Weird Universe Archive
June 2011
June 16, 2011
Exit Kits
The Oregon legislature is currently attempting to pass a bill to make the sale of 'do it yourself suicide kits ' illegal. In other news, do it yourself suicide kits are currently sold in Oregon. Well, actually, the kits are being sold mail order from California by a 91 year old lady who refers to them as Exit Kits. Can you say irony?
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 16, 2011 -
Comments (3)
Category:
Nano Tech
Nano technology is on the way. Tiny, self powering machines capable of doing everything from repairs inside our bodies to spying and surveillance over long distances. First generation is here already.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 16, 2011 -
Comments (8)
Category:
Screwed By Genetics
German researchers claim they have found an infidelity gene in zebra finches, which practice monogamy as humans do. The same gene seems to account for promiscuous behavior and infidelity in both sexes. The researchers further state that it is likely the gene is present in humans as well. People test for the existence of some disease genes in themselves and their potential spouses already, will the day come when they will test for the cheater gene before committing?
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 16, 2011 -
Comments (10)
Category:
When Eagles Attack!
A post office in Alaska has an unusual problem. A pair of eagles have nested nearby and hatched their chicks. Now the new parents are dive bombing postal customers for coming too close to the nest when entering and exiting the building. Guess they'll have to use e-mail or an umbrella.
picture from yahoo images
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 16, 2011 -
Comments (1)
Category:
June 15, 2011
Hacked
Here's a new idea for the next episode of CSI, hack into someone's pacemaker or insulin pump and OD them on insulin or cause a heart attack. Sound far fetched? Well, security on these devices is becoming a concern. There have even been experiments on controlling a device that is not implanted which have been successful. Just more proof that we are the most brilliant and the most savage species on earth.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 15, 2011 -
Comments (8)
Category:
Agent Fresco
Agent Fresco "In The Dirtiest Deep Of Hope" Music Video (2011) from Bowen Staines on Vimeo.
My god, bring back the Eastern European rappers!
Learn more about the band (why?) here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 15, 2011 -
Comments (4)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, Europe
June 14, 2011
Kaz Animation
I love the cartoons of Kaz.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 14, 2011 -
Comments (3)
Category: Drugs, Comics, Cartoons
June 13, 2011
Follies of the Mad Men #144
Imagine living a life where your major existential dilemma was which flavor snack cake to purchase.
I was going to assume that Ho Hos were no longer made, given the nasty use of "ho" as a pejorative--but apparently they are still around.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 13, 2011 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Junk Food, 1970s
News of the Weird / Pro Edition (June 13, 2011)
News of the Weird/Pro EditionYou're Still Not Cynical Enough
Prime Cuts of Underreported News from Last Week, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
June 13, 2011
(datelines June 4-June 11) (links correct as of June 13)
Egos Out of Control, Plus Amputee Porn and Pierced Gal Adds a Ring
From Yr Editor
. . . being the second of four consecutive weeks in which Yr Editor knows for sure that, due to time constraints, he has left some good stories on the floor (but promises they'll eventually make their way into the regular News of the Weird).
★ ★ ★ ★!
Arriving, Inevitably, at No One's Destination: It turns out that the town council and the board of education in Wethersfield, Conn., spent at least $634,140 over 18 months (likely much more) to deal with an ethics dispute involving a $400 course that the then-chair of the board of education charged to the government. (The course, taken by the chair's son, would have been authorized if the kid had been a student, but he had already graduated high school a month or two before and apparently wanted to re-take the course to get a higher grade.) As you might guess, most ($407,000) was for lawyer fees. Hartford Courant
We've Been Doing It the Hard Way: China's Agricultural University in Beijing says they've genetically modified a herd of 300 cows to give . . human breast milk (sweeter than cow milk and with all the urchin-enriching strength as if it came from our own lovely flesh-and-blood milk machines). Sky News (London)
Least Competent Legislature: A couple of weeks ago, Tennessee passed an overbroad law that would criminalize sharing any of your paid passwords (no cheating! buy your own subscription!), and last week the legislature made it illegal to Internet-post any image likely to "frighten, intimidate, or cause emotional distress" to anyone, including people you never even heard of and never wanted to see your stuff, anyway. ArsTechnica.com
Absurdities
A UK woman who is a leading support-grouper for "limb deficient" people, campaigning to buck up their self-esteem, announced her dismay last week that her Internet postings were also gaining popularity . . among sexually-delirious amputee fetishists. BBC News
You've heard of South American prisons where certain inmates get privileges (appliances, conjugal visits, etc.), but you've never seen anything like the San Antonio prison on an island off Venezuela, where the country's drug traffickers do hard time: four swimming pools, barbeque and drinks poolside, air conditioners, DirecTV, an armory ("I've seen guns in here that I've never seen before," said a former British soldier-smuggler), regular cockfights for gambling, and drug sales (to prisoners but also to visitors, who go there to buy, knowing that guards search going in but not coming out). New York Times
More in extended >>
Posted By: Chuck - Mon Jun 13, 2011 -
Comments (1)
Category:
June 12, 2011
Hiawatha
Enjoy a segment of one of the most-parodied poems in English.
I wonder what the official attitude of Native Americans is these days to Longfellow's work?
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 12, 2011 -
Comments (4)
Category: Stereotypes and Cliches, Poetry, Nineteenth Century
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
