I have one in my office which my university students think is a destination resort. A few just come in, press the button and walk away. Everyone smiles! I considered hacking the music at one point but like so may other projects....

///Rich

When I was in grad school our professors insisted on typed papers. And our dissertations needed to be typed also which cost us a bunch for typists with carbon paper as they needed three copies before there were Xerox machines. In 1980 I hacked an IBM 2741 that had a serial interface to work from our Apple ][. The big issue was that we had to insert null characters between each character to slow it down. Even slow I became a good Selectric tech as they frequently needed adjustments after outputting our pages. The manual for those beasts were inches thick and required special tools which the typewriter techs on campus were happy to provide.

And when our professors (full disclosure I am now one) found out we did this, they wanted us to make one for them too. We didn't as we let them use ours but they didn't want to do their input on a computer so it didn't work out well for them. They loved yellow pads!

//Rich

Frankly I love those kids. The engineers, scientist and thinkers of the future. You can learn as much from them as they can from you. And it keeps you young.

///Rich

Mystery Spot. When I was a kid there was an amusement park in the Bronx called Freedomland. There was an attraction called Casa Loca that I think was modeled after the Mystery Spot. It made an impression on me for sure. And when Freedomland closed in 1964 the family that owns Clark's Trading Post bought it and brought it to NH. Unfortunately they replaced that with a shooting range two years ago as the attraction required guides and I suppose it wasn't paying the way. But the bones of the attraction are still there.

For the record Clark's is still an unbelievable place if you are in Lincoln New Hampshire. There is a Bear show that has to be one of the few left in the country. And a steam train that manages to find the Wolfman riding a steam powered car on every run. And for people like us, an unbelievable static collection of "stuff".

///Rich

It's funny what we remember. Casa Loca made an impression on me as clearly it distorted reality. And I remember the Freedomland sign. But I don't remember horse drawn stagecoaches or bisons!

Alas, it is now just the largest apartment complex in the country. Who knows what our kids and grandkids will remember 50 years from now? What we do know is this thread will be still alive.

///Rich

You had LEDs in your childhood. I had fire!

///Rich

Saturday's at noon. The idea of a pilots license started then and I reached that goal in 1980. Somewhere is my solo flag. Rich "Songbird" Wolfson.

///Rich

We too had a milk man and a soda man. 1960s in Rosedale.

My mother used to tell a funny story. Our soda man was a friend of the family. Marty. And he used to get to us around lunch time and my mom would make him lunch. The neighbors noticed and one told my father that the soda man seemed to stay longer than anyone would think. Dad said we needed the money. <G> My mother joked many years later that Marty may be my father. 23andMe certified that...

///Rich

I have 8" floppy in my office which I have not gone into for a year or I would post the picture of it and a 14" disk pack which I think it 100 Megabytes from one of the original CUNY data center IBM 1000 series computers.

Kids who come into the office are amazed. Really? This is only 100 megabytes? Then I show them the punchcards stack that held my dissertation data which I later transferred to a large tape. And really, a megabyte is not a unit they are familiar with.

Frankly, things were easier but those were not the days!

///Rich

Here's to an OLDERPINGUY!

///Rich

My question is who wins? The guy who has to go to the hospital or the one that sent him there?

And of course I have seen many a roman candle explode rather than shoot the ball out of the top. My vote is that guy who has that blow up in his face is the loser. Or in his mind is he the winner?

///Rich

Ah yes. As you well know there is a runway there pointing towards the Colosseum. Or there was when we were kids. It was a perfect place for an automotive speed competition aka a drag race. One evening some policeman knew we were there and decided that what we needed some behavior modification. My mother picked me up at the Hempstead lock-up that night. She was not happy. <G>

Note that runway was the same one that Charles Lindberg took off from before the Colosseum was there as he would have never had enough altitude to clear it.

Sorry everyone for a bit of nostalgia on my part. Now back to our regular programming.

///Rich

Sunrise Highway Rockville Center. Not far from Motion Performance. I learned a lot about life in that parking lot!

///Rich

Lenny's Beach 35th Street. I am a bit older than you and I don't remember the calculations but you could also win cash. In Times Square too, 42nd Street, before it got "cleaned up". Took some effort but it was a game of skill.

///Rich

I also remember my first trip to the circus. Probably around 1960. The old Madison Square Garden on 50th and 8th Avenue. My uncle and 6 kids in the Chevrolet. Belts? Not an option. I remember the sideshow with all the usual suspects and we bought a ring from the giant. But my uncle was given strict orders not to bring any salamanders home.

The show was a transformative experience sort of like seeing the Lion King on Broadway. But alas I never had the pleasure of bringing my grandchildren to the circus. "Don't you know they treat the elephants badly". And now it is no more.

But I did take them to the Bear show at Clarks in New Hampshire. I told them we were going to see the Wolfman and Casa Loca and left the parents at home. They LOVED it. As did I remembering the elephants, lions and tigers at the Garden.

And I may actually have one of those flashlights around here. Probably full of battery acid. <G>

///Rich

PS-If you have never been to Clarks, you should go before that is a memory. Casa Loca is a shooting gallery but the train still runs on steam.

My younger brother had a picture in his wallet or notebook and my mother found it. She asked where he got it and I said probably from dads Playboy collection in his office downstairs. Mom got rid of them all before he came home. Taught me not to rat out my dad ever again as we all suffered.

Ah. Barbi Benton...

///Rich

Actually still not too bad! https://www.guillow.com/BalsaToyAirplanes.aspx

Not 10¢ but not enough not to get them for the grandkids and one for "stock". <G>

///Rich

Eating pizza even with a regular sized fork is a joke! At least it is here in NY and NJ.

///Rich

You should look for the patent application and I think you can find them online. Patents can only be in the name of a person. The inventor if you will. Persons can assign the rights to a company but his name should be on the application somewhere.

My father always talked about his uncle I.D. Wolfson who invented the clip on bow-tie. Turns out it was not the clip-on we knew but something he called the Adjusto in 1922 that was an adjustable band on a regular bow tie. But it is a family story that is fun and you should look for the original documents as having them is part of our family histories.

///Rich

PS-Likely the company paid for the patent lawyers and the work to prepare an application. But again, if he invented it his name should be on the documents

My birthday is 6/20/1952 and my number was 30. It was the first date picked that year. My mother called within a nanosecond and was crying. I took 3 physicals but had deferments till the draft ended. I would have joined the Navy if pressed.

///Rich

On my 16th birthday (you do the math) my mom brought me to get a job. Alexanders in Valley Stream, NY. $1.65 an hour and take home for 20 hours was $25.80. Not sure why I remember that and no chance I have a paystub.

And it was right next to the Green Acres Bowling Alley. Great pins in the basement and I learned all about life in the parking lot.

///Rich

I now live in Jersey and this was in the paper last week (yes, I am the only one left reading the paper, actually two, every day).

The Alexander's mural, a longtime attraction in Paramus that was dismantled and removed from the borough years ago, will be making its return home as part of The New Valley Hospital. ... The giant, 200-foot-long mural was saved in 1998 after Alexander's went out of business. IKEA now occupies the former Alexander's site.

The large murals that were in Valley Stream have to be somewhere, and they were really impressive.

///Rich

image (resized).jpeg

image (resized).jpeg

Me? It was the parking lot of Green Acres Bowl.

Alas, Mark Roth died this week. We went head to head a few times but I was always able to wangle a handicap.

///Rich

Johnny Petraglia was around too. Sort of like Poker, the cash matches were legend! And even way back in the 60's with oiled lanes and old tech for balls, Mark's hook was unreal.

///Rich

Here in New Jersey I have no idea of legality but one was installed in my wife's car when they were fitting handicapped, left foot and hand brake, controls so I assume there are at least special dispensations. Interestingly the one installed is really well made and the knob easily pops out with the press of a button on the mount.

///Rich

I have a PowerBook 100, 140 and 170 here. I loved the 100 and wrote two books with it while on a boat. Its screen was easily readable in the sun. I called mine PeeWee the PB. <G>

///Rich Wolfson

As a NYC shop teacher in Brooklyn starting in 1974, that picture brings back memories. And frankly it's too bad we don't teach the "industrial arts" any more. And although STEM education is important, it's not like teaching a kid to uses hand tools, repair cars, weld, use a drill press or table saw, or learn the basics of electronics and soldering.

///Rich

PS-Any of my old students out there? Feel free to say hello although you are now probably retired.

Didn't you grow up near Motion Chevrolet? $1600 could have easily gotten something there off the back lot that could be sold for 100K today?

///Rich

PS-I sure do wish I had the 1967 Chevelle I got at KORT Chevy.

Sheepshead Bay HS before the city went bankrupt in 1975. When they brought back the young teachers a year and a half later, I was at South Shore and then we opened Edward R. Murrow which really was a special place and I hear still is today although I suspect my auto shop is LONG gone!

///Rich

Thank you. That was wonderful! Now off to find How's Your Bird!

///Rich

Few who have owned a Prius would know how to build a model?

///Rich

Clarks in New Hampshire. https://clarksbears.com/index2.php

It's like walking into the past. A real steam locomotive ride and a steam car. And a bear show.

But they did get rid of Casa Loca a few years ago which came from Freedom Land and was something I remember vividly from my yute.

///Rich

Amen. Live and let live. Unfortunately we are not moving in the right direction!

///Rich

Things like this should never be thrown out. And when the time comes, someone who would appreciate them should get them.

///Rich

I thought that too but frankly in those days you needed it. Nothing was galvanized and if your metal lasted 4 years, you were doing great.

///Rich

You went to pre-school? Pre-school for me was the stoop and the warning not to go past the sidewalk.

///Me

You have to be young. I still have POTS phones in my house. Two lines in fact. Much more reliable than cell or IP phones. And I am sure I have some of those wall plates new in the plastic bags in my telecom tools. That said when the pandemic hit and I needed reliable cellular I got a 4G LTE Network Extender and installed it in my home office. Essentially it is a local cell tower. Even the guy across the street says his cellular connections were better.

I understand getting rid of POTS phones because we all have a cell phones. But as long as Verizon supplies the service, I will pay for it.

///Rich

Plain Old Telephone Service. Copper wires. It takes two wires to run the phone and it has enough voltage to fry you when it rings if you pick up from the bathtub and drop it in although since I have fibre to the house, I don't think there is enough voltage to ring an old bell phone.

And if the wires were close, the phone worked.

///Rich

Hey. A friend of mine found this and asked if I knew if it was a puzzle or game. But frankly I never saw it before. Any ideas?

///Rich

Balls in Box\ (resized).png

This is VERY helpful. Which Puzzle Forum. All the balls are metal and the same but paint could have worn off.

Thanks as always OPG

///Metagrobologist Rich

No. You know me from Wesson's on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin.

As for hobbies, Magic and Puzzles for close to 60 years now.

This said, not a rattle box. I am going to have to look at it more closely next time I am there.

///Thaumaturge and Metagrobologist am I

I need to get my hands on the one my bud has. The construction on all of these look too similar to be coincidental.

///Rich

I was more of a city kid but I did live in OLDPINGUY's hood. This one works for me.

///Rich

PS-Seems we were all horny guys. What were women listening to?

You moved from New Jersey to Texas? High School Football fan?

///Rich

Ah those redheads. I married one! She also went to Catholic school but was turned off when she starting asking her Jesuit teacher questions mostly about women in the church, and he said that if you want to be in a club, you have to agree to all the rules. She left the fold other than she liked to play guitar at services.

Then we met and she wanted to convert in my Reconstructionist congregation which never requires a belief in a divine being. Perfect for me as I don't believe in any religion but do feel comfortable adhering to the tractions of my youth.

Sorry that this thread brought up bad memories. Think of Green Acres Bowl and the pins in the basement and you'll be good!

///Rich

You make beautiful kids kids. Congratulations!

///Rich

I had one and loved it. I am a University Engineering Professor. We used to prepare industrial arts teachers and also mid-level managers for manufacturing in NJ before everyone moved out.

There is still a vacuum former still in our lab and at one point we had a Mattel Vac-U-Form too. But I have not seen it in years.

Programs like mine went out of favor until STEM and MakerSpaces appeared. But by that time the good stuff in the labs were mostly picked over. And now most everyone wants to play with 3D Printers and Drones. I try to turn them on to better toys, hey kid let's fire up the TIG welder, but they are mostly not interested. But every once in a while someone notices my race kart up on the wall and when I say I raced it from Daytona to Weedsport NY and at Pocono, Summit Point and and Louden and everywhere in between they seem interested for a few minutes until they ask if I have gone to RPM or driven a simulator. And I just smile as if I did meet them at RPM, they would see what skill is.

But my M2 always gets their attention until they ask if I have ever drifted in it. Even my kids don't get it. But my nephew just got a job at Raytheon and he crews his dads, my brother's Spec Miata. Me, too old to get in and out of it any more. My sister in law didn't let my brother race Karts after he got married. If it didn't have a roof and roll bar....

And we spent hours when he was young keeping the PinBot in order until he lost interest and took up drones and 3D printing. But now he is happy he learned to weld and program my CNC.

Sorry for getting off topic.

///Rich

Thanks but unfortunately Industrial Arts will never be back in public high schools. Some private schools have MakerSpaces and some even have great teachers. But those days will never return to the detriment of our children.

///Rich

Now speaking as a university teacher educator who started teaching Industrial Arts in New York City High Schools.

Industrial Arts or "shop" was not a vocational program. It was general education and intended for all kids, boys and girls. As was Home Economics. Some schools did it right and had wonderful teachers many of whom were my mentors teaching me about materials, children and teaching. Others....

Vo-Techs served a different also admirable goal and there are good ones that survived and thrived over the years. And now with the Biden administration supporting Unions the Vo-Techs are getting an influx of cash and apprentice programs.

But, It's the basic skills we have here that are missing in todays youth. Even the geeks and nerds who are into coding, gaming and 3D printing. I had to teach my engineer nephew how to solder and weld. Maker Spaces are wonderful places but, and I am going to go out on a limb here, most of the people there are old white guys like me. I don't know about you. And as hard as we try they are not inviting places for women and girls I am afraid. And turn around and look at us!

Here's a picture of my granddaughter at Maker Faire NY with her friend R2D2 and her trusty marshmallow shooter. There used to be lots of fathers and grandfathers there with their kids, many young girls. l was happy to introduce her to girl makers, But alas, even before the pandemic those faires were struggling. And the pandemic put a real hurt on kids her age. She is 14 now and said something about my teaching her to drive. Not I will not tell my wife or her parents. Or let her drive the M2 but there are lots of other options starting with karts.

///Rich

PS-She did take a road trip with me to Pinfest last spring. She got to control everything like the playlist and coming and going and where we stopped. She was really unaware of how happy that made me!

IMG_0261 (resized).jpeg

That was part of the problem. Schools many times treated these classes as not for those going to collage. Or "the shop teachers can handle him". It certainly made a bad environment for women.

Industrial Arts grew to Technology Education for a variety of reasons but the curriculums were designed to give children things they should know as well as basic hand and power tool skills. And thinking skills. Unfortunately not even all the teachers understood them. And in the late 70s when I was a HS teacher there were no women shop teachers that I remember which is a whole nuther issue.

The specialty equipment suppliers had nice vacuum formers and rotational molders. And small extruders that teachers couldn't figure out what to do with. <G>But kids got tired of the standard molds. My metal shop had a foundry and kids were mesmerized by the pouring of metal and allowed us to make all sorts of new molds.

But my passion was Auto Shop. We were a large NYC high school so we had LOTS of oil changes, brakes and shocks to do. One teacher once asked if I was going to do the work on her car and said we were not there for her but for the kids. People are weird sometimes. And in those days you could actually fix things and my kids did. Let me try to find the pictures of the Impala we brought to a demolition derby at Islip. A bunch of Brooklyn kids in Suffolk County. My kids were always well behaved as I was not the one they wanted to be angry with them. We lost BTW as a demolition derby is not simply crashing. But we had a great time. Kids families came too and we had a barbecue in the pits. I am sure some of those kids remember now that they are gown up. Maybe one is reading this. <G> And experiences like that could be had in science, english or history. John Dewey had it right!

///Rich

A lot of the kids that were not interested in college changed their minds. It usually took a good teacher. I made kids read the manuals. They never complained and in those days manufacturers thought manuals were important. Now...

I had deals with all the dealers and parts houses. Many time for my "kids" cars, parts were free. What they didn't know was that the profits on the work we did on other teachers cars paid for it all. And once a year GM gave me a flood car. We used to take off all the sheet metal and give it to a local body shop. And then shorten the chassis and we had a car to work on. I had a routine for fluids and it paid for a lot during the year. We got a 427 impala once. That engine paid for an entire year of pizza and then some.

Are you kidding? Not bored here!

I drew the line at making cannon. And when a kid brought in a knife and brought it to a grinding wheel, I made them spend hours getting it right on a stone. But clearly, times are different now.

OTOH, I did have a big bang cannon in the shop. It was how I introduced Acetylene welding.

I have shown all the things that are important to me to my kids and grandkids. But am resigned that dead is dead and at some point it won't matter to me. But I can only hope that now they pay me lip service.

I have seen those many times before. Check Etsy. You can get new ones in Brass if you like.

Trust me your father didn't make them. It was a popular item back then.

Merry Christmas everyone!

///Rich

Thank you. That is a nice Christmas present.

///Rich

They don't tell parents that kids will be in every drawer in the house when no one is around. My mom and dad had special toys too. And my dad had a magazine collection. How could they not know we, my brother and I, knew.

No surprise that you found everything in your parents bedroom. And still have them in the garage.

///Me

Etsy https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1106275969/vintage-hmo-nutcracker-and-tools

Get them while they're hot. As if there are not still millions of these out there.

But, check it may actually be HMQ.

///Rich

Most of what you did was not very dangerous. It's hard to cut off your finger with a jig saw rather than an bandsaw or table saw. I never allowed a radial arm saw as what could be more dangerous as a spinning moving blade even with a good guard.

The fact is that those teachers had an acute sense of sound. Aside from hearing multiple conversations we also knew what sound to be concerned with and where to be watching at any given time. Sort of like your mother whom I have never met but we probably passed each other at some point at the Dime Savings Bank!

And of course you had to have functioning guards and no trip hazards.

Do you have your old Pump Lamp in the garage?

///Rich

PS-Note on one student ever made a Pump Lamp in my shop. He begged me to let him as his father made one before him. We did and made sure the new one was way better.

It may have been you were casual but I suspect your teachers were much more concerned.

The ABCs of Hand Tools. Done for GM by Walt Disney in 1945. 77 years ago.

I remember the first time I saw it in JHS. I was probably 13 and I remember it like yesterday even though I was known to show it later in life at times. In part two there is a description why open end wrenches are offset at 15° and how to work in a tight space. If you have not seen the movies, or if you did, here are Parts 1 and 2. The the wrench use starts at 1:42 in Part 2.

Part 1

Part 2

Maybe that is the attitude on the part of some teachers that doomed the programs? And I say that as someone who was a very proud Shop teacher.

Anyway we all work with tools in this forum. This movie is great and a classic. If you have never seen it or even if you have, I bet everyone learns something.

And there was a book that came with the movie. We teachers got boxes for free from GM. Here's a copy in the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/abcs-of-hand-tools/page/12/mode/2up

I am sure it's posted elsewhere as well.

///Rich

Did you end up as a scientist? Engineer? Machinist? Builder?

///Rich

That's why it's important to give kids great experiences with good role models and mentors. In other words, a good teacher!

///Rich

No surprise you still have them and use them regularly on the Ft. Lauderdale Beach during spring break. <G>

///Rich

The 0-Rings were not faulty. They chose to launch outside of the temperature parameters. It was a management error. Not engineering as aptly demonstrated by Professor Feynman!

///Rich

My wife is handicapped and her car has hand controls. Including a steering wheel knob.

I made the mistake of calling it a suicide knob early. Now that she doesn't drive any more, she wants me to remove it. I like it and it is definitely not illegal here in New Jersey.

///Rich

Many. And I have a few rolls of Tri-X around here somewhere!

///Rich

I gave my beaded legend sash to my nephew when he became an Eagle! But he never brought me a Buffalo from Philmont. Maybe I should cut him out of my will!

///Rich

I have one I bring out for the kids when I get the pool open. But that one there doesn't have the sealing washer so it is not likely to work well.

///Rich