Technabob » guinness

World’s Fastest Couch Hits 101 Miles Per Hour

Hazel Chua — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:00:11 +0000

Most people sit back on their couches to relax and unwind. Some plop onto their couches and watch television or play video games for hours on end, while others enjoy curling up with a good book or magazine to read for the night. And some others build engines into their couches to try breaking the record for the World’s Fastest Couch.

The couch you see pictured above has been fitted with an internal combustion engine to propel the normally stationary piece of furniture to speeds of 101 miles/hour. I think that’s even faster than the speed most people drive their cars at (specifically, me.)

The front of the couch has been fitted with a sawed down coffee table of some sort, for aerodynamics, I suppose. Check out the video below to see just how fast a couch can be made to go:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And just in case you’re wondering–yes, the couch you see above broke the previous record and now holds the title as the World’s Fastest Couch. Way to go!

[via Autoblog]

World’s Largest Water Balloon Fight Involves 9,000 People Flinging Over 175,000 Balloons

Hazel Chua — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:40:26 +0000

I remember my first water balloon fight as if it were yesterday. I probably would’ve filled up those darned balloons way quicker if I had one of these Tie Knot Water Balloon Fillers, because I was clobbered and drenched to the bones by my unrelenting cousins.

Those sure were the good old days.

Now take that memory, take me and my cousins out of the equation (okay, so basically that was the whole memory, but let’s just keep the setting), squeeze in 8,957 guys and girls, and 175,141 water balloons, and you’ve got yourself the world’s largest water balloon fight for the record books!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The event was organized by the University of Kentucky’s Christian Student Fellowship, which set out to break the record set by Brigham Young University last year. Since the latter only had about 3,927 participants, I think it’s safe to say that University of Kentucky gets the top spot – for now.

[via Laughing Squid via Dvice]

Robot Sommelier Makes the Guinness Book

Technabob — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:05:18 +0000

Remember the wine-tasting robot that mistook people for bacon? Well I guess they’ve worked out some of the kinks, since the pint-sized automaton with a taste for the finer things is back — this time in the Guinness World Records.

NEC’s Tasting Robot has achieved the unique distinction of the “world’s first robot sommelier” in the 2008 book of records. The robot is designed to be able to quickly determine the flavors and composition of a bottle of wine using its internal “taste” sensors. I’d still like to see it distinguish the finer points between a bottles of MD 20/20 , Night Train and Thunderbird.

I find it kind of ironic that a wine-tasting robot would make the Guinness Book. Shouldn’t it be a beer-tasting robot?

[via Daily Yomiuri via DVICE]