Material Things of Which the Younger Generation Has No Idea

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I recently got a book all about classic toys so I've been taking a few trips down nostalgia lane when I see toys that I owned when I was really young. I once got a View-Master that had reels of the Peanuts comics for Christmas.

The View-Master was originally targeted at preteens but the modern ones are now for much younger kids. it also looks like some weird science-fiction gizmo now. Yeah, I get it, it's not like the new-fangled vidya games and things the youngins are into now. But it doesn't need batteries, never needs to be recharged, all you need is to point it at a good light source like a lamp or a window and you're good to go.

Anyway, after reading about in my book last night I had a lot of dreams about using a View-Master.

TV sets with manual dials to change channels and a vertical hold knob that needed frequent adjustment.

also tv antennas. anybody here ever hear of elcasets? http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/elcaset/
back in the day I wanted one SO BAD! but by the time I could afford one the daggone things went obsolete on me!

In order to get a decent picture on the TV at times, one had to manually take the antenna, go to a certain spot, and stamp his/her foot hard on that spot.

The only way to get UHF was to manipulate the bottom dial of the TV just right. The top dial used to be for the six main channels. The bottom dial for UHF (which was "cutting edge" back in the 1970s).

wire recorders

Which reminds me...the current generation of youngsters has no idea what it's like to have to keep your 'valuable' tapes and disks away from speakers and other sources of magnetism. Not only is magnetic media almost completely gone, but most speakers are well shielded.

my speakers date from 1972. not likely they are shielded.

sticky shed syndrome

^^ Oh, yeah----I HATE that noise----it'll send me reelin', every time!!

...I had Playtapes , which were a sort of low-tech , short-running time , sort of 8-track . Maybe 10-12 minutes total running time .
That Elcaset story links to (Or something it links to links to) 8-Track Heaven , which I think may also cover the PT and other similar stuff too .
I had this short lived with-sound Viewmaster....It used really thick , small , records to give you a soundtrack , attached to the VM reel , you'd put them in the machine .

I totally remember the vertical hold knob now that you mention it.

Also the color block pattern that used to come on PBS if you turned it on before public broadcasting actually began.

Here's a brand new story about fancy spirographs:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/12/ ... the-world/

the vacuformer toy [mattel vac-u-form] that let you takes sheets of plastic and melt them over patterns, you could make little signs and things with them as well as basic toys.

Somebody probably burnt their hand on it, and that's why we don't have it.

Most kids my age don't know what a Game Boy is. (is this thread 90's kids and older only? )

cassette head demagnetizers

I wish I was wealthy enough to afford those.