The Man Who Pulled a Helicopter For 26.3m With His Ear

Georgian athlete Lasha Pataraia might not be the strongest man on earth but he may have the strongest ears.

Pataraia believes he has dragged himself into the record books at the Alexeyevka military airfield near the Georgian capital Tbilisi on the weekend when he pulled a 7,734 kg (17,050 lb) military helicopter for 26.3 metres (yards) with his ear.

Pataraia, 27, encouraged by a crowd of his family, friends and supporters, attached one end of the rope to his ear while the other end was tied to the front wheel of the helicopter.

Sportsman Lasha Pataraya pulls MI-8 helicopter, weighing 7734 kilogrammes by his ear for 26.3m along an airfield

Followed by the cheering crowd, he pulled it for about 20 seconds, almost fainting after he finished.

Just minutes after setting a new world record, Pataraia told reporters he was already planning to set another record.


"It was very difficult, I was very nervous. But I hope in the future with both my ears to move a subject twice as heavy as this one," Pataraia told Reuters Television.

The organisers of the event claimed that Pataraia has set both the world and the Guinness record although a representative of the Guinness Book of Records was not present.

Hamburger Eating Championship World Record

Joey Chestnut sets world record by eating 103 hamburgers in eight minutes

Not content with being the hot dog eating champion, Joey Chestnut is also the burger king.

Chestnut guzzled 103 hamburgers in just eight minutes to set a new record and win the Krystal Square Off IV World Hamburger Eating Championship.

The 23-year-old from San Jose, California, surpassed the previous world record of 97 Krystals held by Japan's Takeru Kobayashi, set at last year's Krystal Square Off.

His amazing feat was compared to Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile barrier.

Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing for The Krystal Company, said: 'We never thought we'd see someone anywhere near, let alone past the century mark when we started the Krystal Square Off in 2004.

'But like when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier more than 50 years ago, Joey Chestnut has set a new benchmark today for all moving forward.'

Kobayashi, who won all three previous Krystal Hamburger Eating Championships, did not compete this year because of lingering jaw pain from having a wisdom tooth extracted in June.

The 29-year-old Kobayashi received chiropractic treatment for a sore jaw before losing his championship in the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in New York.

Besides beating 12 other contestants and setting a new record Sunday, Chestnut also took home $10,000 (£4,800.

Condoms Line of 3.269km Long

People tie 30,000 condoms to form a 3.269-kilometers line during an anti-AIDS event in Bucharest, capital of Romania, Oct. 28, 2007. Some 59 % of the 10,447 HIV-infected patients and AIDS patients in the country are youth aged from 15 to 19

Indian Guitarists Set To Break World Record

More than 1,700 guitarists in India's remote northeast played a Bob Dylan classic on Friday in an effort destined to break a world record for the largest ever guitar ensemble.

The guitarists of all ages and skills performed Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" in the hill state of Meghalaya to start a month-long Autumn Festival in state capital Shillong.

The world record will be declared after officials nominated by the Guinness World Records submit their report, Robert G. Lyngdoh, chairman of the local tourism development forum told the gathering, which included a four-year-old guitarist.

"Meghalaya has once again broken a world record with the 1,730-strong guitar ensemble which played for a continuous five minutes in perfect rhythm," said Lyngdoh.

The current Guinness record -- 1,683 guitarists -- for the largest ensemble performance, of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," was set on June 3, 2007 at Kansas city in the United States.

The annual Indian festival, aimed at promoting Meghalaya and seven northeast sister states, created a new world record last year for the largest drum ensemble, comprising 7,951 people.

'Oldest' Elephant A Grouchy Old Woman

We've all seen it – an elderly relative plonking themselves down in a chair, followed by the phrase: 'Ooh, my knees are playing up.'

Well, spare a thought for Vatsala, an elephant in her nineties, whose carers say is a real grumpy old woman.

She's got no teeth, dotes on youngsters but gets grouchy when her arthritis flares up.

'She is just like a pensioner,' says Sanjeev Gupta of the Panna Tiger Reserve in India, where Vatsala lives.

'She is kind with the calves but is the first to give them a ticking off when they over-step the mark.'

The gentle giant came to the Madhya Pradesh sanctuary in 1971. She had already lost her teeth by then – meaning she was at least 50.

Her carers want to prove she is older than an 86-year-old elephant which holds the world record. Vatsala lives out her retirement being pampered, eating chopped grass and bamboo.

But, like most grandmothers, she's got a sweet tooth and loves sugar cane juice most.

Mr Gupta added: 'Vatsala is given extra respect. She always gets her own way.'

Record Price For 13th Century Quran

LONDON - A Quran written in 1203, believed to be the oldest known complete copy, has sold for more than $2.3 million at an auction.
The holy book, which had been estimated to sell for up to $715,000, fetched $2,327,300 at Tuesday's auction in London, Christie's said.

That was a record auction price for a Quran or any type of Islamic manuscript, the auctioneer Christie's said.

A nearly complete, 10th-century Kufic Quran, thought to be from North Africa or the near East, sold $1,870,000.

Both were offered for sale by the Hispanic Society of America, and were purchased by trade buyers in London, Christie's said.

The record-setting Quran was signed by Yahya bin Muhammad ibn 'Umar, dated 17 Ramadan 599 (June 1203).

It was acquired in Cairo in 1905 by Archer Milton Huntington, who founded the Hispanic Society in New York City in 1904. Huntington, the adopted son of railroad and ship-building magnate Collis P. Huntington, died in 1955.

The calligraphy in the manuscript was done in gold outlined in thin black lines, and the marginal notes are in silver outlined in red.

The kufic Quran bridges a gap between the earlier style, copied on parchment of horizontal format, and the later style of vertical composition, often on paper, Christie's catalog said.

The kufic script takes its name from Kufah in Iraq, an early center of Islamic scholarship, according to the British Library.

Because the script's vertical strokes were very short but the horizontal strokes elongated, it was written on papers in a landscape format.

Super Long Lasagna

A kitchen staff lays out part of a 560 metre (1,837 feet) long lasagna on tables that surround a hotel in Singapore October 21, 2007. The record breaking attempt is also a charity event with net proceeds benefiting the Spastic Children's Association of Singapore.



Source:-Spluch

Swimming Contest for Babies

Babies below two years old are taking part in a swimming contest in Beijing October 22, 2007.

Couple Wins Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest

Pumpkin carvers got a little wet in Key Largo during an underwater carving contest.

Contestants carved jack-o-lanterns and other ghoulish creations during the event held at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Ken and Linda Smith of Sebring, took top honours for their scary pumpkin entry complete with two fangs.

"The pumpkins want to float so that makes it difficult", said Smith, a retired electrical engineer. "So you're working against your own buoyancy and the pumpkin's."

Most contestants dropped a weight inside their pumpkins to keep them on the bottom.

The contest was staged 30 feet below at French Reef, about five miles off Key Largo.
Source:-Peculiarosities

New World Record of the Oldest Groom and Bride

With the promise of "Yes, I do," a 106-year-old man and a 81-year-old woman got married in east China's Zhejiang province, setting a new record of the oldest groom and bride in the province.
Pan Xiting, the groom and Chen Adi, the bride registered for marriage on Friday at the civil affairs bureau of the Lucheng District in Wenzhou City with the blessing of families and local government officials.

"Now, we are a family and we will never separate from each other till death," said Pan.

Zheng Guangliang, deputy director of the district's civil affairs bureau, confirmed that Pan and Chen are the oldest registered couple in Zhejiang.

"The eldest couple to marry before were in their seventies," said Zheng.

According to the Guinness Book of World Record, the oldest groom is Harry Stevens, an American. He was 103 when he married 84-year-old Thelma Lucas in Wisconsin in 1984.

Pan's first wife passed away more than 20 year ago and Chen's ex-husband died of illness 11 years ago. The couple, both native of Yongjia County, got to know each other eight years ago and Chen has been taking care of Pan ever since.

Pan denied that their romance began with love at the first sight, but said that his bride was taking good care of him and knowing him well.

The pair decided to get married in April and their decision won support of the two families.

"We were told that we needed to show our residence cards to get married, but Chen's has been lost for a long time," said Pan.

Local civil affairs bureau made a concession to the couple after getting to know their story.

"We believe that Madam Chen means more than a companion to Mr. Pan and we hope they will have a happy marriage life," said Zheng.

The Japanese ninja skirt that turns into a Coca Cola machine

You've heard of hiding in plain sight.

Well, a fashion designer has come up with a more colourful way for worried women to blend into a busy street to elude a pursuer.

We've had mini-skirts, skorts, pencils and midis. Now there's the vending machine skirt.

It's definitely not the real thing, but Aya Tsukioka's skirt doubles as a disguise to make the wearer look like a Coca Cola machine.

Aya Tsukioka's skirt aims to make the wearer look like a Coca Cola vending machine...

Ms Tsukioka, 29, unveiled her design in Tokyo by claiming she hopes it will help ease women's fear of crime.

She lifted a flap on the skirt to expose a large sheet of cloth printed with the familiar bright red Coca Cola logo.

By unfolding the sheet and stepping to the side of the street, she showed how a woman walking alone could hide behind it to outfox a potential attacker.

Aya Tsukioka unveils her design in Tokyo. She hopes it will help ease women's fear of crime

Her deluxe model even boasts four sides for a more complete cover.

The experimental clothes designer has already sold 20 of the £400 hand-sewn vending machine skirts and it hoping to market the design worldwide.

She says the idea was inspired by a trick used by Japanese ninja assassins, who cloaked themselves in black blankets so they couldn't be seen at night.

Tsukioka lifts a flap on the skirt to expose a large sheet of cloth printed with the familiar bright red Coca Cola logo

If the fizzy drink machine seems a little elaborate, not to mention impractical, she has also come up with the 'manhole bag' which is supposed to look like a sewer cover when you put it down so unwitting thieves walk right by without noticing it.

For children, she has a backpack that transforms into a fire hydrant.

While British women might prefer to take self-defence classes, Ms Tsukioka said: "It is just easier for Japanese to hide. Making a scene would be too embarrassing."

She admits that making the switch from skirt to vending machine might prove a little tricky "especially when your hands are shaking".

But she told the New York Times: "These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched, but in Japan, they can become reality."

Tsukioka says the idea was inspired by a trick used by Japanese ninja assassins, who cloaked themselves in black blankets so they couldn't be seen at night

Man Steamed Alive For 45 Minutes

a medium who claimed that he had been possessed by the Monkey God sat in a covered wok of boiling water and withstood the steam-filled environment for 45 minutes.

By the time the extra-tall lid of the wok was removed, the five frozen whole chickens which had been placed in the wok had already been thoroughly cooked. However, not only was the medium unhurt, he even rebuked those staff members who had opened the lid. The 300 believers who witnessed the sight were amazed.

The event (which took place in Ipoh) was officiated by Grandmaster Qingshui from Bahau. He was accompanied by two disciples – Xia Fuan and Xia Fulai. It was 52-year-old Xia Fuan who had sat inside the covered wok of boiling water, braving the scalding steam for 45 minutes.

To prepare for the event, staff members first poured plain water into a large wok that was three feet in diameter. They then put five frozen whole chickens into the water. Next, they placed a round wooden board (which is an inch thick) on top of the wok, and then stacked tied-up bundles of joss paper onto the board to make a sort of cushion for the medium to sit on.

At 9 pm on the night of the event, Grandmaster Qingshui faced the four cardinal points of the compass and paid obeisance with offerings of incense and joss paper. At the same time, he also recited mantras, beat on a drum and sounded a gong. He then sprinkled tea leaves, salt and rice into the wok.

30 minutes later, the medium who was said to have been possessed by the Monkey God began acting like a monkey, walking, scratching himself and crying out loudly like one. Holding a metal rod in his hand, he walked out of the place of worship and surveyed his surroundings for about 15 minutes before reentering and beginning the performance.

After the medium sat down on the cushion of joss paper bundles, staff members covered the wok with a lid and then began burning wood under the wok to bring the water inside to a boil and cook the chickens.

When staff members removed the lid of the wok 45 minutes later, the medium strode out of the wok amidst clouds of steam without any sign of injury on his body. He even expressed his dissatisfaction in Hokkien, saying that his master had opened the lid too early.

The reporter on the scene observed that the water inside the wok had been brought to a boil. The five chickens that were drawn out from the water by the workers had also been thoroughly cooked.

Qingshui said that this skill could be taught to outsiders and even girls. However, to date he has only taught it to the 2 brothers Xia Fuan and Xia Fulai.

He said that he and his two disciples regularly perform the feat. However, due to the extremely dangerous nature of the performance, no insurance company has ever been willing to insure them. They can only be careful and try to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

Qingshui said that he began studying under his master in China when he was 15 or 16 years old, and he learned this skill from his master. According to him, when he was 25 years old, he decided to spread awareness of the skill to more people. In order to do so, he began traveling and performing all over Malaysia, including in Johor, Kuantan, Bahau and other places. He has given more than 100 performances.

He said that 33 years ago, he had gone to Singapore to take part in an Asian regional contest of superhuman feats. His skill of being “steamed alive” and emerging unharmed won him 2nd place in the contest.

Master Qingshui added that sometimes a medium’s skin will turn red and swollen due to the steam in the wok. However, they have never failed to carry out the stunt or gotten injured. The mediums will abstain from having sex and consuming meat or wine 10 days before the performance so as not to negatively affect the outcome.



Source:-Kooky

Strongest Man Competition In Romania

Romania's Marian Iurchevici lifts a 140kg ball during a "strongest man" competition in Bucharest October 20, 2007.

Chinese 2,008 Chickens Baked in 100 Minutes

A Chinese chef shows his baked chickens at the 17th China's Chef Festival & 2007 Nanning-ASEAN International Tourism and Food Festival, which kicked off on October 19, 2007.

A Chinese chef staged a stunning show by baking a total of 2,008 chickens in 100 minutes in a move to welcome the 2008 Beijing Olympics, official website Xinhuanet reports.

The performance was staged at the 17th China's Chef Festival & 2007 Nanning-ASEAN International Tourism and Food Festival. The performance is also expected to challenge the Guinness World Record.

The 13-day-event that kicked off on Friday at southwestern Chinese city of Nanning is estimated to attract 500 thousand locals.












Source:- English Cri

Baby Girl's Bottom Grows Two Extra Feet

Johnson Changsha October 17 (Reporter Wanghongting correspondent for Ma Lin Liu TSE) Maomao (a pseudonym), only two months, it has sprouted a butt feet, the toes clearly visible yesterday, Maomao was taken to Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital neonatal surgical care ward."The kids ass' feet 'is actually parasitic fetus, is a twin of embryonic development is not fully formed!" Hospital neonatal surgical director of Bi-professor said, this asymmetry Siamese deformity or first case in Hunan Province.

Today, in the Children's Hospital neonatal wards and babies in the meticulous care nurses under quietly fell asleep, lovely appearance and normal kids on the same.When the nurses will be wrapped with plush bed opened, the presence of people are shocked: the buttocks forward uplift plush great ass Middle extended this to the physical appearance of two physically, to the side of a clear separation of five toes, the side have two toes, heel also very evident.This accounted for a large corporation physical Maomao a large part of the body."This group is a redundant physical parasitic fetus!" Bi-professor said, Maomao the twins, and the other because of fetal development incomplete, and the child attached to the body. According to inspection, the plush and parasitic fetus is entirely separate from the organ, anus and urinary system are normal, as long as parasitic fetus by surgical resection, Maomao can resume normal.

Maomao from Yueyang Pingjiang rural Speaking of babies, the mother tears in their eyes, she said, "in August this year after giving birth to babies, to see this situation are scared, I was not pregnant Health and the disease, not eaten medicine, but also any unusual signs, I do not know how could this be? Now child surgery requires 15,000 yuan surgery, we already difficult home life, these days are to find ways to raise money. "Tomorrow 9, into the operating room to a plush, very worried about her mother, she may not protect children into the ward, but she has always been reluctant to leave the hospital she prayed constantly, "bless babies safely!"

Bi-Professor, Maomao tomorrow will implement asymmetric Siamese separation of deformity, if surgery will be successful as long as 23 hours, the surgery is completed, plush smooth 10 days if the resume can be like normal children around the same kind of life, the future will be left in the butt surgical imprint.Bi Xiang said that now dysplasia many of the children, the hospital must receive 40 per month, 50 orthopedic treatment of children. Dysplasia pregnancy when the mother is affected by the pollution, exposure to radioactive substances, may also be split abnormal embryonic development, genetic mutations and other reasons.

Israeli Father of 67 Kids Seeks 9th Wife

Israeli Bedouin Shahadeh Abu Arar stands with some of his 67 children

EMEK HEFER, Israel - With eight wives and 67 children, Shahadeh Abu Arrar has given new meaning to the term "family man." Abu Arrar, 58, is a member of Israel's impoverished Bedouin Arab community. But even in a traditional society where men commonly have several wives and many children, Abu Arrar is exceptional.
"I'm thinking about a new wife, No. 9," he told the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot in a recent interview. "There are many women who wish to marry me and there is no lack of women. I never had a problem with such things."

Abu Arrar, whose oldest child is 37, was photographed by the newspaper in a long Bedouin robe and head cover, surrounded by a dozen of so of his kids.

During a visit to his multistory home in central Israel, The Associated Press spotted 17 of the children milling about, dressed in bright red, blue and green-embroidered Palestinian dresses and headscarves. Four veiled women, including two who said they were his wives, sat on the porch peeling vegetables.

While Islam allows Muslim men to have four co-wives, it is a custom in Bedouin society to flout the already-generous ruling — and an Israeli ban on polygamy — by marrying women one at a time, divorcing them and marrying others, experts on Bedouin culture said.

Culturally, it's understood that the renounced wives are still married to Abu Arrar, the experts said.

It's unclear how Abu Arrar supports his massive family. Camels, goats and a cow were grazing on his property. Yediot said he also receives about $1,700 (euro1,200) in government handouts each month.

According to the Israeli Interior Ministry, Abu Arrar has 53 children registered as Israeli citizens. He has 14 other children born to Palestinian wives in the West Bank and who are not eligible for Israeli citizenship, his other wives said.

Either way, his family size pales in comparison to the size of the average Israeli family: 2.3, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

Abu Arrar claims to remember all his children's names, and says they are split almost evenly between boys and girls. And he's still going strong.

"My first wife is my age, and today I hardly spend any time with her. Her children are big, and I leave her alone. I have younger wives to spend time with. Every night I decide which wife to be with," Abu Arrar told the newspaper. He refused to talk to an AP reporter.

Activists said Abu Arrar's story showed the urgency of raising literacy and education among women in the impoverished Bedouin community. Many are pressured into marriage or feel they have no other options beside raising children, said Khadra al-Sani, director of Sidra, a Bedouin women's rights group.

Still, Abu Arrar pales in comparison to others in the region. In August, the Emirates Today newspaper in Dubai ran a story about a one-legged 60-year-old man with 78 children from 12 wives.

Daad Abdul Rahman said he hoped to have a hundred children by 2015.

7 Worst Killer Plagues in History

1)Smallpox (430 BC? - 1979):
Killed more than 300 million people worldwide in the 20th century alone, and most of the native inhabitants of the Americas

Smallpox (also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera) is a contagious disease unique to humans. Smallpox is caused by either of two virus variants named Variola major and Variola minor. The deadlier form, V. major, has a mortality rate of 30–35%, while V. minor causes a milder form of disease called alastrim and kills ~1% of its victims. Long-term side-effects for survivors include the characteristic skin scars. Occasional side effects include blindness due to corneal ulcerations and infertility in male survivors.

Smallpox killed an estimated 60 million Europeans, including five reigning European monarchs, in the 18th century alone. Up to 30% of those infected, including 80% of the children under 5 years of age, died from the disease, and one third of the survivors became blind.

As for the Americas, after the first contacts with Europeans and Africans, some believe that the death of 90 to 95 percent of the native population of the New World was caused by Old World diseases. It is suspected that smallpox was the chief culprit and responsible for killing nearly all of the native inhabitants of the Americas. In Mexico, when the Aztecs rose up in rebellion against Cortés, outnumbered, the Spanish were forced to flee. In the fighting, a Spanish soldier carrying smallpox died. After the battle, the Aztecs contracted the virus from the invaders' bodies. When Cortes returned to the capital, smallpox had devastated the Aztec population. It killed most of the Aztec army, the emperor, and 25% of the overall population. Cortés then easily defeated the Aztecs and entered Tenochtitlán, where he found that smallpox had killed more Aztecs than had the cannons.

Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300–500 million deaths in the 20th century. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year. After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox in 1979. To this day, smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated from nature.

2)Spanish Flu (1918 - 1919):
Killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide in less than 2 years

In 1918 and 1919, the Spanish Flu pandemic killed more people than Hitler, nuclear weapons and all the terrorists of history combined. (A pandemic is an epidemic that breaks out on a global scale.) Spanish influenza was a more severe version of your typical flu, with the usual sore throat, headaches and fever. However, in many patients, the disease quickly progressed to something much worse than the sniffles. Extreme chills and fatigue were often accompanied by fluid in the lungs. One doctor treating the infected described a grim scene: "The faces wear a bluish cast; a cough brings up the blood-stained sputum. In the morning, the dead bodies are stacked about the morgue like cordwood."

If the flu passed the stage of being a minor inconvenience, the patient was usually doomed. There is no cure for the influenza virus, even today. All doctors could do was try to make the patients comfortable, which was a good trick since their lungs filled with fluid and they were wracked with unbearable coughing. The "bluish cast" of victims' faces eventually turned brown or purple and their feet turned black. The lucky ones simply drowned in their own lungs. The unlucky ones developed bacterial pneumonia as an agonizing secondary infection. Since antibiotics hadn't been invented yet, this too was essentially untreatable. The pandemic came and went like a flash. Between the speed of the outbreak and military censorship of the news during World War I, hardly anyone in the United States knew that a quarter of the nation's population -- and a billion people worldwide -- had been infected with the deadly disease. More than half a million died in the U.S. alone; worldwide, more than 50 million.

3)Black Death (1340 - 1771):
Killed 75 million people worldwide

The Black Death, or The Black Plague, was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It began in South-western or Central Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75 million people; there were an estimated 20 million deaths in Europe alone. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between a third and two-thirds of Europe's population.

The three forms of plague brought an array of signs and symptoms to those infected. Bubonic plague refers to the painful lymph node swellings called buboes, mostly found around the base of the neck, and in the armpits and groin. The septicaemic plague is a form of blood poisoning, and pneumonic plague is an airborne plague that attacks the lungs before the rest of the body. The classic sign of bubonic plague was the appearance of buboes in the groin, the neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled. Victims underwent damage to the skin and underlying tissue, until they were covered in dark blotches. Most victims died within four to seven days after infection. When the plague reached Europe, it first struck port cities and then followed the trade routes, both by sea and land. The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form during the Black Death, with a mortality rate of thirty to seventy-five percent and symptoms including fever of 38 - 41 °C (101-105 °F), headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and a general feeling of malaise. Of those who contracted the bubonic plague, 4 out of 5 died within eight days. Pneumonic plague was the second most commonly seen form during the Black Death, with a mortality rate of ninety to ninety-five percent.

The same disease is thought to have returned to Europe every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until the 1700s. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe. On its return in 1603, the plague killed 38,000 Londoners. Other notable 17th century outbreaks were the Italian Plague of 1629-1631, the Great Plague of Seville (1647-1652), the Great Plague of London (1665–1666), the Great Plague of Vienna (1679). There is some controversy over the identity of the disease, but in its virulent form, after the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720–1722 and the 1771 plague in Moscow it seems to have disappeared from Europe in the 18th century. The fourteenth-century eruption of the Black Death had a drastic effect on Europe's population, irrevocably changing Europe's social structure. It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in widespread persecution of minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars and lepers. The uncertainty of daily survival created a general mood of morbidity influencing people to "live for the moment", as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in The Decameron (1353).

4)Malaria (1600 - today):
Kills about 2 million people per year

Malaria causes about 400–900 million cases of fever and approximately one to three million deaths annually — this represents at least one death every 30 seconds. The vast majority of cases occur in children under the age of 5 years; pregnant women are also especially vulnerable. Despite efforts to reduce transmission and increase treatment, there has been little change in which areas are at risk of this disease since 1992. Indeed, if the prevalence of malaria stays on its present upwards course, the death rate could double in the next twenty years. Precise statistics are unknown because many cases occur in rural areas where people do not have access to hospitals or the means to afford health care. Consequently, the majority of cases are undocumented.

Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public-health problem. It's parasites are transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasites multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms that include symptoms of anemia (light headedness, shortness of breath, tachycardia etc.), as well as other general symptoms such as fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness, and in severe cases, coma and death. The disease is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

5)AIDS (1981 - today):
Killed 25 million people worldwide

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has led to the deaths of more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed approximately 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005 (an average of 8,500 per day), of which 570,000 were children. UNAIDS and the WHO estimate that the total number of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has reached its highest level. There are an estimated 40.3 million (estimated range between 36.7 and 45.3 million) people now living with HIV. Moreover, almost 5 million people have been estimated to have been infected with HIV in 2005 alone.

The pandemic is not homogeneous within regions with some countries more afflicted than others. Even at the country level there are wide variations in infection levels between different areas. The number of people living with HIV continues to rise in most parts of the world, despite strenuous prevention strategies. Sub-Saharan Africa remains by far the worst-affected region, with 23.8 million to 28.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2005, 1 million more than in 2003. Sixty-four percent of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, as are more than 77% of all women living with HIV. South & South East Asia are second most affected with 15%.

The key facts surrounding this origin of AIDS are currently unknown, particularly where and when the pandemic began, though it is said that it originated from the apes in Africa.

6)Cholera (1817 - today):
8 pandemics; hundreds of thousands killed worldwide

In the 19th century, Cholera became the world's first truly global disease in a series of epidemics that proved to be a watershed for the history of plumbing. Festering along the Ganges River in India for centuries, the disease broke out in Calcutta in 1817 with grand - scale results. When the festival was over, they carried cholera back to their homes in other parts of India. There is no reliable evidence of how many Indians perished during that epidemic, but the British army counted 10,000 fatalities among its imperial troops. Based on those numbers,, it's almost certain that at least hundreds of thousands of natives must have fallen victim across that vast land. Cholera sailed from port to port, the germ making headway in contaminated kegs of water or in the excrement of infected victims, and transmitted by travelers. The world was getting smaller thanks to steam-powered trains and ships, but living conditions were slow to improve. By 1827 cholera had become the most feared disease of the century.

The major cholera pandemics are generally listed as: First: 1817-1823, Second: 1829-1851, Third: 1852-1859, Fourth: 1863-1879, Fifth: 1881-1896, Sixth: 1899-1923: Seventh: 1961- 1970, and some would argue that we are in the Eighth: 1991 to the present. Each pandemic, save the last, was accompanied by many thousands of deaths. As recently as 1947, 20,500 of 30,000 people infected in Egypt died. Despite modern medicine, cholera remains an efficient killer.

7)Typhus (430 BC? - today):
Killed 3 million people between 1918 and 1922 alone, and most of Napoleon's soldiers on Russia

Typhus is any one of several similar diseases caused by louse-borne bacteria. The name comes from the Greek typhos, meaning smoky or lazy, describing the state of mind of those affected with typhus. Rickettsia is endemic in rodent hosts, including mice and rats, and spreads to humans through mites, fleas and body lice. The arthropod vector flourishes under conditions of poor hygiene, such as those found in prisons or refugee camps, amongst the homeless, or until the middle of the 20th century, in armies in the field.

The first description of typhus was probably given in 1083 at a convent near Salerno, Italy. Before a vaccine was developed in World War II, typhus was a devastating disease for humans and has been responsible for a number of epidemics throughout history. During the second year of the Peloponnesian War (430 BC), the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece was hit by a devastating epidemic, known as the Plague of Athens, which killed, among others, Pericles and his two elder sons. The plague returned twice more, in 429 BC and in the winter of 427/6 BC. Epidemic typhus is one of the strongest candidates for the cause of this disease outbreak, supported by both medical and scholarly opinions. Epidemics occurred throughout Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and occurred during the English Civil War, the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars. During Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1812, more French soldiers died of typhus than were killed by the Russians. A major epidemic occurred in Ireland between 1816-19, and again in the late 1830s, and yet another major typhus epidemic occurred during the Great Irish Famine between 1846 and 1849.

In America, a typhus epidemic killed the son of Franklin Pierce in Concord, New Hampshire in 1843 and struck in Philadelphia in 1837. Several epidemics occurred in Baltimore, Memphis and Washington DC between 1865 and 1873. During World War I typhus caused three million deaths in Russia and more in Poland and Romania. De-lousing stations were established for troops on the Western front but the disease ravaged the armies of the Eastern front, with over 150,000 dying in Serbia alone. Fatalities were generally between 10 to 40 percent of those infected, and the disease was a major cause of death for those nursing the sick. Following the development of a vaccine during World War II epidemics occur only in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa.

Source:-Oddee

The Birth OF A ButterFly

A butterfly begins By laying her eggs Out pops a caterpillar Crawling on its legs.


















Here’s how an incredibly beautiful creature is born into this world.