By Chris Cosci

Since its first appearance in 1955, the Guinness Book of Records has been the ultimate resource for the fastest, strongest and biggest stuff in the world. In fact, it has a listing inside its own pages as the world's most sold copyright book. A competitive nature has made some people obsessed with getting their names printed in the latest edition. We want to throw things farther, jump higher and perform events for a longer period of time. The problem is, an increasing number of records are being added that come across more as gimmicks or publicity stunts than feats of physical or athletic ability.

For example, high schools and colleges across the country continually invite students to grab a pillow and join a massive group to break the world record for largest pillow fight. At the University of Wisconsin, students were recently preparing to set the world record for the largest game of telephone, the childhood game of whispering messages from one person to another. And, at a celebration in South Wales for Richard Trevithick, producer of the world's first high-pressure steam engine, a group of over 700 people gathered to break the record for "doing the Locomotion." First of all, it's hard to imagine that this record already existed. Secondly, that's not even a challenge. The song is only two and a half minutes long. Now, you get over 700 people to dance through the 17-minute original version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and maybe I'll be interested.

But what is the real accomplishment in these events? All you need is enough people and you break the record. For activities such as swimming or running, athletes need a lot of practice, training and effort to break a record. And while they struggle to enter the record books, another group makes it in by just showing up to an event. It doesn't seem quite fair.

Then you have records for foods of outlandish proportions. For example, at a recent fair in Reno, Nevada, a group of people gathered to build the world's largest burrito. Using 8,200 flour tortillas, 2,000 pounds of refried beans, and 1,000 pounds each of sour cream, cheese and salsa, the team created an 8,076-foot burrito. If the documentation is accepted by Guinness, this burrito would surpass the current record-holder, a 7,710-foot burrito built in Mexico back in 2001.

But what does this prove - that the power of teamwork can help build giant burritos? What does one do with an 8,000-foot burrito? You certainly don't eat it, according to some of the volunteers. After all, the process took a couple of hours in the middle of the day, and sour cream and sun do not make a good combination. In this case, they might qualify for a second world record - the biggest waste of Mexican food.

Of course, even when there is some physical or mental endurance involved, records can often take on more of a "freak show" quality. Take Nur Malena Hassan, a Malaysian woman who has her own stunt for attracting Guinness's attention. She is currently living in a 12-foot-by-10-foot glass cage filled with over 6,000 scorpions. Her plan is to stay in that cage for 36 days, stepping out for only 15 minutes a day to use the bathroom. So far, she has been stung twice, and she is having difficulty sleeping. As she points out, "nighttime is the worst - I can only sleep two or three hours since scorpions get so active at night."

This will not be her first time setting the record, either. She first set the record back in 2001 by living with 2,700 scorpions for 30 days. During that time, she was stung seven times and fell unconscious. But her record was broken one year later by Kanchana Ketkeaw, a Thai woman who spent 32 days with 3,400 scorpions. After her near-fatal attempt in 2001, why is Hassan determined to break the record again? She states, "I want to show that Malaysians are capable of world-class efforts."

Oddly enough, my first thought was not, "wow - that is a world-class effort." It was more like, "what the heck are you thinking?" Is the pain and risk of death really worth it just to see your name in print? I guess for some people, it is. It shows determination, courage and just a little bit of pure insanity.

Even if Hassan does succeed again, I'm sure there's somebody out there ready to trump this effort - somebody who is ready to live in a 10-foot-by-8-foot cage with 7,000 scorpions, 3,000 cobras and a komodo dragon. As they say, records are made to be broken. For me, this is not one of those records.