"Pull my finger."

In Germany, this request usually has a different connotation. The Associated Press tells us that fingerhakeln is a traditional sport from southern Germany and the alpine region of Austria.

Two men face each other across a table and place their middle fingers through a leather loop. Then they try to pull each other across the table. Fingerhakeln requires a lot of strength--sometimes enough to dislocate an opponent's finger.

Last Sunday, 150 men gathered in a beer tent in Bernbeuren, Germany to compete. Approximately 1,000 spectators watched the athletes, who were dressed in traditional clothing, pull against each other in successive rounds until a champion prevailed.

-via Dave Barry

We don't know what this tiny ground spider calls itself. But we humans should refer to it by its official taxanomic identifier, which is Hotwheels sisyphus. It lives in southwestern China and is one of three recently classified ground spiders in that region of China.

ZooKeys informs us that it was named specifically for the Hot Wheels toys produced by Mattel bccause the coiled embolus (I think that's part of the legs) of the animal resembles a Hot Wheels track.

The Drive says that the Hotwheels sisyphus is noted for its "weird genitals," but I think that's getting a bit personal. I mean, how would you feel if people primarily thought of your genitalia when learning about you?

-via Super Punch

Since 1977, kids have gathered at Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theatres to eat technically edible pizza and play arcade games. Part of the background ambiance has been the animatronic band that company founder Nolan Bushnell developed somewhat by accident when he bought a rat costume thinking that it was a coyote costume. He then had engineers develop animatronics to make the rat costume move and named the resulting character Chuck E. Cheese.

Alongside other anthropomorphic animal band members collectively named Munch's Make Believe Band, Chuck E. Cheese sang original and cover songs when activated. Four decades of on-demand concerts followed. But now, the New York Times (sorry, paywalled article) reports that the company is shutting down the last of these animatronic features in Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.

Kids these days are more interested in screen-based entertainment rather than the robotics of the 1970s. Round the decay of that colossal wreck boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away.

-via Dave Barry

The anticipated Fashion-Fungus crossover of 2024 has arrived, whilst the celebs were serving high fashion, we are serving high diversity; we’re giving you Ascos, Basidios, Myxos and more.
Brace yourself for myco-magnificence! #MetGala2024

First up Zendaya as Microglossum viride pic.twitter.com/q8UYLAcXja

— Kew Mycology (@KewMycology) May 7, 2024

The Met Gala last week was an extraordinary fashion exhibition in which all of your favorite celebrities came dressed in their most extraordinary custom outfits, all of which were apparently inspired by each model's favorite fungus.

The Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London maintains a Twitter account devoted to informing the public about mycology, which is the study of fungi. In a recent thread, it provided a detailed exploration of the mycological origins of the fashions at the gala.

-via Marilyn Terrell

Etienne Constable, a resident of Seaside, California, owns a boat. He parks it in his driveway. This resulting view was apparently unacceptable to the city government, which required him to screen the unsightly boat with a fence.

KSBW-8 News reports that Constable creatively obeyed the edict. He erected the fence and then commissioned artist Hanif Wondir to paint a realistic image of the boat on the fence now blocking the view of the boat. Constable says that the city has yet to respond to his malicious compliance with its rule.

Here's a time-lapse video of Wondir composing the mural.

-via Mary Katherine Ham

Hi I’m Megan and this is Reverse William Tell pic.twitter.com/xZN1ln8x78

— meg “Yooper” bitchell (@MeganBitchell) May 7, 2024

The Swiss folk hero William Tell was allegedly forced by Austrian overlords to shoot an apple off the top of his own son's head. That's quite dangerous for the target, so New York City-based actress and comedian Megan Bitchell proposes an inversion of the game: impaling an apple on an arrow mounted on top of her head.

Cicadas are active again. Like humans, they emerge from their underground burrows once every seventeen years to grow, shed their exoskeletons, and mate. You can see the similarities we share with this species in this video produced by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Illinois. The employees re-enacted the life-cycle of the humble cicada.

The video production quality is remarkably good for a government institution and the mating scene tastefully expressed. I especially appreciate the entomological pick-up line that the male cicada uses on the female and plan to use it myself later today. After all, it clearly works.

-via Nag on the Lake

Sweden has the odd PhD tradition of Lutherishly nailing your thesis to a wall a few weeks before your defense, so here is my PhD student Vidya Somashekarappa nailing her thesis into the designated thesis nailing wall (officially required btw). pic.twitter.com/2s8DiwCy1l

— Asad Sayeed @asayeed@zirk.us (@asayeed) April 3, 2024

Sweden is historically a Lutheran nation, so the tradition of nailing statements to buildings is strong. At Umeå University, when doctoral students complete their theses, they nail a copy to the wall of the library in a ceremony called spikning or "thesis spiking." The library's website says that this procedure "is no longer mandatory," implying that, at some point, it was a formal requirement. Still, many students choose to participate in this ritual.

La plus grande baguette du monde - record battu ! Elle mesure 140,53m et a été confectionnée à Suresnes @villedesuresnes pic.twitter.com/2uHY9g5Npn

— Colas Aura (@ColasAura) May 5, 2024

Charles De Gaulle once said of his homeland:

My mind assures me that France is not really herself unless she is in the front rank; that only vast enterprises are capable of counterbalancing the ferments of disintegration in­herent in her people; that our country, as it is, surrounded by the others, as they are, must aim high and hold itself straight, on pain of mortal danger. In short, to my mind, France cannot be France without greatness.

De Gaulle rose to international attention at the moment of France's greatest humiliation. She needed De Gaulle and men like him to restore France to her natural station in the world.

Five years ago, bakers in Italy produced a baguette--that icon of French cuisine--that was longer than any other in the world. Now, The Globe and Mail reports, France has regained its title as the creator of the world's longest baguette. On Sunday, bakers at Suresnes baked one that was 140.53 meters (or approximiately 71 Charles De Gaulles laid end to end) long.

-via Dave Barry

Bob Knetzger of Boing Boing reports that, last year, Mattel teamed up with the National Federation of the Blind to produce a Hot Wheels toy car designed specifically for the visually impaired. The die cast car is covered with the raised bumps of Braille text to read "Hot Wheels Twin Mill."

This name is a reference to a concept car that was pioneered as a Hot Wheels design in 1969 before it was turned into a real car.

Mattel makes two of the Hot Wheels Braille Racer, both of which can be hunted on eBay by collectors eager for a rare piece.

This viral video of a provenance unknown to me shows a woman giving a preschool-age girl an unforgettable ride on a highly convincing roller coaster simulator. Sure, it just looks like an upturned chair, but when paired with a first-person point of view video of a ride, it's good enough to persuade the tyke that she's really at Six Flags.

-via TYWKIWDBI

Bernth, an Austrian guitarist who fills his YouTube channel with musical oddities, including using the worst rated guitar picks and amps and playing guitars made of LEGO pieces and an acoustic guitar that is partially submerged in water. Bernth also modifies extreme guitars, such as building one with an extremely long neck and another that has 24 strings.

Is it hard to play a 24-string guitar? Even that challenge was unsufficient for Berth, who most recently cobbled together guitars into a 109-string monstrosity that produces a lovely sound. It does, though, require a lot of coordination to play effectively.

-via The Awesomer

Going to a wedding today. Instead of holding flowers, the bridesmaids have hatchets. They are not pagan as far as I know, but some of you might like it regardless. pic.twitter.com/MXKbV9QPDX

— sugar&ice Crystals (@WeirdCunning) May 4, 2024

Twitter user sugar&ice Crystals shares this story from a wedding. I like the idea of axes for bridesmaids.

It might also be an appropriate choice for the bride instead of a bouquet. Consider the tradition of the bride tossing the bouquet over her back to identify the next person to get married. Would axes be an improvement over flowers? Would the goal be to catch the axe or dodge it?

Today I learned that the US Navy traditionally allows the infant children of crew members to be baptized in the upturned ship's bell. A 2021 Navy press release about such a baptism onboard the USS Kearsarge says that this tradition was borrowed from the Royal Navy which permitted the such rites in foreign ports either in or under the bell.

A webpage created the National Bell Festival, a non-profit organization that supports the restoration of historic bells, says that the practice is also followed by the US Coast Guard, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.

This video from 2017 shows a baptism performed in the bell of the USS Gerald R. Ford.

Photo: US Naval Institute

パッカーン！でも、ドレスドでもない
ちょっと変わった卵の包み方🍳

【無慈悲】生まれたてのひよこオムライス🐣 pic.twitter.com/t2MBs6u1qU

— テイストメイド ジャパン (@Tastemade_japan) April 24, 2024

Twitter* user @Tastemade_japan shows this clever omurice dish that begins with rice balls decorated to resemble chicks, then fried into a gentle nest made of the flesh of their lost siblings. Next, it is devoured whole by feckless gods who laugh at the terror of the birds. The rice birds realize all too late that the only purpose of their existence was to be consumed.

-via The Best

*None of this "X" nonsense. If the name "Twitter" was good enough for our forefathers, it's good enough for ourselves and our posterity.