WEIRD stuff from the golden era

[Chad Sanborn]

prohibition?

Chad

 

[scotrace]

There - You Nailed It

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]

I used to run behind the DDT spray truck...

Don't believe every thing you hear...

 

[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!

 

[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...

A shoe made from cow hoofs used by moonshiners during Prohibition in the United States of America to evade customs officials

 

[Bruce Wayne]

You folks might be interested in this thread that I started a while back.

 

[Helysoune]

Weird? I'd say...

A shoe made from cow hoofs used by moonshiners during Prohibition in the United States of America to evade customs officials

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...

 

[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]

Did they do that?!