SortStack #3182 — 2035-02-24

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A proper hand wash, by WHO guidelines 19.8 sec

   The recommended scrub lasts about as long as singing 'Happy Birthday' twice — most people manage barely a third of it.

2. The elevator ride up the Burj Khalifa's observation deck 1 min

   The lifts climb at around 10 metres per second. Your ears pop on the way to the 124th floor — the building is so tall it has distinct climate zones.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. The filming of Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' 11.4 years

   The same cast reunited for a few days each year so the actors aged in real time — the lead grew from age six to eighteen on screen.

6. The age of the oldest known figurative cave painting (Sulawesi) 51.1K years

   The Indonesian rock art depicts wild pigs and human-like figures — painted tens of thousands of years before Lascaux's famous bulls.

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