October 10, 1953: Drop Those Crayons and Step Away from the TV

In television, it’s always good to have a gimmick — you know, three doors with prizes behind them, a “Jeanie” in a magic bottle, a talking horse. Saturday mornings and children’s programming were no exceptions. Back in 1953, a couple of producers came up with a dandy gimmick, one that was called the first interactive TV show by Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The program was called Winky Dink and You, with emphasis on the “you.”

Winky Dink was a tousle-haired, saucer-eyed cartoon boy in plaid pants. Each week would feature an adventure with Winky Dink, his dog Woofer, and of course “you.” You would help Winky overcome obstacles using the special Winky Dink kit your parents plunked down fifty cents for. The kit consisted of a magic drawing screen which attached to your TV screen by means of static electricity and a handful of Winky Dink crayons. You would draw a bridge on your TV so Winky could get across a river or a cage to trap a hungry lion. You could also decode secret messages from Winky.

The show ran for four years and Winky was one of the most popular characters of the 50s. Popularity , however, couldn’t save Winky from the fears that x-rays from the TV’s picture tube might fry little kids who were sitting too close.

And then there were the complaints from parents who hadn’t purchased the magic drawing screen and whose kids were drawing on the TV screen with ordinary crayons.

OLD DEVIL MOON

The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (commonly  known as TPGASEUOSMOCB?) is an agreement among nations that forms the basis of international space law. It entered into force on October 10, 1967, and remains in force today (although a recent President tried to pull out of it – “worst treaty ever negotiated, the Moon is taking advantage of us.”).

The treaty expresses the Pollyanna notion that space  is the common

heritage of mankind and that the exploration of it shall be done for the benefit of the entire world and the nations therein.  Extra-terrestrial spokesbeings have not as yet weighed in on this declaration; it could prove amusing.

All parties to the treaty have agreed not to place nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction  in Earth orbit. Nor will they place such forbidden items on the Moon or any other celestial body or otherwise station them in outer space.  In a nod to that merry band of second amendment groupies, the NRA, AK47s, Saturday Night Specials and other weapons of not-quite-mass destruction are not forbidden.

The treaty exclusively limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes such as church socials,  group sing-alongs, and the jumping of cows.