RECORDS...!

Today I am thinking...

Records. 

Not Vinyl gramophone records like...

By the way where is this Ancestor of the modern DVD, VCD and CD plates? Does anyone still use them? Been sometime I set my eyes on one.

Once upon a time when the gramophone defined an epoch. How time changes yesterday!

By Records I mean- yeah this type:

I did this way back a couple of times when I was much younger and carefree. 

Not on a swivel chair though. My method then was to stand and simply turn my whole body around until I feel nauseous and giddy at the same time! I am not so sure if kids do this again. 

The current record stands at 36 spins in 30 seconds. Oguzhan Ozdemir from Turkey achieved it on 20 June 2010. 

Unfortunately no one at London's Carnaby last during the last Guiness Word Record day on November 17th, 2011 was able to break the record. But they all get a thumbs up for trying! Especially the guy that managed 29 giddy spins. If you wanna reconnect into a childhood that seems lost forever you could go and attempt here. Need I add at your own risk? 

Still talking about records, the biggest ever commercial order for the supply of Airplanes in Boeing's history was 'roared' by Indonesia's Lion Air last week.

$21.7 Billion! 

That amount up there is the value of the deal brokered by US President Barack Obama.

In case you missed the sign at the beginning of that kingly sum-it's United States Dollars! (I know the US dollars doesn't pull so much punch these days, but damn that's a whole lot of Benji's!)

This is what one billion dollars of cash looks like stacked on 12 palettes.

Image Source

Now if the deal were to be paid for with cash we would need almost 22 of those, totaling a staggering 264 Palettes if my Maths is correct! 

The deal is for the supply of 201 Boeing's updated 737 MAX planes and 29 Next-Generation 737-900 (A total of 230 Airplanes)

Below is the 737 MAX being discussed:

Here is what a simulation of the 737-900 looks like. 

The Lion Air order is expected to support more than 110,000 jobs at Boeing and U.S. suppliers. This is another example of the linkages and multiplier effect a viable transport and logistics sector can have on world trade and the global economy.

Our tale won't be complete if we don't pay homage to the seas. There is almost always a parallel in the seas you know and records are broken here as well.

The bragging rights (or at least potential bragging rights) for the record for the highest order of the largest container ships can be claimed by AP Moller-Maersk AS. It's signing of a $1.9 billion contract with South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd for the building of 10 of the largest-ever cargo-box ships, and the inclusion of rights and options for another 20 ships, which totals about $5.7 billion, makes it poised to wear the crown. 

If the rights and options are eventually exercised that would make it the largest order of it's kind on the seas in history! 

People in the know say the vessels design would enable it carry a whopping 18,000 containers each!

The carrying capacity of each ship is said to be enough to fill Times Square in New York!

The new 'monsters' to be known as the triple E's would be 400 meters long, 59 meters wide and 73 meters high. At that size it will be the largest ship of any type on the oceans. This is a 16% improvement in size over another of AP Moller-Maersk's ship, the Emma Maersk, the current largest container vessel in operation. 

Check out a narrative and a simulation video about the triple E below.

Delivery is scheduled between 2013 and 2015. 

The thing I like about the triple E is it's attempt at improvements in Emissions standards. With the EU ETS Emissions trading scheme set to debut in 2012 for Airlines and the hope of a global emmissions control regime for ship emissions (we will talk about this in our next post!) eminent, the move is definitely worth commending. 

But for now I'll leave you with a video of the current record holder of the largest mammal, in fact the biggest animal in the whole wide world! The Blue Whale. (If you know of any other, please let me know.) Where else would it reside but the sea? 

Pay attention to it's gargantuan statistics in the video and please don't go near it even in your dreams! 

Ha ha! Nice having you around. Keep a date with this blog...Bye!