January 7, 2012
Alex’s New Book!
I hope everyone is enjoying having Alex back as much as I am. Yay, Alex!Perhaps you recall months ago when I touted his new book. Well, that was its UK edition only. Finally, in June, the US edition arrives.
Why not use the link the pre-order your copy now?
Johnson Smith Catalog Item #17
[Click to enlarge]
What a shame bow ties are not much in style these days. Imagine how popular you would be, when flashing the "Drop Dead!" message!
"Is that a giant drycell battery in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"
From the 1950 catalog.
Posted By: Paul | Date: Sat Jan 07, 2012 | Permalink |
Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Johnson Smith Catalog, 1950's, Pranks
Category: Fashion, Johnson Smith Catalog, 1950's, Pranks
January 6, 2012
Zoo Porn
The Pittsburgh Zoo is offering an interesting fund raising event for Valentines Day. Cocktails and dinner followed by a presentation by an expert on the sex lives of wild animals. Adults only of course.
Woman coughs out lung
A case report in the New England Journal of Medicine describes a woman who coughed so hard that she pushed her lung out through her ribs. That's got to be painful.
According to msnbc.com, violent coughing can also result in collapsed lungs, ruptured spleens, and eyeballs coming out of their sockets. Lovely!
This hits close to home for me because my wife occasionally suffers from an intense cough. She may go for several years without any problems, but when "The Cough" (as we call it) returns, it's always pretty bad. And it usually takes several months for it to go away. Thankfully it's been a while since she last had The Cough. (knock on wood).
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri Jan 06, 2012 | Permalink |
Comments (5)
Category: Body, Diseases, Medicine
Category: Body, Diseases, Medicine
Cardiff Giant in search of temporary home
A few weeks ago, over at the Museum of Hoaxes, I described how I came into possession of a miniature Cardiff Giant. I then decided to send it on an around-the-world tour. This involves sending it to volunteer hosts in various farflung regions who show it the sights in their neck of the woods, send me photos of its adventures, and then ship it on to the next volunteer.
The giant is currently in Perth, Austrialia, and I'm looking for people in that part of the world willing to temporarily adopt him. "That part of the world" is meant, in the broadest sense, to encompass all of Asia, Australasia, and India. Because while I've got a lot of volunteers from the U.S. and Europe, I haven't got any from anywhere else. And I'd like the giant to see as much of the world as possible.
So I'm posting here to see if there are any Weird Universe readers in exotic locales who'd like to play host to the giant. If you're interested, let me know.
Even if you live in boring-old Europe and the U.S. and you'd like to host the giant, let me know also. Because eventually the giant will be touring these regions. (possibly very soon if no one from Asia/Australia can be found.) I'll add you to the list.
Just one word of caution. If you agree to host the giant, you HAVE to send him to someone else after a few weeks. If you decide to keep him permanently, you'll incur the Curse of the Cardiff Giant, which is too awful to describe in words, though it's rumored to be similar to that melting flesh scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri Jan 06, 2012 | Permalink |
Comments (3)
Category: Travel, Sightseeing, Weird Universe
Category: Travel, Sightseeing, Weird Universe
Who’s Right?
This is more agonizing and excruciating than Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
Posted By: Paul | Date: Fri Jan 06, 2012 | Permalink |
Comments (1)
Category: PSA's, Annoying Things, Husbands, Wives, 1950's
Category: PSA's, Annoying Things, Husbands, Wives, 1950's
God’s Igloo
The building of a Catholic church from ice and snow is a 100 year old tradition in Mitterfirmiansreut, Germany. At that time parishioners request for their own house of worship was denied by the town. Building "God's Igloo" started as a protest to that denial. Have to respect the fact that these believers put some effort into their faith each year.
January 5, 2012
Slingshot Zombiehammer
Only for use on zombies, jah!(via the MOH forum)
Follies of the Mad Men #173
The Rolling Stones for Rice Krispies.
Posted By: Paul | Date: Thu Jan 05, 2012 | Permalink |
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Music, 1960's
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Music, 1960's
The Yen-Shee Baby
Tom Carnwath and Ian Smith offer this definition of a "yen-shee baby" in their book Heroin Century:All opiates cause constipation. The old opium smokers used to talk about a 'yen-shee baby'. 'Yen-shee' was the concentrated residue of opium that formed inside the pipe bowl after smoking. A yen-shee baby was what was produced with much travail after a long period of constipation. 'Wrap it up in a towel and it'll live, it's a yen-shee baby.'
And Seth Morgan offers this description of the delivery of a yen-shee baby in his novel Homeboy
:Then the Big Hurt pushed aside all thinking and Joe could only lie hugging his cramped middle and suffer the agony that gnawed on itself, metastasised, grew like a cold malignant fetus in him. A reeking viscous sweat like cold bacon drippings filled him. The jailhouse stinks... dizzied him with nausea.
Orgasm after electric hairtrigger orgasm convulsed his groin. His entire being became the shortcircuiting terminus of a billion scraped and shrieking nerves. And then came ripping down from his intestines that glacial fecal boulder compacted by months of bowel paralysis, and through gritted teeth he cried: 'Christ! The Yenshee baby.'
He bailed out of his bunk and staggered to a rear toilet where he sat bent double for minutes or hours, he didn't know, trying to pass this bowel monster; until sudden pain flashed the darkness and he felt himself tearing in two. Blood vomited into the toilet. His sweatslick buttocks slipped off and he was on the floor, shrieks percussing his skull; and from a great distance heard Smoothbore shouting at the bars: 'MAN DOWN!'
Orgasm after electric hairtrigger orgasm convulsed his groin. His entire being became the shortcircuiting terminus of a billion scraped and shrieking nerves. And then came ripping down from his intestines that glacial fecal boulder compacted by months of bowel paralysis, and through gritted teeth he cried: 'Christ! The Yenshee baby.'
He bailed out of his bunk and staggered to a rear toilet where he sat bent double for minutes or hours, he didn't know, trying to pass this bowel monster; until sudden pain flashed the darkness and he felt himself tearing in two. Blood vomited into the toilet. His sweatslick buttocks slipped off and he was on the floor, shrieks percussing his skull; and from a great distance heard Smoothbore shouting at the bars: 'MAN DOWN!'
The existence of such a thing as a yen-shee baby is the only reason I'll ever need never to touch heroin.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Thu Jan 05, 2012 | Permalink |
Comments (4)
Category: Drugs, Scatology, Excrement
Category: Drugs, Scatology, Excrement
Category: Weird Studies and Guides, Books, Alex