Longest Human Domino Line

The lengths (haha, get it) that some people will go to, just to set a record, is absolutely astounding. On the 30th of September 2000, 9234 students from NYAA Poly Connects formed a human domino chain that stretched 4.2km, across Siloso Beach, Singapore. I can partially understand why someone might join this. It could be fun, and it would be cool, even if only for a short while, to be able to say "I set a world record". Why the hell is it in the Guinness Book of Records though? When is that of any use for people? Do people sit down at their local bar, arguing over how many people were in the longest human domino line ever? If they do, it's definitely not a bar that I want to frequent.

Longest Human Conveyer Belt

This would only happen in Canada, only in Canada. A conveyer belt was formed, consisting of 1000 students from the University of Guelph. It was formed on the 7th of September 1998, and a surfboard was transported across its length. The only possible reason behind this being even remotely helpful is if the world is suddenly flooded and we need to transport surfboards out of the surf shack quickly and efficiently. Surely these college students could be off doing more normal things, like getting drunk or missing lectures?

Largest Human Chain

On the 23rd of August 1989, up to 2 million people joined hands to form a human chain across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The length was 595km, and it was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the non-aggression pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany. While this is a great show of solidarity and what not, they seem to have missed something. The pact was signed in 1939, 2 years before Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Did someone not tell them that the pact was broken? Damn Soviet propaganda!

Most People Brushing Their Teeth in the Same Venue

On 20th September 2003, 10240 students brushed their teeth simultaneously for at least 60 seconds in Shenshen City, China. How this is even in the Guinness Book of Records, I'm unsure. It's not some amazing feat of engineering, an example of human potential or excellence, it's a record of getting loads of people to brush their teeth on the street together. It's not something that requires any great skill, motivation or inspiration, it's just people performing a daily activity, but together. Its records like this that makes the Guinness Book of Records that little bit less amazing.

Longest TV-Watching Marathon

From the 4th of December to the 6th of December, 3 British men (Nick Tungatt, Adam King and Steven Hayes) all watched TV continually for 47 hours and 16 seconds. Why this is even in the book, I'm not sure. It doesn't achieve anything great for mankind, it doesn't show others what we are capable of, I highly doubt it inspires others to copy their achievement. All it does is show 3 men's (lazy men) ability to sit in front of a box transmitting images for nearly 2 straight days. It's not exactly some great physical challenge, it's more of a "don't die of boredom" challenge.

Blindfold Motorcycle Speed Record

I can't believe they even have a category for this one. The record is 265.33 km/h (or 164.87mph) and was set on August 2, 2003. Surely the only difference between this activity and normal motorcycle records is that you don't see the end of the road when you're blindfolded. Surely the actual accelerating part is the same as normal, so the only difference between the two records is luck (and having the cajones to trust you're not right beside the wall already).

Its records like these that make me regret buying the Guinness Book of Records sometimes. Sure, it has loads of great records, but it also has these records that detract from the "spirit" of the book (for want of a better word). I love trivia, don't get me wrong, but not tooth-brushing, TV-watching, blind-cycling trivia.

Records/8 tracks/Cassettes

I have at various times had fairly decent record and cassette tape collections. The highlight of my record collection was a pristine copy of “The Beatles” (commonly known as “The White Album”). I was proud of my Smiths/Morrissey record collection that I amassed prior to Ebay's inception. That was a hell of a feat that could probably be accomplished within minutes via Ebay today.

I'll confess. I barely remember 8 tracks. My uncle had a Toyota Cressida that had an 8 track player back around 1986, but didn't own any actual 8 track tapes. I did buy a box of 8 tracks at 1st Monday a few years back and then I spent the rest of the day trying to find an 8 track player to no avail. I ended up selling the 8 tracks on Ebay. Considering that the entire box of 20 or so 8 tracks cost me $5 and I made over $300 after fees and shipping, I'd say that I was probably better off having not found anything to play them on.

My tape collection had many highlights, for their time. I had all of the late 80's/early 90's rap and R&B tapes. Including, but not limited to: Third Bass, Big Daddy Kane, Bobby Brown (which I traded INXS' “Kick” for), and Bell Biv Devoe (Ironically, I traded a Poison tape for a tape with the song “Poison” on it.) My favorite of all of my tapes was the Beastie Boys' “Licensed to Ill” that a classmate and I ended up splitting the cost of. The idea was that we would share the tape and alternate weeks. Needless to say, I dubbed him a copy and he got to live with that. We were never really friends after that. I blame it on him. He wanted us to buy Salt N Pepa's “Hot, Cool, & Vicious”. Salt N Pepa over the Beastie Boys?

8mm/BetaMax/Laser Disks

I never owned any of these. Most of them were made obsolete before they ever became affordable for my mom to buy. Actually, laser disks had a time when they were incredibly affordable. It was after Sony stopped making laser disk players. Sound Warehouse (the music chain in most malls throughout the 80's and 90's) had tons of the disks that they couldn't give away. The most prized laser disks were the various “movies” put out by Playboy. My favorite was “Wet n Wild 4”. I tried to buy it 3 different times. The sales clerks would never go for it. Not that it mattered, I didn't own a laser disk player to watch it.

***Special Note*** VHS isn't that far off. Pretty soon, VHS tapes will be relegated solely to the 25 cent bins at thrift stores and swap meets. They will be right next to the HD-DVD's that nobody can play on their BluRay players.

Fruit Flavored Candy that Doesn't have Blue-Raspberry

It used to be that there were 3 fruit candy flavors: cherry, grape, and banana. That was it. Occasionally, the candy manufacturers gave us mixed fruit, but we all knew it was just cherry and grape mixed together. We didn't have blue-raspberry. On that note, what is blue-raspberry? Blue-raspberries don't grow naturally in the wild. It's not a combination of blue berry and raspberry or a milder blackberry. This is the worst candy flavor ever. It sucks and it's only good for turning your tongue and teeth a lovely shade of blue. At least when cherry turned your tongue red, it looked fairly normal.

Atari/Nintendo

When I was in the 4th grade (1987-1988), Atari was on its way out and Nintendo was just starting to declare it's video game dominance. I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but Atari was making a big push with their $50 crapbox. I begged my mother for one, because I didn't think we could afford the $100 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I even wrote Santa a letter explaining why I wanted an Atari, even though my friend, Steven's NES was much, much better. In a twist of sweet irony, I ended up getting a NES from Santa. This ultimately led to what will now, and forever, be known as the “Super Mario Brothers 2 Betrayal”. It was the 5th grade equivalent of the U.S. Civil War and its effects still linger. It was one of the contributing factors of why I didn't go to my 10 year high school reunion.

$2 Bills

After a funny incident at Starbuck's over me trying to pass a “fake” $2 bill, I have realized that people under 25 yrs old don't know what they are. Ok, let me rephrase that: If you are under 25 and have never worked as a “dancer”, you probably don't know what a $2 bill is. The same goes for the half dollar coins. That is unless your grandmother has given you one from the stockpile that grandmothers keep in their purse. I don't give the penny much longer either. Slowly, lesser used monetary denominations are being phased out and will soon be relegated to the realm of collectors and buffoons that place too much value on currency that is becoming more and more worthless every day.

This reminds me of when I was bartending a few years back. I was chatting with my early afternoon crowd between the Jeopardy and the Double Jeopardy rounds (This was back when Jeopardy came on at 3pm on WFAA). We were discussing the newest state quarter. I think it was Michigan, but don't quote me on that. A “gentleman” who had already had a few shots yells out, “HEY! Can you imagine how much a collection of all 50 state quarters is going to be worth?” In which I promptly, and pompously, responded “YEAH! $12.50!”

A Funny Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy

Maybe I'm just getting old and my memory is starting to fade, but I'm pretty sure that both Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy used to be funny. I can remember watching stand-up specials of Williams and Murphy from the early 80's. Sure, I spent most of the time with my index fingers inserted into my ears, at my parent's request. Lucky for me, I still have enough of my memories that I am able to remember that these two guys were, at one time, funny

My poor daughter only knows both of them as the guys that were in such craptastic movies as RV and NORBIT. Luckily, she is young enough to still find that crap funny.

Maybe one day after she turns 21, we'll break out my VHS dubs of Eddie Murphy's RAW and Robin Williams' A night at the met. Both are legendary.

Bigfoot, the world's largest monster truck was made by Bob and Marilyn Chandler of St. Louis, Missouri in 1986. Bigfoot was made for one reason and one reason only, for shear destruction and to handle 10 foot tall Firewall Tundra Tires. These mammoth tires were originally used by the U.S .Army on an Alaskan land train in the 1950s. Today Bigfoot travels all around the U.S. and leaves one giant path of destruction in its tracks.

This one of a kind sofa is actually a street legal 82 mph licensed vehicle. It is powered by a mid-mounted, unleashed A-series Mini engine and delivers a pretty large amount of horsepower. This couch comes fully equipped with leopard skin upholstery, a pizza pan steering wheel, a pop can brake, and even a candy bar gear and throttle system. This is one dream machine for any of you coach potatoes out there. It is only missing one thing, a plasma screen TV.

Midget tossing is definitely the most unusual so called sport I have ever heard of. The longest toss ever recorded was in 2002s British Dwarf Tossing Championship. In the tournament a man named Jimmy Leonard tossed the midget Lenny the Giant 11 feet and 5 inches. Now that is one amazing record!

This animal is a Watusi Steer named Lurch and has the record for the world's largest horns. These massive horns were recently measured at over 7 ft long and 37.5 inches around. His horns are still growing and may eventually reach over 10 feet.

The record for The Tallest Lego Structure was set in February 2005, in a Legoland in Carlsbad, California. This record was recorded at the height of 92 feet 6 inches and took 12,000 people more then 450,000 bricks to fully complete the structure. This project took more then 5 days to complete and is still the record holder today.

A man named John Evans has a very unique talent. His one of a kind talent is balancing heavy objects on his head. To this date John holds over 30 world records all having to do with balancing objects on his cranium. What John does is very dangerous. He puts his life on the line just tfor entertainment. He is crazy.

The World's Tallest Bicycle was made and ridden by a man named Terry Goertzen. The total height of the bike was 18ft 5 in. His obsession with the bike all started after receiving a welding kit from his wife for Christmas. This simple deed of buying him a welding kit sparked the core idea of building the tallest bike.

This Huge Snowman named Angus is the World's Tallest Snowman. Angus was built in 1999 in Bethel, Maine and to this date has been the largest snowman ever built. Built by thousands of people Angus had the height of 113 feet 12 inches and had the weight of 9,000,000Ibs of snow. He was a giant mammoth and I bet if we really wanted to we could have gone sledding down him.

What was Frankenstein's first name? Contrary to popular notion, Mary Shelley's monster was nameless. Frankenstein was the creator-doctor. His first name was Victor.

The world's record for running the 100-yard dash BACKWARDS was set by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, the black tap dancer who appeared in many Shirley Temple movies. He ran it in 13.5 seconds.

Dr. Sylvester Graham was a religious crusader who opposed the use of meat, tea, coffee, tobacco, corsets, and feathers. He invented Graham crackers, which attained success in the 1820's because Graham claimed that they would reduce the pubescent urges of young girls.

Thomas Edison was a judge at the first "Miss America" beauty contest in 1880.

Fish can get seasick if they are swirled in a pail or kept on board a rolling ship.

A clever salesman is sometimes humorously credited with the ability to sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Actually, many Eskimos own refrigerators. They use them to keep foods from freezing!

In 1940, accountants discovered the financial records of Benjamin Franklin at the archives of Philadelphia's Bank of America. According to their findings, Franklin -- the master of thrift -- was overdrawn on his account at least three times each week.

At least fifteen million people are having a birthday today.

For all its romantic significance in American history, the legendary Pony Express only lasted 18 months. When it went out of business, its financial backers lost $200,000.

For most of human history, scientists believed that meteors did not exist. The idea that rocks could drop out of the sky seemed absurd. President Thomas Jefferson once denounced Yale University when one of its professors claimed to have seen a meteor fall.

Which state was the 39th to be admitted into the Union? No one knows. North and South Dakota, the 39th and 40th states, were admitted on the same day. President Benjamin Harrison never revealed which of the two proclamations he signed first.

Quarrymen in ancient Rome sometimes rubbed wax on their marble blocks to conceal cracks and flaws. The Roman Senate passed a law that all marble purchased by the government must be "since cera," which means, "without wax." From this root comes "sincere," a word we use to mean "without deception."

In 1906, the horse-drawn traffic in New York City moved along at an average speed of 11.5 miles per hour. In 1978, a survey showed automobile traffic in New York City averaged only 7.9 miles per hour.

"It was the only time I ever went into combat stoned," said American soldier Peter Lemon, describing how he smoked marijuana one night, then fought off two waves of Vietcong troops, dragged a wounded comrade to safety -- and won the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Cadet Edgar Allen Poe was discharged from West Point in 1831 for "gross neglect of duty." As legend has it, he was reporting to the parade grounds where the prescribed uniform had been "white belts and gloves." He showed up wearing a white belt and gloves -- and nothing else.

The word "kangaroo" means "I don't know" in the language of Australian aborigines. When Captain Cook approached natives of the Endeavor River tribe to ask what the strange animal was, he got "kangaroo" for an answer.

The Harlem Globetrotters never played in Harlem until 1968 -- forty years after the team came together.

The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are less than eighty miles apart (Mount Whitney and Death Valley, California).

What kind of animal did the three wise men ride on their journey to Bethlehem? The Bible doesn't say they rode anything. According to Scriptures, it is entirely possible that they walked.

Felix Wankel, automotive engineer and inventor of the rotary engine, never had a driver's license.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by Ian Fleming, creator of the James Bond adventure novels.

The elephant is the only animal that cannot jump.

The Arlington National Cemetery cannot find an Unknown Soldier to occupy the fourth Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is dedicated to the men who died in Vietnam. Military identification --ranging from X-rays to fingerprints to dental records -- has become so sophisticated that there are no unknown remains that might be eligible for the Tomb.

A cheetah can jump from a standstill to 45 miles per hour in two seconds -- an acceleration rate that cannot be matched by even the fastest dragsters.

Adolf Hitler owned nine thousand acres of land in Colorado. When it was discovered in 1942 that Hitler had inherited title to the land from relatives in Germany, it was being used by ranchers as grazing land.

Harry Houdini was the first person to fly an airplane in the continent of Australia.

Before the Civil War, Lincoln offered the command of the Northern forces to Robert E. Lee. Lee respectfully declined, resigned his military office, and returned to his Virginia home.

In the 1840's, two New Englanders named Pettygrove and Lovejoy acquired a large tract of land in Oregon on which they planned to build a city. When the first settlers began to build, they were unable to agree on a name for their city. Lovejoy wanted Boston -- Pettygrove wanted Portland. Finally, they flipped a coin. Pettygrove won.

In 1818, Easter was observed on the wrong day. The formula for calculating when Easter will fall was established nearly seventeen centuries ago; it is the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. Astronomers made a mistake in their calculations in 1818, and the Christian world celebrated Easter on the wrong Sunday.

Corn is incapable of reproducing itself in the wild.

An ear of corn will almost always contain an even number of rows -- usually twelve, fourteen, or sixteen. An ear with an odd number of rows is rarer than a four-leaf clover.

Wild rice is not wild. Nor is it rice.

The five interlocking Olympic Rings are coloured black, blue, red, white, and yellow because at least one of those colours appears in every national flag in the world.

A bare-breasted woman caused a ten-car collision when she drove along the Hollywood Freeway in an open convertible. The incident was reported in the local newspaper with the following headline: "Bares 2, Rams 10."

1. Tae Wah Gooding ate 64 grains of rice one by one using chopsticks in three minutes at Peterborough Regional College on 7 November 2000.
2. The youngest person to wear dentures is Alexander Stone, who was 4 years old when he had the put them on.
3. Stephen Taylor has the longest tongue which is 9.5 cm (3.74 in) long.
4. Kim Goodman has the world record for the furthest eyeball popper. Her eyeballs went 11mm further than her eye sockets.
5. Sandy Allen is the tallest lady. In 1999 she was 2.31 m (7 ft 7 in). She had an abnormal growth rate.
6. Robert Pershing Wadlow was the tallest man, he was 2.72 m (8 ft 11 in), July 15th.
7. The record for the longest motorcycle is 9.6 m and was achieved by Oleg Rogov (Russia) in Tver (Russia) on December 19, 2005.
8. The longest millipede was a 38.7 cm (15.2 in) African giant black millipede. He had 256 legs!
9. The longest rabbit ears measured: 79 cm (31.125in). The rabbit was called Nippers.
10. Nico Surings, from Eindhoven, Netherlands broke the world record of running 100m barefooted on ice the fastest. His time was 17.35 seconds! (December 28th 2006).