Category: Weird

There’s A Fish At The Door

Today is the day that I learned about the “fish doorbell” in Utrecht, Netherlands.

You might think this is some common thing that was tagged with a quirky name, but you’d be wrong. (Don’t worry about it, I’m often wrong.) It is exactly what the name says: a doorbell (well, not a bell, exactly, but stick with me) that tells lock operators at the Weerdsluis lock on the Oudegracht that fish are waiting to head up or downstream, so they should open the lock to allow the fish to transit.

How do the fish know to ring the doorbell? Don’t be silly. Fish can’t ring doorbells! That’s where you come in!

Point your browser to this link and if you see a fish, click on the button to ring the doorbell.

Crowdsourcing FTW!

Never Forgive Henry Symeonis, That Knave!

So, first of all, I rarely have an original thought, so props for this one go to Kevin Underhill, author of “The Emergency Sasquatch Ordinance” as posted on his blog, loweringthebar.net.

For over five centuries, from 1264 until 1827, students at the University of Oxford were required to swear an oath as part of their Master of Arts degree ceremony. This oath included a commitment that they would “never agree to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis.”

Well that’s interesting, but who the hell is Henry Symeonis?

Turns out, Henry Symeonis was a wealthy 13th-century Englishman from Oxford, who was involved in the murder of an Oxford University student in 1242. Alongside other townsmen, he was fined £80 and banished from the town by King Henry III. Despite receiving a royal pardon in 1264, the University of Oxford harbored a lasting grudge, mandating for over 500 years that graduates swear an oath never to reconcile with him. This peculiar tradition persisted until 1827, long after the original offense was forgotten.  

I’m sure there’s a lesson in here but exactly what it is, I haven’t quite worked out yet.