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The World's Largest Balls

2009-04-15 · John · watch on YouTube · History & curiosities · curiosity idea

John, who once filled the first draft of Paper Towns with them, tours America's 'world's largest balls' (stamps, rubber bands, paint, barbed wire, popcorn, twine) with facts and jokes, ending with a letter to the ball of twine he cut from his novel.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; John's expertise in the world's largest balls from the first draft of Paper Towns; all of them are in the US

  • ★★ John says he is something of an expert on the world's largest balls because the first draft of Paper Towns was largely devoted to them; only a small vestige remains in the book. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns
  • ★★ John says that, to his knowledge, all of the world's largest balls are located in the United States. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · United States

00:00:41 — World's largest ball of stamps at Boys Town, Omaha

  • ★★ The world's largest ball of stamps is at Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska, made by the boys from the stamps on their mail: more than four million stamps. John has seen it; it was his first. — 00:00:41

00:01:10 — Joel's rubber band ball Megaton and the Aristotle quote on his MySpace

  • ★★ The world's largest rubber band ball, made by Joel Wall (as heard) in Florida, has more than 700,000 rubber bands weighing over 8,000 pounds and is named Megaton. — 00:01:10 · Florida
  • ★ John reads the Aristotle quote on Joel's MySpace (a clear goal, the means, adjust all means to that end) and adds a mock fourth precept: don't make that end a rubber band ball. (playful) — 00:01:10

00:01:45 — World's largest ball of paint in Alexandria, Indiana, by Michael Carmichael

  • ★★ The world's largest ball of paint is in Alexandria, Indiana: in 1977 Michael Carmichael began painting a baseball and kept painting it for 30 years, so it now has tens of thousands of coats. — 00:01:45 · Indiana

00:02:14 — Other balls: barbed wire, popcorn, the rival balls of twine; letter to the ball of twine; sign-off

  • ★★ John lists the world's largest balls of barbed wire (Texas), popcorn (Sac City, Iowa) and twine (Cawker City, Kansas), or, depending on shape, Branson, Missouri, Darwin, Minnesota, or Wisconsin. — 00:02:14
  • ★ John says he has seen all of those balls of twine, and the one in Darwin, Minnesota is the most impressively ball-like. (playful) — 00:02:14
  • ★★ Noting that two major balls of twine have mailboxes, John writes the ball of twine a letter: it says something interesting about America, but he couldn't figure out what, so he cut it from his novel. (playful) — 00:02:47

Humor (significant)

  • All of the world's largest balls are in the United States. — 00:00:41 > «It's almost like Americans are obsessed with exceptionalism. And balls.»
  • The boys of Boys Town made a ball of more than four million stamps. — 00:01:10 > «what you can accomplish if you're bored And orphaned.»
  • After reading Aristotle's three precepts from Joel's MySpace. — 00:01:45 > «fourth, don't make that end a rubber band ball.»
  • John writes a letter to the ball of twine that nearly made it into his novel. — 00:02:47 > «so I cut you out of my novel. Best wishes, John.»

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