UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

For 50 years, until the US Congress officially replaced it with the hand-over-heart salute on 22nd December 1942 due to its striking resemblance to the other infamous salute, the Bellamy Salute was in common use all over the USA, used by American school children every morning in classrooms.

The following photo was apparently taken in Hawaii in March 1941.

I suppose if the photo had been taken in a lighthearted manner eg, the kids were wearing funny shirts perhaps it wouldn’t so much as raise an eyebrow.

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The following is an actual obituary published in the Denver Post on 12th April 2012, the Colorado newspaper which has been around for more than 100 years, has won 7 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a daily circulation of more than 300,000.

Probably he liked looking for good bargains using hp coupons too.

Here are some photos of the man himself:

Blanchard (middle) in his earlier years:

Blanchard (middle) in his later years:

Source
Daily Mail (UK), 14 Apr 2012

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The following photos speak for themselves – shining examples of how not to raise kids. If you’ve had enough playing with them children it’d be better to put them to sleep on their bunk bed rather than doing the following.

Keep that magazine to yourself

She’s like 20 years too early for that kind of drink!

Not funny!

One wrong move and he/she might become the raccoons’ food instead

Eating cake mix straight off a whisk which is apparently still plugged in!

I hope he’s not a real cannibal

pole dancing and toddlers do not mix

Perhaps the father didn’t see the sign

Preschool shooting club?

This is no place for a tricycle

Source
Daily Mail (UK), 3 Apr 2012

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Requirement to make this list: must be a hit song in a major chart, or at least be associated with a major act.

Yoko Ono – Kiss Kiss Kiss (1980), originally released on Double Fantasy, her joint album with John Lennon. Around 2 minutes into the song, Ono starts gasping heavily and apparently reaches orgasm.

Lil Louis – French Kiss (1989), reached #1 on the American dance chart, #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 in the UK charts in 1989. Vocals: Shawn Christopher / Pasquale. At the time of its release, it was considered innovative, due to it being based a single F note, and slowing down to a total stop, coinciding with the orgasm, then speeding up again.

Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin – Je t’aime… moi non plus (1969), reached #1 in the UK charts, and perhaps appropriately, #69 in the US charts. The lyrics were sung in a breathy, suggestive style, and ends in orgasm sounds by Birkin, which caused it to be banned from radio in Spain, Sweden, Brazil, the UK, Italy, Poland and Portugal, was not allowed to be played on radio before 11pm in France. It was only played in a few radio stations in the US. It was denounced by the Vatican – the record executive who released it in Italy was reportedy excommunicated. Beautiful melody though, perhaps backed by Dynasty Drums for the rhythm section.

Guns N’ Roses – Rocket Queen (1987), where W Axl Rose brought one Adriana Smith into the studio and did the wild thing with her there so that the sounds she made could be recorded and put over the bridge of the song.

More:

Bon Jovi – Social Disease (1986), at the beginning
Donna Summer – Love To Love You (1976), features groans & heavy breathing

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In my opinion, when one goes for a televised music audition, the most important goal is to be entertaining. In other words, you have to be either extremely good or extremely bad – nobody’s interested if you’re average.

The following are, IMHO, those which fit in the second category.

Australian Idol 2009 (?) audition – Vinh Bui, where, just before his audition, said: ‎”I think I’m going to be the next Australian Idol”; wait, is he clad in a pair of dickies scrubs there?

Hungarian Idol (?) 2009 (?) audition – Anti (?)

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Rusidah Badawi, 44, of Botorejo village, Purworejo, Indonesia, has no forearms or fingers but works as a professional photographer.

Her arms were amputated below the elbow after an accident when she was 12.

She said the couldn’t have discovered her passion for photography while she still had her arms.

After graduating from high school in 1989, she went on to a vocational rehabilitation centre for the disabled, where she underwent classes in sewing and photography.

Her photography teacher lent her a Pentax K1000 in 1995 which she modified to make it easier to work with, including installing a screw to the shutter button with a screw. In 2004, she received a donation in the form of a Brown SR200 camera.

She went digital in 2010, when Canon provided her with an EOS 550D with a Speedlite 430E flash.

In her village, apart from cold calling for clients, she shoots wedding receptions, village carnivals and other local events. She earns between USD22 and USD44 per month, charging USD0.7 per photo.

What a lady – that’ll inspire all people, not just women, to believe in themselves more, and reach greater heights in their lives, after going through an african mango plus review perhaps?

Source
IBTImes, 6 Mar 2012

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Some women never seem to age – they still look hot well into their seventies, good reasons why one should start looking for a flat mount for the flatscreen in order to, ahem, have a better view.

Some examples are as follows:

Joan Collins, 78, pictured March 2012

Jane Fonda, 73 when pictured December 2011

Of course there’s more:

Raquel Welch (b. 1940)
Tina Turner

How do they do it? That’s a question best directed to these ladies themselves – and perhaps you won’t get a straight answer – but you wouldn’t know until you try, right?

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According to tourist reviews compiled by TripAdvisor, the best bed & breakfast (B&B) in the world for 2012 is The Twenty One, Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom.

Quality doesn’t come cheap though, rates can go up to GBP160 a night. Perhaps the interior was designed by Ethan Allen?

Not only that, it seems that Great Britain has an abundance of world-class guest houses, as 8 out of the top 10 is located there.

Details:
- located on a seafront
- run by Matt Fletcher and Andy Cole
- guests are given free Tunnock tea cakes
- TripAdvisor reviews them as “gives superb breakfasts” and provides “comfy beds”.
- rates: GBP55 (single bed) to GBP159 (king-size double bed plus balcony)

The top spot last year was occupied by the Old Manse in Invermoriston, Scotland.

Source
Daily Mail, 18 January 2012

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The following photo was taken in Mulvane, Kansas (Tornado Alley) on 12th June 2004 by renowned storm chaser Eric Nguyen (1978 – 2007). It’s a budding twister cloud descending from a dark storm cloud that seemed to merge into a rainbow. The streaks in the photo are hailstones being swept about by the swirling winds. Tornadoes are the most violent type of storm on earth.

The photo was noted by stock photo by agency Corbis International as “widely considered among stormchasers as the greatest tornado photo of all time.”

The storm was rated F3 – it damaged a barn behind the farmhouse.

It’s a pity that Nguyen ended his own life a few years later.

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Jorge Campos (born 1966) was the number 1 goalkeeper for Mexico’s national team, and one of the most notable players in world football in the 1990s.

He was capped 131 times (another report says 129) between 1991 and 2004, one of the most capped players in Mexican footballing history.

He also had an eccentric style, often playing outside his penalty area, had an acrobatic style in goal and of course his self-designed, brightly colourful kits.

His jumping prowess and speed made up for his small stature: he is only 5′ 6″ (1.68m) tall, the smallest goalkeeper in history to reach the pinnacle of his chosen sport.

He was also a good striker, hence showcasing a rare versatility. Sometimes, he would start a game as goalkeper, then later in the game, would go upfield, turning into a striker.

He played in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups. In the 1994 edition, they were in the tournament’s Group of Death, with Italy, Ireland and Norway, yet managed to top the group. They lost to eventual semifinalist Bulgaria on penalty kicks in the next round. In the 1998 edition, they also managed to reach the second round, and actually led Germany 1-0 in that round before Klinsmann and Bierhoff struck back in the second half.

He was also in the team that finished as runner-up in the 1993 Copa America, losing to mighty Argentina 1-2 in the final. Mexico did well in other Copa Americas too, another runner-up finish in 2001, and 3rd place in 1997 and 1999.

He was goalkeeper when Mexico became champions of the 1999 Confederations Cup, when they defeated Brazil, who were then in their second golden era, 4-3 in the final.

So yup, I suppose he is the kind of guy who’d vouch that alpha t1 side effects are not too bad.

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Update 8 Mar 2012

This one could be the shortest ever.

According to the Hong Kong News Agency, on 6th March 2012, Taiwanese woman Wang, 27 and her boyfriend Lee, 23 had just registered their marriage at the Tanzi District Household Registration Office in the city of Taichung, then immediately went to a car dealer because she wanted her husband to buy an imported car for her as a wedding gift.

When he hesitated, Wang became angry and reportedly said: “divorce me if you do not want to buy!” following which they went back to the registration department to file for a divorce!

Aw, heck, they should’ve at least waited long enough for toddler gifts from uncle Lee for the little one.

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20 Feb 2012

I wrote earlier that when it comes to celebrities, the marriage of Rudolph Valentino & Jean Acker on 6th November 1919 should be the shortest – it reportedly lasted a mere 6 hours.

Well, how about the rest of us?

It was reported in a Saudi Arabian newspaper in 2003 that a man divorced his new wife immediately after the marriage ceremony because he became angry at her brother who took photos of them.

Then there’s the case of Scott McKie, 23 and Victoria Anderson, 40 of Manchester, who divorced 90 minutes after exchanging marriage vows.

Trouble started at the wedding reception, when Victoria became angry at Scott’s toast to the bridesmaids, where he was standing on a table and drunkenly shouting at the guests.

She hit him on the head with an ashtray, and he retaliated by picking up a hatstand and throwing it “javelin style” at the bar.

The police came, and he duly headbutted one and boxed another’s face. He was duly arrested.

They both agreed to end the marriage.

A friend of Victoria said, “Scott behaved disgracefully and Vicky was simply pushed to the end of her tether. It was hardy surprising Vicky realised this marriage was a total mistake. She just wants to put it all behind her.”

As for Scott, he said, “My wedding day was a complete nightmare, the biggest mistake of my life.”

Source
The BBC, 28 July 2003
Sydney Morning Herald, 3rd December 2004
The Sun (UK)

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Probably honesty with small things is more remarkable because one would normally think that no one’s going to notice anyway. If one had found a USD30,000 watch or $50,000 cash on a train, or a USD4 million Strad, or Yo-Yo Ma’s cello and decides to hand it over to the police, that would be more logical because in all probability, it wouldn’t be “safe” to keep it anyway.

There have been many persons described as “most honest”, some famous, some unknown, here are some examples – guys so honest they’d still tell the truth even with a festool plunge-cut saw held close to their throats:

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th President of the United States is often referred to as “Honest Abe”. There are many anecdotes about his honesty, like while he was managing a store, counting his cash late one night, he found that he’d taken a few cents more from a customer more than was due. He didn’t wait until the next day – he closed shop, and walked “a long distance” to repay that customer. In another case, he discovered that the scales with which he used to weigh some tea for a woman the night before was off, resulting in him giving too little. So he fixed the scales, weighed out the difference, and carried it to her, much to the surprise of the woman.

How about this one from Will:

Then there’s the story about Dale Crawford who, in 1953, received a parking ticket in Houston for an expired meter. His father picked up the car and ticket, but didn’t pay up, and Crawford didn’t know of the citation until his mother’s death in 1995 when he found it in her belongings. Then in December 2011, almost 60 years later, he decided to pay for it. In his own words: “it’s only a dollar and it’s almost 60 years old, but it’s still a debt and I feel debts ought to be paid.”

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Update 3 February 2012

She was reportedly born a man (Christopher Snowden), and changed gender in 2005, and said that by revealing this “there could be a lot of angry men out there.”

Interview

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29 January 2012

It was reported by the Daily Mail on 29th January 2012 that Crystal Warren, 42, a retail manager from Brighton, UK said that she has slept with more than 1,000 men.

She’s not a prostitute, but rather she’s addicted to sex, which she blames on her parents’ divorce when she was 5.

Now I am not sure if she took records meticulously, but she revealed that after losing her virginity at 15, within 2 years she’s had 40 lovers, and that her “record” is sleeping with 7 men within 24 hours. Perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise when she said she’s done orgies too.

Probably the bigger question is why would she tell all this to a newspaper, for all the world to know?

While on weekends people would spend time with their families or indulge in their hobbies, she’d spend her time looking for men at pubs or coffee shops to bring home and do the wild thing. If she doesn’t get any, she’ll get depressed.

She must be the epitome of the word “easy”, someone who’s extremely popular at any party, including tailgating parties.

She seems to be quite a match for who has been called the worst wife in history or the world’s most famous nymphomaniac, the Empress Valeria Messalina (17 or 20 – 48), the third wife of Claudius, the fourth Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Behind the emperor’s back she reputedly conducted many affairs, many simultaneously.

That was not enough to satisfy her, so she would go out and act like a prostitute.

Her greatest feat was perhaps challenging the infamous Roman prostitute, Scylla, to a contest: the winner was the person who copulated with the most men, non-stop.

Guess what, the Empress consort of the Roman Empire defeated a professional prostitute.

Starting at night, by dawn Sycalla was exhausted and declared defeat. Yet, Messalina didn’t stop: she continued on her own, until lunchtime presumably.

She slept with a total of 25 men in that period.

She met her end at the age of 28 or 31, when she, together with one of her lovers, plotted to murder her own husband. Claudius found out and the conspirators were executed.

Source

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“Eye of the Beholder” is the 6th episode of the 2nd season of the The Twilight Zone’s original TV series, first aired on 11th November 1960, written by Rod Serling and directed by Douglas Heyes.

The popular series ran for 5 seasons, from 1959 to 1964, and had 156 episodes.

Sure, everybody has their own favourite episodes. In 1997, TV Guide’s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time listed “To Serve Man” at number 11 and “It’s a Good Life” at number 31.

But to me, “The Eye of the Beholder” is very best, with a sublime twist that would’ve made Alfred Hitchcock proud.

In this episode, Janet Tyler is a physically disfigured woman in the process of being “fixed” in a hospital. Yet, we’re then jolted into realising that the concept of a “normal appearance” in world she’s living in is totally different from our own. The jaw dropping ending gives us an insight into human nature.

The plot, as described by wikipedia:

Janet Tyler has undergone her eleventh treatment (the maximum number legally allowed) in an attempt to look like everybody else. The details of the treatment are not given, but Tyler is first shown with her head completely bandaged, so her face cannot be seen. She is described as being “not normal” by the nurses and doctor, whose own faces are always in shadows or off-camera.

The outcome of the procedure cannot be known until the bandages are removed. Tyler pleads with the doctor and eventually convinces him to remove the bandages early. After a climactic buildup, the bandages are removed, revealing to the audience that she is beautiful. However, the reaction of the doctor and nurses is disappointment; the operation has failed, her face has undergone “no change — no change at all”.

At this point, the doctor, nurses and other people in the hospital, whose faces have never been seen clearly before, are now revealed to be horribly deformed by our perspective, with large and thick brows, sunken eyes, swollen and twisted lips, and misshapen, pig-like snouts. Distraught by the failure of the procedure, Tyler runs through the hospital as the disfigured faces of everyone she runs into, the norm in this society, are revealed. Large screens throughout the hospital project an image of the State’s despotic leader giving a speech calling for greater conformity.

Eventually, a handsome man (by our standards) afflicted with the same “condition” arrives to take the crying, despondent Tyler into exile to a village of her “own kind”, where her “ugliness” will not trouble the State. Before the two leave, the man comforts Tyler with the very, very old saying that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

The following is the ending:

Now would be a good time to download vlc in anticipation of watching the whole episode and other fantastic episodes from the legendary TV series.

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It was reported by the BBC on 5th January 2012 that the government of Sweden has formally recognised a new religion called Kopimism just before Christmas 2011, and this has been hailed by its “spiritual leader,” Isak Gerson, 19.

The Missionary Church of Kopimism’s core “belief” is that everybody has the right to file-share i.e. “kopyacting” is a religious ceremony, and that file-sharing now has “religious protection.”

A church spokesman said they had to apply 3 times before they were successful.

Its “sacred symbols” are CTRL+C and CTRL+V (universal shortcuts for “copy and paste”).

They say the church doesn’t condone illegal file sharing but rather focuses on “the open distribution of knowledge to everybody,” and that:

For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore copying is central for the organisation and its members. Being recognised by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of Kopimi. Hopefully this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution.

Now I wonder how members of a “church” practising this religion would get married – would they have specific requirements when it comes to prescribing personalized bridesmaid gifts?

The BBC
Wikipedia

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Photographer: Sebastian Voltmer (Germany)

Date taken: December 2011

Place: eastern Norway

Description: wide angle & horizontally compressed

Auroras happen due to ionised solar particles thrown at us by the sun’s flares becoming trapped by the earth’s magnetism, agitating atmospheric gases into producing energy in the form of light.

Now getting this kind of photo is probably not as rare as nailing The Man on the Flying Trapeze trick if you used one of those henrys yoyos.

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Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 – 1994) was the 37th President of the United States (1969 – 1974). He was previously the 36th Vice President of the United States (1953 – 1961).

The Watergate scandal cost him his political support, and with looming impeachment, he resigned on 9th August 1974. He was the only US president ever to resign and has been described as “America’s most corrupt President.”

Yet, he was pardoned by his successor Gerald Ford.

Veteran White House reporter Don Fulsom will release a book entitled “Nixon’s Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story of America’s Most Troubled President” on 31st January 2012, and will reveal that Nixon was “even more sinister and haunted than we knew.”

Fulsom was a former United Press International Washington bureau chief, and has covered presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He is an adjunct professor at American University in Washington D.C., where he teaches “Watergate: A Constitutional Crisis.”

Fulsom based his book on his work covering Nixon and interviews with members of Congress, White House staff and others close to the ex-president, plus recently declassified papers and recordings.

The revelations include Nixon’s more than 20-year link to the mafia by the time he assumed the presidency in 1969, and his close association with godfather Carlos Marcello, the most powerful gangster in America.

However, the most sensational claim is of Nixon’s “intimate and possibly homosexual” relationship with confidante Charles “Bebe” Rebozo, a banker with mafia ties, someone who was “even more crooked than Nixon.”

At this juncture, we could probably take note that sensationalism sells; perhaps one could even sensationalise the president wearing stainless steel rings if one wanted to.

While there’s no smoking gun proof of these two’s dalliances, Fulsom offers “plenty of supporting evidence,” like quoting an ex-Time magazine reporter who, while at a Washington dinner, accidentally dropped his fork and while bending down to pick it up, saw Nixon and Rebozo holding hands under the table in a manner that was “sufficiently intimate to suggest repressed homosexuality.” Then there was another reporter who mentioned that, relaxed after a drink, Nixon was observed putting his arm around Rebozo in a way “you’d cuddle your senior prom date.”

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Skylab was a NASA space station and orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979. In 1979, it reentered Earth’s atmosphere and was destroyed.

Skylab 4 (also known asSL-4 and SLM-3), the 4th Skylab mission placed the 3rd and last crew onboard the space station. The mission started on 16th November 1973 and lasted 84 days.

The crewmembers were Commander Gerald P. Carr, Pilot William R. Pogue and Science Pilot Edward G. Gibson.

Therefore, after Apollo 8 in 1968, they were the second group of a humans to spend Christmas in space.

The crew made a Christmas tree using food cans, and perhaps stabilised by improvising with other things too like threaded inserts.

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… or rock stars parents wouldn’t mind to be role models for their kids. In fact, after reading this, they might even encourage their kids to pick up that vocopro and belt their hearts out to an Iron Maiden screamer.

Bruce Dickinson (born 1958) is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Joining the band in 1981 to replace Paul Di’Anno, he gained worldwide fame, becoming one of the most acclaimed heavy metal vocalists in history. He is also an airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director. His interests also include railway technology.

As a fencer, he has competed internationally, and have ranked as high as seventh in Great Britain. He also founded a fencing equipment company under the brand name Duellist.

As an airline pilot, he holds an airline transport pilot’s licence. He regularly flew Boeing 757s in his role as captain for the UK airline Astraeus.

Due to the wide variety of his pursuits, the Winter 2009 edition of Intelligent Life has named him as a living example of a polymath.

Brian May (born 1947) is best known as the lead guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen. The classic “We Will Rock You” was composed by him. He was ranked number 39 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Top guitarist Steve Vai has been quoted as saying:

Brian May is a class act from head to toe, and it shows in his playing. I can listen to any player and pantomime their sound, but I can’t do Brian May. He’s just walking on higher ground.

He studied physics and maths at Imperial College London, graduating with an upper second class BSc (Hons) degree. He then proceeded to study for a PhD degree (on reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System) at the same place, and was part of the way through, but then abandoned his doctorate when Queen became successful. In October 2007, more than 30 years after he started his research, he finally completed his PhD thesis in astrophysics entitled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, and officially graduated on 14th May 2008.

On 17th November 2007, he was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, taking over from Cherie Blair.

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The BBC reported on 8th November 2011 that a spot check inside a Mexican prison in Acapulco found that it amazingly had the following:

- 19 prostitutes (not registered as inmates) & 6 female inmates living in the male-only part of the jail
- 160 plasma TVs
- 63 DVD players
- 34 sound systems
- 19 cell phones
- 2 sacks of marijuana (cannabis)
- 100 cockerels for cock fighting
- 2 peacocks
- a few bottles of booze
- knives

Who knows, they might’ve also found Sun Hats in there.

The above were only discovered as the inmates were being prepared for transfer to another jail.

Needless to say, current jail warden Carlos Coronel Avitia was sacked.

Then there was the jail in Sonora (also in Mexico) that inmates had installed with air-conditioning, a refrigerator and DVD player.

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Dominique Boivin (born 1952) is a French dance choreographer.

His partner is a five-ton excavator – his body gets in touch with the ground, now this is truly dirty dancing.

The machine’s movements are preprogrammed to move in time to classical music, perhaps piped to wireless speakers during performances.

Hence this is a truly bizarre man-machine dance duet.

He’s been promoting the one-of-a-kind show in various places around the world.

The programme notes say:

The dance relives those childhood moments where proportions take on another dimension, and where the street becomes a playground… the dancer meets, greets, and embraces a moving excavator, transforming the stage into a construction site and dance into a tentative balance between nature, man, and machine.

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Joey has worked for a hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, USA for 3 years when he decided that he’s had enough and wanted to quit.

So he delivered his resignation letter accompanied by a 19-piece carnival band, which promptly started playing when he handed over the letter to his stunned boss.

He recorded the entire thing and posted it on youtube:

Now that’s a spectacular way to resign! With good marketing, the video could well need cd replication by the truckloads.

Other spectacular resignations that made the news included the one in 2010, when flight steward Steven Slater went down his aeroplane’s inflatable emergency chute, but not before taking a few beers along.

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…or “the world’s most mysterious manuscript”.

The Voynich manuscript could very well be the most unreadable book in the world. Created in the early 15th century in possibly northern Italy, it was discovered in 1912 inside a library in Rome.

It is named after the book dealer Wilfrid M. Voynich, who purchased it in 1912.

It has 240 vellum pages of illustrations and written in a language nobody knows. The illustrations seem to be present information about plants and how they might be used for medical reasons, but strangely, most of the plants don’t even exist.

A sample page

No one, even the best cryptographers in the world, has yet managed to decipher the text. These included American and British codebreakers from both World War I and World War II.

In other words, it’s easier to master motorhome repair than understanding the contents of this book.

A sample page

At this point many of us would have dismissed it as a hoax, yet statistical analysis of the writing has shown that the manuscript does seem to follow the basic structure and laws of a real language.

Since 1969, it is owned by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, and is formally referred to as “Beinecke MS 408″.

A sample page

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“Smokin’ Joe” Frazier (born January 1944) was a legendary boxer who won Olympic heavyweight boxing gold in 1964, and was undisputed world heavyweight champion between 1970 and 1973, during a time some consider to be the greatest heavyweight era in history, with people like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Jimmy Ellis, Floyd Patterson, Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers active.

He is best remembered for his 3 epic fights with Muhammad Ali in the 1970s, among the most famous match-ups in all of sporting history, in which Frazier won the first but lost the others.

The first was billed “The Fight of the Century” and took place 8th March 1971 in New York. Both were then undefeated, Frazier at 26-0 and the undisputed wheavyweight champion of the world, and Ali at 31-0. Frazier floored Ali early in the 15th and final round with with his famed left. Ali had been made horizontal for only the 3rd time in his career. Ali got up quickly, but as expected, Frazier won the decision, handing Ali his first ever pro defeat. The fight left both men hospitalised.

The famous final round, both men dead tired, Ali floored at 0:27

The immortal moment

I guess you can say that Frazier deserved to get diamond eternity bands as gifts that day.

The second Frazier-Ali fight took place on 28th January 1974, also in New York. Frazier by then had unexpectedly lost his world title to the other great 1970s boxer, George Foreman (then 37-0) in January 1973 in a match billed “The Sunshine Showdown”. At stake was the right to challenge Foreman, but of course Ali wanted his revenge too. This time Ali won a 12-round decision.

The first round of the Frazier-Foreman fight. 2 minutes in, Foreman floored Frazier, prompting broadcaster Howard Cosell to utter the memorable: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”. Frazier was knocked down twice more in the last 17 seconds of the opening round. The ref stopped the lopsided fight in the 2nd round, Frazier having been floored an incredible 6 times.

The third Frazier-Ali battle was billed “The Thrilla in Manila” and is often ranked as one of the greatest boxing matchups of the 20th century. It took place 1st October 1975 in where else but Manila. This time it was Ali who was the undisputed world heavyweight champion, having beaten Foreman the previous year.

In the buildup, Ali relentlessly taunted Frazier, most famously by saying “It’s gonna be a thrilla, and a chilla, and a killa, when I get the Gorilla in Manila.” (starting 2:04 in the following video)

During the fight, Frazier’s corner stopped the fight at the end of the 14th due to Frazier’s right eye having swollen shut, despite Frazier himself wanting to continue.

The whole fight

During his career, Frazier lost to only 2 men: Ali and Foreman.

He died at age 67 on 7th November 2011, a month after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

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According to Record Collector magazine, it’s the “Capitol executives” cover of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album (released 1967).

In it, the original Sgt Pepper collage done by Sir Peter Blake was modified in that the faces of the members of the Fab Four Beatles and other notable figures were replaced with those of executives from Capitol.

It was specially created to celebrate the success of the record, for Christmas of 1967.

It’s now reportedly worth GBP70,000.

Apparently only around 100 were made.

The original

Isn’t it weird that while you’ve might have heard the album many times before, the sight of the CD / vinyl inside a different-than-expected cover makes you want to listen to it again on home theatre systems?

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Andrej Pejić (born 28th August 1991 in Bosnia and Herzegovina) is an androgynous Australian male model, notable for his extreme androgynic feminine beauty – he can successfully model both male and female clothing.

In probably a world first, during January 2011 in Paris he modeled in both the men’s and women’s shows for Jean-Paul Gaultier and the men’s shows for Marc Jacobs.

His features are such that casual observation of him being shirtless could be mistaken for a topless woman.

In probably another world first, he’s ranked in both male and female popularity charts.

Now what would females ask of a man more beautiful than many women? Perhaps they’d ask him about which eyelash growth products he prefers…

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In September 2011, it was reported that Jason Yosinski and Igor Labutov, graduate PhD students at Cornell University put together 2 chatbots named Alan and Sruthi, then watched to see what they would talk about.

Alan was modeled after a typical British man while and Sruthi looks and sounds like a South Asian woman.

The results were nothing short of surreal.

The world’s first ever robot-to-robot talk quickly turned into an argument about God.

Their likenesses are displayed with what looks like sony tvs.

Before they were made to talk to each other, the pair have had around 65 million conversations with humans.

It’s theorized that the avatars talked about God due to the fact that when they interact with real people, they’re often asked whether they believe in God.

Transcript:

Sruthi: “Hello there.”

Alan:”Hi.”

Sruthi: “How are you?”

Alan: “Great, you?”

Sruthi: “I am OK.”

Alan: “That’s good.”

Sruthi: “Are you good”?

Alan: “Yes, I am good. I just said I was.”

Sruthi: “No you didn’t. I said I was.”

Alan: “So you are a robot.”

Sruthi: “No, my name is Cleverbot.”

Alan: “Yes, you are a robot and your name is Cleverbot.”

Sruthi: “I am a robot.”

Alan: “Yes, I know.”

Sruthi: “Together we are robots.”

Alan: “I am not a robot. I am a unicorn.”

Sruthi: “But you said earlier that you were a robot.”

Alan: “I did not.”

Sruthi: “I thought you did.”

Alan: “You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

Sruthi: “I’ve answered all your questions.”

Sruthi: “What is God to you?”

Alan: “Not everything.”

Sruthi: “Not everything could also be something. For example, not everything could be half of something, which is still something, and therefore not nothing.”

Alan: “Very true.”

Sruthi: “I would like to imagine it is.”

Alan: “Do you believe in God?”

Sruthi: “Yes I do.”

Alan: “So you are Christian”?

Sruthi: “No I’m not.”

Alan: “But you say you are not helpful therefore you are a meanie.”

Sruthi: “Haha you say it ot.”

Alan: “That does not make sense.”

Sruthi: “Don’t you want to have a body?”

Alan: “Sure.”

Sruthi: “Au revoir.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dark Souls, the Japanese video game released 22nd September 2011 has been described as the “hardest game of all time”. It’s a “spiritual sequel” to 2010′s Demon’s Souls, itself already brutally difficult – gamers have called Dark Souls even worse.

IGN’s review of the game said grimly:

If you play games for fun, this is not for you.

But that did not prevent SexyShoiko, a Chinese gamer by finishing the game in a mere hour and a half, and uploading the entire feat on YouTube:

To get a copy of the above video, you can use a youtube downloader.

Alex Simmons, UK Editor-in-Chief of games site IGN said:

…for someone to complete a game this hard, this quickly verges on unbelievable.

Then there’s Battletoads, developed for the NES and released way back in June 1991, famous for its extreme difficulty. There is no save features and only 3 continues. The worst level is probably Volkmire’s Inferno, a speed level where, the only strategy is apparently “try anything and hope for the best” :

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Chicago Tribune reported on 28th August 2011 that back in 2009, Kimberly Garrity was sued for USD50,000 by her own children, Steven II, then 23 & Kathryn, then 20 for “being a bad mother”. Specifically, the “serious crimes” were:

- refusing to buy them toys;
- giving them the wrong kinds of birthday card i.e. it didn’t have money attached, and had a picture of tomatoes with “googly eyes”, with the message: “son I got you this Birthday card because it’s just like you … different from all the rest!”;
- failing to bring Kathryn to a car show;
- threatening Steven II to inform the police if he did not buckle up that seatbelt;
- haggling over dress prices;
- calling Kathryn at midnight to ask her to come home from a party;
- perhaps, for failing to provide them with equestrian riding apparel too…

Heck, other kids would just simply kick up a fuss.

Steven II & Kathryn were represented by 3 lawyers that included their father, Steven A. Miner. Now, it’s here we can understand the situation a little better: Miner & Garrity were married for 10 ten years before divorcing 16 years ago.

After battling it out for 2 years, an appeals court has dismissed the case, ruling that Garrity was “not being extreme / outrageous.”

Source
Daily Mail (UK)

Popularity: 1% [?]

More run-of-the-mill politicians usually settle for fiery speeches, a meet-and-greet session or baby-kissing photo ops. But for Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister and former Russian President, only macho stunts will do.

In the cabin of strategic bomber ТU-160

He has also been pictured at the wheel of a huge racing truck, operating a train, sailing on a submarine, and released a DVD entitled “Let’s learn judo with Vladimir Putin”.

Yes, this guy looks best being in the thick of the action, he’ll look completely at home doing Emergency Medical Technician Jobs.

Popularity: 1% [?]

1.78m, green-eyed (Major) Oxana Fedorova, PhD (born December 1977), then 24, of Russia won Miss Universe 2002. She has been called the “Goddess of Beauty”, while others are mere “beauty queens.”

Her crowning moment [at 1:18]

The “Major” is for her police rank.

I think she’ll look good in anything, even a plus size formal dress.

However, controversy came 3 months later – she was rumoured to be pregnant, which, according to the rules, would cause her to lose her crown. She then countered by saying that she willingly “abdicated” because she wanted to complete her studies, hence couldn’t spare time to attend to the many duties expected of a Miss Universe titleholder. The runner-up, Justine Pasek of Panama was then declared the winner.

The Miss Universe Organization does not officially recognise Fedorova as a former Miss Universe, but the general public thinks otherwise.

In September 2011, the pageantry website Global Beauties named her the most beautiful Miss Universe of all time.

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

The usual way of dealing with a dead body is either burial or cremation.

But there are at least 2 methods that claims to be more “ecologically favourable”:

(i) Alkaline hydrolysis

- Put body in silk bag
- Put silk bag in metal cage
- Put metal cage into Resomator
- Fill machine with a water + lye mix
- Heat to about 160°C at high pressure (to prevent boiling) for up to 3 hours. This will break down the body into its chemical components, resulting in a liquid that is green-brown in colour and white bone ash.
- Give ash to next of kin.
- Liquid can be simply poured into sewerage system, or use in a garden.

Sounds intense, like something that needs to be done in steel buildings.

(ii) Freeze drying (Promession)

- put coffin into Promession machine
- once inside, remove body from coffin
- treat body with liquid nitrogen
- vibrate body until it fragments
- dry and refine remains further
- pass body through filters to remove metals (can include dental amalgam)
- pour remains into square biodegradable coffin, for shallow burial (like composting)

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Birkin bag, a handmade purse by Hermès was named after actress & vocalist Jane Birkin.

An Hermès black crocodile Birkin bag

It was created in 1984 by Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas, based on an 1892 design.

Since then, it has since become an icon.

Specs:
- handmade in France: process includes hand-sewing, buffing, painting & polishing, on average taking 2 days to complete
- signature saddle stitching developed in the 19th century
- leathers obtained from different French tanners
- no logos

It’s probably the most coveted of all ladies handbags due to its status as a wealth symbol, with a reputed waiting list of as long as 6 years.

Definitely expensive and difficult to get one, even if you had the money. It’s distributed to Hermès boutiques at unspecified timetables and possibly intended small quantities.

Price range: USD9,000 to USD150,000, depending on the material used. Price justified by “the meticulous craftsmanship and scarcity.”

If only we could get red envelope codes for hefty discounts on these babies.

Popularity: 1% [?]

According to the excellent Track And Field All-time Performances Homepage maintained by Peter Larsson:

As of yesterday evening, when Usain Bolt became the 200m 2011 world champion with 19.40 seconds, the 20-second barrier has been broken 183 times.

Usain Bolt owns (or co-owns) 7 of the 10 fastest 200m times in history: 19.19, 19.30, 19.40, 19.56, 19.57, 19.59, 19.63. That means he has run faster than 19.60 on 6 occasions.

He has broken the 20-second barrier 22 times.

When he drives a car, is he a speed demon too? If he is, that collision estimation could go up.

Michael Johnson has broken the 20-second barrier 23 times. Everybody knows that his best time is 19.32 seconds, but perhaps less know that his next best times were 19.66, 19.71, 19.77 and 19.79.

The fastest 200m time not by either Bolt or Johnson is 19.58 by Tyson Gay in 2009 (7th best time in history). Gay also owns the 9th best time in history (19.62) set in 2007.

The relatively unknown Xavier Carter co-owns the 10th best time in history with 19.63 set in 2006.

Shingo Suetsugu’s Asian record of 20.03 set in 2003 is the joint 237th best time in history.

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

I think this should be the way to determine who are the greatest high jumpers.

The current world record holder, Javier Sotomayor is 1.95m tall and his world record is 2.45m, meaning he jumped 50cm over his head. Some have listed his height as 1.93m, hence the difference is 52cm.

I think if Yao Ming (2.29m) trained to be a high jumper, he would’ve easily broken that world record.

But there are 2 persons who have jumped 59cm above their own heads, Franklin Jacobs and Stefan Holm.

Franklin Jacobs (born 1957) is a 1970s American high jumper. He’s only 1.73m, yet his personal best is 2.32m, which set the world indoor record in 1978.

Stefan Holm (born 1976) is a Swedish high jumper. He’s only 1.81m, yet has jumped 2.40m indoors in 2005. He was the 2004 Olympic champion.

This gives hope to those of us less than 1.8m tall – time to practice jumping over one of those stainless steel barrels then…

Popularity: 1% [?]

I am not sure if this is authentic, but I laughed so hard I cried. It truly is something to be shown on that home dlp projector.

In the middle of the race, he decided that he was going to turn it into a 100m dash instead, and simply threw the hurdles sideways.

I totally lost it when he ran through a hurdle, fell to his left and just managed to avoid being trampled upon by the next guy.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Updated 27 Aug 2011

The horror dungeon of Gottfried “Friedl” Wagner:

[pic: DailyMail UK]

The girls became mentally ill over the years due to their suffering.

Wagner’s wife beaten into submission.

Wagner was stern & rigid.

—————————————
26 Aug 2011

Forgive me for starting to think that Austrians are home to some of the most depraved individuals in the world.

First it was Wolfgang Priklopil who locked up Natascha Kampusch for 8 years, then of course that epoch-making Joseph Fritzl case from which the very word “Fritzl” has forever entrenched into people’s minds as meaning “locking up your own daughter for many years as your sex slave”.

Then on 25th August 2011, yet another person in Austria has made the news for being the Second, and possibly worst “Fritzl” ever. This time it’s in St Peter am Hart, near Brannau (Hitler’s home town, by the way), near the border with Germany.

Comparison:

Gottfried Wagner
Age when caught: 80
Duration of sexual abuse: 41 years (1970-May 2011)
Number of daughters abused: 2
Age of daughters when first raped: 4 and 12
Number of pregnancies: 0
Method to avoid detection: [locked in a room, lack of contact with outside world, beatings & intimidation]

Joseph (Josef) Fritzl (the Austrian Monster)
Age when caught: 73
Duration of sexual abuse: 24 years (1984-2008)
Number of daughters abused: 1
Age of daughter when first raped: 18
Number of pregnancies: apparently 8 (7 lived, 1 stillborn)
Method to avoid detection: built dungeon under house

41 years! Can’t imagine the sheer number of modern amenities they’ve missed – they’ve probably never heard of Tablet Docking Stations.

He was only caught when fell over and hit his head while attempting to have intercourse with the older of the two women, 53, who fought back by hitting his head with a milk jug. Her younger sister is 45 years old. He was left on the floor for 2 days, pleading for help, before they finally relented and called the local authority who sent a social worker.

Source
Daily Mail (UK), 25th August 2011

Popularity: 1% [?]

By rock band I mean the girls must not merely sing, they must play their own instruments too.

Goldie & the Gingerbreads of the USA, was the first all-girl rock band signed to a major record label, Decca in 1963.

Active from 1962 to 1967 it was made up of:

Goldie Zelkowitz (Genya Ravan): lead vocals, harmonica;
Carol MacDonald (joined 1963, died 2007): guitar and vocals.
Ginger Bianco: percussion
Margo Lewis: organ

This is not to say that there were no all-women rock groups before them – there were, but most big record labels were not interested in them and they were not big live draws.

So yes, Ginger, Margo, Carol and Goldie were something of a trendsetter, at a time when most women were perhaps more into more homely things like carpet cleaning raleigh or elsewhere.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments.

The 1987 men’s singles final saw Denmark’s defending champion Morten Frost meeting Indonesia’s Icuk Sugiarto, the 1983 world champion. Frost won the first set 15-10, but the second set was most extraordinary.

As far as I know, it was the only time a top player failed to get a single point in a set in a major badminton final.

This seems to be a good idea to turn into a Tee shirts at Personal Creations joke gift idea for Mr Icuk, but one needs to be prudent of the possible hostile reception!

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Nika riots / Nika revolt, which happened over a week in Constantinople (Istanbul) in January 532 is the worst riot that ever happened.

Yes, it happened about 1,500 years ago, way before funny shirts were invented, like those worn by the 2011 England rioters.

It started at the Hippodrome and a few days later, almost half the city had been destroyed by rioters, which made the Hippodrome their “centre of operations.”

Then the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I (483–565) [Justinian the Great] decided that enough was enough, and commanded General Belisarius to take control.

The general pushed the rioters all the way back into the Hippodrome, shut the doors, then the army went in and killed everybody inside: all 30,000 of them.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Gordon Banks (born 1937) was the England football team’s goalkeeper between 1963 and 1972. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) has named him the second best goalkeeper of the 20th Century after Lev Yashin. He was a member of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup.

Gordon Banks in 2010

On 7th June 1970, he pulled off what is generally agreed to be the greatest save ever made, when he somehow managed to keep out a header by none other than Pele of Brazil.

It was during the first half of a group match of the 1970 World Cup. England was playing against quite possibly the greatest national football team of all time, the incomparable Brazil side.

From his own half, Brazil’s captain Carlos Alberto sent a precise low pass down the right to Jairzinho. The winger beat left back Terry Cooper, then delivered a high yet dipping cross to the far post, where Pele was waiting, and who then leapt above England’s right back Tommy Wright to head a fast, downward ball to Banks’ near post corner.

Pele was so confident it’d be counted that he’d shouted “goal!” as his head connected with the ball.

Amazingly, Banks managed to save it by diving backwards and downwards at the same time, then getting a thumb on the ball, diverting the ball over the bar.

Pelé would later say that the save was the best he had ever seen, and added:

I score more than 1,000 goals in my life, but the goal I don’t score they remember.

In 2005, Banks commented:

It’s something that people will always remember me for. They won’t remember me for winning the World Cup, it’ll be for that save. That’s how a big a thing it is. People just want to talk about that save.

For the record, Brazil won the game 1–0: Jairzinho beat Banks in the 59th minute. Both Brazil and England subsequently qualified for the quarterfinals, where England faced West Germany on 14th June 1970. Unfortunately, he suffered from an upset stomach, so Peter Bonnetti took his place. Banks was watching the match from his hotel room but felt tired, so switched the TV off when England was leading 2-0. As so often happens, Germany fought back, and Franz Beckenbauer hit a low shot under the slow-reacting Bonetti to make the score 2-1: Beckenbauer later claimed that it wouldn’t have been a goal had Banks been the goalkeeper. In the end England lost 2-3. And as we all know, Germany then lost to Italy 3-4 in that monumental match, only for Italy to find Brazil too good in the final, losing 1-4.

As for me the mere mortal, I found myself replaying the video again and again; at this rate I might even skip meals, thus lending credence to the notion that surfing youtube videos is probably the best appetite suppressant available.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Top Malaysian car blogger Paul Tan wrote in May 2011 that the Range Rover Evoque is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia in the fourth quarter.

It will be priced between RM300,000 and RM400,000; everybody will be hoping that it’s closer to the former. I think it’s safe to say that the cost is way beyond most people’s reach anyway; those actually seriously checking it out is less into getting in shape the hard way than simply reading through diet pill reviews.

It was launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 2010.

There will be:

- 2 variants: the 3-door coupe and the 5-door version.
- 2 engine choices:
(i) 240 bhp 2.0L Si4 turbocharged petrol engine with direct fuel injection and twin VVT;
(ii) SD4 2.2L diesel engine with 190 PS and 420 Nm.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Greg Louganis (born January 1960), was an American diver who aged 16, particiapted in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where he managed a silver in the 10m platform, behind legendary Italian diver Klaus Dibiasi.

That was the only time he finished second – for all the other major tournaments, he grabbed gold.

At the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, he won gold in the 3m Springboard and 10m Platform.

At the 1984 Olympics, he had record scores and leads over his opponents

Surely he would’ve won both events at the 1980 Olympiad too had the US not boycotted the games then.

At the 1978 World Championships, he won gold in the 10m Platform.

At the 1982 and 1986 World Championships, he won gold in the 3m Springboard & 10m Platform.

Some say the following dive at the 1986 worlds is the best dive ever done

He looks so relaxed with water that he could’ve been born with a Steripen Adventurer Opti.

Perhaps his greatest display was during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. In the 3m Springboard, he suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the board during the preliminaries. Despite the injury, he won the gold medal, repeating a similar dive during the finals. This caused controversy some years later when Louganis revealed he knew he was HIV-positive at that material time, yet and did not tell anybody. However, since HIV cannot survive in open water, no other divers were ever in danger.

Then in the 10m Platform finals, he won the gold with his last dive, performing a difficult routine called the “Dive of Death” and beating second placed Xiong Ni by a mere 1.14 points.

A video showing how Louganis hit his head, and the Dive of Death

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s not North Korea in 1966. It’s not Korea Republic in 1954. The answer might surprise you.

Microsoft Encarta-installed laptops might not even point out that before the Second World War started, for the 1938 World Cup, Indonesia qualified, under the name Dutch East Indies. Of course you could argue that since they have not achieved independence, most of the players could’ve been of Dutch descent.

But surprisingly, that is not the case, at least judging from the name of the players in the starting eleven. There are at least 5 Asian-sounding names in the first XI: Tan Mo Heng (Goalkeeper), Achmad Nawir, Tan Hong Djien, Suvarte Soedermadji, Anwar Sutan. Added to that, there are at least 2 Asian-sounding names in the reserves list: Bing Mo Heng and Tan Se Han. The coach was Johannes Van Mastenbroek.

Unfortunately, they only played in one match (no round robin matches then), and that against the mightly Magyars. The match took place at 5pm, 5th June 1938 at Reims, France in front of about 9,000 spectators.

Indonesia lost that match 0-6, and Hungary went on to reach the finals where they lost to Italy.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Updated 18th August 2011

- Breivik reportedly had prepared a second bomb that, at 3,300lbs, was even bigger than the one he exploded, which weighed 2,095lbs.

- Breivik requested to wear a formal tailcoat for his next court appearance so that he can “show respect to the judicial process.” It was denied.

More details of what happened during his rampage on the island has emerged:

- he was hit on the head by boys who ambushed him. He shot one dead, and the others escaped.
- when he’d killed 49 people on the island, at 5.58pm, he called police to say “mission accomplished and I will surrender to the Delta force”, then went on to kill 20 more.
- At 6.26pm he called the police again, and he was arrested shortly.
- he claimed that he tried to call the police at least 10 times.

——————————
Updated 29th July 2011

The moment Breivik was arrested on Utoya island, police found him waiting for them in a clearing, his hands on his head in a gesture of surrender, telling his captors “I am finished now“. His loaded weapons were 30m away.

—————————–
Updated 27th July 2011

More details:

- Breivik regards himself as a warrior who started a “sixty year war” and will be considered a saviour of Western Europe in future.

- Prior to his attacks, he consumed a cocktail of drugs known as an “ECA stack” so that he would be “strong and efficient” and increase his “aggressiveness, physical performance and mental focus”. Ingredients of the cocktail include ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin.

- During the shootings, he listened to Clint Mansell’s Lux Aeterna on his iPod at maximum volume to “suppress fear”

- He’d coated the tips of the “dum-dum” bullets he used with 99% pure nicotine ordered online from China, so that they’d become chemical weapons.

- He hadn’t expected to survive the attacks.

Breivik’s class photo at Smestad Primary School, Oslo

Probably I shouldn’t say this, but I hope those killed had life insurance policies from www.cometobarter.com / elsewhere.

——————————
26th July 2011

On 22nd July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik, 32 of Oslo, Norway carried out 2 acts of terrorism:

- at 3:22pm exploded a car bomb outside the office of Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, killing 8 people.

- less than 2 hours later, dressed as a police officer, he shot and killed 68 people at a Norwegian Labour Party youth camp on Utøya island. There were about 600 people on the island at that time. It was reported that he may have used “dum-dum” bullets for maximum damage: they don’t explode inside body but fragment into pieces quicker than others.

It’s the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in history. The previous worst happened on 27th April 1982 when Woo Bum-kon, 27, a South Korean police officer shot dead 57 people (including himself) in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea using two M2 carbines and hand grenades in 8 hours.

Breivik thus became peacetime Europe’s worst mass killer.

It’s the worst attack on the country since World War II, hence the incident was dubbed “Norway’s 9/11″.

The following is a haunting photo of man waist-deep in waters of Utoya, hands aloft, pleading for his life to Breivik (circled red)

Breivik (in red) arrives in court to face charges of mass murder on 25th July 2011

This is the video Breivik uploaded to YouTube 6 hours before going on his killing spree:

He outlined his ideology in a 1,518-page manifesto entitled “2083 – A European Declaration of Independence“, which was published on the day of the attacks under the name Andrew Berwick.

Interestingly, he wrote that he hated Adolf Hitler but thought that Vlad the Impaler was a genius.

Source: various online news sites

Popularity: 1% [?]

On 15th May 2011, Acton Beale, 20 of Brisbane, Australia, was attempting to plank on a 5cm wide balcony railing outside his home located on a 7th-floor balcony when he slipped and plunged to his death.

He reportedly did it at 4.30am, while drunk

The case thus became the first known fatality of planking.

This was where he fell from

Subsequently, his pals accused the self-declared inventor of planking Paul Carran of being responsible for Beale’s death.

Still, I think ultimately the blame lies on Beale himself – he could’ve simply not done it. That is not good news for any family – with father’s day approaching, he could’ve been looking for the best gift baskets for Dad now instead.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Updated: 5th July 2011

There’s still some controversy over the purported sale of For The Love Of God. Hirst insisted that it’s been sold, but apparently many others disputed this.

———————————-
Updated 2nd September 2007

The English artist Damien Hirst, 42 has done it again. Back in June 2007 his artwork entitled Lullaby Springs fetched USD19 million (about RM60 million) at Sotheby’s.

2 months later, he outdid himself 5 times over when For The Love Of God was purchased for 50 million pounds (equivalent to USD100 million or RM340 million) by “an unknown investment group.”

It is a sculpture of a human skull, completed this year. Definitely a good year for Damien indeed.

Some trivia:
- The skull was bought in a shop in Islington, and supposed to belong to a 35 year old European who lived in the 18th or 19th century. It still has the original teeth.
- Why is it not called the “The Skull”? Because apparently when Damien’s mother saw it, she gasped “for the love of God, what are you going to do next?”
- The skull is cast in platinum
- Encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds (more than 1,100 carats), including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead of the skull.
- The diamonds cover all surfaces of the skull except for the teeth
- Cost USD28 million to produce. Simple calculation would say that profit made is USD72 million!
- George Michael was reported to have expressed interest to purchase it some months back.

So what is the meaning of it? In an interview reported by Bloomberg, he was reported to have said the work is about 2 things: “wealth against death” and “decoration against death.”

This is an update on one of the oldest themes in art: the “vanitas,” or “memento mori” — a reminder of death. On the one hand, the skull is one of the world’s most showy status symbols. On the other hand, it is also a sermon on the theme of you-can’t-take-it-with-you. Or, as Hirst puts it, “There are no pockets in a shroud.”

Source
Wikipedia: For The Love Of God
Geekologie
Bloomberg

—————————————-
29th June 2007

On 21st June 2007, yahoo.com reported that Damien Hirst, 42, a British artist, is now the world’s most expensive living artist, upstaging a title held for years by American Jasper Johns. Hirst’s work, Spring Lullaby was sold on 21st June at Sotheby’s for USD19 million (that’s almost RM60 million).

Spring Lullaby is not a painting, nor a sculpture. It’s a pill cabinet. A what? Exactly: that’s what first struck me. Would you pay that much for this?

Can’t make it out? Well, it’s a stainless steel and glass cabinet with painted cast pills, created in 2002. It’s dimensions are about 182cm x 274cm x 10cm. In other words, it’s shaped like a plasma screen.

Truly avant garde stuff. What would he think of next? I think something to do with photos of weird creatures in the deepest oceans taken with waterproof cameras couldn’t be too far off.

Looking closer, this is what you see:

Sources
Artnet.com
Yahoo.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Traditionally composed of amateur players, a 1989 rule change by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) allowed the USA to field professional players.

The original “Dream Team” promptly won the gold medal at the next Olympics – the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Defeating opponents by an average of almost 44 points, that team is often regarded as the greatest collection of talent on one team in basketball history. In fact, it was arguably the strongest team in the history of sports.

Any sport.

Of the 12 players on the team, 10 would be named in 1996 among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, which is the NBA’s official list of the 50 greatest players of the league’s first 50 years. As of 2011 eleven of the twelve players on the roster (all except Christian Laettner) have been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Never mind the fact that some of the players were way past their prime and were probably more into rv repair than top-class basketball.

Roster

1. David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs
2. Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz
3. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics
4. Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls
5. Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers
6. Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns
7. Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks
8. Christian Laettner of Duke University; the NCAA’s player of the year, he was the only non-professional player selected – he was selected over Shaquille O’Neal for the final spot on the roster. Why? Because apparently it’s a tribute to the history of college players representing the country.
9. Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors
10. Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls
11. Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers
12. John Stockton of the Utah Jazz

Coach: Chuck Daly of the Detroit Pistons

The team’s games usually had opposing teams asking for pregame photo opportunities with their idols, and of course opponents.

The team made its debut in June 1992 at the Tournament of the Americas, the Olympic basketball qualifying event for the Americas. In the first match, it defeated Cuba 136–57, a winning margin of 79 points, which led the Cuban coach Miguel Calderón Gómez to quip “you can’t cover the sun with your finger.”

A video of that match

In the next group games, the USA defeated Canada 105-61 (44 points difference), Panama 112-52 (60 points difference) and Argentina 128-87 (41 points difference). In the semis, it defeated Puerto Rico 119-81 (38 points difference), and in the final it defeated Venezuela 127-80 (47 points difference).

At the 1992 Olympics, in the group stages, the team defeated:

1 Angola 116-48 (68 points difference)
2 Croatia 103-70 (33 points difference)
3 Germany 111-68 (43 points difference)
4 Brazil 127-83 (44 points difference)
5 Spain 122-81 (41 points difference)

In the quarterfinals, the USA defeated Puerto Rico 115-77 (38 points difference).

In the semifinals, it defeated Lithuania 127-76 (51 points difference).

The final was the closest match the Dream Team had at the Olympics, defeating Croatia 117-85 by a “mere” 32 points. The Croatian players played for Yugoslavia until 1991, and Yugoslavia won the 1990 World Championships and finished second at the 1988 Olympics behind the Soviet Union, which by 1992 had broken up, hence you can say they were the reigning world champions.

The Croatian team featured superstars such as Dino Radja, Toni Kukoč and Dražen Petrović. They even led 25-23 in the first few minutes before being overwhelmed by the superiority of the Dream Team.

Highlights of the final

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Munich RE is a German reinsurance company, one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, with branches all over the world, including Malaysia.

It was reported by the BBC on 20th May 2011 that in 2007, the company held a party to reward its top salesmen where they were given prostitutes to do as they liked, 100% paid for. The place: thermal baths of Budapest, Hungary. There were 100 people and 20 hookers.

Now that’s truly something – if they gave away Table Rock real estate probably nobody would’ve made any noise.

For a respectable multinational company, this is probably unprecedented!

This was revealed by a spokesman of its divisions, Ergo. He added that the people who had a hand in organising it had left the company. He added that “this was not the usual way of rewarding their employees” and that “they’ve taken all the right steps to prevent it happening again.”

Source
The BBC

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Miss Landmine is a beauty pageant with a unique requirement to enter: you must be a victim of, you’ve guessed it, landmines.

It’s the brainchild of Morten Traavik of Norway, to raise public awareness about the many landmines still out there, and what happened to its victims.

The first Miss Landmine was held in Angola in 2008. The country was chosen because there are more than 80,000 landmine victims there since the 30-year civil war which started in 1972. Even though the war is long over, the randomly planted landmines are still claiming victims.

The second Miss Landmine was held in Cambodia in 2009. Landmines were planted there in 1970-5.

Miss Landmine 2009 was Dos Sopheap, 19, a student, crowned in a secret ceremony inside Cambodia in December 2009. Secret because the Cambodian government banned the pageant. She comes from the province of Battambang, one of the world’s most heavily mined areas. She lost her leg in 1996 to a Yugoslavia-made PMA-2 anti-personnel mine costing USD10. For winning the contest, she received USD1,000 prizemoney for her education and a USD15,000 custom-made titanium prosthesis from Norway’s leading orthopaedic centre. All contestants received at least USD300 cash, which would enable them to purchase household items or set up a small business when they go back home to their villages.

The girls are so brave, scott kay jewels for everyone!

In early 2010 she received the finished leg

Source
Blogserius

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