Oddities, curiousities and strangness in history

Remember putting money in the meter when the electric went off, even putting money in the back of the TV when that went off.
Fish n chips wrapped in newspaper.

I still put money in the electric meter   (well ok its an electronic key now- but much the same)

sweet shops. it was like walking into Honeydukes. full of sickly sweet smelling sherbet and toffees.   its so sad they dont exist anymore.

If you ever go to York, go to Little Bettys tea shop,  go upstairs and order cinnamon toast and Jasmine tea, you feel like you are in Hogsmeade.

We have one sweet shop left in town that still sweets in paper pokes from huge jars on the shelves.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:
....And we had a rag and bone man too, and chimney sweeps, and the coal truck making deliveries, and a coal cellar to keep it in...

You two remember rag and bone men? I thought that went out with Queen Victoria. I'm not sure we ever had such things over here. A throw-away society from inception.

Yup he took anything- from old clothes to scrap metal to old half bricks.
You never seen Steptoe and Son- one of our greatest and most poignant sitcoms? Its about rag and bone men at the arse end of the trade before it died in the 60's and early 70's, highly recommended, and very British in that its as tragic as it is humorous and is as much a play as sitcom (apparently there was a US version called Sanford and Son- but I suspect it was not very good)-

Is this a mosquito?

No. It's an insect spy drone for urban
areas, already in production, funded
by the US Government. It can be
remotely controlled and is equipped
with a camera and a microphone.
It can land on you, and it may have the
potential to take a DNA sample or leave
RFID tracking nanotechnology on your
skin. It can fly through an open
window, or it can attach to your
clothing until you take it in your home.

That is both amazingly cool and equally terrifying.

That seems a little too futuristic to be true. According to Snopes it's a mock-up of what such an insect drone could look like once they have the technology to build them. Apparently such ideas are in development though.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/insectdrone.asp

lets hope it stays in development, can you imagine what they could do if terrorists got hold of them?  

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/09/this-insect-has-the-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-in-nature/

Nature- always gets there first and with more style.

Wringing out a washcloth in space.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Yup he took anything- from old clothes to scrap metal to old half bricks.
You never seen Steptoe and Son- one of our greatest and most poignant sitcoms? Its about rag and bone men at the arse end of the trade before it died in the 60's and early 70's, highly recommended, and very British in that its as tragic as it is humorous and is as much a play as sitcom (apparently there was a US version called Sanford and Son- but I suspect it was not very good)-

Sanford and Son is an American classic! A lot of the humor was pretty childish, but the theme music is some of the greatest ever. (in fact with the exception of hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy and Dr Who I don't think I've ever heard memorable british theme music. And those don't compare to the best American theme music, not even close.)



I think this one was based on a Steptoe and Son script, elevates it a bit. But pretty soon they were all original scripts.

I don't think I've ever heard memorable british theme music- Halfwise

I simply cannot allow that to stand- from childrens tv to drama there some brilliant theme tunes -















edit add to avoid the wrath of Norc-

Jeeves and Wooster comes close, but still not as impossible to get out of your head as this:



or of course



And then though it's much maligned this one sticks in the head:



But then familiarity burns things in, so what may stick in your head from hearing it a dozen times doesn't seem to immediately stick in mine.

I like these classic ones

Blackadder gets stuck in my head easily.







I love how they changed the orchestration and style to match the time period.

Good choices Bungo and Figg- Avengers made me realise I had forgotten this-

The Prisoner was one of the greatest mind-fucks ever put on screen. Brilliant entertainment, but not very memorable music.

Blackadder does stick in the head, though.

As does the series- especially that final episode- one of the great achievements of comedy drama in the history of TV.

So what happens if you have a ship on one side of an ocean and you want to it get to the other side? Do you sail it? NOPE. Load it on a bigger ship.

That would be pretty impressive to see go sailing by!