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Father of the Frisbee Dies At 90
theodp writes "Walter Fredrick Morrison, whose post-World War II invention of a 'flying' plastic disc became the American recreational icon known as the Frisbee, has died at age 90 of age-related causes (great obit pic). Wham-O Inc. has sold more than 200 million Frisbees since Morrison sold the company the rights to what he called the Pluto Platter in 1957. The roots of today's aerodynamic Frisbees go back to 1937, when Morrison and his future wife tossed a large popcorn can lid back and forth for fun during a Thanksgiving party."
His soul has gone up on the roof and gotten stuck there.
Farewell Sir, My dog thanks you.
I seem to recall watching a documentary that showed the frisbee being invented some time back in 1885 or 1886.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Yeah but ten years ago we were younger and not as sentimental.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
That's because ten years ago, there was no Live FreeBSD distro that would use a name coined by a man in a nerdy spacesuit.
Ezekiel 23:20
Of course not. Ten years ago he was still alive.
ACs these days...
Was it before, after or between shows about aliens?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Aerobies are waaay more fun. To take mine away, you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead, ...oh wait.
http://www.aerobie.com/Products/Sprint.htm
"The farthest object thrown by man"
The first Frisbies were pie pans from the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport Conn, founded in 1871 by William Russell Frisbie. Yale students were using the term Frisbie for flying discs 50 years before the invention of the Pluto Platter.
When Wham-O bought the rights to the plastic version that Morrison invented one of their executives, Rich Knerr liked the marketability of the name and changed it to Frisbee.
Frisbie pies are still manufactured by Table Talk Inc.
Knerr was also responsible for the Hula Hoop which to this day is recognized as the benchmark American fad toy.
I invention of a 'flying' plastic disc
Why the quotes? A disc generates real aerodynamic lift; anyone who plays Ultimate can tell you that. Throw right-handed and drop the outside edge, and it will curve to the right. Raise it and aim a bit out and up, and you can throw an "outside in" (aim up and out because, like with a plane, you have to compensate for lift being generated at an angle, which means less lift straight-up. You also have slip.) Tilt the disc upwards but throw it downwards, and it'll appear to "bounce."
Also: don't call a "disc" a Frisbee around an Ultimate player. Why? Wham-O saw a bunch of people playing this game called Ultimate, freaked out that someone was using their product for a game. They then tried to a)control it and then when that failed, b)made their own game to try and drown it out. It was a pretty despicable and petty move. Now they mostly spend their time chasing down anyone who uses the word "frisbee". Had they simply been content to sell discs, they'd be selling them by the boatload to Ultimate players. Instead, they got greedy and it backfired on 'em.
Also, Ultrastar's discs (considered the standard) are much more easier on the hand for most, and tend to fly better.
Please help metamoderate.
I don't want to discus this.
Then you need to explain which channel it was:
http://www.history.com/content/ufohunters/
http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/85688-history-channel-program-ancient-aliens.html
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
That's sad.
I have a Wham-O Pluto Platter I found in the attic of my Grandpa's house - it's not the original Bakelite Morrison Pluto Platter, but the plastic version, looks very similar. Mine says "WHAM-O" on the top, but the word "Frisbee" is not on it, from what I can tell mine was made in 1957.
It was the Frisbie Pie company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisbie_Pie_Company. The original name was the "Pluto Platter", but kids called them "Frisbies" because of the famous pies. So they changed the spelling to "Frisbee".
Be heard || Be herd
"Knerr was also responsible for the Hula Hoop"
You know. For kids!
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Is it too much to ask for one science/learning channel that doesn't load up on psychics, ghosts, aliens, cryptozoology, and home-decorating shows?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
This definitely would not have been posted here ten years ago.
Of course not. Ten years ago it would have been "Father of the Frisbee Dies At 80".
What bothers me more is that, from what I can tell, Netcraft hasn't confirmed this yet. Are we sure this isn't another hoax?
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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Boomerangs have delighted children, rendered roos unconscious and fed families for millenia :-)
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."