Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

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Our Friend the Atom – Part 3
Written by James Vaughan in Science

Our Friend the Atom – Part 3

The religion of The Atom died with Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. With that fall from grace came the end of many of our utopian dreams. A responsible future of conservation and organic carrots just wasn’t very exciting. Although widespread use of the atom remains controversial; 436 reactors remain the source of 15 per cent of the world’s electricity. In some European countries atomic power...

Our Friend the Atom – Part 2
Written by James Vaughan in Science

Our Friend the Atom – Part 2

Atomic power was projected to be very cheap. We were going to have electricity coming out of our ears! We would not have to import oil from crazy foreigners or dig up whole states looking for coal. Utility companies and government agencies around the world took up the chant of the mighty atom. Nuclear power plants were seen as a springboard for third world countries...

Our Friend the Atom – Part 1
Written by James Vaughan in Science

Our Friend the Atom – Part 1

No modern technology has ever had such a schizophrenic and complicated identity as Atomic Energy. It is often presented in mystical terms. A Pandora’s Box of knowledge that cannot be unlearned. The magical Genie that can do both help or harm but cannot be returned to his bottle. Nuclear Power is the ultimate parable of modern science. With the use of atomic bombs at the...

Shopping Spree – Part 10
Written by Christopher in Stores

Shopping Spree – Part 10

Let’s kick off the new year by spending some of your hard earned money at the local shopping center. Perhaps a new color television, that swank black suit that’s now on sale or why not a new kitchen appliance for the wifey? There is something for everyone. Where shall we go first? Montgomery Ward, SS Kresge, Publix or Woolco? I am sure many of you...

Video

A short movie that takes us back 60 years or so, to a time when Broadway and Times Square were the theater and entertainment capital of the USA. Pre Disneyfication and massive tourist invasions. For those of you who likes numbers, there were apparently 40 million twinkling lights around Broadway back then. Many of these places however are gone today. Are there any New Yorkers...

Video
Written by Christopher in Kitsch

How to Be Popular in the 1950s

Following up on my earlier post on how to get a date if you lived in 1950s America, here is a new film which show and tell how you can have a few close friends but be popular among a large group of people too. The entertainment value and kitsch-meter is going through the roof with this film. Hmm, why were all guys called Wally...

Swank Style Surprise Discovered
Written by Guest Writer in Interior

Swank Style Surprise Discovered

I had the occasion this past summer to stay in a Motel 6 here in the U.S. for the first time in many years. I was most pleasantly surprised at the new look of the room. It was simple, utilitarian, but perhaps best of all, something new in that it reminded me of mid-century America with a bit of a nod to Deco, 1950s “Space-Age”...

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