We were doing some cleaning and organizing around the house this past weekend and one of my kids helped me move a stack of record albums off a shelf. We got into a discussion about vinyl records and how, in her terms, I “used to listen to these in the olden days”. I appreciate technological advances like the CD and DAT (Digital Audio Tape) and the likely future of portable electronic-stored format music (by which I mean that CDs will begin to fade in popularity as people will use electronic media for music).

I was reminded of this as I came across this article today. After reading it, I was tempted to go back in time (rather than forward) and revisit some of my favorite record stores of the past. Sure, there was Tower Records and the other chains in the malls but the real stores were the ones that had a certain character. I close my eyes and see the narrow aisles lined with milk crates, wood bins and other makeshift storage racks tattooed with bumper stickers, posters and other graffiti advertising a variety of artists. Places like Criminal Records in Little Five Points (in Atlanta) and a number around the D.C. area existed as well. A trip to such a store was an experience. Maybe you had an artist in mind, but more than likely, you ended up leafing through the stacks of albums picking up the plastic covered albums to examine the track listing on the back. This is likely a niche market these days with the advent of the iTunes Music Store, Rhapsody and the like. There are alternatives that are struggling along in these modern days.

So if you love music or are feeling nostalgic, take a minute and see if you can find a local store before technology advances and ObamaCare runs them out of business.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.