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Forum URL: http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi
Forum Name: Quotes from the Studio
Topic ID: 18
#0, 2008.02.15: ballsy
Posted by Gryphon on Feb-15-08 at 10:08 PM
<Z-Gryphon> ah, okay
<Z-Gryphon> tonight's How It's Made is TiVo titled "Brass bells", not "Brass balls"
<Z-Gryphon> er, bronze, not brass
<Z-Gryphon> that was what initially confused me, not having heard of bronze balls
<wedge> they were the first iteration of brass balls :)
<Z-Gryphon> heh
<Z-Gryphon> actually, first Neolithic man would have used stone balls
<Z-Gryphon> but they're too heavy and they crack easily
<Z-Gryphon> next, the ancient Egyptians would have tried copper balls, but they're too soft and get dull too quickly to be any good for serious work
<wedge> and oxidize
<Z-Gryphon> indeed
<Z-Gryphon> and nobody wants verdigris-covered balls
<Z-Gryphon> then bronze, then iron, then the great Victorian ballsmiths would have started making them in brass
<Z-Gryphon> and eventually steel, especially in Birmingham
<wedge> band name
<wedge> Victorian Ballsmiths
<Z-Gryphon> after that, not much change until the 1960s, when the Soviets started experimenting with titanium balls
<Z-Gryphon> lightweight, stronger than steel, highly corrosion-resistant, but very expensive
<wedge> it's all carbon fiber now.
<Z-Gryphon> mm
<Z-Gryphon> and I hear the Japanese are experimenting with graphite nanotube construction
<Z-Gryphon> expanding on the groundbreaking theoretical ballwork of R. Buckminster Fuller

--G.
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