Looking up movie listing in the paper.
Heck - I had to look up who my homeroom teacher would be in August every high school year
Winky Dink, the original interactive show (from before “interactive” was even invented). To interact with the show, you had to buy a special transparent screen overlay and special crayons. If you didn’t buy the merch, the show was wasted on you. For example, you’re called on to draw a bridge on the screen so that Winky Dink can get across the chasm. If you didn’t have the merch, you’d eventually see Winky Dink float across the chasm on thin air. Making the whole thing kind of pointless.
My first introduction to the occult, when I was 8, was Ka-Bala. It was a weirdo glow-in-the-dark toy topped by a giant black flaming eyeball that literally taught children occult magic rituals. You could never get away with that today, not on your life; the religious right would be after you with pitchforks & torches.
Thank Crom they didn’t get it. It restores my faith in the future of the planet. One day we’ll stamp out puns altogether. Just like we did with booze and drugs.
I was an early adapter to recording tv shows. I don’t recall what year I bought my Betamax but I think I paid $1200 for it. Can you even imagine? All I could record was broadcast channels until HBO showed up.
I started getting these at a secondary address I have about two years ago. From the very first one, they had a big “This could be your last catalog if you don’t order now” banner splashed across the front.
I’m in my 50s and I didn’t know what that was until I looked it up. Oops, or what Keeve said.
Back in the old days, groups of Canadian scammers would cross over the border with Canadian travelers checks and try to pass them off as US dollars. They would usually hit a string of towns and be back over the border in a couple of days. The checks were so overly ornate that all most cashiers looked for were the numerals. Since a Canadian dollar was worth about sixty to seventy cents, they could make a pretty good group haul.
I had to google to see a pic and I have seen that before, it was immediate recognition. I have vague memories of playing it, but nothing else.
Shrinky Dinks?! I loved those growing up.
Different guy - though they are first cousins. They’re also related to that Dinky Hocker who shoots smack.
When I was a kid in the '50s, there was no fast food. I think the first were Big Boy and White Castle, but no McDonald’s till I was in college (Over 2 sold!).
And if you wanted any ethnic food, you had to go to a particular part of town, e.g. Chinatown or Little Italy. I’ll never forget the very first time I had Chinese food, on Christmas Day when I was seven. I never had food like that before!
^ Are you Ralphie? Sorry about your turkey. 
One summer afternoon, when I was between 5 and 7 years old, I found a quarter. That was very exciting. With it, I bought a round of 5 Good Humor ice creams for me and my siblings. I’m pretty sure my mother suggested that act of altruism. I’m sure Ayn Rand would have strongly disapproved. If Ayn Rand had been my mother, I’d probably still have that quarter. Now I’m sad.
The good news:
Legal in 23 states!
I got my 
on you. 
…
Watermelons were full of seeds and grapefruit was white.
A zinc-plated, vacuum tube culture.
(Where automatic rice-pickers lacked machine guards, resulting in ear deformation)
The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe.
And watermelons weren’t round. All of them were oblong in shape.
“Dyn-o-mite!”
“You can call me Ray”
I enjoyed that episode of Star Trek too, Captain Kirk trying come up with an explanation for Mr. Spock’s ears.
I remember cheap pocket-sized calculating “machines” stamped out of steel which had strips of numbers running up and down, with sawteeth on one edge of each strip. To calculate, you inserted a stylus in between the teeth and moved the strips up and down - it worked something like an abacus. Another item fallen down the memory hole.
Also, looking in the CRC math handbook for tables of trigonometric functions, logs, statistics, etc.
I don’t recognize what you’re describing; but I do remember the plastic clicker devices that you could take to the store with you to keep track of how much $ worth of merchandise you were buying.
