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Quote: billryanI recently attended a sales pitch for an automatic pizza machine. You supposedly can order via internet and the machine adds your toppings, cooks the pie in under two minutes, slices it( 8 or 16), boxes it and puts it in a warming dish that the buyer gets a code to access. The company thinks it can be the next Redbox. I was interested until they couldn't answer a few basic questions, and the ptch got very aggressive.
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Sounds like a case if "Just because you can does not mean you should."
Why would I order pizza from a vending machine online when there is probably a choice of pizza places that will make a better pie? I can see the novelty, I can see it maybe making it in Japan where they are nuts for vending machines. But there is no way it will be much different than making a frozen pizza from the store.
Quote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanI recently attended a sales pitch for an automatic pizza machine. You supposedly can order via internet and the machine adds your toppings, cooks the pie in under two minutes, slices it( 8 or 16), boxes it and puts it in a warming dish that the buyer gets a code to access. The company thinks it can be the next Redbox. I was interested until they couldn't answer a few basic questions, and the ptch got very aggressive.
link to original post
Sounds like a case if "Just because you can does not mean you should."
Why would I order pizza from a vending machine online when there is probably a choice of pizza places that will make a better pie? I can see the novelty, I can see it maybe making it in Japan where they are nuts for vending machines. But there is no way it will be much different than making a frozen pizza from the store.link to original post
The dough and the ingredients aren't frozen and the pizza was fairly good. It's also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also place them in places like Little League fields, airports, hospital waiting rooms, college dorms,bowling alleys, movies etc, etc.
I attended because I thought it was an idea with some legs but the people making the pitch didn't close the deal.
In my town of Bisbee, as an example- there are 12 or 13 bars, but no place to eat after around 11PM. As most of the bars are located in the two block area of Brewery Gulch, I think a machine would do very well on that street. On Long Island, one in a parking lot of a train station could do well. Obviously that depends on the pie being more than some sauce on a piece of cardboard.
Quote: billryanQuote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanI recently attended a sales pitch for an automatic pizza machine. You supposedly can order via internet and the machine adds your toppings, cooks the pie in under two minutes, slices it( 8 or 16), boxes it and puts it in a warming dish that the buyer gets a code to access. The company thinks it can be the next Redbox. I was interested until they couldn't answer a few basic questions, and the ptch got very aggressive.
link to original post
Sounds like a case if "Just because you can does not mean you should."
Why would I order pizza from a vending machine online when there is probably a choice of pizza places that will make a better pie? I can see the novelty, I can see it maybe making it in Japan where they are nuts for vending machines. But there is no way it will be much different than making a frozen pizza from the store.link to original post
The dough and the ingredients aren't frozen and the pizza was fairly good. It's also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also place them in places like Little League fields, airports, hospital waiting rooms, college dorms,bowling alleys, movies etc, etc.
I attended because I thought it was an idea with some legs but the people making the pitch didn't close the deal.
In my town of Bisbee, as an example- there are 12 or 13 bars, but no place to eat after around 11PM. As most of the bars are located in the two block area of Brewery Gulch, I think a machine would do very well on that street. On Long Island, one in a parking lot of a train station could do well. Obviously that depends on the pie being more than some sauce on a piece of cardboard.link to original post
I don’t hate the concept, and I really like vending machines. But I don’t think it’s something I’d ever invest in.
How long does it take to get your pizza after you order? Can it handle multiple orders at the same time? I can’t see it doing well in airports, malls, or train stations. However I could see it working in large hotels or large apartment complexes/dorms.
There is one Redbox, they have that dwindling market cornered. Yet a quick Google search shows at least 5 companies trying to sell these machines. But has anyone here even seen one of these in the wild?
I also imagine they are a nightmare to maintain with frequent downtime.
I think they would do real well at train stations, both for people getting on the train to eat on it and people getting off to take home with them.
I do think it can be successful, I'm just not sure this was the right company to do it. If they are right, they expect to place 3,000 machines in the next few years. I hope it works out, but it wasn't for me.
(sigh)
Quote: EvenBobRemember when 'back in the day' meant 30 or 40 years ago? Now it seems to mean anything that happened before 2015. The phrase has become almost meaningless.
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This post of yours is so 5 minutes ago.
I don't know why it went away. Maybe other people shamed those doing it into thinking it was child abuse. Maybe they were hanging themselves, but I think those were chest collars, not neck collars.
IMO, It's child abuse to let your unruly kids run around.
And today, there was a little kid screaming so loud I could hear him clearly even though there were at least 6 aisles in the grocery store between us. And it went on for 10 minutes. This is why I think there should also be sound muffling hoods to put over their heads.
Quote: rxwineRemember when you saw parents with their kids on leashes out in public? Does anyone still see it?
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I don't know why it went away. Maybe other people shamed those doing it into thinking it was child abuse. Maybe they were hanging themselves, but I think those were chest collars, not neck collars.
IMO, It's child abuse to let your unruly kids run around.
And today, there was a little kid screaming so loud I could hear him clearly even though there were at least 6 aisles in the grocery store between us. And it went on for 10 minutes. This is why I think there should also be sound muffling hoods to put over their heads.
Leashes were a good idea, can't say I saw a ton in the day though.
I remember once at Ponderosa (my dad liked it) some little black kid was just making noise. His mother (no dad) was just sitting there as if he was doing nothing. Some guy finally screamed HEY to get him to knock it off which he did. Then some other guy got on him as he thought he was talking to HIS kid.
I should have bought desert for the guy who yelled at the kid. Could not believe a mother would allow it. Can't believe a manager did not tell her to shut the kid up.
the A&P Grocery stores______________at their peak - in the 1930s - they were the largest retailer in the world - they had $2.9 billion in yearly sales - roughly equal to $ 45 billion in today's dollars__________they had 16,000 stores
their decline began in the 50s but they were still a giant thru the 70s
I had a job in wholesale sales and I sold products to their stores
it's really strange to think that they don't exist anymore - it almost seems that except for my memory of them they really didn't exist - not true of course
but it's weird to think that young people today don't even know who the A&P was
here we go: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
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Quote: rxwineRemember when you saw parents with their kids on leashes out in public? Does anyone still see it?
Reminds me of something I saw in Bart Simpson's Guide to Life: parents who put their kids on leashes and yell "SIT!" and "STAY!" while they dress up their pets in human clothes and hold them in their arms while they call them things like "snookie-wookums."
Quote: AZDuffman
Leashes were a good idea, can't say I saw a ton in the day though.
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These days, they're usually integrated into a cute backpack.
There are probably safety breakaways on the leashes, and an additional proximity alarm available if the toddler gets more than 28 feet from the handler.
Quote: lilredrooster__________
the A&P Grocery stores______________at their peak - in the 1930s - they were the largest retailer in the world - they had $2.9 billion in yearly sales - roughly equal to $ 45 billion in today's dollars__________they had 16,000 stores
their decline began in the 50s but they were still a giant thru the 70s
I had a job in wholesale sales and I sold products to their stores
it's really strange to think that they don't exist anymore - it almost seems that except for my memory of them they really didn't exist - not true of course
but it's weird to think that young people today don't even know who the A&P was
here we go: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
Their fall is an interesting business study. IIRC what started it was losing a CEO who had no good succession plan. People complain about CEO compensation, but the job requires real leadership and vision. The 16000 store count can be misleading as 10000 square feet was big then. Stores were blocks from each other, not yet "supermarkets."
What really did the in is they what I call "caught the best of the previous wave." IOW, they got things down cold but right when tech or the market changed everything. This happened with equipment where I once worked. But that was just a truck. This was the company. All those stores were about to be a liability as the market changed. Their private labels would be old school as people went to national brands. Strangely things are now going back to private labels. They had to close all those old stores and build bigger, new stores. Managers had to learn to work in bigger stores. It took 50 years for the collapse to be complete.
It is why I always told people do not fear Wal-Mart. In the 2000s I told people that WMT was then at their peak of power and things would start to change. As we have seen, it has started to happen. WMT will be with us for at least a generation but they do not have the stgranglehold they did in the 2000s.
Ledo Pizza is a chain restaurant only in the Maryland
it's pizza is very good IMO - and it is very competitive in the pizza wars
but it's not quite as good as the original Ledo Pizza - in Adelphi, MD very close to U. of MD - I think because the original pizza joint had higher grade ovens
it opened in 1955 -
I don't know about that far back - but this is the amazing thing
in the 70s on a weekend - THERE WAS A LINE A WHOLE BLOCK LONG TO GET INTO THE JOINT - maybe 35 people would wait in the line for more than an hour EVEN IN FREEZING COLD WEATHER to get in - and the joint itself had about 25 tables - there was a separate but also very long line just to order carry out - you even had to wait in line just to pick up your carryout if you phoned in the order
I've never seen anything like that from any other restaurant - the closest I've ever seen is a short line to get into Cheesecake - not that close
of course, back then there weren't a great many pizza joints as there are now - but still - it was really something
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Quote: lilredrooster_________
Ledo Pizza is a chain restaurant only in the Maryland
it's pizza is very good IMO - and it is very competitive in the pizza wars
but it's not quite as good as the original Ledo Pizza - in Adelphi, MD very close to U. of MD - I think because the original pizza joint had higher grade ovens
it opened in 1955 -
I don't know about that far back - but this is the amazing thing
in the 70s on a weekend - THERE WAS A LINE A WHOLE BLOCK LONG TO GET INTO THE JOINT - maybe 35 people would wait in the line for more than an hour EVEN IN FREEZING COLD WEATHER to get in - and the joint itself had about 25 tables - there was a separate but also very long line just to order carry out - you even had to wait in line just to pick up your carryout if you phoned in the order
I've never seen anything like that from any other restaurant - the closest I've ever seen is a short line to get into Cheesecake - not that close
of course, back then there weren't a great many pizza joints as there are now - but still - it was really something
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Not that long of lines, but there was usually a line at Pizza Hut when I was a kid. There were way more restaurant lines then because there were fewer restaurants in the 70s. In the late 1990s I took my parents to Dinosaur BBQ and it was over an hour of a line. They thought I was nuts. That place was always busy.
MLB players were really hot for chewing (chawin') tobacco
the commercial said "jus' put a pinch between your teeth and gums"
age 12 I went to a baseball camp run by 2 brothers who were scrub major leaguers
they used the junk - I asked them to let me try it - they let me
it was some kind of horrible
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Quote: lilredrooster__________
MLB players were really hot for chewing (chawin') tobacco
the commercial said "jus' put a pinch between your teeth and gums"
age 12 I went to a baseball camp run by 2 brothers who were scrub major leaguers
they used the junk - I asked them to let me try it - they let me
it was some kind of horrible
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When I was in high school that stuff was big and they were just starting to really warn kids not to do it. I did not need warned, I found it to be a totally disgusting habit and still do.
Quote: lilredrooster__________
MLB players were really hot for chewing (chawin') tobacco
the commercial said "jus' put a pinch between your teeth and gums"
age 12 I went to a baseball camp run by 2 brothers who were scrub major leaguers
they used the junk - I asked them to let me try it - they let me
it was some kind of horrible
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Pedantic mode: the "just a pinch between your teeth and gums" isn't chewing tobacco, but Skoal. What baseball players used was actual chewing tobacco.
Not that high school baseball players weren't chewing tobacco, mind you. I seem to recall a spike in usage among high school softball players as well, although I think girls preferred Skoal/Copenhagen-style.
Anybody else remember "Big League Chew" (which, apparently, still exists) - originally, it was shredded bubble gum in a pouch similar to a chewing tobacco pouch?
the most disgusting thing was when the ballplayers spit out that brown stream - of course you couldn't swallow it
as a kid I idolized major leaguers - they were like gods to me
I even thought that was so cool_____________________________________________(-:\
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Yes! I bought some once or twice as a kid in my little league days. IIRC, it was OK, but much more expensive than other bubble gum in the store.Quote: ThatDonGuyAnybody else remember "Big League Chew" (which, apparently, still exists) - originally, it was shredded bubble gum in a pouch similar to a chewing tobacco pouch?
I'm surprised that they still make it given how Captain Kangaroo** made them stop making candy/gum cigarettes a long time ago.
Quote: lilredroosterI've never seen anything like that from any other restaurant - the closest I've ever seen is a short line to get into Cheesecake
The In 'n Out hamburger chain is a successful, popular fast food business that started in California but has been slow to expand; there's some in Nevada, and now there is one not terribly far from Portland, in Keizer, Oregon, near Salem.
It is visible when you drive by on I-5 southbound.
I've eaten their food in sin city and liked it a lot so I want to try the one in Keizer: problem is it is always packed.
Cars backed up through the parking lot, lines of people, crowds: so I never pull in to buy some.
Also Voodoo Donuts in stumptown often has long lines.
the Marlboro man
he was real - he was free - he wasn't a dork or a nerd
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Quote: lilredrooster____________
the Marlboro man
he was real - he was free - he wasn't a dork or a nerd
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Looks like the rancher from Texas on Yellowstone show.
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Quote: lilredrooster____________
the Marlboro man
he was real - he was free - he wasn't a dork or a nerd
And before him Marlboro was introduced as a women's cigarette. The brown filter was to conceal lipstick.
Quote:The 63 cent Egg McMuffin offer will only be available on the McDonald's app during breakfast hours (6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.) on Thursday, November 18. Customers can order the breakfast sandwich, and any add-ons, for carry out, drive thru or dine-in at participating restaurant
Times Square in the 1970s
pre Viagra
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Quote: lilredrooster__________
Times Square in the 1970s
pre Viagra
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Pre-Disney is more like it.
Quote: billryanQuote: lilredrooster__________
Times Square in the 1970s
pre Viagra
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Pre-Disney is more like it.
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No, Pre-Rudy.
Quote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanQuote: lilredrooster__________
Times Square in the 1970s
pre Viagra
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Pre-Disney is more like it.
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No, Pre-Rudy.
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Disney entered into negotiations with the city and state for a low-cost loan to develop Times Square before Rudy even announced he was running for mayor a second time after losing the first-time round. The deal was done and in place before Rudy won the rematch election. In any case, it was the loans from NY State that made the deal possible, not anything Rudy or Dinkins had much to do with.
best spoof of sports and sports broadcasters I've ever seen - not that there's been a lot of them - but still
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this is well before my time - 1946 - a menu from a local restaurant -
I think there are probably a couple of members here who were toddlers when this was offered
it offers an interesting take on inflation (to me anyway)
you could get a fried half chicken with mashed potatoes and corn and for dessert a layer cake with ice cream and it all totals $1.25_____________(-:\
actually, I would probably have been disappointed that they were out of a roast leg of lamb with dressing, diced carrots, celery and whipped potatoes costing $.75
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until June 1, 1980 TV went completely dark at midnight - the transmitter shut down
on that date CNN became the first to have a 24 hour broadcast - that's according to my google search - although I don't remember cable being widely available then, and I don't remember them at that time
I believe most of TV was dark after midnight thru the 80s but there were some exceptions
most of radio shut down too way back then but I can't remember when that changed
for a long time - if you were up after midnight - you could read a book - that's about all
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Quote: lilredrooster____________
until June 1, 1980 TV went completely dark at midnight - the transmitter shut down
on that date CNN became the first to have a 24 hour broadcast - that's according to my google search - although I don't remember cable being widely available then, and I don't remember them at that time
I believe most of TV was dark after midnight thru the 80s but there were some exceptions
most of radio shut down too way back then but I can't remember when that changed
for a long time - if you were up after midnight - you could read a book - that's about all
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Don’t forget in the 70’s Don Kirshner’s rock concert which started at 11:30 and went until 1 am. I remember that being such a big deal to stay up that late as a teenager.
Especially in the afternoons and evenings, WABC was the station that teenagers could be heard listening to on transistor radios all over the New York metropolitan area. Due to its strong signal, the station could be heard easily over 100 miles away, including the Catskill and Pocono Mountains, and through much of Connecticut and Rhode Island. After sunset, when AM radio waves travel farther, WABC's signal could be picked up around much of the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Bruce Morrow often spoke about how he felt an almost psychic bond to his young listeners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WABC_(AM)
Listeners had moved on to FM radio and cassette tapes in the late '70's and early '80's.
Quote: lilredrooster____________
until June 1, 1980 TV went completely dark at midnight - the transmitter shut down
on that date CNN became the first to have a 24 hour broadcast - that's according to my google search - although I don't remember cable being widely available then, and I don't remember them at that time
I believe most of TV was dark after midnight thru the 80s but there were some exceptions
most of radio shut down too way back then but I can't remember when that changed
for a long time - if you were up after midnight - you could read a book - that's about all
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It was later than midnight. Stations went to 1-2 AM or so. No set time. They came back on at 5-5:30 or so. Weekends they went later with a "late show." I do not think CNN was the first. ESPN went on the air in 1979.
I remember and wish I had saved an article in the late 1970s about the coming cable revolution. Discussed maybe 30 possible cable channel ideas. They were so specialized you could not imagine a channel of just news or weather.
2 days ago: Every new 2022 TV with ATSC 3.0: Get ready for free NextGen TV broadcasts
https://www.cnet.com/tech/home-entertainment/every-new-2022-tv-with-atsc-3-0-get-ready-for-free-next-gen-tv-broadcasts/
NextGen TV outlook for 2022
There are two main issues with ATSC 3.0 in the US. The first is the lack of coverage in some of the country's biggest TV markets, including San Francisco, Chicago and New York City. The second is a lack of content. While the format promises 4K resolution and features like interactive gambling, these are largely yet to be implemented. Because the service is still maturing and depends on support from broadcasters, most areas still receive only 1080p signals. With budget-friendly devices and more coverage areas on their way, we may find that over the next few years ATSC 3.0 could finally live up to its cord-cutting potential.
I live nowhere near a TV station so I will miss out unless I get relocated to a better spot.
Quote: lilredrooster____________
until June 1, 1980 TV went completely dark at midnight - the transmitter shut down
on that date CNN became the first to have a 24 hour broadcast - that's according to my google search - although I don't remember cable being widely available then, and I don't remember them at that time
I believe most of TV was dark after midnight thru the 80s but there were some exceptions
most of radio shut down too way back then but I can't remember when that changed
for a long time - if you were up after midnight - you could read a book - that's about all
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I guess that depended on where you lived. In NY television didn't go off the air at midnight. We had the late movie and the late late movie as well as some quirky late night television shows. I remember the first show that aired every day was the farm report.
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this was the image displayed on your TV when it went dark - pretty weird - later when color TV came it was the same image in color
it's called the Television Test Pattern Royalty Free Vector Image
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Quote: lilredrooster
until June 1, 1980 TV went completely dark at midnight - the transmitter shut down
on that date CNN became the first to have a 24 hour broadcast - that's according to my google search - although I don't remember cable being widely available then, and I don't remember them at that time
I believe most of TV was dark after midnight thru the 80s but there were some exceptions
Throughout most, if not all, of the 1970s, NBC stations aired The Tonight Show until 1 AM, and then Tomorrow (with Tom Snyder) until 2, except on Fridays, when Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special ran from 1 to 2:30. On Saturday nights, "The Best of The Tonight Show" aired until 1 (until Johnny Carson switched to working 4 days a week, at which time the reruns moved to Monday and NBC's Saturday Night (later called Saturday Night Live) started, with Weekend airing once a month, presumably as it was just too hard for the SNL writers to write four shows in four weeks. ABC counterprogrammed with Wide World of Entertainment, a 90-minute block of various shows, which also ran until 1; in San Francisco at least, that's when the ABC station went off the air.
As for cable TV, it was installed where I lived in the early 1970s, but was limited to 12 stations (there was no box; there was a device that converted the coax to antenna hookups, and you hooked that up to the TV's VHF Antenna input), which were all Northern California broadcast stations. For the most part, there were "standard" assignments; for example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, UHF channels 36 and 44 were cable channels 6 and 12, and they are still there 60 years later. It wasn't universal by any means; in the early 1980s, my college dormatory didn't have cable hookups to the rooms, although there might have been connections to the "common areas" on each floor.
yeah, I forgot about that - UHF added stations - I can't remember exactly when - the first UHF station in the DC area was channel 20 which was mostly comedies and movies IIRC - then came channel 26 which was WETA - educational TV - according to a google search it first aired in 1961 - but probably not everywhere
I remember when UHF first came you had to play with the antenna to get a good signal_____________(-:\
before UHF we only got ABC, CBS and NBC - I'm thinking that was the 50s and some of the 60s
at some point they started to offer shows later than midnight - it might have been a response to competition from UHF
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I remember trying to play a whole game like that with a stand-alone chess board, and about halfway, the program crashed. It had played for like 10 days.
Quote: lilredrooster___________-
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this was the image displayed on your TV when it went dark - pretty weird - later when color TV came it was the same image in color
it's called the Television Test Pattern Royalty Free Vector Image
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No. This played a few minutes before sign on and after sign off. They did not waste electricity to beam a test pattern all night. They varied, some had the local call numbers and a local image. This one looks like something for calibrating the cameras or other equipment. In the real early days they broadcast test patterns in the day for TV repairmen to use fixing sets. Another version has an Indian head at the top.
To the earlier post, yes, it would depend on where you lived. NYC stations still had enough viewers to sell ads late at night. You might see an ad for Morrie's Wigs that don't come off or something. In Canton, OH, not enough of that to make it worth transmitting.
In the 1990s, WQEX in Pittsburgh still signed off, they had lots of fun with it. Most stations played the National Anthem at sign off (and on) back in the day. Not this group. Here is a bunch of them,
Quote: lilredrooster
I remember when UHF first came you had to play with the antenna to get a good signal_____________(-:\
You still have to do this with over-the-air channels. I've got rabbit ears on both TVs in my house.
For some reason, we were able to pick up channel 3 from Connecticut where no one else's tv did. This was huge because channel 2 only showed NY Giants road games while #3 showed home and away games. A few Sundays a year, our living room turned into an NCO club as dozens of my Dads coworkers would jam into our living room to see the game.
in the mid 80s my set and 2 other sets from my friends picked up a faint, fuzzy UHF channel that had softcore porn on it
I have no idea why - at that time no porn was allowed on TV - except possibly on cable which was new to many and many didn't have it yet - and none of the 3 of us had it
the channel never identified itself - you would get a fuzzy picture of some bouncing Ta Tas
the 3 of us got a good laugh out of it
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Quote: lilredrooster___________
in the mid 80s my set and 2 other sets from my friends picked up a faint, fuzzy UHF channel that had softcore porn on it
I have no idea why - at that time no porn was allowed on TV - except possibly on cable which was new to many and many didn't have it yet - and none of the 3 of us had it
the channel never identified itself - you would get a fuzzy picture of some bouncing Ta Tas
the 3 of us got a good laugh out of it
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Were you in an apartment building with cable? I had a TV that if you put it near the coax it got a faint HBO signal.
