Things to keep out of a time capsule

We're back to the five-day work-week. I hope everyone had a great Canada Day/Independence Day weekend, and I hope no one went too far overboard on the chips and bevvies. For those of us north of the border, the fireworks at Ontario Place were pretty cool. It made me miss the days of driving through southern states and passing fireworks stores every 10 minutes on the highways. I don't like making generalizations, but I think it's safe to say that people south of the Mason-Dixon Line like things that go boom.

I don't know why that made me think of Dr Strangelove. Weird.

Speaking of weird, a co-worker brought a blog called Awful Library Books to my attention. Awful? What do they mean by awful? Well, there's your garden-variety awful, like the book on how to create special effects in photography if you get teleported to 1985 without your computer and Photoshop. There's the out of date awful like books on car repairs (mechanics ripping you off for $100? If only.), or The Picture Life of OJ Simpson (published in '77, it could probably use an update). And then there's the awfully good old sexist stuff that every woman who wants to be a wife and homemaker needs to know. Ladies, click on the picture to enlarge, and become enlightened.

Here's what the caption reads: "With all due respect for the liberation of women, someone has to clean the house and do all kinds of boring chores. Actually those jobs don’t take too long, and this photo shows Judith with the vacuum cleaner. Look at her closely and see the excellent posture she maintains as she walks around the room, pushing the machine on the carpet. Her shoulders are relaxed, her head is high, and in doing this rather boring but occasionally necessary job, she is aware of watching her posture and supporting her baby well with her abdominal muscles."

Doesn't it make you yearn for the days of yore, aka 1975? I thought this book would be from the 40s or 50s. I was wrong. It makes me wonder if we've even improved that much as a society since then.

One more before I go, because this one takes the cake. Is anyone really surprised that people used to publish homemaking books like the one pictured above? I don't think so. But can you say the same for a book called Creative Recreation for the Mentally Retarded?

I shake my head. In the simple and direct words of the good folk over at Failblog, FAIL!