Sunday Funnies

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Sunday Funnies

Hat tip:  Kathy Knapp, via Origami-L

Lego Sisyphus (Off topic)

In origami, there are some models that I consider "kid's craft" and others I put into the category of "art". Similarly, there are some Lego models that are just for play; and others that belong in a museum or on a work desk and admired as "art". This is one of those art pieces, made of Lego bricks.

Designed by Jason Allemann, I saved up my pennies to purchase the parts to build this beautiful, kinetic automaton.

It runs on batteries; but also has a crank shaft that is stored inside the model (the side reliefs open out) and can be extracted and connected outside.

All four sides of the model have a relief depicting scenes from Sisyphus' life.

From Greek mythology, Sisyphus was the founder and king of Ephyra (later named "Corinth"). He grew infamous for his greed and deceitfulness, known as "the most cunning knave on earth".

Having betrayed one of Zeus' secrets, Zeus ordered Hades to chain Sisyphus in Tartarus. Hades personally went to fetch for Sisyphus, bringing the chains he was to bind Sisyphus with in the underworld. Sisyphus expressed so much interest in the chains and handcuffs, that he persuaded Hades to demonstrate their use - on himself.

Tricked, Hades became trapped in his own chains, locked in a closet at Sisyphus' house. As a consequence, no one was able to die on earth. The sick and infirmed went on suffering, unable to leave this life. A soldier might be eviscerated in battle and still return to his camp for dinner.

Ares, the god of war, became enraged that no one would die upon the field of battle, ruining his "fun"; and so he freed Hades.

Sisyphus was ordered to report to the Underworld; but Sisyphus had another trick up his sleeve.

He simply told his wife not to bury him and then complained to Persephone, goddess of the Underworld, that he had not been accorded the proper funeral honors. What's more, as an unburied corpse he had no business on the far side of the river Styx at all - his wife hadn't placed a coin under his tongue to secure passage with Charon the ferryman. Surely her highness could see that Sisyphus must be given leave to journey back to the world of the living and put things right.

Persephone granted the request and Sisyphus made his way back to his kingdom, where he promptly forgot all about funerals and such drab affairs and lived on in dissipation for another good stretch of time. But even Sisyphus could only go so far in postponing the inevitable. Eventually he was hauled down to Hades by Hermes, messenger of the gods, where his indiscretions and trespasses finally caught up with him. For a crime against the gods - especially his hubris against Zeus, thinking himself more clever than the king of the gods - he was condemned to an eternity of hard labor. And frustrating labor at that. For his assignment was to roll a great boulder to the top of a hill. Only every time Sisyphus, by the greatest of exertion and toil, attained the summit, the huge boulder would roll down the hill, back to the bottom. His punishing afterlife was to spend eternity in useless effort and unending frustration.

TED Talk with Paul Jackson

Sunday Funnies

British Origami Society

Traditional origami on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

Season 4, episode 2, starting around 5:42 mark:




She passed away in 2013.  A YouTube commenter notes:

Mrs. Shiono (the lovely origami lady in this video), was my grandmother, who sadly passed away a few years ago. As you can tell from the video, she was an incredible origami artist and was still folding til the end. The fact that she had been on Mister Rogers' was a little fun fact my family loved to share: I still remember freaking out when this episode re-ran on our PBS station one time. She would be happy to know this episode made an impression on so many of you in the comments, when you were watching it on TV and even watching it now so many years later.

I haven't seen the recent Mr. Rogers documentary movie, but I've only heard great things about it.

Origami Sighting on Penn & Teller

The ninja-like models on the background wall:

Guinness World Record Paper Glider Throwing

Hat tip Fermin Fernandez Mendez:

It takes South Korea's Junguk Lee six minutes to fold each of his powerful piercing paper planes, essential for this record attempt, as seen on China's CCTV Guinness World Records Special 

Or watch it on Facebook:

60 Years, The Thousand Cranes Movement

Hat tip, Origami and You:

“They called us the ‘ragged class,'” recalls Tomiko Kawano of her sixth-grade group at Noboricho Elementary School in Hiroshima. “Half our class had lost family in the atomic bombing or were survivors themselves.”
Among them was Sadako Sasaki, the now-famous little girl who developed acute leukemia 10 years after being exposed to radiation during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Inspired by the age-old Japanese belief that anyone who makes 1,000 origami cranes will see their wish come true, Sadako spent her last days folding paper cranes on her hospital bed in the hope she would recover.
Less known are Sadako’s friends and classmates who, at Sadako’s wake in 1955, swore an oath before her cremated remains that they would build a monument in her honor. Their efforts sparked a children’s peace movement and fundraising campaign that swept through Japan and transformed the origami crane into an international symbol of peace. The Children’s Peace Monument in the center of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park — the culmination of their efforts — celebrated its 60th anniversary this year.

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Francis Ow's Love Birds

Like many in our origami community, I was charmed and in love with Francis Ow's heart-themed origami creations, along with the clever names for his models.  And like many in our community, I felt the pain of loss that his death brought to those such as myself who admired his work and personality, but never had the pleasure of opportunity in meeting him.  Greater is the pain felt by those who knew him, personally.  He will be missed by family, friend, and fan. 


Sara Adams:

"When the sad news of Francis Ow's passing reached me, I wanted to take some time to remember him and his loving, generous nature. I decided to fold something in his memory and chose a model from the free e-book he made available earlier this year. Indeed, it was the first model I folded after giving birth to Finn. Life and death were so close here, and I do hope Finn will have a full life and spread as much love as Francis did.
As a special tribute, I decided to make a tutorial on his "Love Birds", which I hope will continue to spread Francis' love through origami."

Video tutorial here.

Sunday Funnies

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Hat tip:  Matthew Green

Paper Toys

Off topic: My favorite popsicle!

Heather posted a review of my favorite Japanese popsicle that I've not seen in about two decades!





I've had them in Japan; briefly saw them sold out here at a Japanese supermarket in Los Angeles/Santa Monica- but this was many years ago.  They haven't carried them in forever; and I feared the company who made this went out of business.

The watermelon seeds are cleverly made of chocolate.  So delish!  Including the melon flavor green!

Smartphone Stand

There are a number of iPhone stands out there.  I'm liking this one because of its squashable portability (There are numerous video tutorials of this design- not sure who the actual designer is):

*REMOVED*

 Ok....after poking around, I believe the original creator is Oliveira Wellington of Easy Origami. Please support the original artist and not the numerous copycat (and unnecessary) tutorials out there:

David Brill's i-Squash-ahedron