Finland Hosts Mobile Phone Throwing Championships

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Finland Hosts Mobile Phone Throwing Championships

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday August 19, 2012 @04:04PM from the toss-it-out dept.

hypnosec writes "In this year's annual mobile-phone throwing contest held in Finland Ere Karjalainen has smashed the world record by throwing his phone 101.46 meters. The event, being held every year since 2000 in the town of Savonlinna, saw quite a few mobile-phone throwers participate. 2nd place went to Jeremy Gallop, a South African who managed to throw his phone 94.67 meters. Contest organizers are of the opinion that users can vent their anger on their phones and that this offers a unique opportunity to 'pay back all the frustrations and disappointments caused by this modern equipment.'"

70 comments

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You know what by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:08 · Score: -1

You know what? American cities have lots and lots of niggers. Not blacks either. These are niggers. They hate you for being white.
1. Re:You know what by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:12 · Score: -1
  
  A lot of them are gay too. Not just when they're in prison either. Lots of stuff happens "on the down low."
2. Re:You know what by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:19 · Score: -1, Troll
  
  Sad thing is Finland is getting it's fair share of niggers too nowadays. The worst kind, Somalis.
  They've committed all sorts of brutal rapes across Europe.
3. Re:You know what by Taco+Cowboy · 2012-08-19 16:44 · Score: -1, Troll
  
  Look at the pictures again !
  It ain't the Somalis who are throwing phones
  It's the non-nigs who are carrying out the wasteful destruction of perfectly usable mobile phones
  
  --
  Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
4. Re:You know what by davydagger · 2012-08-19 16:48 · Score: 1
  
  from outerspace as well??
5. Re:You know what by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 18:09 · Score: 0
  
  Sad thing is Finland is getting its fair share of niggers too nowadays. The worst kind, Somalis.
  FTFY. Oh Roberto, when will you learn proper grammar.
6. Re:You know what by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 18:38 · Score: 0, Funny
  
  wasteful destruction of perfectly usable mobile phones
  They're Windows phones. Nobody wants them anyway.
An idea by wbr1 · 2012-08-19 16:10 · Score: 3, Informative

Someone should cross breed this with pumpkin chunkin. The main category should be limited to being propelled by only the energy stored in the phones' battery.

--
Silence is a state of mime.
I would have thought Scotland. by Black+Parrot · 2012-08-19 16:12 · Score: 1

They're the ones with the oddball "sports".

--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
1. Re:I would have thought Scotland. by TeknoHog · 2012-08-19 16:20 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Well, they did not invent mobile phones. Besides, Finland was already known for the fine sports of wife carrying and swamp soccer.
  
  --
  Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
2. Re:I would have thought Scotland. by lobiusmoop · 2012-08-19 20:01 · Score: 1
  
  We toss cabers, not cellphones.
  
  --
  "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
3. Re:I would have thought Scotland. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-08-20 00:46 · Score: 1
  
  We toss cabers, not cellphones.
  Well, you can alway throw base station towers.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
I see... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:13 · Score: 5, Funny

They finally found a use for all those Nokia Windows Phones.
Not impressive! Not impressed! by For+a+Free+Internet · 2012-08-19 16:19 · Score: -1

I regularly throw my phorne into orbit and then go up in my space shuttirl to cartch it! Slashdort is lame and I am GOD!!!!!!! GOD! GOD! GORD! GOD GOD GOD! GORD! GORD! GOD! salsa whappwhappwappawhappawjap! yo thisis ---- what?? ok.

--
UNITE with the Campaign for a Free Internet because today, our future begins with tomorrow!
His phone preference by Grayhand · 2012-08-19 16:23 · Score: 3, Funny

Ere Karjalainen said that he is normally an iOS man but preferred the aerodynamics of the new Android phones for throwing. The exception being any iPhone running AT&T which are universally accepted as the best for throwing.
1. Re:His phone preference by Zibodiz · 2012-08-19 17:03 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  They may be the best for throwing, but you've gotta remember that they're also the slowest, so they probably don't go very far.
2. Re:His phone preference by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 18:02 · Score: 1
  
  He also looks forward to the new windows 8 phone built from the ground up for throwing, featuring a "chair leg" like feel, has been rumoured to be already in the hands of top MS execs.
Whew! by Dachannien · 2012-08-19 16:26 · Score: 2

One last niche market for Nokia to fill. And it's local, too!
1. Re:Whew! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:30 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, using Nokia is the eco friendly option as they dont get damaged by the impact ;)
2. Re:Whew! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 18:43 · Score: 0
  
  That's just marketing. The old Nokias were tough 'cos they were simple.
  Modern ones break just as easily as any other phone.
3. Re:Whew! by Threni · 2012-08-19 23:49 · Score: 1
  
  Perhaps the winner could get a Windows phone. A Windows 8 phone, that it - no point in even giving away the current generation as you won't be able to upgrade them!
Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by Taco+Cowboy · 2012-08-19 16:34 · Score: -1, Troll

In this world of scarce resources, we should not encourage any wasteful behavior
If you ask people from South Africa or Latin America or large part of Asia about the wasteful behavior of the West, almost always you will get an earful of comments
Like the "La Tomatina festival, the tomatoes throwing contest, where throngs of people throwing perfectly edible tomatoes at each others, at Valencian town of BuÃ±ol, in Spain
There are tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of human beings in this world who are malnourished - and the tomatoes that gone to waste could have been put into better use than the wasteful display in Spain
And now we have this "Cellphone throwing contest" in Finland
Perfectly usable cellphones that could have found better usage in third world countries are being destroyed, just for the fun of it
It's this type of pure, unadulterated wasteful behavior of the West that has festered anger of many millions of people elsewhere
Because of the wasteful display of the West, when the economic crisis hit Europe and America, the rest of the world actually felt that the West deserves all the hardship brought on by the economic crash
Events such as the "Cellphone throwing contest" are irresponsibility, childish, and wasteful act - and no one, not even the West, should continue to condone such behavior

--
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
1. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:53 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  With this attitude, how do you defend the cost of the electricity used by your computer while posting this comment? That resource could have gone to feeding a starving child somewhere. Even worse, how do you defend the time you spent writing that comment when that time could instead have gone to making money in order to feed starving children? By your own standard you are yourself despicable and so is every other person in the world. I agree that feeding starving children is a worthwhile goal, but I don't know that your perspective on the whole thing is very useful here.
  On another note, flooding third world markets with free food is a disaster for the farmers in those regions who then can't sell their food and then there will be even less food grown in that region the next year. If the problem was as easy to solve as throwing some tomatoes at the third world, we'd have solved the problem completely by now because that is a very manageable proposition, but of course it isn't that easy.
2. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 17:06 · Score: 0
  
  Are you on a quest to find food for the trolls? :)
  I'd wager the phones they are throwing are already broken.
3. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by mug+funky · 2012-08-19 17:07 · Score: 0
  
  WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
  those phones, when recycled (responsibly if possible) will yield more minerals than most natural deposits.
  those tomatoes would not last the journey to "lol Africa is a country" and remain edible.
  a big problem with the world is getting the abundance spread around. people don't want to lose their overabundance and will scream SOCIALISM!!1! at anyone who suggests they don't need that many phones or tomatoes. also, see what happens when you tell the Valencians they can't have their tomato fight any more because there's people starving. bearing in mind most of these people have been robbed by Moroccans and Somalis, probably several times.
  the world is unfair. might as well enjoy it rather than being the stophavingfunguy who everyone says should lighten up.
4. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by mug+funky · 2012-08-19 17:10 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  if all you seek to do is feed them, the starving children will just become starving adults.
5. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by Rande · 2012-08-19 18:47 · Score: 1
  
  Starving adults with many starving children.
6. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by adolf · 2012-08-19 22:15 · Score: 2
  
  Why not convert the starving children into food?
  
  --
  Kid-proof tablet..
7. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 23:30 · Score: 0
  
  flooding third world markets with free food is a disaster for the farmers in those regions who then can't sell their food and then there will be even less food grown in that region the next year.
  Good. That means those farmers can use their time to do something else. If food is already being supplied - by foreigners, better agricultural process, machinery, etc - then why should someone waste their time farming? The point of work is to produce things, not work itself. And wealth is created only when things are produced with less and less human effort.
  This kind of logic is what is used in India to keep agricultural productivity down; "think of the farmers". Meanwhile, millions in India go hungry.
8. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by ArsenneLupin · 2012-08-20 00:17 · Score: 1
  
  Perfectly usable cellphones that could have found better usage in third world countries are being destroyed, just for the fun of it
  Given that this is in Finland, they are probably Nokia phones... (post Microsoft acquisition, the N900 actually was a great machine...)
9. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by amicusNYCL · 2012-08-20 05:45 · Score: 1
  
  If the problem was as easy to solve as throwing some tomatoes at the third world
  Well maybe someone needs to organize a competition where we throw tomatoes at poor and hungry people.
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
10. Re:Waste, pure unadulterated wasteful behavior by BadPirate · 2012-08-20 10:17 · Score: 1
  
  I believe it was Jesus that said:
  "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. If you don't, then there will be more fish for you tomorrow."
  Or something like that.
  
  --
  - Holy crap, I've got MOD points! Who thought that was a good idea.
Official home site by c0lo · 2012-08-19 16:36 · Score: 4, Informative

http://www.mobilephonethrowing.fi/home
Nice photo gallery too (but no mentions on the phone brands!)

--
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
A New word for Finland "Elopping" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 16:37 · Score: 0

Can only be done with unsold Window's phones and by unemployed Nokia personnel and only at the windows of the headquarters in Keilaniemi?
HTML is headed to hell by Snotnose · 2012-08-19 16:42 · Score: 0

A trend I've been noticing for a month or so. Left side of the screen is obscured by the links to Twitter, FB, etc. Bottom is obscured by telling me I don't allow cookies and cajoling me into accepting them, helpfully giving me a button to allow cookies from all sites.
No thanks, I see this shit and I leave.
1. Re:HTML is headed to hell by reub2000 · 2012-08-19 19:42 · Score: 1
  
  JavaScript white list, you'll thank me later.
Not Sure What to Make of This by guttentag · 2012-08-19 16:43 · Score: 1

WEEE-ing Contest? Given that all electronic retailers in Europe are now required to accept Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ("WEEE"), the Finns should be turning these in for recycling. Throwing them away like this just seems like a big WEEE-ing contest.

Finn National Frustration Venting? Given that this is held in Finland, may be the expression the populace's frustration at its onetime darling Nokia throwing away the mobile phone market. Actually, I think I just invented a new word in honor of this event and Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop:

WEEE*lop. the act of needlessly throwing away a Nokia
Publicity Stunt? Could be a last-ditch effort by the country to allow Nokia to claim to still be best at something, as its "dumbphones" would probably be the only ones to survive the competition.
1. Re:Not Sure What to Make of This by livingboy · 2012-08-19 19:12 · Score: 2
  
  Actually Nokia did make boots in the ancient history and Nokian jalkineet still does.
  So mobile phone throwing was logical sport for modern people that evolved from bootthrowing.
  http://bootthrowing.com/online/etusivu/
2. Re:Not Sure What to Make of This by klmth · 2012-08-19 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  This is a contest that has been going on for something like 15 years. It's just a bit of silliness. The mobile phones are thrown and then gathered up and recycled.
Oh dear. by Zuriel · 2012-08-19 16:45 · Score: 4, Funny

Finland, home of the Nokia 3310. I hope all the nearby buildings were insured.
Ballmer: Windows Phones Flying Off The Shelves! by theodp · 2012-08-19 16:52 · Score: 5, Funny

Hey, it's all in how you spin it!
There's no chance... by randalotto · 2012-08-19 16:54 · Score: 1

There's no chance that the skinny kid in the video threw his phone 102 meters. That's the length of a football field. Or the distance from home plate to the (nearest part of the) outfield wall. I just don't see that happening using a cell phone...
1. Re:There's no chance... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 18:28 · Score: 0
  
  I think no one else expected it either. That's probably the reason why it's reported in the news so widely. From the video we can see that they did have proper measuring equipment there so the result is correct, I think.
2. Re:There's no chance... by iamweasel · 2012-08-19 20:51 · Score: 2
  
  His technique looks spot-on, a relaxed-looking throw transferring momentum from the legwork and also has his arm slightly extended. If you get the angle and the spin right on a fairly flat object it will fly 100m quite easily. I can throw flat things the length of a football field and could when I was significantly skinnier than this kid. It has very little to do with strength when throwing stuff that weighs less than say 200grams. Modern smartphones, that have fairly ideal shape, seem to weigh around 140g.
  In throws like this I think being skinny is something of an advantage. When I throw stuff as far as I can (showing off) it does make muscles and sometimes even joints in my arm and sides hurt because of the forces involved (you have to accelerate your hand, as well as decelerate it after the throw). The less mass in your arm, the easier it should be. (The acceleration bit twists the joints, and the deceleration bit you use your muscles in.)
3. Re:There's no chance... by mark_elf · 2012-08-19 21:08 · Score: 1
  
  For comparison, the record baseball throw is about 136 meters, set in 1957 by some freak of nature. The record for a female is 90 meters, by Babe Didrikson, who won a gold medal in javelin at the 1932 Olympics, and could have broken that skinny kid in half. Must be operator error, maybe the guy was reading feet instead of meters.
4. Re:There's no chance... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 21:58 · Score: 0
  
  Like there even are feet in finish measuring equipment. It's meters, and it's measured right. baseball weights more, and is round ( not a bad shape for throwing, but flat phone with wing like shape is way better )
5. Re:There's no chance... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 02:33 · Score: 0
  
  Only Americans would call a normal and healthy looking young man "skinny"...
  It seems that in USA there are only two types of people: skinny and "more to love" (=fat as fuck). Nothing in between.
6. Re:There's no chance... by gl4ss · 2012-08-20 03:38 · Score: 1
  
  it's a better object for throwing than your baseball and this is an annual competition. the record is unusual because it's ~20meters more than usual winners, the guy found a good technique and exploited it.
  believe me, people would have bitched soo much if it didn't fly the length. finns are like that.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
7. Re:There's no chance... by mark_elf · 2012-08-20 06:37 · Score: 1
  
  Well it looks like the record golf ball throw is 170 yards, I guess you're right. Apparently Nokia makes golf balls too.
8. Re:There's no chance... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 09:47 · Score: 0
  
  The record for a female is 90 meters
  Am I the only one that read this and wondered if it was the female being thrown?
  
  The record for a female is 90 meters, by Babe Didrikson,
  
  And then rereading it... She is really called Babe?
  Upon further research that was a nickname, although the ESPN article uses an interesting phrase "The first to prove a girl could be a stud "
  And given todays dodgy internet spellingz their headline "a woman ahead of her time" seems so apposite given that her initials are MEDZ.
I think I like girlfriend throwing better by rrohbeck · 2012-08-19 16:56 · Score: 1

Girlfriend+pier or pool=fun.

--
thegodmovie.com - watch it
1. Re:I think I like girlfriend throwing better by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 19:04 · Score: 0
  
  Girlfriend+pier or pool=fun.
  This is slashdot. The odds are good your phone IS your girlfriend, and you're on call 24x7. Good vibrations!
I heard Nokia sponsored the event... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 17:31 · Score: 0

...they had phones to spare...
Hope Samsung didn't win by humanrev · 2012-08-19 17:38 · Score: 1

If a Samsung phone did end up winning, Apple might sue and argue that this was due to Apple's patented rounded corners being the most aerodynamically efficient design.

--
Most people on Slashdot are fucking idiots.
Wife Throwing Contest by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 17:44 · Score: 0

Now combine that with the Wife Carrying Contest
Hope the iphone wins. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 17:59 · Score: 0

If it doesnt apple will just sue the entire country, the event cordinators and the manufacturer of the winning phone.
Oh wait, this isnt going on in the united states. No one outside of the US cares about apple because everyother country in the world knows they arent worth a shit. Only americans are smug enough and pretentious enough to blindly pay ungodly amounts of money for a inferior product just to have a logo to sit in starbucks and show off to everyone as they browse facebook and hope everyone that sees them thinks they are writing a novel.
Units by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 18:14 · Score: 0

If it were measured in Euros, certainly Stephen Elop would hold the record for throwing away mobile phones in Finland.
Quite the opposite by SuperKendall · 2012-08-19 18:29 · Score: 5, Funny

Throwing most phones results in drag due to the device being constantly bombarded by signals from the carrier cellular tower.
The AT&T phones are mercifully free of such drag, and as a result can fly much further.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:Quite the opposite by Grayhand · 2012-08-19 21:35 · Score: 2
  
  Throwing most phones results in drag due to the device being constantly bombarded by signals from the carrier cellular tower.
  The AT&T phones are mercifully free of such drag, and as a result can fly much further.
  The enthusiasm caused by dropped calls also increases the distance of thrown AT&T based phones. A few have actually achieved low Earth orbit.
Throw Phone app by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 19:25 · Score: 0

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/throw-phone/id546649793
CS BS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 20:03 · Score: 0

Try throwing an old AT&T phone, that'll fuckin kill someone!
Or how about GPPTD? Gunpower Powered Phone Throwing Devices?
Or how about 1990's backpack phone style throwin contest? That might be close to the at&t in sharp edges, but pure weight it's got it beat batteries and all!
Or how about missile launched telephones? You've got a call BITCH, NOW PICK UP!
The better contest would be the OLD fsckin mobile phone re-enginnering hack project.
1. Re:CS BS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 20:07 · Score: 0
  
  Turn old phones into a re-hacked open byzantine mesh bbs
  Problem will be buying batteries and providing stable power -imo, good luck finding an old mobile analog motorla mobile phone battery (fucking echo redundant but hope ya get my point)
Better than on the London Olympics by anared · 2012-08-19 21:21 · Score: 1

And he threw it 17 metres farther than the throw that brought a gold medal in the javelin event at the London Olympics.
1. Re:Better than on the London Olympics by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 22:40 · Score: 0
  
  A javelin weighs 800 grams but a competition mobile phone weighs only 220 grams. By comparison, athletes can throw a 2 kg discus a distance of over 70 meters, so a flat shape is clearly an advantage when compared to a javelin.
2. Re:Better than on the London Olympics by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 23:25 · Score: 0
  
  Weight isn't always a drawback. Have you ever tried throwing a ping pong ball? It won't get far...
I'd enter the competition, but ... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 21:34 · Score: 0

only if there's a category where throws are disqualified if the phone doesn't work (call & sms) anymore after the throw
win by 3310!
Yay handegg! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-19 23:54 · Score: 0

They're the ones with the oddball "sports".
At least the game *we* call "football" is primarily focussed on manipulating a ball with your foot.
Unlike American "football" which revolves around carrying an egg in their hands ;-)
Here in the U.S.A.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 02:34 · Score: 0

We should start a Verizon-throwing contest.
Monty Python! by BetaDays · 2012-08-20 03:35 · Score: 1

Chorus: Finland, Finland, Finland. The country where I want to be, Pony trekking or camping, Or just watching TV. Finland, Finland, Finland, http://youtu.be/7rwc3VGvlRY

--
Paul: Father... father, the sleeper has awakened! - Dune
Airplane mode = win by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 08:55 · Score: 0

Turn on airplane mode, you will win!