What childhood memories can reveal about our age?

[turbo]

My earliest memories would give you no clue to my age. I think the first thing I remember that might date me is when Hula Hoops came out. Perhaps you can better guess my age if I tell you what I forget, like whether I took my pills or not.

I remember being invited to a cousin's birthday party when Chubby Checker's "Twist" was just hitting the airwaves, and I invited a cute gangly girl to come with me. I was of an age when some boys were not that interested in girls, but I had some frisky female relatives and neighbors that jump-started my interest early. By the time I got to be in my early teens and looked back on some of the girls that wrestled me and my friend Barry to the ground and tickled and kissed us until we hollered, it occurred to me that I had been incredibly foolish. They were cute and they gave us treats (when they weren't "tormenting" us), and they'd lose interest in a while anyway and go back upstairs to listen to Elvis and put on fresh lipstick.

 

[Math Is Hard]

My earliest memories would give you no clue to my age. I think the first thing I remember that might date me is when Hula Hoops came out. Perhaps you can better guess my age if I tell you what I forget, like whether I took my pills or not.

I still play with Hula Hoops. :)

 

[Astronuc]

I remember being invited to a cousin's birthday party when Chubby Checker's "Twist" was just hitting the airwaves, and I invited a cute gangly girl to come with me. I was of an age when some boys were not that interested in girls, but I had some frisky female relatives and neighbors that jump-started my interest early. By the time I got to be in my early teens and looked back on some of the girls that wrestled me and my friend Barry to the ground and tickled and kissed us until we hollered, it occurred to me that I had been incredibly foolish. They were cute and they gave us treats (when they weren't "tormenting" us), and they'd lose interest in a while anyway and go back upstairs to listen to Elvis and put on fresh lipstick.

When I was in 6th grade, my brother and I met a couple of frisky 8th grade girls - at an evening function at the church where my father was minister. A lot of wrestling and kissing. I didn't holler.

 

[Ouabache]

I remember that too. Our milkman used a horse drawn carriage - into the early 60's. Bread was delivered in a van. And some guy would show up periodically selling honey. Those were the days.

I also learned to use a slide rule. Used it during my freshman year of university, but transition quickly to a first generation calculator - with 3 memory address.

Slide rules are cool! We had a really big one hanging on the wall in high school.
(For those who haven't learned to use one, you're missing out!).
If you feel a little rusty on your skills and don't have your trusty one handy..
Try http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/n909es/virtual-n909-es.html" . (you don't just look at it, it works nice).

I seem to recall milk being delivered in glass bottles with http://www.rubylane.com/shops/charmingandcheap/iteml/8154#pic1" on top.
And bits of ice on the tab, to help keep the milk cold & fresh.
In cities by the coast, there was a fishman that came 'round hawking fresh fish.
We didn't buy too much from him though. Dad often caught saltwater fish
(e.g. tautog, cod, bluefish, striped bass & fluke).

We also had 3 strong channels on TV, but lived close enough to the next metropolis
to have 3 more (with a lot of fuzzy snow & white noise). If we turned the rabbit ears just so
and held onto it or just stood near it, we might get to see some programs through the snow.

(Why is that? -(uh oh geek alert ) the electrolytes in solution in our body affect RF signals,
making us part of the tuning circuit, affecting the impedance match mostly,
by our body's internal capacitance and altering the shape of the antenna,
effectively increasing its aperture).

Though I rarely stayed up late enough, through bleary eyes I do recall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoL-KCFbIpA" on one of the stations.
McGee recites the poem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee,_Jr.#The_poem".

 

[Ouabache]

We had a large collection of 78s, inherited from older relatives. Our console record player played 45s, 33s, and 78s. When the power failed, we sat out on the glassed-in porch and listened to our crank-up spring powered Victrola. 78 only.

That crank-up sounds awesome! Wish we had one of those..
I still have quite a stack of 78s (pile has become bigger after also inheriting older relative's collections). I looked at online auction sites and found they are not worth much, due to their physical condition and availability (too many of them were pressed).

As a kid, we had 78s & 33 1/3 LPs. Not too many 45s though. We played them on a Magnavox console that looks a lot like http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/Magnav1.htm" ,
with the green tuning eye.

I say looks, because it is still in the family. I recently restored the radio section (AM and SW) and amplifier (replacing broken caps, burned resistors & weak tubes). I particularly enjoyed (and still do) the short wave tuner. Lots of fun hearing different tongues around the world. The original turntable is long gone, but recently found a suitable replacement, I will wire up. If you look at the last image on that link, you will see it (like ours) has an AM loop for an antenna, and a SW dipole stapled to the frame.
Ours Magnavox has space for the 'new' technology FM (but the tuner was not yet available at the time purchased).
There is an FM position on the mode switch.

 

[Ouabache]

I remember this... and I called the pre-broadcasting fuzz in the morning (before "Popeye" came on) "the ants"... and would "watch" it while I ate Cheerios and played with Legos. My favorite afternoon cartoon was "Tom And Jerry"... later "Voltron" (the lion one).[/B]

The ones I watched after the fuzz, was some sort of fractal or fractured http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB1EE-FDgMk".

 

[Ouabache]

I remember the Water Wiggle and super balls, and that plastic ring..

I had http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/en_US/" . I guess that's still around though. I don't remember seeing that Giant-Puff-of-Air toy, I would have wanted one of those

Super Ball
We used our driveway like a baseball batting cage, hitting out softballs, whiffle balls, baseballs & tennis balls. I remember the day we tried a superball. One smack and I don't believe we ever found it again

 

[Ivan Seeking]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Magicrocks.jpg

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My brother just called and was telling me that he still has one of those translucent colored 45s that were released for a time. In this case, it is Tom Petty in pink. A twenty-six year old saw it and didn't know what it was. He asked if it's a CD on steroids.

 

[Pythagorean]

I remember "in living color" the show whereni first saw Jim Carrey and Keenan Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans.

 

[lisab]

Did anyone ever get http://www.sea-monkey.com/" ?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Did anyone ever get http://www.sea-monkey.com/" ?

Nope, had a barrel of monkeys... at least the siblings did.

Did anyone ever read the book, Animal Train, as a young child?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27705790

Clickety Clack, Clickety Clack
The Animal Train goes down the track...

My mother would turn the pages while I recited the book from memory.

 

[noblegas]

I remember when the kids network nickelodeon only had 3 nicktoons

I remember when our classrooms provided only computers where floppy disks were the size of CD's and I remember you could only load one computer program up at a time rather than have computers programs open up simultaneously, which I later in life fondly referred to as the stick shift computers because you always had to swtich computer programs if you wanted to load a new computer program onto the PC .

I remember playing my first video game , bayou billy and being half way decent at the racing level and terrible at the walk through level
I remember NOT wanting to be in school and everybody noticing it.

I remember gettng all excited about changing from cable to satelitte service not realizing that most of those channels were sports or extra movie channels.

I remember OJ simpson being talked about on the news everyday and trying to understand why this guy was getting so much news coverage.

I remember when playstation was such a big deal and being enthralled there being playstation games that offered story lines that you could follow like a movie

I remember having sleepless nights due much to the bloodshed presented in mortal kombat 2 and 3 games , and being afraid that the mortal combat characters would jump out of my tv screen but ironically not being terrified by resident evil 2 games that came out on the playstation which were even more violent.

 

[Astronuc]

I in addition to no running hot water at my grandparents house, we had to go outside to the loo (outhouse). We used to play with the daddy-longlegs or spiders while sitting on the loo.

 

[rootX]

I loved playing with ants, and making sand castles and tunnels.

 

[drizzle]

I remember that I loved this little horsey I’m holding in the pic

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/984/p10005788.jpg

Can’t recall the name of that cartoon though

 

[Ouabache]

Did anyone ever get http://www.sea-monkey.com/" ?

Were they something like brine shrimp?

 

[Ouabache]

Nope, had a barrel of monkeys... at least the siblings did.

Did anyone ever read the book, Animal Train, as a young child?

Clickety Clack, Clickety Clack
The Animal Train goes down the track...

My mother would turn the pages while I recited the book from memory.

I didn't have that one, but did have similar ones.
One of my favorites was a Seuss book called http://www.best-childrens-books.com/mcelligots-pool.html" .
My brother & I would recite that one without opening the book.

 

[Astronuc]

I remember that I loved this little horsey I’m holding in the pic

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/984/p10005788.jpg

Can’t recall the name of that cartoon though

My little pony? I think my children watched that.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Here a few early memories of TV shows. I remember the night when Disneyland, the TV show, moved from Wednesday to Friday night. I loved Walt Disney. He would come on at the end of the show and talk for a while. He was like a third grandfather. I remember the Mickey Mouse Club. I remember Howdy Doody. I remember a lot of TV westerns like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and others. I remember Sky King.

 

[Averagesupernova]

...although it was rather bad that the printer only had a capital letter font (with larger capitals for true capitalization). That printer also used http://www.thegreenoffice.com/office_supplies/UNV15708" of course.
[/B]

Would that be the Dump-110?

 

[BobG]

Nope, had a barrel of monkeys... at least the siblings did.

Did anyone ever read the book, Animal Train, as a young child?

Clickety Clack, Clickety Clack
The Animal Train goes down the track...

My mother would turn the pages while I recited the book from memory.

I don't think I ever read that. But the set of encyclopedias we had also had a set of children's books, with different volumes having songs, poems, stories, etc.

I remember paging through the children's stories, reciting the stories as best I could from memory back before I could read. I used to try and sing all the songs in the book, as well, which was hard even after I could read, since I couldn't read music (other than to know high notes were higher and low notes were lower) and hadn't actually heard some of those songs. I also learned my alphabet and how to count on those encyclopedias.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I had the Childcraft Encyclopedia set:

http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-childcraft.jpg

I think we still have most of the volumes.

 

[BobG]

I remember when our classrooms provided only computers where floppy disks were the size of CD's and I remember you could only load one computer program up at a time rather than have computers programs open up simultaneously, which I later in life fondly referred to as the stick shift computers because you always had to swtich computer programs if you wanted to load a new computer program onto the PC .

Wow, we didn't have computers when I was in school. But, as an adult, I remember borrowing irreplaceable floppies from coworkers. Those floppies had a hole in the disk that the computer used to physically find the start of the disk. When I'd return disks, I used to line that hole up with the window and then carefully run a thumbtack through the front of the paper cover, through the hole in the disk, and through the back cover and tack it to their bulletin board with a note of thanks. Just to get their blood flowing, you know.

Of course, the downside to that was that the less computer literate would see something like that and think thumbtacking their floppies to the bulletin board was a good way to keep from losing them.

 

[Borek]

Those floppies had a hole in the disk that the computer used to physically find the start of the disk.

I guess you mean the hole I am pointing at with this random piece of paper - but do you mean this type of floppy disk?

 

[dlgoff]

Okay. Are you old enough to have ever used one of these?

http://www.8trackheaven.com/Images/autophonic4trackautoplayer.jpg

Note the lever to engage the capstan wheel.

 

[turbo]

When I was a kid, computers filled buildings. I had a hand-held "calculator" of sorts that could only add and subtract. You manipulated internal notched slides with a metal stylus. Add on one side, flip over and subtract on the other. I got it in a box-lot in an auction held in the barn beside my house when I was a kid.

Actually, when I got to engineering school, computers *still* filled buildings. You'd write out your code by hand, check it for consistency and form, then try to get time on one of the IBM punch-card writers. Punch in your code, bundle the cards with a rubber band, and drop them off with one of the computer "priests" who might or might not run your code during the next day or so. Hopefully, you'd be rewarded with a nice fat stack of white and green striped fanfold printout paper. If not, time to debug and try again. No calculators were allowed - the cheapest ones around were 4-function Bowmars, and they were over $300. The engineering department thought that the prohibitive cost would give rich kids an unfair advantage, so they made everybody use slide rules instead.

 

[Brian_C]

The earliest presidential election I can recall was in 1988. My parents voted for Dukakis.

I remember receiving a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas when it first came out.

The first war I remember was Operation Desert Storm. Colin Powell and Norman Schwartzkopf were heroes.

I remember when my family bought their first PC in 1993. It was a Packard Bell 486 that ran a funny program called DOS. All of the games came on floppy disks.

 

[Borek]

All of the games came on floppy disks.

You are a kid! Original games came on tapes.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You are a kid! Original games came on tapes.

We loaded programs and the OS on our computer in hs using paper tape.

When I first started in the field, our CAT scanner's operating systems were loaded using paper tape. I saw punch card systems in other apps but never used them.

 

[drizzle]

You're killing me guys! I swear I'll do whatever if there's another rustier one

 

[Astronuc]

We loaded programs and the OS on our computer in hs using paper tape.

When I first started in the field, our CAT scanner's operating systems were loaded using paper tape. I saw punch card systems in other apps but never used them.

Yep - I know about the punch tape. I watched some programmers doing lunar simulations for the moon landing. It the program was on punch tape. I believe that was one of first widely available video games - lunar lander.

And before punch tape, we had to use

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/iit-iti/images/vit-tiv/tablets-a-a-nocolor-large.jpg

 

[Borek]

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/iit-iti/images/vit-tiv/tablets-a-a-nocolor-large.jpg

Wow, you are much older than I thought.

I remeber folding punch tape to make stars for Christmas, but the killer application was to punch holes in such a way that you can read I LOVE JOLA (Jolana) or something similar.

 

[drizzle]

...And before punch tape, we had to use

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/iit-iti/images/vit-tiv/tablets-a-a-nocolor-large.jpg

Is this serious? You got to be kidding me Astronuc

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Is this serious? You got to be kidding me Astronuc

The card feeders were problematic - the oxen often wouldn't cooperate.

 

[physics girl phd]

Banana seats on bicycles.

I had the Cactus Rose Huffy. Googling it, I see it's available on craigslist down in Chattanooga. I could go get it now for little E! (Except she's too little, and we don't have room.)

 

[dlgoff]

Little E won't be little for long physics girl. Better get it now.

 

[Zantra]

http://www.105classics.net/105classics/jsp/images/photogallery/supercult/gallery115/vic20andtv.jpg
http://gaijin.dmst.aueb.gr/~bkarak/weblog/2008/17052008/amiga.jpg
http://cmsreport.com/files/images/Commodore64_350px.jpg
http://www.pocketgadget.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/slinky.jpg
http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libraries/Emulation/Coleco/ColecoVision.jpg

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Everyone, please size your photos to 640 x 480. Otherwise it offsets the entire page.

You can set the upload to resize automatically at places like imageshack.

 

[qspeechc]

I don't have any memories from my childhood.

No really.

So it's kinda fun, and sad, reading other people's.

Well I do have some memories, but they're either trivial or creepy

Take your pick.

 

[BobG]

I don't have any memories from my childhood.

No really.

So it's kinda fun, and sad, reading other people's.

Well I do have some memories, but they're either trivial or creepy

Take your pick.

Couldn't you just acquire some childhood memories? And just eliminate the ones you don't want?

Ads can alter memory claim scientists. In these experiments, participants remembered a childhood in which they shook Bugs Bunny's hand at Disney World (something that couldn't possibly have happened, since Bugs Bunny is a Warner Brothers cartoon character, not a Disney cartoon character).

http://www.protomag.com/assets/the-ethics-of-altering-memory . Researchers learn how to reduce post traumatic stress disorder by administering drugs that dull the strength of unpleasant memories. Which raises questions about the ethics of erasing painful memories (think of all the great literature that would be lost).

 

[Astronuc]

I still have scars to remind of interesting events, though one wouldn't know that my nose was reattached.

 

[elect_eng]

I'm wondering if we can guess the age of members by what they remember of their childhood?

One of my first memories was seeing the original old Star Trek series when first aired.

I remember, 4-track tapes (yes 4-track, not 8-track) being played on my fathers stereo system.

I remember being given a little handheld transistor radio. Of course, I opened it. I still have the vision of
all the electrical parts on the circuit board. I didn't know what they were then, but my memory is so clear,
that I can draw a picture showing the location of each transistor, resistor, capacitor and coil. I think that
moment established the direction of my career, although I had no idea at the time.

I remember my Father buying a 10-speed bike with funny loop shaped racing handles. He called it an "English Racer",
but it was later known to us Americans as the "10-speed bike".

 

[joelupchurch]

I remember buying a 6oz Coca Cola for a nickel.
I remember watching Mighty Mouse on Saturday mornings.
I remember voting for Richard Nixon in 72. I had just turned 18 the month before and 72 was the first year 18 year olds could vote.
I remember doing calculations with a slide rule.
I remember programming computers using punch cards with FORTRAN code.

 

[Astronuc]

I've been listening to and occasionally watching a nostalgic retrospective of Carol Burnett. She is a great comedienne. Her program (with Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and Vicki Lawrence) was clean and corny, but it was wonderful entertainment from 1967-1978.

 

[RazorRose]

I Remember.

-Playing Pokemon.

-Hating the Back street boys and n-sync

-N-64! And sega genesis. dreamcast.

-lord of the rings.

-my first tape

-being the first on my block to have a dvd player.

 

[BobG]

I've been listening to and occasionally watching a nostalgic retrospective of Carol Burnett. She is a great comedienne. Her program (with Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and Vicki Lawrence) was clean and corny, but it was wonderful entertainment from 1967-1978.

I've never been obsessed with TV and, while I've watched most of the most popular shows enough to at least know what they are, there aren't many I've actually missed (mainly because I probably wasn't still watching them when they went off the air).

The Carol Burnett Show is one show I really miss. They managed to inject just a little more of a personal touch into their show beyond just the comedy (which was great in itself!). I wound up actually liking the people on the show instead of just liking their work.

 

[Astronuc]

The Carol Burnett Show is one show I really miss. They managed to inject just a little more of a personal touch into their show beyond just the comedy (which was great in itself!). I wound up actually liking the people on the show instead of just liking their work.

Burnett and the team were great. I just got too busy to watch TV. I was either going to school or working from about 10th grade on, so I just didn't have time for TV. By the time I got to uni, I rarely watched TV, so I missed most of the late 70's and 80's. I did watch the news programs - primarily Nightly Business Report and the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour (now just The News Hour) on PBS. I did watch CNN for a bit in grad school, but I got frustrated and more or less quit.

 

[RonL]

I've been listening to and occasionally watching a nostalgic retrospective of Carol Burnett. She is a great comedienne. Her program (with Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and Vicki Lawrence) was clean and corny, but it was wonderful entertainment from 1967-1978.

Not sure if it would be as funny today, the episode that made me laugh until my side ached and tears came, was when Tim Conway was a dentist and Harvey Korman was the patient, Tim hit himself with the needle over and over, you could see Harvey in the chair unable to maintain composure.

 

[dlgoff]

I've been listening to and occasionally watching a nostalgic retrospective of Carol Burnett. She is a great comedienne. Her program (with Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and Vicki Lawrence) was clean and corny, but it was wonderful entertainment from 1967-1978.

Thanks for bringing this up Astronuc. I had forgotten about her and my enjoyment from watching the show.