January 2022
January 6, 2022
The Microsoft Hinged Box
Microsoft received its first patent in 1986 (Patent No. 4,588,074). By this time it was already a huge company, having released Microsoft Windows the previous year. But its first patent wasn't for anything related to computers or software. Instead, it was for a kind of hinged box designed to store and support books and articles.It then didn't receive any more patents for another two years.
I'm curious about the backstory of this hinged box. What inspired its invention? Did Microsoft ever attempt to manufacture or sell it? And why did the company feel compelled to patent it?
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 06, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Technology, 1980s
Amagami Ham Ham and Qoobo
The Amagami Ham Ham website.
The Qoobo website.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 06, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Chindogu, AI, Robots and Other Automatons, Asia
January 5, 2022
Insect Sour
A new alcoholic beverage, "Insect Sour," on sale in Japan boasts that its main ingredient is "giant water bug extract". These water bugs are apparently popular among bug aficionados because they have "a sweet, almost fruity, flavor comparable to some types of shellfish like shrimp."I bet it pairs well with Insect Balls.
More info: Sora News 24
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 05, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Inebriation and Intoxicants, Insects and Spiders
Follies of the Madmen #523
Source (pages 10 and 11).
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 05, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Aliens, Advertising, Comics, Cereal, 1950s
January 4, 2022
Earth’s Black Box
On an empty plain in Tasmania there now sits a metallic structure filled with storage drives that is recording "every step we take" toward climate-change catastrophe. Its creators — marketing communications company Clemenger BBDO in collaboration with University of Tasmania researchers — describe it as "Earth's Black Box".Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I predict that the project is abandoned within 20 years and this turns into an architectural curiosity sitting in the middle of nowhere. I was going to say 10 years, but I'll be charitable.
More info: cnet.com, EarthsBlackBox.com
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 04, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Architecture, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Technology
Rejuvenique Facial Toning Mask
Still being made and sold! Get yours via the Amazon link below!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 04, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Body Modifications, Inventions, Technology, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
January 3, 2022
Relax With My Horns
Not an album for those suffering from coulrophobia.Info from mps-music.com:
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 03, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Clowns, Music, 1960s
Calcreose
No longer will tuberculosis sufferers have to lick telephone poles for the creosote and hang out at lime quarries inhaling the dust, for now Calcreose supplies all of those vital ingredients which you can stomach. Apparently good for a hundred ailments.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 03, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Twentieth Century
January 2, 2022
Ads between telephone rings
I can only imagine how annoying it would be to have to listen to advertisements between rings whenever you phoned someone. And unfortunately the technology to do this has been developed. Neil Sleevi was granted a patent for it in 1989 (Patent No. 4,811,382), and Bell Atlantic promptly bought the rights to it.
Faced with public outcry, Bell Atlantic subsequently claimed that, even though they did buy the rights to the patent, they never had any intention of inserting ads between telephone rings, dismissing the entire notion as a silly rumor. But I'm pretty sure they would have done it if they had thought they could get away with it.
Baltimore Sun - Dec 14, 1991
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 02, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: Technology, Telephones, Advertising, Patents, 1990s
Sex on an Animal Hide Rug
The subtext in the ad is obvious. Fur rugs, fake or real, are for making love on. It's the staple of a thousand PLAYBOY cartoons.But where did the trope originate? Most likely with writer Elinor Glyn. Her novel THREE WEEKS (read it here) featured such a scene that became so notorious, it inspired some doggerel.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 02, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Domestic, Books, 1900s, 1970s, Sex
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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 |
