Weird Universe Archive
July 2013
July 10, 2013
Crimes By Women
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Read the whole thing here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 10, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Scary Criminals, Comics, 1940s, Women
Beached Whale
It looks like a beached whale, but it's actually a "life-size, hyperreal statue of a sperm whale" created by a group of artists that calls itself the Captain Boomer Collective. They explain:the beached whale is a gigantic methaphor for the disruption of our ecological system. People feel their bond with nature is disturbed. The game between fiction and reality reinforces this feeling of disturbance.
The faux whale was recently beached at the Greenwich Fair. Event organizers assured the public that the whale was "family friendly."
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 10, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Art
July 9, 2013
Backstage (July 9, 2013)
Backstage(in the Weird News Community)
(Chuck Talks Shop)
July 9, 2013
The F State: From time to time, Yr Editor gets inquiries whether he’s still keeping track of Florida foibles, but the truth is that ever since Fark.com installed a Florida tag, the whole matter has been out of my hands: the competition too strong, the reward (for being one of many on the scene) too small. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Flori-DUH blog is still going strong, and Huffington Post still has a Weird Florida tag it loads fairly regularly. Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen are still turning ‘em out, but they labor under the handicap that fiction, at its base, nevertheless must make sense, so there’s only so much they can take from real life. Late last month, Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times signed on with Slate.com for a month to write blog posts of his favorite Florida themes based on his 30 yrs of first-class journalism divided between the serious and the ludicrous, frequently in the same stories. “The rules are different here,” says Slate. (1) Intro and table-setting /// (2) Are there, technically, "Crackers" in Florida? /// (3) The state's specialty scams /// (4) God's particular way of smiting the state /// (5) The roadways (and the licensed relics who drive them) /// (6) Explore nature in the F State at your own risk /// (7) Lobbyist-sleaze as an art form
Yr Editor spent ages 2-7 in the very sleepy redneck town of Starke, Fla., previously famous only because it’s the closest settlement to the Florida State Prison, where Ol’ Sparky reigned for many yrs. Population about 5-6,000; coat and tie only by preachers and funeral directors; business deals consummated principally at Sonny’s BBQ. Now, however, it is the scene of America’s first public monument to atheism. Some people had put up a 10 Commandments monument in front of the county courthouse; someone sued to have it removed on church-and-state grounds; a compromise was reached to put up an atheist monument alongside, featuring quotations the most effective of which is merely a list of Old Testament punishments for violations of the 10 Commandments (death, stoning). This is happening in Starke, Fla. About as improbable as a Hooters in Mecca. Time Magazine
Hey, ready to cash in on the Jesus-Mary World Tour? It’s the Jesus Toaster, by Burnt Impressions, $34.95 when available on Amazon. Make your own Jesus images. Amazon
Yr Editor still remembers what he was doing when he learned that
Posted By: Chuck - Tue Jul 09, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category:
The Muse Surmounted
Hear Mari Lyn and others of her delusional ilk on The Muse Surmounted (see book sidebar).
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 09, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Eccentrics, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music
The Art of Jack Kevorkian
In addition to promoting assisted suicide, Jack Kevorkian also dabbled in art. Although according to the owner of the gallery that sold his work, he didn't consider himself an artist, "In fact, he disclaims the paintings as art." Predictably, all his paintings have somewhat morbid themes. [pbs.org]
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 09, 2013 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Death
July 8, 2013
Wash and Go
Forget to wash? Here's the solution -- a combination sink and urinal!!
Here's the link:
http://designtaxi.com/news/359069/This-New-Design-For-The-Men-s-Room-Urinal-Has-An-Attached-Tap/?utm_source=feedburner
Posted By: gdanea - Mon Jul 08, 2013 -
Comments (8)
Category: Bathrooms
How to streamline your RV
A gas-saving concept from 1979:
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 08, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Inventions, 1970s
Monsters of Iowa
Who would ever suspect that boring old Iowa was host to so many odd creatures?
Consider this winged monster from 1903, above.
Or this account, below, found along with more Iowa monsters in UNNATURAL PHENOMENA. (See book sidebar.)
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 08, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Cryptozoology, Fictional Monsters, Regionalism, Superstition, 1900s, North America, Nineteenth Century
News of the Weird 2.0 (July 8, 2013)
News of the Weird 2.0Angst, Confusion, Cynicism, Ridicule
Prime Cuts of Underreported News from Last Week, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
July 8, 2013
(datelines June 29-July 6) (links correct as of July 7)
© 2013 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
★ ★ ★ ★!
Good for Dutch researcher Dr. Marcel Waldinger. He found a woman who had orgasm after orgasm emanating from her foot. (He should know stuff like this; he’s a “professor in sexual psychopharmacology” at Utrecht University.) (Spoiler Alert: While she was in a coma once, a foot nerve and a vagina nerve got crossed up.) KHOU-TV (citing Journal of Sexual Medicine)
Sunbathing . . or dressing up for a bank robbery? The tradition continues on the summer beach at Qingdao, China: middle-aged ladies wearing wool caps that cover their entire heads (except eye, mouth, and nose holes). That’s because the ladies still refuse to allow themselves the sun-tanned look of the laboring class. Quartz (qz.com)
Poor Vocational Choice: “[David Fleischer] is a good boy, but he is learning,” said Dad, who runs the family tree-trimming business. Cardinal Rule: Trim from the top, work your way down. David got it wrong, and firefighters had to come pluck him from the top branch. Awkward. New York Post
“Jury Nullification”: In San Diego, a jury acquitted vandal Jeff Olson of vandalism. Seemed like a slam dunk for the prosecutor: Olson never denied writing the anti-bank slogans on the sidewalks, and the judge ruled out any free-speech-type defense. Turns out that the jury didn’t need no stinkin’ law to decide this case. Los Angeles Times
More Things to Worry About
“Foul play was not suspected [unless . . .] . . ..” I mean, come on! A gardener finds $150k; the police keep it the required time to see if “the owner” claims it; meanwhile, three people associated with the case die. Do the math! Chicago Tribune
Fine Points of the Law (Nerd Alert!): an actual, living, thriving legal prosecution involving a Constitutional violation . . of the Third Amendment! (Do you actually know what the Third Amendment covers? You do? Nerrrrrrrd!) Courthouse News Service
Feel-Good News: Mama was tired of the backyard firecrackers on July 4th and started lobbing flaming dirty diapers at the teenage perps. There were no injuries, reported the Rock City Times, but “[S]everal [perps] did have large amounts of child fecal matter on their faces.” Rock City Times (Arkansas ethernet)
News for Our Less Mature Readers: (1) Police called to a home on reports of a woman screaming, punctuated by “repeated loud noises,” which turned out to be the woman’s boyfriend repeatedly doing turbo farts. (2) Police in Sydney, Australia, investigated complaints about a photo exhibit at the 107 Projects Gallery by photog Philip Werner, “101 Vagina.” WWJ-TV (Detroit) /// Au.Artshub.com
People Different From Us: If someone took a shot at you or me on our front porch on Friday night, winging us, we probably wouldn’t be out on that same porch the next morning. A 42-yr-old man in Antioch, Calif., is different. At 9:30 a.m., someone shot him in the head, killing him. SFGate.com
The Aristocrats!
The Fark.com commenter had it right: What is more embarrassing: Stealing an artificial vagina from an adult toy store or being ethical and buying an artificial vagina from an adult toy store? Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)
Major Crimes: (1) Fist fight and vehicle-bumping over whether you can save seats in church. (2) Fist fight between lawyers as to whether the light should be left on in the hallway. KSL-TV (Salt Lake City) /// Naples Daily News (Paywall!)
Weekly Cite-Seeing
Shocking Video Shows Doctor Punching Patient in Head and Chest as He Lies Strapped to Bed --- The Independent (London)
Officers Find Panting Dog, Sweatpants-Wearing Pig in Hot, Poop-Filled Car --- Seattle Police Department Blotter
Rapper Ordered to Attend Etiquette Classes --- Philadelphia Inquirer
Strange Old World
Most paid breast-feeding in China is done strictly as business, as workarounds for the benefit of urchins born to milk-barren mothers. But hey, a renminbi is a renminbi, and if grown men need a little direct nourishment from time to time . . .. Agence France-Presse via Fox News
Well, Sure: DUI laws in Venice, Italy, should cover gondoliers, too. World’s Greatest Newspaper
Your Weekly Jury Duty
[In America, you're presumed innocent . . . until the mug shot is released]
From The Smoking Gun’s weekly roundup, week before last: Severe Challenge for the Defense Attorney /// And Another /// The New 5-Pronged Hairstyle
Newsrangers: Kelly Smith and Peter Smagorinsky and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors
Posted By: Chuck - Mon Jul 08, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category:
July 7, 2013
Man inherits 143 Trillion Marks
From the Daily Kennebec Journal - Aug 23, 1928:
The deceased left an estate of approximately $800,000, aside from one hundred and forty-three trillion German marks which had cost him about $6,000. The will is unique in the fact that the executor is directed to hold these marks until such time as they shall be redeemed rather than to appraise them as practically worthless.
The following clause in the will covers this point:
"In the belief that the German people will ultimately require redemption of all outstanding German paper marks issued during the World War of 1914-1918 at a reasonable price, I direct my said executor and trustee to continue to hold the German paper marks of such issue as may belong to me at the time of my death (amounting to about one hundred and forty-three trillion marks according to the American method of reckoning) until such marks can be sold at about the cost thereof to me, namely about $6000."
Although the article says the trillions of marks were acquired during World War I, that must be wrong. The period of German hyperinflation occurred from 1921-1924.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 07, 2013 -
Comments (3)
Category: Money, 1920s
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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 |
