Flying Bike

More info here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 14, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Flight, Inventions, Europe

Clown Art

If you're a collector of paintings of clowns, then you're probably already aware of Jim Howle. His website describes him as "the best-known clown artist in the world." He's actually the only clown artist that I know of, though I'm sure there must be others.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 14, 2013 - Comments (8)
Category: Art, Clowns

Lovesick Turtles

It's very common for animals to demonstrate mating behavior toward what scientists refer to as "biologically inappropriate objects." Even turtles get confused sometimes, as this article from 1972 demonstrates. Gadsden Times - May 21, 1972

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 13, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Sexuality, 1970s

Milton Berle Performs YELLOW SUBMARINE

Thanks to Lawrence Person.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 13, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, Reader Recommendation, 1950s

Jet Bike—Pulse Engine

Colin Furze is a certifiable maniac. Not only has he driven a baby carriage 50 MPH, he modified an old bicycle with a pulse engine.



Here's a link to the baby carriage exploit.

http://gizmodo.com/a-jet-powered-fire-blowing-bicycle-is-not-ridiculous-a-513022184

I expect we will be reading his obituary someday soon, which will include his crazy exploits.

Posted By: gdanea - Wed Jun 12, 2013 - Comments (10)
Category: Experiments

Million-to-one mix-up

Occasionally I find myself trying to get into the wrong car in parking lots, because I don't bother to look that closely at the car. If it's the same color and shape as mine, and parked in the same general location, I assume it's mine. But that's not always true. I realize my mistake when the key doesn't fit.

Back in 1985, a case like this occurred. A couple tried to get into a car in a shopping mall parking lot that was the same make, model, and color as their own. But it turned out that the cars had identical keys as well. So they got into the car and drove away. They only realized the mix-up when they noticed that the stuff inside the car wasn't theirs. When they drove back to recover their own car, they found out that the owner of the other car also had the same last name as them. And finally, this all happened on April Fool's Day, but I'm trusting that it happened as reported, since the news report appeared after April 1st. [Bangor Daily News - Apr 3, 1985]

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 12, 2013 - Comments (16)
Category: 1980s, Goofs and Screw-ups, Cars

White Blood Cells in the Sky

NOTE: some enthusiastic swears.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 12, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Annoying Things, Confusion, Misunderstanding, and Incomprehension, Science, Conspiracy Theories and Theorists, Air Travel and Airlines, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust

You Can Touch My Hair

Last week three black women stood in New York City's Union Square holding signs that read, "You Can Touch My Hair." It was part of an "exhibition" intended to explore people's "tactile fascination" with black women's hair.

But the exhibition quickly proved controversial, because apparently many black women don't think it's a good thing to be encouraging strangers to get their grubby hands all over their heads. A group of protesters formed, holding signs such as "you can't touch my hair but you can kiss my ass" and "touch my hair with your hand & I'll touch your face with my fist." [huffpost]

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 11, 2013 - Comments (6)
Category: Art, Hair and Hairstyling

Girls Who Go Wrong

Click each image for greater readability.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 11, 2013 - Comments (8)
Category: Etiquette and Formal Behavior, Comics, 1940s, Ethics and Morals

Backstage (June 11, 2013)

Backstage
in the Weird News Community
June 11, 2013

The Dilemma of the Pro Weird-News Editor
Just yesterday, it happened again: A dazzlingly weird-news story of questionable bona fides hit the Internet, and Yr Editor doesn’t know what to think. I counted about 150 Google hits, but it’s undoubtedly way-higher by now, and it might be a true story, or maybe not. If it’s a true story, it may be exaggerated way beyond what readers of pro journalism expect. “Julia Caples” of “Wilkes-Barre, Pa.” has been drinking volunteers’ blood for 30 yrs because it makes her feel better, and her main problem seems to be how to keep her kids (ages 24 and 11) from adopting Mom’s choices. Yr Editor’s dilemma: Everything comes from one story in London’s Daily Mirror (which reeks with tabloidiness; makes the Daily Mail look like the New York Times), and despite Julia’s longstanding health habit, the two (count ‘em, two) daily newspapers in Wilkes-Barre are apparently unaware of their local celebrity. Technically speaking here, there are two verification issues: (1) Does Julia, of Wilkes-Barre and a blood-drinker, exist? and (2) If so, how much of the Mirror’s story is real and how much is juiced up in tabloidiness? Yr Editor is not all that concerned about the Nat’l Security Agency or any plots inside IRS (as distinguished from bureaucratic “bright” ideas), but this one causes me to nibble my fingernails. Daily Mirror /// Huffington Post /// msn.com

Posted By: Chuck - Tue Jun 11, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: