1950s
Follies of the Madmen #547
Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 17, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Domestic, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, Advertising, 1950s
Color photographs to fight crime
Use color film so you can see the blood better.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 16, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Photography and Photographers, Advertising, 1950s, Blood
Bio-Control
At the 1956 National Electronics Conference in Chicago, engineer Curtiss R. Schafer predicted a future in which people would be enslaved via "bio-control."How is this possible? Schafer said that a few months after birth a surgeon would equip each child with a socket mounted under the scalp and electrodes reaching selected areas of brain tissue. A year or two later, he said, a miniature radio receiver and antenna would be plugged into the socket.
"From that time on," the speaker declared, "the child's sensory preceptions and muscular activity could be either modified or completely controlled by bio-electric signals radiated from state-controlled transmitters."
More details from the conference press release:
Time - Oct 15, 1956
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 12, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: AI, Robots and Other Automatons, Conspiracy Theories and Theorists, 1950s, Brain
Miss Magnetic Fly Reel of 1959
Source: The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) 09 Nov 1958, Sun Page 49
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 12, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Sports, Fish, 1950s
Dinner music for people who aren’t very hungry
Cosmopolitan - Oct 1957
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 06, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Music, 1950s
Betty Furness for Westinghouse
The weirdest thing about this commercial is the incredibly tiny waist of almost 40-year-old Betty Furness. I can't take my eyes off it.
NOTE: the first video runs slow, at least for me. Best to let it download entirely before hitting play.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 06, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: Body, Domestic, Television, Advertising, 1950s, Women, Natural Wonders
The College Stripper Riot of 1955
The history of monkey-wrenching university protocols did not begin in the 1960s.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 05, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Education, Riots, Protests and Civil Disobedience, Burlesque, Exotic Dancing, Stripping and Other Forms of Staged Nakedness, 1950s, Pranks
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 11
In 1952, a schizophrenic with an eccentric theory of physics murdered a random person.“Have they dropped the electronic theory?” he asked her.
“I don’t know anything about it,” she replied.
Before she could say more, he fired the gun at her.
“I just wanted to kill somebody,” he told police. “I was going to shoot anybody. It was my book. They wouldn't look at my book. They wouldn't even look at it."
Peakes had done the calculus: Shooting people gets you in the papers. And if you shoot physicists because they rejected your theory, your theory gets in the papers.
Full account here.
The initial coverage below.
Article source: The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Indiana) 15 Jul 1952, Tue Page 1
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 02, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Science, Scary Criminals, 1950s, Mental Health and Insanity
Dome living
I imagine a house like this might be possible to build nowadays, but the monthly electric bill would be a small fortune.
Related post: The Winooski Dome
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 29, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Architecture, Utilities and Power Generation, 1950s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Homo cerebrointricatus
In 1953, Dr. Wilton Krogman of the University of Pennsylvania used his skills as a physical anthropologist (and his knowledge of human evolution) to predict what humans will look like five million years in the future. He decided that humans will evolve into a species he called Homo cerebrointricatus, meaning super-brained man. Our descendants will have telepathic brains, no stomachs, and "flat, round, pedestal-like feet."Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any illustrations of Homo cerebrointricatus.
Part of his prediction reminds me of the mentats in Frank Herbert's Dune:
Calgary Herald - Oct 22, 1953
Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 25, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Anthropology, Science Fiction, 1950s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
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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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |