A long, awkward silence

With the Trump-Kim summit all over the news, this 1969 N.Korea/U.S. meeting seems timely:

Back then, an American and North Korean general sat across a table from each other for 11 hours and 35 minutes. For the entire time, no one took a bathroom break or ate, and during the final 4½ hours, no one even spoke. They just stared at each other in silence.

Palladium-Item - Apr 11, 1969

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 12, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Politics, 1960s

Top Ten Teen Idols of 1967

I would have liked to see the sample cohort of teens that voted in this poll.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 10, 2018 - Comments (4)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Celebrities, Music, Politics, Teenagers, 1960s

Deer Semen Fundraising

Recently filed campaign contribution reports reveal that Ana Lisa Garza, who primaried unsuccessfully to be the Democratic candidate for a seat in the Texas state house, received more than half her campaign contributions in the form of frozen "deer semen straws" — which came to an estimated value of $51,000.

ABC7 News explains that down in Texas "deer semen has been a popular way to support political and charitable causes for years." This is because deer semen straws can fetch thousands of dollars within the deer-breeder community. And so, they've become a form of currency.

Deer Semen Straws. (Source: deerregistry.com)

Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 24, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Money, Politics

Hypnotizing the voters

Nick Belluso, while running for governor of Georgia in 1978, came up with the idea of hypnotizing the voters to vote for him. So he hired a hypnotist and created a TV ad which went as follows:


However, Belluso's scheme was foiled when every TV station but one refused to run the ad, fearing the hypnosis might actually work, which would open them up to potential legal liabilities.

So Belluso lost the election. Though he subsequently became a perennial candidate running for many offices, including President of the United States in 1980.

You can see most of the ad in the clip below.

Also worth noting: Belluso claimed he had been endorsed by "The Force."

The Nashville Tennessean - Aug 11, 1978

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 25, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control, Politics, Psychology, 1970s

The Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure

This curious book, compiled and published by the U.S. Government, is a catalog of examples of ethical failure among federal employees. As explained in the intro:


Some of the categories of ethical failure include Abuse of Position, Bribery, Conflicts of Interest, Credit-Card Abuse, Financial Disclosure Violations, Fraud, Gift Violations, Travel Violations, Misuse of Government Resources and Personnel, and Time and Attendance Violations.

You can download a word document of the entire book for free from the DoD. Or, you can buy a hard copy from Amazon.

It was last updated in 2015. Can't wait for the post-Trump era edition!

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 05, 2018 - Comments (8)
Category: Lies, Dishonesty and Cheating, Politics, Books, Ethics and Morals

Weighing the Mayor

The town of High Wycombe in England has an ancient custom of weighing their mayors, first upon taking office and again at the end of their term. To have gained weight is taken as evidence that they've grown wealthy at the taxpayer's expense. It's like an ancient form of fat-shaming.

In the 1950s, the mayor of Minneapolis, Eric Hoyer, decided to adopt this custom. He even arranged to have the official scales flown in from High Wycombe. He apparently was pretty confident that he'd lost weight, but according to the scales he had gained some. He blamed the extra weight on the ceremonial costume he was wearing for the occasion.

It's an interesting custom. Perhaps we should weigh more politicians periodically. Such as an annual weighing of senators and the president.

Pleasant Grove Review - Jan 4, 1952

Cincinnati Enquirer - Dec 1, 1951

Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 16, 2017 - Comments (6)
Category: Politics, 1950s, Dieting and Weight Loss

Full Financial Disclosure

Back in the old days, when politicians still felt obliged to reveal their finances...

October 1952: Mike Murphy, 12-year-old candidate for secretary of the student body at Madison high school in Phoenix, AZ, felt it would be the honest thing to do to release a full financial statement. He revealed that he earned a dollar a week allowance, and a dollar for every gopher he caught in the yard. Gophers from neighbors' yards didn't count. He won the election.

Kansas City Times - Oct 13, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 13, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Politics, 1950s

Wizard Amendment

March 1995: During the discussion of a bill in the New Mexico state senate, Sen. Duncan Scott (R) proposed the following amendment:


It passed in the Senate, but didn't make it through the House.

The Marion Star - Dec 28, 1995

Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 27, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Law, Politics, 1990s

George Washington Glick

As you can see from this 1914 article George Washington Glick was practically unknown when his statue was new. Is it any wonder then that, as Wikipedia tells us, "In 2003, Kansas became the first state to replace a statue [in the National Statuary Hall] when it replaced Glick with a bronze of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Glick's statue was moved to the Kansas History Center in Topeka."

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 08, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: Forgotten Figures and Where Are They Now?, Politics, Statues and Monuments, 1910s, Nineteenth Century

President swallows wasp

A few days ago, a wasp flew into the mouth of Luis Guillermo Solis, the president of Costa Rica, while he was outside speaking to reporters. Solis swallowed it. Then he declared (in Spanish), "I ate it. I ate the wasp." More info at wtnh.com.

I'd like to see more politicians gulping insects out of the air like frogs as they speak. It would improve political oratory immensely.



The event also recalled that classic unscripted moment during Raiders of the Lost Ark when a fly appeared to crawl into the mouth of Paul Freeman, who was playing the character of the archaeologist Belloq. Although according to this site, the fly didn't really crawl into his mouth. The film editors, as a joke, took out a few frames to make it look as if the fly entered his mouth.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 21, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Politics