New Heights of Lame Promotion

Steve Caple wrote:
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Those are related stories, and even better examples than the one I was thinking of, whose title I've forgoteen. Its plot was that the lower down the socio-economic scale you were, the more you had to consume. The hero was hoping for a promotion, so he could buy less. The authorities actually punished you by making you buy _more_ if you missed out on buying the latest hyped crapola. So you ended up in deep debt. Only the pwoerful did not have to buy anything; and they were debt free, of course. The story actually satirises some common (and inconsistent) notions of wealth, which might be worth pondering, too. :-)

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 09:55:21 -0400, Wolf Kirchmeir wrote:
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"I owe my soul to the company store" - Sixteen Tons by Merle Travis*
"There's a brand new shopping center seven storys high There's bound to be a sale or two -- something we can buy There's four floors of pak\rking and we're sure to find a space We'll spend all the money that the government doesn't take
Down in the mall I'll be your man We'll go shopping, babe It's something we can stand Down in the mall We will abide Up on the escalator Darling, we will ride" - Down in the Mall by Warren Zevon
* which got him considered a communist by the FBI; but then what can you expect from a cross-dressing old queen on the make?

Steve Caple wrote:
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[snip some other cool stuff]
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Did they also investigate Elvis when he sang that song?

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:16:58 -0400, Wolf Kirchmeir wrote:
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I think by then McCarthy's star had waned and Elvis was too popular - they got on Travis' case in '47 or '48, when certain forces were seeking to have anything smacking of concern for workers' rights labeled communist. Some of the same folk go on and on about boiling hot coffeeoid beverage suits.

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I believe it was Tennesse Ernie Ford's version that was very popular in the 50's.
I don't recall Elvis doing 16 Tons, but he may have. I wasn't a big Elvis fan.
Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"

Mike Tennent wrote:
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You're right, it was Ford. Great voice, nice melancholy delivery with just enough of an edge (not like his Gospel tunes, which he sang with too much sentimentality for taste.)

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I had the pleasure of meeting Ford early in my National Park Service career - in college while working as a seasonal at, of all places, Ford's Theatre Historic Site (where Lincoln was shot) in D.C.
They had an annual TV extravaganza and he was one of the entertainers. He was one of the nicest, open people you'd ever want to meet. One afternoon as he was leaving the theater, there was a bus of high school kids (possibly from Tennessee) who recognized him and yelled to him. He got out of his cab, onto the bus, and signed autographs and chatted for 10-15 minutes.
Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"

wrote:
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Ford's biggest hit "Sixteen Tons" was credited as being the first Rock & Roll big hit and for kicking off the Rock and Roll era of the Fifties.
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As far as I can determine, Elvis Presley never recorded "Sixteen Tons"
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Froggy,

What is much worse than the lack of "skip intro" or "text only" buttons are the websites fully designed using Flash! Do I need to say any more? :-)
Peteski

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Hah , hah, hah! You burned him with that one.

Mark Mathu wrote:
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There are far too many websites that do _not_ have the skip intro option. If you and Chris are willing to put up with that kind of preposterous arrogance from a website, well, be my guests.

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In fact, if you don't click that box, the intro stops and the page just sits there showing the last frame of the animation. There are no links, no menu, nothing but a box that says to click here for a list of Trainman dealers. At least the thing should go on and transition into the next sequence.
Froggy,

Peter W. wrote:
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I finally had to go see what all the fuss was about yesterday. I'm on a dialup that typically connects at 26.4k. I think it took about 8 minutes for the whole thing to load and begin playing. The repeatedly zooming trainman while it was loading was *very* annoying to the eyes.

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What is the URL?
Froggy,

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http://www.atlastrainman.com /
It's too bad that the intro is so annoying. The site actually has some good news for modelers. ____ Mark

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It's been changed to skip the animation!!!!!

Mark Mathu wrote:
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So someone at Atlas was reading _and_ thinking. Good for them!

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Macromedia claims that over 95% of Web users have Flash Player installed. http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer / ____ Mark

Mark Mathu wrote:
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Oh, I have it installed, I just moved the plug-in from Mozilla's plug-in directory, so Mozilla doesn't automatically start it up. There may be a way to control that behaviour, but I haven't found it. Advice, anybody?
If Flash were configured so that I could turn it on and off at my discretion, I wouldn't mind it at all.

I don't think that was the point of the original posts in this thread.
I might have a Flash player and still have a slow dialup connection where I wish not to view some Flash animation.
This relly getting OT even for this OT thread. :-)
Peteski