What childhood memories can reveal about our age?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the memories of childhood experiences and how they might correlate with the age of participants. It encompasses nostalgic recollections of media consumption, toys, family activities, and societal changes, reflecting on various aspects of growing up across different eras.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants recall watching test patterns on limited television channels and the novelty of color TV.
  • Others mention specific childhood toys and games, such as Sea Monkeys, Magic Rocks, and 8-track tapes, indicating a range of entertainment options available at the time.
  • Several participants share experiences related to family activities, such as making mud pies, climbing trees, and visiting grandparents' homes with unique amenities.
  • There are mentions of significant cultural moments, like seeing "Star Wars" in theaters and the impact of music and fashion trends during adolescence.
  • Some participants reflect on the evolution of technology, recalling early computers, dial-up internet, and the transition from analog to digital communication.
  • Participants express a sense of nostalgia for simpler times, with references to societal norms and childhood freedoms that have changed over the years.
  • One participant shares a mix of personal memories and historical events, including notable figures and incidents from their youth, which adds depth to the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share similar nostalgic sentiments about their childhoods, but there are multiple competing views regarding specific experiences and the significance of certain cultural references. The discussion remains unresolved as participants recount diverse memories without reaching a consensus on their implications.

Contextual Notes

Some memories are dependent on personal context and may not be universally applicable. There are varying definitions of childhood experiences based on different generational perspectives, which could influence interpretations of nostalgia.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to individuals exploring generational differences in childhood experiences, nostalgia, and cultural history, as well as those reflecting on how personal memories shape perceptions of age and societal change.

  • #151
dlgoff said:
Thanks for bringing this up Astronuc. I had forgotten about her and my enjoyment from watching the show.
My mother and grandmother loved this show, but personally, I found the antics of Tim Conway so irritatingly vaudeville that I couldn't bear to watch him. It's only funny up to a point, a point that Conway couldn't perceive and often painfully crossed.

Other than that, I enjoyed the show. My favorite was Burnette's take on "Gone with the wind" a classic.
 
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  • #152
Jimmy Snyder said:
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.
Don't forget The Rifleman. The 60's were awesome.

My parents had a tube type radio that was out of it's case. It was up high on a cabinet where I could not reach it. I remember being fascinated by it's glowing tubes and wondering what kind of magic made it work. Later, after I entered elementary school I somehow obtained a germanium diode and a capacitor. I built a crystal radio set using my toy slinky as the antenna and a copper water pipe as ground.

My dad took me to watch the Apollo 11 launch. Even though we were many miles away I could feel the ground shaking as the Saturn V rocket slowly rose into the sky. And after it gained some altitude there was a crackling popping sound. I was so excited that I lost my glasses (I would take them off to look through my telescope).
 
  • #153
I have a very, very sketchy memory of a childhood toy that maybe others here can help me fill in. It was a candy making machine, and the candy was in the shape of bugs, I think. It wasn't hard candy, but soft like a gummy bear...sort of a proto-gummy.

What I remember so clearly is the candy had a distinctive smell.

Does this ring any bells with anyone?
 
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  • #154
lisab said:
I have a very, very sketchy memory of a childhood toy that maybe others here can help me fill in. It was a candy making machine, and the candy was in the shape of bugs, I think. It wasn't hard candy, but soft like a gummy bear...sort of a proto-gummy.

What I remember so clearly is the candy had a distinctive smell.

Does this ring any bells with anyone?
Creepy crawlers candy?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250494641159&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WVI7&GUID=4aba91561240a04371604170ffce5777&itemid=250494641159&ff4=263602_263622
 
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  • #155
Evo said:
Creepy crawlers candy?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250494641159&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WVI7&GUID=4aba91561240a04371604170ffce5777&itemid=250494641159&ff4=263602_263622

No, I don't think so. I think the mold was a large metal block.

But that doesn't make sense...why would it be a big metal block? Hmm, I don't trust my visual memory...the smell is imprinted on my brain, though. I'd recognize it immediately.
 
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  • #157
Evo said:
My mother and grandmother loved this show, but personally, I found the antics of Tim Conway so irritatingly vaudeville that I couldn't bear to watch him. It's only funny up to a point, a point that Conway couldn't perceive and often painfully crossed.
Probably the worst example was the skit in which he got out of a hospital bed and shuffled oh so slowly (baby steps) to the other side of the room, then noticed that he had forgotten his slippers, shuffled all the way back to put on the slippers ... The gag was overdone by that point, but he kept going.
 
  • #158
  • #159
Newswise - I fondly remember Walter Cronkite, Huntley & Brinkley, John Chancellor, Frank Reynolds, Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner.

I bet Evo remembers Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News (ABC affiliate). I couldn't stand the guy.
 
  • #160
Astronuc said:
Newswise - I fondly remember Walter Cronkite, Huntley & Brinkley, John Chancellor, Frank Reynolds, Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner.

I bet Evo remembers Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News (ABC affiliate). I couldn't stand the guy.
Ahahaha, MAHVIN Zindler, EYE witness news.
 
  • #161
Evo said:
Ahahaha, MAHVIN Zindler, EYE witness news.
Yep - That's him. I would occasionally through a slipper at the TV. I didn't want to break it with a shoe.
 
  • #162
Astronuc said:
Yep - That's him. I would occasionally through a slipper at the TV. I didn't want to break it with a shoe.
:smile: Did he wear a toupee?
 
  • #163
Evo said:
:smile: Did he wear a toupee?
I had to Wiki him to find out who he was, and in the Wiki photo, he is apparently wearing one of the least-convincing rugs ever.
 
  • #164
I remember Disney channel when it didn't have commercials when they played movies.

I work with someone who remembers no disney channel.

I remember listening to my walkman on long trips.

I remember playing outside and sparring with my cousin with thick sticks.

I remember riding my bike as fast as I can and seeing how long of a skid mark I could make with my tire :D

I remember putting cards in the spokes of my bike to make it sound like a motorcycle (cans work pretty good too).

I remember walking a few miles to my cousins house to play.

I remember playing street hockey in the neighborhood culdasac, and drivers not minding, and even waving or making polite comments about it.

I remember tricking out my bike helmet with stickers or markers.

I remember waking up at 6am to watch cartoons, before my parents even woke up.

I remember my mom asking me to climb up on the counter to get stuff out of the top cabinet because she couldn't reach.

I remember being hit with a flyswatter when I was bad and deserved it, and people understood that (once with a belt).

I remember eating at a resturant called "Bonanza".

I remember dial-up internet, and how much it SUCKED! But still thinking it was the greatest thing on Earth.

I remember before the internet.

Fraggle Rock. N'uff said.

I remember getting hurt and having people tell me to brush it/walk it off

I remember before pills were the answer to everything.

I remember when parents wern't afraid of their kids.

I remember metal tonka trucks and metal hot wheels.

I remember using tracks for hot wheels cars that you had to clamp onto a shelf and let it roll down the hill you make for it to run along the track. None of those crazy motors that keep the car going.

I remember building forts in the living room out of sheets, pillows, chairs, and anything else that would work!

I remember holding my arm out of the window when we passed big rigs and doing the universal sign for them to blow their air horn.

I remember skip-it.

I remember the Crossfire board game.
51VZf3UTLcL._SL500_AA280_.jpg


I remember having green army men, and losing them to "friendly fire" (magnifying glass :D... Or a BB gun)

I remember legos and lincoln logs.

I remember when my mom still had to cut my fingernails.

I remember sitting down on the couch with my mom to read a book at night.
 
  • #165
Evo said:
:smile: Did he wear a toupee?
Yeah - the one that looked like a bleached white mop. Occasionally it moved - while he was on camera. :rolleyes:

His "MAHVIN ZINdler EYE WITness Nyooz" really irritated me. One of those few times when I wanted to heel-kick the TV.

He's one of the better known alumni from the high school I attended in 10th grade. Jaclyn Smith and nobel laureate Robert Woodrow Wilson (of Wilson and Penzias) are two others. I knew about Zindler and Smith, but not about Wilson. Wilson also went to Rice U.
 
  • #166
I remember when John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.

Actually, I remember watching Alan Shepard's launch with my Dad, as well.

The Shepard launch made enough of an impression that I remember it, but I didn't really appreciate the significance of it. All of us in the entire neighborhood were excited about John Glenn.
 
  • #167
BobG said:
I remember when John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.

Actually, I remember watching Alan Shepard's launch with my Dad, as well.

The Shepard launch made enough of an impression that I remember it, but I didn't really appreciate the significance of it. All of us in the entire neighborhood were excited about John Glenn.
We watched the later Gemini missions and the Apollo missions. We stayed up all night for the first moon landing. I remember Walter Cronkite choking up when he announced it.
 
  • #168
I remember:

cabbage patch kids
garbage pail kids
when google was just a noun, not a verb
lawn darts! (amazing my friends and I didn't get impaled)
slip and slide
axis and allies
Tranzor Z
The first MTV music video
The fall of the Berlin Wall

And of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6dXFWL7l7A0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6dXFWL7l7A0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
 
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  • #169
I remember Jack Lalanne ... and how he always used a chair for his workouts. Well, not for this particular workout, but for a lot of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isLJ024EdMA


"Open your mouth and close your eyes"? Uh, what?

Ah, anyway, Jack Lalanne and Carol Burnett were my two favorite shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIs4RdHF0c
 
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  • #170
Jack Lalanne rocks!

Speaking of exercise, my mom had one of these:

2z5kncm.jpg


:smile:

For PFers below a certain age...it's a vibrating belt machine. You stand on the platform, wrap the belt around your waist, and the belt would vibrate. It was supposed to slim the waist, lol.
 
  • #171
lisab said:
For PFers below a certain age...it's a vibrating belt machine. You stand on the platform, wrap the belt around your waist, and the belt would vibrate. It was supposed to slim the waist, lol.

:bugeye: just how old are you? I've only seen those in old black & white films.
 
  • #172
lisab said:
Jack Lalanne rocks!

Speaking of exercise, my mom had one of these:

2z5kncm.jpg


:smile:

For PFers below a certain age...it's a vibrating belt machine. You stand on the platform, wrap the belt around your waist, and the belt would vibrate. It was supposed to slim the waist, lol.

I thought the belt went around the derriere.
 
  • #173
edward said:
I thought the belt went around the derriere.

Oh I suppose it could be used that way, too. If it doesn't work at slimming the waist, it could easily not work at slimming the hind quarters, too :wink:.
 
  • #174
lisab said:
Oh I suppose it could be used that way, too. If it doesn't work at slimming the waist, it could easily not work at slimming the hind quarters, too :wink:.

Thats true. I don't think anyone ever lost a pound using one of those things.
 
  • #175
Hula hoops are more effective for exercising
http://www.lightupandjuggle.com/store/images/hula_hoop.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hula_hoop

http://www.wham-o.com/default.cfm?page=ViewProducts&Category=8
 
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