August 2023
August 26, 2023
9 is heavier than 6
All you perpetual-motion skeptics, just try to argue against the logic of this!
Los Angeles Daily News - Sep 19, 1931
Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 26, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, 1930s
Kreskin’s ESP Game
Kreskin's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 26, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Games, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Advertising, 1960s
August 25, 2023
Marty Snyder, the blind movie censor
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, when asked to define pornography, "I know it when I see it."Marty Snyder couldn't see it, but he figured he would know it anyway, especially if the person sitting next to him filled him in on what he was missing.
Snyder ended up serving on the Clarkstown censorship panel for less than a year because he died of a stroke in 1974.
South Mississippi Sun - Oct 25, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 25, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, 1970s, Eyes and Vision
Miss Jitterbug
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 25, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1940s, Dance
August 24, 2023
Gurning
In September, after a three-year break due to Covid, the World Gurning Championships will once again be held at the Egremont Crab Fair in England. The crab fair dates back to 1267, and the gurning contest may be almost as old.Explanatory text from Yesterday's Country Customs: A History of Traditional English Folklore.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 24, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Sports
UK TV Ads of the 50s and 60s
Some rarer items for your weirdness appraisal. I like the one with Tarzan. The one for Fish Fingers unintentionally resembles a Monty Python skit.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 24, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Television, Advertising, 1950s, 1960s, United Kingdom
August 23, 2023
Cow-Stomach Handbags
Artist Billie van Katwijk makes handbags (and purses, wallets, etc.) out of cow stomachs. They're available for purchase, but not cheap. A coin purse, for instance, will cost you over $200.More info: Ventri Leather, Studio Billie van Katwijk
Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 23, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Fashion, Cows
Bricks Thru Windows Don’t Open Doors
I am not sure how many rioters would be dissuaded by such a mild-mannered advertising campaign.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 23, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Noises and Other Public Disturbances of the Peace, PSA’s, Riots, Protests and Civil Disobedience, Advertising, 1960s
August 22, 2023
Ocean-Aged Wine
Ocean Fathoms promised its customers truly superior wine (for the price of $500/bottle) based on its unique method of aging the wine: in the ocean. It dropped the wine bottles to the bottom of the Santa Barbara Channel and brought them up a year later. From its website:It is also the interaction between the submerged wine cages and the set of special characteristics of the Channel Islands’ environment that gives Ocean Fathoms a superior product. We sourced the absolute best location on planet earth to age our superior wine.
One problem. It never got permits to do any of this. The Bureau of Alcoholic Beverage Control seized and destroyed 2,000 bottles of the wine.
I wonder if the ocean-aging actually made any difference. My guess is that it's just the latest wine-industry gimmick.
More info: Food & Wine
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 22, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Inebriation and Intoxicants, Overpriced Merchandise
Anti-Bulbsnatcher Device
This post is partially a tribute to the end of the incandescent bulb, after its long and glorious reign.For many years, GE conducted an ad campaign to discourage people from moving lightbulbs around from one fixture to another in a lazy manner, instead of always having a closetful of replacement bulbs. If only GE had invested in the patent which follows these ads, for a device that would not allow a bulb to be unscrewed with breaking it.
Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 22, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Domestic, Inventions, Patents, Technology, 1930s
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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 |
