Weird Universe Archive
May 2015
May 20, 2015
Tax Per Mile
Oregon is running a voluntary per mile travel tax instead of the current per gallon standard. The volunteers do not have to pay the gas tax while participating in the study.
Does anyone really believe the gas tax will go away if the per mile tax is enacted? Does any tax ever go away once it is put in place? So if this goes through we may as well expect both.
What a great way to control travel, especially for the poor. This idea is a greater threat to personal liberty than the Patriot Act. It is much easier to control a non-moving populace.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 20, 2015 -
Comments (14)
Category: Government, Regulations, Law, Motor Vehicles, Cars, More Things To Worry About
Air Jordan Review
One of the unwritten rules of weird news is that if you're trying to be weird, then you're not really weird. Instead, you're a comedian. And I suspect that this reviewer of Air Jordans is probably trying to be weird. Then again, maybe he really is a slightly awkward super-fan of Air Jordans. This is one of three videos he's posted to YouTube.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 20, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Video, Shoes
Hippie Wisdom from Donald Sutherland and Rod McKuen
Mad Men is over. But you can still savor that era with lots of videos such as these two.
Is that the actress's real voice?
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 20, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bombast, Bloviation and Pretentiousness, Movies, Music, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s
Hamster Tartare
Teacher, a different one, in South Korea became upset with the kids mistreating hamsters in the classroom. He decided to teach them a lesson about the sanctity of life. So he ate a live hamster in front of them. To think some people are horrified by stories of how kids used to swallow goldfish.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 20, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Can’t Possibly Be True, Not Clear On The Concept, Eating
Sex Ed.
Teacher arranged for middle school students to use a storage room for sex. At least he bought condoms for them.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 20, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category:
May 19, 2015
News of the Weird / Plus, May 19, 2015
News of the Weird / PlusMay 19, 2015 (Part 2) [weird stuff that made me excited (frightened) (ROTFL) (appalled) last week, some of which will appear in News of the Weird soon] [Part 1 on Monday, Part 2 on Tuesday]
Best Protests: (1) After Turkey’s Istanbul Technical University announced it was building a popular new “landmark mosque,” dissenters at Dokuz Eylul University began circulating petitions for a Buddhist temple--and, more urgently, a Jedi temple “to bring balance to the Force.” (2) After recent submarine sightings off Sweden (suspected Russian), leading some Swedes to demand more vigilance, the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society suggested repelling the Rooskie subs with a sonar system called “The Singing Sailor” sending the message, “Welcome to Sweden. Gay since 1944,” which would surely tighten Russian sphincters. United Press International /// The Local (Stockholm)
Multitasker: A 33-yr-old driver was arrested near Orlando, drunk, with four unbelted kids in the car, while breastfeeding the youngest (2 months old). (Bonus: expired license plate!) WKMG-TV (Orlando)
The Legend of F State Judge John “Jay” Hurley Continues: His Fort Lauderdale courtroom is the Radio City Music Hall of justice, where the show never stops (as News of the Weird has documented). May 13, 2015: Veteran perp David Riffle makes his latest appearance. Riffle: How you doin, asshole? Hurley: I’m doin’ fine. How are you, sir? Riffle: You are now going to hell . . for the glory of God . . Amen. Hurley: $100 bond. Next. WPLG-TV (Miami)
Suspicions Confirmed: Oh, no--Prince Charles may not be blessed with gravitas. A series of secret letters he sent to the Prime Minister in 2004 and 2005 were finally released after a long freedom-of-information fight with London’s The Guardian. Did Charles privately excoriate Mr. Blair for cooperating on the invasion of Iraq? Well, no. Britain must do more, Charles wrote, to save the albatross by protecting their food supply. And so forth. Washington Post
In the Internet’s Low-Rent District Last Week: (1) Kim Anami began the European part of her current world tour; she draws in the crowds by showcasing weights attached to her hoo-hah; (2) The American Edward Smith, 62, calls attention to himself by humping cars, like this Porsche--as they are his only love interests; (3) Leonard Delaney, who writes Kindle books fiction under a pseudonym, specializes in hardcore porn stories about iWatch and Tetris fans; (4) Somehow, the F State is not weird enough for some websites so they make up stuff so . . no, if you read about a guy who tried to cash a check for $388bn at a Bank of America in Jacksonville, well, no. Metro (London) /// Daily Mirror (London) /// Daily Mirror (London) /// Inquisitr News (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Posted By: Chuck - Tue May 19, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category:
Spider Rain
Watch it if you dare......And we're all moving to Australia!
Posted By: Expat47 - Tue May 19, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Horror, Insects and Spiders
The Clavilux, or Color Organ
The Clavilux was a device that displayed a psychedelic light show on a screen. It was invented by Thomas Wilfred in 1919, who hoped that it would become so popular that one day every home would have one. That didn't quite work out. Though one of these sitting in your living room definitely would be a conversation piece. More info.The "Clavilux Jr" of 1930 from Bright Eye Cinema on Vimeo.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 19, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Inventions, 1910s
Ostrich Feather Fan
Just in time for summer!
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 19, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Chindogu, Appliances, 1930s
May 18, 2015
News of the Weird / Plus, May 18, 2015
News of the Weird / PlusMay 18, 2015 (Part 1) [weird stuff that made me excited (frightened) (ROTFL) (appalled) last week, some of which will appear in News of the Weird soon] [Part 1 on Monday, Part 2 on Tuesday]
Once Again--Rothko! Every time Mark Rothko’s Untitled, (Yellow and Blue) gets resold, it provokes News of the Weird to act. Sotheby’s auction house sold it last week for $46.5m. As you know, the painting consists of a yellow rectangle on top of a blue rectangle, on top of a smaller rectangle of yellow again (showing “how truly miraculous a painting can be,” according to the Sotheby’s guide). New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/nyregion/a-rothko-tops-sothebys-contemporary-art-auction.html?_r=0
Speaking of art, New York City’s Fox TV station, showing Picasso’s Women of Algiers (which brought in $179m at Christie’s) actually felt the need to blur out the nipples when it broadcast the seemingly-enhanced-stick-figure work. The Guardian (London)
Our Hardiest Generation (I): A nursing student at Pennsylvania’s Misericordia University is suing the school because she’s all nervous and can’t pass a required exam, twice, even with extra time. The school should have helped her more, the potential nurse--nurse!--thinks. Fox News
Our Hardiest Generation (II): Four Ivy League students demanded in a newspaper piece that classes like Greek mythology and Roman poetry come with “trigger warnings,” meaning that students might learn that there was viciousness and abuse chronicled in those olden times and that some students may swoon--or get, y’know, really upset--upon reading. Washington Post
On Second Thought, Hmmm, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz? South Korea’s intelligence service claimed that Kim-Jong Un had his defense chief, Hyon Yong Chol, assassinated by having him test-receive anti-aircraft fire. All Hyon did was disobey Kim and fall asleep during a meeting; he never, for example, got the trillion-dollar invasion of a country wrong. Reuters
Brad Davis, 34, finally pleaded guilty in the 2013 death of his step-father in Shawnee, Okla. He copped to manslaughter for strangling the man in his own underwear (i.e., an “atomic wedgie,” as Internet click-bait goes). The Oklahoman via Tulsa World
Recurring Theme: Perp swallows packets of heroin and cocaine; police wait for nature to take its course so they can recover the evidence. But 23 days? East Anglian Daily Times (Ipswich, England)
Lede Sentences That Cannot Be Improved: [from the NY Times obit of weird performance artist Chris Burden): “Chris Burden, a conceptual artist who in the line of duty had himself shot, pierced, starved, crucified, electrocuted, cut by glass, kicked down stairs, locked up, dropped from heights and nearly drowned [died on May 10th in Topanga, Calif. He was 69,]” New York Times
Posted By: Chuck - Mon May 18, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category:
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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 |
