Mr. Wizard

My dad told me the best story about the Mr. Wizard show. Mr. Wizard was basically the Bill Nye of the '50s and '60s. He had a show in which he would demonstrate a particular scientific principal - conductivity or whatever, and at the very end of the show, he would always drop a ball into a Rube Goldberg-like machine that would incorporate that day's particular scientific principal. So, the ball would roll down a little zig-zag chute, drop through a tube, and, you know, startle a hen into laying an egg or something, and eventually a shade in a little window would go up - fwapfwapfwap! And then (this is great), there'd be a picture that said: "Eat Cereal!" We were like, "What kind of cereal did they promote?" and he told us that it was just cereal in general. Like, no specific brand, just, eating cereal is a good idea. I love that. Not surprisingly, Mr. Wizard's show was actually underwritten by a group called "The Cereal Institute." I can't believe that's a real organization. How boring is your job if you work there? You're just surrounded by cereal and its related data. If you want to see a clip of the old show, check it out here. Also, for some really crazy science, go here. And perhaps here. Or here.