New Scaratings

bringing this thread back to life

Bumper cars. Does anyone else remember fairs that had bumper cars? Mind you, I grew up in Spain during the 70's, but I think this probably existed in the US. I remember fair week where I grew up, and going to the stand to buy tokens. Again, I won't try to convert Spanish Pesetas to US currency, but I remember spending a nice share of my allowance on driving these vehicles. I do remember that there were two types, one that were painted in boring pastel colors, and one set had metallic flake paint jobs. Needless to say, the metallic vehicles were the most popular, and there were often lines to get on one of them.

Do these exist anymore?

Yes they do at Great America in northern Illinois. They got them from RiverView Park in Chicago. I loved them as kid.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

Yet another manual deletion of an unintended duplicate post that the "ScaRatings" did not provide me with a "delete" box to click on to get rid of it, when I went to "edit".

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"The game is afoot."

Bumper cars, I loved them. They gave you a chance to drive like a mad man, and unleash all of the anger that dumb drivers you encountered on your way to work during rush hour on them. Crash 'em, smash 'em, knock 'em out of the way, and let them know what you could have done to them on the highway, without hurting anyone or having to exchange insurance cards.

Sadly, I think that Bumper Cars are nearly gone. I would guess that this is because of the fear of law suits from people, whom I smashed into to let them know who was boss.

FrankC and YODA, if you guys can find some place, where we can get it on, I'll be more than willing to take you guys on in a Bumper Car smash out. (I should warn you guys that I have a strategy that I doubt either of you can beat.)

Here's some video of Bumper Cars having at it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_dDSfa0FcA

p.s. There is a possibility that "Demolition Deby" was a real life spin off of Bumper Cars.

p.p.s. If you remember that funny odor you smelled, while your little Bumper Car's mast sparked across the metalic ceiling, it was ozone that you were smelling. I don't think the EPA liked that.

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"The game is afoot."

Although they might be around still, they probably hit the county fairs. I think however they are replaced by go-cart tracks. In Louisville there is an in door track for racing go-carts. This is much safer than bumper cars because they go in the same direction, where as bumpers were random and often had head-on collisions. Cloudy, when the state fair comes into town, I will see if they have bumpers

I've never been to a Calgary Stampede that lacked bumper cars on the midway, and Calaway Park (the local permanent amusement park / spending-money black hole) has had two bumper car arenas for as long as I can remember, so probably since the place first opened in 1982 -- Dodgem cars for the big kids, and the Boulder Bumpers for the not-so-big kids. That latter name dates back to the days when Calaway was licensed with Hanna-Barbera as a Flintstones theme park. It's easily been twenty years since that ended, and many of the kiosks still resemble Bedrock buildings with their sculpted stucco, and the souvenir shop is still called Hudstones (a play on The Hudson's Bay Co. name)

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/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

Well, I guess there might be a few bumper car arenas left, but I've got a feeling that bumper car arenas are probably in the same category as Drive-In movie lots, and video game arcades. They aren't all gone, but they are on the endangered species list.

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"The game is afoot."

So I went to the store today, and I got to check myself out with my groceries. The I realized a few things are gone.

Yea, there are still some folks who will check you out, but now, they have to scan your stuff. Imagine if the computer got confused and didn't know the bar code

You can actually ring up and buy your own stuff...Cool. What about the employee being there to take care of you as you checked out?

And the biggest one of all. Remember Paper Bags? don't tell me how many things you could put in a brown paper bag. Just tell me that they HAD paper bags, which for you liberals out there can be recycled.

YODA, where have you been...? Grocery stores have had "self-checkout" for at least 20 years, but I won't take you to task about that.

I'm going to agree with you that you will never again be asked "paper or plastic" after you've paid for your groceries, before they bag them. I cannot remember the last time I saw a paper bag at any grocery store I've gone to for a very long time.

Grocery stores would like you to believe that they have done away with paper bags to save the forests, and this will save the planet from deforestration. This is total bullshit. Weyerhaeuser, Georgia-Pacific, and the rest have already replanted new trees to replace the ones they are harvesting long before they cut the ones down that will go to the paper mill to make paper bags. Trees are a renewable resource, and the companies that harvest them have a vested interest to see that we never run out of trees.

The real reason why your only choice at checkout is a plastic bag, is because plastic bags are cheaper.

p.s. I'll grant plastic bags this... They are easier to carry to the car and into the house.

p.p.s. Though it does give people jobs, recyling paper bags (all paper) is a waste of time, money, and energy. It is best to send them to a landfill, where they can naturally decompose, and return to the earth, as the cycle of life intended.

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"The game is afoot."

The mayor of Chicago is trying to ban plastic bags, but the city council is opposing him.

_________________
"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

They have to have some way of getting their liquor home safely.

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(o\_!_/o)

Frank, it is great to see you back here again. I too have been AWOL for a while.

Got to ask you a question. (Maybe it's two questions.)

Why is the mayor of Chicago trying to ban plastic bags, and why is the city council opposing him?

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"The game is afoot."

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(o\_!_/o)

Pretty funny, ICEMAN, but I'm not buying your "They have to have some way of getting their liquor home safely." answer.

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"The game is afoot."

Hot cinnamon toothpicks...

Attachment:

CC_Harmons-Hot-Cinnamon-Fire-Pix-smiley-face-package-1970s.jpg [ 127.97 KiB | Viewed 1750 times ]

In grade school we used to eat these things up (so to speak). We used to be able to purchase them at the 7-11 for aboot 10¢ or 15¢ for a pack of a dozen. Had a few friends that came up with the secret of making their own... How to Make Cinnamon Toothpicks...

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(o\_!_/o)

500 toothpicks in that tiny jar...?



No way, Jose...

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"The game is afoot."

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(o\_!_/o)

Where have all of firm toothbrushes gone...? No place I go shopping (That's a lot of them.) for them has them. The only choices I can find are soft or medium.

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"The game is afoot."

A quick search tells me 4 out of 5 dentists agree: firm toothbrushes have fallen out of favour because they're too abrasive to tooth enamel and gums, and don't clean away plaque any better than soft-bristle toothbrushes. A friend of mine had to have her teeth restored/capped shortly after high school, because her fanatically avid brushing had worn the enamel to brittleness

But if you insist on maintaining your Macho Man CLOUDY Savage persona, I suppose Lowe's or Home Despot will sell you a wire brush for about the same price. Or you could go electric, and switch to a Colgate 360, Oral-B Advantage, Dremel . . .

_________________
/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

I just would like a toothbrush with bristles that can get down deep between the few teeth I have left, and clean out the junk that is hiding there that those bad tooth attacking microbes feed and grow on before they go after my teeth.

If I don't turn this all around, before long I will have to move to West Virginia, so TIEFLY can teach me the art of gumming my food.

p.s. Thanks, I'll check out the suggestions you gave me.

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"The game is afoot."

Cloudy, that is what dental floss is for. Cleaning between the teeth.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

DRAMATIZATION. DO NOT ATTEMPT.

Realize said suggestions are coming from a guy who has 25 and some fractions of teeth left in his head

Guys like us shouldn't be using power tools, even battery-operated ones, unless a responsible adult has shown us how first

_________________
/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

Thanks Frank, but dental floss only helps me clean the parts of my teeth that stick up above my gums. The problem I have is in those deep pits that go way down between my teeth that dental floss can't get to. Unless dental floss could saw my jaw bones down to get where it needs to go, I don't think it will do the job.

I think this enough chit chat about my lack of dental hygiene. Lets move on to other things from the past, that are gone, besides a number of my teeth.

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"The game is afoot."

Even though Thumb Wrestling might still be around somewhere these days, I think the sport is no longer as common as it was back in the 1960s. It is sad that this challenging sport never made it to the Olympic Games. If only it had, I'm sure that I would have won the gold medal at least once, because NO ONE has ever defeated me at thumb wrestling.

Hell, I'll take on all comers. Nah, I'm not gonna pin your chubby, slow, loser thumb on for money, we will just play for fun and bragging rights.

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"The game is afoot."

Even though Thumb Wrestling might still be around somewhere these days, I think the sport is no longer as common as it was back in the 1960s. It is sad that this challenging sport never made it to the Olympic Games. If only it had, I'm sure that I would have won the gold medal at least once, because NO ONE has ever defeated me at thumb wrestling...!

Hell, I'll take on all comers. Nah, I'm not gonna pin your chubby, slow, loser thumb for money. We will just play for fun and bragging rights.

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"The game is afoot."