Bubble wrap is no longer just a packaging material or child-restraint system. People have found plenty of uses for the stuff like making suits, bikinis (slightly NSFW, if you're a prude), and curtains. But now kids are competing to find the most inventive new use for everyone's favorite part of opening holiday presents.
Sealed Air Corp., the inventor of bubble wrap, has crunched its way through more than 1,400 entries from kids in 39 states to find 15 semifinalists in its second annual Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors contest. Each semifinalist gets a $500 savings bond (less exciting than a box of bubble wrap), and the winner gets a $10,000 bond (more exciting than a box of bubble wrap).
Let's review some of the entries, shall we?
- “Bubble Wrap® Car Door Cover," a removable protective covering for the doors of parked cars. - Interesting, but would make me want to hit the door even harder with my H2.
- “DNA Model," a three-dimensional model of a DNA double helix. - Manages to be the nerdiest one at a bubble wrap invention contest.
- “Medical Bubbles," - tiny bubbles used to dispense medicine slowly through the skin and avoid the pain of needles. - Disturbingly morbid. Keep a watch on cats in this kid's neighborhood.
So maybe I'm just bitter that my kid's entry, "Roll Yourself Down a Staircase Without Getting Hurt," was disqualified for being "impractical" and "needlessly violent." So what?
