Weird Universe Blog — March 16, 2025
Mindy in the year 3000
Scientific experts hired by the site tollfreeforwarding.com have created images of Mindy, a possible future human in the year 3000. Mindy's body "has physically changed due to consistent use of smartphones, laptops, and other tech."Like other humans of the year 3000, Mindy has developed a hunched-back, "text-claw," "tech-neck," a thicker skull, smaller brain, and a second eyelid ("to prevent exposure to excessive light").
In other words, technology is going to turn us all into something like morlocks.
Check out our previous posts "Homo cerebrointricatus," Future Man, and "Why the man of the future may have only one eye" for more predictions about what humans will evolve into.
More info: tollfreeforwarding.com
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 16, 2025 -
Comments (4)
Category: Predictions | Technology | Anthropology
Furry Murray (Got a Yul Brynner Haircut)
The group's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 16, 2025 -
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Category: Hollywood | Music | 1950s | Hair and Hairstyling
March 15, 2025
Illegible bank robbery note
Incomprehensible bank robbery notes are a recurring theme in weird news. For instance, we've posted previously about the 1980 case of the spelling-challenged bank robber whose note simply baffled the teller he handed it to.A similar case occurred in 2021, reported in the Sussex World:
The note:
Not great handwriting, but I was actually able to read it fairly easily.
via whattheythink.com
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 15, 2025 -
Comments (3)
Category: Stupid Criminals
Freakish Accidents No. 3
Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 15, 2025 -
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Category: Agriculture | Animals | Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature | 1950s
March 14, 2025
Birdwhistell’s Smile Map of America
According to a 1972 AP article, anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell "has been studying smiles across the nation for about 10 years and has compiled a 'smile map' of the United States, showing that smiles are broadest in the South and Midwest, with Tuetonic sobriety prevailing in the Great Lakes region."
La Crosse Tribune - Aug 17, 1972
Birdwhistell's book referenced in the article (Kinesics and Context) is available on archive.com. I checked it out, but unfortunately didn't find a literal smile map. Instead, some broad description of the different meanings of smiles throughout the United States:
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 14, 2025 -
Comments (2)
Category: Anthropology | 1970s | Face and Facial Expressions
Miss Concrete Pavement
Last year, Alex gave us a UK Concrete Queen. Let it never be said that the Yanks could not keep up!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 14, 2025 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Highways, Roads, Streets and Traffic | 1960s
March 13, 2025
Flora Marian Spore - an update
Way back in 2012, Paul posted about Flora Marian Spore (or Marian Spore Bush as she was later known), an artist who claimed that her works were inspired by the spirits of departed relatives and friends. At the time, Paul lamented the fact that he was able to find only one example of her work archived.I came across a reference to Spore recently, remembered Paul's post, decided to google her name, and discovered that recently Michigan historian Amberrose Hammond created a website devoted to Spore, collecting images of all her known works. Seems like she's done a great job of making Spore's work accessible again to present-day audiences.
I've posted a few examples below. Check out MarianSporeBush.com for the full gallery.
Atlanta Journal - July 25, 1943
"World Aflame" c. 1939
"Wherefore War" c. 1937
"Seascape" c. 1943
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 13, 2025 -
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Category: Art | Outsider Art | Paranormal
Follies of the Madmen #618
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 13, 2025 -
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Category: Anthropomorphism | Advertising | Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings | Cereal | Stop-motion Animation | 1950s
March 12, 2025
Buck LeClere, Gold Prospector
He spent 61 years searching for gold in Ouray, Colorado, slowly digging a tunnel further and further into the mountainside, until he died in 1947, never having found any gold.
Knoxville Journal - Apr 27, 1947
His efforts sound Sisyphean:
Wilmington Morning Star - Apr 27, 1947
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 12, 2025 -
Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics | Mining
Pope Pius IX and His Evil Eye
The Wikipedia page for the phenomenon known as the Evil Eye mentions:
The wielder of the evil eye, called the jettatore, is described as having a striking facial appearance, high arching brows with a stark stare that leaps from his eyes. He often has a reputation for clandestine involvement with dark powers and is the object of gossip about dealings in magic and other forbidden practices. Successful men having tremendous personal magnetism quickly gain notoriety as jettatori. Pope Pius IX [1846-1878] was dreaded for his evil eye, and a whole cycle of stories about the disasters that happened in his wake were current in Rome during the latter decades of the 19th century.
Could this be true? Well, we learn elsewhere...
And in this volume, we learn:
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 12, 2025 -
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Category: Death | Religion | Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal | Europe | Nineteenth Century
