We want your red rubber bands!

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• 1. At 11:13am on 06 Apr 2009, The Wrath Is Come wrote:

  There have been no comments made here yet.
  
  The old ones are the best :-0

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• 2. At 11:21am on 06 Apr 2009, Gillianian wrote:

  No sooner said than done ;o)

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• 3. At 11:28am on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  I prefer The Big Elastic Band
  

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• 4. At 11:33am on 06 Apr 2009, DI_Wyman wrote:

  But my Speedos will fall down!

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• 5. At 11:34am on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  Is there any point in picking up elastic bands on the streets of Scotland and sending them south so that the postmen-postwomen-postpersons can discard them on the streets of London?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Disregard the above.
  
  Now, where did I put the elastic band sack?
  
  >8-D
  

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• 6. At 11:35am on 06 Apr 2009, Fearless Fred wrote:

  Imagine the size of the rubber band ball that you'll be able to make, Eddie!

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• 7. At 11:43am on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  Time for a new strapline.
  
  P.M. Abbreviation of Postmaster.
  

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• 8. At 11:44am on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  P.M.G. Abbreviation of Postmaster General.

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• 9. At 11:47am on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  P.M.S. Bring home some chocolates, it might save your life. Tell her you love her and hide all the knives.
  

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• 10. At 11:48am on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  P.M.T. (see above) U.K. >8-D
  

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• 11. At 12:00pm on 06 Apr 2009, U13879388 wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 12. At 12:08pm on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  I prefer the sound of The Big Elastic Band.

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• 13. At 12:08pm on 06 Apr 2009, Big Sister wrote:

  You realise, Eddie, that we'll all spend the rest of the day picking these up for you? Perhaps the more community minded amongst us might also clear a bit of the other litter.
  
  Eddie Mair: Antilitter Hero.

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• 14. At 12:11pm on 06 Apr 2009, Lady Sue wrote:

  I'd love to help but there isn't a red elastic band for miles around. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing...

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• 15. At 12:17pm on 06 Apr 2009, Sid wrote:

  There are so many red rubber bands round here that everyone walks with a spring in their step.
  
  

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• 16. At 12:20pm on 06 Apr 2009, Big Sister wrote:

  Sid: Round our way, there are so many that nobody bothers buying new tyres, they just retread with red. ;)

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• 17. At 12:22pm on 06 Apr 2009, DI_Wyman wrote:

  10 uses for a red rubber band

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• 18. At 12:27pm on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  Rupert Allman and Jennifer Tracey will be so happy!
  Remember, everyone, to attach a wee note explaining that this was Eddie's idea.
  We wouldn't want Jo to steal his credit!
  
  >8-D
  

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• 19. At 12:33pm on 06 Apr 2009, DI_Wyman wrote:

  Sid, there are so many red rubber bands round here that if you trip you just bounce right back up again. ;)
  

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• 20. At 12:39pm on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  Re: #11 Why?
  Not lucid, slightly rambling, but I saw nothing offensive.
  

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• 21. At 12:41pm on 06 Apr 2009, steelpulse wrote:

  iPM Red Rubber Band Collection
  Room G601
  BBC News Centre,
  LONDON
  W12 7RJ.
  
  Er, Mister Mair, sir. Where is the "FREEPOST" bit of the address?
  
  You want me to spend my hard earned sending you stuff? In your dreams.
  
  Tell you what though. I will put a few aside and make the biggest catapult the world has seen and use it to hurl stuff collected in your general direction. How does does that suit?
  
  No? Oh - you hold against me that I was the North Korean rocket launch architect?
  
  You make ONE mistake.......... lol

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• 22. At 12:44pm on 06 Apr 2009, jonnie wrote:

  This link may come in handy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPBbN0DvTbA

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• 23. At 12:46pm on 06 Apr 2009, jonnie wrote:

  Or this :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJp_EO2C220

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• 24. At 12:49pm on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  Balls and rubbers. Reminds me of school!
  

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• 25. At 12:58pm on 06 Apr 2009, U12196018 wrote:

  Scotch-git (20) - Nothing offensive and probably very little to do with red rubber bands.

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• 26. At 1:07pm on 06 Apr 2009, Stewart M wrote:

  Jonnie 22, You don't need to start with a bouncey ball to make a rubber band ball. We have at least 3 rubber band balls on the go at work.
  
  Two things I never buy for work are elastic bands and paper clips. We always have loads of both.

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• 27. At 1:10pm on 06 Apr 2009, paulatthehug wrote:

  I've been collecting these for a while now when out walking the dog around our village. I started wrapping them around an old computer mouse ball and I now have a bouncy ball of them which is slowly getting bigger.
  
  See http://home.the-hug.net/tmp/po_rubber.jpg
  
  So I recommend making yourself a ball with them!

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• 28. At 1:51pm on 06 Apr 2009, grannybb wrote:

  I have been collecting red rubber bands for years, and hanging them on my bike handle bars. Thats obviously where the scootering kids got the idea from. But if you leave them there for too long they perish and are no perisging good. I use them for shibori. (posh name for tie-dyeing)
  
  How will we manage for rubber bands if the postmen stop dropping them? I wouldn't know where to buy any!

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• 29. At 1:59pm on 06 Apr 2009, Vyle Hernia wrote:

  I prefer the Incredible String Band.
  And I bet the Royal Mail could save money if they used natural brown rubber bands.

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• 30. At 2:03pm on 06 Apr 2009, CathyV wrote:

  Rubber band balls - great for office football (or cricket - depending on size).

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• 31. At 2:05pm on 06 Apr 2009, DrATty wrote:

  This might be a tall order. Aren't rubber bands, like everything else, supposed to be green now?

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• 32. At 2:25pm on 06 Apr 2009, Charlie wrote:

  sp 21
  
  Good point.
  
  Given the figures of discarded Royal Mail red-rubber-bands in 2006 (millions) according to this article, I was beginning to think Eddie was trying to save Royal Mail single-handedly - (is a "Sir" Edward title being sought I wonder..?) anyway:
  
  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article716493.ece
  
  "From The Times January 21, 2006
  Posties' red rubber bands stretch public's patience"
  
  Incidentaly, I got so far as quoting "red-rubber..." to a young Australian colleague who immediately collapsed in gales of laughter and still, some minutes later, can't speak coherently.
  
  What's all that about..?

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• 33. At 2:26pm on 06 Apr 2009, Sid wrote:

  Another vote for The Incredible String Band. (I was going to say 'for The Incredibles', but ...)
  
  

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• 34. At 3:02pm on 06 Apr 2009, Antonio_1_Garcia wrote:

  I had a rubber band ball as big as a bowling ball. I think the object of having a rubber band ball is to see how many bands you can fit on it.

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• 35. At 3:14pm on 06 Apr 2009, andyandteddy wrote:

  In one year the average postman delivers 470,000 items and drops 4935 rubber bands. That takes a lot of balls.
  
  When I did the Christmas post back in my student days bundles were tied with string and I was taught how to tie the 'postman's' knot. I seem to recall the string was kept for use on the next round. Very enviro-friendly.

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• 36. At 3:22pm on 06 Apr 2009, Fifi wrote:

  This band-gathering enterprise is sheer folly!

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• 37. At 3:25pm on 06 Apr 2009, DI_Wyman wrote:

  FiFi, don't worry about it, we will all bounce back to RL eventually!

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• 38. At 3:33pm on 06 Apr 2009, Fifi wrote:

  I decline to bounce back to RL, thank you DIY.
  
  Instead, I intend to contemplate the folly of using up stamps to send discarded Royal Mail rubber bands to the BBC.

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• 39. At 3:38pm on 06 Apr 2009, Big Sister wrote:

  Charlie (32): I imagine that in Australia (as in the US) a rubber has 'another' connotation. In the US it is commonly used to mean a condom ...

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• 40. At 3:47pm on 06 Apr 2009, DI_Wyman wrote:

  Big Sister... Australian , like English but not!

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• 41. At 3:49pm on 06 Apr 2009, CairnTerrier wrote:

  Are postmen evangelising for that Kabala thing Madonna is/was in to?

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• 42. At 3:49pm on 06 Apr 2009, Fearless Fred wrote:

  Big Sis (39) Following on from that, I can say that a well known brand of sticky tape was for many years marketed under the brand name of Durex in Australia (and other countries too). Imagine the confusion for poor Aussie travellers looking for sticky tape in the shops over here, asking the shop assistants in Smiths where the Durex was!

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• 43. At 3:50pm on 06 Apr 2009, Big Sister wrote:

  Yes, DiY, but that doesn't confirm that rubber has the same meaning as in the States ... However, from the reaction of Charlie's colleague, I'd imagine it does.
  
  But - Charlie, haven't you said somewhere else that you spend a lot of time in the States? So, you of ALL people should know about this 'other' meaning, and at a guess I'd say you've been winding us up. :)

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• 44. At 3:50pm on 06 Apr 2009, CairnTerrier wrote:

  I hadn't gonr to the above link before I made my posting (41) - I feel so ashamed.

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• 45. At 3:56pm on 06 Apr 2009, Charlie wrote:

  
  Big Sis 39
  
  Y'know, THAT, maybe, explains everything..!
  
  Is Eddie, I wonder... now, how shall I put this..? "Entering" the condom market - with his own brand?
  
  Perhaps "Eddie's Ever-Redies"?
  
  If he is, it's a clever production technique he's using. I mean, getting Bloggers to provide him, free-of-charge with the raw-material, under the guise of clearing Britains streets of discarded rubber...
  
  Anyway, I doubt Eddie thought of the scheme. Probably "borrowed" the idea from..? Mmmm..., where's Rupert these days..?

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• 46. At 3:58pm on 06 Apr 2009, Charlie wrote:

  Big Sis 43
  
  As if...
  
  You surely know me better than that...

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• 47. At 4:05pm on 06 Apr 2009, Lady Sue wrote:

  I recall Durex being a brand of sticky-tape in Oz, which I suspect caused a bit of embarrassment for UK travellers Down Under (no pun intended).
  
  Perhaps they thought in Oz you had to 'wrap your own'?

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• 48. At 4:13pm on 06 Apr 2009, U12196018 wrote:

  Big Sis (39) - And Jean Condom played rugby for France for many years.
  
  In a match at Landsdowne Road in 1985, Ireland's Willie Anderson and France's Jean Condom had their names written on a banner supporting the Irish team. The TV cameras picked up the banner in the crowd. It read "Our Willies bigger than your Condom!"
  
  

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• 49. At 4:22pm on 06 Apr 2009, UptheTrossachs wrote:

  Lady Sue! Your comment shocked me so much I'm still a giggling heap on the floor.
  Thank heavens for the intermittent insanity of this blog...

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• 50. At 4:32pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  BS, You're confusing the rubber/eraser thing with rubber band. A rubber band in the US is a rubber band. I used to hear them being called elastic bands in GB.
  
  I heard that the red bands are biodegradeable and that's why the postmen are allowed to dop them all over the place. I collect them to put around bundles of Lib Dem leaflets.

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• 51. At 4:33pm on 06 Apr 2009, Fifi wrote:

  Cairn (44) : Don't feel ashamed! Think of the expression 'great minds think alike' instead, and feel smug!
  
  ;o)

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• 52. At 4:45pm on 06 Apr 2009, PeterJScott wrote:

  http://www.homescott.free-online.co.uk/2008/ball.JPG
  
  It may not be the biggest - but I claim the most intricate design :-)
  
  Life wouldn't be the same without the (average) two or three bands per day on the walk to the newspaper shop.

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• 53. At 4:49pm on 06 Apr 2009, Ros_radiohead wrote:

  I heard the article about postmen dropping red rubber bands on the Today Programme this morning. I think it probably belongs in the same category as some of the health and safety rulings that have been rolled out during the past few years. I would also like to point out that they are very often a integral part of recycling for many of us - I have always picked them up and found them extremely useful!!

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• 54. At 4:56pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  See this (maybe):
  
  RED RUBBER BAND

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• 55. At 4:57pm on 06 Apr 2009, Charlie wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 56. At 5:05pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  C 55, I think you're stretching things.

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• 57. At 5:05pm on 06 Apr 2009, Big Sister wrote:

  David (50) I'm doing no such thing. Rubber is definitely a slang word, in the US, for a condom. It may well be used over here too, though I've not heard it here. We do, however, have jonnies here (put your hands over your eyes, Jonnie;o))

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• 58. At 5:05pm on 06 Apr 2009, CairnTerrier wrote:

  Fifi - thankyou for those kind words

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• 59. At 5:14pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  BS 57, Are yiou an American?! No. A rubber band is a rubber band in the US. A rubber is a condom in the US and in GB a rubber is what Americans call an eraser. Trojans are probably the best known brand of condoms in the US. Condom is also a place in France.
  
  CONDOM

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• 60. At 5:17pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  Oops, no CONDOM there. Try here (maybe):
  
  CONDOM

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• 61. At 5:35pm on 06 Apr 2009, Hesiodos wrote:

  Bah!
  
  ;-)
  

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• 62. At 5:40pm on 06 Apr 2009, Scotch-git wrote:

  #61
  
  I tried to count them, but I must have dozed off ..............
  

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• 63. At 5:42pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  H 61, Not much to do with red rubber bands, but very funny. Must forward to others.

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• 64. At 5:46pm on 06 Apr 2009, n000dlz wrote:

  61 - that's fab :)

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• 65. At 5:49pm on 06 Apr 2009, Charlie wrote:

  D-M 56
  
  Clearly, you're right.
  
  And, I should have listened to you before I posted..!

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• 66. At 5:55pm on 06 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  C 65, I see the mods removed your 55. I don't remember reading anything that warranted that. Do You?

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• 67. At 6:03pm on 06 Apr 2009, Charlie wrote:

  
  
  D_M 66
  
  No, I don't, ESPECIALLY, as I only posted and quoted from the BBC's own web-site:
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2009/03/10_things_we_didnt_know_last_w_89.shtml
  
  We shall see...

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• 68. At 6:27pm on 06 Apr 2009, Big Sister wrote:

  Well, David, that is what I originally said - a rubber is what a condom is called in the US. So why disagree in the first place?

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• 69. At 7:23pm on 06 Apr 2009, Hesiodos wrote:

  INVISIBLE HAND RECEIVES SLAP ON WRIST
  
  NORTH KOREA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES THREE-STAGE ROCKET
  
  Kim Jong-il says he has enough supplies, DVDs to stay in orbit for three months.
  
  WORLD NEWS
  Chinese Beer Surpasses Bud Light as World’s Best-Selling
  American century officially over.

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• 70. At 8:10pm on 06 Apr 2009, Lady Sue wrote:

  (48) Horse: terribly funny! True?
  
  I (cross my heart hope to die) met a chap in the wilds of Scotland whose name was Willie Dick. His father was known as Big Willie Dick.
  
  This could get very Carry-On Silly.

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• 71. At 8:37pm on 06 Apr 2009, Verisimilitude100 wrote:

  One of my students today was a postman. There was a red rubber band on top of the steering wheel at the beginning of the lesson. Instructions to put more elasticity into his cornering, not to snap off the clutch, to stretch out his braking like a piece of rubber ensued. This is one postman who will never drop another band.
  
  I have two suggestions for the rubber bands donated to PM. One is to give them to Alistair Darling so he can put some bounce back into the economy. The other is to donate them to Sir Freddy Goodwin to wrap his pension money into 1000 pound bundles.
  

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• 72. At 9:35pm on 06 Apr 2009, Stewart M wrote:

  Is this some cost cutting exercise by the BBC? Use GPO rubber bands.

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• 73. At 10:02pm on 06 Apr 2009, U12196018 wrote:

  Lady Sue (70) - I'm informed that it is indeed true. It's on Wikipedia and that just about guarantees it!

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• 74. At 10:58pm on 06 Apr 2009, jojoclarke wrote:

  Radio 4 have you just noticed them? As a graphic design student at Kingston Uni I did a project on them last year. The link is below.
  
  http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/degree-shows-08-dad-new-blood-1/
  
  There is also a great book that suggests many different uses for these bands, so no need to send them back to Royal Mail!

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• 75. At 11:00pm on 06 Apr 2009, Dennis Junior wrote:

  Eddie:
  
  We want your red rubber bands! The problem is...I don't have any...Sorry...
  
  ~Dennis Junior~

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• 76. At 11:02pm on 06 Apr 2009, Dennis Junior wrote:

  Eddie:
  Could you give us an update; regarding what is the overall programme on the Red Rubber Bands....
  
  ~Dennis Junior~

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• 77. At 05:04am on 07 Apr 2009, Lady Sue wrote:

  (61) Hesiodos: that was very amusing!
  
  I should try counting them too...

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• 78. At 06:41am on 07 Apr 2009, funnyJoedunn wrote:

  Rubber bands come a bouncing back to me-he-he.

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• 79. At 10:22am on 07 Apr 2009, David_McNickle wrote:

  BS 68, Also called a jimmy.

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• 80. At 10:56am on 07 Apr 2009, U13879388 wrote:

  This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

• 81. At 9:06pm on 08 Apr 2009, mr_lemon wrote:

  To the tune of "Dedicated follower of fashion"
  
  They find them here, they find them there
  They're always red and never square
  When removed from little bundles
  They nestle on the ground
  Dropped by postmen when delivering letters

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