A doctor on his morning walk, noticed an older lady sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said, "I couldn't help but notice how happy you look!  What's your secret?"

Baines' physician said she only has two complaints.

"Number one, she doesn't like the bacon. It's not crisp enough," the doctor, Charles Witt Jr., told KCAL-TV. "And the other thing is she fusses about her ... arthritis of her knees. She told me that she owes her longevity to the Lord, that she never did drink, she never did smoke and she never did fool around."

Baines father, born two years before the Civil War in 1863, was likely a slave, Young said. Baines has outlived her entire family. Her only daughter died of typhoid fever when she was a toddler.

Featured on local television newscasts in November when she cast her ballot for Barack Obama for president, Baines said she backed him "because he's for the coloured." She said she never thought she would live to see a black man become president.

Baines received a letter from Obama, wishing her a happy birthday.

Baines worked as a maid in University of Ohio dormitories until her retirement, and has lived at the Los Angeles convalescent hospital for more than 10 years.

Since 1986, Young said, the world's oldest person title has been held by a woman for all but 44 days.

How Tall Is the Tallest Person In the World?
Tue Apr 14, 9:58 AM
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090414/world/china_society_tallest

BEIJING (AFP) - A contender for world's tallest man underwent foot surgery at a Chinese hospital where doctors confirmed he is 10 centimetres (four inches) taller than the current title-holder, state press said Tuesday.

Zhao Liang, 27, was measured at 2.46 metres when he had an operation at a hospital in Tianjin city to relieve an injury suffered nearly a decade ago, Xinhua news agency reported.

It was when he sustained the initial injury that doctors first found out Zhao was taller than fellow countryman Bao Xishun, who is listed by the Guinness World Records as the world's tallest man, the report said.

But Zhao has not been independently measured by Guinness judges, so he is not officially considered to be the world's tallest man, the report said.

Zhao's basketball career was cut short when he injured his foot 10 years ago and he remained unemployed until 2006, when he got a job with an art troupe and learned to perform magic and play the saxophone and flute, the report said.

Doctors said Zhao should be able to walk normally after a two-month recovery period from surgery. He does not suffer any health complications related to his height, it added.

Zhao's parents, who are both of normal height, do not know how their son has grown so tall, the report said.

Bao Xishun, 57, was first recognised by the Guinness Book in 2005 as the world's tallest man, measuring in at 2.36 metres.