Jesus Boots perfected!

August 3, 2004 9:54 AM

Jesus Boots perfected!NYT: In the last 150 years, Americans have patented about 100 water-walking inventions. The first, in 1858, was by H. R. Rowlands, who lived in Boston, not far from where Mr. Rosen resides, in Newton, Mass. Most of the subsequent patents, Mr. Rosen said, are iterations of that same idea. "Unfortunately," Mr. Rosen observed, "none of them actually work."
posted by skallas (13 comments total)

Looks like his does work, though.

Wonder if water walking will become the new roller blading.
posted by orange swan at 10:18 AM on August 3, 2004

I'm not sure why I would want to go for a walk on water. It seems slow and labor intensive and kind of stupid looking. I do remember seeing this guy test out a prototype a few years ago that looked he was on a treadmill, lots of motion but no movement.

I'd try it but I doubt I'd spend much money to do it.
posted by fenriq at 10:49 AM on August 3, 2004

He lives here in Upper Falls. Some of my neighbors have seen him walking around under Echo Bridge and they think he's loony.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:55 AM on August 3, 2004

The patent is online, of course.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:13 AM on August 3, 2004

*throws down fishing net and chases after him*

*drowns*
posted by papercake at 11:45 AM on August 3, 2004

J.T. LeRoy already got that off in Sarah.
posted by naxosaxur at 11:47 AM on August 3, 2004

For more than ten years, the Jesus Seminar has researched and debated the life and death of the historical Jesus. They have concluded that the Jesus of history is very different from the icon of traditional Christianity: Jesus did not walk on water, feed the multitude, change water into wine, or raise Lazarus from the dead. He was executed as a public nuisance, not for claiming to be the son of God. And in the view of the Seminar, he did not rise bodily from the dead; the resurrection is based instead on visionary experiences of Peter, Paul, and Mary*.

* NOT the folk singers, one prays
posted by matteo at 12:01 PM on August 3, 2004

*drowns*

Just to balance matteo, let's remember that in Matthew's walk-on-water coverage, Peter is in fact able to walk on water as well as Jesus - until he stops believing, then, SPLOOSH.
posted by soyjoy at 1:05 PM on August 3, 2004

... just like in the cartoons!
posted by chrid at 1:08 PM on August 3, 2004

Just to balance matteo, let's remember that in Matthew's walk-on-water coverage, Peter is in fact able to walk on water as well as Jesus - until he stops believing, then, SPLOOSH.

Revised version:

*throws down fishing net and chases after him*

*realizes he's not wearing big pontoons on his feet*

*drowns*
posted by papercake at 1:31 PM on August 3, 2004

Weird. I had a pair of these literally 25 years ago. I don't remember how the flap worked but it definitely worked--I walked across our cottage lake (a substantially sized lake) when I was 11. They weren't tethered together like these ones are but once you got used to that, it was no big deal.
posted by dobbs at 1:31 PM on August 3, 2004

Dude. They're not that hard to get. All you have to do is find Vlad's tower in Gehennom, and there's a guaranteed pair in one of the closets.
posted by namespan at 4:24 PM on August 3, 2004

posted by quonsar at 10:11 PM on August 3, 2004