Weapons
The Seamaster Airplane
A jet that takes off and lands from water? Filled with nuclear bombs? What could go wrong?Wikipedia page.
Source of foto.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 25, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Technology, War, Weapons, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s
The Horned Helmet of Henry VIII
Pix and text here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 18, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Technology, War, Weapons, Sixteenth Century
Chet Huntley Explains the Strategic Air Command
Be sure to enjoy the SAC theme song starting around 6:30.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 01, 2018 -
Comments (7)
Category: Government, Music, War, Weapons, 1960s
Electroshoe
18-year-old Siddharth Mandala of Hyderabad has developed an "electroshoe" that will allow women to fend off attackers. One kick with the shoe and it'll deliver a powerful electric shock to an assailant. The shoe also automatically recharges itself through energy harvested from the wearer's footsteps.So far Mandala has only developed a prototype. And unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any footage of the electroshoe in action.
The idea reminds me of the spiked defense shoes from 1955.
More info: Deccan Chronicle
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 25, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Shoes, Weapons
The Exploding Recipe
May 1978: Random House issued a recall of a cookbook, Woman's Day Crockery Cuisine, after realizing that one of the recipes "could cause a serious explosion."The recipe in question was for "Silky Caramel Slices." The problem was that it instructed people to heat an unopened can of condensed milk in a crockpot for four hours. A statement from Random House noted, "If the recipe is followed, the condensed milk can could explode and shatter the lid and liner of the crockery cooker."
What the recipe neglected to mention was that you should add water into the crockpot surrounding the can. Initially I thought you should open the can also, but my wife (who's heard of this technique of cooking condensed milk on a stove top) corrected me. You keep the can closed so that the milk doesn't boil out of the can.
Marilynn Marter, writing in the Chicago Tribune (May 25, 1978) explains:
The conditions that have made this underground recipe successful and therefore popular, especially with children, are water and temperature. By being heated in boiling water, the temperature of the can and milk do not exceed the boiling point. After a few hours of this, the sugared milk turns to a caramel pudding. In the Crockpot, however, especially without water, the temperature can build up rather like a pressure cooker. That was the most immediate cause of the problem.
Front Cover
Back cover
The 'exploding' recipe (Silky Caramel Slices) is listed third from bottom, right-hand column.
The Tennessean - May 9, 1978
Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 21, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Food, Cookbooks, 1970s, Weapons
Drip Fire Rifle
Invented by Lance Corporal William Charles Scurry during WWI, while fighting in Gallipoli. The Drip Fire Rifle was a way to jerry-rig a rifle using readily available materials so that it would randomly fire on its own. The Australian forces set up a whole bunch of these Drip Fire Rifles, and in this way were able to fool the Turkish forces into thinking they were actively manning the front lines, when in fact they were all sneaking away in boats. From abc.net.au:
Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 16, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, War, Weapons, 1910s
Miss Bomarc Interceptor Missile
The missile is the supersonic Bomarc anti-aircraft missile developed by Boeing and the University of Michigan Aeronautical Research Center. The woman is 18-year-old Fran Frost. The year was 1958.
Fran Frost went on to be Miss Utah State Fair, Miss Dairy Queen, and Miss World Contact Lens, but then retired from modeling.
Read her full story at Conelrad Adjacent.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 10, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1950s, Weapons
Follies of the Madmen #304
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 15, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, 1960s, Weapons, Native Americans
Follies of the Madmen #303
Yes, Dumont TV is as destructive and unstoppable as an atomic explosion.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 08, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Destruction, Television, 1940s, Weapons
Stabbed by Beauty
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 06, 2016 -
Comments (7)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1950s, Weapons
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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 |