Weird Universe Blog — February 20, 2025

Molecular Typography

A new book by Kobi Franco titled "Molecular Typography Laboratory" makes the argument that "the characters of the Hebrew and Latin alphabets possess a molecular structure."

What Franco means by this is that letters are made up of a small number of basic shapes or "atoms." Each letter-atom has positive and negative poles. These poles attract and repel other letter-atoms in such a way as to form all the Hebrew and Latin letters. So the letters themselves are molecules made up of smaller atoms. As he puts it:

Each letter in the Latin and Hebrew alphabets is composed of combinations of two to 11 atoms. The combinations of atoms that make up the letters are arranged as though composing a chemical formula. In this way, the first Hebrew letter, Aleph—composed of four squares, a short vertical rectangle, a parallelogram tilted to the right, and a parallelogram tilted to the left—is represented by the formula D4JKV. Each atom is surrounded by a fixed electric charge that causes an electromagnetic interaction. The combination of atoms into letters parallels the combination of letters into words. The atoms are 3D units, and their combination forms letters or 3D signs.



Franco freely admits that molecular typography is "an experimental, pseudo-scientific study"

In fact, Franco didn't originate the idea. He picked up on the concept from artist Woody Leslie, who in turn attributed it to a linguist named H.F. Henderson. But I'm not sure if Henderson is real or was invented by Leslie.

In other words, molecular typography is an art project. But the degree to which both Franco and Leslie have developed the concept is impressive.

More info: PRINT magazine, Ugly Duckling Presse

Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 20, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: Art | Languages | Parody

February 19, 2025

Freezer Jesus

"Arlene and Luther Gardner rest outside their home in Estill Springs, Tenn., as shadows form a bearded face on the freezer behind her."
The Tennessean - May 29, 1987



Battle Creek Enquirer - May 29, 1987

Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 19, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: Religion | 1980s | Pareidolia

Follies of the Madmen #616

Is this why mermaids come to the surface? Hard to smoke underwater?

Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 19, 2025 - Comments (1)
Category: Cryptozoology | Tobacco and Smoking | Advertising | 1930s

February 18, 2025

Miss Flipper

From the 1950s up until the mid 1970s, various young women were given the title of "Miss Flipper" when they won beauty pageants associated with Pancake Day celebrations. The most famous Miss Flipper contest took place in Liberal, Kansas.

Wichita Falls Times - Feb 19, 1956



Linda Spence, Miss Flipper of 1957



El Paso Times - Feb 28, 1963



A different kind of flipper: Bally Manufacturing featured a "Miss Flipper" on a 1973 flyer for its Champ pinball machine.

image source: pinside.com

Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 18, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests

Jan Hakon Erichsen - Destroyer Of Balloons

Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 18, 2025 - Comments (1)
Category: Art | Destruction | Europe

February 17, 2025

Moisturizing Denim

Denim company Soorty has come out with a product they call "Collagen Denim" which will moisturize your skin as you wear the jeans. Info from SourcingJournal.com:

Collagen Denim uses Umorfil technology, a state-of-the-art material that upcycles food waste into fabrics with skin-friendly properties. The fabric is enriched with collagen peptide amino acid derived from wasted fish scales, a byproduct of the seafood industry. Known for their moisturizing and soothing properties, the peptides enhance the fabric’s potential to support skin hydration.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 17, 2025 - Comments (2)
Category: Denim | Clothing

Feeding Fingers:  “Model Lives and Fallen Leaves”

With a hat tip to Warren Ellis.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 17, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: Music | Surrealism | Twenty-first Century

February 16, 2025

Rent Elderly People

A service that allows one to rent elderly people in order to "access senior-only discounts, early access to events, or priority service."

The site is a joke, but it's not a bad idea. Many supermarkets offer senior days once a month where seniors get a 10 or 15% discount on top of all other savings. So it would be worthwhile to have a senior do your shopping for you.

I know it's a joke because the web design company AE Studio takes credit for it on their "skunkworks" page.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 16, 2025 - Comments (4)
Category: Elderly and Seniors | Satire | Strange Websites

Special Receptacle for Used Chewing Gum

Full patent here.









Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 16, 2025 - Comments (3)
Category: Hygiene | Inventions | Patents | Junk Food | 1940s

February 15, 2025

A typewriter for people who don’t know how to read

In its Apr 20, 1972 issue, New Scientist magazine drew attention to Mildred Olsen's unusual invention (Patent No. 3,501,849):

The Olsen invention is intended to help illiterates learn typing. (Why we need illiterate typists the patent doesn't explain.) It divides the keys of a typewriter keyboard into eight sectors, each including several individual keys. Each sector has a different colour. The would-be typist wears coloured rings on her fingers and watches a visual indicator, which shows a colour either with or without an arrow. Where there is no arrow, the typist presses her finger with the associated colour directly downwards. Where there is an arrow, the typist first moves the correct colour finger up, down or along one key in the direction of the arrow.

I think New Scientist was being overly harsh. In the patent itself, Olsen explained that she believed her invention could help students learn to read, as they simultaneously grew familiar with using a typewriter. I can't find any more info about her invention, but I'd be curious to know how students responded to it.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 15, 2025 - Comments (1)
Category: Technology | Patents | 1970s

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2016 by the author of the post, which is usually either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.

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