Bruce's Smorsasborg

By Bruce Shawkey Here is an early IKEA catalog from 1950, long before the company came to the United States. The catalog's language is in Swedish. The written part on the cover roughly translate to English as follows, using Google's language converter: Go ahead - here it is!  Each new price list, which we hereby submit, this time contains a significantly increased number of articles. Size and scope it cannot be compared with the distinguished catalogues, which you may also, but do us the favor of looking through it and comparing our prices with others in the market.  The past year has brought us more than 10,000 new customers, an outstanding success, made possible by good goods at the absolute lowest prices, solid treatment and our customers' trust.  To those of you who are receiving our price list for the first time: Give us a sample order, so that you can convince yourself that our offers are the most favorable that anyone can make. If you are not fully satisfied, you w...

 By Bruce Shawkey The Secret of Life is a 1998 song by Faith Hill. One of the secrets, she says, is a good cup of coffee. Just for giggles, I asked ChatGPT what makes a good cup of coffee. Here's what it had to say: A good cup of coffee can be a delightful ritual! Here are a few elements that contribute to making it just right: 1. Quality Beans Fresh, high-quality coffee beans are key. Single-origin beans are often more flavorful, and they should ideally be freshly roasted. The roast level (light, medium, or dark) depends on personal preference. 2. Proper Grind The grind size matters based on the brewing method. For example, a coarse grind works well for French press, while a fine grind is best for espresso. 3. Water Quality Use filtered water, as impurities in tap water can affect the taste of the coffee. The water-to-coffee ratio also plays a role in extracting the best flavors. 4. Brewing Method Different brewing methods can significantly alter the coffee experience: Pour-over: ...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting medical supply catalog from 1915. They offered supplies to perform "cupping," which is still in practice today.  Cupping is a traditional healing technique that uses suction to treat pain and other conditions. A therapist places cups on the skin to create suction, which pulls the skin upward. The cups are heated or manually pumped to create suction. The cups are then left on the skin for several minutes.  There are two types of cupping:  Dry cupping: The skin is not pierced.  Wet cupping: The skin is pierced to allow blood to flow into the cup. More cupping and leeching equipment from a 1917 catalog.

By Bruce Shawkey Ran across this thought-provoking article on the Bored Panda website about life lessons often learned too late.  Be careful of who you vent to at work. Just because they listen or show some empathy, it doesn't mean that they're your friend or have your best interests at heart. OK, I'm retired, so this really doesn't apply to me at this juncture of my life. But I get it. Many is the time I've vented to a co-worker, and it's come back to bite me in the ass. Working harder than everyone else only means the boss will load you down with even more work. Again, I'm retired, but I can related as a former salaried employee. As the one with no kids, I was the one who was always asked (and expected) to stay late to meet a deadline (or whatever) while the co-workers with kids got to go home on time or even early. HR ain't your friend. Boy, ain't it the truth. After all, they're looking out for the company, not you. People care much less abou...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this 1965 Heathkit catalog on the Internet Archives. One of the more ambitious projects you could order was this Thomas "Coronado" electronic organ.  Here's the description from the catalog: Every organ feature you've ever dreamed of! Just look what you create on this superb instrument! 1) 17 True Organ Voices ... Diapason 16' & 8'. Bass Clarinet 16', English Horn 8', Violin 8', Oboe 8', Bourdon 16', Flute 8', Flute D'Amour 4', Quint 51/2', Saxophone 8', French Horn 8', Cello 8' and Chimes ... all at the simple touch of a tab!  2) 2 Separate Speaker Systems ... a built-in 2-speed rotating Leslie plus two 12" Main speakers. With the Leslie system you create the beauty of a full "theatre" organ, or the rich randomness of sound adaptable for religious music. And by playing both systems at once, you produce an exciting "stereo" effect. 3) 28 Notes Of Chimes ... wor...

 By Bruce Shawkey Paladin Press was a book publishing firm founded in 1970 by Peder Lund and Robert K. Brown. The company published non-fiction books and videos covering a wide range of specialty topics, including personal and financial freedom, survivalism and preparedness, firearms and shooting, various martial arts and self-defense, military and police tactics, investigation techniques, spying, lockpicking, sabotage, revenge, knives and knife fighting, explosives, and other "action topics" (though the availability of books on topics like improvised explosives was severely curtailed in recent years). Sometimes described as the "most dangerous publisher in the world", it was sued over several murders connected to one of its books, and ceased operations in January 2018. The company's library of media remains largely intact, thanks to the Internet Archives. You can find them at https://archive.org/details/paladin_press.  From the Paladin library:

 By Bruce Shawkey Anyone who is into gadgets and neat inventions that were ahead of their time has to appreciate Leonardo DaVinci. A single page from his various journals, especially those with his drawings, is darned near priceless. A 1980 auction of one of his notebooks went for $5 million in 1980. The buyer was none other than Bill Gates. I found a source on the Internet that shows several pages for free. The address is here: https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collections_Of_CODICES/Codex%20Atlanticus%20-%20Leonardo%20Da%20Vinci/page/n9/mode/2up. Here are a few images from the notebook.

 By Bruce Shawkey One of my favorite movies is The Road to Wellville, starring, among others, Anthony Hopkins. It is based on the book by the same title, by author T. Coraghessan Boyle. The book, and subsequent movie, detail the health consciousness craze, as reflected in the whacky goings-on in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the clinic run by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of cornflakes.   The 1994 film stars Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda, John Cusack, and Dana Carvey, among others. The treatments are crazy, and the food served at the clinic is vegetarian, and guests are treated to daily enemas as part of their regimen.  One of the treatments they supposedly performed was to wrap the patient in white linen soaked in water and let him or her "simmer" for a couple of hours. It actually helped to leach out the mercury that many had ingested that was contained in some tonics that people took to "cure" other ailments. When the linens were unwr...