Useless Fact of the Day Number 5: American Motors Keys

  It has been awhile since I have blogged about a useless fact of the day. Today's useless fact of the day is about car keys again. This time it is related to Freightliner keys in a way.
  In 1970 American Motors Corporation or AMC, debuted a new car key design that looks almost identical to a General Motors key. In fact the keys are the same shape and size but the most notable difference is that the AMC keys have a deeper groove on them. The groove is a bit bigger and lower than the groove on the General Motors key. Both keys were made by Briggs and Stratton, which was the biggest supplier of OEM car keys at that time.
  Here's the kicker about American Motors keys, the ignition key has also been used by heavy duty truck manufacturers to this very day. Those companies who shared the same keys, are Freightliner, Western Star, International Harvester, International Trucks, and Mack Trucks, even Volvo used the single cut key at one point. The OEM key name for the American Motors key is 1970AM hence the year 1970 in the name of the key part code.

Freightliner Key

Mack Trucks Key

AMC Keys

International Harvester Keys

International Trucks Key

People I Want To Bring Back From The Dead

  In the movie Aladdin, the Genie has rules, one of those rules is that he can't raise the dead. However I can assure you that would be one of everyone's wishes. Now onto the point of my blog post. I haven't blogged in over a week so I am slacking off this year so excuse me for that.
  Now there are so many people I would love to bring back from the dead to give them an interview. One of them happens to be my Grandfather. My Grandfather died when I was a freshman in high school so I never got to ask him questions about his successful business he owned. Those questions I want to ask him, my parents cannot answer them.
  The second person I would like to bring back from the dead for an interview is Jim Henson. Why Jim Henson? Well I would love to ask him questions about certain Sesame Street News Flash segments, particularly the one where Kermit the Frog ends up wearing Cinderella's dress. I always wanted to know how Jim Henson felt about putting Kermit in a dress.
  Macho Man Randy Savage. Now I would bring him back so he could appear for WrestleMania XXX so he could end his real life feud with Hulk Hogan and challenge him to a match to see whose the real man.
  The next person who I would bring back from the dead is Big Boss Man. He's one of the many WWE superstars who died too young. He was one of my idols growing up as a child in the 1990s.
  Finally the last person I would bring back from the dead is not really a person, but a dog. My Dalmatian Homer was the best dog I ever had even though we had him for about 4 years. He was an older dog when we found him and he really had a place in my heart. I am still not over his death to this date. He died in 2008 and I really miss playing fetch with him.

Hot Wheels Monster Jam Zombie

  Today I took a quick run to Walmart to pick up a few things and I checked out the toy dept as usual. I first looked to see if there were any new WWE figures there but there was no new ones. Anyway I checked the Hot Wheels Isle to find some new Monster Jam trucks. I noticed there was a Zombie on the pegs so I grabbed it and bought it. Now Zombie is one of the more unique trucks that Hot Wheels has made. The casting is super detailed for a Monster Jam truck. The paint job is amazing. Zombie even has a torn necktie under the grille.
  Zombie is a new for 2014 truck and is a hot commodity right now both in 1:64 and 1:24 scales. So get Zombie now while it's hot so you don't have to resort to eBay Scalper prices. Also Zombie comes with a figure.

Don't Adopt Internationally.

  More and more I see more people adopting babies from other countries and it really grinds my gears. I'm all for adoption but I find it wrong when people don't adopt domestically. More and More people are adopting babies from foreign countries than adopting babies within the USA. Why go through all that trouble just to adopt a baby from a third world country when you can adopt one right here in the good old US of A.
  I just don't get the appeal of traveling out of the country going out of your way just to adopt a baby from some underdeveloped, underprivileged nation. I don't get why people do this. It must be a trendy thing to do. That's right, it's a hip trend right now to adopt a baby from some country like Somalia.
   Now here's why you should adopt a baby domestically. Many babies in the United States never get adopted right away or for a few years because people will adopt internationally. Every time you adopt a baby internationally you give a baby in the USA less of a chance of finding a good loving home. My parents were foster parents for many years and seen many babies they took care of get adopted by good loving parents. Although I was only a baby myself when they were foster parents, I can only imagine the joy it was for the parents who adopted the babies my parents took care of.
   Whatever happened to that concept of adopting babies from the USA? Many people still adopt domestically but those adoptions are overshadowed by the countless international adoptions that Americans do. My brother and his wife just adopted a baby and I am very proud of them for adopting a baby from the United States. I know they have a good home and my Sister in law is a great mother. They did a good thing by not adopting internationally. Just because some celebrity decides to adopt a baby from some third world country doesn't mean you have to do the same thing. If you do decide to adopt a baby, adopt domestically.

1-900-Santa

  Today I thought I would keep it going with these 1-900 number commercials. Up for mockery today is a 1-900 number where you can talk to Santa Claus, (a recording) of course. Now as I said earlier in the 1-900-9099-CRY that 1-900 numbers were a huge fad back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Now this one must have been preying on kids to call the 1-900 number to talk to Santa Claus without getting their parent's permission.

   I can bet you any amount of money that lots of children called this 1-900 number without getting their parents permission and getting into a lot of trouble. This hotline was just asking for kids to call this number without getting their parents permission. Because what kid wouldn't want to talk to Santa Claus? Not to many kids. This hotline must have made a huge amount of money from kids calling without getting Mommy or Daddy to give them permission to call. I love in these commercials that are geared toward kids to get their parents permission before they call the hotline.
   Now this Santa Claus Hotline cost $2 for the first minute and $0.45 for each additional minute. It's a real money maker there.

1-900-9099-CRY

  Ok today I thought I would write about a 1-900 number commercial. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s there were tons of ads on TV for 1-900 numbers. Practically every celebrity that was popular back then had their own 1-900 hotline. Then there was the random 1-900 numbers for stupid crap such as Creep Phone and yes, a Santa Claus hotline. But no 1-900 number has to be stupider than this one I am writing about today.

 

The Number shown in the video is different because it might be an earlier version of the number.

  If you are wondering if there really was such a thing as a 1-900 number for crying, you'll be shocked to find out that it really did exist. 1-900-9099-CRY was the hotline you would call to make you cry. Ok let's get this thing straight, the only thing you'll be crying about is how much you were charged for calling this 1-900 number on your phone bill. That's right you had to pay a whopping $2 for the first minute and $0.45 for each additional minute. Geez it sounds like a scam right? It in fact is a scam because when you called 1-900-9099-CRY you got a prerecorded sob story that would supposedly make you cry when you listened to it.
  Now if you called this number, you needed to get your head examined. This was a total waste of $2. Who called things like this? I don't even want to know who did call these stupid gimmick hotlines because they are total idiots who did call them. As PT Barnum once said, There's a Sucker born every minute.

2014 Is Another Great Year for Hot Wheels

  You know the old slogan, The Hess Truck is back and It's better than ever? Well I guess you can apply that to Hot Wheels cars every year. It seems like every year now the basic lineup gets better and better than the previous year. Why is that? Well the good folks at Mattel seem to outdo themselves every year and that's a good thing. Here is why 2014 is a great year for Hot Wheels.
  For Starters we got an upcoming Mastretta MXR which is a Mexican car, a first for Hot Wheels and will make an obscure car for anyone's collection. Then you got a 80 Dodge Power Wagon a LaFerarri, a 73 Dodge Charger, a 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone, a Koenigsegg Agera R. In addition to those upcoming cars, we have already seen the Alfa Romeo 8C, 1990 Honda Civic EF, Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, Porsche Panamera, The Jetsons Capsule Car, Max Steel Turbo Racer, The Datsun 620, 1963 Aston Martin DB5, 2014 COPO Camaro, and 1974 Brazilian Dodge Charger. I love how Mattel seems to be on a Brazilian kick lately.
  Also the Monster Jam trucks seem to be off to a great start as well. We already got an updated Batman, a non mud trucks Superman, an updated Avenger. Some of the new Models are Scooby Doo