Comments & Curiosities:

It’s not funny. Today’s column, that is. Everything isn’t a joke, even for me, and there are times when we have to get serious. This is one of those times.

Something important has happened. Important isn’t big enough. Something huge. It’s bigger than health care, bigger than the budget crater, even bigger than things that are really big. Do you know what Jan. 25 was? It was the 50th anniversary of bubble wrap! I’m not kidding. Can you believe it? Me neither.

Do you love bubble wrap? I do. All this time, I thought the fascination with bubble wrap was just me — one more bizarre trait in an odd personality that ran off the tracks somewhere…toilet-training, too much Velveeta, who knows.

Imagine my surprise when my mouse and I rooted around and found that there is a universe of bubble wrap fans out there, including lots of websites where you can pop virtual bubble wrap bubbles. Is this a great country or what?

Say you’re having a really bad day, or week, or month. Calling a friend, therapy, Xanax, that’s all fine. But finding a quiet place where you can be alone with some bubble wrap and pop bubbles as long and as loud as you want is faster, cheaper, way more effective and absolutely no side effects — none of that “in rare cases can cause dizziness, nausea, severe discoloration of the face and hands, hair loss and excessive flatulence” stuff. Popping bubble wrap isn’t FDA approved but it is totally safe.

Where did the incredible see-through stuff with the little dimples come from? Like so many other things that are odd - from New York City. In the late 1950s, two manufacturer/inventors named Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding tried to make a textured wallpaper covered with thousands of little air-filled bubbles.

Tragically, it didn’t work. The problem? If you pressed it or leaned on it, the little bubbles would burst with a “pop.” Did Chavannes and Fielding realize that they had inadvertently invented one of the greatest guilty pleasures in history — popping bubble wrap bubbles? Probably not.

Some months later, on his way home from a business trip, Fielding flew into Newark Airport. As the plane glided from one cloud to another, Fielding thought it was as if the clouds were gently cushioning the plane like so many puffy little, well, bubbles.

And the rest, as they say — although no one ever knows who “they” are and why they say it — is history.

Fifty years later, Fielding’s “aha” moment has evolved into Sealed Air — a New Jersey company that sells $4 billion of bubble wrap in 52 countries around the world. That’s a lot of bubbles. Somewhere in the world, someone is carefully wrapping something in bubble wrap every second of the day and night.

But aside from the serious bubble wrappers — the people who are trying to send their very fragile whatever to wherever without having it get there in more pieces than when it started — what interests me are the recreational bubble wrappers. That would be the people with way too much time on their hands who have whipped up bubble-wrap dresses, bubble-wrap bras and panties, handbags, suits, ties, hats, drapes, flotation devices and a number of specialty items that cannot be discussed here.

There are books about bubble wrap, a bubble wrap game, and a video of a German man who is wrapped in about eight miles of bubble wrap by his friends then jumps off a four-story building. No, he wasn’t hurt, and yes, there was alcohol involved. If you need to pop on the go, there is an iPhone bubble wrap app, with sound effects. Ken Aurichio, Sealed Air’s communications director, told the Associated Press that he got a wedding invitation last year from an Ohio woman whose wedding dress was made completely from bubble wrap. Hope she didn’t wear the bubble wrap bra. “I’d never, ever met her before,” Aurichio said. “She must have gotten my name off the Web site.”

Speaking of which, the bubble wrap fun factor is not lost on the folks at Sealed Air. Their website includes a user survey: “I like to: a) Pop each bubble, one at a time; b) Randomly choose bubbles to pop; c) Stomp or jump on it; d) Grasp in both hands and twist; e) Other (please specify.)” I would have to go with “b) Randomly choose bubbles to pop,” but that’s just me.

The best site by far is www.snapbubbles.com. Its “Bubble Wrap Simulator” is a piece of bubble wrap inside a frame of torn cardboard. If the whole site isn’t loopy enough, a “score” graphic keeps track of your “hits” — as if there is some skill involved or there is some way to miss a bubble other than popping under the influence or doing a face plant on your keyboard.

I think that’s it. More than you ever wanted to know about bubbles, wrap and bubble wrap. Fifty years and a bazillion bubbles later, it’s still keeping it all intact. Happy birthday, bubble wrap. You are what pop culture is all about. I gotta go.

PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs Sundays. He may be reached at ptrb4@aol.com .