SOMETIMES THE SUMMER heat just goes to your head. So instead of simply ducking into an air-cooled movie during a hot spell, Runyard donned a deliciously complicated headdress consisting of an ice-filled colander positioned under a bucket of water. A pull on the string, the bucket tips and Runyard gets a refreshing if brief shower. Carmen Miranda could hardly have done better.
– Years that a water molecule spends in the ocean in a 100-year period: 98.
– Number of calories the body burns to process a 16-ounce glass of ice water: 17.5.
– Number of steps it takes to install two batteries in a flashlight using the winning entry in Purdue University’s 2005 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, which rewards complicated inventions that perform simple tasks: 125.
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“I hate American simplicity. I glory in the piling up of complications of every sort.”
-HENRY JAMES
