Boing Boing » boobies

Canberra Skywhale: fanciful, breast-studded lighter-than-air cetacean

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 15 May 2013 03:00:19 +0000

Here's a beautiful gallery of publicity shots of the Canberra Skywhale, a lighter-than-air sculpture created by Patricia Piccinini to celebrate the centenary of the capital city of Australia. The Skywhale is a fanciful, breast-studded creature from a contrafactual alternate history:

"My question is what if evolution went a different way and instead of going back into the sea, from which they came originally, they went into the air and we evolved a nature that could fly instead of swim. In fact coming from a place like Canberra where it's a planned city that's really tried to integrate and blend in with the natural environment, it makes a lot of sense to make this sort of huge, gigantic, but artificial and natural-looking creature".[8]

The Centenary of Canberra Skywhale (via JWZ)

A machine for washing breasts

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:05:57 +0000

Circa 1930s. Origin unknown. Use unknown.

Breast washer, c.1930s

Update: Our commenters solve the mystery. This is a French "breast enhancement" water massage device, and the whole ad is here (and here are similar ads. (Thanks, Daneyul!)

You can find out more by reading Quack!: Tales of Medical Fraud from the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, described by Orangedesperado: "Many items to consider with the original ads and copy. Don't forget the prostate warmer which worked with the heat of a light bulb and was helpful for stimulating the center of the 'male brain'."

Breast cancer prevention and evidence

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:56:16 +0000

The National Breast Cancer Coalition has come out with new evidence-based position statements regarding several popular preventative and treatment options for breast cancer. Among the findings: There is no link between abortion and breast cancer; there's no evidence that breast self-exams actually do anything useful; and the policy of routine mammograms for every woman doesn't help as much as we think it does.