April 2023
April 30, 2023
Wearable Canopy
Stylish rain gear.More info: Patent No. 1,888,909
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 30, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Patents, 1930s, Weather
Mechanical Chiropractor
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 30, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Health, Hobbies and DIY, Lawsuits, 1940s
April 29, 2023
The AI doctor is always in
Consider this question: "Can an artificial intelligence chatbot assistant provide responses to patient questions that are of comparable quality and empathy to those written by physicians?"According to a study recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the answer is that not only can AI give answers that are as good as those of physicians, in the majority of cases the answers are better. Judge for yourself with the sample below.
Click to enlarge
Looks like it might not be too long before your primary care doctor will be a robot. Actually, I already rely heavily on "Doctor Google" to diagnose any medical issues I might have.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 29, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Medicine, Technology, AI, Robots and Other Automatons
He Resolves Not To Smoke
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 29, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Tobacco and Smoking, Fantasy, Cartoons, 1910s
April 28, 2023
Miracle Dentistry
No need for dentists. Just pray away your tooth troubles!
Lloyd Bovee lived for over 50 more years. No mention of tooth problems in his obituary.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 28, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Religion, 1920s, Teeth
Songs of the Russian Street Urchins
A few cheerful gulag ditties.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 28, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Children, 1960s, Russia
April 27, 2023
RIP Yon Zircle Bowlin
Yon Zircle Bowlin died last week at the age of 94. His weird claim to fame was that he was the final-born member of the Bowlin "alphabet family."His parents, Allen and Sarah Bowlin, named all their kids in alphabetical order (first and middle names). They ended up having 13 kids, completing the alphabet.
The 13 kids: Audie Bryant, Curtis Drue, Era Faye, Grady Hampton, Ida Jeanette, Knola Leantha, Millard Nathan, Olivia Penelopi, Quincy Ruth, Sarah Thelma, Ulysses Vinson, Wilson Xava, and Yon Zircle.
Yon Zircle's obituary: Brown Funeral Home
Montgomery Advertiser - Feb 15, 1950
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 27, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Odd Names
Maco Toys Firefly Safety Helmet
What do you think? Would this have earned envy or disdain from fellow kids? Cool or uncool?The maker's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 27, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, Toys, Self-protection, Defenses, and Safeguards, Twentieth Century
April 26, 2023
The boxer who knocked himself out
According to boxing lore, back in the 1930s C.D. "Bigboy" Blalock of Louisiana State University managed to accidentally knock himself out, with his own punch.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Feb 12, 1973
I've managed to confirm that C.D. Blalock was, in fact, a boxer on the LSU team (see clipping below). Apparently he was the heavyweight champion of the southeastern conference in 1934. But I can't find any contemporary coverage of his self-knockout. Which seems odd. I would have thought the press would have given something like that plenty of coverage.
Alexandria Daily Town Talk - Apr 2, 1932
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 26, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Sports, 1930s
The Body/Hair Paintings of Xie Rong
The artist's home page.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 26, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Performance Art, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Sticky, Messy, Sloppy, Drippy, Treacly Things, Asia
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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 |
