Several months ago, residents of a neighborhood in Chevy Chase, Maryland discovered that an old fashioned pay phone had appeared on a quiet residential street. But the classic Bell design was labeled "Jokes". The instructions said that users should push different numbers for different types of jokes, such as #1 for a knock-knock joke. And it was free! There was no need to drop in a quarter.

The Washingtonian reports that resident Don Rutlege, who lives across the street from the phone, put it up. He purchased the old phone online and refurbished it into a joke-telling machine. A microcomputer inside connects to his home wifi network. Rutlege himself responds and provided the requested joke.

-via Atlas Obscura

While attending the Constitutional Convention in July of 1787, George Washington found the brutal summer heat unbearable and decided to purchase a "fan chair". This photo shows one owned by the museum collections of Mount Vernon, but is likely not the specific design owned by Washington.

It does, though, show the ingenuity of inventors before the age of air conditioning. John Cram, a craftsman in Philadelphia, designed this chair in 1786. Tapping one's feet on the pedals pulled the overhead fan back and forth.

-via Core77 | Photo: Mount Vernon

Twitter user @markvchase is a thriving YouTuber who focuses on film criticism. He had an early brush with movie fame in 2005 when, as a child, he took a family trip to Disney World in Florida.

His family used to joke that George Lucas was in the background of this photo, but now Mark is convinced that it actually happened. Lucas is wearing his iconic plaid shirt and jeans. It could be a cosplayer. But an online news story confirms that Lucas was in Disney World on the day of Mark's family trip. The press release shows him wearing what looks like the same outfit.

13th Century Tiktok Live Streamers Pregame a Night at the Tavern pic.twitter.com/42vpRsZnyC

— Sklumper (@InternetJumbo) November 7, 2023

This summer, geezers such as myself discovered the trend of people paying streamers to eat virtual foods and interact with them. Don't ask me to explain how it works. I'll just refer to this article in The Guardian for the rundown.

I really shouldn't be having an Old Man Yells at Cloud moment because streamers and the people who follow them have been doing this for literally centuries. Sketch comedy performers Sklumper demonstrate this in a recovered video file from the Middle Ages. These two middling lords are about to head to the tavern and are pregaming (i.e. getting drunk) with their subscribers. It fortunately ends before Lady Anne gets too racy with her content.

John Wyatt Greenlee is known online as the Surprised Eel Historian because he holds a doctoral degree in medieval European history who specializes in discovering surprisingly novel uses of eels in the Middle Ages.

In modern times, we mostly load eels into our hovercrafts. But in medieval England, eels were a staple food that were eaten so prolifically that people often paid their rents in eels.

Police in Akron, Ohio responded to a report of a car theft at a wrecking yard. The suspect was inside a Nissan SUV but unable to escape because an employee of the yard had used a heavy forklift to pick the car high up into the air. It was only after police arrived and surrounded the scene that the operator lowered the car to the ground so that police could make the arrest.

It appears that all of the law enforcement professionals involved enjoyed this arrest. Fox News quotes the 911 dispatcher as saying "Wonderful, this is the greatest thing I've ever heard. We, we will get somebody out to you."

-via Dave Barry

If I had known this was a sport when I was younger, I'd be a world champion by now.

Spoon & Tamago informs us that there was a "spacing out" competition in Tokyo. For an hour and a half, competitors lay still and did nothing at all--or as close to nothing as they could manage--while not falling asleep.

Officials monitored their heart rates and disqualified anyone who talked or slept during the contest. Athletes who wore impressive costumes and kept empty facial expressions received extra points.

The winners were a team who evidently knew how to work together to accomplish as little as possible.

-via Super Punch | Photo: Sankei

The Big Five model of human personality scores people along spectra of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion. Recently, researchers Kätlin Anni, Uku Vainik, and René Mõttus at the University of Tartu in Finland, surveyed people in 263 different occupations to assess their personalities using the Big Five model. Their full paper is available online.

I would like to note that, in my completely non-professional understanding, neuroticisim is not inherently bad. To have a touch of neuroticism--that is, to have some negative emotions--is to be realistic. It's unhealthy to be on the extreme ends of the spectra of any of these five personality traits and some environments, such as professions are optimal or suboptimal for particular personalities.

I was delighted to see that my own profession--librarianship--appears in the survey on p. 63. Librarians are among the least conscientious professions.

-via David Thompson

Rumors on the internet* hold that Gene Roddenberry once owned a 3-foot long detailed model of the Enterprise (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C, or D). This beautiful work was stolen from Roddenberry's home during the 1970s. It recently surfaced on eBay with a minimum bid of $1,000.

The seller has pulled the listing from eBay and reached out to Rod Roddenberry, a son of Gene Roddenberry and director of his intellectual properties.

The model bears the mark of Richard C. Datin, Jr., the model builder for the Original Series. This model would have been used in the filming of the show.

*Note this well: I have not found any careful reporting on the subject.

Last year, redditor /u/Commander_Peanuts carved this monstrous jack-o'-lantern that doesn't light up, but also doesn't need to. I can't seriously believe that anyone would consider venturing into the Underdark where a beholder, such as this one, lives, without coming prepared with naturally or magically granted darkvision. And when the beholder's antimagic abilities cancel out your magical darkvision, be grateful. You don't want to see what's coming next.

-via Randy Angle

Dianna Cowern became famous on the internet as The Physics Girl. Her YouTube channel is filled with entertaining and informative videos about science, which is fitting for a physics graduate from MIT and a past winner of the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

About a year ago, Cowern came down with a brutal case of COVID that has turned into Long COVID. She's been bedbound since January, but that hasn't stopped her heroic husband Kyle from making her a costume. Cowern is the Wicked Witch of the East from the original The Wizard of Oz, whom Dorothy brutally murdered and then robbed upon her arrival in Oz.

The Orlando Sentinel reports on the forthcoming inaugural Florida Man Games, named after the outrageous behavior of the male inhabitants of America's most insane state. Pete Melfi of Saint Augustine is organizing an open sporting event in which Florida men will be able to compete in original games inspired by the actual shenanigans of Floridians.

Pictured above is concept art of one of the games: the Evading Arrest Obstacle Course. The goal is to flee from actual police officers over fences and through backyards. Other games include grabbing cash while in a chamber with Category 5 hurricane winds, a motorcycle race with stolen catalytic converts strapped to the bikes, and "Florida Ma'am Pinup", a "beauty" contest for Florida women.

If you're a Neatorama reader from Florida, please consider entering and telling us about your experience. Don't worry about your fitness to complete. The rules say that "being athletic is not required at all."

-via Dave Barry | Image: Florida Man Games

Chinese YouTuber Aboringday builds new weird devices and adds weird modifications on common devices. In his most recent video, he made usually functional yo-yos from objects not commonly associated with the wood or plastic toys. These include fan blades, circular saw blades, ping pong paddles, and clocks.

Some yo-yo bases were easier to make or use than others. Dumbbell plates, for example, were easy to modify but also very heavy. But by far the most challenging project was making a yo-yo out of ice, which required multiple attempts at 3D design and printing before Aboringday got it right. In this process, Aboringday engages in amusing storytelling without ever saying a word.

-via The Awesomer

For some people with diabetes, it's essential to inject insulin to regulate their blood sugar. But insulin can be expensive, so scientists in Switzerland are searching for an alternative. In an article published in Diabetes & Endocrinology, these scientists describe how music can activate neurotransmitter production that releases insulin. Specifically, playing "We Will Rock You" by Queen released 70% of insulin within 5 minutes and complete release within 15 minutes.

The New York Post summarizes the work of the researchers. They discovered that common environmental sounds did very little to stimulate insulin release, classical music did a little bit, but Queen played at 85 decibels (that's about as loud as a food blender) kicked off a full insulin release.

-via Dave Barry

call me chef pic.twitter.com/lKBTQUJf50

— Pablo Rochat (@PabloRochat) October 19, 2023

Pablo Rochat is a conceptual artist, creative director, and internet personality who does the unexpected with everyday objects. Recently, that includes a lot of hot dogs.

Less imaginative people might carry hot dogs by hand downstairs and out the back door to place them on the grill. Rochat, though, linked together what appears to be many strips of a Hot Wheels toy car racing track to travel from his kitchen to his backyard, gradually building up momentum until the hot dog launches into the air and lands on the grill.

-via Born in Space