Free Republic

The tallest woman in Asia, Chinese Yao Defen (R), and her friend sit at the entrance of her home in Shu Cha in eastern China's Anhui province March 15, 2006. Yao is 34 years old and 2.36 metres tall. REUTERS/ Nir Elias

A QUEENSLAND city has swilled its way into the record books after staging the world's biggest pub crawl. Maryborough, better known for its heritage buildings and industrial background, has given itself a whole new image after Guinness World Records officially verified the city's quirky claim last Friday. About 2000 of Maryborough's 26,000 population crawled their way around 16 pubs last June in a first attempt to break the record. More than 19,000 drinks were downed after drinkers were required to sink at least one drink at each pub – alcoholic or not – to qualify. Official "crawl cards" were stamped...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A photograph of a pond taken by Edward Steichen sold for more than $2.9 million, easily setting a world record for the highest-priced photograph ever auctioned, Sotheby's said. "The Pond-Moonlight," taken on Long Island in 1904, sold on Tuesday for $2,928,000, including the buyer's premium, Sotheby's spokesman Matthew Weigman said. The buyer's identity was not immediately disclosed. The photograph shows a pond in a wooded area with light coming through the trees and reflected in the water. Pre-sale estimates priced the photo, which is slightly bigger than 16 inches by 19 inches, at up to $1...

BY DEREK KRAVITZ, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago MANSTON, England - Adventurer Steve Fossett completed the longest nonstop flight in aviation history Saturday, flying 26,389 miles in about 76 hours, but he had to land early because of mechanical problems. Ground control said Fossett, 61, broke the airplane distance record of 24,987 miles while his lightweight experimental plane was flying over Shannon, Ireland. He then was forced to land the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer at Bournemouth International Airport, in southern England, instead of at a military air strip in nearby Kent because of generator problems. The millionaire adventurer completed...

Steve Fossett's experimental airplane lost more than 4 percent of its fuel during takeoff, which could jeopardize his attempt to break the long distance flight record, his mission team said Thursday. As of early Thursday, his glider-like plane still had 10,500 pounds of fuel left. Mission managers hadn't pinpointed the cause of the fuel leak but believed a build up of pressure in the fuel tanks may be partly responsible. Fuel leaks plagued Fossett's successful venture last year to become the first person to fly solo, nonstop around the world without refueling, and also delayed his take off this week....

Indian millionaire Vijaypat Singhania today broke the world record for the highest flight in a hot air balloon, reaching the fringes of space, his son claimed. Singhania, 67, hit 21,000 metres a little more than two hours after taking off in his 40-tonne balloon, and has started his descent, his son Gautam said. "We have the world record at 69,000 feet" (21,000 metres), said Gautam Singhania. "We're bringing him down now." The previous world record was 19,811 metres, set by Sweden's Per Lindstrand in Plano, Texas, in June 1988. Singhania lifted off from downtown Bombay at 6.45am (1215 AEDT) enclosed...

LONDON -- It was the mother of all red-eye flights. Hong Kong to London the hard way, eastbound with the winds. Nonstop across two oceans and North America -- more than half way around the world. By the time the wheels of the Boeing jet touched down at London's Heathrow airport at 1:18 p.m. local time Thursday, it had set a distance record of 11,664 nautical miles. Flight time was 22 hours, 42 minutes. That's more than half-way around the world or, measured on the same scale your car's odometer uses -- 13,422 statute miles or 21,601 kilometers. Since the...

TOKYO - A Japanese psychiatric counselor has recited pi to 83,431 decimal places from memory, breaking his own personal best of 54,000 digits and setting an unofficial world record, a media report said Saturday. Akira Haraguchi, 59, had begun his attempt to recall the value of pi — a mathematical value that has an infinite number of decimal places — at a public hall in Chiba city, east of Tokyo, on Friday morning and appeared to give up by noon after only reaching 16,000 decimal places, the Tokyo Shimbun said on its Web site. But a determined Haraguchi started anew...

An attempt to erect a 16-tonne ice pop in a New York square [Union Square] froze traffic and created a sticky situation for the company behind the stunt. The soft-drink maker Snapple tried to get into the Guinness World Records book by installing the 7½-metre confection in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday. As a construction crane began to haul it upright, a pink tide of kiwi-strawberry-flavoured fluid spread across Union Square. The slush forced pedestrians to flee for higher ground. Firefighters closed off several roads, fearing that vehicles and bicycles could slip. "What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept...

ALTON, Ill. - It sounds like the sort of tale Mark Twain might have cooked up: A man fishing in the Mississippi River hauls in a blue catfish roughly the size of a sixth-grader. But this is no fish story. Early Sunday, Tim Pruitt caught a 124-pound blue catfish. To get a sense of just how big that is, the state record holder was a mere 85 pounds and the world record holder tipped the scales at 121 pounds, 8 ounces. Now, Pruitt, whose fish has already been weighed in the presence of a conservation police officer and measured by...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

For now, the world's tallest building-to-be is just a flower-shaped concrete tattoo on the desert sands, but its pilings are already in place, plunging 160 feet into the earth. When it's finished, visitors will swoon over this city from 123 stories high, if not more. In fact the Burj Dubai will be much higher, the developers say - dozens of stories taller than skyscrapers in Taiwan, Chicago or anywhere else. But they are keeping the exact height a secret to flummox competitors in the world's furious race for the title of tallest skyscraper. "We're going to records never approached...

American women set world record in winning Olympic 800 free relay title August 18, 2004 ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The United States smashed swimming's oldest record in winning the women's 800-meter freestyle relay Wednesday night for the third consecutive Olympics. Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno finished in a world-record 7 minutes, 53.42 seconds -- more than 2 seconds better than the old mark of 7:55.47 set 17 years to the day by the former East Germany. China earned silver in 7:55.97 and Germany took bronze in 7:57.35. The United States won the event in 1996 and...

Just heard up to 300 illegal aliens found in a 3 bedroom home. LOL! They are going for a record folks! Someone call Guinness book of world records! Heard on the scanner they were found crammed in the kitchen cupboards and sitting in the fireplace hearth. This gives new meaning to standing room only.

Thailand's Boonreung Buachan, holder of the Guinness Book of World Records title for spending the most time penned up with snakes, was killed by a cobra that bit him during his daily show, a hospital doctor said on Monday. Boonreung, 34 and dubbed Snake Man, was rushed unconscious to Prai Bung Hospital near his home town, 350 miles northeast of Bangkok, Dr Wipa Praituan told Reuters. "He was brought here with no signs of life. He wasn't breathing and his heart didn't beat," she said. Boonreung was listed by the "Guinness Book of World Records" in 1998 after living with...

Rail collisions worrisome The crash rate between MetroRail trains and vehicles has far exceeded that of other cities with new rail lines, prompting Metro officials Tuesday to consider more safety modifications. Since Friday, there have been three crashes involving Metropolitan Transit Authority light rail trains, including incidents Monday and Tuesday where drivers made illegal left turns. A collision Tuesday marked the 10th wreck since testing began in the fall. Five occurred during the testing phase and five more have taken place since passenger service commenced Jan. 1. Those numbers are much higher than recent experiences in Salt Lake City and...

PENDING WORLD RECORD October 5, 2002 Pumpkin grown by Charlie Houghton of New Boston, New Hampshire In 1984 sixteen pumpkin growers from Massachusetts and Connecticut entered their pumpkins in the first Topsfield Fair Giant Pumpkin Contest. The winning pumpkin weighed in at 433 pounds. In 2001 there were over eighty entries from all over New England. The winner was an Atlantic Giant pumpkin weighed in at 1,260.4 pounds. This was an all time New England record bettering the old record by two hundred fifty pounds. As is customary, the winner was displayed in a climate controlled case for the ten...

  Daring Aeronaut Prepares For Super Jump From SpaceBy Leonard DavidSenior Space Writerposted: 09:25 am ET09 September 2002 A free-falling Frenchman is determined to jump from high in the stratosphere into the record books. Calling it the Le Grand Saut, or "The Super Jump", Michel Fournier is readying himself and the technology needed to attempt a skydiving record. The 58-year-old Fournier and his team are waiting out rainy weather conditions in Saskatchewan, Canada hoping to have a shot this month at the highest parachute jump from some 25 miles (40 kilometers) altitude.On D-day (Dive-day), a stratospheric balloon will carry Fournier...

NOTE: although I used the word "Witch" you may find that the song is a little more fun if you change the first letter of the word. I did "Witch" for decorum but it is your choice. MIDI - TAXMAN She'll take it all before she's done…Tax Witch It's really socialistic fun…Tax Witch Rodham's the Tax Witch…yeah, yeah, she's the Tax Wi-itch You know what's gonna be in store…Tax Witch She always wants a little more…Tax Witch Rodham's the Tax Witch…yeah, yeah, she's the Tax Wi-itch (la la la la la) Over the top…(la la la la la)…she'll never stop...