A HAPPY HALLOWEEN POST!

...Or I could totally not make a single posting since the 3rd of this month.

Life hit me like a ton of bricks (or a ton of feathers, whichever is heavier) and it knocked most of the holiday spirit out of me in a single, felling swoop. That was, until, a couple days ago when I caught "The Great Pumpkin" on ABC.

I don't know how many (if any) people have those silly little things that arbitrarily make a holiday season feel "complete." I guess for many people, the Halloween season is capped off with an amazing party (check on my end here) or, for the chit'lins, trick-or-treating.

When I was a kid (until, I believe, I was 17 or so) trick-or-treating was what made my Halloween season feel complete. There's nothing like going out a bit later in the evening when people are just trying to give away the candy and after the kids went home that was awesome. The air seemed crisp, especially if it were cold. There was so much merriment in the annual candy-fetch that I continued doing the tradition objectively years past the date I should have stopped.

Then... I, too, stopped going. It wasn't really a conscious thing, I just stopped going door-to-door asking for handouts. I don't know what made me stop, to be honest; nor do I really care to explore why I did either. All I know is that, after trick-or-treating stopped for me... What made a Halloween seem complete was catching "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on TV.

Those who know me in real life should know my not-so-quiet obsession with the Peanuts gang. I've been a fan since I was a kid and well, watching it is something that helps tie the holiday season together for me... At least, it's something that really sinks it in with me that the holidays are beginning. Admittedly, I have the show on DVD and could watch it whenever I wanted... But there's something that makes it more official, more important, when it airs on television.

Now that I have seen it and have been to/hosted a party... It really does fill me with holiday cheer. Of course, that could just be enough beer to drown the Loch Ness Monster. I kid... Honestly, this is a feeling I can't replicate via alcohol. It's something so honest and genuine.

Anyways... I wanted to wish everyone a happy Halloween. I hope that all of you have found that special spark that makes this time of year seem wonderful... I mean, there's gotta be something special about this if we all put up with the stress and crap that happens... Yet, we find ourselves missing it after it's over.

I'll do my best not to make any promises about updating as, for whatever reason, those promises don't often play out due to various things that seem out of my control. It also sorta helps that we're heading towards a grossly under-appreciated holiday (Thanksgiving to those in the US, outside? Just carry on, I suppose) and it's one that I hold very high in regard (even if it's just for free turkey and enough stuffing to mummify even a jellyfish.)

With that, I shall leave you all with an image that has brought me smiles dozens of times over the years (and no, it's not the chimp drinking his own pee. That's a video.)...

Fact: One of the first signs of hypothermia is seeing the silhouette of a dog rising in the foreground. That dog may-or-may not be Snoopy. It could be a Hell Hound to devour your soul. SWEET DREAMS!

Update Post: 10/03/2011

I'm gonna be doing another FACT! here in the near future. The lack of updates recently is part because of school starting, part because of stress in obligations and doing freelance work for a store in my area. Eventually, there will be an ad up for that store as part of the agreement I have made with them.

As for the future of the site? Well, we've entered one of my favorite times of year: the long holiday season. I want to add graphics to the site that will be set to a theme for each holiday... So orange/black and "spooky" for Halloween. Red/brown and I don't know... Turkeys... For Thanksgiving. Red/green and the abominable snowman for Christmas. Just preliminary ideas and God only knows if I'll actually act on it.

Anyways, expect continued postings on the site and more themed posts related to the holidays we are approaching.

BLUE? The colorful one from Nehi!

Years upon years ago, a mini-mart near where I lived used to sell a wonderfully blue concoction that I only knew as "Blue Nehi" which I always pronounced "Blue Knee-High." I don't remember much about the flavor (I was perhaps 7 years old when I last had it) but I remember absolutely loving it.

As time progressed, Blue Nehi stopped showing up in my area and before I knew it; I questioned whether or not I had made it up in my head or not. Convinced that was the case, I quietly accepted my ungraceful jump into senility.

Then, a couple months back, I was doing an article on the first soda to be sold in cans and that led me to the history of Royal Crown (RC) Cola. Turns out that before they were Royal Crown, they were known as Nehi and, in the late-1940s, one of their flavors was Nehi Blue Cream. After shaking the terrible image out of my head, it dawned on me that this was the magical "Blue Nehi" that I had given up on.

So no, I didn't go senile in my teens (apparently, I went senile when I was 20) and it very much existed. Though the company completely changed their name to their flagship product in the 1950s, the Nehi brand still pops up on uber-rare occasions.

So I now have another goal to reach for in life. First, I need to get my hands on Pepsi Clear and do a taste test (then promptly have my stomach pumped, I wanna kill two birds with one stone here.) Then I need to get my hands on some new Nehi Blue Cream and see if its flavor happens to jog my memory. It'd be nice to verify whether or not this was the same drink that I loved as a kid.

FACT! #63

In honor of my wife's return to school and the start of the new term for myself and many of my friends in the area; I figured this would be a very appropriate FACT! subject! Though I'd probably make the creators disappointed in my terrible, terrible grammatical skills... And mathematical skills... And eating skills... Hell, even gaming skills.

A whole generation of kids just had a severe blast from the past with that logo. First debuting in 1973 from David McCall; Schoolhouse Rock was a very popular and surprisingly long running educational series. The cartoons were usually just a single song in length, usually about 3 minutes long, and dealt with a wide variety of educational subjects. The series was part of the much coveted Saturday Morning line-up for ABC. The series managed to score some hits with some of the songs... Who grew up in the 70s/80s/90s can't hum "Conjunction Junction?"

The initial run of the series was between 1973 and 1985 with a handful of spin-off series: America Rocks (in honor of the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence), Grammar Rock, Science Rock and Computer Rock (with only a handful of shorts produced in the early-1980s.) A second series of shorts were released mainly from 1993 until 2002 with a few more new spin-offs.

Even after nearly 40 years, the series is still going strong. In 2009, the production team released a direct-to-video series named Earth Rock, with many songs written by the original band including Bob Dorough (who wrote the first Schoolhouse Rock song: Three Is A Magic Number.)

Welcome back to school, chitlins! Now I totally need to listen to "My Hero Zero."

FACT! #62

By the early 1980s, Atari's reign of dominance quickly began to yield as new competition entered the video game market. With the introduction of Mattel's Intellivsion (1979), the Atari 2600's technology began to look obsolete and a nearly knockout blow came in 1982 with the release of the vastly superior ColecoVision.

Atari already figured that the 2600 was going to become obsolete roughly around 1980 and in 1979 began to design a new system. Preliminary work on the successor, named at the time the Atari Video System X - Advanced Video Computer System, began and was based off of Atari's growing line of home computers, the Atari 400 and 800. The name was changed to the Atari 5200, though there are a few known copies of the Video System X that do exist.

In 1982, the Atari 5200 was released with 4 controller ports on it, whereas the vast majority of systems at the time had only 2. In 1983, the system was re-released with only 2 ports and was reconfigured so that Atari could release an Atari 2600 adapter allowing backwards compatibility.

Sadly, the 5200, albeit a much improved system, was doomed basically from the start. In 1983, Atari made massive blunders and a glut of terrible video game titles led to the video game market crash of 1983. At the time, video games were viewed as a passing fad and Atari discontinued production of the 5200 quietly in 1984.

A little over half of the games for the system sell for under $10, but a surprising percentage are starting to gain value due to the somewhat limited production of them and are going for $10 - $50 with one title regularly fetching over $100.

FACT! #61

Today, most people are wondering about the longevity of the penny/cent and why on earth we're still minting it as it has become such an apparently useless coin. But back in the day, pennies were easily the most commonly used coin and had so much value that, in 1792, the US mint authorized the production of a Half Cent.

The US Half Cent was minted from 1793 to 1857 with several interruptions in its production during the early and mid-19th century. The coins usually had "Half Cent" on the back with some stating "200 for a dollar." Most mintages of the half cent were under 500,000 with a few years seeing between 0 and 100,000.

Due to the limited minting of the half cent, most varieties go for no less than $50 regardless of condition. Some rarer ones go for $200 - $500. The rarest varieties do go for premium prices well into the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars; including mint and near-mint conditioned coins.

FACT! #60

If asked what the first digital audio recording format was, most people would receive one of three responses: The Compact Disc, MP3s or Cassettes. Those three responses are all incorrect. In 1976 a new audio format named SoundStream and the company of the same name, debuted.

The technology they used allowed them to convert analog recordings into digital and thus improving the quality of the recordings. The company quickly began working with major companies including Warner Bros., RCA and CBS to record various works of music under all of those labels.

Though initially successful, SoundStream was eventually overtaken by the growing popularity of the CD. A brief format war began between the two after the CD was released in 1982; but by 1985, SoundStream went the way of the Dodo and succumbed to the inevitable and the CD soon became the most popular format for over a decade.

FACT! #59

In 2006, Coca-Cola released a seemingly unholy concoction named Coca-Cola Blak: a Coke/coffee drink. Originally debuting in France, the drink was brought over to the United States and Canada in the same year. In 2007, Coca-Cola announced that they would discontinue the drink in the US once the original concentrate ran out and by 2008, the drink was discontinued everywhere.

Though the Canadian and French version of this drink was sweetened simply by sugar; the American version was sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, aspartame (aka, NutraSweet) and acesulfame potassium. This combination caused the American version to be significantly sweeter tasting than the other versions (acesulfame potassium is approximately 180 times sweeter than table sugar. Aspartame is approximately 200 times sweeter than table sugar.)

Though I can't vouch for the non-US versions of the drink, I will go down on the record as saying it was horrible. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of coffee, but even people I know who love coffee thought that Coca-Cola Blak was a terrible abomination of a drink.

FACT! #58

Back in 1979, programmer David Crane had figured out how to make a semi-realistic sprite of a little man. In 1982, he wanted to figure out how to use that little running man in a video game and the idea that followed was the basis for Pitfall!

Pitfall! went on to become an early smash hit in the history of video games, selling over 4 million copies and was the second best selling game on the Atari 2600 system. The game was ported to the Intellivsion, Colecovision and a number of home computers in the 1980s as well.

The game was well known for pushing the boundaries of the Atari 2600's hardware and is also known for the special tricks that went into its programming to make sure that the game could fit the system's 4k memory.

Pitfall! had a number of sequels over the years and has gone on to have lasting popularity. One of the more notable sequels was 1998's "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle" that had Army of Darkness star Bruce Campbell as the voice of the game's protagonist, Pitfall Harry.

FACT! #57

First produced in the early years of the 20th Century, Iridill Glass (more commonly known as Carnival Glass) was a very popular and affordable type of glass work. Inspired by the lavish works from Tiffany and other producers, Iridill was expected to be the next big thing and fetch premium prices.

This was not to be the case and soon Iridill Glass began to sell at steep discounts; enough so that carnivals began buying up many pieces and offering them as prizes to their games. Through that venue, many households got their first pieces of the glass and that is where the popular name comes from. To give the glass its famous sheen was from the application of metallic salts when the glass was still virtually molten.

Unfortunately, many makers went out of their way to copy their competitor's designs and most Carnival Glass lacked maker's marks which make identifying where individual pieces come from nearly impossible.

Today Carnival Glass has a very active collector's market both online and off. Prices for smaller pieces range from the single digits to hundreds of dollars; with larger pieces passing the $500 market and some climbing into the $1,000 range.

FACT! #56

Though Nintendo's first foray into the video game world was licensing the Magnavox Odyssey for distribution in Japan; the first system that they designed was not the legendary Famicom... It was the Nintendo Color TV Game 6.

Released in 1977, this system was similar to the Odyssey in that it was a dedicated system. The system had six games, all variations of table tennis/PONG that were programmed directly into it. The Color TV Game 6 didn't have the ability to swap out cartridges even though the Fairchild Channel F was released the previous year proved that the technology was there. The system was the first in a line of Color TV Games and was minimally successful. There were 5 systems released for the series between 1977 and 1980.

As the series was released only in Japan, the consoles do fetch a bit of money online now; sitting anywhere in the $75 - $150 range. The rare white systems could easily see $100 - $250 and perhaps more if there were enough interested buyers.

FACT! #55

When it comes to outlandish, cartoony violence in the funny pages... Nothing can really hold much of a candle to Fearless Fosdick. Fearless Fosdick was a Dick Tracy parody that debuted in the Lil' Abner comic strip starting in 1941, which was drawn and written by Al Capp (b. 1909 - d. 1979.) The main character, Abner Yokum, happened to idolize Fosdick, to the point that he would emulate his hero even in jeopardizing ways.

In 1952, Fearless Fosdick became engaged to his long time girlfriend. Abner, taking many cues from his hero, proposed to his long time beau, Daisy Mae. The next day, it was revealed that Fosdick's engagement was only part of a dream, whereas Abner's engagement was stone cold real. The couple ultimately got married.

Fosdick was also famous for his zany cast of antagonists (similar to the oddball characters in Dick Tracy) and for basically being the equivalent of the Black Knight from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Many times, Fosdick would have numerous gaping holes blown into him from the gunfights that he found himself in, but was surprisingly well, claiming that the holes were "mere flesh wounds."

When the Lil' Abner strip came to an end in 1977, so did Fearless Fosdick. But not before having gone beyond a comic strip within a comic strip. Fearless Fosdick had a brief television show in the 1950s and had many editors hoping to land a Fearless Fosdick strip.

Though he never publicly objected to it, nor did he try to stop the production of it; Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy, was believed not to have been a huge fan of Fearless Fosdick as it was a massive parody of himself and the strip that put him on the map.

Fact! #54

In 1932, Charles Doolin borrowed $100 from his mother to purchase a corn chip recipe. That same year, he started the Frito Company in his mother's kitchen with the first employees being his mother, brother and himself. They had the capability to produce up to 10 pounds of the Frito Corn Chips a day and sold them in nickel bags, usually seeing $2 a day in profit from the sales.

The next year, the production increased 10-fold and soon enough, the company was generating enough money to move from the kitchen in San Antonio, Texas to Dallas. After the opening of a western division in 1941, the company expanded to 6 franchise operations in 1945. By 1951, the chips were sold in all 48 states.

FACT! #53

While the idea would seem absurd to us nowadays; there did exist a 2 Cent coin. This coin was minted in 1864, following the passage of the Coinage Act and ceased production in 1873. The coins weren't incredibly popular as the 1 Cent piece/Penny became more and more available, lowering the need for the coin.

Nowadays they're uncommon. Even in poor conditions, the 2 Cent piece goes for $15 - $25 and in better conditions can easily fetch $25 - $200. The rarer coins can fetch from $100 in poor conditions to $1,500+ in mint conditions.

My wife actually owns one of these and it's a pretty neat coin, in my opinion. The design reminds me of the Shield Nickel that was produced at the same time.

FACT! #52

While most people think that the Sega Genesis was Sega's first console, fewer know that the Master System predated the Genesis. But both were pre-dated by the SG-1000 Computer Video Game trumps even the Master System.

Released in 1983 in Japan, Australia and New Zealand the system was famous for having virtually pirated version of a few Atari titles. The hardware was also close enough to that of the Colecovision that a third party developed a system that could play both the SG-1000 and Colecovision games. The system never made it to America or Europe and was not terribly popular in the countries it was released. The system did lay the groundwork for the far more popular Master System and, eventually, the Genesis. 

Nowadays you can find the system going for $50 - $150 for the most part and the games released for it going for variable prices.

FACT! #51

A beautiful young woman in need of saving. A dashing young man to save the fair maiden. A slimy man with a top hat, mustache and tuxedo. The three characters I just mentioned could be from any of the highly popular melodramas from the late-19th Century into the early-20th. It could, also, be from any number of comical spoofs of such media.

Though, perhaps, the most famous cartoon melodrama parody would be Dudley Do-Right; the first known cartoon spoof of those dramas was Hairbreadth Harry. This comic strip, produced for the Philadelphia Press, followed the adventures of a young boy named Harry. Unlike many toon kids, Harry ultimately did begin to grow up after meeting Belinda, who was already an adult but staved off aging further, later in 1907. The cast was rounded out with Relentless Rudolph, the main villain, whose evil plans were thwarted time and time again by Harry.

The strip was created and drawn by Charles W. Kahles (b. 1878 - d. 1931) who would continue working on the strip until his death. Though popular at its inception, by the late-1930s, the melodramas that the strip was based on were a thing of the past and in 1940, the strip ultimately folded.

Though the strip has been gone for over 70 years, its legacy still continues. It helped prove that the melodrama parody was a popular and potentially lasting source of laughs and that same well would be tapped in to time and time again anytime a fair maiden is in distress and a hero comes by to save her from the clutches of a ruthless villain (all done in an over-the-top acting way... sort of like modern day soap operas), you can thank Hairbreadth Harry for that. Also, as with many other comic strips, Hairbreadth Harry has entered our lexicon and, while seldom used, can still be heard today.

Then again, considering the popularity of Dudley Do-Right, it's far more likely he's the inspiration for that now. All I know is this: If I have to be a villain to get a wicked handlebar/curled mustache... I'd do it. Especially if it comes with a top hat.

FACT! #50

In 1894, Dr. John Kellogg was working as the superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan along with his brother, William Keith Kellogg. Dr. Kellogg was a ardent believer in Sylvester Graham's teachings of abstinence and the consumption of plain foods and a vegetarian diet would cut back on ill feelings, which included arousal and passion. As such, the food served to the residents of the sanitarium were vegetarian in design and basically flavorless.

On August 8th of that year, the Kellogg brothers had cooked some wheat but had to leave it as urgent matters suddenly befell them. When they returned later, they found that the wheat had gone stale. In an attempt to save it, the brothers forced it through the rollers as they normally would to create long sheets of dough. Instead they created flakes which they promptly cooked and served to the residents. To their surprise, the residents enjoyed the toasted wheat flakes. In 1895, the Kelloggs filed a patent for "Flaked Cereals and Process of Preparing Same"

William decided to found a company in 1906, the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Company, to distribute a corn flake cereal to the masses. Originally, he wanted to add sugar to the cereal, but this created issues between the two brothers. The corn cereal hit the market first as Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes and finally, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, which is the name it bears today.

Though the cereal was popular, William had the idea of offering a promotion to increase sales. Starting in 1909 and lasting until 1931, if anyone purchased two boxes of their corn flakes, they could get a small booklet (Funny Jungeland Moving Pictures Booklet) as a premium item. For 105 years, Kellogg's Corn Flakes have been a popular cereal and as such, advertising items and boxes routinely fetch in the $50+ range.

And for those wondering, the name of the green rooster on the front is Cornelius "Corny" Rooster.

Speaking of 50+... This is Virtual Vintage's 50th FACT! Thanks for reading and here's to many, many more! I'm hoping to have something awesomely special ready in the near future around the time we hit 100!

FACT! #49

First unveiled in 1932, the Washington Quarter-Dollar was largely unchanged for 66 years, with the exception of 1933 (no quarters were minted) and 1975 - 1976 (when the reverse of the coin changed to honor the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.)

With 63 years of no change to the design, the Washington Quarter-Dollar is currently the longest lasting design in US Mint history, beating out the Lincoln Wheat Penny and the Lincoln Memorial Penny, both lasting approximately 50 years.

It should be noted that quarters minted between 1932 and 1964 are all 90% silver. They easily fetch $5 in terrible conditions, depending on the price of silver.

FACT! #48

Krazy Kat was one of the most important comic strips of the early 20th Century and many people today are aware of the comic. But few people realize that Krazy Kat was actually a spinoff from another comic strip.

George Herriman (b. 1880 - d. 1944) was working for the Los Angeles Hearld-Examiner as a cartoonist when, in 1910, he started work on a domestic comedy strip named The Dingbat Family. Though it was apparent early on that the story revolved around the unseen family upstairs. Just a few weeks into its run, the name of the strip was changed to The Family Upstairs.

During this time, Herriman used a small space at the bottom of the strip to chronicle the adventures of the family's cat and an unnamed mouse. Those two would eventually be spun off into Krazy Kat and Ignatz mouse. The Dingbat Family/The Family Upstairs ended in 1916.

It should be noted that Herriman helped popularize the use of "dingbat" to reference someone who is foolish. It was a term for the sound made when a typographical symbol was struck on a typewriter, "ding" and "bat." Its use for someone foolish originates from the early days of the 20th Century.

FACT! #47

Most people know that the NES was released in America in 1985, that was actually only a limited market release exclusive to the New York City area. The NES didn't have its national release until February, 1986 after (obvious) market success in the test area.

There were a handful of titles released between October and December of 1985 including: Excite Bike, Duck Hunt, Gyromite, Hogan's Alley, Ice Climber, Super Mario Bros., Wrecking Crew and a few others. These games really helped secure the NES' popularity with American audiences and are still fondly remembered and many are considered the pinnacle of classics for the system.

FACT! #46

Perhaps the biggest name in model trains in the 20th Century and beyond would have to be the Lionel Corporation. Established in 1900, the company originally provided novel (at the time) electric goods to the public such as fans and lights.

In 1901 the company produced its first train, the Electric Express. Unlike later trains from Lionel, this one was originally not intended to be sold to consumers and was simply a storefront display. Eventually, the company did produce a dozen models of the Electric Express.

Lionel Corporation dissolved in 1993. But between 1901 and 1993, thousands of different trains were produced by the company. Nowadays the trains range between common and ultra rare with prices reflecting that. Many Lionel Trains sit in the hundreds of dollars range with a number cresting over $1,000. The trains are frequently brought to PBS' Antiques Roadshow and many of them have been found to be worth in the $2,000 - $5,000 range.

As for an estimate on the original Electric Express train set? If a functioning one with its original pieces showed up, the sky's really the limit. An estimate of $10,000 - $25,000 doesn't seem particularly far-fetched in my opinion.

FACT! #45

In 1915, Coca-Cola offered a contest among its bottle suppliers to design a distinct and unique bottle for their flagship drink. Word made its way around all of the bottling plants and one in particular, the Root Glass Company, operating out of Terra Haute, Indiana, got to work on the contest. The owner of the bottling plant passed it down to some of his staff and one man in particular, Earl R. Dean, began working on ideas for the new bottle.

Dean was inspired by the shape of the cocoa pod and used it as a basis for his design. The first prototype was indeed a distinct and unique look (as shown above), but was flawed. With the middle being wider in diameter than the base, it caused the bottles to fall while on conveyor belts.

After a little bit of tweaking, mainly shrinking the diameter of the bottle in the middle, Dean's design was chosen by Coca-Cola in 1916 and the famous bottle shape, which continues to be used to this day, made its debut.

Dean was offered the choice of a $500 bonus, or a lifetime job with the Root Glass Company. Wisely, he opted the consistent work and stayed with the company until it was bought out in the 1930s.

FACT! #44

While most people don't know exactly where Odie came from in the Garfield comic strip, the common belief is that he was around since the first strip. Odie actually joined the strip on August 8th, 1979 one day after his original owner, Lyman, joined the cast.

Yes, Odie was originally owned by a friend of Jon's who lived with him and Garfield for a few years. Lyman was originally meant to be someone Jon could talk to and confide in, but Garfield soon filled that role more and more rendering Lyman obsolete. Lyman quietly disappeared from the comic in 1983 with a final appearance in 1988, leaving Odie in the care of Jon.

As to what happened to Lyman? No one knows for sure. Jim Davis, creator of the strip, has put forward two different situations: Either Lyman joined the Peace Corp or his corpse currently resides in Jon's basement. No fooling, Jim Davis has said "don't look in Jon's basement" when asked what happened to Lyman.

FACT! #43

Initially marketed as "Urge" in Norway in 1996 by the Coca-Cola Company; Surge was Coca-Cola's answer to Pepsi's Mt. Dew soda. After success in the Norwegian market, Surge was released internationally in 1997 to some acclaim.

Sadly, Surge never quite captured a significant portion of the energy soda (different from energy drink) market and quietly began to disappear starting in 1999. By 2003, the brand had been discontinued completely.

It has since gained a bit of a cult following and prices aren't exactly set. It appears to vary between size and whether the containers are filled or not. But the rough estimate is $25 - $100 for a sealed 2-liter... Though with no set price, it could go for more or less.

The Scent of Teddy Roosevelt

I couldn't believe it. My brain was incapable of taking in the vast wealth of amazing that my eyes had just stumbled upon on a routine trip to the antiques mall in my town. But there it was, unmoving, a little worse for wear, but exactly as he would've wanted it. Yes, my friends... There exists...

TEDDY ROOSEVELT AFTERSHAVE!

Yes, my friends, in bygone years were men were men and people would continue to work despite a little thing such as getting shot, or cutting a limb off, or death... There was this aftershave. Unfortunately, I really couldn't find out much about it. Released by Avon, it appears to be from the 1970s/1980s, but I could be wrong.

Indeed, that is the smile of one of the greatest presidents and one of the absolutely manliest men in the history of ever. Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States from 1901 - 1909 when, after William McKinley died from gunshot wounds, he ascended to that office.

While I could easily fill this entire blog from here on out with the amazing things that mad man did, that is not why this post is here. You can actually SMELL LIKE TEDDY ROOSEVELT! What mysteries lie inside of this box, you ask? What vessel can contain the incredible amount of amazing, badass and manliness and why are we not shooting men to Mars with this material? Well..

It seems to be porcelain, my friends. Mark this as the day where you know the true answer to what can be used to create cold fusion and what really helped create the universe. The liquid sits on the inside of that almost appropriately terrifying bust. You know, thinking about it now, I'm sure that was the last thing many an animal saw... Teddy Roosevelt laughing at them for succumbing to death.

The scent, according to those that have smelled its majesticness, seems to vary between baby powder, to Old Spice and Brut. But I'm more curious as to how they figured out what he smelled like... Unless they've secretly been storing his body, extracting his essence from it on a regular basis to fill these bottles with. Those MONSTERS!

Below are the rest of the graphics of this box sans a short biography on the man on the back of it. So look at them, infuse yourself with his awesomeness, then go out and karate chop a bear and make steaks out of it.

Oh, one more thing...

That really happened. You want to know why the world sucks? We don't have politicians that resemble anything like Theodore Roosevelt anymore.

FACT! #42

After development of PONG finished in 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Allan Alcorn decided to test the arcade game out at a local watering hole that they frequented and knew the manager of; Andy Capp's Tavern.

Shortly thereafter, Bushnell went on a business trip to Chicago. While gone, the manager of the tavern called Alcorn up and said, as the story goes, "come down here and fix this f-ing thing!" Alcorn hurried down to the tavern and began to inspect the PONG cabinet, which had ceased working. Upon removing the coin mechanism, he found it to be overflowing with quarters.

From that day on, PONG fever swept the nation. The cabinet was literally jammed with quarters (and I bet many of them still had silver in them) due to the incredible popularity of it.

FACT! #41

Minted for a mere 3 years from 1856 - 1858, the Flying Eagle cent was a rather unique coin. As with early Indian Head cents (which were minted after the Flying Eagle) it was composed of 88% copper and 12% nickel, which gave it a distinctly white appearance that is more reminiscent of modern day nickels. Due to that content make-up, the coin was known as the "nickel" before the mint released the $0.05 nickel coin.

They were minted for such a short time due to technical difficulties. The stamps at the mint would often have to strike harder to get both the obverse and reverse. This resulted in numerous coins having failed or very weak strikes.

Currently, even in poor conditions, the Flying Eagle fetches roughly $30. In non-mint, they can fetch as much as $500 and in mint conditions, they're easily worth $1,000+. The 1856 Flying Eagle cent was only produced in a quantity of a few hundred and as such, are worth $6,000+ in poor conditions and quickly reach well over $10,000 in better conditions.

FACT! #40

Perhaps one of the biggest names in the newspaper comic strip industry, Tribune Media Services was established in 1919 by "Captain" Joseph Patterson. Patterson had a very influential hand in many comics, having suggested the idea of Walt from Gasoline Alley finding a child (Skeezix) left on his doorstep which turned Gasoline Alley into a long running soap opera comic.

He also had a hand in changing Little Orphan Otto into Little Orphan Annie and he came up with the basic idea for the comic strip The Gumps, which is what eventually drove him to establish Tribune Media Services. The Gumps was a very popular strip and to syndicate it nationally, Patterson opted to create a whole new media wing for the distribution of that one comic.

As for why he was called "Captain?" He reached the rank of Captain while fighting in World War I.

FACT! #39

Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques

In honor of my favorite web comic's 8th anniversary, I decided a FACT! based on webcomics was in order. The first known webcomic published was a Dungeons and Dragons parody strip named Witches and Stitches by Eric Millikin, which was published on CompuServe back in 1985. Ever since then, webcomics have been around and many of them have lasted for more than a decade. It's proven to be a difficult, but viable medium and definitely has longevity in it.

I've been reading Questionable Content for a few years and absolutely love it. Even when considering Men In Hats, this is my favorite webcomic. I've gone through the archives multiple times and it's definitely something you can re-read and find new jokes.

Thanks for the great times and congratulations on all your achievements, Jeph Jacques. Here's to many more years of excellent story telling and humor!

FACT! #38

Coleco's Telstar was released in 1976 for the low, low price of $50 was yet another clone of Atari's massively successful PONG game. The original system really didn't stand out but stuck around for a few years as it was released after Atari made a home version of PONG available and the same year that they were to release their VCS/2600 system.

Nowadays the Coleco Telstar doesn't fetch too much on the market, selling in the range of $10 to $50. Definitely a change from a company that originally produced leather.

FACT! #37

Generations of people have grown up with the Cap'n and have been taught since childhood that with his help, we can totally make it hap'n. Cap'n Crunch cereal was first produced in 1963 and the ever famous mascot, Cap'n Horatio Magellan Crunch, was designed by Jay Ward Productions which produced the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon.

Many of the old commercials pit Cap'n Crunch up against the villainous Jean LaFoote, who has made sporadic returns as of this posting. Originally Cap'n Crunch was voiced by veteran voice actor Daws Butler (famous for being the voice of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and many more.)

As of this posting, no one knows exactly what his feelings are of ninjas. I suspect that, until ninjas attempt to steal his cereal, that he doesn't particularly concern himself with them.

FACT! #36

In 1792, the United States Coinage Act was signed into law and the first, undisputed, coins were minted the following year in 1793. The first of the US pennies was named the Flowing Hair Large Cent with Chain Reverse.

The chain was symbolic for the unity of the newly formed nation, there are 13 loops, representing the 13 states in the new county. Though the chain had been used before on pre-Mint coins, the public didn't respond positively to it. There were fewer than 40,000 reportedly minted and today, the original "chain" pennies go for several thousands of dollars apiece.

There was another unique feature, as a handful of the coins were minted with "AMERI." replacing "AMERICA" on the backside. Those easily fetch $7,000+ even in today's market.

I can see why the original US citizens didn't like the coin. Lady Liberty looks freaky as Hell. I've had nightmares of faces like that spitting Corn Nuts at me.

VVAC's VG Review - Dragon Warrior I Part II

We return to our regularly schedule pseudo-review thingamajig... Jiggy.. Jiggy wit it. Sorry, I have no idea what just came over me. I think I was invoking a bit of Fresh Prince, but came up a mile short.

Well, after returning to the game, I found myself back in front of the king, trying to explain exactly why I hadn't saved his daughter yet. I was lucky that I blamed it on a literal lack of experience, but in reality, I just get off on the idea of watching a dragon keep a princess captive.

(Un)fortunately, I needed to get on with the hero saving the princess action. Though I had to do the greatest thing in any RPG ever created EVAR: Grinding. -_- For those who really don't know what that is (and I both pity and am jealous of you) it's when you sit back for a long time fighting random encounters to increase your character/s' level. This process can take a long, long, loooooooooong time. Luckily for me, I had plenty of time.

After spending a bit of time fighting random creatures, this sign came up. Look at the experience points, 2011. I swear it's an omen. Now that I think about it... How far off was 2001: A Space Odyssey? We're 10 years ahead of that and look at us! No Hal 9000. Not even a T-1000.

Of course, by this point, I was starting to become too strong for a number of the creatures in the area that I felt comfortable working on up. This caused them to run away often...

Usually in a row. This was right after the previous picture...

Damn it, you cock! Seriously, I ran into that guy three times in a row and each time he ran away before I was ready. My agility is higher than his, this is balls! BALLS I SAY!

I ended up deciding to head down to Rimuldar, which is a semi-important town to visit. I wasn't terribly under leveled, but it wasn't going to be easy. The cave down to Rimuldar is very, very straight forward. So much so that I can actually navigate it without sound or being able to see a single square beyond my character. It's down for a long time, right, down, right, down, left...

...God, I feel sickened with myself.

I never really questioned it when I was a kid... But how in the hell did scorpions and, what I'm guessing is tin or iron, mate and produce that? Where does this fit in the evolutionary process? I wonder how much I can scrap them for...

Then again, why am I questioning the logic behind a metal scorpion? The game has wolves wearing a tunic and leather boots... Not to mention learned how to walk on two feet and apparently discovered steroids. Needless to say, if I saw one walking towards me... I'd probably cry.

At approximately $1,600 an ounce... I wonder how much that guy is worth? Maybe this whole "metal evolving into living creatures" thing isn't so horrible. Unless this guy's fool's gold. Then he can go screw himself.

I've always wanted a private island in the middle of a village. That guy looks so cool and he tells us a great story about Erdrick and... Wait... Erdrick created a rainbow?

...Gayyyyyyy.

For make sexy good times, yes?

This is Orwick. I remember seeing him when I was a kid and, for a while, didn't know you could talk to him. Actually, I thought it was a her for the longest time and felt funny thinking about "her" waiting for "her" girlfriend.

So the poor bloke has been sitting around waiting for his girlfriend. Where is she during all of this?...

Literally on the other side of town. Why in the HELL would Orwick have you meet him there? Especially if you two are supposedly going out to eat. No, you idiot, you sit there and starve. Hope you go to Hell.

The largest building in town is... Actually pretty damn useless in the grand scheme of things. Though it does tell you where to go next. To the south it is! Though that person next to me looks pretty interested in this conversation.

...Okay, so I need to go south, but if I do, I'll be mauled? What type of adventure is this?! I should've stuck with the Adventures of Lolo. Also, doesn't that sound a little bit like something a villain in Scooby Doo would've said?

So this entire time, I've kinda kept this building under wraps. What's suppose to be in there and who designed this town? Why would you want to make it so the only way in to you building was to either make an unnecessarily long trip around the perimeter of the town or risk fording a moat and drowning in it... Or catching Dysentery?

Underneath the menu is a bridge leading in.

Magic keys! And they unlock any door! YES! I can now sneak into secret areas that are always locked. Like... Forest Service Road Gates? And uhm... Valhalla? Meh, I'd probably just sneak into businesses after they close and steal crap, or spy on people. These keys unlock any door, so I can go wherever, really.

Also it's dawned on me that the game capitalizes GOLD like some old timey western prospector.

So I finally get tired of screwing around in town and head south to the magic temple. Entering it after fighting actually fairly hard monsters, I expect a hero's welcome. Instead, this dick is in there and kicks me out. Ass.

After buying better equipment and gaining a level, I decide that I'm strong enough to save Gwaelin. Now, the princess is actually being held captive in the cave that I took without really being able to see where I was going. Seriously, it's that simple. Though I suck and don't know how to get to the princess without light.

In keeping with its historical accuracy, Dragon Warrior makes sure to use a Green Dragon as the villain keeping the princess captive. It's not really talked about in most history books, but whenever a princess goes missing, a dragon is to blame. It's honestly going to be behind a dragon that we'll find Anastasia.

Oh yeah, this goon laid the smack down on me a bit before I put him to sleep and he stayed asleep as I wailed on him.

Once you beat the dragon, you're able to get to the princess... Provided you have a damn Magic Key. By the way, I should mention, you need to have one before leaving Rimuldar to save Gwaelin.

And my how the princess looks... Sick? Wow, she looks dead to me. I guess being trapped in a cell for God knows how long can leave you looking ill. That, or she's actually being quarantined to prevent the spread of the Black Death. Oh well, time to bring her home!

No bitch, you're walking. 

After saving her, she jumps into your arms to spread the plague to you. Oh well, you can at least use her as a meat shield, or a weapon of some sort. Imagine grabbing her by the ankles and swinging her at your enemies. They may be monsters, but they'll think twice about screwing with you when you come barreling at them swinging a member of your own species as a weapon.

Unless you have an item called Wings or something like that, or the spell Return, you're in for a LOOOOONG walk home with princess plague weighing you down. But eventually you'll make it back to Tantegel Castle. And with the princess in your arms, you're sure to be hailed as a hero.

...Except you're not. Either these are the most serious guards in the world, or they're just dicks who honestly don't give a shit about their princess. Whatever, I'm sure that guy just around the corner who was looking for the princess (by doing nothing) will be elated to see her!

...What a dick. At least King Lorik is glad to see his daughter home safely. A job well done! And what does Gwaelin have for you? Gold? Gems? Her virginity? That's unlikely, she was defiled by the dragon more than once.

A question. This heinous bitch, who you just busted your ass trying to save, asks you whether you love her or not. So, of course, after this, you say "no." The problem here is that she refuses to let you say no. So yeah, she's definitely a princess.

This is one of the better known parts of the game as you can keep breaking her heart for hours on end, but her undying optimism (read: spoiled bratty nature) keeps her from accepting anything you say as truth. She's a princess, whatever reality she wants is the reality we all live in.

Trust me, it's just easier to lie to her than anything else. It gets her to shut up and when you stomp on her heart later, it'll be oh so sweet.

So now Princess Gwaelin is home safe now, but your adventure isn't quite over yet. There's many mysteries for you to find solutions to and there's the whole "Dragonlord" menace that's causing so much shit in your home land. There's still plenty of game left (eh, not really, it's short) to go through, so make sure you return for exciting Part III of this review-type-thing.

One last note, just because I felt bad for him. I ended up talking to Croaky McDeathmiser in Brecconary village after saving the princess... You know, just to rub it in that I saved the princess whereas he failed and barely made it home to his family alive.

That's when I found out he'd gone deaf and blind. Oh well, that didn't stop me from pushing him over and rubbing my victory into him. I'll let you figure out how I did that.