Pointy Tree Day gift shopping assist. You're welcome!

If you have somebody on your Pointy Tree Day Obligatory Gift list that likes the kind of stuff we do here, the P.A.G! Consumer Action Team have pulled together this list of gift recommendos. You can get them all from Amazon, of course, unless you have a death wish and are eager to leap into the Retail Holiday Meelee. God only knows why, but if that is your choice, enjoy driving from overcrowded store to overcrowded store on the off chance they actually have what you're looking for. I hope you rolled a good initiative check. You'll need it.

Popular Mechanics The Wonderful Future that Never Was: Flying Cars, Mail Delivery by Parachute, and Other Predictions from the Past

I used to subscribe to Popular Science, until I became aware that their cover stories were, a vast majority of the time, overly optimistic made-up bull shit. There's a reason their cover art is still "artists conceptions". As an example, I first read aout OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) televisions back in 2004-ish. It was a short blurb explaining that someone had built a functioning OLED TV in a lab, and that they were more efficient and brighter than LED's and best of all, they could be manufactured on a device like an inkjet printer at a fraction of the cost of current TVs. Fast forward ten years and we have OLED displays on about half of our cell phones, and they're not especially cheap. Pop Sci is a reliable disappointment... today. But looking back on the crazy stuff Pop Mech (their sister publication) thought we'd "soon" have is hilarious. For less than $20, you can get this for the propellerhead on your list with a strong sense of irony.

Boulevard Photographic: The Art of Automotive Advertising

I do not personally own this book, but I need to. It's a recommendation made (I'm pretty sure. Apologies if I'm wrong) by Alert reader Steve Miller. It's a luscious history of car ads, with dissection of tricks and techniques still used today to put butts in seats made of rich Corinthian leather. Know your enemy.

Gerardo Frisina - Hi Note

Italian composer Gerardo Frisina is not "from the past". He's still alive and actually pretty young. However, the influences of his afro-cuban-bossa jazz are pretty obvious. If you like the swanky sounds of the Sixties but are tired of your friends complaining that you only listen to old stuff, buy Hi Note and invite them to sit and spin. Oh yeah, this is supposed to be a gift. Well, go back a few sentences and change all the "you"'s to "someone on your list"'s.

Rosalia De Souza - Garota Moderna

All that stuff I just said about Gerardo Frisina? Same with Rosalia De Souza. She's from Brasil, where they invented Bossa Nova and no one ever wears pants. She sings in Portuguese, which may be a problem for people who need to follow the literal meaning of the song, but I don't need to know the lyrics to know what she means. Help someone on your list do the No Pants Dance.

Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers

You know how all computers kind of look alike today? They didn't use to. back when we were still figuring out what we could do and wanted to do with computers, every builder kind of started designing from scratch, and they were really excited to be building The Future. Every machine was pretty distinct and had personality. Core Memory is a kind of art book about computer hardware. Not for everyone, but for those it's for, it's super for them.

PAG! Pointy Tree Day Card - Last call!

Okay, citizens, this is the last call for Pointy Tree Day / Seasonal Obligation Cards. They'll be going out next week, so send us an address or your Pointy Tree Day Stocking will be empty, smelling only of a foot and NOT of a postcard!

So, get yours while they're free... and existing!

Sportsmanlinke Driving, Pt. 9 - Stopping: The Opposite of Not Stopping.

As near as Modern Driving Statistics can tell us, every single person in history was killed due to an un-stopped auto-car. Won't you like to be the first to be killed by something else, like International Communism, or perhaps bees? Choose how you want to die. Learn to stop!

Where's the kinetic energy stored? Here in the gas tank?

Stopping is all about dissipating Kinetic Energy, or "witchcraft". A moving vehicle has Kinetic Energy, which is equal to the mass of the vehicle times velocity, divided by the number of obstacles there are to hit, multiplied by green. Don't forget to carry the one. If you can recalculate this equation at all times while driving, you will always know exactly how to stop, in case of motion.



As shown in Fig. 119, kinetic energy is best dissipated by hitting obstacles.

In case of an ordinary stop, try driving into a hedge, bush, or lesser bramble, as shown in A. This will bring your auto-car to a stop in a relatively long distance, but with minimal damage. In case of emergency, consider doing a "panic stop", by finding a nice solid school bus to shorten your stopping distance dramatically. Be careful. Some school buses may actually be filled with shrubbery. This may confuse you. In case of confusion, quick confusion is important. Just try to hit anything you can find.

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Munsingwear - Boring old underwear ad.

Man. 1960 sure was square. They couldn't even find a way to make underwear ads sexy. Not like today, with our various secrets models and subtle dirtyness, here in The Future. 1960 needs to loosen up.

Munsingwear seems to be really proud of their T-shirts. Apparently the collar would never stretch out of shape, no matter how hard you pulled it, or how often. They even invited you to include your wife (or mistress) in the yank party.




















That guy is so smug. he seems confident that his collar will never get floppy or shrivel up. But it's not like he worked on the development team for Munsingwear, right? What's he got to be so proud of? Is the tidyness of his collar somehow a reflection on his masculinity? It's advertising, so of course everything is a veiled reflection on your sexuality. Even an ordinary pull test.

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Fram Oil Filters - Filter are GO!

You know how women get really excited about engine maintenance? Me neither. If you know a lady who looks like this one and gets this jazzed about taking care of a car, marry the hell out of her. Just to be safe, marry her a couple of times, in case one of them doesn't take.

Apparently this man, who married his daughter, liked to make a date out of engine maintenance. And apparently, it works on her. Look at how thrilled she is. She's a keeper, and Mister Mooney knows this, because she's wearing a wedding ring, as you can see. I don't quite get the joke in this ad. She's cranked about the new filter and he's horrified that his engine was so full of filth? Maybe she's excited because the new filter if shiny and red and it feels like shopping? Maybe she's just happy because her husband-father is miserable? Love and marriage.

Anyhoo, this irrationally cheerful woman would be a fine addition to your clip art arsenal. We are proud to present her to you as an archival-quality PNG Graphic Gift on a transparent background that you and your family are sure to treasure for generations to come. She can brighten up just about anything, I'd imagine. An educational pamphlet, for example. You're welcome!

She can certainly make GETTING herpes seem fun. Meow. Naughty kitty!

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Child Seatbelt - Be safe in '67!

This totally safe and non-improvable child seatbelt was a great leap ahead, back in 1967. It was better than, say, just carrying your kid around lying on the dash, for example. Also notice that the extra-high child seat gives your special little one a clear shot at the windshield for that super clean "nothing but net" exit from the vehicle in the event of a crash.

The Country Gentleman Girls' Club

Huzzah to all of our farming readers, you who surely regard yourselves as Country Gentlemen! Our Fair Publication serves you well as a touch-stone for all Farming Concerns and also Animal Husbandry, but what of your daughters? What may she find within Our Pages to bring delight to her Youthful years? Ahy, the Country Gentleman Girls' Club, of course! Hasten to join with all speed! Allow us to address your daughters, for a moment....

Girls, you can be the Proud Owner of a Lovely Frock or a Jazzy Banjo Uke, Possibly both! "How can I possibly own two things?" you ask? Never mind! Simply join today! "What do I need to do to earn Such Prizes?" Don't ask questions! Just join! You'll be ever so glad of the day you did, for you might own a Lovely Frock or a Jazzy Banjo Uke for playing The Devil's Music!