Now I Want To Pop Some

Today, I learned that “Bubble Wrap” is copyrighted  

Well that's a thing.  Is popping it a violation?  That would spell trouble for just about everybody.

So, true story: some time ago, I spent some time working at a home improvement store which, for strictly Blag purposes, we'll call "High's Home Improvement."  During that time, one of the things that I ended up working on was the display of doors.  This involved putting up a few new models which had been shipped to the store.  When they were shipped, they were packaged securely with Bubble Wrap (or a similar product produced by a supplier other than the copyright owner, Sealed Air Corporation), so the first step in our project was to unpackage the doors.  This created a giant pile of bubble wrap approximately 8 feet tall in the middle of the aisle of the store.  Since we were doing this work during the day, there was the occasional customer that came along, and the occasional worker as well.  Every last person who passed this giant pile grabbed a handful of the bubble wrap and popped it.  It was pretty fun to watch, and if I'm being 100% honest, it was pretty fun to pop as well.  

All of this is tangential to the story here.  

What's important is that I keep my eye on various little-known holidays from time to time in case I find myself in need of something to celebrate.  In doing my research for this, I learned that Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day was held earlier this week, and I am totally Not Making That Up.  What stood out in that was the fact that there was a little trademark symbol every time the site made mention of Bubble Wrap.   So, I dug a little further.

As it turns out, Bubble Wrap was invented in 1957 by two guys in New Jersey who were trying to invent a new style of wallpaper by gluing two shower curtains together.  I'm not making that up, either...maybe there's something weird in the water in New Jersey.  The name Bubble Wrap was trademarked in 1960 by Sealed Air Corporation, and the product's first commercial use was packaging and shipping IBM computers in 1961.  

And there you have it...more information than you thought you were going to learn today about Bubble Wrap.  Enjoy!