From the readers: Talking letters, shrimp recipes and airline history

It's been way too long since the last From the Readers roundup, so let's dive right in...

Let's get the whole gang together for a picture: Jim Fahringer writes: "Taking the line from the popular TV series 'If Walls Could Talk' -- 'If Pictures Could Only Talk'. Actually technology has brought us to the point of talking pictures. Perhaps, if the world survives 100 years from now that the people viewing our current pictures will have the benefit of hearing the voices of the people in the picture and learning about them. But, then again, wouldn't that take much of the joy and imagination away from those of us who love to look at old pictures and allow our minds free reign to imagine the stories behind the people in these pictures."

Need More Chemicals? (Maybe this is how Walter White got his start): Anonymous writes: "Yes, I used an A.C. Gilbert chemistry set. I requested it as a Christmas present about fourth grade in the late 1950s. I had an A.C. Gilbert biology set first."

Phonic Talking Letters from 1941: Dorothy Ross writes: "I was taught to read with these cards. At the time the preferred teaching method was the 'look-say' model which was primarily memorizing words and word parts. My mom subverted that by using these to teach me to read with phonics. I started reading at age 3."

Postcard featuring a much safer way for a child to ride an animal: Anonymous writes: "The SV would refer to the "Sons of Veterans" a creation of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). It's now known as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War."

Halloween Countdown #8: Rather unappetizing shrimp dish: Weez writes: "It needs garlic and olive oil and maybe some crushed red pepper flakes. Throw out everything except the shrimp and add some wine and linguini. There. All fixed. You're welcome!"

Early Delivery: Old photo of a child, woman and dog: Anonymous writes: "Could it be the other way around? The child looks poor. Maybe she's handing day-old bread to him?"

December 1981 boarding pass for Nigeria Airways: The folks at the @NigeriaAirways Twitter account write: "Thanks for this great post. The Christmas rush phenomenon was already well established in the booming and then rapidly growing domestic as well as international services, when many Nigerians typically travel to their home cities and towns for the Christmas holidays. WT110 is not a gate but the flight number and is probably a Lagos to Port Harcourt flight, which typically departed from the the old Ikeja Airport terminal or the General Aviation Terminal."

Postcrossing card featuring vintage illustration of Game of the Goose: Bonnie Jeanne (aka PostMuse) writes: "I have not heard of such a game, but I suspect my grandchildren would sit me down and want to play it, on the postcard, if they ever got such a Postcrossing card (all four grandkids, ages 1-6, have accounts). Speaking of games ... here is a link to a new one (Robot Turtles) that teaches little ones how to code. And this kind of code is the kind more likely to be found in a Neil Stephenson novel than Dan Brown. Stephenson's one of my all-time favorite authors."