the good old days

… Kleenex invented the pop-up tissue box: when you pull a Kleenex out, another comes up after it. This ad from 1950 neatly illustrates the point.

Only wonderful, soft Kleenex serves you one-a-time!

Instead of many, you get just one… and save!

Unless you’re my mother, who pulls at least three each time she wipes her grandkids’ noses, then tosses them all so that one teeny booger doesn’t re-infect somebody. Yes, Mom, I said BOOGER. It’s not a bad word.

The 1928 pop-up tissue invention was a brilliant feature, quickly and easily providing a clean, soft tissue — but, another unforeseen bonus, it’s also a way to amuse an infant for a surprisingly long time. They pull a tissue out, and there’s still a tissue there. They pull another one, there’s still a tissue there. Pull another one, OMG IT’S STILL THERE! This is absolutely amazing when you’re a year old — an infinite supply of tissues.

Unfortunately, I will not let my son remove one hundred Kleenexes from their tidy little box and scatter them all over the floor. This makes him very angry, probably financing some future therapist’s world cruise.

Safety Through Seat Belts was University of California Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering. A lot of the film concentrates on the fascinating, innovative research into automobile collisions that was being done by the UC engineers. But, it’s also got flying crash test dummies and photographs of accident victims to reinforce the point that seat belts are a very good idea. And also a few stock footage shots of jets flying in formation to emphasize… um… something about safety?

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

Why the “new technologies” tag, you might ask? Seat belts. They weren’t really new in 1959, but they weren’t required by law in most places yet; it was still something of a luxury item. Watching the dummies get hurled around due to a 30 mph collision is actually a pretty good motivator to buckle up. But then again, I’ve never understood why some people won’t. (I had somebody tell me once they didn’t use a seatbelt because the government required it, and they took an ethical stand against that sort of meddling in a citizen’s personal life. Hope that works out for you when you’re flying through your windshield…)

Distance learning is considered a promising technology. Students can get lectures from “visiting professors” on the other side of the world. Or sit at home on one side of the country while a teacher streams video to them from the other side of the country. It will revolutionize education, bringing student and teacher together wherever they may be on the planet.

Wow! Great thing the internet and video conferencing have brought this new concept to life, isn’t it?

Sorry, there really isn’t anything new about it: “Dr. C. C. Clark” was doing it back in 1935. Since it continues to be not found everywhere, I doubt there will be any huge upsurge in coming years. I guess teachers see something useful in making students come to them. I do know people who are in long-distance classes — they download their videos every couple of days, they turn in homework online, and never need to meet the professor face-to-face. But that’s for a master’s degree in business school. If my kids ever end up doing this when they’re in college, I’ll eat my hat. (Disclaimer: I don’t own a hat since I didn’t grow up in the 1950’s. Haha!)

Via Modern Mechanix.