Category:
Government

The City Flag of Tampa

Our own Chuck Shepherd, longtime resident of Tampa, Florida, can salute his city's improbable flag as one of the ugliest banners in the history of banner-dom. He modestly suggests that more people should know of it, to induce further laughter and insults.

And yet, surprisingly, neighboring burg of St. Pete has a halfway decent ensign--if you like pelicans.





Full article here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 22, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: Annoying Things, Government, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Regionalism, Chuck

Pack It Right



This Department of the Army video continually uses a woman in a well-stuffed bikini to illustrate how to "pack it right."



Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 28, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Government, PSA’s, Sex Symbols, 1970s

How I Stole Elections



Marlin Hawkins served as an elected official in Conway County, Arkansas for 38 years — for most of that time as sheriff. He built up a legendary political machine, being able not only to win reelection for himself (19 times) but also to deliver votes for other candidates. He often boasted that he could accurately predict the outcome of every election in the county.

It was long suspected that he was rigging the elections, especially since absentee voters would always vote for him by a wide margin, but no one could ever prove anything.

After he retired in 1978, Hawkins eventually wrote his autobiography, which he brazenly titled How I Stole Elections (available on Amazon). He joked that he "stole" them by "treating my neighbors right."
But no, he stole them by ballot fraud.

His book came out in 1991. The year after, some people who were remodeling their house discovered a whole stash of marked ballots from a 1968 election hidden in their attic. The house had previously been owned by one of Hawkins' deputies.

Hawkins got away with it because the statute of limitations had expired in 1974. He died in 1995.

More info about him at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

Palm Beach Post - Jan 9, 1992

Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 09, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Government, Politics, Books, 1990s

Beneficial Infertility

In 1977, the head of the National Peach Council, Robert K. Phillips, sent the following letter to the U.S. Department of Labor protesting their proposed ban on the pesticide DBCP, which had been found to cause sterility among male agricultural workers who handled it. Phillips noted that some men might actually want to become sterile, so for them infertility would be a welcome benefit of the job.

To: Dr. Eula Bingham, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health

Recently we received the interesting DOL news release concerning worker exposure to DBCP.

It appears to us that you and Secretary Marshall may have overreacted, or at least that is your public posture.

While involuntary sterility caused by a manufactured chemical may be bad, it is not necessarily so. After all, there are many people who are now paying to have themselves sterilized to assure they will no longer be able to become parents.

How many of the workers who have become sterile were of an age that they would have been likely to have children anyway? How many were past the age when they would want to have children? These, too, are important questions.

If possible sterility is the main problem, couldn't workers who were old enough that they no longer wanted to have children accept such positions voluntarily? They could know the situation, and it wouldn't matter. Or could workers be advised of the situation, and some might volunteer for such work posts as an alternative to planned surgery for a vasectomy or tubal ligation, or as a means of getting around religious bans on birth control when they want no more children.

We do believe in safety in the work place, Dr. Bingham, but there can be good as well as bad sides to a situation.

Above all, please don't try to get a ban on the manufacture and sale of the chemical DBCP, because that would cause some losses of agricultural production which would be serious.

Sincerely,

Robert K. Phillips
Executive Secretary, National Peach Council

Despite Phillips's appeal, DBCP got banned anyway, because in addition to the sterility it was linked to various cancers. More info: NY Times, Multinational Monitor.

Mother Jones - Apr 1978

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 25, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Government, Health, 1970s

Proper storage of warheads

A classic example of "officialese," which came to light in 1951. Text from a Royal Navy instruction manual on the proper storage of torpedo warheads:

It is necessary for technical reasons that these warheads should be stored with the top at the bottom, and the bottom at the top. In order that there may be no doubt as to which is the bottom and which is the top for storage purposes, it will be seen that the bottom of each warhead has been labeled with the word TOP.

The Decatur Herald - Aug 30, 1951



Green Bay Press-Gazette - Apr 22, 1962

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 27, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Government, Regulations, Languages

LSD for Housewives

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 01, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Drugs, Psychedelic, Government, Science, Experiments, 1950s

Bugnet!



Does anyone under sixty years old recognize that this bit of lame bureaucratic humor is a DRAGNET parody?

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 20, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Government, Insects and Spiders, Nature, PSA’s, Parody

Swinging Little Government



Now, THIS is a great campaign song AND party platform. "Our secret weapon will be the Rolling Stones!"

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 21, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Government, Music, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s

Banned Singing of Birds

1957: In order to maintain peace and quiet at night, the Long Beach City Council proposed a ban on "singing of birds" between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The Sedalia Democrat - May 9, 1957

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 18, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Government, Regulations, 1950s

Pig Precinct

In 1972, the City Council of Ames, Iowa reprecincted the city in order to comply with new legislative district lines drawn by the Iowa Supreme Court. In doing so, they inadvertently created one precinct that had no residents in it — except for pigs, because the precinct was entirely occupied by the 15-acre Experimental Animal Disease Laboratory.

Ames has redistricted since 1972, so I'm assuming the pig precinct no longer exists.

Arizona Republic - Nov 4, 1972



The Pick And Axe (Bessemer, Michigan) - Aug 8, 1974

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 12, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Government, 1970s

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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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

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