Category:
1980s
1980s
New Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers
Jeff Koons's 1987 "sculpture" is titled "New Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers, New Shelton Wet/Dry 5-Gallon Displaced Quadradecker." It consists of a stack of six shampoo polishers and one wet/dry vacuum.I wonder if the work was inspired in any way by the persistent weird news theme of 'art mistaken as trash.' Instead of art that resembles trash, Koons imagined cleaning supplies as art.
Yeah, I'm probably overthinking this.
New Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers, New Shelton Wet/Dry 5-Gallon Displaced Quadradecker
image source: wikiart
Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 12, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art, 1980s
Combined Woodworker’s Push-Stick and Furniture Alarm Unit
British inventor David Bartram was granted a UK patent (GB2233932A) in 1989 for his "woodworker's push-stick and furniture alarm unit."In its first possible use, as a push-stick, his invention allowed woodworkers to push pieces of wood through a table saw while keeping their hand safely away from the saw blade.
In its second possible use, as a furniture alarm, the stick could be attached in between the legs of a chair. If the occupant of the chair happened to lean backwards, raising the front legs of the chair off the ground, the furniture alarm would emit a "startling warning."
Bartram clearly was annoyed by people who leaned backwards in chairs. He wrote:
This strains, loosens and can ultimately destroy, the chair joints. Quite apart from the fact that the chairs were not intended for such use, the costs nowadays of stripping and repairing a chair whose joints have become loosened can be high.
Of course, for his invention to function as a furniture alarm some kind of "gravity-orientated switch" would need to be incorporated into it. Based on his patent description, it's not clear if Bartram had ever gone to the trouble of doing this, but it seems that he didn't anticipate it would be a problem.
He didn't address the major limitation of his two-in-one invention: if you've got it attached to the legs of a chair it's not available to use as a push-stick, and vice versa, if it's in your workshop being used as a push-stick, it's not guarding a chair.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 31, 2024 -
Comments (4)
Category: Furniture, Patents, 1980s
The Necco Garden
This entry courtesy of Sherry Mowbray.The creator's Wikipedia page.
Source of text and photos.
Another source reveals:
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 31, 2024 -
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Category: Art, Avant Garde, Candy, Reader Recommendation, 1980s, North America
Legal Daisy Spacing
I read this book nearly forty years ago, and never forgot it. It's weird and hilarious. I was so glad to see it turn up at the Internet Archive.It purports to be a manual for terraforming a planet. But it's written by madmen and nature haters. Cacti must be enclosed in steel. Mountains must be leveled. Jungles must be paved over.
Read it here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jul 12, 2024 -
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Category: Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Science Fiction, 1980s
Passenger safety pods
Landon Tinder had a plan to make air travel safer by putting passengers inside near-indestructible pods. The plane could crash and the pods, he claimed, would survive.Details from the Chicago Tribune (Aug 27, 1989):
Tinder has a grand plan to replace standard airline seats with a string of compartments—each containing two to eight fortified seats—that can endure the impact, heat and smoke of almost any airline crash...
Each of Tinder's "passenger pods" would be equipped with its own airtight door, crash bag, cooling system, shock-absorbent shell and oxygen supply.
In the event of a crash or terrorist threat, the pod would seal itself off and the air bag would engage—all in two to three seconds. The 5-inch-thick honeycomb shell of aluminum, fiberglass and titanium could withstand temperatures up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 20 minutes. If the plane crashes in water, the pod would float.
"The aircraft around it can perish; this will stand strong," Tinder said.
Each of Tinder's "passenger pods" would be equipped with its own airtight door, crash bag, cooling system, shock-absorbent shell and oxygen supply.
In the event of a crash or terrorist threat, the pod would seal itself off and the air bag would engage—all in two to three seconds. The 5-inch-thick honeycomb shell of aluminum, fiberglass and titanium could withstand temperatures up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 20 minutes. If the plane crashes in water, the pod would float.
"The aircraft around it can perish; this will stand strong," Tinder said.
Why the airlines didn't like his idea:
It is the economic consideration that prompts some people to quickly dismiss Tinder's Aeronautical Life Protecting Security System (ALPS for short) as an ornately packaged pipe dream...
At $40,000 a seat, airlines would have to pay about $2 million to fit each plane with ALPS containers. More importantly, the system would reduce each plane's seating capacity by 19 to 28 percent—a proposition that makes industry analysts profoundly skeptical.
"It would ruin the operating economics of every known airline," said Paul Turk of AV-MARK, a consulting firm specializing in airline economics.
At $40,000 a seat, airlines would have to pay about $2 million to fit each plane with ALPS containers. More importantly, the system would reduce each plane's seating capacity by 19 to 28 percent—a proposition that makes industry analysts profoundly skeptical.
"It would ruin the operating economics of every known airline," said Paul Turk of AV-MARK, a consulting firm specializing in airline economics.
Santa Cruz Sentinel - Aug 7, 1989
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 11, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Air Travel and Airlines, 1980s
Life Is Flashing Before Your Eyes
Posted By: Paul - Sun May 19, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Philosophy, Surrealism, Cartoons, Psychedelic, 1980s
The Not-So-Distant Past Sins of Amtrak
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 14, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Excrement, 1980s, Trains
Baseball blown foul
May 1981: an infamous moment in baseball history — when Lenny Randle made a ball foul by blowing on it.Randle later swore he simply yelled at the ball, but in the video it sure looks like he's blowing on it. However, I have a hard time believing he was able to blow on it hard enough to alter its course. I suspect it would have ended up foul without his assistance.
Spokesman Review - May 29, 1981
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 30, 2024 -
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Category: Sports, 1980s
Follies of the Madmen #590
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 18, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Crime, Hygiene, Advertising, 1980s, Europe
A Death Foretold
Malkeet Singh predicted that he would die on Sunday, April 8, 1984 at exactly 10am. Then he would be reincarnated as a 1400-year-old faith healer. Dozens of people turned up to witness the event, but nothing happened. So Singh told the crowd to come back after lunch. Still, nothing happened. The next day Singh returned to work at the local Ford factory.
Coventry Evening Telegraph - Apr 9, 1984
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 26, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Predictions, 1980s
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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 |