Category: Educational

8 min 0

Pixels, Pong, and Pure Chaos: The Awesomeness of 1980s Computer Lab Day

There was, in the 1980s, a day so sacred that it transcended all other classroom activities: computer lab day. For anyone who lived through it, the smell of plastic keyboards, the faint ozone of dot matrix printers, and the eerie hum of giant beige monitors conjures feelings somewhere between reverence, awe, and mild panic. This wasn’t just a chance to type an essay or do some primitive math drills. Oh no. Computer lab day was a portal into the future—a chaotic, pixelated wonderland where our imaginations collided with technology that, by today’s standards, could barely run Pong without wheezing. The…
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7 min 0

The Glorious Chaos of the 1980s Scholastic Book Fair

In the pantheon of 1980s childhood experiences, few rites of passage compared to the Scholastic Book Fair. This was not merely a school event—it was a full-blown, glitter-infused adventure where your sense of logic, your clutching dollar bills, and your future taste in literature were all put to the ultimate test. And make no mistake: surviving the Book Fair required courage, cunning, and a willingness to experience sensory overload the likes of which only a third grader could truly appreciate. Let’s start with the setup. By some miracle of logistics, your school gymnasium—or if you were lucky, the library, which…
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6 min 0

Body Suits and Broadcasts: The Weird, Wonderful World of The Inside Story with Slim Goodbody

For children growing up in the 1980s, there was no mistaking the sight of Slim Goodbody. Clad in a form-fitting bodysuit that featured anatomically accurate illustrations of internal organs—heart, lungs, intestines, muscles, bones, and blood vessels—Slim was hard to ignore. Played by actor and educator John Burstein, Slim Goodbody was the human embodiment of a textbook, leaping onto screens with infectious energy, wide eyes, and a mission: to teach kids how their bodies worked. But among his many educational endeavors, one stands out as particularly strange and unforgettable: The Inside Story with Slim Goodbody, a syndicated children’s TV show that…
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