The Outside TV network covers a lot of outdoor sports, from competitive running to leisurely camping. They sometimes play around with fanciful inventions. Lately, the crew has experimented with practical uses for large helium balloons. For example, could a sufficiently large balloon negate the weight of a full pack? Yes, it can. Just make sure that you don't put too much helium in the balloon or you may lose your backpack.

@monzo is making @greggsofficial HOT TO GO! 😍

Head to Grainger Street, just around the corner from the Theatre Royal, to grab your very own Greggs sausage roll from the Monzo ATM! 😍 pic.twitter.com/nl3ncLQFZG

— Newcastle Theatre Royal (@TheatreRoyalNew) July 18, 2024

Greggs, a bakery chain in the UK, and the bank Monzo recently had an online conversation about the possibility jointly creating an ATM that, instead of distributing money, distributes sausage rolls. ITV News reports that this project launched yesterday in Newcastle and had people lining up to make withdrawals.

-via No Time to Dan

i cut together the best egg scenes in movies pic.twitter.com/uyROLhrRyn

— patrick. (@imPatrickT) July 18, 2024

Patrick Tomasso is a filmmaker and critic. His YouTube channel consists mostly of detailed analyses of particular aspects of particular movies. On X, though, he's posted this video that compiles egg cooking and eating scenes in films. 

I instantly recognized Hot Shots, Cool Hand Luke, and Fury. Others I had to look up. Fortunately, Tomasso provides a complete list on Letterboxd. Can you think of any other egg scenes that he should have included? Aside from Star Trek: Generations, of course.

Faustin Wirkus was born in the Russian Empire and, as a child, immigrated to the United States. He lived in poverty, but was determined to better himself by enlisting in the US Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Times reports that he was among the troops participating in the US occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934.

In 1926, he was on Gonâve Island when he rescued a young woman who was threated with arrest for engaging in voodoo. This woman was Ti Memenne, the Queen of Gonâve.

Gunnery Sergeant Wirkus loved Haiti and eagerly sought reassignment to Gonâve Island. While there, he exposed rampant graft in the tax collection system, helped build the island's first airfield, and conducted the island's first census.

The people of the island loved Wirkus and his works. He also fit neatly into a prophecy that they had: a previous king, also named Faustin, had disappeared in 1848, promising to one day return. The islanders belived that Wirkus must be the reincarnation of this king and so, in 1926, crowned him King Faustin II in a voodoo ceremony.

King Faustin II and Queen Ti Memenne ruled together for three years and, by all accounts, ruled well. Then the Gunnery Sergeant received transfer orders back to the United States, bringing an abrupt halt to his reign.

-via US Naval Institute

Hurricane Beryl hit the Houston area this week, leaving at least 1.9 million people without electricity in 100°F. The response of the CenterPoint utility company has been . . . suboptimal. It can be hard to track which areas of the city have or do not have power, which is why, a few days ago, X user BBQ Bryan turned to the Whataburger app. Restaurants that are closed are greyed out on the above map.

KHOU News contacted the corporate offices of Texas's own haaaamburger chain, which advises also calling ahead to verify that particular restaurants are open.

-via Not the Bee

Alessandro Tappa is an artist in Vigevano, Italy who designs and builds wonderfully weird bicycles that are just normal enough to serve as functional means of transportation. The above model, which has a name that translates as "bike on the belly", requires a fully prone position to ride.

Don Pettit is an American astronaut who has previously spent over a year living on the International Space Station. He's scheduled to return in September for six months.

On X, Pettit educates the public about life and science in space. Recently, he posted this image of the emergency eyewash station used in low Earth orbit. A 2014 article on Phys.org describes how it works.

To ensure that the water goes where it is supposed to go and, equally important, not where it is not supposed to go, the water flows into goggles. The machine pumps the water in and then out of the sealed goggles.

Potato mashers are useful kitchen implents that serve to prevent you from opening drawers. If you are still able to open a kitchen drawer despite the persistent and valiant efforts of your potato masher, call in this monster.

The world's largest potato masher is a permanent exhibit at the Food + Farm Exploration Center in Plover, Wisconsin. This facility serves to educate visitors about agriculture. Just as the Statue of Liberty welcomes people to New York City and the New World, so does this potato masher signal the arrival of visitors to the educational facility.

At 38 feet and 11 inches tall and 7,500 pounds, it's the largest of its kind in the world.

-via Kyle

And I do mean famous, not infamous.

The Lazy House in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan is widely known for its very rude staff. As a direct result, reservations must be booked weeks in advance. Customers seek it out for a service experience is that a refreshing break from Japan's famously excellent customer service.

The waitstaff, if they don't just ignore you, will throw menus at you, serve food late, toss said food at the table, and otherwise treat customers with disdain. Sometimes they'll just walk away while you are vocalizing your order. Maybe they'll come back. If so, it will be to tell you to leave immediately after paying.

-via Jeffrey J. Hall

Sam Woodhead, a certified CrossFit trainer and a trombonist in the US Army Band, knows the importance of staying fit and ready to march without missing a note. He lifts heavy weights and practices his trombone at the same time.

Julian Hwang of West Virginia University and Dongso Lee of the Korea Rural Economic Institute publish in the Journal of Cultural Economics the results of their study of the economic valuation of being a superhero. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the full article--just to the abstract.

Personally, when I encounter stories of people gaining superpowers, such as the 2006-2010 television series Heroes,  I am struck by the responses of characters to their new abilities. If I had a superpower--any superpower--my first question would be "How can I use this power to get wealthy?" I would also keep that ability a secret in order to maximize my wealth-acquisition usage and reduce the potential of my enslavement by powerful organizations.

-via Marginal Revolution

The University of Nebraska is a school located at a football stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. That stadium, Memorial Stadium, is the holiest of shrines for Cornhusker fans.

The Associated Press reports that at a recent meeting of the board of regents, the governors of the program considered building a columbarium under the football field so that deceased fans will never miss any future home games. The proposal would have set different prices for the location of one's ashes, with higher prices charged for the 50-yard line and the end zones.

Sadly, the Board of Regents rejected the proposal, apparently with dismissive laughter.

Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri

Eating right is only part of proper nutrition. You need to also consciously consider how you are digesting your food. Influencer Mairlyn Smith proposes going on a "fart walk" about an hour after you eat. This is a walk in which you let rip with any flatulence you feel forming in your body or, as I call it, a walk.

The New York Post explains the science behind the trend. The motion of the abdominal muscles during a walk encourages intestinal activity. To optimize your flatulence, walk with your hands behind your back and your neck flexing in front of you.

Smith and her husband engage in fart walking as a couples activity. Think of it as a bonding opportunity.

-via Dave Barry

In my undergraduate days, I had delusion fantasies of becoming a medieval European historian and wasted a lot of time and money moving in that direction. One of the reasons why this was and remains a very difficult career path is that there are few college teaching positions available in the humanities.

But it would appear that if you can land one, you're set for life with a salary in excess of a billion dollars.

I think that the original (and since corrected) job posting is for this one at Sarah Lawrence College, which has a salary of $10,500 to $14,000, not $1,050,014,000. We humanities people struggle with math sometimes.

-via Matthew Thiessen, who quips "Announcing my immediate shift toward research and teaching on Medieval Literature.

This tourism promotional video for Norway's capital city speaks to people like me who find very urban areas generally undesirable. They're often crowded, dirty, expensive, and involve far too much waiting.

"I mean, is it even a city?...I think that a city should be a little hard to get." The narrator, a native of Oslo who "temporarily live[s] here...unfortunately" puts down his native Oslo as a large village where you can walk everywhere, get into restaurants and museums, and casually meet the King. Who would want that? Given the online responses to this ad, it appears a lot of potential tourists.

-via Laughing Squid