A Lighter, Fireball, and a Blender

Will it blend has produced some interesting combinations, but this is one combination you shouldn't mix.



Thanks to Discovery Time Warp for the nice fireball!!

Posted By: gdanea - Mon Nov 30, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Experiments

News of the Weird / Pro Edition (11-30-2009)

News of the Weird/Pro Edition
November 30, 2009
(mystifying and/or derisory news from November 21-28)

Weekly Gold

A news leak from the Vatican's file nominating Pope John Paul II for sainthood had a high-ranking nun saying she had heard him in the next room a few times self-flagellating [No snickering!], i.e., lashing himself in remorse as bodily penance. She said he mainly did it just before ordaining bishops and priests. Daily Telegraph (London) /// BBC News [background on Catholic self-flagellation]

Pregnant Sara Foss, 39, keeps a spotless house because she doesn't want people to think she's a mooching slob, since she takes £50,000 per year ($82,000) in assistance from the government for raising her 13 kids. Nonetheless, she's adamant. If her current pregnancy does not yield twins, she'll try, try again, and again. (Bonus: Her story caused quite a stir in the British press, for the names of the first 13, which are mostly tributes to her favorite film and literary characters, such as Frodo, Morpheus, Echo, Malachai, Rogue, and Voorhes.) Daily Mail

The high-end fashion store Valentina announced that it had reached a settlement on an out-of-control tab run up by Oprah Winfrey . . 's mother (Vernita Lee of Milwaukee), who owed $155,000 as of July 2008. Their dispute came because Valentina had taken Lee to court in 2002 over a separate, $174,000 tab, but then once again extended her credit. Lee refused to pay, accusing Valentina of exploiting her absence-of-willpower disability. Journal Sentinel

People With Worse Sex Lives Than You

Kevin Derks, 53, Kenosha, Wis., looks like a regular guy but is actually highly irregular. He swears up and down that he has never touched, or even approached, an underage girl. It's just that his apartment is arranged as, according to one detective, a "shrine" to little girls: pictures and posters of famous girls, snapshots of clothed little girls, a bed full of stuffed toys, adolescent-sized mannequins in provocative positions, and traditional child pornography. "This was my own world," he told detectives. "I knew what I was doing. I took a gamble. It's like going to Vegas, except I lost everything. [N]ow my ass is gonna fry." Associated Press via Post Crescent (Appleton, Wis.)



More in extended >>

Posted By: Chuck - Mon Nov 30, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category:

For the Guys

Wow, she's a tall drink of water, huh? There are some more pics at the link-
http://thechive.com/2009/11/26/new-photos-of-the-worlds-tallest-model-arrive-10-photos-1-video/
But I thought this one would pique your interest. As a 5'2" female I find her to be really cool!

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 29, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category:

An Apple a Day…

A 68-year-old Swedish man, Ingemar Westlund, was cleared of murder charges when elk hair and saliva were found on his wife's clothing. It all happened back in September of 2008, when his wife took their dog for a walk in the woods and never returned. When she didn't come back, Mr. Westlund went looking for her and found her body next to a lake near Loftahammer. Even though elk normally steer clear of humans, apparently "the animals can become aggressive after eating fermented fallen apples in gardens." BBC

Posted By: mdb777 - Sun Nov 29, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Death, Wives

The Walls Keep Talking

How many Big Band songs recounted literal horror stories worthy of Stephen King? Probably just this one.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 29, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Horror, Music, 1940s

Spam Troubles

We realize that spammers are clogging our wonderful comments section, the lifeblood of WU. Alex, the closest we have to a techie, is researching the matter.

Thanks for your patience and continued support!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 29, 2009 - Comments (17)
Category: Weird Universe, Comments, Paul

The Stuffed Owl

I'm reading a Mark Twain book currently, Following the Equator. In it, he mentions a notoriously bad poet, Julia Moore, a name I had not thought of in ages. Moore's fabled lack of talent produced scads of bad poetry. You can read about her career here.

Google has digitized at least one of her books, which you can read here. Be prepared to encounter such excruciating verse as this sample to the right.




Moore is included in The Stuffed Owl, a volume of the world's worst poetry. Wouldn't that make a swell Xmas gift for the literary type in your life?

Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 27, 2009 - Comments (9)
Category: Eccentrics, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Literature, Nineteenth Century

Bohemian Rhapsody Muppet Style—viral!!

Here's another Muppet piece which has gone viral in just a few days. If you missed it, here is all the gang waxing bohemian!!



Three million hits in just three days -- top that!! Favorite characters?

Posted By: gdanea - Thu Nov 26, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Music

Electric Chair for Lobsters

A Lawyer in Jolly old Britain has invented a new method of killing lobsters. The "Crusta-Stun" (presumably a shortening of crustacean and stun gun) will retail for about £2,000. That's around $3,300. Yikes.

This "humane" way to dispatch your lobster is supposedly even sanctioned by PETA. If we invented machines big enough for cows, does that mean beef's back on the menu too?

The image above originally comes from MAKE

Posted By: dherlich - Wed Nov 25, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Food, Ethics and Morals

Beaker Electocuted

I was thoroughly enjoying this creative tribute to "Ode to Joy" until the unfortunate accidents at the end of the clip.



I wonder if "Beaker" and the "Roadrunner "are related? Meep meep.

Posted By: gdanea - Wed Nov 25, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Puppets and Automatons