Smartphone-Shaped Sunglasses

Part of designer Sinead Gorey's "Phonecore" collection.

More info: hmd.com

Posted By: Alex - Sun May 26, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, Eyes and Vision

Le Microphone Bien Tempéré

Let us know when you tap out.

From the composer's Wikipedia page:

Henry was born in Paris, France,[3] and began experimenting at the age of 15 with sounds produced by various objects. He became fascinated with the integration of noise into music, now called noise music

The rest of the album is here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun May 26, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Music, 1970s, Europe, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Want job title changed

I had several great-aunts who worked in the Duquesne steel mill during World War II. (My grandmother had six sisters.) I'm not sure exactly what their jobs were. I just know they were working on the floor of the mill itself, not in secretarial or admin positions. Perhaps they were "hookers."

Lansing State Journal - July 3, 1975

I found a U.S. Dept. of Labor document titled "Women's Employment in the Making of Steel, 1943." It describes women in the mills working as hookers:

Posted By: Alex - Sat May 25, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Jobs and Occupations

The Dancing Pig

Posted By: Paul - Sat May 25, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, 1900s, Dance, Love & Romance

Guess the genuine suicide notes

The 1957 book Clues to Suicide, edited by Edwin Shneidman and Norman Farberow, contains an unusual quiz in the appendix. It presents the reader with 33 pairs of suicide notes. In each pair one of the notes is genuine and one is "simulated." The reader is challenged to guess which is which.

The genuine notes were all obtained from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. The simulated notes were obtained from "nonsuicidal individuals contacted in labor unions, fraternal groups, and the general community." The individuals were told that by writing the notes they were helping with a scientific study on suicide prevention.

Furthermore, all the note writers (of both the genuine and simulated notes) were "male, Caucasian, Protestant, native-born, and between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-nine."

The authors suggest taking the quiz before reading their book (but not looking at the answers), and then re-taking the quiz after reading it in order to determine if the book has provided "greater perspicacity."

I've pasted three sample pairs below, but I also made a pdf of the entire quiz (with the answer key at the end).

Or you can find the quiz in the book itself which is available to read at the Internet Archive.







More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 24, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Suicide, Quizzes

Illuminated Advertising Tower

I want to live in the alternate timeline where these towers have replaced billboards.


Full patent here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 24, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Advertising, Patents, 1930s

Don’t sit on your kids

I have a feeling that the author didn't intend for the title to sound funny.

Pittsburgh Press - Jan 18, 1985

Posted By: Alex - Thu May 23, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Children, Parents, Books

From Another World

The creator's Wikipedia page.

Each song gets a "spacey" intro, metaphorically placing you in a Martian auditorium.

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 23, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, Space-age Bachelor Pad & Exotic, 1960s

A toothbrush designed to be bitten

Invented by Anthony John Heath and granted British patent GB 2167995A.

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 22, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Patents, Teeth

Impersonating a Soldier

An early case of "stolen valor?" Or more akin to the transit fanatic Darius McCollum, who keeps trying to drive subway cars?

LIFE MAGAZINE has a much more detailed report.

Posted By: Paul - Wed May 22, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, 1960s, Armed Forces