Weird Universe Archive

June 2020

June 10, 2020

Sugar Doping

1924: Despite being fed sweet hot tea and peppermint creams in an experimental attempt to increase their energy, the Yale soccer team lost to the visiting team by 5 to 1.

Bridgeport Telegram - Nov 11, 1924

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 10, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Sports, Experiments, Junk Food, Nutrition, 1920s

June 9, 2020

The Glmite Bomb

Before the atomic bomb, other "super bombs" were dreamed up and invented. One of the more notorious was Lester Barlow's Glmite Bomb. Barlow claimed it could kill everything within a 1000-yard radius, but when the U.S. military tested it in 1940, exploding it in a field surrounded by goats, it failed to kill, or even injure, a single goat.

Glmite also has to be one of the worst names ever for an explosive. It was created by combining the words 'Glenn' and 'Dynamite'.

More details from The Ordnance Department: Procurement and Supply, by Harry Thomson and Lida Mayo —

Mr. Lester P. Barlow, an employee of the Glenn L. Martin aircraft factory, submitted to the Senate Committee on Military Affairs a bomb filled with liquid oxygen. Called "glmite" in honor of Mr. Martin, the explosive was said to give off violent vibrations of the air waves that would kill every living thing within a radius of a thousand yards. Senator Gerald P. Nye was so impressed that he called in reporters to watch while minutes of the committee meeting were burned—"so great was the military secrecy of the subject!... an explosive so deadly it might even outlaw war!!!"

Tests of the Barlow bomb took up a good deal of the time of Ordnance planners in April and May, extending down into the most anxious weeks in May. When the newspapers announced that goats would be tethered at varying distances from the bomb to determine its lethal effects, Congress and the War Department were deluged with letters of protest from humane societies and private citizens. All the concern turned out to be wasted. At the first test, the bomb leaked and did not go off; at the second, held at Aberdeen Proving Ground in late May, the explosion occurred, but the goats, unharmed, continued to nibble the Maryland grass.


Barlow supervising the set up of the Glmite Bomb.



The Algone Upper Des Moines - June 18, 1940



Explosion of the Glmite Bomb at Aberdeen Proving Ground
Note the goats in the right foreground, unharmed

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 09, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: 1940s, Weapons

June 8, 2020

The Animan

It's now 2020. Where are our bipedal TVs?

With its two legs the Animan TV follows you from room to room, dances to commercials, and even leans into the curves during chase scenes. Equipped with its top-mounted security camera, it patrols the house and sounds an alarm if it detects a prowler.




Source: Popular Science - June 1988

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 08, 2020 - Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, Television, AI, Robots and Other Automatons, 1980s

The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things



WU-vies will find a simpatico home at THE MUSEUM OF RIDICULOUSLY INTERESTING THINGS.

Here's a typical item.

THE BLINKEY EYE GUM DISPENSER.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 08, 2020 - Comments (5)
Category: Weird Studies and Guides

June 7, 2020

Hand Sanitizer Holster

Paula Russo was recently granted patent #10653232 for a "hand sanitizer holster," which seems like a timely invention for the age of covid, although she must have begun the patent process long before covid-19 was known.



The hand sanitizer holster is a garment. The hand sanitizer holster comprises a belt, a fastening structure, and a plurality of primary holsters. The fastening structure secures the belt to a healthcare worker. The plurality of primary holsters attach to the belt. Each of the plurality of primary holsters contains a chemical container filled with a sanitizer. The sanitizer is an anti-microbial chemical used for cleaning the hands of the healthcare worker. Each holster contained within the plurality of primary holsters is configured such that the sanitizer dispenses from the chemical container without removing the chemical container from the holster. In a second potential embodiment of the disclosure, the hand sanitizer holster further comprises a shoulder harness. The shoulder harness further comprises one or more straps and one or more secondary holsters.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 07, 2020 - Comments (6)
Category: Hygiene, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, Inventions, Patents

Novel Device for Stopping a Runaway Horse



If you read the words on the "counterweight," they say, "Recommendations for Reichenbach's Tile Drains." So this is a humorous advertisement rather than an actual patent. But I would not be surprised if someone somewhere had come up with such an idea.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 07, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Business, Advertising, Humor, Nineteenth Century

June 6, 2020

Slammed door, house fell down

The strange case of Mary Adams of Stockport, England, who slammed shut her front door, causing the house to collapse into rubble.

Fort Lauderdale News - Jan 22, 1975



I was curious what the scene of the house collapse looked like today. After some searching on Google maps, I'm pretty sure her house was situated by the Park Bridge in Stockport (which is part of Greater Manchester). Though I'm not sure what side of the bridge it was on.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 06, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Architecture, 1970s

Workout with She Hulk

I don't know about you, but I'm inspired!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 06, 2020 - Comments (5)
Category: Comics, Bodybuilding

Page 5 of 6 pages ‹ First  < 3 4 5 6 > 




Get WU Posts by Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid.

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.

Chuck Shepherd
Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre.

Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
December 2024 •  November 2024 •  October 2024 •  September 2024 •  August 2024 •  July 2024 •  June 2024 •  May 2024 •  April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •