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Looking at the moldamania site there are a bunch at the Milwaukee Zoo
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May 30, 2015 07:49
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cobalt impurity posted:I saw one of these at a zoo that had a choice of animals! I had completely forgotten about it but I thought it was neat at the time. My parents thought it was a waste of money so I never got to see it in action. The Memphis zoo used to have a ton of these things too... Used to burn the fu-u-uck out of my fingers with the moldings until they cooled down.
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May 30, 2015 07:53
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1000 Brown M and Ms posted:It's not really the same thing, but those machines that stamp a souvenir coin are still popular where I live (Japan). I used one at Kyoto Tower and even saw one at the base station of Mt. Fuji. The CRT monitors make them look really out of place.
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May 30, 2015 09:39
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On the topic of machines like that I also recall seeing machines that let you make small metal name tags, like a huge manual dymo machine. Google was being unhelpful in finding me any images though.
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May 30, 2015 10:01
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Collateral Damage posted:On the topic of machines like that I also recall seeing machines that let you make small metal name tags, like a huge manual dymo machine. Google was being unhelpful in finding me any images though. You can find those at Petsmart I think.
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May 30, 2015 10:03
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DNova posted:You can find those at Petsmart I think. They have them at theme parks, too - my stepson and I have dogtags we got as souvenirs from a joint trip to DisneyQuest in Orlando.
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May 30, 2015 10:43
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It's so weird to find out the mold machines are still out there considering I haven't seen one for about forty years. Which is also how long it's been since I went to a zoo. EDIT: Collateral Damage posted:On the topic of machines like that I also recall seeing machines that let you make small metal name tags, like a huge manual dymo machine. Google was being unhelpful in finding me any images though. I remember those too, going into the 1980s at least. This one is less likely to have survived that era though. It's the horoscope of the future... BIO-RHYTHM! You'd enter your birthdate as well as the date you wanted your to see your bio-rhythm. The machine would print out a little chart on a card showing you your rating for that day in various categories. I can remember using one when I was fourteen or so and for the SEX category there was just a tiny nub of a mark. Made my Dad laugh.   
Dick Trauma has a new favorite as of 10:56 on May 30, 2015 |
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May 30, 2015 10:48
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For a few years, "writing biorhythm programs in BASIC" was actually a way to make some kind of living.
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May 30, 2015 14:12
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MRC48B posted:Last time I was there, the Science & Industry museum in chicago had a few in the stairwells. This is exactly what I was gonna say, even though the last time I was there was 1999. Penny stretchers too 
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May 30, 2015 16:20
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I've only ever seen those mold machines on TV (Wonderfalls)
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May 30, 2015 17:42
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DNova posted:You can find those at Petsmart I think. The one by me are laser engraving machines for pet tags, I think Collateral Damage is referring to a stamp press with movable type.
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May 30, 2015 18:26
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Dick Trauma posted:It's so weird to find out the mold machines are still out there considering I haven't seen one for about forty years. Which is also how long it's been since I went to a zoo. Child of the late 70s/80s here. I seem to remember some that had a white translucent hemisphere on them with blinky lights. The concept was you'd put your hand on the half-globe and then it would display some kind of result because ENERGY and SCIENCE. You'd still see them for a while at run-down Pizza Huts and dive bars, and after Total Recall the only thing I though when seeing them was "Start the reactor, Quaid!"
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May 30, 2015 18:30
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There was a machine in one arcade on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey, that was very old when I encountered it early in the last decade. You put your hands on it and it printed out a punch card with all sorts of details about your fortune. I loved the old thick punch cards with such *scientific* fortunes on them.
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May 30, 2015 19:00
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cheerfullydrab posted:There was a machine in one arcade on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey, that was very old when I encountered it early in the last decade. You put your hands on it and it printed out a punch card with all sorts of details about your fortune. I loved the old thick punch cards with such *scientific* fortunes on them. Was it one of these? 
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May 30, 2015 19:32
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I used one of those fortune machines once when I was a kid and I was transformed into a middle aged, portly guy with a beard who wrote the software for them. I had to scour the boardwalks for another machine to reverse the wish, but I never found one and Im still old
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May 30, 2015 20:14
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I don't think it was that specific one, but it definitely had the hand outline.
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May 30, 2015 22:46
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That's one of the Henry Ford Museum machines because it makes a 1952 Wienermobile. I still have the one it made about five years ago. They're plastic now.
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May 31, 2015 01:26
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The San Antonio Zoo has like 10-15 of those Mold-A-Rama machines. I've noticed over the years that the animals up for offer change with the exhibits, for instance we still have a machine that makes Koalas, even though we haven't had koalas since the late nineties (or so?). Do any of y'all know if there's still someone making the stampers for these things? I'd assume you can switch them out, I can't see them replacing (or even being able to source) a whole machine.
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May 31, 2015 04:03
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I hope I haven't posted this at some point. The Commodore 64 was capable of many things. Among them was musical instrument and music video processor. You could also play music on your old IBMs in DOS, but it wasn't nearly as cool as the Incredible Musical Keyboard. This doohickey fit over your keyboard. A keyboard on a keyboard.   Once your fired up the demo disk, you realized just how pathetic your options were if you just paid for the basic apparatus. The flipside of this single disk could only do a few sounds, couldn't be saved and didn't have any of the video bits with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxyAe0vWE0M (And I just noticed that Deniece Williams' name is misspelled at 1:56.) Look at this awesomeness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBzhO8_FFc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl51dHcDdo8
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May 31, 2015 04:55
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People laugh at the C64 now but at the time it seemed pretty good. This game had me riveted back around 1985, as did the sequel a year later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Th76-0iy4
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May 31, 2015 05:04
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Wait people are laughing at the C64? Who are these people, I want to have words  The C64 rules and I want one of those keyboard thingies for mine.
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May 31, 2015 05:08
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Jerry Cotton posted:For a few years, "writing biorhythm programs in BASIC" was actually a way to make some kind of living. those ads used to be all over the back pages of computer and pop-science magazines in the 1980s.
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May 31, 2015 11:13
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flosofl posted:The one by me are laser engraving machines for pet tags, I think Collateral Damage is referring to a stamp press with movable type.
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May 31, 2015 11:27
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Code Jockey posted:Wait people are laughing at the C64? Who are these people, I want to have words I recently downloaded a C64 emulator thanks to this thread and nostalgia, and my 7-year-old saw me using it and got interested enough to learn some simple BASIC programming. Yesterday I showed him how to use it to write Mad Libs. The C64 still rocks, is my point.
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May 31, 2015 15:59
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ToxicSlurpee posted:Buttcoins for their entire history were hilarious partly because the price was artificially inflated by people loving with the market... They're worthless now because the people manipulating the market all cashed out. Not just yet! There's still shitloads of Chinese people using it to smuggle their money out of the country: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/volumepie/  Remember, Chinese are only allowed $50,000 of bank transfers per year. http://customsesq.com/blog/50000-00-wire-transfer-limit-from-china-to-the-u-s/ It'll be funny seeing what happens to Bitcoin once the Chinese government cracks down on this
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May 31, 2015 16:13
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redmercer posted:Checks suck, and anyone who requires a check will without exception also accept a money order. The big advantage is that when you buy a money order, that money is out of your account then and there; instead of leaving whenever they take their sweet-rear end time cashing the fucker, and denying your bank the chance to eat another slice of your rear end with an overdraft or bounce. Apparently 78 rpm records are a fad now and I have no loving idea why because they are terrible and anything they do, an LP record is a thousand times better at. I used to hear of laser cartridges that would read LP records without any wear to the groove but I've never actually heard of anyone actually using them, were they a failure? I can't imagine they would work on those ridiculous colored/clear/picture disc editions that seemingly every album has nowadays. (I have a Manilla Road LP on "crystal" vinyl, it is loving impossible to find a track on it )
Woolie Wool has a new favorite as of 00:32 on Jun 2, 2015 |
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Jun 2, 2015 00:29
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Woolie Wool posted:Apparently 78 rpm records are a fad now and I have no loving idea why because they are terrible and anything they do, an LP record is a thousand times better at. They're too accurate. No-one wants to listen to dust and poop and every record groove has both.
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Jun 2, 2015 00:32
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That's especially funny in light of those $30,000 Japanese cartridges made of crazy poo poo like jade or ivory. But the illegal ivory provides such warm tones. E: Wikipedia says that it's not just a question of accuracy, but also the fact that a stylus plows dust in the groove out of the way while playing while a laser passes over it.     I found this by the side of the road one day. I have no idea what it is, what it does, or where it came from, only that it's obviously a piece of computer electronics, has a function related to coins, and is about the size of a 5.25" drive bay. It has an inspection date of December 13, 2001. Woolie Wool has a new favorite as of 00:48 on Jun 2, 2015 |
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Jun 2, 2015 00:43
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Woolie Wool posted:That's especially funny in light of those $30,000 Japanese cartridges made of crazy poo poo like jade or ivory. It looks like the coin collector for a soda machine, or other such vending device I guess.
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Jun 2, 2015 00:50
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Woolie Wool posted:
That's a coin slot mechanism for a vending machine of some sort Ooops beaten. I did some work once for a company that made them and I had to sign the Official Secrets Act, it was all very hush hush as they measured the metal contents of coins and poo poo to make sure you didn't use forged money in them.
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Jun 2, 2015 00:51
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peter gabriel posted:That's a coin slot mechanism for a vending machine of some sort I'm from the coin counting company and you're under arrest
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Jun 2, 2015 02:40
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Code Jockey posted:Wait people are laughing at the C64? Who are these people, I want to have words I got one with a second hand C64 after my original one died. It's terrible and useless and not even worth having for the nostalgia value.
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Jun 2, 2015 15:06
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Late to the discussion but yes, the Milwaukee zoo has quite a few mold-o-rama machines. My kids get one pretty much every time we go. I think they might even change the molds now and then to new animals.
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Jun 2, 2015 15:30
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The Oklahoma City Zoo had one of those plastic mold machines when I was a kid. I don't know if they still do. I still have the plastic elephant I got there, though. C64 chat: When we got our Commodore 64, my family's very first computer, in 1984, the guy at the computer store also gave us a floppy disk with a bunch of games on it. Considering the titles (Zork I&II, Jumpman, Impossible Mission, and maybe a dozen others, popular commercial games) and the handwritten label, it was clearly pirated, but I don't think any of us understood that at the time. So we loaded up the disk, looked at the file listing, and tried to load the games. But nothing would load. We just got error messages on every game. Except one, a file labeled "Boot Game." This sounded boring (a game about boots, really?), but since it was the only one that even started, we kept trying it. We loaded Boot Game, and then it asked what game we wanted to play, so we'd type "Boot Game" and nothing would happen. This was very frustrating until one of us got the idea to try typing the name of another game from the disk, and lo and behold, it loaded! And that is how my parents, my brother and I all learned a new definition of the word "boot."
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Jun 2, 2015 15:48
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And piracy.
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Jun 2, 2015 15:50
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I had a C64, but poor parents who thought buying the computer was a closed transaction with no additional costs. Eventually in desperation I started trading parts for games. First I traded away my tape drive. I remember loading up Blue Max and playing it in memory for a week before there was a power outage. Then I traded my whole C64 for a Vic-20 with two dozen games. I figure I was just continuing a family tradition of terrible computer decisions. Later we bought a PCjr.
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Jun 2, 2015 16:49
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I found a couple of old computer magazines in the basement last time I visited my parents, and the classifieds from the late 80s are pretty funny to read today. People wanting to sell C64s and Amiga 500s "with hundreds of games (3 original)". Also an article from 1988 about the first gigabyte hard drive where they question that anyone would ever be able to fill it.
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Jun 3, 2015 16:15
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Collateral Damage posted:Also an article from 1988 about the first gigabyte hard drive where they question that anyone would ever be able to fill it. When I built my first Windows PC in 1996, I put in a 2.5GB hard drive and thought I'd never fill it up. Then MP3s happened.
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Jun 3, 2015 17:31
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My first PC in 1998 with a 4.3 GB drive didn't last long once I started attending LAN parties. Music and porn and lovely The Matrix rips. Oh yeah, LANs connected with coax cables were fun. Especially when PCs weren't grounded and you'd kept getting shocked from the T-connectors. And it sucked when someone had to leave and it would break the coax chain. God drat it, Mike, tell your mom she can pick you up later!
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Jun 3, 2015 17:44
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Speaking of the early days of downloading, I just remembered something I am NOT going to go looking for on a work computer. Who else remembers surfing warez sites in the 90s - and the horrible bestiality porn banner ads that inevitably accompanied them? It was never just regular porn, not even just BDSM porn or any standard kink. Always bestiality. There were a few different site names, but I suspect they all had a common owner. I did not click to find out.
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Jun 3, 2015 17:47
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