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EXPLORER 12 

Day

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Moonbase Central!

geek salad miri

This week I thought of more random stuff.

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came across a small thin stretchy green snake toy or at least I thought it was one. It might have been one of those delicious sweet snakes we got at a penny chop but on closer inspection it was something entirely different - a sticky stretchy ninja chain, which I know from my Kung Fu past as a Kusarigami. Well I never, sticky ninja! Anyone got any sticky toys?

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The new UK school craze is a thing called fidget spinners. It used to be water bottle flipping but these finger spinners seem to have taken over. 

Essentially a trio of ball bearinged rings set in a plastic Y, kids sit in class spinning them on their fingers! Apparently it aids concentration! 

What do you think?

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Caught the Star Trek TOS episode Miri this week. It was an emotional drama on a new Earth where ageless children are dying of a strange disease. 

I noticed some of the kids were wearing toy US army helmets and US football helmets as shown here. Anyone recognise these toys and the brands?

Amazingly Miri was previously banned: on TV:

https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Four_Banned_Star_Trek_Episodes_in_the_UK

did you have any iron-on patches?

Did you have iron-on patches when you were a kid?

I loved those things and had them splattered all over my denim jacket.

I think my favourite was the peace sign.

There were so many in the early Seventies: peace, CND, keep on truckin. They were a must have item.

You can still get some patches in haberdashers and markets but I think the iron-on ship has sailed.

Did you have any readers?

japanese blog about ufo project sword rubbers

This a typically eclectic Japanese toy blog that I adore.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/divajoanne/tag/%E9%A7%84%E7%8E%A9%E5%85%B7

Within it is the first article I've found in Japanese about the Japanese UFO Project SWORD rubbers that I collect. At some point I will try to get it translated.

Interestingly some of the rubbers are of the less common transparent type.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/divajoanne/archives/1062313850.html

The Japanese blogger has also blogged about rubber hands.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/divajoanne/archives/1062387128.html

This may or may not shed light on the mysterious hand model number system found on the undercarriages of the UFO Project SWORD rubbers, which I vlogged about some time ago on You Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG0YD9_bsPg

A Lino childhood

When I was a kid in the sixties there was Lino everywhere.

It was a world of linoleum.

We had black and white chequered lino on the kitchen floor in our home growing up. It had little bumps in it where it had covered imperfections when it was laid. I dread to think what they could have been? Dried peas? Yorkshire puddings? Family members?

There was occasionally lino on top of things as well. Pieces were used like mats to work on although Formica had cornered the market for tables and work surfaces really. Lino was strictly flooring in the shops.

I got to lay my own lino floor when I took over the family cellar in the early Seventies. I converted it into a Kung fu dojo and lino was the perfect solution. I could cut it with a few flourishes of my samurai sword Stanley knife and cover all the dead woodlice and beetles in one neat run.

One of the best uses of lino was road testing die-cast cars. Whizzwheels and hot wheels would zoom forever down a cold shiny flat of linoleum. Whoosh! Super fast!

My life is now lino free sadly. I haven't seen any for years.

Was lino in your life readers?

fun at the marston house with luke and indy

I was thinking about my big Bro's old Aurora Adams Family House today. It was a fantastic kit, so fantastic I got myself a Polar Lights re-issue in the 1990's.

Thinking about that house made me think of other similar 'haunted' houses, not necessarily kits but from the big screen, specifically Bates' Motel and the Marston House in Salem's Lot.

Always one for a bit of fun I decided to have a go at sketching them before I looked at them online. They are sooo similar in my mind it was hard to even start!

This is my feeble attempt. Its really hard just from memory. They look the same in my addled brain! Have a go yourself before you click on mine and ONLY then check what they really look like online.

There is a musical version of this. Well, its a musical conundrum really and one you can get friends and family to have a go at.

What you have to do is hum the following theme tunes one after another:

Star Wars - Indiana Jones - Superman [70's Reeves version]

Again, have a go before you check. Its harder than it sounds!

major miss mason mystery miss 3

Who is this space lady?

THE DARK SHADOWS ON MY TABLE

My collection of old Dark Shadows and Gothic Romance paperback novels.

Do you collect books readers?