Who knew a little rubber band could be such a hot commodity? Of course, when it's handed to you by a tall guy in a yellow shirt that's turning pasty from lack of vitamin D*, it's so much more special, right? Riiiiight.
Silly bands, if you're not familiar, are ("were"? I'm so out of touch) the Beanie Babies/Pokemon/Cabbage Patch Kids of recent years. When stretched out**, they simply look like colored rubber bands. But when released <SNAP> they form different shapes. Magic, right? Well, yes; right up until you put too many on your wrist and your fingers start to tingle. That's baaaad, BTW.
So far during my stay I've had two silly band releases. The blue MSI logo (1st week) and the yellow chick (2nd week). From what I understand, there are more styles coming in the next few weeks. Like fine wine, priceless art, and Happy Meal toys, these things are limited editions and HIGHLY collectible (until they break and you throw them in the trash).
While the MATM2 currency is silly bands, other teams in the museum have other currencies. Zotz are HUGE here. If you get a question right in a demonstration: Zotz. If you get a question wrong in a demonstration: Zotz. (I'm about to launch an in-depth investigation into whether MSI has stock in Zotz. Stay tuned for the exposé). Tootsie Rolls and glow sticks*** are highly sought after as well and used to encourage participation and hype kids up to near-spastic levels. (Sorry parents!)
But today ("Guest" day), I was given the most power incentive available. Kids forgot about fizzy candy or glow in the dark bracelets; all those suddenly held no value. Even silly bands were no match for...
Free. Admission. Passes.
Today I wandered from exhibit to exhibit meeting guests and passing out coupons to come back for free. The guests had to work for the passes answering trivia or telling me what they learned today. But people (especially the kids) couldn't have been more excited to get the return visit voucher. And that makes me truly happy. Kids were having fun and learning and wanted to do more of it. I think that's awesome. I hope those families make it back before too long and have another great day. And hopefully they'll go to a demonstration, answer some questions and help unload some of these Zotz. I mean, they're everywhere! Which reminds me, I've got an investigation to launch.
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*Joking! They let me go outside once a week for 5 minutes. Nah- joking again. It's 3 minutes.
**17 bonus points if you can tell me what sort of energy a rubber band has when it's stretched.
***Did you know that when you crack a glow stick, you're actually breaking a thin glass tube inside the plastic stick that allows the chemicals to combine and react? I hadn't ever really thought about it before.
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kevin byrne
A digital marketing analyst from Chicago, Kevin is living inside the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere for 30 days.
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Potential static energy. Or so my husband says. I don't have children, so I only know about silly bands because we used to sell them where I worked. But they sure were popular!
I hope you have a silly band for Ricardo...he collects those, ya know? Of course you know that - he's Mr. Popular with the kids ;) Miss you but love the posts :)
Potential energy? It looks like you are having fun. Keep it up...I can't wait to see your impression of the Fairy Castle and some of the "older" exhibits I remember from when I was a kid and would go there all the time. Love MSI!
Ooh! Ooh ooh! I knew that I knew that! *waves hand in the air* Because I saw Bangs, Flashes & Fire not too long ago!!
It has been fun following your adventures....great job so far! Are you going to spend Halloween night in the U505? That would be one of my bucket list dreams....
KEVIN! Silly Bands were big in, like, 1974. How long have you been in there, anyway? Hope you're having a blast! And you'll be safest of all when the zombie apocalyse goes down.
GUESS WHAT?! I actually knew that about the glow stick because I saw Bangs, Flashes, and Fire when my Chicago Park District camp took a field trip to MSI this summer. I even got a sticker that proved I was a scientist (that I kept even after the sticky part had worn off).
Well done, guys! I was thinking elastic potential energy (but I'll take potential energy in general). That's something that I learned in high school, forgot and re-learned here (Hooke's Law!). TSniffen: I'm pretty well secluded from all things pop-culture. As far as I know, the Kardashians are still in wedded bliss. And Jenny: I'm going to sleep in the U-505 on Veteran's Day. I'm really looking forward to it.
Don't forget how you calculate its elastic potential energy. PEe=1/2KX^2 with k being the spring constant and x being the distance stretched. I wonder how far you can stretch one before it breaks.