Brick:  “Summer Heat”

"That summer heat makes me want to get down! The moonlight's making it easier for me to see/That it's time for love--or Mother Nature's playing tricks on me!""

Wikipedia page here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun May 28, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Music, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Gregg Peters:  Elvis Impersonator

Let me know when you bail...

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 26, 2017 - Comments (7)
Category: Celebrities, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Music, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

The Shabby Millionaire

1989: John Barrier of Spokane, Washington went into Old National Bank to cash a $100 check. Then he asked to have his 60-cent parking ticket validated. The cashier refused, saying that merely cashing a check didn't entitle him to free parking. Barrier had a manager called, who also refused to validate the ticket. Barrier suspected that they were refusing because he was dressed in shabby clothes like he had just gotten off a construction job. So he withdrew the entire $2 million he had deposited there and took his money to another bank, Seafirst Bank of Spokane.

The tale of the shabby millionaire eventually ended up being told in Seafirst's company newsletter. From there it made its way to a local newspaper column, and then leapt to the front page of USA Today and national headlines.

Both banks confirmed the basic details of what happened, although a representative for Old National Bank later insisted that they had, eventually, validated Barrier's parking ticket.

Detroit Free Press - Feb 21, 1989

The Akron Beacon Journal - Mar 29, 1989

Posted By: Alex - Sat May 13, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Money, Pranks and Revenge, 1980s

Thrashin’

Wikipedia entry here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 08, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Antisocial Activities, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Sports, 1980s

Chipmunk Punk

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 06, 2017 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, Music, Cartoons, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Inmate Escape Pod

1980: Fred Caddedu escaped from Millhaven penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario by concealing himself inside an "escape pod" made out of a hollowed-out stack of dirty food trays.

The food trays were loaded onto a truck and taken to the unguarded, off-site kitchen to be cleaned. Once there, Caddedu just walked away. He was caught and returned to prison several months later.

His escape pod later became an exhibit in the Correctional Service of Canada Museum.

Image source: Museopathy

The Ottawa Journal - July 14, 1980

Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 26, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Prisons, 1980s

Eddie Harris:  That Is Why You’re Overweight

Although the tune is fine, the lyrics are the thing here, and they start around 2:20.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 25, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Addictions, Food, Music, 1980s

Bathrooms walls as teaching tool

1980: At the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Alan Grogono reported on the results of an experiment to determine the efficacy of bathrooms walls as a teaching tool.

While teaching a class on CPR, he placed educational posters about CPR in the bathroom of one college dormitory, while placing no posters in the bathroom of another. Students housed in the dormitory with the bathroom posters subsequently scored significantly better on the CPR exam than those in the no-poster dormitory. In fact, students in the bathroom-poster dormitory who hadn't even taken the class scored as well as students in the no-poster dorm who had taken the class.

Grogono concluded that bathroom posters could be a useful supplement to CPR training. He also credited his "fascination with restroom communication" to his student days at London Hospital Medical College.

Philadelphia Inquirer - Nov 27, 1980

Chemical & Engineering News - Oct 27, 1980

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 24, 2017 - Comments (8)
Category: Bathrooms, Education, 1980s

Falsified Soviet Maps

Original article here.

Additional essay here.

More wide-ranging essay on Soviet maps here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 17, 2016 - Comments (0)
Category: Confusion, Misunderstanding, and Incomprehension, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Imitations, Forgeries, Rip-offs and Faux, Military, 1980s, Russia

Sighted Stiff, Sank Same

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 16, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, Kludges, Hacks and Duct-tape Repairs, Military, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1980s