Secret Techniques of the Electric Company & Party of Five:  Not Much Brighter Than the Original

I have two news oddities to present from one of my local papers. The first from The Greensburg Daily News I didn't think was so odd, I would expect the electric company to do such things to avoid displacing wildlife, but I couldn't figure out if the 'secret technique' was really an extraordinary trade secret (I would actually expect them to want to share such info so other companies could put it to use), or just a case of a lazy reporter.
The second from the same paper details five new residents of the county jail. Alas, there is only one mugshot. These five actually had uniformed police knock on their door, and they didn't answer. So the police set up a perimeter around their apartment for two hours while waiting for the search warrant. With two hours to play with, none of the suspects noticed a cop banging on the door or the perimeter placed around their apartment? And they couldn't destroy a small amount of dope and paraphernalia in the meantime?

Captive Wild Woman

Birds to Perform New Guitar Numbers

No, that's not a typo and this is nothing to do with the classic 60s rock band. London gallery and performing arts centre the Barbican is hosting a new work by French "composer" Celeste Boursier-Mougenot in which dozens of zebra finches create improvised compositions by landing and perching on strategically placed electric guitars. Titled the Curve, Boursier-Mougenot's latest installation takes the form of a walk-through aviary, hence the finches' reaction to the visitors becomes itself part of the exhibit. In an interview with the BBC, the composer hinted that his next work will probably involve shoals of goldfish in a tank, and will most likely not be a walk-through (Barbican Centre).

16mm Theater #1

16mm Theater is my new series here on Weird Universe, in which I will share some of the stranger films in my 16mm collection. Today's feature: The Rainbow Bear, 1970

The only way I can describe this film is "acid trip," and if you watch it I'm sure you will agree. Weirder still is the fact that this was apparently made for children, as it was produced by American Educational Films. And the weirdest fact about this short is that it was directed by Bill Meléndez, perhaps best known for A Charlie Brown Christmas.



Sorry about the poor quality, my projector doesn't have a telecine mode and I don't have a proper video camera.

Cross species cooperation

It's encouraging to see different species cooperating.



For more squirrel and Star Wars interaction go to this link:

http://www.webofentertainment.com/2010/02/star-wars-chipmunk.html

Follies of the Mad Men #87

Musical gorilla = humorous.

Relevance of musical gorilla to candy bars: uncertain.

Gothic Kittens

Holly Crawford, 35, from Pennsylvania, is set to go on trial today for cruelty to animals because she was trying to sell Gothic Kittens online. It's not the act of selling the kittens that has Holly in trouble, however. It is the fact that the kittens were pierced (as pictured). When humane officers searched her home in December, they found three kittens with ear, neck and tail piercings. Holly's attorney has posed the question “Why is it a crime to pierce a cat’s ears?” and she claims that she had no cruel intentions. Reader comments on the article (which you can read here) range from "punish the freak" to "if you punish this woman you should also punish people who declaw cats". What's your opinion?

Anyone Seen Alan?

I don't know why this is entertaining, but it makes me laugh.



There is something funny about talking animals. Maybe because they make more sense than we do.

This is from a BBC comedy called "Walk on the Wild Side". Some funny stuff.

Tell Alan we are looking for him. Or is it Steve?

Weird Science – Above and Below.

Tonight is the night of the Yule moon, also called the “wolf moon” (the first new full moon of the year), and coincidentally will be the largest and brightest full moon of 2010. This is because the Moon’s orbit is not a perfect circle but an ellipse, with its nearest point to Earth some 31 thousand miles closer than its furthest. And occasionally the full moon will coincide with this closest approach, which is enough for the moon to appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than at any other time this year. Incidentally, this also means the previous new moon was very nearly the smallest it could have been, which is why – along with occurring with Earth at its nearest to the Sun – the solar eclipse on January 15th was annular (Space.com).

Also watching the skies tonight may be Luchezar Filipov, Deputy Head of Space Exploration at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. However, Filipov’s interest is not the Moon, but aliens, who he believes are living among us on Earth at this very moment. Filipov and his team claim to be in telepathic contact with the aliens, who he says are friendly, but could not establish a coherent conversation because of our “lack of evolution”. This lack of coherence appears to have only been one way however, as Filipov was still able to state that the aliens were critical of our immoral behaviour, environmental destruction and use of cosmetics and artificial insemination, which they condemned as unnatural – unlike space travel one presumes. The next meeting of minds between Filipov and the aliens is scheduled for sometime in spring this year (Sofia Echo).

But perhaps the aliens are backing the wrong species, because it’s move over Iron Man and make way for Iron Snail. The scaly-foot snail is certainly well protected for its kind, with an iron rich outer layer that deters piercing, a thick organic middle that dissipates the force of an attack and a calcified inner layer that gives the shell sufficient rigidity to resist attempts to crush it. The snail’s armour is so good that it’s attracted the interest of the Department of Defense, who are seeing if any useful lessons could be learned for application in the man-made versions (MIT).

Someone else who could have benefited from some armour is “Macho B”, who was – until his death in February last year, the last known wild jaguar in South West America. Perversely, it wasn’t poachers who did for him in the end but Arizona’s own Fish and Game Department, who deny it was their intention to capture the jaguar despite setting snares around his territory. Now a federal inquiry has concluded that Macho B was trapped deliberately, and the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether to bring charges (NY Times).

But even as the jaguar takes one step nearer joining the dinosaurs in extinction, scientists are one step closer to bringing them back, in our imaginations at least. For the first time, a team from China, the United Kingdom and Ireland have determined the colours and pattern of a dinosaur, a metre-long feathered carnivore called Sinosauropteryx. Turns out the bird-like bipeds were orange, with white striped tails and a “mohawk” display crest on their heads. Despite the feathers, Sinosauropteryx was a flightless reptile who most likely used its feathers primarily for display (CBC).

Follies of the Mad Men #84

[From Playboy for April 1983.]

Here's the thing about visual icons: you should know what their standard meaning is before you attempt to use them.

Rowboat plus lake plus two individuals equals romance. Or fishing buddies. That's it, your only two choices. With the presence of a gaily striped parasol and the lack of fishing equipment, however, you're pretty much limited to romance.

So what this ad is saying is: "Wear our shoes and all your dates will look like hippos." Or possibly: "Those who wear our shoes are closet furries." Or maybe: "Our customers work for a carnival and like to spend their leisure time in costume."

Take your pick.

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