Weird Universe Blog — April 19, 2024

Wizz Air to fly on human waste

So there really is a European airline named Wizz Air (I had to check wikipedia to make sure it was real), and it recently announced that by 2030 "up to 10% of its flights could be powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) derived from human waste." From msn.com:

The concept of converting human waste into jet fuel might raise some eyebrows, but Firefly CEO James Hygate acknowledges the cringeworthy aspect while also lauding the potential of this resource. Hygate's frank description of the biosolids as "kind of disgusting" but "an amazing resource" underscores the pragmatic approach to utilizing the millions of tonnes of waste that have no intrinsic value.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 19, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Excrement | Air Travel and Airlines

French Fry Injector

Why slather your fires with ketchup or cheese or mayo like a peasant, when you could laboriously inject the condiment into each individual fry?


Full patent here.





Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 19, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough | Inventions | Patents | Junk Food | Twenty-first Century

April 18, 2024

Meet Miss Electronic

Once upon a time answering machines were considered strange and dumbfounding.

Wilmington News Journal - Mar 31, 1956

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 18, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Technology | Telephones | 1950s

April 17, 2024

One’s really his mother…

A young man with Oedipus issues.

Better Homes and Gardens - Sep 1969

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 17, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising | Parents | 1960s

Unauthorized Dwellings 33

Read the full story here.

NOTE: image is generic.

A man in Washington smelled cigarette smoke in his home and traced it to an upstairs loft. There he found a makeshift bed, a running heater, half-eaten food, and drugs. The following day the suspect returned to the house and was taken into custody, police said.


Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 17, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Drugs | Stupid Criminals | Unauthorized Dwellings | Twenty-first Century

April 16, 2024

Saved pennies crash through ceiling

Aug 1947: Clarence Ellsworth had been saving pennies by dropping them through a crack in his attic floor. Finally, when the number of pennies reached 1,672, the weight of the pennies broke through the ceiling and landed in his living room.

This raises the question: how much did 1,672 pennies weigh?

According to Wikipedia, pennies issued before 1982 each weighed 3.11 grams since they were made from 95% copper. After 1982, the U.S. Mint substituted a copper-plated zinc penny that weighed less.

3.11 times 1,672 comes out to 5200 grams (rounding up) — or approximately eleven and-a-half pounds.

I'm surprised that was enough to break his ceiling. Perhaps there were other issues, such as water damage, that contributed to the break.

According to an online inflation calculator, $16.72 in 1947 money would be worth $234.18 today. And the repairs would have cost approximately $175 (in today's money).

Bangor Daily News - Aug 12, 1947

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 16, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Money | 1940s

Into the Stream

Betcha can't watch/listen to the whole thing!

The artist's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 16, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Music | Avant Garde | Asia | Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

April 15, 2024

Multi-dimensional rotating chess

Recently patented by Craig Wallace Coulter. Patent No. 11,896,913.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 15, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Games | Patents

Follies of the Madmen #592

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 15, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Television | Advertising | Smoking and Tobacco | 1950s

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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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