Blast from the Past

[BenG]

Originally Posted by cromag

I remember that one, and the earlier one.

I remember that one too. You could recognize the aliens because they couldn't bend their little finger.

[GeeCrow]

My earliest memories are often set to the music of Donovan, since my mother really liked his music when I was small. I remember looking at View Master picture discs of Buggs Bunny, the Coyote & Roadrunner, etc. while hearing Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man & all of that. I still associate Looney Tunes cartoons with Donovan songs.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by GeeCrow

My earliest memories are often set to the music of Donovan, since my mother really liked his music when I was small. I remember looking at View Master picture discs of Buggs Bunny, the Coyote & Roadrunner, etc. while hearing Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man & all of that. I still associate Looney Tunes cartoons with Donovan songs.

I too remember the 3 disks of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and several other 3D stories on View Master picture discs I used to enjoy during 1960s. Those were good times!

Originally Posted by GeeCrow

My earliest memories are often set to the music of Donovan, since my mother really liked his music when I was small. I remember looking at View Master picture discs of Buggs Bunny, the Coyote & Roadrunner, etc. while hearing Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man & all of that. I still associate Looney Tunes cartoons with Donovan songs.

I remember having some View Master discs for some of the popular TV shows in 1960s, like The Beverly Hillbillies. We also had a few Woody the Woodpecker shorts on 8mm movie film that I watched over and over again until they basically melted.

[Cinisajoy]

We were the first family on the block to have Pong. Also first dishwasher and microwave.

I remember the big old style hand crank ice cream maker we had. Those were a necessity growing up in hell (I mean Texas) in the 1960s. Ice cream makers were the most used kitchen accessory during the summers. Those hand crank models did a better job than the electric motor ones which tended to bog down a lot and stop. We would all take turns turning the crank until we got tired. In late June the watermelons came into season, so we ate a lot of those. We put them in a large ice chest with ice and let them get ice cold. Nothing helped to beat the hot hellish (Texas) summers better than ice cream and ice cold watermelons! BTW, we didn't have AC in our house. It was too old and drafty for AC to be effective, and it would have cost a small fortune to use in a 100+ year old house built without any insulation. From mid-July through mid-August we rarely slept much as it was so hot you couldn't get comfortable lying in a sweat soaked bed with several fans blowing on you. I wish my ancestors had kept going westward until they got to the mountains where the weather was better. But they didn't. No big deal today with electricity and HVAC, but in the early 1800s it must have been brutal.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by GeeCrow

... I remember looking at View Master picture discs of Buggs Bunny, the Coyote & Roadrunner, etc. while hearing Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man & all of that. ...

That explains a lot!

For me, back in the darker ages (read: mid-1950s), the Viewmaster was black phenolic and one of my favorite reel sets was from Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I remember the big old style hand crank ice cream maker we had. Those were a necessity growing up in hell (I mean Texas) in the 1960s. Ice cream makers were the most used kitchen accessory during the summers. Those hand crank models did a better job than the electric motor ones which tended to bog down a lot and stop. We would all take turns turning the crank until we got tired. In late June the watermelons came into season, so we ate a lot of those. We put them in a large ice chest with ice and let them get ice cold. Nothing helped to beat the hot hellish (Texas) summers better than ice cream and ice cold watermelons! BTW, we didn't have AC in our house. It was too old and drafty for AC to be effective, and it would have cost a small fortune to use in a 100+ year old house built without any insulation. From mid-July through mid-August we rarely slept much as it was so hot you couldn't get comfortable lying in a sweat soaked bed with several fans blowing on you. I wish my ancestors had kept going westward until they got to the mountains where the weather was better. But they didn't. No big deal today with electricity and HVAC, but in the early 1800s it must have been brutal.

This house still doesn't have central heat and air. However we did find an evaporative cooler originally designed for the Australian outback. And if the pump goes out, at least it is only $20 to replace it and a water hose can fill in for the pump if it is 109 and the one that drives is at work. Happened last summer.

Oh hey JS, remember you are in the wetter but cooler part of hell. (Texas).

And I don't think we want to visit Orla in the summer.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

This house still doesn't have central heat and air. However we did find an evaporative cooler originally designed for the Australian outback. And if the pump goes out, at least it is only $20 to replace it and a water hose can fill in for the pump if it is 109 and the one that drives is at work. Happened last summer.

Oh hey JS, remember you are in the wetter but cooler part of hell. (Texas).

And I don't think we want to visit Orla in the summer.

I grew up a 20 miles north of Austin in the center of the state. It was really humid there most of the year. Dad tried using evaporative coolers, but combined with all the humidity being pumped in from the coast, they caused mildew and mold to form. So he took out the pumps and just used them as fans. The old house had 13 foot ceilings downstairs, and that helped quite bit. I still remember the house creaking and moaning in the evening as it started to cool down from the summer day heat. It would expand during the day with the heat then start contracting at night as some of the heat dissipated. Friends thought our house was haunted because of all the noise it made! Plus the local funeral home was only half a block down the street. But it was just nature doing her thing. We sure spent a lot of time outside in the summer evenings though, waiting for the house to cool down to hot from hellish hot!

ETA: But we were more or less used to the heat as none of our schools had HVAC until they built a new high school in the mid-1970s. And none of my relatives had HVAC in their homes either. The only time we were around HVAC was when we went to shopping malls, restaurants, and other retail places. So I guess you don't miss what you are never around or never had. Now though I could never live without AC in the summer. I got old and spoiled by it!

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I grew up a 20 miles north of Austin in the center of the state. It was really humid there most of the year. Dad tried using evaporative coolers, but combined with all the humidity being pumped in from the coast, they caused mildew and mold to form. So he took out the pumps and just used them as fans. The old house had 13 foot ceilings downstairs, and that helped quite bit. I still remember the house creaking and moaning in the evening as it started to cool down from the summer day heat. It would expand during the day with the heat then start contracting at night as some of the heat dissipated. Friends thought our house was haunted because of all the noise it made! Plus the local funeral home was only half a block down the street. But it was just nature doing her thing. We sure spent a lot of time outside in the summer evenings though, waiting for the house to cool down to hot from hellish hot!

ETA: But we were more or less used to the heat as none of our schools had HVAC until they built a new high school in the mid-1970s. And none of my relatives had HVAC in their homes either. The only time we were around HVAC was when we went to shopping malls, restaurants, and other retail places. So I guess you don't miss what you are never around or never had. Now though I could never live without AC in the summer. I got old and spoiled by it!

You are humid and I am dry. Hence why we can get away with evaporated and you have to have refrigerated. Though today I am wishing the evap wasn't covered for the winter. We are at about 90. Tomorrow will need the heater.

Funny thing about this house, the owner was offered an HVAC system in 1970. Cost of unit only. (Wholesale not retail). She turned it down.
I am glad. Our electric runs about half or less than a refrigerated house. We do have standard little fans in every room.
We have a big stand fan on top of a file cabinet by the heater to circulate the heat in the winter. Redneck central heat. The house stays around 70 in the winter. Just adjust the flame.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GeeCrow

My earliest memories are often set to the music of Donovan, since my mother really liked his music when I was small. I remember looking at View Master picture discs of Buggs Bunny, the Coyote & Roadrunner, etc. while hearing Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Hurdy Gurdy Man & all of that. I still associate Looney Tunes cartoons with Donovan songs.

I remember using those. For me, it was Disney cartoons and nature stuff.

A precursor to today's VR headsets

When our grandparents were children in the late 19th century they were using this older version.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

When our grandparents were children in the late 19th century they were using this older version.

It's amazing what we have now. And all it took was a bit of reverse engineering at Roswell

[cromag]

Back in college I had to use stereoscopic air photos often enough that I taught myself to view (most) stereo pairs in 3-D without using a viewer. It's not too hard.

In the 90s I bought a Loreo 3D camera -- mine was marketed under the Argus name -- and had a lot of fun with it. I got 3D pictures of the kids on swing sets, flying kites, etc. It was discontinued long ago, but there are still some references on the web.

https://www.stereoscopy.com/reel3d/loreo.html

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

We were the first family on the block to have Pong. Also first dishwasher and microwave.

I bet you were very popular among the kids of the neighborhood for the Pong game alone.