Interesting news

Ohio farmer's pumpkin breaks state record at 2,195 pounds

Ohio farmer's pumpkin breaks state record at 2,195 pounds

An Ohio pumpkin festival kicked off with a state record being broken by a giant pumpkin that weighed in at a staggering 2,195 pounds.

Jeff Theil, of Dillonvale, took the top spot in the 57th Barnesville Pumpkin Festival's King Pumpkin weigh-off Wednesday night, when his gargantuan gourd tipped the scales at 2,195 pounds, more than 100 pounds heavier than the second-place finisher.

Theil's pumpkin took the state record from Todd and Donna Skinner, whose giant pumpkin weighed in at 2,150 pounds at the 2017 festival.

Theil said he owes his prize pumpkin to a deceased friend.

"I got the seed from a guy who ended up passing away from cancer," Theil told WTOV-TV. "I emailed his wife when [the pumpkin] was 50 days old and I let her know how things were going and I told her I can't help think that he's up there pushing things along."

The pumpkin festival runs through Sunday.

Interesting news

Chicago suburb attempts world record for largest dog wedding ceremony

Chicago suburb attempts world record for largest dog wedding ceremony

Organizers of a world record attempt in Chicago said they are hoping to gather more than 178 canine couples to break the record for the world's largest dog wedding ceremony.

Chicago suburb attempts world record for largest dog wedding ceremony

Leslie Allison-Seei, chair of the Villa Park Community Focus on Unifying Neighbors Commission, or F.U.N., said she previously participated in a November 2008 attempt at the record in Oak Park, Ill.

The attempt featured 87 canine couples, falling short of the record-setting number of 178, which was set in Littleton, Colo., in 2007.

Allison-Seei said she wants to see Illinois take the record Saturday at Lions Park in the town of Villa Park.

Villa Park Village President Nick Cuzzone is slated to officiate at the dog wedding ceremony, which Allison-Seei said will include canines from across the Chicago metropolitan area.

Allison-Seei said pet owners whose dogs don't have mates to marry can participate in a round of "doggy speed-dating" to find an appropriate spouse right before the ceremony.

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Florida woman's lost dog turns up on Facebook nearly a year later

A 15-year-old dog that went missing from his owner's Florida home was reunited with the woman nearly a year later when she spotted his photo on an animal rescue's social media page.

Lisa Raulerson said she was living in a West Palm Beach cottage in October 2020 when her 15-year-old dog, Sparky, escaped through a gate that mistakenly had been left open.

"Before we noticed it, he was gone," Raulerson told WPTV.

She said the family began to fear after a couple weeks that Sparky no longer was alive.

"We pretty much figured he passed away," Raulerson said. "It was sad because he was part of us and we talked about him every day."

Raulerson said there was no sign of her longtime pet until she recently spotted a familiar canine on Sunshine State Westie Rescue's Facebook page.

The rescue said Sparky had been brought to a shelter as a stray and the rescue had stepped in to prevent the dog from being euthanized. Officials said Sparky had a microchip, but the chip was not registered, so they couldn't get information about his owner.

Raulerson and Sparky were reunited 331 days after the dog's escape.

"I feel like a void in my heart was filled. I really do. I never thought I'd see him again, but here he is. I wish he could talk," Raulerson said.

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Purdue researchers create the world's whitest paint

Researchers at Purdue University earned a Guinness World Record with an unusual development: the world's whitest paint.

Purdue researchers create the world's whitest paint

Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at the West Lafayette, Ind., school, said the original aim of the project was to create a paint that would reflect sunlight from a building and thereby lower energy usage as a means of fighting climate change.

The paint, which incorporates barium sulphate particles, reflects 98.1% of solar radiation, making the painted surface noticeably cooler than surrounding surfaces, Ruan and his team found.

The process of making the paint reflective had a side-effect of making the paint extremely white, Ruan found. The barium sulphate was partially responsible for the color, and the usage of differing particle sizes in the paint caused it to reflect a greater spectrum of sunlight.

The paint was declared the world's whitest by Guinness World Records, which selected the record for inclusion in the 2022 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

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Gardener harvests 839 cherry tomatoes from a single stem

A British gardener harvested 839 tomatoes from a single stem -- nearly double the Guinness World Record.

Gardener harvests 839 cherry tomatoes from a single stem

Douglas Smith, 43, of Stanstead Abbotts, England, said he planted his seeds in March, and this month he harvested 839 tomatoes from a single stem, or truss.

Smith's harvest almost doubles the 448 grown on a single truss by Guinness World Record holder Graham Tranter in 2010.

Smith said he was careful to follow Guinness' rules when growing and harvesting his tomatoes, and evidence from the attempt is being submitted to the record-keeping organization for official recognition.

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820-foot pedestrian bridge in Ontario earns Guinness World Record

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820-foot pedestrian bridge in Ontario earns Guinness World Record

An 820-foot bridge suspended over an Ontario highway was awarded a Guinness record because the world's longest enclosed footbridge .

The Pickering footbridge , which was built by Metrolinx over Highway 401, was verified by Guinness because the world's longest enclosed footbridge after it had been officially measured at 820 feet long.

Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins said the bridge was completed in September 2018 and therefore the transit agency decided to use for the Guinness record in 2020.

"We knew we had something special which we couldn't find another one round the world that was an equivalent length and that made us think we should always see if it is the longest, and surely , it is," Aikins told CTV News.

Aikins said the method of applying for the record and getting approved by Guinness took over a year.

The bridge, which connects the Pickering Go railway station to the Pickering Town Center, stretches over 14 lanes of highway, six railway tracks and a city road.

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An Illinois teenager breaks Minnesota fishing record with 46 1/4-inch pike

An Illinois teenager on a fishing trip to a Minnesota lake broke a state record when he reeled during a 46 1/4-inch pike.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Brecken Kobylecky, 15, was fishing on Basswood Lake when he reeled within the gigantic pike.

Kobylecky told the department that the large fish proved difficult to land.

"We hooked onto an enormous pike that was barely hooked, and will hardly land it thanks to the sheer size and weight of the fish," Kobylecky said.

The fish was photographed and released back to the lake.

The department said the fish was reeled in June 19, but it took state officials about three months to review the evidence and award Kobylecky the record for largest catch-and-release pike caught within the state.

The previous record was 45 1/4 inches, and was reeled in from the Rainy River in 2018.