UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Suffering from public speaking anxiety and feeling bad about it? Don’t fret, rather count your blessings. The following surely don’t have any of that, yet didn’t have a happy ending.

The following is a partial list of the rich and famous who committed suicide through lethal suspension by a ligature.

Alexander McQueen, CBE, 40, four-time British Designer of the Year. On 11th February 2010, he was found dead, hanging in his wardrobe.

Jonathan Brandis, 27, who was a teen idol in the early 1990s when he played scientific prodigy Lucas Wolenczak in the TV series seaQuest DSV. Hanged himself November 2003. Friends were quoted to have mentioned that he was “lonely and depressed” about his faltering career.

Ian Curtis (1956 – 1980), lead singer, songwriter and lyricist of Joy Division, whose song “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is considered by some as the best single of all time, and is listed in Rolling Stone magazine’s top 500 songs of all time. On 18th May 1980 he hanged himself in his kitchen.

Justin Fashanu (1961 – 1998), professional English footballer who in 1981 became Great Britain’s first GBP1 million black soccer player when he moved to Nottingham Forest. In 1990 he became the first, and still the only prominent footballer to announce that he was gay. In the early hours of 3rd May 1998, he was found hanged in a lock-up garage he’d broken into.

Michael Hutchence (1960 – 1997), lead singer of rock band INXS, who’ve sold more than 30 million records worldwide. On 22nd November 1997, while INXS was on a world tour, he was found dead in his hotel room, in “a kneeling position facing the door” and “had used his black leather belt to tie a knot on the automatic door closure at the top of the door, and had strained his head forward into the loop so hard that the buckle had broken.”

Paul Hester (1959 – 2005), drummer of rock band Crowded House, which produced such classics as “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” “Fall at Your Feet” and “Weather with You”. On 26th March 2005 he committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in a park near his house.

Chris Benoit (1967 – 2007), Canadian professional wrestler for WCW and later WWE, two-time world heavyweight champion, one of the most popular and talented technical wrestlers ever. On the weekend of his death, he was booked to win his 3rd world heavyweight championship. After killing his wife and son, he created a noose from the end of the cord of a weight machine to hang himself.

Popularity: 1% [?]

K Chattu Kuttan, 90 of Sri Lanka and employee of Galle Face Hotel, Colombo is probably the world’s oldest, still working hotel doorman, and surely one of the world’s most famous hotel employees.

He has been an employee at the hotel for almost 70 years (since 1942), and a doorman for 18 years, and has seen it all:

- a Japanese Zero fighter plane crash-landed on the hotel grounds during World War II
- sex symbol Ursula Andress danced in the ballroom on New Year’s Eve 1976.
- hobnobbed with people such as Emperor Hirohito, Richard Nixon, Sir Laurence Olivier, George Bernard Shaw, Lord Mountbatten, Princess Elizabeth, Jawarharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Yuri Gagarin and Arthur C. Clarke.

He has made the cover of some of the world’s top travel publications, and his life story told in them.

It’s no wonder that guests would scramble to have a photo opportunity with him:

He still walks the one mile to work every morning and takes the bus home at the end of his afternoon shift.

When will he retire? In his own words: “Walking to work and the busy life at the hotel keeps me going.”

Source
Yahoo News, 13th Feb 2010

Popularity: 1% [?]

Rocky_Balboas_Son’s posted a story recently about how he carried out the greatest Valentine’s Day revenge ever against his former girlfriend for cheating on him with some guy named Theo.

By the end of the story, she got dumped not once, but twice, on the V-Day no less.

The Story

Popularity: 1% [?]

In January 2009 I mentioned that Sabahans are the world’s most inventive name-makers, based on their children’s names listed in school rolls.

Fast forward a year, as usual I looked at the latest list of new students (Standard I), and unearthed some gems.

The following are totally unique, even mighty google doesn’t have them!

Gretcxine:

Freswyn, which surprised me, because that seemed a perfectly normal name:

Oddelshonn:

Do you know of any other person with Shermieko as his or her first name?

Welldino:

Aedryan got lah, but Aeldryan?

Berbbay:

Still, at least they don’t name their kids after pond filters!

Popularity: 1% [?]

The following ladies have been dubbed the most beautiful woman who ever lived at one time or another in articles and surveys. Obviously it will be difficult to pinpoint ONE woman with certainty that she is/was definitely the most attractive member of the human female species who ever walked the earth. You take your pick.

Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships”, although whether she really existed is debatable.

Cleopatra VII (69 BC – 30 BC), who is generally depicted as “a great beauty and her successive conquests of the world’s most powerful men are taken to be proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal.”

Queen Nefertiti (circa 1370 BC – circa 1330 BC), the chief consort of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993)

Greta Garbo (1905-1990, Swedish actress): in 1954, 13 years after her last movie, she was named the most beautiful woman who ever lived by none other than the Guinness Book of World Records.

Others which have been mentioned include the following, all with figures so enviable they might never need to look up slimming products at fdaapproveddietpills.net.

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)
Ava Gardener
Sophia Loren
Elizabeth Taylor
Grace Kelly (1929-1982)
Claudia Schiffer
Rita Hayworth
Natalie Wood
Vivien Leigh
Aishwarya Rai
Catherine Deneuve
Raquel Welch
Sharon Tate

Popularity: 5% [?]

The most challenging job in the world today could very well be running the navy of one of the world’s most lawless and pirate-infested nations, Somalia.

Jobs in IT? That’s easy peasy in comparison!

But salute to Farah Ahmed Omar for grimly soldiering on despite all the odds.

He has been the navy chief since 1982.

Other sailors will be shocked to hear that for a person who’s supposed to be patrolling the sea, he has not been to sea for 23 years!

Nor does he have any boats or related equipment.

And instead of splashing about at sea, training for recruits will be classroom-only, for obvious reasons.

Somalia used to be among the top navies in Africa with 10 battalions. However it has not been operational since the country descended into chaos in 1991.

There are patrols at sea but they are not enough to deter the pirates.

International aid is scant due to funds tending to “disappear down a black hole.”

And apparently “some of the people trained to tackle piracy as coastguards became pirates themselves”!

Source
The BBC, 16 June 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

The world’s most vandalised yuletide symbol could very well be the Gavle goat of Sweden, so called because it’s located in the town square of Gavle, north of capital Stockholm.

The 13-meter (43-feet) high goat made of straw is the traditional Scandinavian symbol of Christmas.

It is burned down almost every year, sometimes a mere few hours after being put up.

It was first built in 1966 and has been destroyed by flames 24 times since. At this rate the organisers would probably be forced to source for building materials during Black Friday to save costs.

Other than fire, it has, over the years, been run over by a car, have had its legs taken off and been smashed.

In all those years, only 10 has been incident-free.

In the latest episode, it was burned to the ground a few days before Christmas 2009.

List of major events:
1966: 1st goat burned down – hence setting the tone
1970: Burned down 6 hours after put up
1971: Smashed to smithereens
1976: Destroyed by a car crashing into it
1979: Burned down even before completion
1987: Burned down even after being fire-proofed
2001: Burned by a 51-year-old tourist from USA
2005: Burned by 2 guys, one of them dressed as Santa Claus.

Source
The BBC, 23 Dec 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

It was reported in the Daily Telegraph on 15th December 2008 that Greig Howe, 35 of Bournemouth, UK bought a 35-feet tall Christmas tree, cut it into 3 sections, then positioned them on different floors of his house: the living room, bedroom and the roof.

Hence, to onlookers outside the house it would seem that the whole tree has shot through the entire house!

It cost him GBP250 and has 160 big baubles and 2,000 LED lights, of course with a star at the top. I guess installing metal tiles would make the lights seem that much brighter.

In his own words:

I had it in mind because that corner of the house is perfect for it and I really wanted to give the kids a Christmas they wouldn’t forget. From the outside it is a bit of an optical illusion because it appears to be one huge tree that has shot up through the ceilings and floorboards and out through the roof. People keep stopping and laughing at it and my 11-year-old son Harry absolutely loves it.

Source
Daily Telegraph (UK), 15th Dec 2008

Popularity: 1% [?]

The following Christmas traditions are stranger than celebrating that special day at Outer banks foreclosures – so strange they might never get accepted anywhere except their source:

Krampus Night, celebrated 5th December in Austria.

Krampus is the antithesis of Santa Claus, his evil twin if you will. If Santa Claus encourages good behaviour by handing out presents, Krampus is more like your cane-wielding discipline teacher. On that evening, people would dress up as Krampus, then walk the streets holding a stick as if to beat them up.

The Caganer

I don’t think you will ever find this statue in nativity scenes anywhere else other than Andorra and parts of Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Usual nativity scenes only show what’s around the manger, but in Catalan culture it’s the whole town of Bethlehem, and the Caganer is in it, but far from the manger of course, because he is depicted as pooping, or in more polite language, defecating, or passing motion. The practice is tolerated by the local Catholic church.

Source
Mental Floss

Popularity: 1% [?]

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, of Bahia in northeast Brazil, in an apparent black magic ritual to “get back at his wife”, inserted FORTY needles into his 2-year-old son, including the neck, torso, legs and at least one had penetrated a lung.

He and his wife had only been married 6 months.

After being arrested, he broke down and claimed he was provoked to do so by his mistress.

Some of the needles are 2 inches (5cm) long.

Some of the needles could be removed, but those inside organs would have to remain there.

The boy is now in intensive care after vomiting and complaining of pain in the stomach.

Source
The BBC, 17 Dec 2009

Popularity: 3% [?]

The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 from 7th to 18th December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark has been described as the most important conference ever held.

It is held because most of the world’s governments believe that climate change is a threat to human society and also the natural world.

It aims to strike a deal on major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Major discussion topics:

- Targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, especially so by developed countries
- Financial support to achieve this by developing countries
- A “carbon trading scheme” which is hoped to end the destruction of the world’s forests by 2030.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen described it as an “opportunity the world cannot afford to miss”.

There are delegates from 192 countries, with about world 100 leaders expected to attend, including US President Barack Obama, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

An unprecedented number of countries have pledged emissions cuts.

Any agreement there is intended to supplant the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, due to expire in 2012.

56 newspapers in 45 countries published the same report on the opening day of the conference, in 20 languages.

Source
The BBC, 7 Dec 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

In August 2006, Ian Young, 27, a perfectly straight man from Derby (United Kingdom) walked into Starbucks at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), and found the only seat available was next to what seemed to be a beautiful 33-year old woman.

That woman turned out to be a man with a very masculine name: Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari, who prefers to be called Fatine, a make-up artist who had been disowned by her own mother.

To be more precise, he’s a “pre-op transsexual“, which can be defined as:

… a woman in living in the body of a man; and has breasts (through taking female hormones and/or breast implants), and male genitalia. In most cases, he lives full time as a woman.

Note: in Fatine’s case, she’d been taking hormones since the age of 17, yet isn’t considering gender reassignment surgery due to the risks involved. Well I guess anything can happen on one of those power exam tables.

Ian and Fatine got married in a civil partnership ceremony in the UK in May 2009.

Now she is Malaysia’s most infamous trans woman, transgender, tranny, TS or shemale, because due to immigration complications she could be deported to her home country and prosecuted because homosexuality is illegal there.

To Ian, a property maintenance company owner, Fatine is, for all intents and purposes a real woman:

I know it is hard for people to understand but I love Fatine. I feel lucky to have met such a caring, wonderful person. It doesn’t matter to me that she is a transsexual – it’s the person she is inside that I care about and love. I can’t contemplate the idea of us not being together. I look at her and see a beautiful woman.

He described how Fatine was upfront about her sexuality the first time they met:

We started talking … when she got up to leave I asked for her number. That’s when she said she might not be what I was looking for and that she was actually a transsexual. I just said, ‘Oh’ and blushed with embarrassment. But for some reason I wasn’t put off. I’d never met a transsexual before and my instinct was that I liked Fatine. Even if it was just as friends, I wanted to meet her again. It just felt right. My first impression in the coffee shop was that Fatine was a woman. If she happened to have male sex organs then that was some sort of birth defect. I never thought of her as a man.

2 days after the first meeting, they met again and kissed. They then met two more times before deciding they were in love with each other.

In October 2007, they commenced a “physical relationship.”

In December 2008, Fatine traveled to the UK on a tourist visa, which turned into a long-term stay. However, Fatine’s Leave To Remain Visa was rejected in September 2009 because of an “incorrect passport photo.” A second application was also not approved because Fatine’s tourist visa had expired – and she was told to return to Malaysia.

His MP tried to help, but to no avail, as a UK immigration spokesman said:

This applicant entered the UK as a visitor. The rules are clear that a visitor must leave the UK within six months but may reapply for a new visa from their country of origin.

But now that this case has been making news around the world: if Fatine returned to Malaysia, what would happen?

Malaysia’s Immigration Department Director-General Abdul Rahman Othman was glaringly ominous:

The penalty imposed on Fatine may be more severe than the two-year passport issuance deferment as he has brought great shame upon us.

As for Fatine, she was quoted to have said:

I have received a lot of negative e-mails and comments from people, some even accusing me of insulting the Malaysian government. I feel frustrated that people did not understand that I went to the UK only because I wanted to be with the man I love. I cannot do that in Malaysia. I am so frightened to go back. I am worried for my safety. The portrayal of our our love story by a Malay tabloid is inaccurate – it was never our intention to insult the Malay community. The tabloid also put my father’s name in the article, which was unnecessary and my mother is now afraid to leave the house. I don’t know what to do – my family has already disowned me. I’ve spent hours on the phone asking for forgiveness. I love them but I can’t change what has happened. I understand that Malays are very traditional and that people like me aren’t acceptable, but I hope things would cool down eventually.

Source
The Sun (UK), 27 Nov 2009

Popularity: 16% [?]

The Berlin Wall fell on the 9th of November 1989, having been built starting August 1961. In its 28-year existence, it stopped the emigration of East Germans to West Berlin and on to other places. During its existence, about 5,000 people (some reports say 39,000) attempted to go over it, with a death toll of between 100 and 1,000, aged 10 to 80.

Some notable incidents:

Rudolf Urban, then 47 was the first victim of the Wall on 19th August 1961 when he injured himself jumping out of a window at the border, and later died. Other reports say the first victim was Ida Siekmann who died of her injuries after jumping out of the window of her apartment, even though she managed to land on the West side.

Conrad Schumann (1942 – 1998), one of the most famous defectors from East Germany. The Berlin Wall was on its third day of construction on 15th August 1961. At that stage it was only a low barbed wire fence. Aged 19, Schumann was guarding it. Then, some people on the Western side shouted Komm rüber! (“come over”). Schumann jumped the barbed wire then entered a waiting West Berlin police car which quickly sped away. The moment when he jumped was immortalised by photographer Peter Leibing and became a well-known Cold War image. In 1998, suffering from depression, he hanged himself.

Günter Litfin (1937 – 1961), then 24, was the second victim of the Wall, and the first would-be escapee to be shot dead by border guards. Around 4pm on 24th August 1961, he swam across the border but was spotted by guards and ordered to swim back. As he he lifted his hands, he was shot dead.

Peter Fechter (1944 – 1962) was an East German bricklayer. On 17th August 1962, about a year after the construction of the wall, the then 18-year old tried to cross over to West Berlin and was shot dead. He became one of the first victims of the Berlin Wall’s border guards.

Together with Helmut Kulbeik (a friend), upon reaching the wall on the western side after running across no-man’s land they were shot at by guards. Kulbeik managed to cross over, but Fechter was shot in the pelvis while still on the wall in full view of hundreds of witnesses. He fell back into the death-strip, fully visible to Western journalists. He was screaming in pain, yet received no medical assistance either from either side of the Wall, resulting in him bleeding to death after about one hour. That prompted hundreds of people congregating on the West side and shouting “Murderers!!” to the guards. After he died, guards from the East side removed his body.

In 1966, two as-yet-unnamed boys aged 10 and 13 years, were killed on no-man’s land as they tried to escape, the youngest victims of the Wall.

Burkhard Niering was an East German border guard who held 2 colleagues hostage while trying to escape to the West. He was killed by a sniper at Checkpoint Charlie in January 1974.

Chris Gueffroy (1968 – 1989), then aged 20, the last person to be shot dead while trying to escape to West Berlin across the Berlin Wall. Together with a friend, Christian Gaudian, on the night of 5th February 1989, they were shot at by border troops while on no-man’s land. Gueffroy was shot 10 times in the chest while Gaudian was badly injured.

Winfried Freudenberg (1956 – 1989) was the last person to die in an attempt to escape from East Germany to West Berlin across the Berlin Wall on 8th March 1989.

With his wife, he made a homemade balloon filled with natural gas. At midnight of 7th March 1989 they went to the place where Freudenberg worked and filled the balloon with gas. Someone noticed and called the police. Seeing a patrol car coming, Frudenberg went up alone because the balloon wasn’t full of air yet to also support his wife. After a few hours, he crashed into the backyard of a villa in West Berlin, killing him instantly. The balloon was found a few blocks away. Exact cause of crash is still unknown.

Full list of victims, including the 8 East German border guards.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Requirement: must be at least a Member of Parliament / congresswoman in their respective countries.

Many a light-hearted survey have been done, including probably the most comprehensive by Spain’s 20 Minutos newspaper earlier this year.

The most stunning beauty-power combination must be that of Yulia Tymoshenko (born 1960), the current Prime Minister of Ukraine. She’s arguably the world’s most beautiful head of the executive, and also famous for her trademark plaited hairstyle.

Alina Kabayeva (born 1983), elected to the Russian Parliament in 2007. She is Russia’s most successful rhythmic gymnast to date, and also one of the most decorated in the history of the sport, with 18 World Championship medals and 2 Olympic medals.

Luciana Milagros León Romero (born 1979), Congresswoman for Lima, Peru for the 2006-2011 term. Listed no.2 by 20 Minutos newspaper.

Mara “Mara la Bella” Carfagna (born 1975), a lawyer and Italy’s Minister for Equal Opportunities since May 2008. She’s a former model, placed 6th in Miss Italy 1997, TV host, and has posed topless for fashion magazines in the past. After her election in 2006, Berlusconi controversially quipped that he’d marry her if he wasn’t already married, prompting his wife to force him to issue a public apology. Some called her the most beautiful minister in the world and was ranked number one on men’s magazine Maxim’s “The World’s Hottest Politicians”, even though she placed only 4th in 20 Minutos’ list.

Sara Ruiz Chavez (b. 1976), Mexican congresswoman.

Honourable mentions

Anna-Maria Galojan (b.1982), Estonian political scientist, apparently ran for Parliament but lost.

Yuri Fujikawa (b.1980, some say 1982), member of the assembly of Hachinohe City, Aomori prefecture, Japan. She has been called “too beautiful to be a politician.”

Wow, all perfectly groomed aren’t they, with perfect teeth to boot, perhaps they got theirs done at dental implants Plano, Texas?

Source
Daily Mail (UK), March 2009

Popularity: 4% [?]

The following are probably the coolest Halloween costumes ever.

For starters, check out the following video of a Bumblebee (Transformers) custome; it really transforms at 0.32! There are quite a few videos of DIY Transformers costumes on youtube, but this is the best I have seen so far.

The only improvements to it could be:
(i) enable the car to actually run!
(ii) [some one commented] a version that transforms one’s date into Megan Fox

And how about this mobile toilet costume? At first glance, it would seem that there are 2 guys there!

Can anything top those two? Probably things that magically transform into patio furniture cushions would do the trick.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Paul Bint, 47 could be the world’s greatest impersonator with criminal intentions, so skilful was he that orlando vacations could be had at will.

Dubbed “King Con”, he pretended to be successful professionals for 25+ years and was not caught, until he posed as a top lawyer, Director of Public Prosections, Keir Stamer QC.

In the past, the man with reportedly 24 aliases has posed as an aristocrat, a banker, a doctor, a property tycoon, a policeman and even a ballet dancer!

His first recorded case was in 1983 when he posed as a doctor doing the rounds in hospitals, and in one case he touched a woman’s breasts while telling her to trust him as he was a doctor. He also arranged X-rays, attended to a man whose lung had collapsed, stitched up the head of a patient and even attempted to enter an operating theatre where a heart bypass operation was ongoing!

Perhaps worst of all, he also told the parents of a 17-year-old girl hurt in a road crash she would live. 6 hours later she died.

He also once gatecrashed a high-class party and sent Dom Perignon champagne to Koo Stark’s table.

But his favourite seems to be posing as Queen’s Counsels.

Motive: to attract women.

Modus Operandi: advertise himself in lonely hearts columns, boasting about his alleged wealth. In reality, the former headresser is homeless.

Source
The BBC, 26 Oct 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand (sometimes written as Porntip Rojanasunan), 54 at first glance could be easily mistaken for a washed out rock star due to her “punk-rock hair dyed purplish red, sparkly eye shadow and a silver fish-shaped ear cuff,” not mentioning a fashion sense not usually attributed to medical specialists.

Some photos follow.

When she testified at the inquest into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock in Malaysia on 21st October 2009

Investigating the Santika Pub fire in Bangkok (January 2009) which killed 59 people

In 2005

She is probably the top forensics expert in the South East Asian region, who gained international fame for her work after the 2004 Tsunami.

She has conducted more than 10,000 autopsies. Whoa, that’s a lot, perhaps she’d gotten so used to seeing dead bodies that she’d pass by one without even a blink, while holding a discount cigar in one hand.

She is the Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Thailand.

Dubbed Dr Death, she spends more time with the dead than the living, a fact which apparently terrified her husband.

She is a celebrity in her home country but disliked by “many on the police force who has criticized the police as corrupt and has frequently challenged their findings.” As a result, she travels with a minder.

On her appearance, in her own words in 2005:

I wanted to work for society but also I wanted to dress in this style. Being an ordinary doctor was not a good way for me, so I had to find some specialty that was compatible. I work with the dead, and the dead do not complain.

Another, in September 2009:

It‘s my artistic side. Before I became a doctor, I wanted to be an interior designer and the first magazine I subscribed to was the fashion magazine Glamour. The second one was National Geographic. You see, these are two opposite things in my life.

She’s married to a bank manager in Bangkok and they have a teenage daughter. She writes books about her work in her spare time. Her favourite TV show is unsurprisingly “CSI: Miami”. She sleeps for only 4 hours a day, a habit started with she entered her profession 30 years ago.

Popularity: 3% [?]

On 17th October 2009, the world’s most unusual cabinet meeting ever was held by the government of Maldives: 5 meters underwater for 30 minutes. To communicate, they used whiteboards and gesticulations.

Why underwater? To highlight what global warming could do to the country, which lies in the Indian Ocean with an average elevation of a mere 2.1m (7 feet) above sea level: the world’s lowest-lying country.

It was attended by 11 of the 14 cabinet ministers, chaired by President Mohamed Nasheed, and also attended by Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed.

The president is a certified open water diver, while the other ministers recently took diving lessons and had to be certified fit to go underwater, probably none on a weight loss pill regime.

The prez chairing the unusual meeting

The prez in more normal circumstances

To get to the meeting spot: a turquoise lagoon off Girifushi Island with a backdrop of corals, they hopped on a boat and travelled 20 minutes before going down. Each minister was accompanied by 2 persons: a diving instructor and a military bodyguard.

By the end of the meeting, they’d signed a document asking for a global cut down in carbon emissions to be presented at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, which they hope will replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Some of the other ministers in attendance

The document entitled “SOS from the frontline” was printed on a white plastic slate and signed with waterproof pencils.

Video

Later a press conference was held, also underwater.

Journalists followed the proceedings by snorkeling around.

Source
The BBC, 17 Oct 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

I think this is even earlier than Sarah Richardson’s case in May 2008.

Mother-of-four Hayley Jones, 26 was killed due to what she did on Facebook on 2nd March 2007.

On that fateful day, she changed her Facebook relationship status from “married” to “single.”

She was spending increasingly more time online and prevented her partner of more than 10 years, Brian Lewis, 31 from using the PC, causing him to “fear their relationship was on the rocks,” but Lewis told police “the only tension between him and Hayley was the use of the home computer.”

10 days later, at 4am, Lewis strangled, then stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife through 3 layers of clothing and 2 sleeping bags at their home because “he could not stand to lose her to another man.”

At that time, she had been sleeping on the settee.

At this point, insurance companies might then conclude that females who changed their relationship status to “single” would make a bad health insurance lead!

She is survived by her children aged 3 to 10.

He was later sentenced to life in jail.

Source
The BBC, 1 Sep 2009

Popularity: 2% [?]

Jonathan G Parker, 19 of Fort Loudoun, Pennsylvania, USA could be the dumbest Facebook user ever.

He was such a Facebook addict that after breaking into a house on 28th August 2009 and stealing 2 diamond rings, he could not resist using his victim’s computer to log in to Facebook, then forgot to log off!

A friend knew where Parker was staying, which was nearby, so the hapless robber was quickly arrested, before he even had time to enjoy one of those Myrtle beach golf packages.

Interesting comments from cyberspace on the incident:

Status: Jonathan Parker is breaking into someone’s house right now.

Jonathan G. Parker Is Sitting In Jail Reminding Himself To Log Out Of Facebook At The End Of His Next Robbery.

Source
Martinsburg Journal, 16 Sep 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

You can call her the granny from hell. Mary Plaisted, 98 is probably the world’s most difficult-to-handle senior citizen.

She had lived in a ground-floor flat in Southampton, UK for 28 years but is going to be thrown out because of her anti-social behaviour:

- she harrassed her neighbours by banging on their windows and doors all night long
- she verbally and physically assaulted caregivers and the local council staff
- she used her panic alarm 563 times in a month (that would be about 20 times a DAY)
- she called police 264 times in the past 2 years (that would be about once call every 3 days), resulting in her phone line being cut off

Even her son Nigel Plaisted, 65, was reported to have supported the council’s action and called her mother “belligerent.”

Who knows what’s in her head all this time, it’s not as if she’s in desperate need of acne treatment products like a tantrum-throwing teenager.

Mind you, she’s still mentally sound.

Even her fellow senior citizens described her as an “absolute nightmare.”

But as expected, she denied everything.

Source
The BBC, 16 Sep 2009
The Sun (UK), 22 May 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

Erzebet Bathory (17th century aristocrat), is the worst female serial killer who ever lived, and second in the all-time list, still led by Thug Behram, who killed 931. The Monster of the Andes only killed 350 people, but this pretty lady killed 600 people, by burning or mutilation of faces and genitalia, and biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts. Nice, she might’ve thrown in a colon cleanse or two while she was at it.

Possibly the only other woman who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Ms Bathory is former prostitute Credonia “The Programmer” Mwerinde of Uganda, leader of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, a pseudo-Catholic entity. This Priestess of Death, who claimed to have met the Virgin Mary, burned alive 600+ people at the same time, with the fire “so intense their skulls exploded.” The movement’s mass murder/suicide seems to have surpassed Jonestown as the most horrific cult tragedy in recorded history.

It is interesting to note that she was not even the founder of the cult, Joseph Kibwetere was: a prominent Roman Catholic and active politician, he was so persuasive that even Catholic priest Dominica Kataribaabo fell under his spell and joined in and became a leader below Kibwetere.

That means, Mwerinde was even more charismatic than even Kibwetere, and ultimately eclipsed the cult’s founder in both real importance and power, and reduced Kibwetere to mere figurehead.

Popularity: 2% [?]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Popularity: 1% [?]

Apparently, as of 1st July 2009, 12 fans of Michael Jackson have committed suicide.

Compare that to:

When John Lennon died, at least one fan, Colleen Costello, committed suicide.

When Elvis Presley died, “some” fans killed themselves. Does anyone know how many?

When Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman died in 1994, at least one fan killed himself.

When Hide of top Japanese band X-Japan committed suicide on 2nd May 1998, 3 fans died in copycat suicides.

When Arsenal lost the 2009 Champions League tie to Manchester United on 6th May, Gunners fan Seuleiman Alphonso Omondi of Kenya killed himself while wearing an Arsenal shirt.

At least one fan of Japan’s national football team killed himself over its failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Paula Abdul’s fan, Paula Goodspeed, 30 killed herself in 2008.

Popularity: 1% [?]

So much has changed since the Stonewall Uprising 40 years ago.

Some milestones:

Robert Duncan (1919-1988), poet, the first important American to come out, in 1944.

Sam Adams, first openly gay mayor of a major city (Portland, Oregon, USA), who was elected in May 2008. He came out in 1993.

Jane Addams (1860 – 1935), a founder of the U.S. Settlement House movement, awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, probably the first openly gay person to win a Nobel Prize.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (b. 1942), Iceland Prime Minister since 1 Feb 2009, the world’s first openly gay head of government of the modern era.

Waheed Alli, Baron Alli (b 1964), British multimillionaire media entrepreneur and politician, the youngest and first openly gay peer in the British Parliament in 1998, aged 34. One of world’s very few out gay Muslim politicians.

Justin Fashanu (1961 – 1998), the first English professional footballer to come out (1990) & Britain’s first GBP1 million black footballer. Hanged himself in May 1998.

Sir Elton John (b. 1947), British musician, probably the world’s most famous living gay person. One of the most successful artists of all time, has sold over 200 million records, 5 Grammys & an Oscar. Came out as bisexual in 1976 and a homosexual about a decade later.

Greg Louganis (b. 1960), American diver who won back-to-back Olympic titles in both the 3m and 10m diving events (1984 & 1988), probably the most famous gay athlete of all time.

Axel Axgil (b. 1915) and Eigil Axgil (1922 – 1995), Danish gay activist, the world’s first gay couple to enter into a civil union on 1st October 1989. They had been an item for 40 years.

Gene Robinson (b. 1947), the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop (in 2003) in a major Christian denomination believing in the historic episcopate.

Rembert Weakland (b. 1927), the former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee (1977 to 2002), who, in May 2009, in the process of writing a memoir, came out as gay.

Edward II (1284 – 1327?), probably the first gay English king?

Rob Halford (b. 1951), lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Judas Priest, probably the most famous gay classic hard rock / heavy metal frontman. He came out in 1998.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Last week, Putin humiliated Oleg Deripaska, 41 one of Russia’s richest men on live television, by forcing the businessman to reopen an aluminium plant after protests by apparently 30,000 laid-off workers.

The cameras clearly showed Putin throwing his pen on the table and ordering Deripaska to sign the paperwork.

The sidenote of the video on youtube says:

Prime Ministers personal handling of the business conflict in the town of Pikalevo has set a precedent in the public dressing-down of the countrys top businessmen for neglecting their social responsibility. More interesting is the fact that one of the people receiving the dressing-down was one of Russias most famous businessmen, Oleg Deripaska, who used to be the richest man in the country until the global financial crisis left him heavily in debt. The high-point of the show was Putin virtually arm-twisting him into signing a contract, which was needed for the factory to start working again. During the meeting, chaired by Putin, Deripaska was obviously unnerved, with cameras catching his every move and facial expression. Never before has a person of his caliber been publicly humiliated this way in modern Russia.

The BBC said: “it was a brilliant piece of political theatre, which went down extremely well with Russia’s public who were delighted to see Mr Putin bringing the hated oligarch to heel.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Christina “Tina” Watson, 26, a beginner diver, drowned while scuba diving with her husband, David “Gabe” Gabriel Watson, an experienced diver, a mere 11 days after their wedding in 2003.

In fact, the American couple were on their honeymoon at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia when it happened.

In June 2009, he was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison, having previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Lawyers contended that he failed as a dive buddy: either giving her oxygen, inflating her buoyancy vest or removing weights from her belt to enable her to surface. They also said he most likely Gabe killed his wife by holding her underwater and turning off her air supply.

He never admitted to murder.

The following photograph was taken by another diver of his diving buddy. In the same photo, one can see a diving instructor racing to Tina Watson, who can be seen lying on the sea floor:

Tina and Gabe during happier times:

Source
The BBC, 5th June 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

Gulbai Freedoon Murzan, born 1901, the mother of Daulat “Dot” Irani, 83 died more than 20 years ago (some say 29). Instead of a funeral, Ms Irani, a lifelong spinster, decided to keep the corpse in a freezer in her garage in Sidcup because, it is thought, she was “afraid of getting in trouble for having her mother in the UK illegally.”

A recent photo of Ms Irani

Ms Irani has lived in the UK since 1976.

However, recently she “felt she had to let it all out” and confided to a horrified friend, who then alerted the police, who came knocking on her door on 20th May 2009.

Apparently, the corpse was “well preserved”.

The house, with the garage on the right

Ms Irani said that it was a “great relief knowing it’s all out in the open”.

If she were to be prosecuted for preventing the burial of a corpse, she could be jailed for life. For the time being, the police said “they are treating the death as unexplained rather than suspicious.”

Source
Mail Online, 28th May 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

After the British, Italian, Colombian and Malaysian Fritzls, the Argentine Fritzl has been uncovered in the shape of unemployed Armando “Monster of Mendoza” Lucero, 65 (some reports say 67) of Mendoza, Argentina.

On 27th May 2009 it was reported that DNA testing has confirmed that he fathered SEVEN children with one of his daughters, now 35.

The children are now between the ages of 2 and 19. That means when she first gave birth, she was merely 16.

He is also accused of raping 2 other daughters, one of whom, aged 40 said she was raped since the age of 8: 32 years of rape.

All 3 cases went on over 20 years.

Newsreport (in Spanish)

Original Video – More videos at TinyPic

Lucero has been imprisoned since 11th May 2009.

The daughter who bore him 7 children finally fled from home because her father threatened to rape one of her daughters, who is, in effect, his granddaughter.

Amazingly, unlike the other Fritzl-like cases, she was not imprisoned at home, in fact she lived in the same house as his second wife and his stepmother.

Lucero already had 7 children by his (first wife) and another 8 from a previous marriage. Therefore, he has fathered a total of 7+8+7 = 22 children.

Source
The Telegraph (UK), 27 May 2009

… would there be any insurance company willing to approve for him a disability insurance policy now?

Popularity: 1% [?]

After the British Fritzl, Italian Fritzl and Colombian Fritzl, the Malaysian Fritzl has reportedly been uncovered in the state of Penang.

It was reported on 24th April 2009 that police in Penang have arrested a father, 42 (another report said 47) and his two sons, 15 and 17 after the father’s 13-year-old daughter claimed that she had been a sex slave to them for the last four years, since she was 9 years old.

She claimed she had been raped by her odd-job labourer father at home and in a forest near her house, while her brothers had repeatedly molested her at home.

Another newsreport said that she was even sodomised by her father and a brother.

She claimed to have been paid between RM1 and RM2 by her father each time he abused her.

All this time she was too afrain to tell her housewife mother, until the 22nd of April 2009 when she decided to reveal all to her teacher, as she was afraid that her younger sisters, aged 7 and 9, would also end up being abused. She has seven siblings.

Source
The Star, 24th April 2009
New Straits Times, 24 Apr 2009

… it’s probably just a matter of time before every country’s Fritzl get exposed; then one would need a brain memory upgrade just to keep track of their names …

Popularity: 1% [?]

I truly am flabbergasted at the current state of affairs.

After Joseph Fritzl was exposed in April 2008, another 3 people from different countries with comparable crimes have been exposed in the space of a year.

By comparable crimes I mean a man having kept at least a daughter (whether adopted or not is immaterial) locked up for at least 20 years while raping her repeatedly.

In November 2008, the British Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison.

Then in March 2009, two “new Fritzls” were exposed, one in Italy, another in Colombia.

We compare the monstrous four:

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

Mr X / The Gaffer (the British Fritzl) [real name cannot be revealed due to a court order]
Age when caught: 54
Duration of sexual abuse: 25 years (1983-2008)
Number of daughters abused: 2
Age of daughters when first raped: prepubescent
Number of pregnancies: total 19, 9 survived.
Method to avoid detection: moved from house to house in rural areas

Michele Mongelli (the Italian Fritzl) [above]
Age when caught: 63
Duration of sexual abuse: 25 years (1984-2009)
Number of daughters abused: 1
Age of daughter when first raped: 9
Number of pregnancies: apparently none
Method to avoid detection: sheer personality power

Crime scene: Mongelli’s flat in Turin, Italy:

Curiously, Mongelli’s wife Caterina reportedly defended him: “This is all lies. He kept her inside because he was worried about her.”

Arcebio (some reports say Arcedio) Alvarez (the Colombian Fritzl)
Age when caught: 59
Duration of sexual abuse: 20+ years (1980s-2008)
Number of daughters abused: 1
Age of daughter when first raped: 9
Number of pregnancies: allegedly 11 (3 died)
Method to avoid detection: sheer personality power

Popularity: 1% [?]

I read that Romans are famous for throwing tantrums in public places if things don’t do their way, but I think the people of Hong Kong have upstaged them.

After that video of the Hong Kong woman who got upset for missing her flight, now it’s another Hong Kong woman who got angry upon being told that she can’t have her shark fin soup.

Wait for the end, it’s priceless!

Don’t worry, the video comes with English subtitles

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 6th January 2010

He’s reported to have died from stomach cancer, aged 93.

———————–

He could very well be both the unluckiest and luckiest man who ever lived on this earth.

Unlucky because he was in both cities, dangerously close to ground zero, when they were destroyed with the first and second ever use of the nuclear bomb in history.

Lucky because he lived to tell the story, and is still alive as of the time of writing this!

Even more amazingly, his only apparently health problem is a “little deafness in one ear.”

Yamaguchi, 93 was in Hiroshima on a business trip on that fateful day of 6th August 1945, when Little Boy was dropped on the city by Enola Gay.

The following photo of the mushroom cloud towering over Hiroshima was taken by Seizo Yamada at ground level, 7km from ground zero:

Yamaguchi was 29 years old.

He suffered serious burns and spent a night there in an air raid shelter.

The next day, on the 7th of August 1945, he returned to his home city of… you guessed it, Nagasaki, presumably to recuperate.

Then, as we’ve all learnt from history books, Nagasaki itself was bombed 2 days later, on 9th August 1945.

Aerial image of Nagasaki before (top) and after (bottom) the bombing:

At that time, he must’ve wondered what grave sin he’s committed that karma fought back so ferociously.

More than 210,000 persons were killed as a result of the 2 bombings.

He reportedly told reporters after the Japanese government officially certified him as the only survivor of the double dose of atomic bombings recently:

My double radiation exposure is now an official government record. It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die. I hope my experience will hold a lesson of peace for future generations.

Source
The BBC, 25 Mar 2009
Photos: wikipedia.

Popularity: 2% [?]

In 2005, Charlie Rosenbury, then an undergraduate majoring in computer science, wrote a computer program “in 5 hours” that sent messages to 250,000 Facebook users across the USA asking them to add him as a friend.

According to him, within 3 weeks, he got around 75,000 friends.

It did not endear him to many people or even Facebook’s creators though.

More recently, Justine Ezarik (above), 25 of Pittsburgh has 5,000 Facebook friends, which is apparently the system limit. She also reportedly has 50,000 MySpace friends, and more than 253,000 Twitter followers as of March 2009.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Other casanovas might have bedded more women, but when it comes to being a gigolo i.e. bedding, then milking money off wealthy women, perhaps nobody was better at the art than Helg Sgarbi, 44 the Swiss gigolo.

See, gigolos don’t need to look like latin lovers. In fact, he could be any anonymous lounge lizard at any hotel.

He was recently sentenced to jail for 6 years for cheating BMW heiress Susanne Klatten, 46, Germany’s richest woman out of USD8.8 million.

Ms Klatten is married with 3 children and reportedly worth USD8.5 billion.

He also scammed 3 other women in a similar way.

He later attempted to blackmail Ms Klatten by claiming to have a videotape of them lovemaking when she refused to hand over even more money: 290 million euros, that he said would enable them to “start a new life together.”

The trial was one of the most sensational in Germany’s history.

Sgarbi met Ms Klatten, who is married, at an Austrian spa resort in July 2007.

In a lesson to would-be gigolos, Ms Klatten said:

He was charming, attentive and at the same time he seemed very sad. That stirred a feeling in me that we had something in common.

Thus an affair began. 2 months after they met, the smooth operator managed to persuade Ms Klatten to give him 7 million euros by lying that he “needed to pay off the family of a girl he had injured in car accident in Florida.”

Source
The BBC, 9 March 2009

Popularity: 2% [?]

It was reported on 10th March 2009 that in a survey done by “Access Hollywood’s TV One Access”, Halle Berry, 32 was voted the Sexiest Black Woman Alive, edging out Tyra Banks, Alicia Keys, Jada Pinkett Smith and Beyonce Knowles.

She’s also a very talented actress, receiving an Oscar in 2001 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, becoming the first and, as of 2009, only black woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar.

She was runner-up in the Miss USA 1986 pageant.

Divorced from baseball player David Justice and musician Eric Benét, she’s dating Gabriel Aubry since 2005. They have a child.

… as for the rest of us mere mortals, time to shower her with online greeting cards?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Happened on 10th March 2009 in Akuressa, a town in southern Sri Lanka, during a celebration of Mawlid, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

The LTTE (Tamil Tigers) were the perpetrators.

Before:

It appeared to target the 6 government ministers attending the event.

At least 10 people were killed, including 3 local politicians and 3 students.

A split second later, BOOM!

At least 40 were wounded, including several of the ministers.

Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Mahinda Wijesekara was the most seriously injured of the ministers.

The suicide bomber approached the crowd on a bicycle before setting off the bomb.

The video:

Source
The Telegraph (UK), 11 Mar 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 15th February 2010

Apparently there’s Dr. Shit F. Chew, a scientist of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

If you don’t believe it, have a look at this or google that name.

———————————————-

You’d be guaranteed a lifetime of being the butt of jokes, making you look for exit signs every time your name is called out loud.

These are actual names, taken from online telephone directories, discovered by researchers from parenting group TheBabyWebsite.com.

Justin Case
Barb Dwyer

Stan Still, who used to be a British Royal Air Force airman, said his name had been “a blooming millstone around my neck my entire life. When I was in the RAF my commanding officer used to shout, ‘Stan Still, get a move on’ and roll about laughing. It got hugely boring after a while.”

Terry Bull
Paige Turner
Mary Christmas
Anna Sasin
Doug Hole
Hazel Nutt
Anna Prentice
Annette Curtain
Bill Board
Tim Burr

Some have very “job-specific” names:
Dr Leslie Doctor
Dr Thoulton Surgeon
Dr Les Plack, a dentist in San Francisco.

Source
The BBC, 25 Feb 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

Nujood Ali, 9 of Yemen walked out of her abusive 2-month old marriage in April 2008. She is probably the world’s youngest ever reported divorcee, although there’s a reported case of an 8-year-old girl in Saudi Arabia who won a divorce suit after apparently being inspired by Nujood’s story.

Nujood’s husband was more than triple her age, to whom her father had married her off.

She suffered daily beatings and rape at his hands.

Her autobiography was ghostwritten by French newspaper reporter Delphine Minoui.

She reportedly said that she never ever wants to be married again.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The 2009 Victorian bushfires are a series of bushfires that were ignited or were burning across the Australian state of Victoria.

It started on 7th February 2009 and have resulted in more than 200 human deaths, covered almost half a million hectares destroyed about 2,000 homes and left almost 8,000 people homeless.

It is Australia’s worst ever bushfire.

One of the fires, the one at Churchill is strongly believed by investigators to have been started by an arsonist. 5 days after the fires started, at 4pm on 12th February 2009, Brendan Sokaluk, 39 was arrested, suspected of lighting it.

At least 11 people died in that fire.

Sokaluk has become the target of intense anger. Some people have suggested that he be “burned at the stake.”

At last check, his myspace search page still up with photo, but the link www.myspace.com/brendansokaluk is dead, however one could still see what it contained.

He also appears in at least one Facebook group. One of them is titled “Brendan Sokaluk, the Victorian Bushfires Arsonist, must burn in hell”

He is currently under protective custody in solitary confinement at an unnamed location in Melbourne.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen (1862-1910) was an American doctor who murdered his wife.

As a result, he was hanged in London in November 1910.

He is the first criminal to be captured with the aid of wireless communication.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I mentioned some time ago that Kashmir is probably the world’s worst place to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Of all countries in the world, India is probably the worst country to celebrate Valentine’s. It is explicitly discouraged by Hindu fundamentalists.

Specifically, in Mumbai and its surrounding areas, every year there are sure to be violent altercations between shopowners selling Valentine related gifts and members of either:
(i) the Shiv Sena, a far-right political party in India founded and headed by Bal Keshav Thackeray, a Hindu nationalist.
(ii) the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu organization.

Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena supremo is the last person you’d send a Valentine’s Day greeting card to

Before 14th February every year, the Shiv Sena would warn people not to have anything to do with V Day. Those who dare ignore this warning would typically be beaten up by baton-toting brigands who patrol public places, especially parks: chasing young couples doing so much as holding hands and basically anybody suspected of being lovers.

Meanwhile, the “Social Police” of Bajrang Dal have on several occasions caught unmarried couples on Valentine’s day and forced them to apply sindoor or tie rakhis against their wishes. They have also often indulged in violence, invading and smashing up gift shops and restaurants, threatening couples & burning effigies of St Valentine, all on 14th February.

Bajrang Dal activistsw smear black paint on the faces of a young man and his companion caught celebrating Valentine’s Day in Bhopal

Demonstrations while burning Valentine’s greeting cards are common

… I doubt if these ladies would even consider wearing sexy panties …

Popularity: 1% [?]

Vogue, arguably the world’s top fashion magazine has photographed almost every First Lady since 1929, but only two has ever made the cover.

The very first was Hillary Clinton in 1998.

Then, perhaps, inevitably, it was President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle who’s the cover girl for the March 2009 issue.

For the cover, renowned celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz photographed Mrs Obama wearing a magenta silk dress designed by Jason Wu.

The First Lady also wore another Wu creation, the long white gown for the inauguration balls back on 20th January.

Her influence is not just simply fashion, it’s business: as a result of her dressing her family with clothees from J Crew on inauguration day, the company’s shares climbed 10%.

For the record, here’s Mrs Clinton in the 1998 cover:

Click here to see the photo

Popularity: 1% [?]

Who do you think is the unlikeliest self-professed virgin in the world?

How about a woman who has given birth to 14 children???

It was reported on 10th February 2009 that in an interview with Good Morning America, Nadya Suleman, who only last month gave birth to octuplets, bringing the total of her brood to 14, said she’s never had sex and never will:

Most mothers have had sex. But not me. My entire life, I’ve wanted children, but I’ve never wanted to deal with a husband, or boyfriend, or any one who would make sexual demands of me. When you love children the way I do, there’s no time for the distractions of domestic partnership. A man would only get in the way and I’ve got babies to hold. No man has ever sullied my life-oven with his flesh sword, and no man ever will.

A Mr Brewster Wilefacto, who reportedly dated Suleman in high school, said he believed her and added that she just might be a little bit cuckoo:

We went out about a half a dozen times. She told me that she would never have sex. I told her I thought girls who wanted to wait for marriage were hot. She told me that marriage wasn’t an option for her, because it would get in the way of motherhood. Crazy.

But perhaps the most shocking thing Suleman have said so far is that she’s wants to have more kids, even up to 12 at one time!

Source

Popularity: 1% [?]

For SGD15,000 (around RM37,000 or USD10,000) on 14th February 2009 you and partner will have the most extravagant Valentine’s Dinner ever, never mind the recession.

Limited to 20 couples.

What you get:
- privilege of dining on the helipad of Swissotel at the Stamford, the tallest hotel in Singapore at 73-storeys
- 9 course French dinner with Dom Perignon champagne (cost SGD6,000)
- a SGD9,000 diamond studded Valentino watch

This is a video of what the place looks like:

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 1% [?]

Teen idol Miley Cyrus, 16 was photographed with a few friends, including boyfriend Justin Gaston all making apparently a racist gesture directed at Asians.

One of the persons in the group photo is an Asian, who was the only one not making “the gesture”.

She denied the charges, saying she’ simply “making a goofy face.”

The full explanation, as posted in her blog/website:

I’ve also been told there are some people upset about some pictures taken of me with friends making goofy faces! Well, I’m sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context!” she writes on her official fansite.

In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face. When did that become newsworthy?” she adds. “It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me. If that would of [sic] been anyone else, it would of been overlooked! I definitely feel like the press is trying to make me out as the new ‘BAD GIRL’!”

I feel like now that Britney is back on top of her game again, they need someone to pick on! Lucky me! haha Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know what is on my heart. You guys know me and have been by my side every step of the way!

You guys know my heart and know the most important things to me are my friends, family, fans, and GOD! In NO WAY do I want to disappoint any of you! But, when I have made mistakes in the past, I feel like I’ve owned up to them and apologized,” she adds.

I really wish everyone would stop focusing on my personal life and get back to focusing on what I love! Music and Acting! Hopefully, I will be touring again this fall! Yayy! =] It will be a nice change to be back out on the road again!”

xoxo blessings…Miley =)

Enough about that, here’s the photo, she’s 3rd from left:

What do you think?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Johanna Sigurdardottir, 67 became the world’s first openly gay Prime Minister when she became PM of Iceland recently.

She was once married to banker Torvaldur Johannesson and has 2 children, born 1972 and 1977.

In 2002, at the age of 60, she married Jonina Leosdottir, then 48, a writer, in a civil ceremony.

Of course, since she’s a woman, the more specific term is “lesbian”.

The previous coalition headed by Prime Minister Geir Haarde collapsed last month due to strain caused by the current economic crisis.

She was born in Reykjavik in 1942, studied commerce and was formerly a flight attendant for 9 years (1962-1971).

During that time, she also worked as a union organiser.

Later, she worked at a packaging firm.

She was elected Member of Parliament in 1978 and was social affairs minister from 1987 to 1994. In fact, she’s Iceland’s longest serving MP.

In 1994 she left the post, ran for leadership of the Social Democratic Party but failed.

Undeterred, she set up her own party called National Movement, which won 4 parliamentary seats in the next general election.

After a series of manoeuvres, she reached the pinnacle of power.

Source
The BBC, 1 Feb 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

This is a most heartbreaking story.

V. Letchumy, 52 of Kota Tinggi, Johor must be Malaysia’s, or even the world’s most unfortunate person in living memory.

Five years ago (another report said three) her husband died suddenly of a heart attack. They had 4 children together. In one stroke, she became a single mother.

Then on 25th January 2009, all her children, aged 17, 16, 14 and 10 died when they drowned at sea after being swept away by a big wave.

She and the children were on their way to visit a relative when the kids asked for permission to go for a short swim at a nearby beach. She relented because after all, it was the school holidays and that an older person, nephew S. Veerasamy, 22 swam them in the 11am (other reports said 1pm) incident while she waited on the beach.

Veerasamy survived. At the hospital, he was reported to have said:

I feel sad because there were a few other people on the beach, yet not even one came to our aid. If they did, this tragedy could’ve been averted.

As to how the tragedy happened, he was reported to have said:

Upon reaching the beach, all of us went into the water. Not long after that, I came out because my leg felt painful, hence leaving them alone. Suddenly I heard screams for help and then saw them struggling. I immediately jumped in the water to rescue them. I managed to reach Gopi and Ganeswaran’s hands before my grip was broken by a huge wave. After I myself almost drowned and I couldn’t see them anymore, I limped back to the beach.

Letchumy’s younger brother, taxi driver Rajendran, 47 summed it up: “Everyone is in shock. It all happened so suddenly.”

Let’s assist in any way we can.

Source
The Star, 28 Jan 2009
Utusan Malaysia, 27 Jan 2009

Popularity: 1% [?]

UPDATE 22 Jan 2009

In an “abundance of caution”, on 21st January 2009, President Obama was sworn in for the second time in 2 days, just because of the word “faithfully” which was given out of order in the first ceremony.

The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, John Roberts, administered the oath again at the White House.

Obama still managed to joke that they decided to do it again because “it was so much fun….” before adding: “[this time] we’re going to do it very slowly.”

———————————–

And for the first time ever, a president was sworn into office by a chief justice he voted against confirming: Obama was one of 22 senators who voted against putting Chief Justice John Roberts on the Supreme Court in 2005.

The oath text is very short:

I [name] do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

What Obama said was a bit different, and does not exactly match what’s stated in the Constitution, prompting some to comment that he should re-swear his oath of office, and some even said he’s not a valid president if he doesn’t do so:

I Barak Hussein Obama do solemnly swear that I will [ . . .] execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.

Some said Chief Justice John Roberts botched it (saying that’s because he’s a Bush man for good measure) because he inappropriately paused after saying “I, Barack Hussein Obama” when he should have said, without any inapporpriate pauses, “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear …”

Some said it was Obama who flubbed, because:

He didn’t wait for Roberts to finish saying “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear …” and instead repeated the line “I, Barack Hussein Obama” right after Roberts said it. Hence, Roberts got flustered and screwed up the second sentence. Obama stopped when he realised something was wrong, appearing to give Roberts an opportunity to correct the line. Roberts didn’t say anything then they both talked at the same time, Roberts saying the line correctly this time, while Obama repeated what Roberts said the first (incorrect) time.

MachineLending said Roberts did it ON PURPOSE:

Roberts was obviously trying to get back at Obama for voting against him in the Senate confirmation hearing. First he flubs the first normal pause. Then he mis-speaks the line with the word “faithfully” – trying to besmirch Obama’s faithfullness to the office. Finally he finishes with an accusative “you” in the final declaration. A smear job all the way.

Some said BOTH:

Obama didn’t wait for Roberts to finish the first part. Roberts was supposed to say, “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear …” but Obama cut him off before he could say “do solemnly swear” and instead Obama started repeating prematurely the line, “I, Barack …”. Roberts said, “that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully…” when he SHOULD have said, “that I will execute faithfully the office of president to the United States…”

And literally thousands of other comments if you care to look them up.

Video of the oath taking:

Transcript:

Senator Obama: That’s for you [referring to the platform placed for Chief Justice]

[Cheers]

Chief Justice Roberts: Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?

Obama: I am.

Roberts: I, Barack Hussein Obama…

[he was cut off before he could finish]

Obama: I Barack [eagerly chiming in before Roberts could complete the first sentence]

[Obama then allowed Roberts to continue]

Roberts [flipping some of the words]: I Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully.

Obama: That I will execute … [then stumbled and stared blankly at Roberts]

Roberts: [repeating what he said earlier] … faithfully the office of president of the United States.

Obama: The office of president of the United States faithfully.

…

And will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.

Chief Justice: So help you God?

Senator Obama: So help me God.

Chief Justice: Congratulations, Mr. President.

President Obama: [inaudible]

Chief Justice: … all best wishes.

Anyway, in the end, the mistake didn’t matter at all:

The oath was taken five minutes late, and Obama was already technically president; the Constitution says the term of the incoming president begins at noon on Jan. 20.

Bye bye Bush:

Source
thinkprogress.org
youtube.com
knowthelies.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dr Adolf Merckle, 75 of Germany was one of the richest people in the world, ranked number 94 by Forbes in 2008 at USD9.2 billion.

His family business controlled a number of German companies, including pharmaceutical company Ratiopharm and cement maker Heidelberg Cement.

He had 100,000 employees and boasted an annual sale of USD41 billion.

He was awarded his country’s highest award, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, in 2005.

He was said to enjoy skiing and mountain climbing.

So it seems he had achieved everything a man could ever hope for in life.

But no, life then threw him a curve ball which even a seasoned businessman of his stature could not handle.

He became severely depressed when his business empire ran into trouble in the ongoing global economic crisis: losing more than half a billion US dollars in 2008 due to “wrong-way bets on Volkswagen shares.”

He killed himself on 5th January 2009 when he apparently allowed himself to be run over by a train. His body was found on the tracks about 7.30 pm, only 300 meters from his house. A suicide note was found, its contents not revealed.

His family issued the following statement:

Adolf Merckle lived and worked for his family and his firms. The distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to act, broke the passionate family businessman, and he ended his life.

He left behind his wife and 4 children.

Source
The BBC, 6th Jan 2009

Popularity: 2% [?]