Tag: Personal life

Porky’s Railroad

There’s a scene in the movie where a railroad telegrapher is sending a message in Morse Code… which I can copy. I pulled out a pad and rewound.

porky-pig

I just finished watching “Porky’s Railroad,” a 1938 Looney Tunes classic.

Why did I watch it? Because, Internet.

Sequence 01.Still001There’s a scene in the movie where a railroad telegrapher is sending a message in Morse Code… which I can copy. Landline guys wouldn’t have used the Morse variant I understood, but this was obviously being sent by a radio guy. I pulled out a pad and rewound.

QST QSL LEON SCHLESINGER HOLLYWOOD FOR PICTURE OF PORKY

QST and QSL are telegrapher’s abbreviations. QST originally meant calling all stations. QST was in 1938 and is still the name of the ham radio magazine of record. QSL asks for verification of reception. Leon Schlesinger was the producer. The rest is obvious.

The code was very rough and ‘sparky,’ which even by 1938 was disappearing from real radio communications.

This is really obscure. I wonder if I’m the first to discover it?

The Indoor Snowball Fight

They come from China. It’s probably some kind of mercury/lead paint mix. Held in your hand the snowballs feel just like good packing snow, without the need for gloves.

IMG_5967

Of the Irvine Foxes, Helaine is the most attentive. She can see something and immediately understanding its broader context. What I’m saying is Helaine saw non-snow snowballs on TV and immediately knew we needed them. The snowballs made the trip to Wisconsin with us as a gift to Judah and Gabby, my niece Jessie’s kids¹.

IMG_5971The ‘sell’ on the balls is they’re safe to use indoors. They were Saturday, even though Judah has a very impressive five year old fastball (really). Nothing was knocked over–though I’m sure than can (and does) happen.

I scanned the package to learn what they’re made of. No disclosure!

IMG_5960They come from China. It’s probably some kind of mercury/lead paint mix. Held in your hand the snowballs feel just like good packing snow, without the need for gloves.

Once Judah and Gabby started throwing the adults joined in. There’s something wonderfully childlike in throwing these round missiles in the house. Pretty soon everyone was smiling and laughing.

Got little kids on your Christmakukkah list? These went over big!

¹ — Jessie’s husband Evan had loads to do with this too, but I’m never quite sure how to introduce cousin spouses when writing. Where’s an editor when I need one?