“Scalpel … forceps … rib spreader … lens cap…”

This is going to be fun. In 1962, Nikon manufactured a series of “medical” lenses for 35mm cameras. These lenses were attached to SLR cameras, and technicians could take photos of surgeries without the cameraperson getting in the way of the surgeon. The lens could take pictures in sizes from 1:11 to 1:1 (life-size) –…

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Up in the sky … it’s a restored Superman!

In 1941, Fleischer Studios – the animation studio who brought Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor to movie screens – released the first animated episodes of the Adventures of Superman. The series, which ran for two year and seventeen episodes, were visually brilliant, with major flourishes of art deco and noir stylings, plenty of two-fisted…

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Wait, GM extended my Chevrolet Volt warranty for HOW MANY YEARS??

I’ve owned my 2017 Chevrolet Volt Premier (“Lightning’s Girl”) for two years, and it is arguably the best car ever to come into my possession. And thanks to the car’s VOLTEC warranty, I’m covered for 8 years or 100,000 miles from the car’s date of manufacture. So I’ve got 15,000 miles OR one more year…

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The Venmo $99 Scam

So this just popped up in my email account. Apparently James P. Friedman requested $99 from my Venmo account. Here’s the screenshot. Apparently a few minutes later, someone named Eric Patterson also requested $99 from my Venmo account. Here’s that screenshot. And not a few minutes after THAT … came a $99 request from my…

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What’s Up in the Neighborhood, March 16, 2024

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, where everybody drinks green beer and wears novelty T-shirts with phrases like, “I’m Irish, take me drunk, I’m home,” and “My Irish Lass is Erin Go Braghless.” Oh, that one’s a broad-minded concept. Well, that’s for tomorrow. Today, it’s Steve Austin Day. You know … the holiday that comemorates when…

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I’m sunsetting the Nightowl Radio Show at the end of the summer.

Background. My involvement with radio station WHCL-FM at Hamilton College was arguably my happiest moments on campus.โ€‚During my undergraduate years, I had a reasonably popular radio show that played a mixture of modern “new music” and whatever else I could rustle out of the record libraries.โ€‚I named the program the “Nightowl Radio Show,” as a…

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Pittsburgh Steelers break tradition, bring in star quarterback from outside the organization

Let me start off by saying that I’ve been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan for as long as I’ve been alive. My support goes all the way back to the days of th Immaculate Reception, through four Super Bowls in the 1970’s, two more Super Bowls a decade ago, James Harrison running a 100-yard Pick 6…

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K-Chuck Radio: If we close our eyes and believe it might come true…

Eric Carmen passed away over the weekend. Aged 74. And this morning, when I saw the news of his passing, I realized that for a time in the 1970’s and 1980’s, if you wanted a mixture of power pop and symphonic bombast in your Top 40 tracks … you could count on Eric Carmen without…

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