The XO Directory

Tuna is the news of the moment. This giant bluefin tuna sold for a record 32.49 million yen or $396,000, in Tokyo. As many of us know, Tokyo is world's largest wholesale fish market.

This record breaker weighed 754-pound tuna and beat the previous record set in 2001 by a 445-pound fish that was sold for 20.2 million yen.

The giant tuna was caught off the coast of northern Japan. The record-setting price translates to 95,000 yen per kilogram or $526 per pound.

"It was an exceptionally large fish," said the official, Yutaka Hasegawa. "But we were all surprised by the price."

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Aboard the Vagabond, an 80-foot deluxe sportfisher, Mike Livingston's got his heaviest price to date, a 405-pound Yellowfin Tuna. This one it the heaviest on record caught by an angler and will replace the current record, a 388-pound 12-ounce specimen, which has stood since 1977.

Mike and company had been on a 10-day expedition in search of "super cows," or tuna weighing 300 pounds or more. His catch was from Magdalena Bay on the southern Baja California peninsula.

The tuna weighed 405.2 pounds; it's girth was 61 inches and it measured nearly 86 inches from nose to tail. It took him nearly three hours fight before they were able to pull it aboard.

When the scale hit that number it was like the Super Bowl here," said Livingston, 63, a retired school administrator, in reference to cheers from a crowd of nearly 200, gathered to witness the weigh-in.

Here's a video while he is weighing the fish:



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Denny Ingram was a lucky man last week. He caught a yellow lobster - a 1-in-30 million chance. The very rare yellow lobster was caught in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. Lobsterman Denny Ingram found the lobster in one of his pots last week. It is golden on the top and bright yellow on both sides.

Another colored lobster was caught off the coast of New Hampshire last year. It was a blue lobster and the change is 1-in-5 million. The rarest of them all is the white lobster caught off Cape Cod in 2004 and change to caught one is 1-in-100 million.

It's also apparently good luck for this lobster, who will not be heading to anyone's dinner table. Ingram says he plans to keep the yellow lobster on display at the fishermen's co-op at the State Pier in Newport.

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Caño Cristales is not only known as the world's most beautiful river, it's called as "the river of five colors" and "the river that ran away from paradise". That's because Caño Cristales is really an amazing sight to behold when it resident algae are in bloom.

It only happens once a year in the period between the wet and dry seasons, when the water level is just right. Many varieties of algae and moss bloom in an amazing display of colors. In that period, the river is coated with different colors, from yellow, blue, green, black, and red and countless shades in between.

If you want to see Caño Cristale in it's dazzling display of color, you have to be there at the right time because for most of the year, it is indistinguishable from any other river, with a bed of rocks covered in dull green mosses and a cool dark blue current.

Often referred as the "river of five colors", "the river that ran away from paradise," and "the most beautiful river in the world." A unique biological wonder Caño Cristales is one of those places you have to see to believe.

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20-year-old actor Nick Afanasiev, aka the Tongue Boy, became a YouTube sensation when he posted videos of his unusually long tongue. It turned out, he has the longest tongue in United States. At 3.5 inches in length from the middle of his closed top lip to the tip of his tongue, Nick's tongue is 0.36 shorter than that of the world record holder for the world's longest tongue, Stephen Taylor.

"I knew it was long; I just didn't know it was one of the longest." Afanasiev told the news station.

Check out one of his YouTube videos.



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Man's best friends will surely rejoice with this news. The world’s very first ice cream truck for dogs rolled out in London. The ice-cream van will serve canine-friendly flavors such as "Dog Eat Hog World" — a chicken and gammon sorbet. This vehicle was created to celebrate the Boomerang Pets Party.

And also, though their ice cream flavor tastes different than what we're used to, they are safe for human consumption.

"The weather has been so hot, we thought dogs deserved a cooling treat as much as anyone else," said Sally Bezant of event organizer Boomerang Pets Party. She said a team of pet nutritionists had been through a complicated scientific process to determine the tastiest and safest flavors for the dogs' dessert. And although the unusual flavors were tested on a panel of dogs, they can be eaten by humans.

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At just 6-years-old, Giuliano Stroe, a Romanian descent, is dubbed as the world's strongest boy. He became a Guinness World holder in 2009 after setting the record for the fastest ever ten meters hand-walk with a weight ball between his legs.

Born July 18, 2004, Giuliano is a six-year-old bodybuilder and gymnast. He has been lifting weights since he was two-years-old in Florence, Italy where his family lives. On February 24, 2010 he broke the world record for number of 'air push-ups' - an exercise where push-ups are performed without letting your feet touch the ground. Stroe managed 20 'air push ups' beating his previous record of 12, live on Romanian TV.

Stroe performance made him an Internet sensation as hundreds of thousands of people have watched the clip of him performing the stunt on YouTube. Here's a video of him while training.



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If you see her, Sheyla Hershey will really stand out from the crowd. That's because Mrs. Hershey is the woman with world's largest breast.

Born on December 19, 1979 in Brazil, Hershey is now a housewife now living in Houston, Texas in the USA. In May 2008, after 8 operations, she had a recorded breast size of 34FFF. And she seemed not contented with it that she had another operation in her native Brazil in January 2009. This time she was reported to have a size 38KKK breast.

Well, we hope she will stops this "big" dream of hers because last July 14 2010, Hershey was reported to be suffering from a staph infection in both breasts following her most recent surgery. Although her implants have been removed, the infection may also necessitate breast removal.

Here's a video of her.



Link, Her Official Site

Despite it's size, the Irukandji jellyfish is believed to be the most venomous creature in the world. What's more disturbing is that this tiny and extremely venomous jellyfish are found the world over. So far, there are two known species of Irukandji, the Carukia barnesi and the recently discovered Malo kingi. It's size is roughly no larger than a centimeter cubed body and four tentacles which range from a few to 35 cm in length

The venom of Irukandji jellyfish results to Irukandji syndrome. This syndrome was first documented by Hugo Flecker in 1952. The symptoms includes severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure, and psychological phenomena (such as the feeling of impending death). Once a victim is stung, it will take an average of 30 minutes before the Irukandji syndrome sets in.

Here's a documentary of the Irukandji jellyfish.

Isobel Varley is not your average senior woman - she is the world's most tattooed senior woman listed in the Guinness Book of World Records since 2000. In fact, her tattoo cover more than 90% of her body.

Isobel's first love with tattoos started in 1986 when she attended a tattoo convention. The following week she had her first tattoo and didn't stop since.

At the present the only areas not completely tattooed is her face, the soles of her feet, her ears and some areas on her hands.



Below is a video of here in British TV show.



To know more about her, you can visit her website here.

At 8 feet and 1 inch, Sultan Kösen currently is the world's tallest living man. His feat was recently recognized by the Guinness World Records and he is included in the book's 2010 edition. He beat Bao Xishun for the world record. Aside from the height, Kösen is also the current Guinness World Record holder largest hands, and largest feet, measuring 27.5 cm and 36.5 cm respectively.

A Turkish national, 26 years old Kösen began growing fast when he was 10 years old due pituitary gigantism after doctors discovered a tumor behind his eyes. His abnormal growth continued the tumor was removed in 2008.

His condition has caused other medical problems and gigantic height causes stress on his knees that he needs to use walking canes for most activities.

He said, "I am great at hanging curtains and changing light bulbs".

Born in New Zealand, Lucky Diamond Rich is currently the world's most tattooed person. His tattoos covers 100% of his body, including the inside of his foreskin, mouth and ears. He holds this Guinness world record, which was previously held by Tom Leppard, since 2006.

Lucky spent over 1,000 hours having his body modified by hundreds of tattoo artists. He started by having a full collection of colorful designs from around the world tattooed over his entire body. Still not contented, he soon opted for a 100% covering of black ink, including eyelids, the delicate skin between the toes, down into the ears, and his gums. He is currently being tattooed with white designs on top of the black, and colored designs on top of the white.

(Image Source)

The Gibraltar Airport is the world's the closest airport to the city that it serves. Constructed during World War II for the British Naval, the airport is only 500 meters from Gibraltar's city center. It's runway intersects with a major city highway and when a plane has to take off or land, traffic is shut down to gave way.

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At more that 70 years old, Cathie Jung still got what it takes to be the Guinness World Records' living woman with the world's smallest waistline. Her waist measures a astonishing 15 inches. In fact she got a perfect (or imperfect) figure of 39-15-39.

A resident of Connecticut, USA, and dubbed the "Corset Queen", Cathie got her small waistline by wearing tight fitting corset which she wore 24/7 since 1983 - that's 26 years up to now. She first wore one in 1959, for her wedding day. And now she got around 100 of them.


(Image Source: Link)

After a nationwide search, the UK's oldest working TV was found in a home of a north London resident. This 1936 Marconiphone is said to have been made in the time that Britain's first "high-definition" television service started.

This old 12-inch (30cm) TV set is owned by an electrical engineer named Jeffrey Borinsky, who collects antique television and radio sets. He bought it 10 years ago and is working on restoring it to its original state.



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At the age of 16, David Wei Liang Howell became UK's youngest chess grandmaster. Born on November 14, 1990, and now 18 years old, Howell earned the title when he came second during the 35th Rilton Cup in Stockholm on January 2007. The record was previously held by Luke McShane who was six months older when he became a grandmaster.

Howell has been playing chess since the age of five years and eight months, after his father bought a second-hand chess set. He quickly learned and defeated his father and soon came to the attention of the Sussex Junior Chess Association, where he received tuition from a number of established county players. He progressed rapidly and became the British Under-8, Under-9 and Under-10 chess champion.

In August 1999, Howell became famous internationally when he broke the world record for the youngest player to have defeated a Grandmaster in an official game. He defeated GM John Nunn in a blitz game at the Mind Sports Olympiad. David still holds this record. He is also the youngest player in the world to have qualified to compete in a national chess championship, taking part in the British Chess Championship in August 2000. He came fourth in the Player of the Year ballot held by the British Chess Federation during 2000.

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On July 16, 2009, at age 17, Zac Sunderland became the youngest person to sail solo around the world, a record previously held by Australian David Dicks. Zac began his trip on June 14, 2008 at the Marina del Rey, California on board his sailboat he name Intrepid. After 13 months and 2 days at sea, he arrived at Marina del Rey, California greeted by his family and friends and a crowd of reporters, a world record holder.

When Sunderland decided to attempt the circumnavigation, he purchased a 36 feet (11 m) Islander for $6,000, using all of his savings. With the assistance of his father, he retrofitted the yacht for the trip. Sunderland planned to complete his voyage in April 2008 with a maximum time of 18 months. He continued his schooling while on his trip, saying, "I have all my books with me. I have one more year to finish at high school and I have to send back my tests (via e-mail) to my mom. She's going to grade them and make sure I am doing well.

Link (Image by: zacsunderland.com)

The man with the world's longest hair is Tran Van Hay. This 73 year-old Vietnamese has hair that measures at approximately 6.2 meters long. Due to it's massive size, he balanced it on his head under a scarf which makes it looks like a giant turban.

Tran Van Hay is proud of his "achievement" and with the help of his wife would gladly unravel his hair on the table to show off.

Here's a pictures of Tran with his long hair that hasn't been washed for more than six years.


And a video of him showing it off.

If you are bored with theme parks and carnivals, why not hit the road and visit the world's largest roadside attractions. This super extra-large building and statues will certainly make your vacation days "overwhelming".

World's largest basket-shaped building, Newark, Ohio.

"Big Golden Guitar", located at Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia

The World's Largest Muskie, at the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame; Hayward, WI.

World's Largest Axe in Nackawic, New Brunswick

Paletta Grande. The big scoop aluminum sculpture situated posterior to Da Vinci's Horse is 12x12 foot with a 22 foot wood handle.

Salem Sue a.k.a. The World's Largest Holstein Cow, is a large fiberglass holstein cow sculpture located in New Salem, North Dakota

Big Pineapple at Nambour, Queensland

(Images source: Link)

Elise Tan Roberst is a 2 year old child from Britain with 156 IQ. She is the youngest member of MENSA, the oldest and best known high-IQ society in the world. At 2 years old, Elise can also recite the phonetic alphabet, count to 10 in Spanish and memorize the capital of 35 countries.



To give you an idea about how intelligent she is, consider this, Albert Einstein, named the greatest scientist of the 21st century has an IQ of 160. See her video below.