[Found here.]
The Night Before Christmas
[Found here.]
Category: Retro & Vintage
A Public Service Announcement
[Found here.]
The RenuLife Violet Ray ca.1917
James Henry Eastman, a Detroit inventor who held several patents for violet ray machines, established the RenuLife Electric Co., in Detroit, in 1917. The device was a hand-held Tesla coil with glass tubes to (theoretically) protect the user:
“Treatment with a violet ray machine involved attaching one of a various set of evacuated glass tubes to a handle, holding it to whatever part of your body was troublesome, and then switching it on. This caused a high voltage, high frequency, low electrical current to run through the body. Similar technology is actually still used today in TENS machines that zap low currents into a targeted area of the body to relieve pain through nerve stimulation, though modern machines are safer and their use is monitored by trained professionals who use them only for specific types of pain. A violet ray machine, on the other hand, was capable of creating a powerful electric arc that could cause serious skin burns.”
[History and images found here.]
Stereoballs
The Project G stereo, produced by Canadian company Clairtone from 1964 to 1967, was a design marvel with its rosewood cabinet and rotating “sound globe” speakers. Famous owners like Hugh Hefner and Frank Sinatra showcased it as a symbol of sophistication. Despite its $2,000 price tag (around $20,000 today) limiting its market, fewer than 400 units were sold. The Project G has since become a collectible icon, epitomizing the sleek 1960s Jet Age style. Pictured here is Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and an unknown model. Photographer unknown, circa 1964.
[Images are of different models of the same series, found here, on the Clairtone website and elsewhere.]
Amathophobic Hot Links
Transatlantic Orbit, The Space Cossacks (1998)
This instrumental space surf rock quartet formed in Washington, D.C. in 1996. They released their 2nd album in 2000 – Tsar Wars.
“See ya”
NFL filth [h/t Chuck C.].
Up the turbine {via Bunkerville].
Be Prepared [via Memo Of The Air].
Puke [via The View From Lady Lake].
Rats like to drive [via Nag on the Lake].
You want your own Irish Pub? (Okay, but heed this warning.)
[Top image: An online auction of Space Toys is scheduled for noon ET on December 3 2024 [via Mme. Jujujive].
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
18 Songs that have nothing to do with Thanksgiving
Living in the Retro Future
Thanksgiving ca. 1923
I presume the families are of Irish ancestry, dates and locations unknown.
The images are leftovers from messing with Xwitter’s Grok AI generator (click to enlarge).
Teichoscopic Hot Links
Girl Of My Dreams, Ike Quebec (1945) An accomplished dancer and pianist, Ike Quebec switched to tenor sax as his primary instrument in his early 20s, and quickly earned a reputation as a promising player. His recording career started in 1940, with Count Basie’s Barons of Rhythm.
The Sloopy Girl.
The real Sloopy.
Greg on X (sound up).
Frog flops [via Bunkerville].
First date / fast food survey.
The Hog Killin’ [via Feral Irishman].
Deathcalator [via Memo Of The Air].
“What would you say to the Pilgrims?”
How to move a gemsbok without getting killed.
[Top image: A GROK- generated image with the prompt “Create a photo of an American family in the 1920s sitting at the dinner table with a large potato.”
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
Let’s Ventriloquise!
‘Ventriloquism’ With 5 Famous Comics Talking Figures – This 1930s book contained four thin cardboard talking figures: Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Smitty, Moon Mullins and Lillums.
[Found here.]
Tacky Raccoons 