July 7, 2017 • 45 mins
There’s a reason records books are routinely stolen from libraries! Learn just how hard it is to grow the world’s longest fingernails; why India’s lone records judge has the hardest job in the world, and how chainsawing apples out of your mouth can lead to glory. Featuring Dan Rollman.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, they're part time geniuses. Before we start the show,
we wanted to take a minute to recognize a few
of our brilliant listeners. During an episode on building the
Ultimate Animal Superhero, we challenge you guys to draw the
bizarre creature created in that episode. This thing involved parts
from the platypus, the salamander, the Texas horned lizard, the
scarlet jellyfish, the eel, and so many more creatures. And now,
(00:20):
I'll be honest, this seem like such a crazy, difficult
test that I didn't expect we'd actually get many submissions,
so we were thrilled when so many started coming in.
I really wish we could give prizes to everyone who
submitted a drawing, but please know you're all geniuses to us. Okay,
here's some of the winners. We've got Andrea Burns and
Jamie fam a pair of friends who decided to submit
drawings together. We have Simon de Zubria Ristrepo, who submitted
(00:43):
our cartoonist drawing. And for our winner in the best
Kids Drawing division, we have Laney, who's twelve and a
terrific artist, and the grand prize winner. This drawing was
so insane as I told the creator I really want
to see it as a poster, and we might just
have to make that happen. But in first place, we
have Natalie Leigh. Will post Natalie's winning piece on our
Facebook page, and you guys will all be getting part
(01:04):
Time Genius T shirts and some other fun prizes. Thank
you again to everyone who submitted drawings, and be on
the lookout for other contests and upcoming episodes. Now enjoy
the show. Guess what Mango? What's that? Will? So I
took a couple of wrong turns on the internet this
week and I ended up in this gallery of libraries
from the Middle Ages. And you know, book that used
(01:25):
to be a huge problem. So the first thing any
self respecting book collector would do is chain their books
to their bookshelf like dogs. Know, these things were so
much thicker, like heavy duty chains. If you look up
the Hereford Cathedral in London, you see bookshelves filled with manuscripts,
and in front of each book there's just a curtain
of chains hanging down because every one of those books
(01:47):
is tethered to the shelf. It's so imposing. That could
be a great tactic if you actually want people reading
the books but that wasn't even the best solution for
protecting your library. If you wanted to upgrade, you could
put your chain books inside a locked safe. It's kind
of a nesting doll approach to the book security. But
if you were really looking for protection, the ultimate in
book protection was a curse. Of course occurs. Well, they
(02:09):
were a little more like little inscribed threat that feels
like such a hail Mary. Like you've got a thief
who's broken into your home and then into your safe,
sod through a thick chain. Got this Harry Potter sequel
he's been dying to read, finally in his hands, and
somehow a curse is going to make him put the
book down. I mean, that's the idea. Let me read
you my favorite threat. It says, if anyone take away
(02:30):
this book, let him be fried in a pan. That
sounds like such a Looney Tunes threat. I know, it
isn't that intimidating unless the book owner also on the
human sized frying pan. All this research on book thefts
made me curious. What's the most stolen publication from public libraries.
Number two on the list is the Bible. Why does
anyone steal a Bible? I don't know, maybe they just
skimmed the first few pages, didn't get far enough to
(02:52):
realize that God's pretty clear about not stealing. But here's
some of the other things in the top ten. You've
got prep books for exams, books on not he's an
occult things generally books people might be too embarrassed to
check out. But the number one book that gets stolen
from public libraries the Guinness Book of World Records. What
I mean that itself kind of feels like a record.
(03:12):
I know, honestly, I hadn't thought about the Guinness Book
in years. I mean, I loved it as a kid,
couldn't wait for the book fair to come so I
could pick up a copy. But when I heard that fact,
it made me wonder, why are we so impressed with records?
And what is it about the Guinness Book that's made
it such a beloved institution? And who has the record
for reading the most baked beans in five minutes? So
(03:33):
that's what we're digging into today. Important Stuffy Hey their
(03:57):
podcast listeners, Well, when a part time genius, I'm will
Pure and then as always I'm joined by my good
friend Manes Tor and today's episode is all about world records,
how the Guinness Book got its start, how they're cataloged,
what countries take the book most seriously, And of course
we'll have a couple of terrible quizzes. Who do we
have on the line today, Mango, We've got Dan Rollman
from records center dot com. He's terrific. He's going to
(04:19):
tell us how his site, which allows you to set
all sorts of world records from the comfort of your phone,
got its start. All right, So before this episode, it
had been years since I looked at the Guinness Book.
How about you? Yeah, I remember reading them with friends
on the school bus and thumbing through them at the library,
but it had been like decades since I held one.
Actually had a strange experience buying my book for this episode.
(04:39):
What happened, Well, I went to this big bookstore in
my neighborhood and went up to the clerk, who is
this judgey literary type, And I said, I'm wondering if
you could help me, and he looked eager, and then
I said I'm looking for the Guinness Book of World Records.
And as that title is filled out of my mouth,
I just watched his face. Al Right, why is that
(04:59):
I don't know. It was almost like when I was
a kid at the local video store and my friends
and I would approach the counter with like City Slickers too,
or some mainstream movie, and the clerk would just judges
because we weren't trying to rent like a Portuguese art film. Yeah,
I think you're gonna have to explain to our younger
listeners what a video stores. Well, a long time ago,
somewhere between when dinosaurs ruled the earth and Netflix took over,
(05:21):
people used to travel to the stores to rent games
and movies and sometimes pay exorbitant late fees to them.
That's probably the worst fact we've ever told on our show.
But you were talking about the bookstore experience. Yeah, so
I said get his book, and he didn't even bother
to look at his computer. He was like, reference, you
just go to reference. But then I started flipping the pages,
(05:41):
and holy smokes, I honestly forgot just how fun to
Guinness book is. Like, of course, kids steal us from libraries.
Who doesn't want to know? What's the most number of
bowling balls someone's caught on their forehead? It's six, by
the way, Like I had six bowling balls in a
row thrown at him, and then he caught them on
his forehead, one after the other, which is impressive. I
don't even know how that works, but I'm guessing presumably
(06:04):
there was a seventh ball chucked his way that he
didn't catch. Yeah, the book doesn't mention that, but it
does say what the world's largest robots snakes, which is
what I can tell You're dying to talk about this,
of course I am. It's the Titana Boa. Not only
is it fifty ft long, but it was engineered to
be a life size replica of an extinct snake. It's
(06:25):
all based on a real fossil, and apparently the engineers
remote controlled it around at science festivals where it goes
wild on dance floor. I can only imagine. So I
love all those crazy facts to What's strange is that
when I was a kid, the stuff I really remembered
was much more about the guy with the longest mustache
or the tallest man in the world. But the book
(06:45):
actually has so much general knowledge in there. Like in
the two thousand and seventeen edition, there's a page on
the business of sports and how the average NBA player
makes six hundred times what an Nbah cheer leader makes
or that the Lakers franchise pulls in two point six
billion dollars a year. Like those are real facts, not
just stunts. Like most apples held in a mouth and
cut in half by a chainsaw in a minute, which
(07:07):
is an actual record, right, yep, it's Johnny Strange cut
twelve apples in half out of Danielle Martin's mouth. Of
course that sounds terrifying. Also does the Guinness Book look
through all the apples and determine, well, this one wasn't
cut exactly down the center, so you're getting docted an apple.
I mean, the record keepers are definitely meticulous, which we're
going to talk about in a bit because it sounds
(07:28):
like a crazy job. And how you actually get into
the Guinness Book is an incredible process. But this guy,
Johnny Strange, he is an artist, so he also holds
the record for most apples held in one's own mouth
and cut my chainsaw in a minute. He cut eight
apples in half in his own mouth. I get uncomfortable
when I point scissors on myself. I can't even imagine
(07:49):
like turning a chainsaw in my own direction. But let's
get back to what I think you were saying, which
is that the Guinness Book contain more history and economics
and just facts about the world than you expected. Yeah,
that's right. There are all sorts of facts about geology
and earth science, like the longest natural arch, the largest
slot canyon. And that's because Guinness Book actually started out
as a way to settle argument. Really. Yeah, you know,
(08:11):
before people had cell phones or access to the internet,
you might be at the cafe and get into a
silly debate or something ridiculous, like what country dominates synchronized swimming? Sure, Switzerland? Okay, Well,
let's say one of your friends is arguing for Switzerland.
If you correct, I mean, you never bet against Swiss precision.
That's that's true, all right. So you're on team Switzerland
and someone else can't stop praising Russia, and the whole
(08:34):
debate gets heated because maybe you've had a few drinks
and you're a little too invested. But back in the
nineteen fifties, there really weren't a lot of ways to
settle this without either taking the word of the biggest
synchronized swimming fan in the group, or maybe calling him
a bookie with a specialty in the sport, and because
sometimes a drunken argument, no matter how trivial the topic,
can lead to a brawl. And that's what the Guinness
(08:54):
Book was for. It was actually a peacemaking device to
be stocked in bars and settle bickering. Oh I love that.
I feel like the Guinness Book deserves a Nobel Peace Prize,
or at least an Ignoble Peace Prize. You love the
Ignoble I do, but this feels so deserving. Singer wish.
Do you know what my favorite Ignoble peace prizes? What's that?
Tell me? It's from a few years back and it
went to a mayor in Lithuania. According to the Ignobles,
(09:15):
he want it for a quote demonstrating that the problem
of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running
over them with an armored tank. I looked up the
photos of this. The mayor would actually drive the tank
himself over Mercedes and Lexus is parked and Bikelon and
he was right. It solved the problem. I think they're
using the word piece ironically there though. Yeah, or the
(09:36):
Ignoble Pieces Prize also a full confession. I don't know
anything about Switzerland. Synchronized swimming team. The only thing I
do know about the sport is that swimmers use jeladan
to keep their hair in place. Yeah, that's why their
hair is so perfect and shiny. So, by the way,
Russia is dominant in the sport. They've won nineteen international
synchronized swimming titles in a row, which I learned from
the Guinness Book. See it actually worked well. It definitely
(09:59):
stopped us from getting in a fifth fin. That's true.
So do you know what the original argument that spurred
the idea for the Guinness Book was, like, was there
one specific thing people were debating there was? Actually it
all started with Sir Hugh Beaver. Sir Hugh Beaver. That
sounds like a name out of Wind in the Willows,
but he's a real person. So Sir Beaver was out
on a shooting expedition with friends when he took aim
(10:19):
and a golden plover and missed after a few shots.
He used the excuse that the plover was the fastest
European game bird. And you know how friends are that
give each other a hard time. So not only did
his friends remind him that he had a bad shot,
but they also claimed the red grouse was faster, and
so they took their argument to a pub than to
a library, and when they couldn't find the answer, Sir
(10:41):
Beaver came up with this idea of this fact book
that might help settle pub disputes. And because he was
such a big shot at Guinness Brewing, he knew there
were over eighty thousand pubs in England and Ireland and
he hoped they'd create a market. And it isn't that old.
Sir Hugh commissioned the first version in nineteen fifty four
as a promotional giveaway. He hired these twin brothers from London,
(11:02):
they were meticulous fact checkers, to help him write it.
But by nineteen it was already this institution. They printed
fifty thou copies of the first edition and immediately hit
the best seller list, which is pretty interesting that the
company isn't that old. But you left me on a cliffhanger,
was Sir Hugh right? Was the golden plover faster than
the red grouse? What's funny is that the whole book
(11:22):
was started to answer this one question, but according to
the Society of Guinness Book Collectors, that answer wasn't tackled
until the thirty six ndition where they gave the nod
to the red grouse, which travels fifty eight miles an hour.
For you, I hope his friends aren't mocking him in
the afterlife. Well, they wrote this thing so apologetically, Like
the book reads, air speeds of seventy miles per hour
(11:44):
have been claimed, but it is extremely doubtful whether this
rapid flying bird can exceed fifty to fifty five miles
an hour, even in an emergency. But at least they
waited until he was dead a few decades before broaching
the subject. That's so considerate. So who do we have
(12:04):
on the line today? Mango? Today we have the number
twelve ranked competitive eater in the world and the former
world record holder of corn on the Coby eating seven
and twelve minutes and also cannoli. And he's the defending
champion of the Tour to Donut bicycle race in multiple states.
And his name might be familiar to you, will it's
Yasir Selin. Hey, Yasir, how's it going? So for full disclosure,
(12:30):
when Manguesh and I were at Mental Philoss, Yasir worked
in the marketing department. So uh, during the weekdays, he'd
be working on brilliant marketing ideas, and on the weekends
he'd be off to these crazy competitive eating contests and
races and other kinds of extreme activities. We're gonna ask
him all about those. But y'asa to start off, how
(12:51):
did you get into this world of extreme sports and
competitive eating. So back to two thousand ten, my wife
and I a pretty wacky goal all of doing the
New York City Manrathon. She was just coming up some
major health thing and we wanted to set a really
big goal for us both. And then I had dabbled
in competitive eating a couple of years earlier, but I
(13:11):
never quite got the hang of it, and I felt
like I could do anything. After doing a marathon, I thought, well,
let me revisit this whole competitive eating thing. And I
went in with an extra energy and and you know,
I'm gonna give to another shot. And uh, it was
really supposed to be just a joke. I want to
do it one time, something that I could say, you
(13:32):
know what, I competed at Nathan's. But it turned into
like a three year affair of trying to figure out
how to get it, how to get there, because it's
actually a lot harder than people think. Wow, it's amazing.
I can remember when we worked together. We were so
excited to come see you at the Nathan's Contest, and
you offered us tickets to the spray zone, which is
(13:53):
the area in front of the competitors. We won't get
into details that I think the house so incredible. So
you're the former world cannoli eating champion. In fact, you
had a world record in both cannoli eating and corn
on the cob eating. Is that correct? That's right. Yeah,
I broke the world record last year in corn. I
did forty seven corn on the cob in twelve minutes.
(14:15):
A few years ago, I did Cannoli down in literally
in New York City, and I set the record. But
some of these other contests are about ninety major league
eating contests a year. So if you can think of
something new and you come up with a really smart
technique to go in and and disrupt the competition, there's
there's plenty of contests there out there, And in both cases,
(14:36):
in cannoli and in corn, that was how I just
sat down and figured out, well, there must be a
better way to eat corn a lot faster than everybody
else that they haven't thought of. So I'll tell you so.
In cannoli, so there's an outside, there's a there's a
really hard shell on on cannoli, and a lot of
(14:57):
the conventional wisdom was like just put it in and
then start crunching away and the squishy stuff will kind
of make its way down your throat. But it's the
hard stuff you have to worry about that, you know what.
I'm not gonna put the effort of crunching the shell
on my teeth. I'm gonna crush it in my hand,
so pre I'm gonna pre crunch it. So that's kind
(15:17):
of what I did. I would grab the canoli. I'd
wear gloves, um, you know, like just rubber gloves, and
I crunch. I'd crush them and then I just shove
each one into my mouth and that that's what That's
what got me to one. Nobody thought of it. It
was just like it was there on the table and
I took it. I also wanted you to explain the
concept of the Tour to Donut. We obviously mentioned the
(15:40):
fact that you've you've won this race in multiple states,
but how does the Tour to Donut work and explain
the whole idea of the how the timing is kept.
The format is generally about a thirty six mile race,
and you have two doughnut stops, like at the twelve
mile mark and at the twenty four mile mark. You
get off your bike ups a twelve mile mark, you
(16:01):
set your bike aside, and then they have a glazed
donuts there from your the local donut shop, and you
eat as many as you possibly can now the person
for every donut that you eat you get a three
to five minute time credit, depending upon which race it is,
and then you do the same at the second stop.
You know, you get off your bike again, and you
do it again, and you can't vombit. Um that you
(16:23):
you just qualified immediately, thankfully, so there's no mess on
the course. Um. My record is fifty five donuts over
the course of a thirty six mile race. Um, and
that put me in the negative territory. So I'm actually
going back in time every time I do one of
these races. That's incredible. Just need a bunch of donuts
and you go back in time. That's impressive. So it's
(16:45):
very challenging. I can tell you. Just biking thirty six miles. Uh,
you know, a good clip twenty miles or more. It's difficult,
but to me, adding the donuts in there as a
bit of of of skill. But it's really it's fun everybody.
I mean, I approach it like it's it's just a
fun thing that I get to do on the weekend.
(17:06):
I get to eat the donuts, which I love donuts,
I love bike, So why not put them both together?
Yeah sounds good to me. So well, we wanted to
put Yaster to the challenge today, although he has the
Big Nathan's Eating contests coming up in just a few days.
Of course, this episode will publish just a few days
after the Big Nathan's hot Dog eating contests, so we're
(17:26):
excited to see how you do, Yaster. I'm sure you'll
improve over last year. But what game are we playing
with Yaster today? Mango, We're playing a little game called
Mouthful of Doughnuts, and it's more than a quiz because
we're going to try to set a world record most
donut holes eaten while answering four trivia questions about donuts
and sixty seconds. All right, so the most donut holes
eating while answering four trivia questions about donuts in sixty seconds. Wow,
(17:50):
what a record. Okay, so we've got four trivia questions here.
We're gonna ask you a question, let Yasser answer, and
then while he's stuffing his face, we're going to ask
him another and we'll see how how many donuts we
can get through or donut holes we can get through.
And by we I mean he Okay, So alright, so
yeahs do you have all your supplies? Right? You've got
your donut holes, you got your water, You've got everything
(18:11):
else you might need. I got my water, I got
my donut holes, and I am ready. Okay, let's do it.
Mango three two one, alright, y'assir. What city has the
highest donut shops per person? That's Boston? I heard it,
(18:35):
all right, Let's let him, Yes, let's let him meet
a few donuts. And which legend of Sleepy Hollow author
is credited with the first use of the word donut
in print? Oh man, um uh? Yes? All right? What
(18:57):
Oregan donut shop used to make a medicine donut cook
hooded with ni quill I don't um? Oh man? That's right?
What roll did Rene's lagger gain? Wait for a boy
eating twenty donuts today one second time. All right, let's
(19:26):
let him, Let's let him chew and swallow, and then
we'll get an official count of our doughnut eating. Okay,
how'd you do donuts? I mean, that's got to be
a record of world record, right while answering for trivia
questions donuts about donuts. Yes, that's got to be a
world record. So, in addition to hopefully setting a new
world record, what else has yasir one mango? Well, aside
(19:48):
from the joy of his new accomplishment, will be sending
him a bottle of pepto bismol. All right, so, Yaser,
good luck this coming week at the Nathan's Hot Dog
Eating Contest. And then he said, just right after that,
what do you have coming up? I am defending my
title at a tournid Donut um in Stun, Illinois, the
twenty nine annual Tourni Donut This will be my third
year um defending my title and I'm hoping to hit
(20:12):
at least uh fifty stick donuts this year. All right, Well,
good luck to you. It's always a pleasure to talk
to you, and thanks for coming on to part times.
We're rooting for you. Love you guys, you're listening to
(20:40):
Part Time Genius and we're talking about the Guinness Book
of World Records. So, Mango, what's your favorite part of
the Guinness Book. I mean, there's so much fun stuff
in there, but I love the strange personal feats, Like
I always remember seeing a photo of the dude with
the longest fingernails in the world as a kid, and
that's always the first thing I think about. In fact,
almost every fact enthusiast i've talked to mentions that pick, Yeah,
(21:01):
those visuals are so unforgettable, and I think for kids,
it's something both so creepy looking but also so ordinary,
like not clipping your nails can get you in the
Guinness Book. It's kind of insane. And I guess the
thing that didn't occur to me when I was a
kid and the thing that I really wanted to hear
more of, and maybe this is what separates it from
being put in the kid's hobbies section, but I wanted
to hear more of the stories of the people behind
(21:23):
these records. You can find a few articles on people,
and you can find some of the stories on Guinness's
YouTube page. But take the guy Tree, the Chill l
who hadn't cut his nails on his left hand in
sixty two years. It's like his left hand is growing roots.
It surprises me every single time I looked at it. Yeah,
but his story is insane. Like as a high school kid,
he threw a ball at a teacher playfully and the
(21:44):
teacher yelled at him because he chipped a teacher's nails,
and the teacher told him he'd never understand the beauty
of having long nails. So he and his friend, as
a joke, started growing their nails out, and then he
kind of gets enamored with it. So he keeps growing
the nails on his left hand and people call him
dirty because of it. They start treating him badly. When
his parents try to arrange his marriage years later, twelve
(22:04):
families reject him. And when the families don't reject him,
the girls do because they think he's a monster and
that he'll strangle them that night. Like he can't get
a job because of the way he looks, even putting
on a shirt his heart. I mean, it's so depressing.
But he grows them and grows them to this insane
length and to keep them preserved. Not only does he
treat them with a special product. But when he's sleeping
(22:24):
and he wants to roll over, he has to carefully
move his entire hand to the other side of the bed.
He claims he rolls over every thirty minutes, so he
never gets a full night of sleep, And all this
for a little bit of fame. And in his mind
he thinks he'll get paid a lot for the nails
to be in a museum later, and that there's a
good bit of money that will come to him now.
And maybe it will, let's hope, But he just takes
(22:47):
such pride in those nails. They're like thirty feet long
now and gnarled, but he sees them as this thing
of beauty, and he loves that people like you and
me know who he is. And also that he never
has to wait in the line in a line like
wear like at the club. I don't know this is
what he says, but I think it's like at the market.
Of course, in India, your left hand is the one
you used to clean yourself. So I'm not sure how
(23:08):
he's performing certain tasks. Well. I do like some of
these personal stories, like you were telling me about the
British woman who holds the record for the youngest female
with a full beard. That's another video Guinnist did. Her
name's Hanan Car and her story is amazing because she
has a genetic disorder that gave her this lush facial
hair at a young age. At some point she chose
to ignore the relentless bullying she was facing and just
(23:29):
decided to embrace the beard, which had to be so
insanely difficult. She's very feminine actually, and really quite striking,
and I don't know that she wants to extra attention.
But the reason she's chosen to be in the Guinness
Book is that having all this facial hair drove her
to have suicidal thoughts when she was younger, and when
she realized that her life was worth more than that,
she wanted to help others with body image issues to
(23:51):
learn to accept themselves. She's really remarkable. Yeah, she is. Well.
As much as the book is filled with thousands and
thousands of world records, you're not really considering what's driving
each person to be in this book. So one thing
that surprised me in researching Guinness was just how popular
it is in India. I mean, there are a few
big record keeping authorities in the country. Guinness is one Limpa,
(24:12):
which is basically India's Sprite is another. But this is
great New York Times story on the only Guinness judge
who lives in India and he's running around the country
trying to verify records and just how exhausting it is,
but also how obsessed Indians are with numbers. Why do
you think this is well, I mean, part of it
is just that India, from my experience of it, loves
trivia in a way I haven't seen anywhere else. There's
(24:34):
an obsession with general knowledge, and having a book of
records definitely fits into that category. But I also think
that in a place with such disparity of wealth and resource,
being the best in the world at something and being
recognized for it is something that gives people pride and purpose.
Yet saying that there are actually some academic papers written
about this topic and how the records feel like such
a great leveler in a place where the odds can
(24:55):
feel stacked against you exactly like the Times piece has
all these funny stories to talk about the problems of
trying to verify a handshake gathering where millions of people
turn up to participate. I mean that's a headache for
one judge. You have to register and verify each person
and count them and ensure that they're all shaking hands
at the same time. It's like a giant fact checking
(25:15):
problem that could take days to sort. And there's a
story of a young athlete trying to beat a light
bulb hurling record, which is also great. But at the
end of the yeast, there's a story about this farmer
who does squats every day and at fifty he realizes
he could potentially beat the world record. And when the
Guinness judge asked him why he cares about a squat record,
it's all because his daughter is marrying into a better family.
(25:37):
And his quote is, I want her husband's family to
know that I'm worth something. I want to make a
markak I know, and kind of beautiful. I mean, I
love these stories because you don't think about the desperation
and work that goes into trying to set these records
and the different motivations. Like for me, I have assumed
they were always like publicity stunts. Gary's Angelato Shack is
trying to break the world's largest alata records, and Guinness
(26:00):
actually has an arm that works with corporations to build
out those events, or I assumed it was attention seekers
but of a more fun variety, like most baked beans
eaten in five minutes, which is two one. So that's
a shred of Furman's record, right, He is the best
I know. He held over a hundred records simultaneously at
one point. Yeah, I think it was a hundred thirty
one records at the same time, and he's broken over
(26:22):
six hundred records in his career. He's done everything from
like po going up Mount Fuji to underwater jump roping
too fastest mile using two shovels of stilts. He actually
has the long distance sack racing record, which for some
reason involved raising a yak in demand's a beast. Also,
how much do you love his nickname Mr? Versatility? A lot,
(26:45):
although if I had his name, I'd probably go by
a shred to the fir Monster, Furman mascot or the Ferminator.
I mean. Mr Versatility has a lot of options. But
before we get into his secrets or breaking records and
how you can to, why don't we break for a quiz?
Sounds kid? So our guest today has one of the
(27:11):
coolest jobs in the world. As the CEO of Record Center,
he's created a new digital home for world records, making
it easier for humans to compete in important categories like
most quarters fit inside of belly button and longest office
chair train pulled by a motorcycle. Dan Rohman, We've spent
way too much time watching videos on your site and
we're big fans of your work, so welcome to part
(27:32):
time Genius. Thank you so much. It's great to be
with you guys. All right, well, let's dive right into it.
Tell us about your early obsession with records. Sure, um, well,
I always say Record Center. Uh. Started probably when I
was a ten year old kid and got my first
Guinness Book of World Record book. Um, and it instantly
became my favorite book on my bookshelf. I was endlessly
(27:54):
obsessed with the pictures of the guy with the long
curvy fingernail and the UH set the world sad as
twins on the motorcycles at These images just became indelible
in my mind, and I really, from a young age,
I just thought that owning a world record myself would
possibly be the coolest thing I could do in my lifetime.
(28:16):
For some reason. I tried to a a girl in
college by telling her that I thought I was going
to become the world record holder in ravioli eating. Um So,
I looked into ravioli eating, and then I also was
researching the longest time riding a roller coaster, um and
I quickly realized that I was not a particularly fast eater.
(28:40):
And I quickly realized that I was never going to
write a roller coaster for days and end. Um But
but but just that idea stuck with me that somehow,
someday I wanted to hold the title of being the
world best at something I did not successfully get Get
Get the Lady with my rap shocking. I don't understand
(29:01):
how that didn't work out. I heard some of the
started at burning Man. Can you tell us a little
about that? Sure? Um So. I started going to Burning
Man in two thousand and two, and after a couple
of years, my friends and I were really excited to
develop a theme camp that had a real interactive component.
We'd like the idea of something that would allow other
(29:24):
people at burning Man to come up to our space
and engage with us in a fun, creative manner. And
since I had had this lifelong obsession with world records.
I said, what if we become the official world record camp,
essentially a burning Man kind of a governing body for
all world records set in the desert. So we created
(29:47):
a camp in two thousand and four called the Apply
a Book of Records. Apply is what Burners called the
desert area out there. And we all put on a
bunch of yellow sports coats that were inspired by Howard
Cosell Air Wide World of Sports, and we and we
just said that people coming up, and we're gonna make
(30:08):
you a world champion. And it was It was amazing
because I could see from the first day we we
set up shop that I was not the only person
out there who had had these dreams of being a
world champion. And people were really excited by this opportunity
of like, why you guys really are going to help
me set like my own world record. So so in
(30:29):
the first years and we did it for for five years,
we saw things like the fastest accordion rendition that the
Devil went down to Georgia, the most consecutive backflips of
stilt was one that blew us away. Um. We had
like people would come up and do balloon twisting like
I think it was like the most balloon animals made
(30:50):
in thirty seconds. Uh, you know, we just we just
saw this endless paradeive of people coming up and being
creative and and clearly getting a deep sense of joy
when we said great congratulations, were recognizing this as an
official world record. So this project kept evolving, and then
inspired by by Wikipedia as much as anything, I felt
(31:14):
that there would be an opportunity to take what we
were doing in the desert and put it onto the
Internet and love the open, democratic, participatory approach of Wikipedia
for encyclopedic information, and said what happens if we try
and do the same thing with human achievements. So we
launched in two thousand eight UM what was originally called
(31:35):
the Universal Record Database u r dB dot org. And
it was the same premise that we had um given
people at Burning Man. We we we gave the same
invitation to the world. So, Dan, I love that you
once held the record for the most bananas stuff down
a pair of pants while wearing them. So how how
fun is it to see an entirely new category of
(31:56):
record open up? And and what are some of your favorites? Uh? So, yeah,
the first time. So the first world record that I set,
which I actually did a burning man, was the most
times whistling Happy Birthday in one minute, and so I
think I had done at fifteen or sixteen or something.
(32:18):
I did it pretty quickly. I'll give you a quick
example exactly. I'm um, so I had I had this
record up, and again I would tell people like, yeah,
I hold the world record for the most times whistling
Happy Birthday in one minute, and had this great sense
(32:40):
of pride, and then we launched the website, and within
maybe a month or so, it got my record got
broken by a teenager in San Diego who I really like.
When it happened that day, I was angry at I
just couldn't believe that this jerk had taken away my
dreams and stolen my world record for most times swissling
(33:02):
Happy Birthday. But over the years, as I set more
world records and basically watched I think all of them
are almost all of them get broken, and I've come
to really find a deep joy in watching people break
my records and the analogy that I uses it feels
like I've I've written the song and somebody's covering it.
But they're actually doing a better job playing the song
(33:25):
and than I did originally. Um So, for a category
like most bananas sitting a pair of pants while wearing them,
I had done sixty and thought that I had said
a pretty pretty high mark, and then it suddenly got
broken by radio DJ in Australia, and then I think
some guy in Texas maybe holds the record now. And
we've seen this time and time again on Record Setter,
(33:48):
where we have a lot of these really obtuse categories,
like we've had people compete in the in the category
for most giraffe tattoos on a shoulder, We've had a
couple of guys go back and forth. And another one
of my favorite categories that's become very competitive and I
think could be a to come in Olympic sports someday
(34:09):
is the longest high five. So it began with these
two guys in Toronto who called themselves the Record Collection.
They set themselves up several kilometers apart from each other
in downtown Toronto, and they ran towards each other with
a camera following each of them and set the world
(34:29):
record for the literally the longest high five. They ran
towards each other so it's sort of like a two
person running race, and then that exploded into a globally
competitive category. And I think the records gosh, I haven't
looked in a while, but I'm pretty sure it's over
ten miles. So it's become this two person running race.
(34:50):
Both participants have to keep their arms up for the
duration of the of the run, and the moments at
the end of these runs where they at please see
each other and exchange the high five. It's just it's
jubilation every time. That's pretty true. I love that. Alright, Well,
this has been a lot of fun and we are
(35:11):
now ready to put you to the test. Mango. What
game are we playing with Dan today? So this is
a game called the Rename Game. And since Record Centers
originally went by a different name, the u r dB
before taking on the Sleeker Moniker, we thought would be
fun to quiz Dan on some other industry giants and
the names their companies used to be called. Okay, right,
So we'll give you an old name and a clue,
and you'll tell us the name of the current company.
(35:34):
So we'll see how many of these you can answer
in sixty seconds. Is that right? Okay? So Dan, We're
gonna put sixty seconds on the clock. I'll ask you
questions and you just keep answering as many as you can.
Maybe you'll set a world record. We'll see that sounds good.
I think that sounds okay. This Oregon based sneaker company
was called Blue Ribbon Sports before it was renamed for
(35:55):
a Greek goddess, Nike. Right. This lad magazine was called
Stag Party before it was named by Hugh Hefner. Right.
This Larry and Sarage internet search company was called BackRub
before it was renamed This choice of a new generation
cola was called Brad's Drink before it was renamed PEPs.
This big electronic box store and home to the Geek
(36:16):
Squad was called Sound of Music before it was renamed
by This maker of smartphone devices was called Research in
Motion before taking a fruitier name. Obama famously had one
when he started his first term in the White House, BlackBerry.
That's right. This Eat Fresh sandwich chain was called Pete
Super Submarines before it was renamed pet Is a man
(36:37):
Uh Subway. This number one rental car company was called
Drive Yourself before it was renamed For Measurement for Frequency
that is correct, and I think we do have a
world record for most correct questions answered in the rename
game on Part Time Genius Congress. Teenager from San Diego
can beat that. So how many did he get correct?
(37:01):
Maga Dan scored an astounding eight for eight, which runs
them an official certificate of admiration from us here at
Part Time Genius. Congratulationsratulations, Dan, Thank you very much. I
hope all of our listeners will check out Records Center
and aim to set a record of their own. Dan,
thanks so much for joining us on Part Time Genius,
my pleasure. Thanks so much, guys. So we were talking
(37:36):
about a Shrida Firman who's a legend on the Guinness Circuit.
What's his secret? Well, I think part of it is
that it's the same sense of validation everyone's looking for.
Some people run marathons to prove it to themselves, right,
and for someone like a Shrida, who apparently gained confidence
after finding a guru and getting into spirituality and meditation,
he wanted to push his body in fun ways. So
(37:57):
we started by doing twenty seven thousand jumping jacks, and
then he moved on to things like long distance somersaulting
or whatever. But it also seems like one of his
better skills is creating funny new categories that get attention. Yeah,
you're right. There are a lot of rules for getting
into the Guinness Book because they're super strict. I mean,
they're getting flooded with fifty record claims a year and
only three or four thousand of them make it into
(38:18):
the book, and they care about the accuracy. But Ashrida
is particularly good at gaming the system, right. I mean
he's particularly good at creating spectacles. I mean you need
to witnesses, and you have to do this in a
public space and multiple cameras and media. There are lots
of conditions, and part of the reason he incorporates places
like Mount Fuji and the Pyramids into his attempts is
(38:38):
that it's just an easier way to draw press exactly.
But he also understands the rules, like Guinness is pretty
specific about what they will and won't admit. There's an
interview on fre economics with the editor of the Guinness Book,
which is really great, but it shows how hard the
job is and where the Guinness Book draws some of
the lines, like they won't let you put an animal
in harm or another person you're free to put yourself
(39:01):
at danger. And in addition, they only want categories with
one variable. So, like the example he gives is someone
submitting for the heaviest person to raft a particular river,
and that just opens up a can of worms for them,
because in addition to verifying that, they have to open
up the category to the lightest person on a raft
on that river male female considerations, and then they'd have
to open up to every river. And you can see
(39:23):
how that sort of snowballs. Yeah. Well, when we talk
to Dan, his analogy was really interesting to me. So
a site like Records Center, where anyone can enter a
new category with video evidence and it's self patrolled in
a Wikipedia way, is such a smart idea. It really
does feel like a Wikipedia model to the Guinness Books Britannica,
which is interesting right. It democratizes the whole process and
(39:44):
takes away all the need for judging and at the
same time allows everyone to feel special. You can see
how something like this would take off in India. You
get quick validation instead of having to write to Guinness
and wait for two months for a response. And even here,
I mean Record Center is all over Jimmy Fallon like
I think Camera Diaz held the record for the most
bunny snuggled in a hammock. Yeah, she did that on
the show. And the thing is everyone's good at something,
(40:06):
you just have to figure out what that is. It's
like that guy David Kalb who's the best in the
world at horse He beat Lebron James because he mounted
the hoop on a forklift and then did trick shots
to a basket that was like thirty feet in the air.
And if you have enough variables and the right stack
of talents, you can be the best in the world
at something. So we should probably figure out what ridiculous
records we should try to set listeners. If you have
(40:28):
any thoughts on that, please email them into part time
genius at how stuff works dot com and we'll work
on trying to break some ridiculous records in the not
so distant future. But back to Guinness, with competition like
Records Center, which is called fire in a surprisingly big way.
What do you think will happen to Guinness? Is it
bound to go the way of Britannica. I don't know.
I mean they have evolved, They do video game records
(40:49):
and have a strong site online, and I think there's
so many good stories in there. The books are really
just a good way to get kids into learning, and
I feel like there's value in the publishing and TV
arms it. You know, Guinness has changed hands a few
times in the last few years, and what's interesting is
that they're now owned by the company that owns their
Ripley's Believe it or Not museums, and they want to
build these big, combined Guinness Ripley museums where you can
(41:12):
go with your family and try to set your own records,
like for the loudest family scream or the longest laugh,
which maybe gives the brand a new leash. All I
know is that I've loved reaquainting with the book, and
I have no intention of growing out my fingernails to
compete on that front. But I do plan to change
my Guinness book to my desk and inscribe it with
a threatening note so that no one takes it away
(41:33):
from me. That's great, that's a brilliant idea. Well, one
thing that's going to be harder to protect is your
part time genius fact off record. Are you ready to
drop some knowledge And by drop knowledge, I mean share
super nerd effects that we couldn't get into the episode earlier.
M So here's a quick one to get us going.
(41:59):
While the US has the most records on record per
capita of the Vatican City is the greatest source of records.
Roughly nine claims come from the Vatican every year from
a population of only nine hundred and twenty people. I
want to see what those records are to. Three of
the most common records to break also sound like they're
being craned for at preschools. Largest finger painting, longest reading
(42:22):
a loud marathon, and largest group hug or all records
that are regularly challenged and broken. Nice. Kevin Shelley set
the record for the most toilet seats broken by one's
head in two thousand eight. He made his family prows,
shattering forty six of them in a minute. That's crazy.
I know. The record for most people riding on a
surfboard is sixty six. Of course, if I had sixty
(42:45):
five other people on the board with me, I feel
like I'd have a better chance of learning surfing to
The highest shallow dive was accomplished by Professor Splash on
Chinese TV. What's the high shallow dive. It's what it
sounds like. So he jumped from nearly thirty eight ft
in the air into a kiddie pool filled with twelve
inches of water. Oh that's insane. So here's a cute
(43:06):
one black and the cat is the world's wealthiest cat.
He inherited twelve point five million dollars. And I don't
know about you, but I need to find myself a
sugar cat. Blackie, if you're listening, call me a sugar cat.
Good luck with that. Most number of fatalities in a
crocodile attack used to be a category. Do you want
to elaborate on that? And not really, except please don't
(43:27):
tangle with saltwater crocodiles on Ramrey Island. They hold the
record for a reason. Well, I'm not tangling with any crocodiles,
but here's one about a shark. When the Guinness Book
of World Records honored Jonathan Lee Riches as the most
litigious men in the world, he did what he did best.
He suited them, of course he did. Okay, I'll give
you this round, but before we go, we should figure
(43:47):
out who we should add to our Hall of genius.
What do you think about adding Sir Hugh Beaver to
the mix. I feel like he created the Guinness Book.
He honored millions of people while delighting others. He encouraged
generation upon generation to be their best selves, even if
the best self meant trying to crack more than semi
two eggs in a minute by sitting on them. But
(44:07):
sir weever doesn't win them any awards anymore, and I
think he deserves one today. I agree, So the record
stops today, Sir Beaver. Your certificate will be in the
mail shortly. That's it for today's episode of Part Time Genius.
Thank you so much for listening. You know what I
thought about, including farthest distance to throw and catch a
running chainsaw it's four meters every Thanks again for listening.
(44:42):
Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do
the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan
McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme
song and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland
does the exact producer thing. Gay Bluesier is our lead
researcher with the work from the Research Army, including Austin Thompson,
Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve. Jeff Cook gets
(45:04):
the show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you
like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe, And if
you really really like what you've heard, maybe you could
leave a good review for us. Did you did you
forget Jason based on who
Hey, they're part time geniuses. Before we start the show,
we wanted to take a minute to recognize a few
of our brilliant listeners. During an episode on building the
Ultimate Animal Superhero, we challenge you guys to draw the
bizarre creature created in that episode. This thing involved parts
from the platypus, the salamander, the Texas horned lizard, the
scarlet jellyfish, the eel, and so many more creatures. And now,
(00:20):
I'll be honest, this seem like such a crazy, difficult
test that I didn't expect we'd actually get many submissions,
so we were thrilled when so many started coming in.
I really wish we could give prizes to everyone who
submitted a drawing, but please know you're all geniuses to us. Okay,
here's some of the winners. We've got Andrea Burns and
Jamie fam a pair of friends who decided to submit
drawings together. We have Simon de Zubria Ristrepo, who submitted
(00:43):
our cartoonist drawing. And for our winner in the best
Kids Drawing division, we have Laney, who's twelve and a
terrific artist, and the grand prize winner. This drawing was
so insane as I told the creator I really want
to see it as a poster, and we might just
have to make that happen. But in first place, we
have Natalie Leigh. Will post Natalie's winning piece on our
Facebook page, and you guys will all be getting part
(01:04):
Time Genius T shirts and some other fun prizes. Thank
you again to everyone who submitted drawings, and be on
the lookout for other contests and upcoming episodes. Now enjoy
the show. Guess what Mango? What's that? Will? So I
took a couple of wrong turns on the internet this
week and I ended up in this gallery of libraries
from the Middle Ages. And you know, book that used
(01:25):
to be a huge problem. So the first thing any
self respecting book collector would do is chain their books
to their bookshelf like dogs. Know, these things were so
much thicker, like heavy duty chains. If you look up
the Hereford Cathedral in London, you see bookshelves filled with manuscripts,
and in front of each book there's just a curtain
of chains hanging down because every one of those books
(01:47):
is tethered to the shelf. It's so imposing. That could
be a great tactic if you actually want people reading
the books but that wasn't even the best solution for
protecting your library. If you wanted to upgrade, you could
put your chain books inside a locked safe. It's kind
of a nesting doll approach to the book security. But
if you were really looking for protection, the ultimate in
book protection was a curse. Of course occurs. Well, they
(02:09):
were a little more like little inscribed threat that feels
like such a hail Mary. Like you've got a thief
who's broken into your home and then into your safe,
sod through a thick chain. Got this Harry Potter sequel
he's been dying to read, finally in his hands, and
somehow a curse is going to make him put the
book down. I mean, that's the idea. Let me read
you my favorite threat. It says, if anyone take away
(02:30):
this book, let him be fried in a pan. That
sounds like such a Looney Tunes threat. I know, it
isn't that intimidating unless the book owner also on the
human sized frying pan. All this research on book thefts
made me curious. What's the most stolen publication from public libraries.
Number two on the list is the Bible. Why does
anyone steal a Bible? I don't know, maybe they just
skimmed the first few pages, didn't get far enough to
(02:52):
realize that God's pretty clear about not stealing. But here's
some of the other things in the top ten. You've
got prep books for exams, books on not he's an
occult things generally books people might be too embarrassed to
check out. But the number one book that gets stolen
from public libraries the Guinness Book of World Records. What
I mean that itself kind of feels like a record.
(03:12):
I know, honestly, I hadn't thought about the Guinness Book
in years. I mean, I loved it as a kid,
couldn't wait for the book fair to come so I
could pick up a copy. But when I heard that fact,
it made me wonder, why are we so impressed with records?
And what is it about the Guinness Book that's made
it such a beloved institution? And who has the record
for reading the most baked beans in five minutes? So
(03:33):
that's what we're digging into today. Important Stuffy Hey their
(03:57):
podcast listeners, Well, when a part time genius, I'm will
Pure and then as always I'm joined by my good
friend Manes Tor and today's episode is all about world records,
how the Guinness Book got its start, how they're cataloged,
what countries take the book most seriously, And of course
we'll have a couple of terrible quizzes. Who do we
have on the line today, Mango, We've got Dan Rollman
from records center dot com. He's terrific. He's going to
(04:19):
tell us how his site, which allows you to set
all sorts of world records from the comfort of your phone,
got its start. All right, So before this episode, it
had been years since I looked at the Guinness Book.
How about you? Yeah, I remember reading them with friends
on the school bus and thumbing through them at the library,
but it had been like decades since I held one.
Actually had a strange experience buying my book for this episode.
(04:39):
What happened, Well, I went to this big bookstore in
my neighborhood and went up to the clerk, who is
this judgey literary type, And I said, I'm wondering if
you could help me, and he looked eager, and then
I said I'm looking for the Guinness Book of World Records.
And as that title is filled out of my mouth,
I just watched his face. Al Right, why is that
(04:59):
I don't know. It was almost like when I was
a kid at the local video store and my friends
and I would approach the counter with like City Slickers too,
or some mainstream movie, and the clerk would just judges
because we weren't trying to rent like a Portuguese art film. Yeah,
I think you're gonna have to explain to our younger
listeners what a video stores. Well, a long time ago,
somewhere between when dinosaurs ruled the earth and Netflix took over,
(05:21):
people used to travel to the stores to rent games
and movies and sometimes pay exorbitant late fees to them.
That's probably the worst fact we've ever told on our show.
But you were talking about the bookstore experience. Yeah, so
I said get his book, and he didn't even bother
to look at his computer. He was like, reference, you
just go to reference. But then I started flipping the pages,
(05:41):
and holy smokes, I honestly forgot just how fun to
Guinness book is. Like, of course, kids steal us from libraries.
Who doesn't want to know? What's the most number of
bowling balls someone's caught on their forehead? It's six, by
the way, Like I had six bowling balls in a
row thrown at him, and then he caught them on
his forehead, one after the other, which is impressive. I
don't even know how that works, but I'm guessing presumably
(06:04):
there was a seventh ball chucked his way that he
didn't catch. Yeah, the book doesn't mention that, but it
does say what the world's largest robots snakes, which is
what I can tell You're dying to talk about this,
of course I am. It's the Titana Boa. Not only
is it fifty ft long, but it was engineered to
be a life size replica of an extinct snake. It's
(06:25):
all based on a real fossil, and apparently the engineers
remote controlled it around at science festivals where it goes
wild on dance floor. I can only imagine. So I
love all those crazy facts to What's strange is that
when I was a kid, the stuff I really remembered
was much more about the guy with the longest mustache
or the tallest man in the world. But the book
(06:45):
actually has so much general knowledge in there. Like in
the two thousand and seventeen edition, there's a page on
the business of sports and how the average NBA player
makes six hundred times what an Nbah cheer leader makes
or that the Lakers franchise pulls in two point six
billion dollars a year. Like those are real facts, not
just stunts. Like most apples held in a mouth and
cut in half by a chainsaw in a minute, which
(07:07):
is an actual record, right, yep, it's Johnny Strange cut
twelve apples in half out of Danielle Martin's mouth. Of
course that sounds terrifying. Also does the Guinness Book look
through all the apples and determine, well, this one wasn't
cut exactly down the center, so you're getting docted an apple.
I mean, the record keepers are definitely meticulous, which we're
going to talk about in a bit because it sounds
(07:28):
like a crazy job. And how you actually get into
the Guinness Book is an incredible process. But this guy,
Johnny Strange, he is an artist, so he also holds
the record for most apples held in one's own mouth
and cut my chainsaw in a minute. He cut eight
apples in half in his own mouth. I get uncomfortable
when I point scissors on myself. I can't even imagine
(07:49):
like turning a chainsaw in my own direction. But let's
get back to what I think you were saying, which
is that the Guinness Book contain more history and economics
and just facts about the world than you expected. Yeah,
that's right. There are all sorts of facts about geology
and earth science, like the longest natural arch, the largest
slot canyon. And that's because Guinness Book actually started out
as a way to settle argument. Really. Yeah, you know,
(08:11):
before people had cell phones or access to the internet,
you might be at the cafe and get into a
silly debate or something ridiculous, like what country dominates synchronized swimming? Sure, Switzerland? Okay, Well,
let's say one of your friends is arguing for Switzerland.
If you correct, I mean, you never bet against Swiss precision.
That's that's true, all right. So you're on team Switzerland
and someone else can't stop praising Russia, and the whole
(08:34):
debate gets heated because maybe you've had a few drinks
and you're a little too invested. But back in the
nineteen fifties, there really weren't a lot of ways to
settle this without either taking the word of the biggest
synchronized swimming fan in the group, or maybe calling him
a bookie with a specialty in the sport, and because
sometimes a drunken argument, no matter how trivial the topic,
can lead to a brawl. And that's what the Guinness
(08:54):
Book was for. It was actually a peacemaking device to
be stocked in bars and settle bickering. Oh I love that.
I feel like the Guinness Book deserves a Nobel Peace Prize,
or at least an Ignoble Peace Prize. You love the
Ignoble I do, but this feels so deserving. Singer wish.
Do you know what my favorite Ignoble peace prizes? What's that?
Tell me? It's from a few years back and it
went to a mayor in Lithuania. According to the Ignobles,
(09:15):
he want it for a quote demonstrating that the problem
of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running
over them with an armored tank. I looked up the
photos of this. The mayor would actually drive the tank
himself over Mercedes and Lexus is parked and Bikelon and
he was right. It solved the problem. I think they're
using the word piece ironically there though. Yeah, or the
(09:36):
Ignoble Pieces Prize also a full confession. I don't know
anything about Switzerland. Synchronized swimming team. The only thing I
do know about the sport is that swimmers use jeladan
to keep their hair in place. Yeah, that's why their
hair is so perfect and shiny. So, by the way,
Russia is dominant in the sport. They've won nineteen international
synchronized swimming titles in a row, which I learned from
the Guinness Book. See it actually worked well. It definitely
(09:59):
stopped us from getting in a fifth fin. That's true.
So do you know what the original argument that spurred
the idea for the Guinness Book was, like, was there
one specific thing people were debating there was? Actually it
all started with Sir Hugh Beaver. Sir Hugh Beaver. That
sounds like a name out of Wind in the Willows,
but he's a real person. So Sir Beaver was out
on a shooting expedition with friends when he took aim
(10:19):
and a golden plover and missed after a few shots.
He used the excuse that the plover was the fastest
European game bird. And you know how friends are that
give each other a hard time. So not only did
his friends remind him that he had a bad shot,
but they also claimed the red grouse was faster, and
so they took their argument to a pub than to
a library, and when they couldn't find the answer, Sir
(10:41):
Beaver came up with this idea of this fact book
that might help settle pub disputes. And because he was
such a big shot at Guinness Brewing, he knew there
were over eighty thousand pubs in England and Ireland and
he hoped they'd create a market. And it isn't that old.
Sir Hugh commissioned the first version in nineteen fifty four
as a promotional giveaway. He hired these twin brothers from London,
(11:02):
they were meticulous fact checkers, to help him write it.
But by nineteen it was already this institution. They printed
fifty thou copies of the first edition and immediately hit
the best seller list, which is pretty interesting that the
company isn't that old. But you left me on a cliffhanger,
was Sir Hugh right? Was the golden plover faster than
the red grouse? What's funny is that the whole book
(11:22):
was started to answer this one question, but according to
the Society of Guinness Book Collectors, that answer wasn't tackled
until the thirty six ndition where they gave the nod
to the red grouse, which travels fifty eight miles an hour.
For you, I hope his friends aren't mocking him in
the afterlife. Well, they wrote this thing so apologetically, Like
the book reads, air speeds of seventy miles per hour
(11:44):
have been claimed, but it is extremely doubtful whether this
rapid flying bird can exceed fifty to fifty five miles
an hour, even in an emergency. But at least they
waited until he was dead a few decades before broaching
the subject. That's so considerate. So who do we have
(12:04):
on the line today? Mango? Today we have the number
twelve ranked competitive eater in the world and the former
world record holder of corn on the Coby eating seven
and twelve minutes and also cannoli. And he's the defending
champion of the Tour to Donut bicycle race in multiple states.
And his name might be familiar to you, will it's
Yasir Selin. Hey, Yasir, how's it going? So for full disclosure,
(12:30):
when Manguesh and I were at Mental Philoss, Yasir worked
in the marketing department. So uh, during the weekdays, he'd
be working on brilliant marketing ideas, and on the weekends
he'd be off to these crazy competitive eating contests and
races and other kinds of extreme activities. We're gonna ask
him all about those. But y'asa to start off, how
(12:51):
did you get into this world of extreme sports and
competitive eating. So back to two thousand ten, my wife
and I a pretty wacky goal all of doing the
New York City Manrathon. She was just coming up some
major health thing and we wanted to set a really
big goal for us both. And then I had dabbled
in competitive eating a couple of years earlier, but I
(13:11):
never quite got the hang of it, and I felt
like I could do anything. After doing a marathon, I thought, well,
let me revisit this whole competitive eating thing. And I
went in with an extra energy and and you know,
I'm gonna give to another shot. And uh, it was
really supposed to be just a joke. I want to
do it one time, something that I could say, you
(13:32):
know what, I competed at Nathan's. But it turned into
like a three year affair of trying to figure out
how to get it, how to get there, because it's
actually a lot harder than people think. Wow, it's amazing.
I can remember when we worked together. We were so
excited to come see you at the Nathan's Contest, and
you offered us tickets to the spray zone, which is
(13:53):
the area in front of the competitors. We won't get
into details that I think the house so incredible. So
you're the former world cannoli eating champion. In fact, you
had a world record in both cannoli eating and corn
on the cob eating. Is that correct? That's right. Yeah,
I broke the world record last year in corn. I
did forty seven corn on the cob in twelve minutes.
(14:15):
A few years ago, I did Cannoli down in literally
in New York City, and I set the record. But
some of these other contests are about ninety major league
eating contests a year. So if you can think of
something new and you come up with a really smart
technique to go in and and disrupt the competition, there's
there's plenty of contests there out there, And in both cases,
(14:36):
in cannoli and in corn, that was how I just
sat down and figured out, well, there must be a
better way to eat corn a lot faster than everybody
else that they haven't thought of. So I'll tell you so.
In cannoli, so there's an outside, there's a there's a
really hard shell on on cannoli, and a lot of
(14:57):
the conventional wisdom was like just put it in and
then start crunching away and the squishy stuff will kind
of make its way down your throat. But it's the
hard stuff you have to worry about that, you know what.
I'm not gonna put the effort of crunching the shell
on my teeth. I'm gonna crush it in my hand,
so pre I'm gonna pre crunch it. So that's kind
(15:17):
of what I did. I would grab the canoli. I'd
wear gloves, um, you know, like just rubber gloves, and
I crunch. I'd crush them and then I just shove
each one into my mouth and that that's what That's
what got me to one. Nobody thought of it. It
was just like it was there on the table and
I took it. I also wanted you to explain the
concept of the Tour to Donut. We obviously mentioned the
(15:40):
fact that you've you've won this race in multiple states,
but how does the Tour to Donut work and explain
the whole idea of the how the timing is kept.
The format is generally about a thirty six mile race,
and you have two doughnut stops, like at the twelve
mile mark and at the twenty four mile mark. You
get off your bike ups a twelve mile mark, you
(16:01):
set your bike aside, and then they have a glazed
donuts there from your the local donut shop, and you
eat as many as you possibly can now the person
for every donut that you eat you get a three
to five minute time credit, depending upon which race it is,
and then you do the same at the second stop.
You know, you get off your bike again, and you
do it again, and you can't vombit. Um that you
(16:23):
you just qualified immediately, thankfully, so there's no mess on
the course. Um. My record is fifty five donuts over
the course of a thirty six mile race. Um, and
that put me in the negative territory. So I'm actually
going back in time every time I do one of
these races. That's incredible. Just need a bunch of donuts
and you go back in time. That's impressive. So it's
(16:45):
very challenging. I can tell you. Just biking thirty six miles. Uh,
you know, a good clip twenty miles or more. It's difficult,
but to me, adding the donuts in there as a
bit of of of skill. But it's really it's fun everybody.
I mean, I approach it like it's it's just a
fun thing that I get to do on the weekend.
(17:06):
I get to eat the donuts, which I love donuts,
I love bike, So why not put them both together?
Yeah sounds good to me. So well, we wanted to
put Yaster to the challenge today, although he has the
Big Nathan's Eating contests coming up in just a few days.
Of course, this episode will publish just a few days
after the Big Nathan's hot Dog eating contests, so we're
(17:26):
excited to see how you do, Yaster. I'm sure you'll
improve over last year. But what game are we playing
with Yaster today? Mango, We're playing a little game called
Mouthful of Doughnuts, and it's more than a quiz because
we're going to try to set a world record most
donut holes eaten while answering four trivia questions about donuts
and sixty seconds. All right, so the most donut holes
eating while answering four trivia questions about donuts in sixty seconds. Wow,
(17:50):
what a record. Okay, so we've got four trivia questions here.
We're gonna ask you a question, let Yasser answer, and
then while he's stuffing his face, we're going to ask
him another and we'll see how how many donuts we
can get through or donut holes we can get through.
And by we I mean he Okay, So alright, so
yeahs do you have all your supplies? Right? You've got
your donut holes, you got your water, You've got everything
(18:11):
else you might need. I got my water, I got
my donut holes, and I am ready. Okay, let's do it.
Mango three two one, alright, y'assir. What city has the
highest donut shops per person? That's Boston? I heard it,
(18:35):
all right, Let's let him, Yes, let's let him meet
a few donuts. And which legend of Sleepy Hollow author
is credited with the first use of the word donut
in print? Oh man, um uh? Yes? All right? What
(18:57):
Oregan donut shop used to make a medicine donut cook
hooded with ni quill I don't um? Oh man? That's right?
What roll did Rene's lagger gain? Wait for a boy
eating twenty donuts today one second time. All right, let's
(19:26):
let him, Let's let him chew and swallow, and then
we'll get an official count of our doughnut eating. Okay,
how'd you do donuts? I mean, that's got to be
a record of world record, right while answering for trivia
questions donuts about donuts. Yes, that's got to be a
world record. So, in addition to hopefully setting a new
world record, what else has yasir one mango? Well, aside
(19:48):
from the joy of his new accomplishment, will be sending
him a bottle of pepto bismol. All right, so, Yaser,
good luck this coming week at the Nathan's Hot Dog
Eating Contest. And then he said, just right after that,
what do you have coming up? I am defending my
title at a tournid Donut um in Stun, Illinois, the
twenty nine annual Tourni Donut This will be my third
year um defending my title and I'm hoping to hit
(20:12):
at least uh fifty stick donuts this year. All right, Well,
good luck to you. It's always a pleasure to talk
to you, and thanks for coming on to part times.
We're rooting for you. Love you guys, you're listening to
(20:40):
Part Time Genius and we're talking about the Guinness Book
of World Records. So, Mango, what's your favorite part of
the Guinness Book. I mean, there's so much fun stuff
in there, but I love the strange personal feats, Like
I always remember seeing a photo of the dude with
the longest fingernails in the world as a kid, and
that's always the first thing I think about. In fact,
almost every fact enthusiast i've talked to mentions that pick, Yeah,
(21:01):
those visuals are so unforgettable, and I think for kids,
it's something both so creepy looking but also so ordinary,
like not clipping your nails can get you in the
Guinness Book. It's kind of insane. And I guess the
thing that didn't occur to me when I was a
kid and the thing that I really wanted to hear
more of, and maybe this is what separates it from
being put in the kid's hobbies section, but I wanted
to hear more of the stories of the people behind
(21:23):
these records. You can find a few articles on people,
and you can find some of the stories on Guinness's
YouTube page. But take the guy Tree, the Chill l
who hadn't cut his nails on his left hand in
sixty two years. It's like his left hand is growing roots.
It surprises me every single time I looked at it. Yeah,
but his story is insane. Like as a high school kid,
he threw a ball at a teacher playfully and the
(21:44):
teacher yelled at him because he chipped a teacher's nails,
and the teacher told him he'd never understand the beauty
of having long nails. So he and his friend, as
a joke, started growing their nails out, and then he
kind of gets enamored with it. So he keeps growing
the nails on his left hand and people call him
dirty because of it. They start treating him badly. When
his parents try to arrange his marriage years later, twelve
(22:04):
families reject him. And when the families don't reject him,
the girls do because they think he's a monster and
that he'll strangle them that night. Like he can't get
a job because of the way he looks, even putting
on a shirt his heart. I mean, it's so depressing.
But he grows them and grows them to this insane
length and to keep them preserved. Not only does he
treat them with a special product. But when he's sleeping
(22:24):
and he wants to roll over, he has to carefully
move his entire hand to the other side of the bed.
He claims he rolls over every thirty minutes, so he
never gets a full night of sleep, And all this
for a little bit of fame. And in his mind
he thinks he'll get paid a lot for the nails
to be in a museum later, and that there's a
good bit of money that will come to him now.
And maybe it will, let's hope, But he just takes
(22:47):
such pride in those nails. They're like thirty feet long
now and gnarled, but he sees them as this thing
of beauty, and he loves that people like you and
me know who he is. And also that he never
has to wait in the line in a line like
wear like at the club. I don't know this is
what he says, but I think it's like at the market.
Of course, in India, your left hand is the one
you used to clean yourself. So I'm not sure how
(23:08):
he's performing certain tasks. Well. I do like some of
these personal stories, like you were telling me about the
British woman who holds the record for the youngest female
with a full beard. That's another video Guinnist did. Her
name's Hanan Car and her story is amazing because she
has a genetic disorder that gave her this lush facial
hair at a young age. At some point she chose
to ignore the relentless bullying she was facing and just
(23:29):
decided to embrace the beard, which had to be so
insanely difficult. She's very feminine actually, and really quite striking,
and I don't know that she wants to extra attention.
But the reason she's chosen to be in the Guinness
Book is that having all this facial hair drove her
to have suicidal thoughts when she was younger, and when
she realized that her life was worth more than that,
she wanted to help others with body image issues to
(23:51):
learn to accept themselves. She's really remarkable. Yeah, she is. Well.
As much as the book is filled with thousands and
thousands of world records, you're not really considering what's driving
each person to be in this book. So one thing
that surprised me in researching Guinness was just how popular
it is in India. I mean, there are a few
big record keeping authorities in the country. Guinness is one Limpa,
(24:12):
which is basically India's Sprite is another. But this is
great New York Times story on the only Guinness judge
who lives in India and he's running around the country
trying to verify records and just how exhausting it is,
but also how obsessed Indians are with numbers. Why do
you think this is well, I mean, part of it
is just that India, from my experience of it, loves
trivia in a way I haven't seen anywhere else. There's
(24:34):
an obsession with general knowledge, and having a book of
records definitely fits into that category. But I also think
that in a place with such disparity of wealth and resource,
being the best in the world at something and being
recognized for it is something that gives people pride and purpose.
Yet saying that there are actually some academic papers written
about this topic and how the records feel like such
a great leveler in a place where the odds can
(24:55):
feel stacked against you exactly like the Times piece has
all these funny stories to talk about the problems of
trying to verify a handshake gathering where millions of people
turn up to participate. I mean that's a headache for
one judge. You have to register and verify each person
and count them and ensure that they're all shaking hands
at the same time. It's like a giant fact checking
(25:15):
problem that could take days to sort. And there's a
story of a young athlete trying to beat a light
bulb hurling record, which is also great. But at the
end of the yeast, there's a story about this farmer
who does squats every day and at fifty he realizes
he could potentially beat the world record. And when the
Guinness judge asked him why he cares about a squat record,
it's all because his daughter is marrying into a better family.
(25:37):
And his quote is, I want her husband's family to
know that I'm worth something. I want to make a
markak I know, and kind of beautiful. I mean, I
love these stories because you don't think about the desperation
and work that goes into trying to set these records
and the different motivations. Like for me, I have assumed
they were always like publicity stunts. Gary's Angelato Shack is
trying to break the world's largest alata records, and Guinness
(26:00):
actually has an arm that works with corporations to build
out those events, or I assumed it was attention seekers
but of a more fun variety, like most baked beans
eaten in five minutes, which is two one. So that's
a shred of Furman's record, right, He is the best
I know. He held over a hundred records simultaneously at
one point. Yeah, I think it was a hundred thirty
one records at the same time, and he's broken over
(26:22):
six hundred records in his career. He's done everything from
like po going up Mount Fuji to underwater jump roping
too fastest mile using two shovels of stilts. He actually
has the long distance sack racing record, which for some
reason involved raising a yak in demand's a beast. Also,
how much do you love his nickname Mr? Versatility? A lot,
(26:45):
although if I had his name, I'd probably go by
a shred to the fir Monster, Furman mascot or the Ferminator.
I mean. Mr Versatility has a lot of options. But
before we get into his secrets or breaking records and
how you can to, why don't we break for a quiz?
Sounds kid? So our guest today has one of the
(27:11):
coolest jobs in the world. As the CEO of Record Center,
he's created a new digital home for world records, making
it easier for humans to compete in important categories like
most quarters fit inside of belly button and longest office
chair train pulled by a motorcycle. Dan Rohman, We've spent
way too much time watching videos on your site and
we're big fans of your work, so welcome to part
(27:32):
time Genius. Thank you so much. It's great to be
with you guys. All right, well, let's dive right into it.
Tell us about your early obsession with records. Sure, um, well,
I always say Record Center. Uh. Started probably when I
was a ten year old kid and got my first
Guinness Book of World Record book. Um, and it instantly
became my favorite book on my bookshelf. I was endlessly
(27:54):
obsessed with the pictures of the guy with the long
curvy fingernail and the UH set the world sad as
twins on the motorcycles at These images just became indelible
in my mind, and I really, from a young age,
I just thought that owning a world record myself would
possibly be the coolest thing I could do in my lifetime.
(28:16):
For some reason. I tried to a a girl in
college by telling her that I thought I was going
to become the world record holder in ravioli eating. Um So,
I looked into ravioli eating, and then I also was
researching the longest time riding a roller coaster, um and
I quickly realized that I was not a particularly fast eater.
(28:40):
And I quickly realized that I was never going to
write a roller coaster for days and end. Um But
but but just that idea stuck with me that somehow,
someday I wanted to hold the title of being the
world best at something I did not successfully get Get
Get the Lady with my rap shocking. I don't understand
(29:01):
how that didn't work out. I heard some of the
started at burning Man. Can you tell us a little
about that? Sure? Um So. I started going to Burning
Man in two thousand and two, and after a couple
of years, my friends and I were really excited to
develop a theme camp that had a real interactive component.
We'd like the idea of something that would allow other
(29:24):
people at burning Man to come up to our space
and engage with us in a fun, creative manner. And
since I had had this lifelong obsession with world records.
I said, what if we become the official world record camp,
essentially a burning Man kind of a governing body for
all world records set in the desert. So we created
(29:47):
a camp in two thousand and four called the Apply
a Book of Records. Apply is what Burners called the
desert area out there. And we all put on a
bunch of yellow sports coats that were inspired by Howard
Cosell Air Wide World of Sports, and we and we
just said that people coming up, and we're gonna make
(30:08):
you a world champion. And it was It was amazing
because I could see from the first day we we
set up shop that I was not the only person
out there who had had these dreams of being a
world champion. And people were really excited by this opportunity
of like, why you guys really are going to help
me set like my own world record. So so in
(30:29):
the first years and we did it for for five years,
we saw things like the fastest accordion rendition that the
Devil went down to Georgia, the most consecutive backflips of
stilt was one that blew us away. Um. We had
like people would come up and do balloon twisting like
I think it was like the most balloon animals made
(30:50):
in thirty seconds. Uh, you know, we just we just
saw this endless paradeive of people coming up and being
creative and and clearly getting a deep sense of joy
when we said great congratulations, were recognizing this as an
official world record. So this project kept evolving, and then
inspired by by Wikipedia as much as anything, I felt
(31:14):
that there would be an opportunity to take what we
were doing in the desert and put it onto the
Internet and love the open, democratic, participatory approach of Wikipedia
for encyclopedic information, and said what happens if we try
and do the same thing with human achievements. So we
launched in two thousand eight UM what was originally called
(31:35):
the Universal Record Database u r dB dot org. And
it was the same premise that we had um given
people at Burning Man. We we we gave the same
invitation to the world. So, Dan, I love that you
once held the record for the most bananas stuff down
a pair of pants while wearing them. So how how
fun is it to see an entirely new category of
(31:56):
record open up? And and what are some of your favorites? Uh? So, yeah,
the first time. So the first world record that I set,
which I actually did a burning man, was the most
times whistling Happy Birthday in one minute, and so I
think I had done at fifteen or sixteen or something.
(32:18):
I did it pretty quickly. I'll give you a quick
example exactly. I'm um, so I had I had this
record up, and again I would tell people like, yeah,
I hold the world record for the most times whistling
Happy Birthday in one minute, and had this great sense
(32:40):
of pride, and then we launched the website, and within
maybe a month or so, it got my record got
broken by a teenager in San Diego who I really like.
When it happened that day, I was angry at I
just couldn't believe that this jerk had taken away my
dreams and stolen my world record for most times swissling
(33:02):
Happy Birthday. But over the years, as I set more
world records and basically watched I think all of them
are almost all of them get broken, and I've come
to really find a deep joy in watching people break
my records and the analogy that I uses it feels
like I've I've written the song and somebody's covering it.
But they're actually doing a better job playing the song
(33:25):
and than I did originally. Um So, for a category
like most bananas sitting a pair of pants while wearing them,
I had done sixty and thought that I had said
a pretty pretty high mark, and then it suddenly got
broken by radio DJ in Australia, and then I think
some guy in Texas maybe holds the record now. And
we've seen this time and time again on Record Setter,
(33:48):
where we have a lot of these really obtuse categories,
like we've had people compete in the in the category
for most giraffe tattoos on a shoulder, We've had a
couple of guys go back and forth. And another one
of my favorite categories that's become very competitive and I
think could be a to come in Olympic sports someday
(34:09):
is the longest high five. So it began with these
two guys in Toronto who called themselves the Record Collection.
They set themselves up several kilometers apart from each other
in downtown Toronto, and they ran towards each other with
a camera following each of them and set the world
(34:29):
record for the literally the longest high five. They ran
towards each other so it's sort of like a two
person running race, and then that exploded into a globally
competitive category. And I think the records gosh, I haven't
looked in a while, but I'm pretty sure it's over
ten miles. So it's become this two person running race.
(34:50):
Both participants have to keep their arms up for the
duration of the of the run, and the moments at
the end of these runs where they at please see
each other and exchange the high five. It's just it's
jubilation every time. That's pretty true. I love that. Alright, Well,
this has been a lot of fun and we are
(35:11):
now ready to put you to the test. Mango. What
game are we playing with Dan today? So this is
a game called the Rename Game. And since Record Centers
originally went by a different name, the u r dB
before taking on the Sleeker Moniker, we thought would be
fun to quiz Dan on some other industry giants and
the names their companies used to be called. Okay, right,
So we'll give you an old name and a clue,
and you'll tell us the name of the current company.
(35:34):
So we'll see how many of these you can answer
in sixty seconds. Is that right? Okay? So Dan, We're
gonna put sixty seconds on the clock. I'll ask you
questions and you just keep answering as many as you can.
Maybe you'll set a world record. We'll see that sounds good.
I think that sounds okay. This Oregon based sneaker company
was called Blue Ribbon Sports before it was renamed for
(35:55):
a Greek goddess, Nike. Right. This lad magazine was called
Stag Party before it was named by Hugh Hefner. Right.
This Larry and Sarage internet search company was called BackRub
before it was renamed This choice of a new generation
cola was called Brad's Drink before it was renamed PEPs.
This big electronic box store and home to the Geek
(36:16):
Squad was called Sound of Music before it was renamed
by This maker of smartphone devices was called Research in
Motion before taking a fruitier name. Obama famously had one
when he started his first term in the White House, BlackBerry.
That's right. This Eat Fresh sandwich chain was called Pete
Super Submarines before it was renamed pet Is a man
(36:37):
Uh Subway. This number one rental car company was called
Drive Yourself before it was renamed For Measurement for Frequency
that is correct, and I think we do have a
world record for most correct questions answered in the rename
game on Part Time Genius Congress. Teenager from San Diego
can beat that. So how many did he get correct?
(37:01):
Maga Dan scored an astounding eight for eight, which runs
them an official certificate of admiration from us here at
Part Time Genius. Congratulationsratulations, Dan, Thank you very much. I
hope all of our listeners will check out Records Center
and aim to set a record of their own. Dan,
thanks so much for joining us on Part Time Genius,
my pleasure. Thanks so much, guys. So we were talking
(37:36):
about a Shrida Firman who's a legend on the Guinness Circuit.
What's his secret? Well, I think part of it is
that it's the same sense of validation everyone's looking for.
Some people run marathons to prove it to themselves, right,
and for someone like a Shrida, who apparently gained confidence
after finding a guru and getting into spirituality and meditation,
he wanted to push his body in fun ways. So
(37:57):
we started by doing twenty seven thousand jumping jacks, and
then he moved on to things like long distance somersaulting
or whatever. But it also seems like one of his
better skills is creating funny new categories that get attention. Yeah,
you're right. There are a lot of rules for getting
into the Guinness Book because they're super strict. I mean,
they're getting flooded with fifty record claims a year and
only three or four thousand of them make it into
(38:18):
the book, and they care about the accuracy. But Ashrida
is particularly good at gaming the system, right. I mean
he's particularly good at creating spectacles. I mean you need
to witnesses, and you have to do this in a
public space and multiple cameras and media. There are lots
of conditions, and part of the reason he incorporates places
like Mount Fuji and the Pyramids into his attempts is
(38:38):
that it's just an easier way to draw press exactly.
But he also understands the rules, like Guinness is pretty
specific about what they will and won't admit. There's an
interview on fre economics with the editor of the Guinness Book,
which is really great, but it shows how hard the
job is and where the Guinness Book draws some of
the lines, like they won't let you put an animal
in harm or another person you're free to put yourself
(39:01):
at danger. And in addition, they only want categories with
one variable. So, like the example he gives is someone
submitting for the heaviest person to raft a particular river,
and that just opens up a can of worms for them,
because in addition to verifying that, they have to open
up the category to the lightest person on a raft
on that river male female considerations, and then they'd have
to open up to every river. And you can see
(39:23):
how that sort of snowballs. Yeah. Well, when we talk
to Dan, his analogy was really interesting to me. So
a site like Records Center, where anyone can enter a
new category with video evidence and it's self patrolled in
a Wikipedia way, is such a smart idea. It really
does feel like a Wikipedia model to the Guinness Books Britannica,
which is interesting right. It democratizes the whole process and
(39:44):
takes away all the need for judging and at the
same time allows everyone to feel special. You can see
how something like this would take off in India. You
get quick validation instead of having to write to Guinness
and wait for two months for a response. And even here,
I mean Record Center is all over Jimmy Fallon like
I think Camera Diaz held the record for the most
bunny snuggled in a hammock. Yeah, she did that on
the show. And the thing is everyone's good at something,
(40:06):
you just have to figure out what that is. It's
like that guy David Kalb who's the best in the
world at horse He beat Lebron James because he mounted
the hoop on a forklift and then did trick shots
to a basket that was like thirty feet in the air.
And if you have enough variables and the right stack
of talents, you can be the best in the world
at something. So we should probably figure out what ridiculous
records we should try to set listeners. If you have
(40:28):
any thoughts on that, please email them into part time
genius at how stuff works dot com and we'll work
on trying to break some ridiculous records in the not
so distant future. But back to Guinness, with competition like
Records Center, which is called fire in a surprisingly big way.
What do you think will happen to Guinness? Is it
bound to go the way of Britannica. I don't know.
I mean they have evolved, They do video game records
(40:49):
and have a strong site online, and I think there's
so many good stories in there. The books are really
just a good way to get kids into learning, and
I feel like there's value in the publishing and TV
arms it. You know, Guinness has changed hands a few
times in the last few years, and what's interesting is
that they're now owned by the company that owns their
Ripley's Believe it or Not museums, and they want to
build these big, combined Guinness Ripley museums where you can
(41:12):
go with your family and try to set your own records,
like for the loudest family scream or the longest laugh,
which maybe gives the brand a new leash. All I
know is that I've loved reaquainting with the book, and
I have no intention of growing out my fingernails to
compete on that front. But I do plan to change
my Guinness book to my desk and inscribe it with
a threatening note so that no one takes it away
(41:33):
from me. That's great, that's a brilliant idea. Well, one
thing that's going to be harder to protect is your
part time genius fact off record. Are you ready to
drop some knowledge And by drop knowledge, I mean share
super nerd effects that we couldn't get into the episode earlier.
M So here's a quick one to get us going.
(41:59):
While the US has the most records on record per
capita of the Vatican City is the greatest source of records.
Roughly nine claims come from the Vatican every year from
a population of only nine hundred and twenty people. I
want to see what those records are to. Three of
the most common records to break also sound like they're
being craned for at preschools. Largest finger painting, longest reading
(42:22):
a loud marathon, and largest group hug or all records
that are regularly challenged and broken. Nice. Kevin Shelley set
the record for the most toilet seats broken by one's
head in two thousand eight. He made his family prows,
shattering forty six of them in a minute. That's crazy.
I know. The record for most people riding on a
surfboard is sixty six. Of course, if I had sixty
(42:45):
five other people on the board with me, I feel
like I'd have a better chance of learning surfing to
The highest shallow dive was accomplished by Professor Splash on
Chinese TV. What's the high shallow dive. It's what it
sounds like. So he jumped from nearly thirty eight ft
in the air into a kiddie pool filled with twelve
inches of water. Oh that's insane. So here's a cute
(43:06):
one black and the cat is the world's wealthiest cat.
He inherited twelve point five million dollars. And I don't
know about you, but I need to find myself a
sugar cat. Blackie, if you're listening, call me a sugar cat.
Good luck with that. Most number of fatalities in a
crocodile attack used to be a category. Do you want
to elaborate on that? And not really, except please don't
(43:27):
tangle with saltwater crocodiles on Ramrey Island. They hold the
record for a reason. Well, I'm not tangling with any crocodiles,
but here's one about a shark. When the Guinness Book
of World Records honored Jonathan Lee Riches as the most
litigious men in the world, he did what he did best.
He suited them, of course he did. Okay, I'll give
you this round, but before we go, we should figure
(43:47):
out who we should add to our Hall of genius.
What do you think about adding Sir Hugh Beaver to
the mix. I feel like he created the Guinness Book.
He honored millions of people while delighting others. He encouraged
generation upon generation to be their best selves, even if
the best self meant trying to crack more than semi
two eggs in a minute by sitting on them. But
(44:07):
sir weever doesn't win them any awards anymore, and I
think he deserves one today. I agree, So the record
stops today, Sir Beaver. Your certificate will be in the
mail shortly. That's it for today's episode of Part Time Genius.
Thank you so much for listening. You know what I
thought about, including farthest distance to throw and catch a
running chainsaw it's four meters every Thanks again for listening.
(44:42):
Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do
the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan
McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme
song and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland
does the exact producer thing. Gay Bluesier is our lead
researcher with the work from the Research Army, including Austin Thompson,
Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve. Jeff Cook gets
(45:04):
the show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you
like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe, And if
you really really like what you've heard, maybe you could
leave a good review for us. Did you did you
forget Jason based on who
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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