Unauthorized Dwellings 21

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 22, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Unauthorized Dwellings, 1970s, Charity

Do Not Disturb Signs For Shoppers

I think this is a great idea.

I'd particularly like to see it in Home Depot which allows salespeople to prowl their aisles, trying to sell you a new kitchen or home makeover as you're searching for a part for your toilet.

Baltimore Sun - Oct 6, 1963

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 21, 2021 - Comments (4)
Category: Shopping, 1960s

The Panasonic Audio Egg

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 21, 2021 - Comments (6)
Category: Domestic, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Inventions, Music, Eggs, 1960s

Hula-Hooping Nuns

I imagine that hula hooping while wearing a habit would add to the challenge.

"Sister Mary Pius gets plenty of encouragement from her sister teachers while giving hula hoop a whirl."

The Daily Oklahoman - Oct 19, 1958

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 20, 2021 - Comments (5)
Category: Fads, Nuns, 1950s

Psychic Delights Cookery

Read it here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 20, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Cookbooks, 1980s

Method of executing a tennis stroke

In 1999, Kevin and George Repper were granted a patent (No. 5,993,336) for a "method of executing a tennis stroke". The method consisted of hitting a tennis ball while kneeling on the right knee — that knee being protected by a kneepad.

This raises two questions. First, how did they possibly obtain a patent for this? And second, why did they bother getting a patent for this? Did they seriously expect other tennis players to license this method from them?

I don't know the answer to the first question, but I have a hypothesis about the second. Some googling reveals that George Repper was a patent attorney while his son, Kevin, was on a high-school tennis team. So my guess is that the patent was some kind of father-son bonding experience, with the father showing his son how to obtain a patent. And it seems like the son is also now a patent attorney.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 19, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Sports, 1990s

Hotel Automat

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 19, 2021 - Comments (4)
Category: Inventions, Technology, Hotels, 1960s

Non-Conformist in Classroom

Dec 1939: To disprove the contention of philosophy professor Albert Shepard that "everyone is a conformist," NYU student Rhoda Shafter showed up to his class in a bathing suit.

I like the bewildered look on the face of Prof. Shepard, lurking in the background of the photo below.

New York Daily News - Dec 21, 1939

Rhoda died in 2012. Read her obituary here.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 18, 2021 - Comments (2)
Category: 1930s, Universities, Colleges, Private Schools and Academia

Hube the Cube, Professional Beatnik

Read of Hube the Cube's unique job in the final paragraphs of the article below.


(Artists Jane Belson & Hubert "Hube the Cube" Leslie)

Newspaper source: Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) 01 Sep 1960, Thu Page 7



A very interesting short memoir by a fellow who hung out with Hube.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 18, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Drugs, Eccentrics, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Cafes, Coffeehouses, Teahouses, and Other Caffeine Culture, 1950s, 1960s

Head-Ticking Scam

Robert Sanders of Loogootee, Indiana would get a job with a railroad, fake an injury, and then claim that, as a result of the injury, he had developed a ticking noise in his head.

Doctors who examined him would confirm that he did, indeed, have a "peculiar ticking" like a "great big alarm clock" coming from inside his head. Sanders would then collect insurance money.

Sanders repeated this scam multiple times, collecting around $28,000 over the course of 12 years, until finally the Union Pacific Railroad charged him with fraud.

He was found guilty and sentenced to Wyoming's state penitentiary.

What I can't figure out is how Sanders managed to produce the ticking noise in his head, because the doctors who examined him seemed to hear something.

Billings Gazette - Feb 12, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 17, 2021 - Comments (6)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Noises and Other Public Disturbances of the Peace, 1950s