Bensen Gyrocopters

Aren't drones a little wimpy, when you could be flying your own Bensen Gyrocopter?



Original ad here.

Heck, even Batman had one!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 23, 2016 - Comments (10)
Category: Hobbies and DIY, Comics, Air Travel and Airlines, 1960s

Things Named After Mae West

Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong" (1933)

Actress and sex symbol Mae West cast a large shadow over popular culture, as can be seen by the number of things named after her.

1. Life Preservers

The inflatable life preservers used in WWII were often referred to as "Mae Wests" because they gave their wearers the appearance of having a large chest (wikipedia).

2. Parachute Malfunction

A "blown periphery" parachute malfunction causes the canopy to contort into the shape of a giant brassiere, and so is referred to as the "Mae West" malfunction (wikipedia).

3. Newfoundland Islands

The Isaacs islands in Newfoundland were named "Mae West" by American sailors stationed at nearby Argentia Naval Base, and the name seems to have stuck. The caption for the above image (found in "US Navy PBY Catalina Units of the Atlantic War") reads, "Groundcrewmen load water-filled practice bombs onto a PBY-5A from VP-6(CG) at Argentia in 1944. The twin mounds in the background were called 'Mae West' after the sex goddess, who incidentally had her roots in Newfoundland."

4. Gas Generator

Chemists nicknamed the Kipp Gas Generator the "Mae West" (Life magazine).

5. Coca-Cola Bottle

After the Coca Cola Company introduced the "contour" bottle in 1915, it quickly became known as the "Mae West bottle" (Story of the Coca-Cola bottle).

In 1937, the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli launched her "Shocking" perfume, in a bottle whose shape was directly inspired by Mae West (FIDM Museum). So this doesn't count as something named after her, but is still something in her image.

6. Gas Pump

On account of its curves, this 1920s-era pump was named the 'Mae West visible gas pump'.

7. Dessert Cake

This round dessert cake with creme filling was invented by a Quebec baker in 1932 and named after Mae West. It is currently made by Vachon Inc., who changed the spelling of the name to 'May West' in the 1980s. (wikipedia)

8. Graph of the Products of the Nuclear Fission of Uranium

When a Uranium atom splits, it turns into two smaller atoms. A graph showing the mass of these two atoms is referred to by physicists as the Mae West curve because of its two distinct peaks. (Spud's blog)

9. A Roll-Guide System in Metal Rolling Mills

Although the two round rollers might, from the side, seem 'Mae West'-like, it's actually the guide system (number 3 in the illustration above) that's referred to as 'Mae West blocks' in the metal industry. (PatentBuddy)

10. Cocktail

During the 1940s, a popular prank at parties was to ask a guest if he wanted a 'Mae West cocktail.' If he said yes, he'd be served a glass of Alka-Seltzer and water in a glass with a condom on top. The effervescence of the Alka-Seltzer would cause the condom to inflate.

11. Academic Theory

Finally, I've even found a reference to a "Mae West Theory of Islamic Terrorism" — the theory being that sexual frustration is the root cause of much Islamic terrorism.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 22, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Sex Symbols

Cow Triplets

Cows are a definite WU theme. But in all these years, I do not believe we have ever commented on the rare instance of triplet calves. The odds of a successful gestation and delivery are "one in eight million."

Yet there was such a birth in April of 2016. And here was another from 1972.

Of course, with 1.5 billion cattle (half male? fewer than half male?) as of 2013, that could still be a lot of triplets per year.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 22, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Babies, Natural Wonders

News of the Weird (August 21, 2016)

News of the Weird
Weirdnuz.M489, August 21, 2016
Copyright 2016 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

Lead Story

New World Order: Australians are about to learn how fussy some people are about their genders. Queensland University of Technology and three other sponsors have created an online preference survey (currently underway) that asks participants to decide among 33 "genders" (since "gender" is, according to the World Health Organization, "socially constructed"). "Male" and "female" are clear enough--but only where "identity" matches plumbing. Otherwise, it's "trans" or "transsexual", or else the more complicated bigender, omnigender, polygender, pangender, intergender, genderfluid, "cis gender," trigender, demigender, "gender non-conforming," "non-binary," "none gender," and a few others. [News.com.au (Sydney), 7-29-2016]

Latest Religious Messages

India has supposedly outlawed the "baby-tossing" religious test popular among Hindus and Muslims in rural villages in Maharashtra and Karnataka states, but a July New York Times report suggested that parents were still allowing surrogates to drop their new-born infants from 30 feet up and and awaiting the gods' blessing for a prosperous, healthy life. In all cases, according to the report, the gods come through, and a bedsheet appears below to catch the unharmed baby. [New York Times, 7-29-2016]

Government in Action

More federal civilian employees have "arrest and firearms authority" than the total number of active-duty U.S. Marines, according to a June report by the organization Open The Books, which claims to have tallied line-by-line expenditures across the government. Several agencies (including IRS and EPA) purchase assault weapons and other military-grade equipment (camouflage, night-vision goggles, 30-round magazines) for their agents, and even Small Business Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Department of Education buy their agents guns and ammo. [Washington Free Beacon, 6-22-2016]

San Diego Padres outfielder Justin Upton Jr. was traded on July 23rd to the Toronto Blue Jays--in the middle of a series between the Padres and the Blue Jays in Toronto. Normally, such a player would merely gather his belongings and walk down the hall to the other team's locker room. However, while Canada treats Blue Jays' opponents as "visitors," Blue Jays players, themselves, are Canadian employees, and if not residents must have work permits. Upton had to leave the stadium and drive to Lewiston, N.Y., which is the closest place he could find to apply to re-enter Canada properly. (He made it back by game time.) [Associated Press via New York Times, 7-27-2016]

Leading Economic Indicators

Shrewd Tourism Campaigns: (1) Since Bulgaria, on Romania's southern border, lies close to Romania's iconic Transylvania, Bulgarian tourism officials have begun marketing their own vampire tourism industry--stepped up following a 2014 archaeological find of a 4th-century "graveyard" of adolescents with iron stakes through their chests. (2) The new tourism minister of Thailand is threatening to close down the lucrative sex business in Bangkok and Pattaya, even with the country still rallying from a 2014 near-recess ion. Ms. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul insisted that visitors are not interested in "such a thing [as sex]" but come for Thailand's "beautiful" culture. [Mother Nature News, 7-22-2016] [Daily Telegraph (London), 7-17-2016]

Paid to Go Away: Sports Illustrated noted in May that some universities are still paying out millions of dollars to failed coaches who had managed to secure big contracts in more optimistic times. Notre Dame's largest athletic payout in 2014 was the $2.05 million to ex-football coach Charlie Weis--five years after he had been fired. That ended Weis's Notre Dame contract (which paid him $15 million post-dismissal), but he is still drawing several million dollars from the University of Kansas despite having been let go there, also. [Sports Illustrated, 5-30-2016]

The Continuing Crisis

Horniness: (1) A year-long, nationwide investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (reporting in May) found more than 2,400 doctors penalized for sexually abusing their patients--with state medical boards ultimately allowing more than half to continue practicing medicine. Some doctors, a reporter noted, are among "the most prolific sex offenders in the country," with "hundreds" of victims. (2) District Judge Joseph Boeckmann (in Arkansas's rural Cross County) resigned in May after the state Judicial Discipline committee found as many as 4,500 nude or semi-nude photos of young men who had been before Boeckmann in court. (Some were naked, being paddled by Boeckmann, who trolled for victims by writing young men notes offering a "community service" option). [ABC News, 7-6-2016] [CNN, 5-10-2016]

For Good Measure: (1) Rhys Holman pleaded guilty to a firearms charge in Melbourne, Australia, in July for shooting 53 bullets into his brother's Xbox. (The brother had urinated on Holman's car.) (2) Mauricio Morales-Casares, 24, was sentenced to life in prison by a Montgomery County, Md., judge in July following his April conviction for fatally stabbing a "friend"--89 times. [The Age (Melbourne), 7-22-2016] [Washington Post, 7-15-2016]

Boldface Names in News of the Weird!

(1) Police in Southampton, N.Y., confirmed a July altercation in which model Christie Brinkley water-hosed a woman she had spotted urinating on her beachfront property. Erica Remkus, 36, said her need was urgent after watching a July 4th fireworks show, but Brinkley shouted, "How dare you!" and "I walk on these rocks [where Remkus relieved herself]." (2) Also in July, actor Brooke Shields made the news when she--as a curator of an art show in Southampton, N.Y.--managed to rescue a piece that custodians had inadvertently tossed into the garbage. (The cleanup crew had made an understandable mistake, as the statue was a raccoon standing next to a trashcan, ready to rummage.) [New York Daily News, 7-4-2016] [New York Post, 7-11-2016]

Redneck Chronicles

(1) Knoxville, Tenn., firefighters were called to a home in July when a woman tried to barbecue brisket in her bathroom--and, in addition to losing control of the flame, melted her fiberglass bathtub. Firefighters limited the damage--by turning on the shower. (2) One day earlier, in Union, S.C., a 33-year-old woman called police to her home, claiming that she had fallen asleep on her couch with her "upper plate" in her mouth, but that when she awoke, it was gone and that she suspects a teeth-napping intruder. [WVLT-TV (Knoxville), 7-13-2016] [WHNS-TV (Greenville, S.C.), 7-14-2016]

How to Tell If You're Drunk

The owner of the Howl At The Moon Bar in Gold Coast, Australia, released surveillance video of a July break-in (later inspiring the perpetrator to turn himself in). The man is seen trying to enter the locked bar at 3 a.m., then tossing a beer keg at a glass door three times, finally creating a hole large enough to climb through, acrobatically, and fall to the floor (lit cigarette remaining firmly between his lips). Once inside, he stood at the bar, apparently waiting for someone to take his order. When no one came, he meekly left through the same door. The owner said nothing was taken, and nothing else was damaged. [Brisbane Times, 7-29-2016]

Recurring Themes

Too Many Toilet-Themed Restaurants: The first one, in Taiwan, made News of the Weird in 2006, but recently two more opened their doors. One, in Semarang, Indonesia (on Java island), serves only one dish--brown meatballs floating in thick soup, arrayed in a toilet-shaped pan. The owner's secondary agenda is to inspire people to install toilets in their homes. In Toronto's Koreatown, a dessert-themed one was scheduled to open in August with patron seating on you-know-whats and a variety of brown sweets such as swirly-stool-shaped chocolate ice cream. Potty-themed restaurants have opened in Russia, South Korea, the Philippines, China, Japan, and Los Angeles. [BBC News, 7-20-2016] [The Independent (London), 7-22-2016]

A News of the Weird Classic (October 2012)

In August [2012], a Michigan government watchdog group learned, in a Freedom of Information Act request, that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department still has one job on the payroll as a "horseshoer." (The Department owns no horses.) Over the years, the position has become a patronage slot paying about $57,000 a year in salary and benefits, and sometimes the “horseshoer” has been asked to do “blacksmith” work, such as metal repair. (The city employees’ union fights to retain every job, no matter its title.) [Michigan Capitol Confidential, 8-20-2012]

Thanks This Week to Jim Peterson and Ken Paille, and to the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.

Posted By: Chuck - Sun Aug 21, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category:

Beirut Spite House

Beirut Spite House

A "spite house" is a house whose primary reason for being is to annoy someone.

In The Hidden Dimension (1969), which is a study of how people perceive space, the American anthropologist Edward T. Hall described a spite house built in Beirut. Although a "spite wall" might be a more accurate description:


I think building a massive wall to block a neighbor's view would actually be considered obnoxious in any culture.

There's plenty of other examples of spite houses described online. See, for example, wikipedia or Mental Floss.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 21, 2016 - Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, Pranks and Revenge

Coco Cod:  Worst Flavor Mashup Ever?

Original ad here.



Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 21, 2016 - Comments (1)
Category: Food, Advertising, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Children, 1920s

Plastape Poses

Poses (pronounced poh-ZAYS) were introduced in 1949 as an alternative brassiere that attached to the chest by means of adhesive strips of something called Plastape. "Place them in position, press with a forefinger — and there you are!"

However, the product proved unpopular. Perhaps because women thought it seemed too much like gluing coffee filters to their chest.

Detroit Free Press - July 10, 1949

But when women didn't go for stick-on plastape bras, the stuff seems to have been repurposed to make venetian blinds.

The Hagerstown Morning Herald - Nov 2, 1951

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 20, 2016 - Comments (7)
Category: Fashion, 1940s

Mystery Illustration 28

In what industry or occupation is this a professional signal?

The answer is here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 20, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Signage, 1930s

Are you an extraterrestrial?

Working off the theory that millions of years ago extraterrestrials spliced alien code into our DNA, the NY Daily News offers a list of 11 signs that suggest you might be part extraterrestrial (because apparently some of us have more of the alien code than others).

• Have had paranormal experiences
• Feeling homesick
• Believing you have a mission
• Highly sensitive
• Don't fit in with mainstream society
• Animals and children are drawn to you
• Vivid dreams
• Telepathic abilities
• Age well
• High pitched ringing in ears
• A natural understanding of the universe

Complicating things is that there are different species of ETs (Pleiadians, Arcturians, etc.). So you may have more qualities of one ET species than another.

And what about if you have pointed ears like Spock (aka a Darwin's Point)? Because one of my ears is like that, and I'd like to think that means I have a bit of Vulcan blood in me.

Also check out the list on a similar theme I posted back in 2008: "Have you been abducted by aliens?"

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 19, 2016 - Comments (14)
Category: Aliens

Keep Your Funky Side Out

Original ad here.




A band so forgotten, they do not even have a Wikipedia entry or any songs on YouTube. I had to go to Archive.Org for this file. And yet they offer such eternally good advice: keep your funky side out!

Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 19, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, 1970s