"I sound like a broken record every time I break a record," rapped Eminem in a dizzying barrage of sixteenth notes on his song, "Lucky You." David Rush of Boise, Idaho might snicker, chortle or even outright guffaw at such a boast. Rush has made a name for himself by routinely setting Guinness World Records as a means of promoting STEM education. To date, he has set high scores in over 150 made-up games. Many of Rush's records involve ping-pong balls. He has records in everything from bouncing the 40mm plastic balls into cups to throwing them onto a friend's head covered in shaving cream. His latest spheroidal shenanigan challenged the existing record of spitting a ping-pong ball against a wall and catching it in the mouth 34 times in 30 seconds. The highly specialized skill, Rush explains, consists of "two very distinct, yet related skills: one of shooting the ping-pong ball out of the mouth accurately, both with speed as well as precision, and the second is catching it back again in the mouth." As Rush prepares for his latest shot at glory, he faces a mirror and assumes a ready position familiar to most serious table tennis players. An official timekeeper stands at the ready, one of many prerequisites for official Guinness recognition. At her command, he spits the ball against the mirrored wall and catches the rebound in his mouth. After almost bobbling the second one, perhaps due to a dry mouth from the nerves of performance anxiety, Rush gets into a groove. He barely moves as the ball travels roughly a yard each way, his mouth catching and shooting it back like a surreal table tennis practice robot. As the timekeeper halts the action, the ball completes its 44th orbit. Instant replay revealed that it was 0.08 seconds late, so the new official Guinness record for—well, whatever you want to call it—stands at 43. Before you rush out and try to break the record, consider that Rush practiced this specific series of motions for a year and a half. "I probably spent more time than I care to admit practicing for this one," Rush took care to admit. While David Rush is certainly a creative and prolific record breaker, his 150 Guinness World Records is far from the record for most records. New York's Ashrita Furman currently holds over 600. With enough ping-pong balls, "STEM Shady" might just break that record too.

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