June 2023
June 30, 2023
Miss Future Secretary
From what I can gather, the 'Miss Future Secretary' contest was launched in 1954 by the National Secretaries Association. Though I don't believe it was a national contest. Local chapters of the NSA selected winners from high schools.Miss Future Secretaries continued to be chosen for three decades, until the early 1980s, when being labeled a "future secretary" had come to sound more like an insult than a positive career aspiration.
Wikipedia notes that the National Secretaries Association changed its name in 1982 to Professional Secretaries International, and in 1998 changed it again to the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
Fresno Bee - Apr 21, 1957
Fresno Bee - Apr 24, 1959
Fort Lauderdale News Sun - Apr 25, 1965
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 30, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Jobs and Occupations
Miss America 1886 (Contest of 1936)
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 30, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Elderly and Seniors, 1930s, Nineteenth Century
June 29, 2023
Kevin aftershave
Perhaps the Minions have ruined the name Kevin for me, but it sounds to me like an odd name for an aftershave.I'm assuming that the price ($2.700,00) is not in American dollars.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 29, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents
The New Domestic Landscape
Fifty years ago, a group of designers, showcased at MOMA, tried to predict the way we'd live.As usual with these efforts, there were more misses than hits.
More pix here and here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 29, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Domestic, Museums, 1970s, Europe, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
June 28, 2023
Name That List, #69
What is this a list of? The answer is below in extended.- Forty-Three Gallons of Whiskey
- Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola
- One Book Called Ulysses
- One Package of Japanese Pessaries
- 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness
- One Solid Gold Object in Form of a Rooster
- 12 200-ft. Reels of Film
- Article Consisting of 50,000 Cardboard Boxes More or Less, Each Containing One Pair of Clacker Balls
- One Lucite Ball Containing Lunar Material (One Moon Rock) and One Ten Inch by Fourteen Inch Wooden Plaque
More in extended >>
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 28, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Name That List
The Aerowagon
The Wikipedia page.The Aerowagon or Aeromotowagon (Russian: Аэроваго́н, аэродрези́на, romanized: aerovagon, aerodrezyna) was an experimental high-speed railcar fitted with an aircraft engine and propeller traction invented by Valerian Abakovsky, a Soviet engineer from Latvia. It produced speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour (87 miles per hour).[1] The Aerowagon was originally intended for the express transportation of important documents, and to carry Soviet officials on government business.[2]
Good article and more pics here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 28, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Inventions, Motor Vehicles, 1910s, Russia
June 27, 2023
Struck by falling dog
I posted a few days ago about a woman who was struck by a sheep that fell off a bridge. Here's a similar (but fatal) case of a motorcyclist hit by a dog that fell off a bridge.So, while I knew that people being hit by falling humans is a recurring phenomenon, evidently so is people being hit by falling animals.
Rapid City Journal - July 18, 1993
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 27, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Accidents, Death, Dogs, 1990s
Follies of the Madmen #569
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 27, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Advertising, Cereal, Cartoons, 1970s
June 26, 2023
Immorality of artificial legs
Mrs. J.D. Grudger is the perfect name for a bluenose.
Wichita Daily Times - Dec 9, 1928
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 26, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1920s
Snake As Tourniquet
I find only three instances of this useful and innovative technique in all my searching. But surely there must be more...?
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 26, 2023 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death, Hobbies and DIY, Medicine, Reptiles, Snakes, Worms and Other Slithery Things, 1950s, 1990s
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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 |
