Weird Universe Archive

February 2015

February 15, 2015

News of the Weird, February 15, 2015

News of the Weird
Weirdnuz.M410, February 15, 2015
Copyright 2015 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

Lead Story

Weird News You Can Use: It turns out that a person having a heart attack is usually safer to be in an ambulance headed to a hospital than to already be a patient in a hospital (according to a study by University of North Carolina researchers). It takes longer, on average, for non-ER hospital staff to comply with hospital protocols in ordering and evaluating tests (nearly three hours, according to the study) than it does for ER (and ambulance) staff, who treat every case of cardiac symptoms as life-threatening. Overall, according to a February Wall Street Journal report, the mortality rate for heart-attack victims treated in emergency rooms is 4 percent, compared to 40 percent for patients already admitted for other reasons and then suffering heart attacks. [Wall Street Journal, 2-3-2015]

The Continuing Crisis

Uh-Oh: The man hospitalized in fair condition in January after being rammed from behind by a car while on his bicycle happened to be Darryl Isaacs, 50, one of the most ubiquitously-advertising personal-injury lawyers in Louisville, Ky. Isaacs calls himself the “Heavy Hitter” and the “Kentucky Hammer” for his aggressiveness on behalf of, among other clients, victims of traffic collisions. The (soon-to-be-poorer) driver told police the sun got in his eyes. [Associated Press via WKYT-TV (Lexington), 1-27-2015]

Elephants in Love: (1) India TV reported in January that a wild male elephant had broken into the Nandan Kanan zoo in Odisha, wildly besotted with a female, Heera, from an adjoining sanctuary. The male cast aside two other females trying to protect Heera, and mated with her. The male lingered overnight until zookeepers could shoo him away. (2) A frisky male elephant crushed four cars in 10 days in January at Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park--the result, said a Park veterinarian, of the stress of the mating season. (Only the last of the four cars was occupied, but no injuries were serious.) [India TV News, 1-1-2015] [The Nation (Bangkok) via 9News (Sydney), 1-12-2015]

While nearly all Americans enjoy low gasoline prices, residents of sea-locked Alaskan towns (Barrow, Kotzebue, Nome, Ketchikan) have continued to pay their same hefty prices ($7.00 a gallon, according to one January report on Alaska Dispatch News). Though the price in Anchorage and Fairbanks resembles that in the rest of America, unconnected towns can be supplied only during a four-month breather from icy sea conditions and thus received their final winter shipments last summer. The price the supplier was forced to pay then dictates pump prices until around May or June. [Alaska Dispatch News, 1-2-2015]

The Ever-Valuable Internet

In January, “Captain Mercedes,” a registered user of the Reddit.com social media site, announced he had compiled a data file cataloguing every bowel movement he had in 2014 and was offering the file to other users to design hypotheses and visual representations of the data in ways that might improve his relationship with his alimentary canal. According to the data-analysis website FiveThirtyEight.com, the “researcher” used the standard “Bristol stool scale” (seven categories of excreta, by shape and consistency) “and produced interesting hypotheses in the ensuing Reddit conversation.” [FiveThirtyEight.com, 1-25-2015] [Reddit.com/user/captainmercedes]

Suspicions Confirmed

(1) A January examination of New York City records by NYC Open Data found that the five most common first names of taxicab drivers licensed by the city are five variations in spelling of the name “Mohammed.” (2) The last McDonald’s cheeseburger to be sold in Iceland before the chain abandoned the country in 2009 has been on open display at the National Museum of Iceland and was recently moved to the Bus Hostel in Reykjavik, “still in good condition,” according to the Hostel manager. “Some people have even stolen some of the fries.” [Daily Mail (London), 1-14-2015] [Iceland Review, 1-28-2015]

Harvard University medical researcher Mark Shrime documented recently how easily made-up research can wind up in reputable-sounding academic journals--by submitting an article composed by random-generating text software, supposedly about “the surgical and neoplastic role of cacao extract in breakfast cereals” (and authored by “Pinkerton A. LeBrain and Orson Welles”). Of 37 journals, 17 quickly accepted it, some feigning actually having read it, with the only catch being that Shrime would have to pay a standard $500 fee for publication. Shrime warned that some of the journals have titles dangerously close to highly respected journals and cautions journalist (and reader) skepticism. [Fast Company, 1-27-2015]

Wait, What?

Ms. Meng Wang filed a lawsuit recently in New York City against Gildan Outerwear over her disappointment with Kushyfoot Shaping Tights. In television ads, Wang wrote, a young model sashays down a city street with her eyes dreamily closed and “moans and utters highly sexually charged phrases” “including ‘That’s the spot’ and ‘so good.’” “[P]assersby [stop] in their tracks to look at her with mouths agape.” Wang said the ad clearly implies that the tights produce an orgasmic sensation of some sort, wrote Gothamist.com, but that she, herself, has come up empty. [Gothamist.com, 1-14-2015]

Cliches Come to Life

(1) Margaretta Evans, 63, finally reported her missing son to the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Police Department in January. She said Jason Callahan, who would be 38, had been missing since “early June of 1995" when he left home to follow the Grateful Dead on tour in California and Illinois. (2) Riccardo Pacifici, described as head of Rome’s Jewish community, was accidentally trapped while visiting the Auschwitz prison death camp in January on Holocaust Remembrance Day, after staff had departed. When Pacifici and four associates crawled out through a window, security officers spotted them, provoking the New York magazine headline, “Polish Police Detained a Jewish Leader Trying to Escape Auschwitz.” [The Smoking Gun, 1-14-2015] [New York, 1-28-2015]

Least Competent Criminals

Two men remain at large after stealing an ATM from Casino Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, in January. They had smashed through glass front doors, unbolted the machine, put it on a dolly and rolled it to a waiting car (though it briefly toppled over onto one of the culprits). Managers told police the ATM was empty, disabled, and scheduled to be moved to another location later that day. A Calgary police officer expressed bemusement at the city’s recent ATM smash-and-grab epidemic, since the machines are hard to unbolt, hard to open, and are emptied several times a day. “It’s a very ineffective way to make a living.” [National Post, 1-29-2015]

Unwise Robbery Target: Police in Champaign, Ill., charged Clayton Dial, 23, with robbery on New Year’s night, for carrying a pellet gun into the Kamakura Japanese restaurant and demanding money from the hostess. However, he fled quickly when chef Tetsuji Miwa walked over, holding his large sushi knife. “He saw the blade,” Miwa said later, and “started running.” (Miwa and two co-workers gave chase and held him for police.) [News-Gazette (Champaign), 1-1-2015]

Recurring Themes

One of the legendary American lawsuit successes is the 1970 award of $50,000 to Gloria Sykes, whose brain injury on a San Francisco cable car left the previously modest Midwestern woman with an unrestrained libido. News of the Weird reported a similar such case, from London, in December 2006. Now, in January 2015, the British Columbia Supreme Court awarded Alissa Afonina $1.5 million for her auto-accident brain injury. She was apparently a demure, high-achieving student but following the 2008 collision, she had no impulse control, become “isolated,” had “outbursts,” made “inappropriate sexual comments”--and was able to earn a living only as a dominatrix. (Afonina’s mother, also injured in the accident, was awarded $940,000.) [National Post, 1-29-2015]

A News of the Weird Classic (October 2011)

"My ultimate dream is to be buried in a deep ocean close to where penguins live," explained the former Alfred David, 79, otherwise known in his native Belgium as "Monsieur Pingouin" (Mr. Penguin), so named because a 1968 auto accident left him with a waddle in his walk that he decided to embrace with gusto. (His wife abandoned the marriage when he made the name change official; being "Mrs. Penguin" was not what she had signed up for.) Mr. Pingouin started a penguin-item museum that ultimately totaled 3,500 items, and he created a hooded, full-body black-and-white penguin outfit that, according to a September [2011] Reuters dispatch, he wears daily in his waddles around his Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek. [Reuters, 9-29-2011]

Thanks This Week to Gerald Sacks and to the News of the Weird Senior Advisors (Jenny T. Beatty, Paul Di Filippo, Ginger Katz, Joe Littrell, Matt Mirapaul, Paul Music, Karl Olson, and Jim Sweeney) and Board of Editorial Advisors (Tom Barker, Paul Blumstein, Harry Farkas, Sam Gaines, Herb Jue, Emory Kimbrough, Scott Langill, Bob McCabe, Steve Miller, Christopher Nalty, Mark Neunder, Sandy Pearlman, Bob Pert, Larry Ellis Reed, Peter Smagorinsky, Rob Snyder, Stephen Taylor, Bruce Townley, and Jerry Whittle).

Posted By: Chuck - Sun Feb 15, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category:

The Englishman Who Posted Himself



So long as Alex has brought up this theme, I thought I would reference this great book, which I reviewed at the B&N REVIEW upon its release five years ago.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 15, 2015 - Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Books, Europe, Postal Services

“Nice Girls Don’t Stay for Breakfast”



Some post-orgasmic singing from an era when sexual mores were in flux.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 15, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Etiquette and Formal Behavior, Food, Music, Sex Symbols, 1960s

May Pierstorff - The Human Package

From the National Postal Museum:

One of the oddest parcel post packages ever sent was "mailed" from Grangeville to Lewiston, Idaho on February 19, 1914. The 48 1/2 pound package was just short of the 50 pound limit. The name of the package was May Pierstorff, three months short of six years old.

May's parents decided to send their daughter for a visit with her grandparents, but were reluctant to pay the train fare. Noticing that there were no provisions in the parcel post regulations specifically concerning sending a person through the mails, they decided to "mail" their daughter. The postage, 53-cents in parcel post stamps, was attached to May's coat. This little girl traveled the entire distance to Lewiston in the train's mail compartment and was delivered to her grandmother's home by the mail clerk on duty, Leonard Mochel.



Another "human package" discussed here on WU was Johann Beck, who in 1901 shipped himself across the Atlantic in a box.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 15, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: 1910s

February 14, 2015

Abnormals Anonymous

This 1964 novel by Stella Gray seems appropriate for WU.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 14, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Books, 1960s

Kusama:  Princess of Polka Dots



Creator of the "penis chair," among other objects of art.



Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 14, 2015 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Pop Art, 1960s, Asia, Mental Health and Insanity

February 13, 2015

Face Bra


Continuing yesterday's theme of weird beauty products, I present the Hourei Lift Bra. From the product description:

you wear the Hourei Lift Bra on your face and it helps fight the smile lines that sadly grow more prominent with age. The band slides over the back of your head and then the frame fits easily onto your nose. Its soft silicone rubber curves will feel comfortable on your skin while the "wire" design will place only gentle pressure on your cheeks.

Over at Book of Joe, they note that this product is an example of satirical prophecy, because a very similar product was featured as a joke on an episode of Ally McBeal, back in 1999.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 13, 2015 - Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues

Strange Snacks

image

You will certainly have fun browsing at the Taquitos snack site and reading their blunt appraisals. For instance, on the item pictured above.

Taste: Weird chemical taste. Crunchy and thick, but rather nasty.

Aroma: They smell like rancid oil.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 13, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Foreign Customs, Junk Food

February 12, 2015

Nose Secret

What people will do in pursuit of beauty:

Nose Secret is advertised as "the only proven non-surgical nose job option with instant results that you can do on your own without the cost or hassle of nose surgery." By which they mean that it's little pieces of bendy plastic that you're supposed to shove up each nostril, in order to temporarily change the shape of your nose and make it appear more pointy.

What happens if you wear them while you're on a date, and then you sneeze? Also, $35 for little pieces of plastic seems a bit steep. [Via]

Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 12, 2015 - Comments (7)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Body Modifications

Follies of the Madmen #241

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 12, 2015 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Family, Food, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s, Asia

Page 4 of 7 pages ‹ First  < 2 3 4 5 6 >  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 •