Post 545
D’ya know, I’d be scraping the bottom of the barrel if I had a barrel. Or a scraper. Or even cared in slightest about barrel scraping. And when you think of it like that, I’m not really scraping the bottom of the barrel at all. Cardboard boxes may seem innocuous, but they are surprisingly versatile. There are hundreds of suggestions online for cardboard box uses outside the norms. Doormat. Piñata. Hat. Yeah, you’re right, most of these are terrible. Ooh, photo frame. That’s not a bad one. Any more? Erm, ooh, makeshift fence. Makeshift fence? Makeshift fence? Really? Gee, that’ll be no good outside…
Cardboard boxes are best put to use by the imaginations of little children and TV shows from the 1980s that had a habit of driving through them. A Scot, Robert Gair, invented the modern cardboard box, capable of being folded flat. He invented it by accident in 1890, making him one of the few Scots who actually did invent something. Haggis was invented in Ancient Rome. Hogmanay was invented in France. An Italian officially invented the telephone. An American officially invented the television. Africans invented penicillin. The Chinese invented whisky. The Irish invented tartan. But collapsible cardboard boxes? Yes, Scotland, they are yours. Should be proud of that one. They’re very important…
Kellogg’s were the first cereal company to use cardboard boxes for their product, later adding plastic packaging to keep the cereal fresh and to make it easier for students to eat the cereal straight out of the box. What? Hey, pretending it doesn’t happen doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen…
2005 was a good year for the humble cardboard box. Melbourne architect Peter Ryan designed a house made almost entirely out of cardboard boxes. And in the same year, the American National Toy Hall of Fame inducted the cardboard box. Yes, seriously. What’s that? Only in America? Yes, quite right.
And, as it turns out, the cardboard box is quite handy if you want to escape from prison. A 42-year-old Turkish man escaped from a German prison by hiding himself in a small cardboard box. The weekly prison mail courier took the box not knowing a prisoner was inside. After the courier left the prison, the hiding prisoner cut a hole in the cardboard box and jumped to freedom. He has never been found. So there’s a good escape tip, kids, if you ever find yourself in prison. Although I’m probably legally obliged to say you’re better off staying out of prison in the first place.
Yes, cardboard boxes may seem simple and not very interesting, but they are indeed fascinating and utterly wonderful…
Ciao :)(:
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