Friday, December 10, 2021

The worlds strongest, explosive powered nut cracker

The worlds strongest, explosive powered nut cracker:

If you’ve ever tried to use a nutcracker, you soon realize they don’t have much in the way of actual force. So, YouTuber Shane Wighton decided to design and fabricate, from scratch, a nutcracker that could bite the hitch off a pick-up truck.

To power it, he used the explosive blank shells that are used in construction to drive nails into concrete. The video animates and explains the physics involved - he creates and machines each component, then has to re-design and re-produce those components to correct his mistakes. 

Pretty cool. Watch full screen.

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Thurber's fable "The Bear Who Let It Alone"

One of my favorite authors is James Thurber, and one of my favorite (very) short stories of his (actually one of his fables) is about a bear who drank too much, then gave it up.

Thurber's fable The Bear Who Let It Alone:

In the woods of the Far West there once lived a brown bear who could take it or let it alone. He would go into a bar where they sold mead, a fermented drink made of honey, and he would have just two drinks. Then he would put some money on the bar and say, "See what the bears in the back room will have," and he would go home. But finally he took to drinking by himself most of the day.

He would reel home at night, kick over the umbrella stand, knock down the bridge lamps, and ram his elbows through the windows. Then he would collapse on the floor and lie there until he went to sleep. His wife was greatly distressed and his children were very frightened.

At length the bear saw the error of his ways and began to reform. In the end he became a famous teetotaler and a persistent temperance lecturer. He would tell everybody that came to his house about the awful effects of drink, and he would boast about how strong and well he had become since he gave up touching the stuff. To demonstrate this, he would stand on his head and on his hands and he would turn cartwheels in the house, kicking over the umbrella stand, knocking down the bridge lamps, and ramming his elbows through the windows.

Then he would lie down on the floor, tired by his healthful exercise, and go to sleep. His wife was greatly distressed and his children were very frightened.

Moral: You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.