Tape Findings, and Found Magazine Website

Two fun finds today...the first is Found, a website devoted to found objects. According to their About section:

We collect found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles-- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Anything goes.

We certainly didn't invent the idea of found stuff being cool. Every time we visit our friends in other towns, someone's always got some kind of unbelievable discovered note or photo on their fridge. We decided to make a bunch of projects so that everyone can check out all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people have picked up and passed our way.

As an off-shoot of this site, there is another one, called Tape Findings. Now this one really appealed to me. I can still remember being a kid, and my little sister and I playing around recording our voices on a Radio Shack Realistic Cassette Recorder. We'd record anything, really -- me reading the paper, or the latest Guinness Book of World Records. Anyhow, this web site brings together these lost-and-forgotten tapes, and like Found, they can be banal or funny, serious or strange, but wow, what a great site for the voyeur in us all.

Found Magazine
Tape Findings

Shorpy, a Vintage Photo Blog

Sure, there are many fine sites out there that showcase contemporary photography, such as Flickr. But what about all those cool vintage photos that we have laying around, maybe in old photo albums, or ones acquired in garage sales? Well, now they have their day in the sun.

Shorpy, billed as "The 100-year-old photo blog", showcases all sorts of cool vintage photos. You can create an account and add your own, if you like. The site states that they are particularly interested in photos "from the dawn of photography to the 1940s". Check it out!

Shorpy

Garage Sale America

OK, let's switch gears a bit. Here's a fun site. Garage sales have been around forever -- well, at least as long as people have had garages, I guess. With the explosion of antique collecting and the promise of finding that potential treasure in your neighbor's basement, plus the recent popularity of shows such as "Antiques Roadshow", the garage sale is as popular as ever.

Well, Bruce Littlefield has taken it upon himself to travel to garage sales from coast to coast, and as many as he can find. Then he reports on his finds on a blog, and the wonderful website that surrounds it. You'll find a spot to list your own garage sale, find others, do's and don'ts, and much more. The site is beautifully put together and a pleasure to navigate.

Here's a fun example from his blog:

EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE, I LEARNED AT A GARAGE SALE

•Everybody’s looking for something.
•Just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s gold.
•One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. And vise versa.
•When you give, you get.
•Life can be perfect, even in its imperfections.
•There’s nothing worse than the one that got away.
•Even “free” comes with a price.
•A bargain is something you didn’t know you needed at a price you couldn’t resist.
•Greed isn’t pretty.
•Know when to cut bait.
•Nothing is yours forever.

So dive in -- or maybe, drive in -- you never know what "gotta-have" is awaiting you, maybe on the next street over this weekend.

Bruce Littlefield's Garage Sale America

[link courtesy of gettrio.com emailing]

Videogames: Fabulous at 40

Before all the computer and console games of today, there was a humble beginning, where a videogame called "Pong" ruled. Someone had to come up with the original idea, of course. Someone had to take a look at a relatively new technology (television), now in homes all over the country, and wonder if it would be possible to bring games into those houses, over the TV.

The year was 1967. Ralph Baer was ready to make history.

Read more about the rise of the videogame on 1up.com, here.

Video Games Turn 40

Taquitos.net: The Zen of Snacking

We all have that favorite snack. You know, maybe the one that's not all that healthy for you (ha, as if), but yet it's still a guilty pleasure? Chips, chocolate, peanuts, donuts? Salty, crunchy, sweet? Well, everyone has their own vice when it comes to the munchies. Now someone is blogging about it.

Taquitos.net to the rescue. From their FAQ:

Q: What is Taquitos.net?

A: Taquitos.net is the most comprehensive snack food site on the Interweb, featuring independent reviews of more than 3000 snacks. In addition to snack reviews, Taquitos.net has information on Krispy Kreme doughnuts, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, chocolate milk, snack mascots and more.

Q: What kinds of snacks does Taquitos.net consider for review?

A: Primarily, we consider the six major food groups: Potato Chips, Popcorn, Pretzels, Cheese Puffs, Tortilla Chips and Corn Chips. We'll generally try any other kind of salty snack as well. We'll often consider any snack that comes in a bag that roughly resembles a bag of chips. Any item that has the word "snack" somewhere in its name will usually receive consideration. We normally won't consider snacks that require refrigeration to store or need to be cooked before being eaten. Beyond those criteria, we decide on a case-by-case basis whether each item merits a review.

And they aren't kidding. Find all sorts of reviews on just about any snack you can imagine. There's even news stories on the front end. Currently, they are featuring articles on Taco Bell implementing the FastPass system so you can wave your card and get your food faster; and a story on what is stocked in the vending machine at Dunder-Mifflin on NBC's hit show The Office. A fun site...so get munching, and go easy on those Pringles, will ya?

Taquitos.net

Boomers, Part Deux: The Boomer Chronicles

You can't keep a good Baby Boomer down, especially when the writing is crisp and funny. And so it was that Rhea commented on my I Remember JFK post here. She has a wonderful blog herself titled The Boomer Chronicles. I stopped by, took a look, and was educated and entertained at the same time. Always a good combination. I highly recommend that you take a look yourself!

The Boomer Chronicles

Baby-Boomer Reminiscing

"...we'll go dancing in the dark, walking through the park, and reminiscing." ~Reminiscing, Little River Band

Major life events compel us to mark them in a way that you can easily describe what you were doing at that point. Remember the Challenger disaster? Hurricane Katrina? The Stock Market crash? ...and so on. One of the most indelible moments in time if you happen to be a Baby Boomer was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I remember hearing adults talk about this time when I was growing up, and they always said they remembered where they were, what they were doing, even the topic of the conversation when they heard the awful news.

Well, the premise of being of age to remember JFK's death is the idea behind the I Remember JFK website, albeit with more pleasurable memories. Here you can go back to your childhood and read about such recently-discussed topics as: 45 inserts, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and baseball cards. Each article posted has room for comments, and even if you aren't quite of the age to remember JFK (I missed it by a mere couple of years), you'll find plenty of essays on items you do remember from days gone by.

I Remember JFK: A Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot