Atomic Bomb food tastes off

May 1955: Food tasters sampled a meal of French fries, vegetables, strawberries, chicken pot pie, cod fish fillets, and orange juice taken from a freezer buried 1,270 feet from an atomic bomb blast. While all the food was deemed edible, they said the orange juice and pie were noticeably "off flavor."

It's unclear why the food tasted off. Radiation shouldn't have changed the taste of the food. It was probably because they were told where it was from and their expectations led them to believe it tasted different. The researchers should have conducted a blind taste test.

Tampa Bay Times - May 11, 1955

Reno Gazette-Journal - May 12, 1955

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 26, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Food | Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | 1950s

Two by Steve Cutts

The creator's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 26, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Anthropomorphism | Business | Shopping | Cartoons | Satire

Sir John Waller looks for a wife

The good news for Sir John Waller (1917-1995) was that he inherited a fortune. The bad news was that in order to inherit the full amount (rather than just the annual interest payments) he had to marry and have a son.

This presented a problem since he was homosexual and had no interest in marrying a woman. Nevertheless, he undertook to satisfy the requirements to obtain his inheritance.

In 1964 he proposed to singer Brigitte Bond soon after meeting her. But he subsequently discovered that she was transsexual and couldn't bear him a child. The engagement was called off two months later.

In 1974 he married Anne Eileen Mileham, and she soon got pregnant — but gave birth to a daughter. That didn't satisfy the inheritance requirements, so again, he promptly divorced her. The scuttlebutt is that he wasn't actually the father of the child anyway.

He died without ever having inherited the money.

More info: wikipedia

London Daily Express - Feb 23, 1995

In the video biography of Brigitte Bond below, there's some discussion (beginning at 11 minutes) of her brief engagement to Waller. Besides her association with Waller, Bond is famous for being the inspiration for the Beat Girl logo used by the ska band the Beat.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 25, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Inheritance and Wills | Divorce | Marriage

Follies of the Madmen #612

Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 25, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising | 1970s | Cars

Four-Sleeved Jacket

The "Four-Sleeve Asymmetric Houndstooth Jacket" by designer Comme des Garçons will set you back $2,190. But it's got four sleeves. So that's only a little over $500 per sleeve.

Available from Nordstrom.com.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 24, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion

Singers & Swingers in the Kitchen

For a sampling of the recipes and pix, visit here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 24, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Celebrities | Food | Cookbooks | Music | 1960s

Jobs for your child

These seem like tough jobs for children.

Life - mar 7, 1960

Life - sep 7, 1962

Life - Aug 8, 1960

Life - Aug 31, 1959

Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 23, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Jobs and Occupations | Advertising | Children | 1960s

Smog Helmet

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 23, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions | 1950s | United Kingdom

Atomic Bomb Ring

Back in 1947, kids could get an "atomic bomb ring" by sending in a boxtop of Kix cereal plus 15 cents. The ring allowed them to observe flashes of light caused by polonium alpha particles striking a zinc sulfide screen. Although one had to be in a fully dark room, with dark-adapted eyes, to see the effect. That's actually a pretty cool toy for a cereal promotion.

I think the ring may have been similar in principle to the cheap geigerscopes that used to be sold to let people search for uranium in their backyards (see previous post).

San Francisco Examiner - Feb 9, 1947
Click to enlarge

image source: orau.org

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 22, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Toys | Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | 1940s

The Educational Value of Comics

Nowadays we've all heard of people who practice on a flight simulator game, then manage successfully to steal a plane. But these two lads deserve extra credit, since they had to learn from the printed page!

Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 22, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Crime | Comics | Juvenile Delinquency | Air Travel and Airlines | 1940s