WEIRD stuff from the golden era

Bogus heart surgery

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.

dhermann1 said:

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.

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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

Atomic Age said:

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

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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)

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!

A Rather Macabre "Time Capsule"

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.

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

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

Atomic Age said:

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!

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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.

^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?

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...

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

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[YOUTUBE]96LkiRQDk38[/YOUTUBE]

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.

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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

MPicciotto said:

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

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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.

Argee said:

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.

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Exactly.

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.

SHOWSOMECLASS said:

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.

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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.

"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.

Stanley Doble said:

"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.

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Which explains why a doctor "practices" medicine.

LizzieMaine said:

If World War I Was A Bar Fight

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That is funny.