Friday, October 28, 2016

Rainy Day Randomness

It's a rainy and windy morning on the Vineyard and I'm looking at Historical Pics on Twitter. Then I jumped to shorpy.com and came upon this photo of the kind of cigarette vending machines that were commonplace in the entrances to supermarkets and restaurants in the 1960s.

Marion S. Trikosko ~ U.S. News & World Report. 
It reminded me of how my black sheep of an older brother used to hustle change out of these machines by sticking about half an inch of a lollipop stick under one of the plastic pull-out handles, usually one of the less popular selling menthol brands on the lower right of the machine. This wasn't discernible to the eye and prevented pulling out any other handle or using the coin return lever. He'd go back a few hours later, remove the stick, pull down the coin return and it would rain coins like a slot machine.

Years later he stole this book from The Remarkable Book Shop on Main Street.


Alas, there is no honor among thieves. According to Wikipedia:

"Hoffman would not respond to accusations that he had plagiarized the book, as claimed in an article by Izak Haber in Rolling Stone magazine (No. 92, 10 September 1971), entitled 'How Abbie Hoffman Won My Heart and Stole Steal This Book.' Haber is acknowledged in the book as having done a great deal of the research."

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Series of Dreams


The only thing we have to fear is . . .

How 21st century, a survey about Americans' top fears.

According to The Chapman University Survey of American Fears, Americans have a lot of worry on their minds. Our biggest fear at 60.6 percent? Government corruption, for the second straight year.

Number two? Terrorist attack. Such fears could be overblown. Remember, President Obama said we're more likely to slip in the bathtub, which incidentally, did not appear in the survey's findings.

Three of the top 10 are government-related: government corruption, gun control and Obamacare. Sounds like Americans understand what's going on.

Off to yoga class.


Sunday, October 2, 2016

NHL Centennial


The National Hockey League's 2016-2017 season begins October 12. And the league's 100th season will be celebrated starting next January.

Drop the puck!