1960s
Hot Meal Vending Machines
In 1968 (perhaps even earlier), an inventor had the notion of serving hot meals from a vending machine.
Lo and behold, today his dream is a reality. Would you sample such fare?
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 07, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Food, Technology, 1960s, Asia
Hair length and voting
In 1969, the Wyoming Senate approved an amendment to lower the voting age to 19, but added the condition that young men would only be able to vote if they had short hair conforming to military standards. No similar condition was imposed on young women.
Billings Gazette - Feb 8, 1969
Some more details from "Let us vote!": youth voting rights and the 26th amendment by Jennifer Frost:
Although Myers's amendment may have started as a joke, the Wyoming Senate initially passed it before finally removing it. "Young people in Wyoming were not laughing. They were embarrassed. They were shocked," wrote Philip White, the editor of the Branding Iron, the student newspaper at the University of Wyoming. Making appearance a qualification for suffrage was unconstitutional, and Myers knew it. Neither hair, clothing, nor skin color could be taken into consideration for determining voting rights, White explained. Young people wanted the vote. "But we will not stand to be judged by the length of our hair." In the end the controversy subsided, and the Vote 19 referendum would go before the state's electorate in November 1970.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 05, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Government, Civic Duties, 1960s, Hair and Hairstyling
The Acoustics of Miniskirts
October 1969: UCLA Professor Vern O. Knudsen assembled ten young women wearing miniskirts in a reverberation chamber and fired a blank cartridge from a pistol. He did this to prove his hypothesis that bare legs revealed by a miniskirt will reflect more sound than legs covered by a long skirt.His hypothesis confirmed, he warned that miniskirt wearers might disturb the carefully engineered balance of sound in concert halls by reflecting more sound. He noted: "We must be acoustically thankful that they don't wear bikinis."
Rock Island Argus - Oct 29, 1969
Orangeburg Times and Democrat - Oct 29, 1969
Oddly enough, this wasn't the first time a scientist had warned of the acoustic danger of short skirts. Back in 1929, Colgate University Professor Donald A. Laird had issued a very similar warning: "He quoted scientific reports to prove that shortening of women's skirts has added to noise by removing some sound deadening surface."
San Bernardino County Sun - July 4, 1929
Related posts: Miniskirts for road safety, Nun in a miniskirt
Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 03, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Science, Experiments, 1960s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
The right to wear a bikini while mowing the lawn
May 1966: The charges of indecent exposure, brought against 21-year-old Mary Lou Hood for mowing her lawn while wearing a bikini, were all dropped. The judge determined there was insufficient evidence of lewdness or indecent exposure to support the charges.The case was said to be the hottest issue in the college town of Edmond, Ohlahoma "since canned beer." The judge delivered his decision to a standing-room-only crowd. The case also received widespread national media coverage even though, as Hood's lawyer noted, the case didn't actually establish a legal precedent for a right to wear a bikini while mowing the lawn.
Muncie Evening Press - May 20, 1966
Spokesman Review - May 20, 1966
Ogden Standard Examiner - May 20, 1966
Mary Lou Hood, with her husband, at the courthouse
May 20, 1966. Source.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 01, 2022 -
Comments (9)
Category: Fashion, Law, 1960s
Jason Crest, “Turquoise Tandem Cycle”
Their Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 29, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Psychedelic, 1960s
The Hog Farm
Their Wikipedia page.
Source of article below: Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York) 10 Dec 1968, Tue Page 10
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 25, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Drugs, Communes, Utopias, and Other Alternative Societies, Documentaries, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s
Follies of the Madmen #544
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 20, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Family, Children, Advertising, 1960s, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical
Does the stickshift scare your wife?
Not very subtle.
Newsweek - Apr 19, 1965
Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 18, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Advertising, 1960s
Miss Esperanto
I have three references to this contest, from 1929, 1963 and 1967. No firm idea of how long it lasted, if it's still going on, or if it was held faithfully every year.
Puccini's opera 'La 66Bohème' was performed as a special performance for the Esperantists. Finally, Miss Maria Wenczel from Hungary was chosen as 'Miss Esperanto 1963'. Diethilde Magori from Germany and Helen Salmos from Sweden took second and third place in this competition. After the end of the congress, the young people drove to Sofija in a special caravan, where they were expected by the 48th Esperanto World Congress.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 16, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Languages, 1920s, 1950s, 1960s
Hagi Pipe
From 1960. A foot-long cigarette filter that supposedly would "prevent lung cancer from smoking."
Source: Science Photo Library
Text from 1961 Congressional hearings:
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 15, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Smoking and Tobacco, 1960s
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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 |