Breakfast Links: Mr. Wizard, Men v. Women & Revolvers
I just read that Don Herbert, Mr. Wizard, passed away yesterday. That’s really sad, I remember him very will from his show on Nickelodeon. He taught me one trick I use to this day and another I used to amuse and annoy everyone around me for years. The first was when he showed a little girl how he could punch a regular drinking straw straight through a potato by holding his thumb on one side of the cylinder which would trap the air in the straw as it went through the potato. I do that now to prevent the straw from bending when I push it through some plastic cup tops. Hey, I don’t know if it works or it’s an emotional crutch like tapping on the top of a can before opening a carbonated beverage, but it’s all from Mr. Wizard. And he also showed that if you squished one end of a straw and cut the corners off you can make a really annoying sound - like you were playing the reed of a clarinet, without the, you know, clarinet. And making the straw shorter could make it even more annoyingly higher pitched! wh000t! Good times, I’m sorry to hear he passed away.
Then I read this article on one difference that scientists just discovered about men and women. It turns out that women like cuddling and men like compliments. Yes, brilliant scientists have done the research that found that with women “affectionate physical partner interaction markedly contributes to lower reactivity to stressful life events” where men “show immediate benefits from verbal support by that partner.” They needed to do research for this. Sigh.
And lastly you gotta check out this ad from Harper’s Weekly in 1904. Those olden guys were totally wacky! Apparently aimed at children, this Iver Johnson revolver ad confirms that they “are not toys: they shoot straight and kill.” The illsustration has a little girl in bed, next to her creeeeeepy ass doll pensively holding a revolver. The best part is that overlayed on the girl is the text “Papa says it won’t hurt us” - the quotes are printed in the ad, too. It’s totally a great ad, it makes me want to get a revolver, after all, Accidental Discharge Impossible!
June 13th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I bet she wished she had the safe revolver instead.
http://tinyurl.com/2hqq74
June 13th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Yeah! And that officer who shot his own foot during a gun safety demonstration he was giving to some school kids. Good times.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
that officer was a DEA agent and my DEA agent friend knows him. its major source of shame to them as they are a VERY proud department. He got upset when i even mentioned it.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
No way. We gotta grab a meal. :)