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Post by bjd on May 13, 2020 9:11:39 GMT
When I was in high school, about once a year the school would be overwhelmed with the smell of "rotten eggs" and that was the day the kds in grade 12 chemistry class made hydrogen sulphide (if I remember the name correctly).
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Post by kerouac2 on May 13, 2020 9:37:06 GMT
And so nobody has ever smelled real rotten eggs. Maybe they have been lying to us all these years. Rotten eggs might actually smell like Chanel N° 5.
boules puantes = stinkballs
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Post by bixaorellana on May 13, 2020 15:54:58 GMT
I've bought yard eggs and a couple of times got a bad one in the bunch. But really, they just looked bad -- there was no odor to speak of. Maybe they had to be badder.
I do remember a mysterious stink in the house once when my son was little. It was finally traced to an abandoned Easter egg, but I don't remember specifically the character of the stink.
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Post by onlyMark on May 13, 2020 18:02:08 GMT
My father always told me his job when a small kid was to cover all the eggs bought that day in water and see which floated. They were handed back the next day.
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Post by Kimby on May 15, 2020 17:39:36 GMT
Who else remembers watching BOWLING on TV?
(Who else remembers bowling?)
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Post by kerouac2 on May 15, 2020 17:48:10 GMT
In defence of bowling on TV, at least it is more interesting than golf, but the audio of the sport is definitely more annoying.
I was surprised when bowling alleys were specifically mentioned when Georgia began to reopen. It is either still a big thing in Georgia or else at least a favourite activity of the governor.
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Post by bjd on May 15, 2020 18:09:19 GMT
I remember that bowling used to be shown on TV, but can't say I ever watched it. As kids we sometimes went bowling -- there was even a guy whose job was to put the pins back. Then the place closed in the mid-60s and I didn't see any more bowling until The Big Lebowsky.
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Post by mich64 on May 15, 2020 19:43:51 GMT
We used to go bowling often in our late teens, early twenties even. It was an inexpensive night out for a group of couples. We would sneak in a little alcohol to mix with coke or ginger ale. Many fun memories! We still go every now and then in combination with playing pool. They serve alcohol now in the evenings so no need to hide bottles in our purses! The only time I can remember carrying a large purse, more of a shoulder bag. Fun times!
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Post by kerouac2 on May 15, 2020 19:49:47 GMT
My parents went bowling in Florida into their late seventies, often in leagues. When I would go to visit them, I would go to the bowling lanes with them and pretend to be interested. And when they bowled at other times, I would bowl with them, usually with humiliating results. As a child, I had no trouble having an average of about 140, but with my parents in later years, there were a lot of times when I could not even break 100. It didn't bother me because I didn't really care.
One of the first signs of my mother's decline was when she put an abrupt end to bowling.
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Post by Kimby on May 15, 2020 20:26:45 GMT
There were 3 bowling alleys with league play most nights of the week when we moved to Missoula. Now we are down to one. I was never any good at it, the few times that I bowled. (I joke that if I could exchange my golf score with my bowling score, I’d be pretty good at both!)
As far as watching bowling on TV, who remembers when the US had only 3 networks? You just had to watch what was on, or nothing at all.
TV was still enough of a novelty for my parents that they kept the TV on pretty much all their waking hours. (They even had a bedroom TV on a timer set to wake them up at 6:45 am, so as not to miss a minute of the Today Show each morning!)
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Post by mickthecactus on May 15, 2020 20:35:48 GMT
I’m not bad at bowling but don’t go that often. Birthdays mainly.
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Post by Kimby on May 15, 2020 21:08:57 GMT
Who remembers roller rinks? Not roller derby, but good old family fun roller skating rinks?
Our major Junior High social activity was a school-sponsored bus trip to a nearby town with a roller rink. We’d rent skates and skate around in big circles under a rotating mirrored ball and colored lights, policed by referees on skates and a DJ who called out new activities for each song: free skate, couples’ skate, boys only, girls only, ladies’ choice, backwards skate, limbo, conga line, etc.
It was fun and a little thrilling, as newly pubescent pre-teens had their first taste of flirting, hand-holding and maybe a stolen kiss on the bus ride home.
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Post by fumobici on May 16, 2020 5:27:46 GMT
I did a fair bit of bowling as a child. The UC Davis Student Union had a few lanes, and one could bowl a few games and rent the shoes for under two dollars. My best game ever was a 142. Twenty years later as a full-grown man I played again with a good friend who had joined a league and needed to tune up. Not having bowled in twenty years I bowled an over 200 game within an hour. I was over the moon. Haven't bowled since, but if I had a few friends start up I'd probably do it again.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 6:25:07 GMT
I can count my 200 games on the fingers of one hand. My brother was one of those league bowlers with a 200 average. I believe he met his 3rd wife ("the good one") in a bowling league. I have no idea if they still bowl.
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Post by bjd on May 16, 2020 6:31:58 GMT
I don't know whether big cities in Canada had "roller rinks". As kids we roller skated on sidewalks. We did have ice-skating rinks in winter, but they were outside and you had to get there yourself. No buses, but I guess city life was very different from small towns or rural areas.
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Post by questa on May 16, 2020 7:00:47 GMT
Who remembers roller rinks? Not roller derby, but good old family fun roller skating rinks? One such rink was in walking distance from my training hospital. Our group would be awake by 5.30 am, work 6am to 3pm, change and walk to the rink. I hated it. Noisy enough that I would always get a headache and I was so tired...I only went because the others had fun. I was the one that was always falling down, no serious damage, but another girl broke her ankle and when The Matron found we had been "taking part in an activity that could cause injury and require time off work" the rink was put out of bounds to nurses. (Other dangerous therefore banned activities included ice skating, horse riding and surf board riding. As we were so close to some of the best surf in the world, this one was duly ignored. Surfboards were kept under beds and labelled "Jane Smith, personal ironing board" on the cloth covers.)
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 10:10:07 GMT
I only learned to rollerskate when a group went to the skating rink one day. I fell down a lot, but about two hours later I pretty much had the hang of it. But I think we only went about three times and I haven't skated since then.
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Post by lagatta on May 16, 2020 11:56:17 GMT
There used to be a bowling (quilles) alley above a nearby supermarket, but it closed down and is now a "co-working" spot.
There is actually a nearby pub, frequented mostly by LGBTQ+ people but welcoming all, that actually has a lane or two. So perhaps bowling will come back in style.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 12:15:42 GMT
Just think about these days of germophobia (virusphobia?) and what is at the bottom of the finger holes of the house balls.
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Post by Kimby on May 16, 2020 12:19:09 GMT
Serious bowlers have their OWN balls, though. And their own shoes. Virtually no risk - if they wear masks, that is.
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Post by Kimby on May 16, 2020 12:28:20 GMT
The last time I roller-skated was in 1978, in the town where I had gone to college and was back for a one year stint as a faculty assistant. There was a roller rink in the town of about 25K that was frequented by faculty and staff, many who had their own skates and were quite good, roller skating with almost as much style as the ice dancers featured in the Olympics.
The director of the university health service was a big fan of roller skating, and was more than willing to teach others including me how to partner skate. First, you have to loosen the bolts holding the wheels rigidly to the bottom of the boot to allow the flexibility to turn the boot from going forward to going backward and back again. The lady usually is facing backwards, while the man leads facing forward. As with regular dancing, a good leader can make dancing magic happen, even with a novice partner. Before long we were spinning and swooping and twirling all over the roller rink. It was amazing, and so much fun.
I really wish roller rinks were still a thing. The last roller rink in my town was converted to a bakery warehouse years ago...
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Post by casimira on May 16, 2020 12:40:25 GMT
In NOLA there is a very popular bowling alley/music club. It's called Rock N Bowl and draws crowds. Live music and bowling.
A very ingenious and profitable business.
They also rent it out for special events.
I have attended many a Memorial service there. (the deceased requested that their service be held there).
It's a really fun place to go and isn't far from where I live.
I remember roller rinks from my youth.
Doing the "Hokey Pokey" brings back many fond memories.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 13:59:49 GMT
Serious bowlers have their OWN balls, though. And their own shoes. Virtually no risk - if they wear masks, that is. I know. My family all had their own equipment. But the majority of bowlers, except on league nights, are casual bowlers who do not invest in that stuff.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 14:02:19 GMT
As with regular dancing, a good leader can make dancing magic happen, even with a novice partner. Sounds like a television show should be invented salled "Rollerskating with the Stars."
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 14:04:13 GMT
Today I was remembering the days when supermarket (and other) cashiers had to punch in the numbers for the price of every single item. It has become so easy now that I think that all of their salaries should be reduced. (That second sentence is a joke.)
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Post by Kimby on May 16, 2020 15:38:25 GMT
My grandfather’s second wife had worked as a cashier in a small grocery store in Austria for many years, and she toted up all the purchases IN HER HEAD! No cash register or adding machine required.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 16, 2020 15:43:36 GMT
I thought of this "old enough to remember" last night, and post it in full knowledge that all of this hasn't gone away in the hearts & minds of all Americans. Still ~
I well remember "Colored" and "White only" signs, along with the movie theater balcony for "colored only".
An artist friend of mine in the 70s produced some White and Colored signs and would silently try to hand to them to people. He said almost everyone would back away from them, along with the occasional wtf reaction.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 15:54:01 GMT
My principal memory of those signs in Mississippi was at the local A&P supermarket. It had an electric refrigerated water fountain (white only) and an ordinary unrefrigerated spigot (colored only).
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Post by onlyMark on May 16, 2020 16:08:48 GMT
My memory was jogged from K2's Paris thread but - you remember at the end of films they put the date down at the end of the credits in Roman numerals? I think they maybe only recently stopped that though?
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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2020 16:28:34 GMT
No, I think they still do it in American movies, but once they reached the year MM, it all became too easy.
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