Today
Modern Mechanix we look at a device that supposedly makes it safe to
repair planes in flight. Looking at the photo above this scheme seems anything but safe. If you've ever been to a carnival and gotten the feeling that the the games were not just hard, but impossible to win, you were right. This 1930 article explains
how they cheat. Also today we look at a 1936 Popular Mechanics round up of odd and wonderful
musical instruments, a very cool looking
table made entirely of little interlocking pieces, a
doggie treadmill for owners that want their dogs to be fit, but are too lazy to walk them, and a couple of ultra-streamlined
German cars.
Today Modern Mechanix we look at a device that supposedly makes it safe to repair planes in flight. Looking at the photo above this scheme seems anything but safe. If you've ever been to a carnival and gotten the feeling that the the games were not just hard, but impossible to win, you were right. This 1930 article explains how they cheat. Also today we look at a 1936 Popular Mechanics round up of odd and wonderful musical instruments, a very cool looking table made entirely of little interlocking pieces, a doggie treadmill for owners that want their dogs to be fit, but are too lazy to walk them, and a couple of ultra-streamlined German cars.
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From the article on carny games:
It is interesting to see "quant" old racist phrases used in magazines. I'm glad they didn't try and bowdlerize them as it helps to show where we've come from.
Of course, we still have plenty of racist phrases in current use, such as "Dutch treat" (i.e., the Dutch are to cheap to treat one another to a meal) or to "gyp" someone (short for Gypsy, i.e., Gypsies are dishonest). But it is also easy to misattribute racism to phrases that have completely separate origins, such as the word niggardly, which is not related at all to the racist term used above in Modern Mechanix.
Actually, the "gyp" thing is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. There's no clear etymology that implies the word actually stems from gypsies, and even if it does, in modern times the term "gypsies" has actually come to mean people who cheat and steal, so it all sort of works out. And yes, I know about the Roma, and no their persecution in the past does not make disliking gypsies and grifters invalid.
Since I always am dealing with gypsies, I mean.
Hmmm...so "gyp" may have been a word like niggardly? Good to know.
As argumentative as I can sometimes be, I want to have the correct information, not just think I'm right. And if I have the wrong idea, I do want to be corrected (doesn't mean I'll necessarily agree at the time ;-) )