The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

If anyone can explain to me what the hell this song is about, its logic and mythical allegory, and why it was included on Johnny Cash's Xmas album The Christmas Spirit, I'd be grateful. Any easy answers regarding too much drug and/or booze consumption by Cash will be rejected as too facile.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 14, 2012 - Comments (14)
Category: Drugs, Holidays, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Children, Parents, 1970s

A Knight in her Armor

Came across this in Newsweek, Jan 19, 1953. I bet a lot of WUvies were pretty weird as kids, but how many of us wore suits of armor to school? And this was several decades before the invention of Dungeons & Dragons. I wonder what became of Tina Inge. She's quite likely still out there somewhere, but is she still wearing her armor?

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 25, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Children, 1950s

Virgin Boy Eggs

Over in Dongyang, China, eggs boiled in the urine of young boys are considered a delicacy. They're called "Virgin Boy Eggs," and eating them is supposed to have various health benefits such as improving circulation and making you feel reinvigorated. They're said to have a "fresh and salty taste."

Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 15, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Food, Eggs, Children, Body Fluids

Peter Prim’s Portraits of Good and Bad Girls and Boys

[Click to enlarge]

Why do the bad kids always seem to be having so much more fun than the little angels?

There are only eighteen illustrations in this old book, but each one a gem!

Read them here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 29, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Etiquette and Formal Behavior, Evil, Children, Nineteenth Century

Lifted by the Ears

A photo of a kindergarten teacher in China lifting one of her students by her ears has recently been doing the rounds online. The teacher, reportedly, has explained her actions by saying she and the student "were just having fun." Well, the smile on the teacher's face indicates she's having fun. I'm not so sure about the kid. [huffpost]

The photo immediately made me think of those photos of Lyndon Johnson lifting his two beagle pups by their ears, which caused an uproar back in 1964. LBJ also claimed the ear lifting was all fun and games. Just another reminder of how often weird news repeats itself.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 26, 2012 - Comments (9)
Category: School, Children

Slow Kids Equal Speed Bumps?

Be careful in this neighborhood. There may be unexpected speed bumps.



I've always wondered about the "Slow Children" signs.

Posted By: gdanea - Tue Sep 11, 2012 - Comments (13)
Category: Children

Using your kid as a research subject

Scientists who use their own children as experimental subjects is a recurring theme in weird science. It doesn't happen so often that it's no longer weird. But it definitely does happen.

I touched briefly on the subject in Electrified Sheep, in which I discussed the case of English researcher Thomas Thorne Baker, who placed his five-year-old daughter in an electrified cage in order to investigate whether high-frequency electromagnetic fields would stimulate her growth. (They didn't.) I also wrote about the Australian physician Jack Barnes, who exposed himself and his nine-year-old son to jellyfish stings, in order to test what the reaction would be. (They both ended up in the hospital.)

Now recently in the news we have Dr. Melvin Morse, a pediatrician and specialist in near-death experiences, who's been accused of waterboarding his 11-year-old stepdaughter in order to bring her to a "near-death state" so that he can study her. For the record, he's denying the charges. [CBS News]

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 23, 2012 - Comments (6)
Category: Science, Children

Babymetal

Japanese pre-adolescent heavy metal girl group.

Learn more here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 15, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Evil, Goths, Music, Children, Foreign Customs, Asia

Crippled Children

[Click to enlarge]

Sometime we forgot how much civilization has advanced in 90 years. What was common becomes weird.

Of course, at my age I still recall childhood polio as a danger.

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 13, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Body, Feet, Medicine, Advertising, Children, 1920s

Don’t tell me my kid is fat!

A study recently published in the journal Pediatric Obesity has found that when parents go to the doctor, they don't like the doctor to tell them that their little angel is "fat, chubby, overweight or obese." Instead, they prefer it if doctors use non-medical euphemisms such as, "Your kid is large," or "Your kid is gaining too much weight." And the problem is that if the parents feel offended, they often stop listening to the doctor altogether, which results in their large child growing even larger. Link: eurekalert

Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 01, 2012 - Comments (13)
Category: Medicine, Children, Parents, Eating