The Volokh Conspiracy
[Puzzleblogger Kevan Choset, March 31, 2006 at 10:56am] Trackbacks
Events:

In 1998 Burger King introduced the left-handed Whopper (the condiments were designed to fall out the right side). In 1965 the BBC conducted a trial of "Smell-o-vision," in which smells would be conducted to viewers (smellers?) at home. And several years ago BMW introduced a car horn designed to calm, rather than aggravate, other drivers.

What do these events have in common?

csw (mail):
Presumably they were all April Fool's jokes?
3.31.2006 10:57am
Ryan (mail):
April Fools
3.31.2006 10:57am
SG (mail):
They were all Sidd Finch's ideas?
3.31.2006 11:00am
Mike Smitherson:
They were not introduced/conducted in that one guy's kitchen?
3.31.2006 11:00am
TJ (mail):
I suppose that tomorrow marks the anniversary for each.
3.31.2006 11:07am
rbj:
Dan Rather had the memos to prove they were all true. (Sorry, but the April Fools part was already taken).
3.31.2006 11:11am
Thales (mail) (www):
The introducing companies all begin with "B"
3.31.2006 11:20am
Soo:
None of them have been in my kitchen.
3.31.2006 11:58am
Barfy (mail):
They were all invented by Kevan and designed to fool people into thinking they were actual April Fool's jokes.
3.31.2006 12:19pm
MarkW (mail):
Just a footnote: Smell-o-vision was actually first "predicted" in a Bugs Bunny cartoon back in the 1940's.
3.31.2006 12:26pm
Dave Ruddell (mail):
I liked the spaghetti tree BBC hoax better than the smell-o-vision
3.31.2006 12:42pm
Justin (mail):
I personally liked "Absolut April Fools"
3.31.2006 12:59pm
Andy:
They were all George Bush's fault?
3.31.2006 1:19pm
SenatorX (mail):
Didn't Sony(?) just patent some sort of "Smell-O-Vision" just in the past couple years? It operates with some sort of wave that affects the viewers brains so they each individualy smell what they THINK they should smell depending on what they are watching. Its neat but disturbing too.
3.31.2006 1:48pm
uh clem (mail):
They're all lies promulgated by the liberal media.
3.31.2006 1:48pm
MJH (mail):
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I hope somebody tells me before they shut down the internet for cleaning tomorrow. I don't want to wait until Sunday.
3.31.2006 2:10pm
Brian G (mail) (www):
They were conspiracies by Karl Rove to fill the coffers of Bush's cronies at Halliburton.
3.31.2006 2:13pm
Stephen Macklin (mail) (www):
They failed miserably, but the marketing department still got bigger bonuses.
3.31.2006 2:26pm
Frank Drackmann (mail):
The movie "Polyester" had a version of smell-O-vision, called "Odorama" with a scratch and sniff card to match various scenes in the movie.
3.31.2006 3:14pm
Andy:
They're still more failed business ventures of George Bush. Another was a service for washing "windows," aimed at PC users.

The Cranky Insomniac
3.31.2006 4:06pm
Redman:
My broker recommended that I buy stock in all of them?
3.31.2006 4:29pm
byrd (mail):
I'm a regular user of all of them.
3.31.2006 4:31pm
bornyesterday (mail) (www):
Jewish Conspiracy.
3.31.2006 4:55pm
Don Miller (mail):
I can't believe I actually knew the answer to one of these quizzes finally.
3.31.2006 5:29pm
Admin - Gun Law News (mail) (www):
One year BMW advertised a convertible that could be open in the rain. An automatic detection system would initiate a jet of air out of the top of the windshield to push the rain over and past the back of the occupants.

The actually got calls interested in the car.
3.31.2006 6:09pm
Devin McCullen (mail):
They were all developed by graduates of George Mason University?
3.31.2006 6:57pm
Nathan:
Admin - this is actually not a stupid idea at all. I drive my convertible in the rain all the time. Above about 30 mph the rain hits the windshield and not the occupants because of the car motion (i.e. the wind from the point of view of the occupants). It is probably impractical to get 30 mph winds from a stopped car to blow away the rain, but I wouldn't count out new technologies that could do it in the future.
3.31.2006 7:10pm
Stephen M (Ethesis) (www):
Admin - this is actually not a stupid idea at all. I drive my convertible in the rain all the time. Above about 30 mph the rain hits the windshield and not the occupants because of the car motion

I used to drive my X1/9 in the rain the same way. If it started raining, I'd just drive along and look for an overpass. I could generally stop under one without getting wet, toss the top on, and drive on.
3.31.2006 9:27pm
Lev:
They were combined in one product, a BMW that calmed the driver with the smell of a whopper when he blew the horn, calmed him so much he would drive off the right side of the road.
3.31.2006 11:34pm
Gary and the Samoyeds (mail) (www):
While the BBC thing was a joke, there actually was a smell-o-vision debut. I believe it was a (live) play, in the early 1900s, in which the theatre manager would add certain scents at certain scenes. Of course, the ventilation didn't clear out the old scents so by the end of the first scene, there was a noisome mixture in the theatre, and people left gagging.
4.2.2006 5:45pm

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