Weird Universe Archive
November 2016
November 30, 2016
Anti-Hero Hostility Dart Board
In 1967, artist Robert Cenedella came out with the "Anti-Hero Hostility Dart Board," featuring "photographic images of some of your favorite anti-heroes." Consumers could choose between an "LBJ, Lady Bird, Humphrey, Castro, Hochi Minn, De Gaulle, Nasser, Nixon, Bobby Kennedy, Reagan, or Sigmund Freud" dart board.In a later interview, Cenedella said that, "For a few dollars extra, you could put a relative or an ex-wife there." He added, "I had more success in doing these gimmicks than I did at my art."
The following year, Cenedella discontinued the dart boards, citing his concern that the nation had become too violent.
As far as I know, Cenedella's Hostility Dart Board was the first commercially sold, political-themed dart board. But nowadays they're fairly common. Zazzle.com, for instance, has a bunch of them.
La Crosse Tribune - June 12, 1968
Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 30, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Politics, Products, 1960s
Why Can’t My Teacher Look Like Mr. Novak?
I like the bits of "Monster Mash" stuff that are gratuitously inserted.
Of course, students lusting after teachers is now the stuff of prison sentences.
Understand the central reference here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 30, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Education, Music, Television, Sex Symbols, Teenagers, 1960s
November 29, 2016
An Unfortunate Error
Marshall George Cummings, Jr. of Oklahoma was charged with snatching a purse from a woman on October 14, 1976. His case came to trial in January 1977, and Cummings asked to represent himself, which the court allowed. However, during the cross-examination of witnesses, Cummings proceeded to make what the state later described as an "unfortunate error." He conducted the cross-examination in the first person. Specifically, he asked the main witness, "Did you get a good look at my face when I took your purse?" The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to ten years in prison.Cummings later appealed his sentence, arguing that the court had erred by allowing him to represent himself and that "there was not a knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to counsel." As proof of this he pointed to his blunders during the trial. The state argued back that his incompetence could not have been foreseen in advance, and that he had been fully advised of his rights.
Cummings also complained that the prosecutor had used prejudicial "showboating" tactics during the trial. For instance, Cummings alleged that at one point the prosecutor had removed a document from his file "in a manner reminiscent of a musketeer unsheathing his sword to do battle with enemies of the king."
The appellate court decided that the errors cited by Cummings weren't sufficient to reverse his conviction. However, it did modify his sentence, reducing it from ten years to five.
You can read the full text of the appellate court's decision at Justia.com.
Asbury Park Press - Jan 5, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 29, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Stupid Criminals, 1970s
Throwing the Hood
Full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 29, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category: Foreign Customs, Headgear, Europe
November 28, 2016
Science of the Great Molasses Flood
The Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 is one of the great weird news stories of all time. It was a tragedy (21 people killed), but also definitely weird.
What happened in brief: A tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst, causing a 40-foot tsunami of molasses to flood through Boston's North End.
Exactly why the tank burst and why the flood proved so deadly has always been a bit of a mystery. But now scientists have done their thing and have come up with a few answers. As reported in the New York Times (Nov 26, 2016), interviewing aerospace engineer Nicole Sharp:
"The historical record says that the initial wave of molasses moved at 35 miles per hour," Ms. Sharp said, "which sounds outrageously fast."
"At the time people thought there must have been an explosion in the tank, initially, to cause the molasses to move that fast," she added. But after the team ran the experiments, she said, it discovered that the molasses could, indeed, move at that speed.
"It's an interesting result," Ms. Sharp said, "and it's something that wasn't possible back then. Nobody had worked out those actual equations until decades after the accident."
If the tank had burst in warmer weather, it would have "flowed farther, but also thinner," Mr. Rubinstein said.
In the winter, however, after the initial burst — which lasted between 30 seconds and a few minutes, Ms. Sharp said — the cooler temperature of the outside air raised the viscosity of the molasses, essentially trapping people who had not been able to escape the wave.
"At the time people thought there must have been an explosion in the tank, initially, to cause the molasses to move that fast," she added. But after the team ran the experiments, she said, it discovered that the molasses could, indeed, move at that speed.
"It's an interesting result," Ms. Sharp said, "and it's something that wasn't possible back then. Nobody had worked out those actual equations until decades after the accident."
If the tank had burst in warmer weather, it would have "flowed farther, but also thinner," Mr. Rubinstein said.
In the winter, however, after the initial burst — which lasted between 30 seconds and a few minutes, Ms. Sharp said — the cooler temperature of the outside air raised the viscosity of the molasses, essentially trapping people who had not been able to escape the wave.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 28, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Disasters, 1910s
Follies of the Madmen #297
[Click to enlarge]
Maybe some Canadian WU-vie can explain the subtext of this ad. Three men hold up photos of hockey players while looking benignly but perhaps jealously at the fourth fellow who is smart enough to have a beer in his hand instead, with his own hockey photo (program book?) resting on a tabletop.
Huh?
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 28, 2016 -
Comments (12)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Regionalism, Sports, 1960s, North America, Alcohol
November 27, 2016
News of the Weird (November 27, 2016)
News of the WeirdWeirdnuz.M503, November 27, 2016
Copyright 2016 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
Australian aviator David Mayman has promised investors that his personal jet packs will hit the market by mid-2017, though early adopters will pay about $250,000 for one, to fly a person at up to 60 mph for 10 minutes. The JB-10 (developed by Mayman and designer Nelson Tyler) has made about 400 test runs in Monaco and over downtown London and New York City, but the partners realize that ultimate success will require that the fuel tanks be downsized so that the craft can be powered electrically--and thus seek crowdfunding both for that model and a larger one to accommodate the Pentagon's (Special Operations Command) tactical needs. [Daily Mail (London), 11-11-2016]
The Continuing Crisis
Wild Life: The state agency Colorado Parks and Wildlife filed 21 criminal charges in October against the Squirrel Creek Wildlife Rescue center in Littleton, alleging that some of the orphaned and rehabbing animals Kendall Seifert houses are not being kept according to the state's strict standards--and that Seifert's 15-year-old center is additionally home to his popular swingers' club ("Scarlett Ranch") featuring weekend sex parties. One of the criminal charges suggests that Rescue animals could be stressed by gazing at activity in the Ranch's bar area. Seifert said he will challenge the charges out of fear that many of the raccoons, foxes, song birds, coyotes, skunks, rabbits, and squirrels he would have to relinquish would not find suitable facilities elsewhere. [The Guardian (London), 10-27-2016]
In St. Paul, Minn., a 25-year-old woman told police on November 3rd that she was involuntarily roughed up several hours after being voluntarily roughed up at Arnellia's Bar's weekly "Smack Fest"--in which female patrons competitively slap each other's faces for three "rounds" under strict house rules. The woman said she spoke amicably with her opponent, but by closing time, the opponent and several friends, including men, punched and kicked her outside the bar. (In other slapping news, a 71-year-old woman died in Lewes, England, in November while participating in a Chinese healing seminar that emphasizes being slapped repeatedly to rid the body of poisoned blood and toxins. The "healer," Hongshi Xiao, charges clients around $900 to beat what he calls the sha out of them.) [St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11-7-2016] [The Argus (Brighton), 11-14-2016]
Episode Almost Ended in a Tie: In November, in a remote area of Oregon's Maury Mountains, a 69-year-old man killed an elk and dragged the carcass behind his off-road vehicle up a hill. According to the Crook County Sheriff's office, the vehicle suddenly flipped over backward, and the man landed on, and was impaled by, the elk's antlers. Fellow hunters summoned a helicopter, and the man has apparently survived. [The Oregonian, 11-7-2016]
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
(1) In a retail market long dominated by priests, "nonsectarian" funeral eulogizers now offer to give individually-tailored remembrances of the deceased for a fee, according to an October report by New York Post reporter who interviewed two local "celebrants," who cited the declining appeal of "prayers." (2) The British retailer ASOS announced in August that three-foot-long clip-on dinosaur tails had sold out in one of its two models (although New York magazine, which reported it in the U.S., was, for obvious reasons, baffled about why). [New York Post, 10-23-2016] [New York, 8-29-2016]
The Way the World Works
Brittany Maynard, then 29, became "the face of the Right to Die movement" in 2014, according to a New York Post column, when she chose a legal physician-assisted suicide rather than awaiting the growth of her terminal brain tumor. In October, terminally ill California mother Stephanie Packer hoped to be "the face of the Right to Live movement" after declining suicide when learning of a new drug that might extend her life--but revealing that her insurance company denied coverage of it--though her suicide drugs were covered (co-pay: $1.20). [New York Post, 10-24-2016]
Medical Marvels
Margaret Boemer's baby LynLee was "born" twice. In an October Texas Children's Hospital interview, doctors described how the need to rid Boemer's fetus of a rapidly-growing tumor required them, at Boemer's 23rd week of pregnancy, to remove the fetus completely from the uterus until it was "hanging out in the air" so that they could cut away the tumor and then re-position the fetus into the uterus. LynLee was "born" again by C-section 13 weeks later. [CNN, 10-20-2016]
Suspicions Confirmed
San Francisco State University researchers revealed in April that no fungi or fecal bacteria were found on the seats of the city's bus line or rapid transit trains (unlike their findings in 2011 before officials adopted easier-to-clean seats) but that a "rare" and "unusual" strain, called Pigmentiphaga was found--previously associated only with South Korean waste water and the South China Sea. The city's Department of Health said, of course, not to worry. [SFGate.com, 10-28-2016]
Perspective
A high-level policy document released by the Chinese government in September detailed plans to use technology to monitor citizen behavior to such a degree that each person would receive a "social credit" score (similar to a "FICO" score in the U.S. but covering a range of conduct beyond financial) that would be the basis for allotting perks such as government support in starting businesses and whether parents' children are eligible for the best schools. "[K]eeping trust is glorious," according to the document, and "good" behavior promotes a "harmonious socialist society." [Washington Post, 10-22-2016]
Arkansas Chic
Kristi Goss, 43, an assistant to a Garland County (Ark.) judge, was arrested in October and charged with stealing nearly $200,000 in public funds, which she used to buy such things as a tuxedo for her dog, sequined throw pillows, a "diamond bracelet" (retailing for $128), and, of course, Arkansas Razorback football tickets. [Sentinel-Record (Hot Springs), 10-26-2016]
The Aristocrats!
(1) Motorist Kurt Jenkins, 56, was arrested in November in Boynton Beach, Fla., after a pedestrian said Jenkins, naked, motioned him to his car to take a look. The pedestrian said there were children in the area--and also that Jenkins appeared to have wires running from his genitals to an unidentified "electrical device." (2) Among a stash of pornography found recently on the computer of Michael Ward, 70, were photos of humans having some sort of sex with "horses, dogs, [an] octopus, and [an] eel," according to a report of England's Chelmsford Crown Court proceedings. A pre-sentencing order forbade Ward to have contact with children under 16 (but was silent about possible contact with fish or mollusks). [WPEC-TV (West Palm Beach, 11-2-2016] [Metro News (London), 11-6-2016]
The Passing Parade
(1) At press time, "Bugs Bunny" and "Pink Panther" were on trial in St. Catharines, Ontario, on aggravated-assault charges from a Halloween 2015 bar fight in which "Dracula"'s ear was severely slashed with a broken bottle. "There was a lot of blood," said a witness (but coming from Dracula, not being sucked out by Dracula). (Update: The judge cleared Bugs but was still deliberating on Panther.) (2) The tardigrade is an ugly micro-organism that is perhaps the sturdiest animal on earth, able to endure otherwise-impossible living conditions and (thanks to gene-sequencing) known to be composed of DNA not seen elsewhere. A Japanese company recently began selling an oversized, cuddlable tardigrade toy "plushie" authenticated by science's leading tardigrade authority, Prof. Kazuharu Arakawa of Keio University. [St. Catharines Standard, 11-8-2016, 11-18-2018] [BoingBoing, 11-15-2016]
A News of the Weird Classic (January 2013)
The usual 20,000 or so visitors every year to Belgium’s 30-acre Verbeke Foundation art park are allowed to reserve a night inside the feature attraction: a 20-foot-long, 6-foot-high polyester replica of a human colon created by Dutch designer Joep Van Lieshout. The area at the end of the structure gives the installation its formal name, the Hotel CasAnus. The facility, though “cramped,” according to one prominent review, features heating, showers, and double beds and rents for the equivalent of about $150 a night [the rate in 2012]. [Huffington Post, 12-12-2012]
Thanks This Week to Jim Doughtie and Gary Krupa and to the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Chuck - Sun Nov 27, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category:
Survival Experiment
November 1961: As an experiment in survival, Portland radio announcer Bill Davis spent a week confined in a windowless fallout shelter with his family... and his mother-in-law.They survived, although Davis's wife admitted, "There were problems."
One of the problems was that four days into the test an earthquake struck Portland, and the Davis family, cut off from communication, thought it was a nuclear attack.
Medford Mail Tribune - Nov 1, 1961
Medford Mail Tribune - Nov 10, 1961
Medford Mail Tribune - Nov 9, 1961
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 27, 2016 -
Comments (0)
Category: Family, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Experiments, 1960s
The Hot Air Cure
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 27, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century
November 26, 2016
Make milk a social drink
1960: The dairy industry, noting that coffee, tea, beer, liquor, and soft drinks are traditionally served at parties but milk isn't, started plotting ways to make milk a "social drink."If you add alcohol to milk it could be considered a social drink. Otherwise, I'd say their campaign fizzled.
Akron Beacon Journal - Dec 4, 1960
Port Angeles Evening News - Mar 9, 1960
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 26, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 1960s
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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 |
