Saved pennies crash through ceiling

Aug 1947: Clarence Ellsworth had been saving pennies by dropping them through a crack in his attic floor. Finally, when the number of pennies reached 1,672, the weight of the pennies broke through the ceiling and landed in his living room.

This raises the question: how much did 1,672 pennies weigh?

According to Wikipedia, pennies issued before 1982 each weighed 3.11 grams since they were made from 95% copper. After 1982, the U.S. Mint substituted a copper-plated zinc penny that weighed less.

3.11 times 1,672 comes out to 5200 grams (rounding up) — or approximately eleven and-a-half pounds.

I'm surprised that was enough to break his ceiling. Perhaps there were other issues, such as water damage, that contributed to the break.

According to an online inflation calculator, $16.72 in 1947 money would be worth $234.18 today. And the repairs would have cost approximately $175 (in today's money).

Bangor Daily News - Aug 12, 1947

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 16, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Money | 1940s

Into the Stream

Betcha can't watch/listen to the whole thing!

The artist's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 16, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Music | Avant Garde | Asia | Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Multi-dimensional rotating chess

Recently patented by Craig Wallace Coulter. Patent No. 11,896,913.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 15, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Games | Patents

Follies of the Madmen #592

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 15, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Television | Advertising | Smoking and Tobacco | 1950s

Crying Artist

Controversy recently struck the General Theologial Seminary in New York after it invited an artist to perform in the college chapel. Details from Church Times:


I know some people can cry on command, but for five hours?

The Episcopalian community thought the event sounded way too weird, forcing the seminary to cancel the performance before it happened.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 14, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Religion | Performance Art | Sadness

Tobacco Queen

Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 14, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Smoking and Tobacco | 1940s

Moist Towelette Museum

Located inside Abrams Planetarium on the campus of Michigan State University. The curator of the museum is Planetarium employee John French who's been collecting towelettes since the 1990s.

The crown jewel of the museum's collection seems to be the Star Trek towelettes.



Other interesting towelettes include Mammo-wipes and Xerox typewriter waterless handcleaners.



More info: Moist Towelette Museum

Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 13, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Museums | Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods

Bushells Tea:  The City of Tomorrow

Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 13, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Predictions | Yesterday’s Tomorrows | Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages | 1940s | Australia

Beulah’s Tomb

Beulah Acklin of St. Petersburg, Florida died on May 15, 1948, 52 years old. Her husband, mailman Roy Acklin, built a mausoleum for her in Greenwood Cemetery. He fitted up the interior of it to look like a living room. On the wall he hung a blue neon sign with her name, "Beulah".

He spent much of his time hanging out at the mausoleum, inviting the public to view it and sign their name in his guestbook, while he recited Beulah's favorite bible verses through a public-speaking system.

In 1983, Beulah's remains were reinterred in Jacksonville.

Pix magazine - Aug 9, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 12, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Death | 1940s

Snakes on Guard

Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 12, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Domestic | Reptiles, Snakes, Worms and Other Slithery Things | 1960s | United Kingdom