The effect of humming on vision

A Dec 1967 article ("Effect of humming on vision") by William Rushton in the journal Nature reported that:


I'm sure that's interesting, but it's a response to Rushton's article published four months later that I find more interesting. A former member of the Air Training Corps described how it was possible, by humming (or rather, "purring"), to make your head vibrate such that, when looking at a spinning propeller, the propeller would seem to stop in mid-air. By increasing or decreasing the intensity of humming/purring, one could then determine in which direction the propeller was rotating.

I haven't tested this out to see if it works, but if any of you do have a chance to test it out, please report back with your results.

Nature - Apr 20, 1968

Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 27, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Science, Air Travel and Airlines, 1960s, Eyes and Vision

Follies of the Madmen #606

Insane adult co-opts kids in his cereal scheme.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 23, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising, Cereal, Cartoons, 1960s, Mental Health and Insanity

Embryonic Development of the Light-Brown Apple Moth

Another contender in the Great Boredom Sweepstakes.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 21, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Boredom, Education, Insects and Spiders, PSA’s, Science, 1960s

Va-rice-ity

Heavy sexual innuendo to sell rice.

Life - Oct 3, 1969

Life - (L) Mar 13, 1970; (R) June 19, 1970

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 19, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Food, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Advertising, 1960s, 1970s

The dog with the nuclear nose

Physicist Cristjo Cristofv claimed that his cocker spaniel, Bijou, could not only detect nuclear fallout but also "changes in the atmospheric electrical field" caused by nuclear explosions halfway around the world.

Certainly a dog like that would be worth at least $10 million. Or so he claimed when the dog died as a result of a bad reaction to medicine given to it by a vet.

Cristofv eventually dropped his lawsuit against the vet due to unexplained "security reasons."

Peninsula Times - July 30, 1965

Chicago Tribune - July 30, 1965

Akron Beacon Journal - May 25, 1966

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 18, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Lawsuits, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Dogs, 1960s

A New Sound from the Japanese Bach Scene

Just what you'd expect: Bach played on Japanese instruments. Player is embedded below the Tracklist.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 18, 2024 - Comments (5)
Category: Music, 1960s, Asia, Europe

‘Sanity clearance’ for Japanese drivers

In the 1960s, Japan experimented with two ways of improving road safety.

First, it required that new drivers obtain a "sanity clearance" from a doctor. This was supposed to keep psychotic motorists off the road.

Second, it urged pedestrians to either raise a hand or wave a yellow flag to indicate to drivers that they wanted to cross the road.

Both efforts failed and were quickly scrapped.

The "sanity clearance" was too easy to obtain and people disliked the expense. (Imagine flunking your driving test because you failed a sanity clearance!)

The hand-raising promotion actually increased pedestrian deaths. Apparently pedestrians seemed to believe that, as long as they raised their hand, they had "permission to ignore all traffic rules and boldly march out in to the middle of the road whenever they felt like it."

Sydney Morning Herald - Mar 24, 1968

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 17, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Regulations, 1960s, Asia, Cars

Kinematic programming for rain

July 1966: The mathematician Mervyn Stone published an article in the journal Nature that analyzed "the optimal speed and posture to adopt when caught without protection in a rain shower."

The article itself is mostly gobbledygook to me, but apparently he concluded that if the rain is coming from behind you then "walk forward leaning backwards." While if you're walking into the rain then "lower the head and walk as fast as possible."

Reference: "Kinematic Programming for Rain," Nature - July 23, 1966

The Branford Expositor - Sep 19, 1966

Click to enlarge as PDF

Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 16, 2024 - Comments (8)
Category: Science, 1960s, Weather

Follies of the Madmen #605

Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 15, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, Cereal, Infantilism, 1960s

The Swamp in June

Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 13, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Boredom, Nature, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1960s