Could you use a hug? If so, you should have been at London's St Pancras Tube station yesterday, where 112 hugging commuters broke the Guinness World Record for most people hugging for a minute.
The group hug was one of many new records broken on Guinness World Records Day, which has only been around since 2005. I guess it’s a way for Guinness World Records to call attention to itself, and for people around the world to come together in the name of breaking weird and obscure records.
For instance, in London a man broke the record for pulling a double-decker bus with his hair. In Auckland, New Zealand, a man blew a malteser candy 11.29 meters with a straw. Sadly, it was a disappointing day in Sydney, Australia, where they fell short of the world record for most people in bikinis. I'm sure it was fun anyway.
Milan, Italy had a big day. Not only was it the site of the longest ever platform-to-platform bike jump, it also saw a man set the record for the fastest to eat a bowl of pasta (one minute and thirty seconds).
Other records broken around the world included the most people in a sauna, the fastest 40-meter human wheelbarrow race, and the fastest time to peel and eat three lemons, among many others.
I always like when the world takes a moment to share an experience together, even if it's for nonsensical things. It’s a nice symbol of what we have in common, and it shows what fun we can have when we put aside our differences. And it's a great excuse to make the largest ever mosaic of Michael Jackson using paintbrushes standing on end.Photo: akumi800 via Flickr (CC license)