September reports in the New York Post and the Toronto Star, quoting parents' Web site "reviews" of the Mattel $19.99 Nimbus 2000 plastic-replica broomstick from the latest Harry Potter movie, highlighted its battery-powered special effect: vibration. Wrote a Texas mother: "I was surprised at how long (my daughter and her friends) can just sit in her room and play with this magic broomstick." Another said her daughter fights her son for it but complains that "the batteries drain too fast." A New Jersey mother, sensing a problem, said her daughter could keep playing with it, "but with the batteries removed." Still another mother, age 32, said she enjoyed it as much as her daughter. [New York Post, 9-7-02; Toronto Star, 9-7-02]

OK. NO Hairy Putter jokes!!!!

"Hello, Mattel? I just called to say 'Thank you.'"

Reminds me of the "Tickle-Me Elmo" craze of a few years ago. A friend's son was given one for Christmas, and when she invited myself and another girlfriend over for the evening and we discovered the toy, a brief struggle ensued....

If you can't see the bright side, polish the dull side.

Tickle-Me Elmo

"Ha-ha-ha ha-ha-ha, it tickles!"

"Ha-ha-ha Pleeeease!"

[brrrrrrrrrrr-brrrrrrrrr]




Vibrating broomsticks, indeed. The designers clearly need to get out more.

Vibrating broomsticks

Wait'll the religious right gets ahold of *this one.

Or either they set it up in the first place so they could weep and wail and gnash their teeth.

Yeah, they'll have to drown the broomsticks with the witches, won't they? Still, religious nutters are nothing if not resourceful in their pursuit of what they perceive to be their goals ...

They'll now have to ban all broomsticks for association with witchcraft and erotica, and if anybody wants to sweep they'll just have to use hand-brooms!

That's gonna be a problem. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Sqwaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!

>>Nature abhors a vacuum<<

Guess that makes Nature my middle name What about brooms and dustcloths?

Do they come batteries included, Nancy?

Don't need no steenkin batteries, CapK! Some things should only be manually operated

Some things should only be manually operated
N, I cannot believe you said that! Care to give us some examples? [leer]

I think nancyk meant man-ually operated......

man-ually operated......
Ohhhhhhhhhhh, yeah...! Prezackly what I thought. [chortle]

>>man-ually <<

Thanks, Connie. I forgot the rule about using a hyphen when the meaning would otherwise be unclear

A semi-relevant sidenote:

Throughout most of history, witches were traditionally portrayed as riding their brooms side-saddle and with the straw part facing forward. Possibly the turn-around resulted from people generalizing the appearance of the straw part with the exhaust of an engine? Just a guess.

And, of course, vibrations are an even more recent development. Brings new meaning to the cry "I'm melting! Melting!! What a world..."

Come, come, come! Only really frigid witches would ride a vibrator broomstick sidesaddle.

michal pollen is the author of "botany of desire", a book about humans eons long interactions with plants.. he contends that plants, have evolved strategies for animals to transport and nurture their seeds. (squirrels with oaks, say)

in the book, he focused on plant qualities that humans value, and how plants meet our needs. specifically four desires, sweetness, (the apple), beauty (the tulip), nurishment (the potato) and intoxication (marijuanna).
there are plenty of other plants that could be substituted, (cane or beets say for sweetness, but apples are more universal, corn, or wheat or rice for nurishment, but he didn't want a grain).

he had a lot of documentation to support the idea that witches' were the old herbalist healers, who found themselves being put out of business by the catholic church, for several reasons.
their herbal remedies, harkened back to, and used recipes from pagan times, people were supposed to pray for healing from god, and not look to earthly cures (an idea that persisted in christianity, right up to 150 years ago, when many doctors and theologians thought it wrong to use any pain relief drugs during childbirth, since in the bible it states childbirth is part of the punishment for eve's sin)
and finally, the remedies often included drugs like opium and marijuanna, the were mind altering... again, a religious no no.

and to make matter worse, was how the drugs were taken. to get past the problem of use, (if you ingest, most of active ingrediants will 1) either make you sick, and cause you to vomit them out, or 2) will be neutralized by the liver before they have much effect.)the witches used
'broomsticks' coated with mixtures of opium and herbs (marijaunna, mushrooms and others botanicals) and took the drugs internally, by passing the digestive system all together. the flying-- was metaphoric, but i suspect they often got "high as kite"... and for a religion that frowns on satisfying sexual desires, the means of taken the drugs made them.. well punishable by death.

the aztecs and majans also used drugs, and they too took them interally, usually via an emema. (there was a facinating article, unfortunately not available on line about the mezo americans drug use in Natural History earlier this year) and the spanish were appalled by both the drug use, and the way it was administered!

but this is pretty far off base for a word forum!