1970s
Heaton’s Aerocommuter
Back in 1974, David Heaton spent $50,000 pursuing his dream of building an "aerocommuter" -- a two-person flying saucer that would "cost no more than a medium-priced American car," thereby allowing everyone to fly to work.He claimed to have all the engineering problems worked out, but it doesn't sound like one of these things ever managed to leave the ground.
Aiken Standard - June 6, 1974
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 27, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Air Travel and Airlines, 1970s
President Naa Hoo Woo of the USA
What a blatant instance of cultural appropriation!
Original foto here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 26, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Fashion, Politics, Officials, 1970s, Native Americans
Manure Glass
1973 saw the debut of Envirite (aka Glass-Dung, Manure Glass, or Pasture Glass), a promised-to-be revolutionary building material made out of glass and cow manure.It actually seems like it was a pretty good idea. The concept was that you could take old glass bottles, combine them with cow manure, heat both together in a furnace, and the manure would act as a foaming agent fusing the glass together into a versatile building material. So you'd be repurposing two waste products (old glass and manure) into something useful.
The problem, it seems, was actually getting architects and builders to use the stuff. I found a 1990 article that credited the "inherent conservatism of the building industry" with denying us our glass-manure houses.
Somewhere in here there's a joke about what people who live in glass-manure houses shouldn't do.
Lansing State Journal - July 25, 1973
Los Angeles Times - Aug 23, 1973
The Alexandria Town Talk - July 26, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 22, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, 1970s
Follies of the Madmen #305
Australia offers the rest of the world its giant mushroom phallus.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 20, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Music, Public Indecency, 1970s, Australia
Psychomania
Full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 17, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Horror, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, 1970s, Motorcycles
Sneeze cured deafness
1973: Jean Haynes was almost deaf since birth, but then an allergic reaction triggered a bout of sneezing. Seems that she sneezed quite a bit. But finally, she gave one big sneeze, and suddenly she could hear again.This falls into the recurring weird news theme of accidental cures (such as people who get hit in the head and are cured of blindness).
But I'm also reminded of the cases of people who blew their nose and had an eye fell out.
La Crosse Tribune - Jan 9, 1973
COVENTRY, England (AP) — A 22-year-old worker in an auto factory here says a sneeze has ended a lifetime of almost total silence.
"I can hear, I can hear," Jean Haynes shouted after the loud sneeze.
Miss Haynes has been virtually deaf since birth. Recently, she found she was allergic to the plastic foam used in the plant department where she worked. She started sneezing and couldn't stop — once going for six hours.
Miss Haynes was transferred to another department, but she gave one final sneeze Saturday. Doctors believe the head-jerking sneezes unblocked a tube connecting her middle ear and nose.
There's just one problem. Miss Haynes said she has trouble sleeping. Too much noise.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 13, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: Health, 1970s
Chore your way to fitness
In 1972, Sears, Roebuck & Co. commissioned fitness expert Nicholas Kounovsky to devise exercises that could be done by housewives while vacuuming. He came up with the "Chore Your Way to Fitness" program. He wrote, "Your vacuum cleaner becomes a portable gym, and you can help tone up lazy muscles as you do your routine cleaning chores."It sounds like this program was outlined in a pamphlet of some kind. But unfortunately I haven't been able to find a copy of this pamphlet anywhere.
The general concept reminds me of an earlier post from way back in 2012 — Jayne Mansfield's tips on exercising with a broomstick.
The Vidette Messenger - Dec 11, 1972
The San Mateo Times - Sep 27, 1972
The Joy of Feeling Fit, by Nicholas Kounovsky
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 10, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, 1970s
Liberace Does Aquarius
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 09, 2017 -
Comments (5)
Category: Eccentrics, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, Television, 1960s, 1970s
Have you installed a thermidor in your automobile?
In 1975, the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) conducted a telephone survey about energy conservation and included the question, "Have you installed a thermidor in your automobile?"Five percent of the people who took the survey stated that they had. Therefore, the FEA concluded that 5 percent of the survey takers were lying in their responses, because Thermidor is a month in the French revolutionary calendar.
Though, to be fair, Thermidor does sound like it could be some kind of heating device.
The Minneapolis Star - Sep 11, 1975
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 03, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: 1970s, Cars
The Ingredients of Chanel No. 5
February 1972: There was a popular outcry after Jacques Leal, London Chairman of Chanel Ltd., revealed during an interview that one of the ingredients of Chanel No. 5 perfume was the "sweat of the whipped Abyssinian civet cat."He explained, "We don't usually like to admit, but it's one of those ancient techniques the Chinese invented. They put the cat's head into a sort of torture chamber, whip it, the cat gets mad, and it gives off a glandular secretion."
However, Leal assured the interviewer that the Chanel company itself didn't whip the civet cats. "We just buy the stuff in bottles."
Other Chanel No. 5 ingredients included castoreum from the Canadian beaver, ambergris from the sperm whale of Chile, and musk from the Tibetan deer.
The Provo Daily Herald - July 16, 1972
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 28, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: 1970s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |