“Ice Cream Stick Research” (read the article free, here online) is a featured article in the special ICE CREAM issue (volume 28, number 1) of the magazine, Annals of Improbable Research.
Tag: stick
Ice Cream Stick Production Tradeoff
Tradeoffs vex the production of even the most pleasure-producing products, such as ice-cream-on-a-stick treats. This study studies some of those tradeoffs: “Energy and Economic Analysis of Ice Cream Stick Production with Brine Tank Machine,” Riswanti Sigalingging and Lukman Adlin Harahap, Researchers World, vol. 2, no. 3, 2011. The authors, at the University of North Sumatra, […]
The Nutty Ice Cream Stick Machine Patent
The Nutty Ice Cream Stick Machine patent is now more than 60 years old: “Ice Cream Stick Machine,” William A. Nutty, U.S. Patent 2,866,420, issued December 30, 1958. The inventor, in Chicago, Illinois, explains (in the patent): This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming an ice cream novelty, and more particularly to […]
The Three Legged Pogo Stick (an abandoned patent)
If you’re an enthusiast of Pogo Sticks, you may have been wondering whatever happened to the 2002 US patent application from inventors John Hackworth, Kirk Hackworth and Mark Soderberg for their tripodic Pogo Device . “A more stable pogo stick device, which may or may not be steerable, employs multiple spring legs, at least one […]
Testing the “Stick-on-the-wall Spaghetti rule”
Testing the “Stick-on-the-wall Spaghetti rule” by Simone Montangero and Francesca Vittone Institute for Complex Quantum Systems, Ulm University Ulm, Germany There is always a moment when Italians abroad come across a local who explains to them a simple way of knowing how to cook Spaghetti “al dente”: throw them to the wall, if they stick they are […]
An Improved Swagger Stick, Designed for Good Measure
This invention made it convenient both to swagger and to measure with exactitude: “Military interval swagger stick,” US 2923063, granted February 2, 1960 to Lorenzo D. Hansen. The patent document explains: “The use of swagger sticks is a military custom. They are carried by officers during drills and parades. Other than its limited value as […]
Do orangutans prefer functional tools or non-functional tools?
Orangutans (Pongo spp.) have been observed to spontaneously use tools of various kinds to achieve their objectives. But researchers from The Great Ape Trust, Des Moines, IA, and Iowa State University wondered whether, given the choice, they might prefer to go for a functional tool (stiff) or a non-functional (floppy) tool. Their experimental study presented […]
Interview with the dinosaur scientist who stuck a stick on a chicken’s butt
The Clinic published an interview [in Spanish] with Bruno Rossi, who (together with colleagues) was awarded the 2015 Ig Nobel Prize for biology, for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, the chicken then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked. […]
How to hold a stick, geologically
In this photo, geologist Ian West demonstrates how to hold a stick: West is pointing the stick at some of the geology on display at Lyme Regis Westward, on the Wessex coast of southern England.
For Enthusiasts of Sticks of Butter
Two items, one old, one new, for enthusiasts of sticks of butter. First, a patent: “Combined storing and slicing device for a stick of butter or margarine or the like,” US patent #4513501, granted to Jong S. Lee, April 30, 1983. The patent document explains: “The present invention relates to a combined storing and slicing device […]