The Funeral of Mike Merlo

Original picture here.

A wax and flower effigy of the deceased featured at his funeral, attended by ten thousand people.

His Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 16, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, 1920s

Recipes for Cooking Muskrat

How the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came to publish a muskrat meat cookbook:

The Escanaba Daily Press - Mar 22, 1949

The recipes include Wine-fried Muskrat, Muskrat a la Terrapin, Maryland Shredded Muskrat, Muskrat Salad, Muskrat Pie, Pickled Muskrat, and Stewed Muskrat Liver. However, it doesn't include Cream of Muskrat Casserole, a delicacy that we posted about back in 2013.

You can read or download the full booklet at archive.org.

A muskrat - via wikipedia

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 15, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Food

Cosmetic Frame for Bent Legs

The vanished horrors of the past.

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 15, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Technology, 1920s, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical

Name That List, #40

What is this a list of? The answer is below in extended.

• Bart Simpson
• Battery Acid
• Blue Chair
• California Sunshine
• Contact Lens
• Cupcakes
• Dental Floss
• Dinosaurs
• Ellis Day
• Golden Dragon
• Grape Parfait
• Hawaiian Sunshine
• Kaleidoscope
• Mind Detergent
• Owsley
• Pink Robots
• Russian Sickles
• Square Dancing Tickets
• Tail Lights
• Valley Dolls
• Window Glass
• Yellow Dimples

More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 14, 2017 - Comments (9)
Category: Name That List

Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 4

Of course, before the Soviets took a stance against "degenerate" avant-garde art, they had a flourishing avant-garde scene in their own country.

Mikhail Larionov was one such native Russian artist.

Here is his "Venus" from 1912.

This new book on the topic seems very interesting and relevant.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 14, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, 1910s, Russia

The Mayonnaise diet

What exactly is the mayonnaise diet? Googling the term produces various vague references to such a thing, but no specifics. So, like the Dial-A-Dietitian, I have no idea what this diet involves... beyond a lot of mayonnaise and eggs.

My guess is that it was either an alternative name for the Atkins Diet, or an eccentric variant of it, since the book Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution first came out in 1972, which makes the timing about right for this person inquiring about a mayonnaise diet in 1974.

Honolulu Star Bulletin - June 19, 1974

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 13, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Food, Dieting and Weight Loss

Munyon’s Homeopathic Cures

Once, these remedies were state-of-the-art.



More photos here.

His Wikipedia page.

Although Munyon appears to be clutching a cigar in his upraised hand, that is indeed supposed to be his signature gesture of upraised index finger.



Original ad here.



Certificate here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 13, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Forgotten Figures and Where Are They Now?, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1900s

Mayor Max

In 2012, the residents of Idyllwild, California elected Max as their mayor. He was a golden retriever. Tragically he died of cancer a year later, but the people of Idyllwild agreed that Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller II, aka Mayor Max II, could complete his term of office. The new Max was subsequently granted a perpetual term as mayor. So he's still in charge there.

Check out the official Mayor Max website.

Mayor Max I

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 12, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Politics

Underworld Lingo

Source: page 51 of this magazine.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 12, 2017 - Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Languages, 1930s

News of the Weird (June 11, 2017)

News of the Weird
Weirdnuz.M531, June 11, 2017
Copyright 2017 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

REMINDER: I am retiring in three weeks (but in reality, all
the columns are in the can already). My announcement is here.

Lead Story

If high-schoolers seem stressed by active lifestyles and competitive pressures, and consequently fail to sleep the recommended 9 to 10 hours a day, it must be a good idea for the federal government to give grants (including to Las Cruces High School in New Mexico) to purchase comfy, $14,000 "nap pods" that drive out the racket with soft music, for 20 minutes a shot during those frenzied classroom days. A May NPR report based on Las Cruces's experience quoted favorable reviews by students, backed by a doctor and a nurse practitioner who pointed to research showing that adequate sleep "can" boost memory and attention and thus "can" improve school performance (and therefore must be a great use of federal education dollars). [NPR Morning Edition, 5-17-2017]

Unclear on the Concept

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam argues that his "hands are tied" by "federal food laws" and that fresh, "all-natural" milk with the cream skimmed off the top cannot be sold in Florida as "milk" (or "skim milk") but must be labeled "imitation milk"--unless the "all-natural" milk adds (artificial) Vitamin A to the product. A family farm in the state's panhandle (Ocheesee Creamery) decided to challenge the law, and Putnam, who recently announced his candidacy for governor, said he would try to resolve the issue soon. [WTVT (Tampa), 5-12-2017]

News You Can Use

(1) Briton Fred Whitelaw, 64, who has bowel cancer, recently began working "therapeutic" breast milk into his diet (but only that supplied by his daughter, Jill Turner, who recently gave birth and said she is happy to double-pump to assure both Fred and baby Llewyn adequate supplies (although husband Kyle is trying it out for his eczema, as well). (2) Scientists writing in the journal of the American Society for Microbiology recently recommended that parents not discourage children from picking their noses because snot contains a "rich reservoir of good bacteria" beneficial to teeth and overall health (fighting, for example, respiratory infections and even HIV). [Metro News (London), 5-2-2017] [Daily Telegraph (London), 5-5-2017]

Inexplicable

(1) It recently became necessary for Candace Frazee and Steve Levinsky to acquire a bigger home in the Los Angeles area because their 33,000 "bunny"-related items (stuffed bunnies, antique bunnies, bunny paintings, bunny dinnerware, etc.) needed more space. (2) The world's only museum devoted to the "house cat" allows self-guided tours in Sylva, N.C., where curator Harold Sims displays 10,000 artifacts including a genuine petrified cat (with whiskers!) pulled from a 16th-century English chimney. (3) Brantford, Ontario, realtor Kyle Jansink, speaking for unidentified sellers, said he accepted the challenge of selling the meticulously-maintained home "as is"--still packed with the sellers' clown-related items (dolls, miniatures, porcelain statues, paintings). [New York Post, 5-19-2017] [Charlotte Observer, 5-18-2017] [Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News, 5-8-2017]

Compelling Explanations

They're "therapists," not "strippers," argued New York City's Penthouse Executive Club, creatively characterizing its dancers to avoid $3 million in back taxes, but the state's appeals board ruled against it in April. Penthouse had insisted that its performers were more akin to counselors for lonely men and that the club's "door charge" was an untaxable fee for therapeutic health services. [New York Daily News, 5-12-2017]

James Pelletier, 46, was arrested in Hollis, Maine in May after he fired a BB gun point-blank at his two sons, ages 9 and 11--but only, he said, as a "rite of passage" into maturity (perhaps thinking the experience would help them become as mature as their father). He said if the kids knew how it felt to get shot, perhaps they would not be so quick to fire their own guns. [Portland Press Herald, 5-6-2017]

The Continuing Crisis

You Mean Jethro and Abby, Too? In contrast to the exciting work of the TV series (near the top of broadcast ratings for the last decade), real agents in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have labored over computer screens eight to 10 hours a day for two months now employing their facial-recognition software--just to scour websites to identify victims of nude-photo postings of military personnel that came to light earlier this year. "[Y]ou get pretty burned out," said the NCIS director. A simple word search of "uniformed military nude" got nearly 80,000,000 hits, according to a May Associated Press dispatch from the Quantico Marine base, where the 20 investigators labor side-by-side. [Associated Press via NBC News, 5-6-2017]

Military Allies in Odd Places

(1) In April, three days after ISIS fighters reportedly executed 25 villagers about 50 miles south of Kirkuk, Iraq, the three murderers were themselves killed (and eight more wounded) when a pack of wild boars overran their position and gnawed them into martyrdom. (2) In April, a Russian naval reconnaissance ship sank in the Black Sea off of Turkey (likely op: Syria-related) when it collided with a livestock barge flying the flag of Togo. All aboard the Russian ship were rescued; the much-heavier Togolese vessel suffered barely a scratch. [USA Today, 4-25-2017] [New York Times, 4-27-2017]

Perspective

Rights in Conflict: An elderly German man, unnamed in news reports, was fined the equivalent of $110 in May for "terrorizing" neighbors in the town of Hannef by violating a 2015 agreement to lower the sound of his pornographic videos. He demanded sympathy because of his hearing disability, arguing that if he wore headphones, he could not hear the doorbell, or burglars, and therefore would feel unsafe. (At his May hearing, he objected to the characterization that the "sex sounds" were from videos; on the day in question, he said, he had a prostitute in the room. "It was not porn," he insisted, confusingly. "It was live!") [Metro News (London), 5-6-2017]

Oops!

In May Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley apparently mindlessly signed the proclamation designating a special day for the late Tre Hummons (submitted by his grieving father, to honor the son's "sacrifice"). Tre Hummons was killed in 2015 by a police officer--but only after Tre had just shot and killed another Cincinnati police officer. [WXIX-TV (Cleveland), 5-19-2017]

Winneshiek County (Iowa) Engineer Lee Bjerke said he had no idea how the driver of the loaded 18-wheeler had missed the "Load Limit 3 Tons" sign at the entrance of the small, rickety bridge near Cresco in May, but in seconds, the span was wiped out, and the tractor-trailer had become part of the Turkey River. The loaded grain truck weighed more than 30 tons. [KCCI-TV (Des Moines), 5-5-2017]

Armed & Clumsy (all-new!)

Still more incidents in which people (make that, "men") accidentally shoot themselves: a National Rifle Association staff member, 46, training on a firing range (Fairfax County, Va., April); a fleeing robber, run over by his victim, with the collision causing the robber's gun to fire into his own mouth (Hawthorne, Calif., March); two boys, 17 and 19, "practicing" loading and unloading a handgun, managing to hit each other (Houston, Tex., March); a homeless man, 45, in a now-classic waistband-holster-crotch malfunction (Lake Panasoffee, Fla., Oct.); U.S. Park Police officer, shot his foot in a confrontation with a raccoon (Washington, D.C., Nov.); man, 48, shot himself, then, apparently angry at how it happened and perhaps re-enacting his movements, shot himself again (Oceana County, Mich., July).[Burke Patch, 4-7-2017] [Daily Breeze (Torrance), 3-15-2017] [Houston Chronicle, 3-22-2017] [Citrus County Chronicle (Crystal River), 10-10-2016] [Washingtonian, 11-3-2016] [MLive.com, 7-5-2016]

A News of the Weird Classic (December 2013)

Just another October [2013] day in Kelso, Wash.: At the courthouse, a woman carrying a cake was approached by Robert Fredrickson, a stranger who was also in the building on business. Without warning, Fredrickson attacked--not the woman, the cake--grabbing it with both hands and stuffing his face. As he washed up a minute later at a drinking fountain, a deputy who witnessed the scene attempted to bring Fredrickson to justice, yelling, “[S]tand right there. Don’t move.” As soon as the officer looked away, however, Fredrickson returned to the cake and clawed at it again. Finally, several deputies subdued him and charged him with theft and resisting arrest. [KATU-TV (Portland, Ore.), 10-3-2013]

Thanks This Week to Laurel Bender, Michael Isquidsrus, Kathryn Vinson, William Carter, Michael Brozyna, Steve Passen, and Bruce Leiserowitz, and to the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.

Posted By: Chuck - Sun Jun 11, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: