Technology
The Electric Clothing of Diana Dew
According to Lobenthal, Dew was an electrical engineer who flaunted a different hair color every day and created a miniature battery pack that attached to the belt of a dress to create blinking hearts and stars. “They’re hyperdelic transsensory experiences,” she said of her garments to Time Magazine in 1967, the same year The New Yorker wrote about her. (If your wired mini breaks down, “Please just take it to the nearest radio-TV repair shop,” Dew said.) Lobenthal writes that Dew’s tiny power source was eventually acquired by the U.S. military.
Her Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 14, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Fashion, Technology, 1960s
Mystery Gadget 107
What's this device for?The answer is here.
Or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 08, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Technology, Twentieth Century
No more queues in grocery stores
We got the computerized food scanners, but we've still got checkout lines. What happened?
North Bay Nugget - May 29, 1974
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 18, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Technology, 1970s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Anti-Bulbsnatcher Device
This post is partially a tribute to the end of the incandescent bulb, after its long and glorious reign.For many years, GE conducted an ad campaign to discourage people from moving lightbulbs around from one fixture to another in a lazy manner, instead of always having a closetful of replacement bulbs. If only GE had invested in the patent which follows these ads, for a device that would not allow a bulb to be unscrewed with breaking it.
Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 22, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Domestic, Inventions, Patents, Technology, 1930s
Miss Juke Box, Revisited
A few months ago, I made a post titled "Miss Juke Box" that involved a song of that name. But now, with more diligent research, I actually find some beauty contest queens under that rubric. Alas, I cannot identify the woman in the first photo.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 15, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Music, Technology, Twentieth Century
Knots For Restraint
Another entry in WU's eternal quest for the most boring documentary/instructional video ever.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 13, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Boredom, PSA’s, Technology, Twentieth Century
What will the telephone be like when I grow up?
Perhaps some day in the future you may just speak the number into the transmitter and get your party automatically.
The introduction of universal direct dialing was a pretty safe guess in 1953, since direct dialing had, by then, already been introduced in some places.
It's more impressive that the ad writers also successfully predicted the introduction of voice recognition technology.
Life - May 18, 1953
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 11, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Technology, Telephones, 1950s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Mystery Gadget 106
What are these objects? What are they used for? HINT: something playful.The answer is here.
Or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 21, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Technology
The 3-D Film Archive
The whole brief fad of 3-D movies was a very weird moment in cinematic history. Luckily for us, there's a man and a site that works to preserve and sell such films. Make a visit to THE 3-D FILM ARCHIVE. Lots of fascinating history there.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 01, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Fads, Movies, Technology, 1950s
Miss Juke Box
Although not an actual contest or beauty queen title--instead, it was a motif in a song--the notion of a Queen of the Juke Boxes was illustrated to perfection, including props and record-based body language, by properly costumed Margot Hielscher.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 31, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Music, Technology, 1950s, Europe
| 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 |