Weird Universe Archive
May 2012
May 22, 2012
The Human Beehive
It's never occurred to me to wonder if I could cover my naked body with 30,000 bees. But it occurred to this Polish beekeeper. He survived the "experiment" with only two stings. The best part of the video is when he shakes them all off at the end.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 22, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Insects and Spiders
Chuck’s Cite-Seeing (May 22, 2012)
News of the Weird 2.0(Almost) Daily, Since May 21, 2012
Underreported News, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
May 22, 2012
(datelines from May 4 or later) (links correct as of May 22)
© 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Editor's Note (again): Because I was away last week, the first two days of this grand, almost-daily experiment will consist of catching up with the backlog of news. Starting tomorrow, just a few cites a day.
★ ★ ★ ★!
Desmond Hatchell, 33, Knoxville, Tenn., has 30 kids that he can't support (by at least 11 women), including 9 conceived in the first several months after he last went to court asking for relief from child support. (At that time, for his 21 spawn, he had shown the judge a whopping $400 and asked how to fairly apportion it to the baby mamas.) Fortunately for Knoxville's women, babies, social service people, and taxpayers, Hatchell then went to prison on other-than-procreation charges, but the 11 or so baby mamas still want their money. Los Angeles Times /// The Smoking Gun
Weird People
Meanwhile, Over on the Left Tail (of the Bell Curve): Kenny "Boom" Smith could not decide whether he more wanted to pass counterfeit money for the real stuff . . or . . get himself on the cable show "Hardcore Pawn." When he happened into Detroit's American Jewelry and Loan, where the show is shot, he kinda got caught up. He wound up actually signing the TV show's release form. /// In Port Harcourt, Nigeria, at least three suspected robbers accidentally blew themselves up on a bus while on the way to their target. WDIV-TV (Detroit) /// Reuters via Canoe.ca (Toronto)
Arni Johnson, a member of the parliament in Iceland, happened to survive an auto accident in 2010 and came to attribute his luck to a family of elves living in a nearby boulder. He has now moved the 30-ton boulder onto property he owns in Hofoabol [Sic--I've left out the doo-hickeys over the vowels]. io9.com
In Waukegan, Ill., dad Randy Swopes, 52, will avoid jail (just gets probation) for his home medical treatment of his 14-yr-old son's Crohn's disease. The boy had a fistula. Approved medical protocol for that is not covered in this article, but the judge was certain it's different than "sewing the boy's buttocks shut with needle and thread," which is what Dad did. Chicago Sun-Times via KTLA-TV (Los Angeles)
More in extended >>
Posted By: Chuck - Tue May 22, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category:
May 21, 2012
Designs on Jerry
The drug intake among the writers on this one was particularly copious.
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 21, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Rube Goldberg Devices, Cartoons, 1950s
The Flying Platform
According to the Air and Space Museum:
In the mid-1950s, Hiller constructed a series of innovative Flying Platforms for an Army-Navy program as a one-man flying vehicle that the pilot could control with minimal training. The pilot simply leaned in the desired direction and the platform would follow. The platforms, which utilized the aerodynamic advantages of the ducted fan, were incapable of tumbling, because if the pilot leaned over too far, the platform would pitch up and slow down.
Unfortunately, the flying platform was plagued by engineering problems. Otherwise, we'd probably all be floating around cities in these today. More info here
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 21, 2012 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Military
Chuck’s Cite-Seeing (May 21, 2012)
News of the Weird 2.0(Almost) Daily, Since May 21, 2012
Underreported News, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
May 21, 2012
(datelines from May 4 or later) (links correct as of May 21)
Editor's Note (I): This format change, of course, represents about News of the Weird 8.0 because I've promised so much this and so much that over the years. I'm optimistic. People evolve. Business models evolve. Writers free themselves. (But eventually, "Freedom's just another word for . . ..") Fair enough.
Editor's Note (II): Because I was away last week, the first two days of this grand experiment will consist of catching up with the backlog of news. Starting Wednesday, just a few cites a day.
★ ★ ★ ★!
They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: Donnell Battie filed a $1m lawsuit against Walmart because a kid commandeered the store's loudspeaker and made an "all black people must leave the store" prank broadcast. Battie, presumably in the affected class, said listening to that announcement drove him to a doctor's care, for "severe and disabling emotional and psychological harm" Associated Press via ABC News
Weird People
Meanwhile, over on the Left Tail (of the Bell Curve): Keithan Manuel, 18, was arrested after allegedly trying to rob the dispatcher's desk at the Wilmer, Tex., police station. /// Calvin Hill, 54, was arrested after allegedly stabbing a 41-yr-old man in a fight over which one was getting more sex. /// A woman, threatened by a man while she was walking her dog in a Seattle park, started swinging her pooper scooper, and then he grabbed one, too, and they dueled until he ran away. KRLD-TV (Dallas) /// The Smoking Gun /// KOMO-TV (Seattle) via KVAL-TV (Eugene, Ore.)
"U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"
A Tennessee law took effect extending "abstinence" sex education by also scorning "gateway" activity that might possibly lead to sex, like hugging and kissing. MSNBC
More in extended >>
Posted By: Chuck - Mon May 21, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category:
May 20, 2012
Concertina Music
America The Beautiful by fleetingdays
Can't Take My Eyes Off You by fleetingdays
Yankee Doodle Boy - Say My Regards To Broadway by fleetingdays
Posted By: Paul - Sun May 20, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Music, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Dr. Scott’s Electric Flesh Brush
It rubs the Flesh Brush on its skin!
From Scientific American, Sep 17, 1881.
If interested, you can buy a genuine Flesh Brush on eBay, for a mere $174.95.
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 20, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Advertising, Products, Skin and Skin Conditions
May 19, 2012
Judge Parker’s Gallows
Here you see the main attraction at Fort Smith National Park. A recreation of the gallows where Hanging Judge Isaac Parker sent 79 criminals to their death.
And people say kids will get bored at such historical monuments! This makes history come alive! Er, come dead...?
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 19, 2012 -
Comments (12)
Category: Death, Law, Judges, Recreation, Regionalism, Monuments
Nothing says you’re stylish quite like crocheted shorts
Posted By: Alex - Sat May 19, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Fashion
May 18, 2012
Constant Deviants
Here's an outtake from The Dictator. That talented Sacha Baron Cohen sure can parody bad rap pretty good!
Oh, wait a minute--that's not Cohen in costume?
My mistake!
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 18, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
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| Who We Are |
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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 |
