The XO Directory

This man has an extraordinary long tongue that he can reach his eye with it.



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This world’s smallest bowl of ramen at 1 Micron in width (1/100th the width of a human hair), contains dozens of 20-nanometer (1/50,000-mm) thick noodles. It was created by University of Tokyo professor Masayuki Nakao by using a metal particle beam to carve the bowl from silicon, and a mixed of soup of ethanol and catalyst inside the bowl to form the carbon nanotube "noodles".

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This is a video of El Camino del Rey, one of the world's dangerous walkway in southern Spain. I was made to provide walkway for the workers of the Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls, who were making a dam that time, to provide transport of materials. I took four years to finish, from 1901 to 1905.



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An ancient Persian gold cup relic which served as childhood toy of John Webber is expected to fetch some 500,000 pounds. This ancient relic, which was made hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ, stayed in a shoe box under his bed for years. His grandfather give the 5.5 inch high mug to him when he was a child back in 1945.

Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was "consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing" dating back to the third or fourth century BC.

The Achaemenid empire, the first of the Persian empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran, was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

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This is the before and after NASA's Terra satellite photos of Cyclone Nargis that hit southern Myanmar on May 2 and 3 this year. It left massive floodwaters the devastated the region and killed nearly 100,000 based on the latest estimate.

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An Australian man named Colin Campbell Ross was pardoned, only, 86 years after being executed by hanging to death in 1922. He was charged with murder and rape of a young girl and dumping her body in an alley in 1921. But only recently, new tests found evidence against him was flawed - which led to him being to be acquitted of the crime.

"This really is a tragic case where a miscarriage of justice has resulted in a man being hanged," Victoria's Attorney-General Rob Hulls said on Tuesday. "This pardon is a recognition that there are serious doubts about Mr Ross's conviction for murder." Australia is a strong opponent of the death penalty, with the last hanging taking place in Melbourne in 1967 when petty criminal Ronald Ryan was executed for his involvement in a prison escape, during which a prison guard was shot dead.

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This is an extraordinary video of double knockout during the LFC 25.



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Swedish artist Erik Nordenankar claims his self portrait drawing is the world's biggest drawing. It was done using a GPS device stuffed inside a briefcase which he sent around the globe via DHL, with exact co-ordinates to draw the figure. When the package returned after 55-day journey around the world, he downloaded the GPS's route to produce the gigantic drawing which is composed of a single 110,00km long line that passes through six continents and 62 countries.

"In order to make the drawing that I wanted, I developed a GPS device with extended tracklog and battery time," Nordenankar claims. As "evidence" of his achievement he has posted the picture, his complete delivery instructions to DHL, two photos of his GPS suitcase and a photo of a wad of DHL delivery notes onto his website.

Link. See also biggestdrawingintheworld.com

At 76 years old and 25 days away from his 77th birthday, Nepalese man Min Bahadur Sherchan becaming the oldest man to climb the 29,035-foot Mount Everest. He reached the summit of on the 25th of May 2008 and became the oldest person to climb the world's highest mountain.

He beat the record set last year by Japanese climber Katsusuke Yanagisawa, who scaled the peak at age 71. Sherchan was in good health and was descending from the summit, Chetri said.

The former soldier climbed smaller mountains before Everest and has been an active sportsman, Chetri said.

He said about a dozen climbers scaled Everest on Sunday following one of the busiest weeks in the mountain's climbing season.

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Yosuke, an African grey parrot, went missing for two weeks. When rescued by police and transfered to a veterinary hospital, it chatted with the vets and told them it's name and address.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.

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Mary Tilly and Evelyn Hodge was recognized by Guinness Book of Records as the world's longest neighbors. The two have been neighbors for 72 years, and still counting.

"We have seen many changes during our lives together as neighbours – but fundamentally our homes are still the same as they were when we both came to live here." Mrs Tilley added: "I'm blessed to have Evelyn."

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You think money is only for buying? Try money origami and see some cool things you can do with your money.

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Litrospheres is a self-luminous micro particles invented by MPK Co. This new light source can lasts 12 years without a single recharge from electricity or sun exposure. Litroenergy, the technology behind Litrospheres, has potential to save billions of dollars in energy costs world-wide. It surpasses all known available lighting options for cost/durability/reliability and safety.

GlowPaint glow-in-the-dark paint company, MPK Co., has come up with self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres™ which they say are inexpensive, non-toxic, and will stay on for 12+ years (half-life point) continuously -- without having to be plugged into any power source. It is a betavoltaic technology, using a radioactive gas, whose "soft" emission of electrons from the beta emitting gas cannot penetrate the glass or polymer wall of the microspheres.

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This is an extraordinary tight rope walking trick of a goat with a monkey on it's back.



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This is the daredevil stunt video of a plane which lands on top of a moving van. Don't try this at home.



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Nothing could be much more comfortable than sitting in the world's biggest sofa made from sand.

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The Lion's Mane jellyfish is the worlds largest jellyfish specie. It's bell diameter can grow up to 2.5 meters. The largest recorded specimen had a bell (body) with a diameter of 2.3 m (7 feet 6 inches) and the tentacles reached 36.5 m (120 feet). It was found washed up on the shore of Massachusetts Bay in 1870. It lives mainly in cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans.

A common species, the lion's mane jellyfish is well known to divers for its painful, but seldom fatal stings; they are toxic and can cause severe burns. Most encounters cause only temporary pain and localized redness.

Although capable of attaining a bell diameter of 2.5 m (8 feet), these jellyfish are highly variable in size; those found in lower latitudes are much smaller than their far northern counterparts with bells about 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter. The tentacles of larger specimens may trail as long as 30 m (100 feet) or more. These extremely sticky tentacles are grouped into eight clusters, each cluster containing 65-150 tentacles, arranged in a series of rows.

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Swiss Yves Rossy lived his dream of becoming a "rocket man" when he flies with an 8ft jet-fuel powered wings strapped on his back. He flew at 8,200ft for more than five minutes above the mountainous town of Bex in western Switzerland.

Stepping out of an aircraft at 7,500ft, Rossy unfolded the 10ft rigid wings strapped to his back as he plummeted earthwards. Passing from freefall into a gentle glide, he triggered the four jet turbines and accelerated to 190mph above the mountaintops. Steering with his body, Rossy dived, turned and soared again, flying what appeared to be effortless loops from one side of the Rhone valley to the other.

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"Werewolf Boy" Pruthviraj Patil, begs for cure to his rare medical conditon called hypertrichosis also known as Werewolf Syndrome. Only 50 people is believed to have the said condition worldwide.

"I would like to get the hair removed but even after laser treatment it grows back. The doctors don't have any answers," he said. The thick matted hair that covers Pruthviraj's face has caused him to be stared at and bullied throughout his childhood, and he rarely leaves his home village in India because of the cruelty of strangers.

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The Millau Viaduct located in France is the world's tallest vehicular bridge with one mast's summit at 343 metres. Designed by civil engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France.

Millau Viaduct is located in Millau, France, in the Département of Aveyron. Before the bridge was constructed, traffic had to descend into the Tarn River valley and pass along the route nationale N9 near the town of Millau, causing heavy congestion at the beginning and end of the July and August vacation season. The bridge now traverses the Tarn valley above its lowest point, linking the Causse du Larzac to the Causse Rouge, and is inside the perimeter of the Grands Causses regional natural park.

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This is an amazing battle for survival between the buffalo, lion and crocodile at Kruger National Park. See what happens when this three collide.



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A 50-kilogram sandbar shark which became celebrity at a Spanish beach was nabbed by biologists with bare hands and dragging it ashore. This shark became a tourist attraction by making daily trips into the knee-high water in the beach - which beach official fear might bite beach goers.

The fish turned into a novelty by swimming regularly into plain view in very shallow water. Bathers gathered daily to snap photos. Police fined several people who ventured into the water to splash around with it. A team of three biologists from the Barcelona Aquarium waded in yesterday and, after two failed attempts before a crowd of hundreds, finally managed to capture the flailing shark with their hands. They quickly stuck its snout into a net to keep it from biting.

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Chunky mmonkeys at a Japanese park has been put on diet after being overfed by tourists. About one third of the parks 50 Macaca mulatta monkeys, which generally weigh up to 11 kg in the wild, are now overweight. The heaviest male weighs over 29kg.

The heaviest male weighs over 29kg and does little more than shuffle around the 420-square-metre enclosure waiting for the next hand-out, according to park officials. The monkeys have been put on a special low-fat diet and signs have been put around the enclosure asking visitors not to feed them. But the park estimates that as many as 20 people every day ignore the request.

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The Greater Dwarf Cloud Rat which was thought to be extinct was rediscovered, after 112 years, by a team of Filipino and American scientists in Mt. Pulag National Park in the Philippines. It was the first time that the said animal was discovered in its natural habitat.

"This beautiful little animal was seen by biologists only once previously -- by a British researcher in 1896 who was given several specimens by local people, so he knew almost nothing about the ecology of the species," said Lawrence Heaney, Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum and Project Leader. "Since then, the species has been a mystery, in part because there is virtually no forest left on Mt. Data, where it was first found."

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Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar is expecting their 18th child on New Year's Day who will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. And they said their expecting more.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old. The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot (650-square-meter) home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled. Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

Link. See also DuggarFamily.com

Sam Cunningham suffered 25,000-volt of electric shock but very lucky to be alive. He thrown 25 feet off a railway bridge on to the tracks below by the electric shock.

The 16-year-old is now being treated for severe burns in hospital, where experts say he is "lucky to be alive".

Sam was retrieving a rugby ball on the bridge near his home in Wigan on Thursday evening when a charge leapt from overhead powerlines into the steel toecaps of his boots.

He was knocked unconscious by the fall and all his clothes were burned off.

After paramedics arrived Sam regained consciousness and managed to phone his mother Ann.

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Hex, the six legged kitten from Florida, USA. Vets believe the legs, which he does not use, belonged do a siamese twin who did not properly develop in the womb. The kitten is due to undergo surgery to have them removed.



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This smallest working gun ever made can even be a keychain accessory.

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This massive sinkhole in Texas, USA, estimated to be at least 600ft long and 150ft deep, swallowed vehicles and oil field equipment.

A massive sinkhole has opened up in south-eastern Texas in the US, swallowing up vehicles and oil field equipment.

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This is the video of Nicholas White when he was trapped in an elevator for 41 hours.



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Here's a list for top ten world's deadliest poisons.

1) Botulinum - Botulinum toxin is a protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and is extremely neurotoxic. When introduced intravenously in monkeys, type A of the toxin exhibits an LD50 of 40-56 ng, type C1 around 32 ng, type D 3200 ng, and type E 88 ng, rendering the above types some of the most powerful neurotoxins known. Popularly known by one of its trade names, Botox or Dysport, it is used for various cosmetic and medical procedures.

2) Ricin - Ricin (pronounced /ˈraɪsɨn/) is a protein that is extracted from the castor bean (Ricinus communis). Ricin may cause allergic reactions, and is toxic, though the severity depends on the route of exposure. The LD50 of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram (1.76 mg for an average adult, around 1/228 of a standard aspirin tablet (0.4g gross)) in humans if exposure is from injection or inhalation. Oral exposure to ricin is far less toxic and lethal dose can be up to 20–30 mg/kg.

3) Anthrax - Anthrax toxin is a three-protein exotoxin secreted by virulent strains of the bacterium, Bacillus anthracis--the causative agent of anthrax. The toxin was first discovered by Harry Smith in 1954. Anthrax toxin is composed of the cell-binding protein, protective antigen (PA), and two enzyme components, called edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF). These three protein components act together to impart their physiological effects. Assembled complexes containing the toxin components are endocytosed. In the endosome, the enzymatic components of the toxin translocate into the cytoplasm of a target cell. Once in the cytosol, the enzymatic components of the toxin disrupts various immune cell functions, namely cellular signaling and cell migration. The toxin may even induce cell lysis, as is observed for macrophage cells. Anthrax toxin ultimately allows the bacteria to evade the immune system, proliferate, and ultimately kill the host animal. Research on anthrax toxin also provides insight on macromolecular assembly, protein translocation, pore formation, endocytosis, and other biochemical processes.

4) Sarin - Sarin, or GB is an organophosphorus compound with the formula [(CH3)2CHO]CH3P(O)F. It is a colorless, odorless liquid, which is used as a chemical weapon. It has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687. Production and stockpiling of sarin was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance.

5) Tetrodotoxin - Tetrodotoxin (also known as "tetrodox" and frequently abbreviated as TTX, sometimes colloquially refered to as "zombie powder" by those who practice Vodou or are of Haitian decent) is a potent neurotoxin with no known antidote. There have been successful tests of a possible antidote in mice, but further tests must be carried out to determine efficacy in humans. Tetrodotoxin blocks action potentials in nerves by binding to the voltage-gated, fast sodium channels in nerve cell membranes, essentially preventing any affected nerve cells from firing by blocking the channels used in the process.

6) Cyanide - A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group (C≡N), which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Most commonly, cyanides refers to salts of the anion CN−. These compounds are highly toxic.[4] Other kinds of cyanide compounds are far less toxic because they do not release cyanide ions.

7) Mercury - Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg (Latinized Greek: hydrargyrum, from "hydr-" meaning watery or runny and "argyros" meaning silver) and atomic number 80. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is bromine. With a freezing point of −38.83 °C and boiling point of 356.73 °C, mercury has one of the broadest ranges of its liquid state of any metal. A heavy, silvery d-block metal, mercury is also one of the five metallic chemical elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and pressure, the others being caesium, francium, gallium, and rubidium.

8) Strychnine - Strychnine is a very toxic, colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. In Australia it is also placed on steel jawed wild dog traps. This is done to ensure that the animal is not entrapped for overly long periods before expiring. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion. The most common source is from the seeds of the Strychnos nux vomica tree. Strychnine is one of the most bitter substances known. Its taste is detectable in concentrations as low as 1 ppm.

9) Amatoxin - Amatoxins are a subgroup of at least eight toxic compounds found in several genera of poisonous mushrooms, most notably Amanita phalloides and several other members of the genus Amanita, as well as some Conocybe, Galerina and Lepiota mushroom species.

10) Compound 1080 or Sodium fluoroacetate - Sodium fluoroacetate is the organofluorine compound with the formula FCH2CO2Na. This colourless salt is used as a metabolic poison. It occurs naturally as an anti-herbivore metabolite in various plants but can also be produced synthetically. It is a derivative of fluoroacetic acid, a carboxylic acid. The more common fluorinated acetic acid trifluoroacetic acid and its derivatives are far less toxic.

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The Wolf People, as circus fans call them, Victor "Larry" and Gabriel "Danny" Ramos Gomez are two of a family of 19 that span five generations all suffering from the rare condition called Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis characterized by excessive facial and bodily hair. Although the women are only covered with a light to medium coat of hair, the men of the family have thick hair on approximately 98% of their body except their hands and feet.

They are known as "The Wolf People" due to a condition known as "Hypertrichosis." These people are truly courageous and awesome.

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Rhinoceros Beetles (or Rhino beetles) is considered the world's strongest animal and among the largest of beetles. They are capable of lifting up to 850 times their own weight. They are a subfamily (Dynastinae) of beetles in the family of scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae).

Rhinoceros beetles are also the strongest animals on the planet, proportionally. They can lift up to 850 times their own weight. To put this into perspective, if a human of average height and weight had the strength of the rhinoceros beetle, it would be able to lift a 65 ton object, for example, an Abrams Tank.

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Botulinum Toxin is the world's deadliest poison and the most poisonous naturally occurring substances. It is a neurotoxin protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

Though it is highly toxic, it is used in minute doses both to treat painful muscle spasms, and as a cosmetic treatment in some parts of the world. It is sold commercially under the brand names Botox, Dysport, and Myobloc for this purpose. The terms Botox, Dysport, and Myobloc are trade names and are not used generically to describe the neurotoxins produced by C. botulinum.

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A video of top ten K1 knock-outs from EuroSports.



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This extraordinary picture of Chinese artist Li Wei is a self-portrait which creates an illusion of him sometimes dangling in a skyscraper. This collection of photos of him free falling from tall buildings sell up to $8,000.

Chinese artist Li Wei has produced an unsettling series of self-portraits involving his face reflected in mirrors in public places, and photographs of himself crashing into walls and sidewalks. His work is a mixture of performance art and photography that creates illusions of a sometimes dangerous reality.

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See this slow motion slap and you won't ever wonder what a man looks like during slapping?



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An Austrian man named Josef Fritzl, kept his daughter as sex slave for 24 years in their home basement, fathering her 7 children.

An Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless basement cell and fathering seven children with her, three of whom "never saw sunlight" until they were freed over the weekend, police said. Josef Fritzl, now 73, also told investigators that he tossed the body of one of the children in an incinerator when the infant died shortly after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs.

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So you think you office is clean? Nope. In fact your computer keyboard is maybe five times dirtier than your toilet seat, according to research.

The scientist swabbed 33 keyboards for food poisoning bugs e.coli, coliforms, staphylococcus aureus and enterobacteria and compared the results to those found on a lavatory seat and lavatory door handle.

Four of the keyboards were considered a potential health hazard and one was "condemned".

Two had "warning levels" of staphylococcus aureus and two others had "worryingly elevated" levels of coliforms and enterobacteria, "putting users at high risk of becoming ill from contact".

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Look at this picture? Do you see lovers in intimate position? Well, children don't see that, they see something else - nine dolphins, according to research.

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Pigeons Attacked with Darts in the head in Seattle, Washington alarmed people in the city center. According to reports, there are at least three birds found alive with the needlelike projectiles in their heads.

"This is just a horrifying case," Tori Perry, a cruelty case worker for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told the Seattle Times.

"Someone who would do this to an animal is a short step away from doing this to a human being."

The darts appear to have been fired from a blow gun and have not penetrated the pigeons' brains, Perry said. The injuries, however, are likely to worsen and become infected, resulting in "a very, very painful death," she added.

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The Great Blue Hole of Belize is a large underwater sinkhole. It is almost perfect circular in shape, over 1,000 feet in diameter and 400 feet deep. It was formed as a limestone cave system during the last ice age when sea levels were much lower. As the ocean began to rise again the caves flooded, and the roof collapsed.

This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso to the hole to chart its depths. [3] Investigations by this expedition confirmed the hole's origin as typical Karst limestone formations, formed before rises in sea level in at least four stages, leaving ledges at depths of 70, 160 and 300 feet. Stalactites were retrieved from submerged caves, confirming their previous formation above sea level. Some of these stalactites were also off-vertical by 10° - 13° in a consistent orientation, thus indicating that there had also been some past geological shift and tilting of the underlying plateau, followed by a long period in the current plane.

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The Swedish Spruce tree is maybe the world's oldest living tree, according to study - beating California's "Methuselah" tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine. Scientists found a cluster of spruces in the mountains in western Sweden and have found, through carbon dating, that this trees have an estimated 8,000 years old.

Carbon dating of the trees carried out at a laboratory in Miami, Florida, showed the oldest of them first set root about 8,000 years ago, making it the world's oldest known living tree, Umea University Professor Leif Kullman said.

California's "Methuselah" tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine, is often cited as the world's oldest living tree with a recorded age of between 4,500 and 5,000 years.

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A fishing crew has caught the worlds largest colossal squid ever (scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) — 330 pounds heavier than the next biggest specimen ever found. This giant squid weighs an estimated 990 lbs and about 39 feet long. Colossal squids are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long and have long been one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep ocean.

The fishermen were catching Patagonian toothfish, sold under the name Chilean sea bass, south of New Zealand "and the squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep," Anderton said.

The fishing crew and a fisheries official on board their ship estimated the length and weight of the squid: Detailed, official measurements have not been made. The date when the colossus was caught also was not disclosed.

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A pile of Coprolite or fossilized dinosaur dung from the Jurassic era was sold at New York auction for almost $1,000. This dinosaur dung 130 million years old and looks like a rock on the outside and a colorful mineral inside.

The buyer was Steve Tsengas of Fairport Harbor, Ohio. The 71-year-old owns OurPets, a company that sells products to treat dog and cat waste. Tsengas bought the dung in hopes of motivating his employees and using it as a marketing tool by displaying it at the company's booth at trade shows, he said. "Poop," he said, "is a big business in the pet industry."

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