Category:
Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Penal Self-Mutilation
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 20, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Prisons, 1930s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Combined Ear Muff and Neck Protector
This thing is stiffened with wire, so it must feel like wearing a medical neck brace.Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 06, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, 1900s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Walter Easler, Human Pincushion
Nowadays, we are used to all kinds of piercings in daily life. But this fellow still merits a look.
This young man is literally "on pins and needles" but it doesn't seem to worry him in the least. He is Walter Easler, of Lorain, Ohio, and he is able to pierce his skin with impunity because of sensory anesthesia with which nature has endowed him. The pins and needles which penetrate his lips and cheeks do not cause him the slightest pain, and he recalls with amusement his father's perplexity when he was a lad as to how he could be punished since spankings could not be felt.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 23, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Body Modifications, Human Marvels, Twentieth Century, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Electric Dumb Bell
Couldn't you achieve the same thing by just sticking your finger in a wall socket while exercising?Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 18, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, Patents, 1920s, Bodybuilding, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Jalaproctitis
Jalaproctitis is the medical term for the rectal burning sensation often experienced by people when they defecate after having eaten jalapenos. It was given this name by researchers at the University of Texas who conducted an experiment to study the effects of jalapenos (whether it acted as an expectorant, caused painful urination, and burning defecation). From the New England Journal of Medicine (Nov 16, 1978):To investigate these issues, we prospectively studied participants in a jalapeno-pepper eating contest. Subjects included three women and two men ranging in age from 22 to 42. None had a history of lacrimation, rhinorrhea, dysuria or discomfort on defecation before the contest. One was a smoker, and one had cough and scanty sputum production before the contest.
After giving informed consent, subjects consumed as many large jalapenos as could be tolerated in a three-minute period. The number of peppers consumed ranged from three to 13, with a median of five. Three of the participants noted lacrimation and rhinorrhea immediately after the contest. In none did cough or sputum production develop. One male subject complained of dysuria, and four of five noted a burning discomfort on defecation within 24 hours of the contest.
The limited information obtained from this study does not indicate clinical usefulness of jalapeno as an expectorant. We believe that jalapenos may well be the cause of transient dysuria and, in addition, may result in a syndrome of burning defecation that might appropriately be termed "jalaproctitis."
After giving informed consent, subjects consumed as many large jalapenos as could be tolerated in a three-minute period. The number of peppers consumed ranged from three to 13, with a median of five. Three of the participants noted lacrimation and rhinorrhea immediately after the contest. In none did cough or sputum production develop. One male subject complained of dysuria, and four of five noted a burning discomfort on defecation within 24 hours of the contest.
The limited information obtained from this study does not indicate clinical usefulness of jalapeno as an expectorant. We believe that jalapenos may well be the cause of transient dysuria and, in addition, may result in a syndrome of burning defecation that might appropriately be termed "jalaproctitis."
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 18, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Food, Experiments, Body Fluids, Excrement, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
The Pain Performances of Gina Pane
French artist Gina Pane conducted "pain performances" that involved (as wikipedia puts it) "extreme self-inflicted injury." Some info from an article by Pawel Leszkowicz:Gina Pane. Today many pronounce her name Gina Pain, turning the Italian word for bread into the English word for suffering. Pane, the queen of European body art, has been having something of a renaissance in the early 21st century art world, in the era of virtual bodies. Her art actions of the late 1970s featured constant demonstrations of pain. Called "that crazy lady with the razor blade" by some ironists, she cut the skin of her palms, hands, back, belly, mouth, tongue, and cheeks.
Some of her pain performances:
Non-Anaethestized Climb (1971): Barefoot, she climbed up and down a ladder-like structure whose rungs were studded with sharp metallic shards. She did this until she was bleeding profusely.
Food/TV News/Fire (1971): While watching news footage of the Vietnam War, with a bright light shining in her eyes, she ate raw ground beef, and later threw it up.
Sentimental Action (1973): Dressed in white, she entered the gallery with a bouquet of roses, removed the thorns from them, and pierced her arm with the thorns. She then began cutting herself with a razor blade, allowing the blood to drip onto the roses.
Conditioning (1973): She lay on a metal bedframe position over two rows of burning candles. She later confessed that the pain started right away and was difficult to master. The audience could see the pain she was in by the intense wringing of her hands.
More info: art moderne
Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 07, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Performance Art, 1970s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
The Atomic Balm prank
I'm not sure when exactly Atomic Balm was first sold. I believe it was sometime in the 1950s. But it very quickly became widely used by football teams as a pain-relieving ointment.It also became a favorite of pranksters. The prank involved surreptitiously placing Atomic Balm in a player's jockstrap. Since the ointment contains Capsaicin, the results were painful.
The Atomic Balm prank was a perennial favorite on high school football teams, but the most famous instance of the prank occurred on the Miami Dolphins, recounted below.
Source: Teena Dickerson, The Girlfriend's Guide to Football
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 19, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Pranks, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
Rubber Snow Mitts
There's a good reason these never caught on: I'm sure the wearer's hands were as clammy as dead fish within seconds of wearing them.Source.
Even the modern version that appears next has some breathable fabric, and is specially for work, not snowball fights.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 12, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Seasonal, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise, Skin and Skin Conditions
Peter Pain Parody
Alex and I never coordinate our posts, but sometimes they achieve thematic synchronicity. Yesterday, for instance, he posted about losing weight and I posted about obesity.But his post from today, about Corporate Icon Peter Pain, happened magically to dovetail with my leisure-time reading of last evening, when I was enjoying THE THING FROM THE GRAVE, a collection of the work that artist Joe Orlando did for the fabled EC Comics. I read Orlando's Peter Pain Parody, and then this morning found Alex's post!
BTW: the whole line of EC reprints from Fantagraphics is worthy of your attention.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Comics, Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings, 1950s, Parody, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
The Hazardous Maxi-coat
It's getting colder outside, here in the Northern Hemisphere--but be careful of how you bundle up!
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Fashion, 1970s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise
| Who We Are |
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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 |