Large but Useless

Ashrita Furman (He claims that he has other 72 Guinness records including “The world record for world records”) and his 50 friends built this pencil by spending $20,000 as a gift to their now-deceased meditation instructor. The thing that I don’t understand is how they could spend $20,000 for a big cut wood. Instead, they could buy a new Airboard for $14,500 and each could use it for a week in a year including the meditation instructor. Anyway, here is the video of the pencil.

Titan Arum: with two meters high and weighing 75 kilos, also known as “Bunga Bangkai” or “corpse flower” due to the hideous and unpleasant odor the fly-pollinated inflorescence produces, made its apparition in Rio Blanco in the high mountains of the Estado de Veracruz, México, listing it as the largest flower of the world.

Besides its extraordinary size, as mentioned before, it has another characteristic which makes it unique: it emits a fetid odor of rotten flesh which makes it really hard to be near it for a long period of time. But although its fragrance is pretty unpleasant for most of us, it attracts a lot of insects whom involuntarily contribute with the plants pollination. The plant takes from 9 to 21 months for the stem to flower –to only last less than a week, as once it reaches full bloom the spadix collapses from its own weight and the spathe withers away, possibly never to bloom again. Its flowering is quite an event as it has the peculiarity of blooming only during three days every 40 years, but I can assure you that during these days, the Titan Arum does not go unnoticed, since the species is an herb that can reach heights of 7 to 12 feet and weigh as much as 170 pounds! And its leaf can reach 20 feet tall and 15 feet across! Not only it is the world’s largest flower, it is one of the most bizarre and improbable organisms on the planet. Titan Arum is developed by the parasitic Euphorbiaceae, the Rafflesia Arnoldii, which is also found in the humid forests of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia, as well as in the jungles of Southeast Asia. It was discovered in 1818 by Thomas Stamford Raffles & Joseph Arnold. The inflorescence may reach almost a meter of diameter and can weigh up to 11 kilograms, making them the biggest plant in the world. They are fleshy, red or orange colored flowers, with 5 lobes that remain open between 5 and 7 days. And as with many other humongous plants, this happens once in several years.

BETHEL, MAINE – The good people of Bethel have officially broken the world record for the largest snowman, previously held by them, by 9 feet. Angus, King of the Mountain was replaced in the record books by a woman named Olympia SnowWoman who weighs in at 13,000,000 lbs. of snow. 5 foot wreaths were used for eyes, 16 skis for eyelashes, 130 ft. scarf, 30 ft. spruce trees for arms and 2,000 ft. of rope for hair. It was a whole community effort with even the local kids pitching in. Elementary school children made the “carrot” nose made of muslin, chicken wire & wood frame. The Mt. Valley Middle School in Mexico (Mexico, Maine, that is) students painted a 48 ft. circumference fleece hat. And the Mahoosuc Kids Association painted 5 red auto tires that are used for lips.

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