The Boy Wonder has something for Batman
The Teen Titans Have A Message For You
The Great Bacon Odyssey: One Burger, Ten Strips of Bacon! [Geek Dad]
23 yr Old Man Dies After Watching Twilights Eclipse [Nerd Bastards]
10 of the Least Stylish Jackets in Comics [Topless Robot]
Don’t Be Fooled!: Back To The Future II Hoax [Geekologie]
12 Bizarre Hello Kitty Products That Sign The Coming Apocalypse [Inventor Spot]
Do you know where your balls came from? [games]
This weekend, while trying to relax on a beach (but bored after ten minutes), I watched two kids toss around some variation of a Nerf football. It brought me back to summers on the beach tossing a Nerf Turbo for what felt like miles. I also remember those days when I can’t move my shoulder after years of throwing light objects as hard and as fast as my terrible arm would allow.
It’s amazing that many of the balls from my childhood are still just as popular with kids of today (don’t be perverted). Here are the origins, little nuggets of info and some personal facts about some of my favorite, your favorite and maybe even your kid’s favorite balls to play with on a warm summer day.
Skee-Ball
Invented in 1909 by J. Dickinson Este in Philadelphia, the first Skee-Ball alleys boasted lanes of 36-feet. Way to big for arcades of the time and playable only by people strong enough to chuck a ball that distance or experimenting with early forms of HGH, the lane was later changed to 14 feet. It was eventually changed again to the modern length of 10 or 13 feet.
After the switch, Skee-Ball became common in most arcades throughout the United States. Because prizes could be won by players, in some parts of the country the game was considered a form of gambling. God forbid people win things without paying taxes. This led to restrictions on the number of machines allowed in an arcade or even a banning all together. Eventually, people lightened the hell up and realized it was just a kid’s game.
Little Nugget: In 1932 the first ever skee ball tournament was held in, of course, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Untold story: A miniature tournament was held by the author and his degenerate gambling friends in the summer of 1994 at Lucky Leo’s in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The three entrants played for an entire evening instead of talking to girls. At least the author walked away with close to $100 dollars.
Wiffle Ball
Leave it to a dad to get involved in kid’s games. In 1953, David Mullany noticed his son and friend playing stickball using one of his plastic golf balls instead of the normal rubber ball. They explained that the plastic ball didn’t travel as far so it was easier for just two people to play.
This gave Mullany an idea. He cut holes in the ball with a razor and discovered that it caused the ball to curve and dip when thrown in certain motions. This made it even harder to hit. In 1955, he started manufacturing and marketing his Wiffle Ball- named after the baseball term to “whiff” or strike out.
Little Nugget: For years, Mullany marketed the Wiffle using pictures of star big leaguers on the packaging. It wasn’t exactly an endorsement from the players, Mullany just paid their agents to use their faces on the box.
Untold Story: The Wiffle Ball was a much better game than the one invented by my father called “Get the hell off the grass! You’re ruining it! If I catch you I’ll beat you with the bat.” It was more of a tag game.
Superball
“In a government experiment gone horribly wrong…” sounds like the beginning of a schlocky 1960’s horror movie but it’s actually the beginning of what we all know as the Superball stoey. A nutty professor (not THE nutty professor) named Norman Stingley was experimenting with high-resiliency synthetics. Sounds fascinatin…zzz…huh?!? Oh, right, the experiments led to a discovery he named Zectron. When fashioned into a ball (because who doesn’t do that with scientific experiments) Stingley found the Zectron retained almost 100% of its bounce. It bounced longer than a tennis ball and had six times the bounce of a regular rubber ball.
He took the material to his employer and they of course had no idea what the hell to do with it. Luckily, Stingley was smart enough to hang onto his discovery and sell it to the Wham-O company. Wham-O! Bet Stingley made a nice chunk of change.
Little Nugget: Wham-O! sold over 7 million Superballs in the first six months of production. Wham-O! Bet Stingley wished he held out for more money.
Untold Story: I lost a Superball in my aunt’s house. It bounced off a table and under a couch. That was in 1988. It still hasn’t been found.
Nerf Ball
In 1969, Reyn Guyer, a games inventor and possibly a villain from a James Bond flick, approached the Parker Brothers company with a volleyball game that was safe for indoor play. A game I imagine every kid in the late 60’s was dying for; all the boredom and impossible consistency of play of the beach game right in your own home. After studying the game, Parker Brothers decided to eliminate everything but the foam ball. Which has to be the ultimate punch in the inventor balls for any guy who spent sleepless days and nights on a product.
Parker Brothers marketed the ball as the “world’s first official indoor ball” claiming it so safe you can even use it around “babies and old people”. This totally pissed of the bowling ball makers of America because that was their upcoming marketing campaign.
Little Nugget: By the end of the year, more than four million Nerf balls were sold. Guyer went on to plan his next invention and finally get his revenge on 007.
Untold Story: Not sure who, but some brilliant kid figured out if you wet a Nerf ball, it becomes as unforgiving and damaging as a real ball. I’ll just pretend I was that kid.
The Magic 8 Ball
Fine, fine you don’t actually play with the 8 ball as you would the other balls I’ve mentioned but it did help pass many a rainy day during my summers stuck in my grandparent’s house or working at a summer camp.
The origin of the 8-ball are just as strange as the idea behind it. Invented in 1946 by Abe Bookman, but based on a patent by Albert Carter, the idea for the toy began with a scam by Carter’s mother, a psychic and fortune teller in Cincinnati. She had created a device called a Psycho-Slate that used a chalkboard in an enclosed box. She asked the box a question, closed the lid and a few minutes later a message would be written on the chalkboard. Guess who was writing the message? And then along scams Mary! The idea was then changed to a cylinder and then the current model of a twenty-sided die in blue liquid gunk they keep combs in at the barber shop.
Little Nugget: Of the die’s 20 possible responses, 10 of them are affirmative statements, five are vague and five are negative responses.
Untold Story: Summer of 1993. A basement. A girlfriend. Some stories should remain untold.
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Wolverine Finds Another Use For His Claws
Meet Your New Friendly Neighborhood Hipster Douchebag Spider-Man [Topless Robot]
What Better Way To Teach Your Children About Sex? [Geekologie]
Knock Someone Out In Your Sleep With The Throwdown Bed [Nerd Bastards]
Top 10 Things To Watch For a Geeky Independence Day [Geek Dad]
How The First Star Trek Novel Was Written [iO9]
7 Lessons Learned From The World’s Greatest Minds [Urban Titan]
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Mom Sues Because Fruit Roll-Ups Are “Not Healthy”
A mother is suing General Mills, the makers of Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit by the Foot because…gasp…they aren’t actually just as good for you as fruit.
In the class action filed Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court, Payton McClure says the company lies when it says the rollups, along with Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Gushers, are naturally flavored, low fat, and “a good source of Vitamin C.” Court papers say General Mills failed to note on packaging that it uses partially hydrogenated oil in the snacks, which the lawsuit says is “dangerous” and “unhealthy.”
These are the kind of stories that rock my world. Shake me to the core. Make me question if I’ll be able to make it as a parent. I mean, if the big bad food companies can trick someone as sharp as Ms. McClure into believing brightly-colored, paper-thin pieces of “fruit” stuck to plastic that sit on store shelves for years are nutritious for her children what hope do I have?
Scariest part? Class action suit. She has an army of idiocy.
Wait. This just in. Breaking news. Lucky Charms not actually lucky. More as this develops.
Fruit Roll-Ups maker General Mills slammed with lawsuit, saying popular snack is ‘unhealthy’ [NY Daily News]
You Smell Delicious. Is That Insect Repellent?
Nothing kills a good summer night out like mosquitoes. Biting every exposed piece of skin, flying into drinks and food, buzzing in your ear and sending everyone running for indoor cover. I’m not even going to discuss the off chance you’ve got to relieve yourself while out camping, fishing or even making an emergency pit stop. They zero right in on your pocket hose like their trying to rinse off. It’s not a fun place to itch, you can take my word.
Anyway, while most sprays and repellents are slowing becoming more eco-friendly, there is still the unknown danger of covered your and your kid’s body with unknown chemicals. If you’re hesitant to use a spray or bug bomb, check out Pista-kun the mosquito repellent charm.
Enter Pista-kun, the peppermint oil infused charm that repels mosquitoes the natural way. Peppermint oil is a recognized insect repellent used by, among others, the EcoSmart Technologies line of products. Now kids can employ the same, safe protection against mosquitoes, ticks and other biting insects - attractively packaged in a cute & convenient cell phone charm.
I do have to admit that thing is pretty damn cute. If all bugs were that adorable maybe we wouldn’t mind them sucking the blood right from us and landing in our ambrosia salad. How could you be mad at that face?!?
Mosquito Repellent Charm With Peppermint Oil Says ‘Bug Off!’ Naturally [Inventor Spot]
Yoda Plush Backpack: “The Books Are Heavy With This One”
As a kid, I dreamt up hundreds of toy ideas based on my favorite cartoons and comics. Then I attempted to make them using things around the house. My favorite was a homemade web-shooter constructed from basketball wristbands and rubberbands that slingshotted hair nets about 5 inches. Lackluster. I’d cry and wonder “why can’t they really make these things?” Eventually they did, long after I was too old to play with toys. And hair nets.
The toys I dreamt as a kid are all a reality now, and I see a new one every day on websites like Think Geek. Take this Yoda Plush Backpack for example:
Once we saw Yoda, we all knew we wanted a Jedi master of our own - a Jedi master who would take us running in the woods, ride on our back, and teach us the ways of the Force. We tried strapping a cat to our back, but it wasn’t the same. A few months ago, our geeky hearts almost leapt out of our bodies when we saw this officially licensed backpack. Yoda…on our back…teaching us…and carrying our stuff inside him. Perfect! And, to make it even better, the straps are adjustable and sized for adults. All you need now is a dirty, sleeveless t-shirt and some khaki’s and you will be ready for your Jedi training to begin. You will be. You will be.
Now, I wasn’t exactly pinning for a midget muppet strapped to my back but I did make cardboard lightsabers and once attempted to cryogenically freeze a friend like they did Han Solo In The Empire Strikes Back. The freezer was half shut before his mom walked in.
I avoided her clutches with a hair net to the face.
Is Wonder Woman’s New Makeover Targeting Teen Girls?
Goodbye gold eagle bustier! Hello sensible Ann Taylor jacket! Wonder Woman went shopping and got herself a new outfit.
Wednesday is a good day for Wonder Woman. This 69-year-old superheroine, published by DC Comics, will don a new — and less revealing — costume and enjoy the publication of Issue No. 600 of her monthly series. The costume ties into an alternative history for the character devised by J. Michael Straczynski, the new writer of the series, and into a quest by DC to shine a critical and creative spotlight on the heroine, who stands with Superman and Batman in its primary triumvirate of superstars, despite her series’s modest sales.
Wonder Woman honestly doesn’t look bad for a broad pushing 70-years-old.
“She’s been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941,” Mr. Straczynski wrote. “If you’re going to make a statement about bringing Wonder Woman into the 21st century, you need to be bold and you need to make it visual. I wanted to toughen her up, and give her a modern sensibility.”
Not really having an opinion either way on the character I’m going to guess the costume change is an attempt to appeal to a young, female readership. For that they will have to rely on storylines involving some type of love interest or young girls will stay addicted to Twilight or the next romance/sci-fi fad to hit shelves.
Sadly, unlike Wonder’s change to be less revealing, teen clothing trends are going in the opposite direction. They look eerily similar to WW’s original outfit. Take a walk around your local mall. Little girls don’t need truth lassos anymore, they just need an outfit from Justice to make boys talk to them.
Do you think this is an attempt to appeal to a young, female fan base?
Makeover for Wonder Woman at 69 [New York Times]
J. Michael Straczynski on Wonder Woman’s New Costume [DC Universe]
