Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack and Yet Another Old Car Brochure Excerpt

Aretha!



I'd take that ride in her pink Cadillac, wouldn't even think twice.

Speaking of pink Cadillacs, this:

I'm really, rilly getting off on the totally UN-PC nature of the ad copy in some of these old brochures.  Can you imagine something like this in an ad today?

One of the special delights which ladies find in Cadillac ownership is the pleasure of being a passenger.

[...]

We invite you to visit your dealer soon - with the man of the house - and spend an hour in the passenger seat of a 1959 Cadillac.

I can't imagine it, either.  God Forbid that a woman might want a Cadillac of her own, yanno?  

Apropos o' not much, I'm thinkin' about making these un-politically correct ads a recurring feature here at EIP, just for the fun that's in it.  And the cars, of course.

AAR*

I'm just back from the polling place and it was a walk-up proposition, no waiting at all.  That said, there were about 25 ~ 30 people casting their votes while I was there and two or three more walked in as I was leaving.  All geezers, too, but I suppose all the young'uns are at work and either already voted or will do so after work.

Anyhoo: Mission Accomplished and civic duty fulfilled.

*AAR = After Action Report.  Not everyone knows that. 

Election Day

Go vote!  Mr. Gorrell, from the Usual Source of these things, has sumthin' to say about that:

I agree with him.

And then there's this, from the Usual USAF Source:

Airmen Up For Re-election

—Autumn A. Arnett

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, is one of several lawmakers up for re-election on Tuesday who serve the nation not only on Capitol Hill, but also in the Air Force. Polls have shown Graham well ahead in his quest to retain his Senate seat. Over on the House side, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), a chaplain in the Reserve, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Air National Guard pilot, are seeking to remain in office. Both Collins and Kinzinger are combat veterans. Also looking to return to the House in January for the 114th Congress are Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), a retired lieutenant colonel, and Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas), a retired colonel who spent nearly seven years in captivity during the Vietnam War. Two Democrats who are former airmen are seeking re-election: Rep. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) and Rep. Bill Enyart (Ill.). There are also nine Republicans who are former airmen who are running to keep their seats: Rep. Vern Buchanan (Fla.), Rep. Jeff Denham (Calif.), Rep. Rich Nugent (Fla.), Rep. Steve Pearce (N.M.), Rep. Joe Pitts (Pa.), Rep. Ted Poe (Texas), Rep. Dave Reichert (Wash.), Rep. Mark Sanford (S.C.), and Rep. Chris Stewart (Utah).

Only two Democrats in the whole damned bunch.

Off-topic, but...  I've been spending quite a bit o' time at that car brochure site, more time than I prolly should.  To say "times have changed" is a massive understatement.  Case in point, from the 1963 Corvair brochure:

I'm thinkin' the safety wonks' heads would explode if Chevy... or ANY car company... ran ad copy like that today.

And now it's time for a refill and answer the overnight mail.

A Passing

The Public Radio world, and a LOT of the rest of us, suffered a loss today.  From NPR's web site:

Photo credit: NPR

Tom Magliozzi, one of public radio's most popular personalities, died on Monday of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 77 years old.

Tom and his brother, Ray, became famous as "Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers" on the weekly NPR show Car Talk. They bantered, told jokes, laughed and sometimes even gave pretty good advice to listeners who called in with their car troubles.

If there was one thing that defined Tom Magliozzi, it was his laugh. It was loud, it was constant, it was infectious.

The rest of the obituary is here.  Rest in peace, Mr. Magliozzi, and thank you for all the wonderful, joyous laughs you gave us; you WILL be missed.  I heard on NPR this afternoon that they... NPR... plan to continue the show, but in what form wasn't disclosed.

Automotive Nostalgia: My First Car

Constant Correspondent and Occasional Reader Lin sends along the following:

Thought you might enjoy seeing your first car ad. This is really cool. Find your first car or the one you drove to high school or college; hopefully your car brochure is available. This has to be one of the neatest web sites whether you have gasoline in your veins or not. This is a website featuring the original factory brochures for nearly every American car you have ever owned. Pick the manufacturer, the year and the model.

So I went to the brochure site... and Walla! There it was, my old 1950 Buick Riviera, like this:



Other than the color (mine was yellow with a black top) everything looks exactly as I remember it.  Here's the rest of the Buick Super line-up for 1950:

Clickee-clickee

Buick divided it's model range into three segments back in that day, with Roadmaster being the top o' the line, Super the mid range, and Special the bottom end. You can see the complete 1950 Buick brochure here, if'n you're interested.

The most distinguishing feature about my Riv is the fact it made me a little money. I was a senior in high school in 1963... the year I drove the Riv... and Buick had just released THE Riviera (the lineage of the Riviera name is described at the link).  So... when people asked me what sort of car I drove I'd always answer "a Buick Riviera," which evoked a "Wow!" sort of reaction in most people my age. That reaction would change to "that's not a Riviera!" (or worse) when they actually SAW the car and that's when I'd lay the trap with this: "Ten bucks says it IS a Riv." You'd be surprised how many people took me up on that bet and how many people paid up when I showed them the factory data plate that clearly stated "Model: Riviera."

As I said, the money-making feature was the best thing about that car.  Other than that it was slow, HUGE, and, due to its Dynaflow transmission, its sound never changed pitch when you were underway.  The car sounded the same all the damned time; it made no difference if you were driving five or 55 mph.  Oh, and one other thing: the back seat was just perfect for summer nights at the drive-in.  PERFECT!

What was your first car, Gentle Reader?

Magnificent

From an article at The Daily Beast...

VATICAN CITY—In the 500 or so years since the Sistine Chapel was decorated, it has never looked so good. That’s in part because no one has ever seen Michelangelo’s frescoes portraying the book of Genesis and “The Last Judgment” in quite the right light. Now, with the help of 7,000 light-emitting diodes or LEDs, the detailed work has emerged from the shadows.

The new lighting system was unveiled last week to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the chapel’s restoration and the 450^th anniversary of Michelangelo’s death. The lighting project, together with a new climate control system, cost nearly $4 million, paid in part by funds from the European Union through a consortium called Led4Art, led by German light bulb giant Osram, which developed a special color temperature to best enhance Michelangelo’s hues at around 3,550 Kelvin units, according to the Osram explainer on the magical illumination. The rest of the work was donated either in supplies, expertise, or technology by firms who wanted to be involved in the project, meaning the Vatican didn’t have to spend any resources for the extraordinary enhancement.

The best thing about the article?  A link to a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel, about which, these:

Two screen-shots from the virtual tour; as always, click to embiggen.  Or better yet, chase the link and go there yerownfineself.

Saturday: They Love Him In Hockeytown

From last night's game at The Joe:



That demonstration brought a tear to my eye.  We love him here in P-Ville, as well.

Oh, yeah... there was a game, too.  The Wings beat the reigning Stanley Cup champions like a step-child, winning 5-2.

LGRW!

Apropos o' Not Much

So, there I was*... out at Cannon Airplane Patch again, for the second time this week.  Today we went out that way to get our quarterly haircut... I get my hair cut EVERY three months, whether it needs it or not... and I noticed all the barberesses were dressed up in Halloween costumes, as were the folks in the commissary.  It seems like everyone and their mom, literally, are in the holiday spirit.  That includes my neighbor Jessica, who happened to come home as we were sitting out on the verandah enjoying Happy Hour.  And here she is!

I wish she would have smiled for the photo coz her smile is just brilliant.  But ya get the ideer, Gentle Reader, right?  What a CUTIE!

And, apropos o' not much... my barberess commented on my mustache today, sayin' she really, rilly liked it.  I mention this coz it's the third such comment I've received in as many days, all from wimmen.  I think I'll keep on keepin' on in this space.  Who knows what might happen?

That asterisk above?  It concerns how war stories... or sea stories, which have a variation on that theme, i.e., "This is no shit"... always begin.  See here for the salient point, specifically at the eight second mark:



"Everybody knows that" is the operative expression, no explanation is needed or wanted.  We ALL know how war stories begin so just stop explaining the obvious, mmm-kay?

This Could Be Fun. Or Not.

Well, this is most interesting (read the whole piece from the Hemmings Daily here):

Fun?  I dunno.  I've never driven a Deux Chevaux but I HAVE ridden in one.  I found the car to be noisy and claustrophobic and can't imagine ME spending a couple o' weeks in one of those contraptions.

But that's just me... take a look at the following video to see what goes into the tour, a bit about the people doing the Marrakesh Rally, and a LOT about the Citroen 2CV.  Local color, too... with monkeys!  And then you can decide for yourself.



The vid is longish for a blog post but it's VERY interesting.  If watching the vid and reading the article piques your interest you can book a tour at 2CV Adventures.  The prices for the various tours are pretty reasonable. From the linked article:

Tour costs are surprisingly reasonable for what’s included, with the nine-day Silver Road Rally priced at £3,950 ($6,320) per car for two people and the nine-day SAFE Raid priced at £3,275 ($5,240) per car.

Hell, I spent that much during the Great Divorce Tour of 1999 and I didn't have a car included in the price.  I did have a few rides, though, and I'll bet my "rides" were a LOT more comfortable, not to mention entertaining.

Tour costs are surprisingly reasonable for what’s included, with the nine-day Silver Road Rally priced at £3,950 ($6,320) per car for two people and the nine-day SAFE Raid priced at £3,275 ($5,240) per car. - See more at: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/10/31/see-europe-or-north-africa-slowly-behind-the-wheel-of-a-citroen-2cv/?refer=news#sthash.tEO7D6V4.dpuf

Linkage

The annual Nikon Small World photomicrography winners have been announced for 2014 and they are spectacular.  A screen-shot from the web site:

Go, look, and be amazed.  Or not, you soul-less person, you.

Of Possible Interest...

... to fans of the Allman Brothers Band.  This, from Rolling Stone:

A couple o' things come to mind here.  First, I was fortunate enough to catch about 45 minutes of the four hour concert on XM yesterday while out gallivanting around and doin' the P-Ville equivalent o' the Grand Tour, which would be Portales - The Big(ger) City^TM - Cannon Airplane Patch - Portales.  I'm pleased to report the band sounded GREAT.  So good, in fact, that I briefly considered taking Happy Hour in the car to hear what was left of the concert when I got home.  But I didn't, for there were groceries to put away and other stuff to be done.

Second, I saw the Allmans a couple o' times in the way-way-back, the best occasion being when they headlined a triple bill at the San Francisco Cow Palace on New Years Day in either '72 or '73.  That triple bill was something else: the Charlie Daniels Band opened, the Marshall Tucker Band was the middle act, and the Allmans finished it off.  That particular concert was among the top five shows I've ever seen and I was well and truly worn out by the time that evening was over.  (Aside: some day I might rank the concerts I've seen and discuss them, but then again I prolly won't.  You're welcome.)  My friends and I drove to SFO from Klamath Falls, OR to see this concert, which should give you an ideer of just how big a fan of the Bros I was (and still am).  "Southern Rock" didn't get any better than what the Allmans delivered, in ALL their incarnations.

Yup

History WILL repeat itself:

There are ten more rejected cards here.

History

First, a couple o' 'toons from the Usual Source o' these things:

And then there's this, from a daily newsletter I get from the PBS Newshour:

Hardly an historical aberration: So what’s going on here? Is President Obama so toxic that he is unlike past presidents? Not quite. First, like we noted above, there are the fundamentals of this election. Despite being reelected in 2012, he lost the most competitive states where the hottest Senate races are being run by double-digits to Mitt Romney. Plus, there is truth to the so called six-year itch. Seven presidents have been reelected since the Great Depression, and in those second terms, a president’s party has lost an average of 26 House seats and seven Senate seats. The worst second midterm for any president since WWII was Dwight Eisenhower’s. And it’s a reminder that, even then, “small-ball” issues dominated news of the day and drove politics. Eisenhower’s “problems included influence-pedaling charges against his White House chief of staff, national frustration over Soviet gains in space and missile technology and a bitter economic recession,” notes the Senate Historical Office. The 13 seats gained by Democrats was and still is the single-largest gain by one party of Senate seats. That election gave Democrats a 64-36 majority and laid the foundation for the Great Society measures of the 1960s.

Six-Year Itch? Results for a president’s party since the Great Depression in a second midterm
1938 FDR -55 House, -6 Senate
1950 Truman -29 House, -6 Senate
1958 Eisenhower -48 House, -13 Senate
1986 Reagan -5 House, -8 Senate
1998 Clinton +5 House, No change in Senate
2006 Bush -30 House, -6 Senate

AVG: -26 House, -6.5 Senate

Let us hope history repeats itself this time around.

Thoughts and Prayers...

... go out to Gordie Howe and his family.  From the Detroit Free Press:

Gordie Howe — the hockey legend and giant among Detroit sports figures — has suffered a severe stroke that has his family rushing to his bedside in Lubbock, Texas.

"I feel like this is his final lap around the rink," Murray Howe, one of Gordie's three sons, told the Free Press tonight. "I'm guessing that he's not going to recover ... but then again, he's about as strong as they get. If anybody can do it he can."

[...]

Gordie Howe, the Detroit Red Wings legend so synonymous with his sport he became known as Mr. Hockey, suffered a stroke Sunday morning, one day after enjoying a pleasant stroll in Lubbock with Azia and Lahna. Gordie has been staying in Lubbock with his daughter, Cathy, and sons Mark, Marty and Murray started hurrying Tuesday to join their sister, and in all likelihood say good-bye to their famous dad.

More details at the link above.  Get well soon, Mr. Howe.

On the Early Bus Again

I suppose an early rise is to be expected when one goes to bed around 2230 hrs.  I find it middling-strange that I only need about six hours o' sleep every night, and eight at the very most.  I don't count the two-hour nap I take every afternoon, though, and that has to figure in there somewhere.

So, all of the overnight mail has yet to hit the in-box but most of it has.  This was a piece-part of it...

I'm thinking Mr. Ramirez is the best of the current crop o' political cartoonists.  He ALWAYS gets it right.  Apropos o' not much... I was never Peter-Principled.  I came close a couple o' times, but never really got there.

Update, 0940 hrs:  On further thought about that Peter Principle thing... I think I've reached my level of incompetence in retirement, in that I don't seem to be doing it too very well.  Some folks, like President George H. W. Bush, jump out of airplanes in retirement, others take off on exotic travel binges, still others go back to school just for the fun that's in it.  Me?  I sit on the verandah and drink beer; an exotic travel binge for me means driving over to The Big(ger) City^TM every other month or so.  Incompetence.

MY Kinda Place!

I can see myself in that picture, but... alas.  I was in Prague about 14 years too early.

Clever Title

That would be this, from the Usual USAF Source:

Jurassic Raptors

Air Frame: F-22 Raptors fly in formation near Hickam AFB, Hawaii, Oct. 21, 2014. (Lockheed Martin photo by Liz Kaszynski)

The overnight mail isn't completely in at this early hour so it's quite likely we'll have more, later.  And you might ask "just what in the Hell are you doin' up at this hour, Buck?"  Well, sometimes it just bees that way.  The eyes pop open and sleep is impossible after that.  That's why.

Guest Post

Promoted from comments to the main page... Our Man Virgil Xenophon.

HOW I GOT TO SEE FOOTBALL GAMES IN TIGER STADIUM FOR FREE 1971-1972

When I left the Air Force and landed at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, 90 miles from Baton Rouge, I wondered how I was going to get to see my beloved Tigers play during football season as all games weren't televised like they are now and, as I was no longer a student, and season tickets sold out annually, even scalped tickets were hard to come by. SOooo...like any good ex-military guy, I devised a plan.

It so happens that those years were the years when the student culture was changing and in flux (not to mention the national one). Whereas in the early '60s all male students and adults wore a suit & tie to Tiger games and women their best dress, the culture was changing to casual wear. The only people who wore suits were news/sports reporters and LSU Admin officials. So I devised a plan to blend in in order to sneak into the press box.

First, I dressed in a suit, with a set of binoculars hanging around my neck and carried a clip-board to fake the sports-writer bit. Then I would head to the check-in point where the sports reporters got their credentials. In those days Tiger stadium was a one-story oval seating 68,000 before they added the upper deck slabs and the southern end-zone curved 2nd deck. It was a far simpler time. Usually two guys sat at a folding card table just outside the perimeter gate with a couple of shoe-boxes full of 3X5 cards used to verify reporters, and the double gates were hugely wide (to allow for trucks, etc.).

What I would do is hang back until I saw a gaggle of around 10 or more reporters gathered around the officials and otherwise occupying their attention. I would sidle up to the back of the crowd as if to get my Press Pass, then slide to the side when attention was diverted and walk right by thru the gates and on up to the elevator door to the Press Box as if I belonged and up I would go. Once there where I sat depended. If the games were against teams that were not traditional opponents and from far away so that there was little fan interest (like, say, Wisconsin) there would be few out-of-town reporters and so I could sit right at the reporters desk row and watch the entire game from the 50 yard line! Of course when trad opponents like Ole Miss, Alabama or Auburn came calling the Press Box would be packed with legit reporters. What then? Well, PLAN B was to take the back stairs/fire-escape from the Press Box down the elevator tower to the point where it opened as a one-way door out onto the top rung of the stadium seats beneath the Press Box. All seats usually being occupied, I usually then sat on the top step underneath the Press Box on the 50 yard line. Again, a great vantage point even if the seating was a bit "hard." LOL I did this for every home game for two years!

Special Note: On the night of the Ole-Miss-LSU "one second" game I arrived a little early.  Sooo, it being early there was still room in the Press Box proper, so I thought I'd take in a bit of pre-game warm-ups, ceremonies, etc., before heading down-stairs and out into the stadium. Unfortunately, I had had too much to drink at the fraternity house before hand, so passed out face down. A security guard eventually tapped me on the shoulder and said "Nice try, son," and escorted me down and out of the stadium. Not to be deterred, however, I planned a "re-attack" in the best Air Force tradition by repeating my performance (what are the odds?) a second time only heading directly for the stadium exit door before anyone could detect me and thus I was there to watch a very thrilling and historic last-second come-back win for my Bayou Bengals!

Virgil has been threatening for well over a year to become something like a co-blogger here at EIP. I took the liberty of promoting his comment from "All's Well" and calling it a "guest post" to encourage him to deliver more stories like this.  Further encouragement from you Gentle Readers would be appreciated.

(I did a couple o' minor edits and added the photo.)

Saturday: A Space Odyssey

From the Usual Source of these things:

And to round off a viral video chart that has been totally free of cats and unfortunate accidents, we have a British Film Institute trailer for Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which will be re-released in cinemas on 28 November. The 2 minute video reminds us exactly why the film is a classic. 

I might actually go sit in a theatre to see this.  Again.

All's Well That Ends Well

So, there I was... watching the Beloved Wings play the Hated Flightless Birds last evening with about four minutes left in the game and the Wings down, 3-1.  I was THIS close (imagine my thumb and forefinger about a millimeter apart) to switching off the teevee and doing something more interesting... like the dinner dishes... but I decide to hang in there.  Why?  I dunno.  But The Deity At Hand had plans; watch below.



SN1 rings me up after The Captain put it in the net with a lil over two minutes left to get the Wings within one.  "Well," sez I (speaking about the Zetterberg goal), "at least we'll go out on a minor high."  And then, wonder of wonders, Number 55 TIES the game with 39 seconds left, so it's off to OT we go.  You know the outcome if you watched the highlights above... Justin Abdelkader put it in the net with less than a minute left in OT for the win.

I would have been SERIOUSLY pissed if I'd read the score this morning after switching the game off.  Or, to put it another way: O, me of little faith!