Today is National Yo-Yo Day, a time to celebrate that frustrating toy I could never get to work. The yo-yo was popularized in America by Philippino émigré Pedro Flores, who manufactured and produced the toy that was popular in the Philippines when he was a child. Flores also named (and trademarked) the toy: yo-yo. Flores was bought out by entrepreneur Donald Duncan yo-yo, who then controlled the yo-yo market until 1965 when the trademark ran out and other manufacturer began producing plastic yo-yos instead of the wooden ones that Duncan lathe-produced.
At one time, I seriously considered marketing the World's Most Difficult Yo-yo: a brick with a long string. I may yet.
So let us raise a glass to all those childhood toys that never worked the way they should have. The Slinkies that did not slink for you although they did for everyone else. Those magic x-ray glasses that never let you peep into the girl's locker room. The jig-saw puzzles that were missing some of the key pieces. The Erector set with bolts that never tightened properly so that whatever built built collapsed immediately. The chemistry kit that refused to make deadly poisons. Those brine shrimp that never ever resembled sea monkeys and were way too dumb to build those underwater cities. Oh, childhood is full of disappointments. Luckily, none of these few failures scarred my childhood in any great degree.
Anyway, here's a Yo Yo I can get behind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY
On a completely different note, today is also the birthday of Gary U.S. Bonds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOrMvUtm5jU
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