Weird Universe Archive

August 2022

August 7, 2022

Army’s Copper Man

The Copper Man was created in the 1950s by Army scientists to test clothing for soldiers. I think the tubes going into his eyes makes him horror-movie material.

Santa Cruz Sentinel - May 17, 1962



In 1956 Havoline Motor Oil featured him in an ad. As far as I can tell, Havoline wasn't used in the Copper Man. The only connection between the two was that, according to Havoline, the Copper Man "thinks for itself" and so does its motor oil.

Life - June 11, 1956

Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 07, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: AI, Robots and Other Automatons, 1950s

Death by Swan

I had always heard that swans could be vicious, but not to the point of murdering a human. And yet from the 1938 report to the present day, it happens.

1938 article source: The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) 15 May 1938, Sun Page 41






A second example from the same article.




Full article associated with pic below.



Source of clip below.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 07, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Death, Lakes, Ponds, Rivers, Streams, Swamps and Other Bodies of Fresh Water

August 6, 2022

Atomic Victory Trotter

Seems that everyone called him 'Mike' instead of 'Atomic Victory.' But even so, all his official documents must have had his name listed as 'Atomic Victory Trotter'.

Wilmington Morning News - Nov 17, 1945



Louisville Courier-Journal - Aug 14, 1953

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 06, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Odd Names, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, 1940s

Medicine, Mind and Music

Player embedded below the Tracklist. Enjoy!







Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 06, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Medicine, Music, 1970s, Brain

August 5, 2022

What does your name smell like?

Henry Gray of Newcastle suffers from "lexical-gustatory synaesthesia," which means that he experiences people's names as smells or tastes. He says that the name 'Kirsty' smells of urine, and 'Duncan' is "like a bird dipped in smoky bacon crisps."

Makes me wonder what my name would smell like. I'm sure it's not anything good.

More info: Daily Mail

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 05, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Odd Names, Smells and Odors

The Amazing Acro-Cats







Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 05, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Entertainment, Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature, Cats

August 4, 2022

Lactation Cookies

'Lactation Cookies' are cookies that supposedly help to boost milk production in nursing mothers. Recipes vary, but the main ingredient seems to be oatmeal. So, they're essentially oatmeal cookies.

I heard about them for the first time yesterday, but they've been around for a number of decades. The oldest reference to them I could find was in a 1974 zoo keepers journal discussing ways to increase milk production in orangutans. However, interest in them has spiked in the last decade, and there are now bakeries that specialize in making them, such as here and here.



Do lactation cookies actually work? The jury is still out on that question. Wikipedia, in its article on galactogogues (lactation inducers), notes that "Herbals and foods used as galactogogues have little or no scientific evidence of efficacy." But on the other hand, what harm can an oatmeal cookie do? And maybe they'd work via the placebo effect.

Incidentally, Guinness beer has also long been rumored to induce lactation and was often given to nursing mothers in Ireland.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 04, 2022 - Comments (5)
Category: Babies, Food, Body Fluids, Pregnancy

RIP David Bawden, aka Pope Michael

An innocuous obit.

Full article here.





His Wikipedia page says:

He stated in 2009 that he had approximately 30 "solid followers".[2] In 1990 Bawden was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents, who had come to believe that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the Catholic faith since Vatican II, and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.[3] In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an Independent Catholic bishop


Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 04, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Religion, North America

August 3, 2022

Walking across the Australian desert to prove that God exists

1985: Six young Christians, carrying only "a Swiss army knife, adhesive bandages, cigarette lighters and three Bibles," set out to walk over one thousand miles across Australia's Nullarbor desert in order to "prove God exists." They were later joined by a 41-year-old man.

They did so "in defiance of police warnings that the walk was dangerous, and complaints of blasphemy from religious leaders."

They made it. So they avoided winning a Darwin Award, though going on a hike in a desert without water would definitely put anyone in the running for one.

Port Huron Times Herald - May 18, 1985



"On the last leg of their trek: Rachel Sukumaran (12), Christine McKay (15), Dane Frick (42), Robin Dunn (19), Roland Gianstefani (22), Gary McKay (16) and Malcolm Wrest (22)."
Sydney Morning Herald - June 30, 1985

Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 03, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Religion, Stupidity, 1980s

Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 45



Karl Hubbuch 1881-1979 "Dialog (Myriam with cat)" c 1953

The artist's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 03, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Cats, 1950s

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