Most Extremely Miraculous Survivors

In our life we come across some miraculous and incredible survival stories which leave us in awe and admiration. All such stories teach us one thing that struggle for survival requires will of high magnitude; a desire to live and go back to family. This strong will has miraculously brought people back from death against all odds.

10. A Model Whose Body is Held Together with 11 Metal Rods

Telegraph

The charming and beautiful model, Katrina Burgess survived a fatal car accident which had broken her neck, back and ribs, injured her pelvis and punctured her lungs along with and a number of other injuries. She was driving at 70mph when her car left the M5 and crashed into a ditch. She today is a famous model with 11 metal rods and countless pins and screws in her body. The doctors had to insert rod from her hip to her knee in her left leg the day after she was admitted to hospital. It was secured inside with four titanium pins. A week later, they sliced open her back and inserted six more horizontal rods up the length of her back to support her spine. A week after that, they inserted a titanium screw to the top of her spine to support the break in her neck. She struggled for 5 months before she could live without taking pain killers.

9. Aron Ralston’s Survival

KevinMoloney

Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) a mechanical engineer and an American Mountaineer was forced to amputate his lower right arm to free himself after his arm became trapped by a boulder when he was mountaineering in Utah.

On April 2003, Aron Ralston was climbing in Canyonlands National Park in southeaster Utah when a 800 pound boulder fell on him and pinned his right arm. Ralston had not told anyone of his hiking plans and knew no one would be searching for him. Aron lay pinned for nearly four days before he ran out of water. He was trapped and couldn’t move. He then started drinking his own urine. He carved his name, date of birth and presumed date of death into the sandstone canyon wall, and recorded his last goodbyes to his family in his camera in his video camera. When he was about to die he decided to struggle. He forcibly levered his forearm against a chockstone until both the radius and ulna bones broke. He cut his arm with his dull knife. He then hiked down a 65 foot wall. While hiking out, he encountered a family. The family gave him water and two Oreo cookies. They then alerted the authorities. He was finally rescued by a helicopter search team. The rescue team retrieved his arm, which was cremated later.

In his book, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” he describes his experiences. The 33-year-old doesn’t fear climbing and continues climbing. His climbing ventures include a 2008 expedition to climb Ojos del Salado and Monte Pissis and all of Colorado’s 55 peaks higher than 14,000 feet. He is also a motivational speaker. He is living a normal life, is married and father of a child. English film director Danny Boyle is currently working on the film 127 Hours about the true story of Ralston.

8. Wenseslao Moguel Survived 9 Bullets in Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a 7 years long major armed struggle that started in 1910 led by Francisco I. Madero against Porfirio Diaz. On March 18, 1915 a soldier Wenseslao Moguel was captured while fighting in the revolution. He was sentenced to death without any trial. A firing squad shot him 9 times including a close ranged bullet fired through his head and face shot by an officer to ensure his death. The executers left him there assuming him to be dead. He miraculously managed to escape and lived a lively and energetic life. The above photo shows Moguel in 1937 pointing at his scar on the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not radio show.

7. Woman Gave Birth to Child during Brain Surgery – Both Survived

Yulia Shumakova, a 24 year old Russian girl from the city of Yekaterinburg was brought to the hospital in extremely critical condition when she went unconscious after returning from work one day. She was 32 weeks pregnant at that time. Examination surfaced a dangerous seizure in her brain. Doctors told her husband that 96% of such patients die on their way to the hospital.

“Honestly speaking, I didn’t believe at that point that she would survive,” her husband Aleksandr confessed.

“I spoke to the doctors – they said such diagnosis led to death in 96 per cent of cases. People die in the ambulance, and almost never make it to the hospital”.

Doctors decided to do a brain surgery along with a Caesarian Section. Chances were minute but the mother the child and the doctor’s struggle successfully defeated death. May be it was a mother’s love for her child which gave her the energy and will to struggle death and come back to life to hold her son in her arms. Baby was born prematurely but he survived.

6. Frank Selak Encountered Eight Deadliest Accidents in His Life

Gazeta

Frank Selak a Croatian music teacher can be considered the luckiest man on earth. He can’t travel in a plane, bus, train because he survived many accidents including train derailment into icy waters, a bus crash, the door blowing off a plane he was on, two cars catching fire while he was driving and if that’s not enough, he drove off a mountain road and landed in a tree while he watched his car continue down and explode 300 feet below. He won a million dollars lottery.

5. A Man Nearly Cut in Two after Falling From a Train

The accident took place in June 2006 when Truman Duncan, a railroad switchman was working at his job in the rail yards of Cleburne, Texas. He slipped and fell onto the tracks while riding on the front of a train car that was moving toward a repair dock. He tried not to be run over by the train but got caught in the undercarriage, and was run over by steel wheels supporting 20,000 pounds of dead weight. The train dragged him 75 Feet and he got entangled in the wheels. His body was nearly cut in half. The accident took his right leg as well as his left leg, pelvis and kidney. He called 911, waited for 45 minutes and survived 23 surgeries. He is living a lively and cheerful life.

4. Juliane Koepcke Who Survived Lightning and Plane Crash

Balas

If asked what would you find more dangerous; being struck by lightning or being in a plane which crashed or being thrown out of a flying plane?  Juliane Koepcke a high school student survived all three of these in the crash of LANSA Flight 508 in the Peruvian rainforest when the plane was struck by lightning on December 24 1971. She was blown out of the plane still strapped to her seat. She was the only survivor among the 93 passengers. She landed 2 miles away with an eye injury, a broken collarbone and cuts and bruises. Her father was a biologist and he had once told her that what flows downstream and where there is water, there is life. She remembered this and starting following the flow of water.  She had to trek for 9 days with her injuries and no food till she found a small cabin where she cleaned her wounds and waited till help reached her. Later she became a zoologist. Her survival story became the subject of two films, the first being the 1974 Giuseppe Maria Scotese film Miracoli accadono ancora (Miracles Still Happen) and Wings of Hope by Werner Herzog.

3. Earthquake Survivor Remained Buried for 27 Days

Vosizneias

Khaleed Hussain, a 20 year old farm worker was recovered alive from the debris of his house after the October 8 earthquake in Pakistan. He was buried under his house pinned in painful position beneath a wooden beam and rocks. He was totally trapped and could only move his arms slightly. The perpetual digging motion of his hands even after his rescue shows the pain and the horror he had endured. Miraculously he was rescued alive on November the 10^th by a young man. His right leg was broken at several places.

2. Baby with Rare Tumor Born Twice

FoxNews

Keri McCartney was four months pregnant when the doctors found a dangerous tumor of the size of a grapefruit on baby’s body. This tumor was stopping the blood flow and weakening her heart. Doctors decided to make an attempt to save the child. Surgeons at Texas Children’s Fetal Center cut into McCartney’s abdomen and pulled half of the body of the baby out to remove the life-threatening mass. The procedure was done quickly and then the baby was put back in the womb. Miraculously the baby survived and there were no complications for the next 10 weeks after which the baby was welcomed into the world for the second time. She was named Macie Hope McCartney as she survived a fatal tumor which affects 1 in 35,000 babies.

1. 72 Days Survival after a Plane Crash

Mlive

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as the Andes flight disaster, and in South America as Miracle in the Andes crashed in Andes on October 13, 1972. It was carrying 45 people including a rugby team and their friends and family. The painful struggle against survival continued for 72 days and only 16 managed to win the fight against death. They were rescued on December 23, 1972. Around 10 passengers died in the crash. Food supply was short and weather conditions were extreme. Many died due to cold. Another eight were killed by an avalanche that swept over their shelter in the wreckage.

The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh conditions, at over 3,600 meters (11,800 ft). They were willing to struggle even after hearing the radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned. The survivors had no choice but to eat the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Two passengers Nando Parrado and Robert Canessa travelled for 12 days and found a Chilean huaso. He alerted the authorities about the existence of the the survivors. Later a book was written and a movie was filmed on account of the survivors.

Top 10 Bermuda Triangle Theories

The legend of the Bermuda Triangle probably started some time around 1945, when a squadron of five Navy Avenger airplanes disappeared on a training flight out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Soon, the masses were wondering: Was something amiss in the triangle-shaped stretch of ocean between Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico? Today, we've all heard of the Bermuda Triangle. And over the years, a whole host of theories, from the wacky to the reasonable, have cropped up to explain its disappearances. Here are just a few...

10: A downed 11,000-year-old comet

 So, way, way, way back, 11,000 years ago, a comet may or may not have crashed to Earth and landed deep on the ocean floor, right beneath where the Bermuda Triangle lies today.Some theorists speculate that this comet might have strange electromagnetic properties that could disrupt compasses and other navigational tools and even interfere with an aircraft engine. So, has anyone found such a comet?No... or, well, not YET, but the ocean in the area can be tens of thousands of feet deep in some trenches, so proof may never be found. With no proof, faith in an ancient alien comet is really all that's left. 

9: Pirates 

 

That's right, pirates.This region, just north of the Caribbean in the Atlantic Ocean, is totally pirate territory...um, remember Pirates of the Caribbean? We rest our case.But seriously, piracy really has been a consistent problem in the Triangle for hundreds of years. Now, stir in some good old-fashioned myths about supernatural phenomenon and it's just that much easier for a wily pirate to get away with it ("Who? Me? Blame it on the ghosts...or the aliens.").While piracy wouldn't account for the aircraft disappearances, it might explain some of the ships that went missing over the years (and also, any treasure you might find buried on the ocean floor).

8: Methane hydrates

 Deep beneath the surface of the Bermuda Triangle lie pockets of trapped methane gas, just waiting to be unlocked by seismic activity or underwater landslides. If unleashed, the theory goes, this methane gas could bubble to the surface, reducing the density of the water.Any ship in that patch of water would lose its buoyancy and sink perilously. It gets worse: In theory, if enough of the flammable gas bubbled up to the surface and got high, high, high up into the air, it could potentially stall an airplane engine or even be ignited by an engine's spark.It's important to note that the Bermuda Triangle is far from the only place on the planet where methane hydrates exist - it's not even the area with the highest concentration - but it is possible that these hydrates could pose a threat.Now, would their eruption be powerful and forceful enough to sink a ship or down a plane? We'll leave that one up to you.

7: Time vortex, aka "electronic fog"

 So, this theory arises mostly from a single incident.Here's the story: In 1970, Floridian pilot Bruce Gernon and his father were en route from Andros Island to Bimini Island in the Bahamas when they came across a strange cloud that they say grew exponentially before morphing into a tunnel.Now, would you fly straight into a spinning, tunnel-shaped cloud? Gernon did.He flew into that rotating vortex, he says, only to emerge in a thick "electronic fog" with a white haze surrounding the plane. His compass spun wildly and electrical sparks surrounded him.When the fog finally broke up, Gernon says he found himself miles away from where he expected to be - and much farther than he could have traveled in that time, leading him to believe he had passed through a time travel tunnel.So, was the "fog" a natural occurrence? Was it due to UFOs, caused by interference from extraterrestrial technology?Well, anything is possible. 

6: Government testing  

 That darn government.They really are out to get us, aren't they? And they're so secretive about it. Forget Area 51; they call this base AUTEC (for Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center). It's located on the Bahamas' Andros Island, right in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, and it's where the Navy tests out subs, weapons and sonar...but some people think that's not all they test out. A handful of theorists insist that our government has been working with extraterrestrials and that AUTEC is actually a testing ground for reverse-engineered alien technology. Might this advanced alien technology be powerful enough to down planes? 

5: UFOs/Aliens 

A downed spaceship lurking deep underwater, its dangerous alien mechanics interfering with our own technology? Perhaps. Or perhaps the Bermuda Triangle, along with another similarly rumored triangle in the Pacific off the coast of Japan, serves as a portal for interplanetary, interdimensional creatures.Not kidding.That's the theory.This particular myth holds that human ships and planes, when caught in the portal at the wrong time, end up trapped in between dimensions - it's all just an unintentional by-product of your average day-to-day alien interplanetary, interdimensional, time portal transport.And you thought your commute was dangerous. 

 

4: Atlantis

 For those of you who believe in the legendary underwater city of Atlantis, this one may actually hold some water (no pun intended).Those who believe Atlantis once lay deep beneath the Bermuda Triangle argue that the remnants of the intense energy crystals that were once used to fuel the city are now interfering with airplane and ship electronics, causing them to go haywire.Their proof? Sometime in 1970, a scuba-diving Atlantis proponent claims he found a mirrored pyramid of some type, deep under the Atlantic, somewhere around the Bahamas.Um...well, yeah, if he really did find that, then, sure, most likely something's going on...but the guy seems to have forgotten his underwater camera, let us say.Other theorists have even more evidence, pointing to what they say is obvious, more easily seen evidence: the Bimini Road, a strange rock formation composed of uniform, seemingly sculpted towers of rock just of the coast of the Bahamian island of Bimini.The Atlantis proponents claim it was once a dock; geologists claim it's the work of natural forces.Hmm...so, naturally occurring, interesting-to-look-at rock formation or underwater port? You be the judge. 

 

3: Magnetic fields askew 

 e've all heard myths about compasses in the Bermuda Triangle spinning wildly out of control. Legend has held that the Bermuda Triangle is one of only two places on the planet where a compass points true north, as opposed to the magnetic north.Now, navigators know that a compass must be calibrated to compensate for the deviation depending on the location on the globe. While the Bermuda Triangle was once, during the 19th century, a place where a compass pointed true north with no variation, the Earth's magnetic field is constantly changing, and along with it, compass variations.These days, the Bermuda Triangle does not sit in any kind of strange magnetic area, and pilots and sailors know well to adjust their compasses to compensate for the variation, called declination, between magnetic north and true north. There are plenty of charts to help them out with that.

 

2: Crazy weather patterns 

 This theory about crazy weather isn't actually so crazy at all.The tropical skies over the Bermuda Triangle are prone to intense, severe storms as warm and cold air masses collide over the ocean. Seriously, it IS kind of smack in the middle of hurricane alley.Add to that the swift-moving Gulf Stream that cuts right through the Triangle, and you've got some very difficult territory for both ships and planes. To add another level of mystery to the legend, just take the underwater terrain: It's rugged and deep, and is home to the Puerto Rico trench, the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean.Good luck finding anything that does wreck in that region. Between the depth and the currents, wreckage is long gone...or as some might say, it's "just disappeared."

 

1: Human error/Pilot disorientation 

Look, no one likes to admit they make mistakes...but we all do it, and pilots and sailors are no exception.The Bermuda Triangle's tropical weather and crystal blue water make it prime aviation stomping ground for everyone from veteran pilots to Navy sailors to amateurs looking to play around.There's a lot of traffic in the area, and when you add in the turbulent weather patterns, swift currents and a landscape composed of a lot of similar-looking islands, it can be really easy to lose one's way. Once you're a little way off, it's only a few more wrong turns until you're really far askew: far, far away from a place to refuel or wait out tough weather.In short, you're a disaster just waiting to happen … and, judging from the Triangle's history, you're not alone.

Top 10 World's Most Bizarre Competitions

It is thought that competition is often competitive and fierce. However, apart of competition, you also find the entertainment and joy in some races. This is true for marathon for pigs, bees, or brides. Let's have a look at following collection of most bizarre competitions over the world.


Unemployment Championship

The increasing ranks of the unemployed today aren't just sitting around the house feeling sorry for themselves. A group of the recently job-deprived gathered in New York City's East Village on Tuesday, March 31 2009, for an event described as the Unemployment Olympics. A laid-off computer programmer came up with the idea to lift spirits of the jobless. Some 20 contestants took part in events such as Pin The Blame On The Boss, Office Phone Skee-Ball, Office Phone Pinata, and the "You're Fired!" race to the cardboard Unemployment Office. Phone Skee-Ball, where an old office phone was tossed across the park for points, drew much fanfare and even had students from P.S. 34 cheering participants on. Phone Pinata, which involved hitting a pinata with an office phone, only took two strikes to burst. Unfortunately, the much anticipated Fax Toss, which reminded everyone of the infamous scene in Office Space, was canceled at the last moment due to Parks Department concerns over tossing large office equipment around.
(Link)

High Heel Marathon


High heel race is an unusual event, which is held in many cities, such as Sydney, Paris, Moscow and Amsterdam. But the citizens of Milan were lucky most of all – not every day the winner of such race gets a couple of delicious, lust luxury open-toe sandals from Manolo Blahnik.

Up to 300 girls took part at this competition who must overcome a distance of 80 m running on high heels. The heels should be a minimum 7 cm height and 1.5 cm in diameter. All these fashion sacrifices make only with the aim to get a pair of sandals from the shoe master Manolo Blanik. The winner in the Milan race was not single, but three which means that these three lucky women became the owner of the most elegant heels in the world.
(Link)

Wolf-whistle Contest


These days, any builder foolhardy enough to wolf-whistle at a passing woman is likely to get a slap in the face for his trouble - but not in County Fermanagh town. In 2009 Irvinestown played host to Ireland's first ever wolf-whistling championships, complete with scaffolding, hard hats, and plenty of women. The men of the town were more than eager to show their appreciation of the fairer sex, eagerly donning hard hats and lining up along the pavement to demonstrate their whistling skills.

They had a lot to whistle for. Part of the annual Lady of the Lake Festival, the parade through the streets was led by 2009 year's 'lady', beautician Claire Timlin. The politically incorrect competition was the work of festival organizer, and whistling devotee, Joe Mahon. Joe's years of experience stood him in good stead when asked to pick a winner out of the fine whistles in competition in Irvinestown.

Mahon chose a married man, local butcher Stephen Millar, as the champion wolf-whistler who, like Mahon, credits the technique for getting him a wife. (Link)

Hot Water Bottle Nose Bust Competition

In 2009 during a competition in Tbilisi, Georgia, 18-year-old Jemal Tkeshelashvili managed to burst three hot rubber bottles. One in 23 seconds, the second in 16 seconds, and his last bottle in only 13 seconds. He even blew one up while a man sat on top of it. He set a new record for the quickest burst at 13 seconds.

The previous record for blowing up a standard hot water bottle until it bursts was 51.98 seconds set by Brian Jackson from the United States in April 2006. (Link)

Gurning Competition
 

Gurning contests are a rural English tradition. By far the most notable that is held annually at the Egremont Crab Fair, which dates back to 1267 when King Henry III granted the fair a Royal Charter. The origins of the gurning competition itself are unclear, and may not be so old, although it was described as an ancient tradition by local newspaper the Cumberland Paquet in 1852. The competitions are held regularly in some villages, with contestants traditionally framing their faces through a horse collar — known as "gurnin' through a braffin'." The World Gurning Championship takes place annually at the same crab fair in Egremont, Cumbria. Those with the greatest gurn capabilities are often those with no teeth, as this provides greater room to move the jaw further up. In some cases, the elderly or otherwise toothless can be capable of spectacular gurns covering the entire nose.

Peter Jackman became England's best-known gurner, winning the world championship four times, beginning in 1998 with a face called the "Bela Lugosi." He had his teeth removed in 2000 to make his features easier to manoeuvre. Three years later, he died playing golf in Spain when a cliff face collapsed underneath him. 'Rubber Faced' Grant Owens then took the vacant crown by performing the unprecedented, and rarely seen, treble gurn. Owens states the reason for this is his extra large bottom lip which he used to be able to nestle polos in when he was a child. (Link | Via)
Toe Wrestling Competition Going way back to 1976, the World Toe Wrestling Competition started at a pub in Wetton, Derbyshire, UK. The locals of 'Ye Olde Royal Oak Inn' thought it would be a great idea to hold a toe wrestling competition, where the contestants lock their big toes together, and attempt to force their opponent's foot to the ground. The organizers have big intentions for the sport, and applied in 1997 for its inclusion in the Olympic Games. Unfortunately for crazy sports fans it was not accepted.

Toe-wrestling doesn't sound much like a blood sport, though past participants will testify to the contrary - they've got the sprained ankles and broken toes to prove it. (Link 1 | Link 2)

Palm Tree Trunk Climbing Competition


No, cycling on top of a pole is not a new extreme sport. You may not agree with that until you watch Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations, which include climbing up a greased palm tree trunk. Sound difficult? It is, so much in fact that it requires a team of four, determination and months of strategizing.

Indonesia's Independence Day falls on August 17 and includes many traditions like the hoisting of the flag, decorating houses and offices in red and white, fireworks and other celebrations. Games are a big part of the day; for example, shrimp cakes eating contests, bike decorating competitions (Lomba Sepeda Hias), Tumpeng making competitions (a rice-based dish) and Panjat Pinang, the palm tree trunk climbing, are some of the most popular.

In Panjat Pinang, four people make up a team that has to devise the best strategy to help one person up the greased pole. Some form human ladders, climbing on each other's shoulders, with the last one trying to find a foothold wherever he or she can. At the top of the pole are the prizes – anything from towels, clothes and practical items to mountain bikes and money vouchers. According to the no pain, no gain principle, the higher the pole and therefore the gift, the higher its value. Oh, and should a team make it unexpectedly fast close to the top, the team members, spectators and the pole might just get hosed down with water so that they have to start again. The task is so difficult that opposing teams are known to cooperate to make it. And still, the competition can take anywhere between one and two hours or longer.
(Link)

World Egg Throwing Championship

Egg Throwing has been a sport enjoyed by millions of people since early humans discovered the delight of watching a failure of another to catch a tossed egg. Nowadays egg throwing is a serious sport played all over the world. The World Egg Throwing Competition is held annually in Swaton, England since 2006. The contest features four disciplines besides the egg trebuchet, including the "throw and catch", in which teams of two players try to propel and safely gather an egg over the greatest distance. Teams of 11 players can enter the "egg-static relay" and attempt to move 12 eggs 100 metres by throwing them between themselves as they stand along the route. And "egg Russian roulette" – which echoes a dramatic sequence from the film The Deer Hunter – involves contenders wearing bandannas selecting eggs one at a time and smashing them against their foreheads. The loser is the first to pick the single raw egg among the six otherwise hardboiled ones on offer.
(Link)

Mud Soccer Competition

In 2008, thousands of men and women alike flocked to bog-fields in the spirit of sportsmanship of dirty play, barely able to move an inch in the knee to waist-deep mud at the 10th annual Mud Soccer World Championships for what was more like mud carnival revelry in pig pens than a fundamental world cup outside the tiny town of Hyrynsalmi, Finland. A natural swamp was converted into 22 playing fields each measuring about 197 x 115 feet (60 x 35 meters) — marked out with little more than yellow tape and plastic drainpipes. The game lasts for 2 periods of 25 minutes each on the swampy grounds, with 340 teams of 6 players — 5 field players and a goal keeper — for 880 matches, each wading, crawling, and trudging through the soaking mud fields.

With shoes and socks taped with duct tape, teams of men in long dresses and white hospital gowns, Superman outfits, skimpy shorts, suits and ties, and blonde and pink wigs were common-sight, as were men dragging women through the mosquito-infested bog while they managed to play a game and swill beer simultaneously. Some wore oversized sunglasses which are also useful against the mud splatter. Standard soccer regulations allegedly apply, but the intensely chaotic and largely uncontrolled games seemed to have few if any rules — there's no offside, no definite penalty box and unlimited substitutions are made on the fly.

Not drinking water from the swamp and insurance protection were rules organizers emphasized most. A team member of Athletico Hucknall, England's sole representatives left the arena aboard an ambulance, nursing a suspected broken leg. Winning the trophy in the men's, women's, mixed or hobby category was secondary — at least for most. (Link)

Baby Crawling Marathon

600 kids were expected for Cali, Colombia's first "Maraton de Gateadores," [aka Crawlers Marathon] in 2005, but according to the municipal health ministry 1,122 showed up. The human equivalent of a frog jumping contest, the races pitted kids' ages 8-18 months against each other in a 5-meter straightline crawl. Unsurprisingly, very few completed the race, despite the entertainingly shameless motivational tactics of their parents. The race was part of the city's "Cali en movimiento!" campaign, and was spurred by an alarming drop in productivity among Cali baby drug mules at customs checkpoints in the US. It is hoped that by promoting health and athleticism in infants, Colombian babies will be able to boost their average smuggling load from 0.5kg to 1kg/diaper by 2007. (Link)

Famous Celebrities and Famous Adoptions

Many of us have a fascination with the well-known in the world of adoption and foster care: actors, entertainers, athletes, politicians, and others. The list below includes names in the adoption community that may be more recognizable to Americans, but this isn't the end of it.Here is the list of most famous celebrity adoptions

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

The Hollywood superstars have six children, three of whom are adopted: Shiloh, Maddox and Pax. Are they planning on adding to their brood? The kids (see photos) get to see a lot of the world because their parents are often on set in far-flung locations – Jolie is now directing her first movie in an unlikely place.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman

When Cruise and Kidman were married – and it was a long marriage by Hollywood standards – they adopted Connor and Isabella. (See photos). But their parents split and formed new families, and the kids have a say in where they spend their time. Kidman’s comment.

Rosie O’Donnell

O’Donnell, who was known as the “Queen of Nice” for her daytime TV show, is passionate about adoption, and she has adopted three children: Parker, Chelsea and Blake. (See photos) O’Donnell, who announced that she is gay not long before she quit her show, also was married.

Sheryl Crow

Singer Sheryl Crow is adding another member to her family with the recent announcement of the adoption of her second son, Levi. The Grammy-winning star told fans that Levi James was born on April 30. Crow adopted her first son, Wyatt, in 2007 when he was just two weeks old

Elton John

Elton John fell in love with baby Lev, a child in an HIV-positive orphanage in Ukraine. Although his hopes for adoption were dashed, he's not giving up.

Father George Clements

Father George Clements received widespread attention when he became the first Roman Catholic priest to adopt a child. (How many did he ultimately adopt?) Father Clements went on to found an adoption program that currently operates in 32 states.

George Lucas

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas adopted his first child when he was married and adopted two more children as a single dad. Lucas is the founder of an educational foundation, which focuses on project-based learning as well as helping special needs children.

Joan Crawford

The eldest adopted daughter of Joan Crawford wrote a book about Crawford's parenting skills. Crawford adopted a total of four children. The agency handling her first adoption was later tied to a black market baby ring.

Madonna

Superstar Madonna adopted Malawian-born David Banda in 2006. In 2009, Madonna petitioned to adopt a second child from Malawi. Over the protests of the child's father, she was initially refused, but Madonna won on appeal and Mercy James joined the family in the spring of 2009.

Ben Stein

Through admitted selfishness on his part, Ben Stein never considered becoming a father. After adopting his only child, he wrote a book about fatherhood.

Lionel Richie

Three-year-old Nicole Richie moved in with Lionel Richie and his former wife when Nicole's biological father hit hard times. Richie officially adopted Nicole six years later.

Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl and her husband, Josh Kelley, adopted their first child, a baby with special needs from South Korea (photos). The former "Grey's Anatomy" star says she was inspired by her sister. Heigl says her own reaction to motherhood was stronger than anticipated.

Alex Kingston

Best known for her role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the hit show "ER," Alex Kingston experienced two failed adoptions. Does Kingston want to try the adoption route again?

Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis and husband Christopher Guest adopted two children, son Tom and daughter Annie. Curtis, an accomplished actor and children's book author, wrote a book about adoption from a child's point of view.

Sandra Bullock

Oscar winner Sandra Bullock brought home Louis Bardo in January and kept the adoption a secret. Ten days after the Oscars, Bullock and husband Jesse James separated (when did they divorce?).

10 Weirdest and Oddest Stories of 2010

2010 has been a wacky year for many, but few news events have grabbed people quite like the stories here. From the out-of-the box, to the crazy, to the unfortunate 2010 produced some truly memorable news moments including odd 911 calls, drug trafficking parrots, and cat-cooking chefs. Paul the 'Psychic' Octopus was perhaps the year's most famous piece of odd news, but here's a few more than really turned some heads and may have made you chuckle.

The triplets who were born 11 years apart

Ever wonder what you were like when you were growing up? Two 11-year-old sisters in England will have just that chance, thanks to the amazing birth of their newborn triplet who had been on ice since she was conceived more than a decade ago. When Adrian and Lisa Shepherd decided to start a family in 1998, they underwent in vitro fertilization at the Midland Fertility Clinic because Lisa suffered from fertility issues that made traditional conception difficult. Doctors obtained 24 eggs from the mother, 14 of which were successfully fertilized. Two of those embryos were then implanted in Lisa, who gave birth to twins Megan and Bethany in 1999.


The other 12 embryos were placed in cryogenic storage until the family started talking about having another child last year. The Shepherds returned to the clinic, where doctors implanted a third embryo in Lisa that had been conceived on the same day as Megan and Bethany. Ryleigh was born on November 2010 at 7 pounds 10 ounces -- 11 years after her sisters. Experts told the paper it could be the longest age gap between siblings conceived during the same fertility treatment.

(Link | Via)


The man who was shot in the head but only found out 5 years later
A man living in Germany walked around and functioned normally for five years without noticing he had been shot in the head. The .22 caliber bullet was found when the man went to the doctor to have what he thought was a cyst removed. All he could remember was that he had received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year's party "in 2004 or 2005," but had forgotten about it because he had been "very drunk." The wound later healed around the bullet and it was not until the man decided to have the lump examined due to recurring pains that the discovery was made. (Link)


The man who shot a teenager for wearing baggy pants
Cops in Tennessee say 45-year-old Kenneth Bonds got so angry at a teenager's baggy pants that he shot the young man in the buttocks. In Sept 25, Bonds, who was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, allegedly fired several shots at the 17-year-old after the victim refused to pull up his sagging trousers and called the accused gunman a "fat ass." (Link | Via)


The Taliban insurgents who were training Kalashnikov-armed macaques and baboons to shoot at US troops
A report in China's People's Daily indicated that the Taliban is creating an army of monkey mujahideen. The story that appeared in July 2010 in the Chinese People's Daily suggested that insurgents used a reward-and-punishment system to train macaques and baboons to target soldiers wearing U.S. military uniforms. The Taliban supposedly "taught monkeys how to use the Kalashnikov, Bren light machine gun and trench mortars." But a researcher who has spent his career studying the social life of non-human primates casted a highly critical eye on the story.

"They can be trained to do things like turn off lights and open faucets and so on, but eventually that breaks down," said William Mason, a psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of California. The Chinese story cited unnamed British journalists and U.S. military sources when discussing the idea of insurgent monkeys. By contrast, the U.S. Stars and Stripes news source interviewed a NATO spokesman who said the notion had no basis in reality. (Link)

The woman who achieved the record of world's fattest at 700 pounds
Terri Smith, 49, a 700-pound woman is pinned in her sleeping room, incapable to move, stand or roll across by herself - adjusting the fresh world record as the Fattest woman. She suffers severe headaches and needs an MRI scan to check out for a potential brain tumor, unfortunately she is also too big to fit in a scanner or to pass through the doors of a hospital.

Terry has never been a delicate female child. At the age of 7, she weighed almost 70 kilograms. The woman explains that her family was poor which did not allow for her parents to bargain healthy foods. At the age of twenty, Terry weighed about 120 kilograms. Terri wedded husband Myron, whom she looks up to as her guardian spirit, in 1986. At the age of 32 she built up severe arthritis in her knees and was incapable to walking more than a couple of steps at one time. Smith was lastly given an electric wheelchair to get around in. The lack of physical exercise and not having modified her eating caused her weight balloon to the point wherever she could barely stand. Then about three years ago a change in her medicine caused her to gain 91 pounds in 30 days. Those pounds forced her to the bed ridden state she has been in ever since.

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The thief who tried to steal from a museum wearing an elaborate camouflaged "ghillie suit"
Gregory Liascos might have been an invisible man, but he still had an ill-conceived plan. According to police in Oregon, the 36-year-old suspect wore an elaborate camouflaged "ghillie suit" before attempting to break through the wall of a rock and mineral museum over the course of several nights in October in an attempt to snatch the museum's quarter-million-dollar gold collection. Museum staff alerted police after spotting a half-chiseled hole that the Moss Man had allegedly carved into a bathroom wall, and though his grassy outfit was hard to spot, police dog had no trouble sniffing out the suspect. The animal found a large piece of ground interesting. The dog bit - the ground screamed. (Link)


The man who fled hospital to avoid having his penis amputated after 27 hours erect
In May 2010, a man tried to escape from a hospital in the Dominican Republic where he had been hospitalized for priapism, a condition characterized by a prolonged and painful erection not associated with sexual desire after learning that doctors planned to amputate his penis because he may have gangrene.

Luis Rodríguez Taveras, 45, had been admitted more than three weeks in a hospital north of the Dominican Republic because of this problem, which was caused by eating a lot of sexual stimulants. In statements given to local journalists later, Rodriguez declared that he had ingested drugs. Rodríguez Taveras said he warned his wife not to sign the document authorizing the operation because “I could not live without my penis.” He argued that the erection began to subside gradually after treatment provided by an urologist at another hospital, who was defined as a good doctor and “very human.” (Link)


The baby who survived a seven-story fall
In November 2010 a 15-month-old baby girl survived a seven story fall after she bounced off an awning into the arms of a man in Paris. The tot had been playing unsupervised with her older sister when she fell out of the window. A young man saw the baby starting to fall and alerted his father, who raced to get into position, arms outstretched, to catch her after she hit the awning. “He must have played rugby for years to have developed reflexes like that,” a bystander reported. The baby was lucky: normally the cafe owner closes the awning because people throw their cigarette butts on it. The baby girl is in the hospital, but is virtually unscratched. (Link)


The Flight Attendant who quit his job during a flight using the emergency slide.
In August 2010, Steven Slater, a flight attendant of JetBlue airlines, got into an argument with a passenger during boarding at a Pittsburgh airport. He finally had enough of his job, quit, and opened the emergency slide on the plane in order to leave. He grabbed the intercom and said: “To the passenger who called me a mother ——, —- you. “I've been in the business 28 years. I've had it. That's it.” Mr Slater then activated the emergency exit and slid down the inflatable slide on to the tarmac. He then boarded a train to the terminal, stripping off his tie and discarding it to the astonishment of bemused onlookers. Slater was later arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. (Link | Via)


The dog who swallowed a $20,000-worth diamond in a jewelery
A diamond dealer never imagined that his $20,000 dollar diamond would make for a good dog biscuit, but a dog named Sully had other plans. In March 2010, the dealer brought the $20,000 dollar gem into the Robert Bernard Jewelery Store to show owners Robert Rosin and George Kaufmann, but dropped it when he went to pull it from his pocket. In the blink of an eye, Sully, a golden retriever, pounced on the diamond and sent it down the hatch; it was by far the priciest dog treat Sully had ever tasted. Sully's expensive taste sent the owners of the jewelery store owners into a panic. A quick call to the vet and the owner's had a plan to retrieve the gem -- allow nature to take its course and don't leave Sully out of your sight.

Owner Kaufmann says it was an unpleasant experience, as he had to no only follow Sully, but also check up on the dog's bathroom breaks in hopes of finding the diamond.After three days of careful search, Sully gave up the goods and the owners were able to return the stone back to its owner -- after a thorough shine and polish. Sully is back on a steady diet of regular doggy treats. (Link)