The most powdered milk consumed in one hour

The most powdered milk consumed in one hour was 23 kilograms. This was achieved in 1967 by Ursa Borisdotir of Reykjavik, Iceland, who said, “I was able to consume no more than 15 kilograms, until I found that I was able to consume a much larger amount if I only consumed the powder. The Assessors allowed this method, but only if I consumed the correct amount of water within 15 minutes of finishing, and then jumped up and down until the solution was mixed in my stomach.”

Borisdotir, pictured with his lucky plastic fork, 'Old Uli'

Photograph provided by That Other Paper

©2009 James Mathurin

Most gods sighted in one place

The most Gods ever sighted in one place was on a piece of toast owned by Pascha Mirbel, of Prague, in the Czech Republic in 1999. He told reporters,

“I was about to butter it, when I noticed that the face of Jesus seemed to have appeared on the surface of the toast. After staring at that for a moment, I noticed that Buddha was next to him, and Kali and Krishna were on the other side. After looking further, I noticed that the Arabic script for ‘Allah’ was just under Jesus’ beard. I am so relieved my butter smelt a bit funny that morning, or I might have ended up offending many, many deities.”

Mr. Mirbel's original slice of toast was destroyed in an attack by Hank Deershorn, a Scientologist fundamentalist in April 2000. Pictured is another slice which escaped his flamethrower rampage, which unfortunately only shows one religious icon, the Virgin Mary.

Photograph by Matt Gothik

©2008 James Mathurin

Smallest Public Transportation System

The world’s smallest Public Transportation Network is in the Leisure compound lived in by reclusive Albanian Pop-star Miklik. Converted from a mine shaft on an Island in the middle of a lake near his hometown, Miklik’s estate covers some 35 square meters, but extends 17 stories underground.

One of the buses that services Miklik's estate. The minute size of the estate means that the buses cannot actually turn, but come to rest on a series of strategically-placed revolving platforms. Photo provided by So gesehen.

©2008 James Mathurin

Least Effective Charity Event

The least effective charity event ever organised was the “Mugging for Charity Fortnight” organised by the mayor of Llanllewy, Wales in 1998. Over the two weeks there was an amnesty on all street crime, as long as 50% of all money taken was given to a charity set up to raise money for a new gift shop in the town’s hospital. Unfortunately, the steep rise in crime was too much for the town’s 9 police officers to deal with, and by Wednesday on the second week, the entire hospital had been burned down. Gwynnford Powys, the mayor of Llanllewy's only comment was, “I still believe it was a basically sound idea, and you can’t deny that it got a lot of people very excited.”


























Reg Dennis, one of the 'Mugging For Charity' organisers, in his role of 'Donation-encourager'. Picture courtesy of Swamibu

©2008 James Mathurin

Worst job promotion

The worst ever job promotion was when Alistair Jones, a worker at Melbourne Zoo, was made Vice-Executive Olfactory Presentation Technician in 1996. His duties consisted mainly of disposing of dung from the zoo’s ‘Waste Intensive Mammals’, chiefly Elephants and Rhinoceroses, and cleaning their pens. Although these duties were identical to those of his previous position (‘Dunny Scraper’), the management of the zoo awarded Jones the promotion, at an identical wage, but with a 3 minute longer lunch break, after he “improved the efficiency of the zoo’s wastage recycling/disposal techniques.” Jones explained, “Well, there’s only so much crud you can shovel into the Polar Bear enclosure before folks start asking if they’re looking at Grizzlies, so I realised ‘hey, the chimps love to chuck their own around so much, why not line their cages with it?’”

Alistair Jones at work with one of the 'Waste Intensive Mammals' (photo by Muzina Shanghai)

©2008 James Mathurin,

The Shortest-lived religion on record

The shortest-lived religion on record was the Pondeastic sect of Lithuania, formed and dissolved on July 17th 1956 by Marzo Passakre, 24. Passakre believed that he had been contacted by God, who told him to run back home to prepare for the rapture. Within 4 hours he had recruited some 257 followers in his home town of Bursnabruk, and had written a draft for the first book of his ‘revised bible’. The religion ended when his younger brother Uri told him that the voice he had heard had actually been him passing on a message from their mother to come home to feed their goat. A friend of the family told reporters, “Marzo has always been a natural leader, and not the most thoughtful of people. Really, we should have seen this coming.”

©Copyright 2008 James Mathurin

Most Cheese Sculptures in one week

The most cheese sculptures made in one week was 97, by Kurdish artist Yitzhak Khrambrooluy between March 10^th to 16^th 2002. He said, “For many people June 1972 was the Golden Age of cheese sculpture, but times are changing. I’m just trying to bring it back into the public eye. Eventually they will melt, but their legacy will live on.”

©2008 James Mathurin