January 2020
January 6, 2020
Name That List, #61
What is this a list of? The answer is below in extended.- crayons
- marker cap
- chopstick
- ballpoint pen
- piece of toy pliers
- lollipop stick
- coaxial cable
- wedding ring
- magnets
- screwdriver
- bobby pin
More in extended >>
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 06, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Name That List
Follies of the Madmen #460
Those are growing underwater plants surrounding the buried woman. This is plainly a mermaid, a superhuman, or an unnaturally happy Mob victim.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 06, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Business, Advertising, Cosmetics, Death, 1960s
January 5, 2020
The Man Can
Its formal name was the “man-carried auto-navigation device,” but it went by the nickname “Man Can.” The Martin-Marietta Corporation received patent no. 3,355,942 for it in 1967.It was a device designed to help soldiers avoid getting lost. The patent offered this description:
It combined a compass and a pedometer. A GI would record his initial location on a map, and then the device would track his footsteps and the directions in which he turned. When he was done walking, the device would tell him his new coordinates.
A key feature of the device was that it didn't use any battery power. So the GIs would never need to worry about it running out of juice. It operated via a bellows located in the heel of the GI's shoe.
I can't find any follow-up reports about how well this gadget worked. Apparently not well enough to warrant its adoption by the army. But it was an interesting concept.
Allentown Morning Call - Dec 11, 1967
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 05, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Geography and Maps, Inventions, Patents, Military, Technology, 1960s
Chicken Fat
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 05, 2020 -
Comments (9)
Category: Body, Bodybuilding, Music, 1960s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
January 4, 2020
Exerlopers
The inventor of exerlopers, Gregory Lekhtman, believed that "we are not designed to run." Apparently he thought it would be better to leap around like antelopes instead.
Indiana Gazette - May 3, 1988
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 04, 2020 -
Comments (6)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, 1980s
The Artist’s Dilemma
This pretty much encapsulates my average workday.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 04, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Art, Surrealism, Movies, Special Effects, 1900s
January 3, 2020
Dinosaurs Live!
The name of the event did imply there were going to be living dinosaurs at the Memphis Zoo. So, perhaps the people who asked for their money back were simply sticklers for truth in advertising.
Longview Daily News - Sep 9, 1992
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 03, 2020 -
Comments (7)
Category: Stupidity, 1990s
Election 2020
Expect absurdist acts of political theater throughout the new year, from all sides.
[Mrs. Guilford Dudley of Nashville with ear trumpet, talking into ear of Democratic donkey, played by Mrs. Mary Semple Scott in skit at 1920 National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago]
Photo source.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 03, 2020 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, Politics, Twentieth Century
January 2, 2020
The Taste Organ
Decatur Herald - Sep 14, 1926
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 02, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Food, Inventions, 1920s
Abstract in Concrete
Ten minutes of colorful blobs reflected in puddles. Not sure what audience this was aimed at.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 02, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Urban Life, 1950s
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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 |
