# Oz Dopers: Need help with something trivial **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219 "2005-09-05T17:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/1 "2005-09-05T17:26:58Z")
My seven year old son has a class assignment where he has to send a picture of “Flat Stanley”, a fictional boy who has been run over by a steamroller(?), to somewhere else in the world. It would require you to send him back, filled in and with questions answered about your spot in the world. Anyone willing to give this a shot? We only need one volunteer, I guess ideally it would come back from a child of similar age, although that’s not an absolute restriction from what I’ve skimmed on the assignment. He would need to get it back before December 1st. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/2 "2005-09-05T17:34:41Z")
Holy carp would this be a wildly un-PC thing to do here in the US… ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/3 "2005-09-05T17:49:30Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Holy carp would this be a wildly un-PC thing to do here in the US… Eh? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/4 "2005-09-05T17:53:06Z")
ShibbOleth is in the US… Or at least he was last I heard. And I am completely stumped as to what would be un-PC about it. I loved Flat Stanley, by the way, what a cute book. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/5 "2005-09-05T18:05:39Z")
Yes, I am also confused. Apparently in the book “Flat Stanley” asks his parents to mail him to interesting places. Since **TMINC** has read it, maybe she can fill us in. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/6 "2005-09-05T18:19:41Z")
Well, I only read the first one, where he got flattened (I can’t remember the steamroller bit, though, I thought a bulletin board fell on him or something). It came in useful - his mother dropped a ring in through a grating, so she tied Stanley to a string and lowered him down to get it. He posed as a picture in a museum, dressed as Little Bo Peep to catch some art thieves. I think one of his friends had recently moved, and it was too expensive for him to go visit, so he asked his mother to mail him instead. She even poured a little milk into the envelope, folded Stanley up nice and neat, and mailed him off to his friend. He was later reinflated with a bicycle pump. I do believe there were additional books in the series though, but I think they came out later. I never read them, at any rate. Anyhow, I fail to see any way in which the story or the project is un-PC, by any of the common meanings of the phrase… ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/7 "2005-09-05T18:20:59Z")
Oh and… if a kid isn’t a requirement, I would be glad to participate. However, if you need to mail it off to another child, I’m no help in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/8 "2005-09-05T18:22:01Z")
Except I notice now it has to be an Oz doper. Whoops. _crawls back in hole_ ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/9 "2005-09-05T18:23:40Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Oh and… if a kid isn’t a requirement, I would be glad to participate. However, if you need to mail it off to another child, I’m no help in that regard. I asked Mrs Shibb a little while ago why he didn’t just send it to one of his cousins in Thailand. He wants it to go to Australia because “that’s the farthest away”. I have no idea if that’s technically correct. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/10 "2005-09-05T18:25:27Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Except I notice now it has to be an Oz doper. Whoops. > > _crawls back in hole_ Note, I think Africa should be as cool as Australia to a kid. It was just as exotic a concept when I was little. Maybe he prefers Australia since our local zoo has a decent Australian fauna exhibit. Anyway, it’s a preference more than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/11 "2005-09-05T18:26:59Z")
Yeah there’s no rhyme or reason with kids and their coolness quotients 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/12 "2005-09-05T19:38:11Z")
I’ll quite happily do it, but I have no small people in my household. So I will place myself on the reserve list in case some Ozdopers with offspring volunteer. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/13 "2005-09-05T22:19:38Z")
I’m in the same boat as **cabdude**. I have nieces and nephews ready to hand though. I’m sure they’d be happy to help out (after some judicious bribing). ---
**Author:** ![Atheist\_Princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@Atheist\_Princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atheist_Princess)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/14 "2005-09-05T23:25:03Z")
I have a younger brother in my house and from Australia…pick me! Pick me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/15 "2005-09-06T00:00:12Z")
I think we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/16 "2005-09-06T00:22:40Z")
> [@Atheist Princess](#): > > I have a younger brother in my house and from Australia…pick me! Pick me! 😃 If you’re in Australia, send me an email and I’ll get the stuff in the mail to you. This is his homework so I do need you to complete the assignment in a fairly timely manner. How old is your brother? ---
**Author:** ![Atheist\_Princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@Atheist\_Princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atheist_Princess)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/17 "2005-09-06T01:28:22Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > If you’re in Australia, send me an email and I’ll get the stuff in the mail to you. This is his homework so I do need you to complete the assignment in a fairly timely manner. How old is your brother? Email sent 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/18 "2005-09-06T02:46:11Z")
If that doesn’t pan out, I have a 13 year old brother and I’m from Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/19 "2005-09-06T21:38:05Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Anyhow, I fail to see any way in which the story or the project is un-PC, by any of the common meanings of the phrase… [The Official Flat Stanley Project](http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/&e=9797) Scarlett, another Flat Stanley fan ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219/20 "2005-09-07T00:01:00Z")
Clint Eastwood took Flat Stanley to the Oscars this year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-dopers-need-help-with-something-trivial/320219.md?page=2)