SortStack #102 — 2026-09-19
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- A single round of professional boxing 3 min
Round length was standardized by the 1867 Queensberry Rules, which also introduced gloves — before that, bare-knuckle rounds ended only with a knockdown.
- Cooking a perfect soft-boiled egg 4.5 min
At high altitude it takes noticeably longer — water boils below 100°C up a mountain, which is why mountaineers complain about their eggs.
- The film 'Gone with the Wind', with overture and intermission 4 h
Still the longest film ever to win Best Picture — and adjusted for inflation, it remains the highest-grossing film of all time.
- The construction of the Empire State Building 1.1 years
Crews added roughly four and a half storeys per week, finishing ahead of schedule and under budget during the Great Depression.
- The Berlin Wall standing, from construction to fall 28.2 years
Since 2018, the Wall has been down longer than it ever stood — and more of it now sits in museums worldwide than in Berlin.
- Voyager 1's journey from launch to interstellar space 35 years
It carries a golden record with greetings in 55 languages and Chuck Berry — and it still phones home daily on a 1970s 8-track-era computer.