WEIRD stuff from the golden era

[Veronica Parra]

-- A mania for molded food: pudding, Spam, and Jell-O with fruit chunks dyed red and green.

-- A 36,000 sq. ft. miniature "town" inhabited by 125 midgets, on display at the 1939 N.Y. World's Fair. This paragon of taste and sensitivity was called Morris Gest's Little Miracle Town.

-- Cod liver oil.

-- Pencil mustaches.

-- Beanie caps with propellers on top.

-- Germany, Italy and Japan.

-- Father Coughlin.

-- Charlie McCarthy.

-- That cautionary Reefer Madness film. Meanwhile, Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher was "kick[ing] the gong around", though Cole Porter was "get[ting] no kick from co-caine".

-- Truckin'. (Not to be confused with truck driving. Look it up if necessary.)

-- Alfalfa's and Buckwheat's hair in the "Our Gang / Little Rascals" series. Tintin's cowlick. Hitler's forelock. Superman's spit curl.

-- (Add your own weird stuff here, if you dare. ;) )

[nightandthecity]

Fascism.

[Veronica Parra]

Purge trials.

[nightandthecity]

world war.

but hey, Reefer Madness was great. Best period comedy since Hellzapoppin. I got completely blasted whilst watching it. And Cod Liver Oil is all that stands between me and my arthritis.

[Veronica Parra]

How weird.

[nightandthecity]

how about the slow but steady substitution of nylon and other artificial fibres for stuff that keeps you warm AND lets your body breathe (AND doesn't light up the room when you take it off).

What's weird about it is that everyone thought it was an improvement.

[Lauren]

girdles for pregnant women.

[nightandthecity]

ouch!!

[nightandthecity]

How about Generalissimo Franco?

I don't LIKE charismatic authoritarian leaders but I can just about understand that they are charismatic.

But how did that murderous shortassed bald little mediocrity end up as the Great Caudillo??! Truly weird.

[Brad Bowers]

-- Pencil mustaches.



Hey, watch who you're calling weird! I resemble that remark! :)

Brad

[Lauren]

Petroleum on girls eyelids. That's a gasoline by-product... next to your eyes!

[LaMedicine]

girdles for pregnant women.
Hmm. Your saying so makes me figure you've never been pregnant. Try carrying around an extra 10 pounds around your waistline. You need something to support your heavy belly and back, believe you me, things can be extremely uncomfortable without it. Here in my parts of the world, it had been the custom for hundreds of years to wrap a few yards of cotton about a foot wide as a sash to support the protruding belly, until it was replaced by girdles.
It's not ouch, it actually helps relieve the back pain. A brilliant stroke of genius.

[Lauren]

Huh! Good to know! Are they elasticized, or are they boning and laces?

[LaMedicine]

Huh! Good to know! Are they elasticized, or are they boning and laces?
The modern day ones are elasticized.
Can't say for the Golden era, though, since I've never seen one from these days. I sure hope they were then;)

[Michaelson]

Radium based paint for watch and instrument dials that were hand painted. The painters (mostly women) would lick the brush to give it a fine tip, then paint the fine numbers and hands with luminus paint loaded with radium dust. They were paid by the volume, and many painted as many as 100 dials a day.

Most have died of cancer from radium exposure.

Old watches still having this paint intact on their dials are considered hazardous waste, and are handled as such. Breathing the dust is not recommended.

Regards! Mark

[nightandthecity]

all very true Michaelson. Fortunately a friend who works at Harwell Atomic Energy research station here in the UK reassures me that the radium is by now mostly too weak to be a continued threat. Doesn't stop him geiger countering his new vintage watches though!

[Michaelson]

Interesting. That contridicts an article I just read in our latest NAWCC (National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors) bulletin this month that states as long as the crystal is intact, the watch is relatively safe...but a pocket watch, regardless of intact crystal or not, was NOT safe to wear as the dial is carried against the body, and the readings are still to the point of not being a safe watch for carry purposes. I don't remember the half life of radium, but considering these dials were painted clear up into the 50's, we're only talking 50 years ago that these were created.

They did state that if the crystals on wrist watches are intact, and since the dial is worn away from the body, then the level of danger is much lower, though still measureable.

I'd rather be safe than sorry myself, but I appreciate the input, as it shows there's continuing discussion regarding these dials, and it's not a 'dead' subject. There have been two recently published books on the subject, so it's really 'current events' in the study of this 'weird' practice.

High regards! Michaelson

[Mycroft]

Some brands of hats made with mercury-causes insanity. Collecting peach and other pitts for gas mask filters.

[nightandthecity]

hey michaelson, you got me worried now! Think I'd better get him to geiger counter my left wrist sometime soon...

[Michaelson]

On the mercury, it was only the hat maker who was open to the 'madness' situation, as the mercury vapors were ingested through the skin and inhaled during the felting process. Once 'boiled off', there were/are no further dangers of the mercury felt being worn or handled, and no 'madness' dangers for owners of the hats.

If you're wearing a radium painted dial, it's something to be aware of. As I said, if the crystal is good, you'll be fine. Just don't lay on that wrist with the watch on if you go to bed tonight. ;) They discovered another light emitting radiation source in the early 60's that emits such a low dose of radiation, it's hardly readible for a counter. If your watch is from that time period, you're fine.

Regards! Michaelson

[Mycroft]

On the mercury, it was only the hat maker who was open to the 'madness' situation, as the mercury vapors were ingested through the skin and inhaled during the felting process. Once 'boiled off', there were/are no further dangers of the mercury felt being worn or handled, and no 'madness' dangers for owners of the hats.

Regards! Michaelson

Ok, thanks.

[Lion]

Acording to a physics teacher I had in high school, shoe stores used to have xray machines, so you could see the bones in your feet and watch them move as you wiggled your toes. It was a sales gimick. Would probaly work today too, since most people don't seem to realise that xrays are a BAD thing and should only be done when necessary.

Leo

[carpecaligo]

My school did a production called Radium Girls that talked all about those watches - not only was the play fantastic, one of the last survivors of the factories came to see it and discuss at the talk-back.
(she had quit after a short time because she couldn't work as fast as the other girls)

Also - the mecury in hat bands, thus The Mad Hatter!

What always seemed weird to me, was the notion that hiding under your desk with your head between your knees was the best protection during an Air Raid!

Oh, and those info-movies depicting DDT being sprayed over happy clueless families at picnics and pools. How did that ever seem like a good idea?

[Vladimir Berkov]

Oh, and those info-movies depicting DDT being sprayed over happy clueless families at picnics and pools. How did that ever seem like a good idea?

If I recall correctly DDT is actually not harmful to humans.

[Mr. 'H']

I just checked out what it was....


The first chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide chemical name: Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane. It has a half-life of 15 years and can collect in fatty tissues of certain animals. EPA banned registration and interstate sale of DDT for virtually all but emergency uses in the United States in 1972 because of its persistence in the environment and accumulation in the food chain.
www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/dterms.html

[carpecaligo]

One of the reasons why the DDT did not seem to affect people is because it is difficult for DDT to be absorbed through human skin.

Eventually, we realized that some DDT was staying in our bodies.
A study in 1968 showed that Americans were consuming an average of 0.025 milligrams of DDT per day!

When DDT gets into our bodies, it is stored primarily in such fatty organs as the adrenals, testes, and thyroid. DDT is also stored in smaller concentrations in the liver and kidneys.
DDT concentrations are especially high in human milk. Milk production depends heavily on the use of stored body fat, and this is where DDT tends to stay in our bodies.

So exactly how much DDT can my body tolerate before I should really start worrying? That depends on how much you weigh. At concentration above 236 mg DDT per kg of body weight, you'll die. Concentration of 6-10 mg/kg leads to such symptons as headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and tremors.

Currently, there is much debate as to whether DDT can increase a woman's chance of breast cancer. Apparently, some researchers are saying that DDT (and some of its related forms) is an estrogen mimic.

[carpecaligo]

not to mention the environmental hacoc it wreaked.

[LaMedicine]

From The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy.

Toxic symptoms of:
DDT(and other chlorinated hydrocarbons) vomiting, paresthesias. malasie, coarse tremors, convulsions, pulmonary edma, ventricular fibrillation, respiratory failure.

Mercury
Acute: severe gastritis, burning mouth pain, salivation, abdominal pain, vomiting, colitis, nehprosis, anuria, uremia, skin burns from alkyl and phenyl mercurials.
Chronic: gigivitis, mental disturbance, neurologic deficits.
Mercury vapor: severe pneumonitis.

[Michaelson]

My school did a production called Radium Girls that talked all about those watches - not only was the play fantastic, one of the last survivors of the factories came to see it and discuss at the talk-back.
(she had quit after a short time because she couldn't work as fast as the other girls)

Also - the mecury in hat bands, thus The Mad Hatter!

What always seemed weird to me, was the notion that hiding under your desk with your head between your knees was the best protection during an Air Raid!

Oh, and those info-movies depicting DDT being sprayed over happy clueless families at picnics and pools. How did that ever seem like a good idea?

The 'Radium Girls' is actually the title of a book (one of the books that were reviewed in that article I mentioned above).

As to DDT, well, we thought it was a good idea at the time. :rolleyes: I remember them spraying around our town with DDT to control mosquitos. Smelled odd, but that was all.

Regards! Michaelson

[Vladimir Berkov]

But at the moment there is no clear evidence that DDT does indeed cause cancer. We only think it might cause cancer, and as far as I know the symptoms of large, short-term exposure are not long term.

I am not saying that DDT is totally harmless, but that when used properly the risk of harm is extremely small. When you compare that miniscule risk with the very real and very large risk of malaria in the 40s I would take the risk of DDT any day.

[BellyTank]

Atomic weapons testing above ground in Nevada/Utah- beginning in 1951.
126 bombs spread fallout fromTexas and as far north as up-state New York and Canada. Eastman Kodak's plant in Rochester, NY had a problem with their film-stock 'fogging'- down to contamination of course...
Fallout killed, maimed and poisoned thousands of humans, not to mention livestock and untold damage to nature soil, etc.
They only did it when the prevailing wind was toward Utah- look out Utahns!

"...when the government found three times the acceptable level of radiation in milk from Utah, they raised the acceptable levels three times."

It was kept pretty secret until the '80s.

Interesting and crazee!

B
T

[The Wingnut]

Old watches still having this paint intact on their dials are considered hazardous waste, and are handled as such. Breathing the dust is not recommended.

Regards! Mark

No wonder grandpa (a laser & radiation physicist at Lockheed for 30 years) had his watch tucked away in the drawer where I found it. *checks the time* Keeps great time, though! :D

[BellyTank]

If I recall correctly DDT is actually not harmful to humans.

...birth defects and neurological disorders... and many nasty forms of cancer-
or am I thinking of another 'brand'.

Maybe 2,4,5-T ans 2,4-D. Those two make up Agent Orange, the Vietnam version. Another poisonous legacy...

Those first two were tested and used in the '40s-

B
T

[scotrace]

But at the moment there is no clear evidence that DDT does indeed cause cancer. We only think it might cause cancer, and as far as I know the symptoms of large, short-term exposure are not long term.

I am not saying that DDT is totally harmless, but that when used properly the risk of harm is extremely small. When you compare that miniscule risk with the very real and very large risk of malaria in the 40s I would take the risk of DDT any day.

So DDT was banned based on dubious research. The result has been (and continues to be) thousands of lives lost needlessly due to insect-borne illnesses in developing nations. It was irresponsible to ban it. Take care in its application, yes. Respect it as a strong insecticide, yes. Regulate its use and deployment, sure. But an outright ban caused by environmental extremism bought far greater harm worldwide. From previous reading, there are few, if any, substances with a better effectiveness/danger ratio.

Golden Era Weirdness: Abandoning fresh food for canned processed mushiness.

[Vladimir Berkov]

Indeed, the ban on DDT was largely a political and emotional issue rather than a scientific, ethical or economical one. People in the US greatly overreacted based on pseudo-scientific works such as "Silent Spring" and disregarded the millions of lives saved by DDT especially in the third world which contains most of the malaria-prone zones.

[shamus]

wasn't ddt destroying bird eggs? Making the shells so thin that they'd crack open before the chick hatched?

I believe that was the main reason for it's stoppage of use.

[scotrace]

I have read that that was not so (bird egg shells)

[carpecaligo]

Swallowing Goldfish
This fad actually started in 1939 but carried over into the early 40's. Swallowing live goldfish became very popular among college students and drew crowds and crowds of spectators who wanted to witness this unusual sight.


Telephone Booth Stuffing
It was started by several college students who would squeeze themselves into a telephone booth until no one else could fit inside. Although the fad was popularized by colleges from the west coast in the U.S., it was actually started in South Africa where twenty-five students packed themselves into a booth and claimed they had set a world record. Soon, many colleges around the world were trying to beat each other's records. The fad died out in 1959, but was reincarnated in the form of Volkswagen stuffing a few years later.


Also - I was always under the impression that DDT did indeed thin egg shells.
The EPA site (http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/ddt/01.htm) doesn't give much information but the list of effects can be found here (http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/ddt.htm). the layout of the site is a little difficult to read, but since everyone seems to be so interested, i figured i'd post it.

[Vladimir Berkov]

In addition to phonebooth stuffing you might as well add flagpole sitting, another bizarre pastime.

[Biltmore Bob]

Lead pipes and lead paint.

But I'm confused by the World War comment...There is more 'War' happening now than was waged during the Golden Era.

[Chad Sanborn]

prohibition?

Chad

[scotrace]

prohibition?

Chad
The all-time winner of weird ideas.

[Lauren]

Baby cribs encased in screen- to keep out rats, pests, and teasing children.

Better than rats and pests in with the baby, though.

[Thunderbolt]

I hear DDT was causing the Bald Eagle to go scarce because of the thin egg shells. Since the ban, Bald Eagles are back. Oh, and cod liver oil is a good thing. I take it everyday. It's good for the eyes, nerves, and the elecrticle connections in the brain

[Biltmore Bob]

Don't believe every thing you hear...

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/720/freak4nq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[The Wolf]

Now I see why you wear a hat!! (smiley face laughing and rolling on the floor, holding its stomach)

A wag,
The Wolf

[swinggal]

The trend of 'Diving Horses' in 1930 at the Steel Pier at Atlantic City. WTF??? Poor things :( Didn't stop til 1978 either!

http://www.petticoated.com/pdqwinter04/otherdocs/divinghorse1W04.JPG

[Lone_Ranger]

But at the moment there is no clear evidence that DDT does indeed cause cancer. We only think it might cause cancer, and as far as I know the symptoms of large, short-term exposure are not long term.

I am not saying that DDT is totally harmless, but that when used properly the risk of harm is extremely small. When you compare that minuscule risk with the very real and very large risk of malaria in the 40s I would take the risk of DDT any day.


Exactly! Think about that. Since 1962, they haven't been able to directly link DDT, to cancer. On the other hand, we know without a doubt, that mosquitoes spread malaria.

September 15, 2006 The World Health Organization today announced a major policy change. It's actively backing the controversial pesticide DDT as a way to control malaria. Malaria kills about 1 million people a year, mainly children, and mainly in Africa, despite a decades-long effort to eradicate it.

The WHO previously approved DDT for dealing with malaria, but didn't actively support it. While DDT repels or kills mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite, it doesn't get much good press. In 1962, environmentalist Rachel Carson wrote a book, Silent Spring, about how it persists in the environment and affects not just insects but the whole food chain.

Of course, by then, DDT had largely eliminated malaria in the United States.

In the early 1960s, several developing countries had nearly wiped out malaria. After they stopped using DDT, malaria came raging back and other control methods have had only modest success.

[Helysoune]

ingesting tapeworm larvae to lose weight

cocaine in Coca-Cola

using Lysol as a feminine cleanser

menstrual belts

[LizzieMaine]

menstrual belts

Hey, they weren't *that* bad -- when you snapped your rotten little brother with one, he *stayed* snapped.

[thunderw21]

Acording to a physics teacher I had in high school, shoe stores used to have xray machines, so you could see the bones in your feet and watch them move as you wiggled your toes. It was a sales gimick. Would probaly work today too, since most people don't seem to realise that xrays are a BAD thing and should only be done when necessary.

Leo


My mom remembers doing this as a kid in the 1950s. Pretty crazy!

[MisterCairo]

I hear DDT was causing the Bald Eagle to go scarce because of the thin egg shells. Since the ban, Bald Eagles are back. Oh, and cod liver oil is a good thing. I take it everyday. It's good for the eyes, nerves, and the elecrticle connections in the brain

One of my previous commanding officers once told me bald eagle was great. Tasted just like peregrine falcon.....

[Atomic Age]

-- Beanie caps with propellers on top.



-- Charlie McCarthy.




I always wanted to wear a propeller beanie cap into a synagogue. I'm guessing they would kick me out.

Charlie McCarthy the ventriloquist doll isn't quite as strange as Charlie McCarthy the RADIO star!!!!

Doug

[HadleyH]

Weird? I'd say... :D

A shoe made from cow hoofs used by moonshiners during Prohibition in the United States of America to evade customs officials
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mikisu/2659154.jpg

[Bruce Wayne]

You folks might be interested in this thread (http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=44968&highlight=golden+era+inventions) that I started a while back.

[Helysoune]

Weird? I'd say... :D

A shoe made from cow hoofs used by moonshiners during Prohibition in the United States of America to evade customs officials
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mikisu/2659154.jpg

That's ingenious!

[57plymouth]

Wait, radium watches aren't safe? Nay nay, I say! Here's my great grandfather's. I know, it needs a new crystal...

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/57plymouth/Junk/IMG_0825.jpg

[Atomic Age]

I would think that a radium dial watch with the crystal in tact would be MORE dangerous. Radium puts of radon gas as it decays. In a sealed watch that gas would have no place to go.

I suspect the danger of radium dial watches is VASTLY over stated. The "radium girls" had health issues because they were mishandling the radium. Or rather they weren't taught how to handle it safely. Once safety procedures were put in place, there were no further health issues with radium workers.

Doug

[Miss Scarlet]

Pulling out pregnant women's teeth *shudders*

[Puzzicato]

:eek: Did they do that?!

[Cricket]

Pulling out pregnant women's teeth *shudders*

My husband and I just found out we were pregnant this week. This idea made my morning sickness return. lol

[Miss Scarlet]

:eek: Did they do that?!

Eek they did. When you're pregnant sometimes your teeth become loose and in the old days (not sure exactly what decades) dentists would just pull them out. That's how my grandma lost her teeth. It really is yucky.

[KittyT]

Hey, they weren't *that* bad -- when you snapped your rotten little brother with one, he *stayed* snapped.

And they were a huge improvement compared to the previously used alternative.

[Miss Scarlet]

My husband and I just found out we were pregnant this week. This idea made my morning sickness return. lol

Congratulations!!!! Gosh I'm getting quite broody myself. I'm so sorry to make your morning sickness return. Woopsy :confused:. All the best xxx

[vitanola]

But at the moment there is no clear evidence that DDT does indeed cause cancer. We only think it might cause cancer, and as far as I know the symptoms of large, short-term exposure are not long term.

I am not saying that DDT is totally harmless, but that when used properly the risk of harm is extremely small. When you compare that miniscule risk with the very real and very large risk of malaria in the 40s I would take the risk of DDT any day.


Malaria?

DDT was also, of course, effective against the insects that spread Typhus (a deadly bacterial disease transmitted by body lice) Yellow Fever, Horse Sickness, Carrion's Disease, Granuolytic Anaplasmosis, Kunjin, Viral Encephalitis, Plague, and many, many other dangerous infections, which were largely eradicated in the days of DDT. Now some are making strong come-backs, witness West Nile Virus.

DDT was also the only truly infallible destroyer of the dreaded Bed Bug, which is now being rapidly re-introduced to the USA.

I suspect that in a few years we shall all once again be sleeping on metal bed-steads.

In its day, DDT semed almost too good to be true, and was terribly over-used. More's the pity, for today even carefully regulated use is impossible here in the 'states.

[1961MJS]

DDT was also the only truly infallible destroyer of the dreaded Bed Bug, which is now being rapidly re-introduced to the USA.

I suspect that in a few years we shall all once again be sleeping on metal bed-steads.

Hi

A guy I work with has a relative in LA. He works for the cell phone companies working on the towers. He won't stay in hotels anymore, he brought bed bugs back to his house twice already. They have to freeze them out using liquid nitrogen or something like that. Sounded weird to me.

Later

[Cricket]

Congratulations!!!! Gosh I'm getting quite broody myself. I'm so sorry to make your morning sickness return. Woopsy :confused:. All the best xxx

lol After I continued to read other posts about it I found myself feeling all my teeth with my tongue to make sure everything was in top shape. I am proud to say that I am good to go. lol

[Mr Vim]

DDT, we had to douse our uniforms in that before going to Iraq... no funny side effects thus far.

Oh and I had to take Malaria pills, couldn't donate blood for a year.

Ah, the times I had in the service.

[Jedburgh OSS]

I was at an antique mall in Frederick, Maryland recently looking through old magazines. In the June 15, 1942 issue of Life (Vinegar Joe Stilwell on the cover) the photographic essay is on "Negroes at War." A few pages after the end of the article there was an ad for some product with a white man in black face saying something like Stepin Fetchit would have. Ironic if not weird.

[tuppence]

Not as serious as DDT
But there seemed to be a craze (in Australia anyway) of styling a babies hair into a mohawk....Maybe to make them look like kewpies. I know it was happening in the 40's

[MPicciotto]

Help wanted classifieds in the newspaper specifying "White" or "Colored" occupations.

Uranium or Vaseline glass. Do an eBay search and look at some of the sellers pics under blacklight...

Matt

[enigmata-wood]

Styling even stationary objects to look like they can go real fast with bullet profiles and tramlining.

[Atomic Age]

Help wanted classifieds in the newspaper specifying "White" or "Colored" occupations.

Uranium or Vaseline glass. Do an eBay search and look at some of the sellers pics under blacklight...

Matt

There was also "help wanted male" or "Help wanted female"

Doug

[LizzieMaine]

There was also "help wanted male" or "Help wanted female"

Doug

This wasn't just a Golden Era thing -- I can remember seeing those classifications in ads well into the 1980s. It was especially common for health-care job listings -- "Elderly Woman seeks female nurse/companion," things like that.

[Joie DeVive]

Eek they did. When you're pregnant sometimes your teeth become loose and in the old days (not sure exactly what decades) dentists would just pull them out. That's how my grandma lost her teeth. It really is yucky.

This was back before prenatal vitamins. If a woman didn't have adequate nutrition, the body will rob itself of nutrients, and often a weakened body will have loose teeth. It was said that a woman would lose a tooth per child or something like that. I suppose they pulled them thinking they were helping the woman, but in all likelihood, some of them might have firmed up after the drain on the body passed. Of course that would be weaning, so she might have lost them anyway....

[Shangas]

What always seemed weird to me, was the notion that hiding under your desk with your head between your knees was the best protection during an Air Raid!

Are you thinking of the 1950s "Duck and Cover" advertisements? It was supposed to protect against a nuclear blast...only...it didn't.

And I suspect that it would've been equally useless against a conventional bomb-blast.

[MPicciotto]

How about the "Miracle Chemical"s like FREON from the DuPont company. Previously refridgerants fell into three categories. 1. Flammable 2. Toxic and 3. Both Then came FREON. The wonder chemical. Niether toxic nor flammable. Supposedly it was first demonstrated with a salesman or representative of DuPont inhaling a lungful and blowing out a candle with it.

Matt

[HadleyH]

Never came across something like this before! 1930s ostrich wearing a throat warmer!:fing28:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mikisu/2663999.jpg

[MPicciotto]

Ostrich with a throat warmer... DING I think we have a winner!

Matt

[Miss Scarlet]

This was back before prenatal vitamins. If a woman didn't have adequate nutrition, the body will rob itself of nutrients, and often a weakened body will have loose teeth. It was said that a woman would lose a tooth per child or something like that. I suppose they pulled them thinking they were helping the woman, but in all likelihood, some of them might have firmed up after the drain on the body passed. Of course that would be weaning, so she might have lost them anyway....

In England if you're pregnant you get free dental care because of the whole loose teeth thing. I've not known any pregnant women to have taken prenatal vitamins. I hope we're not all malnourished in England.

[Story]

Never came across something like this before! 1930s ostrich wearing a throat warmer!:fing28:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mikisu/2663999.jpg

He needs a coat to match.
http://craftandhobby.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/ostrich.jpg

[HadleyH]

^
^
^
lol :p !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



1920s ostrich wearing a ........ mmmm... cloche hat??? :p :D


http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mikisu/ostrich.jpg

[Argee]

Are you thinking of the 1950s "Duck and Cover" advertisements? It was supposed to protect against a nuclear blast...only...it didn't.

And I suspect that it would've been equally useless against a conventional bomb-blast.

I always assumed that was to protect those on the very edge of the blast radius. It would protect you from small shrapnel. But since you don't know who's going to end up on the edge, everybody does it.

[Atomic Age]

This wasn't just a Golden Era thing -- I can remember seeing those classifications in ads well into the 1980s. It was especially common for health-care job listings -- "Elderly Woman seeks female nurse/companion," things like that.


Oh of course, but I believe that large companies stopped that kind of job listings in the early 1970's.

Doug

[Atomic Age]

Are you thinking of the 1950s "Duck and Cover" advertisements? It was supposed to protect against a nuclear blast...only...it didn't.

And I suspect that it would've been equally useless against a conventional bomb-blast.

The "duck and cover" drills were developed because the Army discovered that more people were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by flying debris than from heat or radiation. In addition, there were several cases where someone standing behind a wooden fence survived unscathed, where someone 20 feet away in the open, was vaporized.

In the early "low yield" days of atomic warfare, the duck and cover strategy made a good deal of sense. But those drills didn't make it very far out of the 1950's.

Doug

[LaMedicine]

The "duck and cover" drills were developed because the Army discovered that more people were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by flying debris than from heat or radiation. In addition, there were several cases where someone standing behind a wooden fence survived unscathed, where someone 20 feet away in the open, was vaporized.

In the early "low yield" days of atomic warfare, the duck and cover strategy made a good deal of sense. But those drills didn't make it very far out of the 1950's.

Doug
Maybe survived unscathed then, but just about everyone ended up suffering from long term effects of being exposed to the large amount of immediate radiation and long term exposure to residual radiation. Don't make light of the effects, there are many who suffer still from the after effects, and every year to this day, new names are added to the roster of the nuclear bomb victims who died of various post exposure issues, at the annual memorial services held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Joie DeVive]

In England if you're pregnant you get free dental care because of the whole loose teeth thing. I've not known any pregnant women to have taken prenatal vitamins. I hope we're not all malnourished in England.

On a normal basis, I wouldn't guess that you are malnourished, but during pregnancy, a woman's need for different elements changes dramatically. If the vitamins and minerals aren't readily available, the body will take it from itself. Here in the US, almost all pregnant women take special vitamins, and even women trying to get pregnant, or just off birth control are often strongly encouraged to take prenatal vitamins. I've never known a pregnant friend here in the US to complain of loose teeth. I was always told there was a connection, perhaps it's true?

[Puzzicato]

In England if you're pregnant you get free dental care because of the whole loose teeth thing. I've not known any pregnant women to have taken prenatal vitamins. I hope we're not all malnourished in England.

One of my colleagues - who did take pre-natal vitamins - is up to about 12 hours of dental treatment in the last 3 weeks because of the toll the pregnancy took on her teeth. And of course the abcesses she developed during the pregnancy couldn't be treated with antibiotics, so she was right back into the old fashioned remedy of biting on cloves!

[Sincerely-Dee]

My grandmother had terrible "morning sickness" all through her pregnancy lost her teeth because the enamel had worn down .

[scottyrocks]

My fiancee had great teeth until she became pregnant for the first time 16 years ago. Big recurring problems since then.

[Atomic Age]

Maybe survived unscathed then, but just about everyone ended up suffering from long term effects of being exposed to the large amount of immediate radiation and long term exposure to residual radiation. Don't make light of the effects, there are many who suffer still from the after effects, and every year to this day, new names are added to the roster of the nuclear bomb victims who died of various post exposure issues, at the annual memorial services held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

No my intent wasn't to make light of the effect of radiation. The long term casualties of radiation and fall out were much higher than those that were killed instantly.

However from the point of view of the civil defense authorities, people could be trained to avoid the effects of radiation and fall out (hence all the instructions for how to build fall out shelters and how to prepare food. Information the civilians in Japan didn't have.) but they had to survive the blast first. So we got duck and cover drills.

Interestingly there was a man who died just recently, who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts. He was in Hiroshima the morning of the first attack, survived, then traveled back to his home in Nagasaki in time to survive that blast. It seems to me that he was both the luckiest and most unlucky man in the world.

He died of natural causes.

Doug

[Chas]

There were a lot of unnecessary surgeries back in the day - at one point I think they were taking out kids' appendixes, adenoids and tonsils "just in case".

I guess it doesn't rate as bizarre for the era (made sense to them, I guess), but...spraying people with DDT.

http://www.whale.to/b/7weevil7.jpg

[Shangas]

Talking about weird and unnecessary medical treatments from history...how about this horror from the Golden Era?

http://www.winmentalhealth.com/images/icepicks.jpg

Three guesses! Who can figure out what these were used for? For some of the older members here, maybe you won't have to guess...

[Chas]

Lobotomy instruments?

[Shangas]

Yep. They're ice-pick lobotomy ice-picks.

[Chas]

My mum worked as a student nurse in a psychiatric hospital in the 1940's. All they had then to treat the various disorders were lobotomies, locking people up, insulin shock therapy- giving people overdoses of insulin which put them in a coma, then a stupor for several days; hydrotherapy (warm baths) and electro-convulsive therapy.

The first generation antipsychotic drugs were still some years away; the phenothiazines, like Chlorpromazine (discovered in France in the mid '50s) were developed by a surgeon who was searching for drugs to allay preoperative anxiety.

Back to topic - weird= those dog movies i.e. "Dogway Melody".

[LizzieMaine]

Back to topic - weird= those dog movies i.e. "Dogway Melody".

A lot of people at the time thought those were creepy. I'd also add the "Baby Burlesks" comedies -- shorts where toddlers were dressed up in bizarre costumes and put thru parodies of grownup movie stories. A toddler swaying around dressed like Mae West with a dubbed voice murmuring double-entendres is just -- ick.

[TrenchGuy]

-- Truckin'. (Not to be confused with truck driving. Look it up if necessary.)


I googled it, but couldn't find anything except the "Keep on Truckin''" comic by Robert Crumb...

[Chas]

I thought that that was a dance, and a song title. You sort of skip in place and waggle your R index finger.

[Chas]

A lot of people at the time thought those were creepy. I'd also add the "Baby Burlesks" comedies -- shorts where toddlers were dressed up in bizarre costumes and put thru parodies of grownup movie stories. A toddler swaying around dressed like Mae West with a dubbed voice murmuring double-entendres is just -- ick.

I youtubed that- I could handle about 30 sec's of "War Babies" with Shirley Temple. Sort of like those kiddie beauty pageants. Just plain wrong.

Of course, there's the "Citizen Kane" of weirdness. Todd Browning's Freaks.

[dhermann1]

There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 50's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic.
I saw a film from 1956, where they would crack open a heart patient's chest, exposing the beating heart (kind of like the Aztecs), and sprinkle lit bits of asbestos on the heart. They thought this helped it in some way. GAK!
When I was little, in the early 1950's there was a terrible polio epidemic. Little kids would go to the local swimming pool, and come home with a cold, or a stiff leg. And in a week they were paralyzed fpr life. Hideous hideous disease. Anyway, at one point I remember being in a long line (probably in 1952) at a clinic for a gamma globulin shot. Gamma globulin was somewhat effective as an immune booster, but was deemed impractical for widespread use.

[Atomic Age]

When I was little, in the early 1950's there was a terrible polio epidemic. Little kids would go to the local swimming pool, and come home with a cold, or a stiff leg. And in a week they were paralyzed fpr life. Hideous hideous disease. Anyway, at one point I remember being in a long line (probably in 1952) at a clinic for a gamma globulin shot. Gamma globulin was somewhat effective as an immune booster, but was deemed impractical for widespread use.

And today some parents are not vaccinating their children against a number of very serious diseases because of an unfounded fear of autism, of which there is zero evidence! Now we are seeing a spike in cases of measles. 91% of which were attributed to un-vaccinated children. Just insane!

Doug

[Chas]

And today some parents are not vaccinating their children against a number of very serious diseases because of an unfounded fear of autism, of which there is zero evidence! Now we are seeing a spike in cases of measles. 91% of which were attributed to un-vaccinated children. Just insane! Doug

I know; poor old Jonas Salk is spinning in his grave. I believe that anybody who doesn't get their kids vaccinated should have to sign a waiver that states that they will be responsible for all medical costs if their kids become sick. That will probably cure that problem.

And, if you question them on what their sources are, they are vague to the point of distraction. "Well, a friend of mine read an article and she said that it was probably a bad idea to get your kids their shots..."

More weirdness (in 20/20 hindsight)

http://www.mintfactory.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/more-doctors-smoke-camel.jpg

[Shangas]

Ah yes I remember the Camels ads from recordings of the Abbott and Costello radio program.

"What cigarette do YOU smoke, Doctor?"

Time and time again, the answer has been CAMELS!

[V.C. Brunswick]

I was listening to one of my favorite talk radio stations today and during a news break I heard this story:

INFANT SKELETONS FOUND IN CALIF. BASEMENT TRUNK

by
Nardine Saad, Associated Press writer

LOS ANGELES -- Two infant skeletons wrapped in 1930s newspapers and placed in doctor's bags were found inside an unclaimed steamer trunk by a woman cleaning out the basement of a 1924 building that's being converted to condominiums, authorities said.

The skeletons, believed to be decades-old remains of fetuses or infants, were discovered late Tuesday in the 4-foot-tall green trunk inscribed with the initials JMB.

Other things found in the trunk included cigarettes, a green bowl, black and white photos, letters, a book club membership certificate inscribed Jean M. Barrie and ticket stubs from the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The remains were found in a four-story brick building near MacArthur Park, just a few miles west of downtown Los Angeles. The larger skeleton, the size of a newborn, was wrapped in a Los Angeles Times newspaper dated 1934.

A smaller skeleton was wrapped in newspaper dated 1932, said Gloria Gomez, property manager of the co-op for the last ten years. She and friend Yiming Xing, 35, who has lived there for six years, had to force open the trunk with a screwdriver, she said.

Coroner's officials will try to determine how the babies died, check missing children reports and try to find relatives and neighbors who might know what happened.

It was Gomez's job to clean out the basement. Everyone in the building was given until Aug. 14 to get their things out. The condo board told Gomez she could have anything that wasn't claimed.

On Tuesday night, Gomez and Xing checked two unclaimed trunks and they were empty. They tried several keys on the last one, but finally had to pry it open. They found the drawers full and pulled out several antiques, the bowl, a toilet figurine, books, photos and documents.

Then they found the two black leather doctor bags.

Xing opened the first soft bundle. They found what looked like a piece of brown, dry, very old-looking wood, Gomez said, and Xing said it appeared to be an embryo. They called 911 and waited.

When the coroner arrived, investigators unwrapped the second bundle to find the larger skeleton. This one was more childlike, wrapped in an extra blanket, the sheet and newspaper. You could see the child's hair, Gomez said.

Both had been wrapped up like mummies but both were skeletons, Gomez said.

Another paper in the trunk was dated Sept. 17, 1937.

The women found a certificate indicating Barrie belonged to "The Peter Pan Woodlands Club," Gomez said. That said to them that the owner of the trunk might be wealthy, she said.

Oddly, Peter Pan was created by Scottish author James M. Barrie.

Coroner's investigators took the bodies, drawers, medical bags, photos and some of the other documents, Gomez said, but they left her the trunk, the book, the bowl, the cigarettes, a typewriter manual, the ticket stubs and clothing.

Police are awaiting results from the coroner's office and have promised their own investigation.

"We'll put detectives on this case for the long term," police Chief Charlie Beck told the Los Angeles Times. "We'll try to reconstruct the circumstances based on what the coroner tells us, based on the history of the residence and based on science. We have many more tools and technology available to us than before, which may allow for identification of the victims and closure to any family members."

According to the property manager's website, the Glen-Donald building has been used in a national DirecTV commercial, for the television show "Quarter Life" and a small independent film project.

The building's interior has solid mahogany woodwork throughout, a grand-style lobby and two period elevators that serve the building, another website said.

The building was being converted from a co-op building to a one with condoes. There were 94 units when it was a co-op.

Gomez said it was home to doctors, lawyers, writers and actors when it opened in what was then the tony Westlake district.

[Bruce Wayne]

^^^WOW!!! I am left speachless^^^

[Shangas]

My guess is that it was a back-alley or basement abortion...Yes?

[Diamondback]

And today some parents are not vaccinating their children against a number of very serious diseases because of an unfounded fear of autism, of which there is zero evidence!
Excuse me, but this sets a windup on me for a personal issue. Can we dispense with the "Autism Epidemic" bullcrap already? Speaking as someone with an autism-spectrum condition who knows the things from living with one, the "Disease/Epidemic" crap is starting to wear out the BS Button on my desk, and I just installed it a month ago...

It's really just a different sort of mind built for different jobs, and without certain individuals whose autistic conditions made them who they were, this world would be a very different and far worse off place than it is.:mad:

[Bustercat]

^Seriously!

The postmodern "our parents and grandparents were wrong about everything" epidemic is what's really gotten out of hand. Ironic too, that they still insist on some illusory standard of "perfect, normal, cookie-cutter children" while claiming to be so independent and outside the box.

My mother grew up in post war Vienna and had practically every deadly childhood disease except polio and smallpox. She almost went blind from measles and used her first fountain pen to write out her will at age seven during an extremely high, painful fever.

Are people so confident in 'alternative medicine' that they can be this foolhardy?

[Diamondback]

The rub is, each branch between traditional and alternative medicine has its uses, neither can deliver the whole taco. That whole "balance" thing.

As for "cookiecutter-wanting parents"... hey, did ya maybe ever stop to think that maybe your kid is different for a reason, that life may have something special in store for 'em?! *snort* Idiots...

[Vintage lover]

I personally maintain that some of the weirdest things have come from the fitness industry:

Ue6l7P5lROY

96LkiRQDk38

[Story]

The owner of this apartment, Mrs. De Florian left Paris just before the rumblings of World War II broke out in Europe. She closed up her shutters and left for the South of France, never to return to the city again. Seven decades later she passed away at the age of 91. It was only when her heirs enlisted professionals to make an inventory of the Parisian apartment she left behind, that this time capsule was finally unlocked.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/05/09/the-paris-time-capsule-apartment/

Related
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?5622-office-sealed-since-the-30s

[Stanley Doble]

How about the "Miracle Chemical"s like FREON from the DuPont company. Previously refridgerants fell into three categories. 1. Flammable 2. Toxic and 3. Both Then came FREON. The wonder chemical. Niether toxic nor flammable. Supposedly it was first demonstrated with a salesman or representative of DuPont inhaling a lungful and blowing out a candle with it.

Matt

Thomas Midgley the inventor of Freon did this demonstration hundreds of times. He is also the inventor of leaded gas. Old Thomas has a lot to answer for.

[BigFitz]

I always assumed that was to protect those on the very edge of the blast radius. It would protect you from small shrapnel. But since you don't know who's going to end up on the edge, everybody does it.

Exactly.

[SHOWSOMECLASS]

To maintain peace the countries of Europe allied for mutual protection. WWI started w/ the assassination of a ARCH DUKE not a King or Prince.
Solution is: the culprit goes to prison or is executed.
Done.

[Stanley Doble]

To maintain peace the countries of Europe allied for mutual protection. WWI started w/ the assassination of a ARCH DUKE not a King or Prince.
Solution is: the culprit goes to prison or is executed.
Done.

The culprit, Gavrilo Prinzip did go to prison where he died in 1918. This was not good enough for certain highly placed persons who were spoiling for a fight. They got it and 20,000,000 died.

[LizzieMaine]

If World War I Was A Bar Fight (http://www.tentimesone.com/if-world-war-one-was-a-bar-fight/)

[Stanley Doble]

"There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 50's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic."

"There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 2010's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic."

There fixed it for you. A lot of very smart medical people know now that certain drugs like statins and anti depressants are much more dangerous than commonly believed and in many cases do more harm than good. This is not new, it seems every year drugs are taken off the market and medical procedures go out of use when they discover they are harmful, usually after a few hundred or a few thousand patients are killed.

I used to have absolute faith in the medical profession but the more I have to do with them, the more leery I get. I wouldn't go so far as to refuse all treatment at their hands but I do a lot more to educate myself than I used to.

[V.C. Brunswick]

"There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 50's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic."

"There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 2010's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic."

There fixed it for you. A lot of very smart medical people know now that certain drugs like statins and anti depressants are much more dangerous than commonly believed and in many cases do more harm than good. This is not new, it seems every year drugs are taken off the market and medical procedures go out of use when they discover they are harmful, usually after a few hundred or a few thousand patients are killed.

I used to have absolute faith in the medical profession but the more I have to do with them, the more leery I get. I wouldn't go so far as to refuse all treatment at their hands but I do a lot more to educate myself than I used to.

Which explains why a doctor "practices" medicine. :p

[Carl Miller]

If World War I Was A Bar Fight (http://www.tentimesone.com/if-world-war-one-was-a-bar-fight/)

That is funny. :D

[hatophile]

"There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 50's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic."

"There were a lot of really bogus medical procedures still perpetrated in the 2010's, comparable to blood letting and the use of mercury as an antiseptic."

There fixed it for you. A lot of very smart medical people know now that certain drugs like statins and anti depressants are much more dangerous than commonly believed and in many cases do more harm than good. This is not new, it seems every year drugs are taken off the market and medical procedures go out of use when they discover they are harmful, usually after a few hundred or a few thousand patients are killed.

I used to have absolute faith in the medical profession but the more I have to do with them, the more leery I get. I wouldn't go so far as to refuse all treatment at their hands but I do a lot more to educate myself than I used to.

Unfortunately, many Americans want a quick fix by just taking a pill.

[TomS]

Weird stuff...

[Story]

April 1934...

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/qf/c/ModernMechanix/4-1934/med_giant_manta.jpg

[Shangas]

April 1934...

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/qf/c/ModernMechanix/4-1934/med_giant_manta.jpg

Damn!!

[Story]

See http://cdn-www.i-am-bored.com/media/67907_deadgiantmantaray.jpg

and http://www.fishingfury.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/manta-ray-record.JPG
(captions for these two : This gigantic manta is the biggest fish ever hooked and landed. The ray measured 19 feet, 9 inches from wing-tip to wing-tip and weighed over 5000 pounds.)
and http://www.fishingfury.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/record-manta-ray.jpg



See also
http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/45445/worlds-largest-manta-ray/

[Story]

Polly wants a double Scotch, neat.


ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Zoo opened its new $225,000 bird house on Oct. 5, 1930. It was the last word on avian habitat for urban zoos, allowing visitors to see and hear their exotic feathered friends up close.

The zoo boasted a rare collection of rare birds. Brewer August Busch Sr. had donated a King parakeet, one of only three in the United States.

Another St. Louisan gave the zoo his parrot, which had a flaw that went unnoticed until the crowds arrived.

The red-headed bird cursed a blue streak. The Post-Dispatch reported that its mildest phrase was “Go to hell.” Other oral flourishes couldn’t make print.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/a-look-back-potty-mouthed-parrot-shocks-visitors-to-st/article_4de7f545-f0ba-59b2-9b73-58d625526587.html

[W-D Forties]

Asbestos used for everything.

Hiding from air raids under the stairs.

Having all your teeth removed for your 21st birthday then having a nice new set of gnashers to replace them.

Never being allowed to learn to swim because of the danger of contracting polio.

Going deaf through measles.

TB! Though, sadly making a comeback.

The last 4 applied to my mum, by the way, back in the 30-40's. Thank god for the NHS!

[Gingerella72]

Having all your teeth removed for your 21st birthday then having a nice new set of gnashers to replace them.



Um......WHAT??? :eeek:

[W-D Forties]

Yup. Aparantly it was all the rage in the 30' and 40's!

[Shangas]

I might add that the history documentary "Blitz Street", by Tony Robinson, confirmed that hiding under a staircase was a perfectly legitimate way to escape a bomb-blast during the Second World War. The strength required to build the staircase was capable of withstanding the shock of the explosions.

Story, the um...story...about the swearing parrot is hilarious!! This bit had me in absolute stitches:


Members of Pi Kappa Alpha at the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) wrote, “There are 88 boys in this fraternity who would be more than pleased to have a pet that is both entertaining and instructive.”

[LizzieMaine]

While en-masse preventative extraction at 21 was never a popular or common thing in the US, it was considered a fact of life here that most people would lose at least some of their natural teeth by their thirties -- and it was quite rare for someone over fifty to have all, or even most, of their natural teeth: flouridated drinking water didn't become common until the sixties and seventies, which made a major difference in the prevalence of tooth decay.

One doesn't think of dentists as colorful characters, but the Era had E. L. "Painless" Parker, a flamboyant huckster who franchised an entire chain of associated dental clinics using his "painless" method of extractions. "Painless" traveled the country giving lectures on his system, illustrating them with a large pail of extracted teeth:

http://www.ushistory.org/oddities/images/teeth.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/n0asV.gif

"Next!"

[Shangas]

I know that mercury was used for many things back in the old days. Hat-making, thermometers, a treatment for syphilis...

But how the hell does it work as an antiseptic!?

[dhermann1]

In the Civil War doctors slatherd the stuff on. A union surgeon who tried to say that mercury was actually a deadly poison was cashiered from the service and his career was practically ruined. When I was a kid in the 50s we still used mercurochrome. Who knew the "mercuro" stood for mercury???

[LizzieMaine]

Pffft, only the middle-class kids got Mercurochrome -- we proles had to settle for common old iodine. We all knew it was poison because it had a skeleton head on the label, so it must be good for killing germs, right?

We did, however, get to play with mercury in science class, pushing it around on the desk with a pencil while the teacher lectured about it.

[dhermann1]

As late as 1956 there was a totally quack procedure that was embraced by mainstream medicine, that involved opening the chest of a heart patient (this was before the heart-lung machine, so the heart just sat there beating the whole time), and sprinkling bits of asbestos on the beating heart. No, this wasn't performed by Aztec priests, it was done by heart surgeons. I've actually seen films of it. This was supposed to do . . . somethng . . . to help the heart.

[Shangas]

Asbestos eh? Maybe it was to cool down the fires of love...

Some years back, my mother purchased a Chop for me, as a Christmas present.

For those who don't know what that is, it's a Chinese seal-stamp, carved of stone, with your name in it.

Traditionally, they come with a small bowl of red, cinnabar paste. You press the chop into the paste, then you stamp the chop onto whatever document you want to sign, and it leaves a nice, red mark there.

It's a Chinese tradition for a man to have a chop with his name on it, for signing important documents. Chop-carving is quite an artform in China. My grandfather had one, and my mother decided to extend the tradition to me.

Of course, the thing about this is...Cinnabar is pure mercury-ore.

If I ever go stark, raving mad while signing my name, you'll know why....

[LizzieMaine]

For many years my mother chain-smoked a brand of cigarettes with a futuristic filter containing asbestos fibers. And every theatre had a big asbestos fire curtain required by law to be displayed to the audience during each show -- they often had the word ASBESTOS painted across them so you knew it was the real deal.

Another thing we did in science class was put little square asbestos-covered mesh pads on a tripod on top of our bunsen burners to hold the beakers.

Asbestos shingles are still very common in New England -- many houses were sheathed in them for fire protection, and as long as you don't disturb them they aren't much of a hazard.

[Espee]

My mom pushed mercury around in the office of her father-- a dentist.

[Shangas]

Another thing we did in science class was put little square asbestos-covered mesh pads on a tripod on top of our bunsen burners to hold the beakers.

I know the ones! I think we still used them when I was in school...Yikes!

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Some years ago a friend of mine was a cook at a campgrounds. He cooked for a lot of people, and used a large thermometer which contained mercury. After eating a mess of fries one evening that he had deep fried with the thermometer, they noticed that it had shattered, spreading mercury all throughout their fries!
Of course they were freaked out by it, and called the local emergency room. But the doctor there assured them that elemental mercury would simply pass right through the body without causing any harm. Although if it were in the form of a readily absorbed compound, such as an oxide, that would be a different story.

[Shangas]

...is that friend still alive?

[fashion frank]

While en-masse preventative extraction at 21 was never a popular or common thing in the US, it was considered a fact of life here that most people would lose at least some of their natural teeth by their thirties -- and it was quite rare for someone over fifty to have all, or even most, of their natural teeth: flouridated drinking water didn't become common until the sixties and seventies, which made a major difference in the prevalence of tooth decay.

One doesn't think of dentists as colorful characters, but the Era had E. L. "Painless" Parker, a flamboyant huckster who franchised an entire chain of associated dental clinics using his "painless" method of extractions. "Painless" traveled the country giving lectures on his system, illustrating them with a large pail of extracted teeth:

http://www.ushistory.org/oddities/images/teeth.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/n0asV.gif

"Next!"

WOW he looks like the Col. Sanders of dentistry with a little side show hawker thrown in !

All the Best , Fashion Frank

[Dixie_Amazon]

Another thing we did in science class was put little square asbestos-covered mesh pads on a tripod on top of our bunsen burners to hold the beakers. I remember using these in the early seventies. We threw them like a Frisbee when the teacher left the classroom.