Kids and their triple-decker sundaes these days

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Creating a password

How often has this happened to you?

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What we'll all be doing in 30 years

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Russell Johnson dies at 89 on Jan 16, 2014

Actor Russell Johnson, 89, who played the brainy Professor in nearly 100 episodes of the 1960s classic TV comedy series “Gilligan’s Island,” died Thursday morning at his home in Washington state.

He died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes, said his agent, Michael Eisenstadt.

Johnson also appeared in several films, including the sci-fi movies ”It Came from Outer Space” and “This Island Earth,” and he did guest appearances on numerous other series.

But he is best known for his role on “Gilligan’s Island” in which he played a professor who used his scientific knowledge to deal with the various perils the haplass castaways faced.

Reposted from KTLA.com

How we tested 9-volt batteries

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Aurora Borealis visible in lower 48 states TONIGHT

The Viewmaster

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Space Dust & Cosmic Candy

Remember these?

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Old school pencil sharpener

Who remembers raising your hand, to ask permission to get up & sharpen your pencil?

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Welcome Back, Kotter

Who remembers this bunch?

The intro,...

and of course, John Travolta's early singing/dancing talent.

They even had their own Colorforms (remember those?).

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The Kodak DISC camera

I think we all had one of these, yes?

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Good ol' days, ...Picture from 1986

Ahh yes, ...those were the days

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Nestle Quik ("Nesquik")

 Make sure to scroll all the way down (I found the old TV commercial)

Do you remember the short-lived "Banana" flavor?

Love this little rabbit...

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Greatest American Hero

Used to LOVE this show...

Remember the opening theme song?

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The ORIGINAL "Dymo" labelmaker

How many of these do you recognize?

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Sanford and Son

"...I'm comin' to join you, honey!"

And who can forget the intro / theme song...

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Woody Woodpecker

I used to be able to imitate his "laugh" perfectly

Who can forget that laugh...

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Underoos

Which ones were your favorite?

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Where's the beef?

Who remembers this series of commercials, launched on January 10th, 1984

Additional commentary from Yahoo! below

Travel back with us to 1984, to a time when a simple question could spark a nationwide meat-craving frenzy.

Thirty years ago this week, Wendy's debuted their now-iconic "Where's the Beef?" commercial, starring Clara Peller as an old lady demanding more meat from her fast-food hamburger. And a classic '80s catchphrase was born.

The ad, originally titled "Fluffy Bun," was the brainchild of top-tier agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (also responsible for Toyota's "Oh, What a Feeling!" campaign), and featured three white-haired grannies examining a new burger — with a tiny patty and a huge bun — from an unnamed restaurant, the "Home of the Big Bun."

While the other two women admired the "big, fluffy bun," Peller wasn't satisfied, croaking the immortal query, "Where's the beef?" (Interestingly, Wendy's first tried a version with a bald man uttering the line, but it failed to catch on.) The catchphrase was a sharp jab at competitors Burger King and McDonald's, allowing Wendy's to trumpet the fact that their burgers had more beef than the Whopper or Big Mac.

Hitting the airwaves on Jan. 10, 1984, "Where's the Beef?" was an instant sensation, spawning a series of Peller-starring sequels along with a raft of merchandise, from T-shirts to bumper stickers to Frisbees to a board game. Peller even recorded a "Where's the Beef?" novelty single with Nashville disc jockey Coyote McCloud.

The ad was credited with boosting Wendy's annual revenue by a whopping 31 percent, and made its way into the 1984 presidential campaign: Walter Mondale invoked "Where's the Beef?" to slam rival Gary Hart's lack of substance during the Democratic primary. Mondale went on to lose in a landslide to incumbent Ronald Reagan; the ad's director Joe Sedelmaier said at the time, "If Walter Mondale could have said the line like Clara, he would have been our president."

Even better than the story behind the ad is that of its unlikely star, Clara Peller. A Chicago native, the 4-foot-10-inch Peller worked as a manicurist for 35 years before being "discovered" in a local commercial at the age of 80.

She was 81 when the Wendy's ad debuted and thoroughly enjoyed her overnight celebrity: She appeared on numerous TV talk shows, made a cameo on "Saturday Night Live," and even served as a guest time-keeper for the battle royale at Wrestlemania 2.

Sadly, the relationship between Peller and Wendy's soured when Peller repeated her famous catchphrase in a 1985 ad for Prego spaghetti sauce (and then declared "I found it!"), leading Wendy's to terminate her contract for violating a non-compete clause. Peller responded, "I've made them millions, and they don't appreciate me." (Peller was only paid scale for the initial commercial, but earned tens of thousands more from subsequent Wendy's ads and merchandise royalties.)

Peller passed away in 1987 at the age of 85, and Wendy's struggled until launching a new ad campaign starring founder Dave Thomas in 1989. The chain actually resurrected the "Where's the Beef?" tagline in 2011 to promote their new Hot 'N Juicy Cheeseburgers, answering the question with a definitive "Here's the beef."

And three decades later, "Where's the Beef?" lives on as one of the most memorable TV commercials of all time. Ad Age named it one of the top 10 ad slogans of the 20th century, and it helped build Wendy's from an upstart fast-food joint into the third-largest burger chain in the world. Not bad for three little words from an 81-year-old manicurist.

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Do you remember Koogle?

Rax Roast Beef

I actually had a part-time job at a (Canton, Ohio) Rax Restaurant back in 1987.

Funny, I remember the "atrium/solarium" area on the front of the store was reserved for...

Yup, ...you guessed it - smokers.  My, my, my - how times have changed.

Rax Roast Beef is a small regional U.S. fast food restaurant chain specializing in roast beef sandwiches, currently based in Ironton, Ohio. Once a big player in the fast food segment, Rax has extensively scaled down their operations since their peak in the 1980s.

Rax was originally known as JAX Roast Beef, founded by Jack Roschman in 1967, inSpringfield, Ohio. In 1969, Roschman sold the chain to General Foods, who then changed the name of the restaurants to RIX Roast Beef. General Foods ran the chain until 1978, when most of the restaurants closed down. The remaining 10 units were franchised units owned by the Restaurant Administration Corporation (RAC), headed by J. Patrick Ross, a franchisee of multiple restaurant chains including Wendy's, Ponderosa Steak House, and Long John Silver's. RAC purchased the remainder of RIX from General Foods, and returned the JAX name to the restaurants. RAC eventually decided to focus on the roast beef business, and began franchising the chain. The JAX restaurants were renamed Rax to be more suitable for trademarking and franchising, with the first Rax branded franchise restaurant opening in Columbus, Ohio. RAC was renamed Rax Systems Inc., then again to Rax Restaurants Inc. in 1982. By then, Rax had grown to over 221 restaurants in 25 states.

At its peak in the 1980s, the Rax chain had grown to 504 locations in 38 states along with two restaurants in Guatemala. During this time, Rax began diversifying its core roast beef sales by adding baked potatoes and a dinner bar with pasta, Chinese-style food, an "Endless Salad Bar", and a dessert bar.  Rax began to transform its restaurants from basic restaurant architecture into designs containing wood elements and solariums, with the intention of becoming the "champagne of fast food". This transformation drove away its core working class customers, blurred their core business, and caused profits to plunge for Rax as others took advantage of Rax's techniques and improved on them, as Wendy's did. Compounding the decline was a management buyout of the company in 1991 and numerous changes that occurred on the company board. The company attempted to convert under performing outlets by forming joint ventures with Miami Subs and Red Burrito as they scaled back many of its stand alone locations to its core markets, particularly in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. A new advertising campaign was formulated with Deutsch Inc. to create Mr. Delicious in order to attract adult customers. The new advertising campaign backfired causing the exit of the marketing team. This along with compounding loan payments forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 1992.

Read the entire Wikipedia article here

Who remembers BURGER CHEF?

Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain founded in 1954 inIndianapolis, Indiana. The chain expanded throughout the United States and, at its peak in 1973, had 1,050 locations. The chain featured several signature items such as the Big Shef and Super Shef hamburgers.

In 1982, the General Foods Corporation, then-owners of the Burger Chef trademark and name, divested itself of the restaurant chain, gradually selling to the owners of Hardee's. The final restaurant to carry the Burger Chef name closed in 1996.

In 1954, Frank and Donald Thomas patented the Flame Broiler in their parent company General Equipment Corporation located on Stadium Drive and started their own restaurant inIndianapolis, Indiana. Another of their trade names from that company was "Sani Serv". In 1957, they opened their first Burger Chef. The first Burger Chef was located at 3401 West 16th street in Indianapolis near Speedway, a location now occupied by a Burger King. Another store, possibly the second, was located on East 38th street across from the Indiana State Fairgrounds and included the main training center. Their first hamburgers sold for 15 cents. In the late 1950s, they created the first "value combo" as a 15¢ hamburger, 15¢ fries, and 15¢ vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry milkshake. It was known as the "Triple Treat." Free Triple Treat coupons were often given as promotional items. Note that the total price was no less than if the items were purchased individually.

Read the entire Wikipedia article here

Gene Simmons (via Rolling Stone interview)

I enjoyed this article (originally by Rolling Stone, re-posted by Yahoo) and thought you might like it, too. Andy Greene's interview is below.

Tell me your first reaction to the big news.
Pride. For me, it's another tug of the shirt sleeve to remind me that the American dream is alive and well. I'm living proof of it. I came here as an immigrant, a legal one – that's a distinction – and getting the Hollywood Walk of Fame and getting the keys to the cities of God knows how many cities and the wax museums and the thousands of licensed products we have and on and on . . . Still, no matter how much much noise we make about how only the fans matter – and it's true they are the ones that put us here and without them we are nothing – there is something in the back of our collective consciousnesses that makes us want to be recognized by our peers.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame started out as a wonderful idea and ideal, and it's a pride and privilege. Now, we've had 10 different lineups. It's important to list that the honor is not just ours. It's Gene, Paul, Ace, Peter, Eric Carr, Mark St. John, Bruce Kulick, Eric Singer, Vinnie Vincent, Tommy Thayer . . . There's been a lot of guys, and we continue to tour and fill up stadiums, and it is a testament to the idea of Kiss. 

A long time ago, four knuckleheads off the streets of New York decided to put together the band they never saw onstage. We were ballsy enough to throw down our own gauntlet. "You wanted the best? You got the best! The hottest band in the world. Kiss." You're goddamn right.

Did you start to think you'd never be inducted?.
Yeah. I think it's political. As soon as the fans had their say, I'm told, we slaughtered everybody else. I think it's a crime that Deep Purple is not in and Patti Smith is. What the fuck? There are disco artists and all kind of credible and important kinds of music that have nothing to do with rock & roll. But, hey, it's not my thing. I think the best thing they did was to open it up to the fans. There is an American ideal: "By the people, for the people, of the people." Hey, that's a good idea. 

You're definitely coming to the ceremony, right?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We need to stand up there proudly for the fans.

It's nice to do it in Brooklyn since you guys started in New York.
Yeah. It's the coolest of the cool.

It's you guys, Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Linda Ronstadt, Cat Stevens. Are you fans of these people?
I respect all musicians who get up onstage. Whether that qualifies it as rock & roll is another issue. I'm of the opinion it's about guitars and drums. That's our meat and potatoes. For the record, no backing tracks, no pre-recorded anything. When you see us live and it says Kiss, that's it. We're live. When we play TV and there's a backing track, we'll say so. 

People are very curious about what lineup of the band is going to play that night.
Well, Kiss is Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. It's like, if you introduced me to your wife and I go, "Wait, where are all the other wives?" It's like, "Yeah, I was married to them and now I'm here." You can argue that point and we'll figure everything out as time goes on. This one is for the fans. If the fans didn't care, we wouldn't be here. If it meant nothing to them, we wouldn't be here.

Bands often play with old members at the Hall of Fame. Are you open to the idea of playing with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley that night?
Sure, why not? 

I've heard you say in the past you never wanted to play with them again.
That was for a tour. But they were equally important in the formation of the band. When you have kids with your first wife, you give kudos. The fact you got remarried doesn't delete or minimize the importance. Hey, "You have gave birth to this thing, Kiss, with Ace, Peter, Paul and Gene." 

But there's been some very public feuding and bad blood in the past few years.
There's never been bad blood. I love them as people. I just hate drugs and alcohol. I don't care if you are Mötley [Crüe] or Springsteen. If you don't have the balls to get on the stage straight, it's an insult to the fans and the band members.

They say they are clean now, though.
I have no comment.

They usually end the night with a big all-star finale where all the inductees do a song together. I've heard it suggested this time it might be "Rock and Roll All Nite." Are you open to that?
Sure. What other song ends the night? 

It would be a riot to watch you sing that song with Bruce Springsteen.
He's great. He doesn't use backing tapes, either. That's a good thing. What he does is unbelievable. You have to tip your hat.

Do you mind at all that the critics often ripped on you guys back in the day?
No. I'm too rich to care. I'm such a privileged bastard, are you kidding? I get paid more money than some Third World countries. What do I have to complain about? The fans love us. We love them. Not everyone loves Jesus, either. I remember when Rolling Stone called the first Led Zeppelin album a "limp blimp."

We also said they were a knock-off of the Jeff Beck Group.
Well, you can't say anything bad about about the Jeff Beck Group. Those first two records were fantastic. And Jimmy Page played on that stuff as well. I know Beck, Page and those guys. It's interesting how gracious the really big guys are about new talent. We've always gone out of our way to make every band we've ever taken out on their first tour feel like headliners. The list of bands we took out when they meant nothing is pretty remarkable, just because we liked them as fans: AC/DC, Rush, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Cheap Trick, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden. It just goes on and on. 

The guys in Rush give you a lot of credit for bringing them to a big audience.
Well, to take a Canadian band on their first tour in America was like, "Who?" But as soon as I heard "Working Man" and heard Geddy [Lee] sing. I was like, "What the hell? This is like a Canadian Led Zeppelin!"

Back to the thing with the critics, it's like you're asking Godzilla why the people hate him while he's destroying Tokyo. "Sorry, he's 50 stories tall. He can't hear you." 

People are curious to know why you don't get on VH1 Classic's That Metal Show with Eddie Trunk.
Respectfully, I'm not very interested.  

Why?
[Chuckles] Before there was metal, there was Kiss. We don't really consider ourselves metal. It's just rock & roll, and all the hand gestures that everybody does on that show, I invented that. Oh, and let me add the word "bitch." 

So, it's nothing personal against Eddie Trunk or anything?
Oh, I don't care. I wish everybody well. Everyone should have a happy life and succeed and stuff. Just because we don't want to do a show doesn't mean anything. I'm not really interested in Jon Stewart's show, either. That doesn't mean we don't wish him well. It's just not my cup of tea. I don't want to be a pinata while he's going to throw jokes. But if he wants to playmano a mano, you gotta take it as well as give it. 

How are you going to dress on Hall of Fame night? Are you gonna wear the full make-up and the costumes?
I was thinking of wearing a polka dot dress . . . No, we really haven't thought about it. 

If they tell you they just want the original four guys to play, will you be cool with that?
As long as they are willing to only bring their first girlfriend and their first wife . . . There's no rules. I really haven't thought about it.  

To just totally clarify once again, you're willing to play with Ace and Peter that night?
Oh, sure. 

That could be the last time ever then. When else could that happen?
In January we are celebrating our 40th anniversary, and boy do I look good! And every time I say, "I'm never going to do this, I'm never going to do that . . . " For God's sake, Ace and Peter were in the band three separate times. And they were let go three separate times. Every time it was about the same thing. How many times are you going to hear, "No, I'm healthy now. I'm fine." It's like the old, "I promise I'll pull out."  

The only consideration has always been the military ideal: sound mind, sound body, respect for the fans. They are our bosses. We buckle our knees to the people who make our lives possible, and rightfully so. You and me and everyone else, we just work here. Everyone else that disrespects that maybe shouldn't have the opportunities it provides. The stage is holy ground. It is electric church. Not everyone belongs there.

So you think it's possible there might be a 40th anniversary tour that involves Ace and Peter?
I don't want to do that. Nah. I've been through it before. Too many scars and too much, "I promise, I promise, I promise." It's like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. How many times can you cry the same thing? After a while, sorry, Charley.

They both wrote books and didn't say very nice things about you. Did that bother you?
I stand by everything they said! [Big laugh] I'll tell you a wonderful story. Ace, God bless him . . . You know, when he's straight he's a wonderful guy. He took me to the Beverly Hills Hotel and he told me a story. He said, "Look, I just want to show you a chapter I wrote in the book and just check with you and make sure it's OK."

I said, "Look, write whatever you want. I'm a happy guy." He said, "I just want to check the accuracy of it." I said, "OK, what is it?" He goes, "Well, nineteen-seventy-whatever it is. There's a swimming pool and we're all out there. There are girls and we're lounging around, and I get up on the diving board in my swimsuit and I've got champagne in my hand and I'm drunk and I've got a scarf on. You then say to me, 'Ace, get off the diving board. You're drunk, you're going to drown.' I then say, 'Fuck you. Don't tell me what to do!'"

Then he jumps off the diving board and jumps in. Of course, he starts to drown. He says, "Of course, you dive in because you used to be a lifeguard. You fish me out, pump the water out of me, save my life." And at breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel he says to me, "I want to thank you for saving my life. But how accurate was it?" 

I say to him, "It was 95 percent accurate. Yes, there was a diving board. Yes, champagne in hand. Yes, laughing in my face. Yes, drowning in the pool. Yes, I dove in and rescued someone. But it wasn't you. It was Peter Criss. You were flat-out unconscious – surprise – on the side of the pool. 

He just shrugged his shoulder. You can catch him in a lie or a figment of his imagination and he'll just shrug his shoulders and go, "Oh well, what the fuck?" He's a happy-go-lucky, I'm sorry . . . When we first got together it was magic. We loved those guys. All for one and one for all. Look, not all marriages stay together. What can I tell you? Cain and Abel didn't get along very well, either.

We recycled, ...before recycling was cool!

Am I right?

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Who remembers the Spirograph?

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