March 2019
March 26, 2019
The Lemon-Juice Bandits
In January 1995, Macarthur Wheeler and Clifton Johnson robbed a bank in Swissvale, Pennsylvania. However, they had a plan to avoid detection: they rubbed lemon juice on their faces. Their reasoning was that lemon juice can be used to make invisible ink, so surely it would conceal their faces from surveillance cameras as well. They even tested this hypothesis by taking polaroid pictures of each other smeared with lemon juice, and it seemed to work.Unfortunately, they showed up just fine on the bank's cameras, and they were identified and arrested several months later when the footage of the robbery was broadcast on a local news show.
This odd crime has an interesting postscript. The psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University read about it, and it inspired them to start thinking about the problem of stupidity: this being that stupid people often don’t realize they’re stupid. In fact, they think they’re quite smart, which leads them to do incredibly dumb things. This phenomenon (of dumb people not being able to recognize the limits of their competence) is now known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. In the journal article in which they introduced the concept, Dunning and Kruger cited the lemon-juice bandits as their inspiration.
Tyrone Daily Herald - Jan 8, 1996
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Mar 21, 1996
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 26, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Stupid Criminals, Psychology, 1990s
How to Catch a Cold
Disney and Kleenex: a match made in...Madison Avenue?Plus: excess square-dancing opens you up to germs.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 26, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Body, Business, Advertising, Health, Disease, PSA’s, 1950s
March 25, 2019
Decomposition Cupcake
The “Five Stages” cupcake by artist Claire Ratcliffe. It was part of the Edible Body Farm exhibit held in England back in 2016, which used culinary creations to explore the topic of bodily decomposition.
Stages of decay cupcakes by Claire Ratcliffe
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 25, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Death, Food
Miss Cinderemmy
Apparently the Emmy Awards once featured a beauty queen. The 1956 contenders first below, then the 1957 queen.
December 31, 1957. Lovely Rochelle Greenblatt, 21 year old receptionist at McCadden Studios, Hollywood, was chosen 'Miss Cinderemmy' tonight (Dec. 31) and presented at midnight to the entire television industry at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences New Year's Eve Ball staged at Beverly Hilton. She was crowned as queen of the ball by actor Ronnie Burns, son of comedy star, George Burns, who coincidentally owns and operates McCadden Studios.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 25, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Television, 1950s
March 24, 2019
Jesus Clock
Created by artist Manfred Erjautz and installed in the Spitalskirche in downtown Innsbruck, with the permission of Bishop Hermann Glettler.More details: Life Site
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 24, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Religion
Follies of the Madmen #419
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 24, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Music, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1970s, Men, Women
March 23, 2019
The Ratapult
Invented circa 1992 by Allen Gross. It was intended to be a more humane rattrap. Instead of killing the rats, it flung them up to 50 feet into a cage or bucket. The dazed, but still living, rodents could then be either turned over to authorities or released into the wild. Noted Gross, “I didn’t want the (rodents) squashed or turned into meatloaf.”
Santa Rosa Press Democrat - Feb 14, 1992
Staunton News Leader - Feb 14, 1992
Turns out this wasn't the first rat-flinging trap to be invented. Back in 1912, a similar device debuted, also called the Ratapult. Though it wasn't intended to be in any way humane:
Vergennes Orwell Citizen - Jan 9, 1913
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 23, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Pests, Plagues and Infestations, 1990s
Go! Go! Go!
Speeded up stuff is inherently weird.Her Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 23, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Crowds, Groups, Mobs and Other Mass Movements, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Movies, Special Effects, 1960s
March 22, 2019
Man kicked in face by dead cow
Cows that attack have been a recurring theme on WU for quite a while (see here and here). Apparently, dead cows are just as dangerous as the living ones.In a statement, police said the cow was “killed according to regulations” early Thursday at an abattoir in Aalen, and hung from a meat hook for further processing.
Police said the carcass then kicked the man in the face, apparently due to a nerve impulse that experts say isn’t uncommon.
The 41-year-old worker was hospitalized.
Source
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 22, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Injuries, Cows
1968 Seatbelt PSA
Nice to see that despite being horribly scarred for life, she has maintained her mascara, eyeliner and lashes.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 22, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Motor Vehicles, PSA’s, 1960s, Face and Facial Expressions
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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 |
