Bruce's Smorsasborg

 By Bruce Shawkey Electric and hybrid cars are all the rage right now with high gas prices and green house gasses causing global warming and all that. I myself have owned two Toyota Prii (Toyota says this is the official plural of Prius) hybrids, not necessarily because I wanted to save the environment, but because of the good gas mileage, and Toyota's renowned reliability. We tend to forget that electric cars are nothing new; in fact they were around even before gasoline engine powered cars.  The first recorded instance of an electric vehicle dates back to the mid-1800s.  In the 1830s,  Scottish inventor Robert Anderson developed a rudimentary electric carriage. However, these early inventions were limited by the primitive batteries at the time, which were unable to store sufficient energy for practical use. The real potential for electric cars emerged with the invention of the rechargeable battery by French physicist Gaston Planté in 1859. Planté's lead-acid batter...

 By Bruce Shawkey I have been a fan of magic ever since I was a kid of 11 or 12. I did tricks like the old cup and balls, the mysterious floating ball, escape from the chain and lock around the wrists, etc. I even made myself disappeared in Times Square one time into a magic shop, much to the chagrin of my parents. I'm also a fan of the big-name magicians of today ... David Copperfield, Chris Angel, David Blaine, Penn & Teller, Shin Lim (from America's Got Talent) and more. Of course, the magician everyone thinks of is Harry Houdini (left), who performed daring escapes in the early 1900s to huge audiences He was born Erik Weisz in Hungary and spent part of his childhood in Appleton, Wis. before moving to New York. But long before Houdini, there was a magician by the name of Hyman Saunders, a traveling magician who performed in the U.S. in the mid to late 1700s. His signature routine was to fry German pancakes in borrowed hats. But he did other amazing tricks, includin...

 By Bruce Shawkey In 2007, Gwen and I made a trip out East that included a few days in New York City. I wanted to eat at Delmonico's, having recently finished "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr. The restaurant is mentioned no fewer than 18 times in the novel, and I wanted to experience it. I think the tab was well over $100, but worth it. Here is the entry from my journal: I wanted to have dinner at Delmonico’s, so I asked the hotel concierge at the Affinia about this, and he told us there were probably a half dozen steakhouses in Manhattan that had better steaks. But I told him that this was a destination experience for Gwen and me (me in particular) so he went ahead and made the reservation for us at 6 p.m. Luckily we got in because that's a very early dining time by NY standards. We cabbed down to the financial district and caught a glimpse of the "bull" at Broadway and Wall Street, which Gwen had wanted to see on Friday but couldn't for lack of energy. The...

 By Bruce Shawkey Poor Richard's Almanack (sometimes spelled Almanac) was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of "Poor Richard." The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758. It sold exceptionally well for a pamphlet published in the Thirteen Colonies; print runs reached 10,000 per year. Franklin, the American inventor, statesman, and accomplished publisher and printer, achieved success with Poor Richard's Almanack. Almanacks were very popular books in colonial America, offering a mixture of seasonal weather forecasts, practical household hints, puzzles, and other amusements. Found this 1914 edition of the 1739 almanac in the archives of a California library. It was not unusual to find Franklin's almanacs reprinted for novelty purposes. The 62 page booklet begins with a biography of Franklin's extraordinary life. Here is a snippet: After an absence from America of nine years, Franklin returned to a royal recepti...

 By Bruce Shawkey The story of the Green Lantern, as told from their website: Legend has it, over a century ago, on the beautiful shores of Lake Waubesa, a wooden structure stood that housed blocks of ice that the locals cut by hand…tons of ice. When the ice was cut & ready to transport to Chicago, the proprietor waved a “Green Lantern” near the train tracks that still runs behind the restaurant, to signal the train’s conductor to stop and pick up the ice. Today, that wooden structure still stands on the shores of Lake Waubesa and cools and soothes thirsty and hungry patrons. From surf & turf, to soups & salads, breakfast, lunch, dinner & late night. See why we’re the place to be, and be seen at, on Lake Waubesa. The Green Lantern, or the Greenie as the locals call us. The coolest place on Lake Waubesa, since the ice age. ------------------------------------------------ Good food and drink at reasonable prices. Can't beat it.

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting cookbook in the online Boston Public Library, titled "The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book." Published in 1909, it lists recipes for 400 different kinds of sandwiches, some truly bizarre by today's standards. Mutton and pea, anyone? Headcheese (see footnote)? English walnut and fig? The author is Eva Greene Fuller. I can find no further information about her. Apparently, this is the only book she ever authored. But I would dare say she is the Queen of Sandwiches. Puts my PB&J and bologna sandwiches I used to carry to school for lunch to shame. The forward to the book stresses the importance of using good bread. I agree. "Wonder Bread" and other forms of cheap white bread have no business in the making of a fine sandwich. I remember cheap white bread was referred to "slimy white slice" by Jennifer Paterson of the "Two Fat Ladies" cooking show that aired on the Cooking Channel from 1996 to 1999 (God, I miss ...

  By Bruce Shawkey One of the scariest movies I saw as a youngster was "The "Time Machine," a 1960 movie starring Rod Taylor and a very sexy Yvette Mimieux, playing Weena, one of the Eloi, a peaceful race of people in the distant dystopian future (the year 802,701) where Rod Taylor travels to in his time machine. I was particularly frightened by the Morlocks, who feed on the Eloi.  The movie is based on the 1895 novel by H. G. Wells. The Library of Congress has a 1922 edition of the novel, published by H. Holt & Co. The Morlocks (right) received only scant mention in Wells' novel, but are seen more frequently in the movie to add greater drama and horror.  The movie received the Academy Award for Best Special Effects for its time-lapse photographic effects, which show the world changing rapidly as the time traveler (Rod Taylor) journeys into the future aboard his time machine.  Yvette Mimieux (left) was only 18 years old (born 1942) when she appeare...

 By Bruce Shawkey Twenty-two-year-old George Williams, a farmer-turned-department store worker, founded the YMCA in London in 1844. He joined 11 friends to organize the first Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), a refuge for young men seeking escape from the hazards of life on the streets. The organization flourished, and traveled across the pond to America, where YMCA's were founded in most every major American city. I was introduced to the the "Y" in Madison, Wis., by my mom, who was looking for a cheaper alternative to baby sitters during the summer months when I was off from school. The director's name was Jim Schomer, and he soon had me signed up for a variety of activities. I learned to swim at the "Y," and shoot a bow and arrow, though I was never good at it. We took numerous field trips; I remember one in particular to the Cave of the Mounds, in Blue Mounds, Wis., where I bought my first pocket knife in the gift shop. We ate sack lunches in ...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting article on handwriting analysis in a 1900 book contained in the Smithsonian's library, titled "Everybody's Book of Luck" filled with information on several forms of "pseudoscience" including palm reading, head bumps, and dream interpretation. The book was published by Whitman Publishing out of Racine, Wis. No author credit is listed. I chose to highlight the chapter on handwriting analysis because I once had my handwriting analyzed by a professional "graphologist" as part of a college foray into the liberal arts. She analyzed my handwriting after about a 15-minute "chat" where she asked me some very leading questions. I suspect her analysis was then based more on my answers than my actual handwriting. The session with the woman was was a "freebie," I think she normally charged about $100 for a session. Here is the article: YOUR HANDWRITING REVEALS YOUR CHARACTER Your handwriting is you; d...

 By Bruce Shawkey Another trip to Costco with Dawn and Carl. Between the three of us, we drop a C-note, including a hot dog and soda lunch. We each get a rotisserie chicken, some bakery items, and laundry detergent. I get a 5-pound stock of frozen raw hamburger patties, and we decide to split a whole watermelon. Back at home, I cut up the watermelon, and dissect the chicken. It was very busy in the store, with the kids being off from school for summer break and parents being off from work for the July 4th holiday. Costco still had big packs of fireworks for sale. The usual assortment of hawkers were there, selling cell phones and cable subscriptions. I don't know what else I can say about Costco, having written about them several times before, both in this blog and my daily journal. I've been a member now for five or so years and feel I have always gotten my money's worth, whether here or in Florida. I even booked a cruise one year through them, and got a couple of Costco g...

 By Bruce Shawkey One of my childhood memories is of the Little Golden Books, stored at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Lodi, Wis. They were always available to read, any time I was in the mood. One of those is pictured at left, with the Looney Tunes caricature of Bugs Bunny. These books involved the cooperation of many entities, including Disney, Warner Brothers, and Simon and Shuster Publishers, among others. The books were originally priced at 25 cents when they first came out during WWII.  I still have a collection of about 12 Little Golden Books, but this particular one, Bugs Bunny and the Indians, is my favorite. It is so politically incorrect, that it could never be published today, but it is quite complimentary toward Indians and puts them in a favorable light, on a par with the cowboys that Bugs associates with in the story. One of the cowboys is even an Indian. The story ends with the Indians (excuse me, Native Americans) trading goods for Bug's six guns (actually wat...

By Bruce Shawkey A few days ago, I found this neat website, https://web.archive.org/ . It claims to have archived more than 866 billion web pages (and growing every day). I searched for my old website, brucesvintagewatches.com, and sure enough it came up. The website was created to counteract the annoying phenomenon that web pages and web sites are so ethereal and disappear so fast. They are running into copyright trouble, but I hope they survive (they are non-profit). In 1996 Brewster Kahle realized the cultural significance of the Internet and the need to record its history. As a result, he founded the Internet Archive which collects and "permanently stores" the Web's digitized content. We'll see just how "permanent' it is. They are already soliciting for funds, much the same way Wikipedia is. Here's what  Wikipedia says about the Internet Archive: The Internet Archive is an American nonprofit digital library founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle. It provid...

 By Bruce Shawkey There are probably few products more maligned and simultaneously praised than Hormel's Spam. It has come to mean junk email in the Internet parlance. It was famously spoofed in the Kevin Costner movie "Waterworld," where it was renamed "Smeat," after Hormel was rumored to cite copyright infringement. Of course, we all knew what the movie was talking about!  Hormel introduced Spam in 1937 and it gained popularity worldwide after its use during World War II. It requires no refrigeration until it's opened.  As of 2023, Hawaii is the number-one consumer of Spam, eating about 7 million cans of Spam per year, or about five cans per person annually. Spam is so ingrained in Hawaiian culture that it's considered part of the island's history and heritage. The popularity of Spam in Hawaii can be traced back to World War II, when it was served to GIs and became a popular meal with fried Spam and rice. Spam can be found in many Hawaiian dishes, ...