Ballscientist?

[Black Bart]

Glowfoot

Now that Jan's tipped me off as to what that contraption was, I went lookin' and found a close-up of it.

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm

I couldn't recall what that rig looked like before, but now I remember stepping up and standing on it. At the time all of us kids thought it was just the coolest thing to get to look at your green foot -- had no idea I was sort of getting fried. Guess it wasn't too bad for the kids though; this article says they got a low dose even though many shoe salesmen got zapped frequently by reaching into the machine and squeezing the shoe while the kid's foot was in it.

Odd, the things that happened during the "infancy" of science in the mid-20th century. We were so naive. During the fifties, the city would send trucks around the neighborhoods spraying DDT insecticide for mosquitoes. I've seen kids run out and play in that fog mist streaming from the trucks. Who knows what that did to them in later years.

[Gary]

I remember

I also remember the x-ray machines for shoes.

They also used to irradiate necks with x-rays as a cure for bad coughs. I had this done and ended up with thyroid cancer.

Gary

[Bird Legs]

Also the Uranium Parlors

Where, for a fee, you could go in and sit in an area and get cured of whatever ailed you
at that time.

[jainen]

We still got those

>>go in and sit in an area and get cured of whatever ailed you<<

We still got those. It's called a bar.

[Lion]

Irradiation

Gary, I'm so sorry. We must be about the same age. My mother called me frantically about 30 years ago. She'd been talking to a friend, the mother of a man I grew up with, who was at high risk for thyroid cancer due to being irradiated for an enlarged thyroid when a baby. He was being checked every six months. My mother checked my baby book and discovered her notes that I'd had three radiation treatments for an enlarged thyroid. I rushed off to my doctor. He said women were at a lower risk but sent me off for a lengthy test. I guess doctors thought we all had enlarged thyroids in those days, but they actually shrink a bit after birth, or some such thing -- it certainly has become dimmer in my mind in the last twenty years since my doctor explained it to me. My doctor has not thought it necessary to repeat any tests.... How are you doing, Gary? You'll be in my thoughts.

[wv112]

"During the fifties, the city would send trucks around the neighborhoods spraying DDT insecticide for mosquitoes. I've seen kids run out and play in that fog mist streaming from the trucks. Who knows what that did to them in later years."

I was one of those kids running around behind one of those trucks. I've had the flu a couple of times, colds like everyone else. So far, nothing else. Maybe that DDT made me immune from some of the bad stuff. Hope so anyway.

[Black Bart]

Glowkids

"During the fifties, the city would send trucks around the neighborhoods spraying DDT insecticide for mosquitoes. I've seen kids run out and play in that fog mist streaming from the trucks. Who knows what that did to them in later years."

I was one of those kids running around behind one of those trucks. I've had the flu a couple of times, colds like everyone else. So far, nothing else. Maybe that DDT made me immune from some of the bad stuff. Hope so anyway.

Re my post "who knows what...": considering it; that seems like an overstatement. I think you're probably okay, WV. I knew several kids that did that without even a shirt on and none of them ever came down with anything even after many years later, so it seems like the human body can take more than we think it can.

Actually, I was just thinking that some of the danger of those days may have been overblown (excepting Gary's type of unfortunate experience, of course -- I assume he got a very high direct dose). I read the "shoe machine" article and they said no injuries were ever reported by any shoe customers, while the salesmen who stuck their hands in there only got dermatitis. Before the usual "regulators" (Massachusetts required a doctor on site) showed up, it was quite a booming business. I liked that $900 "shoe box" because it was actually a pretty good example of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship, which usually flourishes until the rulemakers arrive. A shoe model died, but you can overdo anything -- witness Ralph Nader, who doesn't have a car and wants all of us to walk too, since he feels GM and others aren't "up to snuff."

[veritas]

"During the fifties, the city would send trucks around the neighborhoods spraying DDT insecticide for mosquitoes. I've seen kids run out and play in that fog mist streaming from the trucks. Who knows what that did to them in later years."

I was one of those kids running around behind one of those trucks. I've had the flu a couple of times, colds like everyone else. So far, nothing else. Maybe that DDT made me immune from some of the bad stuff. Hope so anyway.

What DDT did do was wipe out malaria in North America and Europe. Unfortunately for some countries especially in Africa, malaria is still a major killer.

[Black Bart]

Quite the scholar

What DDT did do was wipe out malaria in North America and Europe. Unfortunately for some countries especially in Africa, malaria is still a major killer.

aren't you? I did not know that.

[Bees Knees]

Maybe that DDT made me immune from some of the bad stuff. Hope so anyway.

They sort of use that same theory for treating cancer. Here, take this poison in hopes that the cancer cells will die before the rest of your body cells die.

[Gary]

Doing Fine

Gary, I'm so sorry. We must be about the same age. My mother called me frantically about 30 years ago. She'd been talking to a friend, the mother of a man I grew up with, who was at high risk for thyroid cancer due to being irradiated for an enlarged thyroid when a baby. He was being checked every six months. My mother checked my baby book and discovered her notes that I'd had three radiation treatments for an enlarged thyroid. I rushed off to my doctor. He said women were at a lower risk but sent me off for a lengthy test. I guess doctors thought we all had enlarged thyroids in those days, but they actually shrink a bit after birth, or some such thing -- it certainly has become dimmer in my mind in the last twenty years since my doctor explained it to me. My doctor has not thought it necessary to repeat any tests.... How are you doing, Gary? You'll be in my thoughts.

Thanks for asking, Lion. If you are going to get cancer, thyroid cancer is about the best kind to get. That was over 20 years ago, and the only change in my life (other than the surgery to remove the thyroid) is that I have to take throxine every day for the rest of my life.

[Lion]

Great News

Good for you, Gary. Maybe, after 30 years, I should tell my current doctor to see if any follow-up is in order....