Weird Universe Blog — September 14, 2023

The Fate of the Heart of King Louis XIV

This newspaper squib gives the essentials. But visit this page to learn more about Buckland and the incident.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 14, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Body | Cannibalism | Royalty | Historical Figure

September 13, 2023

Solacen lightens the load of worry

I'd worry too if I had a giant crow standing behind me.

Circa 1967. Reproduced in The
Medical Runaround (1973) by Andrew Malleson.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 13, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Advertising | 1960s | Mental Health and Insanity

What a Wonderful Thing Is Me

If the music doesn't put you to sleep, you will learn all about your various parts.





Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 13, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Music | PSA’s | Cartoons | 1970s

September 12, 2023

Healing Mummified Hand

Although the mummified hand supposedly healed 500 people, I've only been able to find one description of a "cure":

One old lady who had been unable to raise her paralysed arm above her heart for ten years was one of the pilgrims who tested it, and in three days she was able to raise her helpless arm over her head.

Saskatoon Phoenix - Feb 8, 1928



Sydney Sunday Times - Feb 5, 1928

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 12, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Paranormal | Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil | 1920s

Spermy

Multiple copies for sale at Abebooks.

"Published by The Marine Historical Association, Inc., Mystic, CT, 1950. A brief introduction to whales."



Thanks to Richard Bleiler.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 12, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages | Nature | Oceans and Maritime Pursuits | Books | Reader Recommendation

September 11, 2023

Hoover Dam music soothes mentally ill

I've visited the Hoover Dam a number of times but had never heard about its unusual acoustic properties that produce "a soothing effect on violently ill mental patients when they listen to musical recordings made at the dam site."

I searched in vain for copies of these Hoover Dam sound recordings.

Los Angeles Times - Sep 22, 1955

Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 11, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Music | Psychology | 1950s

Tenjō Sajiki

A small sampling of the avant-garde theater of the troupe named Tenjō Sajiki. Their Wikipedia entry.





Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 11, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Theater and Stage | Avant Garde | Asia | Twentieth Century

September 10, 2023

The Possibility of Life inside Stars

The conventional wisdom is that if sentient life exists elsewhere in the universe, it probably lives on another planet. But in 2020, the physicists Luis Anchordoqui and Eugene Chudnovsky argued that we should consider the possibility that life (including technologically advanced civilizations) might exist inside stars.

Their argument relies upon a very expansive view of the definition of life. They admit that biological life couldn't exist inside a star, but they argue that high-energy physics supplies various "nuclear objects" such as "strings, monopoles, and semipoles" that might be able to encode information and form a self-replicating system (i.e. life).

Their hypothesis is, of course, highly speculative, but they suggest it might provide an explanation for a previously unexplained phenomenon observed in some stars:

Cosmologists have observed stars at all stages of development and decline and can calculate a star’s life cycle based on features like size, heat, and light. As stars age, for instance, they begin to cool and radiate less light. Occasionally, however, a younger star is observed to dim for unknown reasons, as if it is cooling more rapidly than expected.

“There are no theories that explain it,” Chudnovsky said. “So maybe it’s a very complicated process related to the function of a civilization inside the star.”

If a star harbored a nuclear civilization within it, he explained, the energy used to sustain that civilization would cause the star to cool and dim faster—in effect speeding up the aging process. And, at some point, the star would no longer produce enough energy to sustain this form of life.

More info: Lehman College News Center; "Can Self-Replicating Species Flourish in the Interior of a Star"

Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 10, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Aliens | Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy

Automatic Cat Litter Box—Under Cat’s Control

I detect one small flaw in this concept, hidden in the phrase "the cat is trained..."

Full patent here.



Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 10, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Patents | Excrement | Cats | 1960s

September 9, 2023

Honeymoon attack

Aug 1993: Frannie Snite was convicted of sneaking up behind her new husband as he sat watching the sunset during their honeymoon, then attacking him with a tire iron. Apparently she was hoping to get a life insurance payout. That's gotta be in the running for the worst honeymoon ever.

And yet, it seems like there must be more to the story. I don't think her husband (who survived the attack) ever identified her as his attacker. Her 2013 obituary doesn't mention any of this, nor her five-year prison sentence.

More info: Seattle Times

Lancaster New Era - Aug 18, 1993

Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 09, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Crime | Wives | Marriage | 1990s

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2016 by the author of the post, which is usually either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.

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