John Farrier's Blog Posts
Today is the official birthday of Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands. The Dutch celebrated in variety of ways, including the traditional toilet bowl throwing contest. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander joined in the fun, heaving an orange toilet with all his strength:
Link -via Dave Berry
Members of the royal family traveled to the town of Rhenen to join in the fun, with Crown Prince Willem-Alexander making a particular splash. The heir to the throne eagerly put himself forward for a series of challenges, culminating in a popular local pastime: the toilet-bowl-tossing contest.
Link -via Dave Berry
Captain Auburn Beard, like Prometheus, has left our lives forever changed and forever better. He had a dream and forged it into a reality. Behold the Batstache, and weep tears of joy.
Link -via Walyou
For the Marvel fans and other heathens among you: The Batstache
Old Ben Kenobi's Jedi mind trick didn't work on police in Roseville, California. They took him into custody after he allegedly hit a car and drove off:
Link -via Say Uncle | Image: Lucasfilm
According to Bosworth, Kenobi pulled into the left-turn lane, tried to merge into the straight-ahead lane between two cars waiting in the lane, hit the cars he was trying to merge between and then fled the scene.
The hit and run then caused a chain-reaction that caused the other two waiting cars to be hit also.
Bosworth said two people suffered minor injuries.
Kenobi was arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run causing injury and booked into Placer County Jail, Bosworth said. He was later released on bail.
Link -via Say Uncle | Image: Lucasfilm
Would you like to set a Guinness World Record? Read Guinness's instructions first, because there are certain achievements that it won't recognize, including:
And though it will break Alex's heart and make him feel like he's wasted the past year of his life, he needs to know that:
Link -via American Digest
We do not accept any claims for beauty as it is not objectively measurable.
We do not currently recognise 'gluttony' records whereby people consume mass amounts of food.
Due to the medical condition elephantiasis, we do not monitor a category for largest head.
And though it will break Alex's heart and make him feel like he's wasted the past year of his life, he needs to know that:
We do not accept claims for elbow licking.
Link -via American Digest
Twenty minutes ago, I had never heard of rail bikes. Now I must have one. Maker of this rail bike and Velospace member Stinky Pete writes, "This is what happnes when a person works nights with too much time to think." I should start working nights if it produces marvels like this.
Link -via Make | More Rail Bikes
A 351 foot tall obelisk near Hopkinsville, Kentucky marks the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, the first and last President of the Confederate States of America. Yesterday, his ghost smote tourists from Illinois who tried to ride the elevator to the top:
Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: US National Archives
But a group of 13 from "up north" were held captive in an elevator atop the Jefferson Davis Monument, in Hopkinsville, KY, for just more than an hour Saturday morning.
Firefighters were able to reach the tourist group from Illinois, and all 13 were able to walk down the stairs safely, according to Lt. Micheal Martin, Fairview Volunteer Fire Department.
Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: US National Archives
Aurora Cakes in Burghead, UK made cake pops that closely resemble Doctor Who characters.
Back row, left to right: Clockwork Man, an Ood, the TARDIS, and a Cyberman.
Front row, left to right: a Raxacoricofallapatorian and an Adipose.
Link -via The Mary Sue | Aurora Cakes
There are 43 flying squirrel species in the world. The red and white giant flying squirrel (Petaurista alborufus) is the biggest. It's about 40 centimeters or feet long, I forget which. Burrard-Lucas Photography captured this great shot of one in the Qinling Mountains of China.
Link -via TYWKIWDBI | Photographer's Website
Sondra Eklund, a knitter, mathematician, and YA librarian, designed and crafted this sweater. It shows, in colors, the prime factorization of every number between 2 and 100:
Okay, here’s how it works. You have to start in the bottom lefthand corner, because the mathematician in me couldn’t bear to start anywhere except where the origin would be on Cartesian coordinates. Naturally, the numbers go from left to right and from low to high.
Okay, look at the bottom row. It looks like there is a blank space on the left. That represents 1, because 1 is the background color, because 1 is a factor of every number. Next is a blue square, which represents 2. Next is a red square, for 3. Then comes 4. 4 = 2 x 2. So 4 is represented by two blue rectangles. Then comes 5. 5 is prime, so 5 gets a new color, yellow.
Next is 6. 6 = 2 x 3. So 6 is represented by a blue rectangle and a red rectangle. [...] Get the idea? This sweater presents a chart giving the color-coded prime factorization of every number from 2 to 100.
Makes sense to me.
Link -via Nerdcore
(Video Link)
There are two kinds of beermergencies: bad beer and no beer. In either event, call the Beerbulance for immediate assistance from beer professionals. The Beerbulance is a promotional gimmick for Red Brick Brewing in Atlanta, Georgia. Drivers use it to pick up customers and deliver them to the brewhouse.
Official Website -via Nag on the Lake
To make Kirbie's delicious-looking muffins, mix mozzarella cheese and pepperoni into the batter. Cook for eighteen minutes, then add more cheese and pepperoni. Pop them in the oven for a few more minutes to encounter a new type of pizza.
Link -via Bit Rebels
(Video Link)
YouTube user graybum devises many simple and ingenious uses for Buckyballs, such as this amazing electric motor. It's just Buckyballs, a wire and a battery. Redditor gloon explains how it works:
When you touch the wire to the side of the magnets, you complete an electric circuit. Current flows out of the battery, through the magnet to the wire, and through the wire to the other end of the battery. The magnetic field from the magnet is oriented through its flat faces, so it is parallel to the magnet's axis of symmetry. Electric current flows through the magnet. If you took physics at some point, it's possible that you'll remember the effect that a magnetic field has on moving electric charges: they experience a force that is perpendicular to both their direction of movement and the magnetic field. Since the field is along the symmetry axis of the magnet and the charges are moving radially outward from that axis, the force (Lorentz force) is in the tangential direction, and so the magnet begins to spin.
-via reddit
There's talk that the next regeneration of the Doctor will turn him into a woman. That's just a smokescreen. DeviantART member lisacub has leaked what Steven Moffat is really planning.
Link -via The Uniblogger
Permit me to unpack that headline. William Lawlis Pace of Turlock, California was accidentally shot in the head when he was 8 years old. He recently died at the age of 103. According to Guinness World Records, he kept a bullet in his head longer than any other person:
The bullet didn't impair Pace's health. He lived on to become a farmer, a husband for more than seventy years, and a father of two sons.
I would advise against trying to best his Guinness record.
Link -via The Agitator | Photo: Modesto Bee/Joan Barnett Lee
Born Feb. 27, 1909, in Wheeler, Texas, Mr. Pace was 8 years old when his brother, Marvin, accidentally shot him in October 1917.
Doctors left the bullet in place, fearing he wouldn't survive surgery to remove it. It didn't stop him from playing baseball and basketball as a boy.
The bullet didn't impair Pace's health. He lived on to become a farmer, a husband for more than seventy years, and a father of two sons.
I would advise against trying to best his Guinness record.
Link -via The Agitator | Photo: Modesto Bee/Joan Barnett Lee
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