Pranks

Thank goodness April Fool’s Day is coming up. I really need some diversion from the news these days. So, some innocent pranking is in order. At work (if you’re still working like we are) or at home. Let’s get started:  (top) If you have time and a budget for aluminum foil, this one is amazing. (row two left)Super Glue coins on the sidewalk where you can keep an eye out for people walking by. (row two right) Tape an air horn below a co-worker’s seat. Make sure others near her/him are aware of the potential for noise. (row three) The room full of balloons fake-out. (row four) Place a sheet of bubble wrap under a throw rug. (row five – three photos) The chicken soup shower. Probably don’t do this to your wife but one of your kids or a room mate works. They’ll eventually get over it. (row six) Another air horn trick. Securely tape it to the wall so the door handle will set it off. Again, warn people nearby. (row seven) Put a “sold” sign in front of your house. The kids or wife or husband as well as the neighbors will certainly be amused by this. (row eight left) Tetris fans—cover a wall with colored post-it notes! (row eight right) Tear off a corner of a dollar bill, attached to an April Fool note and let the fun begin. (row nine left)  Paint clear nail polish all over a bar of soap and let dry. (row nine right) The old “Kick Me” sign slapped on someone’s back never gets old and always works. (row 10 left) Not so much a prank as it is a fun surprise. (row 10 left) Soak an empty TP roll and mold it into the shape of a poopie. (row 11 left) Stretch plastic wrap across the toilet bowl and put the seat down. (row 11 right) Top off an older toothpaste tube with Mayonnaise…yuck!! (row 12, three images) Mess with your kids…freeze their favorite cereal overnight for your morning delight. (row 13 left) Replace the chocolate in those foil wrappers with grapes. (row 13 right) Make a pan of brown “Es” to share with the family. (row 14) Back to messing with your kids… suff some TP into the toe of their shoes. See if they think their feet grew overnight. (row 15) Cut some translucent paper in the shape of a milk spill, close the lid and wait for the owner to open the lid. It should work to startle them for an instant. I could go on and on with these but I’ve probably gone on to much already. Have a little fun! We all could use some about now.

Hope you are faring ok with your family during these unprecedented times.  As a “designated essential supplier” to many businesses and industries, we remain open and quite busy, doing our part working on your PIA (@%$) JOBS! and following all the proper guidelines for safety, distancing and cleanliness.  With April Fools’ Day just around the corner, I thought I’d share a little history, and some really fun pranks pulled from over the decades.  I remember years ago when the girls were very little, Jackie and I switched their rooms around while they were sleeping! (very fun to watch them wake up!) The girls in turn buttoned every one of our shirts together in our closets! Special thanks to history.com, wikipedia and beano.com for the trivia. Enjoy, and be sure to send me some of your favorite pranks.

Although April Fools’ Day, also called All Fools’ Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.

Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563.  People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes – hence the name “fools”.  These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises.  There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

April Fools’ Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences.  Here are a couple of classics:

  1. – In January of 1749, London newspapers advertised that in an upcoming show, a man would squeeze his entire body into a wine bottle and then sing while inside of it. The ad promised that, “during his stay in the bottle, any Person may handle it, and see plainly that it does not exceed a common Tavern Bottle.” The ad promised the show would feature other tricks as well, including communicating with the dead.  Legend has it that the ad was the result of a bet between the Duke of Portland and the Earl of Chesterfield. Reportedly, the duke bet that he could advertise something impossible and still “find fools enough in London to fill a playhouse and pay handsomely for the privilege of being there.” And apparently, he was right. The night of the show, every seat in the house was filled, but no performer ever showed up. Realizing they had been duped, the audience rioted.
  2. – On April 1, 1905, a German newspaper called the Berliner Tageblatt announced that thieves had dug a tunnel underneath the U.S. Federal Treasury in Washington, D.C., and stolen America’s silver and gold (this was before the U.S. built its Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky).  The newspaper said the heist was organized by American robber barons, whose burglars dug the tunnel over three years and made away with over $268 million; and that U.S. authorities were trying to hunt down the thieves while publicly covering up the fact that the country had been robbed. The story spread quickly through European newspapers before people realized that it was an April Fools’ Day prank by Louis Viereck, a New York correspondent for the Berliner Tageblatt who published the joke article under a fake name.
  3. – On April 1, 1957, a news broadcaster told his British audience that Ticino, a Swiss region near the Italian border, had had “an exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop” that year. The camera cut to footage of people picking spaghetti off of trees and bushes, then sitting down at a table to eat some of their “real, home-grown spaghetti.”  At the time, spaghetti wasn’t necessarily a dish that British people would’ve known about. That doesn’t mean that no one realized the segment was a prank—some viewers were upset the BBC had aired a fictional segment during a serious news program. But other viewers reportedly asked about how they could grow their own spaghetti at home.
  4. – In 1959, students in São Paulo, Brazil, who were tired of the city’s overflowing sewers and inflated prices launched a campaign to elect a rhinoceros to the city council.  The rhino’s name was Cacareco (Portuguese for “rubbish”), and she was already a popular figure in São Paulo when the students launched her campaign. The four-year-old had moved to the city from Rio de Janeiro when São Paulo’s zoo opened and was scheduled to return to Rio soon. When the students looked at the 540 candidates vying for São Paulo’s 45 city council seats and feared that none of them would address the city’s problems, they decided to make a point by asking people to vote for the popular rhino instead.  Cacareco won a city council seat with a whopping 100,000 votes, far more than any other candidate (the closest runner-up got about 10,000). Of course, she didn’t end up serving on the city council because the election board disqualified her. But she remains one of the most famous protest votes in Brazilian history.
  5. – Caltech has a long history of pranking other schools. One of its most famous pranks happened during the 1961 Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena, where Caltech is located.  The game was between the University of Washington’s Huskies and the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers. During the game, Washington cheerleaders handed out colored cards to the Huskies’ side and told them that if they held the cards up at halftime, the cards would spell “Huskies.” But when halftime came and the fans held the cards up, they ended up spelling “Caltech.” It was so weird and unexpected (Caltech wasn’t even playing in the game!) that the band on the field stopped mid-song.  It later came out that fourteen Caltech students had orchestrated the prank by breaking into the cheerleaders’ hotel rooms and switching the instruction sheets for the card stunt.
  6. – In 1969, Rolling Stone music critic Greil Marcus published a piece spoofing the trend of big name rock stars forming “supergroups.” One of the most popular supergroups in the ‘60s was Cream: its guitarist Eric Clapton was already famous for playing with the Yardbirds, while drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce were already known for playing in the Graham Bond Organisation.  Marcus penned a gushing review to a nonexistent bootleg album by the “Masked Marauders,” a secret supergroup he said was made up of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The fake review garnered real interest in the album, and Marcus ended up writing and recording the songs he’d made up; then Warner Brothers bought the songs and released the album. Two decades after the “Masked Marauders” review, Bob Dylan and George Harrison actually did join a supergroup with Tom Petty called the Traveling Wilburys.
  7. – In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour.
  8.  – Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, has a well-documented love of April Fools’ Day. In 1989, on the evening before April Fool’s Day, residents outside of London spotted a flying saucer that appeared to land in a nearby field in Surrey. Police officers went to the field to investigate the supposed UFO and were probably surprised when they actually found one. As they approached the flying saucer, a door opened, and a silver-clad figure walked out. The cops promptly ran away.  Little did they know, Branson was hiding out in the UFO behind his silver-clad companion, whose name was Don Cameron. The two of them had taken off in the flying saucer—which was actually a hot-air balloon—and planned to land in Hyde Park on April 1 as a prank. However, changing winds forced them to land a little earlier in Surrey.
  9. – In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
  10. – and now for something very timely – In 2015, Cottonelle tweeted that it was introducing left-handed toilet paper for all those southpaws out there. The joke followed a 1998 stunt by Burger King about its new “left handed” Whopper.

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.

As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos. The next week there could be 15 logos. And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing. But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post. On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count. Just in the pictures area. Got it? Good.  :-))))  Have fun!!

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Get Comfy

I love to eat. That’s an established fact. Set a plate of Comfort Food in front of me and you have a friend for life.  : )   But I’m amazed at how much food I can wear without even eating. Check out these wardrobe finds (left to right, top to bottom) They match the 20 yummy comfort food items listed below. 1)  Mac & Cheese  2)  Lazagna  3)  Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup  4)  Mashed potatoes  5)  Spaghetti & meatballs  6) Chef Boyardee  7)  Entenmann’s  8)  Pancakes 9)  Fried Chicken  10)  Chili and Saltines  11)  McDonald’s  12) Pie  13)  Ice cream  14)  Little powdered donuts  15)  Chinese food  16)  Sugar cookies  17)  Oreos  18)  All other cookies  19)  Chips and dip  20)  Couples PIZZA shirts!!

Like you, I never thought we’d be experiencing anything like the past few weeks.  God bless our President & VP, Health Experts, First Responders and ALL the brave health care workers for their amazing efforts.  With our personal “stay in place” requirements, (so far, we’re still open here at KHT and proudly processing your PIA (pain in the @%$) Jobs! During my time keeping an appropriate distance from my team, I thought of what I usually think of, and that’s FOOD!  Not just your run of the mill meals, (I’m lucky, as Jackie is an amazing cook, way better than me!) but rather that stuff that is not necessarily good for you “comfy food”.  You know, the stuff that just makes you feel good at every bite.  Now, the experts will tell us there’s nothing good in comfy food (too much of this, not enough of that) but my hat goes off to the scientists who have figured out how to trick our brains into eating the whole box/bag.  So, to be fair, along with your sensible diets, and routine exercise plans, and getting lots of sleep,  taking your vitamins AND WASHING YOUR HANDS … here’s a list of really FUN stuff to eat – so we can feel a little better about our situation.  I’m sure I missed a few favorites in my top 20, so be sure to call me or email with your additions to the list.  Thanks to buzzfeed and shape.com for the “sensible” recipes.

1. Macaroni and cheese from a box.  Hard to know why we love this so.  I can’t eat mine without a bit of Russian dressing.  How about you?  And, aside from the traditional curved noodle shape, what’s your second and third favorite – alphabet or cartoon shapes?

2. Frozen lasagna. Don’t even start with me. Stouffer’s gets that job done faster than I can even read a lasagna recipe from start to finish.  And I never can wait long enough for it to cool down.

3. Grilled cheese and Campbell’s tomato soup.  This one is a total “Mom memory” for me.  Steamy hot soup, gooey cheese, and multiple dunks. Although Jackie simply shakes her head,  I also add wonderful bread and butter pickles to the mix. Remember, grilled cheese should be cut with a knife and fork.  Oh, bring it on!

4. Mashed potatoes.  Doesn’t matter what the other sides are, just make a big well with the spoon, drop in butter or yummy gravy, and dig in. GIVE IT TO ME.

5. Spaghetti, red sauce and meatballs.  Two ways – all mixed together to get the yummy taste infused with the noodles or think sauce piled high on top (so I can taste some of the naked pasta) – a little cheese sprinkled on top, and fresh garlic toast (2 piece minimum) – STOP THE BUS!.

6. Chef Boyardee anything.  This one’s not at the top of my list – but for those who love ‘em, go for it.  The tiny meatballs are a hoot. – granted my favorite was always SpaghettiOs!

7. Entenmann’s Raspberry Danish twist.  Entenmann’s “anything” is usually good – hot cup of coffee, a little butter after 15 seconds in the microwave (like I need that too) and a knife – toughest part is when to stop.  When I’m tired of the sweet fruit fillings, I jump to coffee cake and crumb cake.

8. Pancakes. Any kind of pancakes. – Plain, blueberry, cinnamon are my top three (chocolate chip too) – and of course maple syrup – sticky, gooey, hot and sweet – side of eggs and bacon – leave me be!

9. Fried chicken. Plain, KFC, Popeye’s, freezer microwave, with gravy, as a snack, as a meal.  With biscuits and mashed taters.  Grilling is fine, but just nothin’ like fried chicken especially with KFC’s coleslaw!.

10. Chili with saltines.  This is a seasonal favorite, but on the list for sure.  I love ALL chili – hot, sweet, lots of beans, lots of meat, and of course LOT OF HEAT!  Little cheese and onions on top and I’m good to go.  Add a few Fritos and it’s to the moon and back!  Next time you have Chili, try adding a teaspoon of horseradish to your bowl, you will never be the same!

11. McDonald’s. (mostly the fries) We’re all alike – we see the arches, think “oh, not so good for me, then our taste buds kick in – “just some fries” will do, until we get to the window … Big Mac, two hamburgers, large fry, big Coke … “dessert with that” – ok, gone this far.  And how good is the ketchup with the fries – (you want some right now don’t you?)

12. Pie. Basically, all of the pies.  Apple rocks (warmed in microwave, then alongside vanilla ice cream) – but for me ANY pie is just fine.  And, of course I’ll have seconds – duh!

13.  Did I just say Ice Cream.  (this could be a blog post all its own) Vanilla – just the way God intended  with chocolate, bananas, nuts and don’t forget Maraschino cherries with a little juice does it – along with EVERY flavor invented by man – big scoops, small spoon, topping to pick from – heaven!

14. Those mini powdered doughnuts from the gas station.  Probably surprised you with this one. You know, the tiny white ones – can slam a sleeve in no time.  And if they are out, I can always grab one of those cinnamon circles – sticky and oh so good.

15. Chinese food from the mall or strip center.  Just the words “15 minute” over the phone gets me going – yes, of course I’m there 5 minutes early>>> not sure I’ve had a bad meal – hot, spicy, traditional – all good – and those deep-fried egg rolls should be outlawed!

16. Any frosted sugar cookie from the grocery store, seasonal or not seasonal.  You know the ones they put by the checkout in the clear plastic containers.  I think they actually talk when you approach – “please, take me home, I’m held hostage here at the store -save me”.

17. Oreos – Ok, I waited long enough – doesn’t’ matter the color, or thickness – bring ‘em on.  Dunked in milk of course, unless I’d rather twist and teeth scrape the white filling.  Question – is it ok to put the scrapped halves back together, and then milk dunk?

18. All other cookies on the planet.  Nuff said.  And where are those damn girl scouts with the thin mints – seems like an eternity since I placed my order.

19. Chips and dip.  This is almost illegal.  So many choices of chips to choose from – all good, even the weird spicy oddball flavors.  Cleveland’s own Lawson’s Chip Dip still number one – followed by all the other fat laden, over salted, saturated fat, likely toxic concoctions – can you say Frito SCOOPS!

20. PIZZA!  Saved it for last.  Not sure where it fits on the list – again, for me anything goes (except for those little fishy thingie’s – ew!)  Fat, thin, NY, Chicago, frozen, right from the oven or take out, I am very happy sliding down a few pieces – how about you?

I am now going for a long, long, long walk to get prepared!

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.

As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos. The next week there could be 15 logos. And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing. But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post. On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count. Just in the pictures area. Got it? Good.  :-))))  Have fun!!

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Just Lucky I Guess

The four-leaf clover represents luck, Irish and… more luck. If you find one in the wild it’s actually exciting! So, since we live in this wonderful land of opportunity, there’s no shortage of things to buy with shamrocks and 4-leaf clovers on them. Take that nifty pair of socks (my favorite funky thing to wear) can be had for 12 bucks HERE. And then there’s that cool antique broach for $7,950.00 HERE. Or that Enamel Diamond Four-leaf clover with the ladybug for a mere $3,997 HERE. And of course there are tons of t-shirts out there, Google for them yourself. As you know food is right up there with breathing for me so I found recipes for those shakes, pastries and Irish coffee drinks. You can find them at the end of this article. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Stay safe.

With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, your old pal Stephen O’Shannessy O’Brien McMurphy Patrick Michael O’Kowalski is back, thinking about the upcoming celebration, the great Cleveland Parade and the legends about the four-leaf clover and “the luck of the Irish”.  I for one, feel extremely lucky, and blessed. My short list includes: my amazing wife (many say Angel!) and daughters, fantastic son’s in law, a God to love, granddaughter to hug and spoil, good health, great friends, a nice community to live in, a business started by Dad to love, grow, and blessed with committed employees dedicated to solving your PIA (Pain in the %#$) Jobs!  I could go on and on. I am continually telling Jackie and my girls that I am by far the luckiest man in the world! Being soooooo Irish, I thought I’d share a bit about the four-leaf clovers (never knew there are more than four out there). Remember to stay safe next week on St. Patty’s Day – a friend told me: “Safe Driving Is No Accident”.  Special thanks to Wikipedia, Better Homes and Gardens and the links to fun recipes below.  Enjoy!

  1. Some folk traditions assign a different attribute to each leaf of a clover. The first leaf represents hope, the second stands for faith, the third is for love and the fourth leaf brings luck to the finder.
  2. When found, a fifth leaf represents money. Some reports claim six to be fame and seven to be longevity, though the notions’ origination is unknown.
  3. Four-leaf clovers were considered Celtic charms and were believed to offer magical protection and ward off bad luck.
  4. Abraham Lincoln carried a four-leaf clover with him everywhere for good luck. However, on the night he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth he was not carrying it.
  5. Unlike most plants, clover, three-leaved or four, can take nitrogen from the air and fix it to use for growth with the help of special rhizomes in their roots.
  6. Children in the Middle Ages believed they would be able to see fairies if they carried a four-leaf clover in their pockets.
  7. In 1620 Sir John Melton made the first literary reference to their ability to provide good fortunate. He said, “If a man walking in the fields find any four-leaved grass, he shall in a small while after find some good thing.”
  8. For every “lucky” four-leaf clover there are approximately 10,000 three-leaf clovers, as there are no clover plants that naturally produce four leaves.  The fourth leaf can be smaller or a different shade of green than the other three leaves.
  9. This probability has not deterred collectors who have reached records as high as 160,000 four-leaf clovers in a lifetime.  The world record for number collected in one hour is 166, set by American Katie Borka on June 23, 2018. (These folks have way too much time on their hands!)
  10. Clovers can have more than four leaves. Five-leaf clovers are less commonly found naturally than four-leaf clovers, however, they, too, have been successfully cultivated. Some four-leaf clover collectors, particularly in Ireland, regard the five-leaf clover, known as a rose clover, as a particular prize. In exceptionally rare cases, clovers are able to grow with six leaves and more in nature. The most leaves ever found on a single clover stem (Trifolium repens L.) is 56 and was discovered by Shigeo Obara of Hanamaki City, Iwate, Japan, on 10 May 2009.
  11. It is believed that Ireland is home to more four-leaf clovers than any other place, hence the phrase “the luck of the Irish.”
  12. Italian automobile maker Alfa Romeo used to paint a four-leaf clover, or quadrifoglio, on the side of their racing cars. This tradition started in the 1923 Targa Florio race, when driver Ugo Sivocci decorated his car with a green clover on a white background.
  13. Los Angeles-based space exploration company SpaceX includes a four-leaf clover on each space mission embroidered patch as a good luck charm. Inclusion of the clover has become a regular icon on SpaceX’s flight patches ever since the company’s first successful Falcon 1 rocket launch in 2008, which was the first mission to feature a clover “for luck” on its patch.
  14. Celtic Football Club, an association football team from Glasgow, Scotland, have used the four leaf clover as the club’s official badge for over 40 years.
  15. Several businesses and organizations use a four-leaf clover in their logos to signify Celtic origins.
  16. The global network of youth organizations 4-H uses a green four-leaf clover with a white H on each leaf
  17. The English-speaking imageboard 4chan has as its logo the four-leaf clover, deriving from the character Yotsuba Koiwai and her pigtails and the similar pronunciation between 4chan and ‘fortune’.
  18. If you give someone a four-leaf clover that you just found it is believed that your luck will double.
  19. Shamrocks and four-leaf clovers are not the same thing; the word ‘shamrock’ refers only to a clover with three leaves.

Have some food fun for St. Patty’s Day – here’s some delightful recipes:
> Shamrock Shakes – https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/shamrock-shake-recipe/
> Shamrock Cookies – https://www.thespruceeats.com/st-patricks-day-desserts-4162274
> Shamrock Cupcakes – https://www.yourcupofcake.com/shamrock-shake-cupcakes/
> Irish Coffee – https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/original-irish-coffee-recipe-1915164

 

 

 

 

Boing

The trampoline is really, really fun!! Professionals and the rest of us can have a ball with it. There’s that cool Nike Zoom Vaporfly. Read on, friends. And check out the amazing video links in this week’s story.

 

I was reading an article the other day about recent marathon results, and specifically about the new Nike running shoe, called the Zoom Vaporfly. The popular pink shoe features carbon plates and springy midsole foam and has become an explosive battle among runners (get it?).  The biggest issue for professional and amateur racers alike is the debate whether the shoes save so much energy that they amount to an unfair advantage, granted every time I read or see a news clip about these shoes I immediately think of Disney’s FLUBBER!   A study by the NYTimes found that a runner wearing the most popular versions of these shoes (available to the public) – the Zoom Vaporfly% or ZoomX Vaporfly Next% – ran 4 to 5 percent faster than a runner wearing an average shoe, and 2 to 3 percent faster than runners in the next-fastest popular shoe. The shoes, which retail for $250, (out of my price range) confer an advantage on all kinds of runners: men and women, fast runners and slower ones, hobbyists and frequent racers.  Since its release in 2017, Nike’s Vaporfly racing shoe has rewritten the record books – the five fastest men’s marathons ever, four of the 10 fastest women’s marathons, and 31 of 36 podium spots in the 2019 World Marathon Majors have all been won using the shoes.  It got me to thinking about energy and bounce, and of course led me to Mr. Charles Nissen, an inventor and gymnast from Cedar Rapids Iowa who invented the first modern trampoline – patented on this day of March 1945. (bet you didn’t expect this story to bounce this way (get it again?).  So, for all my exercise buds basement bouncers and back yard flippers, here’s some fun history.  Special thanks to the NYTimes and Wikipedia for the insights and info.  Enjoy!

 

A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. Most people bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purpose.

The fabric that users bounce on, commonly known as the “bounce mat” or “trampoline bed”, is not elastic itself; the elasticity is provided by the springs that connect it to the frame, which store potential energy.

A game similar to trampolining was developed by the Inuit, who would toss blanket dancers high into the air on a walrus skin one at a time during a spring celebration of whale harvest.  (not sure, but for some reason, this makes sense to me). There is also some evidence of people in Europe having been tossed into the air by a number of people holding a blanket – known as “blanketing”. My guess is lots of beir was involved at the time!

The trampoline-like life nets once used by firefighters to catch people jumping out of burning buildings were invented in 1887 by Thomas F Browder from Greene County, OH. A life net, also known as a Browder Life Safety Net, is a type of rescue equipment formerly used by firefighters. When used in the proper conditions, it allowed people on upper floors of burning buildings an opportunity to jump to safety, usually to ground level. The device was used with varying degrees of success during several notable fires in the 20th century but became obsolete by the 1980s.

According to circus folklore, the trampoline was supposedly first developed by an artiste named du Trampolin, who saw the possibility of using the trapeze safety net as a form of propulsion and landing device and experimented with different systems of suspension, eventually reducing the net to a practical size. While trampoline-like devices were used for shows and in the circus, the story of du Trampolin is almost certainly apocryphal as no documentary evidence has been found to support it. (the circus is famous for making things up).

The first modern trampoline was built by George Nissen and Larry Griswold in 1936. Nissen was a gymnastics and diving competitor and Griswold was a tumbler on the gymnastics team, both at the University of Iowa. They had observed trapeze artists using a tight net to add entertainment value to their performance and experimented by stretching a piece of canvas, in which they had inserted grommets along each side, to an angle iron frame by means of coiled springs.

Nissen explained that the name came from the Spanish trampolín, meaning a diving board, saying he had heard the word on a demonstration tour in Mexico in the late 1930s and decided to use an anglicized form as the trademark for the apparatus.

In 1942, Griswold and Nissen created the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company, and began making trampolines commercially in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The generic term for the trademarked trampoline was a rebound tumbler and the sport began as rebound tumbling. It has since lost its trademark and has become a generic trademark.

Early in their development Nissen anticipated trampolines being used in a number of recreational areas, including those involving more than one participant on the same trampoline. One such game was Spaceball—a game of two teams of two on a single trampoline with specially constructed end “walls” and a middle “wall” through which a ball could be propelled to hit a target on the other side’s end wall.

During World War II, the US Navy Flight School developed the use of the trampoline in its training of pilots and navigators, giving them concentrated practice in spatial orientation that had not been possible before. After the war, the development of the space flight program again brought the trampoline into use to help train both American and Soviet astronauts, giving them experience of variable body positions in flight.

The first Trampoline World Championships were organized by Ted Blake of Nissen and held in London in 1964. The first World Champions were both American, Dan Millman and Judy Wills Cline. Cline went on to dominate and become the most highly decorated trampoline champion of all time.

One of the earliest pioneers of trampoline as a competitive sport was Jeff Hennessy, a coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Hennessy also coached the US trampoline team, producing more world champions than any other person. Among his world champions was his daughter, Leigh Hennessy. Both Jeff and Leigh Hennessy are in the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

The competitive gymnastic sport of trampolining has been part of the Olympic Games since 2000. On a modern competitive trampoline, a skilled athlete can bounce to a height of up to 33 ft, (think three stories high) performing multiple somersaults and twists. Trampolines also feature in the competitive sport of Slamball, a variant of basketball, and Bossaball, a variant of volleyball. check out this Olympian

 

Recreational trampolines, also known as bounce mats, are for home use and are less sturdily constructed than competitive ones and their springs are weaker. They may be of various shapes, though most are circular, octagonal or rectangular. The fabric is usually a waterproof canvas or woven polypropylene material. As with competitive trampolines, recreational trampolines are usually made using coiled steel springs to provide the rebounding force, but spring-free trampolines also exist.  check out this amazing video 

 

In 1959 and 1960 it became very popular to have outdoor commercial “jump centres” or “trampoline parks” in many places in North America where people could enjoy recreational trampolining. Here are some amazing guys having fun outside

 

In the early 21st century, indoor commercial trampoline parks have made a comeback, with a number of franchises operating across the United States and Canada. ABC News reported in 2014 there were at least 345 trampoline parks operating in the US.  These commercial parks are located indoors and have wall-to wall-trampolines to prevent people falling off the trampolines on to hard surfaces. Padded or spring walls protect people from impact injuries.

Wall running is a sport where the participant uses a wall and platforms placed next to the trampoline bed to do tricks. The basic movement is a backdrop on the trampoline and then the feet touching the wall at the top of the bounce. From there, there is no limit to the acrobatic movements that are possible, similar to regular trampolining.

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.

As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos. The next week there could be 15 logos. And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing. But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post. On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count. Just in the pictures area. Got it? Good.  :-))))  Have fun!!

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