Bruce's Smorsasborg

 From an NPR article: The art of letter writing is not dead Rachel Syme, a New Yorker staff writer, learned that during the early days of the pandemic. Longing for human connection, she asked her followers on social media if anyone wanted to be her pen pal. "I got 300 responses," she says. She couldn't possibly write to everyone, so she created a letter-exchanging program called PenPalooza to "connect all these people to one another." It now has more than 10,000 members. Those efforts kickstarted a letter-writing routine that Syme says continues to bring her great joy. "I'm constantly being surprised by what shows up in my mailbox. Creative expressions, intimacies, honesty and beautiful writing." They also inspired her to write Syme's Letter Writer: A Guide to Modern Correspondence, published in January. The book offers tips on how to find a penpal and write a delightful dispatch — and includes letters from famous writers like Octavia Butler an...

By Bruce Shawkey Thousands and thousands of books are viewable and downloadable from the Internet Archive. I found a rich vein of old medical books from the National Library of Medicine, and here a few: What You Should Tell Your Girl, by Edmond Thomas, published in 1914. Deals with topics mothers should discuss with their daughters, ranging from playing with dolls, to avoid being lured into the white slave (i.e., prostitution) trade:  The  amazing  record  in  the  daily  press  of  cases  of  the disappearance of young girls, of the operations  of  the  so-called  white-slave activity, and similar  instances,  make it plain that the problem before u will never be solved for society until it is solved in every individual family. The Chiropractor,  by D.D. Palmer, published in 1914, discusses the moral and religious duties of a chiropractor, as well as the science itself, purported to cure everythin...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this interesting booklet on the 'Net, "What TV Repairs Should Cost." I guess so consumers wouldn't get ripped off if their TV sets went blank. The booklet starts out: " For better or worse, the television set is the focal point of much family entertainment today, and if your family is typical, you probably spend a good deal of time in front of it. When the screen goes blank, you place a hurry-up call to the serviceman. When he gets there, you nervously watch him work, hoping the bill won’t be too high, that you won’t be overcharged for whatever it is that he is doing. But without technical know-how, you can’t be sure whether or not you’re being “taken.” Here's what the booklet says you should pay: For the service call: $3 to $10, with the average being $5; Installing a resistor or capacitor may cost $1, while installing a new tuner may run $12.50 to $15: Tubes: anywhere from $1.50 to $5.75, excluding the picture tube, of course.  The b...

  By Bruce Shawkey I have fond memories of these quintessential gifts from Wisconsin, They were especially plentiful and promoted around Christmas time. There were two big purveyors of these gift boxes in my area: Swiss Colony in Monroe, and and the Wisconsin Cheeseman in Sun Prairie. After Christmas, both places would hold a huge sale of their surplus cheeses, sausages, gift boxes, and so forth. Swiss Colony had one treat in particular I loved ... their Dobish tortes, a famous Hungarian torte, typically a multi-layered cake with layers of cake and filling.

By Bruce Shawkey Women of the War is a 1918 book that chronicles the many contributions of women during war time, from nurses and doctors, to officers, working for the British armed forces during WWI. It is evident that Britain was much more inclusive of women in the armed forces than America was. We had nurses, of course, but the idea of soldiers and officers was incomprehensible to America, and to some extent remains so to this day. Take the case of Miss Agnes Borthwick (right). No woman's work more directly furthered the war than her's when, within  one  year rose to  the unique  position — for  a  woman — of works manager in  a  great  munition factory. When  Miss  Borthwick  sees  the  trains  laden  with ammunition steaming out of the factory straight for Southampton, she  must  feel  with  justifiable  pride that she and her 4,00 girls are working for the country  as...

   

Theodor Holm Nelson (born June 17, 1937) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher, and sociologist. He coined the terms hypertext and hypermedia in 1963 and published them in 1965. According to a 1997 Forbes profile, Nelson "sees himself as a literary romantic, like a Cyrano de Bergerac, or 'the Orson Welles of software'. I have downloaded numerous junk mail documents from his website, including: * a Wisconsin cheese catalog; * What TV repairs should cost; * an American Motors catalog; * Car or Coffin; Which One Do You Drive?  (talks about safe driving; not about any particular make/model of car) * Man's World Gallery of Gifts; to name a few.

 By Bruce Shawkey Bell and Howell is a United States brand of cameras, lenses, and motion picture machinery. It was originally founded as a company in 1907, and headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company was acquired by Böwe Systec in 2003. Since 2010, the brand name has been licensed for a variety of consumer electronics products. Before Mailmobile, the handling of internal mail and paper was the weakest link in the otherwise super-productive chain of modern office equipment. Now, with Mailmobile, many companies are finally getting the maximum return on investment from people, computers, duplicating and word processing centers. And they're saving thousands of dollars each year in the process. Mailmobile is an unmanned, self-propelled vehicle that follows an invisible chemical guidepath. It automatically stops at any designated points along its path to pick up and deliver mail, word and data processing materials, photocopies, office supplies and more.  Mailmobile makes i...

 By Bruce Shawkey The modern printing press has changed little since its creation in the late 19th Century. It made possible the widespread availability of newspapers. It also spawned a whole slewof idioms, the most famous of which is "Stop the presses." an exclamation when significant information is discovered.  Another is "Extra, extra, read all about it." shouted by newspaper boys to sell newspapers. Today, printed newspapers are becoming an endangered species, due in large part to the Internet and the almost instantaneous coverage of news. When the spaceship Challenger blew up in 1986, when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993, it wasn't moments before the whole world knew about it.  Meanwhile, the Linotype machine, has changed drastically to "cold type" technology, that doesn't involve casting molten metal. This includes techniques like phototypesetting, where text is created using photographic processes, and using typewriters or comput...

 By Bruce Shawkey The civil war in 1861 brought with it a novel and striking form of war vessel known as the "Monitor."* It was built from plans of Capt. Ericsson, n engineer of the ripest experience, skill, and attainments, who had then come to make his home in the United States. He undertook to construct for the Navy Department of the United States some form of iron clad steam batteries of light draft, suitable to navigate the rivers and harbors of the Confederate States. The "Monitor" was the result. The salient features, shown in vertical cross section in Fig. 117, are a low deck projecting but a few inches above the water line, so as to present as little target as possible to the enemy, and a revolving and heavily armored turret containing the battery of guns. In 1862 the Confederate forces had reconstructed a steam vessel with a chicken-coop-shaped covering of armor, that proved a formidable engine of war, which was practically invulnerable to the attacks of o...

 By Bruce Shawkey The Isle of Man had become physically separated from Great Britain and Ireland by 6500 BC. It appears that colonization took place by sea sometime during the Mesolithic era (about 6500 BC). The island has been visited by various raiders and trading peoples over the years. After being settled by people from Ireland in the first millennium AD, the Isle of Man was converted to Christianity and then suffered raids by Vikings from Norway. After becoming subject to Norwegian suzerainty as part of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, the Isle of Man later became a possession of the Scottish and then the English crowns. Since 1866, the Isle of Man has been a Crown Dependency and democratic self-government. The Isle of Man is known for being home to master watchmakers and has a significant history in horology, particularly in the development of the co-axial escapement. Notably, George Daniels and John Harwood are prominent figures from the island. Additionally, Roger W. Smit...

 By Bruce Shawkey Found this old cookbook on the Internet titled Diabetic Cookery , by Rebecca w. Oppenheimer, copyright 1917.  Oppenheimer was reportedly a diabetic who spent eight years in a treatment center for diabetics. In the book, there are numerous recipes calling for aleurone flour. Aleurone flour is a novel food product derived from the aleurone layer of wheat grain. This layer, located between the bran and the endosperm, is rich in essential nutrients, particularly folate. Aleurone flour is produced using a specialized milling process that isolates and extracts the aleurone layer, resulting in a flour that is a concentrated source of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. Never heard of it until now. May be a healthy alternative to processed white flour. All sorts of recipes out there, including bread, cereals, pancakes, waffles, pasta, pizza, tortillas, and snacks. The truth about the importance of a low carb diet for diabetes was known 100 years ago. Unfortunately...

 By Bruce Shawkey How to enhance memory has long been a topic of books. I came across one on the Internet published in 1813 titled "The New Art of Memory." In it, the author illustrates an exercise where a friend creates a list of 20 unrelated words, and then challenges you (the reader) to recall them in any order, singly or otherwise. The list the author gives is as follows: 1. Tower. 2. Gate. 3. Steeple. 4. Church. 5. Chapel. 6. Institution. 7. Crotch. 8. Grey. 9. Regent. 10. Feinaigle. 11. Syracuse. 12. Wellington. 13. Graham. 14. Ten. 15. Hill. 16. Nelson. 17. Archimedes. 18. Palestine. 19. Button. 20. Reform.  Feinaigle, by the way, is refers to Gregor von Feinaigle, supposedly the inspiration for the word "finagle" meaning "To cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods." Harry Lorayne Anyway, this exercise reminds of the Harry Lorayne best-seller, The Memory Book. My dad used this book to improve his score on the civil service exam to become...

 By Bruce Shawkey Here is Albert Woolson, the last surviving Civil War veteran. Albert fought for the Union army and died in 1956 at the age of 106.   First to fall the Battle at Antietum While photographs of earlier conflicts do exist, the American Civil War is considered the first major conflict to be extensively photographed. Not only did intrepid photographers venture onto the fields of battle, but those very images were then widely displayed and sold in ever larger quantities nationwide. Photographers such as Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and Timothy O'Sullivan found enthusiastic audiences for their images as the shockingly realistic medium piqued America's interests. For the first time in history, citizens on the home front could view the actual carnage of far away battlefields. Civil War photographs stripped away much of the Victorian-era romance around warfare. Photography during the Civil War, especially for those who ventured out to the battlefields with thei...

 By Bruce Shawkey These tips come from an article on the NPR website: Read in the morning One reader shares: "What I've found is a really good time for me is to read in the morning — particularly on weekend mornings. I love to lie in bed on weekend mornings and read. It's just one of my favorite things to do now, and I get a lot of reading done at that time." Doesn't that sound just lovely? Sure, it might not be right for everyone (I see you, chronic snoozers!) but waking up first thing in the morning and getting a few pages in is a good way to start your day. Plus, Neary says, it means you won't fall asleep the way you can if you try and read before bed. Our second piece of advice comes from a man who reads 100 books a year. ONE HUNDRED! I can barely do one hundred sit ups in a year, so truly I feel like he's achieving greatness. Kevin Nguyen has been writing about books for the majority of his career and even has a piece in GQ that can give you even more...

By Bruce Shawkey 10. Blender WHAT? I can hear the screeching now. WHO DOESN'T NEED A BLENDER? A lot of people don't need blenders. Unless you're making large batches of healthy smoothies on a daily basis or churning out daiquiris by the pool, you don't need a giant blender taking up counter or cabinet space. Join the rest of the modern world and get a far more efficient, far easier to clean and far less bulky immersion blender. That said, I confess I need a good blender (VitaMix) for my smoothies. 9. Bread Machine Have you seen the size of those things? They're as big as a Smart Car. Instead, bake bread that doesn't require a dough hook or excessive kneading, such as beer bread, or give cookbooks such as Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day a try. Our friends swear by it. You don't need a Smart Car...er...bread machine to make your own bread at home. I confess, I did have one once. The novelty wore off quickly. 8. Rotisserie The hell? Are you running a restau...

  Ferdinand von Zeppelin (German: Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin; (July 8. 1838  -- March 8, 1917) was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s.  A couple of airships named for him: There were even some U.S. postage stamps showing the airships: These were issued by the post office in 1930 for mail to be carried aboard the airships from the United States to Germany. Of course what most folks remember about these airships is the Hindenburg disaster. On May 6, 1937, the German airship Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, resulting in 36 deaths and marking the end of commercial airship travel.  The airship had remarkable refinements for its passengers. Here are some photos: The ship even had a piano: To meet the strict weight limits of a lighter-than-ai...