Weird Universe Archive
May 2023
May 31, 2023
Gloucester Cheese Roll Winner
The annual Gloucester Cheese Roll contest involves chasing a wheel of cheese down Cooper's Hill. The winner of this year's women's race was Delaney Irving of Canada. She won despite getting knocked unconscious while running (falling) down the hill.I had the chance to visit Cooper's Hill about ten years ago (not during the cheese roll, unfortunately), and I can attest that it's very steep — much steeper than it appears on videos such as the one below. The idea of trying to run down it seems suicidal to me.
More info: The Guardian
(Thanks to Gerald Sacks!)
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 31, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Sports
Miss Juke Box
Although not an actual contest or beauty queen title--instead, it was a motif in a song--the notion of a Queen of the Juke Boxes was illustrated to perfection, including props and record-based body language, by properly costumed Margot Hielscher.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 31, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Music, Technology, 1950s, Europe
May 30, 2023
Building houses with diapers
Concrete uses sand, and this is a problem due to a growing shortage of sand. However, Siswanti Zuraida, a researcher at the University of Kitakyushu in Japan, has proposed that cleaned and shredded diapers can be used in concrete as a sand replacement:To make the first prototype, Zuraida reused diapers from her own young children. The team washed, sterilised and dried the diapers, before shredding and mixing them with different amounts of other materials, such as gravel or sand. This served as the aggregate that the team mixed with Portland cement and water to create concrete.
More info: New Scientist
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 30, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, Babies, Excrement
Follies of the Madmen #566
Our syndicated TV show is comparable to the deadliest weapon known to mankind.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 30, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Destruction, Humor, Television, Advertising, Children, 1950s, Weapons
May 29, 2023
Applause for Stalin
In his book Koba the Dread Martin Amis told the anecdote of "a gramophone record of one of Stalin's longer speeches" which "ran to eight sides, or rather seven, because the eighth consisted entirely of applause."Amis offered no more details than this. However, the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Regional History has some more info. It seems that what Amis was referring to was a recording of a speech Stalin gave on Nov 25, 1936 at the Extraordinary VIII All-Union Congress of Soviets. The full speech was reproduced in a 21-record set. According to the museum (with translation help from Google):
The speech of the speakers is quite often interrupted by applause. The expression "stormy and prolonged applause', which has already become a byword, is far from being just a beautiful "figure of speech" designed to emphasize the significance of the speaker's words, but the real practice of public speaking at that time.
So the first side of the first disc is completely occupied by the applause of the hall, as a true confirmation of universal approval! Just imagine how in the labor collective they put a record on the gramophone and listen to pure ovations for three minutes! And the second side of the last disc - post-speech ovations and the performance of the Internationale by the participants of the Congress, which at that time played the role of the anthem of the USSR.
So the first side of the first disc is completely occupied by the applause of the hall, as a true confirmation of universal approval! Just imagine how in the labor collective they put a record on the gramophone and listen to pure ovations for three minutes! And the second side of the last disc - post-speech ovations and the performance of the Internationale by the participants of the Congress, which at that time played the role of the anthem of the USSR.
via Skeptics StackExchange
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 29, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1930s, Russia
Happy Memorial Day 2023!
WHAT are you going to do on Decoration day? Where are you going? To the ball game? Fishing? Are you going to play tennis or go on a long excursion to spend the day away from home? Do you want to go to the park and sail your boat on the little lake? Will you tie a flag to your handlebars and take a ride on your bicycle with your friend Tom? Or are you one of the many who understand that the day is set apart in memory of gallant heroes and is a holiday in their honor? Will you take your place with the many on the line of march in respect to the few remaining heroes who will parade before you? Are you one of those who will look to the wants and comforts of the feeble, who need your protection? Help make the day memorial. With a brush or bit of cotton wound on a toothpick and plain water, paint between the lines; the decoration will then appear in appropriate color. EDITOR'S NOTE.—Read the pages of the entire book before painting or making the cut-outs. Rinse the brush often to prevent colors running together.
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 29, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, Armed Forces, Twentieth Century
May 28, 2023
Calories Don’t Count
Dr. Herman Taller was arguably ahead of his time with his assertion that a high-protein diet was more effective for weight loss than simply restricting calories. However, it was his promotion of "CDC" (Calories Don't Count) capsules that got him into trouble. He claimed that these capsules not only would help with weight loss but would also lower cholesterol, treat heartburn, improve the complexion, increase resistance to colds, and boost the sex drive. The FDA disagreed, noting that the capsules primarily contained safflower oil. Taller was eventually convicted of mail fraud.More info: Wikipedia, Quackwatch
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 28, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Health, Dieting and Weight Loss
Little Eeefin Annie and Uncle Eeef
The singer's Wikipedia page.The definition of Eefing.
Posted By: Paul - Sun May 28, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Jabberwocky, Scat Singing, Nonsense Verse and Glossolalia, Music, 1960s
May 27, 2023
Mysterious Hiccups Cure
Sep 1949: After Robert Meier had suffered from hiccups for 8 days, a mysterious stranger showed up at his house unannounced, draped a wet noodle over Meier's head, and cured his hiccups.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Sep 9, 1949
Posted By: Alex - Sat May 27, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Health, 1940s
Killer Candy
Read the thrilling urban legend here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 27, 2023 -
Comments (7)
Category: Death, Fables, Myths, Urban Legends, Rumors, Water-Cooler Lore, Advertising, Candy, 1970s
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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 |
