UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Guerrillero Heroico (Heroic Guerrilla Fighter) is a photograph of the the charismatic and controversial Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, then 31 years old, wearing his black beret.

It was snapped by Alberto Korda (1928-2001) on 5th March 1960 in Havana, Cuba during a memorial service for victims of the freighter La Coubre’s explosion at Havana’s port; it was carrying 76 tons of explosive material the day before and resulted in up to 100 deaths.

This is the cropped version that we see most often

By the end of the decade the photo had become a cultural icon.

Guevara was shot to death in 1967 aged 39.

Korda was quoted to have said that during the time the photo was taken, he was drawn to Guevara’s face, which showed “absolute implacability”, anger and pain, and that it emphasized Che’s firm and stoic character.

Emphasizing the image’s ubiquitous nature and wide appeal, the Maryland Institute College of Art has called the photo “the most famous photograph in the world, and a symbol of the 20th century”.

Copies of it have been painted, printed, digitized, embroidered, tattooed, silk-screened, sculpted, sketched and every other conceivable method on virtually every surface in existence, prompting the Victoria and Albert Museum to quip that the photo “has been reproduced more times than any other image in photography’s history.”

Source

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Silke Schoenfleisch-Backofen, 39, of Frankfurt, Germany is only 3′ 8″ tall but she’s been nicknamed “Power Frau” (mighty woman). She’s been working as a prosecutor at the Frankfurt State Court for 8 years, most of the time handling business law.

She reportedly decided to be a lawyer after being refused entry by a medical school due to her height, in order to sue the the health ministry.

She was quoted to have said that “what’s big for me is not the physical measurements of the body, but what’s big inside you.”

Well said indeed.

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Back in 1990, Barack Obama, then 28, was elected the first black president of Harvard Law Review. In an interview with the New York Times that year, he said he planned to spend up to 3 years working in law and then go into politics or community work.

In 1991, he presented a Black History Minute public service announcement for TBS that year, believed to be his first-ever appearance on US national TV.

In the video, he talked about Charles Hamilton Houston, the black lawyer known for teaching Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The two worked on the landmark court ruling Brown vs Board of Education, which marked the end of colour segregation in public schools:

The distinguished lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston was born in 1895, eight months before the Supreme Court’s “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson. He spent his career fighting to overturn that decision.’

He signed off by saying: “I’m Barack Obama, remembering Charles Hamilton Houston and celebrating a great moment in our history.”

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The following all happened on Christmas Day 2011

Grapevine, Texas: on a quiet Christmas morning, 6 close relatives, 4 females and 2 males, had gathered in an apartment, and had just finished unwrapping their Christmas presents, when Iranian-American real estate agent Aziz “Bob” Yazdanpanah, 56, dressed as Santa Claus, unexpectedly arrived, took out his gun, shot everybody dead, then turned the gun on himself. Police found 2 handguns.

The dead were identified as:

- Nasrin Rahmaty, 55; the ex-wife of Aziz;
- Nona Yazdanpanah, 19; the daughter of Aziz;
- Ali Yazdanpanah, 15; the son of Aziz;
- Zohreh Rahmaty, 58; Nasrin’s sister;
- Hossein Zarei, 59; Zohreh’s husband;
- Sahra Zarei, 22; Zohreh and Hossein’s only daughter.

He had separated from his wife in March. They married in 1987.

While the family was Muslim, they celebrated Christmas as a cultural holiday.

Madalla, Nigeria: it was in the middle of mass on the morning of Christmas day at St Theresa Catholic Church when a bomb planted by terrorists exploded, killing 27 people and severely damaged surrounding buildings and cars. The country’s top newspaper described it as “Nigeria’s blackest Christmas ever.” In all 3 churches were bombed on Christmas Day, the second consecutive Christmas attacks in a row that the Boko Haram Islamist sect has claimed responsibility for.

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A Swedish TV presenter and artist, Ylva-Maria Thompson, 51 has opened the world’s first “college of applied sexuality”, named the Austrian International School of Sex (AISOS), located in Vienna, scheduled to start operations in autumn 2012.

Purpose: to teach how to be better lovers.

Fee: GBP1,400 per term (that’s about RM7,000).

Minimum age of admission: 16.

Modules: sexual positions, caressing techniques, anatomical features.

One could say this is one course where nobody would skip class.

Students live in a mixed gender dorm building where they’re expected to “practise their homework.”

And as with any course, there’ll be a certificate awarded in a convocation.

Its advert have already been banned by Austrian TV:

Website: aisos.at

Facebook page

Selected reactions:

New Austrian chat up line… “Do you want to see my certificate?”

Is there a discount for pensioners?

How are they examined at the end – doing it with the course leader??

It would be nice to fail, and go on and do the course again.

I bet the classes are full of old men.

I bet the most attractive girl always gets asked to help the boy’s with their homework.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top guitarist Steve Vai has been quoted as saying:

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

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

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

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Gemma Howorth, 27 is probably the world’s top hand model. Her hands are featured in many magazines, including advertising campaigns for Escada, Rimmel and Fairy Liquid, beauty editorials in Vogue and Tatler, puts make up on Supermodels for Max Factor and prepares food for Sainsbury’s.

She was 15 she was scouted by a top London hand model agency.

She gets paid up to GBP2,000 per day to let her hands double for the hands of some of the world’s top celebrities, including Kate Moss, Lily Cole, Lizzie Jager and Natalie Imbruglia.

Kate’s face, Gemma’s hands in a Rimmel London TV advert

What’s so special about her hands: very long nail beds and extremely slender fingers.

Her hands are so important to her job that:
- they are insured for GBP1 million
- she wears white cotton gloves during vacations, on top of the usual sunblock so that it doesn’t get a tan or break nails
- she moisturises them 30 times a day with almond oil
- her husband does the washing up.

According to Ms Howorth, perfect hands for girls should have “long nail beds, with a good length from the tip of the nail to the cuticle. They need nice, straight, long fingers, an even skin tone with hands that are not too chubby or slim.”

As for men, they should have “quite hairless hands and arms. Their skin should be blemish free and their nail beds should be even.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The BBC reported on 8th November 2011 that Anna Grodzka, 57 used to be a man named Krzysztof, before having surgery to become a she in Thailand in 2010.

She became Poland’s first transsexual Member of Parliament, and indeed the first ever transsexual MP in the history of Europe.

At the time of writing she is the only transgender MP in the whole world.

Historically, she is the third transgender MP.

The first was Georgina Bayer of New Zealand (born 1957), who used to be a man named George Bertrand. She was the world’s first openly transsexual mayor, and then later became the world’s first openly transsexual Member of Parliament, from 1999 to 2007. In 1984 she underwent sex reassignment surgery.

The second was Vladimir Luxuria of Italy (born 1965), who used to be a man named Wladimiro Guadagno. She was MP from 2006 to 2008. While she lives as a female, she has not undergone any surgery, hence she’s legally and physically is still a man.

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The Korowai (a.k.a Kolufo) are a people of southeastern Papua (western part of New Guinea island).

Consisting about 3,000 individuals, they were isolated until 1970.

They have been reported to practice ritual cannibalism up to the present day, although this might not be true of clansmen who’ve had frequent contact with outsiders.

The TV show “60 Minutes” was reported to have claimed in 2006 that if someone amongst the Korowai is found guilty of being a “khakhua” (secret witch doctor), he/she is tortured, killed, and finally eaten, with unverified reports claiming that the brain is usually eaten immediately because it tastes best while still warm.

Source
Wikipedia entry on the Korowai people

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

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

He recorded the entire thing and posted it on youtube:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The immortal moment

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

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

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

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

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

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

The whole fight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the cabin of strategic bomber ТU-160

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

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

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IMHO, the best winner reactions in the top two beauty pageant in the world are:

The moment Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana was announced as Miss Universe 1999 [starts 2:14]

She was her country’s first ever delegate to the pageant, and what do you know – she won. No wonder she looked totally flabbergasted.

The moment Riyo Mori of Japan was announced as Miss Universe 2007 [starts 1:00]

That wasn’t as dramatic was it?

I can’t find any references to the best / funnest / over-the-top Miss World crowning moments. Can anybody please help me out?

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

Her crowning moment [at 1:18]

The “Major” is for her police rank.

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

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

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

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

Source

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

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

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

For a respectable multinational company, this is probably unprecedented!

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

Source
The BBC

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

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

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

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

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

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

In early 2010 she received the finished leg

Source
Blogserius

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It was reported in June 2011 that Karen Butler, 56 of Oregon, USA went to a dentist in early 2010. After some anaesthesia and work done on her teeth, she suddenly found herself talking in a British accent. The dentist said she’d talk normally in a little while, but no, she did not.

She has never travelled any further then Mexico.

A neurologist diagnosed her with foreign accent syndrome, an exceedingly rare neurological disorder: only about 60 cases reported worldwide since the 1900′s.

He said she might have suffered a mild stroke which caused problems to the part of her brain that handles speech pattern and intonation.

So the accent became permanent, and recently became more German-sounding, or perhaps eastern European-sounding (read: Dracula):

The following youtube video was uploaded May 2011

Possibly the most famous case of the syndrome happened in Norway in either 1941 or 1942, when Astrid L, 30, of Oslo was hit by shrapnel during a bomb raid. The injury made her talk like of all things, a German and as you know Germans were not really well liked in Europe at that time, so she was suddenly suspected of something evil.

In another case, Sarah Colwill, of Devon, England, had a severe migraine attack in March 2010 that an ambulance was called. When she arrived at the hospital she was talking like a Chinese woman:

One could only imagine the funny look she’d get when she goes shopping for ATV Parts for her 4×4 at her usual place.

Source
Daily Mail UK, 2nd June 2011

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UPDATE 16 May 2011

Most number of likes on Facebook pages:

Texas Hold’em Poker: 42 million
Eminem: 35 million
Lady Gaga: 34 million
Barack Obama: 20 million

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26 March 2009

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.

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The BBC reported on 18th June 2009 that South Africa’s Medical Research Council conducted a survey on 1,738 men in 2 provinces, and found that:

- 1 in 4 men in South Africa *may* have raped someone.
- Even more shockingly, almost half of that have attacked more than one person.
- 73% who admitted rape have attacked for the first time while still in their teens.
- 1 in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the past year.
- Perhaps most shockingly, 1 in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.
- About 3% said they had raped another man or boy.

Practices like gang rape were common because they were considered “a form of male bonding.”

South Africa has a total population of about 48 million, hence there could easily be millions of rapists there.

According to a survey for the period 1998 to 2000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, South Africa was ranked first in the world for rapes per capita. The rate has shown no signs of abating, resulting in country being referred to as the “rape capital of the world”.

Does this mean that South African men are the world’s most lascivious, where even the mere sight of nurses uniforms could unleash an uncontrollable carnal urge?

Source
The BBC, 18 June 2009

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When the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG) a.k.a DEVGRU a.k.a SEAL Team Six a.k.a ST6 successfully carried out Operation Geronimo against Osama bin Laden – the world’s top terrorist – in early May 2011, the secretive unit was suddenly catapulted to international superstardom.

Yep, these are the kind of guys who exit signs on any barrier.

Some trivia:

The US Army’s Special Operations Force has 2 tiers. Tier 2 (lower classification) include groups like the Green Berets, Rangers and SEALs.

Tier 1, the highest level, includes the 1 SFOD-D (Delta Force) and the DEVGRU. Tier 1 are black elements – chain of command for them is not through the usual military bureaucracy, but rather directly under the President, Joint Chiefs & Defense Secretary. Most information about these units are at the highest level of classification and details of their activities are not made public. To prepare for the possibility that they are caught by the enemy, in order to enable official denial of US government involvement, records of black operations are almost never kept.

To be a DEVGRU team member, one has to be a SEAL first. The training regime to become a SEAL is one of the world’s most brutal:
- 2 years of gruelling training, physically and mentally
- Training begins with many weeks of intense physical conditioning
- One of those weeks is the infamous Hell Week, where candidates have to go through 132 hours of continuous physical labor with little sleep: 60-70% would drop out here.
- Those that make it through that week go on to train with explosives, mountain climbing, rappelling, guerrilla warfare tactics, close-quarter combat, seamanship, scuba diving, parachuting and cold weather training.

DEVGRU headhunts the best and brightest members from other SEAL units. That’s right, no applications. They would then be trained even more intensely than before: 6-7 months of Operators Training Course, which includes free-climbing, advanced unarmed combat techniques, defensive and offensive driving, advanced diving & Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training. All candidates are expected to perform at the top level during selection, hence the drop out rate here is extremely high, even among these proven SEALs – at least half the class will fail the course! Therefore, it can be surmised that the assessment process at this stage is different from what a SEAL operator experienced in his previous career; a lot of the training tests the candidate’s mental capacity rather than his physical condition.

Officially, the team’s name is classified, technically it doesn’t exist.

Apparently, in one year SEAL Team Six would fire more ammunition rounds than the entire U.S. Marine Corps. Emphasis: shooting skills, range firing, close-quarters battle (CQB), stress shooting in a variety of conditions.

Obviously, those considered are in peak physical condition, has an excellent reputation as an operator within the Naval Special Warfare community & and have operational experience with a SEAL Team.

The candidate will usually be in his 30s.

Once selected, team members are often gone 300 days a year.

Most members only last around 3 years before burning out.

Current number of members: a few hundred.

Training is done around the clock.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Update 6 May 2011

- Al-Qaeda confirms Osama’s death.

- Osama had been living in the house for 5 years.

- The house was large, but rather spartan: has electricity, modest furnishings, cheap foam mattresses, central heating, old TVs, basic food.

- The house does not have air conditioning, internet, telephones.

- The children were home-schooled

- Around the house: some rabbits, 100 chickens and 1 cow reared. Large, well-kept vegetable patch – a farmer neighbour asked to plant veges twice a year.

- the Pakistani army had failed to detect the raiding US party

———————————
4 May 2011

Osama bin Laden, 54, founder and leader of al-Qaeda, the world’s top terrorist organisation.

On the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives and most wanted terrorists list. Tops Time magazine’s list of 10 most “notorious fugitives”.

USD25 million (+ another USD2 million) bountry on his head

1st May 2011: Operation Geronimo, lasted 38 minutes, from entry to exit

- 20-25 SEAL Team Six members in 2 helicopters involved, fast-roped out, landed outside compound, made hole in compound wall with explosives for entry

- 20+ people in compound, including women and children

- was in 3rd floor bedroom with wife

- wife “rushed” the first US SEAL who entered room, shot in leg, not killed

- Osama was wearing a “local loose-fitting tunic and pants” (shalwar kameez)

- episode with Osama himself lasted a few seconds, during last 5-10 minutes of operation

- asked to surrender, he refused

- was unarmed when killed

- was shot above left eye – blew away a part of his skull

- was also shot in chest

- none of SEALs injured

- Upon pronouncement of “Geronimo EKIA”, President Obama’s first reaction: “We got him.”

Others:

Pakistan received USD1.3 billion in US military and humanitarian aid in 2010

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If this is real, Karl the volunteer sex nurse has got to have the weirdest job ever, paid or not.

I could imagine him crawling on the laminate flooring of an aroused disabled couple, helping them to do the wild thing, carefully looking at their body language, while at the same time trying to be invisible and detached from the whole scene.

Can you imagine yourself being in his place?

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The BBC reported on 16th March 2011 that the biggest pedophile ring ever discovered had been broken up, after a 3-year investigation led by an international police team lead by the United Kingdom’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

Operating out of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, it had up to 70,000 members, and 230 abused children from 30 countries had been identified, and the number could increase. The kids were aged 7 to 14.

The website boylover dot net focused on boys.

So far 184 people suspected of being actively involved in the abuses, had been arrested, among them pillars of society like teachers, police officers, and scout leaders.

And the kind of people arrested could make one think twice when seemingly decent people offer to personally give to one’s children kids gifts personalized.

Source
The BBC, 16 Mar 2011

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Today, in BBC’s website, Most Popular-Read section which is displayed prominently on its right column, one could see a line which would be very difficult not to click on:

Can you imagine, Prince William and Kate Middleton calling off the royal wedding a mere month before it’s supposed to be held?

It turned out that the piece of news was from 2007. Perhaps BBC, and any other news portal, should make clear the date of a certain piece of news.

Then again, perhaps it’s not necessary, more readers that way, hence a good example for those venturing into sales jobs…

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There have been many people who’ve been dubbed flawed geniuses, i.e. people with immense talent in their field, yet have dark sides off it. They include Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Zinedine Zidane, George Best, Diego Maradona, Paul Gascoigne, Alex Higgins, Bobby Fischer, Tiger Woods and many more.

In my humble opinion, the greatest example of a flawed genius in all of history is Caravaggio (1571–1610), the Italian painter who was active between 1593 and 1610. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential artists in history, but his genius had a very dark side.

His paintings have been described as “combined a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting.”

One of them, The Calling of St Matthew, which was completed in 1599-1600, is considered one of the greatest paintings ever.

His skills earned him fame and fortune, yet his lifestyle was far from exemplary. A published notice on him, dated 1604 described how he lived his life 3 years previously:

…after a fortnight’s work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument, so that it is most awkward to get along with him.

Between 1600 and 1606 he was jailed at least 6 times. In 1606, he played a tennis match with the agreement that whoever was the loser would pay money. Caravaggio lost, and started a brawl which ended with his opponent dead, causing Caravaggio to flee from Rome.

For this, he received a death sentence from Pope Paul V – whose portrait he had just painted!

After that, he was in and out of more trouble, and was finally released from jail. 2 days later, his belongings all gone, he fell ill, started walking along a beach, then collapsed. He died 2 days later, at only 38 years of age.

If he had lived in our age, who knows, he could’ve been a modern polymath and an expert in all things ICT, perhaps even developing a home automation software all by himself.

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A definition of a “mistress” is: a man’s long-term female lover and companion who is not married to him. This term is especially pertinent when the man is already married to another woman. They do not live together openly, and the relationship is usually secret.

Historically, the most famous mistresses are the royal mistresses of European monarchs. Here are some examples.

Diane de Poitiers (1499 – 1566), a French noblewoman, and the favourite mistress of King Henry II of France (1519 – 1559) who was King of France 1547 until his death. She became his mistress in 1538, when he was 19 and she was 39. When the king died, Queen Catherine de’ Medici banished her.

Barbara Palmer (née Villiers) (1640-1709), an English courtesan was the most notorious of the many mistresses of King Charles II of England. She bore him 5 children. She was known for her extravagance, bad temper and promiscuity and was described as “the curse of the nation”.

Madame de Montespan (1641–1707), was the chief mistress of King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715), with whom she had 7 children. Yes, I know it sounds weird, but “chief mistress” was almost an official position in the French government then, and the post comes complete with its own apartments! Some even called her the “true Queen of France” due to her influence at court. Goodness knows if she even had a say about what type of bathroom faucets should be used. She “reigned” from around 1667 to the 1680s, when the Affair of the Poisons (L’affaire des poisons) finally pushed them apart.

Nell Gwyn (1650–1687), the mistress of King Charles II of England (1630-1685), with whom she had 2 sons.

Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), a member of the French court, was the chief mistress of Louis XV (1710-1774) from 1745 to her death.

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What Valentine’s Day “gift” can be attempted to be explained, and makes sense, yet the resulting effect would most likely be utter disgust?

Why, a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach, what else?

Photo credit: cockroach.com

While quite a lot of people might consider a business credit card as a perfect V-Day gift, in February 2011 the Bronx Zoo came up with a truly unique idea: pay USD10 and you get to name a roach (presumably after your better half), and a certificate to make it offical.

The text at the name-a-roach section of the zoo’s website includes the following:

Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever.

Limited-time Valentine’s Day offer

Can’t decide on what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day? Sometimes the answer is all around us, and right where it’s been for millions of years—like cockroaches! How better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after them?

Naming a roach in honor of someone near and dear to your heart shows that you’ve noticed how resilient, resourceful, and loyal that person is. Or maybe it’s in recognition of your one and only’s virility, or strength in the face of high radiation. You’re not afraid to say, “Baby, you’re a roach!”

But not just any roach….He or she is a Madagascar hissing roach, the biggest and loudest of these stalwart insects. WCS’s Bronx Zoo has 58,000 of these brown, iridescent beauties, and they need names. With a $10 donation, one of them can be named by you. How sweet!

We’ll send a truly memorable certificate of honor to that certain someone explaining that there’s a special insect living at the Bronx Zoo with his or her name on it.

Where does my money go?

Your $10 donation helps WCS conserve species big and small, beautiful and damned. With your support, we’ll continue to do our work saving wildlife in the forests of Madagascar and throughout the world’s most majestic wild places.

But why these buggers? Simple. The insect’s family life is exemplary: the parents and kids stay close to each other for a long time, unlike most other insects. They don’t fly away, they are gentle, and perhaps most importantly, they’ll never bite. And they can do amazing things like effortlessly climb up a vertical face of smooth glass.

Source
Huffington Post, 11 Feb 2011

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Where else but head over to the world’s most perfectly heart-shaped natural island?

The tiny island (or rather, islet) of Galesnjak (Galešnjak), Croatia in the Adriatic Sea has become a popular Valentine’s Day destination for lovers, thanks to Google Earth which highlighted its heart shape in February 2009:

Dubbed The Lovers’ Island

Zooming in

Size: 130,000 square yards or 0.132 km2. It’s 0.5km at its widest point.

Location: in Zadarski Kanal between Zadar and Pasman island; has also been described as located in the Pašman channel of the Adriatic, between the islands of Pašman and the town of Turanj on mainland Croatia.

Vegetation: wild plants and trees

Length of beach: 1.55km, completely encircles the island.

Highest points: 2 peaks, the highest at 36m above sea level.

Satellite view

The island is uninhabited, i.e. a desert island, and even Vlado Juresko, the owner didn’t realise what’s so special about the shape of his island, yet he must’ve flashed knowning grins daily, as enquiries started pouring in from couples wanting to stay over. So I guess it’s just a matter of time before those chalets with rustic furniture are set up…

A newsreport, aired February 2009, presumably in Croatian

Source
The Telegraph, 11 Feb 2009

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If you happen to be in Saudi Arabia, good luck trying to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

It was reported by the BBC on 11th February 2008 that the religious police in that country have banned the sale of any gifts related to Valentine’s Day, and that surely included red roses.

Shop owners have been warned to remove all items red in colour off the displays, including red wrapping paper.

That surely only made red roses highly sought after in the black market.

An alternative for those wishing to celebrate was to go to less strict countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

I wonder if the same reaction would be accorded to mothers day gift ideas red envelope because it seems anything in red and remotely foreign would trigger alarm bells.

Source
The BBC, 11 Feb 2008

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I suppose the ultimate entertainer would be a person who has won as many as possible of the following awards:

- Academy Award (Oscar) – for outstanding achievements in film
- Emmy Award – for outstanding achievements in TV
- Grammy Award – for outstanding achievements in music
- Tony Award - for outstanding achievements in theatre
Note: the 4 above are the 4 major entertainment awards in American show business. A person who has won all four is regarded to have scored the Grand Slam of show business.

As if the above is not enough, I’d throw in the following:
- Nobel Prize - the closest related to entertainment would be “for outstanding contributions in the field of literature.”
- Pulitzer Prize- for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition
- Golden Globe Award – presented by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to recognize excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign.
- The Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival
- The Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival
- The Palme d’Or (“Golden Palm”) at the Cannes Film Festival
Note: The 3 above, called The Big Three, are the most prestigious film festivals in the world, of which even The Toronto International Film Festival, North America’s most popular and most prestigious, is not part of.

So, has any human ever won all those?

No, not yet.

The closest is Marvin Hamlisch (born 1944), a composer, who has won 3 Oscars, 4 Emmys, 4 Grammys, 1 Tony, 1 Pulitzer and 2 Golden Globes.

Full list:

Academy Awards (Oscars):

1. 1973: Best Music, Original Dramatic Score – The Way We Were
2. 1973: Best Music, Original Song – The Way We Were
3. 1973: Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation – The Sting

Emmy Awards:

1. 1995 : Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction – Barbra Streisand: The Concert
2. 1995 : Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics – Barbra Streisand: The Concert
3. 1999 : Outstanding Music and Lyrics – AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies
4. 2001 : Outstanding Music Direction – Timeless: Live in Concert

Grammy Awards:

1. 1974: Song Of The Year – The Way We Were
2. 1974: Best New Artist Of The Year
3. 1974: Best Pop Instrumental Performance – The Entertainer
4. 1974: Album Of Best Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special – The Way We Were

Tony Awards:

1. 1976 : Best Musical Score – A Chorus Line

Pulitzer Prize:

1. 1976: A Chorus Line – Drama

Golden Globe Awards:

1. 1972: Life Is What You Make It – Best Original Song
2. 1974: The Way We Were – Best Original Song

Now, how on earth does one achieve all that in a lifetime? It would be interesting to delve into his family history, how he was brought up etc. At the very least, as a child, for sure he must’ve been surrounded by music and had his vitamins.

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The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, which took place on 29th July 1981 was generally regarded in superlatives: “fairytale wedding” and “wedding of the century”.

Watched by a global television audience of 750 million (some say 1 billion), it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the wedding gown Diana used should be the most famous that was ever created.

Specs:
- “puff ball meringue”
- made of 6 different fabrics, including 25 yards of silk taffeta, 100 yards of tulle crinoline & 150 yards of netting for the veil alone.
- big puffed sleeves
- frilly neckline
- 25-foot silk train
- not totally white in colour, but rather “off-white ivory”
- more than 10,000 pearls and mother-of-pearl sequins. Hmm…. what that much stuff, they might as well go avant garde and sew in glass mosaic tiles on the external fabric…
- priced at GBP9,000
- designed by then unknown Elizabeth and David Emanuel of London

Now, with another potential “wedding of the century” on the cards, with Prince William and Kate Middleton getting hitched on 29th April 2011, everybody’s waiting with bated breath to see the Kate Middleton Wedding Dress.

It was recently reported that Bruce Oldfield has been appointed its designer.

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Bernama reported on 13th January 2011 that Danbar Tamang, 30 of Nepal, climbed to the top of a 50m tall coconut tree in a village in Bukit Mertajam, Penang at 10.30 pm on 12th January 2011.

Suspicious villagers who saw him tried in vain to coax him to come down.

They were shocked to see his lifeless body, in a sitting position, right at the top of the tree in the morning, 12 hours after he climbed up.

He’d strangled himself with a belt.

Quite how he managed to stay up there without falling off is unclear, probably he’d had a hefty dose of local anti-sleeping pills.

Source

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What would you do to show you undying support for your favourite soccer team?

Start a fansite? Buy their merchandise by the truckloads? Never miss watching every single match? Make Old Trafford practically your home?

Well, in 2007, Marin Levidzhev of Bulgaria upped the ante by quite a bit.

He loves the British club so much that he battled the courts for 2 years to have his name changed to what else but…Manchester United.

But the magistrates, being spoilsports, only made him half the man that he should be. They decided that he could only call himself Manchester Levidzhev, because his arguments are “not strong enough.”

I’d say a person who goes so far as to change his name to his favourite football team looks as silly as Lee Haney flexing his muscles while wearing women’s rain boots.

But Mr Levidzhev (Mr United if you want), has not given up yet.

He reportedly said:

I feel as if I am only at the halftime break. I won’t feel right until I get all my name changed to Manchester United. I love the club. It’s my whole life, and I want my name to reflect that.

Source: ananova.com

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In the early 80s, it was found that Pennsylvania’s state workers had overpaid federal taxes because of some technical mistakes. No matter, it’s just a matter of paying back what was due to each worker. To do that, an accounting company had to be engaged. So a few companies competed for the multimillion-dollar gig.

In 1986, Dwyer, then 47 and the Treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania, was found guilty of getting bribed by one of those companies, as an inducement to getting the contract. He faced the possibility of being jailed 55 years and fined USD300,000.

Throughout his trial and even after, he consistently said that he’s not guilty and that it’s a set up job.

On the morning of 22nd January 1987, one day before his sentencing, he called a press conference.

Looking agitated and nervous, he again said that he’s innocent, and that he wouldn’t resign as state treasurer. He then proceeded to read from a prepared text. After that, he ad-libbed, including the following words:

After many hours of thought and meditation I’ve made a decision that should not be an example to anyone because it is unique to my situation. Last May I told you that after the trial, I would give you the story of the decade. To those of you who are shallow, the events of this morning will be that story. But to those of you with depth and concern the real story will be what I hope and pray results from this morning–in the coming months and years, the development of a true Justice System here in the United States. I am going to die in office in an effort to “…see if the shame[-ful] facts, spread out in all their shame, will not burn through our civic shamelessness and set fire to American pride.” Please tell my story on every radio and television station and in every newspaper and magazine in the U.S. Please leave immediately if you have a weak stomach or mind since I don’t want to cause physical or mental distress… Good bye to you all on the count of 3. Please make sure that the sacrifice of my life is not in vain.

Then he gave out envelopes containing a suicide note, an organ donor card, and some other unspecified documents, including perhaps holiday cards.

After that, he took out a .357 Magnum revolver from another envelope and said “please leave the room if this will offend you.” Some begged him to put the gun down, while others tried to get nearer him, to whom Dwyer said “don’t, don’t, don’t, this will hurt someone.”

Dwyer a few seconds before he died

He then turned the gun towards himself, opened his mouth wide and fired. He collapsed against a wall, blood spurting from his nostrils and head. The audience screamed and cursed.

Dwyer died within seconds.

All this was captured by 5 news videocameras broadcasting live.

Note: I’ve decided that the video is too gruesome to be posted here, google “Budd Dwyer suicide” if you want to see it.

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The Star reported on Christmas Eve 2010 that Chan Ka Piu, 44 of Hong Kong was a very depressed man due to his job.

Things came to a head on the 21st December 2010 when he inexplicably started stabbing the back of his wife, Liew Pui Mun, 43 while she was still asleep at 7am in their condo.

Startled, she managed to push her husband away, yet he didn’t relent, coming back, then pinned her body on the bed and continued stabbing away, a total of 208 times.

Amazingly, she still managed to get up and run away.

Chan then took the fateful decision of jumping off to his death.

Some commenters have asked: “stabbed 208 times and she’s still alive? Did he use a needle?!”

Whether her superhuman feat was the result of diet pill side effects or something else is unknown.

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Person of the Year (formerly known as Man of the Year) is produced annually by prominent US-based magazine Time that features “a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that for better or for worse, …has done the most to influence the events of the year,” not necessarily in a positive way. Hence, even Adolf Hitler was Person of the Year in 1938.

Mark Zuckerberg was announced as Time’s Person of the Year 2010 at the strikingly young age of 26:

He’s also the second youngest ever recipient of the award.

The youngest ever, and the first Person of the Year was Charles Lindbergh in 1927. He was then 25 and a US Air Mail pilot. He was the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. He achieved the feat on 20-21 May 1927, flying from New York to Paris, a distance of almost 3,600 miles, in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane Spirit of St. Louis.

So a 80+ year gap between the youngest and second youngest awardee: the first light years away from the era of netbooks and similar gadgets.

Other young awardees were:
- Queen Elizabeth II, then 26 in 1952
� Martin Luther King Jr., then 34 in 1963
� Jeff Bezos, then 35 in 1999

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So many Hollywood / other celebrity marriages have ended in divorce (some lasted only a day!), yet some couples proved that all is not lost when it comes to the wedding vow “till death us do part.”

The following world-famous couple have truly stood the test of time.

Charlton Heston (1923-2008), the Oscar-winning American leading star of such Hollywood epics like The Ten Commandments & Ben-Hur, married actress Lydia Marie Clarke in 1944 when he was 21, and remained married to her until his death on 5th April 2008, after 64 years of marriage.

Charlton and Lydia in 1960

64 years! When they got married perhaps honda snowblower parts were not even invented yet…

Other celebrity marriages which have lasted for at least 50 years:

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip married in 1947, and they are still together today, 63 years as of 2010!

Bob and Dolores Hope, who were married for 59 years until his death in 2003.

Larry and Mag Hagman married in 1954, and they are still together today.

Kirk Douglas & Anne Buydens married in 1954, and they are still together today.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan were married for 52 years until his death in 2004.

Alan and Arlene Alda were married in 1957, and they are still together today.

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Some interesting, and perhaps little known facts about African-Americans (blacks) in the US Military:

Cathay Williams: first African-American woman to enlist in US Army. She enrolled on 15th November 1866 using the name William Cathay. An Army surgeon examined her and determined that she’s fit for duty, even though U.S. Army regulations at that time did not allow the enlistment of women. She was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry and was hospitalised at least 5 times. Amazingly, no one ever discovered she was a female. She was given a “disability discharge” after less than two years of service. The exact medical reasons are unknown, although, based on her image above, it shouldn’t be about her weight, since she doesn’t look like she needed to work out how to reduce body fat.

Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper: first African-American to graduate from West Point, the elite US military academy. Entered the Academy in 1873, graduated in 1877. He was commissioned second lieutenant and assigned to the 10th Cavalry Unit. Unfortunately, 5 years later he was controversially dismissed for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentlemen” following questionable charges of embezzling funds. Throughout his life afterwards, he maintained his innocence. He died in 1940. Almost 60 years after his death, President Clinton granted him a presidential pardon.

Brigadier General Benjamin O Davis, Sr: first African-American to achieve the rank of General. Entering the military in 1898, 42 years later (1940) he became the first black General Officer in the history of the U.S. Army earning the rank of brigadier general.

Source
goarmy.com

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There have been many crazy people who came and went, despots, serial killers, necrophiliacs, cannibals and such like.

IMHO, there are 3 at the very top of the list of the mentally deranged:

Kenneth Pinyan, 45, who, on 2nd July 2005 allowed himself to be sodomised by a horse, resulting in his own death.

Bernd Jurgen Brandes, who answered an advertisement posted at The Cannibal Cafe website by Armin “The Rotenburg Cannibal,” who was “looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed”. Apparently, many others responded to the advertisement but were not crazy enough to follow through, unlike Mr Brandes. They met on 9th March 2001 in Meiwes’s home, where Meiwes amputated Brandes’s penis and the two men attempted to eat the penis together before Brandes was killed. Amazingly, Brandes himself insisted that Meiwes bite his penis off. When that did not work out, they used a knife. After that, Brandes attempted to eat his own penis raw, but could not “because it was too tough,” and in his own words, “chewy”. By this time, Brandes was apparently too weakened by massive loss of blood. The whole scene was recorded on videotape.

Does this guy look like he’s a human with spa covers on?

Alexander Wiens, 28 who in 2008 was asked by Marwa El-Sherbini, 31 in a playground in Germany to let her child use a playground swing he was sitting on. Instead, he refused and launched into an abusive tirade, calling her “Islamist”, “terrorist” and reportedly “slut”. She then took Wiens to court and he was fined for defamation. During the trial Wiens said that “people like her were not really human beings and therefore incapable of being insulted.” The appeal hearing was carried out on 1st July 2009. He attended court bringing an 18cm (7in) kitchen knife. In the courtroom there were 9 people present: 3 judges, the prosecutor, Wiens, his court-appointed defence lawyer, El-Sherbini and her husband and 3-year-old son. During the trial, Wiens reportedly said that “Muslims were monsters” to him and asked the court why they were not deported after 9/11. He added that German people should not mingle with foreigners. During recess, when El-Sherbini, her husband, and their son were at the door, Wiens pulled out his knife and stabbed El-Sherbini more than 15 times to the upper body and arm with such force and suddenness that there was “a notable absence of defence wounds.” She died of her injuries. El-Sherbini’s husband Okaz, while trying to protect his wife, had the knife plunged into him at least 16 times to the head, neck, upper body and arm. Wiens was arrested, and begged police officers to shoot him dead. During his murder trial, Wiens banged his head against a table, and continued in “noncompliant and destructive behaviour,” that he had to be restrained by nine security officers in court. On 11 November 2009, Wiens was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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UPDATE 18 July 2011

Another contender is actress Hong Soo-hyun / Hong Su-hyeon, born 15 February 1981.

———————————-
30 November 2010

For several years, the standard seemed to be Song Hye-Kyo, who burst to fame throughout Asia when she starred in the popular drama Autumn in My Heart in 2000.

However, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), the biggest of four major Korean television networks asked its viewers in early 2009 the question:

Who do you think is the most beautiful female Korean celebrity?

More than 15,000 reponded, and the result is, in order:

1 Kim Tae-hee (born 1980)
2 Lee Young-ae
3 Han Ga-in
4 Song Hye-kyo (born 1982)
5 Kim Hee-sun
6 Son Ye-jin
7 Han Ye-seul
8 Jun Ji-hyun
9 Kim Hye-soo
10 Shim Eun-ha

So as you can see, Song Hye-kyo only managed 4th placing.

Upon knowing the result of the survey, Tae-Hee reportedly said:

At first I was surprised and embarrassed, I felt uncomfortable about that. But now I want to keep that title for as long as possible!

She can be seen in Astro’s One HD channel (393) in “Love Story in Harvard” which originally ran 2004-2005:

Isn’t she ravishingly beautiful? I think more western fashion houses like Prada should engage oriental beauties.

Sample video of Love Story in Harvard:

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I remember reading in the Guinness Book of World Records that a woman had 69 children over a lifetime. That is incredible, but still I don’t think she could quite defeat Pamela Villarruel of Leones in Cordoba Province, northern Argentina, who should now be 18.

By the age of 16 – an age where most girls would be preoccupied with getting the best acne treatment around – Pamela had given birth to SEVEN children from 3 relationships.

In fact it should’ve been eight, but her first pregnancy when she was merely 13 with her first boyfriend ended in a miscarriage.

That should’ve stopped any normal girl from further dalliances, yet 5 months later she’s pregnant again by a new boyfriend, Miguel Gonzalez, then 17. Child no.1, a son was born in June 2005 when she was 14 years old. Miguel then abandoned her.

Soon she had boyfriend no.3 in Ariel Benitez, 18, an unemployed builder. In a few weeks she was pregnant again. In July 2006 she gave birth to 3 girls. Ariel left when the girls were 4 months old.

So, with 4 small kids in tow, one would have thought that she’d stop the madness. But no, she had boyfriend no.4, Franco impregnating her yet again. And yes, triplets again. She gave birth to 3 more girls 5 days shy of her 17th birthday.

Family photo in May 2008:

So 7 children at 16 – that perhaps finally shocked her back to her senses that up until the time of writing this, she hasn’t made the news with more pregnancies yet.

Ref:
The BBC, Feb 2008

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It was reported by the BBC on 30th October 2010 that in April 2009, Julie Breitman and another kid, both aged 4, raced their kiddie-size bicycles on the pavement in Manhattan, New York, USA. They were in the company of their mothers.

They then knocked into a pedestrian, Claire Menagh, 87, causing her to have surgery for her fractured hip, and ultimately died 3 months later.

Whoa, they must’ve been traveling so dangerously that it resulted in an almighty collision.

Ms Menagh, and after she died, her son, sued the children for being “negligent in their operation and control of their bicycles”. The mothers were also sued.

As expected, the defendant’s lawyer argued that Juliet was much too young to be held responsible.

However, New York Supreme Court Judge Paul Wooten ruled that she was “old enough to be held negligent under law.” He noted that “while the law presumes children under age 4 are incapable of negligence, for infants above the age of four, there is no bright line rule.” He also ruled that “Juliet’s lawyer had presented no evidence Juliet lacked intelligence or maturity, nor that a child of similar age and capacity would not have understood the danger of riding a bicycle into an old woman.” He then cited a few cases of young kids who’d been involved in accidents.

At the time of the incident Julie was 4 years and 9 months old.

Now I wonder what would’ve happened if the kids happened to bang into a young, strong man, ultimately causing their deaths? Would that mean the young man cannot be held responsible for their deaths because the kids were negligent? My first thought was: that make for an interesting debate on child safety.

Do you know of any younger person to ever get sued in a court of law?

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There are at least 2 contenders:

Suzy Parker (1932 � 2003), American, active from 1947 – early 1960s. The 5′ 10″ beauty was the first ever model to earn the then unbelieveable USD200 per hour and USD100,000 per year. She was also the only fashion model ever to have a Beatles song named after her (unfortunately, not officially released).

Lisa Fonssagrives (1911 � 1992), Swedish, active from the 1930s to the 1950s. The 5′ 7″ beauty was discovered in Paris in 1936.

So, as you can see, supermodels have been around for a long time, well before the so called Big Six era of the 1990s, and well before recharging electronic cigarettes were invented!

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Probably the most important requirements in order for one to have the right to be called a bona-fide supermodel are:

- must be on all the covers all over the world at the same time
- first-name recognition
- multi-million dollar contracts, endorsements and campaigns

At their peak, supermodels were considered more glamorous than even top Hollywood movie stars.

List of most famous supermodels won’t be complete without the Big Six:

Linda Evangelista, who commented in Vogue in 1990 the most notorious quote in modeling history:

We don�t wake up for less than USD10,000 a day.

Christy Turlington, who in 1991 signed a contract with Maybelline that paid her USD800,000 to work for a mere 12 days in a year!

Claudia Schiffer, who in 1995 reportedly earned USD12 million.

Cindy Crawford

Kate Moss

Naomi Campbell

A common feature among all these ladies is that their frames are thin, yet as sturdy as yakima racks.

Other supermodels include the following:

Gia Carangi
Cheryl Tiegs
Carol Alt
Christie Brinkley
Kim Alexis
Paulina Porizkova
Elle Macpherson
Twiggy
Wilhelmina
Veruschka
Jean Shrimpton
Margaux Hemingway
Lauren Hutton
Iman

and last but not least, Gisele Bundchen, who is considered to be the last true supermodel.

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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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As of the time of writing, the general consensus seems to be Melissa Theuriau (born 18 July 1978), a French journalist and news anchor for M6, a popular private French television company.

I’m sure many would jump at the chance to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise with her, no?

In recent times, Ms Theuriau has become an internet phenomenon, her fans constantly uploading video compilations of her online, and these typically get tons of views. Reportedly, she’s “surprised” by all the attention, reportedly saying, “I cannot explain it…I am absolutely not seeking this publicity.”

The following video is one of the many videos of her on youtube:

In 2006, Maxium US readers voted her “TV’s sexiest news anchor”. The next year, FHM France named her the world’s most beautiful woman.

In May 2008 she married French comedian/actor Jamel Debbouze; her son Leon was born in December that year.

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It was just a matter of time. During the World Cup fever, there would be countless replicas of the famous trophy, so it makes sense for drug lords to try making a Cocaine World Cup trophy, hence less likely to be detected.

The BBC reported on 4th July 2010 narcotics police in Colombia has seized a replica World Cup trophy made of 11kg of cocaine. It was mixed with acetone / gasoline so that it’s mouldable, then gold-painted. The 36cm (14in) trophy was inside a delivery box in a warehouse at Bogota airport, about to be sent to Spain.

Earlier, on 13th March 2010, it was reported that Colombian police found 16kg of cocaine inside replicas of three sculptures by renowned Colombian artist Fernando Botero, also on the way to Spain. The drug was mixed into the clay of the sculptures as they were being cast. It was found in a Bogota warehouse.

Botero’s statues are usually oversized figurines

On 20th March 2009, it was reported that Spanish police has seized a 42-piece dinner set made entirely of compressed cocaine weighing more than 20 kg. The set contained blue-sunflowery plates, cups, pots and saucers – painted blue and decorated with sunflowers.

It had been sent from Venezuela to Barcelona through London.

A video of the set being unpacked:

On the 6th of March 2009, a 66-year-old Chilean man with a broken leg in a cast was arrested at Barcelona airport after the “cast” was found to be made of cocaine and not plaster. He arrived from Santiago. As if that’s not enough, he was also carrying 6 cans of beer and 2 small hollowed-out stools that contained… you guessed it right: cocaine. Total loot: almost 5 kg. The police said he might even have broken his leg on purpose.

That’s it – as a result of that stunt, I’d say it’d be impossible for our man to get life insurance quotes.

Why all these cases targeted Spain? Because of the common language, and because Spain is Europe’s second highest consumer of cocaine in Europe after Britain.

Now this could very well trump what’s happening in and around the Cup, like:
- Ghana & Paraguay penalty misses that cost them a historic semifinal appearance
- Suarez’s new Hand of God
- Spain’s winning goal against Paraguay that hit the post 3 times before going in
- Germany’s 8-goal demolition of England and Argentina
- Brazil blaming Mick Jagger for their shock exit
- Kaka, Torres and Messi all firing blanks

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