Weird Universe Archive

April 2015

April 23, 2015

The Cellophane Wedding

Back in the 1930s, the Jockey underwear company got the idea of showing off their products by having their models wear cellophane and staging a "cellophane wedding." The first picture seems to be a trial run of this stunt, in which the company created outfits that were only half cellophane.

But in 1938, they staged a wedding with full cellophane outfits at the National Association of Retail Clothiers and Furnishers convention. The story goes that a picture of this event subsequently ran in Life magazine, by which means it then came to the attention of Adolf Hitler, who used it as an opportunity to fulminate against America's moral decline.

Sources: Kickshaw Productions, Kenosha News



Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 23, 2015 - Comments (3)
Category: 1930s, Weddings

Elektro the Robot





No need to worry about the Singularity with Elektro.

Wikipedia entry.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 23, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, Puppets and Automatons, 1930s

April 22, 2015

Kiss Of Death

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Next up for Darwin Award near miss- guy who tried to kiss a cottonmouth snake on the lips. Yeah, he's from Florida.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 22, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Injuries, Really Bad Ideas, Screwups, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Never Inject Stuff In Your Stuff

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Injecting your penis with vasoline to make it appear larger is a very bad idea. The description of the surgery necessary to effect repairs is cringe-worthy.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 22, 2015 - Comments (14)
Category:

Bird in radiator grille

A person driving to work in Echuca, Australia accidentally hit a corella bird. They thought it had bounced off the car, so they continued on to work. Only to discover that the bird had somehow gotten wedged behind the radiator grille. It was alive, with only an injured leg.

I find the physics of this a bit baffling. How exactly did a bird of that size get through the grille? abc.net.au

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 22, 2015 - Comments (12)
Category: Animals, Cars

Mystery Gadget 26

image

What's it do? The answer is here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 22, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Technology, 1920s

April 21, 2015

Army wants a new gun

image

Now this is my idea of a proper gun ad. BTW the US military is looking for it's next standard model.
Let's hope it is made in America still. I like the old Colt 1911 .45 ACP or the Glock .45 GAP over any 9mm.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/03/news/companies/army-gun-new-beretta/index.html

Posted By: BrokeDad - Tue Apr 21, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Guns

The gun safe enough to use as a toy


There seem to be layers of meaning in this ad. On one level, it's just a girl playing with her toys (and her gun). On another level, the doll clearly seems posed in a way to represent a dead person, shot perhaps by the girl who's looking down at the gun in her hand with regret. What's the message here?

Incidentally, wikipedia tells us that Iver Johnson revolvers were used in the assassinations of William McKinley and Robert Kennedy (and the attempted assassination of FDR).

Source: The Canadian Magazine - April 1904

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 21, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Guns, Toys, Advertising, 1900s

World Erotic Art Museum



RIP, founder Naomi Wilzig.

Being TV journalism, the clip is work-safe.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 21, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Museums, Regionalism, Sexuality

April 20, 2015

Polly Wants Rescued

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Firefighters rushed into a burning home to rescue whoever was screaming FIRE! and HELP! To their surprise instead of people they discovered parrots. I guess the birds do understand some of what they are saying after all.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 20, 2015 - Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Pets

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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.

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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.

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