couchtripper

[align=center]
Who are you calling beefy?
Britain's biggest bullock unveiled (tipping the scales at almost two tons)
26th December 2009[/align]
Everyone is allowed to put on a little weight at this time of the year. But if you overdid things yesterday, this enormous beast should make you feel a bit better. With no plans whatsoever for a January detox, the biggest bullock in Britain tipped the scales this week at a staggering 3,682lb (1,670kg).

Grandly named The Field Marshall, the eight-year-old Charolais has beefed up to the tune of 300lb over the past 12 months. And the towering 6ft 8in creature has still not reached his full adult size. However, at 1.64 tons, he has already overtaken the record-breaking weight of his former stable mate, The Colonel, who stood 6ft 5in tall and weighed 3,500lb before he died in 2005.

Arthur Duckett, 80, who bought the white steer four years ago, said: 'He's in very good health and there's no reason why he won't keep on growing. He's only eight and unless something unforeseen happens he will get bigger and bigger. But he's not fat - he's all muscle. I could feed him heavier but I don't want to make him look grotesque, I want him to be healthy and put on weight naturally. That's why I keep him outdoors in a field and not inside.'

Mr Duckett, who is 5ft 8in tall, puts The Field Marshall's incredible size down to his parentage, appetite and the fact that he has been neutered, which boosts his growth. Incredibly, the record-breaking bullock is the equivalent of a late teenager and is still growing. He is now heavier than a Mini Cooper car which weighs 2,458lbs, and a BMW 3 series which tips the scales at just 3,053lbs. He eats more than 17lbs of feed every day and enjoys oats, barley, potatoes, fodder beet followed by a portion of hay.

The Field Marshall was weighed at the Fatstock agricultural show at Sedgemoor Auction Centre near North Petherton, Somerset. Visitors paid £2 to guess his weight and the winner received a tonne of cattle feed or the cash equivalent. The charity event raised £1,641 for Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset.

Three years ago Arthur and his wife Helen broke records with their 6ft 5in bull The Colonel. The Simmental Holstein breed had to be put down in August 2005 at the age of nine because of back problems. There is no longer an official record for the world's biggest bullock as Guinness World Records does not want to encourage overfeeding. The previous holder for Britain was a bull in Essex that died in 1830 weighing 4,480lbs. The last record to be recognised was set by a steer called Old Ben, who died in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1910. He weighed 4,720lbs and stood 6ft 4ins tall.

--------------------

I'd like to see a matador try to fight this bugger!

[align=center]


China's 245mph train service is the world's fastest...
27th December 2009[/align]
China's new system connects the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 217mph - and it took just four years to build. The super-high-speed train reduces the 664-mile journey to just a three-hour ride and cuts the previous journey time by more than seven-and-a-half hours, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Work on the project began in 2005 as part of plans to expand a high-speed network aimed at eventually linking Guangzhou, a business hub in southern China near Hong Kong, with the capital Beijing, Xinhua added. 'The train can go 245mph, it's the fastest train in operation in the world,' said Zhang Shuguang, head of the transport bureau at the railways ministry.

Test runs for the service began earlier in December and the link officially went into service when the first scheduled train left the eastern metropolis of Wuhan on Saturday. By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 150mph while in France it was 172mph, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link.

Beijing has an ambitious rail development programme aimed at increasing the national network from the current 53,437 miles to 74,564 miles, making it the most extensive rail system outside the United States. China unveiled its first high-speed line at the time of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 - a service linking the capital with the port city of Tianjin. In September, officials said they planned to build 42 high-speed lines by 2012 in a massive system overhaul as part of efforts to spur economic growth amid the global downturn.

Tickets for the service went on sale at new stations in the three cities last weekend, with prices ranging from 780 yuan (£71) for first class to 490 yuan (£45) for second class

------------------------

Wow, pretty cool. They have been talking for years about connecting Orlando and Tampa with some sort of light rail system. Nothing like this of course, but it would make going to Orlando shops and restaurants much more attractive because you wouldn't have to worry about traffic or driving drunk. They keep going back and forth on it. I always vote for it...it sure would be nice.

[align=center]
Burj Dubai to be world's tallest building
The 2,683 feet tall Burj Dubai will be declared the world's tallest building when it is opened on Monday.
By Richard Spencer in Dubai
1 Jan 2010[/align]
Life in present-day Dubai is not for the faint-hearted. But for those who fear neither heights nor financial crisis, the Gulf city-state is to offer an entirely new experience: the chance to spend the rest of your days thousands of feet up in the air. Monday sees the long-awaited opening of the Burj Dubai, not only the world's tallest building but the world's tallest building by some 1,000 feet. At 2,683 feet tall, it is the height of the current highest skyscraper, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, with the Eiffel Tower perched on top.

It has been designed so that those who wish to do so will never have to leave, or even descend below the 108th floor, at about 1,300 feet. That is the height up to which there will be residential apartments. For work, you can nip to the offices upstairs - anywhere up to the 160th floor, in fact. To eat, you can visit the restaurant on the 122nd, and to exercise you can use the gym on the 123rd, about 1,440 feet off the ground. The gym has both an indoor and, unnervingly, an outdoor swimming pool. One might fear such a high-flying yet enclosed life would get a little dull. But the tower's developers have a solution there, at least for the young. The Burj Dubai is also intending to host the world's highest nightclub, 20 floors higher still than the gym.

Since ground was broken on the project in January 2004, the tower has inspired huge debate in Dubai which has mirrored the fortunes of the emirate after which it is named. For the company which built it, Emaar, and the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, it is a "shining accomplishment ... an icon of the new Middle East: prosperous, dynamic and successful".

The purple prose of tourist guidebooks has already had difficulty keeping up with Dubai's transformation from an oriental souk, with picturesque dish-dasha-clad locals bobbing on the creek in wooden dhows to the world capital of bling. For them, the Burj Dubai has proved a challenge. "Just damn tall," was the pithy conclusion of The Lonely Planet. It can hardly be blamed. Burj in Arabic means tower, so that the building, which is set next to the Dubai Mall and the world's tallest fountain, called the Dubai Fountain, is actually named less than imaginatively "Dubai Tower".

As the global debt-fuelled property boom came to an end, Dubai's vision has turned to nightmare and with Dubai's fall from grace in November after admitting a multi-billion-dollar hole in its finances, the Burj took on a deeper symbolism. Its sharp spire appeared to "pierce the bubble in the sky". One commentator compared it to Ozymandias, the poem in which Shelley describes the arrogant wreckage of a long-disappeared empire. "Outrageous, wasteful, egotistical, ridiculous," a journalist wrote of the Burj after Dubai asked for a standstill on its debt repayments. He portrayed its "sneer of cold command" as "thrusting a finger at the outside world even as its Ozymandian surroundings sink beneath the economic waters of the Gulf".

Whether Dubai's economy fails or recovers, however, the brute facts will remain: 8 million cubic feet of concrete, 31,000 tons of reinforcing steel, 167,000 square feet of stainless steel cladding, and 1.1 million square feet of double glazing have been mixed together to create a spire visible from 60 miles away across the desert. It will dwarf the new 1,776 ft 1 World Trade Center, also known as "Freedom Tower", being built on Ground Zero in New York, and is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon. The world recession has not been kind to mega-projects. Emaar's great rival in Dubai, Nakheel, builder of the Palm Islands, proposed a one-kilometre tall tower in 2008, but has put it on ice while it tries to tackle its multi-billion dollar debts.

As to the Burj's actual height, that remains officially a secret, which is odd since the developers have already told newspapers it is 818 metres tall, or 2,683 feet. Also a mystery is who is going to live and work there, which is said to be a matter of client confidentiality. Despite the recession, the developers say it is sold out.

[align=center]
The 1mm tiger sculpture that's smaller than a grain of rice
A Taiwanese artist has created what he claims is the smallest sculpture of a tiger ever made - so small it could fit through the eye of a needle, and can only be seen properly with a magnifying glass.[/align]
Chen Forng-shean, who has been sculpting as a hobby for around 30 years, carved the tiger from resin in anticipation of the Chinese lunar Year of the Tiger, which begins on February 14. Standing at just 1 millimetre (0.04 inch) high, and just over a millimetre long, he says that it's the world's tiniest tiger.

But Chen admits that the brightly coloured beast nearly got the best of him over 10 attempts to create it: 'If the hands shake a little bit, the work would jump away and disappear. For this tiger, the toughest part is because it is three-dimensional. It can be looked at from any angle and still seem very lively. Colouring is also very hard, with the patterns on his back and the red colour on his tongue,' Chen, 54, added.

The single animal, created after three months of intensive labour, was finished in November and Chen - a minting plate designer by trade - said it was worth 3 million Taiwanese dollars (around £58,000), although it is not for sale.

Tigers, which rotate with 11 other animals on the Chinese lunar year zodiac, are said to bring variable luck, being dependable and unpredictable at the same time. Chen said he has already felt the suspense the new year is likely to bring. 'My job is dealing with very fine things, so I learned to breathe and hold my breath,' he said. 'Now when I take a breath, I can hold it for 60 seconds, and then I can engrave every stroke with the rhythm of my pulse.'

Chen has used rice, sand, thread, dental floss and ant heads and fly wings to do other miniature sculptures, which are a hallmark of high-end ancient Chinese art. He expects to carve for five more years, producing even smaller sculptures and including scenes that encase mountains, waterfalls, and people.

----------------------

The very idea of trying to do that has me shaking with frustration!

ahhhhhfuggggggggggit!!!!!!!!!!!! (throw, smash, stomp!)

Wow, that is amazing!! I drink WAY too much coffee for something like that!

[align=center]

Blind grandmother lands monster 110kg catfish... and enters the record books
By Lizzie Smith
19th January 2010[/align]
A grandmother has entered the record books after catching the biggest ever freshwater fish by a British woman - a 15st 4lb catfish. Sheila Penfold, who stands at just 5ft 3in and is registered blind, was nearly dragged into the river when the monster catfish took her bait during a holiday in Spain. The 56-year-old had to be directed by husband Alan and son Arthur as she fought for 30 minutes to land the prized 214lb catch. It was the biggest fish ever caught by a woman in Spain.

Mrs Penfold, who is partially sighted, only realised how big her catch was when she saw it up close. She said: 'I was exhausted but elated afterwards. The record has taken a while to sink in. I'm still walking around with a smile on my face. But it goes to show that just because you are blind it doesn't stop you breaking records like this.'

Mrs Penfold, from Wandsworth in London, used a bait of halibut pellets to snare the 8ft 2ins long catfish on the River Ebro near Barcelona. She said: 'I had three rods lined up on the bank and when one of them tipped over Arthur told me which one it was. I grabbed hold of it and was immediately pulled towards the water. Luckily I managed to stop myself and I started to reel it in. But for some reason I turned round and said that I didn't think it was going to be a big one. Then all of a sudden it took off again and it took the line of the reel. When it broke the surface of the water Alan told me it was a big size. I saw it for the first time when it was near the edge and it looked a monster.'

The specimen was so huge it took Alan, a 62-year-old retired gardener, Arthur and two colleagues to heave it into a weighing slip.
What whopper: Sheila with tour guide Dan Smith, who helped her return the fish to the river

After having her picture taken with it, Mrs Penfold returned the catfish back into the water in good health. She said: 'Alan wasn't at all jealous and was really pleased for me.' Mr Penfold said: 'She isn't really a big woman but she stuck to it and got it in the end, although it took everything out of her. She did brilliantly, especially as she is registered blind.'

The record for the biggest fish caught in Britain by a woman is a 69lb 8oz catfish caught by Bev Street, 46, from Skegness. Mike Heylin, of the British Records Fish Committee, said: 'I would think this is the biggest freshwater fish caught by a British woman. The only freshwater fish that grow to that size in the world are either sturgeon or catfish. As far as I'm aware there has been no sturgeon of that size caught by a woman before and the Ebro is home to probably the biggest catfish in the world.

[align=center]
World's biggest bottle of wine created, world's biggest hangover to follow
Anybody want to share a bottle of red? A group of Chinese winemakers have claimed the new world record for the world's biggest ever bottle of wine.[/align]
The 15ft high bottle contains an astonishing 1,850 litres of wine, produced by Wang Chen Wines in Liaoning, northern China. That's over three times the amount held by the previous record-holders, Austrian winemakers Kracher, whose bottle held 490 litres of Grande Cuvee TBA NV No.7 2005.

'We are very proud, and the wine is very good. We have all had a glass from the bottle to celebrate,' said a company spokesman.

-----------------

[align=center]<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/qGbv-q2x1XM&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/qGbv-q2x1XM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>[/align]

What a Guy!

He deserves respect and admiration far more than more popular sportsmen from soccer & tennis & (erm... I forget what else the UK is crap at... oh, maybe also cricket). If there were 3 boats in the Oxford & Cambridge boat race, I know where my money would be

Now that is impressive beyond words!

[web]https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8527008.stm[/web]

Italian TV, good quality stuff ...

[align=center]
Diamond the size of a 'chicken's egg' sells for record $35.3 million
A 507½-carat gem discovered in South Africa last year has become most expensive rough diamond ever sold.
26 Feb 2010[/align]
Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company bought the Cullinan Heritage stone for $35.3m, Petra Diamonds announced on Friday. Petra recovered the gem, the 19th largest ever found – described as the size of a chicken's egg, from its Cullinan mine near Pretoria in South Africa in September last year .

Petra said that record price reflected the "incredible rarity" of stone based on its "remarkable size" and "exceptional colour and clarity". “It is fitting that the Cullinan Heritage should achieve a sale price of $35.3 million, the highest sale price on record ever achieved for a rough diamond, as it has the potential to produce one of the world’s most important polished gems. The sale proceeds further bolster Petra’s treasury and will be invested in the growth of our core assets.” said Johan Dippenaar, Petra's chief executive. Chow Tai Fook has yet to outline its plans for the stone.

The world’s biggest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, was discovered in the same mine in 1905. That was cut to form the Great Star of Africa and Lesser Star of Africa, set in Britain’s crown jewels.

Petra got $9.48 million at a sale in May for a polished 7.03-carat blue gem, also from the Cullinan mine, setting a per-carat record. A carat is a fifth of a gram.

maybe just a tad ot, but ...
[align=center]
[/align]



I tried putting the url into firefox and got a 404. Seems like they've updated the site, and I can't find it ... Shame ...

Brown Sauce wrote:maybe just a tad ot, but ...


I tried putting the url into firefox and got a 404. Seems like they've updated the site, and I can't find it ... Shame ...

LOL... Classic