The Automat

[Enzo]

I was reading my June National Geographic recently, and on the last page was a photo of an Automat restaurant from 1942. I still remember eating at an Automat when I was a kid, probably around 1960. I love the idea, and it was a piece of history.

I associate Automats with New York, but they did originate in Philadelphia. The chain was also known as Horn and Hardart.

The Automat was a sort of fast food restaurant married to a vending machine. There was a wall full of little coin operated doors. On the other side of the wall was the kitchen. Each door had a window and you could look in and see what was there - pie, hamburger, salad, macaroni and cheese, whatever. See something you like, put in your coins, and the door would open. If you took a piece of pie, someone on the other side of the wall would replace it behind that door.

http://bamnfood.com/how_it_works.html



http://www.theautomat.net/

Even Edward Hopper...

[hippietrekx]

Oh! I WANT ONE!

--Dom

[Enzo]

Pretty cool, huh?

Apparently there are still Automats in the Netherlands. Maybe you could do a term paper on Tycho Brahe or someone and spend a summer over on the continent. Gotta eat somewhere, so...

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

Pretty cool, huh?

Apparently there are still Automats in the Netherlands.

Yup.

Maybe you could do a term paper on Tycho Brahe or someone and spend a summer over on the continent. Gotta eat somewhere, so...

Of all the famous Dutch astronomers you could have mentioned, like

Bart Bok
Tom Gehrels
John Goodricke
Christiaan Huygens
Constantijn Huygens, Jr.
Jacobus Kapteyn
Gerard Kuiper
Willem Jacob Luyten
Jan Oort
Maarten Schmidt
or
Willem de Sitter

You had to pick a Dane.

:P

[troubleagain]

I've always thought automats were the coolest thing EVER, but I never got to try one.

[Мастер]

You had to pick a Dane.

But these days, the Dutch and the Danes are each full members of the European club who, unlike me, can work in Germany or Austria at will (provided they have a job there).

Funny currency in Denmark, though.

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

You had to pick a Dane.

But these days, the Dutch and the Danes are each full members of the European club who, unlike me, can work in Germany or Austria at will (provided they have a job there).

I'm sure you'd qualify for a Blue Card, once it gets implemented.
We can always use brains.
The current bureaucratic hurdles aren't helpful, and Brussels keeps pushing the member states for simplification and streamlining.

Funny currency in Denmark, though.

It looks old-fashioned to me, not that the Euros are very stylish.
(The latest series of Guilder banknotes were gorgeous.)
The 500 Kroner does have Niels Bohr on it though.

The Danes are in the EMR II, so the Kroner is pretty much pegged to the Euro.
Guess they are just being nostalgic.

[hippietrekx]

The 500 Kroner does have Niels Bohr on it though.

:D This is the deciding factor.

TO EUROPE! (Hey, Europeans... can I couch surf?)

[Мастер]

I'm sure you'd qualify for a Blue Card, once it gets implemented.

I was supposed to be able to go anywhere as of last month, but Germany and Austria extended their restrictions to April 2011 (if I have the story straight).

The Danes are in the EMR II, so the Kroner is pretty much pegged to the Euro.
Guess they are just being nostalgic.

The Euro notes are country-specific as well, aren't they?

Truth be told, other than Frankfurt-am-Main airport, I haven't been in a Euro country since they introduced the currency :( I've been in the east a number of times, but they don't use it there. Next month, I should go to Toulouse though.

The 500 Kroner does have Niels Bohr on it though.

:D This is the deciding factor.

You might have been impressed also with the old German 10 mark notes, which had the formula for a Gaussian probability distribution printed on them :P

TO EUROPE! (Hey, Europeans... can I couch surf?)

I'll let the full members of the club answer that one.

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

TO EUROPE! (Hey, Europeans... can I couch surf?)

Sure. :) Might need a bigger couch though.

The Euro notes are country-specific as well, aren't they?

No. They are all the same.
The only unique features are the first letter of the serial number, indicating the issuing country, and a printer code.
(Bills might actually be printed in a other country.)

[Enzo]

Hey, what can I tell you, I'm an American. You are lucky I've even heard of those countries. Is France still a country? I sort of was thinking "Europe" and old Tycho was the first guy that came to mind. I figured once she got over there...

I am familiar with the Dutch Masters, however.



[spoiler][/spoiler]

[hippietrekx]

TO EUROPE! (Hey, Europeans... can I couch surf?)

Sure. :) Might need a bigger couch though.

Oh, really I just need an armchair. Or a rug. Bathtub and a pillow is good, too.

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

Oh, really I just need an armchair. Or a rug. Bathtub and a pillow is good, too.

I'm sure I could swing an air mattress. :D

[pmcolt]

Neat! It's like a gigantic vending machine, but powered by human labor, and with a retro style and charm. A demonstration that people really just want to eat their lunch in peace without having to talk to anyone. And there's pie! Never been to one, but it makes me want to watch "Dark City" again.

(Why can't my state have anything cool? Then it could be my bathtub that hippie was sleeping in. And we have similarities to Europe. France has red wine; we have rednecks. Italy's shaped like a boot; we're shaped like a... bath slipper? The Dutch have coffee shops; we have... every roommate I ever had in college. The similarities are astounding.)

[hippietrekx]

(Why can't my state have anything cool? Then it could be my bathtub that hippie was sleeping in. And we have similarities to Europe. France has red wine; we have rednecks. Italy's shaped like a boot; we're shaped like a... bath slipper? The Dutch have coffee shops; we have... every roommate I ever had in college. The similarities are astounding.)

On the upside, I don't have cash to travel to europe at the moment, but I'm sure that there's a greyhound station near your area.

But as Dragon Star will bitch to you about, I have no damn time to go anywhere. :( That's why his ass has gotta get to michigan to visit me instead of me going down to see him. Michigan vs. Florida. God Damnit!

--Dom

[Мастер]

On the upside, I don't have cash to travel to europe at the moment, but I'm sure that there's a greyhound station near your area.

Be careful on those Greyhound buses. In Canada, people get eaten on them.

[Enzo]

But politely, of course.

[Heid the Ba]

Euro coins are country specific.

hippie we have two couches, take your pick.

I remember going to an automat in Glasgow, must have been about 1970, they were going to be the next big thing . . .

[Мастер]

hippie we have two couches, take your pick.

Got three here (one of them quite ragged), but none of them are in Europe. I could ship one . . .

[Enzo]

We have two couches. One is where the old lady parks it and watches Law and Order on the TV night and day. The other is where I sit complaining that the wife is watching Law and Order night and day.

[troubleagain]

What the heck is it, Enzo, that makes people who work with offenders day in and day out want to watch crime/prison shows, do you think? Himself goes to work at the prison every day, and comes home and watches shows about prisons, and gangs, and oh, yeah, COPS and America's Most Wanted. ::sigh::

[Arneb]

Uh, oh... Emergency Room...Chicago Hope...Crossing Jordan...

[Мастер]

Uh, oh... Emergency Room...Chicago Hope...Crossing Jordan...

Emergency Room - that's the one with Jesminder, the teenage Sikh football girl, right?

[Arneb]

Room - that's the one with Jesminder, the teenage Sikh
football girl, right?

Yes, AFAIK. Almost.

[Enzo]

She is now starting to add NCIS in where ther are voids in the Law and Order blanket. She can;t make herself watch CSI Miami - David Caruso is still way to ludicrous. All he has to do is appear on the screen, and the wife and I look at each other, pause a second, then take off our glasses.


left on my own, I watch shows about WW2, ancient Egypt/Maya/early man, Neil deGrasse Tyson/space/technology, dinosaurs/plate tectonics/earth history, Cash Cab, and Food Channel. But as far as I know, I am not a Nazi archaeological engineering historian in search of a good meal.