Weird Universe Archive
January 2012
January 15, 2012
They would rather be run over by a semi
Most Amish sects have bowed to the argument that public safety, and theirs, is just a tad more important. Or, at least acknowledged that inconvenient biblical edict about obeying the law of the land. But not these folks- Amish men go to jail over placards
Posted By: done - Sun Jan 15, 2012 -
Comments (11)
Category:
January 14, 2012
F#%*IN’ SALE
A Japanese department store made a major faux pas when they tried using English words on their sale signs.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 14, 2012 -
Comments (10)
Category:
Art School
This ad was a trap! If you were able to replicate this insane bird, you received a visit from the men in white coats with butterfly nets, not art teachers.
Original ad here. (Scroll down.)
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 14, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Art, Education, Brain Damage
Ran Aground
The Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship ran aground on the Italian island Giglio. The damage was enough to start the ship sinking and precipitate an evacuation. I'm thinking somebody's in trouble.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 14, 2012 -
Comments (12)
Category:
January 13, 2012
Weird Universe Cruise
It's official. Weird Universe will be hosting its first cruise, departing on August 12 from Fort Lauderdale and returning on the 19th. We'll be sailing aboard the spectacular ship the Allure of the Seas, and accompanying us onboard will be celebrity mother Kate Gosselin and her fans, allowing WUvies to study weirdness at first hand, up close and personal! Reservations are now being taken. Book your cabin at kategosselincruise.com.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 13, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Celebrities, Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature, Travel, Surrealism
One Lucky Lady
A British woman recently exhibited the luck of the Irish, so to speak. She coughed up a cancerous tumor. Doctors have said it is a virulent form of throat cancer with only a 50% survival rate. Upon further testing, there was no more cancer in her throat, just a few cancer cells on her tongue that were removed. She should definitely go gambling!
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 13, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category:
Metropolis II
Now open for viewing.
More still pix here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 13, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, Rube Goldberg Devices
Bowdoinham’s 100-year Savings Fund: Part 2
I posted two weeks ago about Bowdoinham, the town that put money away back in 1912 to fund its 250th Anniversary party this year. I sent an email to the Bowdoinham Historical Committee trying to get more details and recently received this response:the outcome of that story was that, yes, funding remained intact and has grown substantially after all these years.
There was $500.00 originally raised in 1912- mostly small donations of .25 here and there (it was a lot then!). It all added up. Remarkably, it stayed intact and is now being used to sponsor the many activities that Bowdoinham is planning in celebration during the coming year. You can read about it here: http://bowdoinham250.org/
There will be some funds reserved and kept to seed future celebrations. We are very fortunate that members of our town had the foresight to do this for us!
There was $500.00 originally raised in 1912- mostly small donations of .25 here and there (it was a lot then!). It all added up. Remarkably, it stayed intact and is now being used to sponsor the many activities that Bowdoinham is planning in celebration during the coming year. You can read about it here: http://bowdoinham250.org/
There will be some funds reserved and kept to seed future celebrations. We are very fortunate that members of our town had the foresight to do this for us!
So their 100-year plan was actually a success! They didn't reveal (at least, not to me) how much money their plan created, but a 1912 article in The Youth's Companion calculated that if they raised $400, they should have around $20,000 in 2012, assuming an interest rate of 4 percent. Since they raised $500, they should have a bit more than that. Enough to have a nice party, but not enough to make them all millionaires.
The Youth's Companion article also revealed that a box was buried in 1912 containing various curiosities, and it should be opened sometime this year:
In a sealed box, to be opened at the time of the celebration in 2012, were placed, among other things, letters from scores of those who contributed to the fund. Many of the letters were from Bowdoinham people, or the descendants of Bowdoinham people in other states or in foreign lands. In some cases the writers described the probable Bowdoinham of 2012 or the imagined conditions of life at that time. No doubt the letters will create much amusement when they are read a century from now.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 13, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Money, Parades and Festivals
January 12, 2012
Win $10M
An interesting prize has been offered at the Consumer Electronics Show being held in Las Vegas. The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize is ten million dollars, for a functioning "Star Trek-like" medical tricorder. As many brilliant people as I have had the pleasure of meeting here on WU, I'm betting one of you could win this prize.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 12, 2012 -
Comments (9)
Category:
Horses That Somersault
A brief feature that appeared on the front page of the Washington Post's 'Miscellany Section' (April 21, 1907) caught my attention. I searched for more information about this strange, somersaulting horse, but came up empty.
Google pulls up examples of horses that somersaulted by accident, but none (that I can find) that did it purposefully. See this Daily Mail story from May 2008. So the somersaulting horse from 1907 appears to be unique. And, I'm guessing, probably a hoax of some kind.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 12, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals
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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 books such as Elephants on Acid. 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. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
