114-year-old Misao Okawa of Osaka, Japan is named the oldest woman in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Born on March 5, 1898 Ms. Okawa will turn 115 years old in five days. When asked what food makes Okawa live that long, she says that she eats everything. One of the favorite food of Ms. Okawa is mackerel sushi.

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World’s Oldest woman is 114-years-old Misao Okawa

The 18th birthday of Jyoti Amge, from India, was filled with joy when she was declared the world’s shortest woman by Guinness Book of World Records.

The 62.8 centimeters (24.7 inches) tall lady looked like a doll in her traditional Indian dress. Jyoti is 7 centimeters shorter than the previous title holder, Bridgette Jordan, a 22-year-old American.

Until Dec. 16, 2011 she held the title of world’s shortest teenager. In the last two years, Jyoti has only grown 1 cm taller. In a statement Guinness said that she will not grow more due to a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.

Historically, the title of the shortest woman was held by Pauline Musters, from the Netherlands, who lived from 1876 to 1895 and was only 61 centimeters tall.

A 100-year-old man from UK, Fauja Singh, finished last at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 16, 2011. Although, he was last to finish the 42.195-kilometre marathon in 8 hours, that was, 6 hours after the winner Kenneth Mungara of Kenya finished it, he is proud to finish it as the the oldest runner.

Guinness reject birthdate in British Passport

The marathon organizers, Ontario Masters Athletics, has officially been recognized Singh’s feat. But, the Guinness official claim that he hasn’t supplied enough proof to support he is 100 year-old. Fauja doesn’t have of a birth certificate and they won’t accept the birthdate printed in his British passport.

Singh, a Punjabi, can’t  read or write and lives in east London. He has a British passport that states he was born on April 1, 1911, in India. But, he doesn’t have a birth certificate. According to his friends, during the time of Singh’s birth, in 1911, they had no mechanism to issue a birth certificate. India was an English colony at that time.

It was the eight marathon of the five-foot-eight, 115-pound Singh, nicknamed the Turbaned Tornado . He started running marathon at the age of 89 in 2000 in London after he lost his wife and child.

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Oldest Marathon runner – Sorry, no Guinness record

357 bikini-clad women walked in a the largest bikini parade in Gold Coast, Australia and set a new Guinness World Record. In the previous record, 333 women walked in the parade in the Cayman Islands, last year. The officials from the Guinness Book of World Records were present in the location to count the 357 women participation in the procession.

In the event was sponsored by the Surfers Paradise Alliance and the Gold Coast Bulletin, a total of 361 girls walked in the parade but some were disqualified for not wearing a bikini.

It doesn’t seem like a large parade and most probably another city would love to break it in a short while.

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Bikini Parade – new Gunnies World Record in Australia

China has opened the World’s longest sea-bridge, winning ove the United States. The 26.4 miles long bridge spans Jiaozhou Bay on the North-Eastern China.

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge beats the previous record holder, 23.83 miles long Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Guinness Book of World Records, state that the the new bridge is about 2.5 miles longer than the previous record holder.

The six-lane Qingdao-Haiwan road bridge, which spans Jiaozhou Bay in China’s Shangdong Province, is 42.5 km (26.4 miles) long. …. It is 4.07 km (2.53 miles) longer than the former record holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, USA. 

The bridge was built in four years, at a cost of $2.3 billion. Some of the note-worthy features of the bridge are – six-lane, 5,200 pillars, earthquake- and typhoon-proof, and designed to withstand the impact of a 300,000-tonne vessel.

Nice areal-view of the bridge:

A tiny guy with long name – Khagendra Thapa Magar, has just turned 18 today, on October 14, 2010.

To hand over his 18th birthday present, the title of the World’s Shortest Man, Guinness World Records Book team has gone to Nepal.

I wrote about Khagendra back in 2007 when He Pingping, the shortest man then, met the tallest man of that time Bao Xishun. At that time, he was told to be only 50 cm tall. It sure is a very slow growth rate at 17 cm in three years, as he measures 67 cm now.

Happy Birthday and Congratulation for the record, Khagendra !

This guy won Guinness World Records in 2005 and didn't know about it till now. He is the only Nepali sportsperson to feature in the Guinness Book of World Records, for clocking the fastest run at the highest altitude, but he learnt about it only eight years after setting the record (source: kantipur daily).

Spectacular views compensate for the
dangers of high altitude running. Source

His record was Published in 2005, the Golden Jubilee year of Guinness Book of World Records. It states the Jumla-based marathoner set a world record timing of 3hr. 16min. 3sec. in the Everest Marathon in 1999. The race began from Gorak Shep at an altitude of 17,100 ft and concluded at Namche Bazar at 11,300 ft.

These are the only pictures I could find of him. I hope to find and update better quality pictures later.

A News quote about Hari.

Hari Bahadur Rokaya’s practice schedule is as tough as his home terrain in Jumla. Like most marathon runners he prefers setting off in the early morning, past the bazar, along the trail down to the Bheri, over the suspension bridge, past paddy terraces glistening in the sun, along the edge of the pine-scented forest. After two hours, this world class athlete is back home in time for a snack of instant noodles.

His training may be ‘low tech’, his shoes frayed, but Hari more than makes up for it with his determination and patriotism. The up-and-down and the thin air at 3,300m is good training. The 41-year-old sets himself a grueling pace: he has reached Rara Lake from Jumla in seven hours, a distance that takes trekkers two days.
From: Nepali Times Issue #153 (11 July 03 – 17 July 03)

It’s actual name is Bhut Jolokia Pepper and it translates to “Ghost Chile”, though we are not sure why it is named that. It was discovered by Professor Paul Bosland of New Mexico State University and Guinness Book rated this chili pepper as the world’s hottest pepper in fall of 2006. Scoville Heat Units (SHU) are what measures the heat of the pepper. For example, a New Mexico green chile has a rating of 1,500 SHU while an average jalapeno measures in at about 10,000 SHU. The Bhut Jolokia has a rating of 1,001,304 SHUs.

Source: shurebit
Link : http://www.nmsu.edu/%7Eucomm/Releases/2007/february/hottest_chile.htm