Weird Universe Archive

January 2020

January 11, 2020

Cow burgers and hot dogs

In 1950, Rodney Graves of Arizona patented cow-shaped burger patties. However, he missed an opportunity by not also patenting a cow-shaped bun.



Edward Kiwala of Chicago didn't make a similar mistake when, in 1969, he patented a dog-shaped hot dog (or, at least, a hot dog with four legs like a dog). He also patented the accompanying bun.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 11, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Food, Inventions, Patents

January 10, 2020

Conscience Adherent Paradise Government

For a very brief time, in the early 1990s, 717 E Magnolia St. in Arcadia, Florida was home to the "Conscience Adherent Paradise Government" — a separatist state that had declared its independence from the United States. Details from the Tampa Tribune (Apr 4, 1992):

[Soloman and Mona Frommell] — who are manic-depressive, according to their lawyer — had created their own government, the “Conscience Adherent Paradise Government.” They established their own rules, which they followed while living at Parker Apartments on East Magnolia Street. Soloman Frommell claimed to be an ambassador and United States separatist president. He called himself the “fair judge,” while his wife was the “honest judge.”

DeSoto sheriff’s Capt. Will Wise and Deputy Gary Holsomback went to their apartment in May to serve the couple with an eviction notice that was prompted by unusual behavior.

When deputies arrived, Soloman Frommell grabbed a pair of nunchukas, his wife had a butcher knife, and they fled to the front of the apartment, according to reports.


717 E Magnolia in Arcadia, FL, via Google Maps



Tampa Tribune - Apr 4, 1992

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 10, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Government, Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, 1990s

January 9, 2020

The Zone of Veracity


From the San Francisco Examiner - June 5, 1927:

Science has devoted considerable thought and experimentation in the hope of devising a reliable lie detector, and some interesting results have been announced in various directions.

The latest researches have been made known by Dr. Boris Orlov, a Russian psychologist, now living in Paris. Professor Orlov asserts that modern fashions, by exposing women’s necks, have incidentally exposed their minds. When a woman is not telling the truth, he insists, she will blush in the area just below the breast bone.

Dr. Orlov calls this telltale area the “zone of veracity,” and his book, “La Pseudologie Humaine Normale et Anormale,” offers a number of other interesting tips for the casual detection of untruthfulness. This “zone of veracity,” Dr. Orlov says, is a sort of window through which certain well-disguised feminine mental processes may be seen…

“When a woman lies,” Dr. Orlov continues, “there is inevitably a nervous tension inside her. During the mental stress of lying, this tension is communicated to the vasomotor nerves which control the arteries and capillaries in the skin.

“Blushing in any part of the body is produced by an increased flow of blood into the capillary vessels serving the parts where the blush extends. The area affected is not only reddened, but there is a perceptible increase of heat there.

“The interaction between mind and body is close. A nerve filament from the sympathetic system lies along the sheath of and parallel with each artery and capillary, controlling the expansion and contraction of the muscular coat of the vessel. This is the vasomotor nerve. The mental agitation produced by lying causes temporary vasomotor paralysis and an ensuing rush of blood into the capillary vessels of the skin, which we call blushing.

“A self-controlled deceiver can inhibit blushing in the face. But the feminine fibber’s throat, her upper thoracic area, will visibly palpitate and redden. A throbbing or fluttering will be seen in the area about the breast bone. The blushing will usually cover a space two to three inches in diameter. In many cases, this section of the throat or bosom will redden though not a trace of a blush will color the cheek.”

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 09, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Lies, Dishonesty and Cheating, Psychology, 1920s

January 8, 2020

Immersion in sprinkles

Just a few days ago, on Dec 24, 2019, Maryellis Bunn of New York, NY received patent no. 10,513,862 B2 for a “system, method, and apparatus for simulating immersion in a confection.” The specific confection she had in mind was candy sprinkles. Although the patent extends to include Hershey’s kisses and popcorn.

In other words, what she’s patented is the idea of a pool full of fake sprinkles, which people can immerse themselves in.





This makes more sense once you find out that Bunn is the founder of the Museum of Ice Cream, and apparently one of the activities you can do, if you visit her museum (in either New York or San Francisco), is swim in a pool of fake sprinkles. See the video below.

Bunn's Museum of Ice Cream business is reportedly worth around $200 million, and she only started it in 2016. So, while some are mocking her sprinkle-immersion patent as frivolous, she's laughing all the way to the bank.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 08, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Inventions, Patents, Candy

January 7, 2020

Crackers



Crackers, available on Audio CD for $33.08 from Amazon, is the sound of people cracking their knuckles and other joints. Migone explains the origin of the work on his website:

The material for Crackers was recorded during a residency at Gallery 101 in Ottawa, Canada, in October 1997. Crackers were solicited through the radio, classified ads in the weekly paper, and via the Gallery’s membership. The recording sessions consisted of an interview succeeded by a cracking session...
The tapes were edited at Avatar in Quebec City. Crackers was then first presented as an installation in a group show curated by Emmanuel Madan entitled “Incredibly Soft Sounds” at Gallery 101, in January 1998.

He notes that a follow-up show, in January 2000, featured "a video of my right ankle cracking repeatedly for twenty minutes ."

If you don't want to buy the CD, you can listen to the tracks for free on Migone's website.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 07, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Music, 1990s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

The Universal Beauty Trip

There's a great novel or film lurking in this historical incident.

In the summer of 1915, in large part in order to advertise the existence of his newly-established Universal City Studios, Universal Moving Pictures President Carl Laemelle organized a cross-country procession that would culminate in a beauty pageant at Universal City, California (which, like Universal Studios, Laemelle had only founded in March of that year). Comprising "America's Most Beautiful Girls" from each of the forty-eight states, as well as studio representatives including Laemelle himself, the Universal Beauty Trip proceeded by automobile and rail from the East Coast to California, stopping at major cities along the way and at important tourist sites like the Grand Canyon



Read entire article here.







Foto source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 07, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Movies, 1910s

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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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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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