Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer
By bohus
Back before our local PBS station went to broadcasting 24/7, you could rely on a visit from Jack Horkheimer just before the station signed off. He was called "The Star Hustler" back in 1976 when the show started, but in this internet age young astronomers might be alarmed at what they find by Googling "Hustler". Now known as "The Star Gazer", Horkheimer's five minute weekly TV show tells you what heavenly bodies (no "Hustler" jokes again, please...) will be visible to the unaided eye in the night sky.
His warm and excited delivery brings viewers to astronomy in a fun and low impact way. After late night episodes of Doctor Who, I'd stick around to see Horkheimer in his chromakey set pointing out the week's celestial goings on with easy-to-understand graphics. These five minute shows are offered free to PBS stations, and are even available via streaming video or podcast linked below. You an even check out his video and cool comic book.
As much as I'd like to take Jack's weekly advice to "keep looking up!", there is just far too much light pollution in Chicago for us to make out much of anything in the night sky. Nevertheless I've always enjoyed Jack's pointing out which ancient lights are orbiting our way from week to week. I guess it's just nice to know that the stars are still out there somewhere...
Pick up Jack's comic book or video on Amazon and help out Retro Thing.
