Author: Joe White

What 250 lbs of Silly Putty looks like:
Mark Frauenfelder:

Clay Bavor, a product manager at Google, bought an eighth of a ton of Silly Putty and put it into one huge pile on his desk. After taking the photo above, he attempted to break the Silly Putty into chunks to distribute it to his friends. It wasn’t as easy as he had hoped.

Uploaded Images Putty Clay-738871The problem was that once together, Silly Putty doesn’t like to come apart, and none of us had any idea of how to deal with this effect. We tried everything: very strong people (didn’t work), scissors (stabbing worked, slicing didn’t), 28-gauge steel wire (broke), 22-gauge steel wire (broke), 16-gauge steel wire (too thick), and twisting and breaking (worked well for “smaller” pieces — under five pounds, that is.)

Link(via Neatorama)

PUBLIC AUCTION

DATE January 6-8, 2006
TIME 9AM Start Fri & Sat, 11AM Start Sun
PLACE SIX FLAGS ASTROWORLD
9001 KIRBY DRIVE
HOUSTON, TX 77054-2503
CONTACT apiccola@sftp.com
AUCTIONEER Kenneth Dixon (TX LIC Pending)
TERMS
* 10% BUYERS PREMIUM
* ALL LOTS SOLD AS IS WHERE IS WITH NO WARRANTIES
* ALL SALES FINAL, NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES
* CASH & APPROVED CREDIT CARDS
* FULL PAYMENT DUE ON DAY OF SALE
* SOME ITEMS AUCTIONED WITH RESERVE
* NO MINORS ALLOWED ON PREMISES (18+)
* POSTINGS AUCTION DAY SUPERCEDE ALL PREVIOUS
* BUYER REGISTRATION REQUIRED ON AUCTION DAY

EQUIPMENT
BUILDINGS
AMUSEMENT RIDES
COLLECTABLES
SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT
TOOLS

Poor Libby Pettit! She was forced to move to the New York City because she was too successful for Houston, and her Christmas tree order got sent to her old address instead of her new digs in Manhattan. I, being the dutiful former neighbor, rescued the tree from her previous porch, and with the assistance of Gary White and Kym Olson, have deployed the castaway conifer in a spot so that all may enjoy it.

Img 2912 Img 2913

I’m going to be in Main Street Theater‘s production of George & Ira Gershwin’s Pardon My English, running December 29-January 22 at the Chelsea Market location. There is a preview show on December 28, and a special performance on New Year’s Eve.

Next, I’ll be directing the Rice Light Opera Society‘s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore March 23-April 1 at Rice University. More info when that is closer.