Comments on: Carbohydrate Loading

Carbohydrate Loading

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:33:28 -0800

World Record Spaghetti Bridge

Bala'zs Botka of Hungary's Budapest Polytechnic set a world record by building a spaghetti bridge weighing 994.9 grams (2.19 pounds) that held 352.62 kilograms (777 pounds) before breaking. Hungarian competitors in the heavyweight division took the top six spots. YouTube link of the Hungarian team at last year's competition. Rules.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:40:02 -0800

Hey! That happened just down the road from me! Cool! The Okanagan valley: world-class gold-winning wines and record-holding spaghetti bridges. What more could a man want? Oh, beautiful women. Plenty of them in the valley, too. Life is good.

By: tkolar

tkolar — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:44:57 -0800

Cool...

By: tkolar

tkolar — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:49:17 -0800

To provide a suitable road surface, the bridge must have a solid, continuous pasta road deck that is at least 50 mm wide and covers the full length of the bridge. Note: we recommend using lasagna. The lasagna may be altered as per the rules governing materials.

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:50:55 -0800

Oh yeah, I saw that. Prince was in it, right? Oh... never mind.

By: 45moore45

45moore45 — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:51:58 -0800

This brings playing with your food to a whole new level

By: DU

DU — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:59:39 -0800

2 lbs holding 777 lbs. JEBUS M ROTINI!

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:02:39 -0800

Botka of Hungary's Budapest Polytechnic, weighed 994.9 grams and held 352.62 kg... Hungarian competitors in the heavyweight division took the top six spots, finishing ahead of three local contenders: Brad Reinholz (KSS 12.53 grams), Hayden Kanigan (KSS 11.92 grams) and Ian Purvis (OKM 1.76 grams). Are the weights for the last three bridges their stress thresholds? 'Cause that's a hell of a disparity.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:12:19 -0800

Certainly looks like a misprint. I'll update this if I get official results.

By: grouse

grouse — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:13:24 -0800

TV reporter: "They go home winners, but the victory was bittersweet." What the hell kind of spaghetti is bittersweet?

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:25:12 -0800

Spaghetti squash?

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:28:33 -0800

Well, if you get the RonCo pasta maker, you - yes, YOU! - can make delicious chocolate spaghetti! Now, how much would you pay?

By: ursus_comiter

ursus_comiter — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:32:26 -0800

I designed the 4th grade champion and record holding drinking straw bridge of my elementary school. Come get some, Hungarians.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:34:46 -0800

Where's that confounded bridge? *burp*

By: tinkertown

tinkertown — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:46:12 -0800

Is there anywhere that doesn't have just one lame photo?

By: ORthey

ORthey — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:57:17 -0800

I'm more interested in the car thief asleep at wheel lol!

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:18:48 -0800

This bridge, it dances? (Gotta 2nd DU's comment. That there's some engineering.)

By: DU

DU — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:22:53 -0800

The video doesn't show anything like 777 lbs hanging from it. That must be 353 grams, not kg. But the world record is apparently 176 kg. But but, the video said they were "2 kg short of the world record". In short: That video is completely useless for imparting meaningful information. It is also a local news broadcast. But I repeat myself.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:50:03 -0800

DU: "The video doesn't show anything like 777 lbs hanging from it. That must be 353 grams, not kg." 1) It's not weights, there's a giant chain and some sort of hidden machinery that pulls on the chain. 2) That's last year's video, so it breaks at something more like 550 lbs.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:15:11 -0800

DU: This is an international, highly regulated event every year here, sponsored by the engineering firm (SNC-Lavalin Inc) that's building this bridge. Yep, 777 pounds.

By: sixswitch

sixswitch — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:26:37 -0800

Echoes of the second best Calvin and Hobbes strip ever. Can I just say this is the first time I've ever been on television? (Also, that's not a self-link, I just didn't want to steal some poor Geocities user's bandwidth)

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:29:14 -0800

To dream...the impastable dream!

By: grouse

grouse — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:34:53 -0800

OMG, I just realized that [redacted MetaFilter user] is Calvin's dad!

By: Maias

Maias — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:09:49 -0800

Why are they naming a bridge in Canada after William Bennett? I hope it's not our Bill Bennett of drug czar and gambling fame...

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:32:32 -0800

That's nothing, I've had 30 pounds of pasta hanging off my gut for the last 5 years.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:59:49 -0800

"That's nothing, I've had 30 pounds of pasta hanging off my gut for the last 5 years" I always say "When you have a tool like this, you have to build a shed over it."

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:29:04 -0800

Our Bill Bennett was a Premier, Maias. A typical BC politician, nuttier than squirrel shit. We seem to elect our provincial politicians as to how much entertainment they will bring us, not how effective they'll be.

By: ssg

ssg — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:41:46 -0800

I hope it's not our Bill Bennett of drug czar and gambling fame... Bill Bennett, former premier of BC, who went by Bill because his father, William (W.A.C.) Bennett, was also premier of BC. Canada is, like, a whole other country and stuff, with, like, their own politicians.

By: billyfleetwood

billyfleetwood — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:20:03 -0800

The drinking straw bridge contest was always my favorite part of Engineering camp. So much fun that I entered college fully intending on pursuing a career in engineering. You'd think that at some point in 3 years of engineering camp someone would have mentioned the math requirements. I thought it was gonna be 4 straight years of drinking straw bridges. I have a degree in English.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:32:10 -0800

Ol' Wacky Bennett. The Bennetts owned vast parts of the Okanagan at one time. A very well-off family, to say the least.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:21:33 -0800

Canada is, like, a whole other country and stuff, with, like, their own politicians. You'd think they could be a little more creative with their names, then, if they're so independent. He could have called himself Mackenzie Clark Wilson, for example.

By: ssg

ssg — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:57:20 -0800

He could have called himself Mackenzie Clark Wilson, for example. Why don't you tell your William Bennett to try that one out? We've more than had our fill of politicians with Scottish names up here. Also, since both W.A.C. (William senior) and Bill (junior) were born before the American William, it would look like they would have dibs.

By: lostburner

lostburner — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:05:29 -0800

I loved how the last bridge broke everywhere at once with a huge dust cloud. That's definitely the trick: getting the load distributed across many elements so that one doesn't break before the others.

By: lostburner

lostburner — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:07:10 -0800

All at once the horse stood still, Close by the meet'n'-house on the hill. First a shiver, and then a thrill, Then something decidedly like a spill, — And the parson was sitting upon a rock, At half past nine by the meet'n-house clock, — Just the hour of the Earthquake shock! What do you think the parson found, When he got up and stared around? The poor old chaise in a heap or mound, As if it had been to the mill and ground! You see, of course, if you're not a dunce, How it went to pieces all at once, — All at once, and nothing first, — Just as bubbles do when they burst.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:21:09 -0800

lostburner: the way spaghetti breaks has been studied. The cloud of dust is equally a result of its odd behaviour as it is the distributed load.