Weird Universe Archive
December 2022
December 11, 2022
Miss Coaxial Cable
Cable TV was coming to Phoenix in 1952, and to celebrate a local TV store organized a "Miss Coaxial Cable" contest.
Arizona Republic - July 1, 1952
Arizona Republic - June 29, 1952
I can't find who was eventually crowned "Miss Coaxial Cable," but around the same time Mary Perkins was awarded the title of "Miss TV Cable," also in Phoenix. I'm guessing these must have been two rival beauty contests.
Arizona Republic - July 7, 1952
Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 11, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Television, 1950s
The Beauty Queen of Neptune
Long Beach, California: 1936. The queen of the Neptunes Electrical Extravaganza which will be staged over the Olympic Rowing Course on May 6th in Long Beach.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 11, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Parades and Festivals, 1930s
December 10, 2022
foew&ombwhnw
foew&ombwhnw, by Dick Higgins, was published in 1969 by Something Else Press. The title was an acronym for "freaked-out electronic wizards & other marvellous bartenders who have no wings."The design of the book was unusual. It was made to look like a prayer book, with black cover and thin pages. Inside, the text was divided into four columns. To read the book in order you had to first read all the left-hand columns, then all the second-to-left columns, etc.
The book itself was a collection of essays, plays, and poems. Or, as Higgins described it, "a grammar of the mind and a phenomenology of love and a science of the arts as seen by a stalker of the wild mushroom."
Copies of it generally go for over $100, for anyone interested in adding it to their collection of weird books.
More info: DickHiggins.org
source: printedmatter.org
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 10, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Literature, Books, 1960s
The Mighty Tiny Phonograph
Real record players and real 45's were so prevalent and inexpensive, why would anyone invest in this?
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 10, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Toys, 1960s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
December 9, 2022
Glock Stallions
Glock is well-known as a gun manufacturer. What's less well known is that they also sell horse semen. link: Glock Stallions
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 09, 2022 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Weapons
Meshes of the Afternoon
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 09, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Movies, Surrealism, 1940s
December 8, 2022
Skina Babe
Skina Babe, produced by Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., has been a popular brand of baby bath oil in Japan for decades. Mochida trademarked the name in the U.S. However, I don't believe it ever tried to introduce the product in an English-language market, which seems just as well.
Incidentally, Mochida also sells "Skina Fukifuki," which is a skin cleanser for senior citizens.
More info: mochida.co.jp
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 08, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Babies, Odd Names, Asia
The Decimal Shopping Game
When the UK made its switch from old-style currency to decimal currency, this board game was issued to help familiarize people with the new mode.Currently, a copy is for sale at UK eBay, where more pix await your inspection.
Board Game Geek has just a placeholder entry.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 08, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Boredom, Games, Money, 1970s, United Kingdom
December 7, 2022
Poronkusema
As explained by Ziya Tong in The Reality Bubble: how science reveals the hidden truths that shape our world (2019):In Finland, the indigenous Sami people have a very special unit of measurement. It's called a poronkusema, which is defined as the distance a reindeer can travel before it needs to stop and urinate. The Sami, who have lived alongside reindeer for centuries, attentively noted that the animals won't walk and relieve themselves at the same time. And so, once approximately every 7.5 kilometres, a poronkusema, they stop and empty their bladders. While this measurement may seem a touch absurd to non-reindeer herders, it should be said that before the metric system came along, many countries and cultures had their own rather peculiar systems. It's likely that people of the future will find it just as weird that we described the unfathomable loss of our rainforests in terms of "football fields."
I found a Finnish-language book titled Poronkusema, but the google-translated blurb is somewhat incomprehensible and doesn't mention anything about urinating reindeers.
Poronkusema is a humane, unadorned and dramatic story about acceptance, forgiveness, equality and growing up. Poronkusema is a series of events with a flavor of the life of the main character and his close circle, not too salty smoothed, where treatment and head and tail are missing. Mother's forgiveness and acceptance of loved ones as they are. How can the death of a child change and shape the future of family members and close friends. This is the countdown for this story. You'll jump like a fly on a moldy ceiling and juice up juicy coincidences like peeking into locker rooms in elementary school. We were kind of the usual The Usual Suspects, like from that classic Yankee movie directed by Bryan Singer. The only difference. We weren't that good looking.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 07, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Instruments and Measuring Devices, Body Fluids
The Cherry Tree Carol
This song establishes that the folklore about pregnant women demanding weird foodstuffs--pickles with ice cream, for instance--goes way back. Also, it has Embryo Jesus speaking from the womb.The Cherry Tree Carol is a bit darker than most Christmas related songs. It is identified as a Kentucky mountain ballad on the record. In fact it is a much older song from the early 15th century. The song is quite lovely and presents an unusual variation on the story of Mary and Joseph.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 07, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Food, Holidays, Music, Religion, Pregnancy
| Get WU Posts by Email | |
|---|---|
| Who We Are |
|---|
| 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 |
