Originating from Greek pan gramma, meaning “every letter,” a pangram is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams have many uses. An example you have most likely seen is a pangram that displays all the letters of a font’s typeface on your computer. Pangrams are also used in keyboarding exercises to reach all the alphabetical keys. However, pangrams are also practiced as a form of constrained writing, where the goal is to create the shortest pangram within the limits of the alphabet while making sense. A perfect twenty-six letter pangram is considered an anagram of the English alphabet. While this list aims to examine pangrams of the English language, there are some exceptions. I have included authors where possible.

“This Pangram contains four a’s, one b, two c’s, one d, thirty e’s, six f’s, five g’s, seven h’s, eleven i’s, one j, one k, two l’s, two m’s, eighteen n’s, fifteen o’s, two p’s, one q, five r’s, twenty-seven s’s, eighteen t’s, two u’s, seven v’s, eight w’s, two x’s, three y’s, & one z.” (183 Letters, English)

Means: Pretty straightforward, it addresses all the letters in the sentence, even the ones that wouldn’t be there, if the whole alphabet hadn’t been mentioned. Created by Lee Sallows.

Some verbal horseplay between Douglas Hofstadter, Rudy Kousbroek, a Dutch linguist and essayist, prompted Lee Sallows to create a self-enumerating pangram. Hofstadter had posed the problem of sentences that describe themselves. The original pangram Sallows came up with was well over 300 letters and wasn’t even a complete pangram, missing a j, q, and z. Meanwhile, Kousbroek published a Dutch equivalent, which spurred Sallows to use his electronic engineering background to program The Pangram Machine. The machine accepted a description of the initial sentence fragment and tried to fill in the blanks. resulting in the pangram above. It was published in Scientific American in 1984.

“a-b-c-d-e-f-g
h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p
q-r-s
t-u-v
w-x
y and z
Now I know my “ABCs,”
Next time won’t you sing with me” (68 letters, English)

Means: It’s the singing of the alphabet! Created by Charles Bradlee, Arranged by Louis Le Maire.

The song was first copyrighted in 1835 by the Boston-based music publisher Charles Bradlee, and given the title “The A.B.C., a German air with variations for the flute with an easy accompaniment for the piano forte.” The musical arrangement was attributed to Louis Le Maire, an 18th century composer. The theme that is used is by Mozart for the piano variations (above) and is called: “Ah, vows dirai-je, maman.” This variation is more commonly recognizable as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep.”

“Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich.” (53 Letters, German)

Means: Victor chases twelve boxers across the great dam of Sylt. Author Unknown.

The German “Victor-jagt” pangram, used since before 1800, contains all the letters of the German alphabet, including the 3 umlaut letters: ä, ö, and ü. It is widely used and is considered the German equivalent to the “The quick brown fox” pangram (see below).

“Iro wa nioedo
Chirinuru o
Wa ga yo tare zo
Tsune naramu
Ui no okuyama
Kyō koete
Asaki yume miji
Ei mo sezu.” (47 letters, Japanese archaic hiragana)

Means: Even the blossoming flowers / Will eventually scatter / Who in our world / Is unchanging? / The deep mountains of vanity– / We cross them today / And we shall not see superficial dreams / Nor be deluded. Author disputed.

This perfect Japanese pangram, in a poem no less, was originally attributed to Heian era Japanese Buddhist priest and scholar Kūkai (774–835 AD). However, this is unlikely as it is believed that in his time there were separate e sounds in the a and ya columns of the kana table. The poem holds a special place in Japanese culture, often used as motifs and by the Japanese military. Japanese weapons made before 1945 were numbered in series with the opening syllables of the original poem, and they were also used to denote the rank of submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Iroha is also used in numbering the classes of train car: I is first class, Ro is second class and Ha is third class.

“The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.” (33 letters, English)

Author Unknown; The earliest known appearance of the phrase is from The Michigan School Moderator.

“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is an English pangram. It has been used to test typewriters and computer keyboards, and in other applications involving all of the letters in the English alphabet. Owing to its brevity and coherence, it has become widely known.

“Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.” (32 letters, English)

Created by Mark Dunn.

Ella Minnow Pea is a 2001 novel by Mark Dunn. The plot is conveyed through mail or notes sent between various characters, though with the banned letters missing, creating passages that become more and more phonetically or creatively spelled, and requiring more effort of the reader to interpret.The novel is set on the fictitious island of Nollop, off the coast of South Carolina, and home to Nevin Nollop, the supposed creator of the well-known pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

“Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.” (29 letters, English)

Author Unknown.

An ominous pangram of sorts, this sentence’s claim to fame is that it is used in Adobe’s Publishing software, InDesign for English. A bit carelessly, the pangram was then translated to all the languages the program supported and went unnoticed for several months until a multilingual user fluent in German and English spotted the mistake.

“Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.” (28 letters, English)

Means: Dance slower forest creature because fast dancing angers Bud (presumably a character). Created by Dmitri Borgmann.

Dmitri Borgmann authored this pangram in his book “Language on Vacation.” While it is one of few to make sense with so few letters, it also uses a proper name: Bud. If this were allowed in the strictest of pangrams, a simple perfect pangram could be: “I am Joseph Qrutzlfwycxdbvngk.”

“Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx.” (26 letters, English)

Means: In headline-esque fashion we are told that Mr. Jock does not win that many lynx. Author unknown.

Researching for pangrams is not easy, but this pangram seems to have achieved universal acclaim for those searching for perfect pangrams that make sense. Granted, it can be interpreted a few different ways and does not follow the strictest rules for pangrams, such as no abbreviations or proper nouns, it still is a more logical choice for an example for a perfect pangram.

“Squdgy fez, blank jimp crwth vox!” (26 letters, English)

Means: A short brimless felt hat barely blocks out the sound of a Celtic violin. Created by Claude Shannon.

Claude Shannon, otherwise known as the Father of Information Theory, authored this highly complex and practically nonsensical perfect pangram, which follows the strictest of rules for pangrams: no abbreviations, acronyms, contractions, initialisms, proper nouns or Roman numerals. Pangrams of this nature all seem to suffer from the same flaw, missing a required article (a, an, or the) before the object which follows the verb.

For obvious reasons, most of the world’s sites for the testing of nuclear weapons are located in remote and little-known places, away from population areas and prying eyes. Although the sites may make the news whenever a weapon is tested, they are rarely anything but simply a name in the public consciousness. There are now 7 confirmed members of the nuclear club, and each of them at some stage has had to find some remote area to test their weapons. For some of them, lacking substantial areas of remoteness within their borders, this has meant either presuming on the friendship of other countries or simply grabbing hold of some far-flung place and using it despite objections from neighbors. Then there’s the problem of what to do after the testing is finished, which has generally turned out to be a major headache for all concerned. Here then are the top 10 nuclear test sites.

The newest member of the nuclear club, Pakistan had a long lag-time between developing nuclear devices and actually testing them. Although it is reasonably certain that Pakistan possessed nuclear capability as early as 1983, their first nuclear test was not carried out until May 1998. Koh Kambaran itself had been chosen as a test site as early as 1976. Located in Baluchistan Province, the site was chosen because the mountain ranges above the underground site are composed of granite and provide at least a kilometer of protection between the explosion and the open air above. In addition the local population is sparse and consists mainly of nomadic herders. During the late 70′s a 1 km long tunnel was dug under the site. Pakistan’s political problems prevented any early testing of their devices and its wasn’t until May 28, 1998 that five nuclear devices were exploded in the course of one afternoon deep underground. The test was named Chagai-1 and was precipitated by India’s detonation of two nuclear devices early in May. According to the Pakistanis, the largest yield from one of the devices was up to 40 kilotons. However, Western sources believe the largest yield was actually less than 20 kilotons. Although Pakistan has carried out nuclear tests at other sites since, Koh Kambaran and Chagai-1 hold a special place in the Pakistani national consciousness and May 28 has been designated a public holiday entitled Day of National Greatness.

When the British started testing nuclear weapons in the late 1940s and early 1950s, they had the problem that nowhere in the British Isles themselves was really suitable for such tests. Fortunately, at the time, they had a rather large (although shrinking) Empire with plenty of remote space available. A number of sites were used, but perhaps the most controversial was their decision to persuade the then pro-Imperial government of Australia to allow testing in the Outback. Two sites in South Australia, Maralinga and Emu Field, were selected. Two tests were carried out at Emu Field in 1953 before a move to a permanent location at Maralinga. The small problem of a resident Aboriginal population was solved easily by forcibly relocating the native residents to a new community, although they persisted in wandering back to their old home. Two major sets of tests were carried out in 1956 and 1957, one of which was the first ever dropping of a nuclear device from an RAF aircraft. Testing continued until 1963. Clean-up operations continued until 1967, however the site remained dangerously radioactive. In the 1980s, major controversy developed when Aboriginals, Australian and British servicemen who had been exposed began exhibiting symptoms of radiation-related disease and cancers. A massive clean-up was initiated and the area was declared safe for visiting but not occupancy in 2000. Both Britain and Australia were forced to pay out massive compensation to their servicemen and the Aboriginals affected. However the resident Aboriginal population has never been allowed to return to their former home.

India began to develop its nuclear capability after fighting a border war with China in 1962 and several confrontations with Pakistan. Pokhran, in the state of Rajasthan, was chosen as its test site in the late 1960s. Although the Indian government claimed the site was in a remote desert area, it was near a population site. Pokhran was a town with a population of around 15000 when the first nuclear test was carried out at the nearby army base in September 1974. Designated Pokhran-1, the explosion yielded about 8 kilotons. In the face of worldwide condemnation, India claimed its only interest in nuclear power was for peaceful purposes and declared it would not build nuclear weapons. It wasn’t until May 11, 1998 that India carried out another test at the site. Designated Pokhran-2., four nuclear devices were detonated. On May 13, a thermonuclear weapon was also detonated. According to Western sources, none of the tests yielded the expected results and India cancelled testing of further devices. It has been claimed that India has dismantled its testing facilities at Pohkran but the Indian government will neither confirm nor deny this. However, the site remains heavily restricted and is off-limits to foreign observers. Any evidence that the residents of Pokhran itself have been affected by the nuclear tests has been kept secret by the Indian government.

Although the US has conducted far more tests at other sites, Bikini Atoll, located in the Marshall Islands in the north-west Pacific, remains arguably the best-known nuclear test site of all time, partly because unlike other test sites, copious film and photographic evidence of tests here is in the public domain, and partly because the atoll gave its name to the two-piece bathing suit invented at about the same time as testing commenced here. Bikini was selected in late 1945 to be the successor testing ground to Trinity in New Mexico, where the devices dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were developed. The island’s native population were moved to a nearby island with the assurance they would be back in 3 months. On July 1, 1946, the first peacetime detonation of a nuclear device was undertaken. The major subjects of the test were 250 obsolete and captured warships. Those ships not destroyed in that blast were subjected to a second test a month later. Between 1946 and 1954, some twenty tests were carried out. In 1957 the islands were declared safe, and some of the inhabitants allowed back, but they were forced to leave again after developing radiation sickness. The islands remain uninhabitable to this day, although it has become a popular spot for divers scouring the wrecks of the ships sunk in the initial tests. However, the site is so contaminated that fish caught in the vicinity cannot be safely eaten. Bikini Atoll was designated a World Heritage site in 2010.

Probably unique as the only site where two different countries have tested their weapons, Kiritimati, once known as Christmas Island, is an atoll which is now part of the Republic of Kiribati. One of the most remote places on earth, located virtually in the centre of the Pacific almost equidistant between Australia and North America, the island was chosen as a test site by Britain in 1957 in order to test its hydrogen bomb, Further tests were carried in 1958, before the British abandoned the site. The US took over in 1962 and detonated 22 devices before it too abandoned the island as a test site in 1969. Throughout all of the testing the island’s small population remained on the island, and subsequently some of them, as well as servicemen from Britain, New Zealand and the US, have reported radiation-induced sickness and higher than normal cancer rates. Nevertheless, the island’s population has grown substantially since the tests and the native flora and fauna continue to flourish.

The Chinese tested their first nuclear device at this isolated marshy area in the Bayingolin Autonomous Mongol Province in October 1964. The test, designated 596, yielded 22 kilotons. It was followed by 44 further tests, 22 of them in the atmosphere and 22 underground before the Chinese suspended testing in 1996. Among the weapons tested here was China’s first hydrogen bomb, detonated in 1967. The Chinese have never released details of the effects on the local population and the environment. The area is particularly sensitive because nearby is the location of the famous Tarim mummies, as well as substantial remains of their ancient culture dating back to 1800 BC. However, the Chinese have never allowed foreign observers to examine the site of the tests and it remains off-limits to locals and tourists alike.

Arguably the most controversial test site in the world, the French decision to test nuclear weapons in their remote territory of French Polynesia caused major friction with other Pacific nations, most notably Australia and New Zealand. Although the French used a number of different islands for testing, most of the concern rested on its use of Mururoa Atoll and its neighbor Fangataufa. Between 1966 and 1996, France conducted 41 atmospheric and 147 underground tests on these two islets. New Zealand, which had adopted a nuclear-free zone policy, was particularly upset by these tests and at one stage despatched a naval force to protest. There were grave environmental concerns after it was revealed continued underground testing at the site was threatening to crack the coral base of the islands and release radioactive material into the Pacific. Relations between France and NZ reached a new low when French agents bombed a Greenpeace vessel in Auckland Harbour in 1985, killing one person. Eventually, under intense international pressure, France declared an end to nuclear testing in the Pacific. The last test was carried out in January 1996, after which the site was dismantled. The site remains a sensitive one though, as observers have noted that dangerous radioactivity is still present and that the monitoring systems set up by the French are inadequate.

This remote and icy island above the Arctic Circle was subjected to 224 nuclear detonations by the Soviet Union between 1954 and 1990. Its main claim to fame is that in 1961, the largest ever nuclear detonation was carried out here, measuring over 100 megatons. However, the logistical problems of using this remote and inhospitable island meant it was never as favored for testing by the Soviets as the Semipalatinsk site in Kazakhstan. The last test was carried out here in 1990, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, the Russian Federation has continued to use the site for low-level nuclear testing, short of detonation. The small native population who were removed in 1954 have never been allowed to return to their homes.

This most favored site for Soviet nuclear testing has been since 1991 the property of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who inherited a wealth of health and environmental problems that may take generations to be fully calculated. The Soviets conducted a whopping 465 nuclear detonations here between 1949 and 1981. Originally constructed in the Stalinist era with slave labour from the gulag, it was here that Russia’s first nuclear weapon was detonated in 1949. It was always the subject of intense interest by the West and particularly the US, who directed numerous U2 flights and then spy satellites to watch over the site. As a consequence the Soviets sent most of their infrastructure underground to hide it from the spies in the skies. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the site was handed over to the Kazakhs, who as signatories of the Central Asian Nuclear Free Zone treaty have declined to put it to the same use as the Soviets did. However, the health problems reported by some 220000 local residents including higher than average cancer rates will continue to exercise the minds of the Kazakh authorities for many years to come.

Welcome to the most nuked place on the planet. A staggering 928 nuclear tests were carried out in this 3500 km square area of Nevada 107 km north of Las Vegas between 1951 and 1992, more than 800 of them underground. As a result the area has been left peppered with subsidence craters. In the early days the nuclear tests were almost a tourist attraction. Mobsters attempting to build the gambling business in Las Vegas offered viewings of nuclear explosions as an added lure to visitors. Thousands of films and pictures were taken and distributed around the world. Movie productions were made amidst the dust blowing from nuclear detonations. However, as the health implications of the tests became known, it ceased to be a site for tourist exploitation and became a serious concern for the US government. It has been revealed that the cancer rates in the area surrounding the test site are almost twice that of the US population. A significant increase in childhood leukemia has been noted in the years following the beginning of nuclear testing. Numerous lawsuits alleging health problems have been brought against the US government since 1982. Over $500 million has already been paid out in compensation, and it is estimated the eventual health bill from the Nevada Test Site may exceed $5 billion. In 2009 the Nevada Test Site was officially declared the second most radioactively contaminated spot on the planet after Chernobyl. It is believed that radiation levels in some areas of the site actually exceed those present in Hiroshima and Nagasaki immediately after the A-bombs were dropped in 1945.

The world of cinema comes with many movies that failed to predict the future (we didn’t get to Jupiter by 2010, and the Soviet Union dissolved by then) but many that manage to. These films, while certainly nothing like Nostradamus, have predicted technology, crime, and even what will be popular.

Yes, real-life reality shows are usually started when the focus of the show agrees to it, but The Truman Show predicted that in several years, reality shows would be common. That was 1998, when there were few reality shows. Now in 2012, television is filled with them: Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Mob Wives, and the worst of them all, Jersey Shore. Back in 1998, the idea of making a show about someone’s life was strange enough to make a movie about it. Today’s society has been reduced to watching idiotic celebrities insult each other, horny people punch each other, and wives of criminals at each others necks. Oh well, there’s still 30 Rock…

No, we don’t have flying cars (at least not widespread) or robot slaves, but one thing is certain: Our iPhones expire after about 1-3 years. The robots in Blade Runner expire after 4 years. Both now and in the 1982 film, our technology is set to expire so we’ll simply go back and get more and more technology. That mistake was made multiple times throughout history, never turning out well, but perhaps the appeal of the iPhone and iPad will make sure that the cycle works.

2001 is more often associated with terrorism than with the space age, but one thing became true: robots, like HAL, have killed humans. Drones are often set out to kill terrorists (for example, Alwaki) to spare soldiers that might have otherwise been killed during the mission. If you’re asking why they didn’t get Osama with the drones, it is because it might have alarmed Pakistani civilians if their neighbors were suddenly killed by a bomb. Of course, they must have also been alarmed when US Soldiers finally killed their evil neighbor.

On YouTube, 4 Million videos are uploaded every 5 seconds. And do you find it hard to doubt that at least one of those videos is filled with people attacking each other, torture, and even murder? While it is not shown on TV like in Videodrome, just think that as you read this, some messed-up sociopath is killing someone while taping it. These snuff or even real torture videos may remind old-film lovers of an even older film, Peeping Tom.

If you read the news, you might have heard about the riots in England in early 2011. Crime and lawlessness were everywhere… much like Alex’s violent gang that goes around paralyzing writers, killing women with statues and raping people while chanting “Singing In The Rain.” As for the Ludovico Sequence, there are ways to neutralize homicidal feelings in criminals. Although the rioters are not as violent as the Droogs (Alex’s gang), just think what may happen in a few years, if the economy in England slides down further, and riots become more common. Then, there may be a gang as violent as Kubrick and Burgess depicted the Droogs to be in England.

I admit that the birth situation in the world is not as dire as in the film, but birth rates are declining, especially in Europe. For example, in Italy the average fertility rate is 1.40, and these numbers are declining even further. In France it’s 2.05. In Singapore, it’s 0.75. Again, there is proof that these numbers will dwindle further, but it is nearly impossible for us to resolve while many are worried about overpopulation. Underpopulation issue is actually more important.

No, there are no robotic policemen (yet), but people who lost limbs have often been rebuilt by machinery, although no one has yet been rebuilt an entire man with robotics. It is indeed an interesting idea for a man to be completely rebuilt. Perhaps at some point in the future, its prediction will come true.

What this classic triumph of science fiction predicted was that at some point in the future, humans would have small and handheld communicators that they would bring everywhere. It is very obvious that this prediction has come true, although we don’t have robot companions like Robbie. Actually, a version of Robbie might be true in Japan, as a robot that is used as a housekeeper, babysitter or even a friend is being released.

While not that much of the film has come true, one aspect has: remember the mall scene? The advertisements were aimed at the main character. Computers often save your searches, and find advertisements that they think you’ll like based on them. For example, if you type in “Yankees vs. Mets” you’ll later see an advertisement for tickets. Look up a lot of books? Barnes & Noble. Look up a lot of movies? Tickets to the premiere of a film.

The reason this is number 1 is because it is quite amazing that memories can be erased. In the 2004 film, a couple decides to have their memories erased of each other. First the girlfriend does, then the boyfriend, played by Jim Carrey, decides to retaliate and erase his memories. During the procedure, he desperately tries to save memories of her. In real life, Dutch scientists have found a way to erase traumatic memories for people who are suffering. One difference between the film and real life, however, is that the procedure is not for a break-up, but rather troubling memories of death, mugging, or even rape.

The wonderful world of sports has given us numerous moments of joy and pleasure. We love to cheer at the rare moments when our favorite team provides us with glorious performances and outstanding displays of sheer brilliance. While many of these rare occurrences happen in popular sports like football, soccer or basketball these moments also happen in less popular sports that are performed by an individual alone. This list will focus on some incredible performances that are pulled off by athletes in what I call alternative sports. The following clips feature inspiring achievements by people who are not your every day heroes but even if you don’t usually appreciate these kinds of sport events you will certainly appreciate these one-of-a-kind moments of pure brilliance.

Category: Skateboard
Amazing Feat: Chris Cole 50+ attempts at a 360 Flip

Chris Cole is a professional skateboarder who is probably best known for his appearances in the highly successful Skate video games for the XBox 360 and for winning the coveted Thrasher’s Magazine Skater of the Year Award twice. In this clip he tries to execute a 360 Flip down a brutal staircase in San Fransisco, California. While I stopped counting his attempts the comments on the YouTube page tell us that he tried this trick for more than 50 times in a row. Many skateboarders would have quit after a few attempts due to the considerable impact he has to suffer each time landing on the concrete but not Chris Cole. His determination is truly inspiring.

Category: BMX
Amazing Feat: Mat Hoffman World Record Air

Mat ‘The Condor’ Hoffman might be one of the most recognizable characters in extreme sports history. Few others have influenced the BMX genre in the way he did as he has invented more than a hundred tricks that are now standard in the genre, as well as appearing in several video games based around his person that helped to bring this sport to a wider audience. In his career he has not only accomplished everything a BMX rider possibly can, but rather pushed the boundaries of the sport far beyond the usual competitive aspect. The clip shows one of his most ridiculous stunts that involves an over-sized ramp that has been build for the sole purpose of setting a new world record in terms of highest air, a motor-cross bike that helped him gain enough speed and a lot of courage. If you wonder how dangerous this stunt actually is then let me tell you that he tore his spleen and almost died when he tried to perform this feat a few years earlier.

Category: Golf
Amazing Feat: Tiger Woods Chip at the 2005 Masters

I’m pretty sure that some of you have already seen this clip before. With more than 400,000 views on YouTube it is one of the more viral videos here but when you read the title of this list, this clip just fits perfectly. Tiger Woods faces one of the toughest pitches on the entire course and you just have to love the commentators discussing how difficult it is to even get near the hole. The first minute of this clip show how Tiger analyzes the situation and he definitely looks pained over this shot. The outcome of this shot is sheer brilliance displayed by the greatest golfer of all time. It almost has a commercial feel to it when you see the ball seemingly stopping just inches away from the hole, and the line of the commentator (‘In your life have you ever seen anything like this?’) just sums up this great shot perfectly.

Category: BMX
Amazing Feat: Anthony Napolitan Lands First BMX Double Front Flip

Anthony Napolitan is a professional BMX rider who gained notoriety and respect from his fellow peers by pulling off a trick at the 2006 X Games that has never been seen before. He failed the double front flip before, missing a safe landing by a couple of degrees and though every failed attempt at this monstrous ramp almost certainly means injury or worse he seems to be determined to nail this trick in front of the large crowd. In this clip he lands the trick as clean as it gets and seeing this achievement in slow motion just gives you goosebumps.

Category: Darts
Amazing Feat: Phil Taylor 9 Dart Finish Twice In One Match

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of darts. I find it rather boring to watch on television and every time I happen to stumble over it while changing channels I seem to see the same guy over and over again. This guy comes from England and is called Phil Taylor. He also happens to be the best darts player who ever lived which comes as no surprise when you consider that he has won the world championship 15 times. In this clip he pulls off of a feat that also has never been seen before. For those of you who don’t know what a 9 Dart finish is let me tell you that first of all, it is extremely difficult, almost bordering on impossible. Comparable to a perfect game in bowling the darts player must finish a single game (or leg) in the minimum amount of shots possible, which is 9. While this finish alone is more than tough Phil Taylor does the impossible and scores two 9 dart finishes in a single match.

Category: Poker
Amazing Feat: Annette Obrestads Uncanny Fold at World Series of Poker 2010

Some may argue that poker is not really a sport and they might have a point but everyone who enjoys raising, betting and folding every once in a while will agree that there is a certain competitive aspect to the game that bears a striking resemblance to the other sports you will see on this list. If you have trouble agreeing to this just consider poker as a mental sport and this is definitely within the boundaries of this list’s topic. In this clip you will see young Norwegian professional poker player, Annette Obrestad, who happens to find herself in the middle of several other players at a hand at the World Championship of Poker in 2010. Every recreational poker player knows how hard it is to fold a flopped full house later on in a hand, especially when the board runs out rather unscary, like in this example. This hand is talked about even today in various poker forums and shows the uncanny ability of Obrestad as she just soul-reads his opponents hand perfectly and finds the extremely unlikely but correct fold. Sheer genius for her age.

Category: Motor Cross
Amazing Feat: Travis Pastrana Double Back Flip

Travis Pastrana is yet another professional BMX rider who just happens to be utterly insane. Good for him that his apparent death wish is matched by sheer talent. In this clip he tries to pull off a double back flip and I think I don’t have to mention that this has never been done before, or do I? Prior to this stunt he has told his mother what he is about to try with the words: ‘I’m going to do the double back flip and if something happens just remember I love you and I’m just having fun.’ This clearly shows that a failed attempt at this stunt might easily result in a long hospitalization, if your lucky, that is. The moment when he is up in the air and the whole crowd goes silent in anticipation of the outcome is very chilling and believe me when I tell you that you actually feel very relieved after watching the whole clip.

Category: Skateboard
Amazing Feat: Bob Burnquist 2001 Vert Run at X Games

Bob Burnquist is one of the best known professional skateboarders out there. He was featured in the popular Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series and has been the center of attention due to some of his crazy stunts like successfully going over a loop ramp that had a gap in it or doing a base jump at the Grand Canyon after grinding a specifically designed rail. In this clip you will see him in action at the 2001 X Games doing a vert run that can only be described as mesmerizing. Following the theme of this list you don’t necessarily have to like skateboarding. You might even have a dislike against this sport but either way, you will be blown away by the incredible run that the Brazilian genius pulls off. In the first part of the clip you’ll see Bucky Lasek, a very talent skateboarder in his own right, completing his excellent run that leaves Bob Burnquist as the last skater standing on the ramp with an almost impossible task. In order to beat Lasek he’d have to really show something spectacular in his last run and boy, does he deliver. The commentators just contribute to this clip perfectly and will leave you smiling after 2:35 minutes of the most beautiful display of a skateboarding performance.

Category: Snooker
Amazing Feat: Ronnie O’Sullivans fastest Maximum Break in Snooker History

Ronnie O’Sullivan is definitely the one when people talk about the thin threshold between brilliance and madness. When he has one of his good days he literally sweeps over the field of competitors leaving them not the slightest chance to win a match of snooker against him. On his good days he delivers relentlessly on the green felt and makes former world champions look like amateurs. But there is another side to him, too. His father is a convicted murderer and currently serves time in prison and it might be some of his genes that are responsible for Ronnies behavior at the table that is often less than gentleman-like. He quits games in the middle of a session, leaving hundreds of paid fans mad at him for ruining their afternoon and he also likes to play left handed to displease his opponents, openly ridicule them, while still crushing their souls on the felt. In this clip you will see a good day. Maybe even the best day this talented man has ever had. In a record 5:20 minutes he manages to clear the whole table, an extremely difficult feat to accomplish but the speed and accuracy of his shots are a beautiful display of raw talent that is unmatched in this sport.

Category: Skateboard
Amazing Feat: Danny Ways Slams and Stomps

During my research I have found many moments in these alternative sports that were uplifting and truly inspiring. You have seen nine of these moments already and in their own right, these video clips are nothing short of spectacular and might or might not send a shiver down your spine. But from the moment on I saw Danny Way in this video clip I knew I had to put him on the top of the list. The clip shows a true skateboard legend going through arguably the most emotional moments of his life. Once again, we find ourselves at the X Games, more specifically at the ridiculously huge ramp. We see Danny going down this monster and his first attempt at performing looks spectacular in all regards, except for the end when he lands on the rail of the monster ramp shin first and bails in shocking fashion. For a few moments he lays still and the last thing anyone in the crowd or any viewer has in mind are the remaining three runs that he could possibly take. But Danny sure has other plans in mind. As the commentator says, this is really a lesson in determination.

When you’ve essentially been canonized as a modern secular saint, there’s no way to not be overrated to one degree or another, but in the case of the legendary John Lennon, the gap between the idol people worship and the real person is so enormous, and the accolades that come his way so over the top, that it’s impossible not to try and mitigate the damage to some degree. The truth is, many people – young and old – all over the world model their lives and beliefs after the Lennon icon, and they really, really shouldn’t. Here’s why:

There’s simply no way of disputing this: the revered icon of peace and love had a serious problem with violence against women. This has been documented all the way back to his Liverpool days, and he eventually admitted it himself later in life. His first wife Cynthia and his second, Yoko Ono, were both victims of Lennon’s brutality at one point or another, and given that most men who beat their spouses or girlfriends regularly are not particularly discriminating about the object of their violence, it’s frankly impossible that they were the only ones. It seems clear in hindsight that the gentle icon the hippies worship was actually a man with very serious psychological problems who often flew into uncontrollable fits of rage which he took out on the women in his life.

Without question, the greatest victim of Lennon’s character failings was his oldest son, Julian. Lennon clearly resented the young boy whose conception had forced him into a marriage he didn’t want and trapped him in a domestic routine he was too immature and narcissistic to sustain. Both Julian and his mother Cynthia have publicly stated that Lennon was alternately absent, indifferent, drug-addled, and generally unpleasant to be around during Julian’s early childhood. After he divorced Cynthia, Lennon took off with Yoko Ono and dropped out of his son’s life for years. After they reconnected, Lennon severely emotionally abused his son on several occasions, berating and screaming at him until the boy was reduced to tears. Once, Julian giggled and Lennon shouted back, “I hate the way you fucking laugh!” Julian was not yet a teenager at the time. In perhaps the saddest statement ever made about Lennon, Julian later stated that Paul McCartney was more of a father to him than his real father was.

Put simply, John Lennon made up his own life – exaggerating, embellishing, and outright lying when it suited him to do so. Usually, he did so out of pure egomania – a desire to make himself appear better than he actually was. Everyone does this to some extent, but in Lennon’s case, he rewrote almost every major event in his life to suit his tastes. He claimed he had been a working class lad from Liverpool before the Beatles; he was actually raised in a comfortable middle-class home. He denied being married during his early years of stardom. He claimed to have met Yoko Ono at an art show and their love blossomed spontaneously; in fact, Ono had stalked him for months before he gave in to her advances. He claimed to have lost interest in the Beatles due to Paul McCartney’s tendencies toward pop music and dominant role in the group, as well as his desire to do his more avant-garde work outside the band; in fact, he had all but left the band in its last two years as the result of a serious addiction to heroin. When he emerged back into the public eye shortly before his death, he claimed that he had been spending time baking bread and being a stay-at-home dad; in fact, he had been living in a drug-induced haze most of the time. The truth in all of these cases was embarrassing, but no more than the kind of behavior many rock stars acknowledged engaging in during the ‘60s and ‘70s; Lennon compulsively lied about it anyway.

Contrary to later tales of a spontaneous break and/or the decision by Paul McCartney to leave the band, it was John Lennon who destroyed the Beatles. Certainly, all was not well with the band during the final years of the ‘60s, but it was Lennon and Lennon alone who brought down the axe, announcing at an otherwise routine meeting that he was leaving the group. It was kept under wraps for some time, but no one was under any illusions about the ability of the group to go on without him. Essentially, Lennon’s departure made the death of the Beatles inevitable; it just took a year or so for the obituary to be written.

People tend to see Lennon as some sort of divine guru of peace and love because of his political activities in the early 1970s. The truth is that most of Lennon’s reputation as a political activist is based on photos of him with various ‘60s radicals and his own press statements. He never actually did anything whatsoever of note in the political realm, and most of the radicals he cultivated thought he was an ignorant poseur. The few things he did actually do, like giving money and publicity to violent groups like the Black Panthers, are nothing to be proud of.

This is probably the most controversial item on this list, and it must be admitted that it is an inherently subjective issue to some extent, but a very good case can be made that even as a musician and a songwriter, Lennon was remarkably under-talented. First, he was at best an average guitar player, mostly confined to basic rhythm parts, and his piano playing wasn’t much better. As for his songwriting, yes he did write a handful of truly inspired songs, but as time passes and the nostalgic hype surrounding the Beatles begins to fade, a lot of his works comes off as silly and dated. Try reading the lyrics to “Strawberry Fields Forever” or “Come Together” sometime. They’re pure hippie psychedelic babbling, the kind of thing that passed for profundity in the drug-induced haze of the late 1960s. The only thing that makes them work is the terrific production, for which credit easily goes to producer George Martin and the other Beatles as much as to Lennon himself.

In fact, looking back on the Beatles legacy, one can make a pretty good case that both Paul McCartney and George Harrison (on the later albums, at least) were superior talents to Lennon in the songwriting department. The truth is, after about 1965, Lennon more or less drops out of the Beatles. He had almost nothing to do with the Sgt. Pepper album, and most of what came after was – by everyone’s admission – largely at the behest of Paul McCartney. By the end, as you can see in the film Let It Be, McCartney was desperately trying to motivate a Lennon who simply didn’t want to be there. As for Lennon’s solo career, there are five or six memorable songs and the rest… Well, can you name a single track from “Sometime in New York City”?

This is true of pretty much all the Beatles, but with Lennon it’s particularly obvious. In the beginning he was following the American rhythm and blues tradition with a smattering of Roy Orbison-style pop ballads. Later he’s obviously trying to channel Bob Dylan. Then he’s aping the psychedelic stylings of the California drug bands. After that, he gloms on to avant-garde, John Cage-influenced (above) modern art music. Truth be told, there wasn’t much Lennon did that hadn’t been done before by more original and talented artists.

Despite his reputation as a freethinker following his own path, Lennon was an obvious case of someone desperate to fit in. Yes, he was trying to fit in with groups that were considered non-conformist, but conformism is conformism. Right from the beginning, Lennon was posing. Back in the day, the teddy-boy look was the in thing, so he shows up in leather jackets and a pompadour. Then its the cute pop look. Then the psychedelic hippie thing. Then the angry avant-garde hipster. It never ends. Everything about Lennon, from his music and politics to the way he dressed, was an attempt to fit in with sub- or counter-cultures that already existed.

As much he liked to pretend to be a misunderstood artist following his own uncompromising vision, the truth is that Lennon pursued fame and fortune from the beginning. Even in the early days when the Beatles were a struggling bar band, he used to extol them by saying they would go “to the topper most of the popper most.” He happily went along with the Beatles’ haircuts, suits, and calculated image; as well as the band’s innumerable media appearances; only denouncing it all as shallow and empty later in life, when he was cultivating an avant-garde reputation. His relentless antics with Yoko Ono in the early ‘70s now seem to be such a blatant plea for attention that one wonders how anyone took them seriously back then. And of course, he never turned down any of the fat paychecks that came his way as a result of his fame and success.

This is the toughest one and the hardest to say in public, mainly because Lennon’s murderer (above) cited it as his primary motive, but that doesn’t make it any less true: Lennon was a perfect example of someone who lived by the hypocritical dictum of “do as I say, not as I do.” As his critics sometimes point out, all you have to do is go straight to his songs. The man who sang “imagine no possessions” lived a millionaire’s life in a posh New York hotel. The man who sang “imagine no religion” was obsessed with every spiritual and New Age fad that came his way, including Hindu meditation, the I-Ching, and astrology of all kinds. The man who sang “all you need is love” was a bitter, violent, and angry man who abused his family and friends. The man who praised having “nothing to kill or die for” helped finance and publicize radical groups who extolled the use of violence. Quite literally everything his fans see personified in the icon of John Lennon are ideals the man himself either couldn’t or wouldn’t live up to.

Say what you will about mother-in-laws, there hasn’t been a joke or horror story that hasn’t been told. But who says all mother-in-laws have a bad reputation? Some mother-in-laws deserve a bit of a bad rap. There is British mother-in-law Heidi Withers whose nasty email to her soon to be daughter-in-law went viral or the legal battle between mother-in-law Ruth Zafrin and her comedian daughter-in-law, Sunda Croonquist, who sued her over too many jokes about their family. Your mother-in-law raised your spouse and made them the person you feel in love with. mother-in-law Kristine Casey saw her in-laws suffering and gave birth to her own grandson in 2011. Here is a list of real life mother-in-laws and their tales of support, determination, love, possessiveness and occasionally, fear; a list that is hopefully of interest due to mother’s day being just around the corner.

“The awe and dread with which the untutored contemplates his mother-in-law are amongst the most familiar facts of anthropology.”
James George Frazer (1854 – 1941) Scottish social anthropologist

“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. – Ruth 1: 15-18

“Coffee Talk with Linda Richman” was a Saturday Night Live sketch by Mike Myers (1991-1994) in which Myers played a exaggerated version of his own real life mother-in-law. Sketches featured discussion topics, call-ins from fans and a bit of Barbra Streisand obsession. Richman would start conversations with topics including, “Ralph Fiennes is spelled neither rate nor fines. Discuss.” and “Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss.”, all while throwing in Yiddish phrases and references. The real Linda Richman wrote a book “I’d Rather Laugh: How to Be Happy Even When Life Has Other Plans for You” in 1998 and founded Hidden Talents casting and directing company. Richman was also in the audience the on February 22, 1992 when Barbra Streisand made a surprise appearance on the “Coffee Talk” sketch. Streisand is an idol to the real and fictional Linda Richman.

You may want to pay attention – this one gets a little complicated. In 1989, Bill Wyman, 52, the bassist for the Rolling Stones married Mandy Smith. 18. They were married until 1993 after Patsy Smith, Mandy’s mother, gave her full consent to the May-December romance. That same year, Mandy’s mother Patsy Smith, 49, married Stephen Wyman, Bill’s 31 year old son. That makes Patsy Smith the Mother-In-Law and Daughter-In-Law of Bill Wyman. This bizarre Mother-In-Law pairing would not last however as Bill and Mandy divorced in 1993 and Patsy and Stephen’s marriage ended in 1995. This video shows the start of it all – the wedding of Bill and Mandy.

Dimple Kapadia is an Indian film actress and noted sex symbol. Her family spans several generations of actors. Known for her debut film Bobby (1973 film), the second top grossing film of the decade, which started the Bollywood trend of rich teen/poor teen romance films. Dimple Kapadia won her first of her four Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1974 (in the only tie in Filmfare history). Later films include Kaash (1987), Drishti (1990), and Rudaali (1993). She married actor/ producer Rajesh Khanna and had daughters Twinkle and Rinke with him. Daughter Twinkle would marry Bollywood star Akshay Kumar in 2001. Kumar has won two Filmfare Awards and is known as the “Indian Jackie Chan”. He has a good relationship with Dimple; both have praised each other for their work and throw lavish events in honor of their family. This clip shows Kumar praising the women in his life: his mother, his mother-in-law and wife for their support around 1:25.

As the leader of China from 1861 until her death in 1908, Cixi was a ruler for 47 years. Her position in history is controversial, she is either considered responsible for the fall of the Dynasty (which occurred in 1912 after her death) or a mere victim of a culture change she had no control over. Regardless, for this woman to rise from imperial concubine to powerful Empress is remarkable. Her son, Tongzhi, married in 1872 the Empress Jiashun Alute, the granddaughter of Cixi’s sworn enemy. This mother-in-law combination was not a good match. Alute was said to have stated, “I am principal wife and empress, having been carried through the front door with pomp and circumstance, as mandated by our ancestors. The Empress Dowager Cixi was only a lowly concubine, having entered this house by the side door.” Tongzhi was an inept ruler who was known to frequent Beijing’s brothels and died, allegedly, from syphilis in 1875. Cixi’s daughter, Empress Xiao Ding Jing, would succeed her mother. She is most famous for abdicating the empire on behalf of her six year old son, Puyi, the Last Emperor. Here is a clip from the 1987 movie of the same name.

Internationally acclaimed fashion designer, Diane von Fürstenberg is most noted for her iconic wrap dress. Born Diane Halfin in Belgium, married Prince Egon von Fürstenberg in 1969 and had two children, Alexander and Tatiana. Alexander married Alexandra Miller in 1995. Diane and Alexandra began collaboration as she joined the design team of her mother-in-law becoming the image director for DvF. Alexandra assisted in the wrap dresses revival in the 1990s. She is currently the President of Alexandra Von Furstenberg, LLC. While both Diane and Alexandra are both now separated from their husbands, their collaboration in the fashion world has not slowed.

Married to Sigismund I the Old she became Queen of Poland in 1518. Her only surviving son, Sigismund II Augustus, became her focus. Sigismund’s first marriage was to Elisabeth of Austria and caused a rift between Sigismund and his mother. She was gravely ill and her husband spent their short marriage having an affair with Barbara Radziwiłł. Upon his first wife’s death, Sigismund married Barbara. This match caused great turmoil amongst the nobles and especially his mother. It was noted that the King approved of the match, as his son was in love with Barbara. However, Bona was deeply troubled by his marriage. Five months after Barbara’s coronation, she was dead, supposedly poisoned by Bona Sforza. Barbara’s death would inspire the Faust- like Polish folklore tale Pan Twardowski and several works of art.

Marian Robinson, also known as “First Granny” is a resident of the White House as the Mother-In-Law of President Barack Obama. Born Marian Lois Shields, she married Fraser Robinson in 1960 and had children Craig Robinson (Oregon State University’s head basketball coach) and Michelle Obama. She is the first live in mother-in-law to live in the White House since President Eisenhower’s mother-in-law. Formerly a secretary at Spiegel catalog, the widowed Mrs. Robinson remains active in her retirement, participating in the Senior Olympics in addition to being caregiver to Sasha and Malia. She is the bedrock of the Obama family.

Through her marriage to Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden, Amalie became Hereditary Princess of Baden. Noted for her wit and intelligence, she was a devoted wife and mother, and subsequently, an invested mother-in-law. As the mother of eight children and six daughters, she was known as “Mother-In-Law of Europe”. Marquess Amalie of Baden children were noted for marrying into notable royal families. Friedericke became Queen of Sweden after marrying Gustaf IV Adolf and Maria married the Duke of Braunschweig. Daughter Louise was married Alexander I of Russia. While Louise’s grandmother-in-law adored the young princess of Baden, Alexander I mother, Maria Feodorovna, did not share these warm feelings. However, their in-law relationship is for a later topic.

As Queen consort of King Henry II of France from 1547 until 1559, Catherine de’ Medici was a force to be reckoned with during her sons consecutive reigns. Having eleven children, seven of whom survived to adulthood, Catherine was destined to become a mother-in-law to many. However, her children, and their spouses, were not immune to Catherine’s will. She forced daughter Marguerite to marry the Protestant Henri de Bourbon,Henry IV of France, to better her status. Catherine’s hatred for her daughter’s mother-in-law, Jeanne d’Albret, might have lead to her untimely death. Rumors spread that Catherine poisoned Jeanne with perfumed gloves. This union caused greater strife among her people and set off the War of the Three Henries. Another famous in-law would include Mary, Queen of Scots. She was praised by everyone at the French court. Everyone, of course, except Catherine. Her marriage to Catherine’s first child, Francis II of France, was short lived and his death devastated Mary. Catherine was said to have insisted that Mary return her jewels and return to her homeland.

Sara Delano Roosevelt took her role as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s mother very seriously and her role as mother-in-law was equally important. She married James Roosevelt, Sr. in 1880 and they had Franklin two years later. Sara’s possessive nature over her son was obvious and she once noted, “My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all.” She doted on Franklin and was central to life. Considering their relationship, it is no wonder that his engagement to Eleanor was such a source of resentment for Sara. Franklin’s mother deliberately took him on a cruise in 1904, hoping he would change his mind on the matter. Sara was a frequent visitor to their home in Springwood and despite the new couple’s financial income, they did not rebuff Sara’s presence. As difficult as their relationship was, Sara was keen to be a mentor to the orphaned Eleanor. Sara’s dedication to their marriage’s success was evident in her staunch opposition to a divorce following Franklin’s affair. Sara was said to have threatened to disinherit Franklin if he did not save his marriage. Her focus was the success of Franklin and once she married her beloved son, Eleanor’s success was of equal import. As the greatest female figure in Eleanor Roosevelt young adult life, Sara Delano Roosevelt’s role as mother-in-law is one of historical significance. One can only assume, regardless of the stress of their relationship, the insecure, shy Eleanor that entered her marriage found her voice along the way to the White House. As one of, if not the, most influential First Lady of the US, the role of Sara in Eleanor’s life can not be downplayed.

In many ways, the 1970s was a time of both transition and decline. This is especially true with regard to the American automotive industry, which began to struggle under the weight of increasing fuel costs, strict government emission and safety regulations, as well as a deluge of fuel-efficient foreign competitors. While American automakers tried their best at producing small, fuel-efficient cars such as the AMC Gremlin or Ford Pinto, they were never really good at it. Rather, most vehicles rolling off Detroit assembly lines remained large, and simply traded their muscle for more luxurious appointments. As the decade progressed, this focus on luxury trickled down even to lower-priced intermediates. By the late 1970s, a sort of pseudo-luxury car was left with emission system-choked small blocks, thick velour interiors and tacky chrome-on-plastic accents. Here’s a look at some of the tacky appointments domestic luxury cars of the 1970s received, listed subjectively from the somewhat useful to the less-so. Some are not exclusive to the 1970s, but were still widely used at the time.

Like many other styling features on this list, spare tire humps were attempts to mimic the custom-bodied cars of the early 20th century. The first Lincoln Continental sported a covered spare, which was both functional and attractive. Lincoln designers pushed this feature on many Continental models over the years, even when they were no longer used for housing a spare and looked awkward, if not tacky, on more modern luxury cars. However, some (like the Continental Mark III) wore their tire humps tastefully, leading me to place this styling feature at number 10.

Those who lived during the 1970s will likely remember the immense popularity of two door “personal” luxury cars. These luxury coupes almost always featured small, fixed decorative rear passenger windows that were separated from front windows by a thick b-pillar. The idea was to give rear passengers a sense of privacy, or to some, claustrophobia, while complementing the luxurious appearance of the car. Even less expensive coupes like the Chevrolet Monte Carlo sported small rear windows reminiscent of a formal carriage. Though sometimes tacky, these windows were still somewhat useful (and a few looked good). Thus, they are rightfully placed at number 9.

Who wouldn’t want pillow-topped seats for those long, boring road trips? While present-day luxury cars often feature stiff, conservatively padded bucket seats, in the 1970s designers stopped at nothing to provide the utmost in derrière comfort. Cars like the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz featured thick button-tufted pillow-topped seats, which were literally pillows attached to additional padding below. It is perhaps the closest thing to driving your couch down the expressway. Of course, today these comfortable seats appear geriatric at best and downright garish at worst.

Anyone who has driven a large car of the decade can attest to the excellent carpeting these vehicles usually featured. Some looked like cuts of shag carpet pulled straight from the designer’s own living room, or perhaps a creepy motel room. With carpet like this, it was difficult not to take your shoes off and relax. Nonetheless, these carpet jobs appear gaudy today, especially in typical ‘70s colors. If you don’t mind the look, however, they are quite fantastic.

Today, upscale versions of a model are often identified with simple letter or number monikers, like Volvo’s S80 “T6,” or Cadillac’s CTS “V” series. This, of course, doesn’t sound very fancy, now does it? Forty some years ago, however, fancy was in. The most famous upscale trim package term was “Brougham.” Various automakers of the time slapped the Brougham badge on their distinctively-trimmed (and pricier) versions of a particular model. The boxy Ford Grenada even had an upscale “Ghia” version. Yes, “Ghia,” like the Italian firm. But it was General Motors that seemed most keen on this practice, coming up with trim packages like the Monte Carlo “Landau,” Ninety Eight “Regency,” Seville “Elegante” or my personal favorite, the Sixty Special “Brougham d’Elegance.”

Opera lamps are small decorative lights mounted on the exterior b-pillar. They were all the rage on ‘70s, and even ‘80s, domestic luxury cars. These lights, aside from looking pretty, had little practical application. But they did give the car a more formal appearance similar to a limousine, or formal carriage (a recurring theme). Designers didn’t take opera lamps lightly either, as they developed from simple lens-over-bulb accents to more complex electro-luminescent ordeals. Looking back, they seem both tacky and somewhat unnecessary, perhaps like just another set of bulbs to replace.

Royal-looking crests aren’t just for those who hold real titles, it seems. They can also be drawn up for businesses, military units or, in this case, car models. Take for instance the Buick Century Regal or Chrysler New Yorker Brougham, each of which received its own attractive, albeit retrospectively kitschy, royal crest. Many less expensive models even wore such fancy crests. In a similar vein, auto designers often convinced famous fashion designers to sign onto creating their own upscale variants of a particular model. Thus, models like the Continental Mark IV Cartier Edition or Seville Gucci left the factory wearing the designer’s logo here and there.

Fender vents were also a nod to custom-bodied luxury cars of the early 20th Century. For instance, large V-12 Cadillacs of the time featured a series of cowl flaps much like an aircraft might. Many years later, designers at Buick, Lincoln and Chrysler, to name a few, thought it a good idea to continue with such flaps, or at least fender vents or ports. These vents were generally unnecessary and usually not even functional. The otherwise attractive R-body Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue sported such “gills,” as did the Lincoln Continental Mark V and Buick Electra 225 (Buicks were already well known for their “VentiPorts”). Faux fender vents remain with us today, much to the chagrin of many an auto enthusiast.

Luxury cars have long sported wooden dashboards, often of finely polished burl with beautiful lacquer finishes. Of course, this costs more and adds a little weight (not that it mattered on a 5,000 lb. car). By the 1970s, designers were already in love with faux wood and even things like clock radios and 35mm cameras featured the stuff. One day an auto designer (or their boss) thought it a good idea to scrap the real wood and make a sort of stick-on stuff. It was great for “woodie” station wagons and dashboards, or so they thought. It doesn’t help, of course, when the “wood” began to fade and peel under the sun.

While chrome plating can look remarkable when done correctly (think anything from the 1950s), it can also come off as quite tacky. This is especially true when it’s applied to plastic, which used to have an annoying tendency to flake off once the car was close to pay-off. Apparently, even automakers themselves were aware of how tacky this was, as Chrysler ads once boasted that the grills on ‘70s Imperial and New Yorker models were chromed zinc rather than mere chromed plastic, like the grills found on contemporary Cadillacs. There’s just something about tapping on a piece of chromed plastic that makes one immediately think “cheap.” Oddly enough, automakers continue to use chromed plastic, though it doesn’t seem to flake quite so badly these days.

It baffles the mind how somebody could enter a school and kill innocent students. In 2012, educational facilities have started to create prevention programs that will prohibit any student from attempting this kind of violence. Schools have imposed strict laws against weapons and will expel any child that brings a gun or knife to school. Authorities have also started to take online threats seriously. Police will do whatever it takes to prevent this kind of violence, including presenting information on past cases and giving links between killers and the media.

Most people who carry out school shootings commit suicide. This suggests that the culprits don’t want to deal with the consequences of their actions. It also prevents authorities from interviewing the killers. A large amount of school shooters are silent during the attack and have been known to give blank stares. Some notorious killers who didn’t say a word are Seung-Hui Cho during the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and Thomas Hamilton during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre.

After a school shooting, it is important for authorities to interview witnesses and get their stories. In many cases this can be difficult because young victims will become traumatized by the violence. Research shows that people who carry out school shootings are usually social outcasts, full of rage, and show little signs of remorse or regret during their crimes. This article will focus on ten chilling quotes given by school shooters.

Quote: “This sure beats the hell out of algebra, doesn’t it?”

On February 2, 1996, a 14-year-old boy named Barry Loukaitis entered Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Washington and killed his algebra teacher and two students. Loukaitis was dressed in a wild west-style gunslinger outfit and had a black duster on. He was armed with a hunting rifle and two handguns. Upon entering the classroom, Loukaitis attacked the students in a fit of rage and quoted: “This sure beats the hell out of algebra, doesn’t it?” The quote came from a Stephen King novel titled Rage.

Rage is a book published by King in 1977 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It tells the story of a student who undergoes a school shooting and kills his algebra teacher. The book has been linked with four specific shooting events, including the Frontier massacre. For this reason, Stephen King insisted that the book be taken out of print. It should be mentioned that the quote used by Loukaitis doesn’t appear word-for-word in King’s story. The closest resemblance is when Charlie Decker says, “This sure beats panty raids.”

During the rampage killing, Loukaitis held the students hostage for ten minutes before a gym coach named Jon Lane came in the room and wrestled him to the ground. At his trial the defense attacked the media, specifically Pearl Jam’s video Jeremy, the films Natural Born Killers and Basketball Diaries, and Rage. They argued the fact that Loukaitis was on Ritalin at the time of the murder spree. In court, Loukaitis stated that he attempted to model his life after Rage’s protagonist Charlie Decker. Despite his young age, Loukaitis was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Quote: “Kill me, please. I can’t believe I did that.”

On December 1, 1997, a 14-year-old boy named Michael Carneal carried out a rampage killing at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. On the day in question, Carneal wrapped two shotguns and two rifles in a blanket and took them to school, passing them off as an art project. He also carried a loaded .22 pistol in his backpack. Upon arrival, Carneal immediately put in earplugs, took out the pistol, and fired eight rounds into a prayer group that was sitting outside the school. He was standing at point blank range and killed three young girls.

According to survivor Benjamin Strong, after Carneal fired the weapon, he instantly dropped the gun and said “Kill me, please. I can’t believe I did that.” He then put his hands up in the air and surrendered to the school’s principal Bill Bond. Carneal was questioned by an English teacher and said: “It was like I was in a dream, and I woke up.” The quote is eerily relevant to a scene in the movie Basketball Diaries. In the movie, a character played by Leonardo DiCaprio carries out a school shooting in a dream sequence. The scene has become one of the most controversial in film history.

In October 1998, Judge Jeff Hines accepted a plea of guilty from Michael Carneal, due to his mental illness. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in 25 years (2023). Carneal is allowed to receive mental health treatment and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. At the time of the massacre, Carneal had a copy of Stephen King’s novel Rage in his locker. The murder spree is what convinced King that the book needed to be put out of print. When Carneal was asked if he had ever seen anything like this before, he said, “Yes, I have seen this done in Basketball Diaries.”

Quote: “I have a question.”

Around the age of 16, Kim De Gelder started to display signs of strange behavior. He dressed in dark clothes and was obsessed with horror films. One of his favorite movies was The Dark Knight, starring the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. On January 23, 2009, exactly one year and one day after Heath Ledger died, Gelder (aged 20) entered the Fabeltjesland daycare centre in Dendermonde, Belgium, and attacked a collection of small children with a knife. He was wearing an outfit similar to Ledger’s character of the Joker, with white makeup and red hair.

After gaining access to the daycare, Kim De Gelder moved into a room with 24 people in it (18 infants under the age of three) and stabbed 15 of them. He murdered three people, two of them being babies under the age of 1. He quickly fled the scene, but was captured by police in the nearby town of Lebbeke. Upon his arrest, Gelder was found carrying a list of nurseries, three knives, and an axe. He displayed erratic behavior, strange fits of laughter, and weird smiles. When asked what he was doing, Gelder’s only response was “I have a question.”

The bizarre quote is reminiscent of a scene in the Dark Knight movie when the Joker violently gatecrashes a party looking for the character of Harvey Dent. “I only have one question: where is Harvey Dent? I’ll settle for his loved ones,” says the character played by Ledger, before threatening a woman with a knife. The media quickly picked up on the similarities between Gelder’s actions and the Batman movie, including the fact that the name Gelder is an anagram for Ledger, but investigators have dismissed the coincidence and said it is not relevant. In 2012, it was reported that Kim De Gelder will be held accountable for his actions and tried in a court of law.

Quote: “Do you believe in God?”

The fifth deadliest school shooting spree in United States history occurred on the Red Lake reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota. On March 21, 2005, a 16-year-old boy named Jeffrey Weise killed his Grandfather (who was a police officer) and then traveled to Red Lake Senior High School with his Grandpa’s weapons, including a .40 caliber Glock 23 pistol and a Remington 870 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. Weise entered the school and immediately killed an unarmed security guard who was manning a metal detector.

Jeffrey Weise then entered the halls and began to fire random shots. He headed toward a math classroom that was full of students. After realizing the door was locked, Weise used the shotgun to blow a hole in it. He entered the classroom wearing a black hooded trench coat, a black bandanna, black military boots, and black pants. As soon as he entered the room a teacher spoke up: “God be with us.” This caught the attention of Weise and he shot her. Weise then aimed at another student named Chon’gai’la Morris, and asked, “Do you believe in God?” Morris answered “no” and the gunman turned away to find another target. The quote is reminiscent of the Columbine High School massacre.

Weise then attacked a collection of four students who were huddled on the floor. Witnesses say that he was smiling during the shooting. After leaving the classroom, Weise returned to the main entrance of the school where police were waiting. He engaged in a shoot-out with the police which lasted about four minutes and was shot twice. Weise then retreated to a vacant classroom and committed suicide. In all, Jeffrey Weise murdered nine people and injured five others. The high caliber pump-action shotgun contributed to the damage inflicted by the killer. The shooting spree lasted only nine minutes, with the murders occurring in a three minute span.

Quote: “I’ve become disgusted with everything. I’ve tried to kill myself several times, but couldn’t. Give me a death sentence.”

One of the worst attacks in the history of Japan occurred on June 8, 2001, at Ikeda Elementary School, which is a primary school affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. On the day in question, a 37-year-old former janitor named Mamoru Takuma entered the school with a knife and went crazy. He stabbed 23 people and murdered eight kids between the age of seven and eight. Takuma was eventually tackled by the school’s staff and arrested.

After the attack, Takuma was described as being in an extremely confused state of mind. He kept repeating the sentence “I went to the elementary school” and then saying “I went to the train station and stabbed 100 people with my knife. I did not go to the elementary school.” He said: “I’ve become disgusted with everything. I’ve tried to kill myself several times, but couldn’t. Give me a death sentence.” On September 14, 2004 Takuma was executed by way of hanging.

At his trial, Mamoru Takuma was removed from the court after yelling at the victims’ families. He refused to apologize for the crimes and read the statement: “I should have used gasoline, so I could have killed more than I did.” The quote is chilling and can be linked to a horrible school attack that occurred in China in 2006, when Bai Ningyang entered a kindergarten and killed 12 people, mostly small kids. During the Shiguan kindergarten attack, Ningyang poured gasoline on the floor, locked the door, and started a fire. The rampage of Mamoru Takuma has spawned a series of copycat crimes where spree killers have used knives.

Quote: “The struggle for which many brothers died in the past, and for which I will die, is not solely because of what is known as bullying. Our fight is against cruel people, cowards, who take advantage of the kindness, the weakness of people unable to defend themselves.”

On the morning of April 7, 2011, a 24-year-old man named Wellington Oliveira traveled to Tasso da Silveira Municipal School, which is an elementary school in Realengo on the western fringe of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After gaining access to the school, Oliveira, who was a former student, entered an 8th grade classroom. Accounts say that Oliveira was initially very polite to the students and saluted the children, but then opened fire on the class with a .38-caliber revolver and a .32-caliber revolver. Oliveira specifically targeted girls and shot boys only to immobilize them. He murdered 12 students, ten of them being female.

During the initial assault, a police officer named Marcio Alves was approached by an injured student and rushed to the school. He climbed to the second floor and confronted the heavily armed Oliveira on his way to the third floor. Alves told Oliveira to stop and then shot him in the leg and stomach. Oliveira fell to the ground and committed suicide. A firefighter who responded to the scene told newspapers “There is blood on the walls, blood on the chairs. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like something in the United States.”

The school shooting was the first of its kind in Brazil. Wellington Oliveira came to the school with a suicide note in his pocket, but his quotes during the attack were not published. It was revealed that Oliveira was badly bullied in school and called strange. His classmates used to call him “Sherman” (an allusion to a character from American Pie), as well as “suingue” (swing), because he had a limp leg.

Two days before the shooting spree, Wellington Oliveira made a video and is quoted saying: “The struggle for which many brothers died in the past, and for which I will die, is not solely because of what is known as bullying. Our fight is against cruel people, cowards, who take advantage of the kindness, the weakness of people unable to defend themselves.” He was clearly a delusional person that suffered from extreme rage and psychopathic tendencies.

Quote: “Do you believe in God?”

On April 20, 1999, two senior students named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School in Colorado and attacked the student population with an arsenal of weapons. They killed 13 people and wounded 22 others. The event was one of the longest shooting sprees in history and lasted 49 minutes. During the attack Klebold and Harris talked to their victims and individual accounts have surfaced with some unthinkable quotes. It is unclear exactly how many times the killers asked their victims if they “believe in God,” but many cases have been reported.

The first victim of the massacre was a girl named Rachel Scott. It was initially reported by the media, but later dismissed by the FBI, that Eric Harris began the shooting spree by asking Scott if she believed in God, in which she replied in the affirmative and Harris shot her. After killing Scott, Harris and Klebold entered the school and opened fire on the students. Approximately five minutes after the first shot was fired, a Jefferson County deputy sheriff arrived on the scene, saw the culprits, and fired his weapon at them. Harris and Klebold noticed the officer and returned fire. However, the deputy did not pursue the killers into the building.

Ten minutes after the first shot was fired, Harris and Klebold entered the Columbine school library, where a total of 52 students, two teachers and two librarians were trapped and hiding. Harris shouted “Get up!” to the students. “Everyone with white hats, stand up! This is for all the stuff you’ve given us for the past four years! All jocks stand up! We’ll get the guys in white hats!” When nobody stood up, Harris was heard saying “Fine, I’ll start shooting anyway!”

In one case, Harris knelt down under a table in the library and said “peek-a-boo” before shooting a young girl named Cassie Bernall in the head. It was widely reported after the shooting that Harris asked Bernall “if she believed in God” before shooting her, but it was later determined that Klebold said the phrase to a different student named Valeen Schnurr. Some people who were trapped in the library have said that they heard both Harris and Klebold utter the phrase during the massacre.

While inside of the library, the pair found an acquaintance named John Savage who asked them what they were doing. Klebold replied: “Oh, just killing people.” The killers then began to make comments about how they no longer found a thrill in shooting their victims. Klebold: “Maybe we should start knifing people that might be more fun.” Approximately 49 minutes after the shooting started, Harris and Klebold said “one, two, three” before committing suicide in the library. SWAT team members did not enter the school for one hour and one minute until after the killers committed suicide. Their bodies were not discovered for three hours.

Quote: “I am fighting feminism.”

One of the most shocking attacks against women occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The École Polytechnique is an engineering school affiliated with the University of Montreal. On the day in question, a 25-year-old man named Marc Lépine entered the school wearing a white cap and armed with a semi-automatic rifle (Mini-14) and a hunting knife. After walking around the school for a short time, Lépine went into a mechanical engineering class and ordered the male and female students to separate themselves. In total, there were nine women and around fifty men in the room.

Lépine told the men to leave the room and then started to speak in French to the women. He told them “I am fighting feminism. You’re women, you’re going to be engineers. You’re all a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists.” With those words he started to shoot the students from left to right, killing six, and wounding three. Lépine then continued the massacre by walking around the school and selecting random female students to kill. At one point during the rampage, Lépine entered the cafeteria with over 100 people inside and began to shout at the victims. He let some people go and shot others.

Twenty minutes after the initial bullet was fired, Marc Lépine committed suicide after stabbing a women to death. In the event, he shot twenty-eight people and killed 14 women. It is the 7th most deadly school shooting spree in history. The killings shocked the world and Lépine’s statements during the massacre led people to see the rampage as an antifeminist attack. The students who survived the shooting were greatly affected and a number of them have since committed suicide. Today, December 6, 1989, is commemorated as a day of remembrance for violence against women.

Quote: “Aren’t you all dead yet?”

Tim Kretschmer grew up in the district of Winnenden, in southwestern Germany. On the morning of March 11, 2009, Kretschmer traveled to his former secondary school in Winnenden armed with a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol, 15-round magazines, and more than 200 rounds of ammunition. He was dressed in black combat clothing and had a gas mask. Upon entering the school, Kretschmer went toward a chemistry classroom full of 14- and 15-year-old students. He entered the room and immediately started shooting. Over the next two minutes, Kretschmer murdered eight girls, one boy, and three female teachers. He targeted females and shot his victims in the head.

During the massacre, Kretschmer walked in and out of the chemistry classroom no less than three times. On the last visit he spoke his only words in the school: “Aren’t you all dead yet?” The chilling quote shows the killers disregard for life and manic state. Immediately following the start of the attack, the school’s headmaster broadcast a coded announcement saying “Mrs. Koma is coming,” which is amok spelled backwards. The message was a safety measure installed to alert the teachers of a school shooting.

Two minutes after the rampage started, three police officers entered the building and interrupted the attack. Kretschmer quickly fled the scene and killed a 56-year-old gardener (caretaker) of a nearby psychiatric hospital. He carjacked a vehicle driven by a man named Igor Wolf and ordered him to drive out of the area. While in the car, Wolf asked Kretschmer why he murdered the children? The response came: “For fun, because it is fun.” Kretschmer also said: “Do you think we will find another school,” in which Wolf changed the subject.

In a daring escape, Wolf steered the car toward a grass verge and jumped from the vehicle. Kretschmer then left the scene and entered a Volkswagen car showroom where he killed two more people, firing thirteen shots into each victim. Kretschmer left the building and started to shoot in all directions. At this point, somebody captured cell phone footage of Kretschmer getting shot in the leg by police. The tape cuts out and doesn’t show his suicide. In the event, Tim Kretschmer killed 15 people. The school shooting is the 5th most deadly in world history.

On the night before the attack, Kretschmer chatted on the Internet about his intention to commit mass murder. He wrote: “No one sees my potential. I’m serious. I have weapons and I will go to my former school in the morning and have a proper barbecue. Maybe I’ll get away. Listen out. You will hear of me tomorrow. Remember the place’s name, Winnenden.”

Quote: “Mr. Heise, enough for today.”

Growing up in the city of Erfurt, Germany, Robert Steinhäuser appeared to be a relatively normal teenager. In October of 2001, he was expelled from Gutenberg Gymnasium for using a forged medical certificate. Following that, Steinhäuser fell into a world of delusional anger and was determined to get revenge against his former school. On April 26, 2002, Robert Steinhäuser (19-years-old) armed himself with a 9mm Glock 17 and a Mossberg 590 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and went to the Gutenberg Gymnasium (secondary school). After gaining access to the school, Steinhäuser changed his clothing into a black ninja-style outfit with a mask.

He then took the Glock 17 and moved from classroom to classroom, pausing briefly in the doorway to shoot the teacher. Steinhäuser did not target students, but was determined to murder all the school’s faculty. Five minutes after the shooting started, Erfurt police arrived at the scene. Steinhäuser then went to a window and fatally shot a police officer in the head. He removed his mask and was confronted by a teacher named Rainer Heise. Mr. Heise established deep eye-contact with Steinhäuser and said, “Du kannst mich jetzt erschießen” (“You can shoot me now”). In response, Steinhäuser answered, “Herr Heise, für heute reicht’s” (“Mr. Heise, enough for today”).

Heise lured Steinhäuser into an empty classroom and locked him inside. A few moments later, Robert Steinhäuser committed suicide. In total, he fired 71 rounds and murdered 16 people, 13 faculty members, 2 students, and 1 police officer. The rampage is the 4th most deadly school shooting spree in history. Steinhäuser’s last words were used as the title of a very controversial book about the massacre written by Ines Geipel.

To accompany the technological advancements of the computer world and the constant changing definition of a hacker, we thought it was time to look back at ten of the most notorious black hat hackers and the legendary hacks that earned them such a title. First, it should be known that a black hat hacker is computing slang for a person who engages in illegal or malicious hacking. A white hat hacker is a computer hacker who intends to improve internet security. It is note-worthy that many white hat hackers, such as Steve Jobs of apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and even many hackers listed below, were once black hat hackers.

The notorious ’80s black hat hacker, Kevin Poulsen, gained recognition for his hacking of the telephone lines for LA radio station KIIS-FM, securing himself a place as the 102nd caller and winning a brand new Porsche 944, among other prizes. Law enforcement dubbed Poulsen the “Hannibal Lecter of computer crime.” Poulsen went underground as a fugitive when the FBI began its search for him, but in 1991, he was finally captured.

He pleaded guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and for obtaining information on covert businesses run by the FBI. Kevin Poulsen was sentenced to 51 months in prison (4 years and 3 months), which was the longest sentence ever given for hacking at the time. However, since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist and is now a senior editor for Wired News. Poulsen’s most note-worthy article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.

Cyber-criminal Albert Gonzalez has been accused of masterminding the biggest ATM and credit card theft in history; from 2005 to 2007, he and his cybergroup had allegedly sold more than 170 million card and ATM numbers. Gonzalez’s team used SQL injection techniques to create malware backdoors on several corporate systems in order to launch packet-sniffing (specifically, ARP Spoofing) attacks, allowing him to steal computer data from internal corporate networks. When he was arrested, authorities seized $1.6 million in cash including $1.1 million found in plastic bags placed in a three-foot drum which had been buried in his parents’ backyard. In 2010, Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

It’s almost like the opening of a James Bond movie: in 1994, while working from his laptop from his Russian apartment in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Levin transferred $10 million from the accounts of Citibank clients to his own accounts around the world.

However, Levin’s career as a hacker was only short lived, with a capture, imprisonment and recovery of all but $400,000 of the original $10 million. During Levin’s 1997 trial in the United States, he was said to have coordinated the first ever internet bank raid. The truth is Levin’s ability to transfer Citibank client funds to his own accounts was possible through stolen account numbers and PINs. Levin’s scam was a simple interception of clients’ calls while recording the punched in account numbers.

On November 2, 1988, Robert Morris released a worm that took down one-tenth of the Internet, crippling 6,000 plus computer systems. It didn’t take long for the police to track him down. Due in part to the need for social acceptance that seems to be common amongst many young hackers, Morris made the fault of chatting about his worm for months before its release on the Internet. Morris claimed it was just a stunt, and added that he truly regretted causing $15 million worth of damage: the estimated amount of carnage his worm left behind.

Morris was one of the first to be tried and convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act but only had community service and a fine as his penalty. The defense for such a light sentence was that Morris’ worm didn’t destroy the actual contents of affected computers. Morris now works in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In February of 2000, Michael Calce launched a series of widely known denial-of-service attacks against large commercial websites, including Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Dell, eBay, and CNN. He hacked Yahoo! when it was still the web’s leading search engine and caused it to shutdown for about an hour. Like many hackers, Calce exploited websites primarily for pride and establishing dominance for himself and his cybergroup, TNT. In 2001, the Montreal Youth Court sentenced Calce to eight months of open custody, one year of probation, restricted use of the Internet, and a minimal fine.

Smith’s fame is due to being the author of the infamous e-mail virus, Melissa. Smith claims that the Melissa virus was never intended to cause harm, but its simple means of propagation (each infected computer sent out multiple infected emails) overloaded computer systems and servers around the world. Smith’s virus takes an unusual turn in that it was originally hidden in a file that contained passwords to 80 well-known pornography websites. The name Melissa was derived from a lap dancer Smith met while on a trip in Florida. Even though over 60,000 email viruses have been discovered, Smith is the only person to go to federal prison in the United States for sending one.

Nicknamed “the homeless hacker,” Adrian Lamo used coffee shops, libraries and internet cafés as his locations for hacking. Apart from being the homeless hacker, Lamo is widely-known for breaking into a series of high-profile computer networks, which include The New York Times, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and MCI WorldCom. In 2002, he added his name to the The New York Times’ internal database of expert sources and utilized LexisNexis account to conduct research on high-profile subjects. The Times filed a complaint, and a warrant for Lamo’s arrest was issued, followed by a 15-month investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.

After several days in hiding, he finally surrendered to the US Marshals, and then to the FBI. Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in damages and was sentenced to six months house arrest at his parents’ home, with an additional two years of probation. In June 2010, Lamo disclosed the name of Bradley Manning to U.S. Army authorities as the source of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike video leak to Wikileaks. Lamo is presently working as a threat analyst and donates his time and skills to a Sacramento-based nonprofit organization.

The name of the acclaimed jailbreak artist, George Hotz, will forever be associated with the April 2011 PlayStation breach. Being one of the first hackers ever to jailbreak the Sony PlayStation 3, Hotz found himself in the midst of a very relentless, public and messy court battle with Sony – perhaps worsened by Hotz’s public release of his jail breaking methods. In a stated retaliation to Sony’s gap of the unstated rules of jail breaking – never prosecute – the hacker group Anonymous attacked Sony in what would be the dubbed as the most costly security break of all time to date.

Hackers broke into the PlayStation Network and stole personal information of some 77 million users. However, Hotz denied any responsibility for the attack, and added “Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool; hacking into someone else’s server and stealing databases of user info. is not cool.”

Jonathan James, 16-year-old black hat hacker, became the first juvenile imprisoned for cybercrime in the United States. James gained his notoriety by implementing a series of successful intrusions into various systems. At an amazingly young age of 15, James specialized in hacking high-profile government systems such as NASA and the Department of Defense. He was reported to have stolen software worth over $1.7 million. He also hacked into the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and intercepted over 3,000 highly secretive messages passing to and from the DTRA employees, while collecting many usernames and passwords.

On May 18, 2008, at the age of 25, James committed suicide using a gun. The words in his suicide note provide some insight into this obviously brilliant but troubled youth who thought he would be a scapegoat and blamed for cyber crimes he did not commit: “I have no faith in the ‘justice’ system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public. Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control.”

In 2002, an exceptionally odd message appeared on a US Army computer screen: “Your security system is crap,” it read. “I am Solo. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.” It was later identified as the work of Scottish systems administrator, Gary McKinnon.

McKinnon suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, which is the least severe form of autism. The symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome certainly match Gary’s actions: that is, highly intelligent with an exceptional understanding of complex systems. Though sufferers often have difficulty reading social cues and acknowledging the impact of their often-obsessive behavior, they tend to be geniuses in one particular subject. For Gary, it was computers.

Gary has been accused of executing the largest ever hack of United States government computer networks — including Army, Air Force, Navy and NASA systems. The court had recommended that McKinnon be apprehended to the United States to face charges of illegally accessing 97 computers, causing a total of $700,000 in damage. Even more interesting are McKinnon’s motives for the large scale hackings, which he claims were in search of information on UFOs. He believed the US government was hiding such information in its military computers.

Kevin David Mitnick (born on August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author, and hacker. In the late 20th century, he was convicted of various computer- and communications-related crimes. At the time of his arrest, he was the most-wanted computer criminal in the United States. Mitnick gained unauthorized access to his first computer network in 1979, at 16, when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing their RSTS/E operating system software. He broke into DEC’s computer network and copied their software, a crime he was charged with and convicted of in 1988.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mitnick gained unauthorized access to dozens of computer networks while he was a fugitive. He used cloned cellular phones to hide his location and, among other things, copied valuable proprietary software from some of the country’s largest cellular telephone and computer companies. Mitnick also intercepted and stole computer passwords, altered computer networks, and broke into and read private e-mail.

Due to his fame he is included as a bonus entry here.

“The love between a mother and her daughter is special. A mother takes her daughter under her wing and teaches her how to be a woman. In order to do this, you have to ask yourself what it means to be a woman of today. How do you balance care for others with your own quest for meaning and joy in life and how do you pass on these lessons to your daughter?” – Laura Ramirez

Being born to a strong mother, much less a famous one, can not be an easy task for a child to take on. Being the daughter of a great woman is perhaps even more daunting a task considering the undeniable comparisons between the two females. The hope of any mother for a daughter must be that her offspring is healthy, happy and can find her own path. The women listed below are a varied bunch yet all share a common thread. The strength of the mother was passed to their daughter. The impact of these women, whether they are historical figures who changed the world, famous women we have welcomed into our lives or fictional families we have grown to love, their power as iconic mothers and daughters has been placed firmly in our collective minds.

“She’s family, if you can’t count on family, who the hell can you count on?” – Sophia Petrillo

Sophia Petrillo and Dorothy Zbornak are characters portrayed by Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur on the American sitcom “The Golden Girls” (1985-1992). The relationship between Sophia and her daughter Dorothy is one of great admiration, aggravation but ultimately love. Albeit fictional, their story arc reflects a mother/daughter pairing throughout a lifetime and their relationship is universal. Episodes reflect their history, from Sophia raising her three children, helping Dorothy through her difficult marriage, Sophia moving in with Dorothy after suffering a stroke and their existence together at the end of their lives. The wisecracking Estelle Getty was the perfect foil to the deadpan of Bea Arthur. This clip displays their typical banter: sarcastic remarks, aggravated teasing and of course, motherly advice.

“No one understands my ills… who does not know the heart of a mother.” – Marie Antoinette

As the only female to ever rule in the Habsburg monarchy and her daughter, the Queen of France, Empress Maria Theresa and Marie Antoinette made quite the mark on the history of Europe. A devoted but stern mother of 16, Maria Theresa kept up correspondence with her children throughout her life. Marie Antoinette wrote back and forth to her mother regarding Maria Theresa’s concerns about her daughter’s lack of offspring, as well as her manners and child-like behaviors. Marie Antoinette writes in letters to her mother “how the affection her mother expresses for her has gone to her heart. Every letter which she has received has filled her eyes with tears of regret at being separated from so tender and loving a mother, and, happy as she is in France, she would give the world to see her family again, if it were but for a moment.” Maria Theresa was supportive in her concerns with her daughter’s success in court. Considering that their letters to each other give us insight into their relationship, I found this clip from the movie Marie Antoinette telling of the expectations of courtly life and the advice from one royal to another.

“What do girls do who haven’t any mothers to help them through their troubles?” – Louisa May Alcott

Few stories in literature have captured the mother/daughter dynamic as the tale of the March girls of Little Women. Not only do we see each daughter as a distinct female archetype, we also see how their mother interacts with each daughter, particularly Jo. Marmee gives advice and helps each of her daughters find their peace in life: Meg, the motherly one, Jo, the strong one, Beth, the fragile one and Amy, the vain one. Marmee sees in Jo the potential for a life that is bigger than their home. This clip displays Marmee helping the fiery Jo calm her temper and find forgiveness in her heart. In the novel, Marmee’s quote quite perfectly displays her role as mother – watching her daughter on the verge of growing up. “Oh, Jo. Jo, you have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to lead an ordinary life? You’re ready to go out and – and find a good use for your talent. Tho’ I don’t know what I shall do without my Jo. Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it.”

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. There are moments when I remember her beauty, unadorned, unposed, not in some artificial place like a set or a photo call but rather captured outdoors in nature, where she took my breath away. When those moments surface, I miss her the most.” – Jamie Lee Curtis

Known forever to movie audiences as the mother/daughter Scream Queens, Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis experienced their own take on the Hollywood starlet role. Forever immortalized as Marion Crane in Psycho, Leigh’s infamous shower scene set a new standard for horror movies. 18 years later, Jamie Lee Curtis would star as Laurie Strode in Halloween, would again redefine the horror genre. Janet and Jamie Lee had to learn to adapt to the Hollywood standards of their respective eras. Known for her perfectionism and slim figure, Janet returned to her 20-inch waist weeks after the births of her daughters. She never was able to shake the stigma of aging in the youth obsessed Hollywood. Jamie Lee, once nicknamed ‘The Body,’ redefined beauty when in 2002 she appeared in More magazine without makeup or retouching. Their relationship, as Jamie Lee said, was “special, but not always easy” and the same can be said for their relationship with the public. This clip shows the on-screen pairing of mother and daughter doing what they do best – performing in a horror movie. Side note: Janet’s car was the original one she drove in Psycho.

“That one must do some work seriously and must be independent and not merely amuse oneself in life — this our mother has told us always, but never that science was the only career worth following.” – Irène Joliot-Curie

The Curie family has the distinction of having the most Nobel laureates of any family, making Marie Curie and her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie a uniquely qualified mother and daughter pair. Marie Curie’s pioneering research on radioactivity lead to her ground breaking feat as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Marie also had the distinction of being one of only two people awarded a Nobel Prize in different fields and in 1935, the first mother to see her daughter win the Nobel. Curie was central to her daughters lives as their father, Pierre, died in 1906 when the girls were nine and two. Marie taught her daughters Polish and made certain her heritage was their heritage also. Marie’s other daughter Ève would gain attention for penning a popular biography on her mother, Madame Curie, which was the bases for the 1943 movie. This clip displays Greer Garson and Margaret O’Brien as the mother and daughter.

“Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don’t even remember leaving open.” – Rose Wilder Lane

The author of the Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder couldn’t have written the books without the support and resilience from her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Her childhood was spent homesteading on farm land in present day Kansas, an experienced that would shape her writing. While the Wilder family sustained a living through farming, Laura published her first writings in 1911. Daughter Rose began her writing career on the staff of the San Francisco Bulletin in 1915. The Great Depression would lead to the collapse of the farm and lead to Lane and Wilder to push for the publication of Little House in the Big Woods, in 1931. This launched the Little House series which has never gone out of print since its launch. Rose’s own literary voice was heard through journalism and free lance writing until her focus become founding the American Libertarian movement. The clip is the first episode of Little House of the Prairie.

“Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.” – Judy Garland (to her daughter, Liza Minnelli)

Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli are entertainment icons who achieved legendary status over their tumultuous lives. Judy Garland is a golden age of American cinema icon whose career spanned most of her life. The star of The Wizard of Oz and A Star is Born, Judy Garland talent is timeless. However, the talent didn’t stop with Judy as Fred Astaire once noted, “If Hollywood breeding could be compared to royalty, Liza would be our Crown Princess.” Daughter Liza began her movie career at age three in her mother’s movie, In the Good Old Summertime. Both mother and daughter received public adulation and critical praise; both winning Academy, Grammy and Tony Awards. Liza (who also won an Emmy) was the seventh person ever to receive the honor. Liza, who affectionately called her Momma, had this to say on performing with her mother, “I was suddenly on stage with Judy Garland. My mother was no where in sight… I had to learn how to hold my own. And that was with the best there ever was and that’s my mother.” Here are Liza and Judy performing together in 1963.

After nine months, Anna gave birth and she said to the midwife, “What is it?” The midwife said, “A girl.” Anna said, “My soul exalts this day.” And she put her baby to bed. – The Infancy Gospel of James and Thomas 5:5-8

While there are few other mothers more known to the world than Mary, the mother of Jesus, it is as a daughter where Mary’s upbringing and early life were formed. Accounts of St. Anne and Mary appear in New Testament apocrypha, noting the the birth and upbringing of Mary. Anne (or Anna as she is also known) was elderly and childless when she miraculously gave birth to Mary. The verses show how her parents adored her and how joyous her entry into their lives was. St. Anne’s influence in world religions ranges. St. Anne is revered as a wise and spiritual woman in Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Church traditions as well as Islam. It is said that Martin Luther first entered into religious life after receiving visions from St. Anne. As a mother, St. Anne’s role in teaching her daughter is critical in Mary’s own life as a mother.

“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.” – Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft was the author of the famous feminist social study A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and her daughter, Mary Shelley, was the author of Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. These two remarkable women were revolutionary in their contributions to women’s history and literature. Their life together was cut short by Wollstonecraft’s death after the birth of her daughter, Mary Shelly. William Godwin made certain that he raised their daughter with a strong inclination towards progressive education and with Wollstonecraft’s influence present. Mary Shelley married Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816, the same year she conceived the idea for Frankenstein. Mary’s work is among the first science fiction works and was immediate popular among the masses. Originally published anonymously, Frankenstein was a triumph for female authors. She never forgot where she came from and upon her death, Mary Shelley had asked to be buried with her mother. This clip is of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Goodwin in Vindication.

“I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.” – Queen Elizabeth (to the Ambassador of the Duke of Wurtemberg)

While many royal mother and daughter pairs could have a spot on this list, it is the impact these two women had on the course of history that lead them to the top of this list. Anne Boleyn’s marriage would alter the religious line of a nation and the reign of Elizabeth I established a new era in global history. Boleyn was noted for her intelligence and vitality, and in 1526, the King began to pursue her. Regardless of your opinion of Anne or her marriage, it was her tenacious manner and determination that plotted her course to become Queen. By the 1533 marriage of King Henry VIII and his second wife rewrote English history and lead to the birth of the future Queen Elizabeth I. While her mother would be known as “Anne of a Thousand Days,” her daughter Elizabeth would reign for 44 years. Queen Elizabeth I stands as a hallmark of female rulers and her defiant nature stands as a testament to her strength. Her reign is notable for her being a ruler not just a woman and that is perhaps her strongest distinction. In this scene from Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett stars as the young princess Elizabeth defending her life amidst the religious revolution created by her parents marriage.