Weird Universe Archive

February 2013

February 24, 2013

Eurovision Winner:  1967

The annual Eurovision contest is chugging along, and we haven't made fun of a past winner in a while.

Here's the best Europe could offer in 1967, a year when everyone else was listening to revolutionary work by the Doors, the Stones, the Beatles, et al.

Sandie Shaw on Wikipedia.



Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 24, 2013 - Comments (9)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Music, 1960s, Europe

Absolutely Lewis!

Pioneers of style!

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 24, 2013 - Comments (8)
Category: Fashion, 1970s

February 23, 2013

Pulled Video

Mashable.com is hosting a video that Nascar and Youtube chose to censor. A fan in the stands got some pretty intense video of a very serious wreck from todays race. Part of a car flew into the stands causing injuries to spectators including the person in the video who was apparently hit by a tire. Details of the huge wreck are also available at the link.

UPDATE: Youtube has reinstated the previously pulled video.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 23, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Sports

Octopus Wrestling

According to wikipedia, octopus wrestling "involves a diver grappling with a large octopus in shallow water and dragging it to the surface."

Popular Mechanics (May 1966) provides some more details:

Two things work for the hunters. The octopus is basically timid, and divers work in teams. One man goes down (about 50 feet) and tries to force an octopus from his cave. When he comes up for air, the second man goes down and tries to pry the octopus loose from the rocks. If he's not up in 30 seconds, the third man goes down. They don't harm the animals. They just weigh them and throw them back in. Why do they do it? Well, why not?




Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 23, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Sports, Wrestling, 1960s

Young Man’s Fancy



Electricity: too cheap to meter!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 23, 2013 - Comments (2)
Category: Domestic, Appliances, Propaganda, Thought Control and Brainwashing, PSA’s, Utilities and Power Generation, 1950s

February 22, 2013

Herpits

image

Make your visit now!

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 22, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Body, Skin and Skin Conditions, Hygiene, Asia

The Philadelphia Phonograph School of Languages for Parrots


It came into existence circa 1903. Details from The Strand Magazine:

Philadelphia can boast of a phonograph school for parrots. It is said to be the only institution of its kind in the world. Here parrots are taught to speak by means of the phonograph, and during the brief time that the school has been in existence over one hundred birds have been taught to pronounce all kinds of sentences and phrases for the edification of themselves and the amusement of their owners.

This is the twentieth-century method of teaching a parrot. Hitherto he has been taught by tutors, generally women, and, if the truth must be told, he has not been altogether a satisfactory or exemplary pupil. First of all his teacher has to repeat the phrase or sentence over and over again, hundreds and thousands of times, before "Pretty Polly" is able to pronounce it. This in itself is a tiresome procedure, but it is rendered more fatiguing on account of the fact that the speaker must be hidden from the parrot. She has, therefore, to crouch behind a screen or to cover the cage of the bird with a large hood. The former is regarded as the best method, as no self-respecting parrot likes to be left alone in the dark, but to hide oneself secretly behind a screen and then repeat the words, "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," a thousand times is surely not an enviable task.

By the new mode of teaching, however, no personal inconvenience of this nature is felt, for all the tutor has to do is to obtain a phonograph, secure a few records suitable for birds, and set the phonograph going in the parrot's ear. The bird, too, learns more quickly by this method than in the old way...

The fee for a full term of six months is eight pounds. Parrots are often sent, however, for a briefer period, when the rate charge is ten shillings per week, including, of course, board and lodging. Sometimes, when a pupil has to be taught unusual phrases—French or German sentences, for instance—the tuition rate is a little higher.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 22, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, School, 1900s

February 21, 2013

Hadaka Matsuri:  Annual Japanese “Naked Festival”




Read the full story here.

No full monty, just semi-bare male butts.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 21, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category:

The art of the painting fool

Below are some paintings by "the painting fool." What makes the painting fool an unusual artist is that it's not human. It's a computer program, though he/she/it talks in the first person:
I'm The Painting Fool: a computer program, and an aspiring painter. The aim of this project is for me to be taken seriously - one day - as a creative artist in my own right. I have been built to exhibit behaviours that might be deemed as skilful, appreciative and imaginative. My work has been exhibited in real and online galleries; the ideas behind my conception have been used to address philosophical notions such as emotion and intentionality in non-human intelligences.

If the painting fool suddenly becomes obsessed with drawing clowns and disney characters, then we're in trouble.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 21, 2013 - Comments (1)
Category: Art

February 20, 2013

Carnival



How our ancestors amused themselves before digital technology, at "this noisy carefree island of helter-skelter joy."

Be sure to marvel at the fortune-telling bird.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 20, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts

Page 2 of 8 pages  < 1 2 3 4 >  Last ›




Get WU Posts by Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


weird universe thumbnail
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 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
Monthly Archives
October 2024 •  September 2024 •  August 2024 •  July 2024 •  June 2024 •  May 2024 •  April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •