And They Say We Don't Report on International News

The Featured Instigator sends us this story about a Malaysian woman who's very goal-oriented...

A Malaysian woman is trying to reclaim the world record for the longest stay in a room full of scorpions, news reports said Sunday.

Nur Malena Hassan, 27, moved Saturday into a locked glass box where she plans to live for 36 consecutive days with more than 6,000 of the poisonous arachnids in a shopping mall, the Malay-language Mingguan Malaysia newspaper reported.

Scores of people watched as Nur Malena stood fearlessly in a red sweater and jeans with scorpions crawling up her head, chest and legs in Kuantan, a city about 160 miles east of Kuala Lumpur, a photograph published by the newspaper showed.

Nur Malena set a world record in 2001 by living for 30 days with 2,700 scorpions. She was stung seven times, fell unconscious and almost gave up the attempt.

Her record was shattered a year later by Kanchana Ketkeaw, a woman in neighboring Thailand who lived in a similar glass room for 32 days with 3,400 scorpions.

Under self-imposed rules, Nur Malena is expected to leave the glass room just once a day for 15 minutes at a time. She will sleep, eat and perform Muslim prayers in the room.

In recent years, Malaysians have displayed a growing penchant for offbeat records — like the highest backward climb up a staircase, the largest number of old people at a circus and the greatest number of heads shampooed in one day at a shopping mall.

I keep thinking of the Simpsons' episode which ended with the "100-foot Magnifying Glass" and the unforgettable "Escaltor to Nowhere." If someone could show the Malaysians that scene, we might finally get these built.