Mister Lister

 Here's a fun list from the good folks at Mental Floss! It's a roster of everyday household items which were ubiquitous in the 70s and are now rarely seen, like a turn signal on a BMW.

• The Percolator: as in who makes bubble covfefe anymore? 
• The Fondue Pot: we got married in 1973, which was probably the peak year of fondue gifting in America. I think we got three, never used any, and I am far too self-conscious to regift a device for dunking chunks in molten cheese. Hello, Goodwill!
• The Aluminum TV Dinner Tray: they still had these by the time microwave ovens came into vogue, but try nuking your Stouffer's that way! Sparks and short circuits for the microwave and a still-frozen pot pie you had to eat like a Popsicle
• Avocado Green Appliances: We had a green blender and were proud to put it out for the years we lived in Glenmont Apts, with the green kitchen decor. Once we moved to our first house, that avocado blender that never blended an avocado wound up in storage next to the unused bread maker.
• The Popcorn Ceiling: that first house had one of these, and let me tell you, the edges on those joint compound ripples are razor sharp! Ask my right hand.
• The Rented Telephone: An odd concept to grasp. It was said to be illegal to hook up a phone to the Bell System, even if you owned a phone. We didn't.
• TV Guide: 15 cents a week back in the day and that included listings for all the shows on all the stations our antenna could pull in. Plus the easiest puzzle on earth, with the exception of Junior Jumble.
• The Encyclopedia Set: Many a term paper and report on World War II had their start in our good blue World Book, the three-ton printed Wikipedia of its time.
• The 8-Track Player: Never had one.
• The Kodak Carousel: Parents had one. Everyone's parents had one. Labor Day weekend always featured a slide show with pictures of everyone's days at camp, doing cannonballs in the pool, and eating crabs. 
• S&H Green Stamps: it was my job to fill the books with stamps. I used to use a soggy wad of paper towels to moisten the pages of stamps that would give us that long-wanted electric can opener or fake wicker picnic set. 
  
  
  

• The Glass Fever Thermometer: run it under hot water for a second and get another sick day out of it!

Some day, future generations will fight over antique Keurig machines and long-dead cell phones, but they won't know the thrill of setting up a new one of either!

Bear fact

If you have ever been in one of those situations where people are sleeping in one of those platonic setups, no slap-and-tickle going on, just honest slumber at, say, an open dormitory or firehouse or jury panel, you know there are people who just can't wait to try to wake people up and make it look like they weren't trying to wake them up...

The loud rustling of papers, the overloud sneeze, the accidental doorslam...and then, "Oh, you're awake! Well, Janeen is going for crullers, do you want anything? And can you spot us ten bucks?"

Leave people to sleep! Polar bears too!

Here's a story about a boat operator near Norway. Last week, he was fined over $5,000 for blowing his foghorn to wake up a sleeping polar bear!

There they were, happily steaming along the coast of the Svalbard archipelago, some 620 miles away from the North Pole, earlier this month when the operator airhorned the poor ursine awake and made it more, according to CBS News.

“Its occupants are said to have spotted a polar bear sleeping on land,” Lars Fause, governor of the territory, said in a statement. “A person on board then used the ship’s foghorn, waking the animal, which moved to another location,” he also said.

So if you decide to sail over that away, leave the polar bears alone. And try to figure out why you would want to annoy a huge animal like that!

Under local rules, “It is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear,” which was declared a protected species in Svalbard in 1972.

So, sail on and leave the bears alone, whaddya say?

As Austin Powers would say, "Oh, behave!"

Here's the thing about leaving home - when you get where you're going, you're not home anymore.  So your behavior might require a little definition.

In Bali, the Indonesian resort Island, they have a sacred Hindu ritual on the Day of Silence (known locally as Nyepi, March 19.) It would never work out well for me, but for those 24 hours, everyone -  residents and visitors - has to stay in, in homes or hotels, keep the lights and the noise low, and perform quiet meditation.

Well, Swiss tourist Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, 26, couldn't/wouldn't comply, and as a result, he is serving a yearlong sentence because he was in Bali on vacation at the time of the holiday, and despite being briefed on the proper way to commemorate it by the staff where he was lodged, defiled it.

  

Here's how: Zgraggen became angry that he could not leave his hotel and strut around looking for food. Then, he “displayed his anger” on social media, according to his indictment.

 He posted videos of himself walking in the dark and saying it was "pretty peaceful  outside," and then he chose to curse about the religious holiday rules. Naturally, this was met with lots of negative comments, so he took down the videos, but as we all know, The Internet Is Forever, and people reposted the screen recordings they had made of his blasphemy.

In response, Zgraggen reposted his videos and said, "They want smoke."

He tried to apologize, but was met by the cybercrime unit of the Bali Police, and found himself charged with disseminating hate speech based on religion through electronic information.

His trial was last week and he was given a year in the Ironbar Hilton.

So, when you go away, when in Bali, follow the rules or don't plan on going home right away.

Simple enough. 

Sunday Rerun: That Shirtin' Feeling

 So, what do you do with your old shirts?

Speaking for myself, I wear them until they vanish. I once gave a few of my old T-shirts to the kids in the neighborhood who wore them around as beach coverups, too.

But - if you are friends with someone who you feel is destined to become a baseball legend, and that person offers you his soiled, game-worn jersey, hang on to that garment. Here's why:

You've heard of Babe Ruth, the baseball player from the streets of Baltimore, right? And probably, you have heard of his "called shot" in the 1932 World Series.

Ruth's Yankees were playing the Chicago Cubs in that "fall classic," and he was receiving maybe even more than his usual hoots and catcalls from the Windy City crowd. According to the legend of Ruth, he stopped for a moment to make sure all eyes were on him during game 3, as the shrieking reached a crescendo. It was then that Babe took a step out of the batter's box, and with his Ruthian bat, which was a whale of a war club at 35 ¾ inches and weighing approximately 38 ounces, he pointed to the deep center field stands without a word.

Then, he stepped back into the box and hit the next pitch right where he had pointed. Instant legend! Another chapter in the Book of Ruth.

Ruth, an expert shirtmaker himself (a trade he learned at the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, having been shipped off there after a judge found him "incorrigible and vicious...beyond the control" of his parents) later gave the jersey he wore on that historic day to one of his golfing buddies, who really should have told his descendants to hang onto it!

Because...that "New York" uniform jersey sold this past weekend at auction for a sweet $24.1 million, making it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever.

These Yankee fans have deep pockets! The previous record was the $12.6 million someone shelled out for a Mickey Mantle baseball card, and you can't even put that on and wear it around.

Well, you could, but there would be trouble.

 

The Saturday Picture Show, August 29, 2026

 

People were supposed to fill out recipe cards for a wedding shower, with hints for easy meal prep. It doesn't get much easier than ripping open a bag!

So here's another reason to buy a drone - they will clean your windows!

The Breakfast Club: Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, and Molly Ringwald. 1985 and now.

And...this is lovely Lake Ontario. Always and forever.

You can post all the no-fishing signs you care to. This scofflaw is going to fill his craw!

Not named for Earl, but this nest-maker is actually known as a Weaver Bird.

So you say the kids keep losing the remote, huh? I'll bet the guy who made this is an eighth-grade teacher who is tired of people losing the hall pass.

George cannot tell a lie. No one likes these spy cameras and we wish they would get them the flock out of here!

It's a fool who criticizes our fair city, or our football team. High hopes heading into this season!

Last week, Connie Smith surpassed the late Jean Shepard to become the longest-serving female member of the Grand Ole Opry, with 61 years on the stage! Her husband and #1 fan Marty Stuart was there, as always.

Thanks to the kids!

 According to Instagram, this took place at Westerly High School, and the only such school according to Google is in Rhode Island.

And that's where a group of students kept seeing a five-year-old kid named Ryder out there in the elements every morning - sun, rain, wind, snow (remember - it's New England!) waiting for the school bus.

His family had rigged up a patio umbrella, but you know how spotty their coverage is, and when the wind blows the rain sideways...well, you know that, too.

So the shop classes at Westerly saw this and decided NOT to do nothing. They made him a customized weatherproof shelter with room for the family to be with him while waiting for his ride. 

The kids in Carpentry Shop class get a little experience that will hold them in good stead as they prepare to learn their trade, young Ryder gets comfort and the feeling of gratitude, and seeds of good karma are planted in Westerly.

Please don't ever try to tell me that high school kids aren't great people. They are, even though a lot of adults try to jive their strides. 

Post-Parton Depression

I don't want to beat this drum any more than others already have, but hot-a-mighty, the toll has been hard to take these last few days.

• Hayden Panettiere, 36, known for "Nashville" and "Remember the Titans" and dozens of Neutrogena commercials (they let her go when she was dealing with depression following the birth of her daughter, and cited the morality clause in her contract, as if all those people running Neutrogena were not born of mortal women.)
• Shelley Fabares, 82, comic actress from "The Donna Reed Show," "One Day At A Time," and "Coach," plus three Elvis movies.
• Dolly Parton, 80, a woman beloved by just about everyone on earth for her charm, her talent, and her philanthropy.
• Jaye P. Morgan, 94, singer from the classic pop music era perhaps best remembered as bawdy "Jaye P. Morgone" from The Gong Show.
• Tim Curry, 80, British star from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Clue"

I have always noticed how often the "they go in threes" phenomenon seems to come true.  In this case, we are either two over the set of three, or one short of a second set of three. As always, time will tell.

We feel it hard when a favorite celebrity goes all the way home, and it almost seems like a death in the family for some of us some of the time. But watch, this December, when they publish the lost of those we lost this way, there will be about the same amount of the noted and celebrated who will not see 2027.

For those of us who will, let's try to make the best of everything.