Remember when...

[gratus fermentatio]

Remember those toys with a little glob mercury inside? They were usually a maze of some sort & you had to tilt it this way & that to get the mercury to the center. It was sealed of course, but the thing was just plastic & was easily breakable.
I guess at some point people thought kids playing with mercury was a bad idea, so they replaced it with BBs in those types of toys.

Remember those toys that were a cartoonish drawing of a face, sealed under a plastic cover & had iron filings inside? You'd use the enclosed magnet to move the black filings around on the picture to create hair, beard, etc...
They looked something like this:
http://www.taosgifts.co.uk/wooly-wi...cture-maker---magnetic-personality-1314-p.asp
Regards, GF.

 

[Revvy]

You must be a tad older than me brother....I don't remember mercury in toys. God, we were so naivie then...what are we deluded bout now?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Revvy: Now we hold "graduation" events for kids in Kindergarten so we don't hurt their feelings.
Which reminds me; does anybody else find it odd that there are parents who go to the prom with their kids? They don't go in & dance (at least not that I noticed), but they take pics & interact with the prom-going kids. Now I can see & agree with taking some pics of the kids in their fancy duds at home before going to said prom, but parents actually going to the site where the prom is being held, but not as an official chaperone? That seems very strange to me.
Regards, GF.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Remember when transistor radios were new?
http://image.shutterstock.com/displ...ith-hand-strap-for-easy-carrying-76962985.jpg

Remember life before the satellite?
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2012/04/telstar_1.jpg

Remember when nobody worried about calories? Remember getting milk delivered to your door?
Regards, GF.

 

[Revvy]

I had that exact same model of transistor radio. I remember in 6th grade being fascinated by the Watergate Hearings (I come from a huge politically family and was precocious.) And I took it with me to school to listen. The teachers pulled me out of class and parked me in the teacher's lounge one day and had me listening and they'd pop their heads in every now and then and I'd give them reports. It was really funny. And fun.

(No wonder I got beat up a lot in elementary school.)

 

[Airplanedoc]

I took my dad to the Dr the other day, they gave him the standard 10 pages of BS to fill out. Here a are a few of the questions and his answers

Q. Have you ever been exposed to Lead? A. I'm 70, of course I have been exposed to lead, my crib was probably painted with it.

Q. Have you ever been exposed to asbestos? A. Again I'm 70, I am sure I have, that **** was everywhere.

Q. Do you take recreational Drugs? A. Does Viagra count?????

I'm not sure those were the answers the dr was looking for.....

 

[Hoppity]

We used to play with Mercury. It came with chemistry sets or you could buy small bottles in hobby stores. Dipping your pinkie in the bottle and having it come out 'dry' was very entertaining. So was chasing it around on a desk, merging it, splitting it, then herding it back into the bottle.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Remember playing with your erector set?
http://www.eliwhitney.org/new/sites/default/files/erector-set_0.jpg

Or playing "Cowboys & Indians" with your cap pistols?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sean_ohara/5858531382/

 

[unionrdr]

I still remember when I was a little guy,I had the Mattel winchester rifle & colt pistol that had metal cartriges you put these lil round caps on & shot red plastic bullets. That lever action was cool.And my transistor radio was AM only & was rather boxy with the earphone. I also remember how space capsule heat shields changed after John Glenn's backside got done up like a belgian waffle. But I think my favorite was the Mighty Apollo Saturn five. Now that's horsepower!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Remember "Duck & Cover?"

 

[Beernik]

I explained "duck and cover" to my daughter after she experienced her first school lockdown.

Did anyone actually think "duck & cover" would work? It might protect you from the concussion wave, but if you've seen the flash, you've been exposed gamma rays.

 

[bleme]

When I was in school, Duck & Cover was just for earthquakes.

 

[glenn514]

I can remember when I was in seventh grade...eons and eons ago...we had some sort of "air raid drill" that took place in the entire city of Milwaukee, WI. We had to crawl under our desks and remain absolutely silent during the drill. I'm not sure what protection our desks would have given us in event of a nuclear blast, but we did the drill regardless.

glenn514

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I can remember when I was in seventh grade...eons and eons ago...we had some sort of "air raid drill" that took place in the entire city of Milwaukee, WI. We had to crawl under our desks and remain absolutely silent during the drill. I'm not sure what protection our desks would have given us in event of a nuclear blast, but we did the drill regardless.

glenn514

It's not so much the blast itself as to protect you from the sh*t that's falling back down!

MC

 

[TxBrew]

I explained "duck and cover" to my daughter after she experienced her first school lockdown.

Did anyone actually think "duck & cover" would work? It might protect you from the concussion wave, but if you've seen the flash, you've been exposed gamma rays.

It made me fear tornadoes less, although I just assumed my desk would work as a wing allowing me to navigate the tornado.

 

[the_bird]

I've been working under the assumption that any of the "duck and cover" drills were mostly to fool people into believing that we were able to somehow be prepared for (and able to survive) the nuclear holocaust, moreso than actually doing anything effective. Keep the masses calmed and believing that we were not all completely powerless.

Because if the bomb dropped... yeah, we were pretty well ****ed, regardless.

 

[MaxStout]

Remember the electric hotdog cookers? Basically a plastic tray with 2 metal prongs connected to 120V.
And jarts? It's amazing we all survived childhood. :cross:

 

[Varmintman]

Been trying to find a set of Jarts to take camping. Yup tons of beer and lawn darts will be fun

 

[Jacob_Marley]

Remember the electric hotdog cookers? Basically a plastic tray with 2 metal prongs connected to 120V.

Big fan of all oddball kitchen cooking devices.
Those rotary hotdog cookers were pretty cool.
I like the new style that toasts the bun while cooking the dog ... sure to be a classic. Um, does that qualify as a "toaster pastry"?

... and makes the perfect wedding gift! (ok either that or bagpipes)

 

[kingboomer]

Remember when kids actually played outside?!?! For that matter remember when all you needed to have fun was your imagination rather than the latese video game console?


-Kingboomer

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Remember riding in the front seat (no seat belt on of course) with your mother driving & when she had to stop quickly, she'd thrust her hand & arm at you to prevent you from hitting the dashboard or windshield, and ended up smacking you in the chest or face? I don't miss that! I actually caught myself doing the same thing a time or 2 when my niece or nephew was riding with me.
Regards, GF.

 

[boydster]

Remember when Nintendo came out? The first one, I mean. Super Mario looked frickin' amazing compared to Pong or whatever. My kids keep telling me how much better the graphics are between Xbox and Xbox360, and "Oh my god you should see how amazing the graphics are going to be on the PS4 or Xbox One" and I just can't relate. I saw Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, N64... the new stuff today just seems to advance so little by comparison. But the price is more than outrageous.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I remember having to load the game "Carrier Battle" from audio cassette tape into the Atari 800. Took about 40 minutes to load the game (including flipping the tape to the other side) and the game was TEXT ONLY! No graphics at all, just text.

Does anybody else remember playing backgammon (or acey deucey) for hours at a time? I have yet to find anybody in MT who even knows how to play; most never even heard of the game.

Apparently I'm also the only person in MT who likes mince pie, mincemeat too, but what comes from the grocery stores has no meat in it any more. If I want a proper mincemeat pie, I have to make it myself. Sorry, didn't mean to rant.
Regards, GF.

 

[kingboomer]

I remember playing zork on my friend's Comodore 64, just long enough for him to eat lunch and get changed so we could go fishing that afternoon. good times!

 

[beaksnbeer]

I remember having to load the game "Carrier Battle" from audio cassette tape into the Atari 800. Took about 40 minutes to load the game (including flipping the tape to the other side) and the game was TEXT ONLY! No graphics at all, just text.

Does anybody else remember playing backgammon (or acey deucey) for hours at a time? I have yet to find anybody in MT who even knows how to play; most never even heard of the game.

Apparently I'm also the only person in MT who likes mince pie, mincemeat too, but what comes from the grocery stores has no meat in it any more. If I want a proper mincemeat pie, I have to make it myself. Sorry, didn't mean to rant.
Regards, GF.

Love mincemeat pie. I take and make a double batch of crust and make tarts out of them so I can freeze them take one out thaw bake and pie for one.

 

[Varmintman]

Remember when living did not hurt. I had to cut a tree down the other day and instead of renting a lift I thought I would put my spurs on and climb the tree to top it. Half way up the tree I gave up and got a lift

 

[unionrdr]

I remember having the text game Madness & the Minotaur for my color computer way back then. Then I got the color computer 2 or 3 & they brought Sub Battle Simulator from the PC to the color computer. It had actual battles from WWII in it,subic bay & all. You could be either the Americans or the German Wolfpack. It was cool to slam 6 torpedoes broadside into the Yamato. Or sink the carrier & watch the zeros circling islands looking for a place to land & dissappear into the jungle.
Cool thing was,you had the actual periscope view to boot,had to watch fuel & battery levels. All kids of cool stuff in that game.

 

[TxBrew]

Remember when living did not hurt. I had to cut a tree down the other day and instead of renting a lift I thought I would put my spurs on and climb the tree to top it. Half way up the tree I gave up and got a lift

It seems like it was only a couple of years ago but the memory is vague. Please tell us more stories of the long ago.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

It seems like it was only a couple of years ago but the memory is vague. Please tell us more stories of the long ago.

I'm thinkin of the scene in the movie Rainman where Tom Cruise is stuck in the waiting room with the old guy who is telling stories about the Pony Express.
One of my very favorite sleeper scenes ... perfectly done.
Sometimes I catch myself prattling on with my pained, captive audience politely smiling ... and I think of that old guy.

Well, that's it for me tonight. Time to soak my teeth and go to bed.

 

[unionrdr]

Makes me think of Little Big Man with Dustin Haufman. Beginning scene-"Are...are you,callin me a liar?! Turn that thing on! Excuse me? I said turn that thing on & shut up! Turn that thing on,shut up,& you'll learn somethin! I knowed General George Armstrong Custer!...for what he was! And I knowed the indans (he & pop pronounced indian that way),for what they was"...nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar:nestar:
The actual man's name was Jack Crabtree. Half breed white. No one ever believed his story cause none of the Native Americans would reiterate his story for fear of being busted for the battle.
At my age,even my wife is getting tired of my stories of the old "glory" days. she said the other night,"you really need to get some new stories". Guess my glory days are behind me. wish I could remember more of the stuff from grandma & the other old timers that go back to my G-G-G-grandpa,the Apache chief. Most kids nowadays just don't think like we did back then. No video games,DVD or any digital stuff. We actually talked & told stories that were past down by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Guess I'm settling into that sort of roll now at my age.

 

[MaxStout]

Growing up in suburbia in the '60s, we weren't allowed to hang around the house if the weather was nice. We didn't want to be inside anyway--too many fun things to do outdoors. Like riding bikes (no helmets!), climbing trees, exploring the area creeks and culverts, having BB gun fights, blowing up stuff with fireworks, etc. All the things that would shock today's helicopter parents.

And if we got a few minor cuts and bruises from a scuffle, my parents wanted nothing to do with it. Parental intervention only occurred if there were broken bones or serious bleeding. "Get a Band-aid and get back outside," was the usual reaction.

/Get off my lawn, whippersnappers.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

... blowing up stuff with fireworks ...

I grew up in an area with a lot of apple trees. Kids would take "checkers", long firecrackers with a checkerboard pattern on them, and push them into apples and then wait for a car on the fairly busy dirt road that went through the area, when a car would approach a whole group of us hidden in the brush on either side of the road would light our "apples" and roll them out into the road in front of the car. Ten or fifteen exploding apples was pretty hilarious we thought. All that apple pulp sullying peoples automobiles. Evil children.
Now you'd end up on the news with the FBI and the ATF.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

And if we got a few minor cuts and bruises from a scuffle, my parents wanted nothing to do with it. Parental intervention only occurred if there were broken bones or serious bleeding.

"Where are you going with those numchucks? ... You'd better damn well be going to flail rice ... or get back in here."

 

[MaxStout]

I grew up in an area with a lot of apple trees. Kids would take "checkers", long firecrackers with a checkerboard pattern on them, and push them into apples and then wait for a car on the fairly busy dirt road that went through the area, when a car would approach a whole group of us hidden in the brush on either side of the road would light our "apples" and roll them out into the road in front of the car. Ten or fifteen exploding apples was pretty hilarious we thought. All that apple pulp sullying peoples automobiles. Evil children.
Now you'd end up on the news with the FBI and the ATF.

Don't even get me started on the big-boom fireworks from back then. The M-80s and cherry bombs we bought then have become the stuff of legends, not to mention exaggeration (they really weren't a 1/4 stick of dynamite). But they were potent, and a lot of fun. And could take off a few fingers if you weren't careful. Tape one to a can of pop, light fuse and run. Hilarity would ensue.

 

[Revvy]

"Where are you going with those numchucks? ... You'd better damn well be going to flail rice ... or get back in here."

BB gun fights in my neighborhood in Warren.....And we're not talking plastic/rubber airsoft stuff either. That didn't exist in the 70's....talking REAL BB's. And denim jackets were the only protection....

 

[kh54s10]

Do you remember when this was the best video game available.

 

[unionrdr]

When we were kids,there was this field that spanned the end of both dead end streets on our block. There was a lot of this tall,lanky kind of poison ivy growing there. All over the place. In the fall when they died back,they dried into perfectly long straight stalks. They were a bit woody on the outside,styrofoam-like on the inside with a straight tap root. We used to pull a bunch of them outta the ground,& divvy them up for spear fights! A little paleo fun...till somebody took one in the forhead.

 

[TxBrew]

I did the same thing. I know the exact plants you are referring too. Good times.

 

[MaxStout]

When we were kids,there was this field that spanned the end of both dead end streets on our block. There was a lot of this tall,lanky kind of poison ivy growing there. All over the place. In the fall when they died back,they dried into perfectly long straight stalks. They were a bit woody on the outside,styrofoam-like on the inside with a straight tap root. We used to pull a bunch of them outta the ground,& divvy them up for spear fights! A little paleo fun...till somebody took one in the forhead.

Giant hogweed. The leaves would give your skin a nasty rash, and we avoided it like the plague in the summer. But in the fall, those dried stalks would remain. They were (apparently) inert, as we did the same thing with them. Spear-throwing, sword-fighting, they were perfect for the job.

 

[Tinhorn]

Remember before the smartphone when you had to take your laptop into the bathroom with you? God, it's like we were cavemen.