Weird Universe Blog — December 4, 2024

Typical reactions of typical American women to feeling A-bomb blast

May 1955: Seven "typical American women" crouched in a trench 3500 yards from an atomic-bomb test in the Nevada desert. They did it to "demonstrate to other women that civilians can survive an atomic blast, if they take proper precautions."

The best reaction to the blast came from Mrs. Grace Doebler of Tucson, Ariz.: "I'd like to do it again, with a bigger one."



Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin - May 5, 1955

Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 04, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | 1950s | Women

December 3, 2024

The John Quinn Letters

Peter Kavanagh published The John Quinn letters: a pandect in 1960. The book consisted of extracts from the letters of the lawyer John Quinn who had corresponded with many famous literary figures such as James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, etc.

The book is a literary oddity not because of its subject matter but because of the way that Kavanagh collected the extracts. He gained access to Quinn's letters in the manuscript room of the New York Public Library. But he was only allowed to read the letters, not take any notes on them. So he transcribed them, from memory, outside the library.

It was a form of spite publishing because the library had forbid the publication of any of Quinn's letters until 1988, and Kavanagh disagreed with this on principle. Also, he published the book on his own handmade printing press. The NYPL promptly sued him and barred distribution of the book.

I don't think it's possible to buy a copy of Kavanagh's book today, but a few libraries have copies of it. I believe there are only 12 copies of it still in existence.

More details from Life magazine (Feb 8, 1960):

When he died in 1924, Quinn bequeathed his letters to the New York Public Library, but the courts construed his will as barring publication in any form until 1988. Scholars who have been permitted to read them in the library's Manuscript Room have to sign a special form agreeing not to use direct quotation, and are forbidden to take notes.

But to Kavanagh, these restrictions were outrageously unjust...

In the Manuscript Room, he had no compunction about signing the pledge not to quote from the letters. "To me," he explains, "that paper had no more validity than posting a sign in my flat, 'Not responsible if the roof falls in.' I was driven and had no choice."

For 13 days Kavanagh pored over the letters. Unable to take notes, he simply memorized salient passages, then rushed outside to jot them down. When he had all he wanted he went on to the most arduous task of all: hand-setting the book and printing it...

Kavanagh had not sold a single copy of the Quinn Letters when the library served him with a restraining order, preventing him from distributing the edition and demanding its confiscation. At that point, Kavanagh made a heartbreaking decision.

"I don't want their bloody hands on my book," he said, and on the morning of the hearing he systematically hacked 117 volumes with a shoemaker's knife, shearing them down the middle. "It's like tearing my heart out," he said...

Kavanagh arrived in court with a briefcase crammed with the literary remains. He approached the bench and addressed the judge as "your lordship." Then he upended his briefcase and scattered his shredded copies as evidence that he had obeyed the injunction. The judge explained that he was not "his lordship" and gave Kavanagh permission to keep two unshredded copies of the book for himself.

Windsor Star - Jan 18, 1960

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 03, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Literature | Books | Lawsuits | 1960s

December 2, 2024

Hybrid Flare Denim

Jeans that are just the legs, but still have a belt and pockets.

Available from Coperni for $1,070.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 02, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Denim

Comedian’s Suit

Be sure to operate properly.

Full patent here.





Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 02, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Costumes and Masks | Humor | Inventions | Patents | 1920s

December 1, 2024

Time To Tell

Far Out magazine describes Cosey Fanni Tutti's 1983 album Time to Tell as "a groundbreaking sonic journey of the sex industry from the female worker’s point of view." From Far Out magazine:

Alongside her performance work, Tutti had engaged in a long career of sex work and stripping; however, she noticed that the perspectives of women, the dominant workforce of the industry, were palpably missing from an already non-forthcoming discourse, so she set about to reveal their reality.

Time to Tell was the resulting product, a groundbreaking sonic journey of the sex industry from the female worker’s point of view. Using only the medium of sound, it manages to execute the feat of taking the listener through the emotional processes of a seemingly shameful act and makes them less untoward and more accessible. The record begins in a way you might imagine – foreboding and full of trepidation, as if at the entrance to a dark jungle underworld. But as the music progresses, we realise that the truth of the matter is actually very different.

Hmm. Just sounds like ambient music to me. Though maybe my interpretive antennae aren't fully attuned to the nuances of the music. Or maybe there was more to the album?

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 01, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Music | Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings

Early TiVo for Radios

Completely portable!

The source.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 01, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions | Radio | 1930s

November 30, 2024

Game involving manipulation of a suspended object by bodily movements of cooperating players

Fun with plungers!

"provides amusement galore, not only for the participants, but also for onlookers"

More info: Patent No. 3104877



According to this invention, one or more pendant members are attached to a support intermediate the ends thereof and arranged for pendulation and revolution relative to the support. The support is adapted to be held in near horizontal position between the bodies of two people by pressure exerted in opposite directions against opposite ends of the support so that the pendant member or members is or are suspended for movement in an orbit between the bodies of the two people. By manipulating their bodies in proper coordination, it is possible to start the pendant member or members swinging back and forth about the support as an axis; and then by properly increasing the amplitude, the tempo and/or the quirk of body movement together, cause the pendant member or members to revolve about the support. Preferably, the pendant member is flexible, but weighted at the end remote from the support and attached securely (i.e., non rotatably) to the support so that it will wind-up on the support during rotation.

When the pendant members are finally wound up on the support, the game may be termed completed. On the other hand, if the pendant member be loosely attached to the support (i.e., so as to permit relative rotation at the connection) rather than winding-up on, it will go into circular or near circular orbit about, the support; and in such case, it is easier to accomplish the result if the pendant member be stiff rather than flexible. To complete the game is a difficult feat and one not easily accomplished, especially if certain rules are adopted which prevent the participants from using their hands or moving their feet. It can also be provided that if one of the parties or participants allows the support to slip and fall, he or she is immediately disqualified; but as it is ofttimes difficult to pin the blame on one participant, it is preferred, at least where there are numerous participants, either to disqualify the team, or to give each team three strikes before disqualifying them. Under such rules, it will be readily appreciated that participation in the game involves considerable exercise, skill and coordination, and provides amusement galore, not only for the participants, but also for onlookers.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 30, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Games | Patents | 1960s

Anyone At All:  Safety in the Community


Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 30, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Death | Domestic | Health | PSA’s | 1950s

November 29, 2024

Printers’ initiation ritual

Here's a quaint old custom that the digital age has likely done away with.

Des Moines Register - June 13, 1965



Some research reveals that the ritual was known as the "banging out" ceremony. Info from the Optichrome Blog:

historically, apprentices in the printing industry take part in ‘banging out’.

Upon the completion of their rigorous training, print apprentices were doused with all sorts of ink and print waste materials by their colleagues, before being paraded through their factories and towns in an outlandish community-building initiation that would never pass today. This bygone tradition dated back to the Fleet Street newspaper factories, when retirees were given the same treatment whilst being serenaded by the sound of banging tools – hence the name of ‘banging out’.

Below is video of a banging out ceremony that occurred in Woking around 1975.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 29, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Customs | Rituals and Superstitions

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