[HN Gopher] Extreme Ironing
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Extreme Ironing
        
       Author : kulesh
       Score  : 395 points
       Date   : 2021-08-31 11:16 UTC (22 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
       | How is the iron powered when there are no electrical outlets at
       | these places?
        
         | moron4hire wrote:
         | Smart contracts on the Blockchain
        
           | SamBam wrote:
           | If the smart contract says the iron gets hot, it must get
           | hot. Smart contracts are bound by the iron laws of
           | cryptography.
        
             | moron4hire wrote:
             | The iron has a miner inside it. A Mironer.
        
           | fspoettel wrote:
           | a use case, finally!
        
           | eric__cartman wrote:
           | And a smart clothes iron with built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to
           | control the temperature and steam setting with an Amazon Echo
           | that hopefully you remembered to bring with you.
        
         | tiborsaas wrote:
         | We are in the middle of a battery revolution so... batteries.
        
           | arethuza wrote:
           | Maybe use an RTG - just for maximum extremeness?
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_ge.
           | ..
           | 
           | Edit: You could just cut out the generator bit and have a
           | nuclear iron.
        
       | rovr138 wrote:
       | So many people have never thought what they used to iron before
       | electricity became popular and accessible.
       | 
       | There used to be coal irons. You open them, put some pieces of
       | charcoal on them and use them.
        
         | kzrdude wrote:
         | From my grandmother's generation I've also seen hunk-of-metal-
         | irons.. (look like modern irons, just more massive, without the
         | steam holes) you just put them on top of the stove (wood or
         | electricity-fired) to heat them
        
         | hardwaregeek wrote:
         | There's a really great section in The Path to Power about how
         | women in the Hill Country used to iron before electricity.
         | They'd heat these massive irons (that they called sad irons) in
         | the stove. The process was extremely finicky between the ash,
         | the inevitable burns, and the unforgiving heat of the fire.
         | Really goes to show how much washing machines and electric
         | irons have done for quality of life.
        
       | dijit27 wrote:
       | Hot Take: This is less extreme sport and more performance art.
        
       | eyelidlessness wrote:
       | I misread the title as "extreme ignoring" and was mildly
       | disappointed.
        
       | sneak wrote:
       | Funny that the 1st Extreme Ironing World Championships were held
       | in a country (Germany) where the native language has no word for
       | the concept of "silly". :D
        
         | anemic wrote:
         | Extreme ironing used to be fun sport but when Rowenta started
         | sponsoring the UK team in the championships it's now only
         | "commercial sponsorship and exploitation"
         | 
         | http://www.ntk.net/2002/09/13/?l=92#l
        
         | zufallsheld wrote:
         | Albern, Dumm, Lacherlich? German has words for silly and the
         | concept of silly.
        
           | bbarnett wrote:
           | No, parent is right. There is no word for silly in german.
           | 
           | Instead, all german words pertaining to silly, also have an
           | untranslatable connotation, a flavour to them, such as
           | "silly, but with a deep undertone of contemplative thought as
           | to how I ended up in this predicament", and so forth.
        
             | xaedes wrote:
             | But then is 'silly' translatable into any other language at
             | all? With all its exact meanings, and nothing more?
        
             | michael-ax wrote:
             | so ein quatsch!
        
         | Crono wrote:
         | Doch! Of course we have a - or actually some - words for that.
         | The above-mentioned, but what could also fit is "absurd". Most
         | of the time we have even multiple words with slightly different
         | meanings - it's why I like our language :D
        
           | usrusr wrote:
           | But bugeln is less ironic which kind of ruins much of the
           | appeal.
        
         | drjasonharrison wrote:
         | No single German word is equivalent to all of the English
         | language uses of the word "silly". There are however individual
         | German words for the English contextual equivalents.
         | 
         | https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/1227/how-to-expre...
        
       | duckmysick wrote:
       | Mildly related: I'm curious what are the latest advances in
       | consumer irons and ironing boards. Something that improved them
       | in the last 10-15 years, even incrementally.
       | 
       | For example SSDs became much more common and affordable over the
       | past 15 years and their parameters also improved. Are there
       | similar improvements in household appliances like irons? Where
       | would one look for an industry overview?
        
         | maguay wrote:
         | A quick Amazon search doesn't seem to show them being popular
         | in the States, but in Asia at least irons with separate water
         | tanks where the iron itself doesn't get hot enough to burn
         | clothes have become the new standard over the past few years.
        
         | 47 wrote:
         | https://helloeffie.com/
         | 
         | Never used it myself but i have been curious if it actually
         | works.
        
           | nose wrote:
           | A hot shower can achieve similar results: https://www.reddit.
           | com/r/ShowerScience/comments/302aqp/showe...
        
           | pronik wrote:
           | More like "is it released after all those years". I've been
           | very interested in the concept, but that's the last I've
           | heard from them in the last 3-4 years.
        
             | dtgriscom wrote:
             | Their blog was last updated almost two years ago.
        
         | xarope wrote:
         | back in the days when I used to have to wear a suit and tie, my
         | wife bought me a laurastar. The hook was that they had a fan
         | built into the board, that could suck (it could also blow and
         | hence billow the material instead) the shirt to the board, so
         | that ironing was easier.
        
         | elorant wrote:
         | Steam generating irons. I bought one a few years back and makes
         | ironing so much easier, especially for shirts and trousers.
        
         | bewaretheirs wrote:
         | There's a market niche for "steam generator" irons specifically
         | for use when sewing (where you need the iron sporadically while
         | assembling a garment from pieces). This is sort of a "pro-
         | sumer" space.
         | 
         | These typically have an offboard water tank and boiler that
         | doubles as a stand for the hot iron. This also lets the iron
         | itself be lighter in weight.
         | 
         | A key feature for this market is the _absence_ of the automatic
         | shutoff that 's commonly found in consumer irons.
        
         | __MatrixMan__ wrote:
         | I'm pretty sure that if we managed to get extreme ironing into
         | the olympics, we'd see increased innovation in this sector.
        
         | modzu wrote:
         | the main advancement is planned obsolescence.
         | 
         | well that, and the electric toothbrush
        
         | u801e wrote:
         | I don't know about the last 10 to 15 years, but 30 years ago, a
         | lot of clothing brands had wrinkle free/resistant products
         | which significantly reduced the need for ironing.
        
         | cpcallen wrote:
         | You can now get 'cordless' (electric) irons. Like an electric
         | kettle, they heat up while sitting in the (decidedly non-
         | cordless) base, but you don't have to contend with the cord
         | while actually doing the pressing. I am a bit doubtful about
         | whether they are much of an improvement over the usual corded
         | kind, but the one person I know who has one insists that she
         | greatly prefers it.
        
           | zwayhowder wrote:
           | I used on in Japan years ago and had to wait about 5 years
           | before they showed up in Australia at a reasonable price. Not
           | worth replacing a perfectly good iron with, but if you
           | accidently melt the cord to your current iron it's worth
           | considering.
           | 
           | It is definitely easier not having to worry about the cord
           | tangling or pulling at your clothes.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | My grandma used them for years. Hers weren't electric though,
           | she had to put them on the wood stove to heat. The wood stove
           | was next to her sewing machine, while the electric iron was
           | in a different room, so it was a lot faster for her to pick
           | up the iron than use the electric one. They didn't have
           | automatic steam, but otherwise worked just as well.
        
         | sydd wrote:
         | > Are there similar improvements in household appliances like
         | irons?
         | 
         | Some examples that I know of:
         | 
         | - modern robot vacuums, that can mop, use LIDAR etc. We have a
         | pretty decent one, it works OK, but we still have to vacuum by
         | ourselves every 2 weeks or so.
         | 
         | - battery operated vacuums, irons, hair dryers etc.
         | 
         | - smart homes -- automaticcally setting heat, window blinds
         | 
         | - tons of gimmicky stuff like smart fridges, or water taps with
         | touch screens.
         | 
         | But I'd consider these just some quality of life improvements,
         | not major time savers like washing things by hand vs a washing
         | machine. IMO the next big thing will be household 3D printers
         | when someone finds out how to make them safe and reliable for
         | everyday use by non-technical people.
        
         | dheera wrote:
         | Also, how do people get power for their irons? Do they backpack
         | an inverter and huge lithium battery? Or are there chemically
         | powered irons that they use?
        
           | cpcallen wrote:
           | They _don 't_ generally power their irons. It's more about
           | the absurd photos than the pressed shirts.
        
             | maxerickson wrote:
             | Extreme posing.
        
           | rovr138 wrote:
           | Throw some coal in them and away they go.
           | 
           | They weren't always electric.
        
         | dragontamer wrote:
         | > Are there similar improvements in household appliances like
         | irons?
         | 
         | I bought a new washer/dryer recently. A bunch of bells and
         | whistles, but... the "autosense the water level" feature is
         | awesome, and likely saves water in the long run.
         | 
         | It seems like washers use so much less water these days, its
         | not like the old agitator models from 2000s which filled up a
         | tank. Instead, modern washers thoroughly wet the clothes, add a
         | bit of extra water at the bottom, and then mix vigorously (be
         | it a front-load or top load, the HE washers all do this
         | technique).
         | 
         | This leads to lower water usage. I also ended up using much
         | less soap per load (the first few times, I noticed the soap
         | wasn't fully getting rinsed out, but the significantly less
         | water usage means I also should use significantly less soap).
         | 
         | > Where would one look for an industry overview?
         | 
         | At least for generic household appliances, Consumer Reports is
         | a non-profit survey / reviewer group. I dunno if they have much
         | on irons themselves, but I haven't seen anything wrong with
         | their reviews yet.
         | 
         | I think there's a problem when the price goes too low. For
         | something like $20, $50, or even $200 or $1000 appliances
         | even... its not really worthwhile to review. Instead, you often
         | have to just buy the thing and hope for the best.
         | 
         | Maybe there's a specific professional group who is thinking
         | about these tools and how to use them (chefs and cooking tools,
         | or woodworkers + woodworking tools). But for things like irons
         | or washers, or other household appliances... I don't think any
         | such group exists outside of things like Consumer Reports.
         | 
         | Still, I get my reviews on "Tide vs Persil", and other
         | household items. I think "Wirecutter" is a competitor and some
         | people say they've got good reviews too.
         | 
         | In any case, Consumer Report's page on steam irons is here:
         | https://www.consumerreports.org/products/steam-irons-28981/s...
        
           | Qworg wrote:
           | As an extension to the soap, there are single squeeze
           | detergent bottles now that precisely meter on a one handed
           | squeeze. So simple, yet phenomenally useful.
        
             | dragontamer wrote:
             | I've seen those, but... how does the bottle know how big
             | your washer is? Or how water efficient it is?
             | 
             | A agitator "tub washer" uses 40-gallons of water to wash
             | clothes. A modern front-loading HE washer uses 10-gallons.
             | 
             | If you use the same amount of soap on both washers, you'll
             | naturally be either... adding too much soap to the HE
             | washer, or too little soap to the agitator washer.
             | 
             | -------
             | 
             | Same thing with "Tide Pods". The idea of those things is
             | "one pod per load", which removes the mental need to think
             | of how much soap to add per load. But... once again,
             | there's many different washers that all use different
             | amounts of water. There's no way we really have a one-side
             | fits all situation.
        
               | Qworg wrote:
               | They're designed for a particular level of washer - HE in
               | this case - you could probably extend to a larger one.
        
         | inasio wrote:
         | My favourite advance from the last ten years has been around
         | precision cooking. Sous vide is perhaps the most well known,
         | but you can now get sensors to automatically control a bbq,
         | steam and temperature controlled ovens are becoming more
         | common/affordable (still waiting for a home-use Rational), etc.
         | I love being able to cook with consistent quality and easily
         | repeatable results.
        
           | dunham wrote:
           | Yeah, Anova has something that claims to be a temperature
           | controlled (+-0.5F) steam oven at the $600 price point. It's
           | tempting, but I'm not sure I want to give up the counter
           | space.
           | 
           | If anyone here has one, I'm curious how well it works.
        
         | derefr wrote:
         | I don't think consumer cleaning technology products like this
         | keep up with the rate of change of underlying technologies.
         | People get used to doing certain things (e.g. ironing) and want
         | to keep doing it the same way their parents taught them.
         | 
         | I'd instead look more at commercial cleaners (e.g. how shirts
         | are cleaned/pressed for shipment to stores) if you want to see
         | the bleeding edge of cleaning technology.
         | 
         | (It's sort of like home consoles vs. arcade machines in the
         | 80s/90s. Home consoles had to optimize for affordability, while
         | arcade machines could essentially be expensive operationalized
         | prototypes as long as they paid for themselves.)
        
           | rovr138 wrote:
           | > People get used to doing certain things (e.g. ironing) and
           | want to keep doing it the same way their parents taught them.
           | 
           | tongue in cheek, but WHYY
           | 
           | On the other hand, my mom has sent me things like machines
           | that fold and do other stuff whenever she finds something...
           | or refinds something. So I doubt she likes doing it and maybe
           | passed that down to me.
        
             | derefr wrote:
             | * For a lot of people, having to learn something new as an
             | adult, no matter how small, causes them some kind of
             | psychic pain.
             | 
             | * People (all animals?) seem to have a quirk about learning
             | hygiene practices in particular, where the criteria they
             | have for what is hygenic/unhygenic gets formed when they're
             | children, and then becomes unalterable. People generally
             | seem to intuitively believe that whatever hygiene practices
             | they were taught as children, are exactly the set of things
             | they need to do _feel_ clean. No more, no less. And so they
             | don 't go out actively looking for new hygiene practices
             | (or for hygiene technologies that would _suggest_ new
             | hygiene practices.)
        
               | jacobolus wrote:
               | Note: kids also often chafe at learning new things, if it
               | feels like someone is telling them what to do. Source: My
               | kids are 2.5 and 5, and I hang out with a lot of other
               | small kids and their parents these days.
        
               | derefr wrote:
               | Depends on the thing. Children tend to be fine at self-
               | directed learning, e.g. figuring out how to play a new
               | video game. Some--most?--adults chafe at even the idea of
               | engaging in an activity that requires self-directed
               | learning. (To the point that we even have an English word
               | for those adults that don't: "neophiles.")
        
               | mightybyte wrote:
               | Did you mean "neophobes"?
        
               | jacobolus wrote:
               | Some children enjoy playing some new video games. (As do
               | some adults.) Some children (and some adults) would
               | refuse to play a video game that someone else told them
               | to play. Their decisions and feelings are contingent on
               | the context (including social context).
               | 
               | If you slow down and have a conversation you can
               | sometimes figure out what the specific emotional problem
               | is, often involving shame or fear, and what triggers it
               | has. The problem is seldom if ever "so-and-so is
               | incapable of learning anything new".
        
               | derefr wrote:
               | > Some children (and some adults) would refuse to play a
               | video game that someone else told them to play.
               | 
               | Well, yes, but coercion, extrinsic motivation, and
               | general spite are all edge-cases, and outside the scope
               | of what the core fact about "learning" that I'm trying to
               | talk about here.
               | 
               | Let's look at a specific non-edge-case case: learning
               | under self-directed intrinsically-motivated reward + time
               | pressure -- for example, learning to hunt/gather when
               | stranded in the wilderness and hungry.
               | 
               | In situations like this, children do better than adults
               | at _deciding to begin experimenting in an attempt to
               | learn_ how to survive. Adults will try to apply any
               | skills they already have (however rusty), but will have a
               | much harder time than children do in _deciding_ to try to
               | do things they haven 't already ever been taught to do.
               | And even when they do make that decision, they will
               | repeatedly revoke it--i.e. give up much more quickly when
               | a solution does not come easily to them. Even though, in
               | education-theoretic terms, all the stars _should_ be
               | aligned in terms of motivating their learning process.
               | 
               | > The problem is seldom if ever "so-and-so is incapable
               | of learning anything new".
               | 
               | Of course not. That's the observed abstract pattern, not
               | the _reason_. The _reason_ for adults, AFAICT, is almost
               | always pride /hubris -- that is, the idea that they don't
               | _need_ to learn anything new, that there 's no
               | _advantage_ in it to outweigh the learning cost, because
               | they 've got by just fine up to now without having
               | learned it. (And also because learning is just plain
               | harder for adults, since they have so many existing
               | schemas that need to be broken+reshaped in the process of
               | fully absorbing new ideas that don't fit the existing
               | schema.)
               | 
               | This resistance comes almost always from adults who see
               | themselves as having higher social status than whoever's
               | trying to teach them the thing. They have no mental
               | schema for learning from someone younger or more junior
               | (or of a lower social class/caste) than themselves, since
               | it's not something they've ever experienced earlier in
               | their lives.
               | 
               | Instead, when someone in an inferior social positions
               | knows a thing, and offers to teach it to this social-
               | superior adult, the adult will instead try to manipulate
               | their social inferior into doing the task _for_ them any
               | time they need it to be done -- often under the _pretext_
               | of demonstration for purpose of learning. But with no
               | intention of actually learning, and a complete rejection
               | on being tested for knowledge acquisition (because that
               | would be a violation of the social dynamic!)
               | 
               | Note also that _learning_ is separate from _doing_. I
               | know many adults that are willing to _do_ novel things
               | (without really understanding what they 're doing), and
               | to memorize that _specific series of actions_ by rote --
               | but who have no desire to understand the more general
               | skill behind the rote actions they 're taking, such that
               | they could perform related actions in any context other
               | than the exactly memorized thing. In general,
               | _memorizing_ is easy, while _learning_ a new skill is
               | much, much harder. (And yet memorization without learning
               | almost never  "sticks", since there's no backing mental
               | schema to encode the memorized steps in terms of.)
        
               | jacobolus wrote:
               | > _give up much more quickly when a solution does not
               | come easily to them_
               | 
               | Anecdotally, kids often also give up easily when faced
               | with trivial setbacks. I think your speculative
               | generalization is far too broad. I'd be interested to see
               | some concrete research, but my impression is that there
               | is very wide variability, and I'm not sure how meaningful
               | the statistical averages are.
               | 
               | The people I know who are best at diving into a new
               | never-seen thing and experimenting systematically to
               | figure out quickly and accurately how it works are all
               | adults. They easily run circles around kids at this: the
               | kids get tired, get distracted, get confused and give up,
               | get stuck into an obviously sub-optimal pattern but don't
               | try to fix it, etc. (The kind of adults who have decades
               | of practice at trying / learning new things. Many
               | relevant metacognitive skills have broad applicability
               | across disciplines.)
               | 
               | One big advantage kids have is that their basic needs are
               | met by someone else, and they generally don't have lots
               | of other worries and responsibilities. This allows them
               | to focus on something they are interested in far longer
               | and deeper than most people who aren't doing that thing
               | professionally.
               | 
               | The best for learning (for either an adult or a child) is
               | a combination of personal interest + pleasant no-pressure
               | environment + face-to-face guidance from a trusted expert
               | tutor/coach, who can probe weak points, notice and
               | correct mistakes and misconceptions, suggest methods of
               | practice, ....
               | 
               | > _pride /hubris_
               | 
               | What you call pride/hubris, I call shame and fear of
               | embarrassment. People really don't want other people (or
               | themselves) to see them as failures.
               | 
               | > _when someone in an inferior social positions knows a
               | thing_
               | 
               | This kind of social situation is completely different
               | than the "self-directed intrinsically-motivated reward"
               | situation you were talking about before.
               | 
               | It's hardly surprising that someone who is supposed to be
               | an expert doesn't want to be shown up by their
               | subordinate or their junior colleague. It makes them look
               | incompetent and is a direct threat to their social
               | position and livelihood.
        
         | hughrr wrote:
         | I have discovered the joy of having no clothes you need to
         | iron.
         | 
         | That's real progress!
        
           | codazoda wrote:
           | I buy a lot of black 100% polyester t-shirts for this reason.
           | They don't need to be ironed and I don't have to decide what
           | I'm wearing for the day.
        
             | freeplay wrote:
             | Nothing more comfortable than a nice plastic shirt
        
               | DiffEq wrote:
               | These can be real problems when subject to a heat flash
               | from a nuclear blast. They tend to melt right on you
               | rather than block the heat.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | ackbar03 wrote:
               | I guess he better stay away from nuclear blasts then
        
               | 867-5309 wrote:
               | the dolphins disagree
        
               | WJW wrote:
               | Dolphins don't wear shirts so they're hardly experts on
               | the subject.
        
               | 867-5309 wrote:
               | *shouldn't
        
           | zo1 wrote:
           | Also realizing that a lot of times you don't need to iron
           | something at all. Fold it nicely, or hang it up to dry
           | without creases and you'd be amazed at how good it looks
           | without ironing. Short of formal work clothes, I don't have
           | anything that needs ironing.
        
             | squarefoot wrote:
             | My idea years ago, if human shaped and sized balloons were
             | easily available, was to put clothes on one, then inflate
             | it until it gently keeps clothes tight, then wait for them
             | to dry. I could never test it however.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | Moru wrote:
               | Well, there is this:
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aR_o-Y7Mpo
        
       | semi-extrinsic wrote:
       | Oh, this takes me back. One of the first wonderfully weird things
       | I discovered on Youtube almost 15 years ago. The VHS quality, the
       | ubiquitous Rocky or Top Gun soundtrack, oh my...
        
       | andrewmcwatters wrote:
       | I was watching this on ESPN 8 recently. Thrilling stuff.
        
       | toxodont wrote:
       | How do they power their irons?
        
         | tromp wrote:
         | Finally, an application for the conductive bungee cord...
        
         | layer8 wrote:
         | Irons used to be heated up by a fire, so that'd be an option.
        
         | luguenth wrote:
         | From the German Wiki (roughly translated):
         | 
         | > Commercially available irons are used for ironing. In places
         | where no electrical power supply is available or cannot be used
         | due to humidity, the heating plate is heated by auxiliary
         | constructions (mostly gas cookers). For the World Cup, for
         | example, a process was developed in which the iron is heated
         | inside by an exothermic reaction, generated by mixing a
         | hygroscopic chemical pressed into granules with water.
         | 
         | https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremb%C3%BCgeln
        
         | DaiPlusPlus wrote:
         | Good question, but at least they don't need to refill the
         | steamer's reservoir.
        
         | tyingq wrote:
         | I found this:
         | 
         |  _" We took our own iron. It's not battery powered so it
         | doesn't iron that well, but the quality of the ironing is not
         | the point - it's where you do it."_[1]
         | 
         | So it sounds like they just run a not-plugged-in regular iron
         | over some fabric and call it ironing?
         | 
         | [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/apr/25/everest.nepal
        
           | elliekelly wrote:
           | I mean if this is true it really just calls the validity of
           | the whole sport into question. You obviously can't iron
           | without heat.
        
             | ballenf wrote:
             | Conversely, I would question whether you can iron without a
             | mountain backdrop. Really calls into question whether those
             | crisp lines on your clothing are the result of true ironing
             | or just pressing something hot against them.
        
             | tyingq wrote:
             | It's true for every example I can find.
             | 
             | This photo, for example, shows a plain old plug-in iron: ht
             | tps://web.archive.org/web/20161017222702/http://teamsteam..
             | ..
             | 
             | Same guy, up in a tree, with the same iron: https://web.arc
             | hive.org/web/20161017223140/http://teamsteam....
             | 
             | From this page: https://web.archive.org/web/20160920083532/
             | http://teamsteam....
             | 
             | -\\_(tsu)_/-
        
             | mirekrusin wrote:
             | Looks like those guys are too lazy to rub it a bit.
        
             | tokai wrote:
             | Ofc you can, with pressure.
        
               | Joker_vD wrote:
               | Putting your trousers under the mattress and sleeping on
               | them so that in the morning, they'll be flattened and de-
               | wrinkled... because the lack of an iron anywhere on the
               | base does not cancel the army regulations, and those say
               | that the sentry _must_ be impeccably dressed.
        
             | travisporter wrote:
             | You could do with hot coals. You can still get all your
             | clothes ironed this way in many south asian countries by a
             | street vendor.
        
             | marcellus23 wrote:
             | Uh, do you think the point of the sport is to de wrinkle
             | clothes?
        
               | rogual wrote:
               | Ironing clothes -- actually getting them flat -- on a
               | mountain peak or underwater is interesting because of the
               | difficulty. Finding out the person isn't really ironing,
               | but just pretending, detracts from it and takes it from
               | "that's quite an accomplishment" to "so what?". It goes
               | from an interesting logistical challenge to "can you take
               | an ironing board and an iron up the mountain / into the
               | sea with you?"
        
               | flotzam wrote:
               | Yes, of course. Non dewrinkling ironing on the peak of
               | Mt. Everest is for casuals.
        
               | marosgrego wrote:
               | It's one of the things judged on the extreme ironing
               | competitions: https://youtu.be/jZ6Yo0cVMP0?t=205
        
             | zoomablemind wrote:
             | Indeed. In a competitive sport there should be a way to
             | evaluate result to determine standings.
             | 
             | If ironing is just about extra bulk of equipment not the
             | actual product of ironing, then it's more like weight-added
             | competition. Otherwise there needs to be some way of
             | judging the ironing aspect, like quality, novelty, or
             | artistic merit, in addition to the otherwise difficulty,
             | like in figure skating, for example.
             | 
             | But just for fun - everything is sport. In the line of
             | "everything and the kitchen sink", how about extreme dish-
             | washing!
        
           | bserge wrote:
           | Pfft, not even a coal fired iron? Extreme my arse
        
           | devoutsalsa wrote:
           | That's not ironing. It's a fabric massage.
        
         | rovr138 wrote:
         | Get an old coal one.
        
         | eCa wrote:
         | A portable power station (eg [1]) should be an expected part of
         | a working ironing setup..
         | 
         | [1] https://www.bluetti.com/products/bluetti-
         | ac50s-500wh-300w-po...
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | thorin wrote:
       | The original extreme ironing site must be very old. I'm pretty
       | sure I remember browsing it in mosaic on a sun workstation in the
       | mid 90s.
       | 
       | Extreme ironing forever.
        
       | systemBuilder wrote:
       | This article reminds me of the fake cities that Rand McNally puts
       | on maps to see if someone else is copying their work. I feel like
       | this is probably a fake article put into Wikipedia to see if
       | somebody else is copying their work....
        
       | angrygoat wrote:
       | A fairly good example, from the RAF in the Falkland Islands
       | https://youtu.be/xyA9hpfBsB4?t=149
        
         | cryptonector wrote:
         | Perfect timestamp for this.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | arethuza wrote:
         | Presumably that's the _Special Ironing Service_ (SIS) at work?
        
       | pym4n wrote:
       | Ok, now I'm surprised... "extreme ironing". O-M-G
        
       | Matheo05 wrote:
       | That just made my day!
        
       | cryptica wrote:
       | I invented a new sport a few months ago; extreme rock balancing.
       | It's like regular rock balancing except I did it at the bottom of
       | the sea at least 10 meters deep without scuba. I stacked 4 rocks.
       | 
       | It's a combination of freediving and rock balancing.
        
       | danlugo92 wrote:
       | No.
        
       | mixmastamyk wrote:
       | I haven't ironed anything in a decade or two. After trying one of
       | those steamer irons, which promptly broke.
       | 
       | It had been working, and I wondered how much the heat was a
       | factor. So I replaced it with a $1.99 fine spray bottle from
       | Ikea, and it worked just fine! Saves a ton of electricity and
       | time.
        
         | WhompingWindows wrote:
         | You're saying you just wet the shirt and use a room temperature
         | iron on it?
        
           | mixmastamyk wrote:
           | No, I spray a mist on any wrinkles to slightly dampen them.
           | Can be while hanging or even wearing the clothes, as you walk
           | out the door.
           | 
           | The wrinkles fall out quickly due to gravity and the water
           | dries in two minutes or so.
        
       | thread_id wrote:
       | Seriously?
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Some group used to have a drill team of serious-looking people
       | who folded and unfolded lawn chairs in synchrony.
       | 
       | But that's not extreme ironing. _This_ is extreme ironing.[1]
       | (From the leading company in a boring but profitable business.)
       | 
       | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bd900ehE9M
        
       | bla3 wrote:
       | In the French, German, Japanese, and Portuguese versions this was
       | invented by Phillip Shaw in 1997 in Leicester, UK.
       | 
       | In the English and Spanish versions, it was invented by Tony Hiam
       | in 1980 in Seattle.
        
       | raman162 wrote:
       | > extreme ironing is "the latest danger sport that combines the
       | thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a
       | well-pressed shirt."
       | 
       | This was some of the humor that I didn't know I needed today. Had
       | me laughing out loud.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | One small past thread:
       | 
       |  _Extreme ironing_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6594989
       | - Oct 2013 (2 comments)
        
       | petercooper wrote:
       | Extreme coding, anyone?
        
         | amai wrote:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system
        
         | hutzlibu wrote:
         | Oh yeah, I actually do that. Coding while sitting on a high
         | tree or on a steep rock, only reachable by climbing.
         | 
         | Why I do this?
         | 
         | Well, certainly not because of attention seeking, rather the
         | opposite.
         | 
         | No one bothers my flow state there and the elements bring
         | inspiration.
        
         | bserge wrote:
         | Coding while homeless. Actually exists but people don't like it
         | for some reason.
        
           | nickthemagicman wrote:
           | Currently evacuating from Ida and coding while homeless in a
           | hotel on the beach.
           | 
           | Not too bad!
        
         | tiborsaas wrote:
         | Ask a digital nomad :)
        
         | mirekrusin wrote:
         | We already have Extreme Programming (XP).
        
           | dangerbird2 wrote:
           | Alas, extreme programming is not nearly as fun as it sounds
        
             | toast0 wrote:
             | There _is_ a distinct lack of SlimJims being snapped into,
             | nor many aerial moves in extreme programming.
        
       | SuoDuanDao wrote:
       | This takes me way back. When I was in high school, one of my
       | classmates had a job in a call center, and one of the surveys he
       | was contracted to do was for a website dedicated to extreme
       | ironing. Unlike most surveys he had to punch in phone numbers
       | himself, so he called a friend who was in on the joke just to get
       | some interesting responses.
       | 
       | "How much time do you spend ironing?" "one or two hours a day, I
       | try not to overindulge"
       | 
       | "What's the strangest place you've ever ironed?" "A bass boat"
       | 
       | I don't remember any of the other responses, but everyone who
       | heard that story got a good chuckle out of it. Interesting to
       | hear that it's stayed around so long!
        
       | vernie wrote:
       | I wonder if these people scoffed at or participating in planking
       | and owling.
        
       | nicbou wrote:
       | From the See also section:
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wok_racing
        
         | dangerbird2 wrote:
         | Don't forget wife carrying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife-
         | carrying
        
           | zkms wrote:
           | and belt-sander racing! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt-
           | sander_racing
        
       | eCa wrote:
       | For gamers, this[1] is probably the best extreme gaming
       | equivalent. Playing horror games alone in the woods at night.
       | 
       | [1] https://youtu.be/UCvnrkN9Jjw
        
         | Ancapistani wrote:
         | This is the best thing I've seen in quite a while.
        
       | raman162 wrote:
       | Someone needs to host a legit tournament called the "Extreme
       | Ironman". Although confusing, I bet some tri-athletes will
       | appreciate the humor and actually sign up.
        
         | jeffrallen wrote:
         | Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
         | https://photos.app.goo.gl/p6B6oeEs6dpzziaP7
        
           | raman162 wrote:
           | Ha, good to see that someone has already done that.
        
       | rnd420_69 wrote:
       | For some reason I read it as extreme ignoring and now wonder what
       | that sport would look like
        
         | SuoDuanDao wrote:
         | I feel like that's just normal social behaviour for most
         | felines.
        
         | Applejinx wrote:
         | NO. You don't wonder that, and I don't either!
        
         | cbozeman wrote:
         | > wonder what that sport would look like
         | 
         | Your love life.
         | 
         | (just kidding!)
        
         | megamix wrote:
         | That's not a sport - it's called programming
        
           | dangerbird2 wrote:
           | try:         ...       except BaseException:         return
           | "yolo"
        
             | banana_giraffe wrote:
             | Visual Basic was a world leader in this field:
             | On Error Resume Next
        
               | nicoburns wrote:
               | In BASH, you don't even have to do that: it's the
               | default!
        
               | teknopaul wrote:
               | There are no errors in bash, it always does exactly what
               | it wants to.
        
         | JohnWhigham wrote:
         | Ask my wife
        
         | smoyer wrote:
         | I vehemently refuse to read your comment!
        
       | system2 wrote:
       | Another valid proof of people do anything to get attention.
        
         | SamBam wrote:
         | Boo. Pretty sad way to view people having fun.
        
         | michaelhoffman wrote:
         | People will also do all sorts of things for fun.
        
           | slingnow wrote:
           | What percentage of these people do you think do this and then
           | DON'T post an image / video of it somewhere to get views? I
           | would guess it rounds down to 0%.
           | 
           | It's pure attention seeking. And it also might be fun.
        
             | SamBam wrote:
             | This can be explained by the fact that it's clearly a
             | communal sport, though practiced individually. The social
             | and sharing aspect is clearly a part of the sport.
             | 
             | Is commenting on this thread also "attention seeking,"
             | because no one does so without making their comments
             | public? Or is it a form of social behavior?
        
             | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
             | > What percentage of these people do you think do this and
             | then DON'T post an image / video of it somewhere to get
             | views? I would guess it rounds down to 0%.
             | 
             | What, just because you haven't seen it? (But seriously, how
             | would we know? You're talking about a group that, by
             | definition, would leave us no evidence to discuss their
             | existence)
        
       | bmmayer1 wrote:
       | It's clear that people are just doing this...ironically.
        
         | louthy wrote:
         | Irony, a bit like silvery and bronzy?
        
         | drittich wrote:
         | I'm getting board of this, I have more pressing concerns. Like
         | collaring some criminals to de-crease the number wrinkles in
         | our society.
        
         | smoyer wrote:
         | Perhaps we should turn to more pressing matters?
        
         | admax88qqq wrote:
         | Go home
        
         | belter wrote:
         | Is this like the ...iron man competition?
        
           | Lio wrote:
           | Go on, keep the jokes coming. I'm interested to see how far
           | you can go before you, _wait for it_ ...run out of steam! :P
        
             | drittich wrote:
             | Button your lips, this thread is done.
        
               | belter wrote:
               | don't want to 'press' your luck.
        
               | tonyedgecombe wrote:
               | No need to get so hot under the collar.
        
               | javajosh wrote:
               | Someone should make a video game of Extreme Ironing -
               | distributed only on Steam.
        
       | Wildgoose wrote:
       | Had to have been started by an Englishman. English eccentricity
       | is still alive and well!
        
       | allears wrote:
       | As my wife said just now, "Any time I iron it's an extreme
       | sport."
        
       | ethbr0 wrote:
       | For those unfamiliar, irons were devices used to smooth clothes
       | in historical times, when men's business casual at minimum
       | required a dress shirt and collar.
        
         | ghostbrainalpha wrote:
         | Were Irons replaced when Dry Cleaners were invented?
        
       | kyle-rb wrote:
       | Interesting, but something about this article is weird. Overall
       | it doesn't feel like it's in the Wikipedia style and some parts
       | are very editorialized, e.g.
       | 
       | > As extreme ironing has branched off, the conditions can gain in
       | extreme activity. For example, a branch of ironing has been
       | developed that includes both bungee jumping and well-pressed
       | clothing. Bungee ironing is what some would call the ultimate in
       | the thrill of extreme ironing.[8]
       | 
       | That citation leads to https://averyj12.weebly.com/extreme-
       | ironing.html, which was clearly copied wholesale from Wikipedia
       | (all its links and citations go directly back to Wikipedia).
       | 
       | Looking at the history, there have been a lot of edits since that
       | text was added in 2007, so it's surprising that someone hasn't
       | rewritten it since then.
        
         | sedatk wrote:
         | > That citation leads to https://averyj12.weebly.com/extreme-
         | ironing.html, which was clearly copied wholesale from Wikipedia
         | 
         | Welcome to Wikipedia where the line between FUD and knowledge
         | disappears.
        
         | thewakalix wrote:
         | Citogenesis in the wild? [0]
         | 
         | [0] https://xkcd.com/978/
        
         | mikevin wrote:
         | Slightly related question:
         | 
         | Does anyone know what to do when finding a Wikipedia page
         | that's just an ad in disguise?
         | 
         | I've found a few and Wikipedia has a lot of pages about
         | vandalism/verifiability which often recommends just changing
         | the parts that don't fit or placing a warning on the user's
         | page but what if the whole page is about a made up term that
         | exists to link to the authors blog/company?
         | 
         | I can't outright delete a whole page right? I'm also pretty new
         | to contributing Wikipedia and even though they specifically
         | recommend just trying and learning when some action wasn't
         | appropriate I'd still feel more comfortable if I could contact
         | someone with a bit more experience/reputation to discuss such
         | an instance.
        
           | kyle-rb wrote:
           | I don't have a ton of experience, but you can add a "may not
           | meet notability guidelines" banner, or a "proposed deletion".
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability#Articles_.
           | ..
        
           | nwallin wrote:
           | Don't delete it. Deleting an article has the lowest
           | effort:effect ratio, so lots of automatic policies are in
           | place to speedily allow an author to restore a page that's
           | been deleted.
           | 
           | If the article itself shouldn't exist, mark it with
           | {{qd|spam}} . `qd` is quick deletion.
           | 
           | If the article should still exist but has substantial content
           | that's advertising, mark it {{npov}}
           | 
           | In both cases someone else will come along and fix it. If the
           | author who put the ads up in the first place removes your
           | template, just put it back up.
        
         | Clewza313 wrote:
         | Joke articles (and let's face it, this is a joke sport) tend to
         | attract joke edits.
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-01 10:03 UTC)