Helicopter record, Big fish for Barbie, When blindness pays

Two pilots have flown around the globe in a helicopter in 11 days, 7 hours, and 2 minutes—an unofficial new world record. Starting from LaGuardia Airport in New York, Scott Kasprowicz and Steve Sheik flew a total of 20,888 miles over 20 countries; averaging 85 mph and sleeping only two hours a night, they easily beat the old record of 17 days, 6 hours, and 14 minutes despite stopping more than 80 times to refuel. “We just approached our schedule very aggressively,” said Kasprowicz, 55, a former state transportation official in Virginia. “We didn’t let anything stop us or slow us down.”

A North Carolina man has hooked a catfish weighing 21 pounds, 1 ounce—a state record—using a toy fishing rod. David Hayes, 56, of Wilkes County was fishing with his 3-year-old granddaughter Alyssa in the pond in back of his house when she said she had to go to the bathroom. She handed him her pink Barbie fishing pole, a Christmas present from her father. Seconds later, the catfish bit. It took 25 minutes to reel in the whopper; at 32 inches long, it was almost as tall as Alyssa and 2 inches longer than the pole—which Hayes says he plans to mount along with his catch.

For years, Bobby Guffey of Roanoke, Ind., has been playing the Hoosier Lottery with the same numbers—based on the birthdays of his five children. But when he bought his latest ticket earlier this month, he forgot his bifocals. As a result, he entered a “48” instead of the usual “46.” It was a lucky accident: The errant ticket won him $3 million. Ironically, after discovering his error, Guffey had bought another ticket with his regular numbers, which netted him $1,000. “My wife says it pays to be blind,” he said.

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