{"id":3187,"date":"2008-12-22T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T20:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3187"},"modified":"2008-12-22T12:08:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T20:08:00","slug":"once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-tavern-where-we-used-to-raise-a-chum-or-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3187","title":{"rendered":"Once Upon a Time There Was A Tavern, Where We Used to Raise a Chum or Two&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s amazing how some days a theme just seems to assert itself&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>From the \u201c<b>Be Kind, Rewind<\/b>\u201d Department:<\/i> It looks like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/news\/la-et-vhs-tapes22-2008dec22,0,5852342.story\" target=\"_blank\">the VHS Cassette is going the way of other media<\/a>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2008\/TECH\/12\/08\/polaroid.farewell\/\" target=\"_blank\">Polaroid Film<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/07\/28\/business\/media\/28cassette.html\" target=\"_blank\">Cassette Tapes<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.byteandswitch.com\/document.asp?doc_id=119711\" target=\"_blank\">Floppies and 9-Track tape<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/cultureandcommunication.org\/deadmedia\/index.php\/Hollerith_Punch_Card\" target=\"_blank\">Punched Cards<\/a>. Specifically, the last major supplier of the tapes, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Distribution Video Audio<\/a>, has shipped their last VHS shipment. Anything left in their warehouse will be given away or thrown away. I still have a large box of videotapes, either ones that I recorded or bought. Haven\u2019t watched them in years. But then again, I think I still have a 9-track tape from my college days, written on the IBM 360\/91.\n<li><i>From the \u201c<b>Today, Sunny. Tomorrow, Sunny.<\/b>\u201d Department<\/i>: The LA Times has a nice piece on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nationworld\/nation\/la-na-media21-2008dec21,0,2265099.story\" target=\"_blank\">the whereabouts of Dr. George Fishbeck<\/a>, former meterologist of KABC 7. I thought he would have retired to Porterville, as he was always sending toys there&#8230; but no, he\u2019s in Woodland Hills, volunteering with VST, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lapdonline.org\/mission_community_police_station\/content_basic_view\/9066\" target=\"_blank\">LAPD\u2019s Volunteer Surveillance Team<\/a>. I\u2019m familiar with VST, as my MIL has worked with them. Anyway, back to Dr. George&#8230; he was from \u201cmy\u201d era in weathercasters &#8212; the 1980s &#8212; and I don\u2019t think we have had one with a meterology background (who uses it) since then.\n<p>ETA: The LA Times also has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-then21-2008dec21,0,2879955.column\" target=\"_blank\">a nice column on Cal Worthington<\/a>.<\/p>\n<li><i>From the \u201c<b>Chatty Cathy<\/b>\u201d Department:<\/i> This time of year, mothers everywhere are buying baby dolls for their daughter. But be careful, because your purchase might raise a stink. Literally. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/12\/21\/AR2008122102397.html?nav=hcmodule\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Post is reporting about a new doll<\/a> called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hasbro.com\/babyalive\/\" target=\"_blank\">Baby Alive<\/a>. This doll not only wets&#8230; it (ahem) deficates as well. She\u2019s more life-like than ever! They even provide <a href=\"http:\/\/host.exemplum.com\/hasbro\/baby-alive-learns-to-potty\/baby-alive-learns-to-potty.html\" target=\"_blank\">a demo<\/a>. Quoting the Post: the doll \u201ccomes with special &#8220;green beans&#8221; and &#8220;bananas&#8221; that, once fed to the doll, actually, well, come out the other end. &#8220;Be careful,&#8221; reads the doll&#8217;s promotional literature, &#8220;just like real life, sometimes she can hold it until she gets to the &#8216;potty&#8217; and sometimes she can&#8217;t!&#8221; (A warning on the back of the box reads: &#8220;May stain some surfaces.&#8221;)\u201d. Mattel, not to be outdone by Hasbro, has the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toysrus.com\/product\/index.jsp?productId=3142074\" target=\"_blank\">Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Gotta Go Doll<\/a>. What does this doll do? According to the Post, \u201cOnce she is placed on her little toilet, a magnet triggers a presto, change-o in the plastic bowl: &#8220;The &#8216;water&#8217; in the toilet disappears, with the expected &#8216;potty waste&#8217; appearing in its place. Your child can then flush the toilet. The &#8216;water&#8217; will reappear, while the toilet makes a very realistic flushing sound!&#8221; And then comes the applause.\u201d These are expected to be big sellers.<\/ul>\n<p>So why am I posting this? I\u2019m just helping you. You see, according to the LA Times, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/features\/health\/la-he-nostalgia22-2008dec22,0,4881983.story\" target=\"_blank\">nostalgia is viewed as theraputic<\/a>, especially in these hard times:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Nostalgia has had a very bad name among psychologists and psychiatrists,&#8221; says Krystine Batcho, a professor of psychology at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., and a leading researcher on the emotion. &#8220;The feeling was that if you were nostalgic, you were trapped in the past.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the past decade or so, however, research has revealed nostalgia as a bittersweet emotion with some benefits. Batcho&#8217;s research shows that it helps people maintain their sense of identity. &#8220;Nostalgia is like looking in a rearview mirror,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Do I still have the values and priorities I had before? It gives us stability when we live in a time of constant change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nostalgia also helps people feel connected socially, she says.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The argument in [Gao&#8217;s] paper is that nostalgia works therapeutically,&#8221; she says. &#8220;You are reliving your social connectedness. It&#8217;s better than nothing. If you can&#8217;t be home for Christmas, at least you have your dreams.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I think I\u2019ll go live in my dreamworld now. Oh, never mind. Lunch is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s amazing how some days a theme just seems to assert itself&#8230; From the \u201cBe Kind, Rewind\u201d Department: It looks like the VHS Cassette is going the way of other media: Polaroid Film, Cassette Tapes, Floppies and 9-Track tape, Punched Cards. Specifically, the last major supplier of the tapes, Distribution Video Audio, has shipped their <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3187\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,69,1],"tags":[151,101],"class_list":["post-3187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-chum","category-television","category-lj-xfer","tag-childrens-toys","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}