Growing Up
I was thinking of getting a couch or something for my room, somewhere for guests to lounge around.
Fuck new couches. I now have a ball pit in my room.
I talked a little bit to Mike Machenry, who built a ball pit last year after reading my comic about it. The big problem with ball pits is that they’re expensive. Filling a room costs on the order of $4000, give or take. You can use this calculator (set up by relsqui of #xkcd) to find the cost for a given room. I’d use 64% for the packing efficiency — that’s about what I’ve found.
So given the expense, I didn’t fill my whole room — just an area the size of the bed, to a depth of a couple feet — and even that cost as much as a reasonable couch. The cost was as high as it was largely because Mike strongly recommended crush-proof balls, which allows for a lot more roughhousing but cost about twice as much as regular ones on eBay.
But it was totally worth it. After seeing how much fun it is to lounge around in it, we’ve decided to get together and build a larger one in the living room and throw parties there (though we want to solve the cleaning problem first in a scalable way). The day we put it up, we spent probably twelve hours, on and off, lounging around throwing plastic balls at each other. It’s totally worth it, and everyone’s excited about expanding it. It’s wonderful to be able to wake up and roll sideways, blanket and all, into a ball pit, and sink slowly down to the bottom. I’ve padded it with pillows and blankets to make it more fun to, uhh, wallow, or whatever the appropriate verb is for ball pits.
And before you jump to comment — over the last 24 hours we’ve completely exhausted all the balls-related innuendo, so you needn’t bother.
Here are some more pictures:
Abby, on the left, descends slowly into the balls. We never did find her again.
As Mike discovered, you can sort the balls pretty quickly by throwing only certain colors away from yourself.
Everyone I know seems to use Fujitsu Lifebooks. <3 ultraportables.
To the above situation, we can only say:
November 19th, 2007 at 4:06 am
I am in awe. I can’t imagine acting out the last frame of that comic IRL.
Wow.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:16 am
OMG!
I have been waiting for this blog post for 24 hours. ;_;
That is amazing.
I obviously don’t have the right type of friends… the type who make ball pits in their houses… and then throw parties with them. :(
Have fun!
November 19th, 2007 at 4:23 am
On the cleaning note, go to an army/navy surplus store and pick up a large net. Spread net under ball pit. When you’re done with the pit, just net it up, shake out the loose change and clean up. =] err, also something about ???? profit! apparently…
This is in theory. I haven’t actually tried it, as I do not have a ball pit of my own.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Oh my god, I never actually thought you’d do that. Pretty damn cool though. I’m wondering if I shouldn’t raise a fund with my friends to do that ourselves, now.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Wow. That’s just…wow.
I really wish I had friends like yours.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Words cannot describe how awesome this is. Kudos to you!
November 19th, 2007 at 4:37 am
I sure hope those pictures aren’t chronological, or you’ve just struck a blow to the laws of thermodynamics.
I notice in the third picture the balls are segregated into their separate colors. Then things revert to their initial disorder.
Or maybe one of you was playing the part of Maxwell’s demon?
November 19th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Awesome. You totally rock! I seriously want to do this now. I live in a house with 7 other people, and it would totally make our hang out place more awesome than it already is!
November 19th, 2007 at 4:58 am
[…] Read the rest of this great post here […]
November 19th, 2007 at 5:06 am
There are special machines for cleaning ball pit balls.
Here’s an example: http://www.gnwco.com/washer.html
Offered without any recommendation - I have never used one.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:43 am
It strikes me that Google should do this somewhere on their campus (if they haven’t already…?) It would fit their whole motif pretty well :)
November 19th, 2007 at 5:44 am
You rock!
November 19th, 2007 at 5:53 am
I once worked at a place that had a ball pit. To clean them, all you need to do is buy several large net bags. Gather all the balls in the bads, hang them up somewhere, and douse them in disinfectant. Then you can hose them down and whatnot.
Come to think of it, at my job we usually just hosed them down. I wonder how much disease we spreaded…
November 19th, 2007 at 6:42 am
You, dear sir, live the life of my dreams.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:57 am
You have to let us know what sex is like in a ball pit if you ever get around to it…
November 19th, 2007 at 7:24 am
[…] more at xkcd If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to the About:Blank RSS feed! Posted on November 19th, 2007 by Jase Filed under: Oddness, Humour […]
November 19th, 2007 at 8:19 am
[…] Adult-Sized Ball Pit Jump to Comments The creator of XKCD, my favorite webcomic, is officially living my dream. […]
November 19th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Right, the only thing I wondered after seeing this, what is like to have sex in a ball pit.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I’m wondering about the laptop use. Do the balls manage to provide a more-or-less solid surface, so you don’t have to keep lifting your computer up to the top? And does the fact that there’s so much empty space make for good ventilation? I know there are some surfaces on which I just can’t set my computer or it gets very angry.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:01 am
[…] relativamente recente aquisição da mesa de jantar. Mas hoje percebi que ainda falta uma coisa: a piscina de bolinhas. Aparentemente, este cara foi o primeiro a ter coragem de implementar a idéia do quadrinho. I […]
November 19th, 2007 at 9:10 am
[…] a ball pool. Man, remember good ol’ Chuck e’ Cheese? Well, Mr. The Man from XKCD has gone and built himself one in the comfort of his own home. In place of a couch he’s sectioned off a corner of the room […]
November 19th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Make it ultra portable, put it all inside a beanbag shell/rope net so you can hook and hang it anywhere and have a mid-air ballpen :D
Must get a job just for awesomeness like this!
November 19th, 2007 at 9:14 am
this is the coolest thing ever.
will marry for ball-pit… :)
November 19th, 2007 at 9:24 am
OMG I love it O.O
November 19th, 2007 at 10:09 am
What Fujitsu Lifebook model do you have?
November 19th, 2007 at 10:34 am
We have a ball pit at our studio. After we made it we found the XKCD comic. We’re glad someone else understands why we made it. It was definitely expensive. A small group of us started it, but after people saw how awesome it was, we were getting donations from all kinds of people.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-eaprank1307sep13,0,3952826.story
November 19th, 2007 at 10:35 am
@Charlie: Google has a ballpit, really, http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2007/02/nooglers-view-of-google.html
November 19th, 2007 at 10:49 am
[…] This is made of absolute win. […]
November 19th, 2007 at 10:56 am
That kind of instantly made me think of the last http://machall.com/ Machall comic. :)
November 19th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Seconding Rachael’s suggestion about the bags. I worked at McDonalds for two years, and cleaning the ball pit was a weekly task that involved bagging up all of the balls in big mesh bags and sending them through the industrial-sized dishwasher. The balls were then hung up in the back room overnight to dry off so that the morning staff could dump them back in. You get to keep all of the band-aids and nickels that you find.
As an aside, one of the best parts about doing this was dealing with the kids who wanted to play in it while it was being emptied. All you had to do was let them know that there are snakes and alligators at the bottom, and they cleared right out.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Such a great freaking idea. Awesome.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Maybe you could rent a dry ice cleaning machine, and just clean the balls in place (probably not worth it for a small amount, but for a whole room… Link)
November 19th, 2007 at 11:22 am
You’re living the geek dream.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Now I’m seriously considering the feasibility of my own ball pit. I suppose if one splits the cost between one’s housemates, as you might with a washing machine, it’s fairly reasonable. I think the only thing preventing it in my house is that there’s no space. Well, that and the fact that my housemates are permanently skint.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I was thinking of sending this to my sister, but the swearing content would offend her.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
What swearing content? “WTF?” I don’t see any other words that could offend anyone. She would probably get a kick out of the people having fun!
November 19th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I wish I had crush-proof balls.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I’m glad to see one of your compatriots doing his bit for the beret look.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
this might be the first post including photos of you
Oh god how I would love a ball pit, now this is something nobody expects
November 19th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Very cool! I had no idea balls were this expensive, though. Maybe XKCD readers can group and buy them in bulk..
November 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Total coincidence, we did the same this weekend for a party (http://sinterklaas2007.ca). Some pictures here: http://jaapsuter.com/ballpit
November 19th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
@Creature: if you look closely, you can see a wee Tux embroidered on it.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Are these people serious? How about instead of a ball pit they spend the money on a handgun and ammunition, then take turns placing it against their heads and pulling the trigger. WTF is right.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Let’s just hope you have fewer incidences of pink eye and e.coli than the ball rooms at McDonald’s. :)
November 19th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Kim — the second sentence begins with the word “Fuck”. It doesn’t bother me, but it would bother her. I think sometimes people forget that there is a large proportion of the U.S. for whom such words still have meaning.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Re the cleaning problem:
Net, hose, soap.
Then have a ball pit foam party!
November 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Randall, it looks great! I am jealous that you can actually roll out of your bed into yours. Mine is under the lofted bed so rolling out of bed at all is highly discouraged.
This makes me wonder now. Do you think Somerville, MA now has the highest private ball pit per capita of any town in the country? We should start some kind of registry so we can see where all the ball pits are. That’d be fun.
-mike
November 19th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Google does have a ballpit on campus, and one night a friend of mine and I sorted it in exactly the way you described above. Pics here. It took about half an hour and we conclusively determined that the distribution of colors in the Google ball pit does not match the distribution of colors in the google logo.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to make my own ball pit, and I can’t seem to figure out why. Too bad the cost is so high.
Obviously Derek up there killed his inner child in a very violent manner. Poor guy.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
You guys see this ball pit at EA Tiburon?
November 19th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Hmmm. Much like bikini clad car washing… Bikini clad.. ball pit ball washing?
November 19th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
You know, I tried to convince a few people to do this for their sophomore year of college dorm room. We had plans for a slide that would fall down into a ball pit, and we got to the point where we seriously looked into the pricing. That’s when we decided not to do it. :/
Other crazy plans I wanted to do at the time were a sky-pool (literally putting a little kiddie pool on the top bunk of a set of bunked beds — we ended up literally doing this with couches in a couple rooms, and I ended up sleeping on one of the sky-couches once!), some kind of a hot-tub-esque thing to work with a laptop in, and some other crazy things. I miss those days sometimes!
November 19th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
If only there were a way to turn off the gravity within your pit-space.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
> you can sort the balls pretty quickly by throwing only certain colors away from yourself
better than O(n log n)? Is that what she found?
November 19th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
If I ever become a mega-bajillionaire, I want a mansion with a grand ballroom… filled with these crush-proof balls.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Awesome! Any idea if the crushproof balls are available in Canada?
November 19th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
[…] Well, Randal Munroe (the genius behind XKCD) recently decided to get a ball pit instead of a new couch. […]
November 19th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
> > you can sort the balls pretty quickly by throwing only certain colors away from yourself
> better than O(n log n)? Is that what she found?
Actually this is kind of a degenerate case of bucket sort where the items in the initial bucketing are indistinguishable. Sorting playpen balls by color is actually O(n).
-mike
November 19th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I know I’m technically a minor.
But i’m in love with you. (Not in a creepy “oh my god i’m going to google map your house (though it probably wouldn’t be effective anyway since you have all the raptor protection anyway…but i digress)”
Your blag/comics make me giggle. Just thought you should know?
Good day to you, sir.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
That looks fun, but I would worry about squishing my cat and having such a large and suitable spider habitat directly beside my bed.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
[…] I’m sorry to say, however, that no matter how nice our bedroom looks (and it’s much better than it used to be!) it has nothing on this. […]
November 19th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
i wonder what sex in a ball pit would be like.
it would be on the lookout for chuck-e-cheese constantly.
that might either:
a) ruin the fun
b) make it awesome.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
You need one of those pool-side bars, like in Cancun
November 19th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
In the last picture, you can see a window over the ball pit. I wonder what people will think when they see the pit through there, if they can. Info on placement, perhaps?
November 19th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
If you throw a party, do we all get invited??
I wants a ball pit now o___o
November 19th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Coolest thing ever. I still think Steve should have invited me along :P
November 19th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
[…] about getting a new couch, but xkcd makes a compelling argument for an alternative. How about a ball pit instead of a couch? And: Another reason I love the interwebs. […]
November 19th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
List of things I must do before I die (in no particular order):
[…]
3792. Obtain copy of BLUE BIRD “HARDERGROUND REMIX” by Ayumi Hamasaki
3793. Throw dance party with Miki and anyone else I can round up
3794. Tell stepmother to go jump in a lake
3795. Install large ball pit in bedroom
3796. Throw party in said ball pit
November 19th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
How much did this cost? I totally really really want one now, but I’d like to know how much it actually *cost* before I get my hopes up.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
to clean them , just put them in a dish washer and unload it into a washbasket. a wahing machine might work. or just dump vodka all over them (its anti-bacterial!)
November 20th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Nice use of screen-message on the last two laptops! It’s one of my favorite packages - thanks to Debian package of the day.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:06 am
This is a singular gravity well of awesomeness. And crumbs.
To the person (Lena) suggesting that this is the first post with Randall’s picture in it, I guess that is technically true, but the link off of the blog for the kite flying page had a picture, if I recall correctly.
In any case, Mr. Munroe, thank you for sharing your life with us.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:12 am
Sales of Fujitsu ultraportables just increased by 416%
November 20th, 2007 at 1:40 am
Wow. The sheer awesomeness of that is … dumbfounding. There are not words for the coolness!
November 20th, 2007 at 1:49 am
@WPI Guy: I didn’t use screen-message - just Open Office. Thanks for the tip, though - I’ve been looking for something like it (Debian package “sm”).
November 20th, 2007 at 2:17 am
If balls are too expensive, consider packing peanuts. Waaay more comfy! Best bath I ever took.
http://tinyurl.com/22sfe8
November 20th, 2007 at 7:03 am
you’re my hero on so many levels.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:04 am
you’re my hero on so many levels
November 20th, 2007 at 8:18 am
“The cost was as high as it was largely because Mike strongly recommended crush-proof balls, which allows for a lot more roughhousing but cost about twice as much as regular ones on eBay.”
You bought them on ebay? You’re lucky you didn’t receive bobcats instead.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I loved the original comic and I love THIS!
November 20th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Irony of Ironies! I just did this myself not too long ago.
I went with the cheap balls on ebay though. I made a 12 long, 4 wide, 3 high pen. I’ll take some pics later and throw them up online.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
OMG !!! As said above, you are living my dream life. I should hate you, but cannot, due to admiration of pure genius and a few remaining bits of ethics. And because you may give me the Jabber address of the very cute Mistress in the fourth picture. If you do not, I will hate you.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Do you think my school would get upset if I used radio funds to turn the station into a giant broadcasting ball pit?
I really don’t think the DJ’s would mind at all.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Truly awesome.
As a side-note, Firefox 3 does indeed eliminate the long alt-text problem.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
It DOES seem to have advantages over couches, which must be cut in half before they can be fit into the desired room.
November 20th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Say, why is it that every time I see a picture of you you’re wearing a green shirt?
I guess I just notice random things like that. Now I’m trying to get my parents to buy balls for me (please, the jokes will get old really fast)
November 20th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
how about going a little nuts and tell your friend to take his beret off.
November 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
“I would worry about…having such a large and suitable spider habitat directly beside my bed.”
You’ve ruined for me. I will never look at a ball pit the same way again…
November 20th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
It’s funny, but it’s kind of a waste of money…
November 20th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
[…] Link to blog post (with photos of ball pit!) […]
November 20th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Must…have. As usual, the much-used “Stop reading my mind…” comes into play. Followed shortly by “never stop.”
As usual, thanks for the ideas, implementations and content.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:26 am
@Else: Yeah, a bobcat-pit just isn’t the same.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:17 am
[…] …go for a ball pit. That’s what Randall Munroe of xkcd did. I wonder if I can convince my son this is what he wants instead of a fire truck motif for his room. […]
November 21st, 2007 at 4:22 am
One of my fondest memories is the time I actually had the opportunity to have free reign over the pit full of foam cubes at my brother’s gymnastics class. Oh, how heavenly that was. You should look into it.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:33 am
please make a comic about the Bandai Playdia!
November 21st, 2007 at 4:47 am
epicureanbutterfly, you just proved rule #34. :D
November 21st, 2007 at 5:23 am
You are my hero, Mr. Munroe.
November 21st, 2007 at 6:03 am
[…] reading about this ultimate bit of cool geekery, I read with amazement that you can get a machine to wash your […]
November 21st, 2007 at 6:03 am
[…] reading about this ultimate bit of cool geekery, I read with amazement that you can get a machine to wash your […]
November 21st, 2007 at 6:46 am
Argh, you lucky person. I’m filled with jealousy.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:14 am
a) my girlfriend threw her birthday party at a fun house with a large pit like this one AND an inflatable slide (no pool though), so I DO have the right kind of friends :P. I’m sure she’d envy you to her death for having one of those in your room. Hmm… I think I got an idea for her next birthday…
b) The No Velociraptors girl is cute :)
November 21st, 2007 at 1:52 pm
[…] xkcd ball pit Social bookmark this Filed under: I think not — […]
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:19 am
[…] a friend recently linked this on her blog and it made me wonder. Just what weird and wonderful stuff would I do with a […]
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:11 am
So, how many balls you have in the pit?
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:38 pm
0.0
Wow!!!!
My Dream!! \o/
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
That is so damn cool!
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Oooooh, I’ve thought about this for years… Wonderful!
I think I must do this myself now…
;-)))))
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Do Want!…
ZOMG!! do want!…
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:29 pm
LOL
Dude!!!
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:45 pm
what happened to you randall?
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:16 am
Hehe. Every time you guys do something like this, I say to myself “I wish I had friends that cool.”
I will probably never be able to find friends that cool, but I’m probably not cool enough to deserve them either. ;)
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:53 am
If somebody here doesn’t buy this
http://cgi.ebay.com/Southpaw-crash-Ball-pit-with-floor-mat-and-3500-balls_W0QQitemZ230192214243QQihZ013QQcategoryZ145996QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I will be completely disappointed.
It’s spendy but sooo perfect
Also, this all inspired the best unintentionally suggestive comment I’ve made in a long time, “how do you know I’d let you in my ball pit?”
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:38 am
completely unrelated: http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/raptorkitteni128389415799062500.jpg
i love your balls, btw:)
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:41 am
you=win.
what was the cost on the non-ball components of the ball pit?
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:07 pm
@xxv
Glad to see you’re having fun in Boston, Steve.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:35 pm
[…] doesn’t want a ball pit in their living room? Who, I ask […]
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:53 pm
How dare you not use the best punctuation mark ever, sir! NOOOO, you used “!?!”, when “?” would have worked perfectly!
November 24th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Paul Says:
“I am in awe. I can?t imagine acting out the last frame of that comic IRL.”
…I can. :D
This has brought a substancial ray of sunshine to my day. ^_^
November 24th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
To clean them, try calling up local kids places and see how they clean and if they’ll let you use their washing machine.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Wow, nice. The second to last picture is obviously ’shopped though, the reflections are all wrong.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
theres only one responce to that, sir *walks off, get hat, puts hat on, comes back, doths hat to you* you are a genius^_^
November 25th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Um… How do I put this? Now, look. I’m as geeky as the next guy. My bachelors in in engineering. I do math just for fun. Thermodynamics was my favorite class. I’m making a Penrose tiling mural on a wall of my house, ’cause everyone else tiles periodically. OK? So those are my geek bonafides.
Having said that, and since xkcd is also about romance and the bigger things in life, don’t any of you aspire to anything serious? I mean I appreciate the goof-off potential of a ball pit, but it seems much less comfortable than a couch and much higher maintenance. Anyway, I get the impression that no one here is involved in the serious work of either a marriage or raising kids, which is to say you’ve all got way too much free time.
The comic is very smart, but the throngs of adoring hangers-on, um…
Carry on…
November 25th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Albert: Clearly you didn’t see the comic where the ballpit idea first came up - it’s a discussion on that very topic.
November 25th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Albert: The serious work of either a marriage or raising kids?
The marriage is a distinct possibility regarding the ball-pit comic.
The kids would love a ball-pit.
The initial usage of the ball pit as per the comic certainly could result in kids.
Regarding free time: Of course there is copious free time. If you don’t have such amounts of free time, why have you arranged your life that way? From the tone of your comment, it seems that you think those things that are not practical or “serious” are not worthwhile. In my experience, it is precisely those things that are most precious.
Sure, they aren’t what “grown-ups” do, but that is precisely the point of the comic: “Because we’re grown-ups now, and it’s our turn to decide what that means.” As long as the basic necessities of life are not being neglected (income/sanitation/hygiene/nutrition/etc), then this _is_ the “serious work” of life.
Examples of things that I group in with ball-pits: An afternoon couching. An evening fire with dry ice and water-filled bottles. Fancy dress for a no-occasion dinner out. Snow forts/Igloos. Ticklefights. Lego nights. Dress-up parties. Strange-food dinner (eg. peanut butter pizza). Impromptu public plays. The Meetup [http://blag.xkcd.com/2007/10/01/the-meetup/].
The reason this resonates so intensely with such a large number of people is precisely because it involves the kind of life-definition that seems sadly lacking in the archtypes laid out for us as life-models.
Then again, maybe I’m just baised. My parents were a musician and an artist, and they did what they loved throughout their lives, and managed to raise children while doing so. They didn’t make the kind of sacrifice that it seems is being implied. I’ve also seen what I feel is the near-inevitable end result of self-sacrifice in the name of “maturity”: People who are burnt-out, inactive, have routines and habits set in stone, and really do not take joy from life.
I know which life I want. I think that this idea symbolizes the choice of favoring strangeness and joy over practicality and seriousness.
November 25th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Neuffy: I grok that, and it’s entirely possible that my stick-in-the-mudness has entirely to do with a gnarly week of too little free time and some hideous unpreventable badness befalling some friends.
I will chill for a few days and ponder this again.
(But I’d still like to hear how many of the commenters have a family.)
November 26th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Oh jeez. I totally understand the whole busy week thing. I actually feel like a bit of a hypocrite since my life has been work-work-work-what-do-you-mean-play for some time now. Seeing as how I’m coming up on finals in rather a heavy genetics program though, it’s something I truly intend to be temporary.
I’m engaged (proposed this summer on the top level of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London while the noon bells rang - God, I’m still giddy about it) so I guess while I don’t fall into the “with-kids” family category, I’ll certainly be getting married and am in an essentially permanent relationship. You’re probably right though, as I’d guess the average age of comment-posters is rather low, and virtually all are not married/don’t have kids.
And, ah, commiserations regarding your friends.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:19 am
Proper respect! I was wondering when this would go up, and then just…didn’t check for a while. Oh well.
November 26th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Neuffy: Congrats. I wish you both much happiness. I’m going to take my dentures out now, put on a fresh pair of Depends and hit the sack!
November 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Married with kid (and another on the way). I think Neuffy has the right of it, there is a terrible trap in becoming too grown-up to have fun. It should be possible to do silly things and still pay your bills and have kids that don’t turn into criminals or politicians.
Totally unrelated, the Captcha text for my post was ‘are delicious’. I keep having to resist the urge to start that sentence and totally confuse the lot of you.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I once got to dive into a pool size pit filled completely with that squishy, fuzzy, itchy styrofoam like material(that’s the best I got) from of a diving board. Yeah, it had a diving board. It was also paded around the edges.
November 26th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
“I obviously don’t have the right type of friends… the type who make ball pits in their houses… and then throw parties with them. :(”
LOL I feel the same
November 26th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
I’m shock by the lack of “balls” jokes on this forum.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
shock –> shocked
I’m still *shocked*, B.T.W.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
For those who need a higher purpose to all this:
read this site.
http://www.reversibledestiny.org/home.php
It’s about architecture that offers physical and intellectual challenges as
a way to live longer and retain more of your mental and physical faculties longer.
Ball pits fit the bill. Ball pits are a path to immortality. For the nonbelievers, it’s flat monochromatic floors and an early grave…
November 27th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Haha! I was thinking of throwing my lounge out and getting pillows but then a friend sent me this URL and now I’m thinking nothing but BALLS!!!
November 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
best paris hilton sex tape video ever sss…
Paris Exposed - Paris Hilton Sex Tape Video…
November 27th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
So who’s the lovely lady with glasses?
November 28th, 2007 at 1:32 am
Try the Asus Eee PC if you want *ultra* portable!
November 28th, 2007 at 3:04 am
ThemePark: sorry what did i say again? i can’t seem to find any posts i may have made :)
November 28th, 2007 at 3:22 am
[…] is already ahead of me on the adult size ball pit… a recent post on xkcd’s blog/blag explains how he put together a nice ball pit with tips and tools for those wishing to try to create […]
November 28th, 2007 at 11:39 am
epicureanbutterfly, it was a link to a Youtube video, enough said. :P
November 28th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
[…] Any ideas of how I would sell this to my significant other? Filed under: personal — dhoogfr @ 17:02 http://blag.xkcd.com/2007/11/19/growing-up/ […]
November 28th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Love those balls! They bring back happy memories of my youth, and birthdays at Chuck ‘E Cheese’s. Good for you! :)
P.S. Been a long-time reader/fan. Keep up the good work.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I’m an SDET at Zillow, and I looked into building a pit in one of our office common spaces. The space I had envisioned for the ball pit would have put the cost around $1000. The funny thing is that most of that cost is in shipping. Who would have thought that the expense would have been in shipping something that is mostly air. We don’t have our ball pit yet, but I still dream.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Do you remember those little toy cars that you pull backwards on the ground and when you let them go they speed away.
The place I worked over the summer had linoleum floors in the corridor.
Every morning I spent the first twenty minutes, at least, daydreaming about little toy car races.
I’m still undergrad though, couldn’t go doing that..
Anyways your ball pit reminded me of that. Congratulations on being you.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Gotta go with Adam’s comment November 26th, 2007 at 11:04 pm : someone posts something about “crush-proof balls” and only ONE GUY makes a joke about it?!? I mean COME ON! Are we not MEN?!? By the end of the week I wanna see at least two-dozen jokes along the lines of “every guy needs crush-proof balls”. Go.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
jeszjesz, I think that is due to this:
“And before you jump to comment ? over the last 24 hours we?ve completely exhausted all the balls-related innuendo, so you needn?t bother.”
November 29th, 2007 at 1:08 am
I read your comic a while back and decided I wanted to do the same thing. However, since I am but a poor college student, I chose to fill my tiny little apartment with beach balls instead. I found them on sale after the summer season and loaded up for only a moderate amount of moolah.
Thanks for the inspiration!!
November 29th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
@xxv
Hey Steve!
Why does it not surprise me that:
A) You’re friends with the author of this fine comic
B) That you played in a giant adult ball pit
Nice newer lifebook, how do you like it? The last time I saw you I think you were stil using your classic one. IM me sometime.
November 29th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Albert:
Married, 1 17-month old. Not a regular commenter, but frequent lurker. And the ball-pit is pure win. Even better for the family-man. Not only do you enhance your geek-cred, your kid has the coolest house in the neighborhood. which may not enhance their geekiness, come to think of it, but that’s what the klingon after-school program is for.
.
.
.
j/k. about the klingon.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Some friends of mine created a “funball” pit in their dorm room when I was in college. (Sound familiar? ) They solved the cleaning problem pretty easily: dorm washing machines. Works surprisingly well, just don’t put them in the dryer.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:01 am
I love you.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
You know, at first I felt sad for this, in the “I live a dull life” sad, but then I realized it’s not true! I mean, I do carry a pocket microscope in my koala bag to look at insects, my skin, rice grains from my food, and anything that catches my fancy! I’m not a lost case :D
November 30th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Bravo.
I am jealous.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
That is friggin sweet! You should go all the way and fill a gymnasium.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
So Cool! Too bad it’s a bit pricey, or else I’d have a few less free square meters in my room by next week.
And to the people who ask ‘Why?’ or just don’t like it… *points* It’s a frikkin ball pit! In his room! How’s that *not* to like? I can’t actually find any reasons *not* to build one myself, apart from the financial and logistical ones.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
And an addition: I did a bit of research, and it seems we can get 500 new 6-cm balls (about 2.3 inches) for E68 over here (=Netherlands). If they’re a bit sturdy, I think I’m gonna buy three packs; that should be enough to get myself my own bed-sized ball-pit. Just mailed the seller; I hope the balls are the crush-proof variant.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Damn, he Rickrolled us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 1st, 2007 at 1:02 am
Easiest way to clean = mesh bags or a large waterproof net:
1. Buy a moderate size kiddie pool
2. Fill with cleaning fluid and water
3. Net/Bag balls and dunk/shake to clean
4. Hose off or dunk in a rinse pool to rinse off
5. No clue how to dry them …maybe a bunch of blow dryers attached to a garage door frame facing inward (like a DIY end of the car wash); hang the bags/net to dry the balls
6. Replace in room
Nicely done, the ball pit is awesome.
I also like the metal cube pieces to keep it all in place. Being that I have a bunch of those at college and there is nothing in the code of conduct about ball pits…..
December 1st, 2007 at 5:13 am
You made hackaday!
http://www.hackaday.com/2007/11/30/friday-i-want-a-ball-pit-extra/
Also, you just need some large diamater hose of some type and rig up a vaccum on it so you can suck all the balls out and deposit them into a net; once you’ve done this you can then follow any of the other cleaning ideas. Cause I think getting the balls into the net is very time consuming.
December 1st, 2007 at 10:25 am
hm. i want to have sex in it. please?
December 1st, 2007 at 1:32 pm
This made me understand what exactly “warm and fuzzy inside” means.
You are a great person.
December 1st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Why do you need a vacuum to get the balls in a net? Just line the pen with one!
December 1st, 2007 at 3:39 pm
[…] Odd fact of the day: not only does Russell Munroe write an awesome webcomic, he also has a ballpit in his living room. […]
December 1st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Ok, I’m jealous. That is by far, the coolest thing that I have ever seen done inside of a house. How many balls are there?
December 1st, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Respectfully Sis Should learn to overlook the small stuff or she will miss out on a lot of life. Gettin it on with a fine lady in the pit sounds fun, but I really doubt others would want to be the next to enter the pit, afterwards. I wouldn’t. Anyway a far out project
December 1st, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Nice to see another group of people with a ball pit. Six months ago, some of of us at EA Tiburon pooled upwards of $2,000 to buy around 170 packs of 100 balls, selling out every Toys-R-Us in the area every week for around four weeks. The end result was turning a table-enclosed space in one of our conference rooms into a ball pit.
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKXZdqL3tk
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCUF8yRSW-U
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:46 am
static: Hence the necessity of easy-to-perform ball cleaning mechanisms.
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:22 am
To pay for the ball costs, charge a cover fee for the first few ball pit parties.
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:45 am
Just wondering: how much do those balls weigh? One day, I would like to make a 3-story pit leading to a secret lair. I am wondering if it would be crushing pressure by the end… :/
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:55 am
[…] Growing Up: I was thinking of getting a couch or something for my room, somewhere for guests to lounge around. […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:56 am
so jealous!!!
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:05 am
i could only imagine how much stuff you could lost had you dropped it into your ball pit…
you’d be trying to find your car keys for WEEKS.
…totally worth it, tho.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:06 am
and i didn’t appreciate the rickrolling, either! ; ___ ;
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:29 pm
[…] are the acoustic qualities of a room full of plastic balls? Almost ideal situation for those Sehring wall-mounted flat […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[…] into a ball pit. Then one of his fans did it for real. And so, now, has Greg. Link to his blog. From […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:17 pm
[…] Jump to Comments I love this comic, but this…this is just […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Ohhhh, you.
You’ve modded my feelings and h4×0red my heart.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:56 pm
this site is very beautiful and interesting site. i liked it www.kaplicam.net www.shipshaq.com
December 4th, 2007 at 12:13 am
[…] It’s been done. […]
December 4th, 2007 at 2:29 am
[…] guess some people were up for a surf! Some cool photos in the Irish Times and on BBC today from the monster waves hitting the West coast over the […]
December 4th, 2007 at 3:34 am
[…] XKCD has already done this. […]
December 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am
[…] the 5-year old trapped in your adult friend’s body, why not get him or her a ball pit? Randall Munroe at XKCD blogged about his experience creating a pit in his living room, inspired by […]
December 4th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
352 is PERFECT.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Ball Pit!? Awesome!
*ponders* I wonder if my fiance will let me have a ball pit… Hmmm.
I’ve always loved that comic it’s one of my favourites (on a related note the current *hug* comic is especially applicable to my current state of affairs).
December 5th, 2007 at 2:10 am
If you made a minimalist Python shirt in your characteristic style, I would totally buy it.
December 5th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Me, too.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Get on the Ruby crack-train. I hear Python is more popular with pedantic minds, but Ruby is both beautiful, flexible, crazy, and not white-space dependent.
class Foo
def bar
[1,3,3,7]
end
end
Foo.new.bar.join
Lots of very cool projects in Ruby, too.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Ray: the balls weigh almost nothing, 3 stories would probably not create any crushing-problems. But climbing up again in the ball-pit might be hard! Anyway, a secret underball-lair is a great idea!
Sprite_tm: you need about 4000 6cm balls for one m^3. You can get them cheaper on ebay, I just got 500 for under 25 euro, shipping included (and they can be squeezed in a box of 50cm^3). I was a bit lucky, but 1000 for 50,- excl. shipping (from germany) should be no problem at all. They are rather crush-proof (you can stand on them) and very pretty (translucent!).
December 6th, 2007 at 7:08 am
import sys
import CGIHTTPServer
import BaseHTTPServer
# Use supplied port
if sys.argv[1:] :
port = int(sys.argv[1])
else :
port = 8008
addr = (”,port)
handler = CGIHTTPServer.CGIHTTPRequestHandler
httpd = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer(addr, handler)
sa = httpd.socket.getsockname()
print “Serving HTTP on”, sa[0], “port”, sa[1], “…”
httpd.serve_forever()
# Can you believe this is a webserver?
December 6th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Congratulations! XKCD is raptor proof!
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=xkcd&word2=velociraptors
December 6th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Well dose that mean that we need to worry about Batman?
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=xkcd&word2=batman
December 7th, 2007 at 3:06 am
Well damn! I -must- have one of my own.
Or, just find where you live and mooch! ^_^
I love how most of the comics turn into some form of a trend.
<3
December 7th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Now all you need is the firepole, and you will have brought essence to dreams of my circle of friends from college.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Y’know I love this comic and all, hell I quote it daily, but I have had the saddening feeling for the last couple of weeks that it’s “jumped the shark” so to speak. there just doesn’t seem to be that same kind of, well, whatever is (was) that makes the xkcd comics so special. Randall, I some how get the impression that you’ve run out of material and are trying too hard to come up with ‘funny’. Perhaps my standards are too high but thats just what i think.
Thank for the great comic, it’s brought me and my friends much happiness over its run, but i don’t think i’ll be popping in quite so often from now on.
Adios
December 7th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I’d love to do that someday… but it just doesn’t seems to sound as comfy as a nice, puffy couch.
Plus you can get free furniture from craigslist in my area.
December 8th, 2007 at 4:45 am
I could use some of those ‘crush-proof balls’ for my dirt-bike…
December 8th, 2007 at 8:05 am
just run them through the dishwasher in several loads on a low temperature after parties. it’s kind of labor intensive but what the hell, it’s a ball pit party right?
December 9th, 2007 at 4:07 am
[…] the strip above isn’t exactly my most favorite strip. but after seeing this blog entry, i had to post that strip. if in case you were too lazy to read the blog entry, the author of the […]
December 9th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
comic #354?
i do the exact same thing.
only it’s like “….FIVE fingers!”
._____.
December 9th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Re #354, I used my automated money dispenser to transfer some virtual credits to the account of my global hand-held voice-and-text transceiver. This IS the future.
(I topped up my pay-as-you-go mobile via an ATM)
December 9th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Is it just me or is the search function searching a much smaller number of comics?
December 10th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I didn’t realise I had this (http://www.gnwco.com/washer.html) site open, so imagine my surprise as I’m closing windows until I see “Ball Washing Machine with Suction Unit” in the middle of my page..
Hilariously out of context.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:16 am
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2476709#prod_prodinfo
Toys R Us has them by the 100. I went to the store today and felt a few of these, they seem to be of the crushproof variety and from what I’ve seen a little cheaper than some of the other ones I’ve seen online.
Any hints on where to find cheap balls are highly appreciated though at Zarloftheweird@gmail.com
Woo hoo for ball pits! You have inspired me!
December 11th, 2007 at 8:10 am
filme downloaden mit Usenet j…
Wo kann ich filme downloaden?…
December 11th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
That looks like fun… :)
December 11th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
[…] 1, he has made a ball pit which was depicted in his comic. 2 is another instance of xkcd inspired event in real […]
December 11th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
You are officially my first celebrity crush.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:24 am
A Ruby web server (to compare with the Python one):
require ‘rack’
class App
def call(env)
[200, {}, ‘Hello World!’]
end
end
Rack::Handler::Mongrel.run App.new, :Port => 9292
Pretty slick.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:30 am
There’s a certain type of brain that is easily disabled…
and you posted that problem, that will haunt me for ever, on the day of my Quantum Mechanics final exam… damn you!!!
December 12th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Re the grid of resistors: I believe the answer to the question as posed be zero.
Proof:
We note that removing any given resistor can do nothing but raise the resistance between the two points. Thus we can start from an ‘empty’ infinite grid, add as many specific resistors as we like, and have a system, the resistance of which bounds this infinite resistance above. Take N to be an arbitrary large integer. From the leftmost point, run a single chain N resistors long, and from there another chain K long upwards. From the rightmost point, run a chain K-1 upwards. Now link these two upward spikes with straight lines, each an effective resistor of N ohms.
Calculate the resistance of this system - it is (K-1)/N. But K is arbitrarily large, N/(K-1) arbitrarily small, so the resistance between those two points is zero. QED.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Whoops, missed off a linear term. Don’t think it matters.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
[…] einem Bälleparadies à la xkcd’s ball pit in die […]
December 12th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
ChrisJim, thanks. That was what I also thought as I was looking at it- that given an infinite field of ideal resistors of any value, the resistance between two points would approach 1/(infinity), or zero. Glad to have someone else verify that for me- I’m a mechanical engineer, not electrical.
December 12th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Whilst at IKEA a few weekends ago I happend upon possibly the best trash I have ever seen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/briherbst/1987439295/in/set-72157603118645125/
My god. SO MANY BALLS! You could have just TAKEN them! I don’t know what the plague vector possibilities are for these balls, obviously over-used in the IKEA children’s play area, but it would be worth it. All I thought about was that Sesame Street “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 eleven Tweeeeeeeeee - ELVE!” song.
These thousands of red balls are a party, art project or a hate crime waiting to happen.
December 12th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Tucatz, my argument as above doesn’t quite work. You have to just bound above the resistance between two points by p < 1 (quite easily you can get to ~0.720… with a ladder arrangement) and then say well, let’s apply the argument again but with the new upper bounds for each resistor in the chains in the ladder, which gives us a new, much lower upper bound… etc. etc. have a geometric sequence which tends to zero. I think that now works.
December 12th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
[…] I might enjoy his nascent comic. The Virginian has since given a talk to a packed house at MIT, constructed a ball pit in his home, inspired people to play chess on roller coasters, and — based only on a single comic with an […]
December 12th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
I would just approximate it as the resistance of the four surrounding resistors connected to a conductor connected to the other four surrounding resistors. Should only be a few percent off.
So I’d calculate a half ohm resistance between any two points on the grid.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:35 am
hmm…. if you have a vacuum with sufficient sucking power, and if you rigged up two so that one of them is sucking, while the other is blowing, all you’d need is a sealed y valve and you have your very own “gravity gun” kinda like half-life… imagine the fun if you can make them portable!
December 13th, 2007 at 2:50 am
Seems like boshi’s estimate should provide a lower bound. In other words, the answer is not 0. I tried running a finite grid of 69*70 resistors and got .774 ohms. Convergence with increasing grid size seems rather slow.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:45 am
[…] · No Comments Wie geil ist das denn?! Ich meine, ich fand ja schon die reine Vorstellung einer Bällebeckenwohnung toll — […]
December 13th, 2007 at 7:33 am
4/pi - 1/2
Hint: Boshi is correct in saying that there is a half-ohm resistance between any two points on the grid.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Now this is sweet! A personal Ball Pit!…
I caught this from a forum I visit frequently and thought I would show it to you. If you had an excess amount of money and would like to try something out of the ordinary, would you create your own personal ball pit? I would! Imagine all of the fun …
December 14th, 2007 at 2:33 am
The next instalment of my student loan is already earmarked for ball pit dorm room creation =)
For aaaaages I’ve wanted to have a ball pit in my room, but my parents always told me that was a silly idea… Now, having seen this, I plan on turning my box of a dorm room into a ball pit.
I figure I’ll only need about 1000 balls to fill quite a reasonable area of it… and based on my (probably very wrong) calculations, should only cost about £50-£60…
Suddenly it all seems very do-able…
December 14th, 2007 at 3:25 am
And NOBODY mentioned the OBVIOUS implications of the possibilities raptors have to HIDE in the ballpit?
I think that it is a very dangerous construction in this regard!
We need immediate establishment of counter-raptor monitoring efforts!
December 14th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Help a geek in Paris!
I’m going to survive in Paris. Due to leave from Bangkok next week.
Help me out! I’m desperate. What’s the translation of playpen ball in french?!?
I want to build the first XKCD inspired ball pit in Paris!
Guys it occurs to me that for a good fun the ball pit must be a good size and depth. Having it right away must be really cool but probably cost a lot of money.
I’m planning to start with just a little balls first and ask balls for christmas, eastern, my birthday and new year to all my friends and family. Hopefully, I’ll have a filled ball pit in about one year but it’s better than no ball pit at all!
Nico
December 14th, 2007 at 10:18 am
[…] to freakishism as I am, and have a lot of time on your hands, this is a metric cost calculator, here and here you have links to write ups by people who have actually done it, and these two are […]
December 14th, 2007 at 10:31 am
[…] to freakishism as I am, and have a lot of time on your hands, this is a metric cost calculator, here and here you have links to write ups by people who have actually done it, and these two have […]
December 14th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Having a ball pit in my house has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. I’ve always ALWAYS wanted one… that’s how I first learned of xkcd. A friend who (religiously) reads the comic showed me the ball pit comic, because Holy Crap that’s just like me.
I’m really happy that you’ve done this, it gives hope to me! I can’t wait to spend my days playing around, playing guitar hero, dancing, etc. in my very own ball pit =3
Although I need to read extensively about cleaning the ball pits…
And perhaps put some pouches on the wall next to the ball pit, so people can deposit their pocket items inside it… Because I will NOT search my ball pit for 3 cell phones, two wallets, and some lipgloss.
December 15th, 2007 at 2:21 am
I can’t help but wonder, is the comic really true? Do you really catch more flies with vinegar?
I don’t have flies around here, so I can’t do the experiment.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
A little comic I made at 4am this morning when I got bored before going to bed. It’s somthing which really needs to be taken into consideration! Seriously, I’m gonna end up locking myself out otherwise!
December 15th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
oops, my link didn’t work! first time around!
December 15th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
boshi: I do not think you are “only a few percent off”. It seems to me that as the distance between two points tends to infinity, so does the equivalent resistance between them.
Here is my argument: suppose you apply a non-zero potential at one point of the grid, and a zero potential at infinity. You can then rougly modelise the grid as a sequence of concentric circles so that all points lying on a given circle have the same potential, and there are roughly 2*Pi*N resistors, running in parallel, between the Nth and (N+1)th circle. (Yeah, I know it is somewhat problematic to draw circles on an integer grid. You could replace circles by squares, but then nothing guarantees that all the points will be at the same potential. However, I think that if you look at the grid at a large scale, it behaves roughly the same as a continuous sheet of metal.) In this case, the resistance between two consecutive circles is roughly 1/N (multiplied by a constant), so the resistance between the center and the Nth circle is roughly Sum from 1 to N of 1/N, that is, ln N.
Now if you take two points on the grid 2N squares apart, you can provide a lower bound to the resistance by modelising the grid as two disks of radius N centered on the two points, connected by an ideal conductor. This suggests that the resistance grows as the logarithm of the distance.
Ryan: Maybe you mean “between any two neighbour points”? This is what I found, too, but I do not see how to deduce the answer for two points that are farther apart.
Actually, there is a very simple proof that the resistance between two neighbour points (let’s call them A and B) is 1/2 Ohm. Take an ideal current source of 1 Amp, and connect one end of it to A and the other end to the ground. Then for obvious symmetry reasons, the current through the resistor connecting A to B will be equal to 1/4 Amp, so the voltage between A and B will be 1/4 V.
If you do the same thing for B but with opposite polarity, the current between A and B will still be equal to 1/4, and the voltage will still be 1/4.
Now it is clear that the equations involved are linear, so connecting a current source of 1 Amp between A and B is equivalent to sending at the same time 1 Amp from the ground through A and 1 Amp from B to the ground. The voltage between A and B is then equal to the sum of the two voltages, that is, 1/2 V, QED.
December 16th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
[…] Awesome. Filed under: Uncategorized — Sam @ 2:26 pm I WANT ONE. […]
December 18th, 2007 at 7:24 am
[…] Or, I could go with the nuclear option. If I sell all my mutual funds, and take on an insane level of debt through personal loans, I could generate enough cash to fill the room with playpen balls. […]
December 18th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
http://www.huggingmattress.com/index.php
just read the URL, you will understand
December 19th, 2007 at 10:14 am
that would be awesome
December 19th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
[…] 20 12 2007 Ok, I was looking at this xkcd blog post, and I decided that I want a ballpit right next to my bed. I measured the space I […]
December 20th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
[…] FUCK COUCHES …I want a ball pit […]
December 21st, 2007 at 1:24 am
tikiloungelizard: Are you SERIOUS? What kind of small minded simpleton would honestly be offended by the word ‘fuck’, used once in a non-threatening way?
How could that POSSIBLY upset you? You may choose not to use such language, but how are you ANY worse off if somebody uses a word like fuck? Do you not have the strength of mind to ignore 1 single word?
Face the facts - The part of the brain that controls cursing, yelling and crying is the exact same part of the brain that causes a dog to yelp if you stand on his tail. Its a natural reaction that can be scientifically explained, why would any creator make this part of your brain, and then expect you not to use it?
Let me guess, you would also be offended if somebody mentioned evolution?
December 21st, 2007 at 8:03 am
‘GetaPair’, if you read the post, tikiloungelizard is talking about eir sister, not eir own reaction. I can imagine a person as young as 8 enjoying XKCD - and if I had (say) an 8 year old sister, I might well not show them media containing swearing.
Face the facts - not everyone uses language in the same way you do (and some people have self-restraint enough that if they don’t wish to swear, they don’t).
Creator? Evolution? What are you rabbiting on about?
December 21st, 2007 at 10:20 am
[…] Munroe, proprietor of the charming webcomic xkcd, selected a rather unusual piece of lounge room furniture […]
December 21st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
The living group where I spent the first two years of my undergraduacy had a tradition of getting the used foam from the Boston Children’s Museum. We filled a room with the pieces and had our very own foam pit. That might be a cheaper route to equivalent fun, for those on a budget.
In other news, I will never ever say that Randall has an easy job.
December 21st, 2007 at 6:47 pm
[…] this is not a joke. Last.fm built a ball pit in their office, just like XKCD. I think this ranks amongst the top 10 of the coolest things I’ve- no wait, this is the best […]
December 21st, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Guess who just got a 23,000 ball pit?
http://blog.last.fm/2007/12/21/blogging-from-the-ballpit
December 21st, 2007 at 8:30 pm
…and it is awesome :)
December 21st, 2007 at 10:46 pm
@Hi?u ??c Hoàng
>> It strikes me that Google should do this somewhere on their campus (if they haven’t
>> already…?) It would fit their whole motif pretty well :)
> @Charlie: Google has a ballpit, really,
> http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2007/02/nooglers-view-of-google.html
Nice! Somehow I’m not surprised.
I’ve actually gone and interviewed at Google since I posted that. Didn’t see the ballpit, and didn’t know that Randall was going to be giving a talk there TWO DAYS LATER. If I’d known that, I’d have worked it so I was there to see it. One of the first things I noticed when walking into building 47 though was that the same “cake” strip was taped to the front desk. I was looking at it as I sat in that massage chair waiting for the recruiter.
That must’ve been awesome having a “I’d like to visit the campus” turn into a “We want you to speak! Your first interaction with brilliant, famous compuer scientists will be when one introduces you and two more approach the microphone to ask _you_ questions.”
I asked about getting a look around while I was there. They were fine with that, and I got a quick look around during lunch.
Oh, to have a great webcomic to your name! You have captured the geek zeitgeist my friend.
I’m still waiting to hear back about the interview though. Argh. The people I work with now would just not understand these things the way so many googlers obviously do. I feel that these googlers are my people.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:47 pm
@Hieu Duc Hoang (roughly)
>> It strikes me that Google should do this somewhere on their campus (if they haven’t
>> already…?) It would fit their whole motif pretty well :)
> @Charlie: Google has a ballpit, really,
> http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2007/02/nooglers-view-of-google.html
Nice! Somehow I’m not surprised.
I’ve actually gone and interviewed at Google since I posted that. Didn’t see the ballpit, and didn’t know that Randall was going to be giving a talk there TWO DAYS LATER. If I’d known that, I’d have worked it so I was there to see it. One of the first things I noticed when walking into building 47 though was that the same “cake” strip was taped to the front desk. I was looking at it as I sat in that massage chair waiting for the recruiter.
That must’ve been awesome having a “I’d like to visit the campus” turn into a “We want you to speak! Your first interaction with brilliant, famous compuer scientists will be when one introduces you and two more approach the microphone to ask _you_ questions.”
I asked about getting a look around while I was there. They were fine with that, and I got a quick look around during lunch.
Oh, to have a great webcomic to your name! You have captured the geek zeitgeist my friend.
I’m still waiting to hear back about the interview though. Argh. The people I work with now would just not understand these things the way so many googlers obviously do. I feel that these googlers are my people.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 am
I loved this. The epitome of cool
okay! so i didn’t have anything clever or interesting to contribute sue me ha
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:34 am
awesome. just great
and no, I know I didn’t have anything to contribute, so sue me ha
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
ThemePark Says:
November 28th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
jeszjesz, I think that is due to this:
?And before you jump to comment ? over the last 24 hours we?ve completely exhausted all the balls-related innuendo, so you needn?t bother.?
I’m crushed. But hey, at least my balls are OK. (Couldn’t help it)
December 24th, 2007 at 6:14 am
[…] These are too cool. I want one too! Comment on this post […]
December 24th, 2007 at 9:25 am
[…] I want a ball pit in my house, like the guy from xkcd.com It’s wonderful to be able to wake up and roll sideways, blanket and all, into a ball pit, and […]
December 24th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I’ve heard God is also fond of Freeze Tag and Hopscotch.
December 25th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
it’s also really hard to pack an apartment with balloons
especially when you’re the lungs of the operation
I blew two layers worth, and then passed out in the balloons until some time later, I was found like this:
http://artiswrong.com/apartment/the.best.apartment-Thumbnails/0.jpg
December 25th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Risk assessment.
Average height of a person in United States: Male: 178cm Female: 163cm
Now the height to submerge ones knees (if you are of average height) would be 2 ft, providing ample joy and hysterical fits of giggling.
HOWEVER!!!
At average, a person’s palm sits approximately 2.5 feet off the floor. You would think now, that it would be safe to swing your arms freely and not inadvertently throw balls at breakable objects.
Insert risk.
Nintendo Wii controller:
Profile: Approx.
6 inches length.
Hard.
Weighty.
Devastatingly brutal ability to launch a plastic ball.
This extension of the hand, although partially overlapped by the hand, reduces the gap between safety and mayhem to a mere 3 inches!!!
People, we have a risk potential here of property damage, assault charges, insurance fraud, and worse.
Methods of reducing that risk include:
1. Not having 25000 plastic balls in your apartment (drastic option only to be employed by court order).
2. Grow 3 inches. Naturally, platforms, or a book. It doesn’t matter.
3. Hire a man with a velociraptor to roam the halls of your apartment block whereby all people curious to know why they are being assaulted by brightly coloured balls become more intrigued by why they are being eaten by an extinct lizard.
The choice is yours.
Choose wisely.
December 26th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Has the fourth panel happened yet?
December 26th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Oh god, where am I? How did I get here? What blog linked me here? What’s going on? What…oooo, ball pits!
Best blag ever.
Best idea ever.
Best gift ever?
December 27th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Glad to see I’m not the only one spouting off the virtues of the Fujitsu Ultra portable. I’ve had my Lifebook 7010D for a few years now and still no complaints, other that the tricky hinge it’s had since I dropped it :D.
December 30th, 2007 at 1:46 am
YOU ARE MY HERO <3
December 30th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Freaking cute and awesome! (Cute comic also, btw.)
December 30th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
After reading some of the comments here, I suggest you resolve the “how to clean the ball pit” question BEFORE you resolve the question of “what is it like to have sex in a ball pit?”
December 31st, 2007 at 8:22 pm
[…] I discovered xkcd and then chugged through the entire comics archive - and in the process discovered a talk at Google by Randall Munroe, and his ball pit couch […]
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:45 am
Just don’t let any little kids in there…because what they do in ball pits is just disturbing. Love that net idea someone posted for cleaning. Also handy if someone drops their car keys. Happy New Year, by the way!
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 am
I’m so depressed. I was looking through my mates “ebay watched items” and found this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250194111744&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015
30 THOUSAND PLAYPEN BALLS FOR £100 (that’s ~$200). Avaivile in the city we live in.
And he didn’t buy them.
Nor tell me about them/
He will die a slow and painful death.
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
You are my new personal hero.
*wants so badly*
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
In the realm of things from xkcd coming close to reality. I found a design concept that reminded me of your “cuddle mattress” idea. Hope you got a patent!!!
http://www.red-dot.sg/Concept/porfolio/06/05FN/R021LM.htm
January 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
You sound like my mind twin, with a better education.
If you’re ever in Glasgow, I’m the one who walks in the rain with my face turned to the wind.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Just got the 18000 balls I ordered off eBay delivered. Result:
http://meuk.spritesserver.nl/foto/foto/misc8/img_3145.jpg
Well worth the money imo!
January 7th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Sorry I didn’t make it through all the comments, so if someone beat me to the nitpicking correction of the physics observation….
The balls returning to chaotic order is exactly what’s expected. If they’d stayed sorted through sex, a party, repeated falling out of bed or washing–THAT would confound the second thermo principle; unless a bunch of little ball wallowing demon’s (named Max?) continually wallowed and threw particular colors away from them.
And somewhere Tom Pynchon is probably yelling, “&#$^@!!! They stole the key theme of my next novel!!”
January 9th, 2008 at 12:54 am
My Hovse at Caltech actually made a very large ballpit several years ago, entirely funded by two guys’ participation in psych experiments. Unfortunately, the original balls are being depleted quickly–especially, for unknown reasons, the purples. So thanks for the link to the crush-proof balls!
January 9th, 2008 at 1:46 am
haha how did i get here ? haha ball pitt thats cool ?sex in a ball pit even cooler
January 9th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Hi!! You suck! your balls are lame.. i don’t get it:S:S:S:S grow up!!!
January 9th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Nice ball pit! But I’d rather see your cock!
January 10th, 2008 at 10:27 am
that looks excellent.. i want one.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Awesome idea XD It sounds like a much better replacement for a sofa.
I’ll consider this as a future plan for my house ;)
January 12th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
This is where my next $1000 will be going. I always wanted one, and now I know where I can buy the balls.
Awesome work
January 15th, 2008 at 1:18 am
I had a plan a while ago to fill my linnen closet with ball pit balls with the intention of tricking people who hadnt been over to open it.
I somehow managed to get 400-500 from friends who for what ever reason had balls they were throwing out.
They are awesome fun manny a ball fight brokeout, unfrotunately I never got near the 2 or 3 thousand I’d need to fill the closet.