5/09/2007
How'd They Do That?
I LOVE the show "How It's Made."
Seth thinks I'm a bit of a dorkus malorkus for watching a television show about machines that make stupid shit like toilet paper holders. And this is all while sitting on the edge of my seat and saying over and over, "that's so cool. That is SO cool!"
...and it is cool! I had no idea the kind of effort/processes that go into manufacturing some goods. It's amazing to me that some of this shit doesn't cost thousands of dollars. Mmmm...markets...economies of scale...
...oops...I'm drooling on the keyboard again.
So...this show has me looking at some of the things around me in a very "I, Pencil" kind of way.
...and on my desk, there it is. It's just sitting there. The enigma.
The rubber band ball.
Where did it come from!?
I bought mine...fully assembled...250 bands for $.99 at Target.
Just for a moment, let's put out of our heads the whole process that creates a rubber band. Let's focus on the rubber band ball factory.
I picture in my mind, 250 child laborers in some poor impoverished country, standing next to a conveyor belt, adding one rubber band at a time to create my office toy.
My mind is apparently too feable to imagine the kind of contraption that can wrap 250 rubber bands in a near perfect sphere to sell for $.99.
What do you think?
(And please...oh please...DO NOT tell me that it's made by the invisible hand. I'll reach through my computer and smack you into last year. I want real answers!).
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Seth thinks I'm a bit of a dorkus malorkus for watching a television show about machines that make stupid shit like toilet paper holders. And this is all while sitting on the edge of my seat and saying over and over, "that's so cool. That is SO cool!"
...and it is cool! I had no idea the kind of effort/processes that go into manufacturing some goods. It's amazing to me that some of this shit doesn't cost thousands of dollars. Mmmm...markets...economies of scale...
...oops...I'm drooling on the keyboard again.
So...this show has me looking at some of the things around me in a very "I, Pencil" kind of way.
...and on my desk, there it is. It's just sitting there. The enigma.
The rubber band ball.
Where did it come from!?
I bought mine...fully assembled...250 bands for $.99 at Target.
Just for a moment, let's put out of our heads the whole process that creates a rubber band. Let's focus on the rubber band ball factory.
I picture in my mind, 250 child laborers in some poor impoverished country, standing next to a conveyor belt, adding one rubber band at a time to create my office toy.
My mind is apparently too feable to imagine the kind of contraption that can wrap 250 rubber bands in a near perfect sphere to sell for $.99.
What do you think?
(And please...oh please...DO NOT tell me that it's made by the invisible hand. I'll reach through my computer and smack you into last year. I want real answers!).
