Here’s what the next moron that says “OK Boomer” needs. And your mother says you can do your own laundry from now on.
OK bloomers
Category: Back in My Day
Wait until the other shoe drops
These “Ripple” shoes probably were fun and different to wear, and maybe changed a person’s gait in a positive way. Years later, say 1970 something, my sister had some oddly wedge shaped heels on her shoes branded “Get There” that made similar claims.
I think that Ripple shoes were defeated by the same thing that killed “Waffle Stompers”…
DOG POOP
Minesweeper!
Hey, remember this! I remember playing this on earlier windows computers, Minesweeper came pre-installed, and why not.
Looks like everything old is new again, I found a good Chrome browser extension to play mine sweeper, and I’m sure there is one for cellphones Android or iOs. Here’s a link to my favored chrome version; https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kminesweeper/ldmhhkobonimkpkfoabdmmngbbjcgilo – I don’t think this game ever had sound- The nerds at Microsoft probably figured out that people would be playing it at work.
Happy minesweeping!
Cook-Outs are fun but watch out for pests
Color me recycled
I was going through some stuff in the garage, and I found this McNeilus garbage truck coloring book.
What happened was, when I was working ordering parts for a Waste Management repair garage, I had recently been laid off from an airplane factory (guess where!)
So when someone needed parts, I would absentmindedly ask, “What airplane is this for?” instead of the truck number. Word got around, and the administrative lady that worked up in the office dug around and found this coloring book to help me remember. (Waste Management people are the best, always improving things and solving problems.)
I never colored in it though. It was to cool to ruin that way, I didn’t have a “Waste Management Green*” crayon, and oh yeah, I’m a grown-ass man.
*They do make “Waste Management Green” spray paint- it’s to cover up graffiti on dumpsters.
Don’t throw the radio in the river
My dad bought this model GE radio for my mom, I think for their anniversary? They were listening to it at the breakfast table, it woke me up so I got the treat of having a pre-dawn bacon and egg breakfast with my parents. This was much better than fighting over the Quisp or Cap’n Crunch when all the other Everett brats were up.
I think it was 1967 because they were playing “Ode to Billy Joe”, so I was 7. I don’t know when the radio made the transition from the kitchen nook to the garage, sadly I have inherited it (It was in the back of a closet and hardly plays, I guess dad didn’t have the heart to chuck it, sentimental reasons.)
They make a rebuild kit to make it play AM good as new, and a kit to make it function as a bluetooth speaker; but the handle is broken. I have no idea how a double stitched leather strap breaks right across the top, but this one did. There is also paint on the case but I could clean that off. They made this model for years so maybe I could find a good one for parts. Stay, uh, tuned.
Flicko the very bad light switch
You have to decide. Lie in the dark with Flicko, or flick his snotty red nose to make the lights come on?
Mt. St. Helens ash? Or just fireplace sweepings?
Today is the 39th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, May 18th 1980. I was just 20 then, and barely noticed the ash fall; I lived and worked in the gritty industrial area around Seattle’s Harbor Island. My car was always covered with gritty crap anyway. Then again, my girlfriend at the time was living in Spokane, and they had to put pantyhose over their carburetors, which was a popular car part at the time.
A whole industry sprang up overnight, many souvenirs purported to contain the oddly valuable ash. And then there were the books and VHS tapes (ask your mom).
There was the lodge caretaker who refused to be evacuated, because before his wife passed away they had vowed to never leave Spirit Lake.
Mr. Truman lived at the lodge with his 16 cats right up to the end. (Although I have it on good authority that cat 14 said “Screw this! I’m out of here!” and left the week before. Animals can sense these things.)
There was a National Geographic photographer and others who perished up there too. Mother nature always wins.
Ethyl has gas.
Used to be some gasoline had a proprietary antiknock compound in it called “Ethyl”. If I had been old enough to be a gas station attendant back then, and if someone asked for the gas with Ethyl in it, I would have been obligated to mutter “If Ethyl don’t mind!” and then spill gas on the side of their car. I saw the movie “Duel” again recently, and it reminded me.
I saw that movie when I was 13 and ever since then, my family has had to deal with me exclaiming “You can’t beat me on the grade!!” whenever driving uphill.
The Future is now, sort of.
The February, 1956 edition of Town Journal magazine predicted cars would be controlled by devices embedded in the pavement. They didn’t see the advances in optics and electronics enabling self-driving cars to use any pavement.
Apparently game playing technology was not expected to improve- This family is playing dominos, I think. I don’t think they are even wearing seat belts. Who needs them when the car is driving?
The article was mostly about how electricity would make your life better. Television “screens” will hang on the walls. An electric heat pump will use outside air to cool your house in summer, heat it in winter. Also, Your food will cook in seconds instead of hours.
Aside from the fact that we don’t all drive Batmobiles, these predictions from “America’s Electric Light and Power Companies” are pretty accurate. I wonder what today’s power companies foresee for the year 2082.