Buildings and Other Structures
Moonlight Towers
The antique form of streetlights called "moonlight towers" exists today only in Austin, Texas, as seen above in a picture taken from this fine post. There's something pretty science-fictional or steampunk about them, especially in a vintage picture as seen here.
In some other timeline, moonlight towers dot the nation in the year 2016.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 11, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Technology, Urban Life, Nineteenth Century
The Bone House
What to do when you run out of room in the local grave yard? In Hallstatt, Austria they built a Bone House with the remains. It no longer gets new additions but many of the skulls in there already have their names on them. RIP
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 25, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Skulls, Bones and Skeletons
Lived in a box
Joseph Porcos of Chicago lived in a box. In hindsight, perhaps he could be seen as a pioneer of the tiny home movement.
The Columbus Republic - Jan 24, 1957
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 10, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, 1950s
Home Sweet Home
So making homes out of shipping containers is a thing. It is kind of similar to modular homes that are usually installed on a slab. Some of the ones featured above are very nice, impressive even. Reuse, renew, recycle in action. Also a cool idea.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 03, 2016 -
Comments (8)
Category: Architecture, Buildings and Other Structures
Gingerbread Overlook Hotel
The Overlook Hotel was the hotel in the movie The Shining. Check out the very cool gingerbread version above, more pictures at the link.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 25, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Food, Holidays, Horror
Car Vending Machine
Thousands of dollars to buy a car, hundreds more to travel to the location, picking up your new car from a vending machine priceless.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 14, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Retailing, Transportation
Brickplayer
Here is an old British toy that had a lot of good intentions, but also some unanticipated drawbacks.
Buildings were constructed on allegedly waterproof waxed card bases. The bricks etc. were stuck together with a mortar made from a mixture of flour and chalk powder. It required a great amount of skill to erect buildings accurately, very time-consuming and beyond the patience of most of the children it was aimed at (8 to 14 years). Especially so in cold houses (as most British homes then were) it would take several days for the building to 'set'. Reusing the components involved a process of dunking the entire model in a large bowl of warm water. After the model fell apart the bricks and plaster pieces required lengthy rinsing to remove all organic traces to prevent mould growing on them.
I wonder how well they sold in the USA, as touted in the ad below, from Boys Life for September 1948.
Fan page.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 20, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Toys, Children, Europe, Twentieth Century
Rainbow City
Palmitas Mexico has been beautified by Germen Crew, described as an alternative art group, at the government's request. The rainbow paint job is having great effects on the city too, including a reduction in crime. Sounds like a good idea well implemented.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 10, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Buildings and Other Structures, Culture and Civilization
Great-Grandpa Is Buried Where?
The GM factory in Detroit contains an old Jewish Cemetery. When GM acquired the land they agreed to leave the cemetery,which has had no burials since the '40s, intact. The company allows visitors just twice a year due to security concerns.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 13, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Culture and Civilization, Industry, Factories and Manufacturing
Pole in the Road
This image comes from Bulgaria. The story behind it, as far as I can figure out from the Bulgarian site offnews.bg (with help from Google Translate), is that the pole can be found on a road in the municipality of Tran. The road was recently expanded, but since the pole was owned by the electrical company, the municipality didn't have the right to remove it. So they simply poured the road around it. However, the municipality notes that they have now filed the necessary paperwork to remove the pole, and they hope all the documents will be processed promptly.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 05, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Government, Regulations
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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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |