John Farrier's Blog Posts

Grilling on Top of a Moving Submarine

Redditor shanbuscus offers this photo of his dad on top of HMAS Onslow, a diesel submarine operated by Australia's navy from 1968 to 1999. It's now on display and open to visitors at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.

In the comments, other redditors who were submariners describe at great length what submarine air smells like after a lengthy cruise.

-via Twisted Sifter


The Last US Navy Frigate Begins Its Last Patrol


(Photo: US Navy)

In 1977, the United States Navy launched the Oliver Hazard Perry, the lead vessel in a class of frigates. American shipyards built 51 for the US Navy and 16 more for friendly nations, including Australia and Taiwan. These support vessels carried American will across the globe for nearly 40 years. The USS Stark, which was attacked by Iraq in 1987, was among the Perry-class frigates.

Now the last Perry-class frigate, the Kauffman, begins its final patrol from its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia. After a 6-month cruise off the coast of Central America, it will be decommissioned. There will be no more frigates in the US Navy inventory.

Except, as Kat Callahan of Foxtrot Alpha points out, the USS Constitution. This vessel, launched in 1797 and named by President George Washignton is an active vessel commanded by a naval officer.


Every Year, These Brothers Build a Giant Snow Sculpture on Their Front Lawn

(Photo: Bartz Snow Sculptures)

Every winter for the past few years, Austin, Trevor, and Connor Bartz of New Brighton, Minnesota have built a huge snow sculpture of a sea creature on their front lawn. Last year, we saw their huge snow shark. This year, the Bartz boys made a 12 foot tall turtle. You can see a time-lapse video of its construction here.

-via Twisted Sifter


Zombie Brains Rice Krispie Treats

A good brain, like a good Rice Krispie treat, is sweet and sticky. You have to eat it quickly because they become too hard once they get stale. Amber of the food blog Rick A Bam Boo made these tasty undead treats with Rice Krispies, marshmallows, butter, red food coloring, and food gel. Eat them before they escape!

-via Chloe Webber


5 Brilliant Product Concepts by Steven M. Johnson

Steven M. Johnson has a widely wandering mind. He's been an urban planner, a newspaper artist, and a trends analyst, among other careers. New ideas always draw his attention. He conceives of products that would benefit us all--or at least cunning marketers--if only they were put into action. For example, some people love to buy pre-damaged jeans. Wouldn't they also buy pre-damaged cars?

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News Stories Summarized with LEGO Minifigs

On Wednesday, a Pennsylvania grand jury indicted a jail guard with forcing prisoners to play patty-cake and hug each other. Here's the gist of that story summarized by The Short News, a site that presents the news with LEGO minifigs. Its Instagram account is filled with these carefully selected and arranged toys.

On June 30 of this year, a leap second will be added to calendars, jumping time recording forward precisely one second. Some people are worried about what this will do to computer networks.

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This Man Is Toasting Marshmallows over a Live Volcano


(Video Link)

Simon Turner of Christchurch, New Zealand visited the Marcum Crater on the island of Ambrym, which is part of the Pacific islands nation of Vanuatu. To relax in this tropical paradise, he toasted marshmallows and drank beer over an active lava lake.

-via That's Nerdalicious!


The Area in Blue Is Colder Than the Planet Mars

Curiosity is a NASA-operated robotic rover on the surface of Mars. It includes the Rover Environmental Monitoring System (REMS), which measures weather conditions on Mars, including temperature, wind speed, and humidity. If you want up-to-date weather reports from Mars, you can follow the REMS Twitter feed. It informs us that Curiosity has warmer weather than many parts of the United States and Canada.

-via TYWKIWDBI


Woman Learns She's Pregnant, Gives Birth to 10-Pound Baby 1 Hour Later


(Photo: Kropas Family)

Katherine Kropas, 23, is a caterer in Weymouth, Massachussets. She didn't feel well. Her ankles were swollen. Then, a few days later, she felt strong stomach pains. So Kropas called in sick and had her boyfriend drive her to the hospital. Doctors quickly discovered the source of the pain: Kropas was about to have a baby--and a big one! Neal Simpson writes for The Patriot Ledger:

On Wednesday morning, just 12 hours after her baby arrived unexpected into the world, a tired and dazed Kropas sat surrounded by family in South Shore Hospital’s maternity ward and contemplated the drastically new direction her life had taken. She appeared unfazed by it.

“It’ll be fun,” she said. “I’ll have lots of help.” [...]

Ben Hamar, the doctor at South Shore Hospital who delivered the Kropas baby, said there’s a range of things that can hide a women’s pregnancy from her, including body size and irregular menstruation. He said South Shore Hospital, which sees about 3,500 births a year, usually has a “couple” of cases each year where a mother learns of her pregnancy only weeks or days before the birth. 

The baby, who is a girl, is healthy. Her name is Ellen Olivia.

-via Huffington Post


This Jellyfish Looks Like a Fried Egg


(Photo: Vassil)

This is a Phacellophora camtschatica, a creature commonly known as the fried egg jellyfish. It commonly has a 3 foot wide bell and stinging tentacles that often reach 20 feet long. It feeds on zooplankton and sea turtles feed on it, presumably at breakfast time.

You can watch a video of a fried egg jellyfish here.

-via Inhabitat


This Is a Triangular Elevator

Redditor felibb writes, "I took a ride in a triangular elevator today." That's fascinating! I've never seen one before. Wherever this elevator is, it's not the only one. Here's a video of another triangular elevator in an airport in Amsterdam.

-via BuzzFeed


Rocking X-Wing

Get your little X-wing fighter pilot started on his flight training with this variation on the classic rocking horse. DeviantArt member Steveswoodentoys made this beautifully-crafted ship. It measures 45 inches long, 47 inches wide, and 25 inches tall. He used pine, macrocarpa, and rimu. It comes with a removable R2 droid.

-via Geek Art Gallery


Fantastic Job Position: Science Fiction Librarian

(Image: Lucasfilm)

Not all librarians are Jedi like Jocasta Nu. But a lot of us are a bit Force-sensitive, which comes in handy when peering into a patron's mind during a reference interview or intuiting the best resources within a library collection.

It would come in handy if you land this dream job: science fiction librarian. The University of California at Riverside holds the Eaton Collection, a respository of "science fiction, fantasy, horror and utopian literature." Among many other materials, the Eaton Collection includes over 100,000 books and almost 100,000 fanzines. The manager of it holds the position of Jay Kay and Doris Klein Science Fiction Librarian. It's currently open. Do you want to apply?

-via Allison M. Scott on popculture-l


Fan Theory: Obi-Wan Kenobi Was Using Luke Skywalker as Bait to Lure Darth Vader to Tatooine


(Image: Lucasfilm)

Luke Skywalker grows up on a humble moisture farm on Tatooine. His father, Anakin Skywalker, has adopted the name Darth Vader and become a villanous tyrant. He never bothers to check up on a kid with his own unusual last name.

Why? Redditor scc10n8 has concocted a brilliant explanation. The entire plot of Star Wars Episode IV was a long con set up by Obi-Wan Kenobi:

I don't think Obi-Wan ever meant to confront Luke. I subscribe to the notion that the whole thing was an elaborate trap to lure Darth Vader there for a final battle to the death.

He takes Luke there as a child, doesn't even change his last name to anything other than Skywalker, and leaves him with Vader's mom's family on a sparsly populated planet so there's no over abundance of life to hide the kids force talent which is sure to manifest. Then he just sits there in the desert, waiting for Vader to show up so they can throw down on a hardcore force battle in a desert where there won't be much collateral or many opportunities to take hostages. Only he never shows.

Obi-Wan's plan doesn't work, though. Vader never shows up. So when he stumbles across Luke in the desert, he takes a different, even more insidious approach:

Sure Obi-Wan is old, but this kid is fresh. He's maliable. The Empire is sure to be tracking these droids. He just has to distract him for a while and the inevitable is sure to happen to his family. So what does he do? Start dropping hints about the kids dad. Tell him about him being a great jedi, a great pilot, both things the kid will need to off Vader, and all of it true. And as long as he's hearing what he wants to hear, has stars in his eyes, drop the bomb. Vader killed your dad.

From here Obi-Wan's got him, he's getting ready to somehow steer the kid to go check on his family when they seen the plume of black smoke on the horizon. A blasted out Sandcrawler, mana from heaven! After that the whole thing is dominoes. One after another gathering speed. And in a later showdown with Vader he can die with a smile on his face because he knows he gave it the first push.

-via Super Punch


The Netherlands' Crane Hotels

(Photo: Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel)

The Netherlands has at least two hotels built into decommissioned industrial cranes. If you want to get a scenic view of a shipyard from the window of a luxurious hotel room, then these are the places to go.


(Photo: Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel)

One is the Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel, which has three rotating suites, a TV studio, and the opportunity to go bungee jumping.

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Profile for John Farrier

  • Member Since 2012/08/04


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