This trendy home accessory has a base with a postmodern plastic arm and hand sticking out of it. The hand has the four fingers together and the thumb opposed to them, leaving a vertical slit.

Simply insert a colorful stiff plastic sheet (4 fluorescent colors are included, in assorted sizes) into the slit, and the arm will wave slowly from side to side, fanning you.

No blade, no danger, no bulky frame. Just cool, colorful fun.
-- phundug, Jul 22 2004

The Ultimate in Wavy Arms http://images.amazo...226.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
I'm a fan. [lostdog, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

"postmodern plastic arm and hand"...maybe a whale, dolphin or fish tail version next?
-- half, Jul 22 2004


This could have been the mother of 'blank' ideas.
-- dpsyplc, Jul 22 2004


[lostdog] - I'm a Mr. Men fan too.
-- energy guy, Jul 22 2004


I think I prefer the image of a metronome with an ostrich plume taped to (or entirely replacing) the baton arm, fanning me like a sultan.
-- jurist, Jul 22 2004


hehe, I've got a fan story. What do you get when you cross 1 industrial fan, 1 broken handle, 2 openings in the cage, and one person (me) trying to move the fan? well, actually I only cut up 2 fingers, but it went right through the nail...I like this idea+
-- swimr, Jul 22 2004


Settings: Wave, Flail and Jerk +
-- sartep, Jul 23 2004


BTW, can anyone tell me why the dials on electric fans always go "Off-High-Medium-Low" instead of "Off-Low-Medium-High"? I've always wondered about this, and think it may be related to the 9-minute snooze alarm thing.
-- phundug, Jul 23 2004


It's probably so that when you're switching it off, you don't accidentally stop turning the dial (thinking it's stopped) when you get to "Low".
-- angel, Jul 23 2004


Mine is in order... I don't what kinda fans you've been buying, man. Sheesh!

But, very sheik... A true hollywood centerpiece...

[+], for figuring out yet another way to take advantage of the squandering rich... Make sure you say something about holistic therapy on the box, and up the tag a few hundred $$$...
-- daseva, Jul 23 2004


"So chic it's fit for a sheik." (TV ad in Arab countries)
-- phundug, Jul 23 2004


The fan obviously goes Off-High-Medium-Low because the motor would have a hard time getting started at the lowest possible torque. Starting at 'high', the motor does the extra work of moving the blades from stopped to spinning at its most powerful setting.
-- joeforker, Jul 23 2004


he he... I should use a dictionary more often, eh.
-- daseva, Jul 23 2004


I've wondered about the Off-High-Med-Low order as well and assumed it might be about applying high torque to get the thing started. Then I thought, "what a crappy design that is, just use a capacitor start motor". Then I tested the theory by plugging the fan in while the speed switch was set to low.

I'm back to having no idea why they do that unless some research has shown that people want "High" more frequently than they want "Low" when they turn on their fans. Think of the time savings!
-- half, Jul 23 2004


my fan has 4 buttons - 0,1,2,3.
-- po, Jul 23 2004


[phundug], could you explain about your 9 minute snooze alarm theory?
So far I agree with [half], if it is done like that then it is just for convenience.
But all the fans I have ever used in Thailand have 0,1,2,3, with either pushbuttons or dials.
-- Ling, Jul 23 2004


Button fans in the U.S. are always Off-low-medium-high. But every dial fan here that I've ever seen goes Off-high-medium-low. Why should the motor torque technology be different for buttons than for a dial?

I use low almost exclusively -- high blows my papers all over the room and it's just for emergencies -- so why do they make me crank the dial all the way up? Plus, it's counterintuitive, which is a problem when you can't see the dial and have to reach behind something to turn the fan on (you think you're getting "high" but it's really "low", or vice versa)
-- phundug, Jul 23 2004


[phundug], I still can't relate what you said to the snooze theory - unless you use the low setting when you want to sleep, and it takes you 9 minutes to get the right setting.
-- Ling, Jul 23 2004


So, now I'm wondering if this 'Wavy-Arm Fan' has the settings going the *right* way. (off, low, med, high) The one I have on at work today goes 0, 3, 2, 1. What's up with that? Has anyone figured that out in the last few years? [+]
-- xandram, May 30 2006


and will there be optional grape-dangling accessory?
-- epicproblem, May 30 2006



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