UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Up to 30th June 2011, 80 men have broken the 10-second barrier, mostly of African descent.

In 1984, Poland’s Marian Woronin timed 9.992, so unofficially he’s the first non-black person to beat the mark.

In 2003 Australia’s Patrick Johnson, who has Irish and Indigenous Australian heritage became the first person from a non African background to break the barrier.

On 9th July 2010, Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre, 20 became the first caucasian / white European to officially run the 100m in under ten seconds when he clocked 9.98 at the French national championships. He has since improved to 9.92.

His comments after achieving the feat:

This was my goal to break it of course. One has to run under 10 seconds in order to be part of the world’s best. I will be recognised as the first white man to run it, but today is mainly historical for myself! It’s not about colour, it’s about hard work.

No Asian has ever done it.

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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.

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There are many Christian bands in metal subgenres, including thrash, doom, death and even black.

How far could one go?

Crimson Thorn of the USA has been described by Allmusic as “surely one of the world’s most extreme-sounding Christian metal bands”

Their song with the most youtube views is Withered, taken from their Purification LP released in 2002:

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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.

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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

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Kyu Sakamoto’s song “Ue o Muite Arukō” (上を向いて歩こう), written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura is the undisputed biggest Asian hit song in history.

It is best known under the alternative title “Sukiyaki” in English-speaking parts of the world.

It topped the USA’s Billboard Hot 100 charts 1963, and the only Japanese-language (and probably any non-Western language too) song ever to do so.

It has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, one of only about 27 songs to have ever managed to do so.

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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.

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Johnny Hallyday (born 1943), the French singer and actor has been called the French Elvis. He’s relatively unknown outside of France, hence his nickname of “the biggest rock star you have never heard of” in English-speaking nations.

His career has spanned 50 years, and is considered by some to be France’s only rock icon.

He has sold more than 100 million records, which is even more than arguably better known and years-established superstars like Bob Dylan, Christina Aguilera, Duran Duran, Jennifer Lopez, UB40, Beyonce, Boney M, Eminem, Gloria Estefan, Eurythmics, Iron Maiden, Prince, Santana, Spice Girls and Van Halen ever made.

He started his career at the age of 16 and became famous in the sixties for singing rock n roll in French.

His debut single was “Laisse les filles”, released in March 1960:

His cover of “Let’s Twist Again” in 1961 sold over 1 million, topped many European charts, yet failed to crack that all-important British charts:

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Lev “Black Spider” Yashin (1929 – 1990), was a Russian-Soviet soccer/football goalkeeper.

He is widely acclaimed to be the greatest goalkeeper in history, voted the best goalkeeper of the 20th century by The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

He is the only goalkeeper ever to win the European Footballer of the Year Award, in 1963.

In 1994, FIFA established the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup finals.

In 1998, the World Team of the 20th Century were chosen by 250 international football journalists – Yashin was named the sole goalkeeper.

He was chosen to be the goalkeeper in most of the world-all-time teams ever written, including the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team and the FIFA Dream Team.

He is also believed to have saved about 150 penalty kicks, much more than any other goalkeeper in history.

He played 12 matches at a World Cup, with 4 clean sheets. In his entire career, he had 270 clean sheets, out of 812.

Perhaps rather strangely, he said that the way to do it is to “have a smoke to calm your nerves, then toss back a strong drink to tone your muscles.”

He’s credited with inventing / starting now commonplace practices:
- quick throw of ball to begin swift counterattack
- coming out of penalty area to snuff out danger
- command and organization of his fullbacks
- punching the ball away in certain situations rather than trying to hold on to it

He spent his entire pro career with Dynamo Moscow from 1949 to 1971 (326 games), winning the USSR football championship 5 times and the USSR Cup 3 times. However, his debut game was less auspicious, as he failed to save a soft shot straight from a clearance by the opponent’s keeper! That probably sidelined him for 3 years, until he made the senior team again in 1953.

He was the goalkeeper for the Soviet Union between 1954 and 1970, earning 78 caps, conceding 70 goals, and winning the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics and the 1960 European Championship.

Playing in 3 World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1966). he helped his country to reach the quarterfinals. In a group match against a rampant Brazil where his team lost 0-2, his performance ensured they didn’t lose by a much bigger margin.

One of his greatest performances was the 1963 FA Centenary match, when he played for the “Rest of the World XI” team against England at Wembley. There, he made some unbelieveable saves.

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Dr. David “The Pasadena Flash” Freeman (1920 – 2001) of the USA could very well be the greatest player in the history of badminton.

He was undefeated in men’s singles from 1939 (aged 18) until his retirement in 1953, 14 years later.

Apparently he only ever ventured out of the USA in 1949 to participate in the All-England, the Thomas Cup and Danish Open, all held in that same year.

That seemingly lack of exposure to world class opponents did not prevent him from astonishingly becoming the only American ever to be badminton men’s singles world champion when he won the All-England, then considered the world championships, by defeating Malayan legend Ooi Teik Hock with seeming ease 15-1, 15-6. It was his first and only participation in that championships.

A video of that match:

Another video of the same match, from another angle:

In the Thomas Cup, the world’s most important men’s badminton team competition, even though the USA lost 3-6 to eventual champions Malaya, he remained undefeated. And of course he won the Danish Open too.

During these tournaments, he also defeated another Malayan legend: Wong Peng Soon, probably the only player capable of defeating Freeman. In fact, Freeman faced Wong 3 times in his career and won all of them.

Wong Peng Soon would go on to win the All-England singles title 4 times, including 3 consecutively in 1950-1952.

In 1997 Freeman became the first American to be inducted into the International Badminton Federation Hall of Fame.

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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!

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TrES-2b, also known as Kepler-1b is an exoplanet orbiting the star GSC 03549-02811.

A gas giant with a similar bulk composition to Jupiter, it is the darkest known planet, reflecting less than 1% of sunlight, meaning it reflects even less light than coal. While it has not been determined why it’s so dark, scientists suspect this is due to lack of reflective clouds. Another reason could be its light-absorbing atmosphere.

An artist’s impression:

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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.

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Surely Rene Higuita’s scorpion kick save, which he created.

5 years after his biggest mistake ever (World Cup 1990), which Higuita himself described as “a mistake as big as a house”, El Loco (“The Madman”) was at it again.

This time it’s a friendly with England at Wembley.

Any other keeper would’ve used their hands, but this guy chose to do something totally unexpected.

It should be noted, however, that the referee had already blown his whistle for offside by an English player, so even if Higuita had missed, it would not have been a goal.

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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.

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Storm Proof matches from REI – the fire will not be snuffed out by gale force winds, monsoon rain storms, and even lack of oxygen.

Difference between this and traditional matches: they’re sulfur-coated instead of wax-coated.

You read that right, they even burn underwater.

Match sticks are extra long: 2.75 inches, for added safety, lest you burn your fingertips.

Demo:

Of course lighting them up in extreme weather is another matter.

Price: about USD5 for a pack of 25 matches.

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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.

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Sometime in 2008, the British department store Debenhams conducted a survey among 3,000 women to ask them: what is your favourite iconic dress, the quintessential red carpet gown?

Top of the list is the plunging, daring black Versace outfit worn by Elizabeth Hurley in 1994, as she walked hand-in-hand with then boyfriend Hugh Grant to the premiere of his movie Four Weddings And A Funeral in Los Angeles.

Made from silk and lycra, it was held together by several oversized safety pins in gold placed at strategic areas. The front was audaciously wide open until half way across the breasts.

As expected, she went from obscure to very famous, as instant worldwide media attention was lavished upon her, as the photos made newspapers and magazines around the globe.

Hurley was quoted to have said:

That dress was a favour from Versace because I couldn’t afford to buy one. His [Grant's] people told me they didn’t have any evening wear, but there was one item left in their press office. So I tried it on and that was it.

Other iconic dresses:

Audrey Hepburn’s white flower patterned Givenchy dress, which she wore to the 1954 Oscars

Julia Roberts’ black and white vintage Valentino dress, which she wore to the 2001 Oscars:

Source
The Telegraph (UK), 9th Oct 2008

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