This is not my beautiful house

That man lives elsewhere, believe me. But that is my beautiful oven, or was.

I found this image at lileks.com while searching (unsuccessfully) for a picture of a professor from the dowdy world. The oven in question was made by General Electric. One such oven came with our house (I'm guessing that it was original equipment, circa 1959). That oven disappeared last week when we replaced it with a new one (also by GE) that heats evenly and doesn't have a non-working clock/timer emitting a constant slight buzz, reminding those of us sitting at the kitchen table that we really need to do something about that oven.

[Readers of a certain age are expected to recognize an allusion to Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime."]

All "dowdy world" posts (Pinboard)

Anecdotal Iowa

I spent three hours tonight calling Iowa on behalf of the Barack Obama campaign, leaving many, many messages and talking to a few voters, who voiced support for only three candidates: Obama, John Edwards, and Mitt Romney, with Obama getting the most support. Edwards was mentioned only by those who are also considering Obama. I don't think anyone in our ten- or twelve-person volunteer group talked to a Hillary Clinton supporter. Merely anecdotal evidence, but interesting nonetheless.

Better Packages, Inc.

The November 26 New Yorker has a wonderful two-page collaboration by Aline and Robert Crumb, "Our Beloved Tape Dispenser." The tape dispenser in question, a Better Pack 333 Plus, is made by Better Packages, Inc., a small company in Shelton, Connecticut.

The Crumbs' comic is available only in print, but Better Packages, Inc. has a website. The company was founded in 1917, which makes it roughly the same age as Ernest Borgnine.

All "dowdy world" posts (Pinboard)

Ernest Borgnine

I don't care if it is on the Hallmark Channel. It stars Ernest Borgnine, so I'm watching it. A Grandpa for Christmas is on tonight, 9:00 Eastern, 8:00 Central.

Ernest Borgnine turns 91 next January.

[12.21.07: Borgnine has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in this movie. He's the oldest person ever nominated for a Golden Globe.]

A Grandpa for Christmas (The Hallmark Channel)

Related posts
Happy New Year (A scene from Marty)
Happy birthday, Mr. Piletti (Marty after Marty)

Advice for travelers

Stop for a good night's rest: good advice for anyone doing a long-distance drive this Thanksgiving weekend. Close cover before striking: good advice for us all.

Wikipedia: Williams, Arizona was "the last town to have its section of Route 66 bypassed."

My son Ben found this matchbook on the street. Who could've dropped it? Someone who just stepped from a time-travel machine?

Other posts on ephemera
Found
Invitation to a dance

Uncle Mark 2008 Gift Guide & Almanac

Today is Buy Nothing Day, but even those who aren't shopping might want to think about the shopping of the future. The Uncle Mark 2008 Gift Guide & Almanac can help.

Uncle Mark is Mark Hurst, customer-experience consultant and creator of Good Experience. His yearly guide to consumer technology is, in his words, "simply the very best guide for anyone vexed about technology, in search of good purchases, or who simply wants to know the answers to life's incessant questions."

I like the simplicity of Uncle Mark's approach: just one recommendation per category. The computer recommendation in last year's guide — "Without question, buy a Mac, unless you must be compatible with a Windows network at work or school" — helped me make up my mind to buy a MacBook. (That recommendation is unchanged for 2008.) The guide also offers useful tips: how to write dates in e-mail, how to leave a telephone message, and how to use one's index finger as a magnifying glass. I don't think that last how-to is for people who wear progressive lenses.

Uncle Mark 2008 Gift Guide & Almanac (.pdf)

Thanksgiving at Sing Sing

One hundred years ago:

"Sing Sing Prisoners Merry, Convicts Give a Minstrel and Vaudeville Entertainment," New York Times, November 29, 1907

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

TElephone EXchange NAmes in poetry

Ron Padgett understands the dowdy world:

It was an act of kindness
on the part of the person who placed both numbers
    and letters
on the dial of the phone so we could call WAverly,
ATwater, CAnareggio, BLenheim, and MAdison,
DUnbar, and OCean, little worlds in themselves
we drift into as we dial, and an act of cruelty
to change everything into numbers only, not just
    phone numbers
that get longer and longer, but statistical analysis,
cost averaging, collateral damage, death by peanut,
inflation rates, personal identification numbers,
    access codes,
and the whole raving Raft of the Medusa
that drives out any thought of pleasantness
until you dial 1-800-MATTRES

From "The Absolutely Huge and Incredible Injustice in the World," in How to Be Perfect (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2007)

Related reading
ronpadgett.com
The Raft of the Medusa (Wikipedia)

Related posts
Telephone exchange names
More telephone exchange name nostalgia
Telephone exchange names in classical music
Telephone exchange names on screen
Telephone exchange names on screen (no. 2)

All "dowdy world" posts (Pinboard)

Gmail à la Microsoft

"Please imagine the ads blinking at this point":

What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft? (Google Blogoscoped)

To Read or Not to Read

The National Endowment for the Arts has released a report on American reading habits,To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence. An excerpt:

The story the data tell is simple, consistent, and alarming. Although there has been measurable progress in recent years in reading ability at the elementary school level, all progress appears to halt as children enter their teenage years. There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans. Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates. These negative trends have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications.

How does one summarize this disturbing story? As Americans, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (The shameful fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.) With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.

NEA Announces New Reading Study (NEA press release)
To Read or Not to Read (.pdf download)