Twenty-five years ago, three grand could buy you a sweet desktop computer, complete with 8MB (not GB) of RAM.
In 2017, Gilbert Arciniega posted this home movie from June 1995 of his family opening that $3,000 computer, with the caption:
This is a computer my brother decided to buy back in 1995. As he had always wanted one. VERY EXPENSIVE back in this day! It was a Compaq Presario CDS. He went to Good Guys to buy it. I think it had 75 mhz and 8 mb ram. And a CD rom drive. I do remember he said he paid about $250 for the printer! And $500 for the monitor.
Talk about a time capsule!
(Digg)
screenshot via Gilbert Arciniega/YouTube Read the rest
Bakersfield, California. That's where you'll find the last Woolworth's Luncheonette in America — and it's still serving food!
Eater Los Angeles:
Step into the Five & Dime Antique Mall in Bakersfield, California, and that rarity becomes reality. There, in the back corner at the ground-floor level of the four-story building, is a fully functioning former Woolworth luncheonette counter, complete with 22 counter seats, Formica tables ringing the room, and an open kitchen for griddling burgers and making milkshakes. But this well-protected bit of ephemera isn’t cordoned off with Do Not Touch signs — it’s still a real, thriving luncheonette counter called the Woolworth Diner, serving police officers, antiquers, and locals daily.
Head over to Eater Los Angeles to see lots of photos of this fifties time capsule.
screenshot via NorCalCorsello Read the rest
A woman born in 1852. A gentleman birthed in 1841. A lovely couple, very much in love since well before the opening of the 20th century. This short film, captured using a early Movietone camera, was lovingly restored restored by Guy Jones. It's an amazing window, not only into 1934 when it was filmed, but into the 1880s.
That said, man, Washington County, Iowa was whiter than a pale of milk in a snowstorm. Read the rest
On October 18, 1953, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt signed in as the "mystery challenger" on the popular game show What's My Line? By allowing the show's host to answer her initial questions, she managed to stump the blindfolded panelists for a while. But, after a few rounds, the 69-year-old Ms. Roosevelt started answering the questions herself and that's when one of the panelists got wise to her identity.
(Nag on the Lake) Read the rest
Remember that "shame" video of the kid getting a Nintendo as a gift in 1988? Well, my former child actor friend Jared Hirsch saw it too and shared his own "shame" video from 1998 with me. His nearly two-hour long submission captures the splendor, joy, and robot sunglasses of his Bar Mitzvah reception on Staten Island.
I asked Jared if he had anything he'd like to say about the video. This is what he wrote back:
In 1988, I was a 13 year old growing up in Staten Island, the curious fifth borough in New York City. As all good young Jewish kids my age, my devoted parents threw me a classic 80s Bar Mitzvah. It was like a wedding, but for horny pre- and just-turned teens. Rented hall, live band, videographer, catered dinner, dancing, games, and all the attention I craved. I remember later that night sitting on their bed, counting all of the savings bonds I was gifted for becoming a man and feeling like a thousandaire. In 10 years, I cashed them and paid for a whole month of college. Behold in all it's transferred from VHS glory, my Bar Mitzvah party. Don't miss the Bar Mitzvah rap at 1hr10min, or my relatives not understanding how a video camera works. Delight in the snazzy renditions of your favorite 70s and 80 party songs. Cringe at the hair. Laugh at me for my overinflated ego, but don't forget that you too were 13 once.
Read the rest
A Goldsboro, North Carolina woman bought her neighbor's used freezer for $30, not realizing it contained frozen parts of the seller's dead mother.
Curiously, the buyer had the freezer for several weeks before opening it because the seller told her it was part of a "time capsule" project at Sunday School and the church would pick up the contents. The church folks never came, so the buyer finally peeked inside, spotted the body, and called 911.
The seller had already moved away but is under police investigation for felony concealing or failing to notify the death of a person.
“(She was) Just the sweetest lady," the buyer said of the seller. "I mean quiet, kept to herself, stayed at home. Just unbelievable how she could just stick her mom in a freezer."
Also unbelievable is that someone would purchase a used, $30 freezer without opening it first.
(WNCN) Read the rest
