SortStack #1243 — 2029-11-03
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- An average human yawn 6 sec
Yawns are so contagious they jump species: dogs catch yawns from their owners, and even reading the word can trigger one. You're welcome.
- 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.
- Holi, the Hindu festival of colours 2 days
It opens with the Holika bonfire at night and erupts into colour-throwing the next day — the powders were traditionally made from flowers and herbs.
- The 1900 Paris Olympic Games 167 days
Spread thinly through the World's Fair, the Games were so disorganized that some winners died never knowing they had been Olympians.
- The construction of the Sydney Opera House 14 years
Planned as a four-year, $7 million project, it took fourteen years and $102 million — and its architect left Australia before it opened, never returning.
- A periodical cicada's life cycle, egg to final emergence 17 years
They spend 17 years underground and mere weeks in the sun — the prime-numbered cycle may have evolved to dodge predators' breeding rhythms.