Weird Universe Blog — October 20, 2024
The Sonata of Sleep
The Sonata of Sleep wasn't a musical composition. Instead it was a building designed (but never built) in the 1930s by Soviet architect Konstantin Melnikov. He envisioned it as a place where Soviet workers could enjoy scientifically-enhanced sleep. Details from Cabinet magazine:At either end of the long buildings were to be situated control booths, where technicians would command instruments to regulate the temperature, humidity, and air pressure, as well as to waft salubrious scents and “rarefied condensed air” through the halls. Nor would sound be left unorganized. Specialists working “according to scientific facts” would transmit from the control centre a range of sounds gauged to intensify the process of slumber. The rustle of leaves, the cooing of nightingales, or the soft murmur of waves would instantly relax the most overwrought veteran of the metropolis. Should these fail, the mechanized beds would then begin gently to rock until consciousness was lost.
Model of Melnikov's Sonata of Sleep
image source: interwoven
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 20, 2024 -
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Category: Architecture | Sleep and Dreams | 1930s | Russia
2002: Child Life One Hundred Years from Now
We have a theme on WU of predictions of a future we have already reached. Some are way off, others more accurate. You may decide for yourself how this book fares. While we do not yet have personal winged flight for kids, we do have telephones with visuals.Read the whole thing here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 20, 2024 -
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Category: Predictions | Yesterday’s Tomorrows | Children | Books | Science Fiction | 1900s
October 19, 2024
Every Book-of-the-Month Club Selection
The Book-of-the-Month Club launched in 1926. New York lawyer Eustace Seligman became the first member.Life magazine caught up with Seligman 23 years later and discovered that not only was he still a member, but he had bought (and still owned) every monthly selection, plus the various extra books offered, for a total of 449 books.
source: Google Images
Seligman died in 1976. I wonder if he had continued to purchase every monthly selection.
So what were the titles of all those books that Seligman owned? Blogger Jeyla Briar has compiled a list of every monthly selection from the Book-of-the-Month Club since 1926. (Around 2015 they started offering 4 or 5 monthly selections rather than one).
I don't recognize the majority of the titles. But if you're looking for a reading challenge, working your way through every Book-of-the-Month Club selection would be a daunting one.
And yes, the Book-of-the-Month Club is still going strong, with around 100,000 current members.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 19, 2024 -
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Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations | Books
The Letkiss
One of the weirder life-of-a-mayfly dance trends of the 1960s.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 19, 2024 -
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Category: Fads | 1960s | Dance | Europe
October 18, 2024
Irv Teibel’s Environments
Irv Teibel pioneered recording environmental sounds (thunder storms, waterfalls, and the like). His "Environments" albums sold millions of copies.The interview below, posted on YouTube by his daughter, took place sometime in the early 1980s. In it he describes how he recorded the thunderstorm album by sticking a microphone out his bathroom window.
More info: wikipedia
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 18, 2024 -
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Category: Nature | Weather | Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings
Whatisit on the Loose
Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 18, 2024 -
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Category: Cryptozoology | 1930s
October 17, 2024
Miss Bombsight
In 1944, U.S. airmen selected Kathleen O'Malley as "the girl we'd most like to see in our bombsight."Being in the bombsight doesn't sound like a good thing.
Kathleen O'Malley's IMDB page. Her earliest credited role was in 1926 when she was thirteen months old. Her final one was in 1998. That's quite a career.
More info: wikipedia
Santa Rosa Press Democrat - Nov 24, 1944
Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 17, 2024 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Military | 1940s | Weapons
Miss New York Experience
This 1975 photo from JET magazine might represent a one-off title, because I can find no photos of other winners.Arguably, to represent the true experience of NYC circa 1975, this charming young woman should have featured a much different, ah, seedier look.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 17, 2024 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Urban Life | 1970s
October 16, 2024
The Pepsi Navy
In 1989, Pepsi bought 17 submarines from the Soviet Union. This briefly put it in control of the seventh-largest fleet of attack submarines in the world.Foreign Policy magazine delves into the history of this strange transaction, which has apparently risen to the status of urban legend in foreign policy circles. (The urban legend is that the deal briefly gave Pepsi the sixth-largest military fleet in the world — not true).
The gist of the story is that Pepsi had a long-standing relationship with the Soviet Union, having an exclusive deal to sell American soft drinks there. So when the Soviet Union was looking to sell some old submarines for scrap metal, Pepsi agreed to act as a middleman, passing the subs along to a Norwegian shipping firm. In return, Pepsi got expanded access to the Soviet market.
More details: foreignpolicy.com
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 16, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Boats | Diplomacy and Foreign Relations | Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages | 1980s
The Ring-O Pool Table
One hole only. Learn more here, at the site dedicated to the inventor, Irving Kaye.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 16, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics | Inventions | Sports | 1960s
