Weird Universe Blog — June 19, 2022

French Fries Guitar

Made out of McDonald's fries. By Russian guitar maker Artem Mayer.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 19, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Food | Music

Mystery Illustration 107

What is it? Peat moss cubes for house plants? Insulation? Archaeological samples?

The answer is here.

Or after the jump.

June 18, 2022

The best defense against an atomic bomb…

"... is not to be there when it goes off."

Advice which remains true to this day.

Manchester Evening News - Feb 18, 1949

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 18, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: War | Weapons | Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | 1940s

Dougal and the Blue Cat

Everything was extra trippy in the 1970s.

The Wikipedia page.

June 17, 2022

Mrs. Sparrow found a sparrow

1952: Mrs. Florence Sparrow found a sparrow in her loaf of bread.

Spokane Chronicle - Feb 29, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 17, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Food | Odd Names | 1950s

Drunken Dancers Arrested In Street

A more-innocent era. Not a single gun confiscated!

Source: The NYT for July 8, 1923.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 17, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Noises and Other Public Disturbances of the Peace | Urban Life | 1920s | Alcohol

June 16, 2022

... American men would be sterilized!!!

The image is a still from the 1940 movie Dr. Cyclops, starring Janice Logan. It was repurposed in the early 1950s as anti-Communist propaganda, appearing (with the bizarre claim about mass sterilization) in Man to Man magazine (Jan 1954).

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 16, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Propaganda, Thought Control and Brainwashing | Giant People in Ads | 1950s

Fred and Coronet Cordon’s Whip Act

Photo source.

Source of text.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 16, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers | Television | Sex Symbols | 1950s | Circuses, Carnivals, and Other Traveling Shows

June 15, 2022

The ear as an inverted fetus

From Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Anatomies: the human body, its parts and the stories they tell (2014), p. 158:

Some people believe the outer ear may be significant other than as a sound-gatherer. In the 1950s, a French doctor and acupuncturist named Paul Nogier noted that it resembles a curled human foetus (the lobe of the ear represents the head and the interior fold known as the antihelix the spine of the foetus in this case). The scheme of alternative medicine that he devised based on this resemblance is known as auriculotherapy. The patient's ear is seen as a honunculus or map of the whole body, with stimulation at different points on it being used to treat ailments in corresponding parts of the body.

Tampa Tribune - Aug 13, 1973

More info: wikipedia

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 15, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Body | Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil

Widdershins

Many thanks to longtime WU-vie Gerald Sacks for pointing us towards this neat little steampunk cartoon, whose anachronistic future is decidedly weird.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 15, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Science Fiction | Reader Recommendation | Cartoons | Love & Romance

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us

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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer.

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

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