Things you love that went away- Nostalgia thread

What you called Clackers, Karen, we called Klick-Klacks (growing up in northern NJ). And everybody, I mean everybody, had a set. I will never forget that sound! Occasionally, there would be some scary rumor that someone got hurt when they shattered, but we never actually knew anyone that had happened to, so we didn't care! I tried so hard to make mine go fast, but my next-door neighbor was much better at it than I.
 
Oh man...you forgot those lawn darts called Jarts! My neighbor threw those up in the air once and they landed within inches on either side of his little brother :eek:
"Also known as Jarts, Lawn Darts are possibly the most famous toys to be banned, and justly so. It's been determined they were responsible for sending over 6000 people to the hospital for injuries, most of them kids, many of them disabled for life. And this was after the Jarts manufacturer had skirted a previous ban by putting a "game for adults only" warning on their packaging, because of course kids were going to play with them — and they were still sold in kids' toys stores, too. By the end, Jarts had killed three children and one 11-year-old girl put into a coma."



And how deprived are today's kids without a Water Wiggle?
"It looked innocent enough, but if your neighborhood had good water pressure and some joker turned the hose on full blast, Wham-O’s Water Wiggle turned into a semi-lethal weapon. It danced and bobbed erratically, and could wrap around you like a boa constrictor. And that plastic head was heavy! But bloody noses and chipped teeth were a small price to pay for some summertime fun."

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My Mom had one of the older sets of Clackers, and she gave it to me (I was a child of the 80's and by then I think they were banned.) But she told me to "be careful with them" (how was I supposed to be doing that??) because they were dangerous, and could chip or shatter and hurt me or something.

I think in fact she was just trying to use a ~little~ due diligence, but didn't really believe the claims of danger and harm. The ones she gave me were that super-hard, heavy plastic, I swear they almost felt like glass.

But thinking back, even if they did not break or chip or anything, they were basically modern "toy" versions of stone age weapons, and it's a little silly to give a kid a bola to play with.

EDIT: I had lawn darts, too. I don't know if they were "Jarts" brand but they had metal tips and were definitely of the "kids probably should not have these" variety. I was only allowed to use them with my Dad setting them up and supervising.
 
My parents used to take us camping every summer all summer, since they were teachers. I am nostalgic for the old camper trailers of the 50s and 60s. When I was a kid, 4 of us lived in a 13' Beeline trailer for 2 months every summer! We thought it was the epitome of luxury because we'd done tent camping for several years prior. I really appreciate my parents took us traveling. We all got along OK so it was fun. We went to eastern Canada a lot, and across country twice.

By the time my sister and I were teens they upgraded to a 30' Travelmaster, which gave us all more privacy when we needed it!

We had a set of Jarts which were great for camping. I remember one campground that had a big playing field surrounded by sites. The parents would sit at the sites and drink beer, and the kids would play Jarts or Frisbee or whatever in the field... We were "supervised," lol-- by a bunch of tipsy parents!
 
All the talk about dangerous and banned toys reminded me of Pop Rocks candy, which was rumored to have been banned -- when in fact it merely fell out of fashion and got much less distribution. Lots of rumors spread about Pop Rocks, including the rumor that some kid ate several packages of them and then drank a bunch of Coca-Cola ... which caused his belly to explode. This never happened, of course. But every kid in my neighborhood as a child was sure it did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Rocks
 
A few years back, I went to a garage sale, specifically to buy a mid-1960s Sears guitar. ($200, worth $600+.) But over on a workbench sat a near-mint Jarts set for $15. I felt like a felon, sneaking it to the car. :D

Speaking of Sears, I like the quirkiness of real Craftsman homes. I almost bought one except that the dimensions were somehow off, like it was 7/8 scale, & though I'm only 5'11 I kept ducking through doorways (& I could barely stand straight on the 2nd storey). Yet another that looked like a twin felt roomy. Then Craftsmans became a fad & prices quickly doubled. :(
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Lately, I'm again missing portable analog music, meaning non-mp3. Even CDs are far preferable!! If I have phones on, many songs just sound wrong, as though there are gaps in the tonal/dynamic range.

I'm also buying a portable phonograph to play background music at family get-togethers. It just ain't nostalgia without clicks, hiss, & the occasional skip. ;) And less-than-mint vinyl is, what, a couple dollars a pound? Cheap fun, certainly.
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As much as I've enjoyed digital photography (& got some remarkable shots that would've been impossible with sub-pro cameras a couple decades ago), anyone who's ever worked in actual photographic film knows there's no real comparison. Firstly, a cellphone cannot achieve any true depth of field (a.k.a. "effective focus range") & most digital cameras struggle at it.

And even with my camera's bit density cranked to the pegs, editing an image to zoom in on a detail quickly turns to Mondrian pixels, where film readily lets me dig out details. I digitized a snapshot at something insane like 6000 x 6000, & even then I couldn't get a clear enlargement that would be a relative snap (recamera then blow up from the new neg) with silver.

And while 35mm has it's advantages, as a ten-year-old kid I started out with my great-grandfather's bellows Kodak & 120 roll stock. Basic cheap Verichrome Pan had an amazing sharpness of detail. Drugstores & pretty much any corner grocery (& many gas stations) could send it out for processing & printing.

>sigh<
 
Just now occurred to me that we've already named most of what are probably The Five Most Dangerous Toys Of All Time --namely Jarts, Creepy Crawlers, & Water Wiggle. :)

I sort of enjoy fads that're denounced as dangerous. Heck, after Jan & Dean's "Sidewalk Surfin'" became a hit, skateboards were widely banned & there were regular scare storiesof some Little Johnny getting squashed by a Bekin truck (because heaven knows kids weren't ever stupid before getting wheels... like, say, roller skates).

A few years later, oddly similar stories were floated about the maxi-skirt (a.k.a. maxi-dress), with Little Susie getting her train caught in the schoolbus door & being dragged fifty miles until she was just a few scraps of skin. :rolleyes:

Kids ain't bright -- it's in the job description. :eek:

To be fair to Jarts & similar, nobody seems to've collected data from the heyday of horseshoe pitching. I mean, you've got people flinging 2.5-pound iron projectiles -- with ZERO stabilizing aid from soft plastic fins! -- some FORTY FEET. And there's usually beer involved. And there's usually poorly supervised rugrats around who see all that empty space on the pitch & figure it's the PERFECT place to run.

A kid getting his skull smashed in by something so prosaic as a horseshoe is simply not half so media-sexy as Sweet Li'l Janie losing a toe to a Jart. Factor in the people who've died from tripping into an untended pitch & been impaled on a stake -- yes, it's happened -- & I'm not so impressed by Jarts' dangerousness. Seems like balloons & tricycles have resulted in more deaths & comas, really.

I worry that by "making the world safer," we risk making kids stupider. Whatever happened to building toys? Lincoln Logs (splinters!!), Erector Sets (choking hazard!! sharp edges!!), or Tinkertoys (put yer eye out!!)? I figure Legos have only survived due to a massive propaganda program backed by the Danish government. :D

Heck, can't even introduce children to proper tools without obsessive supervision -- hammers are bad enough, but imagine learning to use a crosscut saw, much less a table saw.
 
Just now occurred to me that we've already named most of what are probably The Five Most Dangerous Toys Of All Time --namely Jarts, Creepy Crawlers, & Water Wiggle. :)

I sort of enjoy fads that're denounced as dangerous. Heck, after Jan & Dean's "Sidewalk Surfin'" became a hit, skateboards were widely banned & there were regular scare storiesof some Little Johnny getting squashed by a Bekin truck (because heaven knows kids weren't ever stupid before getting wheels... like, say, roller skates).

A few years later, oddly similar stories were floated about the maxi-skirt (a.k.a. maxi-dress), with Little Susie getting her train caught in the schoolbus door & being dragged fifty miles until she was just a few scraps of skin. :rolleyes:

Kids ain't bright -- it's in the job description. :eek:

To be fair to Jarts & similar, nobody seems to've collected data from the heyday of horseshoe pitching. I mean, you've got people flinging 2.5-pound iron projectiles -- with ZERO stabilizing aid from soft plastic fins! -- some FORTY FEET. And there's usually beer involved. And there's usually poorly supervised rugrats around who see all that empty space on the pitch & figure it's the PERFECT place to run.

A kid getting his skull smashed in by something so prosaic as a horseshoe is simply not half so media-sexy as Sweet Li'l Janie losing a toe to a Jart. Factor in the people who've died from tripping into an untended pitch & been impaled on a stake -- yes, it's happened -- & I'm not so impressed by Jarts' dangerousness. Seems like balloons & tricycles have resulted in more deaths & comas, really.

I worry that by "making the world safer," we risk making kids stupider. Whatever happened to building toys? Lincoln Logs (splinters!!), Erector Sets (choking hazard!! sharp edges!!), or Tinkertoys (put yer eye out!!)? I figure Legos have only survived due to a massive propaganda program backed by the Danish government. :D

Heck, can't even introduce children to proper tools without obsessive supervision -- hammers are bad enough, but imagine learning to use a crosscut saw, much less a table saw.

...and yet middle and high schools still have shop class!

Let me just say, that as a creative adult, the idea of having free access to the big bad power tools in a typical high school shop class is almost sexually arousing. What I would not give.

In fact. And I'm going to wander off topic for a moment. I heard of a really cool idea, fix-it cafes. So people are opening businesses where in addition to maybe having some kind of a coffee bar, they've got cafeteria tables set up everywhere, and tools and manuals and stuff stockpiled for use, and they have hired often older, retired men, but basically people who know how to fix stuff, and they've got some of the younger crowd with google-box computers on hand, and basically the idea is, instead of throwing away that toaster, or that old lamp, or that bicycle, bring it in and let's see if we can fix it. And they monetize this whole thing in some fashion.

Well if that's not about one of the more brilliant things I've ever heard of...

So I think it would be damn cool to buy a big building or warehouse and set up lots of big power tools and have a maker space. Conduct classes on safety that people would have to attend to get a membership, and charge them some kind of a fee scale for time to come use the cool tools and the project space. I know one of my initial thoughts was "what about liability" and certainly I'd have a safety instructor or two staffing it...but my thinking is, a waiver ought to do the job, I mean if our kids can go to public school and use table saws and sanders and band saws, and fool around with molten aluminum and learn welding (my older son is learning welding right now in 12th grade)... I'm sure a way could be found to make this work!
 
All the talk about dangerous and banned toys reminded me of Pop Rocks candy, which was rumored to have been banned -- when in fact it merely fell out of fashion and got much less distribution. Lots of rumors spread about Pop Rocks, including the rumor that some kid ate several packages of them and then drank a bunch of Coca-Cola ... which caused his belly to explode. This never happened, of course. But every kid in my neighborhood as a child was sure it did.

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

We used to kiss with those in our mouths. Totally forgot about that.
 
We used to kiss with those in our mouths.

Oddly, I never thought of that possibility. Once, however, while hanging out with some friends -- male and female -- and drinking lots of red wine, I asked one of my female friends what it was like to french kiss with that pierced tongue of hers. I was surprised by her response, "Wanna find out?" which meant, "wanna kiss me that way?" (This could not precisely reveal her experience, of course, but I was willing to ignore this detail.)

And so we swapped a wet kiss.

Then I turned to one of my male friends who was present and said, "I think it's your turn" -- by which I meant "Can I kiss you this way?" ... and he did! It was his first time kissing another guy. And my first time open-mouth kissing a guy who up until that moment fully identified as straight (to the best of my knowledge).

I'm getting too old to use Pop Rocks in such a ploy for kisses, but red wine isn't a bad idea! :p
 
You guys have me wondering if pop rocks oral would be um...interesting...maybe tickly...lol...


Another candy that didn't really go away, those sugar buttons stuck to strips of paper. When I was a kid I thought they were really cool. Now I'm like...tiny bits of candy with paper that inevitably ends up in your mouth, why would anyone even bother??

I'm nostalgic for my appreciation of them, not really the candy, since I've seen them around.

Heck, I'm nostalgic for my love of many candies and sweets, I limit them now because for years very concentrated sugar makes my teeth hurt, and now I've had a root canal, even though my teeth are in much better shape and I take better care of them and everything, I'm extremely wary of certain sweets and candies. I doubt very much if I'll ever eat rock candy ever again, but I clearly remember when I thought it was just the best thing ever.
 
Sadly, it's not.

I wonder if the results differ depending upon the sex of the one on the receiving end of the experiment. Hmmm.

I don't feel inclined to perform this experiment myself, but would be mildly curious to hear from guys on this matter.
 
I wonder if the results differ depending upon the sex of the one on the receiving end of the experiment. Hmmm.

I don't feel inclined to perform this experiment myself, but would be mildly curious to hear from guys on this matter.

It's definitely not the mindblowing experience you'd think it'd be. I'm surprised it wouldn't be felt more on a vagina though.
 
You guys have me wondering if pop rocks oral would be um...interesting...maybe tickly...lol...


Another candy that didn't really go away, those sugar buttons stuck to strips of paper. When I was a kid I thought they were really cool. Now I'm like...tiny bits of candy with paper that inevitably ends up in your mouth, why would anyone even bother??

I'm nostalgic for my appreciation of them, not really the candy, since I've seen them around.

Heck, I'm nostalgic for my love of many candies and sweets, I limit them now because for years very concentrated sugar makes my teeth hurt, and now I've had a root canal, even though my teeth are in much better shape and I take better care of them and everything, I'm extremely wary of certain sweets and candies. I doubt very much if I'll ever eat rock candy ever again, but I clearly remember when I thought it was just the best thing ever.

I'm more nostalgic for the price of said candy. Sheesh, I can remember walking into the store with a couple quarters and leaving with a bag of candy.
 
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