Would anyone have bought Sea Monkeys (or any other H.N.Braunhut) product if it was known that the proceeds were going, in large amounts, to the Aryan Nation/Brotherhood??
13
Announcing a new Sea Monkey product: Sea Monkey Living Will.
"no heroic measures" :}
"no heroic measures" :}
6
As a comic book reader in the 50's and 60's, I remember the Sea Monkeys ads very well, although I never bought them.
To the author--if I could have composed this sentence--
"She has an artful muss of dark hair framing a smile that’s slow to form but amplified by flirtatious eyes that sparkled at the end of each sentence--"
My life would be complete. Thank you for an interesting, entertaining, well written piece.
To the author--if I could have composed this sentence--
"She has an artful muss of dark hair framing a smile that’s slow to form but amplified by flirtatious eyes that sparkled at the end of each sentence--"
My life would be complete. Thank you for an interesting, entertaining, well written piece.
6
What a great story. It was like watching a Wes Anderson movie.
7
Ordered them once from a DC comic book ad.
DOA.
DOA.
3
In 1974 I bought my first Amazing Sea Monkeys and my one and only Pet Rock. I still have my pet rock and it's much cheaper to feed.
1
Great story. I always wanted my mom to buy them at the store and she refused.
I never write comments on stories, but this time, I must. Jack Hitt's Sea-Monkey battle is my nominee for NYT Story of the Year, perhaps the decade. Congratulations to the writer--and to the editor who just let it run till Hitt was done.
21
I remember the Sea Monkeys ads, but it was the unbroken anticipation during the waiting period prior to the delivery of my X-Ray glasses that really stands out in my memory.
The disappointment was actually an education in human behavior and the pursuit of money, though i did not appreciate that fact at the time.
Great article, by the way.
The disappointment was actually an education in human behavior and the pursuit of money, though i did not appreciate that fact at the time.
Great article, by the way.
1
What a great story – at times, hilarious, sad, outrageous, infuriating, superb. Somehow when I got to the part that Tennessee Rep. Beth Harwell's family is involved in the "infuriating" part of this story, I wasn't surprised.
10
This is not an article. It's a great novella!
11
I am a life long reader and this is my favorite feature I can remember. WHAT an American story! Thank you.
22
Thanks for this excellent article. I really appreciated how the author explores various angles of the story and includes that interesting historical digressions. I love an article that's not gunning to make a point, but instead exploring characters, situations, and implications.
29
So...is there any way to get the original sea monkey eggs? I bought what i assume was the Big Time version pretty recently. I think it hatched about 10 brine shrimp, four of which survived past day 2. I'd love to see a fully functional version.
9
Wonderful article! I was a big time comic reader in the 70s and I must say, that last page of ads was a real torment. Not living in the USA I had no way of realising my dreams of acquiring the X-Ray Spex and those damnably intriguing Sea-Monkeys. But I would spend a long time poring over the ads and wondering how it was all possible. Thank you for finally solving the mystery of the Amazing Sea-Monkeys and for taking me back to the halcyon days of my childhood. How I wish I still had all those comics today!
3
Guaranteed invisible goldfish. I can't stop laughing.
6
The author offhandedly mentions Monopoly as "a good idea with marketing", but, oh, was it so much more than that. Monopoly has just as sordid a tale as the one he spins about Sea Monkeys, with one Charles Darrow copyrighting and commercializing in the 1930s a game designed by one Lizzie Magie some thirty years earlier.
12
When my daughter was little, she loved the idea of sea monkeys, so I bought her a kit. They were a great disappointment, I thought. Hardly any little shrimps at all, perhaps just one or two if one squinted hard. So, I suspect there may have been quality control issues even with the genuine briny primates.
Now she's an adult, living away from home in a shared house in a big city where she regularly encounters creeps of all ages, sizes, sexes and genders, but particularly, of course, the male variety, I'm much more interested in getting her a nonlethal but effective and practical weapon for self defence such as the kiyoga than another watery zoo.
In my view, a kiyoga, or similar telescopic baton, if used skilfully and effectively, is better choice than a handgun when it comes to the responsible carrying of a weapon for self defence.
All women and girls would be advised to go to self-defence classes and learn how to use one. Personally, I prefer to carry a heavy wooden club if I really have to or, better still, try to defend myself and others unarmed, but then, despite my advancing years, I'm still a lot faster, more powerful and more resilient than my daughter or the average adult female.
http://phillosoph.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-kiyoga.html
Now she's an adult, living away from home in a shared house in a big city where she regularly encounters creeps of all ages, sizes, sexes and genders, but particularly, of course, the male variety, I'm much more interested in getting her a nonlethal but effective and practical weapon for self defence such as the kiyoga than another watery zoo.
In my view, a kiyoga, or similar telescopic baton, if used skilfully and effectively, is better choice than a handgun when it comes to the responsible carrying of a weapon for self defence.
All women and girls would be advised to go to self-defence classes and learn how to use one. Personally, I prefer to carry a heavy wooden club if I really have to or, better still, try to defend myself and others unarmed, but then, despite my advancing years, I'm still a lot faster, more powerful and more resilient than my daughter or the average adult female.
http://phillosoph.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-kiyoga.html
1
I wrote about the Sea-Monkeys last week. It was pure humbuggery, providing a lesson many businesses can learn from. It might have made millions, but nearly everyone who received the monkeys was let down: http://noahfleming.com/how-killing-the-sea-monkeys-adds-millions-to-your...
3
Big Time Toys are Big Time Bad People, stealing from the fantasies of kids and nice ladies like Signorelli, outsourcing to evil Chinese cheap imitators just to save a few miserable pennies and keep scientists unemployed and not even bothering in the literature to come up with anything new. American society down the toilet along with these inferior fake sea monkeys. Great article!
2
I'm on your side, Yolanda Signorelli von Braunhut. I hope you win your case and are awarded everything that is due to you. And I hope I look as good as you do when I'm in my 70s. You are stunning.
13
Take a Jewish neo-Nazi with a fake Prussian title, Harold von Braunhut—stage magician, inventor, motorcycle racer and “marketing Jedi-master.” (He marketed x-ray specs and a retractable riot baton to Aryan Nations.) Add “Death of a Nymphette” thespian Yolanda Signorelli, a seventy year-old woman dressed in “tight jeans and a décolletage Guess top.” (She is “very inclusive” and tries to “impact the earth in the least possible way.”) The result is Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, now facing an existential threat from Big Time Toys. (The same kind of existential threat faced by seat-of-his-pants political performer and dream-distiller Donald Trump as corporate Republican Party honchos try to take away his nomination.) All this is “maybe not the tail end of the universe expressing itself, but definitely one that leads...all the way to the essential contradiction at the core of the American character,” as Hitt says.
6
It was delightful to read this story, which deserved its skillful writer to flesh out all the wonderful details and balance it with both seriousness and amusement. Jack Hitt adeptly defines the place that Sea Monkeys hold in our culture. Though they certainly fell short of expectations, they are a part of many people's childhood memories and continue to be popular. I hope von Braunhut wins the case. Thanks for a great read!
6
Funny - but disturbing reflection of America's gullibility - small steps from invisible goldfish and Chinese counterfeit Sea Monkeys - to twice elected aging actor, and town fool presidents. Now appearing - orange colored, reality show clown - just cast your vote and receive endless hours of entertainment. Caution: requires constant feeding. All sales final!
15
I hope she prevails in court. I remember how excited I was to receive my sea monkey kit. Only days later my younger brother killed them all by dumping excess food into the aquarium. Years later, that same brother came home on a college break and let our aged, partially blind family dog outside at night without turning the pool lights on. Again, tragedy ensued, and my beloved pet drowned.
5
I really have no sympathy for someone who lives in a huge house, on a huge farm, and cries poverty, even while getting some Monet from Big Time, as lay away payments. Really. Sell something, and join the rest of the 99%. Don't cry poverty. She's not poor, just jaded.
9
I missed the part that she got a Monet from them?
1
Loved this article. Just bought Jack Hitt's book ' Bunch of Amateurs'. Best editorial review I've seen on Amazon:
"How embarrassing it is to be asked to craft a blurb for Jack Hitt. I'm not fit to carry his bags. Few writers are. Bunch of Amateurs is completely sublime; beautifully written, hilarious, brushfire protean in the erudite shifts he makes--high culture, low, science, history, music, you name it--and just wonderfully rollicking. Who else can have one simultaneously laughing out loud and waiting with bated breath for Benjamin Franklin to alight from a carriage in Paris in 1778? No one but Jack Hitt, that's who. Like I said, it shames me to endorse him, so unfit to the task am I, but endorse him I must. I have no choice. You must read this book."
—David Rakoff
"How embarrassing it is to be asked to craft a blurb for Jack Hitt. I'm not fit to carry his bags. Few writers are. Bunch of Amateurs is completely sublime; beautifully written, hilarious, brushfire protean in the erudite shifts he makes--high culture, low, science, history, music, you name it--and just wonderfully rollicking. Who else can have one simultaneously laughing out loud and waiting with bated breath for Benjamin Franklin to alight from a carriage in Paris in 1778? No one but Jack Hitt, that's who. Like I said, it shames me to endorse him, so unfit to the task am I, but endorse him I must. I have no choice. You must read this book."
—David Rakoff
14
What a great story! Even the darkest parts (re: Neo-Nazi connection) are intriguing. And it's still not over! Best of luck to Yolanda Signorelli von Braunhut. (Love her name; you can't make stuff like this up!)
You know the adoring fans are 100% on Braunhut's side :-)
You know the adoring fans are 100% on Braunhut's side :-)
23
Wow. America is very weird.
4
I haven't enjoyed an article so much in a long time. Thank you Jack Hitt.
5
Apparently there's a lot of money in nonsense. This was from when a new comic book was an afternoon's amusement, in my childhood. My eyes are too bleary from reading the presidential campaign nonsense. If you would like to read it and sum it up in 2 sentences, go for it.
1
Charming story but the author gave Ms. von Braunhut a pass regarding her husband's neo-nazism. It's difficult to fathom one can overlook that moral failure in a mate.
9
I sincerely hope someone takes this story and writes a screenplay and makes a movie. It would be just as entertaining than the Big Eyes movie, maybe more so!
3
Good expose of disgusting people.
3
"Beginning in the 1950s and ’60s, he took out patents on 196 different inventions, gadgets and toys."
For the record, there were only 8 patents issued to Harold von Braunhut and none involve brine shrimp (aka Sea-Monkeys).
With that aside, the story is a great read.
For the record, there were only 8 patents issued to Harold von Braunhut and none involve brine shrimp (aka Sea-Monkeys).
With that aside, the story is a great read.
3
My 50-year-old husband still waxes nostalgic about the sea monkeys he bought with his own allowance. To him, they did come to life, even if they didn't quite look like the comics. I hope she gets her money.
1
Xray glasses, sea monkeys, tea cup poodles and monkeys and a hundred other things that could be had for pennies from the back page of a comic book. I was never disappointed. Von Braunhut gets my dime, and support in a court of law, anytime.
60 and still wide-eyed
60 and still wide-eyed
6
Awww. I have fond memories of Sea Monkeys®... with or without X-Ray Specs.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
As a little boy exposed to some science, I was perplexed by the push-pull of obvious duplicity & allure in the Sea Monkey ads in the few comic books I came across second hand. It may be my first clear experience of a commercial rip-off; lousy stomachache-inducing dime-store penny candy bought with returned coke bottles offered more satisfaction.
This story, possibly more enjoyable for the frustration tucked away in my head by the fraud deal 50 years ago, is an amusing payback. I remain perplexed that people get to make millions stealing from little children.
This story, possibly more enjoyable for the frustration tucked away in my head by the fraud deal 50 years ago, is an amusing payback. I remain perplexed that people get to make millions stealing from little children.
6
What an entertaining, informative read. Thanks for a look into the fascinating world of my beloved Sea Monkeys.
1
I worked as a production manager for a publishing rep back in the '70s, and Harold Braunhut and his sea monkeys were a major advertiser. The marketing was way more impressive than the product - I still remember him coming into the office with dummy ads and draft stories - little soap operas featuring the "amazing sea monkeys," tales of individually named characters. These were pet rocks with bios, they really were amazing.
5
This is great writing. The author is to be commended for chutzpah, humbug and hooey. Next the Sea Monkey Movie by the Coen Brothers please.
13
I think Tim Burton would be a better choice.
6
The most amazing thing to me is that someone actually made a fortune on Sea-Monkeys.
8
1977 - received my Sea Monkeys, watched them for days and then fretted when we left them on vacation... sigh. Hope that in another life they would have survived and become as big as tiger shrimp and smiled when I looked into their tank.
Great article... let's hope Yolanda receives her money and can turn on the lights again.
Great article... let's hope Yolanda receives her money and can turn on the lights again.
5
Nice writing.
Take out the arch wink wink and better still.
Take out the arch wink wink and better still.
1
I got some Sea Monkeys as a Christmas gift as a child. I happily filled the tank with water and the little packet of critters as the family continued to open other gifts around the Christmas tree.
Then I knocked it over and the Sea Monkeys soaked into the carpet.
For several years, my parents taunted me with jokes about the legion of ghostly Sea Monkeys I had created, haunting that patch of the carpet.
That was probably more fun than a plastic container of brine shrimp would have been. The reality of the Sea Monkeys wouldn't have compared well to the local insect population on the very edge of the forest or the critters in the bay. But ghostly Sea Monkeys, those could live up to the legend in the ads.
Then I knocked it over and the Sea Monkeys soaked into the carpet.
For several years, my parents taunted me with jokes about the legion of ghostly Sea Monkeys I had created, haunting that patch of the carpet.
That was probably more fun than a plastic container of brine shrimp would have been. The reality of the Sea Monkeys wouldn't have compared well to the local insect population on the very edge of the forest or the critters in the bay. But ghostly Sea Monkeys, those could live up to the legend in the ads.
17
Great writing! My wife talks about Sea Monkeys all the time, apparently their effect on her was more permanent that the critters themselves. When she went to Burning Man her concern was that "krill" from the dry lake would reanimate in her nasal passage and perhaps take over her intellect. It's possible that Sea Monkeys colonized her years ago and were prepared to fight trench warfare in her limbic system. The Burning Man krill wouldn't have stood a chance against those Fascists!
5
The cynical outsourcing of American Sea Monkey ranching jobs and replacing American Sea Monkeys with substandard, low-paid Chinese Sea Monkeys is yet another example of America not winning anymore. It is my most fervent hope that Donald Trump will make this issue an important part of his campaign.
Don't lie. You can, too, perfectly well imagine it. In fact, you can hear Donald Trump in your head ranting about Sea Monkeys right now.
Don't lie. You can, too, perfectly well imagine it. In fact, you can hear Donald Trump in your head ranting about Sea Monkeys right now.
21
great article. I always loved those free cereal kit offers (baking powder submarines, deeds to an inch of Alaska). Never bought sea monkeys but did get an oceanography degree. Maybe the sea monkeys triggered my love of the sea.
5
"Don't believe everything you read." It's a precious lesson and I learned it good and early thanks to Sea Monkeys. Even after mine failed to thrive and died horrid brine shrimp deaths, I never felt a shred of ill will toward the Sea Monkey peddlers. They got me good, and it was well worth the 5 weeks' allowance or whatever I paid for it (+ S&H of course).
2
wait a sec ... are you saying the X-ray vision glasses didn't work?
Then how did I .... oh, never mind.
Then how did I .... oh, never mind.
17
Nazi leanings aside, his widow deserves the benefit of the bargain. I think it high time that the real Sea Monkeys are restored to the fish tanks of small children. Imposters should not be allowed
3
Wow what a joy to read! Not the sad news of course but the attention to the story behind it. It's rare these days to read such an article, now so many are merely recycled from the news wires. I finish both satisfied yet strangely wanting to know more about the history of Sea Monkies and related toys.
1
What a fun article. Great, quirky characters. It seems the author and the people were meant for each other. It's also a celebration of American kitsch. I hope Yolanda wins her suit and a reality TV show. She'd be great.
7
A headline for the ages....
Really fun article.
2
Typical one% when he sees an opening where he Can crush someone to whom he owes money whether it's a widow who is the beneficiary of a contract he had with her dead husban or a pensioner to whom a corporation owes a pension ...they go for it they use their stables of lawyers to wear the person down. Who cares what the law is or what their legal obligation is the courts will allow them to win by attrition. It's appalling and so is Big Time Toys.
14
Let me buy part of this lawsuit. I figured out that they weren't really monkeys before I bought them but brine shrimp were magical enough. Shame on this greedy pirate.
2
I grew these and they worked fine. Yes, there were the little hybrid shrimp.
This passage mystified me:
"Harwell explains precisely why he outsourced his Sea-Monkeys to China. He declares that there are seven recognized species of artemia brine shrimp and that artemia nyos “claimed by plaintiffs is not one of them,” because it is a hybrid"
Natural species cannot be intellectual property, but hybrids certainly can. There are major plant and animal husbandry industries founded on proprietary hybrid breeds. The custom hybrid claim strengthens the case, not weakens it.
This passage mystified me:
"Harwell explains precisely why he outsourced his Sea-Monkeys to China. He declares that there are seven recognized species of artemia brine shrimp and that artemia nyos “claimed by plaintiffs is not one of them,” because it is a hybrid"
Natural species cannot be intellectual property, but hybrids certainly can. There are major plant and animal husbandry industries founded on proprietary hybrid breeds. The custom hybrid claim strengthens the case, not weakens it.
5
Agreed. Imagine the money I'll make when my hybrid is as cute as the package and does tricks.
This could be a movie.
Big evil toy company taking advantage of a widow.
Big evil toy company stealing a product worth millions.
Big evil toy company misrepresenting their product (shrimp) as special hybrids when in fact its from some Chinese gutter.
Definitely Oscar material.
Big evil toy company taking advantage of a widow.
Big evil toy company stealing a product worth millions.
Big evil toy company misrepresenting their product (shrimp) as special hybrids when in fact its from some Chinese gutter.
Definitely Oscar material.
2
Also: Evil Neo-Nazi taking advantage of the gullibility of American children and defrauding them.
6
I know from personal experience that if you originate a new product, there will be scores of people who never created a thing in their lives who will harness all their energy to steal yours. The people who win in court are the ones with the most money. The ones with the most money usually got that way by theft.
4
This is a story I didn't know I wanted to know about. What a great read.
Thanks NY Times.
Thanks NY Times.
25
This article is so beautifully written: “It then lists the Maryland address of the Sea-Monkey estate where Yolanda lives in her quilt-lined room and answers Sea-Monkey mail by firelight” –Thank you so much for exposing this tiny corner of complete injustice! This must be translated to film. Yoda can play herself at any age – and for the record this is not Yolanda.
#hittlist
#hittlist
7
Brava to the bondage queen and to Jack Hitt for bringing the fascinating story to light. Despite her being in dire straits I hope Ms von Braunhut was able to rustle up and lend the author a pair of the x ray glasses for the interview.
1
Love this. Thanks.
3
An amazing story! I was hooked all through - congratulations!
2
Even the comments are extraordinary! Set the Sea-Monkeys Free!
4
Dear NYT Magazine -
I was scanning headlines during my daily reading session of this fine publication, when I noticed "A former 1960s bondage-film actress is waging legal combat with a toy company for ownership of her husband's mail-order aquatic pet empire". At first not realizing what it said, thinking it had something to do with her career, I re-read the description of the article. And that's when it hit me in all its disturbing force. This woman was being described - and defined - by a previous choice of making a living. The article itself was good. But why not just say "Elderly widow" or, better yet, "Woman"?
I was scanning headlines during my daily reading session of this fine publication, when I noticed "A former 1960s bondage-film actress is waging legal combat with a toy company for ownership of her husband's mail-order aquatic pet empire". At first not realizing what it said, thinking it had something to do with her career, I re-read the description of the article. And that's when it hit me in all its disturbing force. This woman was being described - and defined - by a previous choice of making a living. The article itself was good. But why not just say "Elderly widow" or, better yet, "Woman"?
15
Great article. I've used these for years in my classes, but I will not buy the rip-off product.
Grinning ear to ear. Thanks Jack -- best read I've had in a long time. This should become the seed for a novel, perhaps a sequel to Inherent Vice, or even just an episode on Better Call Saul.
1
This is a great read! Entertaining, well-researched, surprising, with just a little whiff of the humbug that is its subject. Nice work, Mr. Hitt!
2
This is marvelously written. Thank you Jack Hitt for such a well-told story.
sub-headline of the year!
Cue Tim Burton biopic
Loved the Battle of the Sea-Monkeys article in the Magazine! How often does one get to read such articles anymore?! A nice way to pass time reading a magazine, reflecting on the concept and marketing of humbug, tying it to cognitive priming and finishing off with Barnum, Sea-Monkeys and horrible manufacturing in China. I hope Signorelli von Braunhut wins and Big Time has a big time losing!
7
And i'm suppose to feel sorry for the couple responsible for the enslavement of billions of these harmless creatures since I was a child?
4
The courts should rule in favor of the Sea-Monkey heiress!
She should not live out her days in poverty,because of greed in that of corporate gain!
Eaderly awaiting a just decision.
She should not live out her days in poverty,because of greed in that of corporate gain!
Eaderly awaiting a just decision.
1
Poverty? Surely you jest.
4
Wut?!? She has no electricity, didn't you read the article?
When I was a child I suppose I was a skeptic. I would see the ads in comic books for the X-Ray Specs and the Amazing Sea Monkeys and was tempted to invent my own scam, but never to send my hard earned paper route cash for what I knew was a scam!!
Great journalism. All the sources vetted and thoughtfully described. Both sides presented and, best of all, the amazing subjective reality of the piece overlaying the reporting. The statement, "The wanton quotidian reality into which we are all born," shall not die.
1
Big Time agreed to pay $10M for the company but now considers payments made for goods (Sea Monkeys) a substitute for agreed upon payment? Does Big Time think they own the company that supplies them boxes, as I'm sure they've bought many boxes from them over time.
8
This is why I read the NY Times because of writers like this and stories that are so off beat. Better than fiction. Mr. Hitt you need to do much more.
4
Ha! I never fell for the sea "monkeys" thing, realizing from a preternaturally young age that monkeys don't live in the sea. Now I wish I'd just thought out of the box and into the bank account. Same for "Pet rocks."
1
I doubt there is much of a "secret" to that secret formula. Any lab could analyze the contents.
1
Forget the Panama Papers.
This is my favorite story of the year.
Shakespearean. A tale of epic proportions.
This is my favorite story of the year.
Shakespearean. A tale of epic proportions.
2
I guess as a kid I was too much of a cynic. I wasn't going to send any of my hard earned money to those obvious fakes. But, at least one of those amazing inventions in the back of comic books was indeed a real invention. And so, of course, in today's litigious world, that's the one that's embroiled in a lawsuit. Now what we need is a superhero to come to Yolonda's aid and rescue the damsel in distress!
3
It's only Friday afternoon and Jack Hitt just made my weekend. How does he get all the great assignments?
54
I believe Jack Hitt was the narrator of the great "This American Life" episode "Fiasco," which still sends me and everybody I know ROTFLOL even though it was made years ago.
5
Wow, who knew this was even still a thing?
I hope she wins her case too, partially because I know too much about those lovely people from Nashville.
I hope she wins her case too, partially because I know too much about those lovely people from Nashville.
80
I got them as a child.. totally taken it by the advertising.
I realized they didn't look anything like the illustrated ads in the kids' magazine but was attached to the fantasy nonetheless.
My mother, however, was not charmed at all. She flushed them down the toilet as I cried and cried.
My tears had one effect. That night my mother had a nightmare.. the sea monkeys had grown much much bigger down in the sewers, and climbed back out and chased her down the street. In her dream she was terrified.
When she awoke she said "No more Sea Monkeys!"
I realized they didn't look anything like the illustrated ads in the kids' magazine but was attached to the fantasy nonetheless.
My mother, however, was not charmed at all. She flushed them down the toilet as I cried and cried.
My tears had one effect. That night my mother had a nightmare.. the sea monkeys had grown much much bigger down in the sewers, and climbed back out and chased her down the street. In her dream she was terrified.
When she awoke she said "No more Sea Monkeys!"
93
@Ellen
You may have been able to parlay her sea monkey guilt into a puppy or kitten.
You may have been able to parlay her sea monkey guilt into a puppy or kitten.
1
Well, she will have a lot of witnesses on her side--though they are all tinny-tiny, hopefully she wins and gets plenty of sea-notes to spend :)
67
I recall as a child getting one of these kits and being underwhelmed - the gap between my expectation and the actual experience was too large.
Still, I'm saddened by the stripped down current product with owners so cheap that they won't update the literature.
While I have no view on the merit's of Yolanda's case, I hope she wins anyway. We need champions of fun and imagination to get some rewards.
Still, I'm saddened by the stripped down current product with owners so cheap that they won't update the literature.
While I have no view on the merit's of Yolanda's case, I hope she wins anyway. We need champions of fun and imagination to get some rewards.
108
They never looked like the illustrations, that's for sure! Such a letdown.
Water bears (tardigrades) are a free and far more interesting version of sea monkeys, although you need a low-grade microscope to enjoy them. Go outside and collect some dried-out moss or lichen. Place it in a dish of water to moisten. Put a bit of the moss or lichen and some water on a slide, slip it under your scope, and watch the wee "bears" come alive. You and you child can then read up on the indestructible water bear and be amazed. There are even cool tee shirts available.
Go bears!
Go bears!
3
Kudos to Hitt for the fantastic expose. Big Time is obviously infringing on von Braunhaut's property. They took the IP, outsourced to China and are now selling a substandard product under false pretenses.
The Pharma industry does this all the time - taking IP from small firms, calculating that they cannot afford to sue; in any case, a lost court case would still be cheaper than paying the inventors. I hope the courts will make a poster case out of Big Time's egregious infringement.
The Pharma industry does this all the time - taking IP from small firms, calculating that they cannot afford to sue; in any case, a lost court case would still be cheaper than paying the inventors. I hope the courts will make a poster case out of Big Time's egregious infringement.
144
Who do I sue? My packet of sea monkeys never jumped the shark tank. Maybe I couldn't see the tiny shrimps? I bet that moldy soap bear ate them.
Does anyone recall how LONG we used to wait for our precious mail orders? 6 to 8 WEEKS! I forgot I'd even ordered the silly sea creatures.
Does anyone recall how LONG we used to wait for our precious mail orders? 6 to 8 WEEKS! I forgot I'd even ordered the silly sea creatures.
39
Yes!!! I think I mailed them actual coins, and then spent two full months of running to the mailbox in anticipation, and moping back in disappointment.
Never fell for the Sea Monkeys, but I wanted those X-Ray glasses. lol. I remember futilely saving Mallow Cup points for a bicycle.
I got a ring once. Not the Ovaltine Decoder. Some plastic thing with a "secret" compartment. It was all fun.
I got a ring once. Not the Ovaltine Decoder. Some plastic thing with a "secret" compartment. It was all fun.
1
Forever. But the world certainly rotated slower in 1965.
2
Of course loved the article, not sure what " not of law but of meaning — maybe not the tail end of a universe expressing itself, but definitely one that leads into that lively place between ordinary truth and hopeful dreams and all the way to the essential contradiction at the core of the American character," means, seems a bit of a humbug statement, from where I stand, give the lady her due, she inherited the Sea Monkeys, they are her family, pay up Big Time Toys, oh yeah and stop using inferior Sea Monkeys
77
yeah, she needs a new lawyer...
1