We’ll always remember the first time we saw sports’ greatest stars pull off their signature tricks, like Michael Jordan dunking or Wayne Gretzky making a seemingly impossible shot. However, titans like these might not be the most important figures in their respective histories. Other innovators may have come up with techniques that irrevocably changed the way their games are played while receiving little fanfare. This weekend, professional bowling saw a bit revolution of its own when Jason Belmonte became the first two-handed bowler ever to win a Professional Bowlers Association championship. To honor this achievement, let’s take a look at Belmonte’s offbeat technique and those of a few other innovators who changed their sports:

1. Jason Belmonte, Bowling Radical

Unless you’re epically walk-up-to-the-line-and-two-handed-roll-between-your-legs bad at bowling, your approach to the game probably resembles the techniques the pros use. You hook your thumb and ring and middle fingers in the ball, kick your back leg behind you, and send the ball on its way. The ball may end up in the gutter, but it looks like bowling. One pro, though, deviates from this formula. Jason Belmonte, a 25-year-old Australian, has a form that’s all his own. For starters, he eschews using his thumb and only puts two fingers in the ball. That’s not the odd part, though. The truly unique aspect of his technique is that Belmonte uses both arms to roll the ball. He makes his approach with the ball tucked back off of his right hip then slings it two-handed towards the pins. The technique is as effective as it is bizarre to watch. According a recent story in The Boston Globe, Belmonte’s two-handed roll makes the ball spin at 630 rpm, whereas most pros can only get up to 400 rpm. The extra spins result in the ball hitting the pins more forcefully. The added oomph translates into higher scores. Belmonte averages a 230, and he’s got 34 perfect games to his credit. If you want to see the trick in action, check out Belmonte rolling a 300:

2. Erich Windisch, Hands Down Our Favorite Ski Jumper

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The Breakdown

Tough to pick against either of these guys. Einstein’s breakthroughs have been pushing physics to exciting new places for nearly a century now, and he made wild hair seem like a terrific cosmetic decision. Salk, though, saved us from polio, and by establishing the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, he created a place where top-flight scientific research is still being done almost 14 years after his death. Plus, he was popular with the ladies; Salk’s second wife was Francoise Gilot, a former mistress of Picasso. Einstein may be thought of as the 20th century’s greatest genius, but it’s tough to diminish Salk’s brilliance. Who’s going to take your vote here, the biologist or the physicist?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

Alert, Nunavut, Canada on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island is the northernmost inhabited community on earth. The North Pole is only 508 miles away.

The community was named after the HMS Alert, the first ship to reach the north end of Ellesmere Island in 1875. Originally an Inuit community, Alert now houses Canadian Forces Station Alert, a weather station, a Global Atmosphere Watch laboratory, and an airport. There are also five permanent residents.

Daylight and darkness in Alert are five months long. In the month between those periods, the sun bobs above and below the horizon, giving the illusion of normal days, even though the length of daylight and darkness varies. Temperatures reach above freezing only in July and August. In winter, temperatures around -40 °C are considered normal.
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The mobile robotic drive units, or bots, roll through warehouses at 3 miles an hour, using barcodes on the floor to help them feel their way around. And guess what? Their putting warehouse workers out of work, because they’re more efficient, don’t take coffee breaks, and can lift half a ton. Here are four companies already rolling with bots:

1. Walgreens

The Mt. Vernon, Illinois facility uses more than 1,000 droids to fulfill orders. Merchandise is stored in central pods and when an order comes in, human operators dispatch the bots to pick up the appropriate pod containing the item ordered. When the bot brings the pod, the operator then finds the item he or she needs, and the bot takes the pod back to its storage location.

2. Zappos

In Shepherdsville, Kentucky, 72 bots roam the 832,000 sq ft Zappos warehouse organizing and delivering shelves of goods to operators, who then pack the items into boxes for shipping. The bots are also in charge of shifting the inventory. (more…)

It’s a new semester at Wossamatta U. Only five people signed up for Dr. Johnson’s remedial personal hygiene class, but as it turned out, they became the most attentive students in the school. Why? Because the Doc advised them on the first day of class that he had five grades to give – an A, a B, a C, a D, and an E – and that each would be awarded to only one student. The A was the best, and the E was failing, and each letter between was one grade level difference. So someone would score an A, no matter how poorly they all did in class. But someone would also fail, no matter how well they did.

The college quintet consisted of three young men – Cam, Ham, and Sam – and two sorority sisters, Pam and Tam.

Based on the following clues, and with the knowledge that each grade level is exactly one step better than the next, can you determine which student scored which grade? Good luck!

1. None of the boys’ grades was exactly two levels better than either of the girls’ grades.

2. Pam’s grade was better than Sam’s, whose grade was better than Cam’s.

3. Between them, the girls had a C average.

Here is the SOLUTION.

10 Excruciating Medical Treatments from the Middle Ages. You’d have to be pretty desperate, or near death, to submit to any of these. (via Gorilla Mask)
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A Big-Ass List Of Student Loan Resources. With links. Students may want to bookmark this page.
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The Slide Aquatic. Should a dead pet fish get a respectful burial or become dinner? The water slide will decide!
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Why do mummies often look as if they are screaming? Surely they aren’t all cursed! (via Metafilter)
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The 10 Craziest Diets in History. To try these, you must really hate eating less and exercising more.
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Marine biologist Sheril Kirshenbaum confronts the sexist remarks that accompanied her welcome to Discover magazine’s site, and the general sexism in science.
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Six Cool Plants I Would Find A Way To Kill. Despite having a black thumb, Stacy is fascinated by garden plants.

Here are some rough-edged sections (of equal size) cut out of 10 of our nation’s 50 state flags. Type the matching number in the blanks next to the state names. Good luck!

Take the Quiz: State Flag Swatches

Here’s an intensely nerdy video to kickstart your week! The video below (from the SXSW conference) shows ArcAttack, a band/performance art project in which custom-designed Tesla Coils are tuned and fired in sequence to create music. The band describes their project thusly:

ArcAttack employs a unique DJ set up of their own creation (an HVDJ set up) to generate an ‘electrifying’ audio visual performance. The HVDJ pumps music through a PA System while two specially designed DRSSTC’s (Dual-Resonant Solid State Tesla Coils) act as separate synchronized instruments.

These high tech machines produce an electrical arc similar to a continuous lightning bolt which put out a crisply distorted square wave sound reminiscent of the early days of synthesizers. The music consists of original highly dance-able electronic compositions that sometimes incorporates themes or dub of popular songs.

So basically they’re creating music with lightning. In this video, a mashup of JT’s “Sexyback” and the “Legend of Zelda Theme” from everyone’s favorite 8-bit Nintendo cartridge. Enjoy. (Warning: kind of insane.)

SexyBack vs. Legend of Zelda Theme on Two Tesla Coils from Trammell on Vimeo.

Watch it in HD at Vimeo. See also: ArcAttack on YouTube. (Don’t miss the “Back to the Future Theme” and a rendition of the Star Wars “Imperial March” with a live conductor in a Faraday suit.)

(Via Waxy.org.)

Today’s insomnia cures are slightly more scientific than the back in the day. But they’re also less interesting, which is why we’ve rounded up some of the weirder insomnia treatments handed down through the ages. From what to rub on your feet, to what to line your belly with, here are 6 bizarre prescriptions for when you’re tired of counting sheep.

1. Rub Your Feet in Dormouse Fat

In Elizabethan England, people who couldn’t sleep would often rub dormouse fat onto the soles of their feet. Why dormouse and why feet has been lost to the ages, however, the dormouse has retained its snoozy image: The dormouse slept through most of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland.

2. A spoonful of Sea Slug Entrails

Most cultures have their own folk remedy, usually involving food, for putting insomniacs to sleep. I remember when I was a little girl, my mom would make me hot chocolate when I couldn’t sleep. Little girls in Japan, however, might have gotten a plate full of sea slug entrails. In France, it could have been fried lettuce and in places in the US, a raw onion.

3. Pay to Hear a Sleep Concert?

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It’s hard not to love Kirk Van Houten, Springfield’s most pathetic denizen this side of Gil. How well do you know the former cracker factory manager who sired Milhouse and married Luann twice?

Take the Quiz: Kirk Van Houten