Top 10 Famous Deaths Caused by Animals

Though highly uncommon, several well known people throughout history have died from the result of an animal. Whether an attack, an indirect occurrence, or some kind of allergic reaction, it does happen. Here are the ten most famous records of death by animal.

10. Alexander I of Greece (1893-1920) – Monkey

Although history has unfairly described King Alexander as a careless pet owner who died from a bite “from his pet monkey”, the 27 year old monarch actually died after defending his pet dog from an attack during a walk through the Royal Gardens, and he suffered wounds from two of the monkeys. The attack occurred on October 2nd, 1920. In the report dispatched from Europe, it was stated that King had been walking in the park with a pet dog, when the dog was attacked by a monkey. The King beat off the monkey with a stick but in the fight the monkey bit him on the hand slightly. Within days he died of sepsis.

9. Joselito Gomez (1895- 1920) – Bull

José Gómez Ortega, commonly known as Joselito or Joselito el Gallo, or Gallito, was a Spanish Matador in the early twentieth century. He was born in Seville in the famous neighborhood of La Macarena. His father was the matador Fernando Gómez García, known as “El Gallo”. He was the younger brother of the matador Rafael Gómez Ortega, also known as “El Gallo”. Joselito was the youngest bullfighter to receive the title of matador, at the age of 17. Joselito was fatally gored in the ring at the age of 25 during a competitive bullfight with his brother-in-law. The day he died will also be remembered for being the only day in which the Virgin Macarena wore black clothes. Belmonte and Gómez are considered the two greatest bullfighters ever.

8. Kenneth Pinyan (1960-2005) – Horse

Kenneth Pinyan was a Gig Harbor, Washington (a suburb in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area) resident was a prolific Boeing employee who engaged in receptive anal sex with full-size stallions at a farm near the city of Enumclaw . He videotaped those sex acts and distributed them informally under the name Mr. Hands. During a July 2005 sex act, which was being videotaped by a friend of his, he suffered a perforated colon, and later died of his injuries. The story was reported in the The Seattle Times and was one of that paper’s most read stories of 2005.

Pinyan’s death prompted the passing of a bill in Washington State prohibiting both sex with animals, and the videotaping of the same, some months later. However, the video seen by many others was before the accident. The image above is from a documentary of his life released last year called Zoo that one several awards at The Sundance Film Festival.

7. Cleopatra (69 BC – 30 BC) – Asp

The ancient sources, particularly the Roman ones, are in general agreement that Cleopatra poisoned herself by inducing an asp to bite her. The oldest source is Strabo, who was alive at the time of the event, and might even have been in Alexandria. He says that there are two stories: that she applied a toxic ointment, or that she was bitten by an asp. Several Roman poets, writing within ten years of the event, all mention bites by two asps, as does Florus, a historian, some 150 years later. Vellieus , sixty years after the event, also refers to an asp. Plutarch, writing about 130 years after the event, is the main source of the story that has come down to us with all its detail of Cleopatra being found dead, her handmaiden Iras dying at her feet, and another handmaiden, Charmion, adjusting her crown before she herself falls. He then goes on to tell us that some say an asp was concealed in a basket of figs that was brought to her by a rustic, and finding it after eating a few figs, she holds out her arm for it to bite. Others say that it was hidden in a vase, and that she poked it with a spindle until it got angry enough to bite her on the arm.

6. Aeschylus (525 BC – 455 BC) – Turtle

He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek Tragedians whose plays survive, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. He expanded the number of characters in plays to allow for conflict among them; previously, characters interacted only with the chorus. No more than seven of the estimated seventy plays written by Aeschylus have survived into modern times. As legend has it, an eagle, mistaking the playwright’s bald crown for a stone, dropped a tortoise on his head (though some accounts differ, claiming it was a stone dropped by an eagle or vulture that mistook his bald head for the egg of a flightless bird).

5. Timothy Treadwell (1957 – 2003) – Bear

Timothy Treadwell, born Timothy Dexter, was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, amateur naturalist, and documentary film maker, who lived among the coastal grizzly bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska for approximately 13 seasons. At the end of his thirteenth season in the park in 2003, he and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed and devoured by one or possibly two grizzly bears. An audio recording of the attack survived. Treadwell’s life, work, and death were the subject of the 2005 documentary film by Werner Herzog titled Grizzly Man.

4. Marty Feldman (1934-1982) – Shellfish

Martin Alan “Marty” Feldman was an English writer, comedian and BAFTA award winning actor, notable for his bulging eyes, which were the result of a thyroid condition known as Graves Disease. Feldman died from a heart attack (as a result of shellfish food poisoning) in a hotel room in Mexico City during the making of the film Yellowbeard. The famous cartoonist Sergio Aragones was filming a movie nearby and when he introduced himself to Feldman earlier that night, he frightened Feldman and possibly induced his heart attack. He has told the story with the punchline “I killed Marty Feldman”. The story was converted into a story in Aragones’ issue of DC Comics’ Solo.

3. Tom and Eileen Lonergan (1998) – Shark

Tom and Eileen Lonergan were a married couple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who had just recently completed a three year tour of duty with the Peace Corps. They were stranded January 25th, 1998 while SCUBA diving with a group of divers off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and were never found. The group’s boat from the Outer Edge Dive Company accidentally abandoned Tom and Eileen due to a faulty head count taken by the dive boat crew. Upon leaving the diving area, the twenty-four other divers and five crew members failed to notice that the couple was not aboard. The couple was left to fend for themselves in shark-infested waters. Although their bodies were never recovered, they likely eventually died of dehydration, drowning, shark attack, or a combination thereof.

2. Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) – Horse

Though ultimately Reeve succumbed to an allergic reaction, much of his health struggles stemmed from his fall from a horse. Reeve suffered from asthma and allergies since childhood. He had experienced several illnesses, including Infectious Mononucleosis and malaria. He suffered from mastocytosis, a blood cell disorder. More than once he had a severe reaction to a drug. In Kessler, he tried a drug named Sygen which was theorized to help reduce damage to the spinal cord. The drug caused him to go into anaphylactic shock and his lungs shut down. He believed he had an out-of-body experience and remembered saying, “I’m sorry, but I have to go now”, before it occurred. In his autobiography, he wrote, “and then I left my body. I was up on the ceiling…I looked down and saw my body stretched out on the bed, not moving, while everybody—there were fifteen or twenty people, the doctors, the EMTs, the nurses—was working on me. The noise and commotion grew quieter as though someone were gradually turning down the volume.” After receiving a large dose of epinepherine , he woke up and was able to stabilize later that night. In 2003 and 2004, Reeve fought off a number of serious infections believed to have originated from the bone marrow. He recovered from three that could have been fatal. In early October 2004, he was being treated for a pressure wound that was causing a systemic infection called sepsis, a complication that he had experienced many times before. On October 9th, Reeve felt well and attended his son Will’s hockey game. That night, he went into cardiac arrest after receiving an antibiotic for the infection. Reeve died of heart failure at the age of 52.

1. Steve Irwin (1962-2006) – Stingray

Stephen Robert Irwin, known simply as Steve Irwin and nicknamed “The Crocodile Hunter”, was an Australian wildlife expert and television personality. He achieved world-wide fame from the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin. Together with her, he also co-owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by his parents in Beerwah, Queensland. He died in 2006 after his chest was fatally pierced by a stingray barb.

Source: http://listverse.com/2008/01/20/top-10-famous-deaths-caused-by-animals/

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Tanaman-tanaman Pembunuh

Tanaman kurang beruntung ini tumbuh di tanah berasam ekstrim atau tanah tidak subur yang tidak memiliki cukup nutrisi untuk pertumbuhan. Solusinya ? Tanaman ini harus membunuh dan mencerna makhluk malang lainnya.


Di sini sebagian menyebutnya "kantung semar", sementara nama lainnya bisa bermacam-macam.

Monkey Cup ("Mangkok Monyet")
Kebanyakan mangsa tanaman ini adalah serangga, mungkin sekali-kali katak pohon. Tapi belakangan diketahui spesies raksasanya, Nepenthe Attenboroughii, bahkan juga melahap hewan pengerat dan burung sebagai menunya.

Hanging Pitcher Plmoants

Tanaman ini menggunakan daya tarik visualnya dan kelenjar-kelenjar berbau wangi untuk mengelabui serangga agar mendekat. Bagian pinggirnya licin dan curam sehingga korban mudah jatuh ke dalam lubang perangkap dan tenggelam.

Bunga Sarracenia Leucophylla
"Kolam" di dalam tanaman ini dinamakan phytotelmata. Tanaman ini memiliki enzim khusus untuk melarutkan tubuh korbannya. Banyak dari jenis tanaman ini memiliki ekosistem kecil di dalam tubuh bercairan mungilnya yang juga merupakan tempat hidup serangga kecil yang juga memakan korban yang sudah tenggelam dan tanaman ini akan menyerap sisa-sisanya.

Purple Pitcher Plant
Sarraceniopus Gibsoni, seekor tungau (tengu) hanya ditemukaan di dalam tanaman ini.


Wyeomyia Smithii, seekor nyamuk yang siklus hidupnya hampir seluruhnya dihabiskan di dalam tanaman ini.
Nepenthes beccariana dari Sibolga, Sumatra
California Cobra Lily, di bawah ini memiliki sebuah lidah bergarpu yang membantu semut-semut dan serangga merayap lainnya yang berada di dalamnya.
Penutup seperti topi yang bergantung pada banyak jenis tanaman ini membuat serangga-serangga terbang sulit untuk melarikan diri.

Sumber: http://aneh-tapi-nyata.blogspot.com/2009/11/tanaman-pembunuh.html

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Top 10 Myths About Ninjas

Having spent time studying ninjutsu (under the Bujinkan dojos), I have long wanted to put a list like this together. Here I look at some of the historic myths and even some of the ridiculous modern myths that have sprung up about this truly fascinating art.Ninjutsu is a serious martial art – it is nothing like the movies portray, though its history does explain partly the reason that so many “mystical” myths have arisen over the years.

10. Ninjas Are Mythical

Myth: Real ninjas are a myth

In fact, ninjas and the arts that they learnt date back to over eight hundred years ago. The ninjaagainst the likes of Samurai warriors. It is this humble beginning that gives ninjutsu its very unique style: escape if you can, if you can’t, kill. There was nothing unethical to the ninja – he would throw sand in the enemies eyes, stab them when they were down, anything to protect life and limb. Over time the ninjas were used as spies, bodyguards (right up to the last emperor), and assassins for hire. families developed their skills in order to protect themselves

9. Ninjas And Swords

Myth: As a matter of course, Ninjas caught swords with their bare hands

This is not entirely true – and the video clip above has a particular moment that illustrates why. At 07:38 Grandmaster Hatsumi (current Bujinkan grandmaster who studied under the last true combat Ninja Toshitsugu Takamatsu who served as the bodyguard to the last Chinese Emperor – see the video clip in item 5) demonstrates how to deal with an incoming sword in the greatest Ninja fashion: “Just get out of the way.” If you watch the whole clip you will see that almost every possible sword attack can be deflected (and turned to your advantage) without needing to go near the weapon. Of course in movies it looks flash to have a ninja catch a sword – but there would be very little need to do so when a Ninja has so many other techniques in his arsenal. Having said that, using claws or other hand weapons, if it were necessary, a Ninja might stop a sword with the weapons he is holding – but not with his bare hands.

8. Ninjas Wore Masks

Myth: Ninjas wore masks when fighting and black clothes; it is their uniform.

This is entirely false. These days most ninjas who are working as bodyguards would wear a suit or similar modern clothing. So when might a ninja have worn a mask? Maybe eighthundred years ago if they had to hide in the trees – but even then it was not part of a “uniform”. A ninja wearing a mask is no different to a soldier wearing camouflage paint. It depends entirely on the environmentand the need for hiding. This, of course, is true also of black clothing.

7. Ninjas Vanished

Myth: Ninjas were able to vanish

This myth has come about because of the first ninja rule: get away. If a ninja can avoid fighting, he will. In order to achieve this goal, he might need to create a diversion of some kind, such as throwing shuriken, setting off a smoke bomb (as in the image above), or throwing sand in the opponent’s eyes. By the time the opponent recovered from the distraction,the ninja would be gone. There is no magic involved here – just commonsense.

6. Ninjas and Pressure Points

Myth: Ninjas can’t kill just by touching

I bet you weren’t expecting that! In fact, there are a series of touches (this word is used lightly as a decent amount of pressure is needed) that can render a person dead. This is quite logical when you consider that a firm enough blowto the temple can kill a person. The deadly methods are normally only taught to the most advanced students who, by that time, would never need to use them. Fundamental pressure point techniques, however, are taught from the very beginning and even the most basic student can take a personto the floor with one finger (pressed firmly in the right part of the throat, or in the eyeballs for example). Pressure points cause a lot of pain when pressed in the right way – they are an indispensable tool forthe Ninja. Furthermore, simple tools like squeezing nipples can also render an offender defenseless in seconds. In the clip above you can see Grandmaster Hatsumi squeezing his opponents nipple – the look of pain on the guy’s face says it all. You can see this around the 03:40 mark.

5. Ninjutsu – the name

Myth: Ninjutsu refers to fighting methods

In fact, it means the art of stealth and perseverance – it is about the strategy and tactics of fighting. The actual moves are from a variety of differentmartial art disciplines. In the most common and most authentic version of Ninjutsu (Bujinkan Budō Taijutsu), eighteen disciplines form the main basis of training:

1. Seishin-teki kyōkō (spiritual refinement)
2. Taijutsu (unarmed combat, using one’s body as the only weapon)
3. Kenjutsu (sword fighting)
4. Bōjutsu (stick and staff fighting)
5. Shurikenjutsu (throwing shuriken)
6. Sōjutsu (spear fighting)
7. Naginatajutsu (naginata fighting)
8. Kusarigamajutsu (kusarigama fighting)
9. Kayakujutsu (pyrotechnics and explosives)
10. Hensōjutsu (disguise and impersonation)
11. Shinobi-iri (stealth and entering methods)
12. Bajutsu (horsemanship)
13. Sui-ren (water training)
14. Bōryaku (tactic)
15. Chōhō (espionage)
16. Intonjutsu (escaping and concealment)
17. Tenmon (meteorology)
18. Chi-mon (geography)

In the clip above you can see Grandmaster Toshitsugu Takamatsu with a student. This is an important clip as Toshitsugu Takamatsu was the last true combat Ninjaand the teacher of the current Bujinkan grandmaster (Masaaki Hatsumi – he is speaking on the clip).

4. Shuriken: killer stars

Myth: Shuriken (throwing stars) are used to kill at a distance

In fact, shuriken are used as a secondary weapons – either to slash or stab. When they are thrown it is normally to cause a distraction asyou can see in the video clip above (around 01:08). Shuriken come in two varieties: Hira-shuriken (the famous ninja star) which were originally household items (such as washers and coins that were used to distract and were not usually sharp), and Bo-shuriken which are straight spikes up to 21cm in length. These were also originally household items (as were most Ninja weapons) such as chopsticks or hairpins. Their origins certainly makes it clear that these were not intended as killing weapons.

3. Ninja Weapons

Myth: Ninjas only use ancient Japanese weapons

Yes – they do, but not exclusively. Ninjas are often trained in modern weaponry as well – and many of the so-called “ancient” weapons are not ancient at all – they are modern takes on ancient concepts (such as the shuriken whose origins lie in coins as mentioned above). Also note in the list of disciplines above “Kayakujutsu” – this is the art of gunpowder. Ninjas have long used gunpowder to their advantage – either to create smoke screens, or even bombs. In thevideo clip above you can see Ninjutsu skills applied to gun disarmament. Notice how each movement is not just to remove the weapon, but to use it against the assailant in often unorthodox ways.

2. Ninja Strength

Myth: Ninjas need to be strong and fast

In fact, the whole point of ninjutsu is to use your body effectively – whether you are fat or thin short or tall. You don’t need speed – in fact speed can work against you. What you need is the ability to predict your opponents move and outthink him. By calm and steady movements you gain control of the enemy and ultimately the fight. In all of the video clips hereyou can see how slowly Soke Hatsumi moves – granted a lot of it is to demonstrate the move, but notice how his less qualified opponents move faster than he does and he ends up taking them down simply by lightly gripping a part of their body and walking. Much ofNinjutsu is about foot movement and natural positioning. It is this which allows the ninja to retain his balance in all manner of unusual situations. In the image above, we see Hatsumi in a very relaxed position within milliseconds of having thrown his opponent (the guy flying over his head).

1. Pirates Versus Ninjas

Myth: Pirates are better than ninjas

This long-raging Internet debate is just silly – there is no doubt at all that ninjas are far better and pirates just utterly suck in comparison. There has never been a recorded case of a pirate beating a ninja. Pirates have a cutlass and hook hand but little else to fight with – plus lots of lace and fancy clothes; whereas a ninja has a whole slew of weapons and light-weight clothes which give him an advantage before they even begin. Furthermore, if the pirate looks like he might be winning –the ninja can just jump off the ship and run on water to the nearest island.

Source: http://listverse.com/2009/04/23/top-10-myths-about-ninjas/

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Tokoh-Tokoh Sepakbola Yang Bunuh Diri

ADA pelajaran penting di balik kematian kiper Jerman, Robert Enke, beberapa waktu lalu. Popularitas ternyata tak menjamin kebahagiaan. Berbagai persoalan hidup terus saja menghajarnya. Karena tak kuat menanggung beban, dia memilih bunuh diri.

Enke bukan satu-satunya tokoh dari kalangan sepak bola yang kehilangan nyawa dengan tragis. Masih banyak nama-nama lain yang melakukan tindakan konyol tersebut. Berikut pelaku-pelakunya.

Justin Fashanu

Pada 1998, Justin Fashanu tewas gantung dri. Mantan pemain Manchester City era 1990-an itu nekat melakukannya karena dia tidak kuat dengan anggapan negatif terhadapnya.

Sebelum tewas, Fashanu dituduh mencabuli anak berumur 17 tahun. Itu dilakukannya usai menenggak minuman keras di apartemennnya. Tuduhan itu makin kuat ketika banyak bermunculan pemberitaan soal Fashanu yang bergabung di komunitas homoseksual.

Sergio Lopez Segu

Sergio Lopez Segu tewas secara tragis. Pada 4 November 2006, dia menabrakkan diri ke sebuah kereta api yang berjalan cepat. Nyawanya melayang seketika. Dia tewas di umur 39 tahun.

Mantan gelandang Barcelona era 1990-an tersebut nekat melakukannya karena tak kuat menahan cobaan hidupnya. Pemain yang sukses mengantarkan Barcelona menjuarai Piala Winners 1989 itu memang pensiun dini karena cedera lutut. Ini membuatnya depresi berat. Ditambah lagi pernikahannya gagal.

Paul Vaessen

Agustus 2001, sepak bola Inggris dihebohkan dengan tewasnya Paul Vaessen, Pemain Arsenal itu bunuh diri di bak mandi dengan cara mengonsumsi heroin hingga over dosis. Sebelumnya dia sempat ditangani oleh psikiatris, tapi gagal.

Perjalanan kaier pencetak gol kemenangan Arsenal ke gawang Juventus pada semifinal Piala Winners 1980 itu memang menyedihkan. Di musim pertamanya, dia memesona. Namun, di musim-musim berikutnya dia rentan cedera.

Vaessen lalu pensiun. Beberaap pekerjaan sempat digeluti. Mulai dari tukang pos hingga buruh bangunan. Sepertinya Vaessen tak bisa menerima kenyataan dan stres. Karena frustrasi, narkoba lalu dijadikan pelarian hingga mengakhiri hidupnya.

Asgotino Di Bartolomei

Kematian legenda AS Roma, Agostino di Bartolomei, juga menyedihkan. Pada 30 Mei 1994, dia menembak dirinya tepat di jantung. Diduga, Bartolomei bunuh diri karena depresi.

Dugaan penyebab depresi bermacam-macam. Diperkirakan dia tak kuat dengan bebam ekonomi yang mengimpit. Ada juga yang menduga dia tidak siap ketika pensiun dari sepak bola.

Kehidupannya berakhir mengenaskan. Selama aktif sebagai pemain, sepak terjang Bartolomei memang meyakinkan. Dia punya andil besar mengantarkan Roma merebut scudetto pada 1983. Tapi, setelah itu kariernya meredup dan sederet masalah pribadi terus-terusan mengganggunya.

Sandor Kocsis

Sandor Kocsis adalah striker hebat Barcelona di kurun waktu 1958-1965. Pada 22 Juli 1979, saat berumur 49 tahun, dia meninggal dunia. Sampai saat ini, banyak yang percaya dia tewas karena bunuh diri dengan cara menjatuhkan diri dari lantai empat di sebuah rumah sakit. Namun, ada juga yang memberitakan murni kecelakaan.

Menjelang akhir hayatnya, kesehatan Kocsis memang menurun drastis. Striker yang punya julukan Golden Head ini menderita kanker perut dab leukimia. Diduga, karena sulit menyembuhkan dua penyakit itu, Kocsis stres lalu bunuh diri.

Juan Gamper

Juan Gamper adalah aktor penting di balik lahirnya Barcelona. Pria kelahiran Swiss ini juga presiden pertama klub asal Spanyol tersebut. Selama menjadi presiden, Barcelona dibawanya meraih beberapa gelar, di antaranya 11 Championnat de Catalunya dan enam Copa del Rey.

Gamper sangat menyokong nasionalisme Catalan. Akibatnya, pria yang juga pendiri klub asal Swiss, FC Zurich ini pun diusir keuar dari Spanyol. Karena tak kuat dengan perlakuan tersebut, Gamper bunuh diri.

Matthias Sindelar

Matthias Sindelar adalah salah satu pemain besar yang pernah dilahirkan Austria di era 1930-an. Tapi perjalanan hidupnya tragis. Kematiannya masih kontroversial. Ada yang bilang bunuh diri, namun ada juga yang menyebut dibunuh secara "halus".

Pada 23 Januari 1939, Matthias Sindelar bersama pacarnya, Camilla Castagnola ditemukan tewas di sebuah apartemen di Wina, Austria. Kematiannya diduga akibat keracunan kabon monoksida dari pemanas yang bocor. Dugaan lain, rezim Nazi terlibat karena saat itu Sindelar menolak bermain mewakili Jerman.

Sumber: http://muka-aneh.blogspot.com/2009/11/tokoh-tokoh-sepakbola-yang-bunuh-diri.html

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15 Fastest Things In The Universe

Almost everybody likes speed. The thought of going faster than anyone else has inspired man: everything from countless drag racing movie scenes to the use of steroids in pursuit of the title of “World’s Fastest Human”. I knew a few of the “fastest things” below – the fastest animal and bird – but was surprised about several of the others. While researching info for a completely different project, I stumbled upon the M1-J10, the world’s fastest tank. It was so surprising, I checked on some other “things that go fast”. This list is the result.

15. Fastest Man

Usain St. Leo Bolt C.D (born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter. Bolt holds the Olympic and world records for the 100 meters at 9.69 seconds, the 200 meters at 19.30 seconds and, along with his teammates, the 4×100 meters relay at 37.10 seconds, all set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Bolt became the first man to win all three events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man in history to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. His name and achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname “‘Lightning’ Bolt”. At the 2009 Berlin World Championships on Sunday 16 August, he won the 100m final in a new world record time of 9.58 seconds.

14. Fastest Production Car

The Bugatti Veyron may no longer be the world’s fastest car. Today — following a number of teasers and leaks — Barabus officially unveiled the TKR: a new 1005 horsepower supercar the automaker says is capable of doing zero to 98kph in 1.67 seconds. What’s more, the car reportedly has a top speed of 270 mph — nearly 20 more than the Veyron. Power comes from a 6.0 liter V8 twin-turbocharged with dual intercoolers.

13. Fastest Land Animal

The fastest land animal in the world, the cheetah is a marvel of evolution. Capable of running up to 70 miles per hour, the cheetah’s slender, long-legged body is built for speed. Its spotted coat, small head and ears, and distinctive “tear stripes” from the corner of the eyes down the sides of the nose make the cheetah highly recognizable among the large cats of Africa.

12. Fastest Computer

Roadrunner is a supercomputer built by IBM at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA. Currently the world’s fastest computer, the US$133-million Roadrunner is designed for a peak performance of 1.7 petaflops (1 petaflop = over 10^15/1,000,000,000,000,000/ 1 quadrillion calculations per second!), achieving 1.026 on May 25, 2008, and to be the world’s first TOP500 Linpack sustained 1.0 petaflops system. It is a one-of-a-kind supercomputer, built from off the shelf parts, with many novel design features.

11. Fastest Fish

Sailfish are two species of fishes in the genus Istiophorus, living in warmer sections of all the oceans of the world. They are blue to grey in color and have a characteristic erectile dorsal fin known as a sail, which often stretches the entire length of the back. Another notable characteristic is the elongated bill, resembling that of the swordfish and other marlins. Individuals have been clocked at speeds of up to 110 km/h (70 mph), which is the highest speed reliably reported in a fish. If this fish could travel on land, it can easily outrace a driver on a typical freeway. (Imagine the wreckage if this thing crashed…*stab*)

10. Fastest Train

Japan has a demonstration line in Yamanashi prefecture where test trains JR-Maglev MLX01 have reached 581 km/h (367 mph), slightly faster than any wheeled trains (the current TGV speed record is 574.8 km/h, 357.0 mph). These trains use superconducting magnets which allow for a larger gap, and repulsive-type electrodynamic suspension (EDS). In comparison Transrapid uses conventional electromagnets and attractive-type electromagnetic suspension (EMS). These “Superconducting Maglev Shinkansen”, developed by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, are currently the fastest trains in the world, achieving a record speed of 581 km/h on December 2, 2003. Yamanashi Prefecture residents (and government officials) can sign up to ride this for free, and some 100,000 have done so already.

9. Fastest Water Slide

The Insano is the highest water slide in the world at 41 meters high, a record listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Its height is equivalent to that of a 14-story building. As a consequence of its height and slope, this water slide provides an extremely rapid descent – taking between four and five seconds – at a speed of 105 km/h (65mph). Because of these characteristics, the Insano is considered the most extreme of this type of equipment on the planet. At the end of the track, the Insano provides you with a relaxing dive into the swimming pool.

8. Fastest Submersible

K-222, formerly K-162, was the only Papa ever constructed (“Papa” is the western name for the Soviet Union’s Anchar submarine class). It was laid down December 28, 1963, and commissioned on December 31, 1969, at Severodvinsk. It was assigned to the Soviet Northern Fleet for the duration of its career. It was the world’s fastest submarine, reaching a record speed of 44.7 knots on trials. However, that speed came at the price of high costs during construction, and both excessive noise and significant damage to hull features when used.

7. Fastest Manned Plane

The North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft was part of the X-series of experimental aircraft, initiated with the Bell X-1, that were made for the USAF, NASA, and the USN. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. It currently holds the world record for the fastest speed ever reached by a manned aircraft. During the X-15 program, 13 of the flights (by eight pilots) met the USAF spaceflight criteria by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles (80.47 km. 264,000ft.), thus qualifying the pilots for astronaut status; some pilots also qualified for NASA astronaut wings. Its fastest speed recorded is 4,519 mph (7,273 km/h) while manned by pilot Pete Knight.

6. Fastest Helicopter

Keep in mind that the maximum speed a rotor helicopter can reach, in theory, before spinning out of control is just over 250 miles per hour. Now that you know that, at an European air show on August 6, 1986 a Westland Lynx ZB500, that was slightly modified, reached a speed of 249.1 miles per hour or 400.8 km/h, making it the world’s fastest helicopter.

5. Fastest Wind

On May 3, 1999 as tornadoes ravaged Oklahoma scientists measured the highest recorded wind speed at about 7:00 p.m. near Moore, Oklahoma. A wind speed of 318 mph was recorded where a tornado killed four people and destroyed 250 homes. The fastest wind measured prior was 286 mph on April 26, 1991 in a tornado near Red Rock, Oklahoma. The 318 mph speed placed the tornado 1 mph below an F6 on the 0 to 6 Fujita scale. No tornado has ever been classified as an F6.

4. Fastest Bird

The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), also known simply as the Peregrine, and historically as the “Duck Hawk” in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is a large, crow-sized falcon, with a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and “moustache”. It can reach speeds over 322 km/h (200 mph) in a dive, making it the fastest animal in the world.

3. Fastest Spacecraft

New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, and Hydra. New Horizons was launched on 19 January 2006 directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory. It had an Earth-relative velocity of about 16.26 km/s or 58,536 km/h (10.1 mps or 36,360 mph) after its last engine shut down. Thus, it left Earth at the fastest speed ever recorded. It will arrive at Pluto on 14 July 2015 then continue into the Kuiper belt.

2. Fastest Thing Recorded

In modern physics, light is regarded as the fastest thing in the universe, and its velocity in empty space as a fundamental constant of nature. The speed of light in a vacuum is presently defined to be exactly 299,792,458 m/s (about 186,282.397 miles per second). That’s basically the fastest thing the human species has ever experienced today. If you travel around the earth’s equator at the speed of light you will travel around the entire planet earth 7.4 times in approximately one second. While we have not been able to discover anything faster, there is speculation about superluminal particles – which leads us to number one on the list:

1. Superluminosity

Tachyons are a putative class of particles which able to travel faster than the speed of light. Tachyons were first proposed by physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, and named by Gerald Feinberg. The word tachyon derives from the Greek tachus, meaning “speedy.” Tachyons have the strange properties that, when they lose energy, they gain speed. Consequently, when tachyons gain energy, they slow down. The slowest speed possible for tachyons is the speed of light.

Source: http://listverse.com/2009/08/16/15-fastest-things-in-the-universe/

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Top 10 Stupidest Thieves

Sometimes the best planned crimes can go horribly wrong. Either by accident or stupidity. This is a list of the 10 most stupid thieves.

1. Showing off your booty

Charles Taylor of Wichita, Kansas, was arrested for robbing a shoe store at knifepoint and stealing a $69 pair of size 10 1/2 tan hiking boots on December 18, 1996. At his trial, three months later, Taylor arrogantly rested his feet on the defence table. He was wearing a pair of size 10 1/2 tan hiking boots. The judge, James Fleetwood, was incredulous. ‘I leaned over and stared,’ he later said. ‘Surely nobody would be so stupid as to wear the boots he stole to his trial.’ But it turned out one person was that stupid. Taylor was convicted of aggravated robbery and sent back to jail in his stockinged feet.

2. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

On November 29, 1978, David Goodhall and two female accomplices entered a home supplies shop in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, intending to engage in a bit of shoplifting. After stuffing a pair of curtains into a plastic carrier bag, the threesome attempted to leave by separate exits. However, they were apprehended immediately by several store detectives. Goodhall and his cohorts had failed to notice that the shop, at that very moment, was hosting a convention of store detectives.

3. Checking Out

Eighteen year old Charles A. Meriweather broke into a home in Northwest Baltimore on the night of November 22-23, 1978, raped the woman who lived there, and then ransacked the house. When he discovered that she only had $11.50 in cash, he asked her “How do you pay your bills?”
She Replied, “By cheque” and he ordered her to write out a cheque for $30. He then changed his mind and upped it to $50.
“Who shall I make it out to?” asked the woman, a 34 year old government employee.
“Charles A. Meriweather,” said Charles A. Meriweather, adding, “It better not bounce or I’ll be back.”
Meriweather was arrested several hours later.

4. Keep the Change

In 1977, a thief in Southampton, England, came up with a clever method of robbing the cash register at a local supermarket. After collecting a basketful of groceries, he approached the checkout area and placed a £10 note on the counter. The grocery clerk took the bill and opened the cash register, at which point the thief snatched the contents and ran off. It turned out to be a bad deal for the thief, since the till contained only £4.37 and the thief ended up losing £5.63.

5. The Weld-planned Robbery

On the night of August 23-24, 1980, a well-organized gang of thieves began their raid on the safe of the leisure-center office in Chichester, Sussex, by stealing a speedboat. Using water skis to paddle across the lake, they picked up their equipment and paddled on to the office. However, what they thought were cutting tools turned out to be welding gear, and they soon managed to seal the safe completely shut. The next morning it took the office staff an hour to hammer and chisel the safe open again.

6. Who Was that Masked Man?

Clive Bunyan ran into a store in Cayton, near Scarborough, England, and forced the shop assistant to give him £157 from the till. Then he made his getaway on his motorbike. To hide his identity, Bunyan had worn his full face helmet as a mask. It was a smooth successful heist, except for one detail: he had forgotten that across his helmet, in inch-high letters, were the words, “Clive Bunyan – Driver”. Bunyanwas arrested and ordered to pay for his crime by doing 200 hours of community service.

7. The Worst Lawyer

Twenty-five year old Marhshall George Cummings, Jr, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was charged with attempted robbery in connection with a pure-snatching at a shopping center on October 14, 1976. During the trial the following January, Cummings chose to act as his own attorney. While cross-examining the victim, Cummings asked, “Did you get a good look at my face when I took your purse?” Cummings later decided to turn over his defence to a public defender, but it was too late. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

8. Big Mouth

Dennis Newton was on trial in 1985 for armed robbery in Oklahoma City. Assistant District Attorney Larry Jones asked one of the witnesses, the supervisor of the store that had been robbed, to identify the robber. When she pointed to the defendant, Newton jumped to his feet, accused the witness of lying, and said, “I should have blown your —ing head off!” After a moment of stunned silence, he added, “If I’d been the one that was there.” The jury sentenced Newton to 30 years in prison.

9. Wrong Fence

Stephen Le and two juvenile companions tried to break in to a parked pickup truck in Larkspur, California, on the night of September 27, 1989. But the owner caught them in the act, chased them, and hailed a police car. Le and one of his friends climbed a fence and ran. It soon became apparent that they had chosen the wrong fence – this one surrounded the property of San Quentin prison. The suspects were booked for investigation of auto burglary and trespassing on state property, although charges were never filed. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before,” said Lieutenant Cal White. “People just don’t break in to prison every day.”

10. Shooting Himself in the Foot

In February 2004, Carlos Henrique Auad of Petropolis, Brazil, broke into a bar near his home and stole a television set. A few nights later, Auad tried to break in to the same bar through the roof. This time, carrying a gun, he slipped and fell and shot himself in the right foot. Auad went straight home, but failed to notice that he left a trail of blood that led right to his door. Hewas arrested by police who found the television set.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/09/06/top-10-stupidest-thieves/

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Top 10 Most Powerful Drug Lords

We have all heard of wealthy businessmen like Bill Gates – but there is also an underworld of incredibly rich and powerful men who control much of the international trade in drugs. Their many successes makes one wonder whether there is any point in having a “war” on drugs – it seems to not be helping a great deal. This list looks at ten of the most powerful drug lords in modern history.

10. Zhenli Ye Gon

Zhenli Ye Gon born January 31, 1963, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China) is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine into Mexico from Asia. He is the legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México. He is claimed to be tied with the Sinaloa Cartel. He became a citizen of Mexico in 2002. Two Mexican Federal agents who were involved in the arrests at the Zhenli Ye Gon mansion were found dead in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, as reported on August 2, 2007. It has since risen to $350 million and a lot of his fortune found its way to Las Vegas. On the Strip, he was known as Mr. Ye, the highest of high rollers. He stayed primarily at the The Venetian (Las Vegas) where he regularly wagered $200,000 per hand in the baccarat salon. He lost big. The original estimate by DEA was $40 million in losses. They now think it was closer to $126 million — an astonishing sum. When authorities raided his home in Mexico they found $200 million in cold hard cash a photo of which can be seen here.

9. Frank Lucas

Frank Lucas is a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle. Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen, but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie “Ike” Atkinson. His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster.

8. Klaas Bruinsma

Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland. He was known as “De Lange” (“the tall one”) and also as “De Dominee” (“the minister”) because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others. On October 2, 2003, a former bodyguard of Bruinsma, Charlie da Silva, declared in the television show of Peter R. de Vries, that Mabel Wisse Smit had been a very close friend of Bruinsma’s, and had been a regular guest on his yacht during the nights. Wisse Smit, who at that point was engaged to Prince Friso, had told prime-minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Queen Beatrix that she had only been vaguely acquainted with Bruinsma. Because of this incident, the Dutch government decided not to request permission of parliament for the marriage, causing Prince Friso to lose his claim to the Dutch throne after his marriage to Wisse Smit.

7. Ismael Zambada García

Zambada is hardly a household name, yet he has become the most wanted drug smuggler in Mexico,and is expected to be added soon to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and DEA most wanted list, U.S. and Mexico drug agents told AP. Mexico’s top anti-drug prosecutor, José Santiago Vasconcelos, called Zambada “drug dealer No. 1″ and said the fugitive has become more powerful as his fellow kingpins have fallen, including one who was allegedly killed on Zambada’s orders.

6. Manuel Noriega

For more than a decade, Panamanian Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. Noriega facilitated “guns-for-drugs” flights for the contras, providing protection and pilots, as well as safe havens for drug cartel officials, and discreet banking facilities.

5. Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela and Jose Santacruz-Londono

The Cali Cartel had been formed in the early 1970s by jonathan almanza-Orejuela and Jose Santacruz-Londono, and rose quietly alongside its violent rival, the Medellín Cartel. But while the Medellín Cartel gained aninternational reputation for brutality and murder, the Cali traffickers posed as legitimate businessmen. This unique criminal enterprise initially involved itself in counterfeiting and kidnapping, but gradually expanded into smuggling cocaine base from Peru and Bolivia to Colombia for conversion into powder cocaine.

4. Joaquín Guzmán Loera “El Chapo Guzmán”

Loera is Mexico’s top Drug Kingpin after the arrest of his rival Osiel Cardenas of the Gulf Cartel. He is well known for his use of sophisticated tunnels — similar to the one located in Douglas, Arizona — to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s. In 1993 a 7.3 ton shipment of his cocaine, concealed in cans of chili peppers and destined for the United States, was seized in Tecate, Baja California. He was jailed in 1993, but in 2001 he paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates.

3. Osiel Cárdenas Guillén

Cárdenas is a Mexican drug lord who is the symbolic leader of the Gulf Cartel. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, he entered the Gulf Cartel by helping Chava Gómez (the capo at the time) and he later took control by killing Gómez, earning Cárdenas the nickname “el Mata Amigos” (The Friend-Killer). In 1999, in Matamoros, he allegedly threatened to kill two U.S. federal agents (one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and another from the Drug Enforcement Administration) who were transporting a Gulf Cartel informant through Matamoros. Cardenas and more than a dozen of his men surrounded the agents’ car near downtown. After a tense standoff, the agents were able to talk their way out of being killed by reminding Cárdenas that the U.S. would hunt him for the rest of his life. After the incident, theFederal Bureau of Investigation would offer a $2 million award for Cárdenas’ arrest.

Cárdenas was captured by the Mexican Army in a battle with Gulf Cartel soldiers on March 14, 2003 in Matamoros.Though subsequently incarcerated at Penal del Altiplano (La Palma), Mexico’s top security prison, it was widely believed that he continued to have control over Gulf Cartel business from within prison walls. On January 20, 2007, he was extradited to the United States to stand trial for conspiracy to import multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into the United States, as well as the 1999 incident involving the two U.S. Federal Agents. Jailed or not, on May 1, 2008, Cárdenas threw a Day of the Child party for 2,000 people in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, replete with banners, ponies, clowns, food and music.

2. Amado Carrillo Fuentes

As the top drug trafficker in Mexico, Carrillo was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker in the world, building a fortune of over US$25 billion. He was called El Señor de los Cielos (“The Lord of the Skies”) for his pioneering use of over 22 private 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to municipal airports, and dirt airstrips around Mexico, including Juárez. In the months before his death, The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration described Carrillo asthe most powerful drug trafficker of his era, and many analysts claimed profits neared $25 billion, making him one of the world’s wealthiest men.

1. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was the most notorious and violent drug lord of the Medellín Cartel. Escobar was killed by the Search Bloc, a group of Colombian police devoted to capturing Escobar, on a Colombian rooftop in 1993; by this time, the cartel had already been severely damaged. However, there would be no rest. After Escobar’s death, the Medellín Cartel fragmented and the cocaine market soon became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel, until the mid-1990s when its leaders, too, were either killed or captured by the government.

Source: http://listverse.com/2009/10/02/top-10-most-powerful-drug-lords/

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