Thursday, July 29, 2010

Captain Kirk vs Dick Tracy?


From Superboy #86 and January 1961, we have an Amazing Wrist Radio!
Of course, unlike Dick Tracy's 2-Way Wrist Radio and the wrist-banded Communicators from Star Trek TMP and STII, these were receive-only.
Don't you bet, though, that lots of kids PRETENDED, by talking into them?
And, what exactly is a "permanent germanium diode"? Well, according to http://www.reuk.co.uk/Germanium-Diodes.htm , they "are a very important component of most alternative energy generating systems" -- and lots of stuff like that. They're also pretty delicate. So you wonder how long these things would have lasted on the wrist of a kid on a set of monkey bars or riding through a meadow on his Schwinn Sting-Ray bike.
And speaking of pretending, one of my favorite pretend-spy things, when I could get it, was a simple spring-loaded measuring tape. I would pull out the tape about eight or ten inches, stick the tape straight up, and talk into the case like it was a walkie-talkie. Then I could sign off and hit the RETRACT button, making my "attenna" disappear automatically!
Now, THAT was cool!
PS a shout-out to Paul Howley for his kind words. Read through the links on the right-hand sidebar and check out his blog, "My Life with Comic Books."

2 comments:

  1. I so think YOU and my HUBBY would ummm be GREAT friends! just saying

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  2. Mark,
    Wow! Thanks for the Shout-Out to my overly-long blog!...My blog isn't as much "fun" as yours, but it is coming to some important events in my life pretty soon...I hope you keep reading it!...Paul

    ReplyDelete

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