Amazonian Miracle for Sale!

If only you had been reading Popular Mechanics magazine for February 1929! Then you could have purchased the same Purple Ray healing device that Wonder Woman uses! Okay, so it was a "Violet Ray." Same difference, right?

Who We Are
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 forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Comments

Wow, they really couldn't just call a sex toy a sex toy, could they?

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/14/08 at 10:45 AM

Madcarlotta--this book looks relevant and fascinating:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1558505342?showViewpoints=1

Posted by Paul on 07/14/08 at 11:08 AM

Paul Cilwa--is it really still produced and sold, or do you have an old machine? What's the exact nature of the mechanism?

Posted by Paul on 07/14/08 at 11:09 AM

and does it cure Womb Fury? 😊

I'm going to have to check out that book!

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/14/08 at 11:13 AM

Oh, that's the thing they use to zap your zits when you go for a facial. I never really thought it did much. Maybe stimulate the blood flow to your capillaries or something.

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/14/08 at 11:47 AM

Obviously, the Violet Ray has its continued patrons beyond Wonder Woman!

Is there actually any color purple associated with the electrical discharge?

Posted by Paul on 07/14/08 at 12:18 PM

well, it glows purple in the tube when it's on, and the sparks are kind of purpley.

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/14/08 at 12:27 PM

That's plenty of purple for me!

Posted by Paul on 07/14/08 at 12:33 PM

It's kind of like a tesla coil effect in the glass tube. My esthetician would put her finger on the side of the bulb before running it over my face.

It would actually be a pretty neat thing to have, whether it actually cures anything or not. I've never seen all those attachments used, just the flat bulb one.

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/14/08 at 12:41 PM

Ah, another remnant of that wonderful alternate timestream, the Tesla-verse!

Posted by Paul on 07/14/08 at 12:50 PM

I say the same thing about my acupuncture treatments. I don't care if they a) stimulate endorphins; b) trigger chi energy; or c) are a placebo. If they work, they work, by whatever means!

Posted by Paul on 07/14/08 at 01:30 PM

I gotta take a stand for medical conservatism. If I go to a doctor I don't want to be told that the medicine isn't working because I'm not in the right frame of mind. Or that if only I had a more positive attitude and believed more strongly it might have an effect. I'm too much of a cynic. That stuff never works for me.

I like the efficacy of the medicine I'm taking to have been proven to work, in double-blind controlled studies, regardless of the frame of mind I'm in.

Though, sure. People should be free to do whatever works for them. But I want the proven stuff to be kept in a separate category from the unproven stuff.

Posted by Alex on 07/14/08 at 01:58 PM

Calli--your post made me think about the recent news that people with back problems who do nothing have an equal healing rate to those who undergo surgery.

Posted by Paul on 07/15/08 at 11:01 AM

The violet ray is part of the BDSM scene!?! Oh, noes! WU will now pop up in searches for same! Oh, well, we get welcome new readers, I suppose....

Posted by Paul on 07/15/08 at 11:04 AM

DFS--I'm ashamed to say I don't know my Fearn stuff as well as I should, but I tend to suspect you're correct!

Posted by Paul on 08/22/08 at 10:52 AM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.