This Sunday on Okinawa in Japan, it’s an event on a grand scale: the Naha Great Tug of War.
How great? I’ve read that thousands of people take part. It’s broken world records.
And then there’s the 200 meter long rope (which is technically two 100 meter long ropes threaded together).
Together the ropes weigh like 40 metric tons.
Farmers started the competition in the 15th Century, as a kind of prayer for rain and good harvests.
It’s still that today, though it’s also part of a larger cultural festival on Okinawa.
The tug of war is staged as a kind of ceremonial battle between two kingdoms, East and West.
There are people dressed as kings, drummers, flagbearers and so forth, and after a parade, people take their places and pull.
Each team has 30 minutes to try to move the other side at least five meters.
That may not sound like much but when you’ve got some 7,500 people pulling in one direction and the same number pulling the other way, those five meters can be a lot.
In modern times, the two sides have won about the same number of victories.
There have also been plenty of draws, and in 2019 the rope snapped (!)
No matter who wins, or if there’s a winner at all, everybody who takes part can then take selfies with the rope, or dance around it, or even cut off a piece of the rope for a souvenir, which is considered good luck.
Now you see why they call it the Great Tug of War.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have developed a more eco-friendly lithium-ion battery.
Their prototype replaces the graphite in the battery’s electrodes with compounds made from acids that are found in a number of foods as well as in wine.
The best part is that the food acids used in the compound are often thrown away in food production, so if we started producing these batteries, we wouldn’t lose out on the food or the wine.
Booze to battery: Wine powers new energy storage tech, can boost EV range, performance (Interesting Engineering)
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Photo by Matthew Rings, via Wikicommons
