Weird Universe Archive
April 2013
April 30, 2013
McGyver Emergency Power plus two bonus hacks!!
When you need power and can't get it -- remember this hack.Some other cool stuff at the website:
Fire-starting
pee
There are even instructions (in two parts) on how to build your own AC stick-welder from an old microwave.
Let's Weld!! (Horseshoe puzzle at the end)
I love what you can learn on the internet!!
Posted By: gdanea - Tue Apr 30, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Education
Singing Eskimos
In the picture, MacMillan is second from right. The guy standing behind him is Eugene McDonald, founder of Zenith Radio Corporation. His company built the special short wave radio gear used on the expedition. All others in the picture are the singing eskimos.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 30, 2013 -
Comments (3)
Category: Music, Radio, Experiments, 1920s
Group Baptism by Firehose
Conducted under the auspices of the famous and fabulous United House of Prayer for All People, whose founder was "Sweet Daddy Grace," as depicted below.
I heartily endorse any institution whose leaders inherit the title of "Sweet Daddy."
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 30, 2013 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crowds, Groups, Mobs and Other Mass Movements, Cult Figures and Artifacts, Eccentrics, Religion, 1910s
April 29, 2013
Raspberry Pi—The $25 Computer
Last week I described the Universal translator, which used two of these computers. Powered by a USB port, it has other ports for video display, storage and other great stuff.The really amazing part is that this working computer is only $25 plus shipping. There is a huge back-order for them, but some people are inventing creative ways to use this computer.
Some people are using them to feed their animals, create demonstrations or music boxes. Here's the link:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
Others are busy creating containers for these tiny computers
Here's my favorite so far.
What new use for this mini-computer will you discover?
Posted By: gdanea - Mon Apr 29, 2013 -
Comments (12)
Category: Futurism
Doga (Doggy Yoga)
So apparently this is a real thing. That is, there really are people willing to take your money so that you can bring your dog to your yoga class. The Metro provides some history:Doga originated in Florida in 2001 when yoga instructor Suzi Teitelman found her new puppy, a black cocker spaniel named Coali, would climb on to the mat with her when she was practising.
‘Any time there was a yoga mat around he was there,’ she says. ‘I realised he loved yoga and being around the class so I started adding him into the postures. I would inhale my arms up and he would inhale his arms up – with some help from me. Over the years we have perfected the postures and found moves that suit both our bodies.’ Teitelman started incorporating dogs into her yoga classes and held her first Doga class in New York in 2002.
‘Any time there was a yoga mat around he was there,’ she says. ‘I realised he loved yoga and being around the class so I started adding him into the postures. I would inhale my arms up and he would inhale his arms up – with some help from me. Over the years we have perfected the postures and found moves that suit both our bodies.’ Teitelman started incorporating dogs into her yoga classes and held her first Doga class in New York in 2002.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 29, 2013 -
Comments (2)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, Dogs
Follies of the Madmen #204
"I would sure like to see more fun commercials like that on television."
Seconded, Gary!
Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 29, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, Television, 1950s
April 28, 2013
Roadways and The Thought
Not all poems benefit by being set to music.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 28, 2013 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bombast, Bloviation and Pretentiousness, Music, Twentieth Century
You Are Discharged!
1896 ad for Battle Ax Plug Tobacco (from the Oakland Tribune). The context here is that Battle Ax Plug Tobacco was produced by the American Tobacco Company, which was selling it at well below cost in order to drive its competitors out of business. So the ad's claim that it was the preferred brand of cheapskates was actually correct!
Thanks to such aggressive marketing techniques, the American Tobacco Company soon did dominate the market. But in 1907 it was indicted as being in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and was carved up by the government into four separate firms: American Tobacco Company, R. J. Reynolds, Liggett & Myers, and Lorillard. For more info, see The Dukes of Durham and wikipedia.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 28, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Advertising, Nineteenth Century
April 27, 2013
International Moves the Browns to Sterling Street
This film makes the Sterling Silver industry looks like the Freemasons, the Bilderberg Group and the Illuminati all rolled up into one. A plan for world domination unfolds!
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 27, 2013 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, 1940s
The Jokes of King George VI
- [In response to a speaker who was praising him in extravagant terms]. "I am reminded," he said, "of the woman who went to her husband's funeral service. The couple had never got on well together, but the minister devoted his long sermon to a panegyric of the husband's virtues. So glowing a picture did he paint that the widow completely failed to recognize her late husband. 'Milly,' she nudged her friend and whispered loudly, 'is there another corpse about?'"
- There was a petrol dump where men sent a canary down into the empty tank to see if the atmosphere was safe for them to go down and clean it out. One day the foreman saw a man walking about in the bottom of the tank before the canary had been let down. "Hey, what are you doing there?" he yelled. In all seriousness the man below shouted back: "I'm just seeing if it's all right for me blinkin' canary."
Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 27, 2013 -
Comments (0)
Category: Humor, Jokes, Royalty, 1930s
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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 |
