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world record

World’s Hottest Peppers

Tabasco thinks their peppers and eponymous sauce are hot. Anybody who’s just ate a habanero thinks that’s a hot pepper. But earlier this year, Paul Bosland of New Mexico State University said “Damn, I’ve got a hot pepper.” And the Guiness World Records folks agreed. Bosland had identified the Naga Jolokia pepper and measured it […] » about 300 words

Lawn Mower Speed Record

It’s late summer and the heat wave killed the grass on your lawn, so what better to do than challenge Bob Cleveland’s record for the fastest lawn mower yet? Not sure your mower has what it’ll take to race down the salt flats at over 80 MPH? Wimp. Utah’s KSL TV quotes Bob saying “we […] » about 100 words

Four Million Dominos, A Sparrow, An Exterminator

People like to topple dominos, and some people like to topple great long snaking lines of them. So TV crews get involved, people spend a month or more lining the damn things up, and Domino Day becomes an annual event.

Enter sparrow. Sparrow menaces dominos, topples 23,000 of them. Enter exterminator. Exterminator shoots sparrow. Enter news media. Enter public outcry. Enter death threats.

Result: a record 4 million dominos, the sparrow incident is being investigated by a reported seven agencies, and the martyr sparrow has been preserved for display in 2006.

Ostankino Tower & World Federation of Great Towers

I don’t remember exactly why I found myself looking up Moscow‘s Ostankino Tower, a 1772 ft (540 m) tall radio-television tower. Compared to the world’s tallest buildings, it’s taller than all the greats: the Taipei 101, the Sears Tower, Empire State Building, though some people keep towers — even those with observation platforms — in […] » about 300 words

The Livermore Centennial Bulb

Treehugger alerted me to the rather surprising story of this light bulb, burning continuously since 1901. Yeah, at least that’s the story here, at the Centennial Light Bulb Committee’s website (a partnership of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, Livermore Heritage Guild, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and Sandia National Laboratories). The bulb is said to have been […] » about 200 words

Pinball Wizard Gets His Due

The Laconia Citizen reported today that Ron Mowry’s 31 year quest for recognition as the real pinball wizard of 1974 has finally achieved some success. The Twin Galaxies Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records will credit Mowry’s 72 hour 8 minute marathon pinball session as a record. Mowry set his 1974 record […] » about 100 words