Disasters
The Frank Landslide
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 20, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Destruction, Disasters, Nature, 1900s, North America
Follies of the Madmen #430
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 24, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Disasters, Public Indecency, Sex Symbols, 1950s
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 08, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Antisocial Activites, Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Disasters, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, 1980s, Fictional Monsters
Follies of the Madmen #393
Our soft drink is equivalent to a life-endangering catastrophic event.
Source of B&W ad here (scroll right).
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 03, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Disasters, Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and other Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 1960s, Weather
The Encyclopedia of World Problems
Do you not have enough problems in your life? Do the internet and other media fail to bring world problems to your attention? If this is your dilemma, rest easy! A solution is at hand! Simply visit THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD PROBLEMS. There, you can choose from thousands of problems to worry about. Maybe you want something concrete, such as VIOLENT CRIME. Or maybe you'd like to focus on something more numinous, like UNMEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS TO PLACE. Whatever your worrying needs, you can rely on THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD PROBLEMS to provide grist for your anxieties.Here is a picture and review of the first (print) edition from 1976.
Source of article.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 31, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Addictions, Annoying Things, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Destruction, Disasters, Emotions, Moral Panics and Public Hysteria, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, 1970s
The Land of Oz Playground
Alas, for human failure:The Land of Oz playground was located within the Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks War Memorial Park located at 14201 Huston Street in Sherman Oaks. Planning for the playground, which broke ground on November 27, 1964, began as a joint venture between the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department, the Van Nuys Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the Valley Children's Play Park Association. However, lack of funding for the 'Wizard of Oz' themed playground caused construction to drag on for more than a decade. In the end, the city withdrew further support for the failed project which was left incomplete and with only a few structures standing, the 'Over the Rainbow' bridge and 'Munchkinland' castle. Over the years, with no funding for maintenance or security, the play area and its structures fell victim to gang and drug activity, vandalism, and decay and were demolished in the late 1980's.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 25, 2017 -
Comments (0)
Category: Disasters, Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, Government, Fantasy, 1960s
The Oshkosh Snozzle
I am trying to picture being a passenger on a flaming airplane when the Snozzle thrusts its tip thru the wall and starts spraying.
Homepage here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 30, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Disasters, Technology, Air Travel and Airlines
Cycle Logic
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 01, 2017 -
Comments (5)
Category: Disasters, PSA’s, 1970s, Motorcycles
The Great Texas Monorail Disaster of 1968
Somehow this seems like a particularly ignoble way to go, as if you had a fatal bumper-car accident.
Full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 07, 2017 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Disasters, Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, Motor Vehicles, 1960s
Science of the Great Molasses Flood
The Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 is one of the great weird news stories of all time. It was a tragedy (21 people killed), but also definitely weird.
What happened in brief: A tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst, causing a 40-foot tsunami of molasses to flood through Boston's North End.
Exactly why the tank burst and why the flood proved so deadly has always been a bit of a mystery. But now scientists have done their thing and have come up with a few answers. As reported in the New York Times (Nov 26, 2016), interviewing aerospace engineer Nicole Sharp:
"At the time people thought there must have been an explosion in the tank, initially, to cause the molasses to move that fast," she added. But after the team ran the experiments, she said, it discovered that the molasses could, indeed, move at that speed.
"It's an interesting result," Ms. Sharp said, "and it's something that wasn't possible back then. Nobody had worked out those actual equations until decades after the accident."
If the tank had burst in warmer weather, it would have "flowed farther, but also thinner," Mr. Rubinstein said.
In the winter, however, after the initial burst — which lasted between 30 seconds and a few minutes, Ms. Sharp said — the cooler temperature of the outside air raised the viscosity of the molasses, essentially trapping people who had not been able to escape the wave.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 28, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Disasters, 1910s
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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 |