Weird Universe Blog — June 26, 2022
Visions Fill The Eyes Of A Defeated Basketball Team In The Shower Room
We've posted about American composer Harry Partch twice before — once about the odd musical instruments he built, and another time about his unorthodox sources of inspiration (hitchhiker graffiti).This post is about his weirdo song titles, particularly this one: "Visions Fill The Eyes Of A Defeated Basketball Team In The Shower Room." The song is below. I'm not sure how the song relates to the title.
Other titles from the same album (The Bewitched) include:
- Three Undergrads Become Transfigured in a Hong Kong Music Hall
- Euphoria Descends a Sausalito Stairway
- A Lost Political Soul Finds Himself Among the Voteless Women of Paradise
- The Cognoscenti Are Plunged Into a Demonic Descent While at Cocktails
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 26, 2022 -
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Category: Music
Sgt. Reckless
With thanks to reader Sherry Mowbray.
The Wikipedia page.
Staff Sergeant Reckless (c. 1948 – May 13, 1968), a decorated war horse who held official rank in the United States military,[2] was a mare of Mongolian horse breeding. Out of a race horse dam, she was purchased in October 1952 for $250 from a Korean stableboy at the Seoul racetrack who needed money to buy an artificial leg for his sister.[3] Reckless was bought by members of the United States Marine Corps and trained to be a pack horse for the Recoilless Rifle Platoon, Anti-Tank Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.[2] She quickly became part of the unit and was allowed to roam freely through camp, entering the Marines' tents, where she would sleep on cold nights, and was known for her willingness to eat nearly anything, including scrambled eggs, beer, Coca-Cola and, once, about $30 worth of poker chips.
She served in numerous combat actions during the Korean War, carrying supplies and ammunition, and was also used to evacuate wounded. Learning each supply route after only a couple of trips, she often traveled to deliver supplies to the troops on her own, without benefit of a handler. The highlight of her nine-month military career came in late March 1953 during the Battle for Outpost Vegas when, in a single day, she made 51 solo trips to resupply multiple front line units. She was wounded in combat twice and was given the battlefield rank of corporal in 1953 and then a battlefield promotion to sergeant in 1954, several months after the war ended. She also became the first horse in the Marine Corps known to have participated in an amphibious landing, and following the war was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, inclusion in her unit's Presidential Unit Citations from two countries, and other military honors.
The home page.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 26, 2022 -
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Category: Animals | War | Reader Recommendation | Twentieth Century | Courage, Bravery, Heroism and Valor
June 25, 2022
The woman who married a rag doll
Recently in the news: Meirivone Rocha Moraes of Brazil married a rag doll named Marcelo, and now claims that she's had a child with him. The kid is also a rag doll.More info: NY Post
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 25, 2022 -
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Category: Marriage | Dolls and Stuffed Animals | Pregnancy
Follies of the Madmen #536
How would you like the angry Amazing Colossal Man for your Dad or husband? While the females are appalled, the boy seems thrilled.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 25, 2022 -
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Category: Domestic | Money | Advertising | Giant People in Ads | 1960s
June 24, 2022
Nose Writing
William Horatio Bates was a New York ophthalmologist who claimed that poor vision could be cured through eye exercises. He was quite well known in the 1920s and 30s.One of his eye exercises was called "nose writing." Here it's described by Margaret Darst Corbett (an "authorized instructor" of his method) in her 1953 book How to Improve Your Sight:
Aldous Huxley was also a fan of the 'Bates Method' and of nose writing, which he described in his 1942 book The Art of Seeing:
Another excellent procedure, which is simultaneously an exercise in mind-body coordination, an imagination drill, and a small-scale shift, is "nose-writing." sitting down comfortably in an easy chair, close your eyes and imagine that you have a good long pencil attached to the end of your nose. (Lovers of Edward Lear will remember his pictures of the 'Dong.') Equipped with this instrument, move your head and neck so as to write with your protracted nose upon an imaginary sheet of paper (or, if the pencil is thought of as being white, on an imaginary blackboard) eight or nine inches in front of your face.
I don't think mainstream ophthalmologists have ever put any stock in the benefits of nose writing, but it still has promoters. See the video below.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 24, 2022 -
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Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil | Eyes and Vision
Ninety-five Years of the Shenandoah Queens
I like the fact that they choose Queens from outside their region. Long may she reign!First photo source: The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia)10 Mar 1959, Tue Page 12
The home page.
Apparently, the Court also includes Apple Blossom Princesses.
Source: The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia) 22 Mar 1957, Fri Page 3
Source of article: The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) 04 May 1957, Sat Page 3
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 24, 2022 -
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Category: Agriculture | Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Parades and Festivals | Regionalism | Twentieth Century | Twenty-first Century
June 23, 2022
Heart Attack Fells Winner
Mar 1972: Overwhelmed by the excitement of winning on a game show, housewife Maud Walker had a heart attack and died in front of the cameras. The studio didn't air that episode but offered to show it to her relatives so they could "see how happy she was."
Wilmington News Journal - Mar 8, 1972
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 23, 2022 -
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Category: Death | Television | 1970s
Six Boys in Trouble
This album features jams on homemade percussion instruments by six 11- and 12-year-old African American boys living in New York City public housing, about 1955. These young, untrained musicians improvise the tunes and tales of their upbringing on this rhythmic release and draw inspiration from family folk traditions and popular radio and juke box hits of the era. The group’s enjoyment is apparent in their school yard musical expressions, as is their self-identification with the community in which they live. The album is divided into three parts: Percussion Ensembles, Rhythms with Voices, and Rhythms with Verses. The liner notes provide a deeper look into each section, as well as a subsequent transcription of the lyrics.
Playlist for the rest of the album here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 23, 2022 -
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Category: Amateurs and Fans | Hobbies and DIY | Music | Juvenile Delinquency | 1950s
June 22, 2022
Rome fire-fighting cadets, 1962
Firemen as acrobats.
Newsweek - July 23, 1962
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 22, 2022 -
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Category: Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers | 1960s
The Good Book Cookbook
Not a lot of nouvelle or fusion or fast-food cuisine in this volume. (Read it here.)I did a search for "locusts" within the book, but no recipes, with honey or otherwise. However, you can source them here, at Biblical Protein.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 22, 2022 -
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Category: Food | Nutrition | Cookbooks | Religion | 1980s
