Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

.....

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

And we could read. And we did read.

I was given a chemistry set when I was perhaps 12. It contained chemicals which could be hazardous; they were labeled as such and the furnished manual further cautioned about them and possible hazards inherent in some of the experiments.

I also remember the various books by IIRC Alfred P Morgan, the boy's books of...electricity, etc. None on nuclear energy. They also expected the young user to read carefully the instructions and the warnings given. We boys were told how to electroplate copper, for example. Now days I don't know where a budding chemist could buy some of the necessary reagents. Copper sulfate? Sulfuric acid, anyone? A kid trying to buy various chemicals might earn his parents a visit from the police, if not the FBI.

Let's also remember that many of us of a certain age were "left alone" by our parents to wander and explore. Play dates? Hell, no! Get out of the house and rustle up a sandlot baseball game. Everybody got to bat, 'specially if you brought the ball!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

AMEN!

Back when I was in college, the student union ran films in the main auditorium on campus on Friday night, for those of us who didn't have cars or plans to be away from campus. They would always run cartoons for an hour before the feature. Road Runner was the favorite...

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

I lean strongly towards Bugs Bunny.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Gee,how did we ever survive? Guess we weren't complete morons. Please note that I said "complete." My parents had to properly address some of my short comings and no-one called child ass protection services...(Not saying it was unwarranted for some people.)

lightcatcher Loc: Farmington, NM (4 corners)

I would call it the process of self elimination today commonly called the "Darwin Award".

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I had one of those chemistry sets... I still have the test tube holder from it, and use it on my workbench from time to time.

Yeah, my 16 year old twins have grown up in a sanitized, but more dangerous world. (More dangerous, because they don't have to take personal responsibility for knowing that certain things can hurt you!) What I did for innocent fun in the '60s and '70s would get them arrested or worse, now.

I knew a kid in my home town who accidentally made nitroglycerine in the hooded sink of the chem lab at his high school (by flushing the results of several experiments down the drain all at once, along with a glycerine-based soap). He spent quite a bit of time in the burn unit of a hospital.

Unfortunately, stupid incidents like that, and the law suits that followed, have in part, led to the woosification of America.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Today, instruction on boots: "To pour piss out of boot,kindly turn boot upside down and read instructions on heel. Manufacture assumes no liability for mess or damage caused by improper pouring on various surfaces."

Ooops,too late....

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

:thumbup: :thumbup:

Only the strong and reasonably intelligent survive.

One of my former high school classmates was dumb enough to climb a high voltage tower and try to retrieve a football that had gotten stuck between the insulator and the HV line. During my freshman year of college, my parents sent me a copy of the front page newspaper article showing his carbonized body hanging from the tower... Duke Power wanted everyone to be reminded of what can happen when you try to handle 230,000 volts!

Another kid I knew dropped acid (LSD), and thought he could fly off of a bridge into a shallow river. He died of severe head injuries.

Another kid I knew got drunk and drove 165 miles an hour up I-85 North from Greenville, SC, in his Dad's Firebird. The cops were able to stop him safely, after about a 30-minute chase, but beat him up before they threw him in jail. His Dad did NOT sue for "police brutality." He thanked them! Kid lost his license.

Another kid I knew grew marijuana in a field near a highway. There was a buffer strip of trees about 50 feet wide between the field and the road. He got caught with a plant in each hand as he walked out of the woods toward his car... Two cops were waiting with guns drawn. They'd been watching him for weeks.

These, and other incidents, taught me not to do stupid $#i†.

SmittyOne Loc: California

To quote Robert Heinlein's "Methuselah's Children" virtually immortal Lazarus Long, "Stupidity cannot be cured with money, nor through education, nor by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity."

I have done my best in these 80 years to carefully observe the above observations, and remove myself, with alacrity, from the vicinity of any such activities.

So far, so good! :lol:

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Love the quote!

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I had a chemistry set, but that didn't do it for me. What got me going were electronic kits. I forget who made them but you had to solder the wires and and everything. I learned about resisters and capacitors all that stuff. I first built an AM radio. I built a shortwave receiver all kinds of stuff.

And we did play. Cowboys & indians, ride bikes, when we got older baseball, basketball, touch football. No coaches, no umpires or referees and that taught us how to resolve disputes without resorting to violence. Not that there weren't fights, there were, but not grudges.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Heathkit maybe?

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

There were a number of electronic kit makers. HeathKit and EICO come to mind, but LaFayette Radio was also a player. Good equipment, and the owner/builder could do service on them. Cheap imported gear spelled their end. Sad.....

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

It was a company other than Heathkit, but like that.