Clever Clogs Competition

[Martin Thoene]

This one's a classic. These two ads show how fishkeeping has changed in 60 odd years.

For the uninitiated, 7 gns means 7 pounds and 7 shillings, which in modern UK pounds would mean 7 pounds and about 30p!



Cool! No water changes? Must get some plants
Interesting to see that Canada was producing fish food, presumably pre-war too.

Martin.

[Graeme Robson]

Classic!

Literally.

[Mad Duff]

Maybe the Radio-active food made your glowlights brighter

[Martin Thoene]

Har-de-har!

Maybe it was imported from Japan....ooooooh!

Martin.

[Mark Janssen]

but i was the first who said 1946

the reason i made the search is because i'm an information analist (and other stuff i've learnd in my years of education). just have to brush up my english a lot more and in specific the writing skills....

and as a loache keeper your driven to find information since most stuff isn't deliverd on a silver platter if you want to know more about the fish we keep (Well the new site with all the new profiles isnt silver but a platinum platter)

[helen nightingale]

but i was the first who said 1946

Aahh but Mark, technically you said prior to 1946, and then i came along and stole your answer, and then Adam travelled home via the A47 and then back down to hampshire to shout "is it 1946?" to Martin, who is too old to have heard me, and Fleet is just that bit closer to Toronto than Scarning

have you turned the visual hearing aid on yet Martin? see what sort of a competitive crowd we are - you have started a punch up over who has won nothing

[Mark Janssen]

it's not nothing since immatarial "nothing" divers from material "nothing"

and being a first to awser a question from a "too old visual hearing aid needing man" still means a lot for us LoL crowd

[sophie]

information analist

can I have this as part of my CV?
please?
prettyplease???

[Martin Thoene]

Oi! Enough of the doddering old deaf fart stuff....here quite clearly on page 149, paragraph 7, it quite clearly states.....

"No competitor may make reference about the adjudicator's age and its relationship to cognitive function."

Mark Janssen is absolutely correct that he mentioned 1946 first, but he did not specifically state "It is 1946", therefore I have to disregard that mention and award the non-prize to Adam for making a specific statement.

However, Mark is also correct that an immaterial "nothing" differs from a material "nothing". It is in fact a double-negative and therefore "something".

So after rechecking my data and conferring with my assistants (an otherwize unemployed Botia dario and a particularly gifted Algae wafer), I am awarding the "nothing" to Adam and Mark Janssen receives an honourable mention and "something"......something ethereal.

Sophie: I think that would be cool on your CV. What does that mean? One who takes information and analizes it? We used to call that a "Discus Keeper"

Martin.

[The Kapenta Kid]

What is striking is how fantastically expensive tropical fishkeeping was in those days, at least if you bought your equipment from a store, and then there was little alternative.
The average industrial wage in UK was abt 6 pounds a week in 1946 and is about 600 pounds per week today. That makes it easy to translate those old prices into today's terms, in terms of spending power. Just multiply by 100.
A heater at 12/6d becomes £62
A thermostat at 25 bob becomes £125
A glass syphon at half a crown becomes £12.50
Even a 'glass tank suitable for a small aquarium' 14"x11"x16" comes in at 30/- i.e. £150.
The seven guinea special is of course £735
If you want US$ figures just double the pound figures. For Can$ the factor is closer to 2,2X.
When did you last pay $130 for a heater and then another $250 for a thermostat to control it??

[Mark Janssen]

analist is i dutch word and in simple english its indeed analyze...

[sophie]

I was, like, so wrong about the typeface...

[Martin Thoene]

Sophie.....I use the dancing banana a lot in my posts.

Can you see this one?



Time for new specs

Martin.

[sophie]

pink elephants?

I have new specs.
they are insanely expensive and i have insured them

[Martin Thoene]

That's absolutely font-astic!

Martin.