When it comes to world leaders there are the Tony Blairs of the world and then there are the Vladimir Putins. There are few world leaders who are as accomplished as the current Prime Minister of Russia and here are 5 reasons why.

1) Putin Freaking Killed People

Would you honestly screw with this?

Before he became the calm, cool and collective world leader he is today, Putin spent his days as a high ranking KGB officer. In 1975, Putin enlisted in the KGB and spent the majority of his career enforcing laws and kicking ass in East Germany.

Because Russian foreign policy is a bit sketchy, there are no real statistics on his kill record. But, come on, the guy was in the KGB!

2) Putin Has His Own Techno Song

Few world leaders are held in as high regard as Vladimir Putin, therefore you do not see that many pop stars creating songs for likes of Ahmadinejad or Sarkozy. However, Russian one hit wonders Poyushchie Vmeste released a song entitled “Takovo kak Putin” (One like Putin), praising the man’s sheer awesomeness during his stint as President of Russia.

The highly infectious song tells the story of a woman who is fed up with her drunken, pathetic excuse for a boyfriend and yearns for a man as virile and strong as Putin.

3) Putin is a Skilled Martial Artist

Putin Submitting a Beatdown

Though there are other prominent world leaders who have skills in sports, few are as diligent and practiced as Putin. Not only is he skilled in Sambo, a Russian originated version of martial arts, but he also holds a 6th degree black belt in Judo. Furthering his enthusiasm for the sport, Putin is president of the Yawara Dojo in Saint Petersburg and also authored a book on Judo entitled, “Judo: History, Theory, Practice”.

Putin has won various championships in Russia and is considered a person of notoriety in the sport. It’s definitely reassuring to know that the leader of your country can kick some ass if necessary.

4) Putin Helped Battle the Russian Forest Fires

Rather than sitting back and watching the horror unfold. Putin recently co-piloted a Russian Be-200 Firefighting Plane and dumped over 12 tons of water on the blazing forest just 200 kilometers from Moscow.

Although a publicity stunt, Putin still battled the fire like a champ, contributing to the effort to thwart the terrible blaze. In all fairness, no one ever saw George W. Bush pick up a hammer and a bucket of nails and volunteer during the Katrina rebuild in New Orleans.

5) Putin’s Approval Rating

Statistically, Putin holds the highest approval rating of any modern world leader for a consecutive term. At 81%, his approval rating in 2007 was the highest of any world leader to date. At his entrance into office, his approval level rose steadily from a measly 30% to just over 80, probably because the public was afraid to screw with him.

In watching the most recent seasons of the Office, one cannot help but feel a sense of stagnation emanating from the once vibrant cast. Originally, in keeping with the classical dry wit of the British version, each week viewers were brought to a setting that was all too familiar for them. Each character brought forward different images that desk jockeys around the country were exposed to everyday; Pam, the office girl next door, Jim, the office cool guy, Dwight, the office nerd, and Michael, the out of touch boss. This show, much like the British version, was perfect for its spot on commentary of the American office setting.

However, all good things must come to an end. The show is a rapidly sinking ship. Now reports state that Steve Carell is leaving. As Michael Scott, he contributed greatly to the show. It will definitely fail without him and here are, in considering the science and sociology of sitcoms, 4 reasons why:

1) Michael Scott is the glue

There is a certain formula that is almost always at play in the Office. There is often a conflict that arises between characters and it is always Scott, assuming his misguided and childlike position as boss, who steps in to make some form of resolution.

A solid example, in the episode where Jim and Pam get married in Niagara Falls, Jim accidentally let’s loose to Pam’s conservative Great Grandmother that Pam is pregnant. Michael, like icing on an awkward cake, immediately swoops into action to explain to the forlorn Great Grandmother that love making sans protection is a different, more sensational kind of love making and that it should be expected that Jim and Pam make this “mistake” as a young, unwed couple.

The Michael Scott character is continuously utilized for his narcissistic, perverted and immature tendencies in away that cannot be expected of the other characters. In doing this, Scott binds these people together in this office while exposing them to his antics. Without him, there are no antics and the show is just a group of irritable white collar workers stuck in an office together.

2) Michael Scott is the protagonist

Sitcoms are palatable in that each week the audience is presented with a small collection of people who are considered to be the main characters. Where it can be argued that Scott is not the exclusive main character of the show, it is definitely apparent that he is amongst the main players. Simply put, Scott drives the story each week in a way that a protagonist typically would.

Each episode of the Office, as examined under part 1, is heavily influenced by Scott’s actions. This illustrates the point that the show is somewhat about him. Each season we dive deeper into Scott’s life and follow him through buying a Condo with an extended mortgage, developing painfully awkward and morally wrong relationships with various women and even forming his own terrible company.

The show would overwhelmingly be lost with the exit of such an overwhelming and engaging individual.

3) Michael Scott is the Kramer of The Office

In running with sitcom sociology, every sitcom has a “Kramer” character. Deriving from the now immortal ‘Seinfeld’, he was not only the glue that held George, Jerry and Elaine together, but also the source of much comic relief. Kramer was a living illustration of contemporary trends common to the 1990s- a hipster doofus. ‘Friends’ ran with this idea with Joey, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ did it with Robert and ‘King of Queens’ did it with Arthur.

Similar to Freud’s id, the “Kramer” sitcom characters often represent the acceptable levels of stupidity we, as viewers, love but do not openly admit to cherishing, Michael Scott, much like Kramer, is a literal incarnation of this id. He does the things that we know we should not do but secretly crave anyway. We all wish to speak our minds and not worry about the repercussions and Scott does this and does it often. There is not another character on the show who could get away with what Michael Scott does and anyone who is brought in to “assume” his position (that’s what she said) will be doing just that, a cheap and unworthy imitation.

4) The Dwight and Michael Dynamic

Of the most popular duos on television right now is Michael and Dwight. There are no better Office moments than when Michael and Dwight team up for a scheme. The nightmare that ensues is always the highlight of the episode. Although their alliance has faded since Michael’s abandonment of and then sudden return to Dunder Mifflin, Dwight will always be Michael’s right hand man- the assistant to the Regional Manager. There are always classic duos like these in successful sitcoms and part of the humor is knowing how big of idiots these people are for acting the way they do.

It wouldn’t work to see Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz not lording over the other characters in ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ together and it would have been sitcom blasphemy if the writers and creators were to substitute a different character. A common indicator of a sitcom jumping the shark are noteable characters being replaced with other, new characters. It would be sad, boring and weird to see Dwight cozy up and show the same allegiance to a new character and, of course, Hell would freeze over before Dwight would submit to Jim.

The show is sunk without the dynamic quirkiness that Carell brings to it. Although it can get tired and the idea is well on its way to jumping the shark, taking away Michael Scott places a nail in the show’s proverbial coffin. What are the writers’ other options? There must many sleepless nights shared amongst the creators, writers and actors who bring us the Office each week.

Although, only time will tell, the only rational solution is to have Michael Scott be fired and have Ricky Gervais come to reprise his managerial role of David Brent for a three part series finale in which a British paper company takes over Dunder Mifflin and forces the entire office to move to London. For the show to continue with out Steve Carell would be the most literal example of beating a dead horse and it would be, in all honesty, very sad to see.

Runner-up: What Would You Do?

Not quite as much of a game show as the others on this list but I felt it still needed mention. It was hosted by Marc Summers and his partner from Double Dare, Robin Marrella. The cool thing about this show was that anyone in the audience could be involved. It was filmed at Universal Studios in Florida. I always had dreams of being an audience member and jumping at the opportunity to eat a Twinkie with gravy or chug a glass of milk quicker than the other kid…all with the reward of smashing a pie in his face.

Prizes were awarded for some things but normally it was just a “What Would You Do?” shirt or water bottle. The best part about the Wall O’ Stuff at the end of the show was when they didn’t get a prize and got a pie or cream squirted in the face instead. Some of the awesome parts of the show were the Pie Coaster, Pie Roulette, the Pie Wash and who could forget the Pie Pod (1,2,3 or four pies?) always FOUR!!!! One of the best things was during the family contests when a spouse, parent or kid would take out their frustration on one another with a good pieing.

5.) Figure It Out

Hosted by the fabulous Summer Sanders (also an Olympic gold-medalist swimmer & NBA Inside Stuff host), I had such a crush on her. This show featured some kid with a random talent which the panel of judges had three rounds to guess off of Billy the Answerhead. They were aided by various clues and the “Charade Brigade”.

The judges were allowed to ask yes or no questions and if they received a yes they continued asking questions. The best was when they’d inadvertently perform the “Secret Slime Action” and get green goo dumped all over them. Danny of course would always fling his hair back getting the crowd in on the action.

The judges would rotate from show to show but some of the regulars were Lori Beth Denberg, of All That fame, Danny Tamberelli, from The Adventures of Pete and Pete and Amanda Bynes. Some interesting panelists have been Coolio, WWE’s The Big Show and the Steelers Kordell Stewart.

I don’t know about you but I would always cover my eyes and ears when Summer mentioned the kids skill so as to be able to play along with the judges. I would have loved to be on this show but I’m not sure if my talent of being able to down a tube of Sour Cream & Onion Pringles in 1 minute was worthy enough. All be honest with you though, some of those “talents” were pretty darned pathetic….one of them was a kid who was born with a birthmark on his back that looked like the big dipper.

Here is a video of a very awkward but very hysterical tubby kid showing of his ability to eat way too much watermelon while the whole time behaving, and sounding, like a pig.

4.) Legends of the Hidden Temple

Who can resist the mighty draw of Olmac? I’m still a little curious about the host Kirk Fogg though. From the tight jeans and the quasi-Indiana Jones thing going on, what with repelling down from the rafters at the start of the show. He was always pretty goofy to me.

The show starts with 6 teams (Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, Green Monkeys, Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots and Silver Snakes) pitted against each other in crossing the moat. Of that, the quickest four teams moved on to “The Steps of Knowledge” where they had to listen to a history lesson from Olmec and answer trivia questions based on the story. From this the top two teams moved on.

The two teams would compete in three various “Temple Games” with the first two winning them half a pendant of life and the third scoring them a whole pendent of life. The pendants of life are used in the final round to ward of the Temple Guards within the temple. The Temple Games always looked like they would be a blast to try. I especially liked any of the wall climbing ones or the bungee related ones.

The best part of the whole show of course was The Temple Run. If you had two full Pendants of life you could potentially win the grand prize no problem if you were quick enough. If you didn’t have both it was possible to be snatched up by the Temple Guards. The team had 3 minutes to get in, go through the various rooms, find the hidden artifact and get back out. I always felt like I could do this no problem. I would have loved a to take a shot at it. I probably would have been humbled and failed miserably though, I’m sure it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked.

Part 2 – Part 3

3.) Wild and Crazy Kids

This was a great show and at one time hosted by Omar Gooding, the lesser known brother of Cuba Gooding who was also on Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper (man…I miss Marc Curry). This was essentially a couple teenagers leading a bunch of kids in various messy games. It was like a day at fun camp. Water balloons, buckets of spaghetti, egg tosses, pies in the face, Slip ‘N’ Slide races….this was like what you’d come up with if you and your friends were left to your own devices at the park with a slew of props and food stuffs.

Sometimes they would have celebrity appearances on the show. Did you know that Chuck Norris, Hulk Hogan, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have all appeared on it at one time or another….how badass is that?

2.) Double Dare

Hosted by the great Marc Summers (also of Unwrapped fame), this was the one of the first successful Nickelodeon game shows and pretty much what lead to the whole kid game show fad. If I may be so bold I would refer to it as the Godfather. There were quite a few ’spin-offs” like Supper Sloppy Double Dare, Family Double Dare and Double Dare 2000…but none are as memorable as the original.

There were 2 teams that competed in a trivia round that if they didn’t know the answer could dare, double-dare or failing that opt for the physical challenge. The physical challenge was always the most fun. They obviously made some of the questions tougher as to get to be able to get to the physical challenge.

Some of them were dreadfully pitiful, like the crew that came up with the ideas had nothing just minutes before the show and just threw something together without even trying it or testing. But some of the games were awesome. I would love to catch a few pies in my pants or fill those buckets full of green slime.

Of course the mack daddy of them all was getting to the obstacle course filled with 8 different challenges. I knew for sure that I could get all of those orange flags. My favorite was the nose picking one, the Ice Cream Sundae Slide, the the Chocolate Tunnel and the Hamster Wheel. And in what can only be explained as possibly the most amazing 90s marriage of oddities…I bring you Weird Al Yankovic on Family Double Dare doing a faceplant while attempting the Hamster Wheel (also featuring Lou Ferrigno oddly enough).

Also check out this awesome behind the scenes show done in 1989 with Marc Summers taking us through all the ins and outs of the amazing Double Dare.

Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

1.) Guts

By far the best best show of the bunch. What kid would not want to spill their GUTS in the Extreme Arena? Hosted by the awesomely enthusiastic Mike O’Malley (now known for his work on Yes, Dear) and helped out by the kind of attractive, mainly for her accent, Moira “Mo” Quirk.

This was the most physical of all the Nickelodeon game shows and probably the most lopsided as far as talent and skill are concerned. The most athletic, rightfully so, would most often win and unfortunately more often than not that meant the female contest was left lagging in the rear. I did however love seeing when they whooped the weak boys butst and humiliated them on TV.

There were so many different events that they had that I would have loved an opportunity to try. From jumping off a huge ledge attached to a bungee cord and trying to crossbow a big target or dunk a basketball to the Zero G event where you had to run sideways along the track jumping hurdles and off of trampolines. There was also all of the pool events and the track events. My favorite was the Mad Max event where you had to navigate the track in a souped up tricycle, the best was when the contestants tipped over in it.

The end-all-be-all of the show and the most amazing round of any game show ever, on any network, and for any age group is the almighty Aggro Crag (at one time becoming the Mega Crag). This beast of an obstacle challenge was 28 feet of pure awesomeness where the contestants had to active all the actuators on the way up, all the while being sprayed with air guns, showered in confetti and having foam rocks dumped on them. God help me if every time I saw that thing I wanted nothing more in my life then to scale it triumphantly defeating the lesser two contestants and celebrating like Chad Ochocinco scoring the game winning touchdown. What I wouldn’t give to attempt the Aggro Crag right now.

As if the reach of GUTS could not expand any further, check out the supreme version of them all…Global GUTS!

Part 2 – Part 3

10.) Zehra Topel

Country: Turkey
FIDE Rating: 2132

9.) Zaida Hernandez

Country: Venezuela
FIDE Rating: 2046

8.) Zhu Chen

Country: Qatar
FIDE Rating: 2483

7.) Nishanti Balentin

Country: Netherlands Antilles
FIDE Rating: Not Currently Ranked

6.) Regina Pokorna

Country: Slovakia
FIDE Rating: 2338

5.) Valquiria Rocha

Country: Angola
FIDE Rating: 2107

4.) Mira Dedijer

Country: Bosnia
FIDE Rating: 1987

3.) Sophie Milliet

Country: France
FIDE Rating: 2330

2.) Mariam Mansur

Country: United Arab Emirates
FIDE Rating: 1838

1.) Sanja Dedijer

Country: Bosnia
FIDE rating: 2052

Sometime in the ‘80s, the public opinion of drugs split into two distinct camps, one deciding that drugs were okay, and the other deciding it had transcended the human form and was ready to live with the star people in magic space huts. The latter group is responsible for most of these ads. Read more.

M.C. Escher’s “Relativity” (Andrew Lipson)

Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (Nathan Sawaya)

Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” (Marco Pece)

M.C. Escher’s “Balcony” (Andrew Lipson)

Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” (Marco Pece)

M.C. Escher’s “Waterfall” (Andrew Lipson)

Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” (Marco Pece)

Auguste Rodin’s “Thinker” (Andrew Lipson)

Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” (Marco Pece)

With the French Open recently wrapped up, I thought it might be nice to hit the courts and spotlight the twenty hottest girls to ever pick up a tennis racket. Well, not to ever pick up a tennis racket, that’s a little too broad. The twenty hottest girls to ever play pro tennis. That’s better. Expect lots of hot gams in your future.

The gorgeous Michelle Larcher de Brito hails from Portugal and is probably best known for her loud grunting when hitting physically demanding shots. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a girl who likes to make a little noise. Read more here.

While we all think that our Mom is the best one ever, some just aren’t. Some, in fact, should have never been allowed to reproduce. I’ve always felt that there should be some sort of “checks and balances” system in place. Or at the very least a class an exam that would need to be passed before one can parent a precious wee one. I mean we have to take a drivers license test, but not a parenting test…come one. In this feature, 20 of the worst Moms the world has ever seen. Read more here.

A Muslim Kazakh Turkic scholar from Farab he concocted a flying machine that used two wooden wings and a rope. He leapt from the roof of a mosque in Nijabur and flew/glided for a short while before eventually falling to his death.

William Bullock (1813–1867)

Mr. Bullock invented the web rotary printing press. Several years after he had invented it, he was installing a new machine in Philadelphia. During the process his foot was crushed by the heavy contraption. The crushed foot developed gangrene and Bullock died during the amputation.

Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896)

Otto would frequently be the pilot for his various gliders that he built. During a flight in 1896 he crashed roughly. The following day he died from injuries sustained in the wreck.

William Nelson (1879−1903)

William was a General Electric employee. Working there he invented a new way to motorize bicycles. While testing his new cycle he fell off which resulted in his death.

Franz Reichelt (1879–1912)

As a tailor, Reicht developed a coat parachute. He fell to his death off the first deck of the Eiffel Tower while testing his invention. It had gotten permission from authorities to test it using a dummy but he felt it better to try it himself. It was his first and last attempt at using it.

Aurel Vlaicu (1882–1913)

A  Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor and early pilot. He developed several flying machines. While attempting to cross the Carpathian Mountains by air in his self-constructed “airplane” Valaicu feel to his death.

Valerian Abakovsky (1895–1921)

Abakovsky constructed the aerowagon, an experimental high-speed railcar that had a large aircraft engine and propeller traction. It was intended to carry Soviet officials. On July 24, 1921, a group took the aerowagon from Moscow to the Tula collieries to test it, with Abakovsky also on board. They made it to Tula but in the return trip it derailed resulting in the death of everyone on board.

Marie Curie (1867–1934)

Curie invented the process to isolate radium after co-discovering the radioactive elements radium and polonium in 1898. After a life of exposure to ionizing radiation which emanated from her research materials she died of aplastic anemia.

Thomas Midgley, Jr. (1889–1944)

An American engineer and chemist who contracted polio at age 51, leaving him severely disabled. He came up with a system of strings and pulleys to help others lift him from bed. In a weird twist of fate he, while using the system he was  accidentally entangled in the ropes of this device and died of strangulation at the age of 55.

Michael Dacre (1956 – 2009)

An aviation enthusiast living in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia where he worked as the managing director for British-based Avcen Ltd, the manufactorer of the “flying taxi”. Dacre had invented the flying machine and was taking it on its first test flight when he crashed resulting in his death.