August 2018
August 27, 2018
Million Dollar Legs Contest
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 27, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1960s, Women
August 26, 2018
Designer Duct Tape
Another item for our ongoing collection of ridiculously overpriced merchandise. It's duct tape from designer Raf Simons with the phrase "Walk With Me" stamped on it. Yours for only $286.Or you could buy a roll of duct tape at Home Depot for $5.
Raf Simons also sells jeans with a "duct tape detail at back." They usually go for $504.08, but right now they're on sale for only $252.04.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 26, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Fashion, Overpriced Merchandise
TV Panties
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 26, 2018 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Underwear, 1940s
August 25, 2018
Vital Power Vacuum Massager
A questionable medical device widely advertised in the early twentieth century.The article "Two Millennia of Impotence Cures" details some similar "equally flawed" devices including "the Erector-Sleigh, Gassensche Spirale, Gerson’s Constriction Bandage, and Virility, a double cylinder connected to a bellows to produce a vacuum."
If the Vital Power Vacuum Massager cost $15 in 1921, that would be around $500 today.
Jackson Daily News - Oct 30, 1921
via National Library of Medicine
Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 25, 2018 -
Comments (6)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1920s
The Seamaster Airplane
A jet that takes off and lands from water? Filled with nuclear bombs? What could go wrong?Wikipedia page.
Source of foto.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 25, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Technology, War, Weapons, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s
August 24, 2018
Non-melting popsicle
Recently announced by the U.K. design firm Bompas & Parr, who say that it took them a year to develop and that it was "designed with global warming in mind," so thatThe technology is based on pykrete, which is a frozen mixture of sawdust and water that resists melting. Pykrete was invented during WWII, and for a while the British Royal Navy was considering building a supersized aircraft carrier out of the stuff.
The non-melting popsicle uses edible fruit fibers instead of sawdust to achieve the same non-melting effect. A company rep said, "The texture of the ice lolly is not far off a regular lolly, though a tad chewy."
More info: fast company
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 24, 2018 -
Comments (7)
Category: Food, Candy, Inventions
Follies of the Madmen #380
Original ad from Radio Mirror for September 1937.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 24, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Hygiene, 1930s
August 23, 2018
Fungi sneakers
I recently posted about sneakers made from chewing gum. Here are some made from fungi. I wonder what other materials sneakers could possibly be crafted from?The fungi sneakers are made by nat-2, which describes itself as "german engineered high-end footwear." From their website:
They seem to be currently sold out. But when they were available, they cost €899, or around $1043.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 23, 2018 -
Comments (6)
Category: Shoes
The Punt Gun
Wikipedia page.
Longer article.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 23, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Guns, Nineteenth Century
August 22, 2018
Life preserver suitcase
Just imagine if everyone on the Titanic had had one of these! (I'm guessing it must have been inspired by that disaster).
The Kiowa Journal - Oct 7, 1915
Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 22, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Boats, Inventions, Travel, 1910s
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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 books such as Elephants on Acid. 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. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
