Weird Universe Blog — July 26, 2024

Foot-powered helicopter

I assume that the prize referenced in the clipping was the Kremer Prize, established in 1959 and eventually won in 1977.

Santa Ana Register - July 29, 1964



Details from Wikipedia:

The Royal Aeronautical Society's "Man Powered Aircraft Group" was formed in 1959 by the members of the Man Powered Group of the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield when they were invited to join the Society. Its title was changed from "Man" to "Human" in 1988 because of the many successful flights made by female pilots.

Under the auspices of the Society, in 1959 the industrialist Henry Kremer offered the first Kremer prizes, of £5,000 for the first human-powered aircraft to fly a figure-of-eight course round two markers half-a-mile apart. It was conditional that the designer, entrant pilot, place of construction and flight must all be British. In 1973 Kremer increased the prize to £50,000 and opened it to all nationalities, to stimulate interest.

The first Kremer prize of £50,000 was won on 23 August 1977 by Dr. Paul MacCready when his Gossamer Condor, piloted by Bryan Allen, was the first human-powered aircraft to fly a figure eight around two markers one half mile apart, starting and ending the course at least 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 26, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Inventions | Air Travel and Airlines | 1960s

Butt Irrigator

Complete patent here.





Posted By: Paul - Fri Jul 26, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Body | Diseases | Domestic | Hygiene | Inventions | Patents | 1960s

July 25, 2024

Are you a Danger-Mother?

Danger Mother would be a good name for a band, if there wasn't already a band named Wolfmother.

Life - Mar 29, 1948

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 25, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising | Parents | 1940s

July 24, 2024

Terraforming Venus

If humans are ever going to colonize another planet in the Solar System, the obvious choice would be Mars. But a vocal minority has long made the case for Venus. They argue that Venus has one huge advantage over Mars — it has almost the same gravity as Earth.

However, there's the problem of its scalding-hot temperature. Back in the early 1980s, French scientist Christian Marchal proposed a way to cool Venus by creating a giant cloud of dust between it and the sun.

Idaho Statesman - Oct 3, 1982



source: Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments (1995), by Martyn Fogg



Cooling Venus in this way might be doable, but critics have noted that, even if you succeeded in cooling it, Venus has no water, and you need water to get rid of the carbon in its atmosphere.

Marchal's supporters have subsequently expanded his idea by proposing that we could first hydrate Venus by bombarding it with hundreds of icy asteroids. Of course, doing this would significantly increase the difficulty and cost of the whole terraforming project.

Basically, none of us will ever live to see any of this happen.

More info: Marchal, "The Venus-new-world project," in Acta Astronautica, May–June 1983; "The Terraforming of Venus," by Martyn Fogg.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 24, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Science | Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy

Dr. Robert Lopez Infects Himself with Cat Ear Mites

Yesterday, Alex regaled us with the report of a fellow who swallowed a giraffe liver parasite in the pursuit of knowledge.

Well, here's another scientist who wanted to learn what cats went through with an ear mite infestation, choosing to insert them into his own ears.

There's a tremendous long piece about him here, even including a video!

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 24, 2024 - Comments (4)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Hobbies and DIY | Insects and Spiders | Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains | Science | Cats | 1990s

July 23, 2024

Swallowed giraffe liver parasite

1928: Emmett Price of the US Bureau of Animal Husbandry swallowed the larvae of an unknown parasite he found in the liver of a dead giraffe. His boss explained that it was considered tradition within the parasitology section of the Bureau to self-experiment in this way.

Buffalo News - July 11, 1928



Indianapolis Star - July 2, 1928

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 23, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Science | Experiments | 1920s

July 22, 2024

The Chester Ice Chunk

Sep 8, 1957: A 100-pound chunk of ice fell from the sky onto an empty building in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Strange falls of ice from the sky have long fascinated the Fortean crowd. See, for example, "The Ice-Fall Problem" by meteorologist (and UFO enthusiast) James E. McDonald:

It is a rather curious and apparently unexplained fact that from time to time in recent years masses of ice of the order of several tens of pounds have fallen out of the sky. This is the ice-fall problem.

Also, "Ice Falls" by Frank Edwards in Strangest of All (1962).

Shamokin News-Dispatch - Sep 9, 1957



The Ada Weekly News - July 1, 1971

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 22, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: 1950s | Weather

Follies of the Madmen #601

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 22, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Food | Stereotypes and Cliches | Advertising | Children | 1950s | Native Americans

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