Unconventional World Records

…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.

Like the classic tiger vs lion question, there’s no guarantee of the outcome of this battle.

Although rare, it would’ve been a very interesting match to watch. Apparently, only 4 cases have ever been recorded, and the alligator had won, or at least it was a draw.

The BBC reported in October 2005 that in one particular encounter, both died, with the alligatos’s tail protruding from the python’s burst midsection. The python’s head was missing: I wonder what happened to it?!

This was discovered by park ranges at the Everglades National Park, Florida.

The 13-feet long Burmese python tried to swallow the 6-foot long alligator whole, the alligator clawed, and the snake “exploded”. But by that time, the alligator was in no position to escape.

Usually alligators are the top of the food chain in the famed swamps, but the finding suggested that pythons pose a serious threat to the status quo.

Prof Mazzotti, a University of wildlife professor was quoted to have said: “Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild… And here we are. They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win. The alligator may have clawed at the python’s stomach, leading it to burst. Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species. There had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.”

Source

Actress Megan Fox, 21 was named the world’s sexiest woman by top men’s magazine FHM for its 2008 edition of its annual poll, dethroning last year’s champ Jessica Alba, 26, who *only* finished 3rd this year, behind Jessica Biel.

Apparently “millions” of votes were received in total.

No doubt her starring in last year’s USD700 million-grossing “Transformers” helped increase her profile.

In contrast, the world’s most Googled woman, Britney Spears, barely made it to the top 100.

The rest of the top 10:
4th: Elisha Cuthbert
5th: Scarlett Johansson, 23
6th: Emmanuelle Chriqui
7th: Hilary Duff
8th: Tricia Helfer
9th: Blake Lively
10th: Kate Beckinsale.

FHM Online’s US Editor JR Futrell was quoted to have said, “Megan Fox is the deserving winner of this year’s FHM title. She’s young, she’s hot, she’s a rising star and her sex appeal has definitely transformed this year’s list. She’s got a great future ahead of her.”

She made no.68 in 2006 and no.65 last year, meaning her ascent is nothing less than meteoritic.

Source

The Riemann hypothesis (a.k.a. the Riemann zeta-hypothesis) was formulated by Bernhard Riemann in 1859.

As of today, 150 years later, it is still unsolved, despite intense efforts from many top-class mathematicians.

Fermat’s last theorem might have taken longer (300 years) to be solved, but the point is that it has been solved, whereas the Riemann hypothesis continues to confound the experts, despite the USD1 million prize offered by the Clay Mathematics Institute for the first correct proof.

As for the rest of us, I think it’s safe to say that we don’t even *understand* the problem, let alone finding its solution:

The Riemann hypothesis (RH) is a conjecture about the distribution of the zeros of the Riemann zeta-function ζ(s). The Riemann zeta-function is defined for all complex numbers s ≠ 1. It has zeros at the negative even integers (i.e. at s = −2, s = −4, s = −6, …). These are called the trivial zeros. The Riemann hypothesis is concerned with the non-trivial zeros, and states that:

The real part of any non-trivial zero of the Riemann zeta function is ½.

Thus the non-trivial zeros should lie on the so-called critical line, ½ + it, where t is a real number and i is the imaginary unit. The Riemann zeta-function along the critical line is sometimes studied in terms of the Z-function, whose real zeros correspond to the zeros of the zeta-function on the critical line.

Wikipedia

The world’s best “photographer” does not use a camera - he uses an ordinary blue ballpoint pen.

Spaniard Juan Francisco Casas, 31 draws huge (up to 10 feet high), photograph-like images, like this one:

To prove that it’s a drawing and not a photograph, look at this closeup:

Click here to see more

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

With the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand’s greatest hero, on the 11th of January 2008 at the age of 88, the world has lost one of its living legends.

My definition of a living legend, at least from the Malaysian perspective is a person who has been prominently featured in school history textbooks for at least the last 40 years and STILL alive today.

Very tough call, not many people can do that.

From the Malaysian perspective, perhaps only the following people can be considered so. Please correct me where I am wrong, and any additions are welcome:

Dr Mani Jegathesan, probably Malaysia’s greatest ever athlete, being still the only Malaysian sprinter to make it as far as the semifinals of not one but two Olympic 200m events. His time of 20.92s, set at the 1968 Mexico Olympics (yes, that’s 40 years ago) is STILL Malaysia’s national record.

Chin Peng, 83, long-time leader of Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and was involved in the famous Persidangan Baling of 1955.

Shamsiah Fakeh - synonymous with rebellion, leader of Angkatan Wanita Sedar (AWAS), a left-wing political party in Malaya, set up in 1946. She has been sensationalised with sentences such as: “How could a beautiful Malay girl join the communists and achieve high rank at that?”

Rashid Maidin was a living legend until his death in September 2006, because he was a Malay senior leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and was with Chin Peng at the Persidangan Baling.

Lee Kuan Yew, 84 first PM of Singapore.

Other contenders that I can think of are in the entertainment industry, like Christopher Lee, 85, famous for his portrayal of Dracula between 1958 and 1974, then people like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, but I doubt it if they ever appeared in school history textbooks?! Encyclopedias of course.

The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, 77 will be a living legend next year, since it will be the 40th anniversary of his moon landing.

Mark Spitz, 57, the man who won the most gold medals at a single Olympics (seven in 1972), will be a living legend in 2012.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (1927 – 1967) of the Soviet Union is the first person to die during a space mission.

He was on his second mission, the first Soviet astronaut to do so. He went up on 23rd April 1967, did all the things he’s supposed to do, then came back to earth the next day.

He was killed on his reentry, when the spacecraft crashed due to failure of the parachute system. Both main and reserve chutes failed. The main one did not open due to problems with a sensor, then the reserve became tangled.

Hence his ship smashed to the ground from 4 miles up, around 400 miles per hour, or 644 km/hr, or 40 meters a second, at about 0322 UT.

In addition to the parachutes, retro-rockets should have fired to further slow the drop.

But, on hitting the ground, there was an explosion. A big fire surrounded the capsule.

Farmers rushed to try to put it out, but it is very likely that Komarov was killed instantly upon impact.

The capsule’s state was such that rescue crews could not find Komarov when they arrived and approached the burning wreckage. They needed an hour of excavations to find Komarov’s remains, which were found about 0630 UT. Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev was informed at around 0900 UT.

Komarov was given a state funeral.

Apparently, just before impact, Soviet premier Alexey Kosygin told Komarov his country was proud of him. Rumours said that Komarov died cursing the spacecraft designers and flight controllers. Then, a tape from another source was reported to bear Komarov’s distraught unclear transmissions. The recording was made perhaps on his final orbit before reentry.

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The FIFA 100 was released in March 2004, supposedly a list of Brazilian striker Pelé’s choice of the “greatest living footballers”, including active and retired players.

It marked part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of football.

Why 100? It refers to the 100th anniversary of FIFA, not the number of players listed, which is 125.

The list contains 123 professional men and… 2 women players.

The 2 women are Americans Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers. None of the US men made it to the list.

Mia Hamm

Michelle Akers

Unsurprisingly, some of the generally regarded greatest players were not too pleased. Pele’s former team-mate, Gerson, was not included, so he tore up a copy of the list on a Brazilian television programme. Denis Law and Geoff Hurst were also omitted; meaning Hamm and Akers are better than them?

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FIFA 100

During a 1993 visit to Korea, US President Bill Clinton described the North Korea - South Korea border as the scariest place on Earth.

It is the world’s last Cold War frontier, and has separated the 2 Koreas since 1953.

The division between North and South Korea has been described as wider than the German division ever was.

It is 151 miles long and is the most heavily fortified border in the world.

There is a 4-kilometer-wide demilitarized zone (DMZ).

The Military Demarcation Line (MDL), also known as the Armistice Line, or Ceasefire Line, runs along the middle of the DMZ zone. It runs near the 38th parallel.

US and South Korean soldiers patrol this line along the South Korean side while North Korea People’s Army (NPKA) patrol along the North Korean side.

Frequent skirmishes have occured along the line over the years. At the Joint Security Area (JSA), the only place along the border where North and South military forces see each other face to face, over 750 overt acts of violence has been recorded since 1953. In addition, countless fistfights, shouting matches, exchanges of rude gestures, and other provocations have also occurred.

Tour groups are allowed inside the DMZ only with heavy military escort. A blogger reported that photography is not allowed in most areas of the border, therefore pictures are usually taken quickly & discreetly without the usual time taken preparing for things like picture composition. Some has to be taken with the camera still strapped to one’s shoulder or dangling from one’s neck; just pointing the camera in a particular direction and taking a photo without being able to peer through the viewfinder, hoping the picture will turn out ok, and all the while pretending not to do anything one’s not supposed to.

A North Korean soldier looks at passing US patrol on the South Korean side:

From oldbluejacket.com, here are some photos and descriptions of the DMZ at Panmunjom, taken in 1977.

This is the room where all the negotiations with North Korea take place. Half the room is on the South Korea side and half on the North Korea side. The border runs right down the center of the green table in the foreground - I’m actually standing on the North Korea side when taking this photo.

The Korean border is the cement line on the ground just behind the friendly border guard in the foreground. The guards in the background are North Koreans who were filming our tour group for some unknown reason. The 2-story building in the far back- ground is a facade, it is only about 10-15 feet deep, it was built for show and propaganda purposes.

Site of the 1976 poplar tree incident - - Two US soldiers, sent to clear a tree that obstructed the view in the Panmunjom truce zone (the tree to the right of the check point station), were hacked to death by a North Korean soldier.

The following image is from theodoresworld.net. On the left of the cement line is South Korea, on the right is North Korea. (more…)