John Farrier's Blog Posts

Adjust the Brightness of This Lamp by Lowering It into the Well

Štefan Nosko and Katarína Beličková are consumer product designers in Bratislava, Slovakia. They call this lamp Well. You can control the brightness of the lamp by using it like an old fashioned water well. To increase the brightness, crank up the wire. To decrease the brightness, lower the light bulb into the shaded glass cylinder.

Continue reading

The Rules of a Wife Carrying Competition

(Photo: Visit Lakeland)

Wife carrying is an old sport in Finland and Estonia derived from a rather aggressive dating practice that has fallen out of favor in modern times: grab a woman, toss her over your shoulder, and carry off to a newly married life.


(Video Link)

So file that practice under “do not try this at home.” The modern sport, though, is a bit more civilized. Grab a wife (not necessarily your own) and carry her over an obstacle course faster than anyone else. The sport has been formalized and regulated in Finland since 1992. When On Earth lists some of the rules that athletes must follow to enter into the Finnish championship:

  • The length of the official track is 253.5 meters with a sand track surface.
  • The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle about one meter deep.
  • The wife to be carried may be your own, or the neighbor’s, or you may have found her further afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age.
  • The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kilograms. If she weighs less than 49 kg, she will be burdened with a rucksack containing additional weight to bring the total load to be carried up to 49 kg.
  • If a contestant drops the wife, he has to lift her on to his back or in his arms and continue carrying.
  • All participants must enjoy themselves.
  • The winner is the couple who completes the course in the shortest time.
  • The only equipment allowed is a belt worn by the carrier and a helmet worn by the carried.
  • The contestants run the race two at a time, so each heat is a contest in itself.
  • Each contestant takes care of his/her safety and, if deemed necessary, insurance.
  • The contestants have to pay attention to the instructions given by the organizers of the competition.
  • Wife Carrying Competition has two categories Official Wife Carrying World Championships Series and Senior series  40 years and older applicants.
  • Also the most entertaining couple, the best costume, and the strongest carrier will be rewarded with a special prize.

-via VA Viper


(Photo: Visit Lakeland)

Should wife carrying be an Olympic sport?




Long Neck Beer

Redditor Chillypow shows what happens when you leave a bottle of beer in the freezer. This was inevitable because beer wants to be free. It’s not happy staying cooped up in a bottle. It wants you.

Other redditors offer more science-y explanations, but I’m sticking with my hypothesis.

-via TYWKIWDBI


In Retrospect, It Should Have Been Obvious That Fruit Loops Belong on Hot Dogs

(Photo: Allison Carey/The Plain Dealer)

The Happy Dog is a restaurant in Cleveland. Since Sean Kilbane purchased and renovated it in 2008, it’s been a happening place for live music and original food. The chef decided to start by offering only 4 foods: hot dogs, vegetarian dogs, French fries, and tater tots. But to these you can add a vast array of toppings.

The menu includes 50 hot dog toppings.  Yes, you can have ketchup and nacho cheese. But you can also get fried eggs, brie cheese, and SpaghettiOs. You can ask for mustard, but you’ll have to be specific because the restaurant offers three different kinds.

The chef’s best idea was to offer Fruit Loops. I’ve never had them as a hot dog topping, but it really makes sense.

-via Alton Brown


The Doctor Comforts a Grieving Child


(Image: BBC)

YouTube user Ross Goodall has a 9-year old autistic son. Thomas is grieving after the death of his nanny. Peter Capaldi, the actor who currently plays the Doctor, sent him a personal message that arrived right before the funeral. While in character, Capaldi offers a warm and thoughtful reply.


(Video Link)

-via The Mary Sue


Physicists Determine That Being Rescued by The Flash Is Worse Than Being Hit by a Car

(Image: The CW)

In an early scene from the TV show The Flash, Barry Allen rescues a bicyclist from being hit by a taxi. That was really helpful of him, right? Well, no. According to an article published in Physics Special Topics, a student journal at the University of Leicester (UK), the bicyclist would have a better chance of surviving if The Flash had left him alone. The force of hitting The Flash would exceed that of hitting the car:

It has been shown that in the scenario depicted in the trailer that The Flash’s intended heroic act results in more villainous consequences by injuring the cyclist more than the taxi would have. The Flash’s efforts will be serving the greater good if he lowers the speed at which he makes contact. Alternatively, increasing the area over which he makes contact with the cyclist would also lower the pressure and likelihood of injury.

This isn't the first time that Physics Special Topics has addressed the physical realities presented in pop culture. They've also determined that Batman woud die if he attempted to glide and Miley Cyrus would be crushed if she came in like a wrecking ball.

-via Blastr


How George Washington’s Bad Teeth Helped Win the Revolutionary War

(Portrait by Rembrandt Peale)

As he aged, George Washington gradually lost his teeth. Throughout his life, he consulted a variety of dentists to provide dentures for him.

In 1781, General Washington commanded the army watching over New York City, then occupied by the British. General Cornwallis was then campaigning in the South. For a brief time, a French fleet and army would be available to assist the Americans, so Washington and the French General Rochambeau planned to jointly march to Virginia to attack Cornwallis. At the end of this campaign, Washington scored his greatest victory by forcing Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown.

Washington’s bad teeth helped the Americans win that battle at Yorktown.

While he remained encamped outside of New York City, the British captured a packet of Washington’s letters. One of them was a letter to a dentist in Philadelphia. Washington mentioned that he would probably not be able to come to Philadelphia and asked the doctor to send him a tooth scraper.


(Photo: Mount Vernon)

Washington would not be able to come to Philadelphia because he would be fighting in Virginia. But General Clinton, the British commander in New York City, interpreted the letter to mean that Washington would remain encamped outside of New York City. John L. Smith, Jr. writes in the Journal of the American Revolution:

After verifying that the intercepted mail was real and not a set-up, the British Army commander in America, Sir Henry Clinton, became convinced that Washington and his army was going to stay put the Hudson Highlands north of New York City. Clinton let his guard down.

Little did Clinton know that just after Washington had written the tooth-scraping letter, both Washington and Rochambeau began planning the Franco-American armies’ movement down to Virginia – down to meet General Cornwallis at Yorktown for the siege that basically ended the Revolutionary War.

A webpage maintained by Mount Vernon confirms this claim.


Miss Uganda Contestants Must Milk a Cow

(Photo: Rebecca Vassie/AP)

There’s no swimsuit component in the new Miss Uganda contest. But there is a talent show. Specifically, if you’re a contestant in this national beauty pageant, you're required to milk a cow. Pictured above is one contestant learning how at an agricultural college.

The change is a move ordered by Yoweri Museveni, the dictator of Uganda, who recently placed the Ugandan army in control of the Miss Uganda pageant. Museveni wants to strengthen his country’s agricultural sector. By evaluating milking skills, he’s emphasizing the importance of agriculture.

The winner of the contest this year is Leah Kalanguka, a computer engineer with a background in mushroom farming.

-via Modern Farmer


Why Are So Few People Left-Handed? A Biologist Explains


(Video Link)

Joe Hanson is a biologist and the host of the PBS online series It’s Okay to Be Smart. In this video, he explains why it’s odd that there so few left-handed people. It’s a mystery because other animals do not possess this characteristic. The odds of a dog favoring a left or right forepaw are about 50/50.

Scientists have not been able to determine with certainty why there are so few left-handed people, but they have a few theories. One is that early hominids possessed a genetic mutation encouraging right-handedness. Left-handed people aren’t people with a left-handedness gene, but people who lack the right-handedness gene. You can learn more about this theory and others in the video above.


University Offers Course on Doctor Who


(Image: Anthony Rotolo)

For the spring semester of 2015, Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York offers a course on Doctor Who. Anthony Rotolo, a futurist and public speaker, will teach it. He also teaches a course on Star Trek and is noted for his innovative use of Twitter in the classroom.


(Image: Anthony Rotolo)

The class is open to the public and free. It does not bear course credit unless a student registers for it as an independent study. Students will watch classic and modern episodes of the show and discuss the significance of Doctor Who.

-via Nerd Bastards


151 Years after His Death, An American Soldier Is Awarded the Medal of Honor

On July 3, 1863--the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg-- a Confederate infantry assault that came to be known as Pickett’s Charge almost broke the Army of Potomac in two.

First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing, 22, of Delafield, Wisconsin stood against this human wave. He commanded 6 cannons and 110 men. Lt. Cushing had been badly wounded, but he refused to fall back. Meg Jones writes for the Journal Sentinel:

With only two working cannons and a handful of soldiers left, Cushing refused to leave the front line or disband what remained of his battery. Seriously wounded in the shoulder and holding his intestines with his hand after shrapnel ripped through his abdomen and groin, Cushing ignored his superiors' orders to seek medical attention.

His battery remained in place, firing into the Confederate advance and ultimately driving it back. But in the ensuing combat, Lt. Cushing had been shot again and he would not live to see the victory he had helped secure.

Cushing was a West Point graduate, so he was buried with full honors at that school. His family mourned him and his hometown honored him with an obelisk inscribed with his name.

Much later, in 1967, Margaret Zerwekh, an amateur historian, began researching Cushing and his family. Zerwekh began a campaign to have Cushing awarded the Medal of Honor. That effort, which had gathered political and military support over the decades, culminated in a White House ceremony on today. President Obama conferred on Lt. Cushing the Medal of Honor. At 151 years, this is the longest period of time elapsed between a heroic action and the conferring of the medal.

(Photo of Lt. Cushing provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society)


Baby Iron Man Costume

(Photo: Eric Hart)

Eric Hart is a professional prop maker in Burlington, North Carolina. His infant son is hospitalized. Hart wanted his boy to experience Halloween and to have “a costume that would help him feel brave.” Iron Man was a natural choice. Hart created a pattern with paper, then cut the pieces out of red and yellow foam.


(Video Link)

-via Technabob


The Hamster Bartender

. . . and the bartender says, "Why the long face?"

Well, maybe not at this bar. Twitter user @kawanabesatou makes tiny living rooms, kitchens, and bars for his hamsters and photographs them at work. Bartending isn't such a bad gig. And it can help them pay their human for their room and board.

The drinks are kind of small, though. Go head and order a double.

Continue reading

More of Ella and Pitr's Amazing Optical Illusions

Ella and Pitr are street artists in France. They're noted for creating 3d presentations that leap off the walls when viewed from just the right angle. We've previously posted some of the mind-bending work they've done by painting frames around people. Now they're branching into human figure presentations that show people at work and play on the walls of old buildings.

Continue reading

Hairdresser Cuts Hair with a Samurai Sword


(Photo: Ngoisao)

Nguyen Hoang Hung is a hairstylist in Vietnam. Once, on a game show, he had to cut hair without scissors. He used a handsaw. That experience convinced him to see what other unconventional cutting implements could be used on the job. Now he uses a wakizashi—a short sword of Japanese origin.


(Video Link)

Hung has become famous for his “sword cuts” and clients flock to him for the experience. Hung says that chopping hair with the sword helps him create light, airy haircuts.

Now I have a new career ambition: to become the first barber to regularly give haircuts and shaves with a bat’leth.


Email This Post to a Friend
""

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window

Page 414 of 1,280     first | prev | next | last

Profile for John Farrier

  • Member Since 2012/08/04


Statistics

Blog Posts

  • Posts Written 19,187
  • Comments Received 51,820
  • Post Views 30,906,511
  • Unique Visitors 25,240,027
  • Likes Received 29,128

Comments

  • Threads Started 3,739
  • Replies Posted 2,175
  • Likes Received 1,598
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More