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| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
Welcome, dear wanderer in the Webbosphere, to my homely chateau.
Or should that be chat-o?
That's right; an introduction of that quality can only mean one thing. It's the return of the feature the whole world and his next-door-neighbour-but-one is talking about.
And that's the one where you get to decide just what's going to be the day's subject for debate.
It could be topical. It could be tropical. It could be typical, pitiful or whip-poor-will.
It could even be something that isn't one of those things.
None of that matters.
All that matters is that it's posted below.
Posts
39 comments:
The UK had an ice-cream, named a 'screw-ball'. It wasn't the best, but it lasted the longest, because, at the bottom of its plastic cone base, there lay a piece of bubble gum - which lasted ages!
Likewise, some comics "lasted longer", than other comics. Early comics were read over and over again, to squeeze out ever last drop of interest - later comics, less so.
I once remember having a camera, about which my father said: "You got a lot of use out of that!" - and I did!
What comics, books, games, or gadgets did you have, which "lasted the longest" - in one way or another?
Phillip
I still have a half full bottle of surgical spirit that I bought in the autumn of 1984 for rubbing into rowing blisters and hardening the hands. I still use it if I ever get dragged out to prune down trees in the garden and get blisters.
And I still have the calculator that I used for A level maths in 1981. Still works too.
And there's a teaspoon in our kitchen drawer that I remember my parents having back in 1969 when we moved I to our first council house.
dangermash - To paraphrase Martin Luther King, "Longevity is a good thing". As regards gadgets providing good service, I've had Casio F-91 digital watches, whose batteries lasted 10 years!
As regards surgical spirit & gardening jobs, I use gardening gloves (admittedly, you lose tactile sensitivity!) I do, however, remember surgical spirit being used before guitar playing.
Phillip
I've got a CD/cassette player which I bought from Curry's on December 8th 1998 so it's nearly 25 years old and still works fine though admittedly I rarely use it nowadays.
Phillip, my current watch is a Casio which I bought in July 2012 so the battery has now lasted for 11 years and 3 months. It helps a lot if you avoid pressing the LIGHT button as nothing drains the battery like constantly illuminating the screen!
My oldest item of clothing is a tie I bought especially for jury duty in February 1990 (I'd only just turned 24 so when I arrived at the courthouse I was one of the youngest jurors). I actually bought THREE new ties for the occasion but only one of them has survived to this day. I've also got a grey v-necked pullover which I bought in 1991 but the ends of the sleeves are rather ragged nowadays.
I've got a half-penny coin dated 1967 with the original youthful image of the Queen on the reverse and a sailing ship on the obverse.
I've got a half-pint measuring jug which belonged to my mother and was probably bought as long ago as the 1950s.
But the oldest item I own is a fossil of a "devil's toenail" (a kind of mollusc, Latin name Gryphaea) which lived mainly in the Triassic and Jurassic eras so anything from 65 to 200 million years ago. The fossil was given to me by a woman called Aida who was named after the opera by Giuseppe Verdi.
Colin - My CD/cassette player's even older, but I also rarely use it. Keeping it on the floor probably isn't wise, either (dust, damp, etc!)
As regards Casio F-91s, the straps break long before the batteries. Still - probably the best value watch available!
Yes, ties have longevity! I've got a tie from a mid-80s (probably 85 or 86) M&S shirt & tie set, bought in York. The shirt's long gone, but the tie survived - so ties definitely outlast shirts! Over the past year, several of my (old) shirts have ripped, when I've bent down to pick stuff up off the floor!
Phillip
I still have my 1950s silver-shiny egg beater my grandmother gave me in the 1970s. Still works like a champ, still use it to beat the pancake batter.
Charl-ee
A whisk, or a handle-turning one, perhaps?
Phillip
Electric baby!!! 1950s styling. Occasionally the toasters hi ted at art-deco and such.
Char-lee
The oldest item I have is a 1930s or early 1940s metal gnome savings bank that was my grans. I used to play with it when we visited her and I've had it since 1986 when she sadly passed away.
The oldest comic I have had since I bought it (or it was purchased for me) is Superboy Issue 149 from 1968 (I have a few older comics that I bought in the last 20 years). I only have this as I gave it to my cousin around this time to read and he held onto it for all this time and gave me it back about 15 years ago.
I still have my original David Bowie "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" LP from 1973 and my first single Ob-La-De-Obla-Da by the Marmalade from 1969..
Phillip, the strap on my watch is long gone so I just keep the watch in my pocket. I've bought another Casio watch in case my older one stops working (given its' age - I like to be prepared) but this newer one has a metal strap.
It's encouraging to learn of so much longevity in this disposable age!
I still have the first 2 cds I ever bought (The Police and Tears For Fears).
My longest owned comic is "Not Brand Ecch" 5, which was the first back issue I ever bought waaaaaay back in March 1974. My oldest collectible is a Topps baseball coin of Willie Mays I pulled from a pack of cards at age 10.
Then there's my desk, which was my Great Grandmother's, I inherited it at 15. Oldest tech: still have an iPhone 4 from 2010. Still use it as a music player...
Where is economic growth going to come from if people don't keep buying new crap? No wonder Britain is in economic decline if you lot are anything to go by.
Well done, lads. Keep it up! Smash capitalism with a consumer strike.
Non-shoppers of the world unite!
-sean
Good question!
I still use - religiously - the three ivory-handled butter knives I was given by my Grandmother amongst a package of hand-me-down cutlery when I went to university. The handles are cracked and yellowed, but I'm going to keep buttering my toast with those until they literally fall apart.
The oldest item of clothing I have is probably a Jaws sweatshirt I picked up in 2005. It is my favourite piece of clothing and again, I will wear it until it falls apart. I have older items of clothing [the leather jacket I got for my 18th etc], but I don't wear them any more.
The oldest comic I have is probably 2000AD Prog 1 [minus space spinner]. I bought 2000AD from the very beginning up until 1990, but when we got to around Prog 50 my Dad didn't want them cluttering up the house so he suggested we give them to a children's hospital, sandlike an idiot I agreed [I was 6 years old, mind you]. But we kept Prog 1.
I still have all my CDs - the first I bought was 'Daft' by the Art Of Noise, but I was a late adopter, didn't get a CD player in our house until 1988.
I still have the first musical keyboard I bought - a Casio PT-20 from 1983. It still works! One of the preset rhythms was used on the intro to 'Losing My Edge' by LCD Soundsystem.
Redartz -
I still have an old iPhone 4, and I use it as a music player when I go to the gym. I stripped off all the other apps to maximise music capacity!
Paul & Redartz - I can't compete! My only pre-1977 comics are TV Comic, Buster, Disney Comic, & Korak, Son of Tarzan (one of each!) Blame it on my youth!
Colin - I've got a couple of those strapless Casios - I use one for timing my blood pressure tablet. Yes, they are useful in pockets, too!
Matthew - I inherited my grandfather's Calor electric shaver, which gave sterling service for many years (until it started to smoke, and died!) Its surface was much wider, and better, than modern electric shavers.
I got my first leather jacket around the same time (1989). Inspecting it, recently, although the exterior looks okay, the inner lining's stitching's detached, in several places.
I can't compete, having only a couple of 2000ADs, but more StarLords. Both were my brother's department, for the most part.
Sean - In C19th Liverpool, people were so poor they used to sift through massive rubbish heaps, looking for stuff to make use of (just like in developing nations, today) - as recounted in Melville's 'Redburn'. As Jim Robinson might have said: "Not like you kids, today, with your 'throw away society'! "
Phillip
Phillip, thanks for the topic.
I have a one penny coin from 1906 and my nan's birth certificate from 1910. I think those are the oldest things I own.
I don't have any old tech at all. My radio's from around 2010. I think that's the oldest piece of technology I own.
In terms of comics, I have a whole bunch of them from the early 1970s but don't have any older than that.
I have some old 78 rpm records from the 1940s and 50s. I can't remember what most of them are but I do recall that one of them's by Louis Armstrong and another is a cast recording from Porgy and Bess.
Phillip, what were those scousers complaining about? In the 19th century (under British rule) the Irish used to dream about sifting through rubbish! Thats we - well, not me personally, obviously - migrated to Liverpool, where the streets were paved with it.
But tell the kids that these days...
-sean
Steve - Perhaps SDC itself comes under longevity - at least amongst comics blogs!
"Now then, calm down, calm down our Sean!" The scousers didn't complain - it was an American sympathizing with Liverpool's poor, when compared with America, at that time.
My father's family (before Yorkshire, and - prior to that - Geordieland) came from Ireland, one being a shoemaker. That racial memory probably accounts for my annoyance at not getting decent pairs of shoes for a cheap price, in contemporary Britain!
Phillip
Matthew, I bought my first CD player in February 1989 so I'm an even later adopter than you.
We must assume that Sean's house is full of shiny new stuff!
Not convinced Colin.
I reckon there's a lasagne at the back of Sean's fridge that's older than your Casio watch.
I don't even have a house, Colin.
And didn't get a cd player til the mid-90s. Which was a mistake really - I'm dubious about any disc if you can't see it revolving on a turntable with a needle in the grooves.
-sean
I hate throwing food out, dangermash, so admittedly do have a tendency to leave stuff in the fridge too long. But not that long. And definitely not lasagne, which I dislike.
-sean
If we are chatting old trinkets, baubles, collectibles, and lasagnas...
Coincidentally Charlie and Red attended a Chicago Comic Con the same time, though we did not know each other, around 1980. (I lived 25 miles from Chicago, Red about 275 miles, lol). Prices for comics were more affordable then, so I did get a Human Torch comic from 1944 for all of like $20. Still have it. Still like looking at it.
Also, about 10 years ago my buddy Libor said, "Let's go check out the antique coin show in Chicago." So, I said "why not" and did. And for all of $10, I got this "Syrian" drachma from around -10 BC. Biblical scholars tend to think Jesus may have held such a coin up when He said, "Whose image is on this coin? Then give to Cesar what is Cesar's."
Obviously we have no way of knowing Jesus held this particular one in the air but... we don't know that he didn't either. And to tell you the truth, not to be superstitious, but I do feel some mojo when I have it in my hands!
Oddly, this coin and many other ancient coins are fairly cheap on ebay. Romans made a bunch back in the day and they don't fit in any of today's cigarette or coke or slot machines...
"But... we don't know that he didn't either"
Thats practically proof, Charlie!
-sean
Charlie - a very bad old joke:
A foreigner visits an Athens market trader, selling containers. "What's a Grecian urn?" he asks. "About 50 drachma a week!" the market trader replies.
No - I didn't laugh, either! Apparently, that joke's history is quite involved:
https://lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com/2017/01/whats-grecian-urn-pun-ctilious-history.html
Phillip
Pretty funny PHILLIP. A few months ago, I stumbled down one of those Internet rabbit holes looking at risqué artwork on Grecian urns lol. They were certainly…… mmm…. uninhibited???
Sean!!! I’m telling you, buddy, I feel some mojo when I hold that thing. I go through times when I even keep it in my wallet like when I’m traveling through the west or south side of Chicago, or my old stomping grounds in Gary Indiana.
I am already carrying a stick of hazel with me to keep away any dodgy spirits on Samhain, Charlie.
Crom knows, you can't be too careful.
-sean
The one item I’ve had in my possession longer than any other: I still have a plush bulldog that I got for X-mas in 1967. He’s not as soft as he used to be (makes a mild crinkly sound when you pick him up) but otherwise he’s still in pretty good shape.
b.t.
b.t. - Looking on the internet, it seems plush bulldogs are still on sale today!
Phillip
DANGERMASH!
I still have my ROLLING STONES 1981 Tour t-shirt! Worn only on special occasions it still looks fresh.
However, my 27 year old daughter seems to think it's ultra cool retro and has taken it along with my BARCELONA 1992 Olympic t-shirt.
P.S. any of you STONES fans... there is a fair bit of video on youtube from the past month of interviews and small-club performances.
The KEITH RICHARD interview on JIMMY FALLON is a good one! Didn't know they got their name from CHICAGO Blues Great MUDDY WATERS' album. Apparently when Brian Jones booked their first gig, the venue asked for the group's name. The Muddy Waters album was laying nearby on the ground and he said, "The Rolling Stones."
But can blue men sing the whites, Charlie?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXRTgHvmG28
-sean
Charlie, there's no proof that Jesus even existed, certainly not the Jesus depicted in the Bible. The gospels were written decades later and most of the "events" of Jesus's life were probably just made up. The Nativity is definitely just pure invention and isn't even mentioned at all in two of the four gospels. Matthew and Luke do include the Nativity but they both have completely different accounts of the same event!
I forgot to mention my 21 year-old DVD player and my 33 year-old Baby Belling oven.
Phillip, the Screwball's bubble gum was always round as I recall.
Charlie:
I’ve still got bootleg KISS, Cheap Trick and Queen t-shirts in my closet, bought at concerts by those bands in the late 70s. I wouldn’t dream of trying any of em on now, I’ve put on too many pounds since then — and they were frankly pretty uncomfortable even when new, kinda rough and itchy.
b.t.
Colin - Yes, the plastic cone's base was rounded, and the bubble gum sat in it, assuming the shape.
Charlie & b.t. - I haven't got an memorable T-shirts, but I rediscovered a 1984 Los Angeles Olympics beach towel, I was gifted. It's been getting plenty of use, so isn't a collectible any longer! Important life rule: beach towels dry much faster than "fluffy" towels, and thus save energy!
Phillip
"But can blue men sing the whites, Charlie?"
The question was asked some years ago, young sean...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_iPAUplrdI
Wandering through my brain, that does seem familiar from somewhere in the canyons of my mind, B.
-sean
Colin Jones doesn't half talk rot. Jesus is one of the most documented historical figures ever. Secular historian Josephus mentions him as do many others. I keep a diary but I don't write everything that happens to me in a day. That doesn't mean they didn't happen.
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