If You're Tired of Being Pushed Around

Just follow Mac's lead. Forget Bowflex - all Mac needed was a free book from Charles Atlas.

Surely this ad is one of the better known ones in the self-improvement category. At least Charles Atlas looks realistic, instead of the grotesque specimens seen in some of the bodybuilding literature.

I can't say much about the validity of bodybuilding to make oneself a chick magnet, though. Wimpiness is more an attitude than a lack of physique. (If the shoe fits, take heart and strengthen your backbone before your biceps.)

Major Matt Mason

No doubt this toy was launched during the Apollo space missions. I never owned it, so I can't vouch for the authenticity of the jet propulsion pak: "Actually makes him fly through the air. Just like the real thing!"

The moon suit looks less like something Neil Armstrong would wear, and more like the robot from "Lost in Space." I wonder if there's a pouch of "Tang" hidden in one of the pockets ;)

Speaking of the Revolutionary War...

...I just finished re-reading Johnny Tremain. I recall having read it when I was in the third grade (or thereabouts), but honestly the only part of the story that I actually remembered was the accident that resulted in his having to abandon his dreams of becoming a silversmith.

Favorite quote (p 283):

Robert Newman, suspected of having hung the lanterns in Christ's Church the night before, was thrown into jail, and John Pulling, merely suspected of having helped, was forced to hide in his grandmother's wine butt.

Now it turns out that in context, "butt" is nothing more than a large cask, or, alternatively, a unit of volume equal to two hogsheads (ha! more weird words: a hogshead is about 63 gallons).

But to contemporary ears, "wine butt" conjures up a whole different image ;)

204 pc. Revolutionary War Soldiers set

"Every piece of pure molded plastic...hours of fun for the whole family!"

All that for $1.98.

Nowadays, how many kids would be able even to name a couple of famous battles of the American Revolution, let alone re-live them with little plastic soldiers?

Come to think of it, plastic soldiers are probably not made any more. Instead, kids will have to order sets of diplomats and conflict resolution managers. After all, fighting is so barbaric - not to mention it's an embarrassing vestige of patriarchal society. Governments are nannies to take care of you and wipe your leaky orifices, not anything that should actually provide for the common defense.

Just Like the Real Thing

From the back page of a Tarzan comic book. They forgot about the possibility that some little Annie Oakley might be interested in ridin' shotgun, too.

Love Story in Harvard

I've been watching this Korean drama lately. Even though it's supposed to be set at Harvard, it was actually filmed at U So. Cal / UCLA. (I thought I caught a glimpse of a palm tree or two, which is rather strange for Harvard. The seashore scene is also decidedly un-Massachusetts like, and the clincher is the state highway signs are just like those in California.) For those who like romantic drama, it's a captivating story nonetheless. And of course the male leads are good-looking ;).

Surprisingly (to me, at any rate), the guy who played the strict Prof. Keynes is none other than Frank Gorshin. Frank who? Think "The Riddler" from the Batman TV series. I never woulda thunk it!

Haunted House Mystery Bank

Note that this too is "sturdily constructed," like the Polaris Nuclear Sub.

My fave: "...or (if you're independently wealthy) a quarter..."

HA. But then again, Bazooka Bubble Gum was only a penny a piece, too, so...

Calling All Breadmakers

I've been on a breadmaking kick lately. I had beginner's luck with my first loaf (maybe had something to do with using rapid-rise yeast, too), but since then I've encountered some difficulties: my loaves get these huge caves in the middle, as you can see from the pictures of today's loaf. (Actually, the all-bran loaves that I tried last week had even bigger caves in them - big enough for Tom, Becky, and Injun Joe to hide in, it seems.) You can see that the dough in the bottom of the cave is somewhat underbaked, but the outside of the loaf looks lovely and tastes fine.





I'm wondering if the cave is a result of overproofing - from what I've been able to read on the internet and elsewhere, it appears that that could be the case, but I'm not entirely sure. At first I thought it might be due to underkneading, so today I tried to remedy that.



Anybody have any ideas/tips/hints?

I wish I had learned this from my mom and/or grandma - no doubt they would have been able to tell me where I'm going astray. (There's something to be said for apprenticeships.) My grandmother was baking the family bread by the time she was eight - and here I am, trying to produce a decent, edible loaf of bread. Well, I more or less have the edible part down, I guess....