Weird Universe Archive
June 2015
June 21, 2015
Pee in the pool
"Chlorine binds with all the things it's trying to kill from your bodies, and it forms these chemical irritants. That's what's stinging your eyes. It's the chlorine binding to the urine and the sweat."
I view this info as part of the CDC's continuing campaign to really gross people out about swimming pools, since it follows up on the report they released back in 2013 (posted on WU here) about the high level of fecal contamination in pools.
More info: abc13.com, cdc.gov
Image source: Flickr (D Spa Resort)
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 21, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Body Fluids
The Nude Vampire
As you might expect from the title, this trailer contains a small amount of mild chestal exposure, more-or-less consistent with the tamest of HBO programs.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 21, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Paranormal, 1970s
June 20, 2015
Cornelis Van Blaaderen and his Floating Safe
After the Titanic, inventors tried to think of ways to preserve items during a sinking. Dutch inventor Cornelis Van Blaaderen came up with his Floating Safe, which never quite caught on.
This site has a brief explanation in English.
This website has the full story, but all in Dutch. Google translate should help. But even if you don't bother, there are great pictures and a film!
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 20, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Disasters, Inventions, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1910s, Europe
Sale Tag Fashion
Look hip and let everyone know you got your clothes on sale. Or that you're on sale. Or that you're wearing a giant sale tag. Or something like that.These are from the new Moschino Resort Collection that's all about the "beauty of the sales floor."
via TrendHunter
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 20, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Fashion
June 19, 2015
My New Weird Job
Dear WUvians,
The deal is to produce 8 short articles a month, on any topic related to weird news that strikes my fancy. Or more broadly, weird stuff in general. The focus will be on themes in weirdness, rather than breaking weird news. I've already got two articles posted: 12 facts about poop that falls from planes and the people it hits and 7 logo design disasters that made headlines.
The latter article, I should note, was inspired by one of Chuck's recent columns in which he mentioned the state of Tennessee's minimalist new logo, produced at a cost of $46,000. I expect I'll be getting a lot of ideas from here at WU and fleshing them out in more detail over at About.com, and that'll give me the opportunity to crosslink from there back to here. So it'll kinda be like a marriage between the two sites. And I'll periodically give everyone a heads up here when I've posted new material there.
In other words, all the weirdness will continue as usual here. But 8 times a month I'll also be posting over there. So overall, an increase in weirdness!
-Alex
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 19, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Alex
Hilton Tupman’s Pedestrian Horn
Los Angeles auto dealer Hilton Tupman wanted to level the playing field between motorists and pedestrians. So he invented a horn that pedestrians could use to honk at motorists. And he made it loud enough to be heard within a 1-mile radius.
Source: Popular Mechanics, May 1948
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 19, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: 1940s, Cars
Max Richter’s “Sleep”
Full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 19, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Eccentrics, Music, Sleep and Dreams
June 18, 2015
Killed by falling tombstone
People who manage to get killed while digging graves for others seems to be a recurring theme in weird news. Here's an example from 1925:
Source: The Ottawa Journal - Feb 21, 1925
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 18, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Death, 1920s
Insane Happiness
Why do we never hear about such jolly madmen these days? Probably because we don't let people die from syphilis anymore.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 18, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Sexuality, Nineteenth Century, Brain Damage
June 17, 2015
Nut loss during team building
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 17, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Genitals
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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 |
