SortStack #909 — 2028-12-04

By size · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A standard paperclip 3.2 cm

   The familiar looped design, called the Gem clip, was never patented and has barely changed in over a century.

2. A ten-pin bowling pin 38 cm

   Pins are coated in tough plastic and weigh just enough to scatter dramatically yet stand back up reliably.

3. A skateboard 79 cm

   The kicktail that makes tricks possible was a 1970s accident that turned skating into an aerial sport.

4. A small recreational sailboat 9.4 m

   Modern sails work like vertical wings, generating lift that lets boats sail faster than the wind itself.

5. Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio 40 m

   It is struck by lightning several times a year, and repair crews keep spare soapstone to patch the damage.

6. The Pan-American Highway (length) 30K km

   It runs almost pole to pole but for one gap: the roadless Darien jungle between Panama and Colombia.

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