The human race is often playfully competitive, with a general admiration for the absurd. As a result, there are records of unusual accomplishments of many sorts. While some of these accomplishments have no apparent purpose other than amusement, they are often quite remarkable.

Many of these unusual world records involve the ability to digest either very large amounts of food, or to eat objects that would not normally qualify as food. One of these objects was an entire Cessna 150 airplane. Frenchman Michel Lotito, also known as “Monsieur Mangetout” (which means “Mr. Eats All”), consumed the airplane and, between 1959 and 1997, he ate an estimated nine tons of metal. Lotito had a condition known as Pica, which causes unusual cravings for non-food items such as dirt, glass, and metal. It took him two years to eat the airplane.

Mutilating and altering one’s body is also a popular category for competitive entertainment. Chris Elliot and Tyson Turk broke the world record for body piercing in May of 2010 at the Tyson Turk BodyMod Studio in Irving, Texas. Volunteer Chris Elliot was pierced by Turk 3,100 times in six hours and fifteen minutes. 

Ironically, leaving parts of one’s body alone for long periods of time is yet another way to compete for fun and profit. Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City, Utah, let her fingernails grow for thirty years, then lost them in a car crash. She had not cut her nails since 1979, but decided not to re-grow them after the crash, noting how much easier it was to do things without them.

Kevin Shelley will go down in history as the man who broke the most toilet seats with his head in one minute. He also will undoubtedly be remembered for the attractive royal blue satin karate attire that he wears while doing this. The task is set up efficiently, as the toilets are very ergonomically placed in a row, ready for smashing. 

Sometimes, however, world records of various human endeavors are achieved not merely for entertainment, but while pursuing a worthy or useful goal. The world’s largest human rainbow was formed by over 31,000 students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUC). The rainbow was formed to celebrate PUP’s centennial year (1904 to 2004), and was intended to raise funds to finance projects for improving the school’s facilities.

The ability to endure the elements is another popular world record competition theme. On January 3, 2011, Chen Kecai and Jin Songhao stood naked in glass compartments filled with ice to see who would break the record for ice cold endurance. Jin won the competition at 120 minutes, after Chen was carried out at 118 minutes when he had reached the limit of his endurance. In a similar extreme temperature endurance competition, The World Sauna Championship in Finland (2010), a man died. For this reason, doctors monitored the temperatures and physical condition of the participants during the ice endurance competition, which was held in Zhangjiajie City in Hunan Province, China.