Spirit House fun stuff

The sign of a good restaurant

acland — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:02:47 +0000

In 1990, 30,000 people lined up to eat at Moscow’s first McDonald’s. I like the expressions on the faces of the people once inside – a cross between bewilderment and dissapointment. I’ve fallen victim to this in Thailand, a long queue was forming around a city block for a new chain of cinnamon bun stores – I passed this queue every day, dying to know what the fuss was about. Then one day, on closing time the line was small and I managed to get my hands on one – just a gooey sticky bun. This shop spurned some imitation stores and now, a few years later, there are none to be found – the trend has died. But McDonald’s has proven itself to be more than a trend, please enjoy Russia’s first taste of Captalistic Decadence in the video below:

How airlines make their money

acland — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:28:53 +0000

One of the people on our tag-along tour had his partner cancel a month or two before the tour started – so he found a friend who was willing to come with him and rang his travel agency to make the name change for his airline tickets and hotel reservation (on our tag-along tours, you pay for your own flights and accommodation). He was amazed and shocked – changing the name for the flights and accommodation cost him an extra $500. We’re talking a few keystrokes – but then I was reading 50 amazing facts on the mental floss blog and fact 31 caught my eye:

31. In 2009, U.S. airlines collected $2.7 billion in baggage fees. Another $2.4 billion came from reservation change fees.

Imagine if a restaurant charged you to make changes to your reservation – by the airline or hotel standards, we’d be justified in doing so, after all, we collect the same sort of data as these other industries.

Just wanted to get that off my chest and I hope Saul feels better that I’ve given his complaint against the airlines some internet space.

Where do Super Models come from?

acland — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:54:06 +0000

The answer is: Brazil.

This fascinating video from the New York Times shows a unique poverty stricken area in Brazil that has produced some of the world’s top super models like Gisele Bündchen and Alessandra Ambrosio. It turns out that German, Italian and Russian migrants settled in this area many years ago and their descendants have the features that the world finds attractive. Modelling scouts study books and websites to track which areas Europeans settled in. They then visit schools (which is kind of creepy) hunting for attractive teens and pre-teens (even creepier) for their modelling agencies.

I won’t spoil the rest of the story but the article and video can be found in the following link: Finding Supermodels in Rural Brazil – Video Library – The New York Times.

Beatiful video of free diver free-falling into a blue hole

acland — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:42:19 +0000

The video featuring Guillaume Nery base jumping underwater into the depths of the Blue hole, takes your breath away just watching it.The video is filmed entirely on breath hold by Guillaume’s girlfriend and french champion Julie Gautier. Guillaume Nery who currently holds the world record for constant weight free diving (without fins) to a depth of 113 meters (370 feet), showcases his artistic side in this amazing video.

Times sure have changed

acland — Sun, 16 May 2010 11:11:43 +0000

The guy in the picture is Chauncy Morlan, who once made a living as a side show fat man. People paid money to look at him, because he was considered to be unusually fat. Today you can walk into any fast food outlets and see people far more fatter than him. How times have changed.

Food Inc. Everyone should see this!

acland — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:45:07 +0000

Food Inc. is one of those documentaries that can change the world. It asks the questions, you’re too afraid to ask, when it comes to food and while we can’t watch it on PBS here in Australia it is available on youtube and I’ve put the 9 parts that make up the movie below.
Food Inc. Shows us why it is cheaper to by a fully cooked hamburger than a head of broccoli. – in other words, ‘Why is junk food cheaper than healthy food?’. Everyone is focussed on the HOW when it comes to mass producing our food but no-one is asking WHY? And you’re going to see that ‘because it’s cheaper’ is not a great answer.

Your going to see how your food is controlled by a tiny handful of companies that have taken the farming out of farm and the implications from this are pretty serious.

In short, grab a coffee – the full show is below although split into parts:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4: – told you it was rivetting stuff didn’t I?

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8: I can’t embed part 8 so you have to watch it at youtube – I’ll pop it up in a new window for you.

Part 9:

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I also hope the links still work and PBS haven’t taken them down.

How to make a $3,000 kitchen knife

acland — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:28:15 +0000

Fascinating video of Master Bladesmith, Bob Kramer, revealing the techniques and time it takes to make high-end Damascus steel chef’s knives.

Dropped food on the floor – do you eat it?

acland — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:30:07 +0000

Don’t be shy – we’ve all dropped food on the floor but the question is – do you pick it up and eat it. If your toast lands butter-side down, is it ok to pick it up, spread some jam and finish it while no-one is looking? “The 30-Second Rule, A Decision Tree” by Audrey Fukuman and Andy Wright will take away the angst and time you spent worrying over whether something you’ve dropped is ok to eat – genius stuff.

Tree Branch Falls On Power Lines

acland — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:17:03 +0000

Here the squeals and groans from this branch that landed on power lines before it bursts into flames. Fascinating…

A chimp, goes to get a cake – just watch.

acland — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:34:02 +0000

A chimpanzee goes to the bakery to pick up a cake, but the pack of bulldogs he’s walking turn on him and chase him down the road before a bird of prey steals the chimpanzee’s cake.