It's kind of remarkable that the Guinness Book of Records has managed to secure such a prominent place in our culture, considering it was literally invented to encourage people to argue over inane shit at the pub (particularly when drinking Guinness).

But here I am, in the Year of Our Lord Blade Runner, tearfully cheering on Amber VanHemel as she finally achieves her year-long dream of breaking the World Record for throwing a hot dog sausage over the longest distance while still nestled snugly in its bun.

Hot dog! Another world record SHATTERED at #MIT! Phoebe Li & Amber VanHemel broke the world record for "longest throw & catch of a hot dog/sausage into a bun." Previous record = 32.106 meters. Phoebe and Amber threw for 36.9 meters! #thisismit #guinnessrecord #worldrecord pic.twitter.com/LbCoBcupTj

— MIT CEE (@MIT_CEE) November 25, 2019

I'm not sure why Guinness felt the need to specify hot dog sausage, though perhaps it's to differentiate from a hot dog sandwich, the existence of which continues to reign as the greatest controversy of the modern era. Guinness has tracked plenty of other hot dog-related records without this same linguistic clarification—in fact, this particular feat of Olympian athleticism is the only Guinness record accompanied by that sausage qualifier. Along with this specificity, Guinness also included a size requirement—the hot dog sausage must measure between 5.5 and 7 inches in length, and be fully cooked when thrown.

According to the Boston Globe, VanHemel is currently a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, where also pitched softball as an undergrad. Read the rest

In Leeds, England, Ashley Watson, 26, set a new Guinness World Record with a backflip between horizontal bars nearly 20 feet (5.87 meters) apart. In this case, Watson didn't fly through the air with the greatest of ease as it took him six tries to land it.

Bonus below, Watson's own "favorite videos of 2015, in and out of competition":

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Moses Lanham holds the Guinness World Record for "Fastest time to walk 20 m with feet facing backwards." He is known as "Mr. Elastic Man."

"Contortionist Shows How He Can Walk Forward With His Feet Turned Completely Backwards" (Laughing Squid)

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As a kid, my favorite photos in the Guinness Book of World Records were the massive McGuire Twins on their motorcycles, the guy with the crazy long fingernails, and of course Robert Wadlow (1918-1940) who at 8'11" is considered the tallest person in human history. Above is amazingly weird film footage of Wadlow taken in the 1930s. Read the rest

Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa set a new Guinness World Record for riding the biggest wave ever surfed, an 80-footer in Nazaré, Portugal.

“I try to surf big waves all my life, and I had a huge experience in 2014 where I almost died at Nazaré,” Koxa said. “Four months later, I had bad dreams, I didn’t travel, I got scared, and my wife helped me psychologically. Now, I’m just so happy, and this is the best day of my life."

Now he and Mick are planning to wing on over to London and jam with the Stones.

(Sports Illustrated)

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