non-euclidean geometry in the bedroom

[kaberett]

A couple of months ago I wound up seeing a tumblr post about The Burrito Method of getting a duvet into its cover[1], and promptly went !!! because I got myself a superking when I moved to London (a grown-up duvet for my first double bed!) and have Loathed changing its cover ever since.

The first time I experimented with it, I did it solo. The second time, I asked A if he would like to Share An Experience.

So we laid out the duvet cover, and we laid out the duvet, and we rolled it up, and I said "and now you invert the corners!" and wound up staring at my hands in confusion while I tried to remember exactly how the magic works. It was at this point that A started Voicing His Doubts about how this could Possibly Work.

Hold-on-give-me-a-moment I muttered, or something like that, and did the corner trick. A was still going "this geometry doesn't work. this doesn't work? this cannot work." as I started unrolling again.

A stunned silence Developed. Briefly. And Then Came The Denouncements Of This Witchcraft, followed by some more silence and a thousand-yard stare while he tried and failed to work out what in the name of fuck had just happened, geometrically speaking, and long story short-ish I'm not saying he's safeworded non-Euclidean etc but also...

[1] ugh okay edited to be a link from further down the reblog chain that does work, as opposed to the one that doesn't grump grump :-p

Comments

[madgastronomer]

The original post has been changed and no longer has the video you're talking about. Here's the video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRPfudNNd8Y

[alexwlchan]

…are you sure you linked to the right tumblr post

[davidgillon]

I think my method's more fun:
Lay the duvet cover on the bed, opening at the base.
Stand in front of the bed with the duvet, one corner in each hand.
Reach up so the duvet is dangling in front of you and not wrapped up in itself or anything.
Bring your hands back down and dive into the duvet cover, dragging the duvet in with you.
When you get to the top, starfish yourself so the corners in your hands end up in the top corner of the duvet, and your feet kick the bottom corners where they need to be.
Wriggle back out again.

[konsectatrix]

I love the burrito method so much. It is fabulous witchcraft.

[passingbuzzards]

Omg??? Potentially lifesaving information, I will have to try this! I hate putting the duvet cover on so very much that most of the time I just give up and throw the bare duvet on top of a flat sheet and live with it. (My duvet is a queen size and I'm only 5', so it's very hard with these short little arms, you know.)

...But I agree, I don't see how that works at all. Black magic for sure *g*

(Thanks madgastronomer for the correct youtube link!)

[chiasmata]

Yes burrito! Youngest taught me that one. Particularly useful when I’m making multiple beds, which is a killer but the kids feel welcomed home if I do it rather than leaving it for them…

[lunabee34]

Heeeee.

High five!

[emperor]

So I read the title of this post, and thought it was going in ... another direction entirely ;-)

But! That looks like a super-neat trick (and the side-effect of trolling geometers is just an added bonus); I will try and remember to try it next time I'm changing our bedding. So thanks for sharing :)

[sfred]

Ooh!

[highlyeccentric]

That looks extremely satisfying, but it does look like it probably takes longer than inverting it from the top corners and shaking down, even if I do sometimes end up INSIDE the duvet cover with the comforter...

[gumbie_cat]

I love that this method never stops feeling like I'm performing some kind of magic trick, but even better: if you start unrolling the burrito while you are sat on the bed and lay back as you go, you end up tucking yourself in and are ready to go straight to sleep.

[silveradept]

So that looks like someone did a mini-moebius, a Klein bottle, or other trick to create a surface with only one side and then flopped it back out into our space, having inverted it while it was in the single-side space.

That said, it looks like a large amount of work to do from my non-audio experience.

[fyreharper]

what. what.

[enigel]

Hah! It was introduced to me as the "California Roll" method, and I had a similar experience of stunned silence as I didn't even know what questions to ask about the witchery.

It even works for duvet covers that don't open for the full length (which is what I have), but there's significantly more faff, and the reveal is much less satisfying.