This is from The Greatest Mistakes of All Time by Martha Brockenbrough.
Rubber shortages during World War II prompted the U.S. government to look for a synthetic rubber. It seemed 
like a good idea to try to make this substitute for rubber out of something plentiful, and researchers eventually settled on silicone. An inventor at General Electric added a little boric acid to silicone oil and developed a gooey, bouncy substance.
This substance failed as a substitute for rubber, but after the war it became an extremely popular toy known as Silly Putty. Apollo 8 astronauts later used it to stabilize their tools in zero gravity. (The astronauts carried their Silly Putty in sterling silver eggs.) Today, Binney & Smith, the company that makes Silly Putty, produces 20,000 eggs of Silly Putty a day.
Bonus Reading
After counting more than 25,000 votes cast by Crayola® crayon fans of all ages in the Crayola Color Census 2000, the final tally revealed that Americans’ favorite Crayola crayon color is blue. Six other shades of blue finished in the Top 10 including cerulean, midnight blue, aquamarine, periwinkle, denim and blizzard blue. Other colors rounding out the Top 10 list included purple heart, caribbean green and cerise.
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