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.
PS I did not cheat by using tin foil.
PPS Good grief, I am not alone.
PPPS There is an entire sub-culture.

15 comments:

  1. 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.

    My 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.

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  2. It's wrong Bryan, fundamentally wrong, and you should seek treatment

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  3. Quite right, Hsien, purchased bands don't count. And you, Nige, simply don't understand.

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  4. In 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.

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  5. Is there a maximum size to these balls, defined by the breaking strain of the elastic medium?

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  6. if 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.

    then there will come a time when you know it's gone too far...

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  7. is this the same mechanism that makes some oddballs bottle their own excrement? or is it more akin to philately?

    or is there any difference at all?!

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  8. It'll be earwax figurines next.

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  9. Never thought 'o that, Nige. You're an original.

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  10. Hand 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.

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  11. i 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.

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  12. my EBB is about the size of 2 tennis balls keep it up bryan.

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