Our home's decor is haphazard, and our entry, which features a convenient table where one can put car keys and other useful items, has evolved over the years to have its own personality. Various useful and decorative objects have ended up here. T
he Alfred E. Neuman figure is useful for holding a check for Rita, the person who cleans our house regularly, in his expansive hands. His thumbs make good hooks for keychains, too.A pair of carved Nigerian ibeji figures and some more contemporary African wooden figures have ended up on display here. On the wall are useful racks for hats, umbrellas, dog leashes, and hiking packs. There's a mirror to check your lipstick and hair before leaving each morning.
Our Hurricane Katrina Voodoo Shrine and an art piece called "Hand o' Power" are on the wall for inspiration and protection.
Another important item on our entry table is this:
The Magic Eight-Ball. Useful for consultation about anything you might want to know about when leaving the house to start your day; from weather to traffic to the contour of your day, the Magic Eight-Ball is worth checking out.
However, being a non-religious person in general, I have spent many days - no, months! - passing by the Magic Eight-Ball without peering into its inky depths for reassurance. Today, for some odd reason, I decided to consult, and I was shocked at what I found.
The mysterious white letters that swam up to provide advice no longer do so in my Magic Eight-Ball. The fluid level in the Eight-Ball has lowered enough that the plastic icosahedron within is revealed, floating impotently in a diminished sea of blue ink.
The oracle has been stripped bare!
I'm only curious how the fluid level has gone down in what appears to be a hermetically sealed object. Is this the mystery?
Here's a link to someone who has done a more methodical debunking of the Magic Eight-Ball.
Next up -- a disection of the Happy Apple toy.
Your magic 8 ball has been slowly evaporating? Who knew they did that?
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of the Happy Apple toy. And now that I've seen it, it kind of freaks me out.
Nothing lasts forever. Perhaps if you used some of the procedures in the fine article to which you linked, you'd be able to determine if the mystery fluid leaked out of the inner cylinder or evaporated.
ReplyDeleteP. S. If you have any questions about Bugger™ formatting, e-mail me & I'll help as much as I can, though virtually everything I know I came to by trial & error. There are a couple of (one?) link(s) in my non-local blogroll about Bugger™, depending on how much time you want to waste you could go there & link to their links, etc., though some of them will take questions. Note well that the Bugger™ help pages themselves are impossible to navigate & not very helpful.
Hi, m. My 8-ball remains intact. I'm afraid to take it apart like those guys did.
ReplyDeleteIt has been my experience that if you somehow regain your faith in the Magic 8-Ball™, the fluid level will rise to meet your expectations. Likewise, a continued attitude of skeptitude will interfere with the natural harmonies that must be maintained for the Magic 8-Ball™ to function as a conduit between your thirst for answers and the Great Billiard Table in the sky.
ReplyDeleteDuh.