Airborne Division and won a Bronze Star and a Meritorious Service Medal.

After being in the army for 22 years, he retired in 1988. Along the way, he earned a PhD in psychology. After retirement, he became a college professor and became a researcher for a health care company.

He was killed by a roadside bomb on the 10th of May 2009, which exploded near his vehicle in Basra.

He is the oldest member of any branch of the US military to die in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The previous oldest soldier to die in Iraq was Staff Sgt. William Chaney, who died of a post-surgical blood clot in 2004 when he was 59.

Major Hutchison signed up in July 2007 through a military Retiree Recall program that lets experienced soldiers return to action, but only after his wife died the year before. He originally wanted to re-enlist right after 9/11 at the age of 51, but his wife did not agree to it.

He served in Afghanistan for a year before being deployed to Iraq in October 2008.

The US military can reinstate retirees up to the age of 64 for general officers, 62 for warrant officers and 60 for all others. For new soldiers, the age limit is 42. About 700 officers are currently on active duty through the Retiree Recall program. They must pass fitness tests every six months, doing push-ups, sit-ups and a two-mile run.

Source
Yahoo! News, 14th May 2009

… definitely, Iraq is no Outer Banks rentals …

Popularity: 1% [?]

Calling all real men!

So you think you’re tough, brave, strong, or similar adjective?

Demonstrate that you are able to hang by your testicles first, then we can talk.

Gross? No, someone explains why this is a work of art:

A slender well formed male body looks rather graceful when hanging by the balls. The back and head stretch backward and downward with arms trailing, and the legs likewise in a parabolic arch that emphasizes the flaring of the male torso, mounted by the nips, into the shoulders, and the strong legs, growing from the slender pelvis and ending in the feet, all hanging languidly. The picture conveys grace and freedom, not pain, and distinctly male beauty.

Still, many people would find that disgusting, and that if one really wanted to do some “elongation”, other techniques to stretch one’s scrotum are available.

… if you’re overweight, it’s not recommended to do it, you might want to consider taking weight loss pills first …

Popularity: 15% [?]

For ladies who don’t believe in wearing a bra, read on.

A 57-year old woman in Detroit was shot at by one of 3 burglars, but the bullet bounced off the metal underwire in her bra.

She was looking out her window as they were entering a neighbour’s house. They noticed, and shot at her.

The bullet went through her window and hit her, but instead of causing serious injury, or worse, death, it ricocheted off.

The suspects then drove away after the shooting.

She did sustain injuries but they were minor.

Thank goodness for metal-wired bras!

Source
The BBC, 23 Apr 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

On 30 November 2005, a court acquitted Jan Luedecke, 33 from Toronto, Canada of sexual assault (i.e. rape) after he was diagnosed with sleep sex disorder (sexsomania). Meaning, the judge ruled that he was asleep during the attack, hence was not responsible for the deed.

The case was appealed at least once, and acquittal upheld, however on 20th October 2008 it was reported that an appeals court ordered a new trial for Luedecke.

Luedecke met the woman at a party in July 2005. Both drank, then fell asleep on a couch. Later, the woman woke up to find the man having sex with her and pushed him off. Hitting the floor, he then woke up, but later told the court that he had no memory of having sex with anybody, and only suspected they had had sex after going to the bathroom and finding he was still wearing a condom.

Dr. Colin Shapiro, a sleep expert testified at his trial that he suffered from parasomnia – a condition in which people do strange things in their sleep. One of its symptoms is sexomnia: having sex while sleeping.

Of course, disorder or not, some women’s groups are angry. As Chris Leonard of Toronto Rape Crisis Center said:

This person had non-consensual sex with her, and whether it’s a disorder or not there has to be some level of accountability.

According to the University of Toronto Center for Sleep Studies, 2.5% percent of adults suffer from parasomnia, although the number of people who exhibit sexsomnia is unknown: but this surely means that cases like has been going on for as long as man has been on this earth, only that this was the first time it was reported in the media.

In fact, other strange things people have been known to do in their sleep includes:
(i) preparing meals
(ii) drive long distances;
(iii) go next door to their neighbour to borrow a cup of sugar

Source
Globelife, 31 May 2007

Popularity: 2% [?]

There’s no other motorbike quite like it.

The Honda CBR600RR, a 599cc, water cooled four cylinder motorcycle is the world’s first bike with a computer-controlled anti lock braking system (ABS).

Prices start at 1.1 million yen (USD12,200).

A 999cc version, the CBR1000RR will also be available shortly.

A video of the braking system demonstrated:

Source
weikhang.com

… If ABS on cars caused car insurance premiums to fall, this case sure would do it for motorbikes …

Popularity: 1% [?]

It was reported on 12th Feb 2009 that the British, whose native language is English (duh!) find the word “accommodation” to be the most difficult to spell.

How did they know this? Well, it was based on the number of requests for the correct spelling internet search engine Ask.com received.

“Accommodation” was the most requested; it was often misspelled as “acommodation”, “accomodation” and even “accomadation”.

Other words that they (and of course the rest of us) find difficult to spell include:
- Restaurant
- Embarrass (usually misspelled as “embarass” or “embarras”)
- February (usually misspelled as “Febuary”)
- Receipt (usually misspelled as “Reciept”)
- Accessory
- Opportunity
- Guarantee

Source
The Daily Telegraph (UK), 12 Feb 2009

Popularity: 2% [?]

Watch the guy in white dodging a train, in the nick of time, at a level-crossing in Essex, on 17th December 2008.

If he’d been half a second slower, that’s be the end of it.

As it turned out, he got lucky: he only lost a shoe!!!

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 1% [?]

Apparently this is the only example of male-male co-operation among animals.

Rather than tearing each other apart to get their girl, male long-tailed manakins (a tropical bird) co-operate with their friends. They pair up to perform a courtship song and dance, but the alpha male gets the girl every time. Meanwhile his “wingman” spends up to five years playing second fiddle.

During that time, the beta male does not copulate.

However, he eventually inherits the mating site when the alpha male dies – he doesn’t kick him out.

This following video shows this in action. Two males, the dominant “alpha” and subordinate “beta” doing a “backwards leapfrog” courtship display for a female. The female is the olive-green bird perched on the right:

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 1% [?]

Update 9th Feb 2009

Apparently her mother’s not too pleased with her.

—————

Nadya Suleman, 33 of California who gave birth to octuplets (8 babies in one pregnancy) on 26th January 2009, coinciding with the Chinese New Year, has been overwhelmed with book and TV offers.

Now she even has her own publicist.

She already had 6 children before that, bringing her total to 14 children.

Perhaps even most amazing is the fact that she does not have a life partner (i.e. married). All 14 kids were conceived via in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

She explains:

That was always a dream of mine, to have a large family, a huge family.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Outgoing US president George W Bush hosted an extraordinary event at the White House on Wednesday 7th January 2009: a lunch for only all living US presidents to attend and no one else.

Meaning only the members of the world’s most exclusive club were allowed in for the reunion of sorts: a mere five of them:

(i) Democrat Jimmy Carter (1977-81)
(ii) Republican George HW Bush (1989-93)
(iii) Democrat Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
(iv) Republican George W Bush (2001-2009)
(v) Democrat Barack Obama (2009- )

I think many people would be willing to pay big money to be included in this group photo at the Oval Office, taken before they had lunch:

Video:

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 1 Feb 2009

People have not learnt. The BBC reported that at least 15 people have died in a fire at a bar in China, believed caused by fireworks started by a group of people celebrating a birthday.

At least 20 people others injured, 3 seriously.

UPDATE 4th January 2009

Main shareholder of the club, Thai-Chinese Wisuth Setsawat cried as he apologised to the families of victims.

Death toll: 62
Injured: about 250, 30 critical
Number of people inside during incident: up to 1,000
Operator of club: White & Brothers Co.
Club owner: Suriya Ritrabue

When fire broke out, the club plunged into darkness (no emergency lights) & the burning ceiling collapsed.

Club did not have police permit to operate. An application sent 5 years ago was not approved because “the building wasn’t ready”, but still it opened because of a court appeal and even now, the courts has not issued a ruling.

———————–

This is possibly the worst disaster related to new year revelry ever recorded since 1956′s 124 deaths at Yahiko Shrine, Niigata, Japan.

More than 60 clubbers, mostly Thais with some foreigners have been confirmed dead at Santika, an upscale Bangkok nightspot when fire reportedly started around 12.30am, 1st January 2009 when the band set off fireworks / pyrotechnics which set ablaze a curtain located on the ceiling which then rapidly spread. Still others said it was caused by an electrical fault.

Having said that, the general consensus was that the blame fell squarely on the nightclub’s management, because:
- there were none, or at least insufficient fire exits
- there was no sprinkler system

The deaths were caused by either fire, smoke inhalation or being trampled upon.

Witnesses described shocking scenes of people with their hairs and clothes on fire desperately trying to escape.

Santika before fire:

Santika after fire:

Click here to read the rest of the post

Popularity: 1% [?]

Arnold Romine, 61 must be one of the world’s luckiest ever persons, if not the luckiest ever. Some might say people who win millions gambling are luckier, but when it comes to life and death situations, this surely must rank higher than merely winning money.

On 13th November 2008, he was reportedly hit by not one but EIGHT train cars and not only survived, but suffered no major injuries.

The train conductor saw him, sounded the warning horn, tried to stop the train, but couldn’t do so in time.

In any case, Romine did not budge. Whether he was hell bent on committing suicide, it was not immediately clear.

He was found lying next to the tracks and managed to crawl out from under the train when it finally stopped.

…perhaps he should be banned from ever setting foot on the las vegas strip…

Source
The Huntsville Times, 14th Nov 2008

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 27th Nov 2008

- The boy allegedly committed the crime as he had been smacked more than 1,000 times by his mother and stepmother, of which he kept a record on the number of beatings. He had promised himself that “1,000 would be the limit.”
- He shot the duo as they were coming home from work at a local power plant.

———————————

Around 5pm on the 5th of November 2008, an 8-year old boy shot dead his own father, Vincent Romero, 29 and Timothy Romans, 39 in St Johns, Arizona, USA.

One of them was found just outside the front door and the other in a room upstairs.

The boy had used a .22 calibre rifle which his father had taught him to use for hunting.

After the shootings, he went to a neighbour’s house and told them that his father’s dead.

The late Vincent Romero

According to police, he has confessed to the crime, and has been charged with murder.

He was well-behaved at school but is believed to have been abused at home.

The house where the shootings took place

Source
The BBC, 8th November 2008
AP

Popularity: 7% [?]

IMHO, the honour belongs to “eunoia”.

Why?

At least 2 reasons:

1. It’s the shortest word in English containing all five vowels
2. Even the meaning is beautiful: “beautiful thinking”

It originated from the Greek word εύνοια, meaning “well mind” and of course “beautiful thinking.”

It’s also an infrequently used medical term which refers to “a state of normal mental health.”

No less a figure than Aristotle, one of the greatest founding figures in Western philosophy and the teacher of Alexander the Great used this term to refer to “the kind and benevolent feelings of goodwill a spouse has which form the basis for the ethical foundation of human life” in the seminal Nicomachean Ethics.

Ref:
The BBC, 30th Oct 2008

More lists of beautiful English words
@ listology.com
@ alphadictionary.com

Popularity: 2% [?]

Dennis Reggie

Denis Reggie is a 25-year veteran in this arena. Based in Atlanta, he became famous for a new style of wedding photography called “wedding photojournalism.” He’s shot hundreds of celebrity weddings, and probably took the most famous wedding photograph of all time – that of John Kennedy Jr. to Carolyn Bessette – the groom kissing the bride’s hand as they step out of the one-room church where the ceremony was held:

Reggie described it in his own words:

They asked me to release just one picture of the wedding that I thought told the story, only one and it was to be my choice. There was a special energy about the moment. It’s one that I actually had to take in silhouette because it was a very dark island, no electricity for miles and there were candlelight’s only. I am focusing on her silhouette and I noticed that John had reached for her hand to bring her hand to his lips and I thought: ” gosh what a wonderful moment”. And I’m thinking in slow motion, although they were moving pretty quickly and I was able to get that one picture off with my Hasselblad and it was a moment for me that said it all. It’s one that that was later to be used on over a thousand covers of magazines and newspapers and it was a great honor. Of course it was a bittersweet as well because of their tragic demise three years later and that moment will always be a happy moment.

Hundreds of celebrity weddings. A thousand magazine covers. Hasselblad camera.

Top that!

Joe Buissink

Joe Buissink of Beverly Hills. Question: What’s so special about him? Answer: None other than Annie Leibovitz has hired him, not once but twice: to shoot her sister’s wedding, then to shoot her cousin’s. If you didn’t know, Leibovitz is the USA’s most famous photographer, who took many famous photos, amongst them Demi Moore’s pregnant and naked photos in Vanity Fair, Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” and “True Colors” album covers, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” album cover, Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James on the April 2008 cover of Vogue America and Miley Cyrus’ controversial Vanity Fair photo in which she appeared to be semi-nude.

Having said that, in the past more than 10 years Buissink himself has shot weddings almost the same number of celebrities as Leibovitz, including for Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez.

Jerry Ghionis

Jerry Ghionis, based in Australia has won two “Album of the Year” awards at the prestigious annual Wedding & Portrait Photographers International convention, where he’s been the winningest photographer of the last four years. Although based in Australia, he draws huge crowds in the U.S. as a speaker.

Kevin Kubota

When Kevin Kubota charged USD10,000 per wedding a few years ago, and still people hired him. He even has his own line of Photoshop add-ons, Kubota Image Tools.

That’s it. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading my list of photographers whose creations are worth our picture frames.

Source

Popularity: 2% [?]

After disappearing from the blogosphere for months, the man dubbed “Malaysia’s first and last drug blogger” is back. In fact, he claimed that his blog was “the first totally non-anonymous drug blog in the world with photos and videos of myself using (drugs).”

Poh Huai Bin, 27 of sixthseal.com’s first entry in a long time was dated 28th March 2008 with the title “Hail to the King, Baby!,” complete with an image of him drinking straight from a bottle and a single line:

Contrary to popular belief, I am not dead.

IMHO, he should also be called Malaysia greatest and bravest, or even perhaps most reckless blogger who ever lived, so much so that top local paper The Star ran a feature on him on the 12th of July 2008.

Back then, in a post dated 30th August 2006 he eloquently described his suicide attempt (slit his wrists), which prompted responses such as this:

Let me, someone just a bit older than you and someone who has seen some shit in my time on this planet, break it down for you. In order of least stupid to most stupid, here goes:

1. wanting to kill yourself (can happen to almost anyone)
2. trying to kill yourself (if you succeed, then much respect –you’re a success)
3. trying poorly to kill yourself
4. making goodbye calls or writing notes prior to trying poorly to kill yourself
5. failing in an attempt to kill yourself
6. telling anyone who doesn’t have to know about it that you tried poorly to kill yourself and failed
7. posting about trying poorly to kill yourself and failing on your public blog

I have enjoyed your blog until now. Now I know that you are a sad attention-seeker. What you did is the sort of thing we expect from some spoiled, rich 16 year old girl here in the USA. It’s a terrible disgrace for a man to behave like this. It’s the opposite of going out like James Dean –which is actually pretty stupid too.

I don’t know how long you have been using drugs at a serious level. What I see is someone who may have stunted his psycho-social development at the teenage years.

Kill the blog. Get off the stage. Get some help now. Life is not like a movie. Behave like an adult. In the event you try this shit again, go vertically on the wrists. A warm bath will help stop coagulation. And don’t do it in a hospital. Killing yourself is so damn easy –how could you screw it up?

… and this:

JUST DIE, next time get a saw and saw your hand off… there are so many danterous equipments in ICU JUST grap those things they use to cut bones. CUT both your hands… or better still your legs… OR HEAD! OR STAB YOUR HEART! JUST DIE ALREADY!

If you choose the path of death to escape, do it properly. If you really wanted to die you would have died. You want to live, that is why you did what you did.

WHY? ultimately all of us reject death, we want to live. But for your disrespect for life just DIE!

DO drugs and be proud of it… get a life, quit your job la if you want to die earn money for what?!

haiii… you don’t need GOD you neeed some good time lock up in a padded cell… or a cozy mountain cottage… or monestery. Get away from humanity, be away be quite DON”T even talk while you are away… and just set a date, survive for 3months. Then decide if you want to die. IF you do then make sure you die properly. Buy insurance for parents to make 100′s of thousand form your death… hahahahah [of course after checking life insurance rates]

Of course there were many detailed explanations of drugs use: how he got them, and what he felt, complete with timestamps, but probably the one that stood out was the time he described in vivid detail his experiences (or rather Veritas’ experience) with heroin. It was posted on 25th January 2003. About half an hour after snorting about 25mg of heroin he described the feeling:

this just feels so good. it’s not like other drugs, its not the ecstatic happiness of MDMA (feels like you’re about to go on a really good vacation you’re really looking forward to), it’s not like stimulants where you go “fuck i can take on the world!!!”, this is like a comfortable, very comfortable feeling that you lose as soon as you go into puberty. its an innocent sort of comfortable where the best thing is that you’re feeling comfortable and safe and warm in your house. and that’s all that matters, nothing can hurt you. its the feeling of picnics and reading books and eating cheese cake and nice weather and mom taking care of you when you’re sick and i’ve got it! its the feeling of being a kid, where there are no real problems, only little ones, and you don’t need to do anything, you just hang around and feel comfortable and they’re parents there to take care of you. damn, thats what it feels like. return to childhood. its the feeling of waking up on a saturday morning to the smell of french toast and you just lie around in bed waiting for your mom to call you down to eat breakfast and you’ve had a great nites sleep and the only thing you want to do is read a good book, a safe book where there are no great problems and everything turns out to be okay in the end. jesus, you just don’t get this feeling anymore after you grow up. no wonder people get addicted to this shit. it’s really comfortable.

I think it’s 100% confirmed that Kenny Sia will never ever do posts like the two above…

But for those expecting the same old fireworks this time, there’d be disappointment. Although he still uses his existing domain, all his drugs-related posts are gone. He said he was asked to remove them by the Narcotics Division “as part of his appeal for a reduced charge.”

Nowadays, he blogs about anything but drugs. But perhaps that’s a good thing because back then I wondered whether he’d make it alive at all.

At the peak of his powers then, he was up to 13,000 unique visitors a day.

Sometime in 2007 it was gone.

In his recent interview, he was reported to have said:

My problems with drugs and alcohol were spiralling out of control since my early twenties and it started to affect my personal life in visible ways. I was admitted to ICU once for renal (kidney) failure and had an emergency dialysis done through a vein in my throat. I was in the ICU for a week and suffered permanent liver and kidney damage. I have also been hospitalised for overdosing and suicide attempts. I wasn’t in a good frame of mind and it was decided that something needed to be done before I killed myself.

It was then that he went to a drug rehabilitation programme in Kuala Lumpur that was supposed to last a month but it didnt work. He tried again: failed again. Then he tried for a 3rd time:

I was sent to a third drug rehabilitation centre, which was a little bit more restrictive than I imagined. I was stripped naked and forced to wear a sarong in addition to being handcuffed and shackled (even during bowel movements) due to escape attempts. The punishment for escaping was being restrained in a jail cell and I only had The Bible for companionship then. Food was sent in through a tray with plastic utensils and I was in serious withdrawal and bored to death.

Apparently it worked, and how he’s blogging again, albeit about healthier topics.

He claimed that sixthseal.com was not a drug blog but rather “promotion of harm reduction and drug education via self-experimentation and use.” Personally, I doubt the authorities would take kindly to this explanation!

His advice to blogging pretenders:

Don’t get into trouble with the law with photos of yourself with the Big Two – drugs and sex. You can write a controversial article, get in the limelight, and then fade away. No one would even remember you, it’s just a matter of time before someone out there gets you.

Source
The Star, 12th July 2008

Popularity: 1% [?]

I don’t think I have seen a youtube video that brought a lump to my throat. Collectively, judging from the comments section, it’s responsible for many a throat-lump. Even more amazingly, it’s a true story more than 30 years ago.

Before watching the video, some background info: Christian the lion was a 3rd generation London zoo lion that at a young age was separated from his parents and put up for sale at the world-famous Harrods Departmental Store in London sometime in 1969.

Two Australians living in London, Anthony “Ace” Bourke (also known as Ace Berg) and John Rendall saw him there, paid the money and brought him home. Christian was a mere few weeks old then.

The bond between human and beast became very strong, but cute lion cubs grow to become huge in no time. It was then that they decided to release Christian into the African wilderness, to become a wild lion. Within a year, he already was, heading his own pride.

Then Ace and John decided to go to Africa to visit Christian one last time.

A documentary on this was filmed sometime 1970 (some say 1974).

Excerpts of the documentary was uploaded to youtube, including that pivotal moment when Christian is reunited with his owners after about a year in the wilderness.

They actually went into the wilderness without any visible protection and apparently after being specifically informed that the lion would not remember them (read: there’s a possiblity they’d get mauled to death).

This is what happened.

The “shorter version” of the reunion, if you don’t mind Aerosmith providing the soundtrack:

Even better is the “long version” of the reunion, if you don’t mind Whitney Houston singing in the background:

Truly remarkable stuff, as it could have easily ended in tragedy, like this guy who messed around with a lion and suffered for it (WARNING: DISTRESSING, BLOODY VIDEO):

The Daily Mail (UK) described the encounter in an article published 4th May 2007:

John Rendall and Ace Berg continued to make sporadic visits to Kenya, but mostly they followed Christian’s adventures from afar.

Finally, in 1974, George Adamson wrote to say that the pride was self-sufficient. Christian was defending it. There was a litter of cubs. They were feeding themselves and rarely returned to camp.

The King’s Road lion had finally adapted to the wild.

This was a bittersweet moment for all concerned. Rendall and Ace decided to travel to Kora one last time, in the hope of being able to say goodbye, though Adamson warned them that it would almost certainly be a wasted mission.

“Christian hasn’t been here for nine months. We have no reason to think he’s dead – there have been no reports of lions poached or killed. But he may never come back,” he said.

Rendall recalls, “We said: ‘OK. We appreciate that, but we’ll come anyway and see you.’”

They flew to Nairobi then took a small plane to the camp in Kora, where Adamson came out to meet them.

“Christian arrived last night, ” he said simply. “He’s here with his lionesses and his cubs. He’s outside the camp on his favourite rock. He’s waiting for you.”

Adamson and his wife Joy often talked about the mysterious, apparently telepathic communication skills of lions – particularly between lions and men.

Both believed that lions were possessed of a sixth sense and George was convinced that a scientific explanation would one day be found.

And here, it seemed, was the proof.

“Christian stared at us in a very intense way,” says Rendall. “I knew his expressions and I could see he was interested. We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly.

“Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.

“Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying.”

“The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of growling and spitting,” continues Rendall.

“‘George said: ‘This isn’t safe – we’d better go.’ So we each put a hand on Christian’s back and he walked with us back to camp.”

The reunion party went on all night and into the morning. Leaving his exhausted companions to go to their beds, Christian returned to his pride.

“We watched him go back to the two lionesses, who were not at all happy with this man, smelling of nicotine, whisky and humans,” says Rendall.

“He just walloped the two of them with his paw, then collapsed.”

And that was the last anyone ever saw of him.

The DVD is available for sale at bornfree.org.uk

Source
Daily Mail (UK)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Yes, Kaamatan 20008 is done and over with, but surely better late than never right?. Gogds has uploaded surely the highest resolution images of Kaamatan Unduk Ngadau 2008 contestants made freely available on the web.

Each image is 2000×3008 pixels, at over 3MB each.

Add to that a big plus: no visible watermark.

But first a slideshow of the images in the gallery:

Last but not least, view / download the full resolution pics here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This has been making the rounds for some time, with at least one source saying that this is actually in use at an IT firm in Mumbai, India. unfortunately there’s no proof of it being actually in use.

Well, I think it should! This, and perhaps other pictures showing similar message, should be put up everywhere, not least KLIA’s and KKIA’s smoking room…

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and in yours truly’s eyes, in the officially-sanctioned Unduk Ngadau’s almost 50-year history, Sylvia Sandralisa Orow’s the fairest of them all.

She was in her mid-teens when she was crowned the State-level Unduk Ngadau in 1991 (pics courtesy of Sylvia herself):

Interview session

Unduk Ngadau 1991

By 1993 she had won Miss Sabah/World and was top 4 at the Miss Malaysia/World pageant. She could very well be the first Unduk Ngadau who went on to win the Miss Sabah/World pageant.

She moved to New York in 2000 and based herself there ever since, working in Corporate Sales. Ah, the Big Apple, reminds me of the famous New York Moving Company.

Apart from that, she’s active in a Malaysian Dance Troupe, promoting Malaysia and of course Sabah; she’s also a volunteer with UNICEF.

Even with her busy schedule, she still finds time to “balik kampung” to Tuaran once a year.

Here are relatively recent photos of her, all sourced from her friendster account, with her kind permission.

Click here to see more pictures

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you think you’ve seen one too many boring wedding photographs, this one should make you sit up and take note.

On 12th May 2008, a wedding was taking place in a 100+ year old church in Sichuan, China.

It started off the usual way, around 2pm, photographs being taken, like this one on the church steps:

Suddenly, at 2:28pm local time, the great 2008 Sichuan earthquake hit, the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. The earthquake was felt as far away as Beijing (1,500 km away) and Shanghai (1,700 km away), where office buildings swayed with the tremor. As of 13th June 2008, nearly 70,000 were confirmed dead and more than 17,000 missing.

The earth shook for 3 minutes and the church came crashing down. Luckily the 33 attendees were not inside the church at that time.

The photographer, camera already in hand, kept taking photos, and these are among what he captured.

The church building crashing down:

The groom was barely visible in the choking dust:

The bride, with the church building in ruins in the background:

The wedding party in the immediate aftermath:

After the dust settled, everybody’s shell-shocked expressions are all too apparent:

After regaining their composure, they left the immediate vicinity on foot. But they had to stay in the village for one night first – all roads had become impassable:

What was left of the church building (compare to what the church building looked like before its destruction as shown on the left):

Source
Leland Wong
sohu.com

Popularity: 2% [?]

Cao Lu, 46 and partner Yang Chunxia, 46 are operators of the “China Restaurant”, the only Chinese restaurant in Baghdad, the city which global consultancy firm Mercer rated in a report as the world’s most dangerous out of 215 surveyed.

Baghdad has 6 million people.

It opened for business about 6 months ago, and small: it’s the size of a bathroom and only has 2 tables. Still it never fails to fill with Iraqi customers every lunchtime. The restaurant is decorated with red Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling and posters of kung fu film stars Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee on the walls.

Cao Lu

If you think you’d be spoilt for choice when it comes to Chinese delicacies at his eatery, think again. Cao had to cut back on his Chinese menu because “they couldn’t get the materials and now make quite a lot of Iraqi dishes.”

They currently make USD40 to USD50 per day. This is good enough for Cao to consider expansion.

Definitely not for the faint hearted, this is what they have encountered so far:
- a bomb blast rattled windows and a panicking co-worker went back home to China
- there are explosions almost daily in the city in the last 5 years
- electricity is very unreliable, routinely shutting off, leaving one to swelter in Baghdad’s scorching heat. In fact, the building the restaurant is operating out of receives only 2 hours of electricity daily. However, the restaurant is open morning to night.

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Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 1st June 2009

She got 3rd place, behind Appey Rowena Januin, the Miss Sabah/Malaysia/World 2009 4th placer and Pearl Dianne Petrus who also participated in the said pageant, and won a subsidiary title.

I heard that if she had only handled the question-answer session better, she could’ve very well be the winner.

The top 3 (photo by Roy Ajin):

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UPDATE 19th May 2009

Yes, she did decide to participate this year, and as expected won the notoriously difficult Penampang Unduk Ngadau, defeating 24 other hopefuls.

Come 31st May 2009, she could very well be the 2009 Unduk Ngadau.

Go Kimmy!!!

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12th June 2008

Conditions:
- based on looks alone
- if she’s allowed to participate by the Unduk Ngadau rules
- if she decides to participate

Joanne Kimberly Majalap, 18 was 1st runner up at Miss Sabah / Malaysia / World 2008 held in April, and I must say she’s as, if not more, stunningly beautiful as the winner, who’s none other than the 2006 Unduk Ngadau, Devenna Jaikob, 20.

Some photos taken during the said pageant. All courtesy of bennyliew.com.

The moment the winner was announced – and it was Devenna (left), but it could’ve been very easily Joanne right?

The hair’s not quite right for an Unduk Ngadau pageant, but she looked every inch a future Unduk Ngadau:

And she looks stunning in batik:

Click here for more pictures

Popularity: 3% [?]

Yves Saint Laurent (1st August 1936 – 1st June 2008) was considered by many as the greatest fashion designer of the 20th Century.

When he became the chief designer of the House of Dior at the age of 21 after the death of Christian Dior at age 52, he changed the look of the fashion industry, designing clothes that reflected women’s changing role in society: more confident personally, sexually and in the work-place: he introduced trouser suits, safari jackets and sweaters. He made “ready-to-wear” popular.

He retired in 2002, was ill for quite some time, and died of the effects of brain cancer at this residence in Paris.

He once said:”I found my style through women. That’s where its strength and vitality comes from because I draw on the body of a woman.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid his tributes, saying Laurent was “the first to elevate haute couture to the rank of art and that gave him global influence. Yves Saint Laurent infused his label with his creative genius, elegant and refined personality… because he was convinced that beauty was a necessary luxury for all men and all women.”

Source
The BBC
wikipedia

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 23rd July 2008

The Borneo Post reported on the 22nd of July 2008 that for the first time ever, the “Kinabalu Series” will be on show, at least in Sabah. So head over to the library of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Kota Kinabalu between 28th July and 1st Aug 2008.

Yee I-Lann was trained in Australia, and has exhibited in places like Amsterdam and New York. She’s a daughter of Datuk Stan Yee, former press sec to the Sabah Chief Minister.

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The Star reported on 26th May 2008 that a digital art piece entitled Huminodun by Sabahan artist Yee I-Lann, 37 has sold for USD38,000 (RM117,000) at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong on Saturday.

It is the 6th part of her 8-part “Kinabalu series” which “explores the eroded spiritual power of a Kadazandusun woman and her shifting relationship to her land.” Huminodun is a character in Kadazandusun tradition.

It’s not small: it was printed on a Kodak Endura paper measuring (106.5 cm x 204.5 cm)

She’s teaching at the National Arts Academy.

Some closeups of the pic (all images from christies.com):

A pregnant Huminodun, I presume?

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Popularity: 1% [?]

…is to join a beer of the month club.

Beer of the month club by greatclubs dot com provides just that.

As suggested by its name, this monthly beer club gives beer fans a chance to taste other types of beer from the comfort of one’s home; in other words, try something other than that Budweiser or Carlsberg.

The USD21.95 per month plus USD10 shipping entitles one to get, every month, a twelve pack of four *different* types the amber liquid in 12 ounce bottles. That means 3 bottles per beer type.

There are many many types of beer one could receive, so much so that it’s adds to the sense of anticipation – one would never know what one would receive next month, as the selection includes the following, and much more: Great Divide’s Denver Pale Ale, Local Color’s Smooth Talker Pilsner, Butte Creek’s Winter Ale, Snake River’s Lager, Pony Express’ 75th Street Brown Ale, Rock Creek’s Devil’s elbow India Pale Ale, Coast Range’s California Blonde Ale, Rockies’ Amber Ale. Wow, most of them I’ve never heard of myself!

As a bonus, for one’s reading pleasure and at the same time become a better expert on the drink, one will also get the “Beer Expeditions” newsletter.

The tipple is “fresh microbrewed”, meaning they are have more flavour than the usual types: made in small amounts and can only be obtained at the place where they were actually brewed (all from US brewers).

The bottles are packaged in styrofoam and sent via a Common Carrier.

Popularity: 1% [?]