Tag: toys

Fred Morrison’s wonderful invention, the Frisbee

[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/02/Frisbee.mp3[/podcast] Fred Morrison died on Tuesday at the age of 90, one of those people you may never have heard of, but really should have. Morrison invented the Frisbee. Since millions of these and other flying discs have been sold since the 1950s, it’s perhaps a bit humbling to discover, though, that even though throwing …

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Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law’s House: Kid Stuff

Notes for this week’s CBC column… ***If you have children, you know how child-related stuff tends to pile up. And since kids grow up so fast, some of it is barely used before they’re too big for it and it gets put away somewhere, never to see the light of day again… …unless your son-in-law …

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Photo of the Day: The Light Fantastic

More photos here. P.S. An interesting optical illusion I just discovered. If you stare at this picture, the colored ball will appear to move around slightly against the black background. (Or maybe that’s just me…)

Science gifts for Christmas: 2003

It’s time once again for my scientific gift guide. (No, I don’t mean I have the purchasing of gifts down to a science–if I did, I’d set up in business and be a millionaire before the New Year. I mean, it’s time once again for my guide to scientific gifts.) Not being in a position …

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Science gifts for Christmas: 2000

Of all my Christmases as a small boy in Texas, the one I remember best is the one when I was seven, which is when my parents gave me my first microscope. Asked what I would recommend in the way of holiday gifts for children, then, a microscope–or something similarly scientific–is always at the top …

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Science gifts for Christmas: 1999

There’s been a lot of talk this year about how much easier the home computer has made Christmas shopping, and I agree–but not because I’m doing a lot of shopping on-line. I find computers have made Christmas shopping easier by opening up a whole new range of gift ideas. Any kid with a computer is …

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Science gifts for Christmas: 1995

When I was a kid, nothing made me happier at Christmas than a present that had something to do with science. Of all my Christmases as a small boy in Texas, the one I remember best is the one when I was seven, which is when my parents gave me my first microscope. Asked what …

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Science gifts for Christmas: 1994

As a kid, I only wanted “fun” gifts for Christmas. I didn’t want anything “practical,” like (horrors!) underwear. And “educational” was way down my list, too. Yet my favorite gifts of all were actually very educational: I just didn’t notice, because I was having so much fun with them. These were the gifts that involved …

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Tops and gyros

Frequently I begin my column by delving into my childhood for pleasant memories about some activity or other that just happens to relate to my topic. Not this time. This week, my topic is tops and gyroscopes, and the fact is that as a kid I never saw the point of them at all. Remember …

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