Dorodango!

"Hikaru Dorodango - Making Japanese Polished Dirt Balls
relache, Hub Pages

"The Art of Polished Dirt Balls"

"Proving they really do have an art for just about anything you can imagine, the Japanese have perfected the art of making hand-polished dirt balls. Steady, patient, manual compression is all that it takes to make these simple, smooth forms.

"Think of it as the Zen of Dirt...."

The Lemming is not making that up. There are photos and a how-2 on the page. Looks like an absorbing pastime. And probably good for developing patience. Or tolerance for tedium, at any rate. Which is also useful.

More:

"泥だんご"
Kayo, Fumio, kyokyo-u.ac.jp

"Dorodango"

This how-2 is available in Japanese, German - and, happily for the Lemming, English.

Dorodango was featured on a Mythbusters episode aired today on a cable channel here in central Minnesota: and it looks like, as the Lemming said before, a good way to develop patience. And/or tolerance for repetitive tasks. And yes: dirt can be made to shine. It takes time, though. And a whole lot of manual work.

The Lemming might try it - but vast tracts of time are not something that exist in plentiful supply. Besides, the sort of research the Lemming does for these posts serves much the same purpose.

A sort-of-related post:

• "When Your Mind Wanders: Do You Worry That it Won't Come Back?"
  (November 12, 2010)