Old things youngins might like to know

[Cindy]

LOL.  Yep.  I remember it being a source of income as a kid.  I knew one guy who would steal the bottles from the store's storage area and then cash them in only to keep doing this.

I heard about that from my grandma. She said soda bottles used to be made of glass and you paid a safety deposit for them when you bought soda. If you wanted your money back you had to haul them back to the store and that they got mad if you didn't wash them out before you took them back. What a pain! It's so much easier to throw plastic bottles in the recycle bin.

That has come full circle. We pay a deposit on all bottles, glass, plastic, paper and if you want to get your money back you take them to a recycler. There are no bottles on the streets as people collect them for the 10cent deposit.

[Julia1996]

While we're here, who's made a potholder on a loom? Played with gimp? Chinese checkers? Magic 8-Ball?

I've heard of the eightball. My dad had one when he was little. I know what Chinese checkers are. But what's playing with a gimp?? I googled gimp but the only results I got was a derogatory term for a handicapped person. And why would anyone want to make a pot holder?? I'm sure you could buy them back then.

[Julia1996]

I heard about that from my grandma. She said soda bottles used to be made of glass and you paid a safety deposit for them when you bought soda. If you wanted your money back you had to haul them back to the store and that they got mad if you didn't wash them out before you took them back. What a pain! It's so much easier to throw plastic bottles in the recycle bin.


That has come full circle. We pay a deposit on all bottles, glass, plastic, paper and if you want to get your money back you take them to a recycler. There are no bottles on the streets as people collect them for the 10cent deposit.

Homeless people here in the USA gather aluminum cans to recycle for money. There's this one guy who walks around our neighborhood the night before the recycling is picked up and digs through the recycle bins for aluminum cans. I put all ours in a bag and set it in top of the bin so he won't have to dig for them.

[Dena]

Slide rulers. Take a inch ruler and mark at two inches. Add another two inches to that and you will be at 4 inches. You have just done an addition with a regular ruler. Slide rulers take advantage o the fact that adding the log of two numbers results in a multiplication. To make life simple, it's just two scales side by side with log spacing. Other scales are added so you can do trig functions. Most functions that can be calculated on a scientific calculator can be accomplished on a slide ruler however if you need to add or subtract, you have to get the paper and pencil out again.

The other option was to carry a book with log and trig calculations in it to replace the slide ruler. The book was about the size of a good sized dictionary and while it gave better precision, most of the time a slide ruler was sufficient.

I still have my metal slide ruler from college and every so often, I need to clean it off and apply vaseline to the sliding edges to lubricate it. That also means you have to be careful how you handle it or you get grease all over your hand.

[Deborah]

In my schools... teachers were free to hit you with yardstick rulers and some carried custom made "swat paddles"... to beat sense into you!!!...These days kids would be on their cell phone to their lawyer!!!

When I was in 5th grade the assistant principal has a canoe paddle with holes drilled in the paddle part for giving those that needed it a good beating.  Fortunately for me I never experienced it first hand.


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[Faith]

no chewing gum in grade school .. it ended up taped on your nose or chin .. that was your choice.

[Julia1996]

When I was in 5th grade the assistant principal has a canoe paddle with holes drilled in the paddle part for giving those that needed it a good beating.  Fortunately for me I never experienced it first hand.


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OMG! A boat paddle?!! That's totally child abuse right there. How awful.

[Deborah]

Nuclear missiles that blew up in their silo and send the warhead flying off into a farmers field nearby. 

That actually happened in 1980, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_explosion

Fortunately the warhead stayed intact and didn't explode.  That would have been bad if it did.


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[DawnOday]

Skate boards were just that. Old skates nailed to a 2X4
I used to deliver news papers. Do I have to explain what news papers are? To the Metropolitan State Mental Hospital which is where mentally disabled were taken care of before Reagan put them on the street talking to themselves.
Stereo was called a reverberator. Hell with 8 tracks. We had reel to reel. I owned one of the first color video cameras in 1980 I bought my first PC in 1987. I missed the draft by 6 numbers. Instead of video baseball we had something called Bop Baseball. Kids would play outside from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM under the street light. Favorite game was "Over the line" consisting of a batter a pitcher an infielder and an outfielder.  We didn't worry about getting shot, assaulted, kidnapped. We had very little adult supervision and because there were so many things to do we didn't get into much trouble. One of my high school teammates, John Urrea played for St Louis and then San Diego. Steve Garvey ended his career by accusing John of throwing at him when he was with the Dodgers and now they were teammates. Bands actually played live music. Vegas were not sin city they were the crappiest cars ever made. Say what you will about the Pinto and Corvair. I am still in contact with many of my kindergarten classmates from 60 years ago. About the Paddles. Mr. Bertelson had one too and he would come up behind you and say. "Grab your ankles"  Soda was 10 cents a bottle. i liked to get yoohoo's.Collecting bottles was how we got money for movies etc.  Oh the first interactive game we had was SIMON anyone else remember that?

[Cassi]

I've heard of the eightball. My dad had one when he was little. I know what Chinese checkers are. But what's playing with a gimp?? I googled gimp but the only results I got was a derogatory term for a handicapped person. And why would anyone want to make a pot holder?? I'm sure you could buy them back then.

Gimp & Pot holder must be regional thangs.

[sarah1972]

You would be surprised... but even today it is still legal in almost half of the states in the US, even tough I doubt it is practiced: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment_of_minors_in_the_United_States

Teachers could hit you?? That's crazy! It's totally illegal now.  When I was in fifth grade a teacher lost her temper and slapped this kid in the face. She was arrested and hauled away right from the school. I'm totally sure she got fired. We never saw her again.

[Devlyn]

While we're here, who's made a potholder on a loom? Played with gimp? Chinese checkers? Magic 8-Ball?

I've heard of the eightball. My dad had one when he was little. I know what Chinese checkers are. But what's playing with a gimp?? I googled gimp but the only results I got was a derogatory term for a handicapped person. And why would anyone want to make a pot holder?? I'm sure you could buy them back then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoubidou

[Deborah]

Walking down the street near Times Square in NYC with drug dealers and prostitutes openly propositioning you about every ten feet.


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[steph2.0]

Good one!  Also, Marbles -  can you remember their names?

Aggies, catseyes, and steelies .


- Stephanie

[Cassi]

Aggies, catseyes, and steelies .


- Stephanie

Trying to remember the name we used for the giant ones.  Steelies were highly valued as were the pearlies.

[Devlyn]

We're going way back now!

https://www.amazon.com/Schylling-Metal-Potholder-Loom-Set/dp/B0019FJEZM

[Cassi]

We're going way back now!

https://www.amazon.com/Schylling-Metal-Potholder-Loom-Set/dp/B0019FJEZM

Oh, okay.  I vaguely remember this along with Cooties

[Deborah]

I did the potholder and the gimp.


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[Devlyn]

Obviously, we all survived Lawn Darts. 

[Cassi]

This was 20 or so years before Julie was born but I remember buying a Bogan or blogan.  Eyes glowed in the dark and could be moved.