Category:
Domestic

No Place Like Dumpster

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 11, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Domestic, Eccentrics, Inventions

Personalized Alarm Clock

image
[Click to enlarge for readability]

Upon a moment's reflection, the creepiness of this product becomes apparent, explaining why it never caught on. The notion of one's own voice pleasantly or angrily cajoling the sleeper to awake is straight out of some Philip K. Dick dystopia, in which the hero's brain has been split into two separate personalities. "Wake up, Paul, wake up! Today is the day you must assassinate the ambassador from Rigel Nine!"

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 20, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Domestic, Appliances, Psychology, 1970s

Finger-Lopping

Anthropologist Holly Wardlow did extensive fieldwork among the Huli people of Papua New Guinea. She offers this account of a curious way that Huli women get the upper hand (so to speak) in marital disputes:
many women when falsely accused [of adultery by their husbands] will lop off their index or pinky fingers at the first or second joint. This practice is quite common: of the fifty women with whom I conducted life history interviews, ten of them had one or two finger joints missing. Indeed this practice by Huli women is so pervasive that children say they make a point of hiding all knives and axes whenever their parents argue, not only to prevent them from injuring each other, but to prevent their mothers from lopping off their fingers. Like suicide, finger-lopping is motivated by anger and indignation, but it is highly performative as well; for example, one is supposed to maintain enough presence of mind to hurl the finger at one's accuser and yell something like, "keba biba haro, inaga ki bi pugu ngerogoni" (In order to cut off/finish my anger, I'm cutting off my finger and giving it to you.)

Source: Wayward Women: Sexuality and Agency in a New Guinea Society

Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 16, 2012 - Comments (9)
Category: Body, Body Modifications, Domestic, Misbehavior, Rebellion, Acting-out and General Naughtiness, Foreign Customs

Bob’s Birthday

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 24, 2012 - Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Marriage, Humor, Cartoons, 1990s

What’s It To You?





A great combo of mad science and rampant consumerism. Half an hour of better living thru chemistry.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 15, 2012 - Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Design and Designers, Domestic, Technology, 1950s

Toilet Gun

image

The ad copy advises me to "Think of it!" and to contemplate the "powerful chain reaction." I sure am, buster! I'm thinking of what happens when you apply an explosive force to a ceramic bowl filled with excrement and wet paper that won't flush. And why aren't these devices common nowadays, if they were so great?

I think I'll stick with the old plumber's helper, thank you!

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 07, 2011 - Comments (2)
Category: Domestic, Appliances, Hygiene, Excrement, Technology, 1960s

Numi Toilet



Longtime WU-vies know all about the Japanese fascination with complex automated toilets. Now there's one for the USA market.

And for only $6400.00!

Read a review here.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 13, 2011 - Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Appliances, Hygiene, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, Body Fluids, Excrement, Flatulence, Money, Outrageous Excess

American Women:  Partners in research



Buying stuff for the house, that's all the gals care about!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 11, 2011 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, 1960s, Women

According to Plan





The glories of asbestos, miracle fiber!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 14, 2011 - Comments (6)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, 1950s

Leave It to Roll-Oh

Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 13, 2011 - Comments (2)
Category: Domestic, Robots, Advertising, 1940s

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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, 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.

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