Weird Universe Blog — January 29, 2025
Perfume from fatbergs
In the future, perfumes will be made from fatbergs. Text from BBC.com:Fatbergs are accumulated lumps of fat from cooking oils, toilet and other food waste that people put down their drains. Prof Wallace gets his from a company that specialises in fishing them out of sewers and turning them into biofuels. They arrive at the lab in a tube.
The first step is to sterilise the material in a steamer. Prof Wallace then adds the specially modified bacteria to the remnants of the fatberg. The bacteria have a short section of DNA inserted, to give the bacteria their particular properties.
The fatberg gradually disappears, as the bacteria eat it, producing the chemical with the pine-like smell - this can be used as an ingredient in perfumes.
Will fatbergs be listed on the ingredients?
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 29, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents
Two-Way Records
What could this image possible convey? Using two styli at the same time on the same record? No, that was only fanciful and metaphorical.Let's let this website explain:
When stereo was introduced, Design tried to claim that their records were compatible mono/stereo, and could be played on either mono or stereo players. The public soon found out that mono players would damage these records just as easily as other stereo records, so after reissuing or simultaneously issuing about 50 of their albums on a new series (the DCF-1000 Series), they abandoned the compatible stereo series in favor of the normal mono and stereo issues. The good part was, that for folks with stereo players, these records worked fine and were in true stereo, as far as we have heard. The bad side is that by the time the series was winding down, about 1960, the quality of the vinyl had deteriorated to the extent that right out of the wrapper the records were noisy.
So: another technology too good to be true, for which early adopters paid the price.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 29, 2025 -
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Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams | Inventions | Music | Technology | Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings | 1950s | 1960s
January 28, 2025
Eterna-Crib
A Polystyrene casket for "still borns, fetals, and prematures" made by Filaform Co.I think it was sold from the 1960s until around the 1990s.
The ad below appeared in the trade journal American Funeral Director, but I'm not sure when. I found it reproduced in a Czech-language booklet, Funebracka Romance (Funeral Romance), by Radovan Kratky.
image source: eBay
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 28, 2025 -
Comments (6)
Category: Babies | Death
Tightrope Wedding in France
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 28, 2025 -
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Category: Human Marvels | Weddings and Marriage | 1950s | Europe
January 27, 2025
Queen of National Wallet Week
Cindy Heller, shown below, later became a well-known gossip columnist for the New York Post. She's better known by her married name, Cindy Adams. Her wikipedia page doesn't mention that she was Wallet Week Queen.
Macon News - Nov 9, 1949
Glasgow Evening Journal - Nov 7, 1949
Life - Nov 14, 1949
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 27, 2025 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Money | 1940s
Levitating Necktie
Any gimmick with a string leading into one's pants is a winner!Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 27, 2025 -
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Category: Fashion | Inventions | Patents | 1940s | Jokes | Pranks
January 26, 2025
Control your mobile phone with your feet
Researchers are developing a way to input commands on your phone as you walk by altering your stride, or moving your feet in various ways. They call these "gait gestures."So if you see someone walking funny, perhaps they're just sending a text.
More info: "Gait Gestures: Examining Stride and Foot Strike Variation as an Input Method While Walking"; Waterloo News
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 26, 2025 -
Comments (6)
Category: Technology | Telephones | Feet
Music From Mathematics
The first track is embedded here. The rest of the playlist is at the link.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 26, 2025 -
Comments (4)
Category: Music | Computers | 1960s
January 25, 2025
Pubic Display Type
The skincare company Kiehl's recently launched "a bold new campaign introducing Pubic Display Type. This first-of-its-kind font, crafted entirely from actual human pubic hair."They released three sample ads written in the new font. But they haven't released a full set of characters. So they can't really claim to have introduced a new font. Based on what I can see, they're missing: F J K Q X Y Z.
More info: prnewswire.com
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 25, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising | Hair and Hairstyling
Revolving Birth Table
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 25, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Babies | Inventions | Stupid and/or Dangerous Products | Danger, Risk, and Peril | Pregnancy
