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What A Load Of Pants

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:33:04 +0000

A New York boy celebrated his tenth birthday by smashing a Guinness World Record for wearing the most underwear at once.

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Jack Singer, from Warwick, piled on 215 pairs of tighty whiteys to break the record by 15.

Singer’s parents layered the pants one by one while a crowd of friends and family cheered him on.

“They had to gradually go up in size from XS to 7XL,” said Jack’s mother Melissa Singer, a nurse, 41.
“We had them all laid out in piles ready.”
When they reached 195 pairs, Jack had to lie down because his feet had gone numb.

“It looked a bit like he was in pain but he was just uncomfortable,” said his dad, a NYC firefighter, 42.
“He was determined to do it.”
After a brief 18 minutes Jack was up to 215 pairs, breaking the current record, set by an Australian, by 15.
On hearing he had made history Jack said: “I feel awesome, I can’t believe I broke it!”

The pants weighted a hefty 30lbs and Jack couldn’t wait to take them off.

“I choose this record because I didn’t think it would be that hard but it was that hard,” said Jack.
“My legs went to sleep.”
The event was held on Sunday 12th June 2010 and on Jack’s request all the money raised was donated to Marine Sergeant Eddie Ryan who was injured in Iraq five years ago.
“We are very proud of him, “ said his mum Melissa.
“It was a very hot day and a tough thing to do. He’s a very generous boy to give all the money away.”
Just as Sergeant Eddie Ryan and his Marine colleagues live by the Marine motto, “Semper Fidelis,” (Always Faithful), Jack lived up to another famous motto “Semper ubi sub ubi” (Always wear underwear)
“It’s a good motto,” said Jack.

Words by James Nye

Piercing Lover Braves 1,093 Needles In Bid To Break World Record

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:48:06 +0000

A Californian man turned himself into a human pincushion after he was pierced 1,093 times in a bid to break a Guinness World Record.

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Aryan Hopkins, 23, was stabbed 1,093 times by professional piercer Pauly Dunkleberger, 31, at Abstract Ink body modification parlour in Roseville, California on Saturday evening (June 26).

Aryan and Pauly now hold the world record for most body piercings done in one go with an 18-gauge (thick) needle.

The daredevil pair had also hoped to smash the record for the most piercings done in one session but after the 1,093rd puncture Aryan’s body went into shock and the event was called to a dramatic halt by the emergency team.

Aryan, who is recovering at home, said: “My arms and legs started to go numb and I was shaking radically. I started feeling a bit light-headed too so I decided to call it off. My body had spoken and it said: ‘that’s enough.’

With an ambulance on standby it took Pauly two hours to complete the eye-watering attack on Aryan’s legs, arms and back. Rules limited him to only a 5-minute break every hour.

Aryan said: “It was the most intense adrenaline rush I have ever felt.”

Once the last needle went in, Pauly quickly began removing them, which took a further three and a half hours.

“Aryan’s blood sugar was low and his body went into shock but once we stopped he was OK,” said Ashleigh Hopkins, 22, who is Aryan’s partner and also runs the tattoo, piercing and body modification studio.

“I was holding the needles and passing them to Pauly and we were both keeping a close eye to make sure it was safe,” she added.

Pauly started tattooing people at the age of 19 and moved onto piercing about six years ago.

Because of the potential presence of blood-borne pathogens, the shop did not tattoo or pierce other customers during the event.

“It was a massive group effort and we’re so happy we did it,” said Ashleigh.

Aryan (left) with piercer Pauly © ABSTRACT INK / BARCROFT USA

“Although we did not break both records we are very proud that we broke one.”

The previous record for was 1,200 piercings completed in two hours and 53 minutes, set in August 2009. The previous record for most body piercings done with an 18-gauge needle was 900.

“We smashed that record by almost 200,” said Aryan.

“So we feel pretty pleased right now and my wounds are not as bad as I thought they would be. I might even consider going for the record again one day.”

The event was held in the aid of the Shriners Hospital for Children.

Words by Isa Harvey

Three World Records Smashed In 112-person Simultaneous Skydive

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:17:21 +0000

Casting a spectacular image several thousand feet up these extreme thrill seekers broke three records in a row in an amazing skydiving formation yesterday.

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The 112-strong danger team from Australia set for the first time ever a national record for the most number of freefallers in formation with a breathtaking display of twists, turns and flips. Incredibly the team broke the record THREE times in one day, after jumping with 105, 109 and finally 112 people – as seen in these astonishing pictures.

Using precision timing and a well-rehearsed routine, the divers formed a giant circle with spokes circling out from the middle, in the skies above Perris Valley, California.
Plummeting towards the earth at an eye-watering 120 miles per hour they had just 70 seconds to find their partner and get into position to claim the title.

It’s a record that needs perfect timing, as one slip can break the entire formation and potentially end in tragedy.
Although the record is Australian, it took place in Perris Valley – a mecca for skydivers – as it has the best facilities for jumps of this kind in the world.

Jumping from five planes at 18,000 feet, the team held the formation for five seconds to clinch the title, before breaking off and opening their parachutes.
Smaller teams of jumpers have been practicing the routine for months, but the entire 112-man squad has only been practicing as a whole for the past ten days, after flying over from Down Under.
The team are all experienced skydivers who were selected during the past few months.
The breathtaking stunt was captured on film by American aerial photographer Norman Kent.

The 52-year-old – a veteran of capturing incredible images while plummeting at several feet every second – was armed with his trusty “head cam” rig, which allows him to take shots mid-fall.
He said: “They broke the record with a 105 person formation, went up and broke it again with a 109 person formation and then went up again with 112.
“The skill and split-second timing needed means just getting it right once is impressive enough. But three-in-a-row completions is unheard of.”
One of the jumpers, Andrew Preston, 49, a barrister from Brisbane, described the feeling he got from taking part.

“It’’s a thing of beauty, after you practice and practice for weeks. To look over and see everyone in their place, timing everything right, never ceases to amaze me.
“It’s so windy you can’t communicate, so there’s a lot of trust involved.”
Andrew, who did his first jump in 1984, added: “Everyone is the same in the air, you can be a barrister, a mechanic or a doctor and it doesn’t matter, we come down and are all friends for life.”

Words by Isabel Jensen

Big Cat Goes For Oldest Tiger In The World Record

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:20:02 +0000

She may be a veteran of the jungle but this giant kitty is alive and kicking.

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Meet Burma, who at 24-years-old could be the world’s oldest tiger.

Living at TIGERS The Institute for Greatly Endangered Species in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Burma spends around 22 hours a day sleeping, which is just as well because in Tiger years she is around 110 years old.

However, for such an elderly citizen, Burma is quite sprightly, chowing down on her daily eight pounds of meat still using all her own teeth.

So old is Burma that she has produced 17 offspring, outliving half of them and her youngest is a nine years old male named Brahmin.

“We took in Burma from a fair that had been moving around South America and Mexico in the late 1980’s,” said Doc Bhagavan, 50, who owns the TIGERS preserve.

“She could no longer be cared for and so we went and picked her up from Miami and brought her back to Myrtle Beach.

“She has lived here with us ever since.”

Born in 1986, the old girl has been an important part of the family at Myrtle Beach.

“She is a proper wild child at heart,” explained Doc.

“Even though she has a full indoor habitat her in South Carolina she wants to spend the majority of her time outdoors.

“Over the years she has slowed down a little and put on a little weight around her mid-riff, but that is fine just as long as we take care of her diet.”

Noting that tigers usually live till their early teens in the wild and late teens in captivity, Doc is eagerly awaiting the official Guinness confirmation.

“Burma has outlived two of her boyfriends and is incredibly healthy for such an elderly tiger,” said the conservationist.

“We have cut down her meals to three chunks of beef and two chicken leg quarters five times a week.

“She has also developed a husky chuff or growl as the years have gone by.

“She is definitely an impressive old lady.”

Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday said: “Twenty four years would certainly be an impressive age for a tiger to reach. We look forward to receiving the evidence from Doctor Bhagavan and his team so we can investigate this further.”

Words by James Nye

Extreme surfing – At 10,000 Feet In The Air

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:54:35 +0000

Roaring through the sky at 10,000 feet these incredible pictures show two daredevils flying through through the air ‘surfing’ on the other’s back at break-neck speed.

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Combining the art of wingsuit flying with skydiving the extreme flyers rode the back of each other for an amazing 20 seconds over the Arches National Park in Utah in April.

Jonathan Tagle, who dived with a parachute, left the plane first and prepared to deploy his chute.

At the same time Jeff Nebelkopf, pictured in the wingsuit, and photographer Phil Peggs took their turn to leap from the plane.

Tagle and Nebelkopf then had to manoeuvre themselves masterfully into the right positions for the daring stunt.

Nebelkopf said: “It was a challenge to line up underneath him because I had to estimate where he’d be based on the last place I saw him as I was sliding in.

He would then get his feet around my rig. “It changed my centre of gravity when he hooked onto me – made me fly a little more head low, so I had to compensate a little bit”.

After securing the position seen in these dramatic photos, the pair held the pose for 20 seconds before breaking and heading off to make their own way back down to the earth.

Tagle said: “The weird thing about the break off was that I had the feeling I needed to pull, but I was already under a good canopy”.

It is the first time a parachutist has managed to ride on a wingsuit skydiver’s back for more than 20 seconds, and was organised to mark the 10th anniversary of a project designed to raise money to support victims of sexual abuse.

The organisation, Operation Freefall, encourages survivors of sexual assault to do tandem skydives for the first time, raising sponsorship money and awareness in the process.

So far Operation Freefall has raised more than one million USD for charitable causes.

This pair of daredevils, Tagle and Nebelkopf, took part in the stunt – Project XRW (Extreme Relative Work) – at Skydive Moab, a well-known dropzone at Arches National Park in Utah.

Jumping on the same day, for the first time, was Miss Nevada, Christina Keegan.

Herself the victim of sexual abuse after having her drink spiked at the age of 19 while on holiday in Spain, Keegan did her first tandem jump – wearing her Miss Nevada crown.

The event was arranged by parent organisation Raise the Sky, which aims to give skydivers all over the world opportunities to combine their passion with charitable causes.

Words by Ben Cooper

Femme Fatal? Danger’s All In A Day’s Work For These Women

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:00:04 +0000

These three stunning sportswomen have normal careers by day, but in their spare time they love throwing themselves down white water rapids and huge waterfalls.

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Brave kayakers Christie Glissmeyer, 31, Kate Wagner, 29, and Melissa DeCarlo, 30, take life to the limit with their daring antics down some of America’s fastest and most dangerous rivers.

Together they form ladies’ adventure team Femme 45 and recruit other daredevil women who want more excitement from their lives.

Kate on a Washington rapid © ERIK BOOMER / BARCROFT MEDIA

Christie, a student, currently holds the women’s kayaking world waterfall record after she plummeted 82 feet off Metlako Falls at Eagle Creek, Oregon.

The part-time bar worker from Oregon, USA, said: “It was about double the size of any waterfall I had previously run.

Christie Glissmeyer © ERIK BOOMER / BARCROFT MEDIA

“The horizon line was very intimidating and it looked like the river was dropping off the face of the earth.

“It took a lot of concentration to keep my nerves under control so that I wouldn’t make a mistake.

“As I paddled off the waterfall and my landing looked so far away.

“I accelerated to a much faster speed than I have ever experienced in a kayak and it was scary and amazing to be falling with the water at that rate.

“My kayak was vertical in the air and I tucked forward against it to protect myself from the impact at the bottom of the waterfall.

“But halfway down I was enveloped by the veil of water around me and the landing was surprisingly soft. It was a very exciting day.”

The incredible feat added to Christie’s already impressive repertoire of extreme sports trophies collected around the world.

In 2009 and 2008 she was undefeated in the Western Whitewater Championship racing series, Western U.S.A.

In 2008 she was Women’s Champion of the Himalayan Whitewater Festival in Nepal, and in 2007 she scooped first place in the Teva Extreme Games, Italy.

And it’s not just Christie that’s living her life away from work on a knifedge edge.

Neither Kate, a mental health therapist, or Melissa, a certified public accountant, are strangers to danger.

Melissa in action © ERIK BOOMER / BARCROFT MEDIA

Kate, also from Oregon, has thrown herself over a 48 foot drop at Celestial Falls on the White River in her home state, while Melissa can often be seen fighting against a super-aggressive torrent of raging whitewater.

And the dangers they face is in stark contrast to their everyday lives at work.

Melissa, from Vancouver, USA, said: “A typical day of work for me is indoors and on a computer, crunching numbers.

“Sometimes if I’m stressed about work, I find myself craving a trip to the river.

“Lucky for us, we live in an area where we can paddle basically anytime we want. It’s a case of leaving the office and hitting the rivers.”

Melissa DeCarlo © ERIK BOOMER / BARCROFT MEDIA

Kate said: ”We live so close to our favourite runs that we can usually fit in a run before or after work.

“It is not unusual for us to be on the water most days of the week. We have created lifestyles that work for us and allow us to spend a lot of time doing what we love.”

Kate Wagner © ERIK BOOMER / BARCROFT MEDIA

Christie added: “I like to keep a good balance between working hard and playing hard.

“A typical day for me is to spend half of the day studying or working and half of the day outside paddling, hiking or snowboarding.”

The girls draw attention to themselves – and the interest of other extreme girls – through social networking site Facebook.

Christie said: “There are three of us in the core group, but we like to include the talented ladies we meet along the way.

“We are a posse of female paddlers having some wild adventures in whitewater.

We’ve recently started to bring cameras along to document our experiences. The name Femme 45 comes from our signature 45 second video teasers.”

The inspiring women, who are not doing it just for themselves, are also putting their skills forward to help the needy.

Non-profit organisation First Descents provides week long kayaking camps for young adults with cancer.

All three of the girls are actively involved with volunteering at some of the camps.

Christie is volunteering as a safety boater, Kate is volunteering as a photographer, and Melissa is volunteering as a camp counsellor.

Words by Liam Miller

Is Poe The New World’s Tallest Horse?

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:49:29 +0000

Standing 20.2 hands tall at the shoulder and 10 feet tall with his head up right, 3000 pound Poe is the world’s tallest horse.

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Proudly posing to attention with his five foot three, 120-pound owner Shereen Thompson, Poe stands 80.8 inches tall, or 6ft 8 and 3/4 inches from hoof to shoulder.

That is taller than the current tallest horse Remington, who was declared the official Guinness World Record holder only last week at 80 inches in Princeton, Texas.

Living on Shereen’s working farm in Tupperville, Ontario, ten-year-old Poe stands ready to inch above his rivals.

Is This The Oldest Fish In The World?

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:32:07 +0000

Spending each day swimming round his four-foot-long, 75-gallon tank, Buttkiss the 43-year old Black Pacu is thought to be the world’s oldest living common-pet-fish.

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In a remarkable feat of endurance the 15 pound, 22 inch long fish’s is incredibly swimming towards his sixth decade of life.

Turning 44 on April 1, the age-old fish is more likely to draw gasps of admiration from the crowds who flock to see him at New York’s Cameo Pet Shop – rather than laughter on the famous fool’s day.

Buttkiss’s owner and pet shop proprietor Steve Gruebel, 60, said his fish has become a local celebrity in the Queens neighbourhood of Richmond Hill in the Big Apple.

“I have worked in this shop for 46 years and we first got him in to sell as a pet in 1967,” said monster fish keeper Steve.

“I sold him on in 1968, but that owner returned him when Buttkiss outgrew the tank he was living in at the beginning of 1970.

“He has been with me ever since.”

A member of the Black Pacus species of fish, Buttkiss is a larger relative of flesh eating piranha’s found in the South American Amazon river.

“He doesn’t eat your everyday fish food,” explained Steve.

“I actually feed him up to 20 goldfish every other day and he devours them like a vacuum cleaner, sucking them up.

“Amazingly, when I looked up the Black Pacus in the wildlife books, I saw that they are only supposed to live for 20 years max.”

Named after famous American Football player, Dick Butkus, this old age pet is already comparable in age to other ancient tank-bound fishes.

Goldie, the 45-year-old goldfish passed away in Bradnich, Devon in 2005 and held the Guinness World Record for an old aged pet fish.

“Unfortunately Buttkiss is definitely getting on,” said Steve.

“He has become slow and cumbersome. He has a glaucoma in his right eye and he isn’t so bright anymore when I arrive to feed him.

“He has always come straight to the corner of his tank when he sees me, thinking he is going to be feed, but these days he is a bit slow.”

Scared to move him from his tank of 40 years unless the change of scene and stress might push him to the great fish tank in the sky, Steve enjoys Buttkiss’s min-celebrity.

“He has been a fixture here for 40 years.

“People come in to the store just to see Buttkiss, although I wish they would buy something.”

Words by James Nye

Sarah The Cheetah Becomes The Official Fastest Animal On Land

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:19:27 +0000

Covering 100 metres in 6.13 seconds, Sarah the cheetah set a new speed record for all land mammals on September 09, 2008 in Cincinnati, America.

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Running on a specially designed 100-metre course at Cincinnati Zoo’s Regional Cheetah Breeding Facility at Mast Farm, Sarah eclipsed the previous record time of 6.19 seconds.

Sarah, who is now officially the world’s fastest land animal, was so quick that she actually caught up with the lure that was encouraging her to hit such high speeds.

Giant George, The World’s New Tallest Dog

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:21:46 +0000

George, a 4-year-old Blue Great Dane, weighs a staggering 245 pounds and measures 42.625 inches (at the shoulder) in height.

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According to his owner, Dave Nassar, George consumes 110 pounds of food every month, and sleeps alone in his own Queen Size Bed.

Nassar and his wife, Christine, raised George from when he was 7 weeks old, but never expected him to grow so big.

There is no category for world’s biggest dog in the Guinness Book of Records, to stop owners from over-feeding their pets just to get them into the record book.

But there is one for tallest dog, and at 7 foot 3 inches tall, nose to tail; George might just reach those lofty heights.

Last August the world’s tallest dog, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane, passed away from cancer months after making a brief but courageous comeback from the disease, despite losing his front right leg.