Free Republic

OWENSBORO, Ky., Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A Kentucky woman who struggled to keep squirrels from raiding her bird feeder came up with a simple but effective solution -- a Slinky. Jan Siems Catron posted a video to Facebook showing a squirrel attempting to climb the bird feeder in her yard, but falling back to the ground when it reaches the section covered by the coiled-wire children's toy.

Watching this video, I have to ask, do we really understand gravity? When we release an object from our hands, it falls. Right? Not always? Or at least, not right away? Veritasium has put some pretty cool videos to explain how science and physics work. They have been working with slinkies on a number of videos (and you thought your kid didn’t have any potential at 3 years old), this video seems to capture the essences of their work. So listening to a couple of science guys explain this, does this give one a solid enough understanding why that darn...

Running a slinky continuously down a treadmill.

Everyone has million dollar ideas, but people rarely act on them. For entrepreneurs, one good idea can provide an extraordinary amount of hope. Even though the chances of success are minimal, these ideas give people something to aspire to greater than a boring cubicle and a nagging boss. Not to mention, these ideas make some people obscenely loaded. If you're waiting to act on one of these ideas until you think of something brilliant, don't. In fact, you might want to dumb yourself down a notch. With the Icanhascheezburger.com's of the world getting acquired for $2MM, it doesn't take something...

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HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. — Betty James, who co-founded the company that made the Slinky and beat the odds as a single mother in the late 1950s to become a successful executive, has died. She was 90. She died Thursday, said a spokeswoman for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1945, James and her husband at the time, Richard, founded the company that would later make Slinky, the toy for which she was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2001.

Hollidaysburg, PA (AHN) - Betty James - the co-founder of the company that made the Slinky - and a single mother who broke the glass ceiling to become a successful executive in the 1950s has died. She was 90. James co-founded what would become the Slinky empire in 1945 with her husband, the late Richard James. But when her husband left to join a religious cult and follow it to Bolivia, she took over control and management of the company, James Industries Inc., along with raising the couple's six children alone.