Today is Guinness World Record Day, the annual event where people across the globe try to set records so their legacies can live forever in Guinness' archival text that sits perched on the back of toilets everywhere. Among the day's slated attempts include the Largest Gathering of People Wearing Underpants, Most People Running in High Heeled Shoes and Most Beer Steins Carried over 40 meters. If some of these potential achievements sound arbitrary, they are and that's the point. Ridiculousness is part of what makes Guinness fun. So to celebrate this year's World Record Day, we thumbed through the 2009 edition and picked out some of the oddest records they've decided to highlight.
Most Random Guinness World Records
"Most Rattlesnakes (Bathtub)"Texan Jackie Bibby shared a tub with 87 snakes for 45 minutes. Why didn't he go for 88? We guess that's the point when rattlesnakes in bathtubs get restless.
Carla Metzler, Guinness World records / AP
Largest Gathering of Test-Tube Children On September 15, 2007, 1,180 people born from artificial insemination met up at the Assisted Reproduction Centre in Prague, Czech Republic to salute the scientists that engineered them in labs.
Alastair Grant, AP
Longest Time to Maintain a Human Flag Canadian Dominic Lacasse posed like a flag from a poll for 39 seconds. It would've been a lot more obvious what he was doing if he had tattooed a giant maple leaf on his stomach.
Hermann J. Knippertz, AP
Most People Brushing Teeth (Multiple Venues) 177,003 students from over 350 schools across 23 cities in India brushed their teeth simultaneously on October 9, 2007. The record was organized by Colgate, which probably also ranks it high on the list of record attempts that were actually direct marketing events.
Manish Swarup, AP
Fastest Half Marathon Barefoot on Ice/Snow Wim Hof of the Netherlands ran a half marathon barefoot in ice and/or snow in 2 hours 16 minutes. He also holds the record for ice immersion. Known as "The Iceman," Hof controls his body temperature by the tantric practice of tumo, which is similar to the method used in tantric sex, but far less fun.
Diane Bondareff, Rubin Museum of Art / AP
Largest Pet Spider Aussie Walter Baumgartner owns a Goliath bird-eating spider that weighs 6.17 ounces, and has a 4.7-inch body, 10.2-inch leg-span and a .9-inch mandible. Like Paris Hilton and her tiny dog, we'd like to think Walter lets it peek out his man bag while walking around town.
Australian Customs Service / AP
A volunteer takes the measurements of a Lego Millipede Wednesday Dec. 15, 2004 in Singapore, which has attempted to set a new Guinness World Record for the world's longest Lego Millipede, measuring 1,410metres, The current record was set earlier this year, in Canada with their Lego Millipede measuring 1,398metres.
Wong Maye-E, AP
2. Most Chicken Nuggets Eaten in Three Minutes (Brit Mark Kilby at 9 oz of chicken nuggets in three minutes)
Michael Pugh / McDonalds USA
4. Longest Line of Riverdancers (8,216 dancers from the CLRG Dance School in Leinster Province, Ireland)
Georgios Kefalas, AP
1. Longest Chain of Condoms (PSI Romania created a chain of linked condoms at measured 10,726 feet)
Vadim Ghirda, AP
