Bruce's Smorsasborg

 By Bruce Shawkey This is a great book, chronicling our country's love of cars and travelling by car over the decades. The book starts at dawn of affordable car transportation when Henry Ford perfected the Model T and assembly line production,  changing transportation forever. This single car alone gave people freedom, spurred new industries (gas stations, mechanics, etc.), and started to influence city planning. It's estimated over 15 million Model T cars were produced between 1908 and 1927.  During WWII, there was little happening on the consumer front, because all effort was devoted to the war effort. Consumers were left with buying used cars, and of course you had the added headaches of gas rationing.  During World War II, the American consumer car market essentially ceased to exist as auto manufacturers completely shifted production to military vehicles like tanks, trucks, and airplanes, meaning there were virtually no new civilian cars available for purchase, and existing

  By Bruce Shawkey One of my favorite TV shows growing up was The Man From UNCLE It starred American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) and Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly, They made toy guns based on the series (there's one on eBay in mint condition with orginal packaging listed for $1,000), and playing cards. Today, you can buy and all sorts of DVD sets. And of course this book shown at left. I got one for Christmas from Sears, and I cost around $10. The book features new stories (i.e., separate from the TV show) of UNCLE written by Michael Avellone, copyright 1965.  The stories read like pulp fiction. There is usually at least one beautiful girl in every story, as there was on every TV episode. The villain is always THRUSH trying to take over the world. The backdrop is the Cold War with Russia. McCallum went on to co-star in NCIS. He passed away in September 2023 at age 90 Robert Vaughn's career in film, television and theater

 By Bruce Shawkey Here is a brochure for a 1961 Citroen 2CV car. The 1961 Citroën 2CV was a lightweight, inexpensive, and fuel-efficient car with a front engine and rear-wheel drive. It was known for its simplicity, robustness, and low maintenance requirements. Here are some details about the 1961 Citroën 2CV. Design The 2CV was designed by Pierre Jules Boulanger, Flaminio Bertoni, and André Lefebvre, and the first prototype was completed in 1937. The car was originally criticized, but demand quickly grew.  Features The 2CV had a three-gear gearbox with overdrive, a centrifuge clutch, and stamped steel body panels. It was also known for its unusual concept and idiosyncratic features, such as a leather strip that served as a gas gauge.  Fuel efficiency The original model could achieve 40 miles per gallon.  The 2CV was in production until 1981 and became a fashionable cult object and icon of French motor industry history.  The car has appeared in several movies, including For Your Eyes O

https://archive.org/details/homesteading-survival-manuals/boyscout%20cookbook%20PDF/page/n11/mode/2up 

 By Bruce Shawkey Moody's Musical Museum was a roadside attraction located in McGregor, Iowa that featured a collection of mechanical pianos, orchestrations, and other musical instruments. The museum included a saloon player piano, hand organ, calliope, mechanical player harp, and a mechanical bird that sang. It also featured "The Wild Wild West in Wax" and "Sam" the Mechanical Man playing the Honky Tonk piano.  In the late 1960s, the museum's owner, Mr. Moody, moved the collection to Arizona, and the museum is no longer there. Our family visited the museum several times during its final years of operation in conjunction with trips to McGregor. 

 By Bruce Shawkey Does anyone use shorthand anymore? Turns out yes, it's still an essential tool for many secretaries, especially those who are executive secretaries. It's still taught, using the time-tested "Gregg" system. My mom was a secretary and was pretty fluent. Here is a sample page from a book titled "5,000 most-used shorthand forms." Not surprisingly, the most common words stenographers use are, "the," "and,"  "a," "be," and "all." Here is the symbol for "a": Shorthand was invaluable for business records before stenography machines, dictation machines, typewriters, recorders, and personal computers. Gregg shorthand was invented by John Robert Gregg in 1888.

 By Bruce Shawkey Here are the new Nash Ramblers for 1956, my birth year, as reported by Popular Mechanics magazine.  Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until the '70s founded by  former General Motors president Charles W. Nash. Their most famous car was arguably was the Rambler, built in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Innovations by Nash included the introduction of an automobile heating and ventilation system in 1938 that is still used today, unibody construction in 1941, seat belts in 1950, a U.S.-built compact car in 1950, and an early muscle car (the Healy, left) in 1957. In 1936, Nash introduced the "Bed-In-A-Car" feature, (right)  which converted the car's interior into a sleeping compartment. The rear seatbacks were hinged to go up, allowing the back seat cushion to be propped up into a level position. This also created an opening between the passenger compartment and the trunk. Two adults could sleep in the

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this amusing cookbook on the Internet sponsored by the makers of "Magic Baking Powder," published in in Canada in 1930. Multiple recipes for pancakes, including buckwheat, buttermilk, and breadcrumb pancakes.

By Bruce Shawkey  War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897. It is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between humankind and an extraterrestrial race. It is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon. The book is banned in many libraries due to its violence and suggestion (in particular Christian schools) that there might be life beyond earth.  The book has been made into a very famous radio adaptation, played by Orson Wells (below) and the Mercury Players on Halloween 1938 that created nationwide panic and made headlines in many newspapers across the country (right). Many movie adaptations have been made, starting in 1953, then 1958, 1975, 1988, and more. The term "Martian" first became popular in 1893 after the publication of A Voyage to Other Worlds by Reverend Wladyslaw Lach Szyrma. In the book, Martians were described as vegetarian, nine feet tall, and having a lion-l