April 14, 2008

Midget Hot-Water Bottle Soothes Toothaches (Oct, 1939)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 10:30 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1939
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Midget Hot-Water Bottle Soothes Toothaches
A doll-size hot-water bottle now on the market is said to be a handy medicine-cabinet accessory for use in the treatment of toothaches and similar ailments. Fitted with a leakproof rubber stopper, the bottle has a neck large enough to admit crushed ice, so that it may also be used as an ice pack.

April 13, 2008

How Scientists Visualize the REAL Flying Saucer Men (Jun, 1951)

Filed under: Cool, Just Weird, Space — @ 10:44 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1951
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If you like this article, you should also check these out:

How Scientists Visualize the REAL Flying Saucer Men

When scholars of the universe recreate spacemen along logical scientific lines, even those supposed weird little saucerites seem ordinary by comparison.

By I. B. Neer

PRYING eyes of science are probing into space again in the hope of detecting life on other planets. Armed with new facts, previously accepted theories about what lies beyond the Earth are being discarded by scientists every day and the possibility grows more and more distinct that creatures, more fantastic than our most vivid imaginations could conjure up, may inhabit the planets around us. They make those startling stories of weird little men in flying saucers seem tame by comparison.
Read the rest of this entry »

ELEVEN-POUND MUSHROOM FOUND (Nov, 1936)

Filed under: Just Weird, Kitchen — @ 10:44 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
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ELEVEN-POUND MUSHROOM FOUND

A single mushroom large enough to supply a banquet has been discovered and placed on exhibition in Switzerland. The phenomenal specimen tips the scales at eleven pounds, and measures more than a foot in diameter. In the illustration above, the giant mushroom is shown being weighed, while an observer checks its size with a centimeter scale.

April 12, 2008

Does Knee Flexibility Test Race? (Nov, 1932)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 10:09 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1932
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I’ve always wondered why my knee joint’s weren’t as supple as I’d have liked. I always I assumed that it was because I’m lazy and shiftless, but apparently it’s just because I’m a Jew.

Damn you gentiles with your supple knees!

Does Knee Flexibility Test Race?
A NEW method of determining racial origin has been discovered by R. F. Ross of Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, it is claimed, involving the degree to which persons of different races can rotate their knee joints, twisting their foot and ankle to right and left when the upper part of the leg is held immovable. The average person can rotate the knee joint through an angle of 40 degrees. It was found that members of the Jewish race who were tested had less ability to rotate their knee joints than had the Gentiles, which suggests that this ability has an hereditary or racial basis. Neither gymnastic exercises nor bodily differences such as height and weight seem to have any effect in increasing this variety of suppleness.

April 9, 2008

ELEVEN BLIND MEN RIDE ONE BIG CYCLE (Jul, 1931)

Filed under: Bicycles, Just Weird — @ 11:10 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1931
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ELEVEN BLIND MEN RIDE ONE BIG CYCLE

An odd-looking cycle that seemed to have some of the qualities of a railway train was seen on the roads near Upper Norwood, England, the other day. Its twelve riders pedaled along, seated in flexibly connected units of the “multicycle.” This centipede among vehicles is twenty-eight feet long, but its flexible connections enable it to turn corners easily. It was built for use by students at the Royal Normal College for the Blind. An attendant with normal vision steers it.

April 8, 2008

Scale in Soda-Fountain Seat Warns Overweight Patrons (Dec, 1938)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 8:40 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1938
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Scale in Soda-Fountain Seat Warns Overweight Patrons
Soda-fountain patrons may watch their weight as they enjoy their drinks and sundaes, with the invention of a counter seat that also serves as a scale. Through levers beneath the pedestal of the seat, the customer’s weight actuates an indicator built into the counter. By consulting the dial, customers can decide whether to order fattening foods.

March 31, 2008

Human Truck Load of Baskets (Nov, 1929)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 10:13 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1929
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Human Truck Load of Baskets

What a load of baskets for this young man as he carries them on his person from a basket factory in the small town of Lichtenfels, the center of basket making in Germany.

March 27, 2008

TESTS NOW SHOW IF CHILD IS TONE DEAF OR MUSICAL (Aug, 1931)

Filed under: Just Weird, Music — @ 9:56 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1931
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TESTS NOW SHOW IF CHILD IS TONE DEAF OR MUSICAL

Has Junior a natural ear for music? Or are his piano lessons wasted effort? It’s easy to find out at once, according to Prof. Harold M. Williams, of the University of Iowa Child Welfare Research Station. Tests he has devised show whether a child has a real sense of rhythm and whether he can keep a tune in singing.
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March 25, 2008

WEEDS DESTROYED BY BURNER IN PORTABLE UNIT (Jun, 1935)

Filed under: General, House and Home, Just Weird — @ 10:42 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1935
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Remember, the dapper man always wears a suit when burninating his vines.

WEEDS DESTROYED BY BURNER IN PORTABLE UNIT

Easy to carry from place to place, a weed burner solves the problem of clearing land. It throws a fan-shaped flame that mushrooms against the ground, stone wall or rock pile to “melt” every growing plant within its range. One model of the burner is self-contained for one-man operation. It has a tank that holds oil for one and one-half hours” work. The handle is constructed for attachment of a shoulder strap or webbing to facilitate carrying. Thetorch also can be used for sterilizing poultry houses, dog kennels and stables.

March 24, 2008

CAMERA PROVES LOCH NESS SEA SERPENT IS JUST A WHALE (Jul, 1934)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 2:54 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1934
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CAMERA PROVES LOCH NESS SEA SERPENT IS JUST A WHALE
By identifying the sea serpent of Loch Ness, Scotland, as a familiar species of whale, naturalists have just shown how easily the human eye may be fooled into thinking it sees an unfamiliar monster. Worldwide interest was drawn to Loch Ness, within recent months, by repeated eyewitness reports of a long-necked, aquatic apparition of huge size, resembling no known marine animal. Read the rest of this entry »

March 17, 2008

Can We See with Our Noses And Hear with Our Fingers? (Apr, 1923)

Filed under: Just Weird, Medical — @ 2:02 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1923
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I would say no to the first and maybe to the second. However there is some dispute about Willetta Huggins’ abilities. Her claims were tested and at least partially validated by reputable scientists, of the day. However, Willetta fully recovered her hearing and vision a few years later and attributed the miraculous recovery to the healing power of Christian Science which lends a lot of credence to the idea that she never was blind or deaf.

At least that’s what it says in The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the United States

Can We See with Our Noses And Hear with Our Fingers?

Amazing Feats of 17-Year-Old Blind and Deaf Girl, Who Smells Colors and Feels Sound, Convince Scientists that Unused Powers Lie Asleep in Our Senses

CAN we learn to see with our noses? Can we learn to hear with our finger tips? Can we develop eyes in the backs of our heads or wherever else we happen to need them?

The amazing case of Willetta Huggins, the 17-year-old blind and deaf girl of Janesville, Wis., makes these questions much less fantastic than they would have seemed a year ago. For Willetta can do some of these things.
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March 16, 2008

Braving Jungle Perils to Seek the Lost World (Sep, 1929)

Filed under: Just Weird, Sign of the Times — @ 3:08 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1929
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This is a weirdly disjointed tale of William Beebe’s Dr. S. H. Williams attempt to find a “lost world” full of dinosaurs in what is now Guyana. Beebe makes constant reference to his guide/pack mule as “my black” or “my faithful black” yet never mentions the man’s name. He also gets quite upset with his Indian guides because they were only willing to travel with him a certain distance from their homes. Obviously this meant that he was really close to finding his “lost world” and they, being the cowardly savages that they were, refused to get any closer for fear of dinosaur attack. After all, how could they abandon him after he’d so generously provided them with colored beads and calico?

Then there is this:

“Well, the little boat was chug-chugging merrily along when all of a sudden a chicken which we were keeping on board for future reference seemed to experience an unguarded moment. For with a tremendous swishing of feathers it flew overboard.”

Keeping a chicken for “future reference”? Is that a euphemism for “future consumption”? Or did he periodically examine it just to affirm that yup, it’s still a chicken?

Update: I read the intro to this completely wrong. The explorer was Dr. S. H. Williams not William Beebe. Sorry for the mix-up.

Braving Jungle Perils to Seek the Lost World

By JAMES NEVIN MILLER

In the heart of the British Guiana jungle there rises a huge plateau upon which, legend has it, there exists today scores of prehistoric reptilian monsters. The story here presented is that of a scientist’s thrilling search for the lost plateau.

A STRANGE story about yellow Indians; mice that look like kangaroos; eels able to give a man a substantial electric shock; armies of ants that number millions and march in regular formation for over six hours continuously while driving all animal life before them; rivers chock-full of weird-looking parasites; and waterfalls at least five times higher than our own spectacular Niagara, is told by Dr. S. H. Williams, naturalist of the University of Pittsburgh. Read the rest of this entry »

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