A Crummy Commercial

For some reason I remembered these - I think they must have made the TV news in 1968: source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/377003893199 A famous stunt from 1968 by Dick Gregory.  I never actually saw one but it got a LOT of free publicity.  One weird thing, this one is different: Apparently the VP changed along the way from David Frost to Mark Lane ? No, it explains it in the wiki (apparently Dr. Spock was another VP running mate): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Gregory BTW, this was NOT the TV David Frost from England, this David Frost was from NJ:  https://newjerseyglobe.com/in-memoriam/peace-activist-david-frost-who-ran-for-u-s-senate-in-n-j-in-1966-and-for-vice-president-dies-at-96/     Here are Gregory and Frost with supporters in 1968:   Dick Gregory was quite a guy, as the old saying goes: "often wrong but never in doubt"  :)   He would have been a better President than the current occupant.  I always had the belief that Dick Gregory, ...

I've mentioned one of my grade school teachers, Mr. Peterson, before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/contracts-mr-peterson-7th-grade.html Recently I was reminded of the book: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20220145 I don't remember the exact time or context (probably 7th grade) but Mr. Peterson wanted me to read the book.  Probably just because my name was Charles ?  And the Charley in the title is a dog, a big old French Poodle dog  :) I did read it (it's a travel book - all authors seem to write travel books, even Thoreau :) - the only thing I remember from the book is that at one point Steinbeck encounters buxom women - it was remarkable so he wrote it down :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm 

not quite Bonestell quality from the US Army I mentioned the 1961 article by Arthur C. Clarke: The Uses Of The Moon  before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/04/bonestell.html Here's the article: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1961-12_223_1339/page/56/mode/2up But not sure if old Art knew about Project Horizon before writing the article.  He did mention that the military uses of the Moon were probably not that worthwhile - the  Project Horizon document seems to lay out winning a competition with the Russians as the main reason: Curious Droid published this video on Project Horizon:    source:  source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4t59a3y-Ww I thought the Curious Droid video was quite interesting, however others HATED the AI usage !  Now that I look at the artwork it kinda looks a little like those Chesley Bonestell paintings from the 1950s !  So I guess I'm kinda ambivalent about the AI usage.  Curious Droid is prob...

C'mon AI, you can do better than this: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLD29BMGu48 This is what Mike Kovak would have used, even in the late 1950s early 1960s, a 4 x 5 Speed Graphic (or equivalent), here is Charles Bronson as Mike Kovac holding one: I actually have two Kodak Duaflexes (the camera in the thumbnail) around here somewhere.  One I bought, the other was a gift from a nice lady in Whitefish Bay when I was a kid.  It took decent pictures but no, it wasn't capable of newspaper quality ! Here's a nice page on the Kodak Duaflex, with this photo of Vivian Vance: The Duaflex suits Vivian Vance better than Charles Bronson source:  https://www.jeremymuddphoto.com/blog/2023/8/27/kodak-duaflex-iv The focusing was strictly by guess, the finder was only for framing the shot.  With a camera like a Rollei the photographer would compose and focus the picture using the top lens.  The Duaflex exposure could be varied but only slightly.  It used 620 ...

I didn't know about this: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U78QP8nBk But of course Arthur C. Clarke knew: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8N72t7aScY 1968 was 58 years ago and about the only thing we've accomplished above and beyond  2001: a space odyssey is that computers now can sing Daisy better: https://soundcloud.com/midnightalchemist7/daisy-bell-ai-evolution Or maybe (depending on your opinion) not even that ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Before the June 3 2026 game between the Brewers and the Giants - here is Brewers pitcher Robert Gasser getting stronger ?   source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCGer90o57o I just happened to see this tweet, the photo is amazing: source:  https://x.com/ukpackers/status/2062272827898646941 Nicholson AND Nitschke working on a movie, who knew ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_(film) source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoIFxrXU-v8 For 1960s Packers fans, Ray Nitschke doesn't get much screen time but at least it's pretty early in the movie so you don't need to watch the rest if you don't want to. And here is the most profound part of the movie at about 43:10 in: "Pleasure, the inevitable byproduct of our civilization - a new world, it's only preoccupation will be how to amuse itself - the tragedy of your times, my young friends, is that you may get exactly what you want" In other words: it's Huxley's  Brave New World BTW, in this zoom in yo...

I *think* I have bats - no belfry here but bats that roost at night by the front door.  I see the signs, yuck.  So I thought I'd setup the trail cam overnight to confirm.  But all I got was this: An old geezer barely awake.  Also I didn't have the cam aimed high enough - there's no viewfinder. This reminded me of an episode (season 3, episode 22 per PlutoTV) of The Andy Griffith Show where Barney sets up a camera to catch a thief at the gas station.  Here is the cam (a folding camera yet) with a string on the shutter: Route the string: Finally attach the string to the door: Then Barney opens the door: The next day after the robbery Gomer comes in with the picture of the thief: I hate when that happens :)   I'll try it again tonight - if I get skunked again maybe I've discovered that the trail cam is actually a scare-bat ?   Update, 2026-06-04:  Skunked again !  All I got was this IR perp photo:   I'll try one more night and then de...

When I first saw this photo: I immediately thought of this episode of Gilligan's Island (season 2, episode 7): Here's the video clip: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yiCgPAZ64o Infrared light is wacky.  Getting a little exercise with the new trail cam while having a little fun. But get away from me with the crazy glowing eyes ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm 

After mentioning the Video Toy Walkie Talkies yesterday: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/05/toy-video-walkie-talkie.html I remembered when I was a kid one of my friends had one of these: from 1965 xmas catalog, remember the need to buy the crystals and battery This was a superhet, better than the blue Knight-kit C-100 super-regen walkie talkie.  The C-555 also had a volume control and an earphone jack.  Well the problem was that I didn't have the money for either a C-555 or a C-100.  Here is the closeout price: Note that the buyer still had to buy 2 crystals and a somewhat unusual 9V batter so the actual price would inflate to this: you have to add $5 worth of crystals plus a 62 cent battery to the $8.95 sale price Even at the end of the C-555 product life it was just too much money.  Eventually my Dad bought me a pair of walkie talkies like this Midland: The ones he bought were from Olson Electronics and were white but otherwise the same.  They were 50 mW supe...

This short video from Milwaukee PBS popped up on the Youtube feed: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8MqEDQJyqQ Quite interesting, at least to a Wisconsinite :)  When I was a kid in the 1960s we had an Evinrude outboard motor, a Yachtwin - as I recall it was light blue and white as contrasted with the camo green of a Johnson motor :)  We didn't use the motor that much so Dad would periodically run it in a garbage can filled with water.  This was in the garage where he had a small setup made of 2 x 4s nailed to the wall to hold the motor.  When the motor was fitted to a rowboat it didn't go very fast but I guess it wasn't meant to - it was for moving sailboats while in the harbor ?  I think my lack of interest in boating was kind of a disappointment for my Dad - he had been in the Naval Reserve, owned a small sailboat, loved to go fishing - me: not so much :) A Yachtwin Evinrude's 1st outboard motor patent: source:  https://patentimages.storage....