Open thread 9/26/2026
I remember this show well. Loved the idea, but my plastic kept falling off the TV screen:
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
I remember this show well. Loved the idea, but my plastic kept falling off the TV screen:
My sister and I had fun with Winky Dink from I think 1953/54 to 1956/1967 – something like that. The interactive part was the clincher.
The other interactive program was Captain Video with its “secret decoder rings” and membership cards. Again interactive and to us more fun.
By 1960 or so those programs were pretty much gone.
From the Weekend Interview section of the WSJ:
Inside Ukraine’s Drone Mission Control Room.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/inside-ukraines-drone-mission-control-room-78bf4223?st=amwKyS
And later…
I’m old enough to remember “Crusader Rabbit,” but not quite for “Winky Dink.”
Or maybe it was the location. Back then many children’s shows were regional.
When we moved to Dallas in 1962 there was a kids’ show hosted by “Mr. Peppermint” that I didn’t see in Florida or California.
Even more obscure was “Spunky and Tadpole” which I could only watch on a Jacksonville channel.
Re: China’s “Curse of 35”
I had heard of the 996 rule of employment in China (9am-9pm, 6 days/week). Grim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system
But wait, it gets worse! Since Covid there is now the “Curse of 35”:
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What’s behind the ‘curse of 35’?
Until 2019, national government policy mandated that new civil servants be under 35, and the private sector tended to follow the government’s lead.
Many job listings still explicitly restrict applicants to 35 and under.
Younger candidates are often seen as more motivated than older employees with lower expectations for pay, according to Pan Wang, an associate professor of Chinese and Asian studies at UNSW.
“Younger workers are thought of as ‘human resources’ whereas workers above 35 are viewed as ‘human costs,'” she told the ABC.
https://www.businessinsider.com/forget-60-china-life-over-35-2023-7
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According to this Chinese YouTuber, companies also overload employees close to 35 with work, hoping to get them to quite and forfeit any layoff benefits. That’s cold.
Furthermore, he considers it a key factor in the further decline of marriage and children in China. Makes sense. A viral summary:
“Too old to work at 35 and too young to retire at 60.”
I don’t trust Peter Zeihan on anything Trump-related, but I still think he got China’s collapse right. I don’t see how this country can’t keep going with so much debt, so much corruption, so many people seeing no future, all run by one man and the CCP.
Yes I remember Winky Dink! Probably have not thought about it in decades.
Try putting Crusader Rabbit on today, you’ll be attacked – maybe physically – by CAIR.
Quite the juxtaposition of posts: Winky Dink and “professional estate cleaners-and-sorters.” Kind of alpha-omega, beginning and end, start to finish. I have a vivid memory of sitting in front of the family TV (a twelve inch, b&w cathode ray emitter inside a largish wooden box) trying to keep the greenish-tinted plastic screen on the tube while tracing out the desired image. And now my time is spent sorting out all the stuff I have accumulated and trying to pawn it off on my future heirs while we are all still alive. Good times, good times.
A while back I linked to an interview with author Simon Sebag Montefiore. Today his book is reviewed in the WSJ.
Making Today’s Middle East
The Cauldron
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-cauldron-review-the-birth-of-the-middle-east-f312aa2f?st=snzacJ
Interestingly the book is reviewed by Sean McMeekin, a name some here will know.
Rochester General Hospital has inaugurated a new class of residents. Of the total, 98% are those recruited from abroad. The United States has a diversified economy which produces 16% of global product with 4% of the world’s population. It is the view of the managers of Rochester General Hospital that we cannot educate and train anyone worth their time to employ as a medical resident. Our immigration policy makes this possible.
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We are an occupied country. The occupiers are our own professional-managerial stratum.
Let’s all wish Google a Happy Birthday!!!
Had to early60s but remember it.
ArtDeco:
Zips inside the wire.
Them too?
Any other regular readers of the Jerusalem Post here? And if so, have you noticed a significant shift toward anti-Netanyahu coverage. Seems like it to me.
ArtDeco: It is the view of the managers of Rochester General Hospital that we cannot educate and train anyone worth their time to employ as a medical resident.
That hospital has a 2 of 5 star rating from Medicare.
https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/details/hospital/330125
(11 of 15 rated hospitals in Los Angeles rate better.
https://www.medicarelist.com/hospitals/ca/los-angeles/)
That hospital has a 2 of 5 star rating from Medicare.
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I don’t recall it had a wretched reputation when I lived there. Wonder what happened.
Speaking of the Jerusalem Post, can anyone give me any insight into this headline over there?
IRGC spokesperson says Iran captured second American submarine in Hormuz ‘hunting ground’ – report