(source)
185. Toledo Blade’s reaction to Princess Di’s death (September 1, 1997)
Month: March 2015
185. Toledo Blade’s reaction to Princess Di’s death (September 1, 1997)
(source)
184. Mentadent
(source)
Is it just me, but I don’t think we would stand for having to devote that much room to toothpaste on our sinks in 2015. The Mentadent pump took up a lot of bathroom real estate back then. Real estate we need today for special makeup removing water, and that Proactiv kit we still have from 2007.
(source)
Mentadent seemed to start the whole “baking soda and peroxide toothpaste craze” of the mid 1990s. This toothpaste was different though, because it had two divided chambers. As though you were using two different toothpastes at once, like those stupid old Aquafresh commercials where a teenager argues with mom that he wants a gel for “fresh breath”. Newsflash: most teenagers don’t care about toothpaste. I only remember Mentadent from growing up, because it was advertised everywhere.
(source)
I even remember a sample lady coming to KMart to give out little bottles of the Mentadent mouthwash, which also had two different sides, and I always just tried to drink out of the blue side, because the blue side tasted the best. Mom didn’t like that I sampled half of her sample in a day.
In the past 15 years or so, that big ol’ Mentadent box has been losing shelf space. That was a big box, about the side of four regular size boxes of toothpaste. Oh, there was a separate big box for the entire pump, and then another big box if you just wanted the refill. Two big boxes to sit on shelves, during the the early 2000s when people begun buying whitening toothpastes instead, and that Colgate paint on whitener that looked like a bottle of nail polish:
I still see the Mentadent refill today, but rarely the base. So, if your base breaks, I guess you’re screwed unless you go online. No toothpaste for a few days.
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Obligatory monthly links:
183. Calista Flockhart’s Cryptograph (March 24, 1998)
I completely forgot about these. My local newspaper also ran them in the late 1990s, and even with the answer down at the bottom, I could never figure them out.
182. G. Roger Davis, the Thong Man of Miami University (1999)
1
For some reason, Professor Davis of Music at Miami University (Ohio) really loved to wear his thong swimwear at the University’s sports center. He was TICKED when the University put their foot down on the dress code rule of “no nudity or thong-type attire” in the center. He didn’t care, he kept on wearing his thongs, and kept on getting warnings, to the point where he was banned from the center for a year. Since it was the late 90s, he sued. 2
The thing is, I cannot find anything else about the lawsuit. I assume everything was dropped, because Professor Davis is still at Miami University. Is he still using the pool? Who knows. I’m not going to email him and ask.
Sources:
1. Door From Hell (zine), April 1, 1999. http://www.slideshare.net/mluschek/issue-9.
2. "Suit Filed over Rec Center Dress Code.“ Miami University News: News Release. March 3, 1999. Accessed March 18, 2015. http://miamioh.edu/news/article/view/2499.
181. Alfred J. Hunter (May 10, 1989)
(source)
Shots rang out in the late night skies of Boston one night. Shots in the sky, where do shots in the sky come from? From a deranged man who nobody knew could fly a plane. A deranged man who earlier in the evening killed his estranged wife who was years younger–that morning he was in court for assaulting her back in December because she dared to change the tv channel.
He was also a postal worker–adding to the (then growing) list of postal workers who were murderers in the 1980s and 1990s.
After Alfred J. Hunter murdered his ex wife, Elvira in front of their 5 year old son, he drove to the local small airport. When arriving, he “plane jacked” a flight instructor and told him to start the plane, and to “not do anything stupid because he had just killed some people”. Nobody was aware that Hunter knew how to fly a small airplane. He took off (leaving the flight instructor) around 10:30 that evening with his gun.
Hunter flew low to the ground, randomly firing. He didn’t kill anybody else, just dinged up some cars and buildings. Hunter made a nuisance at the Logan airport, by briefly landing at almost 1am, but then he took off again before anybody could catch him. Due to safety, the police couldn’t you know, take off in their helicopter and try to down the plane. Hunter was finally caught when he touched his plane down at Logan for the second time.
(source)
He’s still in prison today.
Sources:
“Pilot Buzzes Boston Airport, Shooting Up the City.” New York Times, May 11, 1989. Accessed March 14, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/11/us/pilot-buzzes-boston-airport-shooting-up-the-city.html.
Fitzgerald, Craig. “25 Years Ago Today, a Guy with a Cessna and an AK-47 Held the City of Boston Hostage.” BangShift.com. May 9, 2014. Accessed March 14, 2015. http://bangshift.com/general-news/25-years-ago-today-guy-cessna-ak-47-held-city-boston-hostage/.
180. Junk from Tim Taylor’s house
Do you ever make a silly list in a notebook because you can’t sleep or you need to get your mind off of something else? Back in December, I made a silly list of “junk I remember from the house on Home Improvement”. That show was a staple in my elementary school evenings along with Simpsons, Murphy Brown, Empty Nest, Nurses, Ren & Stimpy, and Grace Under Fire. I even met Richard Karn at the dead mall in my home town the day after the last day of fourth grade. Al was most definitely my favorite character, Jill and Brad were my least favorite. Whenever they were on, I just focused on the background of the Taylor household. Some things are still in my memory after all these years, things I almost know as well as things in my own home (which 80% of is still in storage after 10 years).
These are all from my original list. I got the screen grabs from this supercut of every single grunt Tim did on the show–its 15 minutes.
The “Winter Sale” poster next to the kitchen phone. Winter Sale where?
The steering wheel from an Indy race car (didn’t Tim get in trouble for buying that instead of Something for Jill?).
The light up washing machine laundry detergent dispenser that had its own storyline.
Those weird platform beds Brad and Randy (and later Randy and Mark) had in their room. The mattresses were like | | <– this thick. No blankets. Did Tim build those?!
Jill’s automatic pink closet that was only in the house that one episode? (clip here)
Tim’s suit bag. ‘Like he’s all important. Tim, you are on public access.
Bonus from the Tool Time set. What was this green and black thing on the wall? Growing up I thought it was the most extensive set of hex wrenches ever.
Bonus II: Tim Taylor + Ginuwine’s “Pony” = PONY TIME.
179. Sweet Briar’s “Briar Patch”
(1983)
If anybody here has ever attended a womens college, you’ve probably already heard that Sweet Briar college in Virginia is shutting down in August. This devastates me because I’m an an alumnae from Mary Baldwin, another womens college in Virginia. Their closure is hitting a little too close to home.
To help lighten the mood (or make things even saddler, I don’t know) I’ve found some old SBC yearbooks in the Internet Archive. Their mascot is a vixen, so lets take a look at those 1980s and 1990s vixen ladies:
(1983)
(1983)
“Ring Game” for newly engaged seniors. I wonder how many women were under pressure to get engaged since they saw their friends having the ceremony. I wonder if SBC still does this.
(1983)
(1983)
I graduated from college in 2010*, and by then we didn’t have the little quotes and such next to our photo. Does your college still do quotes with seniors?
*rofl five years too late.
(1983)
(1983)
(1983)
(1983)
(1990)
(1990)
“watching Alf with Zandra” I want to be her friend.
(1998)
(1998)
(1998)
(1998)
(1980)
Aw, I carried a boat & tote bag around MBC when I first arrived. I also had Tab in my fridge.
(1980)
That is a monster of a typewriter!
(1980)
(1980)
General Foods International House Coffee! I can’t tell what flavor she has, Cappuccino?
(1980)
(1980)
(1980)
(1980)
(1980)
179. Sweet Briar’s “Briar Patch”
(1983)
If anybody here has ever attended a womens college, you’ve probably already heard that Sweet Briar college in Virginia is shutting down in August. This devastates me because I’m an an alumnae from Mary Baldwin, another womens college in Virginia. Their closure is hitting a little too close to home.
To help lighten the mood (or make things even saddler, I don’t know) I’ve found some old SBC yearbooks in the Internet Archive. Their mascot is a vixen, so lets take a look at those 1980s and 1990s vixen ladies:
(1983)
(1983)
“Ring Game” for newly engaged seniors. I wonder how many women were under pressure to get engaged since they saw their friends having the ceremony. I wonder if SBC still does this.
(1983)
(1983)
I graduated from college in 2010*, and by then we didn’t have the little quotes and such next to our photo. Does your college still do quotes with seniors?
*rofl five years too late.
(1983)
(1983)
(1983)
(1983)
(1990)
(1990)
“watching Alf with Zandra” I want to be her friend.
(1998)
(1998)
(1998)
(1998)
(1980)
Aw, I carried a boat & tote bag around MBC when I first arrived. I also had Tab in my fridge.
(1980)
That is a monster of a typewriter!
(1980)
(1980)
General Foods International House Coffee! I can’t tell what flavor she has, Cappuccino?
(1980)
(1980)
(1980)
(1980)
(1980)
saleintothe90s 