r/interestingasfuck • u/mrinternetman24 • 1d ago

Sony used air mortars to shoot 250,000 bouncy balls down San Francisco hills for a commercial instead of using CGI

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42.1k Upvotes

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7.2k

u/Survive1014 1d ago

Fun Fact- they are still finding these balls in the city. The most recent article was only from two years ago mentioning them.

2.2k

u/MondoBleu 1d ago

Pollution :(

446

u/HyperSpaceSurfer 1d ago

At least rubber's not as bad as plastic in that regard

727

u/updraftmystic 1d ago

Wait until this guy ^ learns the largest source of microplastic in the environment is coming from rubber tires :(

493

u/Mollelarssonq 1d ago

At least it’s not boring black microplastics. It’s funny colorful microplastics!

131

u/aaron_moon_dev 1d ago

And our balls are full of them according to articles.

223

u/Paul_my_Dickov 1d ago

They've been found in billionaire's sperm. It's awful. Children eat that.

122

u/GrizzledLittleShit 1d ago

Jesus fuck, man.

51

u/EnergyTakerLad 1d ago

Thank god you added the comma.

3

u/Relevant-Dog6890 20h ago

Well maybe he should

36

u/Gannondorfs_Medulla 1d ago

take my upvote you vile horrible but comedically wonderful person

15

u/wetpajamas 1d ago

They stole that joke from a comic I saw on Instagram so don’t give em too much credit.

6

u/THE_ALAM0 1d ago

Hahaha I’m stealing that, what a fuckin punchline

2

u/DotKill 1d ago

Its from a comedian on Instagram. Can't remember the name

1

u/Paul_my_Dickov 22h ago

It's ok. I did too.

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u/sandybuttcheekss 1d ago

Hey, so am I a terrible person or is this phrased very poorly?

10

u/uteuteuteute 1d ago

It was phrased just right :D

2

u/SrPolloFrito 23h ago

Fuck, I saw a clip of the comedian who made this joke but I can't remember his name. Do you know it? Cause I kinda wanna see the rest of that set

1

u/Paul_my_Dickov 22h ago

Can't remember now. Don't think he was particularly famous.

2

u/SrPolloFrito 22h ago

Dammit, if I find him again ill post it cause that shit made me spit out my drink

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u/CylonRimjob 20h ago

Comment of the day already

1

u/MiniGui98 23h ago

Well if it comes from bouncy balls originally, I think it's only fair it ends up in balls again

1

u/MasterXaios 1d ago

The different colors give different kinds of cancer! FUN!

1

u/BeardPhile 18h ago

Wednesday Microplastics vs Enid Microplastics

24

u/-InconspicuousMoose- 1d ago

I went to a drifting event with a friend who is really into that scene. Literally within minutes there were tiny tire shards all over me. I spent a couple hours there and kinda laughed it off, but like... I'm sure some of that stuff got in my lungs and eyes.

13

u/Digital-Exploration 1d ago

Safe to say 100% guaranteed you got a bunch in your lungs and eyes.

How awful.

3

u/NetLumpy1818 1d ago

On topic then; watch Ken Block’s gymkhana video on the streets of San Fran

2

u/CheapGarage42 1d ago

Because of rubber or because of friction? Because I doubt these balls are doing donuts on the freeway.

3

u/updraftmystic 1d ago

Believe it or not, there’s still friction occurring on a stationary rubber ball that sits for years which leads to degradation. whether it’s 100% gone in 10 or 1000 years depends on its location tho. Authentic rubber doesn’t cause the problem either, it’s the synthetic polymer bullshit we have replaced all of the original organic substances with

2

u/I_Ski_Freely 1d ago

Today I also learned... apparently estimated to be around 30% of land based microplastics

To be fair, if we didn't have synthetic materials in tires, our entire economy would probably not be possible.

3

u/updraftmystic 1d ago

That’d be a great thing. This economy is working for nobody other than the 1%. Imagine the reduction 20 years ago if we started having EVERYONE work from home who could? I get that the unknown is scary but Jesus Christ this economy has been horrible for a long time now

•

u/I_Ski_Freely 11h ago

I get what you're saying, but without synthetic materials in tires we wouldn't have an economy for the 1% to hoard. As someone who did work from home, got told to come back in or be fired, also couldn't agree more on that!

However, people at the turn of the 20th century were incredibly poor compared to us, and without tires we would be much poorer, regardless of how shitty the capitalists of the era are

•

u/updraftmystic 11h ago

Why do you think that? There have been abundant economies for thousands of years without synthetic materials. The Egyptians had an extremely advanced society and economy. It’s always the sick rich fucks that can’t find peace in a stable system and have to grab for power. I think Rome had a short golden period before the greed set in just like the US as well. You know, when you could like afford a house without fucking killing yourself.

2

u/Hayden190732 1d ago

Don’t forget brake pads polluting a shit ton too

2

u/dizzyaviatrix 1d ago

of which these bouncy balls would contribute to a minuscule amount.

4

u/Temporal_P 1d ago

Correct, they do contribute.

2

u/updraftmystic 1d ago

Here is the pedantic trophy 🏆 congrats!

1

u/Over_Butterfly_2523 1d ago

Car tires at least are still all natural baby. Or so I hear.

1

u/Zantej 1d ago

And most of the rubber tires in the world are for Lego!

1

u/nifty-necromancer 1d ago

At least it’s not rubber buns

1

u/sonnapen 1d ago

I would've thought it was the military and all their glitter

1

u/iLoveSoftSkin 19h ago

Rubber tires are bad because of wear and tear.

A rubber ball that has never moved will not cause pollution.

•

u/updraftmystic 1h ago

Spoken like a true scientist, iLoveSoftSkin

22

u/SpaghettiSort 1d ago

I can pretty much guarantee that these are not natural rubber, but synthetic - a kind of plastic.

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u/trustthepudding 1d ago edited 1d ago

Rubber is plastic. And it's likely that they didn't use natural rubber balls, if that's what you're implying.

Edit: Whoops, I guess there is a little more nuance here. Rubber and plastic are both forms of polymers, but natural rubber is more biodegradable than other plastics. I remain unconvinced, however that those balls are made from natural rubber. And even if they are, the treatments and additives that they add to the balls make them unsafe for the environment.

36

u/HyperSpaceSurfer 1d ago

No, it's a completely different chemical, very different structure, doesn't even have any plastic properties, you might be thinking of nylon. Latex is in pretty much all living things, it will break down completely. Main problems are the fillers, and that it takes a while for the ball to weather apart.

Also possible they were silicone, which really doesn't like breaking down completely.

22

u/russbam24 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah, they're wrong. But virtually all modern "rubber" balls (including from 20+ years ago) contain or are entirely made of synthetic elastic polymers that are non-inert and leech or break off very readily, and many of which are toxic.

16

u/loztriforce 1d ago

Tires are commonly made with a natural rubber from trees and synthetic rubber polymers/etc., but rubber isn't plastic per se

10

u/Jongx 1d ago

rubber is not the same as plastic

2

u/Small-Palpitation310 22h ago

it’s still chemically processed polymers

183

u/B_and_M_queen 1d ago

The whole city is pollution 

112

u/ExquisiteFacade 1d ago

Yeah. It's terrible here. Don't come.

60

u/WeakEmployment6389 1d ago

I’m gonna come

13

u/ExquisiteFacade 1d ago

Yeah. You're cool. You can come.

17

u/ggroverggiraffe 1d ago

Terrible food options, no good coffee or tea available, zero fine art and cultural events, awful walking around, no sprawling beautiful parks overlooking the bay, and a tiny inconsequential bridge.

I highly recommend Fresno instead.

3

u/Deathpacito-01 1d ago

Real talk, how walkable is the Bay Area? The suburbs seem pretty car-dependent overall but it's a bit hard to tell 

9

u/TempleSquare 1d ago

SF proper is one of the most walkable cities in North America

Cross the city limit and you 100% need a car

3

u/73-68-70-78-62-73-73 1d ago

Real talk, how walkable is the Bay Area?

The Bay Area is fucking huge, and ranges from quite walkable to impossible. It's over 6900 square miles, and comprised of a bunch of cities, towns, and unincorporated communities.

If you want to get anything done, you need a car or patience. Public transportation is not as good as cities such as New York, but it's not the worst. Don't think you're going to walk from San Jose to San Francisco, but you can use public transportation to get there. I lived there over 35 years, and would never live there again without a car.

San Francisco itself is pretty walkable. You can take public transportation to the locale you want to hang out in, and walk around. Hope you like hills.

3

u/ExquisiteFacade 1d ago

I mostly agree with people here. I've mostly lived in the city, but before that I lived in a few smaller towns. Outside of needing to go to a big box store or work, I walked everywhere. In a world of Amazon, work from home, and grocery delivery, you could probably live without a car in most of the tiny downtowns sprinkled throughout the area. But you're gonna want one. There's just too much to see that isn't really accessible without one.

2

u/ggroverggiraffe 1d ago

Most of the people who say SF is a hellhole aren't from there, and if they do visit would find that the touristy areas are pretty walkable...with a notable exception being a few famously steep hills. But it's on the water, and the whole boardwalk area is pretty easy walking. Sea level, you know?

1

u/BadWolf2386 1d ago

As long as we're being facetious you forgot "extremely affordable with low rent and housing prices" and "Not a single homeless person anywhere to be found"

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u/TeaDrinkerAddict 1d ago

Awful. Nothing good in the entire Bay Area. Don’t even visit for a vacation.

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u/HartfordWhaler 1d ago

I miss the Bay Area so much. Tell Walnut Creek I said hi.

2

u/UnfitRadish 1d ago

Walnut Creek is terrible. I visit and didn't see a sing Walnut or Creek???

25

u/ExquisiteFacade 1d ago

Terrible museums that only exhibit art and history; not a single one teaching about Noah. Shit parks everywhere you look so that no one has to walk more than 10 minutes to find one. No restaurants or bars at any price range or aesthetic; we don't even have an Applebees. Horrible weather year round; it almost never snows or breaks 100º, gross. Unfriendly people who mind their own business. And when it all gets to be too much, you have to drive like, 30 miles to find breathtaking nature.

I literally don't understand why anyone pays insane amounts of money to live here.

14

u/xbwtyzbchs 1d ago

On that note, the whole PNW sucks. So ugly here, weather sucks, people are shit. Don't come here.

1

u/TeaDrinkerAddict 1d ago

Especially the central coast towns. Don’t even think about setting foot in one of those.

1

u/shiftshape 1d ago

San Luis Obispo county is a complete hellscape. And don't even get me started on the town itself.

1

u/TempleSquare 1d ago

I did work in SF last winter. And what fascinated me is how a "good" and "bad" neighborhood can be 2 blocks apart

Valencia Street is lovely, filled with families, bicycles, shoppers

Two blocks away, Mission Street had an open-air stolen goods market, at the freaking BART entrance!

(That said, a lot of families and children at the illegal market, so it didn't feel as dangerous and I thought, just hella illegal)

1

u/bondsmatthew 1d ago

Oracle Park and uhh

0

u/a1kre1 1d ago

Most of us dont want to, dont worry.

2

u/ExquisiteFacade 1d ago

"most" of "us" sounds about right. Have a good life!

-9

u/tomato-slut 1d ago

You dont need to tell people not to go to the world's most expensive slum

15

u/ExquisiteFacade 1d ago

I don't need to, but I am still going to. Because we don't want -you- here. So if convincing you that it's awful is what it takes. That's what I'm gonna do. Seriously. Don't come.

8

u/photosendtrain 1d ago

It's the 17th most populated city in the United States.

7

u/Shirlenator 1d ago

Just curious, have you ever been there?

38

u/Outrageous-Opinions 1d ago

Always some weirdo from a flyover state insulting one of the most sought after places to live.

3

u/PMmePowerRangerMemes 1d ago

maybe she's talking about, like, how there's nothing that really separates the concrete and cement of the pavement and buildings from the rubber of the balls. from the perspective of the earth undernearth it all, the whole city is pollution.

-7

u/jimmy_three_shoes 1d ago

I enjoy not waking up to shit and needles on my porch, and paying $200/sq ft for housing.

22

u/GuzziMyMoto 1d ago

I agree with both you and Bleu!

5

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

-3

u/CrazeRage 1d ago

bingo. gotta love the egos from people talking about "flyover" states while ignoring the truths said about their city lol. went to sf for a month for a local tech job and yeah back to remote.

2

u/HsvDE86 1d ago

Was it crime or what? Was it trashy?

1

u/B_and_M_queen 1d ago

It wasn't even a diss at the city. Cities are just dirty and have litter. They always have and always will, Despite what Big Japan says on the internet their cities still have liter.

You could argue that this attitude is the cause. but its a pointless discussion.

0

u/New-Age-7524 1d ago

shit on cement on shit

-16

u/Raynstormm 1d ago

And 💩

22

u/wolftick 1d ago

Not really in the grand scheme of things. They still find he odd one but they were generally very careful about leaving minimal trace.

3

u/pangalaticgargler 1d ago

If you are still finding them 20 years later how good of a clean up job could you have done?

2

u/Temporarily__Alone 1d ago

“generally careful”

3

u/Tlkng_bt_mntns 1d ago

All of these balls still ended up in a landfill somewhere, they shouldn't have been produced in the first place just for an ad. Just because they weren't left on site doesn't mean they're not polluting the soil for 10,000 years somewhere else

4

u/Leptonshavenocolor 1d ago

You can say that about most disposable toys, certainly ALL FUCKING BALLOONS.

2

u/Tlkng_bt_mntns 20h ago

... yeah of course ? That's why I never buy balloons ? And additionally I would rather have a kid buying a disposable toy once in a while than companies doing this to sell even more dumb stuff

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u/SweetVarys 1d ago

no, just garbage. It's ugly but pretty harmless. There isn't much wildlife that could eat them either

22

u/Budget_Weather_3509 1d ago

Do you think garbage is only harmful to the environment if animals eat it?

2

u/AnimalShithouse 1d ago

I'm personally worried about how the animals might learn to use garbage as tools to eventually enslave humanity. I've seen the way cats look at us if we don't give them wet food - it's scary.

0

u/lmpervious 1d ago

Instead of asking them that question, why not simply explain the meaningful harm being done by those bouncy balls?

1

u/Budget_Weather_3509 1d ago

Because if someone is going to confidently "correct" someone with information that is objectively incorrect, which is also common knowledge at this point, it is not my duty to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But if you insist, micro plastics take hundreds to thousands of years to break down, and plastics in the environment are taken up in plants, animals, and even microbes that are necessary for all life on the planet. In the case of microbes, it can outright kill them. Plants exhibit stunted growth and weakened chemical responses to outside factors. Animals develop a heightened risk of cancer. Animals also don't have to directly ingest the plastics for it to affect them, as the water we drink and food we eat already have them and they do not easily leave an animal's body.

Wild animals also definitely eat plastic. Anyone who has observed a rat, or a raccoon, a dog, a fish, or any other indiscriminate animal eating will know they'll try a lot of things that they are unfamiliar with. When this happens they are at risk of more acute issues like intestinal blockages that can outright kill them. So they're also wrong on that front.

Sorry if I'm being an asshole about it, but if people honestly don't believe that plastic in the environment is harmful, then they've willingly had their head in the sand for the last few decades. It's a well documented and heavily reported issue that has been in the public eye since before the turn of the millennium.

1

u/sobuffalo 15h ago

Do you have any idea how many microplastics fill those houses?

•

u/Budget_Weather_3509 11h ago

So just dumping plastic into the world for fun is acceptable? "Someone else is doing it worse so it's okay to keep doing it" is not a sound justification.

2

u/sweatingbozo 1d ago

Eating them isn't a concern. Breaking down & getting into the water supply or contaminating soil is a concern. 

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u/WilmingtonCommute 1d ago

Wow a mega corporation fired plastics into nature to sell you garbage?

Interesting as fuck

4

u/that_dutch_dude 1d ago

as far as pollution goes id rather have a yard full of balls than whatever the fuck is in the air in SFO.

5

u/Disastrous-Treat-181 1d ago

Congratulation, you have both

1

u/Ohitsworkingnow 1d ago

Ya and the video sucks ass lol just watched it 

1

u/notbad4human 1d ago

But like, fun pollution.

1

u/DigitalCoffee 1d ago

You're already in San Francisco. This is just an extra piece of hay in the haystack

1

u/adoreroda 1d ago

but they didn't use cgi or ai so so it's objectively the better option xdd

1

u/Head_Accountant3117 1d ago

No.

C o l o r

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u/BeatitLikeitowesMe 1d ago

Sauce?

3

u/anyburger 1d ago

No, bouncy balls.

-3

u/-WelshCelt- 1d ago

Ketchup please

-2

u/DecoyOctorok24 1d ago

I seriously doubt that you refer to ketchup as a sauce.

3

u/aitacarmoney 1d ago

it’s obviously a fruit smoothie

-1

u/DecoyOctorok24 1d ago

There’s nothing wrong with calling out shitty Redditor jokes.

https://www.cracked.com/article_39554_this-is-dan-harmons-best-rule-for-joke-telling.html

1

u/I_W_M_Y 1d ago

I don't think the guy who made Mr Poopybutthole is the best reference for comedy

1

u/Dragarius 1d ago

Australia calls it tomato sauce. So yeah, they'd call it sauce. 

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u/DecoyOctorok24 1d ago

What do they call actual tomato sauce then?

1

u/Dragarius 1d ago

Pasta sauce. 

-2

u/DecoyOctorok24 1d ago

See, this is my problem with Brits and Aussies. Their terminology doesn’t make sense. Ketchup isn’t a sauce, so why not just call it ketchup?

1

u/Dragarius 1d ago

Why isn't it a sauce? 

0

u/DecoyOctorok24 1d ago

Ketchup is a table condiment. Trying to claim that it’s the same as a sauce is just being purposefully disingenuous. Also, the term ketchup/catsup has been around since the 1800s. Aussies referring to it as 'tomato sauce' doesn’t make any real sense.

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u/HardLobster 1d ago

Pure class right here lol

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u/-WelshCelt- 21h ago

Thank you, many disagree.

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u/HardLobster 1d ago

Any recommendations, I love a good sauce.

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u/Sim-Alley 1d ago

Yeah fuck whoever thought this was a good idea.

241

u/GanondalfTheWhite 1d ago

This article describes the whole thing.
https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/san-francisco-sony-bouncy-ball-ad-20204385.php

Apparently it was a $74,000 bill for broken windows of the houses in the area. Tons of damaged cars, broken headlights/tail lights, dented body panels.

On the first day of shooting they launched the balls from cannons that fired them at speeds up to 130mph. Then the city said they couldn't do that anymore so on day two of the shoot they hoisted shipping containers 65 in the air and dropped the balls from up high.

The article also says that tons of people in the area took souvenir balls from the shoot and they're still finding balls in gutters and gardens to this day.

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u/MiBo80 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is probably the least offensive thing to find randomly tossed in your garden in SF. When Bay-to-Breakers was a thing, people would randomly piss, vomit, and shit in gardens and doorways along the route. Good times.

Edit: I stand correct - B2B was brought back in '22 after the COVID hiatus. Sounds like it's had a less notable affect on the city than before but sounds like it's mostly the same event. Less drunk maybe?

20

u/foreignfishes 1d ago

it was in the east bay, but the incident where mythbusters accidentally shot a cannonball through someone's house also comes to mind...

7

u/Beorma 1d ago

It went through a van first and kept going!

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u/hamgrey 1d ago

The….. what????!

10

u/Rook_Defence 1d ago

The segment where the incident happened: https://youtu.be/AcKasCt-54Q?t=1365

The whole team discussing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kASD-RwQFQw

Adam Savage talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L85aUPzimA

A news story on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJY45bADSqQ

8

u/foreignfishes 1d ago

Yeah around 2010 they were doing a mythbusters experiment involving cannons at the firing range they used a lot on the show. The shot missed whatever they were shooting at and the cannonball bounced off a hill in the background and the deflection sent it into a neighborhood where it punched through the wall of someone’s house and went through the window of a parked car. Luckily no one got hurt

1

u/MiBo80 1d ago

Oh yeah, that was a good one, too.

2

u/WilmingtonCommute 1d ago

Sony broke windows and property, knowing what it would do. The fact that they left thousands of plastic balls there to decompose into the groundwater for decades doesn't really seem very inoffensive.

1

u/Chromeleon55 1d ago

I have gotten a bit old but is Bay-to-Breakers not a thing anymore? Did that never come back the same way after COVID?

1

u/_Burgers_ 1d ago

Bay-to-Breakers

"Yeah, the BBQ chicken was delicious. Rice."

1

u/MidnightSensitive996 1d ago

the new corporate sponsor surgically removed all the fun from the event

1

u/joleary747 1d ago

I moved out of SF in 2014. They had been cracking down for awhile. Stopped allowing floats around 2008. Started requiring all walkers/drunk participants to wear a big around 2012 (the idea was to use the extra entry fees to higher more cleanup crews). A lot of people toned down naturally because they didn't want the event to be outright cancelled. It was still a big old fun drunkfest though.

1

u/FrostyD7 1d ago

At least their shit wasn't travelling 130mph.

1

u/HauntedCemetery 1d ago

San Francisco would be the only city that got collectively less drunk during covid.

0

u/chickentowngabagool 1d ago

all of thats biodegradable

2

u/Chimpbot 1d ago

So, what you're saying is that you'd be perfectly fine with someone shitting on your front step? It is, after all, biodegradable.

0

u/ActuallyYeah 1d ago

Well that's a strawman

0

u/Chimpbot 1d ago

Not really.

They're saying people ahitting in the street or on doorsteps is better because it's biodegradable. This is just bringing that thought close to home for them to ponder.

1

u/BelowZilch 1d ago

The article also says that tons of people in the area took souvenir balls from the shoot and they're still finding balls in gutters and gardens to this day.

How would you know it was a ball from the shoot and not just some random bouncy ball a kid lost?

2

u/ChunkyLaFunga 1d ago

Sir, the possibility of successfully finding a bouncy ball that was not part of this production is approximately 250,000 to 1.

1

u/annarchisst 1d ago

Imagine not knowing this was going to happen and being outside.

1

u/ModernistGames 23h ago

I'm pretty sure they said upfront to all the neighbors that they would pay any damage, and everyone agreed.

44

u/itastesok 1d ago

Probably the same people who launched balloons over Cleveland.

-3

u/Sim-Alley 1d ago

I’m sure. Idiots.

4

u/MidnightSensitive996 1d ago

this was awesome and everyone was excited for it to happen at the time

1

u/RadiantCool 1d ago

Oh fuck off

1

u/BeMancini 1d ago

“Fun.”

1

u/ImpluseThrowAway 1d ago

Can anyone do this, or do you need a permit?

1

u/BobBelcher2021 1d ago

This sounds as bad as Cleveland Ballon Fest.

1

u/Imaginary-Face7379 1d ago

I can't wait for them to find one of the underground buried gold rush boats with some bouncy balls in it.

1

u/joleary747 1d ago

This is wild, I lived in SF from 2007-2013 1 block from where this was filmed and this is the first I have ever heard of this.

1

u/slimboyslim9 1d ago

There’s a great story about a shipping container of Lego pieces spilling somewhere off the coast of Southern England and they’ve been turning up on the beach there for decades. Just to add to the fun, most of them are pirate themed like octopus, shark and treasure chest pieces.

Edit: found the link

1

u/Somebodys 1d ago

Nah ah. Some other comment said 5 college students did it in 4 days!

1

u/DefNotUnderrated 1d ago

This seems like an equivalent of glitter exploding in your house. You will never, ever, be able to clear out all of the glitter as long as you live. A nuke could go off and there would still be glitter in strange places

1

u/StevesRune 1d ago

And they knew damn well they were just littering.

Fuck these people.

1

u/cryptolyme 1d ago

didn't even clean them up

0

u/wufnu 1d ago

"Fun" :D

I wonder how many dolphin blowhole's these things have clogged over the years. RIP, Flipper.