Weird Universe Blog — September 4, 2024
The Piano Violin
Full patent here.The player has to bow the strings and strike some keys simultaneously. Wonder why it never caught on?
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 04, 2024 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions | Music | 1900s
September 3, 2024
Take your kid to work day, brain surgery edition
When sharing with your kid goes too far...The medic, whose identity was not disclosed, was employed at University Hospital Graz in Austria and reportedly guided her 13-year-old daughter step-by-step through the procedure in January.
She allegedly went as far as letting her daughter drill into the skull of 33-year-old Gregor R., who required emergency surgery following a head injury from a forest accident.
More info: Daily Mail
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 03, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Jobs and Occupations | Teenagers
Killer Tree
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 03, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death | Highways, Roads, Streets and Traffic | Nature | Synchronicity and Coincidence | 1960s
September 2, 2024
A search for love on the No. 94 bus
While visiting Los Angeles from Elk River, Idaho in May 1978, 33-year-old Zan Lawrence met a young woman on the No. 94 bus. They talked for about 20 minutes before she disembarked.Lawrence was smitten, but he didn't know how to contact her. Or even what her name was. So he spent the following weeks riding the same bus back and forth, hoping to meet her again. He also put up signs and placed newspaper ads.
Eventually his search came to the attention of the media, and he was featured in articles. However, the publicity didn't help him locate the young woman. He never did find her again.
Of course, maybe she didn't want to be found.
Los Angeles Times - June 10, 1978
Los Angeles Times - Aug 14, 1978
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 02, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: 1970s | Bus | Love & Romance
The Outdoors Girl of Canada
The earliest reference I find is the one below, from 1955. The latest is from 1989. A respectable 40-year run. But too few pictures of the winners!
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 02, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Contests, Races and Other Competitions | Nature | Day Camps, Away Camps, Outdoor Activities and Recreational Retreats | 1950s | 1980s | North America
September 1, 2024
Miss Calculator of 1952
I've been unable to find out if Ruth Houser ended up winning the title of "Miss Calculator of 1952."Incidentally, the Monroe Calculating Company is still around, and still selling calculators.
Johnson City Press-Chronicle - May 18, 1952
Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 01, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Technology | Computers | 1950s
Dancing Fools
BULLETIN! Fresh outbreak of the Medieval Dancing Mania!
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 01, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits | Advertising | 1970s | Dance
August 31, 2024
Rats as music critics
According to German researcher Otto Nieschulz, when rats listen to music they prefer to listen to French chansons.But when Nieschulz says 'chansons' does he mean "secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music" or the "style of French pop music which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s"? According to wikipedia, both are known as chansons.
I haven't been able to track down Nieschulz's original paper, so there's no way to know. I'm guessing the rats might enjoy both.
Indianapolis Star - May 16, 1966
Victoria Times Colonist - Apr 29, 1966
Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 31, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals | Music | Experiments
The Kids from C.A.P.E.R.
Wikipedia entry here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 31, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art | Music | Television | Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings | 1970s | Comedians
August 30, 2024
The Singing Sculpture
The Singing Sculpture by the art duo Gilbert & George is well known, though I just discovered it recently. Info from wikipedia:It is also unusual for one of the pair to be seen without the other. The pair regard themselves as "living sculptures". They refuse to dissociate their art from their everyday lives, insisting that everything they do is art. They were listed as among the fifty best-dressed over-50s by The Guardian in March 2013.
It's now become common to see street performers painted in metallic paint. They pretend to be unmoving statues until someone gives them some money, and then they may move abruptly. You can find them in the downtown areas of many big cities, wherever there are a lot of tourists.
I wonder if Gilbert & George's Singing Sculpture was the original inspiration for this form of performance art? I haven't been able to find any direct confirmation of this, but nor have I been able to find any examples of 'Bronze Man' performers before 1969.
More info: "Gilbert & George's Singing sculpture"
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 30, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Performance Art | 1960s
