Reading Notes #1

Benjamin Franklin was responsible for many impressive accomplishments as an inventor and politician. But he was also a writer who penned essays such as 1781's "Fart Proudly." Seriously. In it, he wrote, "It is universally well known, that in digesting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures, a great quantity of wind. That the permitting this air to escape and mix with the atmosphere, is usually offensive to the company, from the fetid smell that accompanies it." His essay urged the Royal Academy of Brussels to try to discover "some drug wholesome & not [disagreeable], to be mix'd with our common food, or sauces, that shall render the natural discharges of wind from our bodies, not only inoffensive, but [agreeable] as perfumes."

Victor_Lustig was famous for being one of the smoothest con men in history, but his most impressive stunt was when he convinced six scrap metal dealers to bid on the Eiffel Tower. The story goes that Lustig got the idea when he read an article about how the Eiffel Tower was rusting, and the high cost of its maintenance and repairs. Since the tower was only supposed to stand for 20 years, some Parisians were saying it should be taken down entirely. Not one to miss an opportunity, Lustig devised a plan to convince the city’s biggest scrap-metal dealers that he was a government director charged with the discreet task of selling off the Eiffel Tower’s scrap metal. He rented limousines and gave tours of the landmark, and insinuated not only that this was very hush-hush government business, but that he could be bribed into accepting the winning bid. One dealer was convinced, and paid Lustig $20,000 in cash plus an additional $50,000 to make sure his was the winning bid. Once he had the money, Lustig raced off to Austria to lay low while the story broke — but it never did since the dealer was too embarrassed to report Lustig’s scam.

'Princess of the Wall of Death’: Indonesian daredevil defies gravity and stereotypes Jakarta, Indonesia — Karmila Purba revs her motorbike under the lights of an Indonesian night carnival and rides up horizontally inside a wooden cylinder called Satan’s Barrel, drawing gasps from spectators looking down into the drum. With a smile on her face, Purba delights onlookers as she fearlessly pings around the bowl in Bogor, West Java, spreading her arms to collect tips waved by those above. The gravity-defying daredevil is among a handful of women that perform the stunt in Indonesia, zipping around a structure more commonly known as the “Wall of Death.” For decades, the Satan’s Barrel – or “Tong Setan” – has been the main attraction at traveling fun fairs in Indonesia, particularly in rural areas where there are few options for affordable entertainment. Using centrifugal force, riders sling their bikes around the motordrome at high speeds without protective gear as the smell of rubber fills the air.

Google's Artificial Intelligence Software Wins Go Contest A computer program built by Google has defeated one of the best players in the world in the Chinese board game Go. The South Korean Go champion Lee Se-dol lost his game to a computer program that is based on Google's Deepmind , its artificial intelligence software. The match between a human and a computer was a test to find out where technology stands on artificial intelligence. Go is an ancient game that was first played in China thousands of years ago. It is about placing black and white stones on a square board . The aim is to surround your opponent and control the board. Go is considered to be much more complex than chess. Whereas in chess there are 20 possible moves a player can make, there are over 200 in Go. According to one game expert, a Go board has more possible configurations than there are atoms in the universe.

Sleep scientists have found that traditional remedies for insomnia,such as counting sheep,are ineffective. Instead,they have found that imagining a pleasant scene is likely to send you to sleep quickly. The research team divided 50 insomnia sufferers into three groups. One group imagined watching a waterfall, while another group tried sheep counting. A third group was given no special instructions about going to sleep. It was found that the group thinking of waterfalls fell asleep 20 minutes quicker. Mechanical tasks like counting sheep are apparently too boring to make people sleepy . There are many practical applications for research into insomnia. About one in ten people are thought to suffer from severe insomnia. It is calculated that the cost of insomnia for the American economy may be $ 35 billion a year.