SortStack #1306 — 2030-01-05

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A standard television commercial 30 sec

   A single Super Bowl slot of this length has sold for over US$7 million — more than US$230,000 per second of airtime.

2. 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.

3. Yuri Gagarin's entire Vostok 1 spaceflight 108 min

   The first human spaceflight was a single orbit — and Gagarin ejected and parachuted down separately from his capsule, landing in a potato field.

4. Randy Gardner's world record for staying awake 11 days

   The 17-year-old's 1964 science-fair stunt of 11 sleepless days still stands — Guinness stopped certifying attempts as too dangerous.

5. 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.

6. The main construction of Notre-Dame de Paris 97 years

   The medieval build ran from 1163 to 1260 — yet after the 2019 fire, the cathedral was restored and reopened in just five years.

← All puzzles · Play today’s SortStack