Weird Universe Blog — January 3, 2024

Tibor Sarossy’s Cannonball Run

In late August of 1968, 22-year-old Tibor Sarossy set a record by riding a motorcycle from New York to Los Angeles in 45 hours, 41 minutes. He had rigged up extra fuel tanks on the back of his bike so that he only had to stop for gas four times. Also, he wore a condom connected to a hosepipe to avoid stopping for bathroom breaks.



Attempting to set a speed record for driving across the United States is known as doing a Cannonball Run. The term traces back to 1914 when Erwin Baker was nicknamed "Cannonball" by the media after he drove his motorcycle coast-to-coast in 11 days and 11 hours. That may seem slow today, but it was before modern highways and widely available gas stations. So, for the time and driving conditions, it was incredibly fast.

The current motorcycle record for a Cannonball Run is 32 hours, 27 minutes set by Felix Hofmann in October 2023.

More info: LPMCC.net

Los Angeles Times - Sep 8, 1968

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 03, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: World Records | 1960s | Motorcycles

Pope.L, Crawl Artist, RIP

We don't want this recent death to get lost in the end-of-the-year chaos!

His obituary.






Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 03, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Urban Life | Avant Garde | Performance Art | Twentieth Century | Twenty-first Century

January 2, 2024

Splendid China

The Splendid China theme park in Florida was open from 1993 to 2003, located just a few miles from Disney World. Details from SFGate.com:

Hoping to capitalize on the rich tourism industry surrounding Walt Disney World, the companies teamed up to bring a theme park filled with miniature Chinese landmarks to the middle of a residential neighborhood in Kissimmee. Up went over 60 replicas, among them a small Forbidden City, a not-so-Great Wall of China, dozens of terra cotta warriors and a recreation of a street in Suzhou during the 1300s.


Critics mocked it as a "propaganda theme park". And eventually it was revealed to have been owned by the Chinese government, which was the only reason it managed to stay open as long as it did.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 02, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts | 1990s | Asia

They Needed a Songbird in Heaven, So God Took Caruso Away

Never a good look for God, when He selfishly abducts entertainers for Heaven's Variety Show.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 02, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Death | Music | Religion | 1920s

January 1, 2024

Welcome to 2024, the year of ‘A Boy and his Dog’

We've now got AI, but still no telepathic dogs.





Based on the poster below, I think the French version of the movie was titled, "Apocalypse 2024". Hope that's not prophetic.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 01, 2024 - Comments (5)
Category: Movies | Science Fiction | New Year

Happy New Year’s Day 2024!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 01, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Holidays | Wild West and US Frontier | Twenty-first Century

December 31, 2023

The Unhappy Mr. Happy Newyear

Happy Newyear was a carpenter who lived in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Technically his first name was 'Emil', but everyone, including his parents, had been calling him Happy since he was a child .

The media found out about his unusual name sometime in the early 1940s, and from that point on Newyear would be hounded by reporters every New Year.

Minneapolis Star - Dec 31, 1943



Brantford Expositor - Jan 4, 1947



At first he reluctantly played along with it all. In 1947, he and his wife even participated in a New Year's show in Toronto. But as the years went by, it's evident he had had enough. By the 1960s, when reporters were still seeking him out each year, he would simply close the door in their face.





Sioux City Journal - Jan 2, 1960



I think 'Happy' or 'Hap' must be a fairly common nickname among people whose last name is Newyear. A quick search of cemetery records found two Newyears with the nickname 'Hap': Francis "Hap" Newyear and Harold "Hap" Newyear.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 31, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Odd Names | New Year

Anthropomorphic Fels-Naptha Ads

Fels-Naptha Soap really went big on the living clothing and living soap box concept.







Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 31, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Anthropomorphism | Domestic | Hygiene | Advertising | Twentieth Century

December 30, 2023

The science of shaking Christmas presents

Researchers at the University of Michigan have been studying people shaking boxes in order to shed light on "epistemic action understanding." Or rather, "Can one person tell, just by observing another person’s movements, what they are trying to learn?"

In other words, as you watch someone shake a box, can you figure out what information they're trying to gather about the contents of the box (i.e. the shape or quantity of things in it)?

More info: "Seeing and understanding epistemic actions"

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 30, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Science | Experiments | Psychology | Christmas

Atlantis in Hi-Fi

Why a stinker of a B-movie would have its soundtrack issued under a different title is a mystery best left to the ages. But it means you can enjoy some exotica tracks without watching the film. The embedded player is at the bottom of the post.









Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 30, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art | Movies | Music | Space-age Bachelor Pad & Exotic | Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings | 1950s

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2016 by the author of the post, which is usually either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.

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