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Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
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Indianapolis
Now that made my night.


Okay, I designed and built an electric mouse trap. It was a box with a tunnel made from a toilet paper roll mounted on a plywood base. It had two copper strips that the mouse had to step on going through the tunnel to get to the cheese bait in the box. I used an old lamp cord, soldered the wires to the brass strips and plugged it into a wall socket.

Yes, it worked, but, the mouse caught on fire, so did the box and the curtains that were hanging over the trap. It blew the fuse (this was before circuit breakers) and my dad went to see what the problem was and found the fire and put it out before it burned the house down...I was grounded and banned from making anymore 'electrical devices' .

Tom
It's all good, Tom. You just gave it the wrong name, see? It wasn't a "trap" at all. It was your "electric mouse cooker". Yeah, that's it.
 

Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
26
36
Indianapolis
Allen Wrench,

That was pure genius or really bad timing. Did you and your Dad have a disussion about fireworks afterward.

Steve.
I was going to talk to him about the fireworks after that but, funny thing - they all went missing, like, the very next day. Hmmm...
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
THINGS YOU DON'T SEE ANYMORE:

1. The little red string in a Band-Aid package that you pulled and it neatly ripped the paper.

2. Cigarette Machines.

3. Pay Telephone Booths with the bi-fold glass doors to shut out the noise.

4. Door Bells with real metal tubes that actually chimed.


Add to the list, Old Timers............. :)

Tom
 

Greg58

Well-Known Member
May 1, 2011
5,363
2,590
113
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Newnan,Georgia
Watching John in his skivvies doesn't do anything for me but tell me you're not tapping your foot after the first fifteen seconds of this > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FECFb1_YdII

And yeah, that guy on the left is me. Circa 1976. Now can't you just see me on the floor dancing to a disco beat? :) The lady is my ex, the little guy on the right my brother. (he is now 6' 3" and weighs about 190.
:) Tom
Tom here are a couple, oil in a qt. That you had to have a spout or opener for and 5-56 in a squeeze can.
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
S & H Green Stamps

Cardboard Poker Chips

Stamped Steel Lunch Boxes with Saturday Morning TV characters printed on them. (mine was Sky King and The Song Bird)

People smoking in elevators (and everywhere else including hospital waiting rooms)

Cash registers with a big handle on the side like a slot machine.

Those little black teapot looking things that burned kerosine that they used to mark where road work was being done. ( I saw a guy run over one in a truck when I was a little kid. It ruptured and caught the truck and the street on fire. Guess that's why they quit using them)

Back to you guys-------------->

Tom
 

Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
26
36
Indianapolis
S & H Green Stamps

Cardboard Poker Chips

Stamped Steel Lunch Boxes with Saturday Morning TV characters printed on them. (mine was Sky King and The Song Bird)

People smoking in elevators (and everywhere else including hospital waiting rooms)

Cash registers with a big handle on the side like a slot machine.

Those little black teapot looking things that burned kerosine that they used to mark where road work was being done. ( I saw a guy run over one in a truck when I was a little kid. It ruptured and caught the truck and the street on fire. Guess that's why they quit using them)

Back to you guys-------------->

Tom
- My lunch boxes were "Space Ghost" & "Scooby Doo".
- Cleveland Leather up in Cleveland Ohio still uses what looks like a gigantic old brass NCR cash register. They always have. I don't think there's ever been another cash register sitting there. They also use hand tools and have skylights. As a result, power failures and outages go unnoticed. I'm not kidding, I've been there.
- The little black teapot things are called smudge pots and, yep, that's why they got rid of them. Some people don't drive any better today than those drivers back then did.
 

Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
26
36
Indianapolis
Here's another, most all of down town stores closed at 12 noon on Wednesday then at 12 noon on Saturday.dnut
In Mansfield, growing up, everything but movie theaters and bars used to close at 5 pm on week days and almost nothing was open on a Sunday, except maybe the police station and the hospital.
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
"Smudge Pots"...hmmmm. That's what they called the things they used to burn in Florida to create artificial clouds over the citris groves when freezing weather was expected. I suppose our friends at the EPA put an end to that practice.
Hey, that gives me an idea: If forest and brush fires are such a concern, why doesn't the EPA simply outlaw them? End of problem :)

Tom
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
Getting old does have some surprises outside the norm. Morning coffee in hand, out to get the mail and in the pile is an envelope that says "It's our 50th"

Now speaking only for myself but the brain doesn't want to work at it's full capacity that early in the morning and it's racing around the dark memory banks as to just who you know that was married 50 years.

Nobody, so you have to have a second look and then you see IT.

It's our 50th High School Reunion.

Steve.
 
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fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
Good pay for pumping the gas was 60 cents an hour at the big stations and 45 cents at the cut rate ones.
The best part of the job was when a car full of girls pulled in for gas and they had "rearranged" thier clothing so they could see your reaction.

The old guy I worked for would go out in his grease stained coveralls and tell the girls I was busy so he'd pump the gas or they could come back in a 1/2 hour and I'd be free.

Steve.
 

Greg58

Well-Known Member
May 1, 2011
5,363
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Newnan,Georgia
I may have it wrong but was it armsters day or something.
My wife told me I am wrong so I'm out too.
 
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2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Bob wins the cigar. Decoration Day.
I didn't research it either so I don't know when they changed it to Memorial Day. It was quite a while ago. Maybe in the 60s, 50s even?

Tom
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Funny how memories 'stick'. The reason I remember it was I was just a little guy and I found some colored crepe paper and I was 'decorating' my bicycle with streamers. My Dad came out and asked what I was doing and I said, "I'm decorating my bike for Decoration Day". He laughed but then went on to tell me that 'Decoration Day' was the day people went to 'decorate' the graves of solders who had died. It wasn't meant to 'decorate' your bicycle. "Oh", I said. "Well, I'm remembering those solders then."

It was some time after that I found out that they'd changed the name but I don't know how long. Whatever...Thank you, vets, for your sacrifice.

Tom