Weird Universe Archive
January 2021
January 11, 2021
Stockpiling toilet paper - 1993
July 1993: A pro-timber group urged consumers to stockpile toilet paper in order to deplete store supplies and thereby raise awareness of the importance of wood and paper products. "You can help by buying one or two (or twenty!) cases of toilet paper," its newsletter declared.Little did they know that, 27 years later, a pandemic would transform America into a nation of toilet paper stockpilers!
Longview Daily News - July 15, 1993
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 11, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bathrooms, 1990s
Father Christmas Training School
It's still kinda the holiday season, right? Orthodox Xmas was just a few days ago!
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 11, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, School, United Kingdom
January 10, 2021
Predicting war by mathematics
At an August 1938 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Professor Lewis F. Richardson attempted to use mathematics to predict the likelihood of war:The professor reduced to beautiful differential equations general tendencies common to all nations — resentment of defiance, the suspicion that defense is concealed aggression, response to imports by exports, restraint on armaments by the difficulty of paying for them, and, last, grievances and their irrationality.
He concluded there was "no chance of war," which proved to be a somewhat inaccurate prediction.
The Alexandria Town Talk - Sep 27, 1938
Encyclopedia.com offers some more info on what Richardson was up to:
Richardson viewed war instead in Tolstoyan fashion, as a massive phenomenon governed by forces akin to the forces of nature, over which individuals have little or no control. Accordingly, he ignored all those intricacies of diplomatic-strategic analysis usually pursued by political historians and turned his attention to quasi-mechanical and quantifiable processes which, he assumed, govern the dynamics of the international system of sovereign states.
Despite the eccentricity of his mathematical war-prediction model, Richardson was apparently quite influential in the history of mathematics. Wikipedia notes that he did pioneering work in mathematical techniques of weather forecasting, as well as in the study of fractals.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 10, 2021 -
Comments (8)
Category: Science, War, 1930s
The Aeolus Wind Car Competition
The event got cancelled in 2020, but plans to resume this year.Forty seconds of narration in French preface this second video.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 10, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Technology, Environmentalism and Ecology, Cars
January 9, 2021
Henry Budd, the Anti-Mustache Millionaire
English eccentric Henry Budd stipulated in his will that his sons would forfeit their inheritance if they ever grew a mustache. Details from twickenhampark.co.uk:Henry lived until 1862 when he died in London. In his Will his estate was valued £200,000 which would be tens of millions today. The Will divided his estates between his only surviving children, namely his sons William and Edward. Henry added a final stipulation that should either of his sons grow a moustache they would forfeit their share which would revert to the other brother.
The newspapers reported this in some detail at the time, and it was still worthy of news 20 years later in 1882.
The newspapers reported this in some detail at the time, and it was still worthy of news 20 years later in 1882.
Detail from Budd's will in which he forbids his sons from ever growing mustaches
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 09, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Law, Nineteenth Century, Hair and Hairstyling
Lisa Bufano, Revisited
Nine years ago, we did a post on this artist. Revisiting her, I learned that two years afterwards, she had a sad ending by suicide.Other videos here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 09, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Dance, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical
January 8, 2021
Mystery Gadget 91
What's going on here?The answer is at the source.
Or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 08, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Technology, 1920s
January 7, 2021
Donald Campbell, the man who couldn’t stop talking
In 1933, Donald Campbell, a truck driver, fell from his truck and hit his head. A year later he developed a bizarre condition. He started talking incessantly, non-stop. His talking was so compulsive that he couldn't even sleep. His talking was perfectly rational. He answered questions clearly. But he couldn't stop.Doctors attributed his condition to encephalitis, or brain swelling. After about a month his non-stop talking subsided, and doctors thought he had recovered. But within four months he was dead. Strangely, the cause of his death was cancer and seemed to be unrelated to his non-stop talking.
Pottsville Evening Herald - Aug 17, 1934
Pittsburgh Press - Sep 5, 1934
Cincinnati Enquirer - Jan 6, 1935
Update — A newspaper recorded an example of some of Campbell's rambling monologue:
Cigarets should never be taxed in Ohio. When I was a boy, Joe and I used to go swimming in Willow Creek together. Now he thinks cigarets should be taxed. Sometimes I believe that Joe doesn't realize how hard it is to be a truck driver in Columbus. But I am not getting any better. The radio seemed nice last night although truck driving wasn't mentioned. We will take the whole thing up when we get home, but I'm not getting any better, do you think?
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 07, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Health, Mental Health and Insanity, 1930s
Fore-Edge Painted Books
An article with examples here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 07, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, Books
January 6, 2021
Samsara Perfume
Samsara the perfume was created by Jean Paul Guerlain in 1989, and it's still for sale. Here's Guerlain's publicity blurb about the perfume:In Sanskrit, Samsara means the eternal cycle of life. It is an imaginary place, sacred and mysterious, where Orient and Occident meet. Samsara is the symbol of harmony, of absolute osmosis between a woman and her perfume. It is a spiritual voyage leading to serenity and inner contemplation. The bottle, in the sacred red of the Orient, echoes the figure of a Khmer dancer in the Musée Guimet in Paris, her hands folded in a gesture of offering, expressing plenitude and femininity. The stopper evokes the eye of Buddha. A tantalizing floral-oriental perfume, Samsara is a harmonious blend of all-natural essences, including jasmine, ylang ylang, sandalwood and tonka bean.
I'm no expert on Hindu-Buddhist religion, but I'm pretty sure that Samsara isn't supposed to be a good thing. My understanding is that it's the endless, repeating cycle of birth and death from which we're supposed to hope to awake. Kind of like the endless cycle that Bill Murray's character, in the movie Groundhog Day, finds himself trapped in. Which makes it odd to name a perfume after this.
Of course, I'm over-analyzing this. Guerlain probably a) didn't understand the concept, and b) wouldn't have cared anyway because he just figured the name sounded exotic.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 06, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Religion, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents
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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 |
