Dear
My father, who hasn’t been the same since Mom died nine years ago, has finally found the courage to remarry. His new wife is a very nice person, and she certainly makes him very happy. But she insists that I call her “Mother,” and she sometimes acts like she raised me. Needless to say, I resent this, but I don’t want to upset my dad. How do I handle this sticky situation?
—Divided Loyalties In Delaware
Dear Divided,
Flying Wing A Three-Story Hotel In The Sky! Breaking the aerial sound barrier is all well and good for Colonel Yeager, but what about those businessmen who need to breakfast in Boston and sup in Sacramento? The experimental Flying Wing—now in the prototype stage at many American aircraft manufacturers and expected to see service sometime in the next decade—would allow these moguls to travel in true style! Picture a giant “boomerang” eased through the sky by eight Voight-Corsair prop engines, and you have the general idea. And since it’s all one giant lifting body, it can support much greater useful interior volume. What does that mean? How about a four-star kitchen, movie theater, and handball courts complete with hot showers—all available as you cruise along at 300 em-pee-aitch, a full mile above the plains! We think even Mr. Yeager would find that hard to pass up.
Dear
I love my boyfriend, but he always has to be the center of attention. He’s the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. Not only does this push me to the side, but it causes people to overlook what a great guy he is otherwise. Am I being uptight or do I have reason to complain?
—Upstaged In Upper Darby
Dear Upstaged,
Fibre-Glas Birdhouse Eliminates Time-Consuming Seasonal Repainting! Every spring, it’s always on your to-do list: Take the bluebird house off its post and put a fresh dose of cheery red paint over the old, winter-faded coat. Luckily for you, a new Miracle Material from the DuPont Corporation called “Fibre-Glas” may soon make spring birdhouse-painting a thing of the past. Fibre-Glas is a Jet-Age “Composite” material with the colors chemically bonded right into its resin base. That means it should be years before the tough, colorful, impact-resistant, injection-molded shell of your new fibre-glas birdhouse, available in better hardware stores this summer, will show any appreciable wear. And if it does, what do you care? The inexpensive Fibre-Glas process means you can replace Cock Robin’s chateau whenever it starts looking lackluster—or whenever the lady of the house decides on a new favorite color!
Dear
Like many people, I try to keep my work and personal life separate. But recently, my coworkers heard me on the phone inviting people to a party I’m having. Now I feel pressure to invite them, too. I don’t want to make enemies at work, but I really want this to just be my non-work friends. How do I handle this?
—Compartmentalized In Comstock
Dear Compartmentalized,
Automatic Sidewalk Eases Urban Commute! Dusty, dirty, loud, and jostling, the “concrete canyons” of such million-man metropoli as Chicago and Manhattan are what give America’s greatest cities their charm… and aggravation. City life means sidewalks, which means “your dogs are barking” after a long day of beating the streets. But some see a very different possibility for put-upon pedestrians. The “Move-Walk,” a self-propelled sidewalk made of rubberine conveyor belting, may someday carry city dwellers to work, shop, and play along such storied thoroughfares as Broadway or the Miracle Mile! New advances in electrical motorization and polylatex sheeting mean we could soon see the advent of the moving sidewalk. Commuters will take their ease, peruse the paper, even enjoy a hot dog while breezing along at five miles an hour—quick enough to get you there in time, but without ruining your good suit of clothes. Look for the first Move-Walks in larger cites by 1958.
Popular Mechanics, March 1947, is a syndicated advice columnist whose weekly column, Ask Popular Mechanics, March 1947, appears in more than 250 newspapers nationwide.
