World's biggest burger 2011 - World's largest hamburger Guinness World Record

World's biggest burger 2011 - World's largest hamburger Guinness World Record

When a forklift is used to carry a char-grilled hamburger patty to its bun you know this is one mega burger.

The giant burger weighing 777 pounds (352kg) has broken the record in the United States to make it into the Guinness World Records as the world's largest commercially available hamburger.

It was created on the world's biggest barbecue, Juicys Outlaw Grill, and included mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, onions, lettuce and tomatoes.

"They began at 5am with 600 pounds of meat, which they expected to shrink to about 400 pounds during cooking," The Oakland Tribune reported.

"They forged 340 pounds of dough into two buns. On standby were 50 pounds of cheese, 20 pounds of onions, 12 pounds of pickles, 30 pounds of lettuce and 10 pounds each of mustard and ketchup.

"The final burger weighed in at 777 pounds, shattering the old record.

"It was estimated the ingredients would comprise a 1.375-million calorie gut bomb."

The chief executive of Juicys travelling barbecue catering service, Brett Enright, joined forces with Ovation Food Services co-owner Nick Nicora and a team of helpers to create the record-breaking burger at the Alameda County Fair on Saturday.

"The barbecue was Enright's pride and joy, a massive trailer (the Outlaw Grill) that pops open into a massive food-preparation station with an elevated cooking platform," The Tribune said.

"The rig spends 11 months a year on the road ... (but) the burger was its most challenging project to date."

When the burger was finally ready 15 hours later (not exactly fast food), onlookers paid 99 cents for a portion. The money was donated to a community food bank.

The previous record for a burger was 590 pounds.

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Pakistani doctors set Guinness record after removing biggest kidney from human body

Three Pakistani surgeons have been credited by the book of Guinness World Record for removing the largest kidney ever from a human body on Saturday.

Dr. Abdul Rashid along with two other doctors, namely, Dr. Altaf Hussain and Dr. Mool Chand, removed a kidney that weighed 1.8 kg in Larkana, Pakistan, on January 26th from a 30-year-old patient named Waziran Mallah of Mehar.

The kidney was removed off the body since it was nonfunctional.

After the operation, Dr. Abdul Rashid sent the details of the operation as well as the weight of the kidney to the Guinness Book of World Records on March 16th, since the doctor has never seen such a large kidney, neither in his clinical practice nor has ever read about it in any book.

It took eight months by the Guinness World Record to confirm the entry of the surgery in the book and sent a recognition certificate to Dr. Abdul Rashid and his colleagues.

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Longest marathon dance show set Guinness World Record by Hemalatha - Kerala

Dancer Kalamandalam Hemalatha is all set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by her performance of Mohinyattam lasting 108 hours.

The 35-year-old danseuse, who concluded her choreographic marathon last night, will soon be applying for the record for the 'longest marathon dance show," the
organisers of the show said.

The present record is that of eminent choreographer Dr Vattikotta Yadagiri Acharya of Hyderad set in 2008.

MohiniyattamHemalatha has over 20 years of experience as a dancer and had performed in India and abroad. A student of Kerala's premier school for performing arts Kalamandalam, she excelled especially in Mohiniyattam, Kerala's unique dancing tradition famed for its ability to depict subtle shades of emotions.

Though she had made an earlier attempt in June last, she was forced to give it up due to health after 64 hours of dancing.

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World's oldest twins set Guiness World Record by Raymonde and Lucienne

The world's oldest twins, a pair of French sisters who turned 98 on Thursday, put their longevity down to joie de vivre, or quite simply enjoying life.

Raymonde and Lucienne Wattelade, who are officially recognised as the world's oldest twins by the Guinness World Records, said the other secret to long life was regular sport.

                 World's oldest twins Raymonde and Lucienne photo

Both were in the French gymnastics team in the 1930s and continue to dance waltzes as the local casino in Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, south-western France.

The pair, in perfect health, have lived together in a family home for the past five years and are partial to tarot card reading and their favourite tipples: pastis for Raymonde and whisky for Lucienne.

Born on 23 September 1912, the twins have been married a total of four times, have between them four children, seven grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Raymonde worked for the French nuclear energy commission and Lucienne was a housewife.

They said their most painful memory was seeing their father leave for the First World War and their mother in tears.

But they have no regrets.

"We live in the present, it's pointless thinking about the past or the future - we're still 20 (in our heads)," said Lucienne, who is ten minutes younger than her sister.

Above all, laughter was the key to a good life, she added. "If you don't laugh, you don't live."

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Puggys tongue - World's Longest tongue of dog set Guinness world record 2010

Puggys tongue - World's Longest tongue of dog set Guinness world record 2010

Puggy's tongue can hang all out. The Pekingese now holds the world record for the longest tongue of any dog and it has been certified by Guinness Book world records.

                       World's Longest tongue of dog picture

This small dog has a tongue that is over 4 1/2 inches long and can be seen hanging out on walks, at the park and even sitting in the car. Apparently Puggy doesn't have a problem with the tongue hanging out and never did because it is what made him special.

This cute little fur ball definitely can lay his claim as having the longest tongue while still enjoying everything in life. Doesn't four plus inches sounds really long? Take a look at the video. When you see this tongue it looks much longer than that!


Puggys tongue - World's Longest tongue of dog set Guinness world record 2010 Video

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World's Largest king cake set Guinness World Record by Haydel's Bakery

At 9:30 a.m., a giant king cake baby slowly rose to the plaza level of the Superdome, getting higher and higher as the truck from the local float-making factory drove up the ramp from street level.

"Where do you want Blaine Kern's king cake baby to go?" someone asked Dave Haydel Jr., who had already been up all night.

                   World's Largest king cake picture

"That's something you would only hear in New Orleans, " said Mary Beth Romig, director of public relations and special projects for New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

Romig was one of many people on site as Haydel's Bakery prepared to break the world record for largest king cake. And there it was: Two rings of wide, braided king cake covered in white icing and black and gold sprinkles circling the Superdome, supported by 500, 6-foot skirted tables. The giant baby was situated between the stage and the VIP tent.

Dave Haydel Jr. was busy weighing pieces of unused and leftover king cake on a scale that had been certified and notarized for the occasion. At his side, Amanda Mochan, a representative from Guinness World Records, made careful notes of each measurement.

As for the leftover cake, "We thought about making the world's largest bread pudding, but one record a day is enough, " Haydel said.

Then he started weighing buckets of the remaining icing.

One record a day is plenty, actually. It took five months of planning to encircle the Superdome with king cake and smash the record for the world's largest king cake.

Many New Orleanians on hand for the event seemed shocked -- and some actually booed -- upon learning that a king cake world record had already been set in 2001 by a 3,007-pound cake from Fiesta Mart in Houston, Mochan said.

By noon, the plaza level was thronged. The crowd wore black and gold; nurse and doctor coats from the hospitals nearby; nice work clothes from businesses along Poydras. School bus loads of kids walked around with their chaperones. Lots of people pushed baby carriages.

It was a party atmosphere, but with a serious purpose. As people lined up to buy slices of king cake, members of the Saintsations handed out pink stickers for the beneficiary, Susan G. Komen for the Cure New Orleans.

A member of the Haydel family died of breast cancer recently. And in the VIP tent, Lois Culver had a color poster with a photo of her twin sister, Linda Hingle, who was head cashier at Haydel's. Culver died of breast cancer on April 27, 2009.

The idea for a giant king cake around the Superdome has been in the bakers' minds at least a couple of decades. It originated "a long time ago. I don't know what to think. I'm exhausted, " said David Haydel Sr., who ringed a school gymnasium with king cake when his sons were small. "We've been up since 5 (Tuesday) morning."

Ryan Haydel, son of David Sr. and brother of Dave, never forgot the remark his dad made after the school cake: "The next one is going to be at the Superdome."

Last Carnival season, after the Saints won the Super Bowl, brothers Dave and Ryan were scaling dough for the thousands of king cakes the Harahan bakery sells every year. At the time he mentioned the idea to his brother, "I was delirious, " Ryan said.

They signed a sponsorship deal making them the Official Bakery of the New Orleans Saints and started making calls. Their suppliers donated 4,000 pounds of Danish flour, 286 pounds of yeast, about 428 dozen eggs, 299 pounds of cinnamon sugar and 331 pounds of black and gold sprinkles. All the boxes and printing were donated. Their flour supplier flew in four bakery technicians for the occasion. Dave Haydel Jr. said the biggest financial outlay was rental of 500 tables.

Haydel's started baking and freezing two-foot-long sections of king cake three days before the event . United Parcel Service trucked the cakes from the bakery to the Dome, and were so organized they had everything there early, by 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Ryan Haydel said.

"Our forklift driver didn't come on until midnight, so we put (the cakes) in the golf carts, " he said as he drove a reporter around the perimeter of the Superdome to view the cake in its entirety. "We got a two-hour jump on it, thank goodness."

Volunteers from UPS worked through the night with 15 members of the bakery crew to assemble the cake. Ice House Catering, which does a lot of crawfish boils, heated cake frosting in their boiling pots.

Guinness' Mochan walked a measuring wheel -- twice -- around the Dome to get the exact size of the cake.

"It's two separate records, because they're two separate cakes, " she said. "The smaller one inside will be one record, and the second one will break that record."

Mochan said most of the world records she has verified have been mass-participation events, such as the largest gathering of Santa's elves and the largest number of people doing the hokey pokey.

"We did the largest number of people doing the twist with Chubby Checker, in July in California, " Mochan said. More than 1,600 people danced.

She hasn't verified food events before, but gets to do two in two days in New Orleans. Thursday, the record World's Largest Macaroni and Cheese will be attempted by Cabot Cheese and chef John Folse at Fulton Square. The Magnolia School made handmade bowls, and for $5, attendees can buy a bowl of the mac and cheese.

Slices of king cake were $7, or $12 with a baby, which was not a real baby but a paper chance on one of 100 prizes donated for the occasion, including a "Big Daddy" Saints recliner. The grand prize, a new Chevy Silverado truck, was parked on the plaza.

By noon, people were taking photos with the giant king cake baby. Cartons of chocolate Brown's Dairy milk (Official Milk of the New Orleans Saints), Kentwood Springs water and PJ's Coffee were given away.

John Rhodes, 3, and Larry Rodriguez, 2, were wearing matching white Reggie Bush jerseys.

"I do Miss Dottie Haydel's hair, " Larissa Rodrigue said. "She told me they were going to do this. I wasn't sure how it was going to come out. It's wonderful. It looks great."

"And it smells good!" said Bermel Doyle, who was with Rodrigue and the boys.

In a group of five women from a law office across the street, Laci Jones, who was wearing a maternity dress, said she came out "to eat a sliver of history, and to tell my kid she ate some, too. And to win a truck."

Mother and daughter Frances Webb and Carrie Webb were carrying a shopping bag as well as several boxes of king cake.

They were in attendance "because of Haydel's king cake and to get Saints stuff, " Frances said.

"And because of breast cancer, Mom, " said Carrie, whose mother said yes, of course.

"I bought four tickets online and printed them out, then couldn't find them" at her home in Algiers, Frances said. "I bought four more here. And we went to the Saints store and went shopping, so I'm $100 poorer, but it's Christmas presents. ... This whole thing is a blessing."

Soon after noon, Dave Haydel Jr. got on stage. With him were Supriya Jindal, Cheryl Landrieu and Saints owner Rita Benson LeBlanc. Jindal told the crowd that Louisiana ranks highest in mortality in breast cancer. She ended her remarks by saying, "My children told me to pass on two words: Two Dat."

After the king cake was blessed by the Rev. Msgr. Frank J. Giroir of St. Anselm Catholic Church in Madisonville, Mochan announced the winning dimensions of the cakes: 4,068 pounds and 8.99 ounces, and 4,073 pounds and 7.12 ounces.

"Congratulations, and welcome to the Guinness World Record family, " she said.

People often ask Mochan what's the craziest or most fun world record event she's attended.

"I would say I really like this event, " she said. "Everything ties together, and it's so fun with the city. King cake is traditional in New Orleans. It ties in with the Saints and the Superdome. And it benefits a good cause.

The World's Largest King Cake by the Numbers

Eggs: 5,136

Danish Flour: 4,000 pounds

Icing: 2,087 pounds

Sprinkles: 331 pounds

Cinnamon Sugar: 299 pounds

Yeast: 286 pounds

Vegetable Oil: 70 pounds

Flavoring: 9 gallons

Official record weight: 4,068 lbs, 8.99 ounces for the inner cake ring; and 4,073 pounds, 7.12 ounces for the outer cake.

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Gay Couple - World's Longest Kiss set Guinness World Records 2010

Perezhilton one of the most recognized celebrity gossip website has reported that Matt Daley and Bobby Canciello, two New Jersey College students have recently broke a Guinness World Record for the longest continues kiss.

The record has been broken by the homosexual FRIENDS over the weekend, when both have been clocked for 33 hours of non-stop homolicious saliva swapping.

According to the rules of the Guinness World Records, both Matt and Bobby were required to stand in a public venue straight for 33 hours, without any breaks or bathroom trips.

Both chose the campus of their college as the public venue, where they were surrounded by their friends and supporters, while they continue to swap saliva.

After their record breaking saliva swapping Matt said, the kiss was not about romantic or sexual expression, neither they were required to make out, or use their tongues.
It was a simple and innocent kiss between two friends.

All we can say is Congratulations to both Matt and Bobby for their record breaking effort of non-stop kissing.

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Weirdest World record - Top 10 world's weirdest record

These are just some of the new entries in the Guinness Book Of World Records 2011, including Swallow the smallest cow - who stands at just 33.5 inches tall - and a man who can fit 400 drinking straws in his mouth and keep them there for ten seconds.

One of the oddest has to be Stephen Parkes, a media technician from Nottingham, 44, who has the Largest Collection Of Smurf Memorabilia at 1,061 figures.

Amarilis Espinoza, of Guinness World Records, said: ‘It is very difficult to get into the book and about 80 per cent of entries get rejected.’


List of  Top 10 world's weirdest record


1) Longest Tongue On A Dog: Puggy, Becky Stanford’s male Pekingese, is nine years old. Its mouth-watering 4.5in tongue was officially measured at a Texan animal clinic last May.

2) Fastest Time To Pop 100 Balloons By A Dog: Jack Russell terrier Anastasia did this in 44.49 secs on a U.S. TV show

3) Longest snake: Measured at 24ft, fluffy the reticulated python, who lives in Columbus Zoo and aquarium, Ohio, U.S. is recognised as the longest living snake in captivity.


4) World’s Biggest English Breakfast: Mario’s Cafe, Bolton, serves ten eggs, sausages and bacon rashers, five black puddings and piles of mushrooms and beans.
It’s free if eaten in 20 minutes!

5) Most Straws Stuffed In Mouth: Simon Elmore held 400 drinking straws in his mouth for ten seconds in Bavaria, Germany, in August 2009


6) Heaviest Plane Pulled: Kevin Fast pulled a 188.83 tonne CC-177 Globemaster III a staggering 28ft at Canadian Forces Base, Ontario.

7) Smallest Cow: Swallow is 33.5in-tall Dexter cow. She lives with Martyn Ryder at Pike End Farm in North Yorkshire.

8) Longest Distance By A Horse On Hind Legs: Gregory Ancelotti rode his horse, Doc, 95ft 5in in Milan, Italy, in April 2009.

9) Most Bottles Recycled By A Dog: Tubby has recycled 26,000 plastic bottles by giving them to his owner Sandra Gilmore.

10) Largest Smurf Collection: Stephen Parkes has 1,061 in total, including Christmas smurfs and historical figures.

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Lady GaGa and Pixie Lott made It to latest Guinness World Records book

Lady GaGa and Pixie Lott have new accolades to add to their lists the pair has made its debut in the latest Guinness World Records book.

She has also been named the most searched for female on the internet in the new edition of the Guinness World Records.
Meanwhile, the late Michael Jackson is the most search for male on the internet, while Madonna is the biggest-selling female act of the 21st century in the UK.

Husband and wife Jay-Z and Beyonce have been named the year's biggest 'Power Couple', earning around $122 million through June 2009.

Pixie Lott has recorded the biggest chart jump, with her song 'Boys And Girls' climbing to number one from number 72 in one week.

Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of this year's records book, said: "Almost two years ago, Lady Gaga and Pixie Lott were not even around so it's amazing they have broken these records.

"Every year, so many new music records are broken."

The latest edition of Guinness World Records 2011 is released today (September 16).

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World's Longest cucumber set Guinness World Record by Frank Dimmock

World's Longest cucumber set Guinness World Record by Frank Dimmock.

Frank Dimmock, 87, from Thame, whose 104.78 cm (41.25 in) cucumber is, according to The Guinness Book Of World Records, the longest in the world.

But despite owning a record-breaking vegetable, Mr Dimmock takes it in his stride.

"You get fed up with it in the end," he told BBC Oxford. "I'd rather they just called me Frank and that's it."

Seeds from Mr Dimmock's gigantic cucumber have been in demand.

"I've sent two or three seeds to my friends abroad telling them they can try to beat me if they possibly can, but nobody has yet."

Mr Dimmock has been growing vegetables since before World War II when he became apprentice to a gardener.

He has spent the last 17 years as an unpaid carer and gives away his produce to the elderly.

Colossal

The 2010 edition of the Guinness World Records book also includes an Oxfordshire entry for 'Fastest marathon dressed as a bottle (female)'.

Gill Begnor from Hook Norton completed the race in 4 hours, 54 minutes and 36 seconds, raising money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

Records this year include the 'World's Smallest Cow' which at just 33.5 inches is smaller than the average sheep.

Other animals that have hit the top include 'Dog with the Longest Tongue' (4.5in/11.4 cm), 'Darius the Longest Rabbit' (4ft 3 in/1.2 m) and the 'World's Oldest Gorilla' ('Colo', 53).

However, it is not just animals that have made the grade in 2010. The 'Longest Nose on a Human Being' can be found in Turkey and measures a colossal 8.89cm.

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Listerine - Most People Using Mouthwash Simultaneously set Guinness World Record

A total of 361 people participated in the activity, which took place in Mumbai on the occasion of World Oral Health Day on September 12.

On the occasion of World Oral Health Day on September 12, mouthwash brand Listerine conducted an on-ground activity, which called for people to set a new world record and also urged Indians to include mouthwash in their daily oral care regime.

In Nirmal Lifestyle mall, Mulund, Mumbai, 361 participants used Listerine mouthwash simultaneously for 15 seconds, setting a new Guinness World Record. The event was anchored by VJ and actor, Cyrus Sahukar, who urged the crowd to sign and take a pledge for complete oral care.

Discussing the awareness drive, Tushar Murdeshwar, head, marketing, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Division, India says, "We are committed to provide consumers with complete oral health, with our essential oil-based Listerine Mouthwash. We hope that this record will help increase awareness among consumers to include mouthwash as part of their regime."

The drive was ideated, planned and executed by Group M's Dialect. Soumik Sarkar, business director, Dialect tells afaqs! that the planning took close to two months. On September 11, a day before the event, banners were put up in the mall to attract registration for participation and pledges. The event kicked off at 4 pm on Sunday and lasted for about two hours. At the conclusion of the event, the Guinness certificate was awarded by Jack Brockbank from Guinness World Record, London, who was present as the official adjudicator.

Sarkar shares that while contacting the Guinness team would have been quite difficult about five years ago, it's not the same now. With easy Internet access, reaching them was not a task, and they were contacted in the last couple of weeks of the planning stage.

He adds, "The most challenging part was to adhere to the strict mass participation guidelines set by Guinness adjudicators, before and on the day of the event. Managing the close to 400-strong crowd was a big challenge," Sarkar adds.

Interestingly, shaving brand Gillette had organised the Mach3 Shave India Movement on similar lines. As part of the movement, 2,000 men shaved their faces in public, using the new Gillette Mach3 razor. And by participating in the Shaveathon, the men also created India's first shaving record in the Limca Book of Records, for the most number of men shaving in a day at the same place.

The activity got an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records as well; and went on to win many awards, including a Silver Lion at Cannes 2010.

On whether the Listerine event was inspired by Gillette's Shaveathon, Sarkar says, "In the case of Gillette, it was an event well woven into the brand story; whereas for Listerine, it was an off-hand, standalone sort of activity. But we're hoping to build a lot more consumer engagement for the brand." He adds, smiling, "And yes, we do hope to win some accolades for the activity going forward."

Let's wait and watch if the 'world record' magic works for Listerine as well...

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Colin Decker - Longest full-body burn set Guinness World Record by Vancouver stunman

Colin Decker is blazing his way into the Guinness World Record books.

The Vancouver stuntman surpassed the world record for longest full-body burn on the weekend, using his company’s patented fire-retardation gel to accomplish the death-defying feat.

                 Colin Decker - Longest full-body burn photo

“It was my fourth attempt at it,” Decker told The Province on Monday.Decker credited ideal weather conditions for his successful burn.

Burning from head to toe for three minutes and 27 seconds puts him ahead of Ted Batchelor, who is the current holder of the world record, according to Guinness, with a full-body burn for two minutes and 38 seconds.

When Decker tried to break the record a year ago, he was thwarted by swirling winds.

“They pushed fire in my face all the time,” he recalled. “I had no other choice than to burn the hell out of my face or pull the chute and do it another day.”

Decker, his partner in Fire 4 Hire, Dustin Brooks, and a number of friends pulled off their biggest stunt on Saturday afternoon in the Maple Ridge backyard of a friend.

The friend, another stuntman in the movie industry, “loves a good barbecue,” Decker joked.

He said the heat became too great toward the end of the stunt, but he never panicked.

“I knew where I needed to get to and I knew where my safeties were,” he said.

“At the end, I did the nasty plunge into the pool,” Decker said of a kiddie pool that had been filled with water.

“We had seven people on extinguishers, as well, and an exterior water source.”

The protective gel is a proprietary secret.

Decker and Brooks have performed fiery stunts in about 50 movies, TV productions and live performances since they formed Fire 4 Hire in 2005.

“The trick to the burn is that you have to continually add to the fuel you have on you because you are consuming fuel at an alarming rate,” he confided. (That way, the fire burns the fuel and not the gel.)

The gel developed by Decker and Brooks was nominated for an Oscar in 2007, but did not win the Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement.

“I couldn’t have done it without all the people that surrounded me on Saturday,” he added.

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Armenian Company Grand Candy - World's Biggest Chocolate Bar set Guinness Record 2010

The Armenian Company Grand Candy broke the Guinness World Record for the biggest chocolate bar by making a bar weighing 4,410 kg. On September 11, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the company held a presentation ceremony. The bar, 5600x2750x250 millimeters, was made in four days using cocoa beans imported from Africa, Grand Candy President Karen Vardanyan said at the ceremony. The legal representative of the Guinness Book of World Records Elizabeth Smith arrived in Armenia to issue a certificate to the company.

                              World's Biggest Chocolate Bar picture

Bardanyan pointed out that this is the first officially registered Guinness record in industry in Armenia over the last 20 years. According to the Guinness terms, the bar is 70% made from natural primary products – 500kg of cocoa beans and 300kg of powdered sugar. The record-setter bar will be kept in special conditions. Karen Vardanyan invited everyone to participate in a chocolate tasting event in Republic Square on October 16.

He said that an average consumer will take 450 years to eat such a bar.

Elizabeth Smith, who attended the ceremony, said this is the most impressive record she has ever seen. She congratulated Armenia, as well as the Grand Candy Company, for this achievement.

The previous Guinness record is a 3,580-kg chocolate bar made in Italy in 2007.

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Zumba Dance - World’s Largest Zumba Dance Class World Records set by Dal students

Students at Dalhousie University attempted a Guinness world record Wednesday, for holding the world’s largest Zumba dance class.

Zumba is a cross between aerobics and Latin dance, and has become the most popular class at the Dalplex when the fitness centre began offering classes last year.

Dalhousie decided, as part of orientation week, to offer a class at Wickwire Field as a way for new students to meet.

 The university was also attempting to set a world record for a 30 minute Zumba class.

The registered Guinness record is 250 participants, however that record was broken last month.
Dalhousie had 575 students on the field participating in the dance class, and they will wait and see if that number was enough.

There are reports that a record attempt was made in Australia with 720 participants. If Dalhousie doesn’t get the record this year, event organizers say they will likely attempt the record again next year during the first week of classes.

Zumba Dance Video

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World's Most Expensive Book set a world record price of £6 million at auction in London

World's Most Expensive Book set a world record price of £6 million at auction in London.

It’s the most expensive book in the world, breathtaking in its stunning detail and a world away from your average bird-watcher’s guide.
And the story of the man behind the 170-year-old collection of life-sized bird paintings – many depicting awesome creatures of prey – is just as rich in its appeal.

John James Audubon was the remarkable, nature-loving frontiersman who set out into the wilderness to hunt and to paint – and left us the remarkable Birds of America, a rare copy of which is set to fetch up to £6million at auction later this year.

Audubon was born in 1785 on the turbulent Caribbean island of Haiti as the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and his mistress.

He lived through revolution, bankruptcy and rejection before achieving world-wide fame for his masterpiece on New World ornithology. He grew up in France before emigrating to the newly-formed United States of America in 1803, quickly making his way to the wild heart of the continent in Kentucky.

Without any experience of painting, the explorer decided to draw his new home country’s vast array of colourful bird life and – equipped with paints and a gun – headed south down the great Mississippi river to begin his work.

He said later of his quirky adventure in the name of art: “I took up my gun, my notebook and my pencils and went forth to the woods.”

Audubon, who later became known as The Woodsman, spent 12 years hunting every bird in America, shooting and hanging them from pieces of wire before painting them in life-like poses in full-scale.

The eccentric traveller became so obsessed with his fascinating work he was briefly jailed for bankruptcy after his passion for hunting and drawing caused him to neglect his own dry goods store in Henderson, Kentucky.

Despite his painstaking effort depicting nearly 500 of the 700 native American bird species in vivid colour – totalling 1,000 lifesize prints – his work was initially spurned by the country’s snobby East Coast intellectuals.

So Audubon was forced in 1826 to set sail for Great Britain, where his outdoorsman image and vivid illustrations caused a sensation.

The trip to these shores was a final throw of the dice – and it paid off weeks after he arrived in Liverpool in the summer of 1826.

Once on Merseyside, Audubon was taken up by the Rathbones, a well-to-do merchant family.

And he became an immediate social hit – playing the role of the rough all-American woodsman and startling the fashionable women he met at dinner parties with his “Red Indian war cry”.

But still he could not find a publisher, partly because he insisted engravings of his pictures must appear on giant sheets of paper almost 40 inches by 30 so even the largest birds such as the wild turkey could be represented life-size.

Then his remarkable paintings caused a sensation in Edinburgh when they were exhibited at the city’s newly-built Royal Institution.

People were amazed by their real-life violent depictions – such as hawks ripping up their bloodied prey.

He was introduced to the city’s top engraver, William Home Lizars, who reportedly said: “My God! I never saw anything like this before!”

With his tanned good-looks and shoulder-length hair styled with bear grease, the wolf-skin wearing French-American made a huge impression as a real life Davy Crockett.

And the Scottish capital made an equally big impression on Audubon, who returned to the city on another four occasions.

Of his first visit to Scotland, Audubon wrote: “I think the Time spent there was Six Weeks of the densest Happiness I have met with in any Part of my life.

“I believe Scotland would be the Country I should chuse (sic) to spend the Remainder of my Days in.”

Audubon died in New York in 1851 aged 65 – in time to see his astonishing book selling for $1,000 a piece.

The rare copy due to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London in December is one of just 11 in the world held in private hands.

Another 108 are in academic or museum collections.

One copy set a world record price of £5.7million at auction in London 10 years ago – and the latest to be sold has an estimated value of up £6million.

If you don’t have that kind of money to spare, a “Baby Elephant Folio” version, less than half the size of the original, is available for a relatively cheap £125 on Amazon.

The collection of prints in the full-size book measure more than three feet by two feet.

They needed to be that big because, as Audubon said, having a small book was “all very well with weed warblers but when you come to bald eagles you’re going to need a big book”.

Audubon himself described the size of the book as “double elephant”.

The Birds of America was issued in four volumes from 1827 to 1838.

And it was so highly regarded in his day that it was mentioned in Charles Darwin’s evolution masterpiece On the Origin of Species in 1859.

David Goldthorpe, director and senior specialist at Sotheby’s, said of Birds of America: “This magnificent collection is an example of what is known as ‘high spot collecting’ – when a collector seeks out the very best across a range of fields. The forthcoming auction offers the twin peaks of book collecting - the most expensive book in the world, Audubon’s Birds of America, and the most important book in all of English Literature,
Shakespeare’s First Folio.”

The copy going under the hammer in the Sotheby’s sale rooms had been acquired by Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, the 2nd Baron Hesketh, who died in 1955 at the age of 39.

The original watercolours for the book are housed at the at the New-York Historical Society.

In Britain, Glasgow’s Mitchell Library still has a Birds of America but Edinburgh University sold its copy in 1992 for a then world record price of £2.3million.

The Shakespeare volume includes 36 plays and only 219 copies of the 750 published are still in existence. Only two copies have such complete text and with such an early binding, according to the auction house. It is expected to fetch more than £1million at the December 7 sale.

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Perry Watkins - Fastest Piece of Furniture in the World set Guinness World Record

Perry Watkins is a guy with a taste for humor and a lot of spare time on his hands. The 47-year old from Wingrave managed to put all that spare time and humor to good use and broke the speed record for a... piece of furniture.   

                            No, he's not having lunch, he's driving

Yes, you read that right, the record for the fastest piece of furniture. And no, the fastest does not mean 10 or 15 miles per hour, but a whooping 113.8 mph (183 km/h). On average, that is, because at one point the Queen Anne table even reached as much as 130 mph (209 km/h).

The Guinness Book of World Records is now in the process of certifying the run. When it will be finished, the previous record, 92 mph (148 km/h), set by a sofa back in 2007, will be sent to the history books.

"It was actually worse than I thought it would be,” Watkins, equipped with all the required gear for the task, was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. “It felt like 200mph.The tablecloth was flapping away and I was trying to spot the finish line. It was quite difficult."

But to get back to our story, we told you about Watkins's taste of humor. The pioneer fitted his table with a 1994 Reliant Scimitar Sabre engine, complete with a nitrous oxide kit, but he also made the table road worthy. It comes equipped with exhaust (actually, teapots), brake lights cleverly disguised as napkins and even a registration number.

Oh, the table even has a name to suit its appeal for speed: Fast Food.

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Edward Nino Hernandez - World's shortest living man set Guinness Record by Colombian man

Edward Nino Hernandez is in many ways a typical 24-year-old Colombian male. He loves to dance reggaeton, dreams of owning a fast car and wants to see the world.

Top on his list of people he would like to meet are Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

                   Colombian shortest man Edward Nino Hernandez photo

He is slightly taller than a piece of carry-on luggage and weighs just 22lbs (10kgs).

And he has just been officially certified as the world's shortest living man by Guinness World Records, measuring 27ins.

Nino, who works part time as a dancer, said:'I feel happy because I'm unique.'

He also reveals he has a girlfriend - an 18-year-old who is just under 5ft.

Although he has cataracts in both of his eyes that blur his vision and, require urgent surgery that the family can't afford, the budding actor has won a part in a new film, playing a drug thief.

He may like being in the spotlight, but Nino said there are some drawbacks to being the world's smallest man.

                                    Colombian shortest man picture

'It bothers me that people are always touching me and picking me up,' he said.

Nino's mother, Noemi Hernandez, said of her oldest of five children: 'He hasn't grown since he was two years old.'

She added that doctors never could explain why Nino is so small.

'They never gave us a diagnosis,' Mrs Hernandez, 43, said from her home in Bosa, a poor district of southern Bogota.

She said Nino weighed just 3.3lb (1.5kg) when he was born and was just 15 inches long.

Doctors were at first intrigued as to why he was so small and studied him until he was three years old, but then 'lost interest'.

She and her husband, a security guard, lost a daughter who was born similarly small in 1992.

Their youngest child, Miguel Angel, 11, stands 37ins tall. The other three boys are of normal height and appearance.

Nino is mentally sharp and laughs easily though it's sometimes hard to understand his high-pitched speech and his stubby fingers make writing difficult.

He had to repeat several years of school before dropping out aged about 13.

His mother said he loves to travel - though he hasn't been outside Colombia - and likes to play dominoes and checkers.

'He only gets depressed when he's shut in at home,' she added.

However, it is unclear whether Nino's fame will last long.

Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal is expected to take over after he turns 18 in October. He measures about 22ins and is currently recognized by Guinness as the shortest living teen.

The previous smallest man in the world was He Pingping of China, who was 1.5 inches taller and died in March.

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World's biggest potato set Guinness World Record by Amateur gardener

An amateur gardener has grown the world's biggest potato.

The prize potato, grown by Peter Glazebrook, tips the scales at a whopping 8lbs 4oz (3.76kg), smashing the previous world record by 9oz.

The vegetable, Peter's Kondor variety, was put on show on Friday at the National Gardening Show in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

                                  World's biggest potato picture

It is not the first time Mr Glazebrook, 66, from Northampton, has hit the headlines.

The retired chartered surveyor has previously held the world record for the longest carrot, after producing a 17-foot long specimen.

He has also been the double Guinness World Record holder for the heaviest parsnip, at 13lb, and the longest beetroot at 21ft.

Speaking before his latest triumph, he said: ''The secret to success is starting with the right seed.

''It's learning how to grow them and putting a lot of effort in and picking up tips from other growers and reading what you can about it.''

The potato was weighed at the show's Giant Vegetable Competition and Mr Glazebrook is now awaiting verification from Guinness World Records.

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World's longest Sole Chain set world record - Baptist church in Houston, Texas

World's longest Sole Chain set world record 2010.
Looking for new ways to get your church involved with a ministry project? Why not try the incentive of breaking a world record? It certainly worked well for one Baptist church in Houston, Texas.

Every year for the past ten years, South Main Baptist Church has collected shoes for Buckner International Shoes for Orphan Souls. Over the years, the church has collected over 70,000 pairs of shoes for children worldwide. This August's drive alone resulted in more than 10,068 pairs of shoes.

Of course, this year there was a bit of an extra catch to the donation. As a creative way to get people involved just a little more than they might normally be, the church set out to break a shoe-related world record. The church "SoleChain" project goal was to have enough shoes to create the longest line of shoes in Guinness World Record history. They needed at least 10,000 pairs of shoes to do so. Their goal was surpassed.

In the middle of the shoe chain, the church wrote (with shoes) the message: "Send shoes. See smiles. Save souls."

Many South Main members have been on trips with Shoes for Orphan Souls and have had the privilege of watching the countenance of a child transformed when presented given his or her first new pair of shoes. "I remember their dirty little feet, holes in their shoes, their little faces...and all of a sudden they're jumping and laughing," says South Main's Gillian Cooke, who ventured to Russia to deliver shoes with Buckner ten years ago. "Sounds of joy."

These joy-inspiring gifts will bring hope to thousands of children as they receive the opportunity to both ward off disease and experience comfort by wearing shoes. Each child who receives a pair of shoes from Buckner will also hear about Jesus Christ and learn about who it is who has inspired so many to be so generous.

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World's Longest Pizza set Guinness World Record 2010 - Poland

                             World's Longest Pizza picture

Krakow:   Residents of the Polish city of Krakow on Sunday attempted to break the world record for the longest pizza in the world.

The current record for the largest pizza is 407 meters (445 yards), but the Poles are trying to break it with one reaching over 1,000 meters (1093 yards).

Proceeds from the project will go to a charity, assisting people in comas.

                        World's Longest Pizza photo

Chef Grzegorz Kaszubski said some 3.5 tons of flour was used to make the dough.

Raymond Marshall from the Guinness World Records was on hand measuring the finished pizza.

"For the pizza to be the longest in the world, it has to be one single piece, so it cannot be small individual pizzas," Marshall said.

"The current record is 407 meters and today we are hoping to achieve more than one thousand meters, which is over a kilometer."

It has not yet been officially announced whether the Krakovians managed the record or not.


Poland - World's Longest Pizza set Guinness World Record 2010 - Video

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