I have never understood the fascination with Guinness World Records. I don’t know why some people devote all their time and energy to doing some crazy things just so they can be included in a stupid book. For example, did you know there’s a Guinness world record for Most Books Typed Backwards? And for Fastest Lunge Mile — which, apparently, consists of covering the distance of one mile in lunge fashion instead of walking or running. I mean, how ridiculous is this stuff?
And then there are the hotly contested world records pertaining to height. World’s Tallest Man and World’s Shortest Man are the ones that we hear about most frequently, and these records are in the news again today.
I guess Leonid Stadnyk, a Ukranian who most recently held the title of World’s Tallest Man, has been disqualified since he refuses to submit to new Guinness regulations that require six daily measurements to be taken. According to the report I read, Stadnyk simply didn’t want to bother with all that. So the title reverts to Bao Xishun, a Chinese man who is 7 feet, 8.95 inches tall.
At the other end of the spectrum, there’s a new World’s Shortest Man under the new rules. This title now belongs to He Ping Ping of Mongolia, who is a mere 2 feet, 5.37 inches tall.
How utterly exciting, right?