07 February 2022

Are these real?


Both images were sent to me via email from an unattributed source.  The one above purports to be from Popular Science magazine, and while the recommended behavior is probably in tune with the ethical standards of the time, in this day of trolls and spoofs I would like some affirmation that it was published.

Addendum:  This was a real suggestion.  Multiple readers found the original page via Google Books (links in the Comments)

This next one looks scary as hell -


- but a careful reading reveals that the suggestion is not to pump exhaust into the car's interior, but rather to use the exhaust to generate a Venturi effect to pull air from the hose.  My gut feeling is that auto exhaust (especially at idle) would not exert enough effect to measurably affect flow through a hose that long.

17 comments:

  1. First one looks legit:

    https://books.google.com/books?id=myADAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=used%20engine&f=false

    (pg 166 if link is busted)

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  2. Yep, the first one is real. Google Books has the Jan. '63 issue of Popular Mechanics archived, and that image is on pg. 166.

    https://books.google.co.in/books?id=myADAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false

    Obviously, a terrible idea that no one today should follow.

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  3. https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/05/fact-check-this-oil-disposal-tip-was-in-popular-science-magazine-in-1963-but-it-was-not-a-good-idea-then-and-it%27s-not-a-good-idea-now.html

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  4. The oil tip is real. You can view the issue at https://books.google.com/books?id=myADAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

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  5. Answer to the first one is True. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=myADAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA166

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  6. I was able to fact check the first claim by googling "Popular Science January 1963" and this was the first hit: https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/05/fact-check-this-oil-disposal-tip-was-in-popular-science-magazine-in-1963-but-it-was-not-a-good-idea-then-and-it's-not-a-good-idea-now.html

    It links to this page from a scan of the original magazine images here: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=myADAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA166

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  7. First one is true, it came out of Popular Mechanics magazine. Says so right on the page.

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  8. I can confirm that this advice was alive in the 1980's in suburban Chicago. We had a retired neighbor who changed his own oil. To get rid of the oil, he would pour it around the bases of the power poles throughout the neighborhood. He reasoned that this made mowing easier: by killing everything within a couple inches of the pole bases, it was easy to mow around them. No need for a string or hand trimmer to clean up. Just mow.

    Around this time, it was the same technique to get rid of old paint. Just dig a hole in an out-of-the-way corner, pour in the paint, and cover it over. This was after the days of lead paint but oil paint was still the norm (latex paint was available but frowned upon).

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  9. Not sure the dude who wrote that first claim had read "Silent Spring" yet...

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  10. I have a French drain in the middle of my 20's-built garage. Effectively this is also just a "hole filled with gravel", and presumably has seen its share of oil leaks and other petroleum waste over the years.

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  11. Given the fact that even in 2022 many people are completely fine with throwing their cigarette butts on the ground (each of which, I've been told, is capable of poisoning about 8 liters of ground water), are you surprised?

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  12. When I was a kid we usually dribbled the used oil around the dirt driveway to keep the dust down.

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  13. We are appalled by pouring oil into the ground, but still think it's normal to book a vacation flight, pouring a few thousand pounds of GHGs, per head, into the atmosphere. I wonder how that act might be perceived in 50 years, in the unlikely event humans are still around, fouling the planet.

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    Replies
    1. > We are appalled by pouring oil into the ground, but still think it's normal to book a vacation flight

      Some of us are appalled at both.

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    2. In my neck of the woods (Northern California), for every 1000 affluent "environmentalists" there might be 50 that won't be telling you about their latest trip to France. (About 5,000 pounds of CO2.) All 1,000 will crap a brick over the oil dumping scenario.

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  14. In the early 70's, my Dad taught me how to take care of the family auto. Washing and waxing, checking the tire pressure and changing the oil. His method for oil disposal was to pour it down our street's storm drain. This was in Houston and nobody batted an eye. Love Dad dearly, but he was pretty oblivious to the environment. I also recall walking along Galveston beach and getting tar on my feet (which I was told was from the oil tankers washing out their holds), so oil dumping was happening on a much bigger scale.

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  15. In the first sentence or two about the upholstery, I assumed they would run the exhaust through pillows and such to kill the vermin.

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