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

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

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

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

She must be the epitome of the word “easy”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source

He is also famous for at least another reason: he turned down 5 honours from the Queen of England:

- Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1955
- Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1961
- knighthood in 1968
- Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) twice, in 1972 and 1976

He could very well be the holder of the record for most honours declined from a head of state.

This came to light when a list of those who declined an honour between 1951 and 1999, and who have since died, were published for the first time ever in January 2012.

His friend, fellow artist Harold Riley said the reason was not because he had “anything against the system”, but rather “he didn’t wish to change his situation by something being latched on to him.”

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

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

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

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

The plot, as described by wikipedia:

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

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

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

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

The following is the ending:

Click here to view the embedded video.

IMHO the catchiest of them all is La Marseillaise, the French national anthem:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s followed by the Soviet Union’s anthem:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Followed by Das Deutschlandlied, Germany’s national anthem:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Followed by the national anthem of Canada:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Honourable mention: it was reported that in April 2010, a poll was started by the Commonwealth Games Council for England, to ask the public which anthem should be played for Team England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. There were 3 choices: God Save the Queen, Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory. Result: Jerusalem won, garnering 52% of the vote. If indeed England decides to officially declare that this is its national anthem, then it surely is one of the catchiest national anthems in the world:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

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

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

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

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

The BBC
Wikipedia

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

After pausing and giving the guilty party an annoyed glare, Kmit did the unexpected: continuing his performance with an on-the-spot improvisation of that ringtone, earning him applause from the appreciative crowd.

The video was uploaded to youtube in July 2011.

It starts at 0:38 in the following video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yes, he definitely has made his point.

Note: while seemingly genuine, this video could very well be a viral marketing exercise by Nokia.

The tallest pillar is around 4 light-years high!

It was probably the most iconic image of space in the 20th century.

Recently, the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory and X-ray readings from the XMM-Newton probe has produced the 21st century version of the image, showing the pillars (actually towers of gas and dust) dwarfed by the full majesty of the nebula, hence showing the Eagle Nebula as they’ve never seen before.

Can you see the pillars?

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s 4 rackets destroyed in less than a minute: possibly a record for rackets destroyed in a single match at the highest level of tennis.

That meltdown somehow lifted him to win the third set 7-5, before succumbing again in the fourth 1-6.

But is he the greatest pro racket-smasher who ever lived?

Marat Safin, the 2005 Australian Open champion and former world number 1, was said to have broken about 700 rackets in his 12-year career (1997-2009). Another source said that in 2011, he said that he’d destroyed more than 1,000 in total. Apparently he destroyed 48 rackets in 1999 alone.

Then there’s sentimental favourite Goran Ivanisevic, who had to retire due to breaking all 3 of his rackets in the second round match against Lee Hyung-Taik in the 2000 Samsung Open. He didn’t have any more rackets with him, and there weren’t any suitable ones for borrowing.

Supervisor Gerry Armstrong then told umpire Kim Craven to announce the incredible:

Due to lack of appropriate equipment, game, set and match Lee.

Some people say Ivanisevic broke even more rackets than Marat Safin in total

Source

It has been called “the world’s deadliest” due to this being the sixth death since 2007 due to sharks there.

People who saw what happened said he was in shallow water (1.5m deep) when a bull shark struck. He then wrestled with the animal for about 5 minutes while the sea around him turned red as he was bitten again and again on both his arms and stomach. Msungubana was finally dragged out of the water by a lifeguard. Unfortunately, he died on the way to a hospital.

Bull sharks hunt by themselves and are dangerously aggressive.

Previous fatal attacks:

- 2007: a lifeguard
- 2009: 3 attacks
- 2011 (15th Jan): a surfer

World shark attack stats show that only 1 in 6 attacks is fatal, but here it’s 6 out of 6.

A possible cause is that many sharks like to come there to eat animals slaughtered during traditional sacrifices.