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Paper, Scissor, Rock

By Pot Luck

More Paper, Scissor, Rock cartoons on the back burner (and it’s from one of our subscribers too!).

Ever thought of using Paper, Scissor Rock as decider? Well that’s exactly what Takashi Hashiyama (a CEO of a Japanese TV manufacturer) did. He wanted to sell off his firm’s painting (you know, just your oldies but goodies, like Cezanne, Van Gogh and Picasso). Christie’s and Sotheby’s Auction houses were contacted and asked to make a proposal. It was too close to make a call, so Takashi decided it would ultimately be settled via a paper, scissor rock contest “it probably looks strange to others, but I believe this is the best way to decide between two things which are equally good”.  Both auction houses decided their ‘one’ choice over the weekend.

Christie’s approached one of the company’s 11 year old daughter seeking advice. She suggested  “scissors” because “Everybody expects you to choose ‘rock’.” Sotheby’s applied no strategy as it was seen as a game of chance and went with “paper”. Chrisite’s won the rights to sell a $20 million dollar collection.

Reference, Wiki

July 5, 2012
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The amazing invisible man

By Pot Luck

We’ve been watching a lot of Marvel hero movies and cartoons lately. Iron man and the Avengers are top of our list at the moment.  Wonder if Invisible Man would make a good addition to the Avengers.

June 29, 2012
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Russian blood transfusion

By Pot Luck

The first documented attempt at blood transfusion was made by Stefano Infessura of an event that occurred back in 1492. Pope Innocent VIII fell into a coma and his wise physician prescribed a blood transfusion (via the mouth as circulation wasn’t fully understood). Three 10 year old volunteer boys donated some of their blood in return for a ducat. Unfortunately for all 4, they all died.

Blood transfusion made real leaps in success rate when in 1907 Ludvig Hektoen connected the matching of blood types (first discovered in 1901) for the transfusion process.

 

June 21, 2012
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What is your version of hell?

By Pot Luck

Under normal circumstances this would be my version of hell, but a couple of years ago when we holidayed in Rio I was on a mission to hear the song during my travels. Surprisingly I didn’t have to go far or do anything special. I heard that song 3 times in one day!

I can tell that you’re now humming away silently. Well click here and chillax to Astrud Gilberto.  I also found this interesting write up on the story behind the song. Such a great hit at the time, it became the second most popular recorded song – just behind The Beetles ‘Yesterday’.

June 14, 2012
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ATM hazards

By Pot Luck

I wonder what a few rocks could buy you back then? Rocks as currency is not such a silly idea, I mean our currency here in Australia is now plastic. It just flies out of the machine – if there’s enough money in it to begin with!

June 12, 2012
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Captain Cook’s bath time

By Pot Luck

Captain Cook is famous for discovering Australia for England. They thought it would make a great gaol for the over flooding prisons back in the motherland…and so modern Australia was born.  A few facts about the Captain:

  • He mapped the Pacific on his travels to Australia. He also mapped almost all of Australia’s east coast and proved that New Zealand was its own land and not connected to Australia
  • Not realising Australia was the Great Southern land he was commissioned to search for, his ship continued south and almost hit Antarctica. He didn’t quite make it, as they had to turn north to resupply their diminishing stocks
  • He died in Hawaii in 1779. After a dispute with the local villagers he was stabbed to death by the chief – Kalanimanokahoowaha (according to Hawaiian records)
June 7, 2012
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Don’t argue with the laws of thermodynamics

By Pot Luck

So a little lesson in the wonders of thermodynamics….Obviously you are hard-core, because your eyes have not glazed over and you are still reading.

To put it simply, it helps to mathematically explain why a system will change from ordered to disordered over time.  The theory introduced the property known as entropy, which is used to explain the ‘amount’ of order.

The theory unfolded in the 1800s when scientists were trying to understand the maths around fluid dynamics – specifically to help engineers improve the efficiency of steam exchangers (such as old steam trains!) However, it has found application in physics and helps explain why ultimately everything (including the universe) will move from a state of order (low entropy) to disorder (high entropy).

My explanation is no where near as elegant as that of Professor Brian Cox.  For a succinct explanation (using a sandcastle!) watch this 2 minute video, taken from one of my all time favourite top 3 documentaries ever – The Wonders of the Universe

May 23, 2012
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Couch potatoes

By Pot Luck

Couch potatoes must be too good a source for humour – even Weird Al Yankovic had a go. Here’s a You tube upload of a live performance of his song Couch potato (image isn’t the best on this one, but it didn’t come with ads)

May 4, 2012
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That’s just cheesy

By Pot Luck

I came up with the cartoon drawing before thinking of cheese names. I then found out that not all cheeses fit in text wise into the teeny, weeny sign I created.  So off the Wiki I went, in search of cheese names. True to Wiki form, I found a list of different cheeses (why someone would go to the trouble of creating something like this, I don’t know). Anyway, I learnt two new cheeses:

Skyr and Oka. The Ukraines came through with the former cheese, their version of a cottage type cheese. The latter is Canadian, and has origins back to the Tappist monks from Oka, Quebec.

May 3, 2012
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