In Reversal, Guinness Gives a Frenchman's Matchstick Eiffel Tower the Record | Hacker News Reader

In Reversal, Guinness Gives a Frenchman's Matchstick Eiffel Tower the Record

nytimes.com

Relevant Feynman take:

> "Suppose that we ask: “Are the physical laws symmetrical under a change of scale?” . . . Another example: we see in the newspaper, every once in a while pictures of a great cathedral made with little matchsticks—a tremendous work of art by some retired fellow who keeps gluing matchsticks together. . . The fact that the laws of physics are not unchanged under a change of scale was discovered by Galileo . . . [who] was so impressed with this discovery that he considered it to be as important as the discovery of the laws of motion, because he published them both in the same volume, called “On Two New Sciences.”"

https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_52.html

Are little custom-ordered wooden sticks really "matchsticks"? I'm wondering if the other enthusiasts in this category all shaved off the ignitable parts of the matches to build their creations (which is what this man said he got tired of doing and ended up just ordering plain sticks)

They were matchsticks, just without the tip. That begs the question, when he was cutting off the tips, how much of the matchstick was cut off? Is thre a standard size for a matchstick and is that with or without the tip?

Doesn’t it suggest he was shaving the combustible part off rather than cutting off the head altogether, and that this is standard practice in the matchbox modeling community? It seems like that would yield a minimal change in size, just the natural length of the stick before it was dipped in the head compound bath.

For a satisfying visual from How It’s Made, consider https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Socf8Q3vRw&t=206

I do share your wonder about whether there are size norms in the modeling community, though, given the extremely wide range of match sizes I have even in my own house.

well he didn't order sticks, he ordered matches without tips:

> ordering custom matches without the tip from Flam’Up, a French matchstick maker

What a philosophical conundrum!

Obviously, a match with the chemical coating on the head has a wooden part that we call a matchstick.

Does removing this coating and leaving only the wood make that object no longer a matchstick? It seems the community has decided it does not.

But is any piece of wood a matchstick? I'd argue it is not, it's just a piece of wood. It's the addition of the chemical head that turns it from lumber into a match, if that hasn't happened yet - or doesn't happen ever, then there's nothing match-like about it.

Otherwise I could argue that my 2-story house is built of matchsticks, they're just still in 2x4 form 8 feet long, having not been sawn down yet, and (to comply with fire code) not yet coated.

Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?

Maybe after, but not before!

> Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?

> Maybe after, but not before!

What about the planks ordered and bought to build the ship ?

> It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.

Bah, it's not that interesting.

Is a Popsicle stick a Popsicle stick even if it never had a frozen treat attached to it?

A matchstick is the wooden part of a match so I don't see the issue with using plain sticks as long as they have the same dimensions, in fact perhaps it's possible to buy actual matchsticks.

> in fact perhaps it's possible to buy actual matchsticks.

That's exactly what he did.

Yes. He was smart ;)

Something escapes me.

The Guinness record for largest matchstick model belongs to a North Sea oil platform model with over 4 million matches (compared to 706,900 for the Eiffel tower) [1].

[1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221428/Pictured-Wo...

>But his wife Julie said: 'I am absolutely sick to death at the sight of a matchstick but I think there is still more to come unfortunately.

>'But at least I know where he is and what he's doing, so I'd rather have him there than down the pub.'

Where's the fun in building a structure of matchsticks, without a significant risk of rapid ignition?

Isn’t Guinness a just a pay to play scheme?

Yes, from what I understand their entire business model is based on selling "world record" certifications to people and brands for pr/marketing stunts:

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/business-marketing-solu...

They're also pay to drink!

The antithesis of "free as in free beer"

Guinness World Records is a brand of the Jim Pattison Group, a conglomerate that also owns Ripley Entertainment. It hasn't been connected with Guinness beer, the brand of the drinks company Diageo, since the early 2000s.

This is the most disappointing thing I've read all day :(

https://archive.vn/Zs5Xy

How exactly does it make 8 years to build this? It took 2 years to build the real one.

It’s one man only, and he probably has other things to do in his life.

Ok but... if this is the kind of problem that can be done faster by adding people, why doesn't he get a team, like Eiffel did?

It's a hobby, not a worlds fair exhibit...

It probably took you 20 seconds to write your comment; why not hire a team of people to divide up the typing so you can get it done in three seconds?

If you have to ask, you will never know.

You assume efficiency is the goal.

Because its a single person? possibly in his free time? the real one took many fulltime builders

I think it's 8 calendar years between starting and finishing, not 8 man years of effort.

Also Gustave Eiffel didn't build the original by himself.

Yeah! And this one's only 24 feet tall; the real thing is at least twice as tall.

what is this a tower for ants?

I was going to make a joke about different safety standards over a century ago, but then I discovered that no one died during the building of the original Eiffel tower. Color me impressed!

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