Survival Playing Cards

Surely any game of "Go Fish" would be livened up by using these playing cards and contemplating your imminent death by snakebite or hypothermia.

Summum

Most Supreme Court cases are as dry as a particle-board sandwich. But not the one you can read about here. That's because this case involves a genuine wackjob cult named Summum, which believes, amongst other things, in sacred mummification of pets.

A visit to their site will be time well spent.

Shannon Ethridge

Wrong-way Trucks

I have no idea where this scene was filmed, nor what it means.

But it is certainly weird.

Don Dixon’s “Praying Mantis”

Talk of bugs that eat their mates automatically reminded me of Don Dixon's one hit, the great "Praying Mantis." If you click here, you should be able to hear the song for free. Warning for those at work or in a quiet zone of some sort: it will start playing automatically.

Live and Let Live

Continuing our series of weird auto-safety films, we now examine one told completely through the medium of toys. This looks like it was a lot of fun for the creators to make.

Follies of the Mad Men #39

[From Life magazine for April 23 1971.]

The other day, watching that commercial of Lucky Strike cigarettes square-dancing, I speculated on how one could distinguish female from male cigarettes. Twenty years after that commercial, Madison Avenue had the answer! Female cigarettes are "pretty" and have decorative floral emblems on the filters!

Wasn't it wonderful that "women's lib" allowed tobacco companies to sell more cigarettes to a previously under-served population?

Blasting Cap Danger!

This is a little slow to get going, and we are denied seeing the children blown to smithereens. But it's pretty entertaining nonetheless. I thought the kids did some good acting. What about you?

The Chance to Lose

Every safe-driving video would be improved by the addition of a giant Chuck-a-luck cage such as we find here.

Tiger Trouble

So far as I can tell, the tiger stalking Galveston is still on the loose. But the Galvestonians could have it much worse. Consider the plight of the citizens of the Sundarbans in India.

I first learned of the reign of man-eating tigers here ten years ago, watching this series of PBS's NATURE show. One episode revealed how the natives had to wear human face masks on the backs of their heads to avoid tigers pouncing on them and eating them. (It was not a totally successful tactic.) I believe this bit later showed up in the wonderful Calvin and Hobbes strip, with Calvin trying the same tactic to avoid Hobbes's attacks.




Well, the tigers of Sundarbans continue to feast on human flesh, as we learn in this new report. Read, and be happy no tigers roam your city's streets.

This photographer, who goes by the handle of Jimbojack, has some wonderful photos of the region for you to look at.

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.