DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The 6,148 whiskey shots perched atop glasses of energy drink waited for the push that might send them tumbling into the record books - just another night in Dubai, and another chance to make a certain kind of history.

Superlatives like "the world's biggest" and "the world's first" are almost as ubiquitous as the skyscrapers and mega-projects that have come to define this city-state on the Arabian Peninsula, home to the tallest building and the busiest international airport on Earth.

With time, this largest-in-life approach has filtered down to more humble and odder pursuits - such as Monday night's attempt at the world's longest domino drop shot.

You probably weren't aware that there was a record to beat in the domino drop shot, or even that there was something called a domino drop shot. Just imagine someone dropping a shot glass into a beer, but before you can guzzle it down, another thousand shots drop into another thousand pints behind it, like dominoes.

The Emirati push for world records corresponds with academic research on social comparison. Studies show that the higher ranked a person becomes in a field, "the more thirsty you are to get to that No. 1 position," said Stephen Garcia, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.

"Even with adults, if you say, 'First one to the tree is the coolest person in the world,' you're going to get the adults running to the tree," Garcia said. "That's such a childhood game, but people are ready to run with it. Whenever you create a competition, people tend to buy in, even around these trivial dimensions, like this Guinness World Record."

Read the full article "The biggest what? Dubai seeks glory in obscure world records" at the Associated Press.