The Best Pole Dancing Video. Ever!

Aren't bears the best? Happy Friday everyone.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 28

Welcome to another, and long over due, edition of "What I found in my email Monday's." I know what your thinking - it's Tuesday. I know, I know but I really meant to post this yesterday.

I once heard a gender based driving assessment from an insurance agent. He said there are distinct differences in the types of claims between men and women. It seems that when men get into a wreck, they really GET INTO A WRECK. Meaning that men will destroy their car in one single catastrophic event. Women on the other hand will destroy their car one little piece at a time. A ding here, a dent there, knocking off a mirror, dragging along the side of the garage whilst backing out.

However the gentleman that perpetrated the caper featured below, falls into a completely different category. What category you ask? I don't know yet, but I am formulating it as we continue.

Here's the story:

An elementary school teacher ran over a mattress that had flipped out of a truck. Thankful that he didn't get into a wreck, he decided to keep going. Little was he aware that he had picked up a hitch hiker. As it turns out the coils from the mattress got tangled up and wrapped themselves around the drive shaft. The ensuing jumble finally whipped around enough to put a tear in the gas tank, the subsequent lack of fuel is what finally brought this vehicle to its knees.

He still managed to drive 30 more miles decently with a 60lb tangle wrapped around the drive shaft.

This genius complained that the vehicle had a "shimmy" when driving at high speeds.

This is what the dealership found







Have a great Christmas and a happy New Year everyone!

 

S'more Really Old Ads

I just love the ads of yesterday. Features that were promoted as the latest and greatest are, by today's standards, obsolete or insignificant. Trends in society that are seen as distasteful today were prominent subject matter. Old ads featured technology that was "the wave of the future." In reality, most of the "tech" never really caught on. Although it is still happening today, (HD-DVD) it's nice to look back and see where we came from in the world of advertising.

I received the ads below in an email from my brother. I want to make sure I give credit where credit is due. As you can see, most of them are marked with www.strangecosmos.com, so I can only assume that they come from that site.


How nice, a carton of Chesterfields for Christmas. The perfect gift. Today, if you received a carton of smokes for Christmas, they probably wouldn't be wrapped, they would probably be Marlboro Lights and you probably had them stashed by the wheel chocks of your double wide.



Lard = Happy. I know this because I eat a can a week. Is this why they were so healthy back then?



I really had to study this ad to understand what was going on. It wasn't long after this before someone invented the pull top. You know the one where you pulled it completely off, threw it in the can and choked on it as you were slamming the beer?



Yep, tapeworms. Normally they are a bad thing to get. However, when they are "sanitized," THEN they are OK. This ad brings back memories. My mom actually had an original copy of this ad framed and hanging above the vanity in the bathroom. I almost had it memorized as a kid. I had completely forgotten about it until I saw it in the email. "Jar Packed - Easy to swallow - No danger - No ill effects."



I really debated including this one because of the nature of the ad, but I think it is a prime example of how the "AD Men" marketed products to women. I mean are you kidding me? Lysol as a personal hygiene product. I would be curious to find out what magazine this was featured in. I have seen many similar ads featuring a wide variety of products and advice come from magazines like The Ladies Home Journal.

So there you have it. Another look back at some ads featuring out-of-date values, ideology, technology and gender rolls.

Thanks for stopping by The Big Bald Blog. Don't miss a thing. subscribe to The Big Bald Blog today.

 

Christmas Lights

Wheww!!

I just finished putting my Christmas lights up. What a chore!

If you need any help with yours, just give me a call. I think I have it down.

 

What Kind of Person Are You?

"They" say that you can tell what type of personality you have by the way you write. To that I offer a sarcastic, "No Kidding?"

Yesterday a buddy sent me a link to Typealyzer. What is it you ask? Well, it's a neat little tool that analyzes your writing style and builds a personality profile based on how you write. All you have to do is enter your blog address and Typealyzer will do the rest.

So what did it say about me? It says that I am: "The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment and are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters"

Wow, that is pretty amazing. It is so close it's scary.

Enter your blog and let me know how close it is to your own personality.

 

Bloody Tryptophan - I am still tired.

Honestly, it's not the turkey, it's probably because I am out of shape and I did a lot of "lumber jacking" this weekend. Hefting large amounts of wood aside, all in all it was a great weekend to get away with family and relax.

Now that we've got the Thanksgiving traditions out of the way, Black Friday is behind us and the pumpkin pie is but a fond memory, we can start focusing on the commercial consumer success that we call Christmas. Yeah, I know, I can be a little "bah hum buggy" at times but I won't go there, this is supposed to be a happy time right?

Fine! Here's something that we can all get behind. It's Santa and his fictitious journey to deliver presents to deserving little bundles of joy everywhere. And guess what? NORAD, the North American Defense Command, is tracking the, jolly, fat man's progress. On Christmas Eve, there will be live video feeds from the Santa Cams around the world with Google Maps and Google Earth plotting the course.

"The tradition of tracking Santa began as an accident in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. ad for children to call Santa misprinted the phone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check radar for Santa making his way south from the North Pole.

This began the tradition of tracking Santa Claus, a tradition that has carried on by NORAD, when it was formed in 1958. This Christmas marks the 50th anniversary of NORAD tracking Santa Claus.

Last year the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site received 10.6 million unique visitors from 212 countries and territories." via

If you are not doing anything on Christmas Eve, make sure you log on and see when Santa in going to be in your neighborhood.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XX

Finding new angles to promote your product or service is essential if you want to keep your marketing fresh.



In 1965, Jeep decided to cross the gender barrier, well, sort of. In order to sell a 4x4 vehicle to a demographic that wasn't the typical SUV buyer in 1965, they decided to appeal to the emotional side of men. After all you want your wife and children to be safe, right?

The hook is the headline and the imagery. However, if you get into the real meat of the ad, you will see all the technical jargon that men feed on. The best part is the real message, "...have more fun this winter..."

Well played Jeep.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XIX

The elections are over, I lost, and we're back to business as usual. Since it's Friday it's time for a little Friday fun with the Advertising of Yesterday.



This ad from a 1970 issue of Outdoor Life, features the new plastic coated blades by Gillette.

Kudos to Gillette. In the days before double, triple and even quadruple blades there was the choice of a straight razor or safety razors with the disposable blades. These were the days of deep nicks and styptic powder. I am not sure that the plastic coating really made any difference but it was a valiant attempt on Gillette's part to move some blades. Fortunately we are much better off today. With lubricating strips, tilting head and multiple blades, we are able to get much closer shaves without the war wounds to show for it.

I remember playing with the safety razors as a kid, sans blade of course. I used them as matchbox car "picker uppers" in my imaginary auto salvage yard. Matchbox salvage yards aside, the one thing I remember even more was the little slot in the back of the old school medicine cabinets with a sticker under the slot that said "Used Blades"

What magical beast lived behind the medicine cabinet and why was he so keen on collecting used razor blades? Was there some kind of spatial anomaly or tear in the space-time continuum that sent the blades to some other dimension?

It wasn't until about 4 years ago I discovered the truth. I decided to remodel my bathroom at home and I had one of these old school metal medicine cabinets between the studs. I removed the screws holding the medicine cabinet to the wall and carefully peered behind the ancient structure. You know what I found? Not some cleverly crafted vacuum tube system to the unknown, but a pile of rusty razor blades sitting on the horizontal 2 x 4 support. My fantasy of finding the holy grail had been ruined forever.

What's the point of all this random rambling? I'm not sure. What I do know is that shaving for both men and women is a much more enjoyable venture today. Is it possible that it may have all started with the "miracle plastic coating" by Gillette? I think it may have.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

A Cat Playing Fetch - Are You Kidding Me?

Yesterday, Jason over at Gorilla Sushi was babbling on about teaching his cat to play fetch. Now everyone knows cats are dumb and they don't have the mental capacity to perform complex tasks like - well - fetching something.

I Twittered to Jason refuting his outlandish claims and challenged him to provide proof that his feline could indeed play fetch. Boldly, and with confidence, I said that if he could teach a cat to fetch and provide video proof, then I would send him some cheese.



Jason, your cheese is on it's way.

 

Quick Update

I don't really have anything profound to say today. I just wanted to put up a quick post to let you know I was thinking of you.

I do know that I never want to look out the window of my airplane and see this.


via

I am not the best "flyer" in the world and I am pretty sure if I saw something like this, I would freak out.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 27

How many of you felt persecuted as a kid. Everyone was out to get you, the man was keeping you down and parents just didn't understand.

Well, here's a youngster that shares your sentiments exactly.



AND here's a mom that needs to be applauded. This ad from the DesMoines Register is almost as good as the ad I once saw in a local swap sheet wanting a "flux capacitor" for a 1981 DeLorean. Seriously, it was in there but I never saved it and I am kicking myself.

Welcome to the week Big Bald Bloggers.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XVIII

We have all heard the phrase, "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." Salem was obviously attempting to work this into their "You can't take the country out of Salem" campaign. As a stand alone concept, this 1970 ad in Outdoor Life falls horribly short.



An A is given for effort though. Here is a 1970 TV commercial from the same campaign.



So what exactly is this campaign all about? This video on TobaccoVideos.com does a better job of explaining what this "country" concept is all about.

"Super king size Salem the extra length cigarette with a taste that's country soft, country fresh" “Salem gently air-softens every puff…” "Take a puff its springtime."

8 to 10 years prior, in the 60's it was all about how Salem "Freshens Your Taste." Notice they didn't say, freshens your breath. You have to admit, the jingle was fairly well done. And did you see the technological breakthrough that Salem offers in their cigarette paper? Yep, your smoke was softened with fresh air through their "special paper."

OK, I get it now. Salem is as fresh as the country air. Well maybe some country. I know around here you sometimes get wafts of pig manure and/or cattle lots. They must be talking about Wisconsin or Minnesota.

My how times have changed.

 

And We Wonder Why Kids Are Dumb

How exactly are you supposed to respond to this during parent/teacher conferences?

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 26

Here is possibly the best classified ad ever.



As it turns out you DO need to be able to read your wife's mind.

Welcome to the week.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 25

Normally when farmers are hauling livestock you typically see a tractor-trailer semi truck or something. Not in Kansas.

Their preferred cattle hauler is the durable and appropriately designed Pontiac Grand Am.















That's a lot of bull if you ask me. You might want to think twice before taking a right turn too fast.

Welcome to the week everyone.

 

The Funniest Cat Video I've Seen

I am not much of a cat fan. Don't ask me why, I guess I just like dogs. That being said, cats seem to get into the craziest predicaments which does bring me some enjoyment.

I ran across this following video on Laughing Squid and I almost passed out I was laughing so hard. I didn't have my volume on the first time I watched it, that was a critical mistake.

For your Friday Fun viewing enjoyment, I give you: Cat VS. Printer.



Have a great weekend everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XVII

Remember these?



Before Wikipedia, before the internet and before there were encyclopedias on CD, there was the Encyclopedia Britannica. This ad from 1970 features the multi-volume reference set that was all the rage through the 70's and 80's.

Sales of the encyclopedia hit a peak in the mid 90's and had come to a screeching halt by 1995. By late 1995 over half of the encyclopedia salesmen were out of work The nearly 30 year reference reign had ended sharply. By 1996, the market was flooded with out of work encyclopedia sales veterans looking for employment, many of whom ended up in the insurance industry.

By 2004 There was only one Encyclopedia Britannica salesman left, Scott Lohman. His sales territory was the United States. Since 1973 he had been peddling the reference collection to libraries, families and other institutions of learning. I remember when I was kid and even through high school, all the reports I had to write primarily reference the good ol' encyclopedia.

In early 2006 Lohman was ready to call it quits. But not before he made one final sale. The last Encyclopedia Britannica hard back sale was made to a church in Appalachia "...that believes electricity is the Devil's farts."

It's pretty amazing how something as signifigant as the encyclopedia just faded away without anyone noticing. I wonder what else will be impacted by technology. Newspaper perhaps? What else has gone away and we don't seem to miss it?

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 24

For those of you just joining the fun, for a while now I have been doing this series of posts on Monday's. Mainly because I am usually buried on Monday's and secondly I am lazy and they are quick to put up. The rule is that I look in my inbox for something special or funny and put it up.

I do have to confess, this email was sent to me a couple of Mondays ago but it was so good that I decided to save it for today.

Because the Olympics were in China this year, they have gone to great lengths to accommodate all the English speaking tourists.


What exactly do you want me to do?


See I told you!


What every you do, don't order the Chocolate Star Latte.


They have the record on security cameras and mirrors.


I was told that being a vegetarian was better. Darn you PETA.


A very hip robber?


I'm sorry sir, you are going to have to die somewhere else.


Ahhhh, so that's where they go in.


Wow! Bottle water - Now in a can.


Uhhh, OK. I feel like I need to wash my hands now.

You gotta love the differences between English and Chinese. As you can see from the tags on the pictures, these images come from engrish.com. There are many more pictures where these came from.

Welcome to the week!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XVI

It's Friday and it's time for another edition of "The Advertising of Yesterday". I know, I know. I have been slacking this week. Your probably wondering where I have been. No where, I have just been busy. Trying to balance client work and getting my campaign up and running.

No more excuses. On to the good stuff.

This ad for Savage Firearms comes from a 1970 issue of Outdoor Life. I ran across several ads that are similar to this one but most are strictly promoting the rifles and shotguns. This particular ad is part of a contest where you can win trips, campers and guns - Oh my.



Oh how we have changed. Before political correctness, there was Savage. OK, check me if I am wrong. I find it highly unlikely that a "Native American" would be seen in a modern day ad promoting something with a negative name tied to the days long before this ad was conceived - Savage. As I sit here and reflect back, I remember a local restaurant called "Sambos." The restaurant operated with images of what was probably the most offensive commercial cartoon character by today's standards. Little Black Sambo.



"A popular U.S. restaurant chain of the 1960s and 1970s, Sambo's, borrowed characters from the book (including Sambo and the tigers) for promotional purposes... the controversy about the book led to accusations of racism that contributed to the 1,117-restaurant chain's demise in the early 1980s. Images inspired by the book (now considered by some racially insensitive) were common interior decorations in the restaurants."

The world we live in continues to evolve around us. Sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Advertising that influences us all continues to evolve along with society. Ad that are now common place would be seen as a detestable in the 60's. Conversely, ads like the one above are now seen as inappropriate. Either way, advertising is a big part of our lives. Everyone views it and responds to it, but most are seldom conscious of advertising's effectiveness - that is until we see things like they use to be.

Thanks for stopping by. Oh, and make sure you get entered in the contest. Have a great weekend everyone.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XV

When a 4 wheel drive vehicle simply won't do - Drive a tank.



Doesn't Cushman make golf carts? Well evidently in 1970 they were also in the personal tank business. Honestly, I would love to have one of these little guys. That thing can probably go through all kinds of nastiness and come out smelling like a rose on the other side.

A quick search of "Cushman Trackster" will provide more information than you care to know. There are some excellent videos on YouTube featuring units that people have restored. There's even a guy that's selling parts for the Trackster.

If your reading this post on Friday morning, I have already been relaxing in the North woods for over 12 hours. I know your jealous. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Strange Phone Calls

I was sitting here feverishly working away (not really) and my extension rang. A gentleman on the other end of the line was inquiring about building a website. He had a concept and wanted me to give him a quote over the phone. He lives in the area so I tried to set up an appointment with him to outline what it was that he needed and that way we could have an accurate idea of what he was looking for. Turns out he wanted a website like Ebay or Amazon. Sweet!

Still wanting me to give him a quote off the cuff, I tried to explain that this was a seriously HUGE project and we would definitely need to meet. After a few more questions, we started talking about budget. He had a budget of $900 to $1000. Silence ensued. I didn't know how to respond. I kindly explained to him that you could not build an Ebay for $1000. He hung up.

Here's the funny part. Instead of working feverishly like I had previously indicated, I was actually on a website called Tech Support Comedy listening to recorded customer service calls. I have never had someone that irate call me before, but I thought that it was rather ironic that I was wasting time on a website like that and I got a call that could be a part of that site.

What have you received in the way of strange calls?

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XIV

I guess there is nothing special or odd about this ad. This is simply another celebrity endorsing Camel Cigarettes. It's also another example of the campaign that came before the, "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" campaign.

This ad comes from 1965, the days before Photoshop. Honestly, I can't imagine having to work up ads with out the modern design software and computers. I have seen demonstrations how the old ads were made. It may not have been uncommon for an agency to have 40 man hours in an ad. And if the client didn't like the photography and/or hand drawn art, it was literally "back to the drawing board."

Yes, the 60's were an interesting time. The time when a plastic bag from the cleaners made a great space man costume when you put it over your head. The time when there was no fuel injection and you could fix your car yourself. And the time when you could ride up front as a kid and not worry about a booster seat.

But hey, we are much better off now... Aren't we?

 

Another Big Number

The other day we were talking about how much a trillion was. I stumbled across this post by Lordy on Funtasticus during my reddit browse. This post contains an excellent graphical representation of how much, or rather how BIG $315 billion dollars is.

























Yep, it's a huge amount of money and if were all in one dollar bills, it would take up a HUGE amount of space. The point? Never, EVER, store you money outside next to your car and make sure it's all in 100's.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 23

Hello my friends and welcome to another week. In this edition of "what I found in my email" we have a few pictures that came with the title: "Seconds before the pain sets in."









Jason, thought you might like this one.




On that note, I wish you happy week.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XIII

So you want to go deer hunting?



Well, how about doing it on a motorcycle? The 1965 advertising execs for the Honda corporation thought it was a good idea to try and capture the "hunting" market. Forget about pickups, jeeps and all the other 4 wheel drive vehicles of the day, and get yerself a 90 cc motorcicle. Granted, this was the time before ATV's as we know them were even an idea but seriously, how in the world are you going to transport a 220 (270 in Iowa) pound deer on a motorcycle. Such a disappointing attempt at penetrating a market from a company with one of the top ad campaigns of all time. These ads were the follow up to the, "you meet the nicest people on a Honda" campaign and an attempt to attract the "outdoorsy" crowd.



The "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" campaign instituted by Grey Advertising was wildly successful. In the late 50's and early 60's, the bad biker image was systematically being dismantled by 8 cleverly crafted words. "Mothers who once wouldn't listen to an adolescent child's plea for a motorcycle began to compromise, saying, "I'll buy you one, if it's a Honda."





After the initial airing of the first ads, "...Honda was overwhelmed with requests to start up new dealerships and inundated with offers from other large corporations wanting to tie their own ad campaigns in with Honda. Annual sales of Honda motorcycles jumped from 40,000 units a year to a staggering 200,000 units per year, a 500% sales increase. No wonder that to this day, in colleges and universities around the world, the “Nicest People” campaign is studied as a model for a successful advertising campaign." Source

So there's a little more history for you. I am heading to the local waterpark tomorrow and if people are lucky they may catch a glimps of my glorious belly. Till next week then.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 22

I really don't know what to say.

This one was called "tanktop." Look close.



Now I ask you... Who sits and looks at a pair of men's briefs and says hmmmm...I can make a nice summer top from these!! On the other hand...$6 for a three pack is a good price!!

With that I wish you a happy Monday

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XII

Can I get a round of applause for Friday. The most anticipated and appreciated day of the week. Well, that's what I'm told anyway. And since it's Friday, it's time for another "old ad" from my collection of 1960's magazines that someone keeps dropping off. Whoever you are, thanks for the magazines, it is much appreciated but my office is starting to fill up.

This ad comes from the October 1965 issue of Outdoor Life.



Do you see what that says under the picture? "Guaranteed to go through ice, mud, and snow...or we pay the tow." Wow, that's a bold statement. They even guarantee it in writing.

Where I live, when the snow falls, I have been stuck with my 4 wheel drive vehicle. What makes this ad even more spectacular, most of the cars in the 60's were "one wheel wonders." Very few had a posi rear end. This makes me wonder many times the Firestone company had to honor this guarantee. It's definitely an incentive to buy the tires. I would be real surprised if a tire company would toss out something like that today.

2 tires for $25. In addition to the great price, they sweeten the pot by throwing in a ice scraper, all you have to do is ask.

Have an awesome weekend everyone. Don't get stuck.

 

What I Like

I have been writing almost every day for well over a year now. I usually read quite few blogs every day either by way of my feed reader or by actually going to the site. Most of the sites I read, I read because of the content and how it is written. It has to keep my interest for me to keep coming back. The Sitehoppin blog kept my interest in a different manner. I just wanted to see what Max was going to do next in his crazy videos. However he pretty much dissappeared. Must be focusing on his other interests.

Anyway, I realized that, for the most part, I know very little about the authors of the blogs I read. I supposed that some keep it that way on purpose. So in the interest of sharing, I will do MY part. Here is my top 10 list of things that people probably don't know about me.

1. I used to skateboard in the 80's. Not just piddle around, I used to do it a lot. I even have my old pads and last board.
   
2. I bought a 1980 Toyota Tercel for $90 from a guy that was running from the law. I Sold it 13 years later for $400
3. I have logged a LOT of miles on motorcycles
4. I used to have the best mullet you have ever seen. I will have to find my college ID and scan it in. IT was the best. Ever. I think I even "permed" the back from time to time
5. I am running for a political office this November (I will do a shameless self promotion post sometime in the future)
   
6. I won a contest for building a bridge out of toothpics when I was in high school
7. I had over 20 "foster" siblings growing up
8. I used a belt sander on my heel tonight
9. I am scared to death of heights
10. Pizza is my weakness. It's my Kryptonite. I get weak in the knees and uncontrollable jaw movement commences. I can sniff a pepperoni pie out from over 600 yards. 10 years ago I awoke in the gutter with only my boxers on not knowing where I was. The only thing recognizable was the Old Chicago Pizza box under my right shoulder. At that point I realized what happened. A pizza bender. I've had only one since then thanks to the counselors at PBIP
    

There it is. Nothing too incriminating (other than the mullet). I am saving the good stuff for my concept for an upcoming contest. Now, here's the other part, I want to know about the readers of The Big Bald Blog. So here's your chance. Give me your top 10 things that you think people don't know about you. And yes Jason, the list can even be funny, in fact I would be disappointed if it weren't.

There you have it. A "get to know you" post in which you can bear your soul. Just keep it clean folks. That includes you Brenda, Krissi, and Easy E.

 

Tis The Season...

Our friends over at JibJab have done it again. Here's the new OBama and McCain animated short from JibJab.

Welcome to the week.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part XI

I have always thought that people driving pickups as their primary vehicle was a relatively new concept. Pickups are getting nicer and definitely more comfortable. I saw this December 1965 ad and started thinking back to when I was a child. I don't remember anyone that I knew or my family knew that drove a pickup. We all had station wagons from what I can recall. Most people even pulled their campers with cars.

I asked around the office and most people didn't remember pickups as a child either. Then I asked someone who grew up in a small "farm" town. She said that's all they drove. Everyone had a pickup. Then it all made sense, station wagons for town folk and pickups for the rural lot. I wonder though, when did the pickup made the mainstream transition. Was it with the extended cab? Even up until the early 90's, pickups weren't that nice were they? Feel free to chime in here.

Thanks again for stopping by the Big Bald Blog. Have a great weekend!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 21

So you think you're an equipment operator. I beg to differ. This guy has one up on most heavy equipment operators that I know.















Even though I'm sure there is an OSHA violation in there somewhere, you have to admit it is pretty impressive.

Happy Monday

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part X

Before Columbine and Virginia Tech there was a time when someone thought a gun was a great "Gift Idea." This ad comes from the December 1967 issue of Outdoor Life.

1967 was a simpler time indeed. This was the time before background checks and 3 day waiting periods. As I looked at this ad, I realized something. The item in the ad hasn't changed in over 40 years. It's still a piece of machined steel that fires a projectile. A tool if you will, that requires someone to operate it. Not that different from, let's say, a hammer. What HAS changed is society. This very same item today is looked at in a different light. Some have even demonized it's very existence and seek to ban it's presence altogether. Instead of putting so much misguided energy into the item itself, shouldn't we be focusing on the real problem?

But then again I could be way off. Have a great weekend everyone.

 

Back From Vacation

I got back in town and I am finally getting back at it. Of course, when I got back to the office, Qwest was having issues and for the last 2 days so my Internet at the office has been on the blink. It never ceases to amaze me how crippling it is when you loose something like the Internet.

Anyway we had a great time in the woods of Northern Wisconsin. Around the area are miles and miles of trails for both snowmobiles and ATV. We spent an entire day 4 wheelin'. That my friends, is a blast.





The trails were pretty dusty since it had not rained in while up there. Check out my buddy's face. We were pretty grimy when we were done. I'd still do it all again.


We took some friends with us and I think a good time was had by all.


All in all, it's nice to unplug and unwind from time to time. Some people like the tropics, some like to travel abroad. For me, my place is a cabin on a lake in the Northern woods. It's good for the soul.


We now resume our regularly scheduled blogging.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part IX

In March of 1965 there was a campaign that ran before the "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" campaign and it was called "Camel Time."



Here is one such ad. I think this guy is having his Camel Time in a ski lodge. It looks like he is holding a ski pole. In light of the Iowa ban on smoking that went into effect July 1st, it makes you think how times have changed. Doctors used to smoke in exam rooms and hospitals. Offices across the country allowed smoking at your desk. It's interesting how some things fall out of favor. In 1965 you could pick up a gun at any hardware or department store. Now guns are the root of all evil and the killers of children. Smoking has found it's way to America's black list and gays can now marry. I wonder what the next 50 years will bring. Maybe we will find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie brand lolly pop.

And I'm outta here. I'll be back on Tuesday. I am off to the North woods for a little vacation. Have a great 4th everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part VIII

No girls allowed! I guess women didn't like a gin Collins back in July of 1965.



Sounds like a refreshing beverage to me, but then again, I am a "MAN." Actually this is one of several ads in a long running campaign from the mid-60's that attempted to make 7-up the preferred mixer of choice. Most of them did target men. As I run across the others I will make sure I post them as a follow up post to this one.

I want to offer up another sincere thanks for stopping by The Big Bald Blog. Again, if it weren't for you, the reader, I wouldn't be doing this.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 20

Happy Monday! I know I missed a couple of these but I am back on track now that the flood waters have receded. Remember, the WIFIMEM posts are not verified or confirmed in anyway. I just post 'em as I get 'em.

Here's the story as I received it.

It happened in Shishmaref, AK. Shishmaref is in the Nome-region of Alaska, up north, on the west coast.

A photographer was attempting to take some pictures of a polar bear when a game of "Alaskan Tag" ensued. I guarantee you don't want to be it! If you ever feel like you're getting the run-a-round, just remember this guy.













I don't know why the guy didn't just get in the truck! Maybe he didn't have time. Obviously he ran to another vehicle. If you will notice the truck in the first 2 pictures is different than the last 4. The first truck and the photographers tripod are to the left of the 2nd vehicle.

I'll have to admit, the 4th picture is my favorite. I think the bear was playing with the guy but that doesn't explain why the person taking the pictures didn't help out. He just kept snapping pictures. Thanks a lot buddy!

Even though this wasn't a very big bear, I can honestly say that I never want to be in this situation with a polar bear. Polar bears are VERY dangerous critters.

Have a great week everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part VII

Ah yes, the age old concept of a cross brand promotional partnership. However, this is a very unique pairing to say the least.

This ad for Crosman Air Rifles featuring Green Giant green beans comes from June of 1966. The copy states, "Enjoy the delicious flavor of Green Giant brand products, then save the cans for target shooting with America's newest, most exciting fun gun... Crosman's Powermaster 760 BB repeater rifle! A "giant killer" with power to spare."

What ads can you think of that have paired oddly matched products? I have one in mind and I will see if I can find a copy of it somewhere.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part VI

In 1966 Ma Bell was running a full-on marketing campaign to get people to make long distance calls. This June ad from Sports Afield magazine was one of many that targeted people on hunting and fishing trips.



I remember in the late 70's how expensive long distance was. If I remember correctly it was close to .50 cents a minute. This of course was before the "Bell" was broke up into the numerous "baby bells." My parents were obsessed with not calling long distance if at all possible. This is something that I carried over to my adult life. Then one day I realized that, I was only paying 10 cents a minute. Strange how we are effected by our upbringing. My Mom also had me paranoid about kidnappers and how they lie in wait in public restrooms. You see, they would sneak up behind you and inject you with "kidnapper drugs." To this day I am looking over my shoulder in public restroom. Is that weird?

Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe (especially in public restrooms).

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 19

Welcome to another Monday and the next installment of the continuing saga that is... "what I found in my email" Mondays.

In the past a few have heckled me about the accuracy of the WIFIMEM posts. Remember I do not investigate for accuracy Nor claim that these posts are true. I simply get 'em and I post 'em.

And here we are with today's little gem.

The story is titled "Men's Restroom Mural" and goes like this:

"Edge Designs is an all-women run company
That designs interior office space. They had a
Recent opportunity to do an office project in
NYC.

The client allowed the women of this
Company a free hand in all design aspects.
The client was a company that was also
Run by all women execs.

The result.........well.....We all know that
Men never talk, never look at each other....
And never laugh much in the restroom....
The men's room is a serious and quiet place...
But now...with the addition of one mural
On the wall......lets just say the men's
Restroom is a place of laughter and smiles."



Simply brilliant! That's all I have to say about it.

Have a great week everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part V

Hmmm. Man sized pleasure huh?



Falstaff really hit a home run with this one in August of 1965. An open body of water symbolizing something and a confusing tag line? OK, someone help me out here, anyone have a clue?

Now, if this was a ad for the Beef Producers Association and there was a picture of a 32 oz steak and some baked beans loaded with bacon and in the background there stood a monster truck and a toilet with a 17 inch seat height, I might be able to get the "man sized pleasure" tie-in.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part IV

Today we take a journey back to August 1969. This ad appeared in the "Get-Ready-For-Hunting" special issue of Field and Stream, a magazine read almost entirely by men.



What a great ad! At a time when Tupperware was exclusively targeted at women, some enterprising ad exec started thinking outside the box. He either noticed his friends using Tupperware for purposes other than food storage or he had been nabbing his wife's plastic storage containers for his own. Either way, this is a great ad that crosses gender lines and markets a product, typically directed at woman, in a men's magazine.

The other thing I find interesting is the tag line: "Tupperware. In the yellow pages under housewares." Evidently every Yellowpage market had a Tupperware representative in 1969.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part III

Evidently in June of 1974, women were pretty passionate about their smokes.



This Tareyton ad was actually part of a larger campaign showing mostly men with black eyes. The ad shown was the only one I was able to find that featured a woman. I can almost guarantee that you will never see a modern ad featuring a happy woman with a black eye. Well maybe if the ad was for a women's rugby team or something. But definitely not for a consumer good! The one thing I do see different in this 1974 ad is the Surgeon General's Warning at the bottom of the ad. Does anyone know what year this was mandated by the Government?

Don't you just love the old ads? Keep checking back every Friday for the newest ads from way back then. Make sure you don't miss a thing by subscribing to The Big Bald Blog.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 18

I know this one has been around for along time. Actually it has been making the internet rounds since 2004.

Granted it's an oldie but definitely a goodie. In fact, the scan of the picture garnered so much attention that, Roanoke Times columnist Joe Kenedy, wrote an article about it. Now for your viewing pleasure, I give you Mellisa Williamson.



The moral of the story? If you are going to complain about the jackhammers and the effect they will have on your unborn baby, you better do it without smoking a cigarette.

Have a good week everyone.

 

The Advertising of Yesterday Part II

Welcome to Friday and the next edition of "The Advertising of Yesterday."

Here we take a trip back to October of 1967 with General Motors and what is now AC Delco.



I have to say, I think this is an effective ad. Whether you are looking at it in 1967 or today, the message of reliability comes across strong. After all, you want a battery you can rely on, especially if you find yourself in a bad part of town. One might argue that the ad headline, "If you drive places where you wouldn't want to walk" means a little more in 2008 than in did in 67.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

The Advertising of Yesterday

I am starting a new series called, "The Advertising of Yesterday." I have in my possession a sizable amount of circa 1964-1972 magazines. Of course, these magazines have a great selection of old ads from the period. Some of the best are the cigarette ads.

I have already featured a few of these smoking ads in previous posts.

Lets roll back the calendar and take a trip to June, 1965.



Some Observations:

• Of course the obvious "Springtime Fresh." Boy, has the image of cigarette smoking changed.
• Why is he carrying a gun? Were they hunting?

Obviously guns and cigarettes weren't evil yet in 65. So there you have it. Tune in every Friday to see the next installment of "The Advertising of Yesterday."

 

The Dolphin Picture!

Thanks to Josh, I now have the dolphin picture that I was referring to in a previous post.



Here's the full scoop. Scientific research showed that children can't recognize certain erotic scenes. Instead they see 9 dolphins.

On the other hand, an adult's mind is rather "corrupted" so an adult person may have problems spotting the 9 dolphins at first glance. AND if you have trouble spotting dolphins in the first 6 seconds, then your mind is heavily corrupted, and you are seriously obsessed with sex!

I can only see 8 dolphins. I wonder what that means. Maybe I am going blind or something.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 16

Yep, it's that time again. Time for another edition of "What I found in my email" Monday.

I got this email earlier today and you could probably call it "Why Women Live Longer - Part 2."

A while back I posted some pictures that I received about men doing stupid things. Both in today's post and in this one, we can probably add the topic of on-the-job safety to the conversation. Today I got a whole new batch of images from my sister-in-law pertaining to these very topics. In the email, she said that she could see her husband (my brother-in-law) in every one of these.


I don't even know what to say.


Simply AWESOME! A hay bale scaffolding, complete with stabilizing boards.


How did he get up there?


Must not have had that far to go.


What's safer? Rocks or posts?


"I'll be fine, I can see through the little holes."


"You'll be fine Jimmy. Them there are treated logs."


All anyone ever needs is a little help from your friends.


What's with the buckets?


YES, Stack 2 ladders! Great Idea.

So there you have it. More great moments in man history, captured on film to be remembered in perpetuity. Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 15

Better late than never right? Quite a few of you were wondering what was going on. Nothing tragic I assure you, I've just been swamped. Thanks for your notes of concern and comments of care, especially you Brenda!

I know it is a day late and this is the second week in a row that the "What I found in my email" Monday post is getting put up on Tuesday. I think I'm back on track now.

Without further delay, I give you "BAD LOGOS."

Now, most of these I have see before and have been around the net a LOT. However since one of my most popular posts of all time is an article that I wrote about bad logos, this will fit right in.
Some of these may be intentional (like these designers) but in my "happy place" I like to think that the artists were completely clueless when it comes to the examples shown below.











Here's a question for you. Could it be possible that there is nothing wrong with any of these? Is it our dirty minds? I saw a picture once where it looked like bunch of people having sex. But once you read the text, it said that it was a picture of dolphins according to any child that looks at it. Evidently, the children are uncorrupted and can not see the sexual images. For the life of me, I couldn't find the picture anywhere.

I guess it is a question of perspective.

Thanks again for being a part of The Big Bald Blog! Have a great week everyone!

 

As I Sit Here And Ponder

Sitting here, thinking about going turkey hunting this weekend, I was wondering if I will get eaten by a cougar. There have been numerous sightings here in Iowa and just the other day, a guy hit one on highway 30. Now highway 30 is a bit south of here and I am going North. However, I AM going NORTH and North is where the woods get thicker and there are more places for cougars to lie in wait for fat, outta shape, slow guys. I am sure I will look like a big camouflaged piece of jerky to a couger. So after this weekend, if you see no more posts out of me, you will know what happened.

Here is a picture of the cougar that was supposedly hit near Jefferson on HWY 30 here in Iowa (or so my buddy said).





Wish me luck.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 14

Yep, it's another edition of "what I found in my email" Monday... uhhh on Tuesday. Hey, I was trapped in a special pre-tax day blizzard so gimme a break!

In keeping with tradition, I really did receive this on Monday and here's the story.

In an email entitled, "Computer Problems", we read about a person who is having a tiny issue with her PC.

"Technical support, how can I help you'?

LADY: "Last night my computer started making a lot of hissing noises at me so I shut it down.This morning when I turned it on the computer started hissing and cracking, then started smoking and a bad smell, then nothing."

SUPPORT: "I will have a technician come over first thing this morning, and leave the computer just like it is, so they can find the problem and fix it, or change it out with another computer. Give me your address; phone number and the technician will be there just as soon as he can."

When the technician got there, the lady showed the technician where the computer was and asked what happened to it. This is what the technician found wrong.











The technician told her: "It must have been after the mouse!" The woman didn't think it was very funny at all!

Have a good rest of the week!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 13

Yawn! Yep, it's another Monday. The good thing is that it's time for another edition of, "What I Found in my Email" Monday.

This one comes to me from a family member who got back from Iraq not too long ago.

The email was entitled "What to wear when your wife has chores for you."



It may not work real well in the desert but it appears to blend perfectly on the couch. Just put some camo on the remote and I should be good to go.

Welcome to the week!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 12

Here we are with another Monday and yet another edition of "what I found in my email" Monday. Why? Because you keep sending them. You send 'em and I put 'em up. That's how it works.

Being an outdoorsman, I have been a part of a lot of some really awesome hunting, camping and fishing expeditions. I have also seen a lot of amazing hunting and fishing pictures but the pictures shown below fall into the "holy freakin' crap" category.

Here's the story that came along with the email:

"This is the new record in Canada. He caught it on Rainy Lake. Check this thing out.. The last picture is unbelievable! This guy (in the photos below), was fishing and caught a 36" Pike.
As he was reeling it in, a 56" Pike tried to eat it!!!!! He brought them both in on the same net.
Awesome catch on a river in Canada - 55lbs - 56 inches."

Without further adieu - I give you "The Beast."







I don't even know what to say. My only comment is that I don't know how to tell the difference between a Northern and an Muskie. Can anyone confirm that this is indeed a Northern Pike?

Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 11

We're back and we're bigger and better than ever. Welcome to the latest edition of "what I found in my email" Mondays.

In this exciting episode we find a Missouri commuter getting the surprise of his life.

The story: A guy in St. Louis was driving to work on Hwy 144 when he heard a 'pop'! He thought it sounded like a flat tire, though his ride wasn't affected. After pulling over, checking the tires and finding them intact , he opened the hood to look at the motor. Before the hood was even all the way open he jumped back in shock and knocked his head on the partially opened hood, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing!











This has to be right up there at the top of the list of unusual but verified 'Reasons why I was late for work'!

You always seem to find the strangest things under your car's hood. Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 10

Happy Monday everyone. Just got back from the wonderful state of Wisconsin. I know, I know, I didn't post anything for 3 days straight. But I'm back and in full swing.

So, without further delay here is the next edition of "what I found in my email" Mondays.

I actually got this last Monday and decided to hang on to it, so technically it counts as a Monday find. I am glad I did, because no one sent me anything interesting today.



As it turns out this is a real bike and is owned by Smoky McGill. This info is a little dated coming from a 2004 article, BUT the Anaconda has it's own website. Evidently the front motor is just for show, the back motor is the one that is doing all the work. The most impressive thing to me is the engineering. There's not a lot of width there to support that long of a span. 10 people can get pretty heavy, even if they aren't Big Pappa type peeps.

So if you and 9 of your friends want to go for a motorcycle limo ride, this is exactly what you need.

Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 9

Welcome back from the weekend and welcome to the next edition of "what I found in my email" Monday!

In an email entitled, "I want to be trailer trash", I was surprised to find the following images.


























And here is the happy trailer trash family!



Wow, if this is what "trailer trash" living is all about, I want some too.

Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 8

Sometimes woman simply asks why? A man's response; "I don't know" or "just because." Either way it's a problem with genetics. I can categorically guarantee that that a woman would NEVER put chrome wheels on a lawn tractor, attempt to determine the distance that WD-40 will shoot while on fire or perpetrate the sort of caper enacted by the brain trust gathered in the following picture.

I don't know how to caption this picture. All I know is that this is THE most ridiculous thing that I have seen in a long time. But hey, we are men and we know stuff about tanks. Our actions need no explanation.



The circuit breaker on the power strip should protect them right?

The following pictures were NOT found in my email. They are some of my favorites from around the web and I am sure you have seen them before but I thought that they were applicable to the topic at hand.

The first 3 pictures deal with the proper use of ladders.








Don't have a ladder? Lift a forklift with another forklift. I think the guy in the brown shirt is an OSHA consultant.




This is my favorite one.


Welcome to the week!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 7

Wow, here it is 3:30 and I almost forgot to post today.

Here is a video that I got just little while ago. I don't care who you are, you are NOT getting me in the water and stick my hand down a HUGE catfish's throat.




Don't they call that "noodling" or something?

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 6

Ever since I started this section section on the blog, I have had a massive influx of funny/interesting things come across my desk. More than I normally get anyway. That brings us to the task at hand. The reporting of "what I found in my email" on Monday.

This week I have a couple of things, one is a joke about Dear Abby and the other has the pretty pictures that you all like. You know you do.

-------------------------------------------

Dear Abby,

My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning,
and, when I confront him, he denies everything. What's worse, everyone
knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.

Also, since he lost his job eight years ago, he hasn't even looked for a new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and B.S. with his buddies while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do?

Signed: Clueless

------------------------------------------------

Dear Clueless,

Grow up and dump him. Good grief, woman - you don't need him anymore!
You're a United States Senator from New York running for President of the
United States. Act like one.


This next exhibit is a is a set of pictures that I got from an OSHA compliance person that I know. Evidently this is why we can get things done cheaper in China. They don't need the frivolous things like expensive safety equipment. After all, WE did it for years during the early 1900's without having the meddling government dictate what is safe and what is not safe :)

The Chinese construction hardhat.


The Chinese dust and particle free breathing apparatus.


The OSHA approved scaffolding (3Menandaplank Brand)


The Chinese lightweight welders mask.


With all the censorship and human rights issues going on over in China, this make me even more thankful that I live in the country that I do. Speaking of a great country, Brian G. Dennard, the man himself graced us with his presence and commented on the Berkley post. Go check it out.

Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 5

Here we are again after a long week and weekend of battling snow and ice. But there is hope. Hope that many find in the comforts of "what I found in my email" Monday's.

Several years ago, I lost my family event "cake getting" duties. You see, when I was charged with the duty (yes I said duty) of getting a cake for some family function or get together, I would go to the local bakery or grocery store and just pick up the first thing I would see. I wouldn't even read it. Sometimes I would grab a Batman cake for my Dad's 60th birthday party. Or a bar mitzvah cake for an anniversary. HOWEVER, I have never perpetrated a caper quite like the one shown on cake shown below.



I don't blame the recipient for this, rather the non-enrish speaking employee of the bakery is probably at fault.

Here is how I think this went down:

Walmart Employee: Hello 'dis Walmarts, how can I hepp you?'

Customer: 'I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'

Walmart Employee: 'What you wan on cak?'

Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

Happy Monday everyone.

 

Contest Haters

What do you do when you don't' want to have a contest? You have an anti-contest. Yep, you go all out in full protest and have people email you something. Well at least that's what Andy (the other one) did.

I was making my way through some of my favorite blogs and Andy over at Stationatomica.com was having what he referred to as an anti-contest. You don't have to subscribe to anything, blog about anything or even leave a comment. You simply have to draw a picture of a unicorn or Arnold Schwarzenegger and email it to him.

So I picked the unicorn. As I was inking out my glorious work of art in MS Paint, something flashed in my memory. It was an adventure story about a unicorn named Charlie. A tale of friendship, a tale of discovery and a story of deception. I searched long and hard in an attempt to rediscover this lost tale of my youth. Then there it was in all its glory.



Use this as a guide by which you live your life. "Shun the non-believers, shuuuuunnnnnnnnnn."

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 4

Here we are in our post Super Bowl haze - woops, I almost forgot you can't use that. You have to say "Big Game". I am probably going to get sued now. Anyway, what did everyone think of the commercials. Thumbs down for me. This year, I thought that the game was better than the commercials. Normally, it's the other way around. Actually, the game was one of the biggest upsets since the 70's I believe. As far as commercials go, I still haven't seen anything that will top the Terry Tate Office Linebacker commercials from several years back.

But here we are, trudging ahead trying to make sense of the world around us. But wait! All hope is not lost. It's MONDAY, and you know what that means. That's right, it's time for another edition of "what I found in my email" Mondays.

After having watched this, I almost want to say the famous line from Caddyshack..."cannonbaaallll, cannon ball comin..."

For those of you who have grown up with the "sprinkling" type baptisms this may not be as funny. And for those of you who do the dunk, this is really funny.




Have a great week everyone.

 

What Chu Talkin' About Willis?

I don't think I am going to post today. How do you like that?

What do you want to know about? Just ask Big Pappa. Let me know what's on your mind and I will answer it. We will call it Big Pappa's Q&A. Didn't you know, I know everything there is to know about everything?

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 4

Well here we are again. Another sublime experience that we are calling "what I found in my email" Mondays.

Here is a series of pictures that are simply incredible. Apparently, the Chinese don't have many beaches. Either that or there is just a LOT of people that are going to this one beach. Regardless of the situation, I don't think any of us can complain about the beach being crowded again.





















And here's the capper! Look at all those people. Literally as far as the eye can see. I am pretty sure this isn't Photoshopped.



So there you have it. The next time someone sits too close to you on the beach, be thankful that you are not in China. First it was Chinese censorship and now, crowded beaches. Aren't you glad you live in the good ol' US of A?

Have a great week everyone.

If you like the posts you see here on The Big Bald Blog, make sure you subscribe to the full feed so you don't miss a thing. Or, if you like, you can have updates delivered by email.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 3

Welcome to another edition of "what I found in my email"Monday. Today we are celebrating the art of being a man. A complex process which takes years of frivolous spending and unnecessary modification to seemingly ordinary products converting them into something extraordinary.

Take a look at the first picture below. See that little temperature guage? Know what its for? It's not what you think it is for.







Pictured below is the result of time well spent. Some may ask why? Others will respond with, "AWESOME!" Either way this is an innovative and stupendous exhibit of why we call ourselves man. The glory of this device will render future generations speechless and contribute to an overwhelming sense of awe by those who witness it's glory.






Yes ladies and gentlemen it's a grill. But no ordinary grill. A grill by which all others are judged.

Now the only thing you need is an insert for your trailer hitch so you can take it to the races and tailgate.

Kudos to the fabricator on a job well done.

What say you?

On a side note feel free to shoot me an email with non-copyrighted and interesting images that you would like to see featured in "What I found in my email" Mondays. I would prefer pictures that you took yourself, not something that has been recycled on the internet a hundred times. Send the good stuff to The Big Bald Blog at ImpactMT dot com.

 

" What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 2

It's back and it's better than ever. An exciting thrill ride that will assault your senses. A journey into the amazing... Ok fine it's not that great but it IS another edition of "what I found in my email" Mondays!

So here's the setup:

Look at the picture and you can see where this guy broke through the guardrail on the right side where the people are standing on the road (pointing). The pick-up was traveling from right to left when it crashed through the guardrail! It fipped end-over-end, across the culvert outlet, and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which he was travelilng.





Now look at the 2nd picture below...




Now I don't know if this is photoshopped, but there is a pretty good possibility that is was. However, it's a pretty lucky landing nonetheless.

Ok back the the grind. Happy Monday everyone!

 

" What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 - Issue 1

Welcome to the new year. I guess we are back in the swing of tings now. Here is the first issue of the 2008 edition of, "What I found in my email" Mondays.

This video was sent to me by a friend who does a lot of fishing. I am actually surprised that the fish, give it's size, didn't sink the boat.

Can anyone tell what kind of fish that is?



If you are just joining us here at The Big Bald Blog, this is something fun that I do on Monday's. Basically, if I have something remotely interesting in my email when I come into the office, I put it up here for your viewing pleasure. Remember, if you like what see, make sure you nab our RSS feed or you can subscribe by email.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to 2008.

 

Contest Update

I know who won.

 

Contest Update!

This Friday is the Day! For those of you who haven't entered yet, make sure you do by Friday at 4:00 CST. I will be drawing the winner that night. Since I have reached my goals already for this contest, I might as well report what I have accomplished.

One of my goals for this contest was to increase RSS subscribers - CHECK

For some reason this number is never correct. I actually have 80 email subscribers and 32 other subscribers. Giving me an actual total of 112. Given THAT number, I more than doubled my subscribers.

Another goal was to increase my Technorati authority to over 100 - CHECK


Some side effects of the contest were loads of traffic. Ok I will say CHECK to that one too.




The Alexa screen shot was taken last last Friday before I took off for the weekend. Bottom line is that all of my goals have been reached for this inaugural contest on The Big Bald Blog.

In the end my traffic for the month of December amounted to 32,344 Unique visitors which is obviously a new high.

To say thanks I am giving an additional 250 Entrecard credits away to a second winner making it a grand total of 750 credits. That's just how I roll. ALSO as a late add-on bonus, anyone who has "faved" The Big Bald Blog on Technorati by the time the contest closes, will get an extra entry.

Remeber it's all about YOU, the reader. Without you, none of this is possible. Thanks again!

 

" What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 11

Ok fine. So I am going to post one more time in 2007. Here is the last edition of "what I found in my email" Mondays for 2007.

Those of you living in areas where it snows quite a bit, you can understand having a snow blower with "a little bit more power." But as you will soon see, more power has a new meaning.

I got this from a guy who does a LOT of snow blowing and can appreciate this level of commitment. With a unit like this, I just might be able to join Al's "Brotherhood of the Snowblower."

The email said that this is a 454, V8 snow blower. I think that Tim Allen would be proud of this accomplishment.







I guess this is just one of those things that he had to see if he could do it. Not practical at all but that's obviously not the point. At least it gives us snow bound individuals something to drool over.

Have a safe and happy New Years Eve!

See you in 2008!

 

Year In Review 2007

The boys over at JibJab have done it again.

UpDate - I took the video down. It was causing some errors with people.

Here is the link to it.

Props to the nice people over at Fantasy Baseball for pointing that out.

 

What You Can Do With Cats.

In my daily blogosphere rounds, I ran across this site. StuffOnMyCat.com

I am not a big fan of cats but I have met a couple that have had a pretty good personality. This site however takes making fun of your cat to the next level, as if there was a next level.

So here's what you do evidently. You put stuff on your cat and you take pictures of it.

I have been laughing at this for about an hour now and just as I wrote that last line I burst into laugher again.

I know, I know this is a little off topic but this concept is really making me laugh. I picked the above picture to remind you of the contest that you can still enter.

Happy Wednesday!

 

What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 9

And here we are! Another edition of "What I found In my email" Mondays.

In this episode we find our hero courageously defending his in-box against the evil villain, Spamious Maximus... OK fine here's the pictures.

Here is what I found in an email entitled, "Priceless Pictures."


Pay attention kids. This is why spelling in school is important when it's time to get a job.



Flame broiled? No, that's Burger King.


And the road isn't even icy or wet.


I know gas is expensive but this is just plain ridiculous. You mean to tell me that this person didn't know they ripped the hose from the pump.


Must have been a long stakeout.


I don't think that I can hold it that long.


Someone is in trouble.


Awwwwww, poor kitty.


I saved the cutest for last!

Have a great week everyone!

 

The Best First Wedding Dance Ever

I wanted to wait till next Monday for this but I just couldn't.



I almost expected them to break into the Thriller dance. Obviously a product of the 80's.

 

What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 8

Welcome back from the weekend everyone. Here we are with another "What I found in my email on Monday Post.

I was completely lacking in material and thinking that I wasn't going to have a post for the series today, just then an email came in with the following pictures.

The caption asked: How do you stuff a 150 pound deer into the engine compartment of a BMW convertible.









Evidently this deer was hit by the car which was going 140 MPH. Not only does he need a new car now, I would imagine he needs some new pants and underwear as well.

Have a great week everyone and watch out for deer!

 

What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 7

Here's the next installment of "What I found in my email" Mondays.

Got this from a friend who usually sends me "tech geek" type jokes. Evidently these pictures are hand that have been painted

The email was entitled "Finger Painting."





















AND as an added bonus here are a few "hard-to-come-by" Christmas presents on kid's lists this year.









Have a great week everyone!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 6

Hello Big Bald Bloggers. Welcome to another edition of "What I Found In My Email" Mondays.

But before I begin, I wanted to say thanks again to the readers. I took off Thursday and Friday and when I came in this morning I noticed a jump in the RSS subscribers over the weekend. This was after not posting for the entire holiday weekend. That must be a good thing. Anyway, welcome back from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I hope it was good for all.

AND without further adieu, here's what I found in my email today.

This email was entitled, "Things you don't see everyday."




I have to ask about this one. Obviously it looks like some kind of jelly fish, but have any of you ever seen anything that big or is that diver photoshopped in there?

 

Mike Huckabee Featuring Chuck Norris

Can someone tell me for sure if this ran on air? Seriously, after that, this guy has my vote. This was a refreshing change to all the droning on that typically occurs in political television commercials. This my friends, is great creative. Look at the demographic this is targeting. I am actually going to venture out and say this kind of political advertising is unprecedented. Someone prove me wrong.

Have a great Turkey Day! AND NO, we won't be having Tofurkey at my house.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 6

Welcome to the most recent edition of "What I found in my email Mondays." I didn't know if this was a little to off color to post or not but for some reason I found this funny. Texans, they're just a little different aren't they?

A Canadian farmer, Osama bin Laden and a Texas A&M Engineer are all working together one day when they come across a lantern and a Genie pops out of it.

"I will give each of you one wish, which is three wishes in total,” says the Genie.

The Canadian says, "I am a farmer, and my son will also farm.
I want the land to be forever fertile in Canada."

POOOOFF! With the blink of the Genie's eye, the land in Canada was forever fertile for farming.

Osama bin Laden was amazed, so he said, "I want a wall around Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and Iran so that no infidels, Americans or Australians can come into our precious state."

POOOFF! Again, with the blink of the Genie's eye, there was a huge wall around those countries.

The Texan says, "I am very curious. Please tell me more about this wall."

The Genie explains, "Well, it's about 5,000 feet high, 500 feet thick and completely surrounds the country. Nothing can get in or out. It's virtually impenetrable."

The Texan sits down, cuts him off a piece of Jerky, smiles and says, "Fill it with water!


Have a great short week YALL!

 

The "Every Other Friday Contest" Winner!

As promised, today I announce the winner of the contest. Since there were only 2 entries, I am going to go ahead and send both Dave AND Stacy a Big Pappa shirt.

The 2 of you, make sure you drop me a line at The Big Bald Blog at Impact MT Dot Com and I will get the shirts out to you. Thanks for contributing.

And now for the new contest. Here's the picture.



The company is a bottled beverage manufacturer that specializes in Iced Tea.

Again, you are challenged to come up with ad copy. Submit your entry in the comment section and remember if you blog about this contest and you win, we will throw in a 6 pack of Big Pappa stickers. Where else can you go to have this much fun on Fridays?

Thanks again for checking out The Big Bald Blog! Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Slacker

Wow, I can't believe that I actually forgot to post on Monday. I came in and was in meeting back to back and before I knew it I was heading home.

In keeping with the "What I found in my email on Monday" theme, here is something that I received yesterday. I know it is a day late but I think this Power Point is definitely worth the look.

I like to hunt and don camouflage from time to time but seriously, this is ridiculous.

Wedding on the Bayou

Happy Tuesday

 

John Cow Got Hacked?

After I noticed no RSS feed today I went to investigate. One of my favorite blogs to check out on a daily basis got HACKED. Or did it really? Below is what you currently see at JohnCow.com.

It does redirect to http://johncow.com/hacked/



If you go to the PayPal the address is cownapper@johncow.com. Ok fine, I did bite initially. It was hard to believe especially right after you did the article about backing up your blog. Then I came back to reality.

Well played Cow!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 4

Here is an interesting story about payback.

A city councilman, Mark Easton, had a beautiful view of the east mountains.
Until a new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built.
Apparently, the new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark Easton, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance.

Mark and his new neighbor had some great arguments about this as you can imagine - not great feelings. The new neighbor had to drop the roof line
- no doubt at great expense.

Recently, Mark Easton called the city and informed them that his new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn't like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When they went to Mark's home to see the vent view, this is what they found.







I did verify this at Snopes.com and it apparently is TRUE. Snopes.com also had some additional information on the story.

"The origin of these photographs is essentially as described above, something that arose over a dispute between neighbors in the southwest Salt Lake Valley community of Riverton over an adjacent property owner's construction work on his home.

The conflict started in 2005 when Darren Wood excavated dirt from a hill on which the homes of his neighbors, Mark Easton and Stan Torgersen, sat. The Eastons and Torgersens were concerned about the stability of the hill and contacted city officials, who ordered Wood to have a soil test performed. Wood was disgruntled by the decision because the previous owner had already done a soil test, and performing it again would cost him $3,000 and delay his construction project by four months.

Then, when Wood began raising the frame for his house around mid-2006, his neighbors were again concerned because the structure rose higher than the rooftops of the other homes around his lot and partially obstructed their view of nearby mountains. Easton and Torgersen again asked city officials to intervene because they believed Wood's house exceeded the maximum height allowed by local building code. Although Wood conceded that his house might have exceeded the height limit by about a foot, he was again disgruntled because he maintained that once the house was completed and the landscaping laid out, the home would fall within the code, and, in any case, the city had already approved his plans.

Feeling that he was being unfairly harassed by his neighbors and upset that the construction interruptions they prompted had cost him an additional $25,000, on 15 August 2006 Wood created a visible symbol of his displeasure by installing the vent covering pictured above, which he described as a decorative piece of "abstract art" representing a cactus. His neighbors, of course, viewed the vent cover as a giant hand flipping them off, sending them back to city officials to complain about Wood's home for a third time.

Wood said he would remove the vent cover art if he received apologies from his neighbors. When, a week later, Mark Easton "expressed to him that I am sorry for any discomfort that I have caused his family or him, and that I had no intent to do any harm to him when I called the city with my concern about safety," Wood apparently found that sufficient and took down the controversial abstract "cactus."

Happy Monday Everyone!

 

Fun New Activity For Fridays.

As we were sitting around here thinking about stuff to do on the blog, we came up with a new concept that might have some merit and stay with the theme. Every other Friday we are going to post a picture and a company from a seemingly unrelated market segment. It will be your job to come up with a tag line that could be used in the ad campaign.

For example... We post a picture of a basketball hoop and then we tell you that the company is a small proctology practice in central Idaho. As you post your entries in the comments section, you are challenged to come up with the ad concept and the company name. We will sift through all the entries and the winner will receive a shirt from the Big Pappa warehouse. The winner will be drawn on Thursday and announced in the next contest post. AND as an added bonus, if you blog about the contest and you win the shirt, we will even throw in a 6 pack of Big Pappa stickers. Make sure you let us know where the post is located.

See you on Friday.

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 3

Look at all those nice bucks under this guys trampoline. Evidently these deer found out that this guy quit hunting.

 

Big Pappa’s Top 10 Road Trip Rules for Guys

Here is a little tid-bit to enhance your Friday fun. Ever been on a road trip with the guys and someone completely throws a wrench into the works? Well, here is a simple list that everyone can follow and can make a road trip more enjoyable for all.

1. Wrappers and other trash ALWAYS goes on the passenger side
2. A Pre-flatulent window cracking is not only courteous, IT’S REQUIRED
3. Urination stops will only be executed in 2 hour increments.
4. If you call “SHOTGUN”, you better know your responsibilities. (see duties listed on website)
5. Falling asleep during the road trip ensures hazing activities
6. If you decide to “moon”, make sure the window is rolled down. This will eliminate accidental stains on said window.
7. Driver has ultimate control over ALL audio selection and volume levels. Driver can Veto any music at any time.
8. PACK LIGHT. You’re not a girl. If you pack more than a medium sized bag, you may be left behind.
9. NAGGING will never take place. If we wanted to be nagged we could’ve stayed at home.
10. Incoming OR outgoing calls from girlfriends or wives is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated

Get the shirt at BigPappaWorldWide.com.

 

Spoof Cards - Crazy Fun

One day I got a call on my cell phone and the call was coming from me and my number was showing up on screen. I answered the phone and it was a lady's voice. She was saying all kinds of crazy stuff about me meeting her at the bar last night. To make a long story short, I found out who it was. It was Chris, a friend of ours. I asked him what the heck he was doing and HOW the heck he did that. He told me he was using a "Spoof Card."

You can call someone, have any number come up on their caller ID and you can change your voice to anything you want. Above is the link to the company that sells them. Check them out, it's too much fun to pass on.

 

Dude

Dude! Great commercial!

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.1 - Issue 2

Country Preacher

As a young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a graveside service for a homeless man, with no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country, and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost, and being a typical man, did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew, who was eating lunch, but the hearse was nowhere in sight.

I apologized to the workers for my tardiness, and stepped to the side of the open grave, where I saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long, but this was the proper thing to do.The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I poured out my heart and soul.

As I preached the workers began to say "Amen", "Praise the Lord", and "Glory"! I preached and I preached, like I'd never preached before--from Genesis all the way to Revelations.

I closed the lengthy service with a prayer and walked to my car.

As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another, "I ain't ever seen anything like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

 

"What I Found In My Email" Mondays

For those of you who weren't here last Monday, I started something new. What ever I find in my email on Monday morning that qualifies as slightly amusing or mildly interesting I will toss it up to the pages of The Big Bald Blog.

Here are some pretty amazing pictures that someone emailed me. I see that the one has a copyright on it. I am not sure whether or not I am supposed to publish that one. I want to make sure that the photographer gets full credit for that and if I am told to take it down, I will.

















That's is for "What I Found In My Email" Mondays! Check back next Monday to see what pops up in my inbox.

 

Things In My Email

Every Monday morning I come in and have to sort through my huge amount of email messages. There's even more if I took Friday off. So on Mondays, in addition to the normal post, I am going to throw up one or two interesting things I find in my email. Don't worry, it won't be anything about Viagra, Cialis, online poker or anything like that.

The first thing was this really cool 3-D environment experiment. It takes a while to load but it's worth taking a look at.

http://mrdoob.com/lab/pv3d/dof/05/

This is the other thing I got in my email. The rough life of the 80's generation.

"When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious stories about how hard things were when they were growing up; What with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... Uphill BOTH ways. Yadda, yadda, yadda and I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it.

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy. I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia. When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog. And it never failed - the book or magazine you needed was already checked out.

There was no email. We had to actually write somebody a letter...with a pen. Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there. There were no MP3's or Napster. You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself. Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ's usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up.

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting. If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a Busy signal, that's it. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was. It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know... You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics. We had the Atari 2600. With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids' and the graphics sucked. Your guy was a little square. You actually had to use your imagination. And there were no multiple levels or screens; it was just one screen forever. And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died. Just like LIFE. When you went to the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium seating. All the seats were the same height. If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed.

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control. You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on. You were screwed when it came to channel surfing. You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either. You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little bastards. And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that. If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.......You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980.

So there you have it - A little tech and a little humor for you Monday Morning.

 

Problem With Crocs? - The Off Topic Post for the Month

This last year people started wearing these ugly, colored hard foam shoes called Crocs. For those of you old enough to remember, this recent trend is somewhat reminiscent of the 80's fashion flop "The Jelly Shoe."

I just read on Time's website that people who are wearing the footwear phenomenon, Crocs, are having problems with escalators. "One of the nation's largest subway systems — the Washington Metro — has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways." Here's the the funny part, they actually have a name for new problem - "shoe entrapments." "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said escalator accidents caused more than 10,000 injuries last year, but the agency has few records of specific shoe problems. Only two shoe entrapments have been reported by consumers since the beginning of 2006. During the past two years, so-called "shoe entrapments" in the Washington subway have gone from being relatively rare to happening four or five times a week in the summer..."

Not only are people having problems with escalators but apparently, in Sweeden, some hospitals want to ban Crocs due to their uncanny ability to build up a static charge and knock out medical equipment.

I don't know why this was so interesting to me. It just struck me as funny. So much press on such an insignificant thing. I can just hear it now, the movie title being read by the famous "movie trailer guy" Don LaFontaine - The Summer of Crock - A Podiatric Plague

So what's the point you ask as I sit here and chuckle to myself? I don't know, but now you have a reason to think it through if you are going to get yourself a new pair of Crocs.

 

A Daily Diversion - Just Because

I "Stumbled" upon this site. I am not going to tell you the secret, you will have to figure it out all by yourself. If you have nothing better to do right now you can click the picture to go to the site.
Let me know if you discover the hidden message.