Would you put a minkey in a snow globe?
To scare small children and people like me, that's why!
Got me thinking about the snow globe. Personally, I've never been a fan. I think I broke one when I was a kid and got in trouble for the big mess. Anyway, let's see what our Internets say about them...
At the end of the 19th century Erwin Perzy, a producer of
surgical instruments, invented the so-called Schneekugel (snow
globe) and got the first patent for it. Originally his goal was to develop an
extra bright lightsource for use as a surgical lamp. As he tried to intensify the candlepower of a so-called Schusterkugel (a
water filled flask used to focus light since the Middle Ages) with particles
made out of different materials for reflection purpose, the effect reminded him
of snowfall and it's said that by this he got the idea for a snow globe. He
then built his first actual globe with the basilica of Mariazell as a model in it. Because of
the great request for his snow globes, Perzy, along with his brother Ludwig
opened a shop in Vienna, where the production
continues until today as a family business. Today the globes get exported
throughout the world; the material out of which the "snow" is made is
handed down from generation to generation as a production secret (it should
float as long as possible in the water before sinking down).
In the United States, the
first snow globe-related patent was granted in 1927 to Joseph Garaja of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1929, Garaja convinced Novelty Pool Ornaments to
manufacture a fish version underwater.
In America, during the 1940s, snow globes were often used
for advertising. In Europe, during the 1940s and 1950s, religious snow globes
were common gifts for Catholic children. Snow globes have
appeared in a number of film scenes, the most famous of which is the opening of
the 1941 classic Citizen Kane.
Well, isn't that interesting? Strange that the Catholics put God in a snow globe. Guess anything to sell it to the little children...get 'em hooked early. Wonder what the Holy Spirit looked like in a snow globe? Creepier than the minkey, I'm thinking!
Hey, check out Mom-Jean:
I think Fiberglass-Blue is her color! Someone went boom-boom...
This is Jake, one of Mom-J's caretakers...well, he's more of an overseer.
Fun times!
Later.