10 Bizarre things about Steve Jobs you might not know [Memoir]

Steve Jobs died Wednesday [10/06/2011]. He was 56. "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the Apple company said in a brief statement.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

[* 8/27/11] Today, I would like to share with you this post from Huffingtonpost.com in connection with the headline news this week about Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple's CEO. How far do you know Steve Jobs aside from the man posing at the stage for new updates about iPhone, iPod, iPad or anything Apple?

James Altucher quoted"... I was standing right next to Steve Jobs in 1989 and it was the closest thing I ever felt to being gay. The guy was incredibly wealthy, good looking enough to get any girl, a nerd super-rockstar who had just convinced my school to buy a bunch of NeXT machines (which, btw, were in fact the best machines to program on at the time) and I just wanted to be him. I wanted to be him ever since I had the Apple II+ as a kid. Ever since I shoplifted Ultima II, Castle Wolfenstein, and half a dozen other games that my friends and I would then rip from each other and pretend to be sick so we could stay home and play all day.

I don't care about Apple stock. (Well, I do think it will be the first trillion dollar company). Or about his business successes. That's boring. The only thing that matters to me is how Steve Jobs became the greatest artist that ever lived. You only get to be an artist like that by turning everything in your life upside down, by making horrible, ugly, mistakes, by doing things so differently that people will never be able to figure you out. By failing, cheating, lying, having everyone hate you, and coming out the other side with a little bit more wisdom than the rest."

1 - Nature versus Nurture

His sister is Mona Simpson but he didn't know it until he was an adult. Mona Simpson was one of my favorite novelists from the late 80s. Her first novel, Anywhere but Here, was about her relationship with her parents. Which, ironically, were Steve Jobs' parents. But since Steve Jobs was adopted (see below), they didn't know they were brother-sister until the 90s when he tracked her down. It's proof (to an extent) of the nature versus nurture argument. Two kids, without knowing they were brother and sister, both having a unique sensibility of life on this planet to become among the best artists in the world in completely different endeavors. And, to me it was great that I was a fan of both without realizing (even before they realized) that they were related.

2 - His father's name is Abdulfattah Jandali

If you had to ask me what Steve Jobs' father's name was I never in one zillion years would've guessed that and that Steve Jobs biologically was half Syrian Muslim. For some reason I thought he was Jewish. Maybe it's because I wanted to be him so I projected my own background onto him. His parents were two graduate students who I guess weren't sure if they were ready for a kid so put him up for adoption and then a few years later had another kid (see above). So I didn't know he was adopted. The one requirement his biological parents had was that he be adopted by two college-educated people. But the couple that adopted him lied at first and turned out not to be college educated (the mom was not a high school graduate), so the deal almost fell through until they promised to send Steve to college. A promise they couldn't keep (see below). So despite many layers of lies and promises broken, it all worked out in the end. People can save a lot of hassle by not having such high expectations and overly ambitious worries in the first place.

3 - He made the game "Breakout"

If there was one thing I loved almost as much as the games on the Apple II+, it was playing Breakout on my first-generation Atari (I can't remember, was that the Atari 2600?). And then Breakout on every version of my Blackberry since 2000. If he had never done anything else in life and I had met him and he said, "I'm the guy who made Breakout," I would've said, "you are the greatest genius of the past 100 years." Funny how things turn out. He went on from Atari to form Apple. Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, went to form the greatest restaurant chain in the history of mankind: Chuck E. Cheese.

4 - He denied paternity on his first child, claiming he was sterile

The mother had to initially raise the kid using welfare checks. I have no judgment on this at all. Raising kids is hard. And when you have a kid you feel like this enormous energy and creativity you have for the world is going to get misdirected into a... little baby (Jobs' parents must've felt that way as well. Like father, like son). Heck, I originally wanted my first kid to be aborted. But people change, mature, grow up. Eventually Jobs became a good father. And that's what counts in the end. Much worse if it was the reverse. I didn't know this either: that the Lisa computer (the "Apple III") was named after this first child.

5 - He's a pescetarian

In other words, he eats fish but no other meat. And he eats anything else a vegetarian eats (including eggs and dairy). I think from now on I'm going to be a pescetarian, just because Steve Jobs is one. Except when I'm in Argentina. In Argentina you have to eat steak. Ted Danson and Mary Tyler Moore consider themselves pescetarians. Somehow, even the world "pescetarian" seems like it was invented in California.

6 - He doesn't give any money to charity

Yes and when he became Apple's CEO he stopped all of their philanthropic programs. He said, "wait until we are profitable". Now they are profitable, and sitting on $40b cash, and still not corporate philanthropy. I actually think Jobs is probably the most charitable guy on the planet. Rather than focus on which mosquitoes to kill in Africa (Bill Gates is already focusing on that), Jobs has put his energy into massively improving quality of life with all of his inventions. People think that entrepreneurs have to some day "give back". This is not true. They already gave at the office. Look at the entire iPod/Mac/iPhone/Disney ecosystem and ask how many lives have benefited directly (because they've been hired) or indirectly (because they use the products to improve their quality of life). As far as I know, Jobs has never even commented about his thoughts on charity. Good for him. As one CEO of a (currently) Fortune 10 company once told me when I had my hand out for a charitable website, "Screw charity!"

7 - He lied to Steve Wozniak

When they made Breakout for Atari, Wozniak and Jobs were going to split the pay 50-50. Atari gave Jobs $5000 to do the job. He told Wozniak he got $700 so Wozniak took home $350. Again, no judgment. Young people do things. Show me someone who says he's been honest from the day he was born and I'll show you a liar. It's by making mistakes, having fights, finding out where your real boundaries in life are, that allow you to truly know where the boundaries are.

8 - He's a Zen Buddhist

He even thought about joining a monastery and becoming a monk. His guru, a Zen monk, married him and his wife. When I was going through some of my hardest times my only relief was sitting with a Zen group. Trying to quiet the mind to deal with the onrush of non-stop pain that was trying to invade there. The interesting thing about Jobs being a a Zen Buddhist is that most people would think that serious Buddhism and being one of the wealthiest people in the world come into conflict with each other. Isn't Buddhism about non-attachment? Didn't Buddha himself leave his riches and family behind?

But the answer is "no". It's normal to pursue passions and outcomes, but just not to become overly attached to those outcomes. Being happy regardless of the outcome. A great story is the Zen master and his student walking by a river. A prostitute was there and needed to be carried over the river. The Zen master picked her up and carried her across the river and then put her down. Then the master and student kept walking. A few hours later the student was so agitated he finally had to ask, "Master, how could you touch and help that prostitute! That's against what we believe in!" And the Master said, "I left her by the river. Why are you still carrying her?"

9 - He didn't go to college

I actually didn't know this initially. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are the famous college dropouts that I knew about. But apparently Steve Jobs went to Reed College for one semester and then dropped out. I guess you don't need college to program computers, make computers, build businesses, make movies, manage people, etc. (Of course, you can see all my other posts on why kids should not go to college.)

10 - Psychedelics. Steve Jobs used LSD at least once when he was younger. In fact, he said about the experience, it was "one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." Apple's slogan for many years was "Think Different". Maybe using a drug which tore him from the normal frame of reference taught him how to look at problems from such a unique perspective. I don't think LSD is for everyone, but when you combine it with the innate genius the man had, plus the many ups and downs that he experienced, plus the Zen Buddhism and all of the other things above, it's quite possible it all adds up to the many inventions he's been able to produce.

Steve Jobs' story is filled with nuance and ambiguity. People study Steve Jobs by looking at his straightforward business successes. Yes, he started Apple in a garage. Yes, he started Pixar and almost went broke with it. Yes, he started and sold Next and he was fired as CEO of Apple, and blah blah blah. But none of that will ever explain the man behind the genius. None of that will explain all the products he invented that we use today. None of that will tell us about the iPad, Toy Story, the MacBook Air, the Apple II+, etc. A man's successes can be truly understood only if we can count his tears. And unfortunately in the case of Steve Jobs, that is one task that's impossible.

Man, You may REST in peace. Thanks for sharing your brilliant creation to us.

• Reference/Source: Huffingtonpost.com by James Altucher [8/24/11]
About

James Altucher

James Altucher is the managing director of Formula Capital, an asset management firm and fund of hedge funds. He's written a bunch of boring books on investing and one book that he loves: How to be the Luckiest Person Alive.



Mr. Altucher is the founder of Stockpickr.com, a social network for finance that had millions of unique visitors per month when it was sold to TheStreet.com in 2007. He has written over 200 columns for The Financial Times and has written for TheStreet.com, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fidelity.com, and other publications. He was also the founder of a web services firm, Reset Inc, which he sold in 1998, at which time he became a partner at VC firm, 212 Ventures/Investcorp. Mr. Altucher regularly appears on CNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, and CNN Radio, and is also in his spare time a nationally ranked chess master. Mr. Altucher received his BA at Cornell University and attended graduate school for computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

James Altucher

10 of the Most Famous Nostradamus Predictions

Isn't it good to have mysteries all around us that makes you stay awake for the whole night figuring the "Hows" and "Whys"? Yes, it's part of human existence to figure out what are "this" or "that" which they don't understand. I'm talking about mystery and mind boggling stuff since it's part of Always10's goal to give entertainment to readers whether it's heart pumping or relaxing infos.

Here's a post I uncovered from Discovery (I admit it - I'm a big fan of Discovery.) revealing the top 10 Nostradamus Predictions.

Discovery explains that"...Michel de Nostredame (a.k.a Nostradamus) was a 16th-century French "seer." We don't have many seers these days.

Nostradamus studied astrology and various "occult" sciences and used those to predict the future.

He's best known for The Prophecies, a collection of French quatrains published in 1555. So are these prophecies worthy predictions of the future or merely vague observations retrofitted to match past events?

10 - The French Revolution

"From the enslaved populace, songs,
Chants and demands
While princes and lords are held captive in prisons.
These will in the future by headless idiots
Be received as divine prayers"

You remember the French Revolution, right?
The peasants ("the enslaved populace") rising to power, the aristocracy taken down and beheaded (the "headless idiots," now "princes and lords ... held captive in prisons"). In another verse, the "great wall" falling is said to mean the storming of the Bastille.
It's a bit of a stretch, right? It's possible that Nostradamus saw the coming of a peasant uprising through completely non-astrological or occult means, but through his own eyes as he saw the contrast between aristocrat and commoner in 16th-century France.
Or not.

9 - The London Fire

"The blood of the just will commit a fault at London,
Burnt through lighting of twenty threes the six:
The ancient lady will fall from her high place,
Several of the same sect will be killed."

Look, just because you've never heard of the Great London Fire of 1666 doesn't mean it wasn't a really big deal.
It pretty much obliterated all of medieval London ("the ancient lady") within the old Roman walls. Only six deaths were recorded (hence "the six" in the second line), though commoners' deaths may not have been recorded at the time.
The fire, which started in a baker's shop, burned for three days straight. If only someone had passed along a copy of Nostadamus' book, maybe Londoners might have known it was coming.

8 - Princess Diana's Death

The penultimate of the surname of Prophet
Will take Diana [Thursday] for his day and rest:
He will wander because of a frantic head,
And delivering a great people from subjection.

OK, pay careful attention here: The father of Princess Diana's boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed, was named Mohamed ("the Prophet" - it wasn't his surname, but never mind that).
Did Diana's death deliver "a great people from subjection"? Maybe not, but we can all agree that the British are a great people, right? The fact alone that Diana's name is in the text speaks a lot to Nostradamus followers -- specific names are, in general, a rarity in Nostradamus' works.

7 - Hurricane Katrina

The cities of Tours, Orleans, Blois, Angers, Reims and Nantes
Are troubled by sudden change.
Tents will be pitched by (people) of foreign tongues;
Rivers, darts at Rennes, shaking of land and sea.

Did he really mean NEW Orleans? Hmm...The shaking of land and sea might describe the hurricane (well, the shaking of the sea would). Could the people with foreign tongues be aid workers from other parts of the world, or other parts of the country?
But what are Tours, Blois, Angers, Reims and Nantes doing there?
Pre-Katrina, this prophecy was originally thought to refer to France. Maybe it still should.

6 - The JFK and RFK Assassinations

The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt,
An evil deed foretold by the bearer of a petition.
According to the prediction, another falls at night time.
Conflict at Reims, London and a pestilence in Tuscany.

Thunderbolts and gunshots: not terribly dissimilar. And the great man was struck down in the day, as John F. Kennedy was. The other falling at nighttime would be Bobby Kennedy (five years later).
Now, it can work if you want it to, but do you really think a Secret Service agent reading that passage in November 1963 would have cause to be concerned?
Probably not.
And what of Reims, London and Tuscany?

5 - Louis Pasteur

The lost thing is discovered, hidden for many centuries.
Pasteur will be celebrated almost as a God-like figure.
This is when the moon completes her great cycle,
But by other rumors he shall be dishonored.

Like many surnames, Louis Pasteur's probably once indicated a profession.
Pasteur, in French, could also mean pastor, so some argue that this bit of Nostradamian prose could just be about any old priest. Others call it a shout-out to the man who studied microbial decay, brought you spoilage-resistant milk and found a vaccine for rabies.
No one doubts he deserved the props. You be the judge.

4 - Atomic Bomb

Near the gates and within two cities
There will be scourges the like of which was never seen,
Famine within plague, people put out by steel,
Crying to the great immortal God for relief.

OK, this one is hard to dispute.
Let's face it. It's an accurate description of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Scourges the like of which was never seen," people "crying to the great immortal God."
With that said, this verse is accurate because it cheats a bit on the specifics. Critics charge that it's so vague that it could also be used to describe a whole host of wartime atrocities during any of many wars that took place between Nostradamus' time in the 16th century and today ... or even the future.

3 - The World War II or Hitler

The two greatest ones of Asia and of Africa,
From the Rhine and Lower Danube they will be said to have come,
Cries, tears at Malta and the Ligurian side.
Also ...
From the depths of the West of Europe,
A young child will be born of poor people,
He who by his tongue will seduce a great troop;
His fame will increase towards the realm of the East.

These two verses may in fact describe World War II and Hitler ... or not.
Was the most notable bit about Hitler his impoverished upbringing? What about the genocidal, megalomaniacal tendencies? Don't those deserve something?
Much of the talk of Nostradamus' prophecy of Hitler may come from his use, in the original text, of the Latin word "Hister" to describe the Danube.
Trust us, he was talking about a river, not a dictator: no self-respecting prophet would make such an egregious spelling error.

2 - The September 11, 2001 Bombing or the 9/11 Terrorist Attack

Earthshaking fire from the center of the Earth
Will cause tremors around the New City.
Two great rocks will war for a long time,
Then Arethusa will redden a new river.

Well, two great rocks could be two towers, right? But would you say those towers were warring?
If you read this verse before Sept. 11, you might assume it referred to an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Earthshaking fire, tremors, rocks warring (in other words, continental plates colliding), but who really knows.
Back when Nostradamus wrote those lines, skyscrapers like the Twin Towers, jumbo jets like the ones that hit them and cities like modern-day New York were probably unthinkable and unimaginable, so if he foresaw these events, would he have even known what he was seeing?

1 - The End of the World

Remember when the world was going to end in 1994?
What about 1998?
Or 2000?
The doomsayers always warn that Nostradamus said the world was going to end and he NEVER GOT ANYTHING WRONG.
These days, 2012's the trendiest day for end-of-world prophecies. Specifically, it's Dec. 21, 2012.
Believe it if you want. One thing is clear: Nostradamus himself wrote that his prophecies only went as far forward as the year 3797. Does that mean the world will end late in the 38th century? Only time will tell.

Cool, isn't it? Well see if I could reach the 38th century... LOL. Ciao!

• Reference/Source: Discovery.com

10 Photos of Famous People who look like Animals

You know the old saying: The longer you're together, the more you start to look like your partner. And while this theory usually applies to old married couples, it certainly happens in pet-owner relationships, too (science even says so!).

Tireless theory testers that we are, we set out to find said look-a-likes and expose them in all their twin glory. But actually, there are people who may or may not be a pet owner but looks like pets themselves.

Here's 10 Photos of Famous People who look like Animals. (Note: No, hurt feelings. It's just for fun - I'm a big fan of Taylor Lautner too!)

1 - Flava Flav and a Gremlin

Okay, okay, we know that gremlins aren't real... but we couldn't resist including this pic anyway!

2 - Tina Turner and a Chow Chow

It doesn't make sense though I love Turner and My friend's chow chow.

3 - Prince and a Miniature Pinscher

.... uhmmm. No comment.

4 - Hitler and aCat

There are so many cats who resemble Hitler that there's actually a website called "Cats Who Look Like Hitler!"

5 - Wilfred Brimley and a Cat

Odd, I usually think of him as a lion. Oh, lion is a member of cat family. LOL.

6 - Dog The Bounty Hunter and a Lion

Now I see a dog and a lion combined...

7 - Mark Zuckerberg and an Elephant Seal

Does it mean that Facebook and Seals are related? Conspicuous. I have to do some research...

8 - Taylor Lautner and a Llama

ET: Jacob, I thought wolves and Llama aren't related?
Jacob: My mothers is a were-Llama.
ET: hmp...

9 - Jack Black and a French Bulldog

Either way, his definitely funny.

10 - Josh Hartnett and a Golden Retriever

I see a golden retriever piloting a aircraft in pearl harbor... was it? Oh, sorry it's Super Dog.

• Reference/Source: Oddee.com by Beverly Jenkins [8/22/2011]

10 Bizarre Hybrid Gadgets

Want Gizmos and Gadgets? Well, this week's tech post is all about weird hybrid gadgets. Techies, enjoy reading!

1 - iLounge: toilet paper dispenser + iPod dock

Atech's "iLounge hybrid toilet paper dispenser/iPod dock" supports all iPod models that have a dock connector and has an integrated USB slot for the Shuffle. Speakers are hidden in the dispensers arms with navigation buttons located conveniently on top for easy access. Well, now you will not miss a song while in the bathroom!

2 - Hammacher Schlemmer's Toaster: radio + roaster

Who doesn't like to start the day with a slice of toast and the morning news? Well, thanks to Hammacher Schlemmer, you can now enjoy both AM pleasures with one energy-saving, space-saving appliance, the Radio Toaster. It comes with all the usual bells and whistles of both appliances but it's all packed into one cool looking design. It guarantees perfectly toasted bread every time and even has a removable crumble tray for easy clean up. What more could you ask for?

3 - The Spacesaver: washing machine + sink

This combination washing machine and sink appliance is called The Spacesaver and it's truly a… wait for it… spacesaver. While it's a pretty good idea, what will happen to all the junky cleaning products I store under my sink? And where does the dryer go? Maybe if this was a more green product where the wastewater from the sink was cleaned up and used to wash the clothes I would be more in favor of it, but as it is now- it needs some work.

4 - Eurocopter: airplane + helicopter

The helicopter has really changed the way that many things are done since it was invented. Traditionally, the helicopter has a rotor or two up top and a tail rotor. The upside to the design is that it can take off and land vertically. The downside is that a rotorcraft isn't as fast as a fixed wing aircraft. Eurocopter has announced that its X3 Hybrid combining rotors with propellers has hit a speed much higher than normal helicopters are capable of. The X3 hit speeds of 232 knots or 430 km/h in testing. This will be a fantastic aircraft for rescue mission where speed is critical.

5 - Zike: scooter + bicycle +stair-stepper

If you are too old for a trike, and love to ride a bike, maybe you would like a Zike, the world's first hybrid scooter. I suppose by “hybrid scooter”, the company means it is the first product to successfully combine a scooter, bicycle, and stair-stepper together. Inventor Nathan Scolari was “compelled to combat the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States”, and this is what he researched and created.

6 - McCar: car + scooter

The McCar is presently on display at the Shanghai Motor Show, and it is both a car and scooter at the same time. The purpose of the car and scooter combo is so the user/driver is able to use the scooter to get to where he or she is going if the place is far away from where he or she had to park. For example, let's say you park in a huge parking lot at the mall, and instead of walking the city blocks to get to your favorite store, you unload the scooter from the back and drive there.

7 - VN-CX1A: mouse + VoIP phone

One of the nice things about using Skype on a laptop is that it's a hands-free experience: The laptop's built-in microphone picks up your voice, and speakers relay the other end of the call. But Sony's VN-CX1A mouse, which doubles as a VoIP phone, needlessly complicates both your phone calls and your mousing. Question: What happens when you need to use the computer during a call?

8 - X Mark I: mouse + calculator

Canon has created a wireless mouse that doubles as a calculator. The X Mark I mouse, only available in the U.K., has Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, 1200 dpi resolution, and three clickable buttons, including a scroll wheel, with the keypad placed beneath it. The crazy thing is, this isn't that wild a mashup, depending on how much data entry you do on your PC. Certainly, as much as desktop operating systems have advanced, the concept of clicking around an onscreen calculator hasn't changed much, which is to say it hasn't gotten less tedious. Some people might actually find pressing the numbers directly to be a more natural user experience, although some of us can still barely touch type.

9 - Fossil FX2008: palm + wristwatch

This is the Fossil FX2008 – a wrist PDA watch powered by the Palm OS platform. Described as “a revolutionary personal organizer cleverly disguised as a stylish wristwatch.”

10 - Escopetarra: AK-47 + guitar

César López, a sculptor from Colombia, takes rifles formerly used by paramilitary units in his country and turns them into guitars. The idea came to Lopez back in 2003 when, while playing in front of a Bogota country club, he witnessed a car bomb explode. In the ensuing confusion, he noticed how the army guards all carried their rifles in a manner that resembled the way he carried his guitar and out of that explosion came the first escopetarra—a Winchester rifle/Fender Stratocaster hybrid.

• Reference/Source: Oddee.com by Gracie Murano [9/1/2011]

10 Stories of People with Bizarre Medical Condition

World of weirdness - I’m always fascinated with the world and its nature. Imagine, there are things that occur within our universe that is natural though we think it’s not. You might wonder why I’m talking about this topic.

The following list is the reason why I keep on wondering, “Is everything we know of is natural or it’s just us who named it unnatural?”

From Oddee.com, here are the 10 Stories of People with Bizarre Medical Condition

1 - Sarah Carmen, The Woman Who has 200 Orgasms every day

UK's Sarah Carmen, 24, is a 200-a-day orgasm girl who gets good, good, GOOD vibrations from almost anything. She suffers from Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS), which increases blood flow to the sex organs. "Sometimes I have so much sex to try to calm myself down I get bored of it. And men I sleep with don't seem to make as much effort because I climax so easily."

She believes her condition was brought on by the pills. "Within a few weeks I just began to get more and more aroused more and more of the time and I just kept having endless orgasms. It started off in bed where sex sessions would last for hours and my boyfriend would be stunned at how many times I would orgasm. Then it would happen after sex. I'd be thinking about what we'd done in bed and I'd start feeling a bit flushed, then I'd become aroused and climax. In six months I was having 150 orgasms a day—and it has been as many as 200."

She and her boyfriend split— and new partners struggle to keep up with her sex demands. "Often, I'll want to wear myself out by having as many orgasms as I can so they stop and I can get some peace," she said.

2 - Mr. Perry, The Man Who Can't Get Fat

Mr. Perry, 59, can eat whatever he likes - including unlimited pies, burgers and desserts - and never get fat. He cannot put on weight because of a condition called lipodystrophy that makes his body rapidly burn fat.

He used to be a chubby child, but at age 12 the fat dropped off "almost over night". He initially tried to eat more to gain weight, but it had no effect. Mr Perry, of Ilford in Essex, endured a decade of tests before the illness was diagnosed. It finally emerged that his body produces six times the normal level of insulin. Doctors have admitted that the condition would be a "slimmer's dream".

3 - Dutchman Wim Ho, The Man Who Doesn't Feel Cold

Dutchman Wim Hof, also known as the Iceman, is the man that swam under ice, and stood in bins filled with ice. He climbed the Mt. Blanc in shorts in the icy cold, harvested world records and always stands for new challenges.

Scientists can't really explain it, but the 48-year-old Dutchman is able to withstand, and even thrive, in temperatures that could be fatal to the average person.

4 - Rhett Lamb, The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep: stayed awake 24 hours a day for years

Rhett Lamb is often cranky like any other 3-year-old toddler, but there’s one thing that makes him completely different: he has a rare medical condition in which he can’t sleep a wink.

Rhett is awake nearly 24 hours a day, and his condition has baffled his parents and doctors for years. They took clock shifts watching his every sleep-deprived mood to determine what ailed the young boy.

After a number of conflicting opinions, Shannon and David Lamb finally learned what was wrong with their child: Doctors diagnosed Rhett with an extremely rare condition called chiari malformation.

"The brain literally is squeezed into the spinal column. What happens is you get compression, squeezing, strangulating of the brain stem, which has all the vital functions that control sleep, speech, our cranial nerves, our circulatory system, even our breathing system," Savard said.

5 - Ashleigh Morris, The Girl Who is Allergic to Water

Teenager Ashleigh Morris can't go swimming, soak in a hot bath or enjoy a shower after a stressful day's work - she's allergic to water. Even sweating brings the 19-year-old out in a painful rash.

Ashleigh, from Melbourne, Australia, is allergic to water of any temperature, a condition she's lived with since she was 14. She suffers from an extremely rare skin disorder called Aquagenic Urticaria - so unusual that only a handful of cases are documented worldwide.

6 - Code Name: AJ, The Woman Who Can’t Forget

That's the story of AJ, an extraordinary 40-year-old married woman who remembers everything.

McGaugh and fellow UCI researchers Larry Cahill and Elizabeth Parker have been studying the extraordinary case of a person who has "nonstop, uncontrollable and automatic" memory of her personal history and countless public events. If you randomly pick a date from the past 25 years and ask her about it, she’ll usually provide elaborate, verifiable details about what happened to her that day and if there were any significant news events on topics that interested her. She usually also recalls what day of the week it was and what the weather was like.

The 40-year-old woman, who was given the code name AJ to protect her privacy, is so unusual that UCI coined a name for her condition in a recent issue of the journal Neurocase: hyperthymestic syndrome.

7 - Natalie Cooper, The Girl Who Eats Only Tic Tacs

Meet Natalie Cooper, a 17-year-old teenager who has a mystery illness that makes her sick every time she eats anything. Well, almost anything. She can eat one thing that doesn’t make her sick: Tic tac mint!

For reasons that doctors are unable to explain, Tic tacs are the only thing she can stomach, meaning she has to get the rest of her sustenance from a specially formulated feed through a tube.

8 - Chris Sands, The Musician Who Can't Stop Hiccupping

Chris Sands, 24, from Lincoln, hiccups as often as every two seconds - and sometimes even when he is asleep. He has tried a variety of cures, including hypnosis and yoga, but nothing has worked. Mr Sands thinks his problem stems from an acid reflux condition caused by a damaged valve in his stomach. "If the acid levels are severe enough they are going to do keyhole surgery and grab part of my stomach and wrap it around the valve to tighten it," he said.

Mr Sands, who is a backing singer in the group Ebullient, said the condition has hampered his career as he has only been able to perform four times. In the next couple of weeks --as of the day of the report--, doctors at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre will put a tube into his stomach to monitor acid levels and decide if keyhole surgery is possible.

9 - Kay Underwood, The Girl That Collapses Every Time She Laughs

Kay Underwood, 20, has cataplexy, which means that almost any sort of strong emotion triggers a dramatic weakening of her muscles. Exhilaration, anger, fear, surprise, awe and even embarrassment can also cause sufferers to suddenly collapse on the spot.

Kay, of Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire (UK), who was diagnosed with the condition five years ago, once collapsed more than 40 times in a single day. She said: "People find it very odd when it happens, and it isn't always easy to cope with strangers' reactions. "

Like most cataplexy sufferers, Ms Underwood is also battling narcolepsy - a condition that makes her drop off to sleep without warning. Narcolepsy affects around 30,000 people in the UK and about 70 per cent of them also have cataplexy.

10 - Debbie Bird, The Woman Who is Allergic to Modern Technology

For most people talking on a mobile phone, cooking dinner in the microwave or driving in a car is simply part of modern living in 21st century Britain. But completing any such tasks is impossible for Debbie Bird - because she is allergic to Cell Phones and Microwaves.

The 39-year-old is so sensitive to the electromagnetic field (emf) or 'smog' created by computers, mobile phones, microwave ovens and even some cars, that she develops a painful skin rash and her eyelids swell to three times their size if she goes near them. As a consequence, Mrs Bird, a health spa manager, has transformed her home into an EMF-free zone to try and stay healthy. 'I can no longer do things that I used to take for granted,' Mrs Bird said. "My day-to-day life has been seriously affected by EMF".

• Reference/Source: Oddee.com

10 of World's Youngest List Collection

World's Youngest Collection

The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a varying range of years in human development. Developmentally, it refers to the period between infancy and adulthood. In common terms, childhood is considered to start from birth. Some consider that childhood, as a concept of play and innocence, ends at adolescence. What will you say if at childhood stage, some children do experience the following bizarre list...

Finally, Oddee.com just posted their top 10 collection of world's youngest. Here are the 10 of World's Youngest List Collection and enjoy.

1 - Rifca Stanescu, Romania, World's Youngest Granny (25yr)

A 25-year-old Romanian housewife could be getting a grand old honor: She's believed to be the world's youngest grandmother. The British tabloid The Sun reports that Rifca Stanescu had her first child, a daughter named Maria, at the age of 12. Although she urged the girl not to follow her example, Maria got in the family way when she was only 11 and gave birth to a son, Ion. Stanescu was only 23 when she became a grandmother. Ion's now 2, and Stanescu has mixed feelings about being a grandmother at such a young age. “I am happy to be a grandmother but wished more for Maria,' she said.

2 - Shruti Pandey, India, World's Youngest Yoga Teacher (6yr)

At just six, Shruti Pandey is the youngest yoga trainer in the world. The bendy youngster has been teaching adults at an ashram, in northern India, for the last two years. Her trainer, Hari Chetan, 67, set up the ashram 35 years ago and as soon as little Shruti became one of his students, as a tiny four-year old, he spotted her talents. Now she starts her classes at 5.30 am every morning, at Brahmanand Saraswati Dham, in the Jhunsi town, dressed in white leggings and a red t-shirt surrounded by 30 eager pupils ranging from businessmen, teachers, housewives to pensioners. Shruti said: "It feels good when people follow my instructions, I feel like a real teacher."

3 - Kim Petras, Germany, World's Youngest Transsexual to have Surgery (16 yr)

German teenager Kim Petras has become the world's youngest operated transsexual after undergoing a surgery at the age of just 16. The procedure – carried out in secret and paid for by the German health service – was authorised after psychologists confirmed that she was "without doubt a girl in a boy's body". It is the world's youngest ever full sex change operation and Kim had been undergoing hormone therapy since the age of 12.

Kim overcame years of taunts and bullying to achieve her dream of becoming a girl and has begun a modelling career and launched a CD.
Kim, who is now studying fashion design, began calling herself a girl when she was just two years old.

4 - Jaimi Tyrrell, UK, World's Youngest Wall Of Death Motorbike Rider (17yr)

A 17-year-old girl left school to land her first job as the world's youngest female Wall of Death rider - without a motorbike license. Jaimi Tyrrell joined a troupe of stunt riders after completing her GCSEs and now tours the UK and Europe. The daredevil teen hits speeds of up to 45mph on the vertical 20ft high wall as she rides horizontally around the 32ft wide cylinder.

Performing under the name Jaimi Starr, she cannot wear a helmet as this would affect the drag and she must keep a constant speed to beat the gravity that would otherwise pull her down. Jaimi insisted she had no regrets about her career choice and said she was attracted by the 'exciting' lifestyle of a stunt bike rider.The teenager was introduced to the motorbike world by family friend Ken Fox who runs the Ken Fox Troupe stunt riding show.

5 - Sindhuja Rajaraman, World's Youngest CEO (14yr)

Sindhuja Rajaraman, a 14-year old girl has become the world's youngest Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The ninth standard student became the head of Seppan Company, an animation firm, in October 2010, set up by her father.

She was adjudged the fastest 2D and 3D animator by software lobby NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) at the Gaming and Animation Conclave 2010 held in Hyderabad. Rajaraman said: "I am just proud to be an animator. The CEO is just a post given in this company. I am learning animation for this CEO post to make myself worthy for the CEO post. There is no age bar or age limit for animation. Everybody can do animation". "The scope for animation in India is growing every day. There is going to be a big boom in India and all industries are into the animation, they need animation and multimedia. I am enjoying work and I am also getting challenging works" she added.

The company has 160 employees.

6 - Jaylan Amor, Australia, World's Youngest Surfer (2yr)

Jaylan Amor is only two years old, but is already surfing the waves outside of Brisbane, Australia, and has secured multiple endorsements from surf shops. To catch a wave, his dad paddles him out to sea, then the two year old hops and rides the waves back into shore. Mr Amor isn't worried if Jaylan falls, as the tike just swims back to his board and waits for daddy to help him back up.

7 - Ruby Dickinson, World's Youngest Tattoo Artist (4yr)

Ruby Dickinson is only four years old but she is already marking her mark in the world – with tattoos. The ink-credible Welsh toddler may be the world's youngest tattoo artist, according to published reports. At an age when most kids only think about playground swings, Ruby takes tattoo lessons after nursery school. She also practices with a toy kit in her father's tattoo shop.

8 - Akane Niikura, Japan, World's Youngest Sake Expert (10 yr)

A 10-year old-girl has become Japan's youngest expert on Sake, despite being far too young to drink the famous rice wine. Akane Niikura has passed the Sake Service Institute of Japan's test after earning her expertise on the ancient Japanese tradition solely through her sense of smell rather than palate. The fourth-grader can now advise others which type of sake complements certain foods.

9 - Miko Andres, Philippines, World's Youngest Practical Shooter (6 yr)

At the age of six, Miko Andres from the Philippines is thought to be the world's youngest competitive practical shooter. Practical shooting is a sport in which participants shoot rapidly at multiple targets around an obstacle course. His father says:
“As a growing, normal kid, Miko is also into other children's games. He enjoys the company of his schoolmates. He has been taught a lot of discipline and respect. Miko, I and his team coach, constantly talk about the dangers of the sport and we are always reminding him that he is in a ‘big boys' game and that safety is of the utmost importance.”

10 - Marko Calasan, Macedonia, World's Youngest IT Whiz (8yr)

Marko Calasan of Skopje, Macedonia, is the world's youngest certified computer system administrator at the age of eight. He could get a high-paying job, but he hasn't yet completed third grade! Marko learned to read and write at the age of 2 and started working on computers immediately. The news of his extraordinary achievement turned him into a local celebrity and he has even had an audience with the Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, who presented him with an IT lab with 15 computers to practice on.
His parents, who are IT experts and run a computer school for children, are considering sending Marko abroad to a specialized institute of learning for gifted children, as none exists in Macedonia. Marko passed Microsoft's tests for IT professionals. He says he wants to create a new operational system for computers …when he grows up.

• Reference/Source: Oddee.com by Gracie Murano [8/4/2011]