Every major website has branches and side projects, fingers in every pie. Google has Google Earth, Wikipedia has Dictipedia, etc. E-Bay is another. You probably know that E-Bay own PayPal, but here are some things that E-Bay does you probably didn’t know about.
1. Gumtree.com
A cool online community website that focuses on the UK. It has job listings for every major city, it has forums for all sorts of stuff. You can browse a directory of listings for travel services, property, shipping services, computer and telecom businesses, health and beauty, tuition, all sorts of stuff. Classified ads and flats/houses for rent and sale are also available. The coolest feature though is the swap shop, the stuff wanted section and the freebies, which offers free stuff in your local area! All you have to do is pick it up.
2. Kijiji.com
I’ve absolutely no idea what the name means, but this site is very similar to Gumtree, it offers classified ads, listings, services and community interaction for cities in every state. And it comes with a cool zoom in map!
3. Skype
Yep, that program you use to talk to your Aunt in Australia is made by E-Bay! Skype offers extremely cheap calls to anywhere in the world and free calls to other Skype users. Great stuff.
4. StubHub.com
A neat auction site for tickets for everything. Music gigs, concerts, football games, fights, golf, theatre, TV shows, you name it.
5. StumbleUpon.com
You’re probably aware of the Social Networking phenonemon that’s hit the internet recently. Web 2.0 social bookmarking sites popping up all over the place where you can share your bookmarks with the world. Right in amongst the other big boys like Digg and del.icio.us comes StumbleUpon, by E-Bay.
6. Half.com
Kind of a cross between E-Bay and Amazon.com comes Half. Half is a store front but the back end is individual users just like on E-Bay. Interesting style and a bit more professional than E-Bay.
7. Rent.com
A search engine for property. Fire in your city, how much you want to spend and when you want to move in. BLAMO- instant results for properties in your area. Pretty cool.
8. Shopping.com
Shopping.com is the final item in this list. Similar to Amazon.com, Shopping.com is just an online store front with a frighteningly large inventory of products. I’m not too sure where the back end lies but none the less it has a professional sheen to it that e-Bay lacks.
The Candiru, or toothpick fish, is an extremely small catfish that lives in and around the Amazon. It is translucent making it almost impossible to see in the water. Some species have been known to grow to a size of 6 inches (~15 cm) in length, though typically they are much smaller. Seems harmless enough so far, right? Well, amongst the natives the Candiru is the most feared fish of the Amazon, more so even than the Piranah fish.
The Candiru lurks amongst the reeds at the bottom of the Amazon and goes about its daily business until it picks up the taste of urea and ammonia, the tell tale sign of other fish (expelled from there gills). The transparent, almost invisible tiny fish stalks its larger counterpart and waits for it to exhale. It rushes into the open gills and penetrates deeply. It then releases an array of barbs into the flesh of its victim, securing itself in place. Next, it chews a hole in an artery and drinks the gushing blood until it is full and bloated. It then releases its barbs and wriggles out the way it came in, usually leaving the severely injured larger fish to die of its injuries.
While this in itself is pretty gruesome, it’s nothing compared to what the Candiru is possible of. Since it hunts its prey by detecting ammonia, it can confuse human urine for other fish. After finding the source of the urine, the trigger mechanism that tells the fish when to enter the gills of its victim is water pressure, presuming that the victim is exhaling (emptying its gills), it forces its way into the tiny hole.. yes, the urethra of a mans penis.. and wriggles inside as far as possible, usually being assisted by frantic attempts to grab the assailants slippery tail. If by some stroke of luck the panicked victim manages to grab hold of the fish, its backwards-pointing barbs would cause excruciating pain at each pull, and ensure they back off. Once inside, the fish inches its way up the urethra to the nearest vein or artery, extends its spines into the surrounding tissue, and starts drinking the blood just as it would naturally.
Unfortunately for both fish and man the Candiru is too bloated to exit the same way it came in and the only known method of removal is a native remedy of two combined plant leaves. Either that or very expensive surgery. Neither of these spare the victim from days of excruciating pain and unrepairable damage (usually only a mangled stump remains).
The African Honey Badger
The Ratel, also known as the Honey Badger, really puts the bad in badger. They are distributed throughout most of Africa and western and south Asian areas of Baluchistan (eastern Iran), southern Iraq, Pakistan and Rajasthan (western India). They have been named the most fearless animal in the Guinness Book of World Records for a number of years. They will stand up to virtually any animal, no matter how big and are known to attack the genitals of very large animals. This is a create that has an armored personnel carrier named after it in the South African Defense Force.
They are very hard to kill and as such have no common predators. In one case, shown on an episode of Animal Planet, an old female honey badger that was nearly toothless and had one blind eye was attacked by a leopard. It took the leopard about one hour to kill the honey badger. They are also very intelligent and are amongst the very few animals who make use of tools. In one case the animal rolled a log and stood on it to reach a kingfisher fledgling stuck up in the roots coming from the ceiling in an underground cave.
3. Scolopendra gigantea
The Peruvian giant yellowleg centipede or Amazonian giant centipede, is the world’s largest representative of the genus Scolopendra, regularly reaching lengths of 26 cm and can exceed 30 cm. It inhabits the northern and western regions of South America and the islands of Trinidad and Jamaica. It is carnivorous, feeding on lizards, frogs, birds, mice, and even bats.
The body consists of 21 to 23 segments which are coppery red or maroon in color, each with a pair of yellow-tinted legs; the legs are adapted for fast walking (even running).
A palindrome is any symetrical word or sentence, or word that is spelled the same backwards as forwards. Common palindromes in every day use are eye, Mom, Dad, Bob, madam and racecar.
Here is a list of 27 palindromic sentences, roughly in alphabetical order.
“Am I mad, eh?” Giselle sighed, “Am I, Ma?”
Anal sex at noon taxes Lana
A nut for a jar of tuna.
A Toyota! Race fast, safe car. A Toyota.
A man, a plan, a butt tub: anal Panama!
A slut taxes sex at Tulsa
Ah, Satan sees Natasha.
Butt raft, fart tub.
Debate with girl last; if it’s all right, I wet a bed.
Dogma: I am God.
Dr. Awkward
Drat Saddam, a mad dastard!
Ed is on no side.
Evade me, Dave.
Evil olive
God lived as a devil dog
Harass Sarah!
He did, eh?
If I had a hi-fi
Lana fixes sex, if anal.
Madam, in Eden I’m Adam
Madam, I’m Adam.
Mom’s Dad & Dad’s Mom!?!
Nate bit a Tibetan.
Panic in a Titanic, I nap.
Tulsa’s mom’s a slut
Was it Eliot’s toilet I saw?
There are also word-unit palindromes; those which are palindromic if you consider a word as a unit (instead of an individual letter). For example:
King, are you glad you are king?
First Ladies rule the State, and state the rule: “ladies first.”
Please me by standing by me please.
Escher, drawing hands, drew hands drawing Escher.
You can cage a swallow, can’t you, but you can’t swallow a cage, can you?
Since George Bushs Inauguration, there’s been alot of both domestic and world wide negativity to The Bush Administration and the U.S.A in general. However, in keeping with A List of Lists factual theme I’ll try to shy away from United States government and The Bush Administration, and instead focus on George W Bush himself and so here are 25 facts about George W. Bush.
1. George W. Bush is the second George Bush to be president. His father was President two terms before him.
2. George Bush is the first president with a criminal record.
3. He lost election in 2000 by approximately 500,000 votes. However, due to the U.S. voting system being based on the electoral vote rather than the popular vote, Bush was controversially declared winner, after court action.
4. George Bush likes Mexican food. It’s his favourite.
5. He broke the record for largest defecit by turning a $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit.
6. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs- around 800,000 over a four-year term.
7. Bush is the first President to begin serving in the 21st Century.
8. He is the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
9. He has signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other president in US history.
10. He changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
11. George Bush appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
12. George set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president since the advent of TV.
13. He was the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections.
14. George W. Bush was born July 6, 1946.
15. George W. Bush is the first U.S. president to declare himself exempt from over 750 U.S. laws, sidestepping most of the bill of rights including the constitutional requirement that the president follow all laws. He mentioned it specifically to suppress tyranny.
16. In the days immediately following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Bush denied having received warnings about the possibility of floodwaters breaching the levees protecting New Orleans. However, the presidential videoconference briefing of August 28 shows Max Mayfield warning the president that overflowing the levees was “obviously a very, very grave concern.”
17. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack America,” President Bush continued his month long vacation.
18. A poll conducted in Britain named Bush the second biggest “threat to world peace” after bin Laden, beating North Korean president Kim Jong-Il. According to a poll taken in
November 2006, Finns also believed that Bush was the biggest “threat to world peace” after Bin Laden. Kim Jong-Il came in third in the poll and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Nasrallah came joint fourth.
19. A March 2007 survey of Arab opinion conducted by Zogby International and the University of Maryland found that George W. Bush is the most disliked leader in the Arab world. More than three times as many respondents registered their dislike for Bush as for the second most unpopular leader, Ariel Sharon.
20. According to a 2006 poll conducted by the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic studies, a majority of Iraqis believe that the U.S. has lost its global credibility as a result of Bush’s foreign policies.
21. The Pew Research Center’s 2007 Global Attitudes poll found that out of 47 countries, only respondents from Israel and some sub-Saharan countries expressed “a lot” or “some” confidence in George W. Bush more than 50% of the time. Of European respondents surveyed, only Italy and the Czech Republic expressed 30% or greater confidence in Bush.
22. George Bush was the 43rd President of the United Stats of America.
23. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law when he failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000 shares of his company, Harken Energy. Two months later the company reported significant losses and by the end of that year the stock had dropped from $3 to $1.
24. On September 4, 1976, at the age of 30, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol near his family’s summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He pled guilty, was fined $150, and had his driver’s license suspended in Maine until 1978.
25. George likes baseball. Before he was president he was a Businessman, owner of major league baseball team called the Rangers.
Anything that can turn flesh to mush in a matter of hours demands respect. Necrotizing fasciitis, commonly called flesh-eating bacteria, can do just that and it can infect pretty much anybody at any time. It can enter your body through any minor injury: cut, bruise, scrape, or blister. It can also be contracted during surgery. Some have even caught the nasty bug after a bad paper cut. Flesh-eating bacteria eats away the soft tissue underneath the skin, killing both skin and flesh, which simply rots away. It can be especially ravenous, consuming the flesh of whole limbs or large patches of skin in short periods of time.
The flesh-eating bacterial strain is difficult to identify because it often resembles run-of-the-mill minor infections until it’s too late. Early symptoms can include pain in the infected limb (usually disproportionate to the actual injury), swelling and flu-like malaise. As the infection progresses, skin will become dark and covered with black, puss-filled blisters and the body may go into shock from the toxins that the bacteria release. Blood pressure will eventually drop as they body succumbs to the bacteria. Without treatment, the infection is deadly.
There are some absolutely gruesome images of the flesh eating bacteria at work but for the sake of those who have recently eaten, I’ve decided not to include any. If you really want to you can view Google image results here http://images.google.com/images?q=flesh+eating+bacteria but be warned that this includes graphic images of open sores, people without faces and worse. Between 500 and 1,500 cases are reported every year in the United States and the horrifying fatality rate is about 30%
2. Pica
This is a compulsive appetite for non-edible items, including clay, stones, cigarette ash, paint, glue, laundry starch, ice and even hair. Found among pregnant women and young children, particularly in poorer areas, it’s thought to relate to nutritional deficiencies and may be treated with mineral supplements. However, that’s just one of many theories about pica, whose precise causes are unknown. It’s also found among brain damaged or mentally ill people, among whom it can take particularly dangerous turns including swallowing sharp objects
3. Foreign Accent Syndrome
Imagine suddenly putting on a convincing French accent. Or Scottish. Or Italian. It sounds like fun, but it’s no joke for the victims of Foreign Accent Syndrome, which can set in after strokes or other brain trauma. Without warning, they’ll start speaking their native tongue with a different accent, which could sound anything from Swedish to South African. Victims need never have heard the accent in question, according to Oxford University researchers Dr Jennifer Gurd and Dr John Coleman, who believe it arises from damage to areas of the brain responsible for language production, altering pitch, pronunciation and speech patterns. So people with the syndrome aren’t putting on a foreign accent, it just sounds that way.
3. Alien Hand Syndrome
Another condition arising from brain trauma, this bizarre syndrome involves losing control of one hand, which can do anything from gesticulating to unbuttoning clothes its owner is trying to put on with his or her other hand. The condition is also called Dr Strangelove Syndrome, thanks to Peter Sellers’ inspired performance as Dr Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film. Sellers’s mechanical hand alternated between throttling himself and throwing Nazi salutes. While victims can still experience sensation in the affected hand, they say it seems to have a mind of its own. The only solution is to keep it busy, for example by holding onto something - just not, hopefully, your own throat.
4. Capgras Syndrome
A loved one has been stolen by a doppelganger; sounds like a movie about alien abduction. But for sufferers of Capgras Syndrome, the action occurs only in their brains, not outer space. This syndrome involves the delusion that a significant other, such as a parent, spouse or other relative, is being impersonated by an imposter. Sufferers sometimes attack the supposed double. The delusion can also extend even to oneself, with the person convinced that the reflection in the mirror is that of an imposter. While extremely rare, it is linked with brain damage, psychotic disorders and various neurological problems that somehow interfere with normal face recognition abilities. The syndrome owes its name to the French psychiatrist who first described it.
5. Hypertrichosis
People with hypertrichosis, a congenital condition involving hair growing all over the body - including eyelids and even ears, which can sprout long curls - have always attracted enormous interest, especially as sideshow stars. Probably the most famous was JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy (aka Fedor Jeftichew, a Russian recruited by showman P.T. Barnum), who toured widely during the latter half of the 19th century. There are different forms of hypertrichosis, distinguished by varying hair type, quantity and distribution. Some cases also have a little hairy appendage called a faun tail.
6. Riley-day Syndrome
Feeling no pain; it doesn’t sound like a problem, but it can be lethal for the victims of a syndrome involving, among other symptoms, insensitivity to pain. Caused by a chromosomal abnormality found among Ashkenazi Jews - people of Eastern European Jewish descent - the syndrome makes its victims exceptionally accident-prone because they simply don’t register warning signs of tissue damage such as wounds, bruising and burns. They are even oblivious to oxygen deprivation, which means that when they hold their breath, as infants often do, they do so until they black out. Riley-Day patients tend to die young - around half before the age of 30 - from their injuries.
7. Genital Retraction Syndrome aka Koro
Koro is one of a number of names for a hysterical condition known medically as Genital Retraction Syndrome, whose victims become convinced that their genitals are disappearing into their bodies. It can be contagious, sparking off “penis panics”, such as the one that overtook Singapore in 1967 in which thousands of men became convinced that their penises were being stolen; it was contained by a complete media blackout on the condition. Often blamed on witchcraft, Koro typically strikes in less developed parts of the world, including Africa and Asia, where belief in sorcery remains strong. It’s thought to be an extreme overreaction to normal genital shrinking from cold or other causes. Koro can be treated with medical reassurance and anti-anxiety medications.
8. Trimethylaminuria
Trimethylaminuria, or TMAU for short, is a rare genetic disease that causes a defect in the body’s ability to normally produce Flavin containing monooxygenase 3 (FMO3). No big deal, right? Unfortunately not, though relatively harmless, Trimethylaminuria causes an offensive body odor that resembles rotting eggs and is released in the person’s sweat, urine and breath, giving off a strong fishy odor.
9. Patulous Eustachian Tube
Patulous Eustachian tube is the name of a rare physical disorder where the Eustachian tube, which is normally closed, instead stays intermittently open. As a result, when it is open, all of the patient’s breathing, talking, swallowing, heart beat, etc. vibrates directly on the ear drum creating an effect that sounds like the patient has a bucket on his/her head.
10. Cotard delusion
The Cotard delusion or Cotard’s syndrome, also known as nihilistic or negation delusion, is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. Rarely, it can include delusions of immortality.
It is named after Jules Cotard (1840–1889), a French neurologist who first described the condition, which he called le delire de negation (”negation delirium”), in a lecture in Paris in 1880.
In this lecture, Cotard described a patient with the moniker of Mademoiselle X, who denied the existence of God, the Devil, several parts of her body and denied she needed to eat. Later she believed she was eternally damned and could no longer die a natural death.
A modern-day case of Cotard delusion occured in 1996. A patient suffered brain injury after a motorcycle accident and in January, 1990, after his discharge from hospital in Edinburgh, his mother took him to South Africa. He was convinced that he had been taken to hell (which was confirmed by the heat), and that he had died of septicaemia (which had been a risk early in his recovery), or perhaps from AIDS (he had read a story in The Scotsman about someone with AIDS who died from septicaemia), or from an overdose of a yellow fever injection. He thought he had “borrowed my mother’s spirit to show me round hell”, and that he was asleep in Scotland.
Duffy’s Law — Most people are wrong about most things most of the time.
Godwin’s Law — As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Murphy’s Law — If anything can go wrong, it will. Alternately, If it can happen, it will happen. Ascribed to Major Edward A. Murphy, Jr.
Ockham’s Razor — Explanations should never multiply assumptions without necessity. When two explanations are offered for a phenomenon, the simplest full explanation is preferable.
Often summarized as “The most simple explanation is usually the correct one.”
Peter Principle — In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
Parkinson’s law — Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Poe’s law - Without the use of a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to make a parody of fundamentalism that someone won’t mistake for the real thing.
Sturgeon’s Revelation — Ninety percent of everything is crud. Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon.
Often misquoted as: Ninety percent of everything is crap (or bullshit).
Wirth’s law — Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.
Land speed record in jet car, averaged over 1 mile.
363 mph or 581 km/h
Fastest Maglev train (Japan)
357 mph or 574 km/h
Fastest conventional train (France)
200 mph or 320 km/h
Fastest bird. The Peregrin Falcon which eats other birds and needs to be faster to hunt them. 200 mph is an approximate speed.
70mph
Fastest land animal- The Cheetah.
68 mph
Fastest aquatic animal- The Sailfish.
60mph
Fastest running speed on 2 legs- Ostrich.
45 mph
Fastest dog- The Greyhound
27.89 mph
Fastest human (during a sprint)
21mph
Fastest reptile- Spiny-tailed Iguana
3 mph 5km/h
Average walking speed of a human
5 mph
Fastest insect tiger beetle
0.17 mph or 0.27 kmh
Average speed of the Giant Tortoise
0.03 mph or 0.48 kmh
Garden Snail
0.01 mph or 0.016 kmh
Seahorse
3.81 cm or 1.5 inches per hour
Fastest growing plant- Bamboo. That’s 91.44 cm or just over 3 feet per day!
15 cm or 5.9 inches per year
Speed of hair growth. Roughly 1.25 centimeters or 0.5
inches per month. With age the speed of hairgrowth might slow down to as little as 0.25 cm
or 0.1 inch a month.
2.3 cm (or 0.9 inches) per year
Speed of fingernail growth (on average in adults) about 0.02 inches a week (or almost half a millimetre).
Absolute Zero. Absolute Zero is the coldest temperature possible, it’s the temperature at which molecules stop moving and is usually measured as 0 Kelvin. Although, because of microwave background radiation, the coldest possible temperature anywhere in the Universe is actually 2.725 Kelvin
-270 C
-455 F
The temperature of space.
-182 C
-295 F
Temperature at which Oxygen becomes a liquid.
-89 C
128 F
The coldest natural temperature recorded on Earth - Vostok Russian station in Antarctica on August 25, 1960
-40 C
40 F
The point at which Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same.
54 C
130 F
Average human pain threshold for temperature.
37 C
98.6 F
The body temperature of a healthy individual.
57.7 C
136 F
The hottest natural temperature on recorded on Earth - Al’Aziziyah, Libya on the 13th September, 1922
232 C
451 F
The temperature at which paper ignites. Made famous by Ray Bradbury’s book, Fahrenheit 451, in which all books are banned and burned in an oppressive society.
For as long as the health service has existed, doctors, nurses and specialists have been pulling things out of peoples rectums. The most common response is always “I slipped and fell on it”. We can only hope (though we know that it’s not) that this is true. Here is a list of rectal foreign bodies which have been removed in hospital.
Glass or ceramic
Bottle with attached rope
1
Glass or cup
12
Light bulb
7
Tube
6
Food
Apple
1
Banana
2
Carrot
4
Cucumber
3
Onion
2
Parsnip
1
Plantain (with condom)
1
Potato
1
Salami
1
Turnip
1
Zucchini
2
Wooden
Ax handle
1
Stick or broom handle
10
Miscellaneous or unspecified
3
Sexual Device
Vibrator
23*
Dildo
15
Kitchen device
Dull knife
1
Ice pick
1
Knife sharpener
1
Mortar pestle
2
Spatula (plastic)
1
Spoon
1
Tin cup
1
Miscellaneous tools
Candle
1
Curling Iron
1
Flashlight
3
Iron rod
1
Pen
2
Rubber tube
1
Screwdriver
1
Toothbrush
1
Wire spring
1
Inflated device
Balloon
1
Balloon attached to cylinder
1
Condom
1
Ball
Baseball
2
Tennis ball
1
Pool cue ball
1
Miscellaneous containers
Baby powder can
1
Candle box
1
Shampoo Bottle
1
Snuff box
1
Explanation: Vibrator in the rectum. The patient attempted self-removal with a pair of salad tongs, which also became lodged, resulting in two rectal foreign bodies. Multiple attempts at self-removal are typical in patients with rectal foreign bodies.
Miscellaneous
Bottle cap **
1
Cattle horn
3
Chain (gold)
1
Frozen pig’s tail
1
Kangaroo tumor #
1
Hair Mousse Cap
1
Plastic rod
1
Stone
2
Toothbrush - holder
1
Toothbrush - package
1
Whip handle
2*
Collections (one case of each)
2 Glass tubes
72 1/2 Jeweler’s saw
Oil can with potato stopper
Piece of wood, peanut
Umbrella handle and enema tubing
2 Glasses
Phosphorus match ends (homicide)
402 Stones
Toolbox ##
2 Bars soap
Beer glass and preserving pot
Lemon and cold cream jar
2 Apples
Spectacles, suitcase key, tobacco pouch, and magazine
That’s a total of 14 collections, with approximately 500 objects, and yes, 402 stones were removed from ONE mans anus. Incredible.
* Number may be larger, text unclear
** Possibly due to ingestion
# unique case of pedunculated perianal skin tumor habitually inserted into rectum
## inside a convict; contained saws and other items usable in escape attempts.
These Japanese TV shows are all known in English speaking countries and some have world wide status. Some have English versions and others are dubbed. None of these facts stops these any of these shows from being utterly bizarre.
1. Takeshi’s Castle
Takeshi’s Castle has reached cult status in many countries and has a big following on the internet. It was a Japanese game show that aired from 1986 to 1989 and featured the esteemed Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi) as a count who owns a castle and sets up impossible challenges for players (or a volunteer army) to get to him.Amongst the many dangerous, potentially fatal, commonly bone-breaking obstacles are:
Stepping Stones (pictured at start) - Contestants must run across a river on man made stepping stones. Unfortunately some of the stones are fake and give way underfoot. If you’re lucky all you’ll end up with is a broken shin bone.
Wipe Out - Contestants must stay on a pink surf board fixed to a rotating arm as it does a full 360 degrees past various strange obstacles including two pink whales and a man dressed as a little girl.
High Roller (pictured) - The idea is to get from point A to point B by jumping from roller to roller. These rollers are huge and set less than a metre appart so people often get stuck between and contorted in painful ways.
2. Sasuke
Sasuke, known as Ninja Warrior in the West, is quite possibly the hardest obstacle course in the world. Through an interview or audition as well as trial rounds to test physical ability, the field of applicants is narrowed to 100 who will be allowed to compete in the 1st Stage. Sasuke consists of four stages the competitors must complete. The stages increase in difficulty, and depending on the course set up, the third or second stages may not be timed. For the purposes of fairness, beginning in the 18th competition, a 1200-meter run is held before the event. Typically, 85 to 90 of the 100 original entrants are eliminated in the first stage.
3. Endurance / Za Gaman
Za Gaman or Endurance to give it it’s Western translation, pitted teams of students against each other in ghastly challenges. Some were buried up to their necks in sand and licked by reptiles; others took part in bicycle races with a mouthful of curry powder.
In one memorable episode, contestants had their legs tied to a vehicle and were dragged along a series of courses, including gravel. The winner, predictably, was the one who endured the longest. This made the Guinness Book of World Records for “Most Extreme Game Show” and often showed contestants breaking down in tears as they gave up.
4. Monkey
The series, originally titled Saiyūki, ran for two seasons of 26 episodes each. The first season ran from October 1978 to April 1979. The second season ran from November 1979 to May 1980. Both seasons had footage shot on location in northwest China and Inner Mongolia.
OK, I’ll now try and explain the basic premise of the TV show. You might want to cork your ears so your brains don’t dribble out after they melt.
Monkey, the lead character, was born from a stone egg on a mountain top (this is featured in the opening credits) and was king of a monkey tribe. He achieved enlightenment and proclaimed himself “Great Sage, Equal of Heaven”. He then demanded a magical staff from a powerful Dragon king, after which he is approached by Heaven to join them as “Keeper of the Peaches of Immortality”. However, Monkey greedily eats them all, becoming immortal and running amok. Needless to say this irritates Heaven and he is challenged by an omniscient, might, but benevolent, cloud-dwelling deified Buddha, and beaten. Monkey is then imprisoned under a mountain in order to learn humility.
Monkey is released by the priest Tripitaka many years later. The pair recruit two former members of heaven: Sandy, the water monster and ex-cannibal, expelled from heaven after his interference caused a precious jade cup to be broken. And Pigsy, a pig monster consumed with lust and gluttony who was expelled from heaven after harassing star princess Vega for a kiss.This is complicated by the fact that a dragon called Yu Lung eats Tripitaka’s horse. But once he discovers the horse was carrying Tripitaka, assumes the shape of the horse to carry him on his journey. Later throughout the story he assumes human form to assist his master.And that’s all in the opening credits. Hopefully this gives you some idea of just how absolutely bizarre this TV show is.
The Ratel, also known as the Honey Badger, really puts the bad in badger. They are distributed throughout most of Africa and western and south Asian areas of Baluchistan (eastern Iran), southern Iraq, Pakistan and Rajasthan (western India). They have been named the most fearless animal in the Guinness Book of World Records for a number of years. They will stand up to virtually any animal, no matter how big and are known to attack the genitals of very large animals. This is a create that has an armored personnel carrier named after it in the South African Defense Force.
Explanation: Vibrator in the rectum. The patient attempted self-removal with a pair of salad tongs, which also became lodged, resulting in two rectal foreign bodies. Multiple attempts at self-removal are typical in patients with rectal foreign bodies.
