Starbike: The World’s Tallest Rideable Bicycle

Absurd 25ft contraption is the world’s tallest rideable bicycle
By T.K. Randall
June 22, 2024

Even getting onto the bike is a challenge. Image Credit: YouTube / Guinness World Records

This ridiculous bike, which towers above the ground, was put together by two friends in France.
If you thought the Penny-farthing was difficult to ride, spare a thought for these guys.

Friends Nicolas Barrioz and David Peyrou built this colossal contraption after making a bet with each other in a pub that they could create the world’s tallest rideable bicycle.

Named “Starbike”, the device reaches the staggering height of 7.77 meters and despite its immense size, comes complete with saddle, handlebars, pedals and two brake levers.

“It also has a bell, in case other road users have not seen you,” said Nicolas.

Actually riding the thing is no easy task, however, not least because falling off it would be fatal.
It took around 3 months to design the bike and a further 2 years to construct it.

To earn themselves an official world record, it was necessary to demonstrate that the bike could actually be ridden, so the person in the saddle had to be attached to a safety harness.

“This experience has completely transformed my worldview,” said Nicolas.

“Before this, I really needed self-confidence; I was shy and had a negative self-opinion. Now it’s better, and sometimes I feel unstoppable; I think I can repair, build or design anything.”

You can check out a video of the bike in action below. (https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/378035/absurd-25ft-contraption-is-the-worlds-tallest-rideable-bicycle)

Georgia Farmer’s New World Record 186-Pound Sweet Potato Harvest

Odd News

Georgia man’s 186-pound sweet potato harvest might be a world record
By Ben Hooper

Nov. 2 (UPI) — A Georgia man is attempting to get a Guinness World Records title after harvesting 186 pounds of sweet potatoes from a single plant.

David Anderson of Washington County gathered witnesses including University of Georgia Extension agent Rocky Tanner and Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran to watch as he harvested the tubers from the massive plant on his property.

“The weather conditions were really good this year for growing potatoes,” Anderson told WMAZ-TV.

Guinness World Records’ rules for the heaviest sweet potato record involve weighing all of the tubers from a single root system. The current record of 81 pounds and 9 ounces was set by Manuel Pérez Pérez of Spain in 2004.

Anderson’s haul was taken to a certified scale, where the total weight was determined to be 184 pounds.

Evidence from the harvest and weighing has been submitted to Guinness World Records for official certification, but the farmer doesn’t expect to hear back for several months.

In the meantime, Anderson said a large portion of his crop will be donated to his church.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2023/11/02/Guinness-World-Records-sweet-potato/5981698945881/

Eat A Peach

Colorado Orchard’s 2.02-Pound Peach: Potential World Record

08th Sep, 2023

https://www.bolnews.com/viral/2023/09/colorado-orchards-2-02-pound-peach-potential-world-record/

Brian Cox, the proprietor of Black Bear Orchards in Palisade, Colorado, is eagerly awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records for a potential new world record: a colossal 2.03-pound peach. The remarkable discovery was made by Cox’s workers, who had been participating in a contest to locate the largest peaches, with cash prizes at stake.

Cox explained, “We made a contest with the guys so the guys were flagging the biggest peaches that they were finding, writing their names on them. The prizes are $1,000 for the guy and $1,000 for the crew.”

To their astonishment, the unearthed peach tipped the scales at an impressive 2.02 pounds, surpassing the existing Guinness World Record of 1.75 pounds. Cox’s girlfriend, while researching the record, realized that their orchard had unwittingly been breaking records for years.

Now, with the substantial peach potentially making its way into the record books, excitement is growing in the orchard as they await official confirmation of their extraordinary find.

Anatoly Karpov’s Other World Championship

Most people involved with chess know former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov is also a world renowned philatelist. What you may not know is that he is the book signing champ of the world, according to the Guinness world records. This was discovered when I caught a huge wave at one of my favorite surfing spots: http://authorscoop.com/ One of the writer’s responsible is a lovely chess mom named Jamie Mason, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at a children’s tournament in Asheville, NC. Here is the proof:
The most books signed by one author in a single session is 1,951 by the ex-World Champion in chess Anatoli Karpov (Russia) who signed “El Camino de una Voluntad” by David Llada and Anatoli Karpov on 21 October 2006 during the Third Mexico City Chess Festival in Mexico. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1/largest-book-signing
IM Timothy Taylor has a new book titled, Slay the Sicilian. He writes about his book in an article on the Chess Café website (http://www.chesscafe.com/everyman/ebcafe08.htm). The article begins, “I was idly looking at World Champion Anatoly Karpov’s book, My Best Games – and I came across a line that absolutely stunned me, that I quote in full below:
“I have always felt it completely unnecessary for White to rush headlong into a maelstrom of forced variations with his first moves in the Sicilian. His superiority in the centre gives him the possibility of resolving any problem by solid positional play.”
Reading this comment caused me to recall something GM Andy Soltis wrote about a book like GM David Bronstein’s masterpiece, Chess Struggle in Practice, not being able to be published today because it contains words, like the aforementioned quote, in lieu of reams of variations, as one finds in most of the books published today. The quote pointed out so adroitly by IM Taylor goes to the heart of Karpov’s understanding of chess. Contrast this with what GM Yasser Seirawan writes in his forward to Mr. Six-Time, GM Walter Browne’s new book with the wonderful title, The Stress of Chess and its Infinite Finesse:
“In the many games that we contested we held a deep post-mortem. Often these lasted for hours and during them it was obvious, time in and time out, that Walter had out-calculated me. We had looked at the same variations, but he had calculated them more deeply than I had. In many instances Walter went far beyond the point where I had stopped, being satisfied with a line. Walter wanted to be sure. When he felt a win existed he wished to nail it down with calculation and cold-blooded determination. When I asked why he didn’t just play an obviously good move, he would often say that while his ‘instinct’ had told him to play the ‘natural’ good move it was his calculation that guided him to consider other possibilities, and what ultimately caused him to come to a decision was the calculated line. In most cases Walter’s instinct and calculation were one and the same, producing the same move, which he would then play.”
It makes me wonder if those top players who continue to play at a very high level late into life, like former World Champion Vassily Smyslov, do so because they rely on their ‘instinct’ or intuition, rather than calculating myriad variations.
I have one other note on books. I was saddened to learn of the death of the writer Iain Banks. None of the obituaries I have read mention the book I consider to be my favorite of the Science Fiction genre, The Player of Games. I cannot speak of his oeuvre because this is the only book of his I have read, but I have read it several times. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/iain-banks-dies-59-cancer