# Things you can't believe ever existed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095 "2013-01-04T19:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/101 "2013-01-07T01:21:12Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > How about [unicycles](https://www.google.com/search?q=unicycle&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=WxDqUOSmPI_OqwH1hIFo&biw=988&bih=1033&sei=ZBDqUMqJL8bHqAGk5oC4BQ)? How the hell do you get on or off? I don’t recall ever seeing one, outside a circus. I have one hanging in my garage! I learned to ride in 1986, I’ve had one all of my adult life. It’s fun to go for a ride around the block once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/102 "2013-01-07T01:44:25Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I knew a guy who commuted to work on one. Right into the Financial District. There’s an annual event called Freewheel Oklahoma that is a 6 day trek across the entire state. One guy did it on a unicycle. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/103 "2013-01-07T01:49:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Toss them? No, you dropped the pop-top into the can - and then you drank the soda. No, you made a curtain out of them! Or [a hat](http://img0-f.etsystatic.com/007/0/6415265/il_fullxfull.390225620_d0x0.jpg), depending on how many pull tabs you had and whether you knew how to crochet. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/104 "2013-01-07T20:52:30Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > No, you made a curtain out of them! Or [a hat](http://img0-f.etsystatic.com/007/0/6415265/il_fullxfull.390225620_d0x0.jpg), depending on how many pull tabs you had and whether you knew how to crochet. No, no. You throw them in the sand at the beach for someone else to find.:eek: Mattel’s [Thingmaker](http://creepycrawlers.homestead.com/ThingmakerHistory.html), [Creepy Crawlers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuezJgqP2Fc), the Incredible Edibles, and the Strange Change toy were awesome! You could make your own candy bugs and stuff with a little hotplate? What could go wrong! I loved heating the dinosaurs and then crushing them back into a little Starburst sized square, ready to grow again. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/105 "2013-01-07T22:31:26Z")
I LOVED my Thingmaker. I had the kind that had the Vac-U-Form plate on it, as well as the heating tray. My parents bought the Flower Fun version because it was for girls. Ahhhh, for the days when kids’ toys were able to give a first or second degree burn… ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/106 "2013-01-07T23:32:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Those engines are incredibly cool. They were the origin of the oil that had to be wiped off the windscreens of early planes leading to those long scarves associated with aviators. Here is the real thing, very cool. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/j6PnKUEFX8g/hqdefault.jpg "Sopwith Camel and Spitfire flying in formation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6PnKUEFX8g) ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/107 "2013-01-08T01:29:15Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > How about [unicycles](https://www.google.com/search?q=unicycle&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=WxDqUOSmPI_OqwH1hIFo&biw=988&bih=1033&sei=ZBDqUMqJL8bHqAGk5oC4BQ)? How the hell do you get on or off? I don’t recall ever seeing one, outside a circus. I saw someone riding on one a few months ago along the side of a busy road. Crazy! :rolleyes: Where does one buy one of those things? I’ve never seen them at any bike shops I’ve been in. ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/108 "2013-01-08T01:47:18Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Yeah, but back in those days you’d be thrown clear, get up and brush the dirt off, have a smoke and then another stiff drink when you got home. My first car (truck) was a 1963 Chevy stepside pickup truck. No seat belts…but that was a good thing. In a accident you would ricochet off the bare steel dashboard and out through the near vertical windshield so as to avoid being doused in gasoline from the tank located in the cab, just behind the bench seat. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/109 "2013-01-08T09:30:06Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > [Hoop skirts](https://www.google.com/search?q=hoop+skirts&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=g-jpULnPMZTRqAGbiICAAQ&biw=988&bih=1033&sei=iOjpUKzSPMqprQGck4GIAQ). Invented, I’m sure, by a sadistic misogynist. Seriously, how did women take care of their “bodily functions” in those things? Um - they wore crotchless knickers and the skirt could go over the loo or they could jutt squat somewhere behind a bush without any one seeing a thing ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/110 "2013-01-08T09:31:39Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > No, no. You throw them in the sand at the beach for someone else to find.:eek: > > Mattel’s [Thingmaker](http://creepycrawlers.homestead.com/ThingmakerHistory.html), [Creepy Crawlers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuezJgqP2Fc), the Incredible Edibles, and the Strange Change toy were awesome! > > You could make your own candy bugs and stuff with a little hotplate? What could go wrong! I loved heating the dinosaurs and then crushing them back into a little Starburst sized square, ready to grow again. These are still available - you cook them in the microwave though ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/111 "2013-01-08T10:07:20Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > You’ll love the Black & White Minstrel Show then. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoYOraDt1\_k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoYOraDt1_k) Jesus Fuck?! And the Brit’s criticize American TV?! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/112 "2013-01-08T10:39:51Z")
FUCK! Now I have to go apologize to the girl I really liked in 11th grade ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095.md?page=5)