Source: Ranking Royals
10/22/2024
10/20/2024
A new Guinness World Record (audio)
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Taller than the Tower of Pisa????
The world's largest pair of jeans has been unveiled in China - and the supersized clothing item is taller than the Tower of Pisa
The gigantic denim claimed the record on 28 September when it was put on display in Fumian, Guangxi, China.
The jeans stretch an impressive 76.34 m in length and have a waist circumference of 58.164 m.
To help you picture the size, the height of the jeans falls between the Tower of Pisa in Italy (55 m) and the Statue of Liberty, including the pedestal (93).
Made from 5.5 km of fabric, the zipper is 7.8-m-long and the stainless steel button has a massive 1.2-m-diameter and a weight of 3.6 tons.
Before this, the largest pair of jeans measured 65.50 m tall and 42.70 wide, and was achieved by Paris Perú (Peru), in Lima, Peru, on 19 February 2019.
Crafted entirely by Yixing Textile Co., Ltd. in Yulin City, the entire process - from design and weaving to cutting and sewing - was completed independently.
It took 18 days and involved over 30 skilled garment workers to bring this piece of art to life.
Recognized as one of China’s largest denim casual pants production hubs, Fumian proudly holds titles such as “World Capital of Pants” and “Famous City of Casual Clothing in China.”
From The Guinness World Record
10/18/2024
10/14/2024
The London restaurant staffed by homeless people
@bbc ❤️ Inside the London restaurant staffed almost entirely by homeless people. #London #Restaurant #Homeless #Wholesome ♬ original sound - BBC
10/13/2024
The Argentine town of Hilario Ascasubi's parrots
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The Michelin star: a blessing or a curse?
The twelve new restaurants added to the New York Michelin Guide this month, serving up cuisine ranging from “haute French” to “eco-chic”, will be toasting their success. Being featured in the handbook of the tyre-maker-turned-restaurant-critic is the first step towards receiving a Michelin star, the most coveted award in fine dining. Yet according to research recently published in the Strategic Management Journal, an improbable source of culinary intelligence, restaurants might be better off remaining starless.
Daniel Sands of University College London’s school of management tracked the fortunes of restaurants that opened in New York in 2000-14 and received a starred review in the New York Times. He found that, of this promising group, establishments which went on to get a Michelin star were more likely to close down in the years that followed than those which did not. The relationship remained even when factors such as location, price and type of cuisine were taken into account. All told, 40% of restaurants awarded Michelin stars in 2005-14 had closed by the end of 2019.
A Michelin star boosts publicity: the study found that Google search intensity rose by over a third for newly starred restaurants. But that fame comes at a price. First, Mr Sands argues, the restaurants’ customers change. Being in the limelight raises diners’ expectations and brings in tourists from farther away. Meeting guests’ greater demands piles on new costs. Second, the award puts a star-shaped target on the restaurants’ back. Businesses they deal with, such as ingredient suppliers and landlords, use the opportunity to charge more. Chefs, too, want their salaries to reflect the accolade and are more likely to be poached by competitors.
Food is not the only industry where awards are a mixed blessing. Several studies have shown that companies run by award-winning bosses underachieve relative both to their previous performance and to non-garlanded rivals. Like Michelin-starred chefs, superstar CEOs demand fatter pay packets and are more easily distracted, spending more time writing books and joining boards. In publishing, too, awards bring peril. Prizewinning books are reviewed more harshly than before their success, and worse than runners-up.
For restaurateurs who are in it for the glory, Michelin’s top award will probably remain too enticing not to pursue. But for those who simply want to stay in business, it may be safer to not quite cut the mustard. ■
From The Economist
Italy celebrates return of stolen antiquities
Italy
celebrated the return of hundreds of its antiquities from the United States last
May. The property included ancient bronze statues, gold coins, mosaics and
documents valued at $65 million.
The
pieces were stolen years ago. They were later sold to American museum, galleries and
collectors. Their return came after a successful criminal investigation.
Officials
of Italy’s Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage
presented the returned objects at a press event in Rome.
A
team of American officials attended the presentation. They included U.S.
Ambassador Jack Markell and Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the antiquities
trafficking unit of the New York district attorney's office.
It
marked the latest presentation of property return in Italy’s long effort to
recover antiquities stolen from its territory. The thieves, called tombaroli in
Italy, sold to dealers who often lied on ownership records to
resell the antiquities.
Among
the most valuable pieces presented was a fourth-century Naxos silver coin.
The coin has an image of the Greek god of wine, Dionysius. It was taken from an
illegal dig site in Sicily and transported to Britain. It was found in New York
last year as part of an investigation into a noted British coin dealer. It was
being offered for sale for $500,000.
Other
objects were returned from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The
returned objects also included a life-sized bronze statue of a person, several vases from the ancient Etruscan
civilization and paintings from the 16th and 19th centuries that once belonged
to Italian museums, religious centers and private homes.
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