
The Oral History of the Super Soaker - ohjeez
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/super-soaker-oral-history
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k__
I got a fake SS in Spain when I was 7 or something.

It was like a 50, but with two tanks.

I was the coolest kid when I brought this MF back to Germany, haha

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mirimir
Anyone remember using latex surgical tubing? You took maybe six feet of 0.75"
OD tubing, knotted one end, and filled with water. You could coil it around
your waist, or over your shoulder. You could also use latex surgical tubing to
make three-person water-balloon slingshots.

~~~
close04
As kids we were using 2l bottles of soda with a hole in the cap. Took a bit of
practice to wield a full 2l bottle and squeeze it with enough power to reach
anyone though. Even if Super Soaker was on the shelves it would have been a
pipe dream.

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mirimir
Huh. I guess that you could do the dry ice and water thing, but avoiding
explosions could be dicey.

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close04
I don't think dry ice was anywhere within reach at the time, or even in my
vocabulary :).

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mirimir
Yeah. I'm lots older, I think. When I was a child, we got ice cream packed in
dry ice. Because most people didn't have freezers.

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f_allwein
related : check out Spyra, the ultimate water gun:
[https://www.spyraone.com/about-spyra-one/](https://www.spyraone.com/about-
spyra-one/) (Startup at the university where I work)

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jd73_8dhck
The design looks very cool. But who is the target customer? I did not see any
pictures of children on the site.

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h2odragon
1 gallon garden sprayers are cheap and durable; custom nozzles are where the
fun lies.

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inflatableDodo
Currently he seems to be focussing on an interesting cross between a hydrogen
fuel cell and a heat engine.

[http://www.johnsonems.com](http://www.johnsonems.com)

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ZanyProgrammer
I can’t believe I’m mentioning The FPlus here, but here’s a very NSFW and
satirical podcast about...well, people with a squirt gun fetish.
[https://thefpl.us/episode/305](https://thefpl.us/episode/305)

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bigtrakzapzap
I remember having a SS 50, 100 & 200 back in the day. And filling up water
balloons the old-fashioned way. Now kids have the automatic water balloon
fillers and smart phones. Do most kids even still have water fights in the
summer or do people get too offended or are too busy helicopter parenting to
let kids have any fun?

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beamatronic
Here in California parents can apply for a one day permit for launching water
balloons, a one hour mandatory training course is required; and the water must
be filtered by an approved system.

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tonyarkles
I... Can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not...

