Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues
Mechanical Hair-Brusher
I came across this description of a mechanical hair-brush published in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Nov. 23, 1863. It operated by means of "an endless band of vulcanised india-rubber... that descends to within about a foot of your head and is made to revolve by machinery." Here's a description of it in action:Evidently mechanical hair-brushes never caught on, because the only picture of one I could find was this:
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 20, 2012 -
Comments (18)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Inventions, Hair Styling
Sexy Russian Popstars
More info here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 10, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Elderly and Seniors, Ethnic Groupings, Europe, Russia
Where Women Look Best
This Clairol ad claimed that "The average American woman looks her best in the bathroom." Which suggests the ad-men must have spent a lot of time spying on women in bathrooms to find this out.(via Kitchen Retro)
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 09, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Advertising
Some Unusual Beauty Pageants
- Miss Cicciona: open only to women who weigh more than 220 pounds.
- Miss Beautiful Morals: Held in Saudi Arabia. All contestants are completely covered by black robes and veils.
- Miss Penitentiary: For beauties behind bars.
- Miss Landmine Survivor: You have to pay a pretty steep price to be eligible to enter.
- Miss UFO: Sometime in the 1950s. Exact date unknown. Winner pictured below.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 31, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues
Creepy-Ass Dolls
This new book definitely ties in to a thread on WU!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 13, 2011 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Horror, Toys, Books
Official Boy Scout Lip Rouge?
Click to enlarge.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 27, 2011 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Cosmetics, 1940s
Winky Doll
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 03, 2011 -
Comments (5)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Stereotypes and Cliches, Toys, 1960s, Asia
Weird Science – Watch and Learn
Outside it is not much to look at, little more than a discoloured rock dredged up from the sea floor. But an x-ray scan of the object, actually a pocket watch recovered from a 17th century shipwreck, has revealed that the internal mechanism has been perfectly preserved. The computer aided tomography system used was sensitive enough to pick out the tiniest details, included the engraved name of the master watchmaker, one Niccholas Higginson of Westminster, London (Gizmodo).
As if more proof were needed that they don’t build them like they used to, a UK group has started collecting donations to build the first fully working version of Babbage’s “Analytical Engine”. The original design, dating from 1837, was never completed, possibly due to a combination of the strict engineering tolerances needed and Babbage’s notoriously prickly temperament. If the final machine works as advertised, it will be very strong confirmation of the claim that Babbage designed the first general purpose, programmable computer (BBC News).
Meanwhile, in Slovenia, Borut Povse and his team are busy teaching a modern descendant of Babbage’s design to hit people. Somehow Povse has convinced six volunteers to let an industrial robot hit them on the arm with various sharp or blunt implements in an effort to determine how much pain each blow causes. Obviously this has a beneficial use in that robots can be programmed not to exceed certain levels of force near a human obstacle, but will also be of immense interest to the machines during any future robot uprising (New Scientist).
Another robot out to supplant humans is HRP-4, a gynoid (female android), that has learnt to sing by copying the inflection and expressions of a human performer, right down to the breathing. The hope is to make robots behave in a more convincingly natural way, and so overcome the so called ‘uncanny valley’. From the video, it looks like they’ve still got a way to go (Daily Mail).
More in extended >>
Posted By: Dumbfounded - Fri Oct 22, 2010 -
Comments (5)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Charities and Philanthropy, Futurism, History, Archaeology, Injuries, NGOs, Robots, Science, Technology
What’s The Loss Of Your Hair Worth?
Posted By: Nethie - Thu Oct 07, 2010 -
Comments (5)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Body, Eccentrics, Sports, Hair Styling
Chatanooga Hookers Meet Rival Team!
See article and larger photos here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jul 23, 2010 -
Comments (25)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Regionalism
| 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 |