Incredible Basketball Shot Off The Head

I’ve never seen anything like this before. It happened during a high school basketball game between Rhinebeck and SS Seward. Did that guy really mean to slam the ball onto his opponent’s head for a shot? It’s almost as unbelievable as this throw:

Top 5 Longest Place Names in the World

#1 – Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateahaumaitawhitiurehaeaturipuk-
akapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

With a whopping 105 letters, “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateahaumaitawhitiurehaea-
turipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu” is officially the longest place name in the world. It is the Māori name for a hill in southern Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.

It’s shortened to “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu” (57 letters) in the New Zealand Geographic Placenames Database, and often shortened even further to “Taumata”, for ease of conversation by the locals.

…continue reading Top 5 Longest Place Names in the World

Mexican Billionaire Is New World’s Richest Man

Carlos Slim Helu has been declared the richest man in the world – the first time a non-American has held the title for 16 years.

Slim Helu is a telecoms tycoon who controls a number of companies, including Telmex and America Movil. His net worth is a staggering $53.5bn.

Meanwhile, American investor, Warren Buffett fell to third place with a net worth of $47bn, Indian businessman, Mukesh Ambani takes fourth with a net worth of $29bn, and Indian steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal is close behind, with $28.7bn.

Bill Gates was knocked off the top spot for only a second time since 1995, despite gaining $13bn in the past year. I’m sure he won’t lose too much sleep over it.

Forbes’ 24th list of the world’s richest people sees the number of billionaires rise from 793 last year to 1,011 now. In 2008 the total was 1,125.

Link

Water Consumption During Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Match

The water utility in Edmonton, EPCOR, published the most incredible graph of water consumption last week. The graph compares and contrasts water consumption on a normal day in Edmonton (Feb 27th) and the day of the gold medal hockey match between the USA and Canada (Feb 28th).

With 80% of Canadians watching the game, they all used water at the same time during different periods of the day. Who doesn’t go to the bathroom during the break anyway?

Blood Vessels Around the World (WFOTD)

If you could take all of your blood vessels and lay them end-to-end, they would stretch approximately 60,000 miles (96,500 kilometers) – that’s two times around the world! It would take four average human’s blood vessels to stretch all the way to the moon though.

There’s a challenge for you!

BMW XXXL Table Cloth Trick

This is an BMW advertisement for BMW S1000 RR, but could the motorcycle successfully perform the famous table cloth trick? How about with an XXXL table? From zero to 100km/h (62 mph) in just 2.9 seconds, the bike was a very hungry machine.

Via Presurfer

Top 6 Marriage Proposals Gone Wrong

Becoming engaged is meant to one of the best days in a person’s life, but when something goes wrong with the proposal, it can end up being one of the worst. Here are the top 6 marriage proposals gone wrong.

#1 Man Dropped Ring On Brooklyn Bridge

What was meant to be an elaborate marriage proposal turned out to be a nightmare for one man and his partner.

Don Walling and his girlfriend, Gina Pellicani, had gone to dinner with family to celebrate his 29th birthday. Afterwards, they decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge where Don would propose.

With a relative filming the event, Don got down on one knee, took out the ring box and opened it, but to his horror the engagement ring fell out of the box and into the New York traffic below.

Don scaled the side of the bridge as motorists, thinking he was suicidal, begged him not to jump. Next, a suicide prevention van pulled up and police stopped the traffic.

When the ring was eventually found, the platinum band was damaged but all the stones were fine, luckily… Not really.

…continue reading Top 6 Marriage Proposals Gone Wrong

Man Marries Pillow

They say you can’t help what you fall in love with, but in the case of one Korean man, it’s more like ‘what’ you fall in love with.

Lee Jin-gyu fell in love with, and has just got married to, a pillow. It’s not any ordinary pillow though, it’s a “dakimakura” – a large pillow from Japan, which translates as “hugging pillow”. It’s similar to a body pillow as some may know it.

Lee, 28, dressed the pillow in a lavish wedding dress for the ceremony, which was held at a local church.

A friend said: “He is completely obsessed with this pillow and takes it everywhere. They go out to the park or the funfair where it will go on all the rides with him. Then when he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal.”

I assume it was a mutual agreement to get married. Maybe Lee was worried dakimakura might leave him for another pillow. Each to their own, i guess.

Link

How Long Can You Hold Your Breath? (WFOTD)

How long can you hold your breath? Well, the average person can hold their breath for around 1 minute, however there is on man who defies human lung capacity, and that is David Merlini.

David Merlini, 31, is an escape artist from Budapest who has broken several World Records for holding his breath while underwater. For his latest World Record, Merlini held his breath for 21 minutes and 29 seconds underwater at the starting line of the Sakhir Circuit at the 2009 Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix.

So how can you hold your breath for longer? Well it all comes down to health and practice. A slower heart rate consumes less oxygen, a healthy body uses oxygen more efficiently and practice can increase your lung capacity. All of these combined can help increase how long you can hold your breath for, just in case you ever needed to do such a thing. I’m feeling breathless just writing about this.

YouTube Closes Down

This will probably make more sense to those of you who are familiar with British television, when the BBC hands over to Ceefax during the night (when nobody’s watching). For those of you who don’t know much about Ceefax, it’s the BBC’s teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, which began in 1974 and is set to run until 2012.

Created by Eddie Robson, from a genius original idea by Mal Franks, this is ‘YouTube closes down for the night’. (View in full screen mode).

The Human Body Subway Map

Sam Loman created this human body using a typical subway map to illustrate how our bodies are structured and how they work. Click here for larger image.

Link

Mind Blowing Card Trick

This is my favorite card trick of all time. Don’t worry if you’ve already seen it, because it will probably blow your mind even watching it a second time. It’s called “Jumping Gemini” and in this video it’s performed by the incredible Roy Raphaeli. Enjoy.

Top 10 Strangest Things Sold On eBay

#10 Ad Space on Forehead – A man auctioned off 30 days of ad space on his forehead to be used as a billboard.

Andrew Fischer, from Omaha, Nebraska said: “The winner will be able to send me a tattoo or have me go to a tattoo parlour and get a temporary ink tattoo on my forehead and this will be something they choose, a company name or domain name, perhaps their logo”.

The auction reached $322.

…continue reading Top 10 Strangest Things Sold On eBay

Tunnel Vision Illusion

Watch what happens when you get closer and farther away from this drawing. Viewing in full screen is better, but be careful not to bang your head!

What was the First Image on the Internet? (WFOTD)

It is said that the first image ever published on the internet was a promotional photograph of Les Horribles Cernettes – a parody pop group, self-labelled “the one and only High Energy Rock Band”, which was founded by a secretary of the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) when they attracted his attention by stepping on stage during the “CERN Hardronic Festival”, singing “Collider”.

Burger Dominance In The USA

Take a look at this ironically beautiful map which illustrates the territory controlled by seven of the largest burger chains in the USA compared to McDonald’s.

Link Via Consumerist

Overweight Mexican Police Force Put On Diet

Mexico City’s police department have put their officers on a diet after finding out that almost three-quarters of them are overweight.

On Sunday, a new three-meal-a-day menu was introduced which consists of healthy portions of vegetables, as well as being 500 calories less than the previous near 3,000 calorie daily serving.

However, authorities may find it hard to enforce the diet plan, with Mexican City cops famous for their bribes from motorists which often involve food or soda. Ay-ay-ay.

Via Telegraph

Never Lose Track Of North With A Compass Table

Do you find yourself getting lost in your own home? No? Me neither, but this compass table will make sure you never do. If you find you’ve got a load of spare compasses lying around the place, shove them all in a table for storage and have a fantastically creative coffee table that will impress all of your compass-loving friends. Even better, build a lazy susan full of compasses. That’ll keep you entertained all day long, guaranteed.

Link

Top 10 Funniest Google Search Suggestions

The Google Suggest tool is a great tool that shows you suggestions that Google thinks you are searching for, as you type. However, Google’s somewhat unusual sense of humor often comes out with the suggestions it comes up with. Here are the top 10 funniest Google search suggestions.

1. I like…

Yeh, me too. Personally, I think it’s the best way to impersonate a dinosaur.

…continue reading Top 10 Funniest Google Search Suggestions

Incredible Stuntman Has An Unlikely “Real” Job

Aung Zaw Oo has become a big hit on YouTube after uploading videos of his incredibly physical stunts, accumulating over 3 million views. Aung was asked by many people what his job was. The vast majority assumed that he was a stuntman or performer of some kind, however his video response to this question was a big surprise – he’s a video game developer.

Not only does this show that we should never judge a book by it’s cover, it also shows that the coolest guy in the world is a video game developer! Who would have guessed?