Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 307
November 13, 2018
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November 9, 2018
What Kind Of Music Makes Cheese Even Tastier?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[November 4-10th, 2018] Police on hoverbikes, audiophile cheese, beatboxing in an MRI machine, and chasing the Estonian President for 26 miles.
Police Training On Hoverbikes
The Police Force in Dubai has begun training on hoverbikes to chase down crime in the United Arab Emirates’ most populous city. Already known for hosting the tallest building in the world—the Burj Khalifa—Dubai is a city of extremes. Police already have Lamborghini and Bugatti sports cars in their fleet, but say the hoverbikes will more easily allow officers to assist in hard to reach places.
Secret Service Chases Estonian President
United States Secret Service agents chased Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid for 26 miles. The diplomat decided to participate in this year’s New York City Marathon, forcing two agents to put their endurance to the test, keeping up while also providing protection.
On the way, wish me luck! #NYCMarathon #35884 pic.twitter.com/OrRf8uBeLt
— Kersti Kaljulaid (@KerstiKaljulaid) November 4, 2018
Beatboxing MRI
A group of researchers from the Acoustical Society of America had professional beatboxers perform while undergoing an MRI scan of their mouth and throat. The videos are mesmerizing as beatboxers replicate snares, bass drums, and other inhuman sounds. The researchers say that this means learning to beatbox is like learning a new language, even though it doesn’t have any words.
I can't stop watching these MRI videos of people beatboxing https://t.co/Fn9h8jETyl pic.twitter.com/lUc4uFOza2
— Rachel "The Yellow Dart" Feltman (@RachelFeltman) November 7, 2018
Women Add “I Voted” Stickers To Grave
A tradition dating back to the 2014 mid-terms, many women voters in Rochester, New York, made a short pilgrimage to the grave of suffragette leader Susan B. Anthony. Anthony voted in the presidential election of 1872, an action that was illegal at the time and resulted in her arrest. Today, the stickers are seen as an honor to the woman who led the fight for the vote.
Susan B. Anthony’s grave at Mount Hope Cemetery- Rochester, New York #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/LB8PuvYnRl
— Lily Katz (@lilyk318) November 6, 2018
Musical Cheese
Swiss cheesemakers are conducting a long-term study on how music affects the taste of cheese. Speakers are situated in front of the aging rounds of cheese, and blasted with Mozart, Led Zeppelin, or A Tribe Called Quest. The results won’t be in until Spring, but one researcher has his hopes set on hip-hop making the most delicious cheese.
Surviving The Veiled Double Wheel Of Death
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
A master of the impalement arts, The Great Throwdini is the only person in the world known to successfully perform the Veiled Double Wheel of Death stunt—throwing knives onto a spinning wheel that has two people, hidden by a paper curtain, holding on.
Otherwise known as the Reverend Doctor David Adamovich, The Great Throwdini was introduced to knife-throwing by chance at the age of 50. Within five years, he was winning national and world championships and joined a circus.
Now at 71-years-old, Throwdini has more than 40 knife-throwing records under his belt for speed, distance, and accuracy—and he shows no signs of slowing down. Ripley’s visited him to witness his performance of the Veiled Double Wheel of Death and ask him some questions about his career in the impalement arts.
Q: Have you ever missed your target?
A: Yes. Remember—I aim to miss! All kidding aside, with all those knives and at that speed, sometimes the margin of error is pushed to its limit. As a result, I’ve scraped my assistant on several occasions. Never had to pull a knife out of what you’d consider a stab.
Q: Is there a special kind of knife you use to perform your stunts?
A: My “bread and butter” knife used for most of my performance stunts and world records is “The Great Throwdini ‘Signature Series’ Professional Throwing Knife.” It is a double-edged, diamond-shaped, 14-in knife weighing 12 oz.
Q: When the wheel is spinning, how do you know when to throw the knives?
A: The precise “secret” to the Veiled Wheel of Death is understanding the timing of the throw against the paper veil. When I perform an unveiled Wheel, it takes about 1 second for the wheel to spin, and I throw two knives per second. Veiled is a bit more difficult, and even more so with two assistants behind the paper veil. The Double Veiled Wheel of Death spins slightly slower, so I take a fraction of a second longer to throw the knives.
Q: How did you convince people to get on the wheel?
A: It wasn’t a matter of convincing. They all accept and understand each component of the act before I ever throw the first knife around any of them. There’s a mutual trust we have in each other, very much like the flyer and catcher in a trapeze act. Each is a vital component of the performance. Without my assistant, there is no act.
Q: How long did you practice knife-throwing before bringing people into the mix?
A: I competed with the objective of hitting a bull’s-eye for five years. Then, when switching over from competition to the impalement arts, my focus went from aiming-to-hit to aiming-to-miss! An old-time performer once said, with reference to throwing knives around human targets, “Aim to miss—they last a lot longer that way.”
Q: Is there anything else about knife-throwing that you want people to know?
A: Yes, it’s not a joke nor is it to be taken lightly. It’s a serious and potentially dangerous circus act that requires a significant level of skill to be performed safely. Anyone considering the impalement arts should do so with the utmost respect for their assistant.
From conga-dancing dogs and bicycling ballerinas, to hair-raising feats of strength and death-defying motorcycle stunts, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange! is sure to delight readers of all ages. With over 1,200 weird-but-true stories from around the world and 256 pages of wild and wonderful photography, this year’s collection of all things odd is not-to-be-missed.
Don’t miss out on being an ODDthority on everything strange, get your copy on Amazon today!
November 8, 2018
Strike! Common Baseball Myths Debunked
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
With the Boston Red Sox taking home the World Series win for 2018, why not take this moment to reflect on some of baseball’s greatest myths… and debunk them? America’s favorite pastime proves rich in colorful legends and storytelling. Not surprisingly, exaggerations and myths abound, too.
Baseball has inspired stories of heroic feats, bitter tragedies, and shocking upsets since its inception. But these stories didn’t always happen the way we’ve been told. Here’s a breakdown of some of baseball’s greatest fables.
Abner Doubleday: The Dubious Inventor of Baseball?
Ask any baseball junkie how the game got started, and they’ll probably mention Abner Doubleday. As the story goes, he singlehandedly invented baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown, New York. All in day’s work, eh?
Not really. Turns out, Doubleday was actually a student at West Point in 1839, and records show no ties between him and the game of baseball. What’s more, Doubleday never made any claims about his “special contributions” to the game. Ummmm… like inventing it. So, how did his name get inextricably intertwined with the history of the sport?
It all started with a myth woven about Doubleday by Abner Graves, a mining engineer. A special commission created by A.J. Spalding, the sporting goods magnate and former major league player, bought Graves’s tall tale hook, line, and sinker. Why? Because it placed Cooperstown, New York, at the center of American baseball history. In fact, this myth helped Cooperstown’s city fathers cement their claim to the sport, ensuring their city would house the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
William Hoy: Father of Baseball’s Hand Signals?
Make no mistake, William Hoy represented a true baseball legend playing for the Cincinnati Reds and a handful of other teams from 1888 to 1902. All told, he boasted an average of .288 and played in 1,797 games. He claimed 2,048 hits, 40 homers, 1,429 runs, 725 bats in, and 274 assists. He did great things for baseball.
He also helped change American perceptions about the aurally and vocally challenged. You see, Hoy was completely deaf and mute having contracted meningitis at the age of three. Yet, his disabilities never stopped him from rocking the majors. So, it stands to reason that he invented the hand signals used in baseball, right?
Wrong! While Hoy used hand signals, they came from his coaches and other teammates and were gaining currency in ballparks across the US. Why? Because the noisy din of baseball crowds made it difficult for umpires, coaches, and teammates to communicate. Two years after Hoy’s retirement, the larger-than-life umpire, Bill Klem, made them standard practice.
Shoeless Joe Jackson: The Mafia’s Player?
What happens when you mix baseball sluggers, nefarious gangsters, and the World Series? As Americans found out in 1919, tragedy. According to the myth, Joseph Jefferson “Shoeless Joe” Jackson and seven of his Chicago White Sox teammates conspired with underworld gamblers to fix the 1919 World Series.
But for a guy trying to lose, Shoeless Joe played flawlessly. He made no perceivable errors, averaged a .375, and got 12 hits. To this day, statisticians continue to defend him, pointing out that a record like that doesn’t equate with a man trying to sink the series. Yet, despite a jury acquittal in 1921, Shoeless Joe was banned for life by Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis. So, did he throw the World Series or not?
No, according to Shoeless Joe. He accepted $5,000 of the $20,000 promised to him by the gamblers because the team’s lawyer tricked him into signing a contract with them. (Jackson could neither read nor write.) Once he realized what was up, he tried to return the money and appealed twice to Charles Comiskey, owner of the White Sox. His seven teammates also confirmed that Jackson never attended meetings with the gamblers. While the evidence rested on Shoeless Joe’s side, he still paid the ultimate price, dying disgraced and banned from the game he loved.
Babe Ruth: A Shot Caller in 1932?
According to hallowed baseball lore, in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, the New York Yankees megastar, Babe Ruth, taunted the Chicago Cubs’ crowd by pointing to center field. In the next moment, the crack of the bat meant Ruth hit a home run off Charlie Root, pitcher for the Cubs, breaking a 2-2 tie. Today, this iconic moment in baseball history stands as a testament to Ruth’s unmatched skill. But did he really call that shot?
Sorry to disappoint you again, folks, but Ruth himself said, “No.” Or, rather, “Hell, no.” Speaking to Hal Totten, a Chicago sportswriter in 1933, the heavy hitter explained, “Now, kid, you know damn well I wasn’t pointing anywhere. If I had done that, Root would have stuck the ball in my ear. I never knew anybody who could tell you ahead of time where he was going to hit a baseball.”
So, what was Ruth pointing at? The games between New York and Chicago proved wildly contentious with vitriolic abuse pouring from the crowd and players. Ruth most likely pointed at the Cubs’ dugout trading slurs and insults with the opposing players.
Jackie Robinson: The First African American MLB Player?
After 58 years of Major League Baseball (MLB) segregation, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. An amazingly talented player, he contributed immeasurably to baseball, the Civil Rights Movement, and popular culture. In fact, he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. But was he the first African American MLB player?
Nope. That honor goes to William Edward White, a former slave, who played a single game with the National League’s Providence Grays on June 21, 1879. What’s more, Moses Fleetwood Walker played with the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884 participating in 42 games as a catcher. His brother, Welday Walker, also joined the Blue Stockings for five games before moving to the Pittsburgh Keystones, part of the short-lived National Colored Baseball League.
William Edward White seated second from right.
But in 1889, the National League and the American League voted to segregate the game of baseball setting civil rights irrevocably backward for nearly six decades. What’s more, research shows that William Edward White, unlike the Walker brothers, pretended to be white to avoid derogatory comments and abuse from his teammates. But Jackie Robinson had to face the ugliness of segregated America head-on, which along with his amazing baseball feats, makes him one of the all-time greats of MLB history.
Baseball Legends
Baseball legends prove nearly as old as the game itself. Passed down through the generations, they represent a rich American legacy. But many of them only tell half the truth. From Shoeless Joe Jackson’s 1919 scandal to Babe Ruth’s iconic 1932 “called” shot, the truth proves crazier than the fiction.
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com.
November 7, 2018
The Only Man To Be Buried On the Moon (So Far)
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Believe it or not, one man is buried on the Moon. His name is Eugene Shoemaker, and he pioneered planetary science.
Since time immemorial cultures all across the surface of the Earth have seen a face in the side of the Moon facing us. Curiosity getting the better of us, all sorts of legends and fables have been written about who the man in the Moon is and how he got there. Dante wrote that the fratricidal Cain was banished to the Moon. In Chinese traditions, the goddess of the Moon, Chang’e winds up on the moon after drinking an immortality elixir.
The first man on the Moon, however, was Neil Armstrong in 1969. He, along with the other astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission explored the lunar surface and collected sample to bring back to Earth. These samples were of particular interest to the man who would eventually end up interred on the Moon.
Eugene Shoemaker is often credited with inventing the field of planetary science. Trained as a geologist, Shoemaker melded his discipline with astronomy, using the great space race to study the surfaces of moons, planets, and comets. He trained the astronauts headed to the Moon, and even sat next to Walter Cronkite on air as NASA’s spokesperson on the status of the moon missions. He named many of the craters, valleys, and mountains on the Moon. His contributions proved so great that he even has a whole comet named after him. In 1994, Comet Shoemaker—Levy 9 gained worldwide attention because it crashed into Jupiter. This impact eventually led to scientists realizing that Jupiter acted as an important “vacuum cleaner” for debris that could otherwise pose a threat to the Earth.
Shoemaker spent much of his later life trekking across the globe to find impact craters that had gone unnoticed. Tragically, one of these trips ended in a fatal car crash. Eventually, Shoemaker’s ashes were sealed in a metal cylinder and sent to the Moon. His wife, Carolyn, who had made many discoveries alongside her husband had an image of the Hale-Bopp comet inscribed on the outside, along with a quote from Romeo and Juliet:
And, when he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Since his ashes were interred on the Moon, Shoemaker has remained the only person ever buried on an extraterrestrial surface. Though many companies have offered space burials inspired by science fiction shows like Star Trek, most of these capsules are launched into low Earth orbit. These ashes end up falling into the atmosphere soon after and burn up. Elysium Space, however, wants to send people’s ashes all the way to the Moon, so that they’ll stay in space. The asking price is around ten thousand dollars, which actually matches the average cost of a normal funeral in the United States.
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