Weird Universe Archive

February 2019

February 28, 2019

Tiny Bags

Unveiled by French designer Jacquemus at Paris Fashion Week.

More details: Harpers Bazaar, HuffPost



Can you find the tiny bag in this image?



Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 28, 2019 - Comments (7)
Category: Fashion

Spoon Planet

You will spend some fun time browsing the commemorative spoons at Spoon Planet. I want this Rockette one.

Now, when someone says, "I don't have enough spoons to get through the day," you can send them here!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 28, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Collectors

February 27, 2019

Gold-Fermented Champagne

Here's a new thing for rich people to spend their money on! Winemaker Leclerc Briant has announced that it's producing the world's first-ever champagne that will be fermented and aged in a gold barrel. In fact, it's apparently the first wine of any type to be aged in gold. It'll go on sale in 2021.

But why gold? The winemaker explains in an interview with thedrinksbusiness.com:

Explaining the reason for trialling a gold-coated barrel – which [head winemaker Hervé Jestin] admitted was “very expensive” – he said it was due to the metal’s unique solar properties. Commenting that there is “a resonance between solar energy and the wine”, he told db that the use of gold would, he believes, “increase the level of solar activity during the first fermentation”. He also recorded that “gold makes a connection with cosmic activity” – an important part of biodynamic principles – while noting that the wine stored in the gold-coated barrel was “completely different” to those from the same plot that had been fermented and aged in other types of vessel.

In response, the folks at thedrinksbusiness.com noted that they "struggled to understand how the gold would affect the fermentation, other than providing an inert and impermeable container for the process."

Of course, it probably won't change the flavor at all. But it's gold, so it will certainly affect the price!

Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 27, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Inebriation and Intoxicants, Overpriced Merchandise

February 26, 2019

Can man fly by flapping his arms?

John Seney, an engineer at the Du Pont laboratory in Seaford, Delaware, had an ambitious plan (which he called 'Project Daedalus') to study buzzards and thereby figure out a way to allow a man to fly by flapping his arms — with the help of 36-foot wings strapped to them.

Seney's project received quite a bit of media attention for several years in the mid-1960s, but I can't find any report indicating that he ever got to the stage of a test flight.

"Leonardo, the buzzard, is chased in Seaford, Del., basement laboratory of John Seney, 50-year-old scientist who is using the buzzard in his human flight experiments. Pursuing the bird is Stephen Moore who is helping Seney, and if the experiments get off the ground, will see Moore get off the ground with human-propelled wings. That's why they have named the buzzard Leonardo — after Leonardo da Vinci who had dreamed of flying like a bird."



Sarasota Journal - Dec 30, 1964



Baltimore Sun - Feb 21, 1965

Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 26, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Flight, Experiments, 1960s

Panda and the Magic Serpent (Tale of the White Serpent)

As its Wikipedia page tells us: "It is the first anime in any shape or form to be released in America."





Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 26, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Cartoons, 1950s, Asia, North America

February 25, 2019

Name That List, #56

What is this a list of? The answer is below in extended.

  • Blue trousers
  • Shirt
  • Tennis shoes
  • Blue tunic pullover
  • Comb
  • Folding toothbrush
  • Ballpoint pen
  • Informational flyers
  • Current personal correspondence




More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 25, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Name That List

Follies of the Madmen #414



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 25, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Technology, Sex Symbols, Appliances, 1960s

February 24, 2019

Niagara Falls with bubbles

Adding a foaming agent to Niagara Falls was evidently the fantasy of some chemical engineer at Monsanto.

Newsweek - Mar 17, 1952

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 24, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Advertising, 1950s, Pranks, Natural Wonders

Hardee’s Road Runner and Ernie



Two lame-o's seeking to capitalize on SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT popularity are employed to endorse burgers.

Many, many more Hardee's commercials here.





Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 24, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Fads, Stereotypes and Cliches, Junk Food, 1970s, Cars

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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.

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