Yeah, we had ’em.
We’d split them up, Germans vs. Allies, set them up in the dirt, then each of us would shoot rubber bands at the opponent’s “army.” If the rubber band knocked over a soldier, he was taken off of the battlefield as KIA.
If you shot a rubber band off your thumb, hit or miss, it became part of your opponent’s arsenal. If you were a good shot but too aggressive, you might run out of rubberband ammo and lose the battle. Strategy & Tactics for 8 year old boys.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by a communist named Lee Harvey Oswald. I was very young, but I remember understanding that something terrible had happened.
JFK was indisputably the last conservative democrat to hold the Office of the Presidency, and the loss still echoes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On a lighter note, in 1963 one of my prized possessions was a transistor radio that I listened to constantly, and I wasted a large number of batteries by falling asleep with the radio on my pillow.
Here are three favorites.
No. 10 in the Billboard rankings for 1963: The Impressions‘ “It’s All Right.” Curtis Mayfield was with the group from 1958 – 1970. The vid is from the TV show “Hollywood A-Go-Go” in 1965.
Martha & The Vandellas, live at The Apollo. Martha Reeve’s voice still blows me away.
The Chantays performed Pipeline live on The Lawrence Welk Show in 1963. According to the liner notes on their album, the oldest member of the band from Santa Ana California was 17 when they invented surf-rock.
This was the also the age of the “girl groups.” Before lil’ Bunk was in the double digits of age he liked girls, just couldn’t admit it to his buddies, and was secretly in love with Ronnie Spector, Skeeter Davis, Barbara Lewis and The Chiffons, but not Leslie Gore – what a whiner.
Have a great weekend, folks.
Not to disparage the late Butane James, but being born dead and recovering is one helluva fetus. Aside from that, this compilation is completely awesome.
[Found here.]
Reminds me of our dog when he was a couple of years old. He was in the kitchen barking up a storm, and it wasn’t until I put my head down near his to see what he was bothered by. It was a box of treats on the kitchen counter – with a picture of a dog on it.
I showed him the box and he never barked at it again; and yes, I rewarded him for protecting us from the two-dimensional intruder.
BTW, cheese-flavored dog biscuits do not taste like cheese.
[Found in here.]
Mrs. Miller sings Petula Clark’s hit “Downtown.” Double dog dare you to listen to the whole thing.
“What The Hell Did Jesse Jackson Say?” is a radio game show on AM640KFI hosted by Tim Conway Jr. (who’s funny as hell, and the game is tougher than you think).
What you get when you heat aluminum to 1200 degrees F and pour it into an ant colony [via].
Mozilla has a new add-on for FireFox that allows you to see who’s tracking you across the internet called “Lightbeam” (originally named “Collusion”). In February 2012, Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs explained it’s origin and purpose at a TED Talk.
“I made this powerpoint for this week’s lesson – Regional/Iconic American Foods. I went back through and replaced all the text with my student’s reactions.” His students are Chinese.
Airhorn Classics – Various Artists [via].
Top image found here.
Tacky Raccoons 