Everything Changes

Make up your mind! Or not!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 06, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Costumes and Masks, Fashion, Hair Styling, Music, Performance Art, Parody

Sourtoe

Some like an olive in their martini. Maraschino cherries are great in a Shirley Temple. There's a bar in the Yukon Territory called The Sourdough Saloon that serves a drink called a sourtoe, guess what comes in it.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 05, 2012 - Comments (9)
Category: Alcohol

Election Laws Sixty Years Ago

Modern U.S. elections have their problems, but at least election laws aren't as blatantly racist as they were as late as the 1950s. For instance, in Oklahoma, in the 1950s, if you wanted to run for public office you first had to file a form with the state declaring what race you were. There were only two options. If you were of "African descent" you were "Negro." If you were anything else (Chinese, Australian aboriginal, etc.) you were "White." If you indicated you were "Negro," then this descriptive term was placed in parentheses after your name on the ballot. "Whites" were not similarly labeled.

A black Oklahoma City attorney, A.B. McDonald, filed suit against the State Election Board in 1954 alleging discrimination. The District Court dismissed his case, ruling that, "The placing of the word 'Negro' on a ballot after the name of a candidate is merely descriptive and properly serves to inform the electors of the fact that the candidate is of African descent."


The Supreme Court eventually overturned the District Court's ruling, deciding that the Oklahoma law was unconstitutional. As for A.B. McDonald, I haven't been able to find much information on his subsequent career. All I found was a short paragraph in Jet magazine (Mar 1959) indicating that he had some other problems in his life:

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 05, 2012 - Comments (7)
Category: Politics, Racism, Judges, Lawsuits

Shark Shorts

What a shame these only come in kids' sizes. Although I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with even an image of a shark that close to the 'nads.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 05, 2012 - Comments (12)
Category: Animals, Fashion

Cartrivision

Cartrivision was the first VCR marketed to the American public, back in the early 1970s. It predated VHS and Betamax. However, it soon failed, for a variety of reasons. First, it was sold as a TV/home entertainment center/movie camera combo, which made it very expensive. That is, you couldn't buy just the player alone and attach it to your existing set. You had to buy the whole bundle. Second, you could rent movies for it, but you couldn't rewind the movies, so you could only watch them once. This limitation was designed into it at the insistence of the movie industry. Finally, perhaps its slightly creepy ads played a role in its demise. Maybe it's just me, but I definitely sense a pervy vibe coming off of the dad in the scene below.

More info: retrothing, wikipedia, mrbetamax

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 04, 2012 - Comments (11)
Category: Technology, Television, 1970s

Don’t Forget to Vote!

Learn more here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 04, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Eccentrics, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Strange Candidates, Parody, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

How 60 Dead Rats Equals A FREE Cellphone

First Michael. Now Ben. And probably Willard.



The rat problem is so bad in South Africa, you can redeem 60 dead rats for a FREE cell phone.

Here's the link, with some rat catching hints included:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/29/south-african-authorities-offer-free-phone

For the younger readers; yes, that is a young Michael Jackson. Ben and Willard were his rat friends, and I'm sure someone will link to the song from the movie in the comments -- maybe even some scenes. Also, the round black disk was called vinyl and you played them on ... Never mind.

Sometimes it's not worth explaining.

Apologies to readers in South Africa -- but this is yet another reason I'm glad I live where I do -- which is not South Africa. Especially in Alexandra.

What would you do to get a FREE cell phone?

Posted By: gdanea - Sat Nov 03, 2012 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals

Mouth-Peeing Turtle

There's something unusual about the Chinese soft-shelled turtle. Apparently it's "the only animal to urinate through its oral cavity." Put another way, it pees through its mouth. We know this thanks to Alex Yuen Kwong Ip of the National University of Singapore, who decided to attach tubes to the cloaca of these turtles. He discovered that only a small amount of urea was coming out that way. But when the turtles stuck their head in a bucket of water to take a drink, the urea concentration in the water increased dramatically. [New Scientist]

Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 03, 2012 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Body Fluids

The Yowie

Get familiar with the Australian bigfoot/yeti known as the Yowie.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 03, 2012 - Comments (1)
Category: Cryptozoology, Australia

100 Year Old Parachute Fail

One hundred years ago, this tailor assured French authorities he would test his home-made parachute on a dummy.



He jumped to his death.

I see no contradiction.

Posted By: gdanea - Fri Nov 02, 2012 - Comments (11)
Category: Goofs and Screw-ups