Category:
World Records
World Records
Beer Mile World Record
Runners World reports that Chris Kimbrough, a 44-year old mother of six, has "shattered the women's beer mile world record." She did this by running four laps, and drinking four beers, in 6:28.6, beating the previous record by 13 seconds. In a previous age, I suppose, this might have qualified her as "beer honorable."I find her achievement quite inspirational. Makes me think I should start exercising more (especially if that involves a beer-exercise combo).
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 07, 2014 -
Comments (5)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, Sports, World Records
Norris Kellam, the Human Cork
Norris Kellam's great talent in life was floating. For which he earned the name "The Human Cork." In May 1933 he attempted to break the world record for staying afloat by floating in a saltwater pool in Norfolk, Virginia for over 86 hours. Unfortunately he didn't make it. After 71 hours and 19 minutes he was overcome by sharp cramps and sunburn and had to climb out of the pool.There's more about Kellam at hamptonroads.com. The images are from the Norfolk Public Library.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 17, 2014 -
Comments (7)
Category: Human Marvels, Sports, World Records, 1930s
Longest Usable Golf Club
This guy has the longest golf club, and I doubt anyone will top him. But I wonder if there's also a record for the shortest usable golf club?
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 26, 2014 -
Comments (6)
Category: Sports, Golf, World Records
World’s Fastest Lawnmower
Clocked at 116 mph. Although I think a more relevant test would be how fast it can go while simultaneously cutting grass. More info at gizmag.com.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 21, 2014 -
Comments (4)
Category: Motor Vehicles, World Records
The world’s smallest book
It's titled "Shiki no Kusabana," which means "Flowers of Seasons." It's 22 pages long, written in Japanese and Chinese scripts, and features 12 line drawings of flowers. Also, it measures less than a millimeter in height and width.It's not available on Amazon. [cincinnati.com]
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 19, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: World Records, Books
Highest Hot Wheels Wall Track
No translation necessary.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 01, 2013 -
Comments (2)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Toys, World Records, Europe, Cars
30-hour Interview
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 23, 2013 -
Comments (3)
Category: Journalism, Television, World Records
Long-Distance Bed Pushing
Whatever happened to long-distance bed pushing? It was a craze that swept across colleges in 1961. Time magazine (Feb. 24, 1961) reported on it:The latest caper in Canadian colleges is bed pushing. Born at the University of Rhodesia, and perfected—as was last year's college craze, phone-booth stacking —at South Africa's University of Natal, it spread over some sort of Commonwealth bush telegraph. Last week Canadian college students from Nova Scotia to British Columbia were indefatigably mounting beds on wheels and pushing them over highways, prairies and frozen lakes. The current world's record of 1,000 continuous miles is claimed by a team from Ontario's Queens University, which kept its Simmons rolling day and night for a week.
I found reports of students continuing to push beds long distances as late as 1979 when a new world record was set (1,980 miles by students from Pennsylvania's St. Vincent College who pushed a bed in laps around a shopping center). But then the fad seemed to fade away. At least, I haven't been able to find reports of more recent updates to the record.
The picture below shows students from Ontario Western University pushing a bed along a highway back in 1961.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 21, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Fads, World Records, 1960s
The Egyptian Popeye
Mustafa Ismail won the 2013 Guinness World Record for having the largest biceps. He's called the 'Egyptian Popeye.' He insists his bulging arm muscles are 100% natural, and according to albawaba.com, 'Japanese doctors' have examined him, looking for any signs of doping or suspicious needle marks, and have pronounced him to be the real deal. But I'm having trouble believing that. Arm muscles simply don't develop like that naturally.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 20, 2012 -
Comments (9)
Category: Body, Bodybuilding, Sports, World Records
World’s largest ball of paint
Mike Carmichael of Indiana owns the World's Largest Ball of Paint. It started out back in 1977 as an ordinary baseball -- and then he began to paint it. Many thousands of coats later, it weighs over 3000 pounds, has become a roadside attraction, and is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest ball of paint in the world (I'm not sure if there are any competitors to the title).According to Mike's website, for $10 he'll write anything you want on his paint ball and send you a picture of it. His website was last updated in 2007, so I'm not sure if the offer still stands, but if it does I'd be tempted to put a message from Weird Universe on it. Any suggestions?
Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 08, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: World Records
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |