2000s
Double-standard DWI-rules game
Emil Richard Rossi was granted a patent (No. 6,412,777) in 2002 for his "Double-standard DWI-rules" board game.One purpose of the game was to teach players about drunk-driving laws and the financial consequences of drunk driving. Its second purpose was to demonstrate the "double-standard" of drunk-driving enforcement. Or, as he put it, the "Special treatment for drunk-driving offenders according to their Social Status."
Sounds like Rossi had a bone to pick with the way drunk-driving laws are enforced.
No surprise, his game was never produced by a commercial board game manufacturer, but according to boardgamegeek.com he did self-publish the game. So perhaps a copy of it might be available in a second-hand store somewhere.
From his patent description:
The object of the game disclosed herein, is to provide amusement for the players while they acquaint themselves with the financial liability incurred by being arrested for driving drunk. It is also is an object of the game is to provide amusement for the players while they acquaint themselves with the behind the Scene manipulations resulting in Special treatment for drunk-driving offenders according to their Social Status.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 14, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Games, Inebriation and Intoxicants, Police and Other Law Enforcement, Patents, 2000s, Cars
Worst Easter Pageant Ever
Somerset Daily American - Apr 8, 2004
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 31, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Religion, 2000s, Easter
Struck by falling sheep
We've previously reported about people accidentally struck by suicide jumpers (See Death at the Cathedral). But being struck by an apparently suicidal sheep leaping from a bridge is a novel twist on the phenomenon.
London Daily Telegraph - July 30, 2001
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 19, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Animals, 2000s
Driving Blind
London Daily Telegraph - Sep 5, 2006
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 29, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: 2000s, Eyes and Vision, Cars
Counterpoised Cranial Support for Eyewear
Full patent here (with other devices included!).
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 25, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Ridiculousness, Foolishness, Public Ridicule, Silliness, Goofiness and Dumb-looking, 2000s, Eyes and Vision
The Ice Cream Virgin
January 2000: a melted ice cream stain in front of a soda machine in Houston attracted pilgrims when people noticed that the stain kinda/sorta looked like the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Corpus Christi Caller-Times - Jan 14, 2000
Some analysis from an article by J. Rhett Rushing ("Homemade Religion: Miraculous Images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in South Texas") that appeared in 2001: A Texas Folklore Odyssey.
Unsettling to the Catholic clergy and other, more formal religious folks, these widespread images of religious figures are not only immediately accepted by some of the local believers, but in fact, are quite expected.. . .
At a southside Houston apartment complex in February of 2000, I witnessed a "folk mass" of nine women praying, taking a version of communion, and supplicating themselves to an image of the Virgin that miraculously appeared in a melting ice cream spill next to the laundry room's Coke machine. Later interviews confirmed that the group had no leader and certainly no church sanction for their activities, but as Maria B. explained, "When the Virgin comes to see you, you don't wait for the priest."
Maria's remark seems to be the mantra for South Texas Hispanic Catholics. Historically underserved by the Catholic Church, religion for many was learned and practice at the altarcitas and grutas of the family.
San Francisco Examiner - Jan 14, 2000
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 19, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Religion, 2000s, Pareidolia
Laser-Emitting Dress
I see Paul's electric dress and raise him the laser-emitting dress of Moritz Waldemeyer, modeled at Hussein Chalayan's catwalk show in Paris, 2007.More info: dezeen.com
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 17, 2022 -
Comments (6)
Category: Fashion, Technology, 2000s
Unauthorized Dwellings 16
If you walked down Mitte’s Oranienburger Straße at any point between 1990 and 2012, you would have likely noticed a commanding, if dishevelled, structure located just a short distance from the synagogue. Up until five years ago, the second-most visited art attraction in Berlin wasn’t the East Side Gallery or Museum Island, it was this five-storey building: aka Kunsthaus Tacheles. Taken over by artists after the Wall fell in 1990, the building was transformed into a creative commune. It was quintessential post-Wende Berlin: upon their occupancy, the artists launched a legal battle for the property and rescued it from demolition, maintaining a presence for 22 years.
Full essay here.
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 19, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Antisocial Activities, Art, Outsider Art, Unauthorized Dwellings, 1900s, 2000s, 2010s, Europe
Unconsented-to Staring Contest
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 13, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Annoying Things, Antisocial Activities, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 2000s, Eyes and Vision
Common courtesy to light a match
Springfield News-Leader - Dec 6, 2006
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 17, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Flatulence, Air Travel and Airlines, 2000s
| Who We Are |
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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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |