Today is Hammock Day. 10 things you might not know about hammocks:
The word hammock either comes from Spanish, from maka, a Taíno culture Arawakan word meaning 'stretch of cloth' with the prefix “ha” meaning the action of hanging; or from the Hammack tree, native to Latin America, from which hammocks were woven.
Most sources say they were invented by the Mayans and the idea brought to Europe by Christopher Columbus.
Some 19th-century authors attributed the invention of the hammock to the Athenian politician Alcibiades. Plutarch wrote that Alcibiades had his galley bed hung from ropes, although it wasn’t clear if it was an actual hammock or just a normal bed hanging on ropes.
Hammocks are more relaxing to sleep in than ordinary beds, probably because the rocking motion brings to mind the sensation of being rocked by one’s mother as a baby.
At time of writing, Guinness World Records says the largest hammock in the world measures 20.84 m (68 ft 4 in) long and 9.42 m (30 ft 10 in) wide, and was created by King Digital Entertainment (UK) and presented in New York in 2015.
The highest is probably one which hung over a canyon in Utah, 492 feet in the air.
Hammocks have traditionally been the sleeping arrangement for sailors in olden times as they were less likely to fall out of them in rough weather. The first official mention of hammocks in the Royal Navy was in 1597 when it ordered three hundred bolts of canvas for "hanging cabbons or beddes".
After Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reported that sleeping on the floor of the lunar module was uncomfortable and cold, subsequent missions provided hammocks.
The most expensive hammock in the world is the Petiole, which costs $35,000. It can hold up to 250 kilograms, and blocks most UV rays.
There’s café in Tokyo where chairs have been replaced with hammocks. It’s called Mahika Mano.
The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
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