Category:
Travel
Travel
6 1/2 Magic Hours
What's weird about this film? The fact that once upon a time, air travel was sexy, easy and fun!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 18, 2010 -
Comments (5)
Category: Travel, Documentaries, 1950s
Visit the Strange
Posted By: Nethie - Sat Dec 19, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Geography and Maps, Nature, Travel, World
Amazing and Unusual USA
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 04, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Pop Culture, Regionalism, Travel, Landmarks, Sightseeing, Books
Oasis of the Seas
A cruise ship that holds "6,360 passengers and 2,160 crew"...? Now, that's pretty weird.Read about the launch of the ship here. Then watch the official promotional video.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 02, 2009 -
Comments (13)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Recreation, Technology, Travel, Sightseeing, World Records
Globetrotters Costume Party
Here is a history of The Globetrotters Club, which is still in operation today.Shortly after their founding, in 1947, they threw a costume party, pictured here.
I hope such events are still part of their activities.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 20, 2009 -
Comments (10)
Category: Costumes and Masks, Eccentrics, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Pop Culture, Travel, Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Dogs, 1940s
An Orchestra of Motion
When I was very little, growing up in a small suburb of Charleston, South Carolina, one of the most exciting things to do was to sit outside the barber shop and wait for the train to roll through town. Some people might say that would be as boring as watching grass grow, but they are not "railfans". So what's a railfan? The people who camp out for hours, and even days, to watch a train go by. According to Train Magazine, there are over 175,000 railfans in the United States and more than 24,000 railfan videos on YouTube. Bill Taylor, from Montana, sums it up the best by saying "It's an orchestra of motion." Learn more about railfans here.
Posted By: Nethie - Sun May 10, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Eccentrics, Obsessions, Travel, Trains
Sick Human Detector
A Belgian company has filed a patent for an invention designed to detect sick travelers in airports. They call it a device for the "RECOGNITION AND LOCALISATION OF PATHOLOGIC ANIMAL AND HUMAN SOUNDS."The idea is to place microphones around airports that will zero in on the sound of people coughing. The people hacking their lungs out can then be prevented from boarding a plane. A less controversial use of the technology is to detect sick pigs in pig pens.
Can people be stopped from traveling because they have a cold? I've never seen that done, but I'd like it (despite the inconvenience to the sick people) 'cause otherwise they infect everyone else on the plane. Though of course, if I were the one kicked off a plane I'd be seeing red. (via New Scientist)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 17, 2009 -
Comments (10)
Category: Health, Disease, Inventions, Patents, Travel
High-Speed Bus
How would you like to look in your rear-view mirror and see this thing coming up behind you fast? Since America can't seem to get its act together to build high-speed trains, maybe we could have high-speed buses instead. From Popular Science, October 1930:85-Mile-An-Hour Bus Streamlined
Porthole-shaped windows will give passengers a view of the roadside they are scudding past at eighty-five miles an hour, in a remarkable bus just completed at Paris, France. This juggernaut of the road seats 100 passengers, besides its two drivers. Every part is streamlined for speed, even to the curved emergency door in the rear. The machine is designed for express cross-country travel.
Porthole-shaped windows will give passengers a view of the roadside they are scudding past at eighty-five miles an hour, in a remarkable bus just completed at Paris, France. This juggernaut of the road seats 100 passengers, besides its two drivers. Every part is streamlined for speed, even to the curved emergency door in the rear. The machine is designed for express cross-country travel.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 22, 2009 -
Comments (5)
Category: Travel, 1930s
How to Ride a Train for Free
Popular Mechanics, Jan 1911, offers some tips on how to be a "hobo tourist":Riding between cars -- dangerous
On the springs -- risky
The Blind Baggage Method -- a favorite
Under the Vestibule Door -- greatly in favor
On the pilot -- warm on a cold day.
Across a plank between the rods -- gritty and perilous
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 30, 2008 -
Comments (11)
Category: Travel
The Balloon Chair
I'd like to use this the next time I travel by airplane. From Popular Science, Sep 1937:
There are more details about it in the Oct 1937 issue of Popular Science.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 13, 2008 -
Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Travel
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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 |