Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Hello, ec readers!

We hope your weekend is off to a great start. And if it's not, we've been poring over this week's news stories in hopes of finding some news of the weird gems to share with you and hopefully, brighten your day!

Ready to see what sort of strange goings on have happened this week? Let's go!

It's the world's biggest pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 

(Oh, how much the ec team loves that movie! It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, for those who have no idea what we're rambling on about.) Anyway, a Wisconsin pumpkin has run away with the Guinness World Record for world's heaviest pumpkin this week. The massive gourd, grown by Chris Stevens of New Richmond, Wisc., weighed in at 1,1810.5 pounds—85 pounds heavier than the previous record holder, a 1725-pound pumpkin grown in Ohio and took the title last year. Just so you can get an idea of how big this pumpkin is, the circumference is a little more than 15 feet. Stevens unveiled his award-winning pumpkin earlier this month at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Minnesota. His secret to growing such a large gourd? Sunshine, rain, cow manure, fish emulsion, and seaweed. Eww. To see the pumpkin and read more, go here. To check out the Guinness World Records, go here.

Do you want fries with that?

It wasn't so strange when the Kocian Law Group in Manchester, Conn., opened a law office in a building that once housed a Kenny Rogers Roasters fast food restaurant. It was a vacant building and they needed an office. But what to do with the drive-through? Use it, of course! Clients use the driveo-through window at the Manchester site to pick up and drop off legal documents and other information. A paralegal works at the window, handing out whatever documents or paper work the clients need and answering questions they might have. The law office is clear that the drive-through is NOT where they'll be dispensing legal advice, though. All consultations and meetings will take place inside the building. If you'd like to learn more about the drive-through law office, go here.

The whole enchilada

Guinness World Records officials must have been busy this week—certifying the world's heaviest pumpkin in Wisconsin and also taking a gander at the world's largest enchilada in Mexico. On Sunday, residents of Iztapalapa, a borough of Mexico city, made a 230-foot-long enchilada. The enchilada weighed in at almost 1 ton and included ingredients such as corn tortillas, white onions, serrando chiles, avocado, cheese, and numerous kinds of salsas. . . among other ingredients! The city's tourism secretary said the record attempt (and win) was an effort to so the world that Iztapalapa is a "high-level tourist destintation." But if you think about it, good food does make a difference in where you travel. To learn more about this record and see the massive enchilada, go here. 

As always, if this week's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" just wasn't enough news of the weird for you, be sure to check out page 38 of this month's (and every month's) print edition of ec. In the meantime, find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and keep reading our blog!