Category:
1970s
1970s
Birdwhistell’s Smile Map of America
According to a 1972 AP article, anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell "has been studying smiles across the nation for about 10 years and has compiled a 'smile map' of the United States, showing that smiles are broadest in the South and Midwest, with Tuetonic sobriety prevailing in the Great Lakes region."
La Crosse Tribune - Aug 17, 1972
Birdwhistell's book referenced in the article (Kinesics and Context) is available on archive.com. I checked it out, but unfortunately didn't find a literal smile map. Instead, some broad description of the different meanings of smiles throughout the United States:
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 14, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Anthropology, 1970s, Face and Facial Expressions
Glass Houses
Some real far-out, bad trip, weird scene, jive-talking, heavy raps in this anti-drug PSA.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 10, 2025 -
Comments (0)
Category: Drugs, PSA’s, 1970s
Dies for Science
I suppose it would have been worse if they didn't accept his body.
Waterloo Region Record - Feb 2, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 06, 2025 -
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Category: Science, Suicide, 1970s
Yoga for Rats
In the 1970s, Dr. K.N. Udupa studied the health effects of yoga on rats. Since rats couldn't be persuaded to adopt yoga poses voluntarily, he kept them upside in glass tubes for one hour daily — simulating the sirasana, or head-stand pose.Ignoring objections from traditionalists, Dr. Udupa has even initiated tests on rats that are made to simulate a yoga posture. Half a dozen field rats are doing one to two hours a day of sirasana or standing on the head, in openend glass tubes. Wires attached to their tails measure their pulse rate, blood pressure and other metabolic changes.
Stress induced in rats by electric pulses made them irritable and quarrelsome, but after an hour of sirasana they became tranquil and appeared to be contented, Dr. Udupa said.
Stress induced in rats by electric pulses made them irritable and quarrelsome, but after an hour of sirasana they became tranquil and appeared to be contented, Dr. Udupa said.
Bennington Banner - Dec 1, 1975Click to enlarge
source: Stress and its Management by Yoga (1978), by K.N. Udupa
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 03, 2025 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Exercise and Fitness, Experiments, 1970s
In The Grass
A gallery bio of Jerzy Kalina, the creator.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 02, 2025 -
Comments (0)
Category: Surrealism, Cartoons, 1970s
A typewriter for people who don’t know how to read
In its Apr 20, 1972 issue, New Scientist magazine drew attention to Mildred Olsen's unusual invention (Patent No. 3,501,849):The Olsen invention is intended to help illiterates learn typing. (Why we need illiterate typists the patent doesn't explain.) It divides the keys of a typewriter keyboard into eight sectors, each including several individual keys. Each sector has a different colour. The would-be typist wears coloured rings on her fingers and watches a visual indicator, which shows a colour either with or without an arrow. Where there is no arrow, the typist presses her finger with the associated colour directly downwards. Where there is an arrow, the typist first moves the correct colour finger up, down or along one key in the direction of the arrow.
I think New Scientist was being overly harsh. In the patent itself, Olsen explained that she believed her invention could help students learn to read, as they simultaneously grew familiar with using a typewriter. I can't find any more info about her invention, but I'd be curious to know how students responded to it.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 15, 2025 -
Comments (1)
Category: Technology, Patents, 1970s
Judge Noel Cannon, the “Miniskirt Judge”
Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Noel Cannon gained national fame due to her flamboyant fashion style and eccentric habits. She liked to wear babydoll dresses and miniskirts. So she became known as the "miniskirt judge."
Her eccentric habits included decorating her judicial chambers entirely in pink, holding her pet chihuahua on her lap during cases, and keeping a mechanical canary in her chambers whose chirping could be heard during court proceedings.
She reached the peak of her fame in 1967 thanks to a widely published picture of her brandishing a pearl-handled Derringer revolver. She was demonstrating to the press how she would defend herself if attacked.
Her downfall started in 1972 when a police officer pulled up beside her while she was driving and told her she was using her horn excessively. She was, and he was right to tell her so, but he didn't know she was a judge. She cursed him out, drove off, and later ordered him into her court and threatened that if he ever crossed her again she would give him "a .38 caliber vasectomy."
By 1975, the California Supreme Court had removed her from the bench. The incident with the police officer wasn't the only reason. She was also accused of "abusing her contempt power, interfering with the attorney-client relationship by arbitrarily appointing new counsel, interfering with bail and bench warrants, setting unreasonable bail amounts, intimidating defense attorneys, abusing the prerogatives of her high office, engaging in curt and rude conduct, [and] engaging in 'bizarre' behavior."
She subsequently disappeared from public life and died in 1998.
For more details, the Los Angeles Public Library has a two-part article that tracks her rise and fall: "Loose Cannon: Reassessing Los Angeles Municipal Judge Noel Cannon" Part 1, Part 2
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 10, 2025 -
Comments (4)
Category: Law, Judges, 1960s, 1970s
Stalking the Wild Cranberry
After years of FOLLIES OF THE MAD MEN, it's time to look behind the scenes of the advertising game. Enjoy the fashions of this era!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 05, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, Documentaries, 1970s
Webster Lewis & The Post Pop Space Rock Be Bop Gospel Tabernacle Chorus and Orchestra
Good name, but their music sounds a bit like muzak to me.More info: Webster Lewis (wikipedia)
Springfield Morning Union - June 2, 1975
Winston-Salem Sentinel - June 18, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 02, 2025 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Space-age Bachelor Pad & Exotic, 1970s
Drop Kick Me Jesus
A 1976 Grammy nominee for best country song.Phil Dirxc, a columnist for The San Luis Obispo Tribune, argued that it would be more accurate if the song were titled "Place kick me Jesus" since drop kicks are rarely used in American football.
More info: Stereo Stories
Goleta Sun - Sep 9, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 24, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Music, Religion, Sports, 1970s
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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 |