By David Farrier
Most of us do not spend much time thinking about the best way to turn the page of a morning newspaper.
But a New Zealand man living in New York did - for about four months.
And decided it involved a hamster.
Joseph Herscher is back in New Zealand for a wedding. But he has spent a great deal of the day getting calls from American TV shows about a chain reaction he set off in his New York apartment.
All of which was set up to eventually turn the page of his morning paper.
“It's a funny feeling because when you've gone viral, the phone rings you don't know who it's going to be,” he says. “It could be anyone in the whole world.”
So far that's NBC, CBS, Discovery, Voice of America and Channel 1 in Russia, who interview him next week.
The machine took the 26-year-old four months to perfect, and is over in two minutes.
It involves a gas burner, hair dryer and a hamster.
Mr Herscher is getting million and millions of YouTube views on the clip, as well as other feats of engineering.
His parents' band provides the soundtrack and, thanks to their son's popularity, got 3000 downloads overnight.
“Once I have this vision, no matter how long it takes, doesn’t' matter how long…I can keep doing it and doing it until I get it,” he says.
And eventually he does get it, and the page is turned.
Just one question remains: How did the hamster fare in all this?
“[He’s] still alive,” says Mr Herscher.
3 News