Most Dangerous Active Volcanoes on Earth

In the olden days, people thought of them as punishments from the god, but these days, we know it’s actually  tectonic plates shuffling and releasing the red-hot magma from the earth’s core. Volcanoes go about their work silently, showing their presence in full might when they are totally prepared catching the people around unawares.
The recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in April 2010 has made the list more interesting than ever, an Icelandic volcano whose name only a few dare to pronounce , made people realize once again how powerful the nature can be and how destructive it might be. Still, it’s nothing compared to the calamities eruptions may cause, wiping out cities and claiming thousands of lives. Classification of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes is subject to debate. Nothing ensures a date in history like a volcano eruption, it happens just when the mother nature flexes her biceps spewing ash and steam miles into the sky. Below are listed some of the most dangerous and vigorous volcanoes due to their explosive history and proximity to large populations.

10. Mauna Loa – Hawaii

Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on Earth in terms of volume and area covered and one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean. It is an active shield volcano, with a volume estimated at approximately 18,000 cubic miles, although its peak is about 120 feet (37 m) lower than that of its neighbors.

The volcano has probably been erupting for at least 700,000 years. Mauna Loa’s most recent eruption occurred from March 24, 1984, to April 15, 1984. In view of the hazards it poses to population centers, Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program, which encourages studies of the most dangerous volcanoes.

Mauna Loa is the world’s largest shield volcano in terms of area covered. Mauna Loa is shaped like a shield, because its lava is extremely fluid (it has low viscosity), and therefore although the eruptions are not so explosive, the fluidity speeds up the lava causing more fires and threat to the population.

9. Taal Volcano – Phillipines

Taal Volcano is a complex volcano on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It consists of an island in Lake Taal, which is situated within a caldera formed by an earlier, very powerful eruption. It is located about 50 km (31 Miles) from the capital, Manila. It is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines,  all part of the Pacific ring of fire.

The volcano has erupted violently several times, causing loss of life in the populated areas surrounding the lake, the current death toll standing at around 5,000 to 6,000. It was thought to be named as “a volcano inside a volcano” because many believed that the lake that circles the volcano was once a crater or mouth of a volcano.

One of the more devastating eruptions occurred in 1911, which claimed more than a thousand lives. The deposits of that eruption consisted of a yellowish, fairly decomposed tephra with a high sulfur content. The last eruption was in 1977 but it has shown signs of unrest since 1991, with strong seismic activity and ground fracturing events, as well as the formation of small mud pots and mud geysers on parts of the island. Recently, on 8th June’ 2010, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology rose its alert level, which indicates the volcano is undergoing magmatic intrusion which could eventually lead to an eruption.

8. Ulawun, Papua New Guinea

A steam plume over the sea from the Ulawun is clearly visible on a satellite image. Ulawun is one of the most active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea and one of its most dangerous. It is the highest volcano in the 1000 km long Bismarck volcanic arc. Ulawun volcano is composed of lava flows interbedded with tephra.

The first recorded eruption of Ulawun was in 1700. Several thousand people live near the volcano.There have been 22 recorded eruptions since the 1700s. The last few years have seen almost constant activity at Ulawun, with frequent small explosions. Eruptions originate from a central crater. Its eruptions devastated the NW flank of Ulawun and modified the summit crater. An eruption in 1980 ejected ash to 60,000 ft and produced pyroclastic flows which swept all flanks of the volcano and devastated an area of 20 sq km. The most serious volcanic hazard at Ulawun volcano is catastrophic structural collapse, producing an eruption which could devastate hundreds of sq km in area.

Ulawun volcano is 400 m higher than most of the volcanoes in the Bismarck which indicates it may be at the limit of structural stability. Seismic activity remained high at Ulawun Volcano in 2008. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit 10 km west of Ulawun volcano on 28th May 2009. On 14-15 February 2010 ash emissions from Ulawun volcano reached a height of 3.7 km and drifted 95 km.

7. Mount Nyiragongo – DR Congo

Nyiragongo volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in Africa. It is noted for long active lava lakes which appear in the summit crater. Nyiragongo is one of eight volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains. The volcano is located near the town of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a stratovolcano located inside Virunga National Park. Apparently, nowhere else on the globe does such a steep-sided stratovolcano contain a lake of such fluid lava like Nyiragongo. Nyiragongo’s lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history.

Since 1882, it has erupted at least 34 times, including many periods where activity was continuous for years at a time.  The last devastating eruption of Nyiragongo occurred on 17th January 17, 2002, when lava flows down the flank of Nyiragongo covered approximately 40% of the town of Goma, rendering at least 120,000 people homeless, displacing most of Goma’s population of 500,000. This volcano is currently active, with Nyiragongo in an eruption that has been ongoing since May 2002. Nyiragongo’s lava lake remains active to this day.

Since January 2009, recurrent seismic swarms have been detected at Rusayo seismic station. The volcanic earthquakes have come mainly from Nyiragongo volcano, which contains an active lava lake. According to a report by scientists from the volcano observatory in Goma the same signs that preceded the 1977 and 2002 eruptions have been identified. Possibly this means another eruption in near future.

6. Mount Merapi – Indonesia

Mount Merapi (literally Mountain of Fire) is a conical volcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is very close to the city of Yogyakarta, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano.

Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia and has produced more pyroclastic flows than any other volcano in the world. It has been active for 10,000 years. Most eruptions of Merapi involve a collapse of the lava dome creating pyroclastic flows which travel

6 to 7 km from the summit. Some flows have traveled as far as 13 km from the summit, such as the deposit generated during the 1969 eruption. Velocity of these flows can reach up to 110 km/hour. A slow up flow of magma leads to an extrusion of viscous magma, which accumulate and construct a dome in the crater.

There has been no late eruption. Typically, small eruptions occur every two to three years, and larger ones every 10–15 years or so. Its volcanic devastation is claimed to have led to the collapse of the Hindu Kingdom of Mataram. Since 2006, there is increased seismicity at more regular intervals and a detected bulge in the volcano’s cone indicating that fresh eruptions were imminent. Authorities put the volcano’s neighboring villages on high alert and local residents prepared for a likely evacuation. The eruption in 2006 was followed with quakes of long-period oscillation rendering over 3,00,000 people homeless.

5. Galeras – Colombia

Galeras has been an active volcano for at least a million years. It is located in southern Colombia close to the border with Ecuador. Its summit rises 4,276 metres  above sea level. It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest, with its first historical eruption being recorded on December 7, 1580. It is currently the most active volcano in Colombia. The city of Pasto with 450,000 inhabitants is located on the eastern slope of Galeras.

Galeras became active again in 1988 after only a 10 years of dormancy. A Decade Volcano conference in the city of Pasto, in 1993, ended in disaster when several of the scientists present mounted an impromptu expedition on 14 January to the crater of Galeras. An eruption occurred unexpectedly while they were at the summit, which resulted in the deaths of six scientists and three tourists.

The volcano has been erupting almost every year since 2000. It is dangerous because of the frequency of unexpected eruptions and the number of lives it has claimed. Two small eruption occurred in 2000 after seven years of quiet at Galeras volcano. The eruptions were preceded by tornillo earthquakes. A hydrothermal eruption occurred in 2002 which ejected lapilli, ash, and clay. Elevated levels of gas emission were recorded and in November 2004 there was an explosive eruption at Galeras. An eruption with shock waves felt as far away as miles was seen in 2005. Between January and June 2006 a lava dome continued to grow in the crater at Galeras volcano.  In following years, there was a four-fold increase in daily long-period earthquakes and many eruptive explosions were seen. Ash plumes were visible at Galeras volcano that reached a maximum height of 6 km above sea level. Thousands of people were evacuated from the area. And most recently, the volcano erupted on January 3, 2010, forcing the evacuation of 8,000 people. This is the 10th such eruption of the volcano in the past year, and the first of 2010. Ash was ejected to a height of 12 km. Hot lava fell 3.5 km from the volcano and started fires. Colombian authorities also stated that it could remain volatile in the weeks to come.

4. Sakurajima – Japan

Sakurajima is an active composite volcano  and a former island (now connected to the mainland) of the same name in Kyūshū, Japan due to the lava flows of the 1914 eruption which caused the former island to be connected with the Osumi Peninsula in Japan. It is often called the Vesuvius of the east, and has been erupting almost constantly.

The volcanic activity still continues, dropping large amounts of volcanic ash on the surroundings. Earlier eruptions built the white sands highlands in the region. Thousands of small explosions occur each year, throwing ash to heights of up to a few kilometers above the mountain. It is dangerous because of its location in a densely populated area, with the city of Kagoshima’s 700,000 residents just a few kilometers from the volcano.

Sakurajima’s activity became more prominent again in 1955, and the volcano has been erupting almost constantly ever since, with 7,300 eruptions recorded in the last 45 years. In light of the dangers it presents to nearby populations, Sakurajima was designated a Decade Volcano in 1991, identifying it as worthy of particular study as part of the United Nations’ International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. The city has even built special shelters where people can take refuge from falling debris. On March 10, 2009, Sakurajima erupted, sending debris up to 2 km away. An eruption had been expected following a series of smaller explosions over the weekend.

3. Popocatépetl – Mexico

Popocatépetl is an active volcano and, at 5,426 m (17,802 ft), the second highest peak in Mexico and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt, is a natural born killer which could be a serious threat to the capital city (inhabited by fairly 9 million people). The residents of Puebla, a mere 40 km east of the volcano, enjoy the views of the snowy and glacier-clad mountain almost all year long. The name loosely translates to “smoking mountain” and the volcano has had more than 20 known eruptions since 1519.

The latest episode began in December 1994 and there’s been almost continuous volcanic activity ever since. The last major eruption was in the year 2000. Thankfully, scientists were able to warn the Mexican government and had thousands of people evacuated from the area. The eruption in December of that year was the largest documented, most likely in thousands of years.

Mexican culture has accounts of this mountain. They say Iztaccíhuatl was a princess in an Aztec tribe. When she came of age, her father wanted her to marry an Aztec prince; but she wanted to marry Popocatépetl. This made emperor furious but agreed to it on one condition:  Popo’s tribe must help the his troops in a war. He intended on Popo dying in the war. Popo and his tribe joined the Aztecs in war, but they abandoned them at the height of  battle. Miraculously, they were still triumphant. Even so, the emperor told Iztaccíhuatl that Popo had died, and wrote a letter to Popo saying Iztac died of sadness. Popo did not believe, sneaked into the palace to and ran away with her to get married, they lived happily for a few years. Suddenly, Iztac got sick and died. An earthquake occurred. A voice from heavens ordered Popo to bring her body to the peak. He obeyed and then laid down next to her and waited to die. Years later, snow covered them and they became two mountains. The two mountains are named after the lovers to this day.

2. Mount Vesuvius – Italy

Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano on the Bay of Naples, Italy, about 9 kilometres east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the ruins of this volcano stand to tell the story.

Vesuvius has erupted many times since, most recently in 1944 and is today regarded as one of the most devastating volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world. A two week long eruption of Mt Vesuvius volcano began on 18th March 1944 with a lava flow from the summit crater. Eruptions changed to explosive activity on 21st March with eight lava fountains. The lava fountains increased with time, and the last one on 22nd March was the most intense, reaching heights of 1000 m.

The volcano has an eruption cycle of about 20 years, so we are lucky that it didn’t explode for many years over. Since 1944, seismicity at Mt Vesuvius has been marked by moderate-energy events with a frequency of a few hundred per year.

1. Yellowstone Caldera, United States

It is most dangerous because it is an active super-volcano which means  a volcano capable of producing a volcanic eruption with ejecta greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers which is nearly a thousands of times larger than most historic volcanic eruptions. Super volcanic eruptions typically cover huge areas with lava and volcanic ash sufficient to threaten the extinction of species and can even be one of the causes to bring end to the world because once this volcano erupts, it causes all other volcanoes to erupt causing massive tectonic activity.

One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world lying beneath Yellowstone National Park and scientists say it is still active and even the activity is increasing! Though the Yellowstone system, which spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, is active and expected to eventually blow its top, scientists think it will erupt any time soon. Supervolcanoes can sleep for centuries or millenniams before producing incredibly massive eruptions that can drop ash across an entire continent.

Erupting every 6 lac years and it’s already 40 thousand years over, significant activity is mounting beneath the surface, scientists say it can erupt anytime. Back to 640,000 years ago, the area that we know as Yellowstone National Park was the epicenter of a cataclysmic volcanic eruption—an eruption one thousand times larger than Mt. St. Helens. The eruption blasted away mountains, unearthed a vast ocean of lava and spewed hundreds of miles of debris into the atmosphere, burying half of the United States with deadly ash. Largely unknown today, this destructive super volcano is still active, turning the picturesque landscape of Yellowstone into one of the harshest environments on the planet. Due to the volcanic and tectonic nature of the region, the Yellowstone Caldera experiences between 1000 and 2000 measurable earthquakes a year, though most are relatively minor. Brutally cold winters fade into majestic summers, but for the animals that call the park home—including Yellowstone’s great icons: the grey wolf, grizzly bear, buffalo and antelope—this unique and hostile land creates a daily, dramatic battle for survival. Yellowstone captures the essence of this bitter and mercurial environment as it follows the animals that live in the midst of this treasured wilderness.

10 Most Eccentric Millionaires

Here is the list of Most Eccentric Millionaires in the world.The millionaire who was accused of defecating on the sidewalk in front of cafes

For years they wondered who was behind the unique calling card .To unmask the shopping strip's midnight-to-dawn caller, a North Ryde restaurateur who had borne the brunt of the deposits took the matter into his own hands. Someone was leaving behind human faeces on his pavement.

The restaurateur installed a surveillance camera and the footage led police to charge 71-year-old millionaire property owner Salvatore ''Sam'' Cerreto with willful and obscene exposure and offensive behaviour. Mr Cerreto, from Marsfield, is alleged to have personally dropped off the package. He was allegedly captured on camera walking to the tenant's restaurant with a ream of toilet paper, pulling his pants down, squatting and defecating. Mr Cerreto's property portfolio includes a building that is home to 13 street-front businesses.

For four years food outlets complained to police of similar discoveries. The affected tenants - who were relieved at the arrest - include operators of restaurants, cafes, delis, a hairdressing salon and a pathology centre. Police said officers had received complaints from cafe owners and restaurateurs in the commercial centre about someone defecating intermittently on their doorsteps, or on the pavement outside their premises. The deposits included excrement wrapped in paper, which was left on door handles or in flower beds near outdoor seating.

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The millionaire who opened a Nobel Prize sperm bank to create a master race In 1980, millionaire optometrist Robert Clark Graham opened a sperm bank stocked with "donations" from the world's smartest men. The Repository for Germinal Choice, located in an underground bunker in San Diego, aimed to collect sperms from Nobel Laureates, which earned it the nickname "Nobel Prize Sperm Bank". But the scarcity of donors and the low viability of their sperm (because of age) forced Graham to develop a looser set of criteria. These criteria were numerous and exacting: for example, sperm recipients were required to be married, and male donors were required to have extremely high IQs, though the bank later softened this policy so it could recruit athletes for donors as well as scholars.

By 1983, Graham's sperm bank was reputed to have 19 repeat genius donors, including William Bradford Shockley (1956 Nobel Prize in Physics and proponent of eugenics) and two anonymous Nobel Prize winners in science.

When the Repository for Germinal Choice closed after Graham's death 1999, there were 229 babies none of which was fathered by Nobel Prize winners. So far, none of these kids had grown up to win the Nobel Prize either.

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The first Second Life (virtual) millionaire Millionaires usually make their money in banking, playing the stock market or in big business. Ailin Graef has changed all that. The former Chinese language teacher has just joined the millionaire's club – but is the first person to do so thanks to profits from a virtual world. Ms Graef has built up a massive property empire in Second Life, an online 3D world where users live and socialise as they would in reality.

Her online equivalent (known as an avatar), Anshe Chung, buys large blocks of lands, improves them by adding housing and then sells them to other users for a handsome profit.

Since joining the game in 2004 she has amassed a fortune of almost 300 million Linden dollars (the game's currency). Uniquely, these dollars can be exchanged into real US dollars at online currency exchanges. With the rate at around L$275 to US$1, she has become a millionaire. Although she lives near Frankfurt in Germany, Ms Graef has set up an office in Wuhan, China, employing ten programmers to help 'develop' the online land she later sells to other users.

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The millionaire who decided to give away his entire fortune because he was unhappy

Karl Rabeder grew up poor and thought that life would be wonderful if he had money. But when he got rich, Karl discovered that he was unhappy, so he decided to give away every penny of his £3 million fortune: "My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he said. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."

On the block, or already sold, is his luxury villa with a lake in the Alps, his 42-acre estate in France, his six gliders, and the interior furnishings and accessories business that got him rich in the first place. Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck. His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.

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The millionaire dog who was a trust fund of over $300 millions Sure, there will always be people who have more money than you, but did you realize that some pets do, too? Meet Gunther IV, the German Shepherd, world's richest dog. This dog actually received his inheritance from his father, Gunther III, a German Shepherd who received an inheritance from Karlotta Liebenstein, a German countess. Gunther IV has bought a Miami villa from Madonna and won a rare white truffle in an auction. He's worth about $372 million right now, thanks to his growing trust fund.

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The British millionaire who changed his mansion for mud after being adopted by tribe in Kenya Most people return from Kenya with photos of giraffes and lions, and tales of their time on safari. But one millionaire has come back with the title of elder of a Masai tribe. Graham Pendrill is the first white person to gain such an honour from the group after solving a potentially violent inter-tribal dispute while on a month-long trip to the East African country last year.

During the official ceremony, Mr Pendrill had to drink bull's urine and had a cow sacrificed in his honour. Since returning, he has worn his Masai clothes while going about his business in his home town of Almondsbury, near Bristol, UK. The 57-year-old bachelor, who was given the tribal name Siparo meaning 'brave one', often wanders down his local High Street wearing nothing but a robe and sandals. 'People can call me eccentric - it doesn't bother me,' he said. 'When I got home my ordinary clothes just felt odd. 'I've had some sideways looks and a difficult moment in a Bristol pub, but most people are polite,' he added. Mr Pendrill, an antiques dealer, has given his suits to Oxfam and plans to sell his £1.2million mansion so he can move to Kenya to live in a mud hut with the Masai later this year. 'I've developed a huge respect and affection for the people there. It's a real honour to be an elder,' he said.

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The millionaire who decided to buy his own town Fast cars and flash jewellery are the usual perks of the millionaire. But Scott Alexander has just splashed out on the ultimate status symbol – his own town. The 31-year-old lifestyle and property tycoon is turning a Bulgarian coastal town into a holiday hotspot for British tourists – and naming it after himself. 'The name is really hard to pronounce. I've decided to call it Alexander, which I suppose is quite cheeky.' Mr Alexander – who is single and lives in a penthouse apartment in Manchester – bought the town from a Bulgarian entrepreneur for £3 million. The identity of the place is being kept a secret until the deal is completed.

Mr Alexander's company, Ultimate Lifestyle Group Incorporated, has a staff of 60, offers personal training and arranges cosmetic surgery, property and cars for celebrities. Past clients include Tom Cruise, who Mr Alexander helped train for his role in Mission Impossible III. He was featured in Britain's TV Show ‘Biggest Spenders' and often quoted as being "the most vain man in Britain".

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The nurse who became a millionaire but decided not to quit her job A nurse who won £1 million live on TV said she would not give up her £25,000 job. The money will change my lifestyle but it won't change me. Coronary care nurse Karen Shand, 40, will carry on working at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, despite winning the jackpot on ITV1's The Vault. Ms Shand won the cash after ringing the show 'on the spur of the moment' and answering six questions correctly. It was the largest amount ever won on live TV at that time.

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The homeless billionaire Meet Nicholas Berggruen, a homeless billionaire. You read that right. Nicholas is worth billions but doesn't even own a home (he stays in hotels) because he's lost all interest in acquiring things. After making his billions, Mr. Berggruen, 46, lost interest in acquiring things: They didn't satisfy him, and in fact had become something of a burden. So he started paring down his material life, selling off his condo in New York, his mansion in Florida and his only car. He hatched plans to leave his fortune to charity and his art collection to a new museum in Berlin.

For him, wealth is about lasting impact, not stuff. Forbes magazine estimated Berggruen's net worth at $2.2 billion as of 2010.

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The millionaire whose daughter works at McDonald's to learn the value of money

The Thai prime minister sent his daughter to work at McDonald's. The billionaire even turned up to buy burgers from his 17-year-old daughter Paethongtan, the youngest of his three children, on her first day as a part-time employee after taking her university entrance examinations.

Her first task was to learn how to operate the cash register, but she will also learn to flip burgers. 'In developed countries, children usually work while they study to gain experience and to appreciate the value of money and how to spend it,' Thaksin said.' Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra himself worked at KFC fastfood outlet while studying in the US.

Dej Bulsuk, president of McThai who operates the McDonald's fastfood outlets in Thailand, said: "The prime minister came to me to personally ask if I could give his daughter a part-time job during the school holidays, the Premier asked me specifically to treat his daughter just like any other employee" Thaksin even said to me: "And let her sweep the floor like the others."

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Top 10 Most Stupid Talents

here is the list of craziest and talented people in the world

The man who can get kicked in the crotch without injuring himself

Yong Hsueh, a Shaolin monk, appeared on the Chinese version of Britain's Got Talent to demonstrate his ability to get kicked in the crotch without suffering injury. He told the audience: “Steel crotch Kongfu is an ancient art, with roots stretching back to ancient China. “It's a practice to strengthen and protect the male genital organs so there is less chance they are injured or incapacitated in battle.”


Cross legged male members of the audience watched in shock as various members of the panel were invited to boot the monk – who simply bowed and smiled after each blow – between the legs. The monk said this skill could only be learned by a student that started in childhood – and it involves pushing the testicles into the body where they could not be hurt.

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 The man who can stretch his skin for over 6 in

Garry Turner (UK), better known as the Stretchy Skin Man, is able to stretch the skin of his stomach to a distended length of 15.8 cm (6.25 in) due to a rare medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a disorder of the connective tissues affecting the skin, ligaments and internal organs.

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 The man who can burp at 110 decibels

Everyone has their own particular talent. For Paul Hunn, it's the ability to belch at 110 decibels. He achieved the Guinness World record for the loudest burp on the set of The New Paul O'Grady Show, London, UK, on 24 September 2008.

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The contortionist who can squeeze through the head of a tennis racquet

Captain Frodo is a very disconcerting figure. It could be his semi-naked and very white body, bulging eyes, tattooed back, or perhaps the 2in black pegs skewered through his nipples that do it. Or maybe it is the small fact that he is currently squeezing his body through a 10in diameter tennis racquet - strings removed. Oh yes, and to speed things along a bit, he's now dislocating one joint after another, leaving spaces where shoulders should be and white limbs flopping and flapping in all the wrong places like a rag doll gone wrong. He's a contortionist in La Clique, a circus that also features juggling, sword-swallowing, strong men acts, acrobatics - indeed, pretty much everything but the bearded lady. (Link)

 The man who can pull a minivan using his eyelids

Next time your car needs a tow but it turns out you haven't got the right equipment, talk to this man. Stuntman Xie Zhongcai in Hefei, China's eastern Anhui Province, has another idea that fits the job. Just tie the car to your ear and head off. And if that seems like it might sting just a little, how about his next trick.

If the locals in Heping Square were left with their mouths open after his first stunt, they couldn't believe their eyes the second time – since the stuntman hooked up the minivan to his eye sockets!

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 The man who can throw up anything

Liang Yuxin trumps even the very worst hangovers to become world throwing-up record holder. The Chinese man, 25, from Xia Mei has stunned doctors with his ability to regurgitate anything from a live fish to a 50-inch chain. While the process of dispensing with ten or more mojitos in the morning may feel unnatural, Liang Yuxin's ability to throw up jewellery puts even the bitterest katzenjammer to shame. The champion chunderer said: ‘I found out I could do it when I was a boy and I accidentally swallowed a ball and found I could bring it back up at will. 'Now I seem to be able to swallow pretty much anything.'

Liang has taken to regularly swallowing fish and whatever else will fit down his oesophagus for kicks, and is now talking about going for the Guinness World Record in coin-swallowing. ‘The record is ten by a man in Britain and I can do 11,' he said. (Link | Via)

The man who can squirt milk with his eye

Ilker Yilmaz might just hold one of the world's most bizarre world records. The Turkish construction worker poured milk into his hand, loudly snorted it up his nose and squirted it 9.2 feet out of his left eye in what he hopes will be recognized as a new world record.

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The man who can fit an entire Coke can in his mouth

Meet the man who won a place in the Guinness World Records for having a mouth so rubbery he can fit an entire Coke can in it… sideways. Francisco Domingo Joaquim's mouth stretches to a massive 6.69-inch-long, which adjudicators from the famous record book say is the world's widest. The 20-year-old record breaker from Sambizanga, Angola, is said to have shot to fame after showing off his ‘talent' at local markets and football games. (Link | Via)

The woman who plays two recorders with her nose

Performer Claire Hawes left Britain's Got Talent judges speechless after showing off her extraordinary abilities with the recorder. Not content with playing just one instrument, she took to the stage with two - which she promptly proceeded to blow with her nose, instead of the more conventional method of using her mouth. Claire was just one of a clutch of performers who hoped to make it through to the finals of the hit TV show. (Link)

The professor who can draw a perfect freehand circle

Alexander Overwijk draws a perfect freehand circle 1m in diameter in less than a second.

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Top 10 World’s Biggest Animals

Growth is the law of nature and every living being evolves physically to a certain extant, but sometimes the natural growth process is hampered by genetic abnormalities, resulting in hyper or under growth. Today I have brought to you 10 such living beings who faced this abnormality and grew beyond normal limits. You will be surprised to see these different creatures with their huge built and entering in Guinness Book of Records.

The World’s Biggest Catfish

 This Mekong Giant Catfish is the largest freshwater fish in the world. Being nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and as big as a grizzly bear, this huge catfish caught in northern Thailand is the largest freshwater fish ever recorded. In the eyes of scientist’s the Mekong Giant Catfish has taken upper position with the recorded capture of this huge 646LB specimen by local fishermen in 2005.

World’s Tallest Horse

Noddy the Shire horse is a robust lad having might body. He weighs in at 1.3 tonnes. Noddy has just turned five and is no doubt the world’s tallest horse, standing 20.1 hands at the wither. His height is 81 inches, or 2.057m – puts him a full inch (2.5cm) taller than Tina, a Shire horse who officially listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s tallest.

The World’s Largest Tortoise

 Though unusual, but real that among the remaining giant tortoises of the Galápagos Islands, there lives an old-timer which was a hatchling at the time of Charles Darwin’s famous visit in 1835. Giant tortoises are the long-lived of all vertebrates, averaging over 100 years. Records shows that the oldest ever lived was of 152 years.

The World’s Tallest Cat/Tiger

Jungle Island in Miami is home to a liger (a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger) named Hercules, which is the largest non-obese liger. The liger is acknowledged by the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest cat on Earth, weighing in at 900 lbs.

The World’s Biggest Cow

The name of this gentle giant is Chilli. This black and white spotted Friesian bullock weighs over a ton and can challenge a small elephant being of 6ft 6ins. Even being so giant Chilli grazes only on grass and enjoys the occasional swede treat. Chilli dwarfs most of the horses at the stable.

The World’s Biggest Pig

 The Liaoning Provincial Agricultural Museum is appealing to the Guinness Book of Records to recognise a 900 kg (1984 pounds) pig which died on February 5 as the biggest pig ever. At its death the pig was 2.5 metres long and had a waistline of 2.23 metres and a tusk of 14.4 centimetres long. According to a farmer of Wafangdian city, the pig was only 5 years old. The pig received quality food all its life.

The World’s Largest Dog

The biggest dog in the world might be Hercules, but according to the book of Guinness World Records Gibson is the tallest one. Gibson has even co-authored his very own book, entitled “Gibson Speaks.” The book gives insight in to the life and journey of the world’s tallest dog.

The World’s Tallest Frog

The goliath frog, Conraua goliath is the largest living anuran on Earth. Generally, it is found in fast-flowing rivers with sandy bottoms. This frog can grow up to 13 inches (33 cm) in length from nose to vent, and weighs up to 8 lb (3 kg). But, this creature has a comparatively small habitat range, mainly in West Africa (near Gabon). The number is decreasing because of habitat destruction and collection for the pet trade.

 Worlds Largest Crocodile

 21.33 feet long

The World’s Biggest Bunny

A Continental Giant rabbit, Amy, was four feet long and weighed a whopping three stone before her death in May 2009 and Ralph, one of Amys 32 babies and barely a year old, is already longer and heavier compared to his monstrous mum and weighs more than the average three-year-old child.

Top 10 Hackers

The more we rely on technology, the more power hackers potentially have over us. Whether their intention is to help or to harm, hackers have the power (like it or not) to change the world. They may inspire fear, but over the years, we've learned a lot from their snooping and stealing.

No. 10 - The Deceptive Duo

 In 2002, the Deceptive Duo (really 20-year-old Benjamin Stark and 18-year-old Robert Lyttle) were responsible for a series of high-profile break-ins to government networks, including the U.S. Navy, NASA, FAA and Department of Defense. Like so many other hackers, California-based Lyttle and Florida-based claimed they were merely trying to expose security failures and protect Americans in a post-911 world. The two hackers posted messages, left email addresses and defaced Web sites in an attempt to get the government's attention...and get the government's attention, they did. Lyttle and Stark pleaded guilty in 2005. Stark was sentenced to two years probation, Lyttle served four months in prison with three years probation, and both were ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in restitution for the damage they caused.

  

No. 9 - Jonathan James (aka c0mrade)

 

On the list of computer systems you'd want to be really, really, really secure, the Department of Defense surely shows up, which makes Jonathan James' (aka c0mrade) break-in to the DoD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency server all the more impressive. James' 1999 spree included not only the DoD, but NASA as well. The then 16-year-old used his purveyed access to steal software, not defense secrets, but James still got into some dangerous territory, including software used to control the International Space Station's living environment. For his crimes, he served an abbreviated minor's sentence of six months and also had to pledge to give up computer use.

No. 8 - Dmitri Galushkevich

When pretty much the whole country of Estonia was suddenly caught up in Internet gridlock in May 2007, the very-small-but-very-tech-savvy former Soviet Republic thought they knew who to blame: the Russian government.At the time, the two countries were caught up in a series of riots over the removal of Soviet-era statues, but now it had gotten serious. The weapon of choice? A botnet.The hackers responsible for the cyberterror hijacked computers and used them, en masse, to overload servers across the country. ATM machines didn't work, Web pages didn't load, government systems were shut down.It took weeks for Estonian officials to untangle the mess and even longer for them to find the culprit: Dmitri Galushkevich, a 20-year-old ethnic Russian living in Estonia. Was he working alone? Unclear, but for wreaking this havoc, Galushkevich was fined 17,500 kroons. Or about $1,620.

 No. 7 - Kevin Poulsen (aka Dark Dante)

Today, Kevin Poulsen is an editor at tech-savvy Wired magazine, but back in the 1980s, he was just your average phone-phreaking, Porsche-driving hack.Poulsen gained some notoriety for a clever prank he played on Los Angeles radio station KIIS, in which he rigged the phones to allow only him to get through and win a trip to Hawaii and the aforementioned Porsche.Known as Dark Dante, Poulsen also took on more serious targets. His break-in to the FBI's database eventually led to his 1991 arrest and five years prison time. Since then, he's gone respectable, retiring to the editor's chair and using his cybersleuth powers for good deeds, like tracking sex offenders on MySpace.

No. 6 - John Draper

Draper is pretty much the granddaddy of hackers.Back in the early 1970s, he was the king of "phone phreaking," meaning he was playing the phone company. Back in the pre-Internet, pre-personal computer days, the phone system was the big computer to beat and Draper did it well.Draper's breakthrough came when he and a friend realized that a toy whistle, a giveaway in a breakfast cereal box, emitted the same frequency as the tones used by AT&T switches to route phone calls.Building off that, Draper made homemade devices, "blue boxes" that could get you all the long distance calls you wanted...for free. What did all this get him? Some time in prison, as well as the attention of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who wanted to get in on phone phreaking himself. Draper went on to write one of the first word-processing programs, EasyWriter, but now specializes in, go figure, security.

No. 5 - Raphael Gray (aka Curador)

Raphael Gray called himself a saint, insisting he was only trying to help e-commerce sites when he broke into their databases to steal credit card numbers and personal information from 26,000 or so American, British and Canadian customers in 2000. The then-18-year-old Welsh teenager insisted he was merely trying to draw attention to lax online security systems. So, if he was really just trying to help, then why did he post the card numbers online? Well, that's another question.Gray was sentenced in 2001 to three years of psychiatric treatment.

 No. 4 - Gary McKinnon (aka Solo) 

Scottish-born, London-based hacker McKinnon wasn't just in it for fun; he had a political axe to grind.Conspiracy-theorist McKinnon broke into computers at the U.S. Department of Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA sometime in 2001 and 2002. What exactly was he looking for? Evidence of really fuel-efficient alien spacecraft, for one.No joke.McKinnon believes the U.S. government was hiding alien technology that could solve the global energy crisis. Now, in the process of snooping around for this stuff, the self-taught hacker concedes he may have deleted a whole bunch of other files and maybe some hard drives as he attempted to cover up his tracks. Nothing significant, he insists.The U.S. government begs to differ, claiming McKinnon's hack job cost them $700,000 to fix. They also kind of doubt the whole UFO story and wonder if his snooping had more earthly intentions. Back in the U.K., Gary's lawyers insist that their client, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, deserves special mental health considerations.Gary himself has become a cause celebre, with his pending extradition being protested by celebrities like Sting.

No. 3 - Adrian Lamo

It's true that companies sometimes hire hackers to test their systems for weaknesses, but no one ever hired Adrian Lamo.In 2002 and 2003, Lamo broke into several high-profile targets, just for kicks. He then told the targets what he had been able to do and how he did it. How kind of him. Lamo's targets included Microsoft, Yahoo and the New York Times, where he inserted his contact info into their database of experts.Known as "the homeless hacker," Lamo slept in abandoned buildings and hacked via laptop from Internet cafes and public libraries. His network-busting technique of choice involved going in through the out door, entering sites through proxy access, a setup that corporations often use to let their computers connect out to the Internet. That led to his arrest in 2003.Lamo served two years probation and now works as a tech journalist.

No. 2 - Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick started out just wanting a free ride on the bus.He came a long way from his hacks into the Los Angeles metropolitan bus system and early dabbling in phone fraud. Mitnick went on to become the most wanted computer hacker in the country, known (and wanted) primarily for his hack into Digital Equipment Corporation's network to steal their software.It may have been his first notable break-in, but Mitnick went on to other big targets, including cell phone giants Nokia and Motorola.Even his eventual arrest was notable: After hacking into fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura's computer, Mitnick was tracked down by Shimomura and the FBI in 1995.Today, Mitnick has served a five-year sentence and come clean, but he continues to profit off his former title, authoring books and working as a security consultant.

No. 1 - Robert Tappan Morris

Even if you know next to nothing about computer viruses, you've probably heard of "worms." That's because news stories about this particularly contagious (and therefore destructive) breed of virus abound.Blame Robert Tappan Morris for it all.Back in 1988, while a graduate student at Cornell University, Morris created the first worm and released it on the Internet. He claimed it was all an experiment gone awry, a test to see how big the then-new Internet was. The worm turned out to be more than a test: it replicated quickly, slowing computers to the point of non-functionality and virtually crippling the Internet. He was eventually fined and sentenced to three years probation.Since then, he's earned his Ph.D. from Harvard and made millions designing software. Today, he's a computer science professor at MIT. Not bad.