Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere
"The new 2012 Aussie $1 million coin is the world’s largest, heaviest and most valuable coin ever minted. And, yes, the Perth Mint in Australia ensures that this 2,200-pound, 99.99% pure-gold marvel – measuring 31 inches wide and nearly five inches thick – is official legal tender.
The gigantic coin took 18 months to craft and is about 10 times heavier than the previous record holder – a $1 million Canadian coin minted in 2007. And, while the mammoth Aussie coin has a denomination of AUS$1 million, its actual gold value is about $58 million at today’s gold price of $1,650 per ounce."
via youtube.com
"Since time immemorial, man has glanced up at the sky and watched with great envy as those magnificent winged creatures above flew circles around him. And although we now have airplanes, deep down inside, we still secretly want to experience what it’s like to soar like an eagle (as cliche as that sounds).
Well, I’m here to tell you that man’s day has come. That’s because on Sunday a Dutch inventor by the name of Jarno Smeets did the unthinkable when he strapped on a pair of homemade wings and flapped toward the heavens, officially becoming the first man in history to fly like a bird with self-built wings, as reported by Wired.com."
"The world's largest rosebush is in Tombstone, Arizona. It is a white Lady Banksia whose original root came over from Scotland in 1885. From a single trunk, it spreads over an arbor that covers over 8,000 square feet. Each year in the Spring it is covered with millions of tiny white blossoms most of which are only about an inch in diameter."
"A Texas Longhorn bull that more than lives up to its name has smashed the record for the world's longest horns. Seven-year-old JR has horns that measure an incredible 9ft 1ins - and they are likely to grow even bigger. His owner Michael Bethel, 50, who runs Leahton Park with his wife Lynda, 39, began breeding Longhorns 14 years ago.
Leahton Park is 10 km from Charters Towers, one of the most iconic and historic towns in Queensland, Australia. This property is 1100 acres in size and is home to Horseshoe B Longhorns; the largest purebred Texas Longhorn cattle herd in Australia and also the longest horned steer in the country whose horns measure over 9 feet from tip to tip. There are several water buffaloes and other native & exotic animals at Leahton Park."
"At 29,029 feet above sea level, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. But despite Everest's massive peak, Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is the farthest point from the center of the earth.
No slouch in the size department, Chimborazo is actually an inactive volcano that stands at 20,565 feet. It makes up for the 9,000 foot difference between itself and Everest with the equatorial bulge. Only one degree south of the equator, the earth is thicker nearer the equator, and makes up the extra difference for Chimborazo. When all is said and done, Chimborazo measures 7,113 feet farther from the center of the earth than Mount Everest and is a whopping 3,967 miles from earth's center."
"Pando (Latin for "I spread", also known as The Trembling Giant) is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) located in the U.S. state of Utah, all determined to be part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers and one massive underground root system. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000,000 kg (6,600 short tons), making it the heaviest known organism.[4] The root system of Pando is estimated to be among the oldest known living organisms in existence at 80,000 years of age.
Pando is located in the Fishlake National Forest, near Fish Lake on the Fish Lake Plateau located at the western edge of the Colorado Plateau in South-central Utah."
