Odd News
Ghanaian hugs 1,123 trees in an hour for world record
Abubakar hugging a tree
A Ghanaian man studying forestry in Alabama set a world record for most trees hugged in an hour.
He hugged 1,123 trees at Tuskegee National Forest.
Abubakar Tahiru, 29, became interested in nature conservation while growing up in a farming community in Tepa, Ghana. He is pursuing a Master’s degree in forestry at Auburn University.
The record attempt required that Tahiru wrap both of his arms around each tree in a close embrace without causing any damage to the trees. No tree could be hugged more than once, requiring Tahiru to move quickly between each hug.
Tahiru was fasting for Ramadan at the time of his record attempt, which presented another challenge.
“Not being able to drink water throughout the attempt posed a significant challenge, especially give the physical exertion required,” he told Guinness World Records. “However, this also proved to be helpful in a way, as there was no need to pause for water breaks, allowing me to continue the attempt uninterrupted from start to finish.”
Averaging 19 trees per minute, Tahiru easily surpassed the minimum requirement of 700 trees to establish the record.
The record raises awareness of the importance of trees and environmental conservation.
Odd News
Message in bottle floats from Canada to Ireland in 13 years
A message in a bottle launched by visitors to Newfoundland’s Bell Island was found washed up on an Irish beach nearly 13 years later, after apparently crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Kate Gay said she was walking a Dingle Peninsula beach this week when she spotted the wine bottle with a sheet of paper inside.
Gay showed the bottle to members of Creative Ireland NeartnaMacharaí during a meeting at her house that evening, and they broke the bottle open.
The note, written by a couple named Brad and Anita, was dated Sept. 12, 2012. The letter described the couple’s day trip to Bell Island.
There was a phone number on the letter, but there was no answer when group members tried to call.
The Maharees Heritage and Conservation group posted photos of the bottleto social media on Monday, and within an hour group members were messaging with Anita.
Group member Martha Farrell said Anita reported that she and Brad had married in 2016 and are still together to this day. -upi.com
Odd News
Woman earns world record for collection of 15,485 egg cups
A Spanish woman who has been collecting egg cups for over 50 years earned a Guinness World Record when her collection was tallied at 15,485 items.
María José Fuster recruited two witnesses to help her tally her collection at a community center in her hometown of Campo, Spain.
Fuster’s collection includes multiple patterns, colors, designs and even novelty cups bearing the images of characters including Superman, Betty Boop and Garfield.
Fuster maintains two blogs related to her hobby — one to catalog each piece, and one to list the names of the people who have donated egg cups to her collection.
Some of her most prized egg cups, about 1,143 of them, are currently on display at a local museum.
-upi.com
