Category:
Business
Business
Smokes for Xmas
And yet another perfect Xmas present: cancer sticks!
Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 20, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Holidays, Tobacco and Smoking, 1950s
Follies of the Mad Men #79
Yes, you too can wear pj's that mock the abused indentured Chinese laborers who helped build this country. Love those hats!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 15, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s
Follies of the Mad Men #78
Now that the coffee tastes better and hubby will drink it, wifey can add the poison this idiot so richly deserves.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 09, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Crime, Domestic, Marriage, Food, 1960s
Follies of the Mad Men #77
How do you advertise the death car that made Ralph Nader's reputation? Here's how!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 04, 2009 -
Comments (7)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Death, 1960s, Cars
The Relaxed Wife
After about 11 minutes of surreal domestic sitcom stuff, the true reason for this video appears: prescription drugs to soothe you. Take some "Atarax" today!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 01, 2009 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Drugs, 1950s
Dreaming Of A Weird Christmas!
Not requiring a flu jab, but in need of a facelift, was the 66’ fibreglass Santa that has been the centrepiece of Auckland, New Zealand’s Christmas pageant for nearly 50 years. With a droopy winking eye and a gesturing mechanical finger, the jolly red giant was beginning, in the words of one local, to “look a little creepy.” But not anymore, as NZ$100,000 have been spent refurbishing the big guy ahead of this Sunday’s grand unveiling (Reuters).
Someone definitely not in need of a facelift is the recently announced “Hunky Santa of 2009.” Los Angeles mall the Beverley Center first introduced their hunky Santas nine years ago, swapping abs and pecs for the beard and britches. This year north-pole toting poseur is James Ellis, who hopes to encourage people to live more healthily and wants to be a role model for kids by parading his festive physique in a fur-trimmed red vest (LA Times).
All of which is not the sort of thing you’re likely to see during Raleigh, North Carolina’s Christmas parade. So worried are parade organisers that the little ones might be confused by two people dressed in red that they have banned “Mrs. Claus” from participating in costume. They have even asked attendees not to wear Santa-hats in case it distracts attention from the “real” St. Nick (WXII12).
And further killjoyery (?) this week from the Employers Forum on Belief, which has advised company bosses that to close their office over Christmas might be construed as discriminatory, since non-Christian employees must use annual leave for their religious holidays. Instead of emphasising the holiday’s religious nature, say the EFB, management should focus on the cost-effectiveness of the closure as a majority of staff would be absent anyway (ILM).
More in extended >>
Posted By: Dumbfounded - Tue Nov 24, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Exercise and Fitness, Feminism, Health, Holidays, Hygiene, Law, Religion, Bodybuilding
Weird Divorce
Next is the case of the divorce granted to the Chinese couple who had not seen each other since their wedding, three years previously. The ceremony took place in China’s Machong district and was the result of an arranged marriage by the parents of the couple, called Ma and Mo, who were good friends. But Ma, the groom, left for a job elsewhere straight after and the newlyweds did not even try to stay in touch. With no children or property to argue over, the divorce went fairly uneventfully (China Daily).
Staying in China for a moment, Shoutsee Li and Han Fucheng of that country’s Mentougou district are hoping a judge will annul their marriage so they can marry again, this time legally. The couple originally married in 2006 after meeting nine years earlier, but Li was in China under false papers and now faces deportation. But while the police don’t recognise Han and Li’s marriage, the registrar does, and will not let them remarry until their current marriage is dissolved (People’s Daily).
Not so likely to remarry are recently separated couple Robin Williams and Anthony Hull of Kingsfold in England. Attempts to reach an agreement on how to divide their £500,000 ($850k) house have stalled amid arguments over who keeps the cheese grater and whether paint pots are communal property. The couple have now taken their grievances to Britain’s High Court (Daily Express).
Also in court this week was Stanley G. Hilton of Hillsborough, CA who is suing San Francisco, its airport, every airline that uses it, and the manufacturers of the airplanes landing there for $15 million each for ruining his marriage. All in all Hilton, a former attorney (now disbarred), cites 37 parties as contributing to the breakdown of relations with his wife, which amounts to a cool $555 million in the unlikely event that he wins (Wired).
More in extended >>
Posted By: Dumbfounded - Mon Nov 23, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Eccentrics, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Government, Regulations, Religion, Lawsuits, Divorce
Follies of the Mad Men #76
Nothing like aligning your product with a civilization that practiced human sacrifice. The Incas weren't the Aztecs, but as Wikipedia reminds us: "There is [sic] archaeological discoveries supporting the presence of sacrifice within Inca society according to Reinhard and Ceruti: 'Archaeological evidence found on distant mountain summits has established that the burial of offerings was a common practice among the Incas and that human sacrifice took place at several of the sites.The excellent preservation of the bodies and other material in the cold and dry environment of the high Andes provides revealing details about the rituals that were performed at these ceremonial complexes.'"
And did they actually make the best ink ever? I can't find any reference to such an accomplishment.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 10, 2009 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, History, Archaeology, 1950s, South America
Follies of the Mad Men #75
Are "zip, zing and pep" actual scientific elements recognized by the FDA?
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 03, 2009 -
Comments (7)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Children, 1950s
Follies of the Mad Men #74
[From Good Housekeeping for December 1949.]
"Subliminal" is not the precise word I want here. Not when the coded message is in big red letters.
"Subtextual?" "Off-topic?" "Suggestive?"
In any case, promoting the maxim "husbands beat wives" in a women's magazine was one way of keeping the girls in line, I guess.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 25, 2009 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, Marriage, Food, Violence, Husbands, Wives, 1940s
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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 |