The Ruff Ruffman Show!

With Blossom and Chet.

Yeah!

♪ ♪ ♪ When your hammer is a ham ♪ ♪ When your project's in a jam ♪ ♪ ARF!

Ask Ruff First!

♪ ♪ Ask Ruff First.

♪ Oh, hi!

Our question today is from Elliot and Zoe, who ask: Hi Ruff!

Hey Ruff!

Hey, guys!

Our friend said that with just some newspaper and some tape, we can make a chair strong enough to hold us.

What do you think?

So glad you asked that.

Because it gives me the perfect excuse to read a chapter from my new adventure novel, Commander Ruff and the Alien Felines of Rigel-9.

In this chapter, we find Commander Ruff, captured by the dastardly Alien Cats, led by their fiendish leader, Empress Blossombloob!

The cell is empty except for Lieutenant Chet, who built himself a waterpark apparently, and a stack of old Rigel-9 newspapers.

There is a window... (Commander Ruff grunting) But it was just too high to reach.

He was trapped!

♪ Rum bum bum bum ♪ I'm trapped!

Unless... Newspapers!

Maybe I can make something out of these newspapers that I can stand on to escape.

RUFF: They played around with the newspaper to learn all of its properties, to learn... ...um, you know, what it's like.

COMMANDER RUFFMAN: Hmm... Well, it's white, with black ink, and it makes a rustling sound when you shake it.

But does it rip easily?

Or crumple?

Can you fold it?

What happens when it gets wet?

Is it strong?

So many questions!

(Ruff gasps) RUFF: Suddenly, seeing Chet, Commander Ruff realized something.

Lieutenant Chet, look at this.

Here, grab an end and pull.

You see?

We can't tear it.

Newspaper is pretty strong when you pull on it.

But watch what happens when I push on a sheet of newspaper.

Why, it crumples.

It's weak when I push on it.

So if I try to stand on it, it can't support my weight.

So how can I make this newspaper strong enough for me to stand on?

So that means...

Uh... That means, uh... And that's as far as I got in the story.

Sorry.

Don't tell me that's all you wrote.

Uh... yup.

You think you can do some experimenting and help me out?

Yeah, if we're going to build a chair out of newspaper, we have to figure out how to make it strong enough when we put weight on it.

Well, we have to do something to the newspaper to make it support weight.

We could try rolling it.

RUFF: Oh, that kind of looks like a chair leg.

ELLIOT: It's working.

RUFF: Hey, look at that!

When you roll the newspaper into a column, you can push on it and it doesn't crumple as easily.

I wonder what happens if you use more than one column... ZOE: Let's try it!

Hey, Ruff, we're rolling your newspaper nice and tight so that our columns are strong.

RUFF: Ooh, that's good.

Now we're taping the newspaper so that the columns stay together.

RUFF: Awesome!

Let's see if four columns are even stronger.

Look, I'm even pushing down on it and it's not collapsing.

Maybe we should put more columns on it so that it could support somebody standing.

RUFF: Good idea!

ZOE: I think this is gonna work, Ruff!

RUFF: Taping the columns together-- yes, definitely!

More columns makes a stronger base.

Perfect.

Maybe we should add a back... ELLIOT: Good idea.

RUFF: How about a recliner?

ELLIOT: That looks a little bit more like a chair.

Let's use this duct tape to really tie this thing together, nice and strong.

ZOE: This looks comfortable.

Let's test it.

RUFF: All right, sitting test complete!

ZOE: It worked!

ELLIOT: It worked!

ZOE: All right, Ruff, we can sit on it, but can we stand on it?

RUFF: This is the big test.

Standing... for escape mode!

Oh, it works!

ELLIOT: It works, yes!

RUFF: Yes, awesome!

ELLIOT: So maybe Commander Ruff can use newspaper to build... ...a chair sturdy enough to stand on.

That's it!

So, with information relayed to Commander Ruff from Mission Control back on Earth, they built a chair that allowed them to escape to freedom and warn their fellow earthlings about the Alien Felines.

(Commander Ruff groaning) Thank you, Lieutenant.

Later, cats.

We're outta here!

RUFF: The end!

Thanks for the inspiration, Ruff.

Hope that helped your story.

Bye!

No problem, guys.

Just keep an eye on those alien cats.

(laughing) What?

Oh, Blossom.

It's just fiction.

Or is it?

♪ The Ruff Ruffman Show.

♪ Yeah!