Ooblek!

[hatman]

So I was IMing with beansideirae and the concepts "Grandfather" and "Silly putty" happened to sort of come up on one line.

I put them together, wondered what the grandfather of silly putty was, and came up with...

Ooblek!

Which drove her nuts because she had no idea what I was talking about and was afraid to click on the links I pulled up. Finally, I relented and explained, but not before turning up a few YouTube videos about it.

First of all, this one is pretty basic. It explains (without any sound) how you can make ooblek and some of what you can do with it.

Then this kid explains it with less information and more cuteness.

These guys... I don't know what language they're speaking (Silly Putty Val Clar whatever her name is says it's Spanish, which I don't speak, and certainly not at that speed)... they have some fun with it.

Oh, and you can do weird stuff to it with soundwaves. (WARNING: lower or mute your speakers)

All sorts of stuff. There are more vids linked from those. Several of which are basically, "So, hey... I saw this YouTube vid about this stuff, so I thought I'd play around with it and make my own. And then post a video of it to YouTube to inspre five more copycats. Because I'm cool like that."

Anyway... it's cool. And maybe, with my nephew staying over, we'll make some tomorrow.

Even if not, come on. It's fun to say.

Ooblek!

Comments

[kalinalea.livejournal.com]

I've made Ooblek! Several times, actually. Fun stuff! And my kids both read this book (http://www.amazon.com/Toys-Amazing-Stories-Behind-Inventions/dp/0805061967/ref=sr_1_5/002-3771978-2651247?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181042920&sr=8-5) recently, which told the history of Silly Putty, among other things. They read parts of it out loud to me, and the thing that struck me most was the remarkable sets of coincidences that were often involved in these toys being "discovered" and becoming famous. Makes you wonder what other cool things are out there that just haven't been as lucky.

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks for the link.

And yeah, the way some inventions take off and some never make it can be really unpredictable. Sometimes it's a matter of proper marketing. Sometimes it's timing (like the fax machine, which was invented way before its time).

Sometimes it's realizing that you've got something worth putting out there. My dad, tired and wary of sticking pins in diapers, started using plain old scotch tape to do the job instead. If he'd only thought to sell the idea...