October 2024
October 7, 2024
Irradiated Milk
This product was not subject to atomic radiation, but rather a different process. In the 1930s, to fight rickets, scientists sought to increase the Vitamin D content in milk through the application of ultraviolet rays.However, as this account relates:
Making matters worse, while experiments showed milk to be an ideal source for getting vitamin D into the diets of American children, prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light tended to give fluid milk a foul odor and an off-putting taste. On top of that, any excess heat had the counterproductive effect of destroying the milk’s vitamin A.
But finally, science found a way!
But, of course, for both political and nutritional reasons, finding a way to deliver vitamin D dairy products remained the ultimate prize. After years of testing, Steenbock, Scott and their collaborators finally determined a three-part scheme for fortifying milk. First, dairy cows could be fed with irradiated feed to produce higher levels of vitamin D. Second, industrial machines constructed by companies like Creamery Package Manufacturing and Hanovia Chemical allowed large-scale irradiation of fluids while minimizing the negative effects on taste and smell.12 Third, irradiated ergosterol could be mixed into the final product as a tasteless additive.13
Read the manufacturer's pamphlet here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 07, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Food, Science, Children, 1930s, Diseases
October 6, 2024
Circular Runways
Navy pilot James R. Conley is credited with first promoting (and patenting) the idea of a circular runway.A circular runway would offer advantages such as being able to approach it from any direction, so a plane could always land into the wind. Also, you'd never run out of runway.
But a circular runway has never been built, largely because pilots aren't trained to land on them. Nor are flight systems designed for them.
But a small group of enthusiasts still holds out hope that, someday, circular runways might see their day.
More info: wikipedia, Wired (May 5, 2017)
Long Beach Independent - Dec 5, 1965
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 06, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Patents, Air Travel and Airlines
Mystery Gadget 113
The purpose of this contraption? The answer is here, or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 06, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Technology, 1940s
October 5, 2024
Practising yoga in Hyde Park, London
Photograph by Patrick Ward from Wish You Were Here: The English at Play. Gordon Fraser (publisher), 1977.You can check out Ward's book of photograhs at archive.org, although the metadata incorrectly lists it as "Once a year: some traditional British customs." (which is the book I was looking for, though I enjoyed Ward's photographs also).
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 05, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Photography and Photographers, 1970s
“Snail’s Gallop”
More on the artist here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 05, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Asia, Twenty-first Century
October 4, 2024
Slammed door, house fell down #2
Four years ago we posted about the case of Mary Adams of Stockport, England, who slammed her front door shut, causing the house to fall down.The exact same thing happened to Claudine Rossi of Caderousse, France in 1971. She left her house to go shopping, slammed the front door shut, and the whole building fell down.
If I can find one more example of this phenomenon, I'll classify it as 'no longer weird'.
Daily Mirror - Oct 23, 1971
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 04, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, 1970s
The Dwarf Cars of Ernie Adams
His website is here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 04, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Enlargements, Miniatures, and Other Matters of Scale, Hobbies and DIY, Cars
October 3, 2024
Jackson Whitlow, the Mountain Faster
Jackson Whitlow made headlines in 1937 by fasting for 52 days. He did it because he said God had told him to. He broke his fast with elderberry wine and squirrel broth.About a year later God told Whitlow to live in a cave. His condition rapidly deteriorated and by the start of 1939 he was dead. According to Whitlow, this was also "the Lord's will".
Atlanta Journal - Jan 2, 1939
Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 03, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Religion, 1930s, Dieting and Weight Loss
Seated Sleeping Aid
Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 03, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Medicine, Sleep and Dreams, 1910s
October 2, 2024
The Thousand Egg Club
Do you eat at least 1000 eggs a year? If so, you're a member of the 'Thousand Egg Club.'The club was created by the National Poultry and Egg Board in 1957. Several political figures who swore to eat 1000 eggs a year were given certificates of memberships. But as far as I know, the general public couldn't send away for a certificate.
I usually eat two eggs for breakfast every day. But I doubt I eat enough eggs in addition to that to reach 1000.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Mar 27, 1957
Glen Falls Post-Star - July 31, 1959
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 02, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Eggs, 1950s
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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 |
