Smallest Helicopter

MATSUMOTO, Japan-- 75-year-old Gennai Yanagisawa, who runs an electronics equipment company in Matsumoto, central Japan, has created a 75kg (165-pound) one-man aircraft which sets the world record for the smallest helicopter.

In this photo released on by Japanese helicopter manufacturing company Gen Corporation, the company employee Yasutoshi Yokoyama flies in the air by GEN H-4, a compact single-seater helicopter developed by Gen Corporation, during its test flight in Matsumoto in central Japan's Nagano Prefecture.

Yanagisawa developed the GEN H-4 helicopter — with rotors, a chair, footrest and handle bar — in the late 1990s.

Yanagisawa's helicopter is the smallest model in the world in terms of weight and its rotor length of 3.9 meters.

The GEN H-4 has two rotors turning in opposite directions to maintain stability, and four engines that enables a 30-minute flight with a top speed of about 56 miles per hour.

The helicopter has two identical rotors that turn in opposite directions making the need for a tail rotor obsolete. Each rotor counteracts the others torque keeping the helicopter free of any unwanted spin.

The entire rotor head is supported on a gimbal, which is slanted towards the direction of travel by the control bar. The pilot can therefore change their direction by shifting their weight.

It has four twin cylinder engines and can remain in the air even if two of the engines of malfunction. However, they have attached a parachute above the mast just in case...

Da Vinci designed what is thought to be the first vertical flight machine, "an aerial screw," in the 1480s, according to Italy's National Museum of Science and Technology.

Lebanese finds 'heaviest' potato

A farmer in southern Lebanon has dug up what might be the heaviest potato in the world.
"This giant weighs 11.3 kilos (24.9 pounds)," Khalil Semhat told the AFP news agency at his farm near Tyre, 85 kilometres (50 miles) south of Beirut.
"I've been working the land since I was a boy, and it's the first time I've seen anything like it."
Mr Semhat, 56, said he had to ask for help from a friend to get the huge vegetable out of the ground. He insisted that he had used no fertilizer or other chemicals to produce it.

Mr Semhat said he hoped his potato will be recognized as the heaviest potato in the world.
The current world record, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, is held by K Sloan of the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom for a potato weighing a mere 3.5 kg (7 lb 13 oz). 2008 is the International Year of the Potato, a project sponsored by the United Nations which aims to focus attention on the importance of the vegetable in providing food security and alleviating poverty.

Heaviest vehicle pulled over a level 100 feet.

In this photo of the record holder for the heaviest vehicle pulled over a level 100 feet. The fire truck weighs 57,243kg (126,200lb).
I was torn between this photo and the record holder for the fastest 100 meter hurdle run  wearing swim fins. You can see those two and 12 other new records in this year's edition of the Guinness Book of World Records at The Guardian.

Dragging a ship for 6 meters with his teeth

Omar Hanapiev, a renowned strong man from the Russian town of Eisk has set a world record by dragging a ship for 6 meters with his teeth, the Regnum News Agency reports Wednesday.
According to a source from Krasnodar’s Regional Department of Resorts and Tourism Development, the sportsman dubbed “Iron teeth” pulled the vessel, with a load displacement of 2,200 tons, using a series of ropes,for a distance of 6 meters The feat took place in Eisk’s dockyard.

The multiple world record breaker claims to have beaten his own previous record. Nine years ago, in the fishing port of Makhachkala, Hanapiev dragged a 567-ton tanker, moving it from the shore into the sea for a distance of 15 meters.

The Hercules from Dagestan first demonstrated his unusual talent at the age of 10 when he used to pull out nails from a board with his teeth and bend horseshoes. However, he did not send an application to the Guinness Book of Records until he was 30. By then, he was already able to move a locomotive, a tanker and even a TU-134 airplane with his teeth.  

Gentleman wearing a beard of bees.

Not unlike this gentleman wearing a beard of bees, game designer Sid Meier has officially been entered into the arena of world records, according to Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008. Through his famous studio, Firaxis Games, Meier has won more game awards than any other game designer.

Some highlights include being the second person ever inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame, induction into the Computer Museum of America's Hall of Fame, a star on the Walk of Game and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developers' Choice Awards.