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If you want to learn about someplace, you can always pick up a textbook. But if you want to get to know a place, you're going to have to dig a little deeper. And what you find there might be a little strange. The Strange States series will take you on a virtual tour of America to uncover the unusual people, places, things, and events that make this country such a unique place to call home. This week we head to the Buckeye State, also known as The Mother of Presidents, The Birthplace of Aviation, and the self-proclaimed Heart of it All: Ohio. 

The Handmade Trains of Mooney Warther

In 1890, a hobo showed 5-year-old Ernest “Mooney” Warther how to carve a working pair of pliers out of a block of wood using only 10 cuts with a knife. Astounded by the man’s skill, Warther taught himself how to carve, resulting in some of the most amazing sculptures you’ll ever see.

At first, the young Warther was obsessed with just making pliers. It’s estimated that he carved 750,000 pairs during his lifetime, including one set made from a matchstick. His crowning achievement in this field, though, was a “plier tree” featuring 511 connected, branching pairs, made using 31,000 cuts on a single block of wood in only 64 hours. 

But pliers were just the beginning for Warther. Using walnut and ivory, Warther carved a working model of the steel mill he was employed at for 23 years. The model featured men operating the machines, each piece hand carved with such detail you can see the wrinkles in clothes and individual rivets on the machinery. Thanks to a system of pulleys and gears hooked up to a single sewing machine motor—all engineered by Warther, who only had a second grade education—miniature equipment spun and chugged away while workers pulled on levers and moved back and forth across the factory floor.    

Soon after, Warther turned his attention to steam engines, and, over the next 40 years, carved a history of the machine from the Hero’s Engine in 250 BC up to the Union Pacific Big Boy Locomotive from 1941. At the age of 68, he moved on to famous trains like the one that carried Abraham Lincoln’s body on its cross-country tour, using walnut, ebony, ivory, and mother of pearl to dazzling effect. With old repair manuals and blueprints as a guide, Warther’s 63 train models, some as long as eight feet, are incredibly detailed. Many of the trains contain over 7000 hand carved parts assembled mostly without glue, held together with a system of pins and a good, tight fit. The detail is so precise that a tiny ivory key hanging on Lincoln’s funeral car would actually open the door to the car if placed inside the equally tiny lock and turned. In addition, levers move, bells swing, and pistons and wheels pump perfectly in time, a feat that required a certain level of mathematical and mechanical genius.  

Sadly, Warther's last train, the Lady Baltimore locomotive, was never completed; he was working on it when he died at the age of 87 in 1973. Thousands of the parts he had already carved for the Lady Baltimore, as well as all of his trains, pliers, and other carving projects, are on display at the Warther Museum in Dover, Ohio. Aside from Warther’s carvings, you can also see his collection of more than 5,000 Native American arrowheads and artifacts, his wife Frieda’s collection of over 100,000 buttons, and watch as the latest generation of Warthers carry on the family business crafting handmade kitchen knives featuring a unique swirled pattern on the blade.   

Have the scoop on an unusual person, place or event in your state?  Tell me about it on Twitter (@spacemonkeyx) and maybe I’ll include it in a future edition of Strange States!  

Peruse the whole Strange States series here.

Just when you thought MSNBC could not get stupider. Melissa Harris-Perry asks Attorney General Eric Holder to quack like a duck.

Let's say you have an old Audi 200 Quattro, five cylinders and four driven wheels and all. What if you decided to take it mudding?

Read more...

[Source: Pie Comic]

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The new owners of Peaches, a Moluccan cockatoo, say their dramatic parrot reenacts the arguments that preceded her previous owners’ messy divorce.

According to the owner of the parrot, Elaine Sigmon of North Carolina, Peaches was previously owned by a couple who has since broken up. And Sigmon, along with her husband Don, believes that the prior owners’ fighting is the reason why their bird Peaches is known for frequently exploding into long — sometimes expletive-laden — tirades, screeching with passion and anger and weaving her head side-to-side in a furious and dramatic manner. The head movements of the parrot exactly mimic the angry thrusting of a finger during a heated argument.

It is truly worth watching this bird explode into anger, scolding and arguing for all she is worth.

Sigmun told the Huffington Post that she believes the parrot learned her outspoken ways from her previous owners, and recounted the first time Peaches let it rip and proceeded to “argue” with her new owners.

“We had Peaches for several days when one afternoon she began ranting and raving as if blessing someone out. My husband, Don, was sitting in the chair near her perch and she began to aggressively point her head toward him just like someone pointing their finger while arguing… We’re not sure what she is saying, but she is really giving her opinion.”

Sigmon says that Peaches the peeved parrot usually treats her new owners to a show of her well-learned arguing techniques at least once or twice a day, exploding into tirades that she underscores with her melodramatic head movements.

Fortunately for the new owners — and for the parrot — the couple finds Peaches’ over-the-top, fury-filled, dramatic reenactments of her previous owners’ arguments “hilarious.”

Ironically, the Moluccan cockatoo, which is also known as salmon-crested cockatoos because of the salmon-pink feathers of their head crests, is a favorite among bird owners because of their wonderful temperament. They are a large bird, and as seen in the video, the parrot will display its salmon-pink head crest when they are excited, afraid — or, obviously, angry. Many Moluccan cockatoos learn to talk quite well — and potential owners are warned to make certain they are okay with loud noises, as the birds are known to be very loud.

Watch the video below and see how Peaches manages to perfectly capture the heated passion of a fight.

And for more animal stories, click here to read about the cat with a rare disorder that gives him “demon eyes” but has a loving heart, or click here to watch a whale who believes he’s a comedian.

[Image via lafeber.com]

Peaches The Parrot: Dramatic Bird Reenacts Previous Owners Messy Divorce [Video] is an article from: The Inquisitr News

Get one here: Pooping Dog Calendar

Thanks Ernie

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Thanks Mike (from Spain)

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Just got this awesome Breaking Bad/Toto’s Africa musical parody from my pal Bonecage, and you guys just have to check it out!

Good lord do I love Breaking Bad! On my 3rd time through the show on Netflix, I thought, “This show would be ill-suited to pair with a very 80s and super-awesome Toto song!”

[Bonecage]

The post Heisenberg: A Breaking Bad/Toto’s Africa Parody [Video] appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

With the weight of Tom Brokaw on his shoulders (and neck), NBC's Brian Williams has written a note to NBC Staff...

A Personal Note from Brian Williams

 

In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.

 

As Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue.

 

Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us.

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Trust is Transitory...