Category:
Nature
Nature
Payment in Clams
When the nation's banks closed during the Depression, Leiter's Pharmacy in Pismo Beach, California, issued this clamshell as change.
The 1929 stock market crash triggered banking panics, as people rushed to withdraw their savings before they were lost. In March 1933, President Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday to prevent further withdrawals. To compensate for the currency shortage, communities created emergency money, or scrip. This clamshell was signed as it changed hands and redeemed when cash became available again.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 16, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Money, Nature, 1930s
Plant-Based Instrument
The plant based instrument is a modular synthesizer that is placed in nature, and that plays the rhythm of the patterns from it’s environment. All music and visuals are generated by microscopes and sensors, placed on the plants and their surroundings. The leaf structures and growth patterns function as a sequencer for the synthesizer. The natural occurring patterns that happen all around us, like the wind patterns, landscapes, sun position and colour, are observed, captured and re-arranged to create a sound.
More info: Stan Smeets
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 23, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Nature
Miss Orchid Bathing Suit
I wish I knew the real title and other details of this beauty queen. But I think, just based on the costume, we can include her in our pageant of Weird Beauty Contest Winners.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 27, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Nature, Twentieth Century
Peat Moss Diapers
A manual on infant care, released by the U.S. Department of Labor in 1914, recommended peat moss (aka sphagnum moss) for use in diapers:From the Karitane Harris Hospital, in Dunedin, New Zealand, we learn of the use of sphagnum moss for these absorbent pads. The moss is that which florists use for packing plants and grows very extensively in the swamp regions of the United States, but it needs to be thoroughly dried and cleaned of sticks and stems before being used for this purpose.
Such a pad (i.e., a pad of sphagnum moss inclosed in cheesecloth) weighing only an ounce will completely absorb and retain a quarter of a pint of urine—say as much as would be passed in the night. This is infinitely cleaner and healthier than allowing the urine to spread over a wide area of napkin and nightdress, and thus cause extensive chillding and more or less irritation of the skin. Dry sphagnum forms an extremely light, clean, airy, elastic pad, which will yield in any direction and accommodate its shape to the parts.
Those living in the country where this moss grows may find it a great convenience to pick and dry the moss for this or other domestic purposes.
Such a pad (i.e., a pad of sphagnum moss inclosed in cheesecloth) weighing only an ounce will completely absorb and retain a quarter of a pint of urine—say as much as would be passed in the night. This is infinitely cleaner and healthier than allowing the urine to spread over a wide area of napkin and nightdress, and thus cause extensive chillding and more or less irritation of the skin. Dry sphagnum forms an extremely light, clean, airy, elastic pad, which will yield in any direction and accommodate its shape to the parts.
Those living in the country where this moss grows may find it a great convenience to pick and dry the moss for this or other domestic purposes.
peat moss
Some googling reveals that Native American tribes, way back when, would often use peat moss for diapers.
And at the Earthling's Handbook you'll find an account by a modern-day couple who used peat moss for diapers and reported positive results:
it was so convenient. When it was time for a diaper change, we would simply remove the moss, and if we were home, we would compost it under a fruit tree. If we were on the trail hiking, we would simply tuck the soiled moss into the topsoil and cover it with leaves or other forest duff. On car trips, we would pull off the highway and bury it. (Once we even discreetly slipped a wad of our nitrogen-enriched sphagnum deep into the mulch under landscape shrubbery outside a shopping mall.)
Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 26, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Babies, Nature
Stramonium Cigarettes: Smoking to Relieve Asthma
Long professional article on their history here.The relevant info at Wikipedia.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 01, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Nature, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Diseases
Forest Mensuration
Besides sounding slightly naughty, "Forest Mensuration" proves epically boring.
"Trees get skinnier from bottom to top" is one thing you will learn.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 26, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Boredom, Nature
The Language and Poetry of Flowers
Once upon a time, each flower held a very specific symbolical meaning. You can read about them in this book.So be very careful next time you commission a bouquet for someone. You wouldn't want to include any white roses still in bud, lest you seem "ignorant of love."
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 25, 2021 -
Comments (5)
Category: Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Nature, Books, Nineteenth Century, Love & Romance
Elysia: Valley of the Nudes
Warning! Nudists at play!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 08, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Body, Movies, Exploitation and Grindhouse, Nature, 1930s
Adventures of a 120-Sided Die
Posted By: Paul - Sun May 23, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Games, Nature
Animating Plants
Many people talk to their plants, but the plants don't talk back. However, a new invention allows the plants not to talk back, but at least to communicate, by moving. For instance, you could ask a plant if it needed to be watered, and the plant would shake up and down to indicate 'yes'.From the patent granted to Richard J. Maddocks et al:
The present invention can provide a method and a system for the human interaction with plants. The present invention can also provide a method and a mechanism to animate by physically moving the plant in response to human voice or touch input. Additionally, the present invention can provide a commercially practicable method for humans or machines to assign personalities that will govern the plant's behavior.
The invention can provide an opportunity for retailers, distributors or gift givers to customize the behavior and content of the plant's behavior.
The present invention can provide a technique for the plant through its behavior to communicate its physiological needs for irrigation, light, fertilizer etc.
The invention can provide an opportunity for retailers, distributors or gift givers to customize the behavior and content of the plant's behavior.
The present invention can provide a technique for the plant through its behavior to communicate its physiological needs for irrigation, light, fertilizer etc.
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 09, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Communications, Inventions, Patents, Nature, Technology
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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 |