Weird Universe Blog — October 13, 2018

The smell of dead rabbits

Weird science: Spanish researchers have determined that rabbits can differentiate between the poop of predators that have eaten rabbits and those that haven't. From New Scientist:

The researchers ran an experiment on three plots of land spread out across the Spanish countryside. One plot was sprayed daily with the smelly essence extracted from the scat of ferrets on a beef-based diet. Another plot was sprayed with the scat odour from ferrets on a rabbit-based diet. The third was sprayed with water as a control. Every few days, the team counted the rabbit pellets left behind on the plots and used the number as an indicator of how often rabbits were visiting the plots to feed.

There were fewer pellets in the plots sprayed with rabbit-based scat odour than in those sprayed with the beef-based scat odour, suggesting the rabbits were avoiding places where it appeared other rabbits were being eaten.

I assume this means that some researcher had to search around in a field every day to count rabbit pellets.

The journal article: Acta Ethologica

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 13, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals | Science | Excrement

Progressive Schooling

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 13, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Children | 1960s | Universities, Colleges, Private Schools and Academia

October 12, 2018

Compliment Mirror

A new, weird invention from Japan. A mirror that compliments you. More info from JapanTrends.com:

The mirror, apparently only available as a prototype right now, has a sexy male voice that will compliment and chat with the woman looking into the mirror. Incorporating a monitor display, camera, and speaker, the device can scan and read the emotions of the user from her face, changing the way it interacts accordingly.

This reminds me of the Digital Wife I posted about recently. Seems like another device aimed at the large number of Japanese people who seem to live alone.

The company website

Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 12, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Inventions | Technology | AI, Robots and Other Automatons | Love & Romance

Women in Tubes

Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 12, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Miniature People in Ads | Surrealism | 1960s | Hair and Hairstyling

October 11, 2018

World’s largest swing made from colored pencils

Is it just me, or do world record categories seem to be getting increasingly specific?

More info: Express Tribune

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 11, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: World Records

Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back

Paean to an outhouse.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 11, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Architecture | Domestic | Music | Excrement | 1960s

October 10, 2018

Gasmask Testers

This was obviously before the creation of OSHA, or its British equivalent.

Los Angeles Times - Oct 21, 1927

Harrisburg Evening News - Nov 1, 1927

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 10, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Jobs and Occupations | 1920s

Have a Slothful Halloween!

Maybe it's not to late to have Karoline Hinz craft one of these for your trick-or-treating.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 10, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals | Costumes and Masks | Holidays

October 9, 2018

Girl Scouts File Suit

The most controversial poster of 1969, which prompted the Girl Scouts to file suit. Although a judge threw out the case, citing no evidence that the organization had suffered any damages.

Read the lawsuit: GIRL SCOUTS OF U.S. OF A. v. PERSONALITY POSTERS MFG. CO.

source: Vintage Girl Scout

Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle - Aug 6, 1969

Austin American - Oct 10, 1969

Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 09, 2018 - Comments (6)
Category: Lawsuits | 1960s | Pregnancy

Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 16

Xul Solar, "San P," 1923

I think we should just nominate Xul Solar as someone whose entire output would have displeased our Soviet realist.

More images here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 09, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Art | Avant Garde | 1920s | Russia

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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 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. 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 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.

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

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