Bruce's Smorsasborg

 By Bruce Shawkey Anyone remember push-button transmissions? They were popular during the '50s and '60s in Chrysler cars, but Nash Rambler also had them for a while. Chrysler Chrysler famously used this system in many of their cars from 1956 to 1964, with other manufacturers like Packard and Edsel also experimenting with it. While initially innovative, the push-button system was ultimately replaced by more conventional shifters due to various factors, including perceived safety concerns and a shift in consumer preferences.  Chrysler Tranny on a Nash Rambler

 Some Costco History By Bruce Shawkey Time for another Costco run. This time to the Costco outside Verona. First off, lunch in the food court.  Quarter pound hot dog and a Pepsi for $1.50. Cheapest lunch around. The Costco hot dog was introduced in 1984, one year after Costco's opened in 1983. The original hot dog was made by Hebrew National, and was sold at a hot dog cart outside a Costco location in San Diego. The price was set at $1.50 at its introduction, and has remained at $1.50 ever since.  As of 2018, Costco sold a yearly average of 135 million hot dogs, more than every Major League Baseball stadium combined. Next, shopping for supplies, starting with the rotisserie chicken.  The chicken is one of the things Costco is famous for. Costco has been selling rotisserie chickens since 1994 when sales of rotisserie chicken started becoming popular at grocery stores. The cooked bird debuted at $4.99, which is the same affordable price tag it sports today. It's a loss...

 By Bruce Shawkey Johnson Smith Company was a mail-order business established in 1914 by Alfred Johnson Smith that sold novelty items and gag gifts such as miniature cameras, invisible ink, x-ray specs, whoopee cushions, fake vomit, and joy buzzers. Founded in Chicago, the company relocated to Racine, Wisconsin in 1923, to Detroit in the late 1930s, then to Bradenton, Florida in 1986. The company advertised in magazines devoted to children and young adults such as Boys' Life, Popular Mechanics, and Science Digest. Their ads appeared on the back cover of many historically significant comic books, including Action Comics #1, June 1938 (first appearance of Superman) and Detective Comics #27, May 1939 (first appearance of Batman). I found a 1951 catalog of theirs on the Internet Archive, and it is a hoot. Here is the cover: I've ordered a few things from them; nothing expensive. I was always great fun to browse their catalog. Here is a link to their complete catalog . It takes a wh...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting book on the Internet. Published in 1880, it is 550 pages of the author's interpretation of how ancient Egyptians lived, what they ate, and so forth. Here's small sample of the chapter headings: Vases of various Kinds—Boxes of the Toilet and others, Preparation for Dinner Table brought in, Guests seated at Dinner, Figure of a dead Man brought in Dancing and Entertainments, Various Games, Dwarfs, Wrestling, Fighting with Sticks  Arts and Manufactures Glass, Linen, Dyeing—Rope-making, Papyrus, Leather-cutters, Potters, Cabinet-makers and Carpenters, Makers of Chariots and Coffins, Coopers  Boats, Tin and other Metals Gold Mines —Gold Working and Gilding. A sample of the illustrations How anyone could tell how and what the Egyptians ate, slept, wrestled, made Papyrus, is beyond me. Seems to me it takes a fair amount of speculation on the author's part. Well, it makes for fun reading, anyway.

 By Bruce Shawkey Of all the museums in Washington, D.C., I like the National Museum of American History the most. Construction of the National Museum of American History began in the late 1950s, and opened to the public in January 1964. They regularly feature something of interest on their website, and here are some of their past and present  exhibits.   Edison's talking machine In 1877 Thomas Edison invented the first device to ever record and play back sound. Soundwaves captured by a mouthpiece caused a stylus attached to a diaphragm to move up and down, making indentations on a sheet of tinfoil wrapped around a rotating drum. In playback, the stylus traced those indentations, causing the diaphragm to recreate a recognizable version of the original sound. Edison’s “talking machine” was a public sensation. It -- not the light bulb -- earned him the moniker “Wizard of Menlo Park.” Americans first read about the device in the papers, but soon witnessed it f...

Throughout his long and varied career, pioneer and visionary Ted Nelson investigated technical possibilities of all kinds.  He checked reader service cards from magazines in a wide variety of industries, unleashing torrents of further information on products, services and academic research.  Companies large and small, ranging from large names like IBM and Burroughs to short-lived startups, sent their brochures, catalogs and flyers-- mailings from aerospace, engineering, print/publishing and many examples of documentation from the early days of computing. After looking, Dr. Nelson threw these in cartons, which have survived by accident. These items are now being scanned in and presented for browsing at the Internet Archive. Whether for nostalgia, reference or research, this collection gives deep insight into the self-image and language of many companies, as well as the visual style of many long-lost aspects of the 20th century's industries. To see the archive, click here .