Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 486
May 24, 2016
Bioglow Gives a New Meaning to the Phrase Going Green
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Bioglow plants have been genetically modified to give off a soft green glow.
The process takes genes from bioluminescent marine life and writes it into the plants’ genetic code
The first plant was named Starlight Avatar because it gave off about as much light as a star and reminded the inventors of James Cameron’s film Avatar .
In the big picture, the plants could line streets and parks and serve as street lamps
Since the invention of the process for creating the plants multiple companies have come forward to start creating and marketing them
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: Bioglow Gives a New Meaning to the Phrase Going Green
The Various Forms and Types of Animal Armor
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
If a person goes into battle, it only makes sense that they wear armor. By that logic, an animal charging into battle should have animal armor of their own.
For as long as they’ve been domesticated, animals have been pulled into humanity’s bloody conflicts. But as people grow attached to the animals they take into battle, they start wanting them to be protected.
Beyond the sentimental importance, there was a tactical advantage to an animal being armored in battle. A protected horse would last longer in a fight allowing his rider to plunge deeper into the fray.
Evidence of horse armor can be found dating back as far as 2600 BC. But European examples of armor that we’re most used to seeing seem to originate in the Medieval Period.
Called Barding, the horse armor was modeled after the knight armor that was popular at the time, featuring metal plates and chain mail.
Horse armor makes sense as people will be riding them into battle, but when does animal armor move from being practical to being unbelievable?
War Elephants
It’s a common misconception that elephants are thick skinned. In fact, their skin is stretched rather thin as it works to contain their immense size.
So when elephants started being used in battle, it only made sense that they be armored as well. But what must it take to protect an animal as large as an elephant?
Luckily, here at Ripley’s we have examples of elephant armor built to scale that we can share with you.
Fully outfitted Elephant
Closeup of elephant face and trunk armor
fully body view of elephant armor
Dog Armor
The Ripley’s collection also includes an example of dog armor.
This guy looks like he’s ready for a fight. The chain mail armor would be helpful in deflecting minor blows from an opposing soldier’s weapon. But it would probably be heavy and make movement difficult.
There’s not much practical use for this kind of dog armor today, but that doesn’t mean that dog armor has to fall into the hands of antiquity.
After witnessing one of their small dogs getting carried away by a coyote, a couple in California invented a new kind of dog armor that would ensure they would never have to go through that again.
Animal Armor as Art
Some animal armor is more artistic than practical.
Canadian artist Jeff de Boer takes designs of old school animal armor and scales it down and recreates it for cats and rats. If you could get your cat to willing wear it, this armor would be sure to keep it safe from any alley cat attack.
Medieval cat armor created by Jeff de Boer
Medieval cat armor created by Jeff de Boer
Who do you think would win in a fight between this armored cat and the following Samurai rat?
Samurai rat armor created by Jeff de Boer
May 23, 2016
Winston Churchill Was Prescribed Unlimited Alcohol
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
If you could get a Doctor’s note to excuse you from anything your heart desires, what would it be? For Winston Churchill, it was for an unlimited amount of alcohol.
Doctors are strange entities in this country. In some ways, they possess unlimited power and final authority on many matters. For most of us, that power is often used to help get out of a day of work or having to exercise during Phys Ed. But when you’re a prominent diplomat, maybe you can get more bang for your buck.
Sir. Winston Churchill
The year was 1931, and Churchill was on a lecture tour through the U.S. Prohibition had been in effect in the country for 11 years at the time, and Winston must have known he’d be in for a long trip without libations.
While in New York, Churchill was rushing to meet a friend for dinner. When he stepped out of the cab and went to cross the street, he momentarily forgot that he wasn’t in England anymore.
I no sooner got out of the cab somewhere about the middle of the road and told the driver to wait than I instinctively turned my eyes to the left. About 200 yards away were the yellow headlights of an approaching car.
He tried to rush out of the way, but forgot to check both ways for oncoming traffic and was hit by a car traveling roughly 35 mph.
Sir Winston Churchill was rushed to a hospital and treated for a gash to the head, a broken nose, broken ribs, and severe shock.
Eventually, he left the hospital and went to the Bahamas to rest and heal up. But he still wanted to complete the lecture tour.
His doctor in New York didn’t think it was a good idea given his injuries, but he found the best way possible to alleviate some of his suffering. He gave Churchill a note circumventing the prohibition laws and allowing him to have all of the alcohol he wanted.
The note, written by Dr. Otto Pickhardt reads:
This is to certify that the post-accident convalescence of the Hon. Winston S. Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at meal times. The quantity is naturally indefinite but the minimum requirements would be 250 cubic centimeters.
And just like that, the honorable Sir. Winston Churchill was allowed to ignore a decade-long law and drink to his heart’s content while traveling through the states.
Medical Implications for a Origami Robot You Can Swallow
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Researchers at MIT, the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have invented an origami robot that can be swallowed by a patient and then controlled by an electromagnet to remove foreign objects or make other internal repairs.
In the U.S. every year, there are over 3,500 incidents of swallowed button batteries
The origami robot can be encased in ice in a pill form to be swallowed
It melts in the stomach acid and balloons out
From there, it can be controlled with a magnet to grab and hold onto foreign objects in the stomach lining
Other possible uses than removing button batteries are being explored
If the origami robot can be controlled without need of the external magnet, the possibilities are endless
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: Medical Implications for a Origami Robot You Can Swallow
May 22, 2016
May 21, 2016
May 20, 2016
The Unbelievable Voyage: A Modern Day Viking Adventure
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
120 years ago, two Norwegians rowed – actually rowed – across the Atlantic from New York to the Isles of Scilly. Robert Ripley found this story unbelievable and wrote about it in his first Believe It Or Not! book in 1929.
Harbo and Samuelson were their names, and they were the 1st people to successfully row across the Atlantic. They did so in an 18-foot long, cedar wood rowing boat.
Their journey took 55 days to complete.
Stein Hoff, 70, a Norwegian Doctor and avid rower, was inspired by Harbo and Samuelson and wanted to break their record. He decided to try and be the 1st and oldest man to row solo from New York to the Isles of Scilly. His voyage is taking place currently and is being chronicled by Ripley’s.
FOLLOW STEIN HOFF! Row progress charts update every four hours
Stein Hoff
Stein is rowing a handmade 24’ rowboat named the Fox II after Harbo and Samuelson’s boat the Fox. He will travel a predicted 3,000 nautical mile, 90-day, voyage that no one has ever done before (at least not solo). He began his voyage on Sunday, May 15th just before 8 am.
Stein Hoff’s family has a long history with rowing. His youngest daughter was born at sea during a circumnavigating of the world in a sailboat. His eldest daughter, Elisabeth, was the youngest person to attempt to row across the Atlantic. She didn’t make it, but she still rows competitively and for pleasure on a regular basis.
In addition to Stein and Elisabeth, Stein’s wife Diana has also rowed across the Atlantic—solo! Now, according to Stein, she took the easy route (a route he has previously done too), but at age 55, she rowed from England to the Canary Islands and then across to South America. It took her 113 days—nearly 50 more than planned! She was the second woman to make this trip, and, to date, she is still the oldest person to have done it. Stein plans to eclipse her record, both for age and time across.
The Sendoff
One might think Stein is crazy for attempting this journey, but if anyone can row alone across the Atlantic at age 70, without a tracking safety boat, it is Stein.
There were over 60 Norwegian supporters with Stein in his last few days on land. Two women were introduced as direct relatives of the original Gabriel Samuelson. They bestowed upon Stein a necklace containing ashes of Gabriel Samuelson that he will wear on his journey. He will be releasing the ashes into the wind while at sea.
His wife, Diana, prepared the food for his voyage. She prepackaged freeze-dried fruits, nuts, and homemade fruitcake—3 bags a day for 90 days. For his last meal on land, he chose to eat fish (Dover sole to be precise). Imagine a guy on a boat for 90 days with little variety in his diet, surrounded by fish, but won’t eat fish. And his reasoning?
They are my friends and keep me company while I row.
The day of launch was bright and sunny, but freezing cold. Stein was leaving from a private yacht club. He caught up with his friends and family shortly after 8 am when he rounded a bend and came into the harbor, waving greetings from his boat to everyone aboard a massive two-masted clipper sailing ship.
FOLLOW STEIN HOFF! Row progress charts update every four hours
Early Trouble
Accompanying Stein out of the harbor was a small dingy piloted by Don and a sailboat piloted by Bjorn an old sailing friend of Stein’s. Thank God he was there that morning as Stein had once been for him in time of need.
The cross currents of the harbor, the giant boats going by (Stein was almost swamped twice), and the wind were all against Stein. At one point, Don had to connect a rope to Bjorn’s craft and have Stein pulled from the dangerous rocks of the shoreline. Bravely, Stein stood up in his small boat and saluted the Statue of Liberty, his friends and family aboard the luxury ship, and a party of Norwegian’s on the shore near Brooklyn, before heading out to sea beyond the Verrazano Bridge.
Bon Voyage
Stein’s wife and daughter looked pensively out to the dot on the sea that was Stein. This was only the first part of day one of a 90-day unbelievable voyage, but worry was on everyone’s face. If getting out of the harbor was this hard, what unfathomable troubles lay ahead on the open seas? Surely a 40’ wave, or an iceberg or two, could make his life a lot more miserable?
Both Stein’s daughter, Elisabeth, who supplied me with some wonderful photos for this story, and his wife Diana, wrote to me Monday morning the 16th to tell me Stein made an incredible 54 nautical miles on day one. That’s almost twice as many as he wishes to average on the trip. Turns out those cold easterly winds worked to his benefit once he was out of the harbor.
Then on Tuesday, I received the gut-wrenching news that Stein had already once been tossed overboard during his second day at sea. Believe it or Not, he got right back on board and started rowing as if nothing had happened.
Only 84 more days to go…..
FOLLOW STEIN HOFF! Row progress charts update every four hours
Source: The Unbelievable Voyage: A Modern Day Viking Adventure
Google Wants to Glue People to its Self-Driving Car
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Google has been granted a patent for an adhesive to be added to their self-driving car so that when it inevitably hits a pedestrian, that person will stick to the car instead of being thrown forward.
The patent describes an eggshell-like coating that would protect the adhesive layer
The force of a collision would break that coating
Once broken, the adhesive layer would catch the person or thing hit and hold them in place
It’s thought that the system would soften the initial blow and stop a pedestrian from being thrown
Google has stressed that holding the patent doesn’t mean the product will actually be used, but it might
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.
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