Category:
Weapons

Latitude Zero



This campy spectacular was long unavailable in the USA. I watched it last night and can report that it is full of prime-grade weirdness. If you have ever wanted to see Caesar Romero transplant a woman's brain into the body of a winged lion, now is your chance!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 29, 2010 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Cryptozoology, Geography and Maps, Movies, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Paranormal, Surgery, Science Fiction, 1960s, Asia, Weapons

Follies of the Mad Men #83

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 20, 2010 - Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Horror, Injuries, War, Weapons

White Sands National Monument





Do they still let you sand-ski in the park? Or are you only allowed to look at weapons of mass destruction?

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 03, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Landmarks, Monuments, Sightseeing, North America, Natural Wonders, Weapons

Midwest Crime Round Up

Out of Work Teachers Sell Meth; South Bend, Ind: Twin sisters and out of work school teachers, Maria and Michelle Stancati, have plead guilty to dealing methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school. Indy Star

Ex-Public Defender Busted in Child Sex Internet Sting;
Marion County, Ind: Ryan W. Snyder, former Marion County Public Defender, was caught in an internet sex sting in February 2008. He has been sentenced to two years in prison. Indy Star

Three Arrested in BB Gun Home Invasion;
Wauwatosa, Wisc: Three high school students were arrested in a home invasion after demanding $1,200 at gunpoint. The suspect with the weapon brandished what looked like a handgun, but was really a BB gun. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Teen Declines Sex for Money, Utilities Shut Off;
Chicago, Ill: A West Side teen was solicited for sex for money by her landlord. When she turned him down, he shut off the gas and electric. He now faces charges for interfering with a public utility. Chicago Breaking News

Driver Painting Nails Kills Motorcyclist;
Lake Zurich, Ill: According the News Sun Sun Times News Group, Laura Hunt of Morris IL, “told police that she was painting her fingernails and did not notice the light was red.” According to one Officer her vehicle knocked the victim "a couple hundred feet." Sun Times News Group

Posted By: chris_cantwell - Wed May 06, 2009 - Comments (1)
Category: Addictions, Crime, Death, Drugs, Law, Weapons

World’s Largest-Ever Model Rocket Launch

Okay, "model rockets" are about a foot long, right? This thing is something the North Korean military aspires toward!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 30, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Explosives, Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, World Records, Weapons

Alice Redux

image
The cover from this collection of re-imagined ALICE IN WONDERLAND stories certainly seemed to me to be a WU-worthy image.


Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 14, 2009 - Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Death, Literature, Books, Fantasy, Parody, Weapons

Bollywood-Style Arms Video

Thanks to Josh Klein for submitting this video, which has been described as a "catastrophic collision of Bollywood and the arms industry." Produced by an Israeli arms company to drum up business in India, it features actors in Bollywood costume dancing around surface-to-air missiles.

But dammit, I now have the idiotic jingle from the video looping endlessly in my head: Dinga Dinga, Dinga Dinga, Dinga Dinga, Dinga Dinga Dee...

Please make it stop!

Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 13, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Video, Weapons

Albert Bacon Pratt’s Helmet Gun


In 1916 Albert Bacon Pratt of Lyndon, Vermont was issued patent No. 1183492 for a "gun adapted to be mounted on and fired from the head of the marksman." The wearer fired the gun by blowing into a tube. Most of Pratt's patent application is fairly dry and technical, but here he offers his thoughts on some of the advantages of his invention:

The weapon described has many advantages. The gun is automatically aimed unconsciously and incidentally to the turning of the head of the marksman in the direction of the target. In self-protection, one immediately, instinctively turns the head in the direction of attack to see the enemy, or, in hunting, toward any sound made by nearby game. Thus the gun is automatically directed toward the mark in the course of the first instinctive movement. With the gun thus aimed, the only further operation necessary to fire the same is to blow through the tube and thereby expand the bulb and operate the trigger. This is accomplished entirely from the head of the marksman, leaving his hands and feet free further to defend himself or for other purposes as desired. Under some circumstances the gun can be fired not only without the use of the hands and feet, but also without the use of the eyes of the marksman. For example, in hunting at night if an animal made a sound in underbrush, the head of the marksman would be instinctively turned in the direction of the sound and then the gun would be fired, without the use of the eyes of the marksman.



Pratt then points out that his invention is useful not only in combat, but also in the kitchen:

The crown section of the helmet when detached from the base of the helmet may be inverted and used as a cooking utensil, the elongated hood projecting therefrom for protecting the barrel of the gun serving as the handle therefor.

Pratt claimed he had solved the problem of recoil:

The "blow-back" causes the breech-bolt to retreat and automatically cock the hammer, but the strong spring back of the breech-bolt forces the same so quickly forward again following the recoil, that the two movements naturalize one another so promptly that no discomfort to the wearer results from the recoil.

But I suspect he didn't have all the bugs ironed out, which must be why such a useful invention never caught on.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 20, 2009 - Comments (14)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Weapons

Duck and Cover

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 13, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Education, Government, War, Weapons, Documentaries

Page 12 of 13 pages ‹ First  < 10 11 12 13 > 




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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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