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Did a baoding balls fad pass me by?

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  • #1

    Did a baoding balls fad pass me by?

    For the last several months I've been seeing baoding balls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baoding_balls at thrift stores. I had never seen them until then. Did I fail to notice a fad for using them?

    Prices, BTW, have run from $2 to $30. Some have a painted enamel finish; some have a chrome-like finish.
    "There is some ontological doubt as to whether it may even be possible in principle to nail down these things in the universe we're given to study." --text msg from my kid

    "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." --Frederick Douglass
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  • #2
    Those things have been around for ever. I don't think I've ever seen anyone I know actually buy them or use them but junk shops always seem to have them for sale. I'm not aware of any fad popularizing them.
    Steve

    * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
    * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
    * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

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    • #3
      Yeah, I think in the old Moby Dick movie Captain Ahab constantly twirls them in his palm. I think I recognized them from my oldest brother using them in the late sixites. It would have been part of his body-building scheme.
      "There is some ontological doubt as to whether it may even be possible in principle to nail down these things in the universe we're given to study." --text msg from my kid

      "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." --Frederick Douglass

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Joan.of.the.Arch View Post
        Yeah, I think in the old Moby Dick movie Captain Ahab constantly twirls them in his palm. I think I recognized them from my oldest brother using them in the late sixites. It would have been part of his body-building scheme.
        According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baoding_balls "In The Caine Mutiny, 1954, Captain Queeg, played by Humphrey Bogart, is shown rolling a pair of Baoding balls in his right hand during stressful situations."

        So that's what those balls are called...

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        • #5
          Well, that was a twisted around memory, wasn't it?
          "There is some ontological doubt as to whether it may even be possible in principle to nail down these things in the universe we're given to study." --text msg from my kid

          "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." --Frederick Douglass

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Joan.of.the.Arch View Post
            Well, that was a twisted around memory, wasn't it?
            (I wasn't trying to prove you wrong, since I've never seen any of the movies, and maybe Ahab does it too... I just remember the worry balls from The Caine Mutiny.)

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            • #7
              I bought a pair and got pretty good with them but never actually got to the point that they made music. I recently found one but can't find the other - I will probably buy another pair when I see them. I guess it would fit in with people who can spin coins on their knuckles or spin pens. I could juggle them also since I would have 3 - hmmm. Thanks for the reminder of things left undone.
              I YQ YQ R

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