48 cylinder monster!
Record Breakers
Foster's design for world's biggest building given go-ahead by Moscow planners
3rd January 2008
It will dwarf Foster's recent UK projects, including the 590ft-tall "Gherkin" in the City of London and the new Wembley stadium, and the architect described the project as a career "milestone." Located on the Nagatino Peninsula in Moscow, less than five miles from the Kremlin, Crystal Island will contain a variety of mixed-use buildings including 3,000 hotel rooms and 900 serviced apartments.
There will be everything from an international school for 500 pupils, offices and shops to museums, theatres and cinemas under its enormous fanned roof.
---------------------
That looks amazing for sure
Last edited by faceless on Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Monster Motorbike that can crush its way through the rush hour
20th February 2008
Retired stuntman Mr Baumann takes the Monster Motorbike to shows and demonstrates its astonishing power by crushing cars and caravans. The former lorry driver, whose stunt career involved jumping cars, said: "I did stunt driving for quite a few years, broke a few records and broke my back a few times. So this is a way of taking a bit more care. Now I crush things, which is definitely less risky than jumping them."
It was designed and built in Perth, Australia, and uses a Detroit Diesel engine and six-speed Allison automatic gearbox from a lorry. It also has a two-speed Eaton differential from a articulated lorry to drive a massive chain on each side of the rear wheel.
Mr Baumann said he and his team are looking forward to taking to the road with the giant bike. He said: "This is just its first season out after spending three years working on it. We are getting it running right and then we will take it on the road. When we designed it, we kept the weight down low, so it isn't easy to roll over. However, it could roll if we ran over a car the wrong way, so we still have to be very careful. It's well and truly dangerous, just not as dangerous as the car jumps."
The bike is to go on show at the Australian Motor Show in Melbourne later this month.
--------------------
I'll need to ask Santa if he'll bring me one for Christmas...
Yours for £72,000, the world's most expensive toy car
22nd February 2008
Created by manufacturer Hot Wheels to mark the company's 40th anniversary, the car's tail lights are red rubies while the tyres are set with yet more diamonds. A spokesman from Mattel, who owns Hot Wheels, said: "This car is the most expensive toy car we have ever made."
The valuable vehicle was unveiled by former Newlyweds star and singer Nick Lachey at the 105th American International Toy Fair.
------------------
Do you think that anyone involved stopped to realise that no matter how impressive the price might be that it actually looks crap?!
Boy, 9, scoops world record by balancing 16 spoons on his face
3rd April 2008
After his success yesterday, he said there wasn't really a secret to the art, adding: "The spoons just stick on and I don't really know how. It's something I can do easily and I know I'll make 17 one day but I'll probably have to wait until I grow a bit so there's some more space on my forehead."
Joe discovered his talent two years ago when his cousin challenged him to balance a spoon on his nose. His mother Fenella, 42, a swimming teacher, said: "I'm really, really proud of him because he can do something that no one else in the world can do. Apparently it's always youngsters who beat the record because they have slightly greasier skin. It works even better if Joe's sweaty but I don't let him get away without washing."
Joe, who lives with his mother and father Peter in Totnes, Devon, is to appear on the TV show Britain's Got Talent - where he will hang the spoons from his face and do a jig. The previous world record belongs to Tim Johnston, 16, who balanced 15 stainless steel spoons on his face for 30 seconds at Havens High School, Piedmont, California, on May 28, 2004.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Tim balanced "one on each ear, two on each cheek, three on his chin, two on his lips, one on his nose and three on his forehead". A Guinness spokesman said photographs and video of Joe's record attempt would be examined before the record is made official.
--------------------
Pressed for success
April 3, 2008
The Australian group, who pipped the previous mark of 70, are seeking entry to the Guinness book of world records after taking their linen into murky, 3-metre-deep ocean on Saturday. 'It was cold and I think they were bloody crazy,' local councillor Tom O'Connor, who with police helped authenticate the new record, told Reuters on Tuesday.
Event organiser Debbie Azzopardi said the group eclipsed a 2005 record set in a swimming pool at nearby Geelong, which in turn beat a world mark set in New Zealand. The irons all had their electrical cords removed for the attempt, which took place in chilly pre-winter seas.
'I was having a chardonnay a few years ago with a girlfriend and I thought I'm going to beat that. We had a few fish going by and a sting ray. It was great,' Azzopardi said.
----------------
I reckon he'd had more than one glass of the vino...
Tiny teenager from India is smallest girl in the world
7th April 2008
Due to her size, Jyoti has to have clothes and jewellery made for her. She sleeps in a tiny bed and uses special plates and cutlery to eat, as normal-sized utensils are too big. Despite this, she goes to a regular school in Nagpur, central India, where she has her own small desk and chair, and her classmates treat her like any other student.
Jyoti also shares common interests with other teenagers, with a love for DVDs and fashionable dresses. She said: 'I am proud of being small. I love all the attention I get. I'm not scared of being small and I don't regret it. I'm just the same as other people. I eat like you, dream like you. I don't feel any different.'
Jyoti is treated like a mini-celebrity in her home town, where people flock to meet her and some even treat her like a goddess. She will even be releasing an album with her favourite Indian pop star, the bhangra/rap star Mika Singh.
Her mum, Ranjana Amge, 45, said: 'When Jyoti was born, she seemed quite normal. We came to know about her disorder when she was five. We consulted a specialist and he said she will be this size all of her life. Jyoti is small, yet cute, and we love her very much.'
Jyoti is ambitious and hopes to work as a Bollywood actress one day. She said: 'I would love to work in a big city like Mumbai, act in films and travel to London and America. I'm proud of being small. I love all the attention I get because of it.'
Her dad, Kishanji Amge, 52, said: 'I can't separate myself from her even for a single day. I love her very much. She makes me proud. Lots of gurus come to see and bless her. They pray for her happiness and long life.'
--------------------
The world's oldest tree that took root 10,000 years ago
KEITH MURRAY
18th April 2008
A team led by Professor Leif Kullmann, of Umea University, found around 20 spruces which are over 8,000 years old. The trunk of the mother tree would survive for around 600 years but the spruces were able to grow a series of new ones. Prof Kullmann said: "It was a big surprise because we thought until now that this kind of spruce grew much later in those regions.” The Swedish spruce's genetic material age was calculated using carbon dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida.
Spruces, which according to Kullmann offer rich insight into climate change, had long been regarded as relatively newcomers in the Swedish mountain region. The discovery of the ancient tree had therefore led to "a big change in our way of thinking," he said. Prof Kullman and colleagues found a cluster of around 20 spruces that are over 8,000 years old. The visible portion of the spruce was comparatively new, but analysis of four "generations" of remains - cones and wood - found underneath its crown showed its root system had been growing for 9,550 years.
Prof Kullmann believes that the ancient humans who lived there may have imported the tree as the glaciers receded 10,000 years ago. “Man immigrated close to the receding ice front. We have also found fossil acorns in this area, and people may have taken them with them as they moved over the landscape.”
The summers 9,500 years ago were warmer than today, though there has been a rapid recent rise as a result of climate change that means modern climate is rapidly catching up. The tree probably survived as a result of several factors: the generally cold and dry climate, few forest fires and relatively few humans. Now the nature conservancy authorities are considering putting a fence around the record breaking tree to protect it from trophy hunters.
-------------------
David Blaine to hold his breath for nearly 17 minutes
30th April 2008
Blaine said it would be a challenge to break a record requiring him to remain still and calm in a bustling live studio audience, but the crowds might help him through. "When you commit to it and there's people watching, you kind of have to stick to it. You can't back out, you can't fade away and you can't cheat," he said. "If I was doing it alone, I'd probably be off sneaking out of the box in London or grabbing some food," he said.
Blaine, 35, will be attempting his latest stunt in a water-filled sphere, dubbed a "human aquarium" by his team, that's 8ft across. He'll try to remain perfectly still, relax and lower his heart rate to minimize oxygen consumption. But before he enters the sphere, he plans to spend about 23 minutes breathing pure oxygen through a mask to saturate his blood with oxygen and flush out carbon dioxide.
Up to 30 minutes of so-called "oxygen hyperventilation" is allowed under Guinness Book of Records guidelines. In May 2006, as a finale to a week spent in an aquarium with an oxygen mask, Blaine tried to break the existing eight-minute 58-second record for breath-holding without breathing pure oxygen beforehand. But he had to be rescued shortly after seven minutes when he fell unconscious and started having convulsions.
----------------
It's hardly entertainment and to be honest I'll only be interested if he fails!
The world's tallest Lego tower
6th May 2008
Positioned at the park's main entrance, it is made up of almost half a million Lego bricks and celebrates 50 years of the popular children's toy. The record for the tallest Lego tower was just over 96ft which was set in Toronto in August 2007.
The park's special events manager, Penny Jenkins, said: "We are thrilled to bring the World Record to Legoland Windsor after four days of hard work, not to mention nearly 500,000 bricks, and it now stands at nearly 100ft. It has been a great way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lego bricks."
The record attempt is awaiting official verification by Guinness World Records.
------------------
