Weird Universe Archive
March 2013
March 31, 2013
The Lice-Anator
It's good to see that the spirit of invention is alive and well among the nation's youth, as evidenced by the "Lice-Anator," the winning invention of this year's Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision program. The invention (or rather, sketch of an invention... no working prototype was required) was submitted by first graders Maggie Huerta, Mackenzie Greco, and Nina Kaiser. The gadget is "a computerized hairbrush that uses special bristles and processors that not only detect the presence of the creepy crawlers [lice], but also kills them with tiny on-board lasers." Cool! [chicagoparent.com]
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 31, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Children
Happy Easter 2013!
Personally, I think it's weird that we can peek at our ancestors from nearly 85 years ago. Be sure to catch the sylph-like dancing starting around the four-minute mark.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 31, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Holidays, Easter, Movies, 1920s
March 30, 2013
ROBOT MONSTER
You know the drill: if you like the trailer, above, for ROBOT MONSTER, then you can watch the whole film, below.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 30, 2013 -
Comments (11)
Category: Aliens, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, AI, Robots and Other Automatons, 1950s, Fictional Monsters
Henri Gugelmann’s Rat Circus
In 1979, when Henri Gugelmann debuted his "rat circus" in downtown Bern, he claimed it was the first of its kind in the world. And maybe it was also the last, because I don't know where one would go today to see performing rats.His trained rats jumped over ropes, ran through burning rings, and crawled along in a "rat race" while Gugelmann, dressed as a clown, directed the show. That sounds like quality entertainment! [Google News: Victoria Advocate, Aug 9, 1979]
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 30, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Animals, Clowns, 1970s
March 29, 2013
The great hose mystery of 1955
Back in 1955, a mysterious phenomenon was reported. Garden hoses started to spontaneously burrow their way into dirt. It began in the garden of California resident George Di Peso. His 12-year-old daughter stuck the nozzle of a hose into the dirt to make the job of watering the garden easier, and then the hose (with the water running) started to burrow downwards. Over 20 feet of the hose disappeared into the earth.
The same phenomenon was then reported in Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Florida, Ontario, and Kansas.
Geologists speculated that the rapid flow of water was creating a vacuum at the nozzle causing the hoses to slide downward into the earth. The burrowing could be stopped by turning off the water. But Di Peso never did recover the 20 feet of hose lost in the earth. He eventually cut the hose off where it went into the earth, saying "I couldn't stand it any longer. This thing was getting out of hand. My life has been made a big mess."
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 29, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Unsolved Mysteries, 1950s
Fritz von Opel
Fritz von Opel was one of those early-20th-century rocket-besotted guys who pioneered this exotic means of propulsion. Just look at his rocket car go in the film clip above! (Narration in German, but not necessary to comprehension.)
But von Opel's innocent excitement had its darker side. I give you the 1929 newspaper article below. Specifically, the enlarged sentence.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 29, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, War, Space Travel, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Europe, Cars
March 28, 2013
Twinkling Stars
A strange tale behind this song:
Nine Circles never entered a recording studio and performed only once, at a Dutch radio station in 1982. Unbeknownst to them the engineer recorded the session and over the years it was bootlegged over and over becoming a Flexipop cult track. [The singer] never found out about this until I rang her up [in 2011].
Read the whole story here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 28, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Cult Figures and Artifacts, Music, 1980s
How to Use Jiu-Jitsu
Or, from the looks of it, how to use the book itself as a weapon. Prices on Amazon for this 1944 publication range from $24 to $80. So it may be useful info, but it ain't cheap.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 28, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Books, Weapons
March 27, 2013
Miss Curity Coloring Book
Click on each page to expand.
1) Yes, that's a fishhook in the lad's finger. How it was extracted before application of bandaid is not known.
2) Do NOT invite Miss Curity to your party--she's a jinx!
3) Why are they peeing into the lemonade?
Please color within the lines!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 27, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Art, Comics, Injuries, Advertising, 1950s
Giant Slingshots
Slingshots taken from young vandals, May 1952. If the police hadn't stopped them, the kids probably would have been building full-sized trebuchets next.
"Salem, Mass., May 8 — Police Lt. Walter Broderick tests one of two huge slingshots confiscated after boys had broken 60 windows in two local factories. Police said the giant weapons could hurl a five-pound rock more than 200 yards."
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 27, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Violence, 1950s, Weapons
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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 |
