Tidbits

• The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 for the Paris Centennial Exhibition and was planed to be taken down after twenty years despite numerous critics clamoring for immediate removal. In 1907, the French government decided the tower would be permanent, it was too good of a radio antenna to destroy.

• In 1822, Charles Babbage invented a steam-powered mechanical calculator called a difference engine. It was never built, however. Each time he started building his machine, he discovered an upgrade and stopped. He then made hundreds of drawings for a punch-card computer the size of a small train which could add and subtract forty digit numbers in a few seconds. His plans were too advanced, however, and his computer was never made. In 1991, a fully functional difference engine was built from his original plans. The first modern computer was built in 1946.
  

Source: p.138,74
I appreciate your patience with my lack of posts as I wind up my school year. I'm very busy at the moment. Thanks for understanding.

Will the randomness never end?

• Marc Greenbergh created Operation Grow Hair in 1993 to give LA skinheads rounded up by the FBI a "dose of reality." One of the requirements was that they watch Schindler's LIst. Source
• Giovanni Caselli, in around 1863, invented the pantelegraph, the first fax machine. It used electricity, pendulums, batteries, treated paper and wires. It stood six feet tall. By 1868, it was transmitting up to 110 faxes per hour. The Prussian invasion of 1870 stopped the use of the pantelegraph. Source.
• Concerned about declining birth rates, Singapore's Ngee Ann Polytechnic recently launched a course on flirting and relationships. The course is "Understanding Relationships: Love and Sexuality" and is backed by the government. Student Prakash comments: "I think most people who take the course would find it easier to get a girlfriend." Source
  
• In India, officials in central Madhya Pradesh are currently offering fast-tracked gun licenses to men who have vasectomies. Administrative chief Manish Shrivastav remarks: "Over 150 men have got themselves sterilised since we have offered the gun licence preference. I expect another 100 by the end of this month." source

Odds and Ends

• From the makers of the Beer Belly, comes the Winerack (pictured above). An excerpt from their site: "Turn an A cup in to double Ds AND sport your favorite beverage for yourself and your friends! Better than a Boob Job and Cheaper Too! Not to mention the savings on over priced drinks." And as you drink, simply fill the bra back up with air. Classy!
• AJ's Cafe in Ferndale, Michigan set a Guinness world record by hosting 50 straight hours of the song Danny Boy. On March 16th, after 24 hours of Danny Boy, cafe owner AJ O'Neil said he wasn't sick of the song. "We had six church choirs in a row," he said, "And when the children sing, it just makes you cry." Source. Source.

Handy Products

• Trouble getting up in the morning? Buy Clocky! If you keep hitting the snooze button, Clocky will drop off its stand, roll around the room, find a "safe hiding place" and start beeping. Or you could just buy the generic "Flying Alarm Clock" which launches a propeller into your room and does not stop beeping until you have returned the propeller to its base.
  
• Ladies! Do you ever need to pee standing up? Buy a P-mate. A sample testimonial: "I am a woman that hunts/fishes and have shared my backside with TOO MANY OTHERS. Thanks for restoring my dignity in the woods."
• This website asks: "Are you tired of the 'bobbing' effect on the busy metropolitan sidewalks?" If you too want a hand's-free umbrella, buy a Numbrella!

• For $2, you can buy Holy Drinking Water. You can even get a job! Their website says they "are currently accepting applications for blessing [their] drinking water" from ordained clergy.
  
• You may have to wait to buy this, but there is a US patent out for a life-expectancy timepiece. A description: "A timepiece for monitoring and displaying the approximate time remaining in a user's life. . . Buttons or switches are provided to enter and change the stored data so that the approximate time remaining in the user's life can be reset by the user." As to why: "Life expectancy has been a major concern of people throughout the ages. Insurance companies routinely develop and publish actuarial tables to indicate the average lifespans of certain people in specified groups. . . It would also be advantageous to monitor the probable remaining time left in one's life on a yearly, hourly, and even seconds basis." Sign me up!
  

under where?

In Ohio, two eight-year-old twin boys invented bully-proof underwear. Using fabric fasteners on boxers, the underwear rips clean off if a wedgie is attempted. One journalist commented, "Exactly why underwear that can entirely ripped off you by bullies is an improvement over regular underpants remains unclear." The boys appeared on the Ellen De Generes Show and the Early Show. To see a video of the boys demonstrating their invention, go here.

WARNING!!!

From the book: World's Dumbest Signs, Ads and Newspaper Headlines:

Actual Warning Labels:

• life saving device: "WARNING! This is NOT a life saving device."
• child superman costume: "WARNING! Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly."
• a bar of soap: "WARNING! Directions: Use like regular soap."
• toilet cleaner: "WARNING! Safe to use around pets and children, although it is not recommended that either be permitted to drink from toilet."
• blanket: "WARNING! Not to be used as protection from a tornado."
• hotel shower-cap: "WARNING! Fits one head."
• Christmas lights: "WARNING! For indoor or outdoor use only."
• wheelbarrow: "WARNING! Do not use when temperature exceeds 140 degrees Fahrenheit."

Anything you can do, I can do better.

• Toyota has succeeded in designing robots with the dexterity to play the violin and the trumpet. Here is a video of the violin-robot, and here is a video of the trumpet robot which shifts from foot to foot while playing. The robots are 5 feet tall and white. USA today politely commented: "Compared to a virtuoso, its rendition was a trifle stilted and, well, robotic."
• Taking things a step further, David Levy of the University of Maastricht predicts that by 2050, humans will be able to have sex with, and marry robots. He predicts that Massachusetts will be the first state to legalize human-robot marriages and compares the it to interracial and same-sex marriages. He also sees marriage to robots being attractive to "shy," "ugly" or "unpleasant" people. Levy predicts that these robots could cut down on pedophilia and human prostitution. Levy says: ""Once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon. . .Love and sex with robots are inevitable. . .The question is not if this will happen, but when." Levy's next paper is on the ethical treatment of robots with regards to sex and love. Source

handy skirt!

Aya Tsukioka has started a Japanese clothing line aimed at those who fear crime. Featured above is a skirt which folds out to disguise the wearer as a vending machine. Also featured is a purse resembling a manhole cover and a backpack that can disguise a child as a fire-hydrant. Aya admits, " These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched, but in Japan, they can become reality.” She has already sold 20 skirts at $800 apiece.

To see a slideshow of these inventions: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/10/20/world/20071020_JAPAN_SLIDESHOW_index.html

To read an article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20japan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Odd but helpful

If you are planning a wedding and want to save money, rent your wedding cake. You heard me! For $100-150 dollars, display a pristine plastic foam, gum paste and fondant cake to your guests. Pull the happy couple's special slice of wedding cake out of a secret compartment in the back. Then serve cheap sheet cake to your guests. Odd, but extremely practical and thrifty.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/12/business_rents_out_fake_wedding_cakes/