Weird Universe Archive
May 2015
May 14, 2015
Manatee Orgy
Every year Florida wildlife officials receive multiple reports of manatees, sea cows, in distress from concerned individuals. Little do these good Samaritans know that the groups of animals are not in distress at all. During their mating season manatees have group sex. So, if you are in Florida at the right time an you see these large animals thrashing around in groups remember, its bad form to interrupt an orgy.
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 14, 2015 -
Comments (5)
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The Entopod
Perhaps you weren't eating bugs because it wasn't easy enough to prepare them. Well, now there's the Entopod. Designed by Edinburgh student Courtney Yule, the Entopod is a "starter kit" for eating bugs. It includes a grinder for making insect flour, detachable containers for heating the insecto-food in the oven, and more! She hopes it will encourage people to experiment with "entomophagy." More info at BBC News.
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 14, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Food, Insects and Spiders
Spaceship from 1954 Halloween Parade
Click either image to enlarge.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 14, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Art, Motor Vehicles, Parades and Festivals, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, 1950s, Halloween
May 13, 2015
Great-Grandpa Is Buried Where?
The GM factory in Detroit contains an old Jewish Cemetery. When GM acquired the land they agreed to leave the cemetery,which has had no burials since the '40s, intact. The company allows visitors just twice a year due to security concerns.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 13, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Culture and Civilization, Industry, Factories and Manufacturing
Pink Geyser
Tourists visiting the Strokkur geyser in Iceland were startled to see that it had turned a bright shade of pink. The reason: the Chilean artist Marco Evaristti had surreptitiously dumped pink food coloring into it, explaining that he did this in the name of art. He called his creation "Pink State." Icelandic authorities responded by putting him in jail for 15 days. The geyser has now returned to its normal color. [grapevine.is]
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 13, 2015 -
Comments (16)
Category: Art
The Preacher Must Get Some Sometime
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 13, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Religion, Sexuality, 1930s
May 12, 2015
News of the Weird / Plus, May 12, 2015
News of the Weird / PlusMay 12, 2015 (Part 2) [weird stuff that made me excited (frightened) (ROTFL) (appalled) last week, some of which will appear in News of the Weird soon] [Part 1 on Monday, Part 2 on Tuesday]
New Avenue for Perverts: In China’s Henan province, a cadre of female lifeguards has been met with “Save me, I’m drowning” calls just so men can do some feels and gropes on their rescuers. (Solution: lifeguard body cameras!) Daily Mail (London)
Pets With Issues: So here’s an OCD cat that eats shoelaces and hairbands--and (as BrokeDad pointed out here yesterday) a Belgian Malinois that eats, well, everything inappropriate (bras, TV remote, and now live rounds of ammo). The Argus (Brighton, England) /// Baxter Bulletin (Mountain Home, Ark.)
Can’t Possibly Be True: If you suspend a 6th-grader for a whole year for bringing marijuana to school, surely you have to apologize and un-suspend him once you find out (after 3 lab tests) that it wasn’t marijuana (or anything else illegal). Surely! You have to! Except Bedford Middle School in Roanoke, Va. (March). Roanoke Times
If you have to take a restroom break from speaking at a city council meeting, make sure you turn your mic “off” while you’re tinkling. Fox News
The gov’t of Mosul (i.e., ISIS) announced that it has allowed the relatively luxurious Ninawa Hotel to reopen, and reports that TripAdvisor.com gives it rave reviews. These photos on Gawker.com back up the claim. Gawker.com
A Wall Street Journal investigation named three Big Pharma companies that recently bought the rights to certain drugs (including two “lifesaving heart drugs”) and jacked the price up, out of sight, the same day. A 1mm vial of one went from $215 a slug to $1,347; a 2mm vial of the other, from $258 to $806.
Video surveillance of the robbery of the drug store in Beaver, W.Va., showed the clever perp pepper-spraying the employees but then walking directly into the cloud of spray and agitating himself. He has been arrested. Associated Press via WTOP Radio (Washington, D.C.)
Posted By: Chuck - Tue May 12, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category:
Raymond Duncan
Raymond Duncan, brother of dancer Isadora Duncan, practiced a unique fashion philosophy. He spurned conventional attire and always wore a toga, from 1905 until his death in 1966. He said the toga allowed the body freer movement (though it must have been a bit drafty in cold weather, especially since he was living mostly in Paris, not somewhere warmer). And it also had something to do with embracing the "rhythmic harmony" of Ancient Greek civilization. More info here and here.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 12, 2015 -
Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Fashion
Chris Burden, RIP
No, famous conceptual artist Chris Burden did not die by gunshot wound.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 12, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category:
May 11, 2015
News of the Weird / Plus, May 11, 2015
News of the Weird / PlusMay 11, 2015 (Part 1) [weird stuff that made me excited (frightened) (ROTFL) (appalled) last week, some of which will appear in News of the Weird soon] [Part 1 on Monday, Part 2 on Tuesday]
Since “all customer service calls are recorded,” as they say, it should be fairly easy for this lady to win big bucks from Verizon Wireless for the heart attack a rep induced by telling a very-calm customer that the police were on their way to arrest her. Virginian-Pilot
The part-time job of a mid-level political appointee in California: being a majordomo of the secret police force called the Masonic Fraternal Police Department. [People who join things like that should lose “adult” status and be knocked back to “teenager.”] Los Angeles Times
“Mr. Zia,” 21, who played games 24/7 for 14 days at an Internet café in China and collapsed, begged paramedics as they stretchered him away to, please, please, hook his stretcher up to the Internet. Daily Telegraph (London)
If you work for IRS and get caught defrauding the agency on your tax returns, you still have a 3-in-4 chance of keeping your job (and a much-better-than-zero chance of getting promoted, even). Associated Press via Salon.com
A British forensic scientist-cum-talk show hostess, part of whose street cred is her claim to have paid for school by lying down for dollars, has threatened to sue her ex-boyfriend for libel for spreading the vicious rumor that she did not used to be a prostitute (from March). The Independent
Only half of the “top 25" hedge fund managers in 2014 actually did better than if their clients had merely bought an index fund tied to the S&P 500. But the thing is that while hedge funds underperformed the S&P for the 6th straight year, those top 25 managers took home $11.62bn (that’s $464m average, which is equal to 17 A-Rods). New York Times
Among America’s Worst-Kept Secrets (tipped by this KATU-TV report on Portland, Ore., International Airport): While you have to take off your shoes and get body-scanned, airport employees only have to punch in a PIN (except in Miami and Orlando, where they get scanned.). Said an ex-employee, “My biggest fear is a disgruntled employee coming in . . . with ill intent.” KATU-TV
Posted By: Chuck - Mon May 11, 2015 -
Comments (3)
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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 |
