PS I did not cheat by using tin foil.
PPS Good grief, I am not alone.
PPPS There is an entire sub-culture.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
The Elastic Band Ball Problem
As I am soon to move flat, I have a troubling problem - do I take my elastic band ball or not? It is about the size of a tennis ball. EBB afficianados will know that this means it uses a lot of rubber bands as they used to be called. They were all acquired from the complex packages I continually receive in the post. Bands thus acquired have a certain poignancy - some people are so moved by this sub-species that they photograph them obsessively. In fact, rubber bands of all kinds have a strange power. The late Sir James Goldsmith was said to have a rubber band phobia. When he sued Private Eye, Richard Ingrams, the then editor, dropped bands all around the law courts. None of which helps me with my EBB problem. I may auction it or give it as a prize in a caption contest.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
How could you even think of leaving it behind? If you don't want it, send it to me! I'll take good care of it.
ReplyDeleteMy EBB is only just bigger than a golf ball. I got loads more rubber bands in Vietnam than I do here and I'm not going to build it using deliberately purchased rubber bands. That would be cheating.
It's wrong Bryan, fundamentally wrong, and you should seek treatment
ReplyDeleteQuite right, Hsien, purchased bands don't count. And you, Nige, simply don't understand.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, Nige, you doubly don't understand, this page has just had more hits in the last 40 mins than any of my posts ever. Rubber band balls are of global importance.
ReplyDeleteIs there a maximum size to these balls, defined by the breaking strain of the elastic medium?
ReplyDeleteif you collect all the paper clips you come across and make a long chain of them, you could fix one end to your ball and the other to your ankle.
ReplyDeletethen there will come a time when you know it's gone too far...
is this the same mechanism that makes some oddballs bottle their own excrement? or is it more akin to philately?
ReplyDeleteor is there any difference at all?!
It'll be earwax figurines next.
ReplyDeleteGosh what a good idea
ReplyDeleteNever thought 'o that, Nige. You're an original.
ReplyDeleteHand it to Richard Dawkins, tell him that it is a ball of enthusiasm, remind him that enthusiasm comes from the Greek word for "God within," and see what happens.
ReplyDeletei dare say it could become quite a lethal weapon, all that bounciness & elasticity bound up into such a small area, surely it'll explode eventually? Have you tried compressing it to fit into your ear? That'd be an interesting experiment.
ReplyDeletemy EBB is about the size of 2 tennis balls keep it up bryan.
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