Weird Universe Archive
June 2023
June 25, 2023
Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?
Made it into the UK Top Twenty in 1984. More info from wikipedia.It inspired a Toshiba ad the following year:
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 25, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Music, 1980s
True Crime Podcast on Vinyl
Well, not exactly, but close enough. Use embedded player below.History of the case here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 25, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Crime, Death, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, United Kingdom, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
June 24, 2023
Jello craving saves man’s life
The lesson here is to not hold back if you've got a craving for a snack. That snack may save your life!
Daily Oklahoman - Feb 27, 1994
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 24, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, Jello, 1990s
“Lucky” Fluckey: The Only Submarine Commander Ever to Blow Up a Train
So long as submersible vessels are in the news...His Wikipedia page.
In one of the more unusual incidents in the war, Fluckey sent a landing party ashore to set demolition charges on a coastal railway line, destroying a 16-car train.[4] This was the sole landing by U.S. military forces on the Japanese home islands during World War II. Fluckey ordered that this landing party be composed of crewmen from every division on his submarine. "He chose an eight-man team with no married men to blow up the train," Captain Max Duncan said, who served as Torpedo Officer on the Barb during this time. "He also wanted former Boy Scouts because he thought they could find their way back. They were paddling back to the ship when the train blew up."[5] The selected crewmen were Paul Saunders, William Hatfield, Francis Sever, Lawrence Newland, Edward Klinglesmith, James Richard, John Markuson, and William Walker. Hatfield wired the explosive charge, using a microswitch under the rails to trigger the explosion.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 24, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Military, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, War, 1940s, Asia
June 23, 2023
Radioprotective Blancmange
Several years ago, Russian scientists developed a recipe for a blancmange that would help protect against radiation poisoning. The perfect dessert to serve in your bunker after a nuclear war. Details from Improbable.com:The dessert blancmange consists of two layers. The first is a cheese mousse sugar syrup containing buckthorn extract, evenly distributed over the entire volume. The second layer is a jelly consisting of an extract of green tea and red wine stabilized natural pectin gelling agent. All components have high radioprotective properties.
You can find the article by the Russian scientists here, but it's in Russian (except for the initial abstract).
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 23, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Food, Jello, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters
Hitler’s Peace Pudding
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 23, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Dictators, Tyrants and Other Harsh Rulers, Food, War, Cartoons, 1930s
June 22, 2023
Hand Grenade Throwing as a College Sport
Lewis Omer’s Hand Grenade Throwing as a College Sport, published in 1918, appears in various lists of books with odd titles.I was curious about the contents of the book, but I initially came up empty handed. The British Library blog reported that it was a nine-page booklet, but that no copies of the title seemed to remain in existence. The Library of Congress didn't have a copy, nor did any other libraries. And the British Library's own copy was destroyed during aerial bombing in World War II.
But after some searching I found what appears to be the text of Omer's booklet reproduced in the Spalding's Athletic Library Official Handbook, published in 1919, and viewable at archive.org.
So why hand-grenade throwing as a college sport? Because, at the time Omer wrote his book, young American men were being sent to fight in World War I, and some colleges had introduced grenade throwing as a sport, to prepare them for the war. Using dummy grenades, obviously, rather than live ones. Omer's booklet provided the official rules for the new sport.
Some more info about the history of grenade throwing as a sport can be found at the History Of The California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 22, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Sports, Books, 1910s, Weapons
Perspective ‘78
Why does no one produce these oral retrospectives anymore? Parts 1 and 2 below.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 22, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: History, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1970s
June 21, 2023
Ugley Women’s Institute
The Women's Institute, according to Wikipedia, is a "community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand." The first Women's Institute branch in the UK was established in 1915. And by the 1920s the village of Ugley in Essex had its own branch, making it the Ugley Women's Institute.The jokes began soon after. An Apr 13, 1945 column in the Saffron Walden Weekley News notes:
People will still have their joke about the uncommon name of Ugley, but the Ugley ladies must have become hardened to it by now. There are as lovely ladies in Ugley as elsewhere, I have no doubt, and certainly their Women's Institute is doing excellent work.
By the 1950s the members of the Ugley Women's Institute had apparently grown tired of the jokes. Newspapers reported a name change:
Evansville Press - Mar 24, 1956
However, I find that the same story then kept popping up throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, always reported as if it was breaking news, which makes me wonder if it was true in the first place. In the UK Register of Charities the organization is still listed as the Ugley Women's Institute.
Wisconsin State Journal - Sep 9, 1962
Incidentally, the village of Ugley also has an Ugley Farmers Market. And the town of Loose, in Kent, boasts the Loose Women's Institute.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 21, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Odd Names, Women
Mystery Gadget 106
What are these objects? What are they used for? HINT: something playful.The answer is here.
Or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 21, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Technology
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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 |
