You know you're old when...

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

The one that I used had grooves cut inside the bracket, and would rip the paint off of my CCM 10-speed's fork as it rotated and lost grip with the tire.

Kids these days will never know the pain we lived through with those things, because they are used to LED head/tail lights on bicycles that last for weeks and recharge with USB cables.....

It is amazing how much has changed since we were kids. I loved it then and I love it now. The fond memories of each new music format, for example. Or, the new car styles that changed every year.

I think growing up in the 50s makes me appreciate things even more. I remember seeing Sputnik fly over back in '57. Fast forward to last week: My wife and I were sitting in the backyard watching the sunset and the ISS flew over. I looked up and said, "That's way too bright for and it's going too fast to be an airplane. With my handy iPhone, I opened my ISS tracking app and, sure enough, it was crossing right overhead at that moment. I'm pretty sure the iPhone has more computing power than the systems used to launch and manage the flight of Sputnik. It's pretty awesome and a little bit scary if you think about it too much.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

It is amazing how much has changed since we were kids. I loved it then and I love it now. The fond memories of each new music format, for example. Or, the new car styles that changed every year.

I think growing up in the 50s makes me appreciate things even more. I remember seeing Sputnik fly over back in '57. Fast forward to last week: My wife and I were sitting in the backyard watching the sunset and the ISS flew over. I looked up and said, "That's way too bright for and it's going too fast to be an airplane. With my handy iPhone, I opened my ISS tracking app and, sure enough, it was crossing right overhead at that moment. I'm pretty sure the iPhone has more computing power than the systems used to launch and manage the flight of Sputnik. It's pretty awesome and a little bit scary if you think about it too much.

I remember the awe of Sputnik. I was 10 years old and standing in front of
our local newspaper company, picking up my papers, when someone pointed
it out, flying overhead. Some folks were freaking out.

I also remember when Nikita Kruschev stopped his train in our little town.
We sat on a small hill that overlooked the train station. Helicopters were
buzzing all around. I thought it was pretty cool. Later, I learned that
Kruschev picked up my best friend’s sister for a photo op. She was briefly
separated from her parents and started to cry. Quite a big deal for a 5
year old. She still has the dress she wore on that day.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I remember the awe of Sputnik...

That was the year I was born, but when I was 5, I remember "Alouette I" was on the first page of the newspapers.

https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/alouette.asp

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by JJ 911SC

That was the year I was born, but when I was 5, I remember "Alouette I" was on the first page of the newspapers.

https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/alouette.asp

Spar, for instance, developed a new "roll-up" antenna for the Canadian satellite, a product that was later used in many variations for American satellites.

Canada's major contributions to space exploration are the Canadarm robotic arm used on the space shuttle and ISS, and the tape measure blade antenna that was seriously brilliant engineering.....

[3.0L]

You had one of these:

[vreihen16]

...before they were illegal to own!!!!!

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

...before they were illegal to own!!!!!

Oh dear. I still have mine. 🤣

[sygazelle]

...

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

Oh dear. I still have mine. 🤣

Do you still use it?

If so, what do you shoot at?

[Pauly Wauly]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

...

High beams on and off button.

[Esteban]

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Canada's major contributions to space exploration are the Canadarm robotic arm used on the space shuttle and ISS, and the tape measure blade antenna that was seriously brilliant engineering.....

But wait, there is more... https://spaceq.ca/the-canadian-story...-landing-legs/

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Do you still use it?

If so, what do you shoot at?

The 1/4” surgical tubing “rubber bands” are missing. 🤣

Back in the dark ages and when we were kids, several of us would venture
down to the RR tracks, in the dark. There was a wrecking yard on the other
side of the tracks. We were in a field and behind some rocks. We’d shoot
marbles or ball bearings at the junk, then hide. Clankety clank! Dog barks,
flood lights come on, followed by the owner wandering around, looking for
the “thief.” After a while he’d give up and head back to his ball game.

Repeat. 🤣🤣🤣

[Lady Jane]

At the Senior's Home.

[John H.]

.
When a man shows up in a cape and white boots, you know it's about to get real.
.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

The 1/4” surgical tubing “rubber bands” are missing. 🤣

Back in the dark ages and when we were kids, several of us would venture
down to the RR tracks, in the dark. There was a wrecking yard on the other
side of the tracks. We were in a field and behind some rocks. We’d shoot
marbles or ball bearings at the junk, then hide. Clankety clank! Dog barks,
flood lights come on, followed by the owner wandering around, looking for
the “thief.” After a while he’d give up and head back to his ball game.

Repeat. 🤣🤣🤣

I grew up at the beach and we had no junkyards close by to have such fun with slingshots. But being adventurous kids and all, we figured out a way to put surgical tubing to work in a fun, creative, and possibly go-to-jail kind of a way.

How? We got a piece of 8"x 8" leather and attached 4 long pieces of surgical tubing, one piece to each corner. This contraption required 5 idiots to operate; one idiot each for the other end of the surgical tubing attached to each of the corners and one main idiot (me) pulling back on the leather, stretching the surgical tubing as far as I could. What was our ammunition you may ask? Water balloons, of course. What was our target? People on the beach below the strand. Thank goodness we never actually hit anybody. WTF were we thinking?

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

You had one of these:

One without the arm brace!

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

The 1/4” surgical tubing “rubber bands” are missing. 🤣

Back in the dark ages and when we were kids, several of us would venture
down to the RR tracks, in the dark. There was a wrecking yard on the other
side of the tracks. We were in a field and behind some rocks. We’d shoot
marbles or ball bearings at the junk, then hide. Clankety clank! Dog barks,
flood lights come on, followed by the owner wandering around, looking for
the “thief.” After a while he’d give up and head back to his ball game.

Repeat. 🤣🤣🤣

You and sygazelle were both little hoodlums.

Of course I was no better. Possibly worse. I didn't have a sling shot to get me into trouble. My weapon of choice was a break-action pellet gun! We all had one and we would sneak into the wreckers down the road and shoot out taillights of all the cars. Once in a while one of us would get lucky and actually break a window. That guy would be a hero for a while. The pellet guns didn't have a lot of power back then.
Fast forward a few years and that same wrecker yard would become a part of my life in a very different way. A small group of us got into drag racing. One guy was the son of the wrecker yard's owner. We would collect "parts cars" and keep them in the yard. Anything with a Chrysler big block could show up at any time.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Buug959

You and sygazelle were both little hoodlums.

Of course I was no better. Possibly worse. I didn't have a sling shot to get me into trouble. My weapon of choice was a break-action pellet gun! We all had one and we would sneak into the wreckers down the road and shoot out taillights of all the cars. Once in a while one of us would get lucky and actually break a window. That guy would be a hero for a while. The pellet guns didn't have a lot of power back then.
Fast forward a few years and that same wrecker yard would become a part of my life in a very different way. A small group of us got into drag racing. One guy was the son of the wrecker yard's owner. We would collect "parts cars" and keep them in the yard. Anything with a Chrysler big block could show up at any time.

It got better. Or worse.

There was a ~25 foot cliff a couple of hundred yards up the RR tracks that was often a hobo campsite. We could see little campfires every now and then.

One day, our ring leader acquired a length of dynamite fuse, maybe 10 inches
long. He carried it around, twirling it like a prized keychain, wondering what
to do with it. Then someone in our little group got an idea; let’s make a fake
stick of dynamite!

So we did. We made it out of a paper towel tube, even painting it red. Okay,
now what? Hey, lets drop it on the hobos!

We got lucky on our first attempt. In the darkness, we peaked over the edge
of the of the cliff and were tickled to see 2 hobos sitting close to their small
campfire, heating some Campbells Pork & Beans. Our leader pulled out his
Zippo, lit the fuse, then perfectly tossed the fake dynamite, landing it about
3 feet from campfire. I think those 2 hobos set a new 100 yard dash record!

[3.0L]

.