Weird Universe Blog — February 10, 2025
Judge Noel Cannon, the “Miniskirt Judge”
Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Noel Cannon gained national fame due to her flamboyant fashion style and eccentric habits. She liked to wear babydoll dresses and miniskirts. So she became known as the "miniskirt judge."
Her eccentric habits included decorating her judicial chambers entirely in pink, holding her pet chihuahua on her lap during cases, and keeping a mechanical canary in her chambers whose chirping could be heard during court proceedings.
She reached the peak of her fame in 1967 thanks to a widely published picture of her brandishing a pearl-handled Derringer revolver. She was demonstrating to the press how she would defend herself if attacked.
Her downfall started in 1972 when a police officer pulled up beside her while she was driving and told her she was using her horn excessively. She was, and he was right to tell her so, but he didn't know she was a judge. She cursed him out, drove off, and later ordered him into her court and threatened that if he ever crossed her again she would give him "a .38 caliber vasectomy."
By 1975, the California Supreme Court had removed her from the bench. The incident with the police officer wasn't the only reason. She was also accused of "abusing her contempt power, interfering with the attorney-client relationship by arbitrarily appointing new counsel, interfering with bail and bench warrants, setting unreasonable bail amounts, intimidating defense attorneys, abusing the prerogatives of her high office, engaging in curt and rude conduct, [and] engaging in 'bizarre' behavior."
She subsequently disappeared from public life and died in 1998.
For more details, the Los Angeles Public Library has a two-part article that tracks her rise and fall: "Loose Cannon: Reassessing Los Angeles Municipal Judge Noel Cannon" Part 1, Part 2
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 10, 2025 -
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Category: Law | Judges | 1960s | 1970s
The Hi Neighbor Queen
Hi Neighbor Queen candidates, June 27, 1951. Neva Milligan; Ginger Smith; Carolyn Rennick; Ruth Phillips; Ellyn Lederer; Suzanne Cook; Ginger De Lisio; Jeanne Darr; Helen Rizio.
(Not sure why we have ten candidates and only nine names.)
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 10, 2025 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Regionalism | 1950s
February 9, 2025
A radical solution to global warming
In an article published on arXiv.org, Andy Haverly of the Rochester Institute of Technology has proposed a radical solution to global warming. His idea is to detonate an 81 Gt nuclear bomb three kilometers beneath the Kerguelen Plateau in the Southern Ocean.By way of comparison, an 81 Gt bomb would be 1600 times larger than the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuke ever exploded to date.
According to Haverly's calculations, the explosion would pulverize 3.86 trillions tons of basalt, which would in turn then soak up 1.08 trillion tons of carbon dioxide. That's about 30 years worth of carbon dioxide emissions.
As for safety:
Nuclear explosions are inherently unsafe. They release vast amounts of uncontrolled energy. However, by detonating this nuclear device in a controlled environment we can minimize the impacts. By detonating this nuclear device in a remote location deep in the ocean, the only expected effect on humans is from nuclear radiation. First, this comes in the form of surface radiation and fallout. Because this explosion is so remote and can be timed favorably with the weather, there is little to no expected loss of life from the immediate radiation effects. The long-term effects of global radiation will impact humans and will cause loss of life, but this increased global radiation is “just a drop in the bucket”. Every year, we emit more radiation from coal power plants and we have already detonated over 2000 nuclear devices. Adding one more bomb should have minimal impact on the world.
An interesting idea, but I wonder if we would then be exploding one of these things every thirty years?
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 09, 2025 -
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Category: Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | Environmentalism and Ecology
The Phoenix Bird
Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 09, 2025 -
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Category: Surrealism | Cartoons | Stop-motion Animation | 1960s
February 8, 2025
The Tel-Tech Multiplexer is like the ideal wife
The ad below reminded me of the "How to choose a pot like you choose a husband" ad we posted recently.The requirements for a good husband were: One you don't have to replace every few years (durable), not flashy, not troublesome, steady and well-balanced.
The ideal wife, on the other hand (according to the Tel-Tech Corporation), was exciting and beautiful in the integrity of design, required no periodic maintenance, and served you with absolute trust and dependability year after year.
Also: "You recover the cost in just a few months and then you are dollars ahead every day. Perfect host to any terminal, handles intermixed speeds, and adapts easily from 2 to 38 channels. Available immediately. Just plug in and go."
Sounds like a sexbot.
Computerworld - Sep 10, 1969
Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 08, 2025 -
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Category: Technology | Wives | Marriage | 1960s
Follies of the Madmen #615
Angelic child, dedicated office worker, or demonically possessed average white guy--Nujol is for you!
Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 08, 2025 -
Comments (3)
Category: Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal | Offices, Business Supplies, Institutional Regulations | Advertising | Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil | Children | Excrement
February 7, 2025
Contagious Urination
Researchers have uncovered the "social dimensions of urination" among captive chimpanzees. This topic had previously been "largely unexplored."They recorded urination events for a total of 604 hours and calculated urination frequency for each subject. They report:
Contagious urination, like other forms of behavioral and emotional state matching, may have important implications in establishing and maintaining social cohesion, in addition to potential roles in preparation for collective departure (i.e. voiding before long-distance travel) and territorial scent-marking (i.e. coordination of chemosensory signals)...
we find that in captive chimpanzees the act of urination is socially contagious. Further, low-dominance individuals had higher rates of contagion.
we find that in captive chimpanzees the act of urination is socially contagious. Further, low-dominance individuals had higher rates of contagion.
I guess the obvious question is whether humans also are susceptible to contagious urination. I haven't noticed it, if we are.
More info: "Socially contagious urination in chimpanzees"
Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 07, 2025 -
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Category: Animals | Experiments | Psychology | Body Fluids
Motel Automat
Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 07, 2025 -
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Category: Inventions | Shopping | Hotels | 1960s | United Kingdom
February 6, 2025
Interview Robot
Patent No. 12208507 recently granted to Fikret Korhan Turan and Gül Coruh of Istanbul.The invention relates to a humanoid interview robot used in the field of human resources (HR), which can conduct job interviews.
Communication with the candidate interviewed by the interview robot according to the invention is provided via camera (U1), microphone (U2), odor sensor (U3), speaker (U4) and touch sensors (U5). The camera (U1) is preferably mounted on the eye of the interview robot, microphone (U2) is mounted on the ears, odor sensor (U3) is mounted on its nose, speaker (U4) is mounted on its mouth, and touch sensors (U5) are mounted on its chin or synthetic skin. These elements enable the candidate to respond verbally or in writing to the questions asked to determine the utility functions for economic, social and environmental qualities by specifying his/her identity information.
Apart from their technical capabilities, U1, U2, U3, U4 and U5 elements are customized to collect all kinds of visual, auditory, tactile, etc. data about the candidate so as to include qualifications or competencies such as the candidate's appearance, his/her self-care treatment, stress status, etc. in the decision-making process.
Communication with the candidate interviewed by the interview robot according to the invention is provided via camera (U1), microphone (U2), odor sensor (U3), speaker (U4) and touch sensors (U5). The camera (U1) is preferably mounted on the eye of the interview robot, microphone (U2) is mounted on the ears, odor sensor (U3) is mounted on its nose, speaker (U4) is mounted on its mouth, and touch sensors (U5) are mounted on its chin or synthetic skin. These elements enable the candidate to respond verbally or in writing to the questions asked to determine the utility functions for economic, social and environmental qualities by specifying his/her identity information.
Apart from their technical capabilities, U1, U2, U3, U4 and U5 elements are customized to collect all kinds of visual, auditory, tactile, etc. data about the candidate so as to include qualifications or competencies such as the candidate's appearance, his/her self-care treatment, stress status, etc. in the decision-making process.
The interview robot has odor sensors. It can smell your fear.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 06, 2025 -
Comments (4)
Category: Jobs and Occupations | Robots | Patents
“Peace At Last: The Afterdeath Experiences of John Lennon”
You can get a cheap used edition, or an inexpensive Kindle copy, if you want to learn what the ex-Beatle was up to.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 06, 2025 -
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Category: Death | Music | Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal | Books | 1980s
