Good afternoon, Don! Sorry to say that I’m watching the
clouds pile up and the temperature drop – looks like we’ll have ‘some” snow by
tomorrow morning. I have no idea what that might look like for you. I went
walking this morning and the little kid in me came out. I kicked through the
piles of leaves and I’m sure I made several motorists green with envy. It was a
delicious time!
For several years I’ve been fussing that basic crafts
like crocheting and knitting, sewing, pottery, quilting, have been dying! I see
the magazines for the crafts, but when I talk to college freshmen about
hobbies, they have no idea what I’m talking about. Another strike for the
generation gap. Before I could further mourn the loss of crafts, I read an
article this morning that crafts are on their way back into the heart of
Americans. Not only are kids learning how to throw clay, they are learning how
to can or freeze food. Hope is restored.
As far as I’m concerned, there are two places that are must
go’s if I’m doing the shopping: the hardware store and the craft store. So while I
was in the craft store yesterday looking at all the new ingenious methods that
are available for crafting now, I came across two books written on duct tape
crafts. Duct tape – never leave home without it; if it can’t be fixed with duct
tape, it can’t be fixed – you know, that
tape. Crafts included: cushions for worn out sofas and chairs, a hand bag, and
a lamp shade.
So my curiosity took over. Just what is duct tape and
just what can you do with it besides repair furnace ducts? Oh, it has been an
amazing adventure! All leading to the Myth Busters and their various episodes
on duct tape - suspending cars, making shoes and hats, water canisters, rope,
bridges, boats. It was a marvelous exploration!
Don, did you know that, according to Wikipedia (yes, I
advocate its use), some kind of duct tape has actually been around since 1910?
And in 1930, one of the monthly magazines for Popular Mechanics actually had
instructions on how to make your own. What we know of today as duct tape was
actually developed during WWII to seal ammunition cases against moisture and
was quickly applied to repairing everything from vehicles to weapons and helicopters.
And believe it or not, 3M has invented transparent duct tape. Invisible duct
tape – what a way to drive someone crazy! Other names include duck tape, racer’s
tape, 100 mile an hour tape, tank tape, gaffers tape and some kinds of
electrical tape.
So where does duct tape show up? NASA has been shipping
it with missions since Gemini, it’s been used to put the fender back on the lunar
rover, was instrumental in saving the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts. Every
year Henkel, who manufactures duck
tape, sponsors a competition for a college scholarship to whoever creates the best
formal wear. I actually watched a couple of students create a wedding gown out
of duck tape several years ago. It was an amazing process of wrapping a body in
paper, then applying the tape. Getting out of the gown was quite a trick! It
won a local design prize. (This is just a picture of what can be done with the tape!)
My hat’s off to duct/duck tape. I rarely leave home
without it, I know my husband always travels with some. And recently it has
started coming in new and different colors. The craft store was actually
selling some that had Christmas designs on it. But ya know, gray is kind of the
standard color, who cares if it is beautiful as long as it can fix almost
everything! 
I wonder if we can use duct tape to fix the next
filibuster that will most assuredly come around in January! Government would
probably ban the tape as too good to be true. As Public Television has been on
the chopping block several times in the last couple of years, as much as I’d
love to have Congress (House especially) watch Bert and Ernie’s co-operation shows,
I’m afraid that it would just drive some of the Congressional members into a
tizzy and Public Television would become a thing of the past – who need puppets,
good music, Nova and imagination? (sarcasm intended)
On to the cave – the riddle cave, that is. And you are
correct! The bouncy ball, the exercise ball, but my favorite description is “doohickey”.
Yeah, that one that bounces and rolls around.
I’ve been turning your latest riddle over and over, and
still haven’t come up with an answer I’m fond of. I’ve thought of potatoes,
maybe ivy (but ivy doesn’t have eyes). Some sewing machines have 2 or more
needles to do the fancy stitching… am I close?
Mine to you for the week is:
Stiff and formal
Black rims, colored
or none at all
Designed to clearly
view favorites
I’m getting ready to put together Transport 26 next week
and have been looking at the writing schedule for next Spring. I’m look for a
couple of authors who’d like to share their work! Authors retain full rights to
their work – all Wormhole does is show case it! How about it writers? Take a chance!
Make the dream come true. Contact me!
My academic writing proposal was accepted so my fiction characters
are on vacation for a while. (No, they are not happy.) I get to write a
non-fiction micro e-book on the Digital Native and Learning. I’m excited about the
topic! I know it’s dry for science fiction – but believe it or not, we are now experiencing
and living what was considered science fiction 15 years ago. And it has changed
us. How to teach to that change has been the challenge for the last 8 years – so
I’m looking forward to the adventure!
Have a great week, folks.
Carolyn
All images downloaded from Google Images
Fig 1 – Ductigamibook.jpg retrieved from www.motherearthnews.com
Fig 2 – Duct Tape Headlines News retrieved from www.octanecreative.com
Fig 3 – Duct Tape Queen of Hearts Dress retrieved from
mentalfloss.com
Fig 4 – Duck out your locker retrieved from www.girlslife.com
Fig 5 – Bert and ernie graphics and animated gifs
retrieved from www.picgifs.com
Fig 6 – retrieved from Google Images
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