Weird Universe Archive
February 2024
February 29, 2024
Leap Year Lawsuit
In 1997 John Melo was sentenced to "ten years to ten years and one day" for home invasion. Seven years later he filed a motion in the Massachusetts Superior Court complaining that the Department of Correction "had miscalculated the length of his sentence because it had failed to credit one day for each February 29 ('leap year' day) he had served to date."The defendant argues that the policy and practice of the DOC not to recognize and credit the additional day in a "leap year" is incorrect. He argues that a "year," as imposed by the sentence of ten years to ten years and one day, consists of 365 days each, not the 366 days contained in a leap year.
The Superior Court ruled against him, noting he had been "sentenced to a term of years, not to a term of days." It also concluded that his lawsuit shouldn't have been allowed in the first place.
More info: COMMONWEALTH VS. JOHN MELO
His case was a longshot, but it's true that leap years can be more beneficial to some than to others. Salaried employees essentially have to work an extra day for free, whereas hourly employees get an extra payday. And banks often don't include February 29 when they calculate the interest they owe their customers, thereby giving themselves an extra day of profit at everyone else's expense.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 29, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Lawsuits
The Complacent Americans
One such gem is a Civil Defense "scare" album called THE COMPLACENT AMERICANS that simply must be heard to be believed. This LP - with its bright orange mushroom cloud cover and its hyperbolic advisories to sensitive listeners - could well have been produced by that genius of exploitation William Castle. But actually it was recorded under the stately auspices of the Office of Civil Defense, a sub-branch of the U.S. government (later replaced by FEMA).
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 29, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: PSA’s, War, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, 1960s
February 28, 2024
Forehand Guns
The choice of dog killers and stagecoach robbers.
Recreation magazine - Aug 1899
Recreation magazine - Dec 1899
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 28, 2024 -
Comments (5)
Category: Advertising, Weapons, Nineteenth Century
The Rival Miss Fairmonts
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 28, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Rivalries, Feuds and Grudges, 1930s
February 27, 2024
Rosemary Brown’s Music
At first glance the 1970 album Rosemary Brown's Music might have seemed just like a collection of classical music. The track list included composers such as Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven, but looking closer one would see that the various tracks were merely "inspired by" these composers.And there was the odd twist. Rosemary Brown claimed that the ghostly spirits of famous composers had dictated the songs to her. Brown insisted that she herself had almost no musical ability. She was merely the conduit through which musical ghosts were sending the living world new music.
She also claimed that Liszt would watch television with her and would occasionally appear to her while she was at the supermarket. Apparently he was very curious about the price of bananas.
More info: interlude.hk
Saskatchewan Leader-Post - May 28, 1970
Click to enlarge
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 27, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Paranormal
Bad Wig Bandits
Bad hairpieces are a definite theme for bank robbers. The first such I find is from the 1950s. The latest is from 2020. When will the next Bad Wig Bandit strike?The newspaper piece below was too long to reproduce in its entirety, but you can read about Frank Sprenz here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 27, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Stupid Criminals, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century, Hair and Hairstyling
February 26, 2024
A Death Foretold
Malkeet Singh predicted that he would die on Sunday, April 8, 1984 at exactly 10am. Then he would be reincarnated as a 1400-year-old faith healer. Dozens of people turned up to witness the event, but nothing happened. So Singh told the crowd to come back after lunch. Still, nothing happened. The next day Singh returned to work at the local Ford factory.
Coventry Evening Telegraph - Apr 9, 1984
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 26, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Predictions, 1980s
The Fifth Dimension Sings “The Declaration of Independence”
Was this the secret origin of SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK?
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 26, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Law, Music, Politics, PSA’s, Twentieth Century
February 25, 2024
Food from Petroleum
In recent years there's been lots of talk about finding new sources of food (insects, lab-grown meat, etc.) to feed the world. But back in the 1960s researcher Alfred Champagnat had already invented what he thought would be the food of the future: protein from petroleum.
Newsweek - Feb 27, 1967
Scientific American - Oct 1965
Champagnat's idea seems to have fallen by the wayside. There's a fairly recent article in Mold magazine that discusses his invention. It simply notes that the food industry had other priorities:
The urgency of providing sustainable protein alternatives was pressing and the petroleum process uses a lot less water than the equivalent weight in vegetable-based protein, not to mention the 2,000 gallons required to produce just 1 pound of beef. The project for single-cell proteins ran over many years until it was left aside because of other food industry priorities.
Wikipedia has some more info which suggests that the protein obtained from petroleum wasn't entirely safe to eat:
The "food from oil" idea became quite popular by the 1970s, with Champagnat being awarded the UNESCO Science Prize in 1976, and paraffin-fed yeast facilities being built in a number of countries. The primary use of the product was as poultry and cattle feed.
The Soviets were particularly enthusiastic, opening large "BVK" (belkovo-vitaminny kontsentrat, i.e., "protein-vitamin concentrate") plants next to their oil refineries in Kstovo (1973) and Kirishi (1974). The Soviet Ministry of Microbiological Industry had eight plants of this kind by 1989. However, due to concerns of toxicity of alkanes in SCP [single-cell proteins] and pressured by the environmentalist movements, the government decided to close them down, or convert to some other microbiological processes.
The Soviets were particularly enthusiastic, opening large "BVK" (belkovo-vitaminny kontsentrat, i.e., "protein-vitamin concentrate") plants next to their oil refineries in Kstovo (1973) and Kirishi (1974). The Soviet Ministry of Microbiological Industry had eight plants of this kind by 1989. However, due to concerns of toxicity of alkanes in SCP [single-cell proteins] and pressured by the environmentalist movements, the government decided to close them down, or convert to some other microbiological processes.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 25, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Food, 1960s
Occupational Hazards of Being a Florist
Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 25, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Jobs and Occupations, Nature, 1960s
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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 |
