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[ta0]

Do you realize, Mike, that if you drop the top and pick it up again while spinning you would still be good by the rules used by Furman? If your goal is to break that record you should just throw the top on the ground from time to time, sit down to eat an icecream or go to the restroom, and pick up the top still spinning after 2 minutes, so you can regenerate it. Somebody like you could probably go for two or three days like that   

You do not want to break a record the difficult way and let it open to be broken in a much easier fashion. It would be like breaking the hurdling-while-juggling-3-objects record using bowling balls and leave it open for somebody to break it using tennis balls. You wouldn't do that, would you? 

[poptop]

I think Ta0 is on TO something.

I think Mike is ON something.

keep it up brothers!

[Spinningray]

3:34 sounds like a Guinness record to me.

Just amazing Mike.

How are the bearings holding up?

[the Earl of Whirl]

Thanks for you post, Spinningray.  I especially hoped to share some thoughts with you about this whole thing.  Somewhere in the two hour plus range I started to hear some different noises.  When the top slowed down quite a bit I could hear something shifting inside.  After a while I figured out that the piece (nut) used to tighten the tip into the body was off.  Like a dummy, I didn't check it before I started!!!  It shifted around a bit and threw the balance off on occasion but generally everything stayed together for another hour or so.  When I got to three and a half hours and the tornado alarm was going I was happy to quit.  Sure enough, when I looked inside, the nut was off and everything was pretty loose.  I put it all together again and tightened it and checked it on several occasions.  It all seems to be fine again.  Actually, better than it has been recently.  It must have been working loose for quite a while and I didn't notice.  The bearings seem to be fine and ready for another go,  but not my body!  This last run wore me out more than I thought it would.  I'm going to wait another couple weeks and see if I feel like doing it again.  The people at the school are great and say they will host me for another attempt if I want.  We'll see.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Top spinning can be so humbling.  I set myself up for this 1200th post hoping I would have something to report.  I do have something to report but it is not all good news.  I did make it over two hours with the top doing quite nicely.  Then I had a quick drop and the next thing I knew the corian section of the tip hit a marble corner of the floor and shattered!  I may be doing some begging around town to get it fixed.  It will give me some time to recover for another attempt.  I think there is still some gas in the tank for this endurance thing.

Meanwhile, I will be hoping to see some good words from Chris Neff and the Duncan Crew visit.  I am anxious for some good news! 

[Spinningray]

I'm sorry to hear about the tip Mike. I can make you a new one.

I can't believe you could still keep the top going with the nut loose inside.

You must be getting very smooth on your regens to keep it going that long.

[the Earl of Whirl]

You are so kind, Spinningray.  First of all, I should never have dropped the top.  Secondly, it was quite odd how it found the hard corner of the floor edge.  Tops seem to always find the weirdest places.

Thanks for the offer to repair it.  That was the reason I ended up down in Cincinnati and Toppers.  It was good to get away even if only for a couple of hours.  Now I'm  happy to say that good old JohnM is on the case.  He is a good surgeon.  He even repaired the broken and bent Autograph from it's wild and crazy world's experience!

[the Earl of Whirl]

Well, I tried to set everything up so I could have a significant 1300th post.  It's not like it is totally insignificant but it's not as significant as I hoped.  I went back to my favorite endurance spinning location and made it up to two hours and then dropped.  I am thankful for that long as it seems like I lost some confidence and had several near drops in the first 20 minutes.  Things settled down a bit so maybe I haven't lost it entirely.  I will try again but I won't wait until my 1400th post.  The school will be on vacation soon and I want to get some work in before they go on break.

[Free]

This is amazing Mike! I just read this whole post and it's absolutely incredible. That's a lot of dedication. I hope they'll create a spot for you in Guiness, what you're doing is far superior to the duration record. Record 137 a. Spin top - Duration on String without contacting floor.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Thanks for your kind words, Free.  Thanks also to our friends down at the University of Cincinnati physics department.  They got me rolling again after doing some repair work for me on my top.

[the Earl of Whirl]

OK.  I wasn't going to say anything about this for a while but I decided it would be fun to share with everyone.  Even if nothing else comes from this it's a fun story right now.  I got an email from a place called GWR Casting.  It almost sounds like some place that works with metal.  It is really Guiness World Record Casting.  They are working on a new reality show featuring people attempting to break a World Record and are asking if I might be interested.  They wanted four things 1-my name (I thought they already had that) 2-record you are attempting to break and WHY 3-Town and State where record will be broken (like I'm not going to have any trouble breaking it) 4-a recent phono of yourself (I sent them a link to this thread and the nice picture ta0 took of me with my clerical robes and top in hand).

We will see if I hear anything back from them.  Feb. 28-March 4 are the filming dates so they are moving pretty quickly on this.

[ta0]

Woohoo! That sounds fantastic Mike!
Now you have to think carefully on the definition and rules you want to propose for your record. You want something that is a simple to describe as possible but that captures the difficulty of what you are doing (you don't want somebody else breaking it by fulfilling the requirements in a much easier way).

[johnm]

That's great Mike!

They are working on a new reality show featuring people attempting to break a World Record and are asking if I might be interested. 
 2-record you are attempting to break and WHY

Now you have to think carefully on the definition and rules you want to propose for your record. You want something that is a simple to describe as possible but that captures the difficulty of what you are doing (you don't want somebody else breaking it by fulfilling the requirements in a much easier way).

So ta0 presents an important question.  Do you have to attempt an already existing record--in which case you have to follow someone else's rules--or do you get to define and establish your own record?  The way you've 'quoted' them, it seems you need to compete against a preset record which is what I would expect.  The American people seem to need a winner and a looser and if the contestants are defining their own rules for a record, then any first attempt is the record and we don't get our looser so we stop watching it on TV.   (For this Guinness competition, maybe I will think about it as the previous winner and the new winner because for me with tops everyone wins )

[Watts' Tops]

I just read this thread for the first time.  Where have I been.  Mike, I am totally impressed.  Can't wait to hear what happens with the record book.  Looking forward to meeting you someday as well.

[Dick Stohr]

Way to go Mike!  Smile pretty and have a great time.