funny

WTF Fun Fact 12401 – World’s Tallest Fork

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In what we hope is a mere formality, Fireview, Oregon is trying to confirm that the 37-foot-tall fork they’ve erected on the site of their new food truck plaza is the world’s largest. Their goal is to earn a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records with the decidedly non-utilitarian utensil.

The Fairview government’s official website reads:

“Tuesday, February 15, the World’s Tallest Fork, to be determined by Guinness Book of Work Record, will be arriving in Fairview to be erected in its new home between 9 AM and 11 AM. This 37-foot tall stainless steel “Fork” will be the art piece placed in the public plaza at the entrance to the new Fairview Food Plaza at the corner of Halsey Street and NE 223rd Ave. The “Fork” will be traveling from McMinnville, where it was created.

The Fairview Food Plaza is a public-private partnership between the Fairview Urban Renewal Agency, property owner Denise Arndt and Plaza operator Justin Hwang.  The Plaza is planning to open in April 2022 with 16 food carts featuring a vast variety of foods.  The dining hall courtyard and public plaza will be a destination for the community and cultural events for years to come. The development will include a farmers market anticipated to start at the end of June 2022.”

By way of explanation, Mayor Brian Cooper told KATU-TV: “So, the fork came about because we wanted something on the corner, whether it was a water tower or a windmill or some sort of piece that’s going to be on the corner, and then one of the design teams said, let’s just put a fork here and we’ll come back to it. And over the course of a couple months, it just kind of stuck in the brain…And you can come up with an entire marketing scheme of ‘Take a left at the fork,’ ‘The Fork in Fairview.”

The current record holder for the world’s tallest fork is Missouri, with a utensil that stands 35 feet tall. So, fingers crossed that no one has secretly erected a larger fork in the meantime! – WTF Fun Facts

Source: The Fork is Coming! — Fairview Oregon government homepage

WTF Fun Fact 12398 – Canadian Humor

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In 1999, Canada’s Northwest Territories was split in two. The eastern region became Nunavut, a territory made up of the Inuit (known to some as Eskimos). However, the other half of the 1.3 million-square-mile territory wanted to come up with its own name.

Politicians turned to residents to come up with new names, which may not have been the best idea in retrospect. Before the Boaty McBoatface debacle, Canadians proved that the people don’t always know best when they rallied behind the name “Bob” for their territory.

According to The Baltimore Sun, other contenders included Restavit, Alluvit, Fullavit, Tundraland, Freedom Territory, Eskimo Pie, and Snobound. So, in some respects, it could have been worse.

While the internet wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today, an online campaign on behalf of Bob contained a list of reasons why citizens thought it was a good idea, such as: “‘Bob’ sounds the same in each of the official languages of the Northwest Territories” (these include English, French, Cree, Inukitut, and Dene).

“‘A spokesman for Bob said ‘ sounds friendlier in news reports than ‘A spokesman for the Northwest Territories said,'” claimed another fan.

Politicians were not so good-natured about the fun and games:

“The campaign to make the name of the Western Territory into ‘Bob’ is not humorous,” said J. Michael Miltenberger, member of the territorial assembly. “This campaign is hurting the reputation vTC of residents of the Western Arctic across North America and beyond.” – WTF Fun Facts

Source: Northwest Territories looking for new name – ‘Bob’ need not apply — CBC News

WTF Fun Fact 12397 – Beer Mustache

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Men with mustaches and beards are losing an estimated 162,719 pints of beer in their facial hair every year, according to Guinness.

The brewery commissioned a scientific study and researchers found that quite a bit of beer was being wasted each year in the UK (and presumably around the world) – about £4.58 a year, they estimate. It has been humorously titled the “mustache tax.”

There are an estimated 92,370 drinkers with facial hair in the UK. Those men drink an average of 180 pints each a year. That makes the total cost of wasted suds around £423,070, or around $572K in US dollars.

According to The Guardian, “As the data was based on the average mustache surface area. Scientists were able to work out the amount of wastage depending on size, shape, and density.” – WTF Fun Facts

Source: Hairy topers ‘wasting Guinness’? — The Guardian

WTF Fun Fact 12396 – Writer’s Block

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In 1974, a legitimate, peer-reviewed academic journal titled Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis” published a zero-word article titled “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block'” as a joke. It was “authored” by Dennis Upper, a clinical psychologist at Harvard who was, at the time, suffering from writer’s block.

A joke review was published directly underneath his 1974 article, reading:

“I have studied this manuscript very carefully with lemon juice and X-rays and have not detected a single flaw in either design or writing style. I suggest it be published without revision. Clearly, it is the most concise manuscript I have ever seen-yet it contains sufficient detail to allow other investigators to replicate Dr. Upper’s failure. In comparison with the other manuscripts I get from you containing all that complicated detail, this one was a pleasure to examine. Surely we can find a place for this paper in the Journal-perhaps on the edge of a blank page.”

It also spawned the following copycat articles:

Artino, Anthony R. (2016).“The unsuccessful treatment of a case of ‘Writer’s Block’: A replication in medical education.”Medical Education.50(12): 1262–1263.

Ampatzidis, Georgios (November 24, 2021).“The Unsuccessful Self-treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block’: A Replication in Science Education.”Journal of Trial and Error.

Didden, Robert; Sigafoos, Jeff; O’Reilly, Mark F; Lancioni, Giulio E; Sturmey, Peter; LeBlanc, Linda (2007). “A Multisite Cross-Cultural Replication of Upper’s (1974) Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of Writer’s Block.” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 40 (4): 773.

Hermann, Bruce P. (2016). “Unsuccessful Self-treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block’: a Partial Failure to Replicate”. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 58 (2): 350.

Mclean, Derrick C.; Thomas, Benjamin R. (2014). “Unsuccessful Treatments of “writer’s Block”: A Meta-analysis.” Psychological Reports. 115 (1): 276–278.

Molloy, Geoffery N. (1983). “The Unsuccessful Self-treatment of a Case of “Writer’s Block”: a Replication” Perceptual and Motor Skills. 57 (2): 566.

Olsen, Kenneth R. (2016). “Unsuccessful Self-treatment of ‘Writer’s Block’: A Review of the Literature.” Perceptual and Motor Skills. 59 (1): 158.

Skinner, Nicholas F.; Perline, Arthur H. (2016). “The Unsuccessful Group Treatment of ‘Writer’s Block’: A Ten-year Follow-up.” Perceptual and Motor Skills. 82 (1): 138.

Skinner, Nicholas F.; Perlini, Arthur H.; Fric, Lawrence; Werstine, E. Paul; Calla, James (2016). “The Unsuccessful Group-treatment of “Writer’s Block.”” Perceptual and Motor Skills. 61 (1): 298. 

Upper passed away in 2018 after an accidental fall down the stairs. According to his obituary: In addition to being a professor and clinician, “Upper was an equally brilliant writer and poet. He edited twelve professional books, wrote more than thirty professional articles, and had his poems and short stories published in more than fifty literary journals. His 2007 memoir Long Story Short — a collection of one hundred vivid, thoughtful, funny, sad, and profound stories from his life — continues to captivate readers.”

Source: The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer’s block”– Journal of Applied Behavioral Research

WTF Fun Fact #12394

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First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt became friends with “First Lady of the Air” Amelia Earhart 1932. That was the same year of Earhart’s famous nonstop trans-Atlantic flight.

On April 20, 1933, they attended a formal dinner at the White House when Earhart got a little restless and suggested they go on an adventure. The feminist trailblazers grabbed some friends and slipped out of the event in their ballgowns. Then they hopped on a plane to spice up the evening at Earhart’s suggestion.

The plan was to travel to Baltimore and back before dessert, and they headed to the air hangar at Hoover Field and hopped aboard one of Eastern Air Transport’s twin-engine Curtiss Condor planes.

Two of the airplane company’s pilots had to operate the plane, but the women managed to nudge them aside at some point and took over the cockpit, acting as pilot and co-pilot for at least part of the flight.

After the short trip, the Secret Service ushered everyone back to the dinner.

Of course, Earhart would eventually go on her ill-fated trip around the world in 1937, from which she never returned. Roosevelt continued her humanitarian deeds until her death in 1962.

When speaking about their adventurous evening, Roosevelt told The Baltimore Sun: “It does mark an epoch, doesn’t it, when a girl in an evening dress and slippers can pilot a plane at night.” – WTF Fun Facts

Source: Pilots in Evening Gowns: When Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt Took to the Skies — A Mighty Girl

WTF Fun Fact #12390 – Dumb Ways to Die

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A 2012 ad campaign about rail safety has won dozens of marketing awards and has even been credited for saving lives by discouraging foolish behavior around railroad tracks. The song and video were created by the advertising agency McCann Melbourne for Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia.

It went viral immediately on social media after being uploaded to YouTube. Called “morbidly adorable,” it shows animated characters dying in ridiculous ways.

The songs lyics are:

Set fire to your hair
Poke a stick at a grizzly bear
Eat medicine that’s out of date
Use your private parts as piranha bait

Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die
Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die

Get your toast out with a fork
Do your own electrical work
Teach yourself how to fly
Eat a two-week-old un-refrigerated pie

Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die
Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die

Invite a psycho-killer inside
Scratch a drug dealer’s brand new ride
Take your helmet off in outer space
Use a clothes dryer as a hiding place

Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die
Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die

Keep a rattlesnake as a pet
Sell both your kidneys on the Internet
Eat a tube of superglue
“I wonder, what’s this red button do?”

Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die
Dumb ways to die
So many dumb ways to die

Dress up like a moose during hunting season
Disturb a nest of wasps for no good reason
Stand on the edge of a train station platform
Drive around the boom gates at a level crossing
Run across the tracks between the platforms

They may not rhyme but they’re quite possibly
The dumbest ways to die
The dumbest ways to die
Dumbest ways to die
So many dumb
So many dumb ways to die

– WTF Fun Facts

Source: Has Dumb Ways to Die been effective? — Mumbrella