Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 461
August 18, 2016
Philly Officials Say No More Dumpster Pool Parties
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
A block party in Philadelphia features a DIY dumpster pool, but city officials were not amused!
Wanting to spice up their annual Cedar Street Block Party, Justyn and Jake decided they needed a pool
Instead of buying a kiddie pool, called around looking for a construction dumpster
The dumpster was powerwashed, plywood was added to the floor and pool noodles were lined along the side
Two layers of tarp were laid out
The pool was filled using a city fire hydrant by way of a manifold Justyn designed
When the city caught wind of it, they decided to put an end to the practice, but not before everyone had a fun dumpster pool party
Via Jason Myers
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
August 17, 2016
Fun Facts & Silly Stories E-Books
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Stuffed with goofy facts, strange tales, and eye-catching photos, Fun Facts & Silly Stories e-books are perfect for the young Ripley’s fan.
Interactive e-Book!
This is NOT your average e-book. Packed inside the pages is a fantastic mix of interactive features, like striking videos and funny animal noises, sure to educate and entertain both reluctant readers and young explorers.
The new Fun Facts & Silly Stories e-books take your child on a unique reading journey. After they put in their name and list some of their favorite things, the e-book creates a personalized story customized for your child.
DOWNLOAD ON iTUNES!
Fun Facts & Silly Stories 1
Fun Facts & Silly Stories 2
INSIDE THE PAGES
Every day the researchers at Ripley’s are busy digging up the craziest true stories and the most unbelievable facts. From chickens in sweaters to kittens in jars, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! provides entertaining books for children of all ages which, educates and informs them in a humorous style.
DOWNLOAD ON iTUNES!
Fun Facts & Silly Stories 1
Fun Facts & Silly Stories 2
The U.S. Army Airlifted Snacks and Supplies to Woodstock
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
In 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Festival ran from August 15 – 18. It was originally scheduled to end on the 17th, but the hordes of hippies had different ideas. In the 47 years since, the festival has been considered one of the most important moments in musical history. It’s not likely that you’ll find a musical historian who doesn’t look to this moment as a significant turning point. And future attempts to recapture the feeling and importance of the festival tended to be failures.
But for all of that positivity, how often do people think of the logistics behind woodstock?
Woodstock ’69
An estimated 400,000 people attended the Three Days of Peace & Music. So many people, and with so much enthusiasm, that those three days were extended out to four. Wherever that many people group together for that long period of time, certain problems will arise.
Human beings need food, water, and sanitary places to use the bathroom. And when there are hundreds of thousands of people in one small space, those things can be hard to come by.
Organizers of the festival had little to no problem getting performers together. Some of the biggest musical names of the time were in attendance. Jimi Hendrix himself performed the best rendition of the Star Spangled Banner ever heard. But when it came to feeding their crowds, the organizers left something to be desired.
Initially, 186,000 tickets were sold for the event. The organizers were expecting that a few extras would find their way onto Max Yasgur’s farm, but even with that, they only expected a total of 200,000 people.
They were wrong by half, and when 400,000 people showed up, it didn’t take long for their food stores to run dangerously low.
No major food vendors wanted to tackle the crowds, so the organizers hired an inexperienced company to handle their feeding needs.
It is no surprise at all that this was a really bad idea. In no time at all, the company was overwhelmed by trying to meet the needs of so many hungry people. As their food stock started dwindling, the vendors began price gouging.
In reaction to that, the group of people who had come together in peace and love showcased the opposite by burning down the food vendor stands.
The Solution
As news of the Woodstock struggles spread throughout the country, people banded together with a plan. The U.S. Army was to take a helicopter into the heart of the festival and deliver food and supplies to the hippies.
Embed from Getty Images
All told, the Army brought over 10,000 sandwiches, water, fruit, canned goods, blankets, and medical supplies to the ravenous crowd.
The festival didn’t claim to be any kind of protest against militarization, but it has to be acknowledged that the event took place during the height of the Vietnam War. So when 400,000 people got together in celebration of peace and love in 1969, it’s a safe bet that they were aligned against the U.S. Military. And yet, when those people found themselves in a bit of bind, it was that same military that came to their rescue.
Source: The U.S. Army Airlifted Snacks and Supplies to Woodstock
It’s an Arabian Sand Cat Coming Out Party
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
First of all, how cute are these guys? The Arabian Sand Cat, and yes Sand Cat is its real name, is the only known cat that lives in both sandy and stony deserts. They’re native to the deserts of North Africa and Southwest and Central Asia. And, they’re classified as near threatened because their population is small, fragmented, and thought to be declining.
It’s that last fact that makes seeing them so special.
The Sighting
The sand cats hadn’t been seen in about 10 years. Stories of their sighting prior to that have been mostly anecdotal without any concrete evidence to back it up. But now, the Environment Agency—Abu Dhabi has posted pictures of three cats being spotted in the United Arab Emirates.
Did you know that the sand cats are the only cats that live in sand dune environment? pic.twitter.com/j70ea0QkGC
— EAD (@EADTweets) August 8, 2016
The cats were reportedly seen earlier this year, but the environment agency waited until earlier this month to release the images on their social media channels.
The sand cat is notoriously hard to spot. Mostly, because they’re so rare that it would be hard to find one even if they wanted to be found. But more than that, there’s also the cat’s covert behavior that makes it hard to find.
They have a thick covering of fur on the pads of their feet which protects them from the heat of the sand. The fur also works like snowshoes to distribute their weight so they don’t sink into the loose sand. This also means that they leave behind very faint footprints, making them hard to track.
Via Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi
Another cool feature of the Arabian Sand Cat is that when they are spotted, they tend to freeze, get low to the ground, and close their eyes. With their eyes closed, the typical reflective lenses that a tracker is used to seeing at night are taken out of the equation. Without that telltale sign, and with their coats being perfect camouflage, it can be nearly impossible to find these little creatures at night. Luckily, this trio was found by the stationary cameras the environment agency set up.
Going Forward
Researchers are hoping that this will be the first step in getting accurate information on the number of cats left. They don’t do so well in captivity, so the best hope of bringing the species back from the brink of extinction is them surviving in the wild. With any luck, their small numbers will be attributed to their sneaky behavior and not diminishing returns.
August 16, 2016
70-Year-Old Stein Hoff Rescued 1,000 Miles From Shore!
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Stein Hoff, a Norwegian man attempting a solo transatlantic row, was rescued at sea after a major storm left him stranded 1,000 miles from shore.
Stein Hoff’s quest to row solo from New York City to England ended Saturday, August 6th when a fierce storm badly damaged his boat, stranding him 850 miles out to sea.
Stein Hoff left New York City on May 15th for what was to be a 90-day odyssey – rowing solo to England. Stein Hoff – 70 years old – is sponsored by Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
The effort, dubbed The Unbelievable Voyage, became even more unbelievable when Hoff was hit by bad weather the night of Friday, August 5th. He tried to ride out the storm, but his 24-foot rowboat was no match for 30-40 foot waves and winds gusting to 60 mph.
Hoff managed a Facebook post the next morning:
“Sorry. This is the end of my trip. Lots of damage to rudder, sea anchor gone … I deeply regret this, no choice, hope the boat stands it till a ship comes. But I have a story to tell.”
Hoff activated his boat’s EPIRB. The emergency signal prompted an international rescue effort. Norwegian officials picked up his distress signal, and Her Majesty’s Coastguard in England began searching for airplanes and ships in Hoff’s vicinity.
Fortunately, the Ludolf Oldendorff, a cargo ship, was only a few hours away from Hoff’s drifting rowboat, the Fox II. The ship diverted to rescue the battered and bruised Hoff. He was reunited with his family when the ship docked in Sept-Îles, Quebec after a nine-day journey.
Hoff was recreating the 1896 journey of two Norwegian Americans, George Harbo and Gabriel Samuelsen, who were the first people to row across an ocean. Robert Ripley wrote about their feat in his first Ripley’s Believe It or Not! book.
Source: 70-Year-Old Stein Hoff Rescued 1,000 Miles From Shore!
Drowned Kitten Saved by Italian Coastguard Giving Mouth-To-Mouth
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Members of the Italian coastguard rescued a one-month-old kitten off the coast of Sicily and an officer gave the drowning animal mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
A group of children saw the kitten floating in the ocean
The coastguard member dove into the water to rescue the kitten
Even though he seemed dead, they managed to resuscitate him using mouth-to-mouth
Port authorities have adopted the kitten and named him Charlie
MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.
Source: Drowned Kitten Saved by Italian Coastguard Giving Mouth-To-Mouth
The Disappearing Tradition of the Lai Tu Chin Tribe
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Every culture has its own set of coming of age rituals. In America, growing older is celebrated by an increase of freedom. Teenagers gain the ability to drive cars and join the workforce. The Kayan Lahwi of Myanmar are known for putting brass neck coils on their young girls. The coils depress the shoulders and create the effect of an elongated neck. And the Lai Tu Chin tribe, also based in Myanmar, had its own tradition.
But a lot of traditions don’t last forever. In certain circumstances, a coming of age ritual dying out is a good thing. If Chinese women still practiced footbinding, no one in the country would be able to walk. We’ve also seen versions of head binding go the way of the dodo. But why is the Lai Tu Chin tradition of facial tattooing also on its way out?
The Lai Tu Chin Tribe
From 1962 to 2011, Myanmar was ruled by an oppressive military dictatorship. Things didn’t look good in Myanmar during the military reign. Officials were constantly accused of human rights abuses, unlawful arrests, and many other affronts to citizens.
One of their acts was to outlaw the practice of facial tattooing in 1976. The ultimate reasoning isn’t known, but it’s possible this decision was little more than the military regime throwing its weight around.
Whatever the reason, the outcome is undeniable—the women who practiced this art, known as the Hmäe Sün Näe Ti Cengkhü Nu, are going extinct.
The Hmäe Sün Näe Ti Cengkhü Nu
The tattoos are made with ink from natural ingredients like the soot from cooking lids. It’s designed to fade over the years, but never go away completely. Because the ink isn’t as dense or dark as standard tattoo ink, the designs are likely to fade faster than typical tattoos.
The results are striking. As these women get older, the spiderweb patterns on their faces offer the barest amount of contour to their features. They fade so much that against a more vibrant background, the tattoos are only faintly visible.
To combat this, Australian photographer Dylan Goldby photographed the women against a neutral background. You can see his images in his upcoming photo book.
But for these pictures, we wanted to capture these remarkable women in their normal setting.
No one who came of age after the 1970s has these tattoos any longer. Efforts to preserve images of them are very important because once these women are gone, their traditions and culture might be gone with them.
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