1940s
How much heat can the body withstand?
In 1948 Dr. Craig Taylor at the University of California at Los Angeles created a heat chamber to determine the human tolerance for extreme heat. He experimented on himself. In the picture (from the Life archive) you can see him sitting in his hotbox, heated to a pleasant 220° fahrenheit. The egg on the metal pan in front of him was frying. The highest temperature he ever endured was 262°.There was a practical point to this. He was trying to determine the maximum heat a fighter pilot could withstand, should the refrigeration system in their plane fail.
For more info about Dr. Taylor's heat experiments, check out the old article from Popular Science posted on the Modern Mechanix blog.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 02, 2008 -
Comments (15)
Category: Science, Experiments, 1940s
Follies of the Mad Men #47
You know what your problem is? Not enough yeast. I suggest increasing your beer intake.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 21, 2008 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Health, 1940s
Follies of the Mad Men #45
What kind of kids would a shellfish and a bottle have, and how would they go about reproducing?
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 19, 2008 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Inebriation and Intoxicants, Foreign Customs, 1940s
Ghost Riders in the Sky
I don't think we heard enough of Vaughan Monroe's big hit in yesterday's Forest Service post, so here's the whole thing.We know here at WU that mortal cows are deadly--so just imagine how evil a ghost cow is!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 19, 2008 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Music, Paranormal, Regionalism, 1940s
Follies of the Mad Men #44
Either a 20th-century man's shoe has been transported through time back to pre-Columbian America, confounding the primitive redksins, or else some 20th-century Native Americans on some especially traditional and cloistered reservation somewhere are incredibly ignorant.
Or, some Madison Avenue genius thought this was brilliant.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 17, 2008 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Shoes, Anthropology, 1940s, Time-travel, Native Americans
What Is Money?
How I wish I knew!
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 15, 2008 -
Comments (1)
Category: Money, Documentaries, 1940s
Live and Let Live
Continuing our series of weird auto-safety films, we now examine one told completely through the medium of toys. This looks like it was a lot of fun for the creators to make.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 23, 2008 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Education, Toys, Documentaries, 1940s, Cars
Follies of the Mad Men #38
Exactly how does one distinguish a male from a female dancing cigarette? I suspect this of being subliminal homosexual propaganda, since all the dancers look identical to me!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 14, 2008 -
Comments (7)
Category: Business, Advertising, Tobacco and Smoking, 1940s, LGBT, Dance
Joan Avoids A Cold
As the weather becomes colder, let us all pay heed to our health, so that we may all stay well to attend the "Dutch Festival" of our choice.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 06, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Education, Family, Children, Parents, Hygiene, Body Fluids, Parades and Festivals, Self-help Schemes, 1940s
Aristocrats of Fashion
Do you have enough Bemberg rayon clothes in your wardrobe? If not, watch this!(But be warned! Only a partial video remains to us down the ages. You'll never get to see the implied all-rayon wedding.)
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 30, 2008 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, 1930s, 1940s
| Who We Are |
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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 |