Chronicle
Of
The
Ball
The
ball
was
started
sometime
shortly
before
Halloween
of
1996.
Of
course
(it
is
made
of
candy
wrappers,
after
all),
it
grew
quite
a
bit
(to
~20mm
in
diameter)
then.
Unfortunately,
I
didn't
start
actually
recording
its
progress
until
January
of
1997,
but
here
goes.
If
you
are
looking
for
the
awards,
they
have
been
moved
to
their
own
page
so
as
not
to
pollute
this
one.
June
18,
1999
Whew!
The
ball
has
had
a
growth
spurt.
It
is
now
over
3
pounds.
As
some
of
you
may
have
noticed,
I
had
removed
my
email
address
from
this
site
because
I
was
getting
too
much
spam.
I
have
restored
the
ability
for
ball
fans
to
contact
me
by
dusting
off
an
old
CGI
program
that
I
wrote
years
ago.
I
also
added
a
really
annoying
bit
of
javascript
to
the
site.
September
24,
1998
I
bring
bad
news.
A
contributor
to
the
ball
has
passed
away.
Rachel
Thoresen
was
killed
in
an
auto
accident.
Her
brother,
Matthew,
sent
me
the
following
poem,
and
I
gladly
reproduce
it
here,
hoping
that
this
citation
may
help
her
friends
and
family
in
their
time
of
grief.
If
you
lean
in
close
enough,
open
your
heart
wide
enough,
and
smile
bright
enough,
you
will
see
her.
She's
the
embrace
of
good
friends.
She's
the
smile
of
a
young
child.
She's
the
love
that
brings
together
family
and
friends.
She's
the
whisper
"I
love
you"
that
comes
from
the
depth
of
your
soul.
She's
the
unconditional
love
we
give.
She's
the
sun,
so
bright
it
will
light
up
the
cloudy
days
and
fill
the
sad
hole
in
our
hearts
with
good.
So...
Live
with
abandon.
Walk
to
the
edge.
Make
a
new
friend.
Play
hard.
Challenge
yourself.
Appreciate
your
friends.
Remind
those
you
love,
that
you
do.
Live
life
as
if
this
is
- all
- there
- is.
-mathew
thoresen
|
September
23,
1998
You
might
have
noticed
that
not
a
lot
has
been
happening
lately.
The
"foil
guy"
has
been
very
busy
lately.
The
ball
is
not
dead,
it's
just
restin'.
August
6,
1998
My
employer
decided
to
cut
head
count
by
50%.
I
was
one
of
the
unlucky
ones.
That
means
that
the
address
to
which
to
send
foil
will
be
in
limbo
for
awhile
until
I
come
out
to
my
new
employer
as
the
keeper
of
the
ball.
July
27,
1998
The
ball
is
not
immune
to
the
scourge
of
crime,
it
seems.
The
home
of
the
keeper
of
the
ball
was
burglarized,
and,
among
other
things,
the
power/serial
adapter
and
serial
cable
for
the
ball's
camera
were
stolen.
I
am
still
working
on
adding
a
bunch
of
foil
to
the
ball,
and
it
was
not
in
my
home
during
the
event.
July
11,
1998
A
number
of
friends
in
the
Research
Triangle
of
North
Carolina
heard
a
rerun
of
the
This
American
Life
show
mentioning
the
ball.
July
1,
1998
Once
again,
there
has
been
a
hiatus
as
I
once
again
have
moved.
I
am
(as
is
the
ball)
now
in
my
new
place,
and
I
have
long
ago
found
the
box
that
the
ball
was
packed
in.
I
am
currently
working
on
another
batch
of
foil
sent
in
by
Chuck
Perkins.
It
has
recently
been
difficult
to
find
time
to
work
on
the
ball,
but
I
do
when
I
can.
Not
to
worry,
the
ball
has
not
fallen
into
neglect.
January
3,
1998
The
largest
single
piece
of
foil
to
be
incorporated
into
the
ball
is
the
foil
from
our
xmas
ham.
It
was
59.5cm
x
93cm
and
weighed
59g.
(23.4"
x
36.6",
2.1
oz)
It
was
a
rather
heavy
gauge
foil,
and
it
was
painted
gold.
I
put
it
in
the
top
rack
of
the
dishwasher
to
get
all
of
the
grease
off
of
it,
and
the
gold
paint
(ink,
whatever)
melted
off;
which
is
too
bad,
because
it
would
made
for
a
nice
golden
ball.
October
16,
1997
We're
coming
up
on
the
birthday
of
the
ball.
Since
the
exact
date
is
unknown,
I
will
simply
declare
it
to
be
Halloween.
Since
Halloween
foil
is
now
available,
The
ball
has
donned
a
costume
for
the
occasion.
September
8,
1997
The
ball
now
has
a
camera.
After
a
long
period
during
which
it
was
not
feasible
to
produce
images
the
ball,
a
digital
camera
has
been
contributed.
The
ball
has
grown
quite
a
bit
since
its
last
photo,
and
it
has
even
grown
some
since
the
last
ray
traced
"Image
Unavailable"
data
point
in
the
growth
chart.
August
16,
1997
This
site
has
received
a
facelift.
It
mostly
looks
the
same,
but
most
pages
now
end
in
a
slash
instead
of
.html.
Additionally,
there
is
now
a
navigation
bar
at
the
bottom
of
all
HTML
pages.
I
have
inserted
redirects
into
the
server,
so
bookmarked
references
to
the
old
URLs
of
individual
pages
should
still
work.
August
9,
1997
As
you
might
already
have
noticed,
the
ball
now
has
its
own
email
address.
I
had
set
one
up
at
Friendly
E-mail,
but
the
last
time
I
checked,
they
haven't
yet
recovered
from
the
dirty
work
of
a
hacker,
so
I
moved
it
to
BigFoot.
August
7,
1997
I've
just
added
a
whole
bunch
of
foil
to
the
ball.
At
17.25oz
(518g)
in
weight,
and
78.5mm
in
diameter
(9.7"
in
circumference),
it
has
passed
both
the
1lb
and
500g
marks,
and
is
now
slightly
larger
than
a
baseball.
Lest
anyone
get
any
ideas
about
batting
it
around,
it
is
over
3
1/4
times
as
heavy
as
a
regulation
ball.
July
31,
1997
Things
move
slowly
when
one
has
no
equipment
and
no
budget.
Since
I
left
my
last
job
(well,
actually,
they
told
me
that
they
couldn't
afford
to
pay
me
anymore,
but
they'd
be
glad
to
have
me
stay
on
despite
that
little
detail),
I
no
longer
have
access
to
the
postal
scale
and
the
bed
scanner
there.
I
have
procured
a
proper
balance
and
I
am
working
on
getting
something
to
take
digital
photographs
with.
The
ball
now
weighs
11.75oz.
Now
that
I
can
properly
take
before
and
after
measurements,
I
have
a
batch
of
foil
that
I
can
add
to
the
ball.
I've
received
the
first
donation
of
foil
at
my
new
work
address.
This
donation
was
inspired
by
an
NPR
broadcast
which
mentioned
the
ball.
It
was
on
a
show
called
This
American
Life,
apparently
somebody
called
in
and
spent
several
minutes
talking
about
this
site,
even
reading
text
directly
from
it.
There
are
RealAudio
recordings
of
it.
I
have
not
been
able
to
listen
to
it
yet
due
to
hardware
constraints
(no
sound
card),
but
I
am
told
that
this
is
the
one.
Last
weekend,
my
partner
and
I
attended
a
costume
party.
I'm
not
really
one
for
costumes,
but
it
was
a
weird
enough
bunch
(that's
a
good
thing)
that
we
went
as
the
Priestess
of
the
ball
(her)
and
the
Guardian
of
the
ball
(me).
Of
course,
the
ball
starred
as
the
crucial
feature
of
both
costumes,
resplendent
in
its
silvery
coat
of
gum
wrapper
foil.
My
coworkers
keep
asking
me
to
bring
the
ball
back
into
work.
One
of
these
days,
I'll
remember
to
do
so.
June
1,
1997
It's
been
awhile
since
much
has
happened
with
the
ball.
This
is
due
to
the
fact
that
I
have
recently
changed
jobs.
Things
are
settling
down
now,
and
I
have
come
out
to
my
coworkers
as
the
keeper
of
the
ball.
I
have
already
gotten
a
donation
of
foil
from
one
of
my
coworkers.
The
ball
has
grown
somewhat
since
last
checkin,
but
I
need
to
purchase
a
scale
and
a
ruler
since
I
no
longer
have
such
instruments
available
to
me
at
work.
May
2,
1997
Today,
I
sent
the
ball
with
my
partner
to
her
place
of
work.
It
was
covered
in
gum
wrappers
and
weighed
over
10
ounces.
It
was
a
big
hit
with
most
of
the
people
who
she
showed
it
to,
including
some
people
who
have
contributed
to
its
growth.
Of
course,
there
were
some
people
who
were
introduced
to
the
ball
couldn't
fathom
why
it
should
be
interesting.
I
have
found
that
reactions
the
ball
fall
into
the
2
extremes.
April
15,
1997
In
the
last
two
days,
some
colleagues
and
I
have
gotten
lunch
at
"restaurants"
which
package
some
of
their
food
items
in
foil
wrappers.
These
wrappers
are
backed
with
paper
which
is
bound
to
the
foil
in
a
loose
pattern
with
some
sort
of
glue.
That
glue
seems
to
be
water
soluble
since
it
is
very
difficult
to
remove
the
paper
when
it
is
dry,
but
easy
when
it
is
wet.
The
resulting
foil
is
about
the
thickness
of
kiss
wrappers,
but
it
has
about
thirty
to
forty
times
the
surface
area.
The
foil
from
three
people
eating
at
a
certain
establishment
is,
therefore,
roughly
equivalent
to
that
from
two
bags
of
kisses.
April
8,
1997
I
have
added
a
feature
to
the
math
page.
As
you
might
have
noticed
by
looking
at
some
of
the
mugshots
of
the
ball,
some
wrappers
do
not
completely
cover
the
front
surface.
The
math
page
now
includes
indications
of
how
much
of
The
ball
would
be
visible
past
the
ends
of
the
wrapper
if
one
were
applied
in
one
piece.
For
an
example,
the
ball
is
now
58.8mm
in
diameter
and
weighs
8oz.
In
addition,
there
is
an
indication
of
how
many
wrappers
it
would
take
to
cover
the
ball
once
with
an
arbitrarily
chosen
percentage
of
overlap.
April
3,
1997
The
ball
has
reached
the
1/2
pound
mark.
Of
course,
this
has
no
significance
to
those
who
grok
metric
measurements
of
mass
(226.8g),
but
I
am
admittedly
a
victim
of
the
American
mindset
which
squashed
the
adoption
of
the
metric
system
in
the
'70s
in
spite
of
its
obvious
superiority.
I
would
be
recording
the
mass
of
the
ball
in
grams
instead
of
its
weight
in
ounces,
except
that
the
only
scale
that
I
have
access
to
is
a
postal
scale,
and
the
United
States
Postal
Service
appears
only
to
comprehend
ounces.
Growth
since
last
check-in
has
been
due
to
various
candy
wrappers,
including
some
which
were
contributed
through
the
mail.
In
addition,
the
tin
from
a
tiny
pie,
the
lid
from
an
apple
juice
container,
and
some
foil
from
wrapping
some
food
item
(I
don't
recall
what
it
was)
have
added
to
the
bulk
of
the
ball.
I
attempted
to
add
the
aluminum
shutter
from
a
dead
diskette,
but
it
was
just
plain
too
thick.
The
aforementioned
items
work
just
fine,
though.
A
local
drug
store
has
Easter
candy
marked
down
to
half
price,
so
I
got
a
bag
each
of
kisses,
hugs
and
peanut
butter
cups.
March
25,
1997
I
haven't
bought
much
candy
lately,
but
I
have
received
some
donations.
Also,
a
friend
and
I
had
fajitas
for
lunch
last
week
and
the
tortillas
came
wrapped
in
squares
of
foil,
approximately
30
cm
on
a
side.
Guess
where
I
ate
last
night.
The
wrappers
were
more
difficult
to
peel
than
Andes
mints,
but
the
resultant
foil
is
similar.
Among
the
donations
are
the
foil
wrappers
from
chocolate
coins.
This
foil
is
thicker
than
most
foil
wrappers.
It
can
easily
be
flattened,
but
the
thickness
makes
it
impossible
to
put
on
the
ball
without
big,
thick
creases.
Of
course,
I
found
a
way
around
that.
I
tear
the
disks
into
strips
about
1cm
wide.
I
then
place
them
about
the
ball,
holding
them
on
with
strips
of
pattie
wrapper.
March
6,
1997
I
received
my
second
bit
of
feedback
about
the
ball
site
today!
Fortunately,
it
was
complimentary.
8)
The
writer
even
said
that
he
is
starting
his
own
ball
and
suggested
the
use
of
Trident
gum
packages.
The
candy
run
of
a
few
days
ago
has
resulted
in
growth
of
the
ball.
It
is
now
up
to
6oz,
a
50%
growth
since
I
began
recording
its
progress.
It
seems
that
I
am
getting
bigger
as
fast
as
than
the
ball
is.
8(
I
need
some
help
acquiring
raw
materials.
March
4,
1997
After
a
dry
spell,
a
friend
and
I
made
a
run
to
the
drug
store
where
I
got
a
bag
of
peanut
butter
cups,
a
bag
of
peppermint
patties
in
easter
pastel
pink,
blue,
and
silver
colors,
and
a
bag
of
Palmer
Easter
mix.
The
battery
in
the
postal
scale
at
work
is
running
down,
so
it's
a
challenge
to
get
a
reading
before
it
displays
"LO".
I
did
manage
to
get
the
reading
of
5.8oz,
however.
Also,
as
you
might
notice
from
the
growth
chart,
there
is
now
a
tenths
digit
for
diameter
measurements.
That
is
from
taking
one
or
more
circumference
measurements
and
dividing
by
pi.
It
isn't
exactly
scientific,
but
neither
is
holding
the
ball
up
against
a
ruler
and
eyeballing.
February
12,
1997
My
life-partner
has
been
collecting
foil
at
work
so
I
had
quite
a
haul
of
kiss
wrappers
to
add
to
the
ball.
It
has
gained
half
of
an
ounce
this
week!
At
this
size,
it
is
difficult
to
keep
small
wrappers
on
it
long
enough
to
put
a
glue
coat
on.
That
hasn't
stopped
me,
though.
8)
February
10,
1997
Whoa!
I've
found
at
least
part
of
why
my
density
computations
are
so
far
off!
I've
been
consistently
measuring
1
cm
too
large.
With
this
correction,
the
ball
has
"shrunk"
from
60mm
to
50mm.
Now,
the
density
comes
out
to
~1.95,
which
is
much
closer
to
2.7.
It
is
still
somewhat
less
than
expected,
but
not
as
abysmally
as
before.
I
corrected
it
in
the
chronicle
and
in
the
growth
chart.
The
ball
has
gained
a
few
tenths
of
an
ounce
since
its
last
weighing,
but
is
hasn't
increased
in
size.
That
is
because
I
whacked
it
with
a
hammer
this
weekend
to
further
harden
the
surface
and
to
try
to
round
it
up
a
bit.
It
is
still
not
perfectly
round
and
the
diameter
varies
by
a
millimeter
or
so,
depending
on
where
you
measure,
but
it
is
still
pretty
good.
Oh
yeah;
and
my
sweetie
procured
some
new
wrappers
this
weekend.
She
bought
a
bag
of
kisses
and
the
wrappers
are
making
their
way
into
her
basket.
February
6,
1997
There
was
yet
another
run
to
the
drug
store
today.
At
checkout,
it
was
noted
that
I
was
not
buying
anything
covered
in
foil,
so
I
grabbed
a
chocolate
covered
cherry.
February
3,
1997
Last
weekend,
my
life-partner
and
I
partook
of
Klondike
bars.
Of
course,
they
generate
foil-covered
wrappers.
They
are
a
bit
odd.
The
foil
can
be
peeled
from
the
rather
heavy
paper
backing,
but
it
is
quite
a
challenge
as
the
adhesive
is
strong
and
the
foil
is
very
thin
and
wrinkled.
What's
more
is
that
the
resulting
foil
doesn't
have
very
much
usable
adhesive
on
the
back.
Using
large
pieces,
and
not
being
too
terribly
aggressive
about
smoothing
it
out,
they
do
stick
on
for
the
most
part.
Of
course,
I
have
a
scan
of
the
result.
The
wrapper
is
held
closed
with
a
substance
which
is
reminicent
of
rubber-cement.
That
must
be
rubbed
off
of
the
surface
so
as
to
keep
contamination
of
the
purity
of
the
ball
to
a
minimum.
January
27,
1997
I
accompanied
a
colleague
on
a
pattie-run
this
morning.
While
there,
I
picked
up
a
bag
of
peanut
butter
cups.
Also,
since
Easter
is
approaching
(it's
only
2
months
away),
a
display
of
Cadbury
creme
eggs
caught
my
eye.
Yeah,
I
blew
$0.50
so
I
could
make
the
ball
red,
green,
and
blue.
I
happened
to
notice
something.
The
peanut
butter
cups
are
manufactured
by
H.
B.
Reese
Candy
Co.,
which
is
a
division
of
Hershey
Foods
Corporation;
the
same
people
who
make
York
peppermint
patties.
Even
the
Cadbury
creme
egg
was
made
for
Hershey
Chocolate
U.S.A.
under
license
from
Cadbury
Ltd.
I
have
yet
to
find
foil
wrapped
candy
that
is
not
involved
with
Hershey.
Not
that
I've
been
looking
terribly
hard,
mind
you.
It's
just
that
so
far,
I'm
4
for
4
(patties,
cups,
egg,
kisses).
January
23,
1997
The
ball
hasn't
grown
much
since
last
check-in
due
to
a
lack
of
raw
materials.
There
have
been
offerings
of
foil
from
a
candy
bar
and
a
few
peppermint
patties,
but
I
think
I'll
wait
until
I
have
more
to
slap
on
at
one
time.
We've
gotten
an
electronic
postage
scale
in
the
office.
It
reads
one
more
digit
of
precision,
so
we
now
have
a
weight
of
3.9oz.
I
have
done
the
math
to
compute
the
density
of
the
ball.
Curiously,
it
is
much
lower
than
that
of
solid
aluminum.
I
have
a
hard
time
believing
that
the
ball
is
less
than
half
aluminum
by
mass,
so
I
invite
you
to
let
me
know
if
there
are
any
errors
in
my
computations.
I
expected
that
the
density
would
be
less
than
that
of
solid
aluminum
because
of
the
small
amount
of
air
between
layers
of
foil,
the
adhesive,
coatings/inks,
and
small
quantities
of
chocolate,
grease,
and
other
leftovers
from
the
food
items
that
the
wrappers
were
originally
used
to
package.
I
wouldn't
have
been
too
surprised
by
a
5
or
even
10
percent
difference,
but
I
find
the
actual
results
obtained
a
little
difficult
to
believe.
Since
peppermint
patties
provide,
so
far,
the
best
material
for
a
"glue
coat",
I
wondered
if,
perhaps,
the
manufacturer
might
contribute
roll-ends
of
the
foil
to
the
ball.
Of
course,
the
up
side
for
them
would
be
positive
PR.
Unfortunately,
they
have
a
strict
policy
about
listening
to
ideas
from
outside
of
their
company,
so
I
can't
even
bounce
the
idea
off
of
them.
Of
course,
the
companies
that
actually
produce
aluminum
foil
are
probably
not
an
option,
since
they
would
probably
just
melt
their
scraps
down
to
make
more
product.
I
refuse
to
go
out
and
buy
a
roll
of
foil
just
to
put
it
onto
the
ball.
Besides,
using
household
aluminum
foil
tends
to
put
the
ball
out
of
round.
The
ball
has
respectable
heft
now.
It
weighs
about
4oz
according
to
our
postage
scale,
and
it
is
slightly
larger
than
a
golf
ball
at
a
diameter
of
48mm
(1.89").