Now This Just Isn't Funny

[Praefectus Praetorio]

Not to hurt anyone's feelings, but before that plastic LEGO crap, the was the ultimate building toys, Lincoln Logs!

We had a major set when I was a boy. They are 104 years old, so were forty years old as a toy when I played with them - quality lasts! They are manufactured in Hatfield PA just a couple of miles from where I grew up.

If you preferred the strength of metal there was Erector Sets, now 107 years old

Simpler but fabulous

Some extra packs for @old slave

Careful old friend. They'll stunt your growth!

 

[Silent_Water]

I believe that in Europe, everything is a bit more "sophisticated" than Non-Europeans might think.

For example, in Germany there is "Fischer-Technik" from the Fischer-Werke. The founder Artur Fischer became multi-millionnaire by inventing the synchronous camera flash (1949), selling this to AGFA and then the invention of the "Fischer-Dübel" (= plastic S-Plug for screws and nails, 1958), which was a bestseller in times of German reconstrudtion:

Fischerwerke - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Since 1965, they also produced metal toys for "little technicians" and as far as I know, they also co-operate for some years with LEGO, because "Fischertechnik" had more experience with electric toys and combinations of plastic with metal than LEGO ever had. But the prices of "Fischertechnik"-toys are even much higher than of LEGO. I get a dizzy feeling when I see what parents have to pay today for their sweet little "devils":

fischertechnik.de - Building blocks for life

www.fischertechnik.de

History

www.fischertechnik.de

But every toy in my childhood had some advantages - no matter if they were of plastic, metal or wood. The cannons from my "Fort Independence" could fire through loopholes which I burned with a candle into the plastic palisades and some of my plastic cowboys were killed by long "Indian arrow-" needles from the sewing machine of my mother. Because the needles were hot, they also beautifully stuck in the warm back of some plastic cowboys.

Concerning "modern writing" on PC's: Every teacher and professor I ever had, warned us students to send or give them any of our texts without having printed it before on paper and having read it twice, because on a screen, you never see the whole text as on paper. So, you often use for successive sections and paragraphs the same introduction or the same phrases or mistakes as only some sentences before without remembering or remarking it. Our professors called this "Bildschirm-Blindheit" (= "screen-blindness"). And please don't tell me how often I used here "By the way, ..." or "Right now, ..."! I know, it is terrible often!

 

[Rias]

oho squirrel start get angry meowwwwww

 

[malins]

Not to hurt anyone's feelings, but before that plastic LEGO crap, the was the ultimate building toys, Lincoln Logs!

a log cabin? probably banned today for retrenching settler-colonial stereotypes...

Fischertechnik

I ordered some random assortments of that off of Ebay for my young son during the strict part of the corona lockdown, that's affordable if you don't insist on anything collector or 'complete kit'. They are literally indestructible, including the electric parts.

 

[phlebas]

Not to hurt anyone's feelings, but before that plastic LEGO crap, the was the ultimate building toys, Lincoln Logs!
View attachment 873735
We had a major set when I was a boy. They are 104 years old, so were forty years old as a toy when I played with them - quality lasts! They are manufactured in Hatfield PA just a couple of miles from where I grew up.

If you preferred the strength of metal there was Erector Sets, now 107 years old
View attachment 873736
Simpler but fabulous
View attachment 873737
Some extra packs for @old slave
View attachment 873738
Careful old friend. They'll stunt your growth!

I grew up with Meccano, created 1898 and still going

Meccano - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I even had a steam engine exactly like the one pictured here, I still have it and it still works. Mine dates from the 1970s

It would drive things like windmills etc

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

I even had a steam engine exactly like the one pictured here, I still have it and it still works. Mine dates from the 1970s

It would drive things like windmills etc

I had one of those also, not anymore. sadly. Did it use fuel pellets? I think they were paraffin.

 

[twonines]

I had one of those also, not anymore. sadly. Did it use fuel pellets? I think they were paraffin.

My father made one for me in the 1940s and it ran on methylated spirits. Later on, this practice became illegal and it was replaced by fuel pellets.

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

Some random memories:

 

[fallenmystic]

I grew up with Meccano, created 1898 and still going

Me too! Wow, I didn't know it was called 'Meccano' has such a long history. The product was quite popular when I was young, and they sold it with the name "Science Box" where I live. I had always suspected it was from Japan, but now I learned where it actually originated.

I have some interesting experience regarding Meccano, by the way.

Most elementary schools held Meccano contests back then, and I managed to win one of them. So I advanced to compete with children from other schools in the district. I remember this because it was one of the first sobering experiences for me about how the adult world works - Schools saw it as an opportunity to promote their names, so it became quite competitive. So the teachers helped them make something remarkable beforehand and partly disassembled it. And they encouraged their students to sneak those parts to the competition so that they can recreate the model with very a short amount of time.

I didn't use the trick and didn't win anything at the competition. As I get old, I've learned that it's just something how the world really works - it's not a matter of choosing the "light side" which will always triumph in the end, but rather a matter of choosing the right thing and suffering the consequences, because it's usually those with fewer scruples that take advantage of those who try to uphold the principles.

 

[fallenmystic]

Some random memories:
View attachment 874080
View attachment 874081
View attachment 874082

I want to upvote this but I don't recognize any of them... and I actually feel good for that. After all, it looks like I'm not that old among the folks here.

 

[Loxuru]

Some random memories:

That about the two keys reminds me that, up to 1970, for starting a car, you needed to turn the key first, and then push a 'start' button. You could ask 'who is old enough to remember cars had a 'start' button'? But curiously, it has returned in many models today.

 

[phlebas]

I had one of those also, not anymore. sadly. Did it use fuel pellets? I think they were paraffin.

Like twonines mine ran on metho, and still does, I keep some in the garage for drinking cleaning

That about the two keys reminds me that, up to 1970, for starting a car, you needed to turn the key first, and then push a 'start' button. You could ask 'who is old enough to remember cars had a 'start' button'? But curiously, it has returned in many models today.

Ah, the days when you didn't require a battery to open your car.

Now, the funnies

Oops


Well, most searches are looking for exactly that


catch22


Daily life intrudes on eroticism

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

Signs of the Times
What your spouse/girlfriend says when trying to help you with directions.

You'd better believe this one!

Maybe not the best place to park

Duck!

 

[old slave]

I grew up with Meccano, created 1898 and still going

Meccano - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

View attachment 874078

I even had a steam engine exactly like the one pictured here, I still have it and it still works. Mine dates from the 1970s
View attachment 874079
It would drive things like windmills etc

I still have my Meccano, in a wooden box I made in Woodwork classes at school, when I was about 15 years old. We were learning how to set hinges, but the Master gave us free choice what we constructed. @Praefectus Praetorio mentioned Erector, Wiki says Meccano (now Canadian) have bought them out.

The steam engine looks to be a Mamod, I don't know where my stationary engine went, but I also used it to drive Meccano constructions. For part of my life I lived very near the Mamod works in The Black Country (the popular name for the conurbation between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, because it was full of smelters and foundries) and they sold very slight 'seconds' direct from the factory: I have the Mamod Roller, Tractor and Roadster:

 

[old slave]

Did it use fuel pellets? I think they were paraffin.

Mine above are all liquid methylated spirits burners......best used on a non-flammable surface!!!

 

[twonines]

I still have my Meccano, in a wooden box I made in Woodwork classes at school, when I was about 15 years old. We were learning how to set hinges, but the Master gave us free choice what we constructed. @Praefectus Praetorio mentioned Erector, Wiki says Meccano (now Canadian) have bought them out.

The steam engine looks to be a Mamod, I don't know where my stationary engine went, but I also used it to drive Meccano constructions. For part of my life I lived very near the Mamod works in The Black Country (the popular name for the conurbation between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, because it was full of smelters and foundries) and they sold very slight 'seconds' direct from the factory: I have the Mamod Roller, Tractor and Roadster:
View attachment 874184View attachment 874185View attachment 874186

The Mamod engines were really top class.
My father was the night Superintendent at an arms factory during the latter part of the War, and presumably made mine in his spare time. Fortunately, it did not impair the war effort too much!

 

[old slave]

My father was the night Superintendent at an arms factory during the latter part of the War, and presumably made mine in his spare time. Fortunately, it did not impair the war effort too much!

A relative of my late wife worked in an aeroplane factory WW2, and made a model Lightning from 'scrap' aluminium with the propellers simulated with discs of the perspex(?) used for the cockpit canopy. It went at auction for £80. It was amazing what workers can do in their spare time with scrap and good tools.

 

[Rias]

oho squirrel feel weekend

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

From Agatha Christie - At Bertrams' Hotel:
Lady Selina Hazy: "You know when I lived in America last year, they had "muffins" on the breakfast menu. But they weren't really muffins at all. They were just teacakes with raisins."
Miss Marple - "The Americans have a lot to answer for."

 

[Crux-Emperor Baracus X]

Happy Independence Day to those in the USA....

No hard feelings,eh ?? Lol lol....