March 2016
March 18, 2016
Weird Campaign Promises
Latest about.com article: A Brief History of Weird Campaign Promises.Example promises include:
- The elimination of poverty, after 10 pm. (Ferdinand Lop, 1940s)
- Pass a law to "keep them 'vine-ripened' stickers off of them mushy green tomatoes." (Connie Watts, 1960)
- Put joggers to good social use by forcing them to power treadmills to generate electricity. (Screaming Lord Sutch)
- Change the name of Aspen to "Fat City." (Hunter S. Thompson, 1970)
- Lose 50 pounds. (Adeline J. Geo-Karis, 1986)
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 18, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Politics
Train delayed by elephant
The Bakersfield Californian - Jan 23, 1937
McCOOK, Neb., Jan. 23 — A Burlington Road passenger train was four hours late getting into Denver because an elephant kept the engineer and conductor guessing.
The engineer, officials of the road said, kept stopping the train, and the conductor repeatedly signaled for him to proceed, each wondering about the frequent stops.
Investigation disclosed an elephant in the baggage car was pulling the airbrake rope with his trunk.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 18, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails, 1930s
Dulce Dolor
DULCE DOLOR from Filmaciones de la Ciudad on Vimeo.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 18, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category: Puppets and Automatons, Sexuality, Surrealism, Foreign Customs, Candy
March 17, 2016
National Poo Museum
The UK will soon open a "National Poo Museum" on the Isle of Wight. It will "celebrate poo." Says a spokeswoman, "The National Poo Museum is set to be the place to immerse oneself in the wonder of excrement while finding out lots of extraordinary nuggets of information about all things poo-y."More info: Isle of Wight County Press
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 17, 2016 -
Comments (15)
Category: Museums, Excrement
Follies of the Madmen #277
Consider the iconography: woman who forgot to rinse off all the soap bubbles from her bath provokes love and/or lust among male subway riders.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 17, 2016 -
Comments (8)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Hygiene, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, 1950s, Men, Women
March 16, 2016
Sofa Fort Art
Emily Binks recently won Scotland's largest art prize, the Glenfiddich Residency Award, worth £10,000, for her sculptures that consist of abandoned pieces of furniture piled on top of each other.Her sculptures remind many of the "sofa forts" that children like to make. In fact, a representative of the award program specifically called attention to this resemblance: "Her sculptural assemblage invokes a basic fundamental of the human condition: from building dens as children to setting up homes as independent adults, we can all relate to the creation of a place to shelter and a sense of belonging."
More info: Press and Journal, TYWKIWDBI
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 16, 2016 -
Comments (7)
Category: Art, Furniture
Ziemba at Labbodies
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 16, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category:
March 15, 2016
The Bathing Girl of 1923
Modesty combined with protection from wind and driving rain in the beach fashions of the 1920s.
Detroit Free Press - Apr 29, 1923
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 15, 2016 -
Comments (9)
Category: Fashion, 1920s
Motorized Surfboard
What could possibly go wrong?
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 15, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Inventions, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1920s, Dismemberment
March 14, 2016
Official Language of the State of Illinois
June 19, 1923: The State of Illinois passed an act declaring "American" (as opposed to "English") to be the state's official language.The act was proposed by Senator Frank J. Ryan of Chicago who was "fed up" with American being called English. Ryan, in turn, got the idea from Montana Congressman Washington McCormick, who had tried, but failed, to get American designated as the national language.
In 1969 the Illinois legislature revised the statute to make English, not American, the official state language.
More info: languagepolicy.net
The Bend Bulletin (Bend, Oregon) - Jan 31, 1923
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 14, 2016 -
Comments (20)
Category: Languages, 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 |
