SortStack #1285 — 2029-12-15
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- A chameleon's tongue reaching its insect prey 72 ms
Small chameleons have the fastest tongues, accelerating at hundreds of g — proportionally the most powerful movement of any reptile, bird, or mammal.
- Jeff Bezos' first Blue Origin spaceflight, launch to landing 10.2 min
The 2021 flight carried both the oldest and youngest people to reach space at the time: 82-year-old Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.
- A football (soccer) match, regulation time 90 min
The ball is typically in play for barely 55 of those minutes — which is why competitions now add increasingly enormous stoppage time.
- The record-winning Vendée Globe solo sail around the world 64.8 days
Charlie Dalin's 2025 run was nonstop, alone, and unassisted — skippers sleep in 20-minute bursts for the entire circumnavigation.
- The first circumnavigation of the globe (Magellan's expedition) 3 years
Magellan himself never made it — he was killed in the Philippines. Just 18 of the original ~270 crew limped home aboard one remaining ship.
- The First World War 4.3 years
The armistice was signed at dawn but set for 11 am — nearly 2,700 men died in those final six hours, the last just one minute before peace.