Weird Universe Archive

August 2022

August 12, 2022

Knocked unconscious by falling urine

The Argus reports that "A builder was knocked unconscious when he was hit with a bottle of pee which dropped from a 50-metre crane."

The story reminds me of a viral image that circulated widely about 20 years ago, claiming to show a woman "pierced by a shaft of frozen urine." (The image was a hoax).

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 12, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Body Fluids

Burma Blockade Deodorant

Nothing like naming your product so that it sounds like a military operation, then touting it with a stereotyped "Oriental" gal.

Of course, we'd have to relaunch this as "Myanmar Blockade" today.

Bonus video: the same gal touting the more famous Burma Shave.



Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 12, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Ethnic Groupings, Hygiene, Stereotypes and Cliches, Advertising, 1960s, Asia

August 11, 2022

Breast Douche

When a simple washcloth just won't do.

Full patent is here.



Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 11, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Body, Hygiene, Patents, 1910s

The complexity of Brian Ferneyhough

Composer Brian Ferneyhough is known as the "Father of the New Complexity" movement in classical music. The movement, as its name implies, places a great value on complexity. Some details from The Guardian (Jan 21, 2003):

Composer Brian Ferneyhough is an infamous figure in contemporary music, regarded with the sort of bafflement and fear once reserved for Berg and Schoenberg. His works are notorious for their mind-boggling complexity. One solo cello piece is written on up to five musical staves – the cello usually requires only one – while the performer is surrounded by a constricting noose of electronic sound. And there is an orchestral piece notated on a 3ft-high schore, the pages dense forests of notes.

Critics complain that Ferneyhough's music is not only complex, but also unlistenable. Judge for yourself.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 11, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Music

August 10, 2022

Miss KGB and Miss Gulag

Some oddball beauty titles from Russia.

In 1990, 23-year-old Katya Mayorova was crowned 'Miss KGB'. It was part of an effort to put a softer face on the intelligence service. It doesn't seem that there was a competition to select the winner. Mayorova was simply selected by a secret process. As far as I know, she was the only one to ever hold the title.

The Montreal Gazette - Nov 4, 1990
click to enlarge







You can find more info about Miss KGB at Russia Beyond.

And from a totally different part of the Russian security apparatus, many women's prisons in Russia now hold beauty pageants. The winners aren't called 'Miss Gulag,' but that was the title of a documentary about the pageants. More info from Jean Trounstine, "Beauty Pageants in Prison Can Have Positive Effects," in At Issue: Beauty Pageants (2010).

The first prison beauty pageant in Siberia took place in 2000, the brainchild of an inmate. It began simply, with costumes created from everyday objects such as plastic bags and fake flowers. These days, the women work together for months before the pageant, which is hardly the competitive, individualistic event implied by the word "contest.". . .

As a woman who grew up in the sixties, I used to consider endorsing any sort of beauty contest inconceivable—but that was before I saw two short documentaries about the pageants at Camp UF-91/9, The Contest, produced by the Polish journalist Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, and Miss Gulag, produced by Neihausen-Yatskova and Vodar Films. They show the contenders taking the runway by storm, cheered on by their peers, in a parody of the stale rigidity and lack of sexuality of traditional pageants. . .

Beauty pageants are now widespread in Russian prisons. Make up, gifts for the unit, and credits toward early release are the prizes.



The Contest documentary: part 1, part 2, part 3

Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 10, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Prisons, Spies and Intelligence Services, Russia

Angry Boy

Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 10, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Family, Children, Hygiene, PSA’s, 1950s, Mental Health and Insanity

August 9, 2022

Braless at the asparagus banquet

1978: Hannelore Nelson was fired from her job as a translator with the U.S. Army in Germany for not wearing a bra while attending an asparagus banquet in Mainz, where she was translating for Gen. David Martin. At least, the General thought she wasn't wearing a bra. Nelson protested that she definitely had been wearing one, and she got the Mayor and Police Chief of Mainz to back her up ("Both said they saw nothing"). She eventually received $20,000 in compensation for wrongful termination.

Oakland Tribune - May 31, 1978



Red Deer Advocate - June 16, 1978



And in other Army brassiere news, the U.S. Army has recently developed a "tactical brassiere" which will be the first official uniform bra the Army has offered its female soldiers.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 09, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Military, Underwear, 1970s

The Cyclops Eye Speedometer

Watching this great old Studebaker commercial, I was intrigued by the mention of a "Cyclops Eye Speedometer." It turns out that it was a barrel painted with the MPH numbers that revolved behind a lens to measure the speed. Highly imprecise, I would think, perhaps explaining its demise. Apparently, some Citroens used it too (last foto).











Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 09, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Engineering and Construction, Kludges, Hacks and Duct-tape Repairs, 1950s, Cars

August 8, 2022

Nervous Norvus

Nervous Norvus (aka Jimmy Drake) was in his 40s when his first record was released in 1956. The record,'Transfusion,' reached #13 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart.

According to Life magazine, he got his ideas for songs by "sitting in his California backyard, wearing dark glasses, going 'Ump, ump.'"

More info: wikipedia, songpoemmusic.com

Life - June 11, 1956



Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 08, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Music, 1950s

Follies of the Madmen #539

Source: Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)29 Feb 1956, Wed Page 13

It's worth taking a look at the other more-legible images after the jump.








More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 08, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Fashion, Advertising, Cats, Dogs, North America, Mental Health and Insanity

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