Animals
Shrimp on a Treadmill
Scientific researchers placed a shrimp on a shrimp-size treadmill in order to measure its speed and endurance. This information, they say, "will give us a better idea of how marine animals can perform in their native habitat when faced with increasing pathogens and immunological challenges." Luckily for us, they videotaped the experiment.The video has become hugely popular on the internet, spawning numerous remixes. For instance, witness Shrimp Jamming to Muzak:
There are so many of these remixes you could probably spend an entire day watching them.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 11, 2008 -
Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Nature, Science, Experiments, Video
Stuffed Skunk
Beware of pranksters with stuffed skunks on sticks.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 07, 2008 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Pranks
Kitschin’ Tables
Which would you choose?
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 28, 2008 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Business, Products, Human Marvels, Interior Decorating
Follies of the Mad Men #40
There's nothing oddball about this ad--except its incredible lameness! Look at those stupid birds that dominate three-quarters of the page. What do they tell the reader about the product? Absolutely nothing! This full-page ad could have run as a tiny spot with the same text at the back of the magazine for a fraction of the cost. And it would have achieved the same results.
Imagine the malicious glee at the ad agency that created this: "We just grossed a hundred K for two blotches of paint!"
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 27, 2008 -
Comments (12)
Category: Animals, Business, Advertising, 1960s
Vampire Squid
Suppose you could take your lips and stretch them out to cover up your entire body.......like the Vampire Squid.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 15, 2008 -
Comments (11)
Category: Animals, Horror
Land Without Bread
According to Wikipedia, Luis Buñuel is "one of the most important directors in the history of cinema." His most notorious film is the 1929 Un chien andalou (An Andalusian Dog) which includes the infamous scene of a woman's eyeball being sliced with a razor in slow-motion. This is the one film of his that the professor discussed in the film class I took in college.Much less well-known is his 1932 Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan (Land without bread). The film is a short travelogue about the poverty-stricken Las Hurdes region of Spain. What makes the film unusual is that as one scene of misery after another appears onscreen, the narration proceeds in a "flat and disinterested manner" and Brahms's Symphony No. 4 plays as background music. Some historians argue that the film was actually the very first mockumentary, parodying the documentary form.
The film can be seen in its entirety on YouTube, but not in English. I'm not sure if there is an English-language version of it. The only scene in English I could find was the one below, in which a goat supposedly trips and falls off a cliff. In reality, Buñuel's crew shot the goat and threw its body down the cliff. This was in the days before PETA. YouTube includes a "Warning: Animal Abuse" label with the excerpt. As a student of the weird, I've become pretty much shockproof, but if the sight of a goat plummeting down a cliff will disturb you, you might want to skip the video.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 10, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Movies, Documentaries
Animated Hitch Critters
They also come in Bass, Dog, Duck, and Motorcycle-Riding Pig.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 09, 2008 -
Comments (11)
Category: Animals, Business, Products, Cryptozoology, Inventions, Chindogu, Statues, Monuments and Memorials, Foreign Customs, Trucks
Bigfoot Lawn Statue
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 08, 2008 -
Comments (8)
Category: Aliens, Animals, Business, Products, Cryptozoology, Fictional Monsters, Human Marvels, Statues, Monuments and Memorials, Chindogu
A Sleeping Dog
In 1965 the French neurophysiologist Michel Jouvet operated on 35 cats, creating lesions in a part of their brainstem called the locus coeruleus. The operation caused no visible difference in their waking behavior, but their behavior while sleeping changed dramatically. They would stalk, leap, and pounce on imaginary prey -- while completely asleep. Jouvet concluded that the locus coeruleus is responsible for suppressing muscle activity during sleep. Damage it, and you act out your dreams.That's the scientific explanation of the phenomenon, which is a long way of introducing this video of a dog "running" while asleep. Evidently the dog doesn't have a fully functioning locus coeruleus.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 05, 2008 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Science
Weird Horses
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 02, 2008 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Photography and Photographers, Science, Books
| 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 |