The devil is in the details

We are constantly faced with small but unfortunate incident, which soon forget and cease to pay attention to them. Cork on the way home from work - as always; received a discharge current, opening the fridge - a trifle; cat out loud yell when sounds favorite song - locked in the closet; attacked hiccups - will soon pass, and so on. Such trifles are not able to seriously and permanently spoil the mood, but as practice shows, even the most harmless pranks of fate, like the above, can take monstrous forms to which not everyone could be treated coolly.

1. The worst traffic jams in Moscow may be the only Chinese





Anyone who has ever got in a little bit serious traffic jam knows how exhausting it. Endless waiting in the stream of cars signalyaschih awakens motorists most heinous features - irritability, vindictiveness and aggressiveness, drivers and passengers begin to blame each other of all mortal sins, and the longer the congestion, the more there is a quarrel.
The next time you find yourself in the mirror, remember the road incident in China, maybe it will teach you to be more tolerant of neighbors on the traffic.
In August of 2010, one of the Chinese officials visited the "bright" idea to start a repair work on a section of the busy highway Beijing - Zhangjiakou, "to solve the traffic problems in the region." In this case, the party bosses did not realize that if overloaded highway to block part of the bands, it will become even more congested - who would have thought ?! Good intentions have led exactly where they usually lead - a laudable initiative turned into a nightmare stopper at the entrance to Beijing, length of over 100 km and an average vehicle speed of about 1 km per day.



Imagine - a hot summer, thousands of cars, standing so tightly that between them can barely squeeze a man and frightening unknown how long it can last. People had long hours playing cards, frantically search for the vacated space to squeeze a little bit forward and sort things out with the same victims of circumstances as they are. Surprisingly, none of the quarrel between drivers fight is not over - apparently people are so tired that all conflicts die down, barely begun. On the accumulation of vehicles even several times attacked gang of malefactors, which plugs prisoners must have been even more pleased - a no, but fun. Compassionate and sympathetic locals sold to motorists and beverages, of course, at inflated prices many times.
Wort lasted about 12 days and the efforts of the traffic police managed to eliminate it gradually - this incident is known as the largest traffic jam ever.

2. 68 years of hiccups



All, without exception, are aware of this unpleasant phenomenon as a hiccup. When the number of permanent characteristic staccato sounds are heard, that in itself is annoying, but if their source is you, everyone's attention you provided. One way to get rid of hiccups considered sudden fright, so someone probably tried to throw at you with a heart-rending cries and skewed terrible grimace.



Charles Osborne

As a rule, most people hiccup maximum half an hour, maybe an hour, but there are exceptions - so Charles Osborne, a farmer in the US state of Iowa, hiccup over 68 years.
Probably Osborne can be considered the most unknown "Fedot" of the famous sayings, which should go a hiccup - the man began to hiccup back in 1922, when he was 30 years old and no longer only in extreme old age, in 1990. Charles hiccupped 20 times a minute, so that on the whole he hiccupped about 430 million times. During this time, mankind has managed to survive the Second World War, to deal with the Cuban missile crisis, to fly into space, invent computers, cell phones and the Internet, to commit the sexual revolution and come up with a rock-and-roll, and everything Osborne hiccupped.
According to the man, it happened when he cut a pig, intending to procure meat for future use. Farmer slipped and fell, hitting his head, and then began a hiccup. After several hours of fruitless attempts to get rid of the annoying physiological phenomenon Osborne went to the doctor and after the survey said that the man was "lucky" in the fall of that damage is beset million brain blood vessels, which is connected to the neurons responsible for hiccups.
Charles gradually got used to the constant hiccups and learned to breathe steadily and rhythmically, not to publish loud sounds during spasms. Farmer working, spending time with friends, married and got a child - in a word, he lived a full life, except for the fact that for the first time friends tried to frighten him to get rid of hiccups, and one of his friends even once fired over their heads farmer with a gun, but these "folk remedies" do not produce results.
Hiccups with which Charles lived most of his life, stopped in 1990, when he was 96 years old after a while Osborne died of stomach ulcers in a hospital in the city of Sioux City.

3. Deafening cat



Pets, of course, are inferior to man in intelligence, but many of them are downright magical ability to raise the cry and entertain themselves rollover different items at a time when you make an important phone call, or spend a quiet romantic evening tete-a-tete with the tablet or laptop - in other words, at the wrong time. Usually enough strict suggestion to pet paused and ceased to organize the space according to their whims, and in extreme cases can briefly lock pet in another room.
However, these methods do not work with living in one of the British family cat Smokey - to enjoy the peace, when Smokey playful mood, it is necessary to have a basement, steering soundproof material, or every time the cat take back a few miles from home. Just watch the video and understand everything, thus it is better not to put the volume on your computer or gadget to maximum, if you do not want to lose your hearing.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, Smokey - the loudest cat in the world. As a rule, ordinary cats purr with volume not exceeding 25 decibels at a British cat that sound reaches the level of 80 decibels, and when Smokey "voice", the house shakes purring, its volume similar to the roar of a jet plane - more than 90 decibels. < br />
According to Mark and Ruth Adams, hosts an unusual cat, there would be fewer problems if Smokey was less "talkative", but its deafening purr is heard almost constantly, especially if someone is talking on the phone. People on the other end did not believe my ears when Ruth and Mark told that the sound comes from their pet, and not from passing outside the windows of tanks or a raging storm in the area. Smokey also loves to purr when the couple look a movie, so even highlights films spouses associated with the voice of a cat.
You may ask why Mark and Ruth still has not gotten rid of the noisy pet? It's simple - the cat loves their daughter, in addition, it flatters the attention of journalists, often coming to Adams to make a report about Smokey.

4. Driving test in South Africa



Passing the exam for a driver's license - a rather nervous procedure, knows this all motorists. When sitting next to a strict driving instructor, so many worry that allowing gross errors, resulting in the exam have to retake. If you have to go through with it, try to calm down - after all, even fragile girl and inexperienced youngsters manage to pass the driving, so why to you it should be a problem? Another thing, if you need to get right, for example, in South Africa - it's more like a nightmare motorist.
Exam called K53 is so complex that in 2007, the year even became an occasion for mass protests and riots. Of course, in the social policy of the authorities of the country, there are other, more serious problems, but you will agree, if the driving test may be the last straw for disgruntled situation in the country, so it's really something wrong.
Here are just some of the features at the time of assessment methods K53: while stopping the car pulled the hand brake too sharply, with clicks - a mistake, it should be done quietly and smoothly; Every seven seconds, do not look in the rearview mirror - a mistake; look at the gearshift lever to change gear - a mistake; forget to check reliably whether fixed front and rear lighting fixtures before moving off - a mistake; not checked for leaks underbody - a mistake, and so on.
Even if you managed to pass the exam and get a coveted South African law, after the first trip, you are unlikely to have a desire to get back behind the wheel - on the roads of this wonderful country reigns chaos. Because of the many absurd difficult exam prefer to go without any rights, and motorists follow traffic rules, most local drivers look like idiots. In South Africa, road accidents occur 5 times more often than in the United States and 20 times more often than in the UK.

5. Synthetic wool + = 30,000 volts



As you know, each person can be a carrier of electric charge - surely you had cases when touching a doorknob or other metal objects you have received mild electric shock.
It's not too pleasant a thing as a rule, is not a threat - voltage electrostatic discharge can reach tens of thousands of volts, but the current is very small, so often people do not even feel that their electric shock.
However, do not apply to static electricity too lightly - in some cases it can be a source of serious danger both for the individual and for others.

In 2005, the year in the Australian city of Warrnambool, west of Melbourne, there was a curious case, which almost became a cause of the fire. 58-year-old Australian named Frank Kluer, going to an interview to the employer, wearing a woolen shirt and a jacket made of synthetic fabrics. The man walked into the waiting room and sat down on the couch, and after a while present in the room noticed that the carpet on the floor for no apparent reason to smoke. Of course, the office staff call the fire calculation, since no one, including himself, Frank, could not understand the cause of a fire. Firefighters evacuated people from the building, de-energize it and started an investigation. One of them was found melted plastic on the place where the man was sitting and asked to give Kluera jacket for examination. Having studied the garment experts were horrified - the jacket was charged with electricity with a voltage of about 30 thousand volts, and if it exceeds the critical level, to which was not much, Australian risked samovozgoretsya. A man was lucky that he lives in our progressive and humane time - in the Middle Ages for such antics he would burned alive at the stake on suspicion of witchcraft.
One of the staff at Sydney University, analyzed the incident, said that in principle, such a charge may occur when the friction of synthetic wool, but this requires almost ideal conditions, which are quite rare.
Whatever it was, if you put a dress that combines synthetic and woolen fabric, it is worth checking from time to time, does not burn if you under a carpet.

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