Weird Universe Archive

June 2013

June 4, 2013

Backstage (June 4, 2013)

Backstage
in the Weird News Community
June 4, 2013

Helium Reserve:
Regarding this story in News of the Weird M320, 5-26-2013:
The Way Washington Works: Congress established a National Helium Reserve in 1925 in the era of “zeppelin” balloons, but most consider it no longer useful (most, that is, ranging from President Reagan to the Democratic congressman who in 1996 called it one program that, if we cannot undo it, “we cannot undo anything”). The House of Representatives recently voted 394-1 to continue funding it because of “fears” of a shortage that might affect MRI machines and, of course, party balloons.

(1) First of all, as usual, Yr Editor does not, strictly speaking, take a position on this, figuring that any public policy (i.e., eliminating the Reserve) pushed by the gov’t-skeptical Ronald Reagan and the less-gov’t-skeptical Barney Frank must be automatically credible.
(2) The couple of critics who have called me out on this both make compelling, reasoned cases for the importance of . . helium gas, itself. (MRIs use it, and guidance systems for air-to-air missiles, among other things.) However, compelling cases of “importance” could be made for many of the other elements on the Periodic Table, but with the exception, I guess, of U and Au, there is no great clamoring for national Reserves. (There are Reserves for some vaccines, and, though increasingly anachronistically, for petroleum.)
(3) The country was fascinated with dirigibles in the 1920s and may well have considered He as nationally valuable, also, and may have feared that an infant capitalist market for it might have served us poorly, hence, a Reserve. But that was almost 100 yrs ago. That a robust capitalist market somehow failed to materialize over 100 yrs might possibly have had something to do with the fact that . . there was always a national Reserve.
(4) My suspicion here is a generic one I see all the time in NOTW story objections: sense of humor vanishing if your own ox is being gored. Some people are invested with knowledge of the importance of helium, and they very well may understand the points I have made in (1), (2), and (3), but . . the moment I mention “party balloons,” they lose all perspective. It’s so-o-o awkward that this important gas is tied up in people’s minds with party balloons! (Same thing if I mentioned the TV show Hoarders in the same paragraph with Helium Reserve.)
(5) The Helium Reserve should be evaluated on the importance of the “reserve”--not the importance of the “helium.” At any rate, Yr Editor is already bored with this subject. Still interested? Boston Globe

Errorres
In News of the Weird M319, 5-19-2013, Yr Editor included the wife of the Colorado state corrections chief as being a victim of Evan Ebel’s murder spree. She was not. She’s alive (and grieving), and I very much regret the error.

Detritus
Every week, almost, I see stuff that I really don’t have time to appreciate fully but that you might. Here ya go:

The world's most awkward taxidermy, it says here. io9.com

A whole new dimension to the concept of fudge. EdibleAnus.com

Yr Editor’s favorites from the week before’s mug shot collection of The Smoking Gun (and they’re all winners this time!):
Bad Hair Day /// Bad Hair Year /// Jolie Lips /// Hooker from Central Casting /// Yr Editor'll Have What He's Having



Posted By: Chuck - Tue Jun 04, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category:

TRIBONIOPHORUS AFF.GRAEFFEI

image
An eight inch long hot pink slug! They can keep 'em down under!

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 04, 2013 - Comments (11)
Category: Nature

June 3, 2013

The Great Brooklyn Elephant Hunt

In late April 1979, New York City's Health Department received several reports of an elephant seen wandering through Brooklyn. Calls to local zoos, circuses and animal parks didn't turn up any reports of a missing elephant. Nevertheless, officials took off in a Toyota to conduct a door-to-door search throughout Brooklyn for the pachyderm. The Health Department director said, "We have reason to believe the animal is small, but we're talking to the informants to get more information."

Several days of searching only uncovered a few illegal cockfights. So eventually the search for the Brooklyn elephant was called off. Health officials remained unswayed, however, in their belief that the elephant was out there, somewhere. [Star News - May 3, 1979]

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 03, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, 1970s

Life in America:  1961







A semi-random slice across the weirdness of history. The first of an occasional series.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 03, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Customs, Food, Sports, Advertising, 1960s

News of the Weird 2.0 (June 3, 2013)

News of the Weird 2.0
Angst, Confusion, Cynicism, Ridicule

Prime Cuts of Underreported News from Last Week, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
June 3, 2013
(datelines May 25-June 1) (links correct as of June 2)
© 2013 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

★ ★ ★ ★!

Among those who simply believe what they want to be believe, no matter what: Adam and Heather Barrington from North Carolina, who are certain their gestating first child will be better off born as Heather frolics among dolphins, as advocated by the “Sirius Institute” (Pahoa, Hawaii, PlanetPuna.com), which believes that, y’know, dolphins are beautiful, gentle, intelligent creatures, and that it’s stupid to believe that dolphins are wild, vicious animals (rapists, even!). Discovery.com

Here’s the new “world’s greatest lawyer”--being the one who defended Kathleen Cawthorne, 33, who had her 11-yr prison term cut to 4 months in Virginia for having sex with her student . . . because the lawyer helped convince the judge she was clinically “hypersexual” (i.e., vagina on auto-pilot). New York Daily News

More Things to Worry About

Legislators pass no-texting-while-driving laws, but what about Luis Briones of Albuquerque, who crashed his car while having “sexual intercourse of some sort,” according to the police report? The Smoking Gun

The bar was raised for elaborate imposters. Michael McDowell was caught in Fort Worth, Tex., after going to extreme attention-to-detail for 15 yrs being “Brig. Gen.” Michael McDowell. Turns out he used to sell cars. Star-Telegram (Fort Worth)

National Geographic and BBC News, among others, celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first scaling of Mount Everest . . by pointing out that the paths are so crowded that climbers sometimes have to wait 2 hours for a spot in line (past the “markers” of bodies of the unsuccessful, draped in their countries’ flags). National Geographic /// BBC News

The Aristocrats!

Tammy Jung, age 23 and 231 lbs., on her way to 430 with the help of her normal-looking, feedbag-applying boyfriend Johan Uberman, is doing it to monetize her fetish website for those sophisticates who can get off only by watching obese women stuff their faces and/or have sex. [Woo-hoo, is this economy bad! Tammy’s touting that she makes . . $18k a year!] National Enquirer [6-3-2013 not online, however here’s a link to Huffington Post’s Deluxe Debauchery-Chronicler David Moye, from 5-10-2013]

And another by Mr. Moye: The mother-daughter porn actresses Jessica and Monica Sexxxton [sic] are recruiting a father-son duo to co-star with them. Choice to be announced on Father’s Day. Huffington Post

That’s His Story, and He’s Sticking to It: Music teacher Kevin Gausepohl, 38, of Tacoma, Wash., was only academically inquiring whether his teen girl students would be interested in aiding his research on whether they could hit higher octaves if they got naked and aroused themselves. [ed. The late, distinguished Prof. Samuel Kinison once addressed this issue--but found it made the voice lower, i.e., “It changes your octave!!! Ohhhhhhhhhh!!! Humphrey Bogart must’ve had a dick out to here!!! Listen to Lauren Bacall!!! Ohhhhhhhhhh!!!] Bellingham Herald

A 70-yr-old cuckold-retired Army officer was acquitted (jury out only 2 hrs) of killing his wife’s lover, who he thought was raping his wife; she is remorseful, and he is forgiving, and they were off Friday night to celebrate! She chooses . . Waffle Shop! Tampa Bay Times

Weekly Cite-Seeing

Pair of Japan Melons Fetch $15,700 at Auction --- New York Daily News

A Pony Walks into a Liquor Store / Donkey Causes Chaos on Balcony in Brussels --- WJAR-TV (Providence, R.I.) /// Daily Telegraph (London)

Utah Top Gun Lobbyist Arrested for Threatening Ex-Wife with Zombie Response Vehicle --- Raw Story

Strange Old World

Ratziel San Juan was registered for school in the Philippines by his dad. (For brevity, Yr Editor has omitted Ratziel’s 39 middle names.) Inquirer Northern Luzon via Harpers.org

A.J. Miller and his lovely wife Mary, who run a small cult compound in Kingaroy, Queensland, Ozzie, sat for an interview wherein he vouched that indeed he is Jesus Christ and that he couldn’t be married to Mary because Mary is of course his mom and that quite a few people have moved to Kingaroy to improve their shots at Heaven when the time comes. Sky.com (London)

Other Stuff Yr Editor Learned Last Week

(1) Busted for prostitution only because the police answered a 911 call too quickly. (2) Captain America of Hollywood Blvd. beat up Spider Man of Hollywood Blvd. for encroaching on his begging turf. (3) Way-Bad Dog! (4) Is it “constipation” if you smuggle a phone into prison in your butt, but it won’t come out? (5) When you study for “A-level English exams” in Britain (for college admission), you have to “study” Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein “for eight months.” (6) America’s-- America’s!--Department of Veterans Affairs is so screwed up that if you call the Roanoke office and ask when your previously-filed application for treatment will be evaluated, the answer is “30 months.” (7) The school board in Camden, N.J., can get sued by a dad (over his son’s getting cut from the track team) for $40 million.
(1) WFSB-TV (Hartford, Conn.) /// (2) KCBS-TV (Los Angeles) /// (3) KRCR-TV (Redding, Calif) /// (4) Scottish TV (Glasgow) /// (5) BBC News /// (6) WTKR-TV (Norfolk-Hampton Roads, Va.) /// (7) Philadelphia Inquirer

Your Weekly Jury Duty
[In America, you're presumed innocent . . . until the mug shot is released]


Two men and one woman were arrested in a Clarksville, Tenn., prostitution sting. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick out the woman (and then, for bonus points, explain what the "men's" issues could possibly be). WKRN-TV (Nashville)

Newsrangers: Mark Hazelrigg, Chris Banta, Bruce Leiserowitz, John McGaw, Steve Dunn, Paul Krause, and Peter Swank, and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors

Posted By: Chuck - Mon Jun 03, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category:

June 2, 2013

Half a Coke and Smile—Share Your Can

The good news -- you can share your Coke can.



The bad news? These were only available in Singapore for a limited time.

The worst news? I want one, but don't know why.

Posted By: gdanea - Sun Jun 02, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages

News of the Weird (June 2, 2013)

News of the Weird
Weirdnuz.M321, June 2, 2013
Copyright 2013 by Chuck Shepherd

Lead Story

Low Fashion Meets Islam on Turkish TV: Five self-proclaimed devout, conservative Muslim women host the TV series “Building Bridges” on channel A9, presenting the seemingly contradictory case against both the female headscarf and Turkey’s turn to secularism. A report on Slate.com in May noted that the five are “mostly bottle blonds . . . [with] neon lipstick” wearing “brightly colored satin pantsuits and T-shirts with designer brand names that stretched over their chests.” “Building Bridges” in principle supports interfaith dialogue, but guests (noted Slate) “often appear . . . with their eyebrows arched in the manner of a serious person certain he is the victim of a practical joke.” [Slate.com, 5-2-2013]

Recurring Themes

Creative Smuggling: Abdullah Riyaz, 50, was arrested at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India, in April, after he appeared to be uncomfortable sitting in the waiting area. Officials found four “biscuits” of solid gold in his socks but obviously thought there might be more, and after nature took its course, found Riyaz to be one of those rare humans with the ability to brag that he once excreted gold (eight more “biscuits”). [Khaleej Times (Dubai), 4-19-2013]

A report circulated in April that an apparently Orthodox Jewish man (likely a “Kohen”) had tied himself up, head to toe, in a plastic bag while seated on an airline flight--likely because his teachings told him that flying over a cemetery would yield “impurities.” News of the Weird mentioned a similar report in 2001. Airlines have made accommodations in the past, even in the face of criticism that a man in a plastic bag is a safety hazard. (Exceptions to the Kohen belief: Accidental tears in the bag are excused, but pre-punched air holes not; Kohenim unaware of the cemetery overflight in advance do not need protection; and deceased family members yield no impurities.) [World's Greatest Newspaper, 4-11-2013; Jewish Press, 4-12-2013]

Accountability: The chairman of the National Showcaves Center in a Welsh national park, aiming to halt a recent downturn in tourism business, threatened in April to sue the UK National Weather Service for its “all too [frequent] . . . gloom and doom reports.” The NWS had called for snow and cold weather over Easter weekend, but no snow fell, and the cold weather was tempered by sun and blue skies. (He also suggested “health”-type warnings on forecasts, e.g., beware that weather reports might be wrong.) [World's Greatest Newspaper, 4-17-2013]

In New Haven, Conn., in March, police had trapped two car-theft suspects in a multifamily building whose occupants were hiding from the suspects, thus necessitating urgency in ending the siege. Officers ordered a K-9 unit but were told it would be delayed. In a tactic departments occasionally employ, officers still threatened to release the dogs immediately, and to make the threat credible, available officers began barking. The suspects quickly surrendered rather than face the vicious canines. [WFSB-TV (Hartford), 4-1-2013]

Herbert and Catherine Schaible, members of the First Century Gospel Church in Philadelphia and believers in faith-healing rather than medical care, were convicted in 2011 in the bacterial-pneumonia death of their 2-year-old son Kent. As a condition of probation, they promised medical care for their remaining eight children, but in April 2013, their youngest son Brandon died after severe diarrhea, again treated only by prayer, and they were arrested--and the other children removed from the home. The medical examiner called Brandon’s death a homicide, and the couple also face 5-10 years in prison for violating probation. [Philadelphia Daily News, 4-23-2013; Philadelphia Inquirer, 5-22-2013]

Detectives’ New Best Friend (Facebook): Christopher Robinson, 23, became just one of many recent suspects whose addiction to Facebook did him in. Robinson had never made a single child support payment in the three years since a court order was issued in Milwaukee, Wis., and the case had languished over how to prove that he was hiding money. Using other evidence for probable cause, the prosecutor got a warrant to search Robinson’s private Facebook information and discovered a candid photograph of him, laughing over a pile of cash. [ABC News, 3-23-2012]

The annual Chinese “Tombsweeping” celebration has been mentioned several times in News of the Weird, but has experienced a resurgence since 2008 when the government reinstated it as an official holiday. The theory is that people bring valuable items (such as jewelry) to ancestors’ gravesites and bury them with the body, which will upgrade the relative’s afterlife. Now, however, practitioners seem convinced that paper images of items are sufficient (and, of course, less expensive). Many simply leave signed (and generous!) checks for the dead, according to an April New York Times dispatch, and others bury representations of “mistresses” to accompany presumably-frisky corpses. [New York Times, 4-5-2013]


More in extended >>

Posted By: Chuck - Sun Jun 02, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category:

Decorated Urinal Cakes

Urinal cakes given makeovers to look like real cakes. From the Carmichael Collective.





Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 02, 2013 - Comments (2)
Category: Food, Hygiene, Body Fluids

Baths, and How to Take Them

image

Entire small pamphlet here. Learn what you've been doing wrong.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 02, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Body, Education, Hygiene, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, Nineteenth Century

June 1, 2013

Harmonium in California

Harmonium in California by Robert Fortier, National Film Board of Canada



A short documentary about earnest French-Canadian folk rockers from the 1970s? It's better than Spinal Tap, eh?

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 01, 2013 - Comments (1)
Category: Documentaries, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s, North America

Page 8 of 9 pages ‹ First  < 6 7 8 9 > 




Get WU Posts by Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


weird universe thumbnail
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.

Chuck Shepherd
Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre.

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

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •