the dossiers » inventors

Adelle Davis

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:38:55 +0000

Food-science expert and nutritionist, “First lady of nutrition” (1904-1974)

Daisie Adelle Davis, American health and nutrition expert, dietician, progenitor of the health conscious (“health food nut”) movement, advocate of unprocessed additive-free foods and high-protein breakfasts [wiki]

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.

AD Today: the Adelle Davis Foundation, active online discussion group

B-vitamin shopping list

Pepup

Invented the pepup cocktail for vigor and energy: whipped milk and egg yolks

Original recipe

Corbis photo of Adelle Davis drinking milk, circa 1970

The pepup is discussed, along with new modern variations & improvements on it, in English writer Michael Allen’s book, The Truth About Writing: An Essential Handbook for Novelists, Playwrights and Screenwriters (Kingsfield 2003). Allen recommends the pepup as a daytime energy drink for writers. [PDF]

Mentioned briefly in short online essay “What’s a Mother to Do?” by Ardith W. Walker

Books

Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit

Let’s Get Well

You Can Get Well

Let’s Have Healthy Children (“America’s most famous food expert gives the vital nutritional do’s and don’ts for expectant mothers, babies, and growing children.”)

Let’s Cook It Right

Exploring Inner Space: Personal Experiences Under LSD-25 (as Jane Dunlap) (Mystical experiences mentioned in The Secret Chief Revealed by Myron J. Stolaroff.)

Quotations

“As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.”

“Thousands upon thousands of persons have studied disease. Almost no one has studied health.”

Articles and info

“Adelle Davis Revisited” is a site containing information on modern supplements, vitamins and routines related to Adelle Davis’ ideas.

“The Legacy of Adelle Davis,” a critical look by Stephen Barrett

Adelle’s Granola

5c old-fashioned oatmeal
1c cut almonds
1c unrefined sesame seeds
1c sunflower seeds
1c shredded coconut
1c soy flour
1c powdered milk
1c wheat germ
1c honey
1c vegetable oil

combine all dry ingredients
combine honey and vegetable oil in separate dish
combine all ingredients, spread on two cookie sheets
bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until slightly brown

(From Life magazine, Oct 1971)

For further reading

Orton technique

admin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:33:23 +0000

Also known as “Orton imagery,” the technique invented by stock photographer Michael Orton in the 1970s. He used a tripod to take two slide photos of a scene, one underexposed and another overexposed and blurry; by superimposing the two slides, the resultant image gave the scene a glowing, ethereal, “otherworldly” effect.

There are ways of reproducing the Orton effect on digital images. There’s a Flickr Orton group and a “definitive tutorial.”

There are various ways to do this with open-source free software tools. All references to “orton” and “gimp”. [images]

See the Gimparoo! tutorial (an adaptation of a Photoshop tutorial) [more]

Chris Empey’s open source tutorial for emulating the Orton technique. [original]

Another Gimp tutorial.

There are also plugins, such as the orton effect plugin [example] but I’ve found, as with the fakelomo plugins, the hands-on image modifcation you can do yourself is better than the plugins almost all of the time.

Michael Orton’s book, Photographing Creative Landscapes: Simple Tools for Artistic Images and Enhanced Creativity

Edward Leedskalnin

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:03:03 +0000

Edward Leedskalnin (1887-1951), reclusive Latvian who built Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida by moving huge blocks of coral weighing several (up to 30) tons. [more]

Coral Castle is now a classic Florida roadside attraction visited by tourists on Miami vacations. [main site] [wiki]

“The Incredible Mystery Of Coral Castle” by Christopher Dunn, illustrated.

Friendly roadside America article

Leedskalnin said that he “discovered the secret of the pyramids.” No one saw how this little man moved these giant coral blocks, but the science of bulding pyramids is not entirely hidden and unknown.

However, due to the impressivene, unusual nature of this feat, there were claims of secret energies found there and a new hidden math (the Coral Castle “code”).

See also “Secret Energy Haunts Coral Castle,” Wired 2003.
and a skeptical look which offers a much more rational explanation.

Ian Gilmartin

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:29:33 +0000

Scots inventor. [wiki]

Invented miniature water-wheel whose energy output can power an entire house. Experimented with yogurt pots in a backyard stream, the Beck Mickle. The “low head” hydro generator in that stream costs 2,000 pounds and will pay for itself after two years. [illustrations] [pdf]

Media coverage

“Cheap energy hope from waterwheel,” BBC News, Dec 31 2006. (Illus.)

“Scots inventor cracks centuries-old puzzle,” The Scotsman, Jan 1 2007.

“Free Electricity, reprint from The Herald, Jan 1 2007.

“New Hydro Generator Marvel”

“Mini waterwheel can power a house”

Athanasius Kircher

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:35:53 +0000

German writer, philosopher, scientist and genius (1601-1680). Jesuit. Wrote 40+ books, invented the megaphone and the magnetic clock. [Catholic Encyclopedia] [wikipedia] [google]

Correspondence [more]

Kircherianum Virtuale: list of sites

Stanford’s Athanasius Kircher Project includes images, Kircher’s China research, his correspondence and more.

Articles and information on Kircher

“The Last Renaissance Man”

For further reference

Royal Rife

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:40:39 +0000

Dr. Royal Rife (1888-1971), cancer researcher, inventor

[Official site] [google] [wikipedia]

Invented The Rife Universal Microscope in 1933 which could magnify 31,000 times. Claimed to view viruses. Invented frequency instrument to destroy germs, cure cancer. Opened a practice and was eventually threatened by authorities, who raided his office without a warrant and eventually confiscated all equipment, notes and records.

Articles and books on Rife

Quick primer: “Royal Raymond Rife” tells of his life and discoveries.

Illustrated article, “Has the Greatest Health Discovery in History Been Suppressed?”

Rife was the topic of several books. One with a great deal of favorable reviews is The Cancel Cure That Worked: 50 Years of Suppression by Barry Lynes. Dr. Florence B. Seibert, creator of the TB skin test, says, “I think this book is superb and far superior to anything we scientists could write…”

Another book, with mixed reviews, is Royal R. Rife: Humanitarian, Betrayed and Persecuted by Gerald F. Foye, who says that he himself has experimented with the Rife frequency technologies. He also published this book under the pseudonym of Fred Farly

Film documentary, Royal Rife’s Beam Ray Device: Construction, Operation, and Effects on Selected Microorganisms

There is also a thriller by R. E. Payne, The End of All Diseases: An Obscure San Diego Genius Develops A Cure For Cancer In 1930 that is based on Rife but quickly goes from an introduction into what is apparently fiction.

Those who support Rife and his work call themselves “Rifers”

Long list of many “rifer” mailing lists

Practice today

Several vendors sell Rife machines. Many available discounted on Amazon: the Rife Machine System by CHI and
Global Wellness Model G Plus Rife Machine by Global.

For further research

Hedy Lamarr

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:32:52 +0000

Austrian-born movie star, diva, electrical engineer and inventor

Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria (1913-2000)

According to MGM studios: “The most beautiful woman in the world!”

Invented a method spread-spectrum (frequency-hopping) secret communication

Illustrated intro and short bio
less technical bio

Longer books: Hedy Lamarr and a Secret Communication System (Inventions and Discovery series) by Trina Robbins and Spread Spectrum: Hedy Lamarr and the mobile phone

In her last years she became a physical recluse, but spoke to people on the telephone for six or seven hours a day.

Films

Mechanical television

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:23:40 +0000

John Logie Baird was a Scotsman who invented MTV — a mechanical television

About.com article on John Baird includes a spooky image from the mechanical TV. (Eraserhead?)

Illustrated article at the museum of television

Great tribute site: bairdtelevision.com

[google]

Torre Bert

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:19:58 +0000

In 1957, two young DXers in Torino, Italy set up a homemade tracking satellite station and overheard space communications between Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts.

Illustrated Articles

“The History of Torre Bert”

“The Lost Cosmonauts”

“Lost Cosmonaut Rumors”

[google]

Invention news

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:13:42 +0000

News and links on inventions and inventors

Search patterns: alltheweb google

The Engines of Our Ingenuity radio program hosted by John Lienhard [complete archive, text and audio]

United States Patent and Trademark Office