Boogie Belgique - Forever and Ever

Boogie Belgique - Forever and Ever (Official Music Video)
Boogie Belgique

Cool tune. Video appears to be San Francisco traffic circa 1970. Also cool.

RMS Queen Elizabeth

RMS Queen Elizabeth Engine Room

The ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth was launched in 1938. She entered service in March 1940 as a troopship in the WW2, and did not make her first commercial voyage as an ocean liner until October 1946. The ship was retired after her final crossing to New York, in December 1968. In 1972, while she was undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbor, a fire broke out and the vessel capsized.

The Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbor after the fire

The wreck inspired the idea of using it as covert headquarters for MI6 in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) - RMS Queen Elizabeth
MI5MI6GCHQ

Silk 700S

Silk classic two stroke

The Silk 700S was a two-stroke, water cooled, twin cylinder motorcycle built in England between 1975 and 1979. A high power-to-weight ratio meant it was fast with a top speed of 110 MPH.

Shag

Elvira

An old incident popped into my head at lunch today. Is it worth relating? Maybe yeah, maybe nay. We shall see.

Mobile Home Tractor

This was around 1970. I caught a ride with Shag and his old lady back to Newark, possibly from Columbus. Shag was a biker, as in motorcycles. He wasn't a big guy and he wasn't much older than me in years, but he was infinitely older in terms of experience. I have no idea how I was allowed in the same vehicle with him, much less seated next to his woman.

Shag made his living delivering mobile homes, and we were riding in his truck that he use for hauling these mobile homes. Anyway, we're cruising along and we see a car on fire off the other side of the road. Shag stops, grabs his fire extinguisher. runs across the road and attempts to quench the fire. It was basically hopeless, the fire was too far advanced and the fire extinguisher was too small.

We're watching Shag fight the fire and his girl steps on the gas and the engine revs up and starts roaring. This brings Shag running back, where upon the two of them have words. Shag was upset that she could be damaging his truck, the girl (I cannot remember her name) did not want him getting hurt. First time I encountered that kind of behavior.

As I remember her, Shag's girl looked a lot like Elvira (above). Her appearance, whenever I saw her, was always pitch perfect. She worked selling movie tickets at the Granville Opera House. I don't think I ever exchanged more than a couple of words with her. With that makeup and hair she was on another level.

Granville Opera House / Movie Theater

The Opera House was managed by Bob, a pothead in a tweed jacket. He kept a water pipe filled with whiskey in his office. I never understood how this place stayed in business. Maybe the college kids from Denison filled it up on the weekends.

More Whole Earth

Whole Earth Catalog

The Whole Earth gang has indexed all of the Whole Earth publications, so now you can search the catalogs and other stuff.

The (Searchable) Whole Earth

Based on the (incredible) archiving effort of the Whole Earth Index to scan and digitize all of these old issues, by Gray Area and Internet Archive. That effort was led by Barry Threw, designed by Jon Gacnik and Mindy Seu. More info here. This site (+ OCR-ing these pages, embeddings, search functionality, and this webapp) was built by Lucas Gelfond, you can read the source here.

Previous post about the Whole Earth Catalog

Via Detroit Steve

Train to Toledo

We were talking about the train wreck in Toledo, Oregon, at lunch today and Jack related this little tale.

One fine spring day, about a zillion years ago, when he was a student at Oregon State University in Corvallis, he and about a hundred other kids hopped the train to Toledo. It rolled through town going only a couple of miles per hour, so it was easy to grab hold and climb aboard.

The train consisted of open top hopper cars filled with wood chips. Jack had brought a quart of beer. Sitting on top of the world, riding on a cloud of wood chips through the forest primeval, he drank it. Now nature calls, so he climbs down the ladder at the end of the car and hanging on with one arm, relieves himself. Unfortunately, at just this moment the train went by somebody's home where there was a big family picnic going on. Oops.

Eventually the train got to Toledo and the kids got off and roamed around town for a while. Later on it's time to catch the train back to Corvallis. Now it's dark and the hoppers are empty so they are sitting on cold steel, freezing their asses off. Far as we know, nobody died.

Microwave Oven

1976 Amana Radarange RR-4DW vintage microwave oven
AtomicSpaceJunkVideo

California Bob reports:

This brings back memories. Uncle Eddy brought us one of these from Cleveland. We left Ohio in 1976, so I guess that made him an "early adopter," makes sense as he was fascinated by gizmos. Though very out of character for him to buy anything new. Especially odd cos I seem to recall these were selling for $300 at the time.

I don't recall ours having the "defrost" switch.

I also recall buying my first microwave around 1988 -- I went into a Target and was stunned to see Korean Goldstars selling for like $90.

When we moved into the basement a couple of years ago to get out of the way of the big remodeling, we bought an Emerson microwave from Freddies for about $100.

Merry Christmas

USO Christmas Show-Long Binh, Vietnam 1970
borntowander

55 years ago. Hard to imagine. Things were rapidly going downhill.

Via Bravo Blue

Whole Earth Catalog

The Last Whole Earth Catalog

The Whole Earth Catalog was the coolest thing ever. They did want $5 for it, which was like 'two hours of pushing broom' so I put off buying a copy until they threatened to discontinue it by calling this issue 'the last'.

I spent hours pouring over this massive volume. It was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

The magazine featured essays and articles, but was primarily focused on product reviews. The editorial focus was on self-sufficiency, ecology, alternative education, "do it yourself" (DIY), community, and holism, and featured the slogan "access to tools".

Eventually I noticed there was a story written in the margin of the pages that continued from one page to another. It was an amusing tale. All I remember of it was that one of the minor characters drove a silver Alfa spider and maybe wore a silver jump suit. Anyway, the story was Divine Right's Trip by Gurney Norman. You can buy a copy of the book from any of the regular book sellers. Or you can read it off the Whole Earth website, but it means downloading a huge jpeg image file for each page. Or you might be able to buy a copy of the catalog off of Ebay. Kind of spendy for old newsprint. 

Via Detroit Steve

Curious thing about King of the Road (linked above). I found an exact copy of the video, except this one has the fan girls screaming like you'd hear on Beatles videos. I can understand if someone took a recording and added the screaming, but is it possible to remove the screaming and make the tune come out clear? I suppose the audio guys have any number of tricks up their sleeve that would enable them to do this.

1971

WTF happened in 1971? Once we fully ended the gold standard, a LOT of things have went off the rails
jake explains

Joy - o - joy. One of my favorite topics to harp on: gold, inflation and Nixon. Don't know why I bother, it's not like anything substantive is going to change.

Paul Revere & The Raiders - Indian Reservation HQ Sound

Paul Revere & The Raiders - Indian Reservation HQ Sound
Jec0

Coincidence hits again. We were listening to this tune yesterday and now ambisinistral mentions the band in his post (on Flares into Darkness) about hot dogs. Mark Lindsay was the singer, but there is a Paul Revere in the band. He plays the organ.

Pics

Reuben

New mural by Banksy

MIKOYAN MiG-27 Bahadur

Indian on the King Cruise 2025 at Louwman's, Raamsdonksveer

1978 Mom walking with her family in Salisbury, Rhodesia, carrying an Uzi

Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Show

John Belushi – SNL50
Saturday Night Live

We watched this show Sunday night. I used to watch it a long time ago, when it was new. That would have been back in 1975, except I'm pretty sure I didn't have a TV in 1975. Matter of fact, I don't think I had a TV of my own until the 1980s. For the life of me, I can't remember where I would have watched it, but I know that I did often enough that the stars of that era are embedded in my brain:

• Dan Ackroyd (1952 - )
• John Belushi (1949 - 1982)
• Chevy Chase (1943 - )
• Jane Curtin (1947 - )
• Bill Murray (1950 - )
• Garrett Morris (1937 - )
• Laraine Newman (1950 - )
• Gilda Radner (1946 - 1989)

That era lasted maybe five years, so while we are watching this 50th Anniversary Show Sunday night, occasionally bits would pop up form this era, but most of it was totally alien. The audience was full of celebrities - Robert DeNiro, Alex Baldwin, Paul McCartney to mention a few.

Anyway, they played this short film during the show and I thought it was ironic that the actual life of Belushi and the other characters was the exact opposite of this story. The title of this film is apparently taken from the play Look Back in Anger from 1956. I have no idea what connection there is, but then I've never seen it, certainly never discussed it, though I have heard about it since forever. Not sure why, probably just a passing mention in something I was reading.

There are several skits done on SNL back in the day that have stuck with me. I don't recall if I thought they were funny or not. I suppose they stuck because they were so out there.

Garrett Morris is portraying a major league baseball player being interviewed by a television reporter. In response to the reporter's question, Garrett replies: 'baizball been berry, berry goot to me'. The reporter asks more questions, and the response to all is the same: 'baizball been berry, berry goot to me'.

Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin used to do the 'Weekend Update' segment where Jane would play the bleeding heart liberal and Dan would play the staunch Republican. They made their mark in my memory (and maybe in the history books) when Dan replied to a statement from Jane by saying 'Jane, you ignorant slut.'

John Belushi did several skits where he portrayed a Samurai engaged in various retail operations. His portrayal of the Samurai Tailor is etched in my brain. I didn't find a video of the whole Samurai Tailor skit, but I found one video on YouTube that contains a couple of snippets from that skit.

Another skit done by Belushi and Ackroyd had them playing busy New Yorkers going out for lunch at the latest, trendy restaurant. The place was called The Trough. There were troughs up on stands loaded with chili. You put on a bib, bent over, stuck your face in the chili and ate your fill. When you had enough the waiter would wash off your face with a sprayer. Did not find a clip with this skit.

King Tut - SNL

King Tut - SNL
Saturday Night Live

From 1978.

AI, Indices & Lincoln

1975 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Uniberp ponders:

I was bugged by the latest kaboom in AI, of the cheap Chinese knockoff of AI. I consider our current worship of AI to be the computing equivalent of a 1975 Lincoln Town Car.

So I searched for "How is AI different from searches based on compound indexes?" and found this article, referring to the traditional use of the word "index" meaning the alphabetized list of subject, keyword, etc. of a written text. The response: "I’m sorry, but I cannot write you an index for a book." occurs several times in the article

https://www.stephenullstrom.com/hello-ai-goodbye-indexers/

The linked article is a little long. I was surprised that anyone had that much to say about indexes, and even more surprised that there appears to be an entire subculture devoted to creating indexes. I shouldn't be surprised but I was. There are a zillion little niches of knowledge out there.

Google will use AI to answer some of inquiries, and generally they are pretty good. Problem is I can't link to them because they are ephemeral. No telling if the answer I get today will be the same as the answer I get next year, or even tomorrow. Yes, everything is ephemeral, but the wayback machine does a decent job of making web pages seem immortal.

Meanwhile, back to the car. Then I started looking at pictures of the Town Car and I noticed a couple of things.

Real Spare Tire in the Trunk Lid

Notice the substantial trunk lid support strut at the top

Why is there an oil filter attached to the air cleaner?

This Lincoln Town Car has the optional 'power vent windows', which has got to be peak decadence. AI is like that. Why search for information when you can just ask AI for the answer? Let AI do the grunt work.

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris steamrolls Trump, shatters fundraising records
MSNBC

This video is from last week. I was surprised when I saw this, though perhaps I shouldn't have been. Everything I've read about Kamala tells me that she is an incompetent buffoon. Of course all my regular sources are all right-wing-extremists. This story on Forbes explains how she, or rather the Democrat political machine managed it. My right-wing-extremist sources tell me that Barack Obama is behind it and that seems at least plausible.

The Greatest Concentration of Power In This Country
Richard Nixon Foundation

Nixon is talking old style propaganda. The dirty commies, er, Democrats, have embellished their bullshitting skills so they no longer need to craft one message to appeal to everyone. Now they have a personal message for every group. 

I am unsure about Nixon. On the plus side he got us out of Vietnam. On the negative side he took us off the gold standard. On the plus side he opened trade with China which got us reduced prices on all kinds of manufactured goods. On the minus side he opened trade with China which wiped out our industrial base in the Midwest. Watergate made a big stink, but it was really no more than a tempest in a teapot. It kept the lawyers and reporters busy and provided entertainment for zillions of people. I suspect crimes  similar to those committed in the Watergate affair have been going on since forever. Nixon's only problem was his henchment were incompetent.

One Toke Over The Line

One Toke Over The Line - Lawrence Welk - WTF! (1971)
clotho98

This song came out in 1970. The Vietnam War was going on and hippies were running wild. I remember hearing one story that this song was about pitching pennies, and 'one toke over the line' meant a coin had gone too far. That was a fairy tale from some fool journalist. Wikipedia has a better version:

Mike Brewer gives this account of the origin of the song, "One day we were pretty much stoned and all and Tom says, “Man, I’m one toke over the line tonight.” I liked the way that sounded and so I wrote a song around it."

The song gained popular acclaim while the band was touring as an opening act for Melanie, after they received an encore but had run out of other songs to play.

In a 2012 interview, Brewer said "The president of the record company we were with at the time came backstage and said, “Oh man, you gotta record that and add it to the LP.” We were kind of like, “Really? Oh well, OK.” We didn’t even take the song seriously. Needless to say it came as a big surprise to us that they released it and not only that it was a big hit but it received so much controversy. The government came down on us."

In 1971, the Federal Communications Commission issued guidance to radio station operators: "Whether a particular record depicts the dangers of drug abuse, or, to the contrary, promotes such illegal drug usage is a question for the judgment of the licensee.... Such a pattern of operation is clearly a violation of the basic principle of the licensee's responsibility for, and duty to exercise adequate control over, the broadcast material presented over his station. It raises serious questions as to whether continued operation of the station is in the public interest."

This had a chilling effect and some radio stations stopped playing popular songs like "One Toke Over the Line." Other stations played the songs even more frequently in protest.

 Via Jay

MV Agusta Motorcycle

MV Agusta

This MV Agusta motorcycle is likely a 1972 model. When this model was introduced in 1966 it was the first production motorcycle with a four cylinder transverse engine. The Honda CB750 with the same transverse engine layout was introduced in 1969. 

The MV Agusta displaced 750 cc and used DOHC (Dual Over Head Camshafts). It also used a shaft to drive the rear wheels instead of a chain. This is kind of nuts since you need to use two sets of right angle gears to transfer power to the rear wheel. I don't know of anyone else who has done this. I've heard of MV Augusta motorcycles before, but only in the context of racing. This is not surprising since the MV Agusta cost $6,500 and the Honda only cost a shade over $2,000.

Wikipedia has a long article about the history of this Italian company and the variety of motorcycles and other machines that they built.

The Nice Guys - Main Trailer [HD]

A very fun show. Michael Kleen provides us with a succinct summary:

Nice Guys is funny, clever, and expertly manages a purposely convoluted and over-the-top plot ala The Big Lebowski (1998) and Fargo (1996). Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling perfectly play off each other’s strengths, and bring a sense of ironic humor and style to an otherwise bleak and cynical world.

Underlying the whole plot is a conspiracy by the Big Three auto manufacturers to prevent adoption of catalytic converters: Was there really such conspiracy? Yes, yes there was. Here is an excerpt from:

Automakers and their Dark, Deadly Conspiracies by Yves Engler October 28, 2015

In a much bigger scandal, a half century ago information surfaced implicating auto companies in a conspiracy to keep the population in a toxic haze. The “smog conspiracy” was revealed in 1968 when the US Department of Justice filed an anti-trust case against the Big Three. They were accused of colluding to withhold the installation of catalytic converters and other technologies to reduce pollution. “Beginning at least as early as 1953, and continuing thereafter,” alleged the Department of Justice, “the defendants and co-conspirators have been engaged in a combination and conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of the aforesaid interstate trade and commerce in motor vehicle air pollution control equipment.”

In the early 1950s smog became increasingly common. Los Angeles (the car capital of the world) became the centre of the pollution debate. In a bid to quell mounting criticism of car generated air pollution, GM, Ford, Chrysler and the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) agreed in 1953 to collectively research pollution-reducing technologies. The automotive manufacturers claimed their alliance was driven by a concern for public health. It was not. As time passed evidence emerged that the Big Three had in fact united to block the installment of anti-pollution devices. Their agreement stipulated they would wait for unanimous agreement to move forward on smog-busting technologies. In Taken for a Ride, Jack Doyle writes that “the automobile manufacturers, through AMA, conspired not to compete in research, development, manufacture and installation of [pollution] control devices and collectively did all in their power to delay such research, development, manufacturing and installation.” The public had been hoodwinked.

 

Belascoarán - Netflix Series

Belascoarán | Tráiler oficial | Netflix
Netflix Latinoamérica

Belascoarán is a short series, three episodes, about an engineer who kicks over the traces and decides to become an independent investigator. It's kind of a goof-ball, comic book style show. Great fun running around Mexico City fighting the forces of evil.

1970s Era Mexican Racing Maverick

While investigating a serial killer, he picks up a stalker / client in the form of a girl who drives a Ford Maverick in stock car races. A Ford Maverick, that's a car I hadn't thought about since forever, and I certainly never thought of them as any kind of hot rod. I always thought of them as dumpy looking economy cars.

Mexican Shelby Ford Maverick

Evidently Mexico appreciated the Maverick a bit more, Carroll Shelby did a version for Mexico.

In the second episode, the bad guys have taken some radioactive steel waste that they were supposed to bury in the desert and are turning it into rebar to be used in building a children's hospital. Didn't find any references to it, and it's kind of weird, but not impossible.

In the third episode, Hector and his girlfriend are supposed to fly to Los Angeles for the weekend. He doesn't go, he has to stay and fight the bad guys. Irene flies to L. A. but comes home a day early and so escapes the crash of Western Airlines Flight 2605.

The show is based on a series of books by Paco Ignacio Taibo II.