3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Violin Player Is Awarded the Title of World’s Fastest Human
Liars Face Off in World’s Biggest Liar Competition
Indian Men Get Trampled by Cattle in Traditional Ritual

Violin Player Is Awarded the Title of World’s Fastest Human

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 04:40 AM PST

He might not have the superhuman running speed of The Flash, but violonist Ben Lee can play Flight of the Bumblebee note perfect on the electric violin in just 58.03 seconds, which makes him the fastest human alive.

Usain Bolt’s not going to like this, but a panel of judges and researchers working on the Discover Channel show Superhuman Showdown have unanimously declared 32-year-old violin player Ben Lee the fastest human on Earth. Ben and several other competitors were tested in a controlled environment and researchers used magnetic electrical pulses to measure their brain activity during their tasks. “It's taken tens of thousands of hours of practice to reach this speed but it definitely helped that my parents were musical and encouraged me to play,” said Lee, who has been playing the violin since he was five. Now, he hits about 15 notes per second and says he can only get faster. The four-time world violin-speed record holder was the best of a handful of contestants specially selected from hundreds of fast performing humans around the world.Among Lee’s competitors were world base race champion Frode Johannessen, who can ‘fly’ unassisted at 170pm, and Jerry Miculek, a speed shooter who can fire eight rounds on four targets in 1.06 seconds.

Professor Greg Whyte from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University, one of the judges on Superhuman Showdownm, said: “Through dedicated and long term practice, Ben is able to devote larger portions of his brain to a task. He bows with his right hand, which means that his left cortex should utilized more than his right. However, with the focus and control he uses with his left hand, Ben has developed a greater proportion of his right cortex, giving him powerful dexterity and the ability to play at 810 notes per minute.”

Other honorable mentions on the Discovery Channel’s show were head spinner Aicho Ono, who can perform 135 head spins in one minute without experiencing dizziness, and speed eater Pete Czerwinski, who can eat a 12 inch pizza in 34 seconds.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Violin Player Is Awarded the Title of World’s Fastest Human was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Liars Face Off in World’s Biggest Liar Competition

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 03:34 AM PST

Every year, experienced liars from all over the globe gather in Santon Bridge, a tiny village in Northwestern England, to compete for the coveted title of world’s biggest liar. Before you make any suggestions about who should participate in this wacky contest, you should know politicians and lawyers are barred from entry, as they are considered to have an unfair advantage.

The World’s Biggest Liar competition is held every year, in November, in honor of of 19th-century Bridge Inn landlord Will Ritson, who was famous for his incredible stories. He always claimed his tales were true, although most of them sounded like this: the turnips in Wasdale (a valley in Cumbria) are so big that after locals quarry into them for their Sunday lunch, they can be used as sheds for their sheep. In honor of this legendary liar, the Santon Bridge pub has been organizing a competition to crown the world’s biggest liar. Competitors have just five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can think of, without using any props or scripts, or telling jokes. Over the years, people have won the contest with stories about World War II German submarines invading England to capture digital television decoders, or magical journeys to Scotland in trash cans that went under the sea. It’s reported that one year, a bishop went on stage and won the contest with a single line: “I have never told a lie in my life!”

The most celebrated liar in the history of the competition is local John Graham, a.k.a. Johnny Liar, who between 1994 and 2008 won seven world’s biggest liar titles. In 2011, first place went to Glen Boylan, who told a story about betting on a snail race with Prince Charles, who advised him to remove the shell to make it more aerodynamic.

via Huffington Post

Liars Face Off in World’s Biggest Liar Competition was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Indian Men Get Trampled by Cattle in Traditional Ritual

Posted: 16 Nov 2012 01:57 AM PST

In villages around the Ujain region, in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, men lay down on the ground and have their cattle trample all over them, as part of a bizarre centuries-old ritual.

There are a many things people will do in order to have their prayers answered by their gods, but until today, I didn’t know getting trampled by cattle was one of them. In a weird example of blind faith, dozens of villagers from Bhidawad village and neighboring settlements decorate their cattle with colours and henna in different patterns, then lay down on the ground and get trampled by the confused animals. The ritual takes place on the occasion of Ekadashi, a day after Diwali, the popular Hindu festival of lights, which was celebrated around the world on November 13. The whole village gathers in the streets to witness the painful event that they believe will make Hindu gods answer their prayers. ”This is a traditional festival observed during Ekadashi fast after which the entire village’s cows are made to run over men lying on the ground, ” local Rekha Dubey told reporters. ”We worship the cows before the ritual and also fast for five days and sing hymns during the festival.”

Photo: california cowgirl 1

But what’s most shocking about this ritual is that villagers claim that in the centuries since it’s been taking place on a yearly basis, no one has ever been injured, or even scratched. “None get injured, not even scratches, also wishes of villagers are fulfilled,” Rekha said. In the video below, some of the cows do walk around the human rug laid in front of them, others jump over it, but a lot of them actually trample all over it, and I’d hate to think about what would happen if one of them stepped on one of the men’s head…