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.
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
Intel and Chinese tech firm Ehang UAV have been locked in a battle over the world record for largest drone lightshow, and Ehang recently took the lead with 1,374 drones as voxels.
Here's a behind-the-scenes of Intel's worthy entry at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics:
• EHang Egret’s 1374 drones dancing over the City Wall of Xi’an, achieving the Guinness World Records (YouTube / EHANG) Read the rest
There must have been one helluva marketing meeting to come up with this PR stunt.
"No one believes electric vehicles have pulling power!"
"Let's prove they do!"
"With a 287,000 pound plane!"
Silence.
Six months later...
On a remote taxiway at Melbourne Airport, a Tesla Model X P100D with the greatest pulling power of any electric passenger vehicle came face to face against the newest star of the Qantas fleet, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The stunt earned a new Guinness World Record for "heaviest tow by an electric production passenger vehicle," according to CNN Money.
That time we towed a plane with a Tesla Read the rest
Guinness World Records just made it official: the title of "Oldest Person Living (male)" on earth goes to Masazo Nonaka from Japan, who is currently 112 years and 259 days old (when you're that old, every day counts). He celebrated with a piece of cake, which he said was "tasty!" He credits his longevity to "soaking in hot springs and eating sweets," according to GWR.
The person who held the title of "Oldest Living Person Ever (male)" before Nonaka was Jiroemon Kimura, also Japanese, who died in 2013 at age 116 years 54 days.
The oldest person ever was Jeanne Louise Calment, from France, who died in 1997 at age 122 years 164 days.
Last year, the Oldest Living Person (female), Violet Brown from Jamaica, died at 117 years old. Guinness World Records is currently on the hunt for the new oldest living female to take the title. Read the rest
Athletic Silvio Sabba from Italy doesn't just pull on underwear like a normal person – he leaps high into the air and then, with perfect aim, lands his feet through the undie leg holes in record speed. He just broke his own Guinness World Record, jumping into 13 pairs of underwear in 30 seconds. Bravo! Read the rest
Model and former basketball player Ekaterina Lisina of Russia boasts the Guinness World Record for World's Longest Legs (female). The 29-year-old stands a total of 6'8.77" and her legs each measure 52 inches (the left one is a tad longer). Read the rest
Sure, we've all worn a bee beard for a minute or two, but Canada's own Juan Carlos Noguez Ortiz just broke the Guinness World Record by sitting for more than an hour with a facehive going. Impressive! Read the rest
A group of 14 Japanese schoolchildren from Fuji Municipal Harada Elementary School earned the Guinness World Records title for "most skips over a single rope in one minute by a team."
Each of the 12 skippers leap over the rope more than 18 times, setting incredible new group record of 225 skips.
The kids take the record from rival Japanese students from Hiromi Elementary School, who achieved the earlier total of 217 skips back in 2013.
Wow! You have to see the video. They make it look so easy. Read the rest
