Toy Story 3 (USA, 2010) took US$41 million (then £25.9 million) on its opening day at 4,028 locations across the USA on 18 June 2010, beating the previous record of $38,426,991 (then £24.5 million) set by Shrek the Third (USA, 2007) on 18 May 2007. Figures available at http://www.boxofficemojo.com
Disney/Pixar’s toy Story 3 (USA, 2010) earned over $1 billion, or $1,050 million (£664 million), at the global box office from its opening on 18 June 2010 to October 2010.
Roscoe Wind Farm, Roscoe, Texas, USA, contains 627 separate wind turbines and can generate up to 781.5 MW. The farm covers an area of almost 400 km².
The highest commercial decelerator descent facility is Sky Jump Las Vegas at the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower, measuring 252 m (829 ft) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, opened on 20 April 2010. Jumpers leap off a platform outside the 108th floor of the Stratosphere’s iconic tower at the north end of the Las Vegas strip. The average speed per rider is between 40-50 mph on the way down before deceleration begins shortly before the landing point.
The highest cumulative attendance for a baseball franchise is 173,132,909 by the Los Angeles Dodgers (USA) between 1901 and 2006. This franchise began as the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1901 before moving to Los Angeles in 1958. Figure correct to the end of the 2006 season.
The world total for defence spending in 2009, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, is US $1,531 billion and the nation that spends the most is the United States of America with a defence budget in the order of US$ 661 billion (with for 2010 a projected outturn of US$719 billion) just under half the world total. For 2011, the US defence budget is expected to rise to some US$739 billion.
On 15 November 1991 the ‘Fly’s Eye’ cosmic ray experiment in Utah, USA, detected an interstellar subatomic particle with an energy of 3.2×10**20 eV (roughly 50 joules or 12 calories). This is roughly the same energy as a fast-pitched baseball. The Fly’s Eye experiment was built and operated by the University of Utah, USA.
In terms of book sales and earnings, James Patterson (USA) is the most successful author of adult fiction. He has sold more than 200 million books since 1992 and in the 12 months to 1 June 2010 alone earned $70 million (£46.5 million).
The highest field goal percentage in WNBA history is .619 by Haixia Zheng (China) while playing for the Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 to 1998. Zheng made 130 of 210 field goal attempts.
On 9 July 2010, Zephyr, a High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was launched at 0641hours and set three new world records. They are currently awaiting ratification by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and were: The absolute duration record for an Unmanned Air Vehicle of 336 hrs and 22 minutes (14 days and 22 minutes). The duration record for a UAV (in the U/1.c / 50-500Kg category) – time as above The absolute altitude record for a UAV (in the above category) – of 70,740ft
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