Caine Eckstein is an Australian Ironman champion and a Guinness World Record holder. Recently, on the set of the Today show, he completed 4,210 pull-ups in 12 hours. This secured for him the record for the greatest number of pull-ups in both 12 and 24 hours.
To perform this incredible feat, Eckstein did 6 pull-ups every minute for the first 10 hours of his attempt, then 5 pull-ups every minute for the last 2 hours.
It really tore up his hands!
Maybe Eckstein will try it again sometimes with his pinkie fingers, as this man did.
James Chapman is a cartoonist who has found a niche by illustrating the words used in many languages for common experiences, such as the sound of frying and the names of Pokémon. We've featured his work extensively at Neatorama.
If you live in the heart of a major city, easy access to public transportation is essential. In New York City, that priority includes the subway system. If you live in Manhattan, how far away from you is the nearest subway station?
In 2012, the Spanish government raised taxes on theater tickets from 8 to 21%, leading to a sharp decrease in the number of patrons at comedy clubs. In order to make up for lost revenue, the Barcelona comedy club Teatreneu has installed a new system that will charge patrons by the number of laughs that they experience while attending a performance.
The advertising agency The Cyranos McCann developed the system. On the back of each seat is a camera hooked into a facial recognition system. As patrons laugh, the program calculates their bills. Cadie Thompson of CNBC writes:
Each giggle costs approximately 30 Euro cents ($0.38). However, if a patron hits the 24 Euros mark, which is about 80 laughs, the rest of their laughs are free of charge.
Sorry, Boss, but there's nothing that I can do to escape these cuddles. I'll have to shelter in place until he wakes up. I'm sure that my co-workers will understand.
Do remember how hard it was to learn how to drive? It was scary for you, but even scarier for your instructor. Now imagine that coming of age experience in the future, when cars can fly. That's the premise of Crash Course, a funny short film produced by students at the Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Scorpion Chair is ideal for formal occasions. But you can't be "on" all of the time. Sometimes, you need to retreat to your cozy corner to relax after a hard day at work. Etsy seller Chic Sin Design has just the right chair for that purpose.
The Mars Bar is the signature chocolate candy of the Mars chocolate company--a firm that has not only international but also interplanetary reach. Of course, on Mars, it's necessary to market the same product under a different name. The focus groups were clear about that. Artist Rafik Emil H. illustrates the result.
It's called the Aromafork. Molecule-R, a company in Montreal, is marketing it as a way to make food tastier. The premise is that if food smells better, it will taste better. The hole in the fork has a space for a scent-infused slip of paper. Bringing the fork to your mouth to eat brings the paper to your nose, filling your nostrils with that scent instead of the smell of the food.
The company currently sells 21 different aromas, including mint, strawberry, wasabi, and cheesecake. What flavors would you like to smell in your fork?
Last Friday, we told you about a wonderful word problem written by 8th grade student Cody Swanek. It's about the troubles that J.J. Abrams, the director of the next Star Wars movie, faces during production. Pictured above is his original manuscript. It reads as follows:
J. J. Abrams is making Star Wars Episode 7. He rented three speeder bikes which was 700 imperial credits to start. He must pay 100 imperial credits to keep his speeder bikes daily. If he does not pay daily, Prince Xizor and other Black Sun members will kidnap J. J. Abrams, bring him to Mustafar, and sacrifice him.
J. J. Abrams is also paying 5 bounty hunters to keep separatist spies out. That costs 200 imperial credits to start, then 50 imperial credits for each bounty hunter every time they capture a spy. The Separatists send 2 spies every day.
In how many days does J. J. Abrams spend the same amount of imperial credits on speeders and bounty hunters?
Abrams has undertaken the monumental responsibility of creating the Star Wars movie and is thus not a man to shirk from a challenge. Topless Robot reports that Abrams solved Cody's problem and mailed him a handwritten explanation of his reasoning.
Volkswagen wants people to think of its electric cars as futuristic, so it hired William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy to appear in this German language commercial. It shows a young and hardcore Trekkie getting the thrill of his life when William Shatner moves into his neighborhood.
This behind-the-scenes video, which is embedded below, is even better. I gather that Owen Jonas, the boy in the video, is an actual Trekkie himself. Shatner looks around the toy collection and shares bits of interesting trivia with him. For example, Shatner explains that toymakers made hand phaser replicas that were better than the props, so the show began using the toys instead of the props.
Can you drive your opponent to the ground? Then, obviously, you should bear this giant green macaron as a trophy. Rocket News 24 reports that this giant cookie was a prize at the Sumo Senshuraku championship. The famous French pastry chef Pierre Hermé made it for the tournament.
Imgur user Managerofnothing wanted to restore his Volkswagen Rabbit GTI. To do so, he bought another GTI and stripped it for parts. He still had most of the shell of the extra GTI left over. So he decided to use it to build a grill.
This beautiful custom grill has a cherry wood counter around the fire pit and is painted to match the restored GTI. He's wired the headlights, which will no doubt make griling at night easier.
Siobhan Thompson of BBC America's Anglophenia blog imagines insulting people using only the words of William Shakespeare. In that case, my response to the Bard is:
You taught me language; and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!
