UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

A very good example of the “never say die” attitude which I often quote happened during the 1996 Thomas Cup: the semifinal match between Denmark’s Poul Erik Hoyer-Larsen & China’s Dong Jiong, then ranked world no.1.

It was the first singles.

Hoyer-Larsen lost the 1st set 6-15, and was trailing 1-13 in the second (badminton matches then were only up to 15 points).

Most likely (99.999% chance) he should lose right?

But what happened next? Amazingly Hoyer-Larsen won that 2nd set 18-17, then romped home 15-11 in the rubber.

That fired up his teammates so much that Denmark went on to defeat China 3-2 [never a mean feat!] and booked a place in the final.

A video of that incredible 2nd set:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Hmm… Dong Jiong looks so young & fresh-faced doesn’t he? Perhaps he’d been readingacnetox reviews getting tips from there…

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Now for something probably as mysterious as identification of the best diet pills available to mankind.

Amelia Earhart (born 24th July 1897) was a pioneer aviator and in 1932 became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, for which she became the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. She also set many other records and wrote bestsellers about her experiences. She was also a faculty member of the world-famous Purdue University aviation department.

In other words, she was a widely known international celebrity.

With Fred Noonan, she attempted to fly around the world on 1st June 1937 in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra. Starting off from Miami, Florida, they stopped in South America, Africa, India and Southeast Asia, arriving at Lae, New Guinea on 29th June 1937. By this time they’d covered 22,000 miles, with 7,000 miles remaining.

On the morning of 2nd July 1937, they took off from Lae for Howland Island, a small island 2km long and 500m wide, 3m high and more than 2,500 miles away.

Near Howland Island, all communication was lost.

Many researchers believe the plane ran out of fuel, crashed at sea, and sank.

Their bodies were never found.

She was declared legally dead 5th January 1939.

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With some already calling it “the hack of the century,” and “going to be the best studied piece of malware in history,” Stuxnet was first detected in June 2010 but might have been released as early as June 2009.

In other words, if this thing ever makes it into your computer memory, you’d be in a bit of a bother.

It is suspected of targeting critical infrastructure in Iran, because 60% of infections were found there. Specifically, it could’ve been deployed to disrupt operations at the Bushehr nuclear power plant / the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.

Other countries which have seen infections include India and Indonesia.

It is probably the first worm specifically designed to infiltrate real-world infrastructure like power stations, water plants and industrial units.

According to German security researcher Ralph Langner: “Stuxnet is the key for a very specific lock – in fact, there is only one lock in the world that it will open.”

It is so complex that a plausible explanation as to its source is that of a “nation state”, due to it being a “directed sabotage attack involving heavy insider knowledge.” It is said to be far more complex than the malware used in the “Aurora attack” that, according to Google, came from China and was used to steal its intellectual property last year.

While most malware targets internet-connected systems, this thing targets systems that are not normally internet-connected for security reasons.

Modus operandi:

- It gets to a machine in the private network via USB keys/thumbdrives preinstalled with it, and later “other exploits.”
- looks for a “specific configuration of industrial control software made by Siemens.” If it can’t find it, stays dormant.
- hijacks Siemens’ WinCC/PCS 7 SCADA systems (used to control and monitor industrial processes) using default passwords. However, Siemens reportedly discourages changing them because “that could impact plant operations.”
- reprogram PLC (programmable logic control) software in order to give the attached industrial machinery new instructions, which can be turning motors on and off, monitor temperatures, turning on coolers once temperatures reach a certain limit.

Previously, these kind of systems have never been known to be attacked this way before.

Malware features:
- size: 0.5MB
- written in a myriad of programming languages, including C and C++
- can be controlled in 2 ways: using a command and control (C & C) centre and using peer-to-peer connections between infected machines. That means, it can update itself even when a C & C centre is unavailable.
- unlike most malware, it can “autonomously distinguish various industrial computer systems.”
- new, previous unknown techniques to hide itself in PLCs and thumbdrives
- 6 different ways in which to spread
- uses FOUR zero-day exploits in Windows XP through Windows 7, including “the CPLINK vulnerability and a vulnerability used by the Conficker worm”; this is very unusual since usually, cybercriminals value zero-day exploits highly and would not bundle so many of them together. So far, Microsoft has only patched two of them.
- uses stolen digital signatures from 2 companies to trick users into downloading infected files.

However, according to Siemens: “there have been no instances where production operations have been influenced / where a plant has failed.” Well we’d expect them to say that anyway, don’t we?

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Who is the greatest drummer ever, irrespective of genre? To get at the answer, I consulted several publications/organisations.

Modern Drummer, probably the world’s top magazine specialising in drums. First published in 1977, the hardcopy version is now available in 67 countries.

Percussive Arts Society (PAS), established 1961, claims to be the world’s largest percussion organization, with 8,500 members and 78 chapters around the world.

I have decided that truly great drummers must appear in the Hall of Fame of ALL of the above. Modern Drummer is rock heavy, so I thought PAS would even things out.

AFAIK, the following people have appeared in both HOF lists, hence they are truly are among the greatest drummers ever:

Gene Krupa: in 1978, became the first drummer inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame, and made PAS’ HOF even earlier, in 1975
Buddy Rich
Steve Gadd
Louie Bellson
Tony Williams
Billy Cobham
Joe Morello
Max Roach
Elvin Jones
Ringo Starr

Probably the earliest person ever to make both lists is Gene Krupa (1909-1973), so he could very well be the greatest drummer who ever lived:

Very energetic indeed, even for a drummer! That would make drumming in itself among the best weight loss supplements available to mankind!

And yes, some have criticised the inclusion of Starr into the list.

Notable drummers who did not make the cut:
- Neil Peart, he was only 31, the youngest ever, when he was inducted into Modern Drummer’s Hall of Fame in 1983.
- Jason Bonham
- Keith Moon
- Dennis Chambers
- Mike Portnoy, the second youngest ever inductee into MD’s HOF: in 2004 when he was 37.
- Stewart Copeland, in MD’s HOF in 2006.

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Link Wray & His Ray Men released “Rumble,” a rock instrumental in 1958. It’s revolutionary for its use of distortion and feedback, of which use was in its infancy back then: indeed, “the first song to use the power chord.”

But why was it banned? Was it because the guitar sounded like a colon cleanser in action? Well, not exactly. It was actually due to the word “rumble”, which is slang term for “gang fight”, and also due to the song’s sound itself, which was thought to “glorify juvenile delinquency.”

That did not stop it from making it to no. 16 in the American charts in 1958, and also made waves in the British charts.

Even Bob Dylan called it “the best instrumental ever.”

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If your hospital has these names, it’d be interesting to see the look on the agent’s face if s/he asks you about your hospital while preparing a medical insurance quote…

I have 2 contenders for the award:

Kandang Kerbau Hospital, Singapore. “Kandang kerbau” is a Malay word meaning “buffalo pen”. That immediately conjures images of a filthy and smelly place, totally at odds with what one would expect of hospitals.

The reason why this name was chosen was explained thus:

In colonial times, local people often used landmarks as place names. Due to a buffalo pen located there at that time, the district around the cross-roads formed by Serangoon Road, Selegie Road, Bukit Timah Road and Rochor Road was known as Kandang Kerbau district. The hospital located within this area was variously the (Singapore) General Hospital (1858; leaves for Sepoy Lines in 1882), the Pauper Hospital for Women and Children (c.1905) and eventually the Kandang Kerbau Hospital / KK. The name KK become synonymous with the hospital and was retained when the hospital was renamed KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital after its move to its present location at Kampong Java Road in 1997.

So in the olden days the name was displayed on a huge banner like this:

And even though now they shortened the name to “KK”, the full phrase is still used, like in the following screenshot from a related website:

The other hospital is called Fauquier Hospital, located in Virginia, USA:

If you can’t see how this could be funny, watch the following promotional video of the hospital, observe carefully how they pronounce the hospital’s name at 0:29:

F**k your health? Even they admit the name’s a bit odd.

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…at the very least, Malaysia’s most haunted music album bar none.

Maznah Ismail (1956 – 2nd November 2001), more popularly known as Mona Fandey produced, at her own expenses, her one and only album, Diana I in 1987. “Diana” is reportedly the name of her daughter.

Songlist:

1 Ratapan Anak (4:10)
2 Senyuman (3:08)
3 Baju Merah (3:48)
4 Pada Mulanya (3:09)
5 Ku Nyanyikan Lagu Ini (3:36)
6 Diana (3:57)
7 Pertemuan (4:07)
8 Pura Pura (3:28)
9 Betapa (4:56)

2 songs off that album:

Ratapan Anak [complete with a "music video"]

Pertemuan [audio only]

As can be inferred from the quality of the 2 songs above, her pop career never blossomed.

So what’s so creepy about the album? It would be, if you knew what happened next.

Mona then gave up the music world to become a … witch doctor instead. She proved to be adept at marketing her services to members of society’s upper echelons, including claiming to have provided politicians with talismans.

One of her clients was Datuk Mazlan Idris, then the state assemblyman for the state constituency of Batu Talam, Pahang. Apparently he wanted a boost to his fledgling political career, hence resorted to black magic.

Mona worked her charm and convinced Mazlan that her talisman (cane + headgear) would do the trick, but power did not come cheap: he had to pay her a hefty RM2.5 million. No problems, he paid RM500,000 in cash as deposit and 10 land titles as payment guarantee for the remainder.

As part of the game, Mazlan was duped into going to Mona’s house in Pahang on 18th July 1993 to undergo a “cleansing ritual,” where he was told to lie on the floor face up, close his eyes and wait for “cash to rain down,” as Mona placed flowers on him. With Mona were her husband Mohd Nor Affandi Abd Rahman and assistant Juraimi Hassan. Well, something did fall down: Juraimi’s axe onto Mazlan’s throat, decapitating him. Goodness knows how he went about to build muscles on his upper arms to get the necessary strength.

Next, they cut his body into 18 parts, partially skinned them, then buried the lot in a storeroom near the house. Mona and hubby then paid Juraimi RM800.

So what happened next? Instead of going on the run / lying low for several months, Mona and hubby immediately went on a shopping spree, including buying a Merc, having a facelift and staying at 5 star resorts.

Alas, 4 days after the murder Mazlan’s body was found and the guilty trio arrested shortly, thus heralding possibly the most sensational trial in Malaysia’s history, especially because of the following:
- At every appearance, Mona appeared cheerful and was constantly smiling, obliging photos for the press at every opportunity.
- Mona dressed up for court in garish designs.
- Upon seeing the many onlookers, Mona reportedly remarked that she has many “fans.”

After an 8-year court and Pardons Board ding-dong, they were finally executed by hanging on 2nd November 2001. All three reportedly showed no remorse right to the end, with Mona’s last words chillingly “aku takkan mati” (I will never die), spoken while being calm and smiling!!

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I think the most famous (should it be infamous?) performance of the age-old favourite happened on 19th May 1962 at the old Madison Square Garden, when the legendary sex-symbol Marilyn Monroe, wearing a racy dress, sung it in a sultry style, for then-US President John F. Kennedy, in celebration of his 45th birthday, in front of 15,000 people:

Monroe’s dress was sheer, flesh coloured and was so tight-fitting that she had to be “literally sewn into it”: she did not wear any underclothes.

Afterwards, the President went on stage and made an unforgettable comment:

I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.

Perhaps he did cheekily add under his breath: you’re an all-natural male enhancement products!!!

What happened was memorable because:
- it was one of Ms Monroe’s last major public appearances: she died less than 3 months later.
- of rumors that the President and Ms Monroe were having / had had an affair; hence her performance was very suggestive of this.
- the President’s wife did not attend the event
- the dress sold in 1999 at an auction in New York for more than USD1.26 million.

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