The World's Largest Swimming Pool

With the overnight temperatures 15 degrees below zero up here in Minnesota in recent days, this story from the London Daily Mail struck my fancy.  It seems that a resort in southern Chile has designed and built the world's largest swimming pool.  According to the article in the Daily Mail, "[The swimming pool] is more than 1,000 yards long, covers 20 acres, has a 115-foot deep end, and holds 66 million gallons of [salt] water."  Think of it—this pool is ten football fields long.  If you had twenty acres of property, you could have your subdivision and build quite a few houses.

Basically, you can make of it what you will, but it seems like nothing is sacred anymore.  I am certain that this Chilean resort invested a huge sum of money to develop this "natural" theme park.  Undoubtedly, people from all over the world will make a visit, just so that they can say, "I swam in the largest swimming pool in the world!"  I can't say that I really blame them for feeling that way, especially since the thermometer up here in Minnesota has had a hard time getting above zero the last few days.

Japanese Square Watermelons

Just when you thought you had seen it all, the Japanese come up with something different. This is from a BBC post about Japanese square watermelons:

Japan has again shown off one of its greatest innovations - square watermelons. For years consumers struggled to fit the large round fruit in their refrigerators. And then there was the problem of trying to cut the fruit when it kept rolling around.

But 20 years ago a forward-thinking farmer on Japan's south-western island of Shikoku solved the problem. The farmer, from Zentsuji in Kagawa prefecture, came up with the idea of making a cube-shaped watermelon which could easily be packed and stored.

To make it happen, farmers grew the melons in glass boxes and the fruit then naturally assumed the same shape. Today the cuboid watermelons are hand-picked and shipped all over Japan.

But the fruit, on sale in a selection of department stores and upmarket supermarkets, appeals mainly to the wealthy and fashion-conscious of Tokyo and Osaka, Japan's two major cities. Each melon sells for 10,000 yen, equivalent to about $83. It is almost double, or even triple, that of a normal watermelon.

"I can't buy it, it is too expensive," said a woman browsing at a department store in the southern city of Takamatsu.

So the next time you think there is nothing new under the sun, just think of Japanese square watermelons.