1)   The 8-Year-Old Known as the “ Fish Boy” (Ichtyosis)

Eight-year-old Pan Xianhang can't sleep at night. Known as “Fish Boy” by locals in the Eastern China province of Wenling, little Xianhang is covered from head-to-toe in thick, itchy scales.

Diagnosed at birth with the rare genetic disease Ichtyosis, Pan has lived his whole life with unbearable pain, often suffering from overheating and extreme itching. His severe skin abnormalities have affected the shape of his eyelids, nose, mouth, and ears, while also limiting movement of his arms and legs.

According to The Foundation for Ichthyosis & Related Skin Types, it is estimated that more than 16,000 babies are born with some form of Ichthyosis each year, varying in severity of symptoms.

 

1)   The Japanese Man Who Was Hit by Both Atomic Bombings, Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A resident of Nagasaki, Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on business for his employer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries when the city was bombed on August 6, 1945. He was actually preparing to leave the city on that day, and was on his way to the station when he realized that he had forgotten his "hanko" --a stamp allowing him to travel-- so he had to return to his workplace to get it. At 8:15, while he was walking back toward the docks, the American bomber The Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb near the center of the city, which was only 3 km away.

The explosion ruptured his eardrums, blinded him temporarily, and left him with serious burns all over the left side of the top half of his body. After recovering, he spent the night in an air raid shelter before returning to Nagasaki the following day.

10. Plague of Midges

 
 

The Cleveland Indians baseball stadium, and much of Cleveland itself, is built by a lake, which often leads to some strange problems. In a playoff game between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, thousands of midges came out of the lake in huge numbers and affected the course of the game. Though they’re generally harmless, the sheer swarm seriously tweaked Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain to the point that he could not concentrate. The bugs ended up swinging the game for the Indians, who ended up winning their series against the Yankees. Talk about home field advantage.

Let’s be honest here, after reading the title you’re only here to see a picture, so here it is.





As hard as it might be to believe, yes, that’s the US, Mexico border and there are citizens from both countries happily playing volleyball while using the division of an entire country as their net. There hasn’t been a use of land that petty and yet awesome since Abraham Lincoln invented the chokeslam.
That game took place during the 1979 celebration of international friendship day, keen to embrace the spirit of being international friends, Mexico and US citizens thought screw it, we have a fence just sitting there and we want to play volleyball dammit! So that’s exactly what they did.
So the next time you see immigration in the news, just remember that 30 years ago people of all colours and nationalities forget their differences for 10 minutes just to serve each other at volleyball.

Wyndham Halswelle is the only guy in Olympic history to win a race by “walkover”, if you’re not sure what that means, basically rather than running and getting sweaty like a chump, he lazily walked around the track and then won a gold medal, because suck it, spirit of healthy competition.

How did this occur you ask? Well disembodied voice in our head, Wyndham actually did run the 400M race properly during the 1908 Olympics, however, when someone blocked him like a coward, the race was declared void and it was ordered that runners, with the exception of the guy who elbowed Wynham, run the race again. The other two American runners refused to run out of protest, or possible fear (probably fear) leaving Wyndham with literally no competition. Thus allowing him to be the only man in recorded history who walked over the finish line and got a gold medal for it.