Printed 103 years ago today in the East Oregonian. Image cleaned up, see the original.
Found on the Library of Congress site.
Ah, the good old scientific days when every product had to be marketed as scientific, using that exact word. Like this scientific ad, which scientifically repeats how scientific the headlight is because scientific readers demand science scientifically.
No worse than the “atomic” or “space-age” days that followed, and way better than “block-chain” or “AI” of today.
True, just like “online” and “.com” in the 2000s. Marketing loves to pointlessly toss around fad words. I will mock this specific ad for overusing the word to a comical degree, though.
I will mock this specific ad for overusing the word to a comical degree, though.
Don’t get me wrong. I agree. Mock away. I was just commenting on how this is something we can’t seem to get away from.
Ordinary Headlight Dangerous
Edit: SCIENCE!
How the fuck is this still relatable 100 years later? Wtf
Partly because it describes a longstanding tension: the needs of the drivers (to see as much as possible at night) vs the needs of pedestrians (to not be blinded.)
And also because of selection bias: for every relatable cartoon, there are 3-4 that rely on obsolete details, 2-3 where the joke falls flat, etc. When we pick a cartoon to post, we tend to favor those that are still relatable.
any of the shitty ones to share just to let us know how much awesome work you are doing for curation?
Here are a couple that have amusing lore, but that I didn’t think were worth posting. I wouldn’ call them “shitty”, just not as relateable and because of that they’re not as amusing. For example, the first one involves mailing a photo, which isn’t something we do much any more; the equivalent would be maybe something like sending a friend request:
- Everett True has a nephew called “J. Basil True”, who is pictured in the Daily East Oregonian on Sept 27 1919.
- there’s a comic from The Day Book of September 27 1915 that doesn’t seem to show Everett at all… unless Everett is the baby! This is one of Everett’s earliest Outbursts.
- Everett True was skinny when he got married, according to The Seattle Star of Oct 1, 1916.
- Evertt True has a cousin from Kokomo, according to The Daily East Oregonian of October 7, 1919.
I love the one with the photo
Imagine driving around and suddenly Everett True is standing in front of your car. Nightmare fuel. Better watch those headlights, kids!
He’s like a moose, the car might not win!
As someone who drives early in the morning before the sun is up I relate to this on a spiritual level.
Back from a time when you could stand in front of a driving car with a hand raised, and the driver would stop.
Interesting article on the source page about the arms build-up of Japan, and the people behind it.
It seems everett always solves his problems by resorting to violence
How has this not been properly regulated in over 100 years?!?!? WHY! WHY! WHY!
…well actually I know partially why there’s been a recent uptick, because China sells LED lights that are harder to get right when installing and are less directional, because rather than using lenses the brightness or rise of the light is defined by which LEDs get powered, so lots of people are wiring them incorrect just getting them to work on a basic on/off level then moving on… Meaning drivers may set the headlights correctly but due to wiring they’re actually on the highbeam setting. Welcome to the digital age.
