First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.


They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.


Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.


We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we
rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.


As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.


Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.


We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.


We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.



We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because . . WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!



We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back  when the streetlights came on.



No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.



We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.



We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found  them!



We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.


We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,


We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.


We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!


Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!


The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.  They actually sided with the law!



These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!



The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.



We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned



HOW TO

DEAL WITH IT ALL!



If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS!










Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Quoted: We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because . . WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

This is probably the biggest problem with kids today. I have a 12 year old brother that is kind of chunky (not a fat boy, but not slim either). I lay 90% of the blame on his PS2 and 10% of the blame on our parents who don't throw him out of the house more often.

When I was a kid Atari was strictly for rainy days and TV was for watching as a family after the evening news. If you were inside the house after school it was because you were in trouble or you had to go somewhere and your mother didn't want you getting dirty.

Quoted: First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. and grew up with at least one parent who smoked around you They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. I used to ride on the arm rest in my grandfathers Malibu before I was too big to sit there Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because . . WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back  when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found  them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.  Or special people at the hospital interigating you and your parents about what happened (just in case they hit you) We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.  They actually sided with the law! and getting the shit splaped out of you for doing something wrong never raised an eyebrow These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS! Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Very well said.

When pong was the only video game in town, there was more going on outside.

and my kids wonder why I'm tough on them sometimes, but someday when the shtf they'll know I gave them an advantage over other kids their age,

I can still remember getting slapped god damn hard across the mouth for talking when I was told to be quite, wasn't the slap that hurt as much as the bunch of people laughing that saw it, and the acting up in the store and getting a slap on the head and having to go set in the car, middle of summer with the windows rolled up, every time I see my brothers kids act up I remind them of our childhood and one just rolls his eyes and starts yelling "flashbacks, stop talking I'm having flashbacks", the other laughs and talks about how we used to try and run, getting caught and whipped with a stick while walking all the way back to the house, but it never stopped us from doing anythign that was fun/stupid, we knew we just faced up and paid for it when we got caught though.

man those were the days!!!!!!!!!

I hope to have an established career by the time my brother is ten so that I will be able to give him an AR15 of his very own. God be my witness,(!) he is going to have the most evil rifle in the county!

Posting more email forwards, eh?

Quoted: Posting more email forwards, eh?

I never did like you. You are that overweight big mouthed kid at the bar that doesn't know when to STFU. Go kill yourself.

ETA - How about you do something productive for this board instead of running you shit hole in every ones threads and whining about your problems. Your a fucking team troll.

Quoted: Quoted: Posting more email forwards, eh? I never did like you. You are that overweight big mouthed kid at the bar that doesn't know when to STFU. Go kill yourself. ETA - How about you do something productive for this board instead of running you shit hole in every ones threads and whining about your problems. Your a fucking team troll.

It was just a question.

Quoted: Quoted: Posting more email forwards, eh? I never did like you. You are that overweight big mouthed kid at the bar that doesn't know when to STFU. Go kill yourself. ETA - How about you do something productive for this board instead of running you shit hole in every ones threads and whining about your problems. Your a fucking team troll.

wow.  Might want to peruse this every once in awhile: www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=5

I'm just glad I was born in the pre ADD/HDD ritalin days.

Don't forget about laying on the rear shelf under the back window of the car.

I remember doing that all the time. Made a great flat surface for matchbox cars.

Quoted: man those were the days!!!!!!!!!

+1  

Yeah, this was a good one.


But I never at worms or dirt! Man you're a freak!

Quoted: Quoted: Posting more email forwards, eh? I never did like you. You are that overweight big mouthed kid at the bar that doesn't know when to STFU. Go kill yourself. ETA - How about you do something productive for this board instead of running you shit hole in every ones threads and whining about your problems. Your a fucking team troll.

Don't hold back bro.

Ahhhh, the good 'ol days! I remember those times like it was yesterday.  

Quoted: I can still remember getting slapped god damn hard across the mouth for talking when I was told to be quite, wasn't the slap that hurt as much as the bunch of people laughing that saw it,

About 6-8 years ago I saw a mouthy kid get spanked by an old man(WW2 vet) at a match. The kid had it coming, the dad was OK with it.(Kid DID have it coming, and the old guy wasn't being fooled by all this PC bullshit.)

The kids tears were tears of humiliation at having been spanked in front of the guys.

That little guy would have taken a bust in the chops without so much as a whimper, but a spanking was too much for him.

Funny, but until that kid graduated from HS and left for college, the old guy and him were inseperable whenever they met at the matches.(The kid never crossed the line again)

Watching the pair of them go after each other kept me from crying over my poor scores for years.

Candy Cigarettes!!   You forgot the candy cigarettes...

Quoted: Quoted: We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because . . WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! This is probably the biggest problem with kids today. I have a 12 year old brother that is kind of chunky (not a fat boy, but not slim either). I lay 90% of the blame on his PS2 and 10% of the blame on our parents who don't throw him out of the house more often.

Meh.  My housemate just went to bed (4am) after at least fourteen solid hours playing World of Warcraft.  He's 30.

Quoted: man those were the days!!!!!!!!!

+1

You can blame the liberals, liberal lawyers and their liberal media (and its handlers).

I call them the most widespread and well financed terrorist organizations in the world (without actually using violence.)
edit:  those were the days, and I hereby proclaim that practicality will rule once again!

Quoted: These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

And the next 50 years will have 10 times as many innovations and new ideas, and the new generations are getting smarter and better.

How your parents treated you and what you were allowed to do as a kid means jack shit in the way of how much your generation invents. Innovation is exponential, building on the inventions of the previous generation.

How many of you took algebra before high school? In my district, you're way behind if you haven't had it by the end of 8th grade. How many of you learned calculus in HS? How many of you had the multiplication tables memorized up to 12*12 before Christmas break of 2nd grade?

A friend of mine won international recognition by designing a filtration system for hydrogen fuel cells, when he was a junior in HS. Did you know anybody who even came close to an accomplishment of that magnitude when you were in high school?

Take a look at this. These are all today's generation of high-schoolers. Tell me we're getting dumber. Tell me we're not as good as the previous generations were.

Quoted: [ These are all today's generation of high-schoolers. Tell me we're getting dumber. Tell me we're not as good as the previous generations were.

The smart ones are getting smarter, yet the dumb ones are getting dumber.

Quoted: How many of you took algebra before high school? In my district, you're way behind if you haven't had it by the end of 8th grade. How many of you learned calculus in HS? How many of you had the multiplication tables memorized up to 12*12 before Christmas break of 2nd grade?

Algebra I, middle school (8th grade)

Calculus I, 11th grade
Calculus II, 12th grade

as for the multiplication tables, I think it was 3rd grade (close enough)

... and in a PUBLIC school system!

That said, I think you've got a point as to the original post confusing the whole cause and effect relation between "how parents treated us" and "innovation".   It is theoretically possible that some kid who did nothing but play Xbox 360 for his formative years would create just as many inventions as a Class of 1990 grad who went out and played in the fields.  

Quoted: First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

I agree with everything on the list except that.

Quoted: How many of you had the multiplication tables memorized up to 12*12 before Christmas break of 2nd grade?

I still haven't memorized my multiplication tables, even though we worked on it all the time.

However, I DID (and still do) have all the lyrics to Ice, Ice Baby memorized before Christmas break of Kindergarten (or maybe 1st grade, I don't know)

Brian

I have to agree on one thing, we were all outside much more than todays kids.

Quoted: Quoted: First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. I agree with everything on the list except that.

I agree with you also, back then it just was the way it was, no one knew better.

If I saw that today I would be upset.

I resemble that statement.

by the looks of the amount of posts by some people,looks like its time to go out and play some more.get off the babysitter.

Candy cigarettes
Chocolate cigarettes
Cigar shaped gum
They still make Big League Chew gum?
Giant wax lips that are probably un-PC on some level
Candy that looked like pills
More toy guns than you could imagine.  That looked really real
Johnny Eagle toy guns that fired all sorts of projectiles
Tackle football with no pads, no helmet.  Shmear the queer was a recess favorite (Wrong on so many levels by todays standards...)
Hardball with just a bat and a ball.  Traded mitts between innings since not everyone owned one but it was still OK to play if you didn't
Generally, hurting other players was not a problem so long as it was an honest mistake
Stiches.  Lots of stiches.
Gun cabinets with glass doors
Digging underground forts
Making frighteningly unsafe modifications to go-carts and bikes
Blowing things up, making bombs, plastic army men usually suffered some kind of napalm/lighter fluid attack.
Bicycle motocross in barefeet and shorts
Skitching behind cars in the winter

How did we ever live to grow up?

Quoted: Blowing things up, making bombs, plastic army men usually suffered some kind of napalm/lighter fluid attack.

We would have been best buds as kids.

Our favorite was Estes rocket engines. My friend worm had his face and upper left torso peppered with shrapnel at 17yo because he jerry rigged a defective detonation circuit hooked up to my 5kg package placed in a stump of a dead tree.

This was overseas, and no US laws were broken.

Quoted: Quoted: [ These are all today's generation of high-schoolers. Tell me we're getting dumber. Tell me we're not as good as the previous generations were. The smart ones are getting smarter, yet the dumb ones are getting dumber.

Pic is right.

Oh Jeez.  Estes Rockets.  Discovering those was like going to heaven for boy.  The Enerjet "E" and "F" engines.  Now those were series.  Designed and prototyped a bazooka that ran with these monsters.  Duct taped it to a tree; never had the guts or lapse in judgement to shoulder fire it.  Also didn't have the whole collapsing fins thing down but it worked OK anyway.  My old man actually helped me with the build (ex airforce guy) and with the breechloading, firecracker powered zip-gun that fired those steel shot you use in wrist rockets.

No wonder I like guns as a grown up.  

I resemble most of that list too.

I'd have to include:

Never going out the door to play without a .22 or .410 along
Getting a nickel a cat to "thin the herd" from my grandpa
Having my mom break a broomstick over my back for sassing her (I was too big for her to spank and got to buy her a new broom to boot)
Getting ready to do stupid shit and my Dad, saying, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." and then watching.
Getting in a fist fight at shool and getting the board. No suspension or explusion. Hell, you really had to do something bad to have that happen
Being much more afraid of my parents finding out than getting in trouble with the cops
Being afraid of doing something because someone would tell my parents
Playing mumbly peg
Playing mumbly peg with a butter knife and throwing it clean through the next door kids leather shoe between two toes, no blood or broken skin. Except for both of our asses when our parents got through with us
Never interupting adults. Unless you had a death wish or something.
NEVER addressing an adult by their first name.
Having to answer the phone, "XXXX residence, Daniel speaking."

Quoted: Tell me we're getting dumber. Tell me we're not as good as the previous generations were.

Everybody I grew up with could make change without looking at a cash register. Plus they knew to count it back. A small minority of todays youth are incredibly gifted and intelligent. The rest are very much not so.

tag for later

I think it's grossly unfair to say today's kids are less intelligent or capable of innovation than we were.  Whether a person is a spoiled brat doesn't always make a bad adult, but it helps.  My ex's kids were a prime example.  They are both spoiled completely rotten and out of control, yet the one kid is a drop out and a slut, while the other is an honor roll student, who while not being a little saint, takes care of himself and does what he needs to do at his age to suceed.  He takes college prep type classes because he wants to, and struggles with homework while his friends are out drinking and being jackasses.

His sister couldn't even bother to go to school 10 hours a week yet is in my opinion equally as intelligent as her brother.  She is utterly incapable of doing anything for herself, refuses to work, get her drivers license (like she could afford a car anyway) or even do basic household chores.  I fear she thinks she will find a rich husband she can abuse and cheat on while he supports her.  I wish her all the luck in the world with that.

Overall though, during my time with these two, I found most of their friends to be decent kids and generally intelligent in some subject areas, providing their teacher wasn't "too retarded" and they found the subject matter interesting.

But, I have yet to find anyone under 25 who could properly identify the flag raising at Iwo Jima photo, or even which war it was taken in, let alone any of the "finer points", such as where or who they were or who they were fighting.

I suppose it makes it easier for the libtards to rewrite history if they don't bother teaching it though...

ETA:  +10000000 on the army men and lighter fluid thing!  I also tried the firecracker gun thing, but never had much luck with it.  It would jam with spent firecrackers all the time!  How about bringing home dead animals that we'd shot with our .22's so we could continue to use their carcasses for target practice.... while laying on top of the LP tank!!

Quoted: Oh Jeez.  Estes Rockets.  Discovering those was like going to heaven for boy.  The Enerjet "E" and "F" engines.  Now those were series.  Designed and prototyped a bazooka that ran with these monsters.  Duct taped it to a tree; never had the guts or lapse in judgement to shoulder fire it.  Also didn't have the whole collapsing fins thing down but it worked OK anyway.  My old man actually helped me with the build (ex airforce guy) and with the breechloading, firecracker powered zip-gun that fired those steel shot you use in wrist rockets. No wonder I like guns as a grown up.

We built an explosive-tipped rocket, had a mechanical detonator swtich inside the nose cone. Obvious problems were trajectory control and dealing with dangerous duds.

One 4' rocket did a 1000 yd trajectory and blew a hole through a 12" cement brick wall. That was after close to 40 trial runs with inert rockets, with the help of a former sapper guy who was a friend of my father's.

Again this was all overseas many years ago and violated no US laws.

I remember the 4th of July living in Brooklyn. Fireworks were illegal (except sparklers) but no one cared. We used to get a bunch of firecrackers, ashcans and cherry bombs (anyone else rememer the last two? I mean the REAL ones).  The kids and a bunch of dads with lit cigars (for the fuses) would walk along Brooklyn College field and have a grand time.
I totally agree about indoor vs. outdoor activity. Who wanted to be inside when you could play stickball on any deadend street. That's what we did after school, we went outside until dinnertime and played sports with our friends. Half the dumbass things I thought about but didn't do was because I was afraid of my parents finding out. There was no such thing as political correctness, just respect and we all thrived and survived.

I was a kid 50 years ago; talk about a difference!  New York City was a very different place in those days.  I'll honor the CoC and not elaborate further, though it does not alter the truth.  

Quoted: First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because . . WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back  when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found  them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.  They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS! Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

yo, been there done that and still going strong at 44 years of age

Quoted: I have to agree on one thing, we were all outside much more than todays kids.

my kids are outside quite often by order of their parents

Yeah, figured out the basics of an exploding warhead but again, lacked the lapse in judgement that would have let me try it out with no experience whatsoever in explosives or aerodynamics other than what I could figure out for myself.  The world book encyclopedia of the day had a pretty good diagram though and with a shotgun shell as the primer, a nail, a spring.  Well, you see where I was headed.  Trouble.  On rockets heading upward though, whole 'nother story.  We'd test them first with something inert since we knew moving the CG forward too much would make the event wayyyy more interesting than we had planned.

What is with kids and guns and bombs and fire?  It's like moths to a flame.  I had an ex whose sister's family would be described on this board as "libtards."  Nice enough but they were determined not to expose their kids to toy guns, knives, violent movies etc.  I was warned and appropriately circumspect around their house.  Didn't agree but it was their family, their kids and I respected that.  Well, the older boy, around 6 or 7 starts to have these all this interest in guns.  He's asking his parents about them, wants books, pictures, magazines, etc (this is all being relayed to me through the ex).  We're at a family gathering one time and and the mom says, "You know, IDK owns guns and likes to shoot them.  I'll bet he could answer some of your questions."  It was like watching the superbowl and telling him I played professional football.  I had his complete attention for the next 2 hours (which is a lot for a 6 year old.) He had about a million questions; smart questions like how does a muzzle-loader work, how do bullets work and so on.  THEN, he wants to see some guns, shoot some guns!  I said, "Well, you'll have to ask your mom"  Surprisingly she said it might be OK someday.  Heck, 6 was when I started shooting, supervised of course.  Didn't have video games so I had to settle for the real thing...

But boys and guns.  Can't keep 'em apart.  What is with that?

You don't see as many tree forts around anymore either.

Good old nostalgia. Just pick out all the worst things from the newest generation and whine about how much better some other generation was. In reality, it's the same as it's always been - some kids are smart, and some are dumb. The smart ones will find a way to succeed, and the dumb ones will find a way to fail. None of that has really changed for the last 5,000 years, and it isn't going to change now. Everything will be fine in the end, just sit back and watch us do things that nobody dreamed was possible 50 years ago.

Quoted: Quoted: [ These are all today's generation of high-schoolers. Tell me we're getting dumber. Tell me we're not as good as the previous generations were. The smart ones are getting smarter, yet the dumb lazy ones are getting dumberlazier.

It takes a lot of intelligence to avoid physical work.  If you know how to manipulate any system, you are intelligent.

Quoted: Candy cigarettes Chocolate cigarettes Cigar shaped gum They still make Big League Chew gum? Giant wax lips that are probably un-PC on some level Candy that looked like pills More toy guns than you could imagine.  That looked really real Johnny Eagle toy guns that fired all sorts of projectiles Tackle football with no pads, no helmet.  Shmear the queer was a recess favorite (Wrong on so many levels by todays standards...) Hardball with just a bat and a ball.  Traded mitts between innings since not everyone owned one but it was still OK to play if you didn't Generally, hurting other players was not a problem so long as it was an honest mistake Stiches.  Lots of stiches. Gun cabinets with glass doors Digging underground forts Making frighteningly unsafe modifications to go-carts and bikes Blowing things up, making bombs, plastic army men usually suffered some kind of napalm/lighter fluid attack. Bicycle motocross in barefeet and shorts Skitching behind cars in the winter How did we ever live to grow up?

Do you remember Pea Shooters? A big straw and a bag of dry green peas  

Pea Shooters?  Think they were a bit before my time but the "Our Gang" reruns after school always provided plenty of ideas for mayhem.  Between that and "Dennis the Menace", there was never a shortage of inventive ways to break things.  Once again. we'd look at the store bought versions then head off to the hardware store for some materials.  As I recall, Bic pens made great spit wad shooters.  Could also make mini blowguns out of them with tinfoil and toothpick tips.   Of course, there was the real blowgun I ordered out of the back of some gun magazine...  That thing was something else.  Broken off bits of paperclip made nasty projectiles when launched from a rubber band looped over your fingers.  Hit that blackboard with a *snap* that really made the substitutes jump!  

I remember there was this one over testosteroned kid.  You know the one; starts shaving in 5th grade?  Anyway, he spent one algebra class making the biggest composite spitwad (sort of a claymore of spitwads) we'd ever seen.  Think fist-sized.  Heaves that thing at the blackboad while Mr Menick was writing a formula. SMACK!!!  The teacher left it there the whole year as an example.  An example of what, other than a miracle of tenacity and juvenile engineering I'm not sure but the thing was as hard as adobe by the end of the year.  We used to state at it in awe and think, "I'm not worthy".

Christ we were rotten kids.  Nothing in the world could compell me to teach junior high.