UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

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.

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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

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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?

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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 …

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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 …

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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

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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

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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 …

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 ??????, 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

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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: 1% [?]

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: 2% [?]

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: 1% [?]

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.

Click here to read more

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):

———————————————————

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!!!

—————————————————
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: 2% [?]

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?

Click here to see more pictures

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% [?]

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.”

Now… I wonder if any of the Outer Banks rentals can get you to see this kind of thing.

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

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

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Riemann hypothesis (a.k.a. the Riemann zeta-hypothesis) was formulated by German mathematician Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) in 1859.

The man responsible for all the head-scratching:

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 ?(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 1/2.

Thus the non-trivial zeros should lie on the so-called critical line, 1/2 + 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

Popularity: 1% [?]

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

Popularity: 1% [?]

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

Popularity: 1% [?]

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 text books 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.

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATED 23 July 2011

Technically, the only deaths in space (which is at least 100 km above the earth’s surface) happened to the 3-man crew of Soyuz 11, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov on 30th June 1971.

They were killed after undocking from the world’s first space station Salyut 1, after a 3-week stay there, the first successful visit to the world’s first space station. In preparation for re-entry, a valve on their spacecraft had accidentally opened when the service module separated, exposing them to the vacuum of space, i.e. the crew capsule depressurized, suffocating them within seconds. This was only discovered when the module was opened by the recovery team who found them already dead.

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14 October 2007

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.

Sources
1
2
3
4
5

Popularity: 2% [?]

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?

Source
1
FIFA 100

Popularity: 1% [?]

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…)

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History was made on 13th June 2000: leaders of North Korea and South Korea met for the first time ever, after having never even talked on the phone. The first leaders of both countries, Syngman Rhee (South Korea) and Kim Il-Sung (North Korea), both appointed in 1948, apparently never met either.

The summit was announced 2 months earlier, which took everybody by surprise, because ever since the separate governments of the North and South were established in 1948, their relations can be summarised in 2 words: enmity and bloodshed. The Korean War in 1950-53 is testament to that. A summit was actually planned in 1994, but it never took off due to the sudden death of the North’s then-leader Kim Il-Sung at the age of 82 a few weeks before he was due to meet the South’s Kim Young-sam.

Back to 2000: the meeting took place at the airport of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. In so doing, Kim Dae-Jung became the first ever leader of the South to set foot in the North.

Dae-Jung and his entourage left Seoul at 9:18 a.m for the 180-kilometer flight to Pyongyang.

No-one had expected the reclusive North Korean dictator, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il to turn up in person to greet the South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, but surprise surprise: there he was, appearing from the large crowd at Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport, marching purposefully across the tarmac towards Dae-Jung’s plane.

Perfectly on cue, the crowd cheered as the aircraft carrying Dae-Jung taxied to a halt. He emerged and scanned the horizon. An aide pointed out a portly man wearing spectacles waiting, standing right at the bottom of the steps.

Dae-Jung walking up to greet Jong-il:

There was a warm, highly symbolic handshake — they used both hands. Apparently, a two-handed handshake is a sign of friendship and respect in Korea. Such a gesture is comparable to a hug in the West. Nobody could have imagined the North Korean leader doing that before.

In another symbolic gesture, Kim Dae-jung let North Korea provide his security during the summit.

They’d agreed there’d be no national anthems or flags, and even Jong-Il applauded the other Kim: (more…)

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As followup to my post yesterday, here is a list of the most famous smokers ever (other than sporstmen).

Qualification:
- for those still alive, they must be currently active (not occasional) smokers.
- For those already died, they must have been active smokers for the majority of their active life / career.
- Smokers include those who smoke / smoked tobacco: cigarettes, cigars, pipes

Barack Obama, US presidential candidate
Albert Einstein, probably the world’s greatest ever scientist
Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb, phonograph etc
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone
Robert Oppenheimer (1904 – 1967)
Edwin Hubble (1889 – 1953)
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during WW2
Franklin D Roosevelt, American president during WW2
Bill Clinton
Helmut Schmidt: (West) German chancellor from 1974 to 1982.
Gerhard Schröder: former German Chancellor
Queen Margrethe II: queen of Denmark
Princess Stephanie of Monaco
King Hussein of Jordan
Camilla Parker Bowles
John F Kennedy, former US president
Gerald Ford, former US president
George Orwell
Oscar Wilde
Jean-Paul Sartre
JR Tolkien (1892 – 1973), writer of “The Lord of the Rings”, one of the top selling novels of all time
J.K. Rowling wrote many of her Harry Potter books as a smoker. After she quit smoking she became a Nicorette chewing gum addict.
CS Lewis, Irish writer
Monica Bellucci
Christopher Lee (b. 1922), famous for playing Dracula
Whoopi Goldberg
James Dean, 2 packs of Chesterfields a day
Demi Moore
Keith Richards
Elizabeth Taylor
Robert Palmer, UK rock star
Sophia Loren
Kate Winslet
Raquel Welch
Luciano Pavarotti, cigar smoker, the greatest tenor of his generation
Catherine Deneuve
Geri Halliwell, cigars
John Wayne (1907 – 1979)
Nicole Kidman
Mel Gibson
Britney Spears
Kate Middleton, Prince William’s girlfriend
Joanna Lumley
Shakira
David Carradine
Russell Crowe
Frank Sinatra (1915 – 1998)
Robbie Williams
Avril Lavigne
Pierce Brosnan
Marilyn Monroe
Meg Ryan
John Lennon
Pat Benatar
Al Pacino
Robert De Niro
Eddie Van Halen, chain smoker!
Vincent Van Gogh
Ivana Trump
‘Abuelo del Mundo’ (Grandfather of the World) Joan Riudavets Moll, a lifelong smoker who died aged 114 in 2004
Jeanne Calment, the world’s oldest ever person who died aged 122, only quit smoking aged 117
Claudia Schiffer
Alfred Hitchcock
Maurice Ravel, the composer of Bolero
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Auguste Renoir
Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), the most famous painter of the 20th century, died aged 92.
Che Guevara
Aaron Spelling (1923-2006): the world’s most succesful TV producer ever.
David Bowie, quit after a heart attack
Johnny Depp
Joaquin Phoenix
Marlene Dietrich, lived to 90
Joseph Stalin
Jennifer Aniston, 2 packs of Merit a day
Brad Pitt
Angelina Jolie
Ben Affleck
Kate Hudson
Goldie Hawn
Colin Farrell, a pack a day
Ashton Kutcher
James Woods, after smoking for 33 years, lit his last cigarette on 29th December 2003
Lucille Ball, most of her life
Drew Barrymore, Red Marlboros
Kurt Cobain
Chris Cornell, quit already, lead singer of Soundgarden & Audioslave
Ian Curtis, before his suicide
Bette Davis
Sammy Davis Jr
Deng Xiaoping, China Paramount Leader smoked Panda Brand until over 90 years of age.
Mao Zedong
Walt Disney of Disney vacations fame, chain-smoker, died aged 65
Layne Staley, lead singer of Alice in Chains
Pete Doherty, lead singer of Babyshambles
Bob Dylan, 80 cigs a day, quit already
Siobhan Fahey, Bananarama and Shakespear’s Sister singer.
Liam Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
George Harrison, chain smoker
Audrey Hepburn, several packs a day
Lyndon B. Johnson, heavy smoker for most of his life. Habit contributed to his death from a heart attack at age 64 in 1973.
Shah Rukh Khan, rarely without cigarettes off screen, though he vowed to reduce smoking on his 40th birthday.
Lindsey Lohan
Dean Martin, smoked on stage and on television. Lung cancer.
Freddie Mercury, heavy smoker, quit after being diagnosed with HIV
Joni Mitchell
Kate Moss, smokes four packs of Marlboro Lights per day, starting at age 12.
Leonard Nimoy
Jimmy Page
Sean Penn, 4 packs of American Spirit cigarettes per day
Richard Pryor
Mike Dirnt, Green Day bassist
W Axl Rose
Angus Young, AC/DC guitarist
Frank Zappa
Fidel Castro, quit cigars at age 59
Joan Collins
Bill Cosby
Bo Derek
Danny De Vito
Linda Evangelista
Sigmund Freud
George Gershwin
Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War general and U.S. President. Twenty cigars a day. Died of throat cancer.
Saddam Hussein
Samuel L Jackson
David Letterman
Pope St. Pius X, smoked on occasion.
Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963, was a cigar smoker in his youth.
Charles Spurgeon, British Baptist preacher, who reportedly said “When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name.”
Sylvester Stallone
Kevin Costner
Christina Aguilera

If you have any more to add to the list, please inform me. Thanks!

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Marcel Marceau, 84, the world’s greatest, most famous and most celebrated mime artist has truly gone silent.

For decades he has epitomised the silent art around the world. As a style pantomime, he was peerless. His silent exercises, which all of us must have seen copied at one stage includes The Cage and Walking Against the Wind, were described as works of genius.

He once said: “Mime, like music, knows neither borders nor nationalities. If laughter and tears are the characteristics of humanity, all cultures are steeped in our discipline.”

He was a living legend because I’ve seen his name even many years ago as I was reading through my second encyclopedia.

He was said to be “single-handedly responsible for reviving the art of mime after World War II.”

In 1947, he created “Bip”, his alter ago: the clown [pic at top], with his signature striped pullover and battered silk opera hat with flower attached (apparently this is a symbol of the fragility of life).

He was elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, the Académie des Beaux-Arts France and the Institut de France. He held honorary doctorates from 4 institutions: Ohio State University, Linfield College, Princeton University, and the University of Michigan – America’s way of honoring Marceau’s creation of a new art form, inherited from an old tradition. In 1999, the city of New York declared March 18 Marcel Marceau Day. He accepted the honor and responsibilities of serving as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Second World Assembly on Aging, which took place in Madrid, Spain, in April 2002.

Now this guy truly deserves getting his Legion of Honour (Officer grade), not like some people…

Source

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The picture below was taken by yours truly a few weeks ago. If you have seen a worse one than this, I’d like to know about it. Thanks.

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With the recent sale at USD100 million of the most expensive skull ever (For The Love Of God), Damien Hirst has not only established himself as the most successful living artist, but also within striking distance of being the most successul artist who ever lived.

Counting portable works or art and those who have actually been sold, he is seventh, and the only one still alive, on the all time list. Before we go to the list, it must be noted that the world’s most famous works of art, especially those created before 1800, be they paintings or otherwise are very rarely sold. They are generally owned by museums and are priceless. For example, if such a painting of the stature of the Mona Lisa were ever sold, it would almost certainly sell for much more than any of the paintings listed below. Mona Lisa was assessed at having the highest insurance value for a painting in history: USD100 million on December 14, 1962, before the painting toured the U.S. for several months. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be approximately USD670 million in 2006!

Anyway, back down to earth: the top 6, value in adjusted USD.

1st
USD142.7 million for No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock in 1948, sold 2006.

2nd
USD140.2 million for Woman III by Willem de Kooning in 1953, sold 2006.

3rd
USD137.6 million for Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt in 1907, sold 2006.

4th
USD129.7 million for Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh in 1890, sold 1990.

5th
USD122.8 million for Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1876, sold 1990.

6th
USD113.4 million for Gar�on � la pipe by Pablo Picasso in 1905, sold 2004.

source
techchee.com
wikipedia

Popularity: 2% [?]

The above is not a photograph! It’s a painting by Dru Blair, probably the world’s best photorealistic artist. It was completed in February 2005 in “around 65-75 hours.”

Detail of nose/mouth area:

In his own words:

Subtle nuances created by an xacto knife, an eraser, and some colored pencil can build convincing skin texture. The etcetera technique also helps the believability of the skin and hair texture. Fine hair is created using my shield-reveal technique, and my split frisket technique. Application via airbrush constitutes about 99% of the image.

The model is Tica, of whom he created a reference by taking a digital photograph of her in his studio, then printed it.

On photorealism, he said:

As a style, Photorealism has a few detractors, who often dismiss it as pointless, or non-art. They fail to realize that many photorealistic paintings are not mere copies of photographs, but interpretations of reality based on the artist’s vision. The act of merely copying a photograph has no artistic merit except to hone one’s artistic skills… This painting of Tica is not just a copy of a photograph, but is a product of many artistic decisions, whereas I deviated from the reference photo for more aesthetic appeal… Photorealism is by far, the most difficult artistic style to master.

Elements of photorealism are proportion, color fidelity, scale, perspective, edge transition, subtlety, non-contrivance (chaos), object relationship, light and shadow, reflection, radiosity, transparency, texture, atmosphere, depth of field, weathering (wear and tear), flaws, detail, and it all has to make visual sense.

If any of these elements are amiss, the painting will fail as a photorealistic image. In truth, these elements are simply descriptions of the visual experience of reality. If an artist ever wanted to put his or her artistic skills to the test, there is no greater master than reality.

A little bit about Dru Blair: (more…)

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