Most seasoned gardners say all you need to do in order to keep your plants happy is plant and water them and apparently it really works.

Robert Bendel, a 73-year-old from Morristown bought a rose bush 15 years ago and planted it in right next to his house. That’s practically all he did, no fertilizer and no extra attention. Now bendel believes his giant plant could just be the world’s tallest rose bush, standing at 18 feet and 6 inches. The world’s current record for the tallest rose bush stands at a mere 13 feet 3 inches, so as soon as Guinness makes the official measurements, Robert will be the proud owner of a record holding plant.

Bendel says he also has a tomato plant that’s 7 feet tall and 14 feet across so he may have two plants in the Guinness Book of Records.

Photos by Bob Karp

via Daily Record

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Lebanese chefs gathered in Beirut, Lebannon, to set a new Guinness record for the world’s biggest tabbouleh salad.

In an attempt to declare proprietorship over the popular Middle-Eastern salad, Lebanese cooks prepared the largest Tabbouleh salad in history, on Sunday, October 25. The three tons dish contained massive amounts of chopped tomatoes and parsley, but the hungry audience made short work of it. The previous Guinness record for the biggest Tabbouleh was held by Israel.

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Members of the Unification Church, all around the world, took part in the world’s largest mass wedding officiated by reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial church.

Over 20,000 people filled up the Sun Moon University campus, in Seoul, South Korea, to celebrate Sun Myung Moon’s 90th birthday and his 50th wedding anniversary with wife Han Hak-ja. Some of the couples had just met a few months before, while others came to renew their vows. Korean couples were joined by 20,000 other followers from all around the world, who tuned in via an internet link.

Sun Myung Moon took this opportunity to pass down leadership of the Unification Church to his children. Moon started the much contested cult in 1954, following a vision he had when he was just 15, where Jesus allegedly appeared to him and asked him to finish His work. The Korean leader performed his first mass wedding in the early 1960s and throughout the years officiated ceremonies between people who had never met each other before their wedding.

Critics stated this latest mass wedding proves followers of the Unification Church are brainwashed. Sun Myung Moon denied the accusation saying these days couples spend months getting to know one another, before they tie the knot.

Photos via csmonitor

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I’ve seen some pretty bizarre-but-impressive treehouses in my day, but the Minister’s House is by far the most impressive, if only through its sheer size.

Located in Crossville, Tennessee, the Minister’s House took Horace Burgess 14 years to build around an 80-foot-tall white oak tree, with a diameter of 12 feet. The wooden edifice itself is 97-feet-tall and it’s supported by six other strong trees that act like natural pillars.

Burgess says he started working on this giant treehouse after he had a vision back in 1993. God spoke to him and said: “If you build me a

treehouse, I’ll see you never run out of material.” And so he spent the next 14 years building God’s treehouse, using only salvaged materials, like pieces of lumber from garages, storage sheds and barns. So, as far as Horace is concerned, God did provide him with all the materials he needed.
Although he never bothered to measure Minister’s House (he estimates it must be about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet), he did count the nails he had to hammer into it, 258,000. It cost the 56-year-old landscape architect around $12,000 to construct the world’s biggest treehouse.

400-500 people visit Minister’s House every week, most of them tourists from out of state who heard about a 10-story-treehouse somewhere in Tennessee.

I found the photos on this obscure Hungarian site, but I doubt they actually own them. If you know who these belong to, let me know so I can credit them.

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Looking like an anti-aircaft cannon form World War 2, the enormous pumpkin cannon of Ulster County sends pumpkins flying at speeds around 600 mph.

With Halloween right around the corner, John Gill and Gary Arold figured they needed something really cool for this year’s celebrations. So, using a long metal tube and compressed air, they’ve come up withe coolest, most powerful pumpkin cannon on Earth.

The two 1,000 gallon-monster-tanks build up enough pressure to send the pumpkin 3,500 feet in the air, at a speed of approximately 600mph.  The organic projectile travels about a mile before it squashes against the ground (or whatever else it hits).

Seeing it in action is monster cool and I suspect operating it is even more fun, but is it completely safe. I’m sure I don’t think they aim for populated areas, but what if someone just passes through and gets hit by a flying pumpkin? Let’s just say there would be two squashed things.

Take a look at what this monster pumpkin cannon can do, in the video at the bottom.

via Gizmo Watch

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Scarlett’s Magic, an 18-months-old F1 Savannah cat, is the new record holder for the world’s tallest domesticated feline, measuring 17.1 inches from shoulder to toe.

The adorable pet is also awaiting the result of a second nomination for the world’s longest cat,from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, but for now she and her owner, Kim Droper, are more than happy with the Guinness World Record for the Tallest Cat.

Miss Droper, a passionate Savannah breeder, says Scarlett’s Magic and her kind are the smartest, most obedient cats a family could have. The breed is becoming more and more popular in California, thanks to their beauty and advanced learning capabilities.

Together with Ashera and Toygers, Savannah cats are as close as you can get to actually having a wild feline as a pet.

via Daily Mail

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Using Polymer Clay, Colleen from Loopy Boopy creates some of the creepiest dolls I’ve ever seen. her creations do have human figures, but they give you a creepy feeling, sort of like the characters Tim Burton puts on screen.

Loopy Boopy dolls are a bit too creepy for my own taste, but if you’re into this kind of stuff, you can check Colleen’s store on Etsy and buy yourself something creepy for Halloween.

via Unknown Highway

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He Wenjun, an artist from China, was recognized by Guinness Book of Records for creating the world’s largest paintbrush.

The artist claims he used the tails of 300 horses to make the 12-foot brush, which weighs 115 lb and almost double that when it is soaked in ink. He Wenjun said it took him a year to make the brush and another year to learn how to control it.

The proud new Guinness record holder took part in a special exhibition in Nanchong, where he displayed his calligraphy talents, using the giant paintbrush.

Photos by CEN via Europics

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If you thought nations like Luxembourg, Monaco or Lichtenstein were small, wait until you learn about the microscopic republic of Molossia.

It may have a surface of just half a hectare and look like any normal house hold in the American desert, but Molossia is a real country, with a leader and everything. The smallest country in the world is located near Dayton, Nevada and has been ruled for over 30 years, by President Kevin Baugh. But his great nation ( 2 sons and 3 dogs) has yet to file a complaint.

Molossia is the world’s smallest republic, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have laws. If you set foot on Molossian soil, you have to have your passport approved and stamped. The microscopic nation even has its own postal service, currency (made from poker chips), bottled water and the national dish is raw cookie dough.

Unlike other countries, Molossia has a simple, but well developed health-care system: every citizen can just go to the first-aid box and get whatever they need, for free.

Kevin Baugh, together with a friend came up with the idea of establishing their own micronation when they were teenagers, after watching The Mouse that Roared. Throughout the years Baugh even took his country to a “tongue-in-cheek” war with the neighboring microstate Mustachian, ruled by Sultan Ali-Ali Achsenfree, and won.

Molossia doesn’t pay American taxes and even wants to develop its own electric system to be even more independent.

Photos by CHRIS LOBINA/ REX FEATURES

via Telegraph.co.uk

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Chinese create a giant flag of China made from thousands of red hot peppers and corn cobs.

These days, there is a nationwide celebration going on in China, with just a few hours left until the country’s 60th anniversary and its people are going out of their way to prove how much it means to them.

In the village of Daxinzhuang, a giant Chinese flag is spread all over the road side. Nothing odd about that, only it’s made from hot peppers and corn cobs. If Israel has the world’s biggest flag, I think it’s safe to say China now has the world’s spiciest.

via ImagineChina

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I’m not a big fan of canned foods, but I can be talked into eating some canned tuna fish from time to time. Hell, if need be, I would even eat whole canned chicken, or pork brains in milk gravy.  But there are some strange foods out there I would rather starve to death that try and the Daily Mail made a list of them. Check it out:

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Also known as “The Queen of Beads”, Liza Lou is considered one of the most original artists of our time. She has created unique artworks by covering common surfaces with thousands, even millions of glass beads.

Liza Lou first shocked the world in 1996, when she presented her first major work, “Kitchen”. It took the artist five years to cover every inch of a normal kitchen with glass beads, including the water in the sink and the dirty dishes. In 1999 she went even further, creating “Backyard”, a masterpiece for which she used over thirty million beads. Most of  them have been used to create the 250,000 blades of grass making up the lawn.

She has often been criticized, called “obsessive”, “second-hand jeweler” and some went as far as to say her beading work isn’t real art. But the genius grant she received from The MacArthur Foundation, in 2002, silenced most of her critics.

Liza Lou‘s art may look amazing, but it came with a high price for the artist. She was diagnosed with acute tendinitis while she was working on “Kitchen”, because she applied every glass bead individually, using tweezers. She uses only beads brought in from the Czech Republic and considers them the most beautiful beads in the world.

Photos via Pamrubert

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The world’s largest flag was unfurled over Teddy Football Stadium, Jerusalem, during an event attended by officials from the Guinness Book of Records.

The creation of the flag was initiated by Grace Galindez Gupana, a 48-year-old Filipino business woman and founder of Halleluyah Kingdom of Jerusalem Foundation. Mrs Gupana holds nine other Guinness records, including the largest stone tablets with the ten commandments and says her projects are ways of emphasizing her love for the God of Israel.

The flag presented on September 17, in the capital of Israel, features the largest emblem of lion, ever soon and measures 44,404 square meters (that’s over 4.3 hectares)  and weighs 9.5 tons. A team of six people produced the world’s largest flag over a period of 120 days. It cost $120,000 to make.

Photos by Xinhua/Yin Bogu

via Xinhua

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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a theme park based on JK Rowling’s best selling series, Harry Potter, due to open in the spring of 2010, at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure resort, in Orlando.

Artists have drawn artworks to show the world a small preview of the magical theme park. Let’s have a look at what we’ll be able to experience in the world of Harry Potter:

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Sultan Kosen, a former basketball player from Turkey, has been acknowledged as the world’s tallest man, by the Guinness Book of Records.

26-year-old Kosen is 2 meters 46.5 cm tall and he also holds the record for the world’s biggest hands (27.5 cm) and the world’s biggest feet (36.5 cm). He grew as a normal child until he turned 10, then, due to a dysfunctional pituitary gland, his body developed at an accelerated rate.

During the presentation of the 2010 Guinness Book of Records, in London, Sultan Kosen declared he hopes this new found fame will make him more successful with the ladies. Because of his unusual stature, women have always been afraid of him, but now he hopes he will finally find his soul-mate and get married.

The former world’s tallest man, Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk, allegedly measures 2.57 meters, but refused to have his height officially measured, saying fame brought him nothing but problems and he needs peace and quiet.

via Zimbio

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