Fun facts from the Guinness Book (598 hits)
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Submitted by Andrew Livingston <fadetoyellow.at.graffiti.net> (View user info) at 2006-08-02 16:24:10 EDT
I've been learning quite a few of those lately from Guinness World Records, the world's leading recorder of random pointless shit. Let me share some of my favorites with you. For example, I'm willing to bet that at some point in your life you've found yourself pacing back and forth, wringing your hands and saying, "If only I just knew who in the world is the fastest person ever to push an unripe orange a mile with his nose!" Well rest easy, because thanks to the Guinness people, we now know that this person was Ashrita Furman, who did it in 24 minutes and 36 seconds. And to ease the torment of your burning unsatisfied curiosity over who has shared a bathtub with more rattlesnakes than anyone else, the tied record holders are Jackie Bibby and Rosie Reynolds-McCasland, who have both shared bathtubs with seventy-five live western diamondbacks. Ever wonder who's eaten the most cockroaches in the course of a minute? It's a man from the UK named Ken Edwards, who ate thirty-six. The record for eating live scorpions goes to Rene Alvarenga of El Salvador, who has eaten about 35,000 (not all in a minute, of course).
It used to be that world records weren't recorded over just anything, like the farthest pizza delivery in history (Dominos delivering pizza from the UK to Australia, and no I'm not making that up), only important things like who was the tallest man in recorded history (Robert Wadlow, who was 8"11 or about 2.72 meters) and all that. Nowadays it seems that just about anyone could hold a world record. There's even a record for rowing the farthest on land (Rob Bryant, who rowed from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. in a specially built land rowing machine). I couldn't begin to guess how the Guinness people decide what to put into their book, but it seems to me that I could probably lob albino rabbits farther than anyone else across a tetherball court, just because no one else has ever thought of doing it. After all, an Australian named Les Stewart successively typed out the words "one" to "one million" faster than anyone else, and even though it took him sixteen years to do so since he could type with only one finger due to partial paralysis, he's held the record for eight years. Why? Because no one else on the planet would want to waste their time like that!
Don't think that I'm complaining. I find it extremely fascinating to learn about all these idiosyncratic and obscure facts. Did you know that the largest group of people ever to wear Groucho Marx disguises at the same time is 937 people at East Lansing High School? Or that that a woman named Stephanie Monyak has caught a record eleven bridal bouquets? (For some reason the Guinness folks don't tell us if she's yet gotten married.) Perhaps you like it raunchier, though. In that case I'm sure you'll find this one interesting: Chris Nicholson of the UK holds the record for bra unhooking, having unhooked twenty in one minute. Here's something pretty disgusting: the world's oldest living male stripper is "The Silver Tom Selleck" Bernie Barker, who is sixty-six. Even more disgusting: the largest kidney stone ever removed (from an Aussie named Peter Baulman) weighed 12 1/2 pounds (356 grams) and was 4 2/3 inches wide (11.86 cm) at its widest point. You could have lived your whole life without knowing that and now you'll never get that chance.
Damn, do these people have a record for everything! Get a load of this: the largest number of people ever to ride naked on a roller coaster at the same time was 32 people on the Nemesis at Alton Towers in England on August 27th, 2004. A man from the UK named Alan Nash has won more toe wrestling world championships than anyone else (five). The longest time a dog has ever spent on doggie death row before being "put to sleep" is 8 years, 190 days, for a Lhasa apso from Seattle named Word. I guess he probably died of old age before they got around to him anyway. A man from the Netherlands named Niek Vermeulen has the world's largest collection of those bags they put in airplanes for you to puke into: 3,728 of them from 802 different airlines. Regarding this hobby of his he said, and I quote, "Somebody has to do it."
User Reviews
Submitted by Gargamel (user info) at 2006-08-11 21:16:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Mmm mmm, tha's good bleach!
Submitted by Ingsoc (user info) at 2006-08-11 20:55:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by WildcatMcGee (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:27:19 (#)
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Auto Andrew Livingston -2
Submitted by Unabonger (user info) at 2006-08-02 17:32:23 EDT (#)
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Drink your bleach.
Submitted by Life101 (user info) at 2006-08-02 17:10:59 EDT (#)
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Everything you ever wanted to know about JonnyX
User id: I'm the douche of uber
Registered on or around: 2004-10-05 18:27:43
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Its every "noob" gets a +2 year!
I help you you help me?
psst 1 post a day.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:44:06 EDT (#)
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Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:38:05 (#)
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Someone please, please viciously murder this foolish little twit.
Please?
--
Oh shit, can I play?
I HATE CONSERVATIVES!
BUSH MUST DIE!
GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL!
I ENJOY THE COMPANY OF HOMOSEXUALS AND ADMIRE THEIR VALIANT EFFORTS TO SPREAD THEIR AGENDA BETTER THAN THEY EVER SPREAD ANY NUMBER OF DISEASES THAT CAUSE YOU PAIN WHILE URINATING AND MAKE YOUR DICK DRIP.
EMBRACE ISLAM!
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:39:50 EDT (#)
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Everything you ever wanted to know about Gargamel
User id: 28071
Registered on or around: 2006-08-01 22:34:16
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ah, remember the good ol' days - of 15 minutes ago?
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:38:05 EDT (#)
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Someone please, please viciously murder this foolish little twit.
Please?
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:36:55 EDT (#)
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OFF THE FRONT PAGE WITH THEE...
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:31:13 EDT (#)
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incoming shit storm alert
Submitted by Gargamel (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:28:37 EDT (#)
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"how the fuck did you write all that shit so quick"
I didn't. I'd already written it and was waiting for the right time and place to reveal it somewhere. Ubersite's awesome that way.
Submitted by WildcatMcGee (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:27:19 EDT (#)
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Auto Andrew Livingston -2
Submitted by moneyshotforyou (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:26:14 EDT (#)
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No Comment
Submitted by leilani (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:25:33 EDT (#)
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how the fuck did you write all that shit so quick
Submitted by Foolproof (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:25:12 EDT (#)
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Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-08-02 16:25:00 EDT (#)
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ONE POST PER DAY