Remember These???

[parkdalegardener]

We have limits on just how powerful the fireworks sold in the corner stores are. Not much; but a limit none the less. Here in the city you cannot set them off on public land. Private property no problem. There are calls to limit the number of days of the year they can be used to specific occasions but I have yet to hear of anything concrete on that issue. After 11 will get you a visit from the cops for sure. Sparklers show up on kid's birthday cakes and are considered child safe for some unfathomable reason. The sparks are nothing but the red hot metal they emanate from have scared more than just the odd finger tip.

 

[Stezza]

We had bungers

penny bungers, thripeny bungers and Tom thumbs

 

[unreal]

So every spring it was kite Flaying time! Sometimes though either we didn't money to buy a kite or a telephone pole ate it. Guess what happened to the Sunday comics?
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Bat-kites were my thing. We go out to the fields behind our houses (we lived literally where the side ended), Kite wars! The idea was to maneuver one kite to cut the string of the enemy kite. One year we got a Diamond kite out to the end of 2 spools of 1 or 3 thousand feet. And the end was not tied to the spool, we found. The kites just flicked away. Got on our bikes to track it. A mile from the house, All we could find was string on top of trees stretching across a narrow lane. "Lets go fly a kit, up to the highest height..."

 

[unreal]

It ran in our evening paper here in Raleigh, but it was nationally syndicated and had started in 1921. Maybe you remember POGO?
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They've been publishing all the Pogo in nice restored editions. The look good on a 12" retina screen.

 

[unreal]

Remember these from back in the day???? Genuine Chuck Taylor Converse high tops!!!
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Back in the day??? I *still* wear chucks. And vans. I love when vans collaborates with artists to make something special. In covid years, they collaborated with various sellers to release original artwork for their shops. Some cool designs came from that.

Chucks are just plain comfy. More than I remember. My 75 year old mother got a pair a soft black leather chuck high tops. I've never seen her look cooler

My pile of chucks and vans is embarrassingly deep. But then, they rule!

 

[unreal]

Remember this? It may still be in your house although you probably haven't used it in twenty years or so.
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I think the last time I had an analog phone plugged into anything was in our garage in SF, '97. Emergency backup phone, because phone lines send their own electricity to the phone (assuming it's not cordless). And earthquakes take out the internet and cell network very easily. Mostly due to power loss, I suppose. Electricity: the achilles of the modern world. Makes me want a house battery and solar panels. Then I price it all out and snuff that "want" right out

 

[Hornet3d]

I think the last time I had an analog phone plugged into anything was in our garage in SF, '97. Emergency backup phone, because phone lines send their own electricity to the phone (assuming it's not cordless). And earthquakes take out the internet and cell network very easily. Mostly due to power loss, I suppose. Electricity: the achilles of the modern world. Makes me want a house battery and solar panels. Then I price it all out and snuff that "want" right out

With all the talk of increasing energy prices and the possible gas and electricity outages this winter I looked at some form of power back up. Rather than an petrol driven generator I looked at the house battery and solar power option and had the same reaction as you. Not only is the technology incredibly expensive it not really a viable option for supplying a house, some sort of portable power for camping and the like is the only real use I can see.

It seems to be the same story elsewhere, the drive in the UK is to move homes onto heat pumps instead of gas boilers but the technology is again expensive and, at present, does not really offer a workable solution. Heat pumps are generally much bigger and do not provide heat at a level where they can be the sole method to heat a home. This weekend there are rumours that all single use plastic will be banned in the UK outright, but it is difficult to see a valid replacement for cups, plates and other utensils let alone the more specialised uses such as the injection pens that hold the insulin I need on a daily basis. Some suggest the use of wood to replace some of the single use plastic requirements but then there is concern about deforestation.

Humanity seems to be at a strange point of it's development, we cannot do with the technology of the modern day but technology also seems to be falling short in so many areas.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Hornet, I'm not sure your heat pumps are the same as the heat pumps I've had experience with. Heating and A/C in our last house was by heat pump. It was extremely efficient and was able to heat or air condition our three bedroom house with no problem. The unit sat beside the house, and wasn't all that big. Certainly, nowhere the size of the oil tank we had beside the house when I was a wee one. That thing was huge.

Mini-split heat pumps are smaller than what we had 30 years ago, and to purchase and install for a large house can certainly be costly. But they may rather quickly pay for themselves, especially when other methods of heating and cooling a house becomes so expensive.

 

[Hornet3d]

Hornet, I'm not sure your heat pumps are the same as the heat pumps I've had experience with. Heating and A/C in our last house was by heat pump. It was extremely efficient and was able to heat or air condition our three bedroom house with no problem. The unit sat beside the house, and wasn't all that big. Certainly, nowhere the size of the oil tank we had beside the house when I was a wee one. That thing was huge.

Mini-split heat pumps are smaller than what we had 30 years ago, and to purchase and install for a large house can certainly be costly. But they may rather quickly pay for themselves, especially when other methods of heating and cooling a house becomes so expensive.

Not sure on the exact nature of the heat pump and I guess it also depends a lot on the climate of the country where it is installed. According to UK installers they cost around £8,000 for an air to water unit and £20,000 for a ground to water unit. If the home they are being installed in has micro bore pipes as was the rage twenty odd years ago you can add the cost of changing all the pipes. The installers also recommend that another source of heating water is installed such as solar panels or an immersion heater, for those with gas combi boilers add the space and cost requirements for a water tank if an immersion heater is used.

I am not trying to knock the attempts to deal with global warming just trying to be realistic, and, realistically the cost of a heat pump is well beyond what the reach of the average UK household

 

[eclark1894]

Not sure on the exact nature of the heat pump and I guess it also depends a lot on the climate of the country where it is installed. According to UK installers they cost around £8,000 for an air to water unit and £20,000 for a ground to water unit. If the home they are being installed in has micro bore pipes as was the rage twenty odd years ago you can add the cost of changing all the pipes. The installers also recommend that another source of heating water is installed such as solar panels or an immersion heater, for those with gas combi boilers add the space and cost requirements for a water tank if an immersion heater is used.

I am not trying to knock the attempts to deal with global warming just trying to be realistic, and, realistically the cost of a heat pump is well beyond what the reach of the average UK household

That's because the technology isn't fully realized and developed yet. If you recall that's the way of most technology. At first, it's really expensive, but as time moves on things become cheaper and cheaper. I once blew a $2000 tax refund on a tv that if I were to buy it today, would cost about $300. I once bought an $89 b&w set from Sears. If I could even find a Sears store today, I couldn't get b&w tv. They don't make them anymore.

 

[eclark1894]

Remember this???

 

[eclark1894]

Remember this?? Two years before Google.

 

[Miss B]

Remember this???
View attachment 71560

Yes, I remember them, though I don't recall if I had one that was a Texas Instruments.

 

[eclark1894]

Yes, I remember them, though I don't recall if I had one that was a Texas Instruments.

I took mine everywhere. I even had the little zip-up case for my belt.

 

[eclark1894]

remember this from school?

 

[eclark1894]

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!!!!

What? It's not? Four days! Aw, heck!

 

[eclark1894]

I was gonna do a pic of Afro
Sheen products, but if you're not black, like me, it probably wasn't as big an impact in your life. So... remember these??? Afros. I used to have one.

 

[eclark1894]

Can't get enough of that funky stuff!

 

[eclark1894]

Some people call me the space cowboy, yeah
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me Maurice
'Cause I speak of the pompatus of love

 

[Miss B]

Those lyrics sound vaguely familiar.