Bed Of Nails
A bed of nails is an rectangle, oblong piece of wood, the size of a bed, with Nail (fastener), nails pointing upwards out of it. While it appears at first glance that anyone lying on such a "bed" would be injured by the nails, if the nails are numerous enough, the weight is distributed among them so that the pressure exerted by each nail is not enough to puncture the person's skin. Uses One use of such a device is for magic (illusion), magic tricks or physics demonstrations. For example, the bed of nails was used in vaudeville in the United States, as well as in sideshows of circuses and carnivals. A famous example requires a volunteer to lie on a bed of several thousand nails, with a board on top of him. Cinder blocks are placed on the board and then smashed with a sledgehammer. Despite the seemingly unavoidable force, the volunteer is not harmed: the force from the blow is spread among the thousands of nails, resulting in reduced pressure; the breaking of the blocks also di ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sledgehammer
A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, massive, often metal head, attached to a long wooden or solid handle. The long handle is combined with a heavy head which allows the sledgehammer to pick up momentum during a swing and applying a large force compared to hammers designed to drive nails. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area. This is in contrast to other types of hammers, which concentrate gravity and force in a relatively small area. Etymology The word sledgehammer is derived from the Old-English "''slægan''", which, in its first sense, means "to strike violently". The English words "slag", "slay", and "slog" are cognates. Uses The handle can range from to a full long, depending on the mass of the head. The head mass is usually . Modern heavy duty sledgehammers come with heads. Sledgehammers usually require two hands and a swinging motion involving the entire torso, in contrast to smaller hammers used for driving in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sideshow Attractions
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “freak shows”), preserved specimens (real or fabricated, such as the Fiji Mermaid), live animal acts, burlesque or strip shows, actually or ostensibly dangerous stunts, or stunts that appear painful like human blockhead. Most modern sideshows feature fewer to no animal acts, and have a greater focus on trainable feats or consensual body modification rather than exhibiting people with congenital disabilities, either due to changing public opinion or local laws prohibiting the exhibition of disabled people or animals. Trainable acts associated with sideshows include sword swallowing, fire breathing and manipulation, magic and visual illusions, human blockhead, knife throwing, lying on a bed of nails, contortion, and may also include an overlap with circus acts such as juggling, aeria ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Firewalking
Firewalking is the act of walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers or stones. It has been practiced by many people and cultures in many parts of the world, with the earliest known reference dating from Iron Age India . It is often used as a rite of passage, as a test of strength and courage, and in religion as a test of faith. Modern physics has explained the phenomenon, concluding that the foot does not touch the hot surface long enough to burn and that embers are poor conductors of heat. History Walking on fire has existed for several thousand years, with records dating back to 1200 BCE. (livescience.com) Cultures across the globe use firewalking for rites of healing, initiation, and faith. Firewalking is also practiced by: * The Sawau clan on the island of Beqa, to the south of Viti Levu in the Fiji, Fijian Islands. The phenomenon was examined in 1902 when it was already a tourist attraction, with a "Probable Explanation of the Mystery" arrived at. * San Pedro Manrique, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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WonderLab
The WonderLab Museum of Science, Health & Technology is a science museum located in the city of Bloomington, Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It was incorporated in 1995 as a private 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. WonderLab is a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers. History WonderLab began operation as a traveling outreach program of volunteers led by Deb Kent, a Bloomington-based magazine writer and mother of two, and Catherine Olmer, a physics professor at Indiana University. In 1998, WonderLab opened a small, interim museum on the north side of the Monroe County Courthouse (Indiana), Bloomington courthouse square. At the same time, a capital campaign was launched to build a permanent museum on a downtown lot donated by the city of Bloomington. The current museum opened to the public on March 29, 2003. Currently, WonderLab is in the heart of the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District (BEAD) and is a visitor attraction on the B-Line ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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YOGI ON A BED OF SPIKES 1913
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297–299, 331 The feminine form, sometimes used in English, is yogini. Yogi has since the 12th century CE also denoted members of the Nath siddha tradition of Hinduism, and in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, a practitioner of tantra.Rita Gross (1993), ''Buddhism After Patriarchy'', SUNY Press, , pages 85–88 In Hindu mythology, the god Shiva and the goddess Parvati are depicted as an emblematic yogi–yogini pair. Etymology In Classical Sanskrit, the word ''yogi'' (Sanskrit: masc ', योगी; fem ') is derived from ''yogin'', which refers to a practitioner of yoga. ''Yogi'' is technically male, and ''yoginī'' is the term used for female practitioners. The two terms are still used with those meanings today, but the word ''yogi'' is also used ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fakir On Bed Of Nails Benares India 1907
Fakir, faqeer, or faqīr (; (noun of faqr)), derived from ''faqr'' (, 'poverty'), is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce all relationships, or take vows of poverty, but the adornments of the temporal worldly life are kept in perspective. The connotations of poverty associated with the term relate to their spiritual neediness, not necessarily their physical neediness. They are characterized by their reverence for ''dhikr'' (a devotional practice which consists of repeating the names of God with various formulas, often performed after the daily prayers). Sufism in the Muslim world emerged during the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE) See Googlbook search and grew as a mystic tradition in the mainstream Sunni and Shia denominations of Islam, which according to Eric Hanson and Karen Armstrong was likely in reaction to "the growing w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the California State Normal School which later evolved into San José State University. The branch was transferred to the University of California to become the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919, making it the second-oldest of the ten-campus University of California system after the University of California, Berkeley. UCLA offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a range of disciplines, enrolling about 31,600 undergraduate and 14,300 graduate and professional students annually. It received 174,914 undergraduate applications for Fall 2022, including transfers, the most of any university in the United States. The university is organized into the College of Letters and Science and twelve professional schoo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cinder Block
A concrete block, also known as a cinder block in North American English, breeze block in British English, or concrete masonry unit (CMU), or by #Naming, various other terms, is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. The use of blockwork allows structures to be built in the traditional masonry style with layers (or courses) of staggered blocks. Concrete blocks may be produced with hollow centers (cores) to reduce weight, improve building insulation, insulation and provide an interconnected void into which concrete can be poured to solidify the entire wall after it is built. Concrete blocks are some of the most versatile building material, building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them. Naming Those that use cinders (fly ash or bottom ash) as an Aggregate (composite), aggregate material are called ''cinder blocks'' in the United States. They are also known as ''breeze blocks'', a term deriv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sem Medo Da Cama De Pregos
SEM or Sem can refer to: Computing * Search engine marketing, promoting websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results * Security event manager, a security log tool used on data networks Economics and management * Stock Exchange of Mauritius, the principal stock exchange of the island country of Mauritius * Strategic enrollment management, an element of planning for new growth at a university or college * Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a South Korean company Energy * Single Electricity Market, the integration of the electricity sectors of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in a single market * Strategic energy management, continuous improvement process for energy efficiency based on behavioral change Mathematics and statistics * Structural equation modeling, in data analysis * Simultaneous equations model, in econometrics * Standard error of the mean in statistics Places * Craig Field (Alabama) (IATA code: SEM), a public airport four mil ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sideshow
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), preserved specimens (real or fabricated, such as the Fiji mermaid, Fiji Mermaid), live animal acts, burlesque or Striptease, strip shows, actually or ostensibly dangerous stunts, or stunts that appear painful like human blockhead. Most modern sideshows feature fewer to no animal acts, and have a greater focus on trainable feats or consensual body modification rather than exhibiting people with congenital disabilities, either due to changing public opinion or local laws prohibiting the exhibition of disabled people or animals. Trainable acts associated with sideshows include sword swallowing, Fire breathing (circus act), fire breathing and manipulation, Magic (illusion), magic and visual illusions, human blockhead, knife throwing, lying on a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs and dances. Vaudeville became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and films. A vaudeville performer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |