Hoops Désolé is an acrobatics troop tha consists of six men who jump through hoops in a manner more literal than you and I do. Each choreographed show demonstrates astonishing strength, agility, precision, and teamwork. You can watch some of their training sessions on their Instagram page.
Never mind the Skittles. This is how you taste the rainbow. Sora News 24 reports that the Dosanko ramen restaurant chain is offering ramen with rainbow-colored sauce. Here's what it's made of (besides happiness):
If the broth looks incredibly thick, that’s because the Happy Rainbow Ramen’s list of ingredients is almost as long as its list of colors. Dosanko starts with a miso broth base, since miso is the preferred ramen style in Hokkaido, the chain’s home prefecture. After combining Hokkaido and Nagano miso varieties, the chefs add curry to the mixture, and the Happy Rainbow Ramen broth gets a fourth contributor from cheese fondue sauce, which is what holds the special colors.
Photo: PR Times
Twitter user @kikai_RGB sends out this image of what appears to be a shiitake mushroom claw machine game in the prefecture of Shizuoka. That's just the appetizer. Elsewhere you can find an onion claw machine and a live crab claw machine.
-via Super Punch
The International Olympic Committee would like to make the games "more gender balanced, more youthful and more urban." So it has decided to add breakdancing as a sport, along with surfing and skateboarding. Top contenders in those sports will journey to Tokyo next summer to prove their skills. The Guardian reports:
Breakdancing – or breaking as it is known – evolved in New York in the 1960s and 70s as a way for rival street gangs to fight for turf. It made its Olympic debut at the 2018 Summer Youth Games in Buenos Aires. The IOC has confirmed it will be staged at a prestigious downtown venue, joining sport climbing and 3-on-3 basketball at Place de la Concorde.
Personally, I would like to see the return of cannon shooting to the Olympics.
-via Althouse | Photo: M. Johnson
Alice Springs lies in the middle of the Australian desert. The Todd River has water only during the occasional rainfall. But that doesn't stop residents from enjoying a good boat race there. The Henley on Todd Regatta is perhaps the world's most unusual boat race because the participants have to carry their boats on foot through the desert sands.
There are several boating events, such as the team race embedded above. There's also land surfing, hamster wheel racing, and sand shoveling.
-via Amusing Planet | Photo: Alli Polin
And I mean that literally. 20 Slices consists of twenty slices of American cheese wrapped in plastic sheets.
It's the work of Ben Denzer, an artist and designer who is fascinated with book production. He makes books out of unusual materials and content sources, such as fortune cookie fortunes, ice cream, and ketchup packets.
Some libraries have acquired 20 Slices. At Atlas Obscura, Abigail Cain writes about Denzer's works and how libraries have processed it and made it accessible to patrons. Jamie Lausch Vander Broek, a librarian at the University of Michigan, who bought it for her library, describes student reactions:
“One student was like, ‘Well, you know, I think the cheese was already a book,’ and I thought that was a really astute observation,” Vander Broek says. “I think that what [Denzer] is doing is elevating things that already want to be books because they formally exhibit the characteristics of a book. There’s so much there to talk about that really gets at the nuance of ‘What is a book, exactly?’”
I wonder if could request a copy of 20 Slices through interlibrary loan after the pandemic subsides and ILL service reopens. Currently, I can get only digital ILL materials, so I could probably request a photocopy the pages of 20 Slices.
Photo: Ben Denzer
When I first saw this video going around today, I thought that it was a commercial that spoofed the common tropes of Lifetime original movies. But it's not.
Oh, yes, it's a commercial. But the video above is just an ad for the an actual movie that will air on the Lifetime channel on December 13.
Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell fame stars as Colonel Harland Sanders as the chef in residence at manor filled with beautiful, scheming, murderous lovers. The movie, which is titled A Recipe for Seduction, is 15 minutes long, which is shorter than most films, but longer than most commercials.
By starring in this role, Lopez follows in the footsteps of Sanders, who played himself in several low-budget films, as David Burge notes.
-via Instapundit
Kossan1108, a Buddhist monk in Japan, sings and performs his take on Metallica's iconic song "Enter Sandman" with traditional percussion instruments.
The video is almost 10 minutes long. That's not because Kossan1108's rendition is slow, but because the second half of the video appears to show him meditating after completing his performance.
Or perhaps, as this YouTube commenter suggests, he's just playing another work.
-via Born in Space
Jacquet Droz, a Swiss watchmaking firm created in the 1760s by a craftsman of the same name, makes astonishing works of art in the form of watches. They're playful automata as much as they are luxurious timepieces. Each one tells a story in intricate, precise, clockwork motion.
This one, titled Tropical Bird Repeater, will have a run of merely eight machines. The company describes the wonders of this tiny masterpiece:
The fully hand-engraved and hand-painted dial is showcasing 7 different animation that may exceed 12 seconds allow for up to 4 different scenarios, all the more striking as they contrast with the suspended background of the scene.
The waterfall flows eternally in perfect realistic fashion. A one-of-a-kind animation in watchmaking history, the hummingbird wings beat up to 40 times a second (80 times in real life), adding incredible realism to the scene. The peacock opens and closes its tail, while a toucan emerges from the palm leaves to open its beak. The dancing flight of three elegant dragonflies adds to the magic by day or by night as their tiny SuperLuminova®-coated wings glow in the dark.
-via Nag on the Lake
We all know that, every year, Trekkies gather around the yule log to hear Captain Picard sing "Let It Snow." But they also enjoy other traditional Trekmas carols remixed by John C. Worsley, such as "Enterprise Rock", a take on Bobby Helms's "Jingle Bell Rock" by the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 . . .
Every year, the SnowVillage in northern Finland is reconstituted with a new theme. This year, winter is not only coming, but has arrived. The village is now styled after scenes and characters from the Game of Thrones television series. You can sleep peacefully at night as the Night King watches over you, or just visit the hotel to take a tour or dine at the restaurant.
You can see more photos of this wondrous facility at its Instagram page.
In 1934, Edward Powys Mathers, a crossword puzzle designer, published Cain's Jawbone. It's a mystery novel sorted onto 100 separate pages. It's also a puzzle, as the pages arrive in no particular order. The goal of the puzzle is to put the pages in the correct order. There are 32 million possible sorting orders, but only one is correct.
For the third time, someone has solved the puzzle. That accolade goes to British comedian John Finnemore, who took up the task during lockdown. Public Radio International reports:
“Originally I had a look at it and decided that it was too difficult for me and there was no point. So I just put it back on the shelf,” Finnemore says. “Then the pandemic came knocking...and suddenly said, ‘You know all that time you wanted, to do that thing? Well, here you go, knock yourself out, you’ve got as much time as you want.’” [...]
If you’re looking to undertake the puzzle yourself, Finnemore has some advice: use Google.
“It’s full of really obscure references to literature and geography and all sorts of things...You need to know about licensing laws in 1930s London, like, where, in London, you were allowed to buy a drink without a sandwich and where you could only have one with food after 10,” he said. “The history of prisons comes into it, geography...there’s references to people who turn out to be tennis players in the 1930s and when they played a particular match.”
-via Oddity Central | Photo: Ryan Baumann
Now isn't that a pretty sight?
Etsy seller Anna Robinson of Wales paints Bob Ross-inspired landscapes and other images on jeans. People will definitely appreciate the fine arts as you strut down the street in these pants, enjoying every detail of the scenic view you offer.
-via So Super Awesome
During the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, the Manning family was beset with tragedy after tragedy. They lived in the town of Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 1875, the couple, Van and Mittie Manning, watched as a second child, Mittie, died in front of them
The mother, Mary Mitting, went insane with grief. Atlas Obscura describes the unusual grave they erected for the little girl:
When it came time to bury her second child, Mary had a breakdown. She refused to allow Van or anyone else to place her daughter into the ground. A compromise was made and Mittie Manning was buried in a sarcophagus above ground.
However, this did not fully console Mary, who wanted to be able to see the face of her daughter. In the marble slab that covered the tomb, a sliding window was installed, allowing Mary to see her daughter.
According to some local legends, as Mittie’s body began to decompose, Mary became insane from grief and refused to leave the grave. Eventually, Van was forced to bury Mittie underground. The original slab, with its window, was left in place.
Photos: HauntedHolly
The Trolley Problem is an ethical dilemma. A train is heading down the tracks toward five people. If you do nothing, those five people will die. If you switch the tracks, the train will kill only one person. What do you do?
Exploring this conundrum is what Dr. E. J. Masicampo, a social psychologist at Wake Forest University, does for a living. He enlisted the assistance of his two-year old son Nicholas, who offers a unique and fresh solution that had never occurred to me before.
-via Born in Space
