Worst Appliance Innovation Ever

"Sit right down and rest your elbows on these convenient patented elbow warmers."

No idea why this great idea did not catch on.



Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 18, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Appliances, 1950s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Most painful places to get stung

Before 2014, science had information about which insect species delivered the most painful sting, but it didn't have info about how the painfulness of stings varied by body location. So Cornell University graduate student Michael Smith set about to correct this omission. He used honey bees to sting himself in 25 body locations and then rated the painfulness of the stings on a 1-10 scale. He published his results in the online journal Peer J (Apr 3, 2014, "Honey bee sting pain index by body location").

From the article:


And the results:


In 2015, Smith received an Ig Noble Prize for his efforts.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 31, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Science, Experiments, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

The Green Corn Dance

Have a spanking good time!

Original page here.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 03, 2016 - Comments (1)
Category: 1930s, Dance, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Lipstick-Shaped Cigarette Lighter

Imagine the hilarity when your lady-love accidentally scorches her kisser! She'll be "smoking hot" then!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 18, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Cosmetics, Stupid and/or Dangerous Products, Face and Facial Expressions, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

The Elvis Diet

Everyone knows about Elvis's penchant for fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches. But some of these other items, as instanced in the book below, have faded from popular memory.





[Click to enlarge]

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 11, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Eccentrics, Food, 1970s, Twentieth Century, Bodybuilding, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Body Integrity Identity Disorder

Body Integrity Identity Disorder or BIID is when a person believes part of their body is foreign and should be removed. These people will sometimes harm themselves to reach their ideal. Some have laid on railroad tracks to get the offending limb either severed or mangled so badly it must be surgically removed. With that explanation in place let me introduce you to Jewel Shurping. Jewel claims to have been fascinated by blindness from childhood. As an adult she would go out in dark glasses with a white cane and feign blindness and taught herself braille. But she still desired to be blind for real as she felt she was meant to be from birth. So much so that she found a psychologist who was understanding of her disorder and the compelling need Ms. Shurping felt to become blind. The psychologist decided to help by administering drain cleaner into Jewel's eyes to fulfill her wish. Jewel claims to be very happy now with the exception of being disowned by her family when they became aware that her blindness was due to a deliberate act. As far as the helpful psychologist, there was no mention of that person's fate, perhaps they just walked away.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 01, 2015 - Comments (7)
Category: Bad Habits, Neuroses and Psychoses, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical, Diseases, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Taser Raffle

The town of Van Meter, Iowa is holding a raffle to benefit the police department. Each $5 ticket buys a chance to taser either the city Administrator or a city Councilman. The money is going for new equipment, like tasers.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 08, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Charities and Philanthropy, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Woman Bites Dog

Crazy lady told her son that if he eats all the meat she will eat his dog. Apparently, not believing her, he ate all the meat. Inexplicably she made good on her threat by starting with the poor animal's testicles which she bit off. One would think a pit bull would fight back but he just ran off screeching in pain. Crazy lady then used an old tricycle to knock out a witness who tried to intervene and made her son bury her with a piece of garden hose to breathe through. The last was to hide from police, not successfully. Ta Da!!!!!!

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 27, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Scary Criminals, Can’t Possibly Be True, Genitals, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise, Teeth, Eating

Kiss Of Death

Next up for Darwin Award near miss- guy who tried to kiss a cottonmouth snake on the lips. Yeah, he's from Florida.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 22, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Injuries, Really Bad Ideas, Screwups, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Crusader for corporal punishment caned

Eric Wildman was a crusader for corporal punishment. He believed strongly that if you spare the rod, you'll spoil the child. He was the president (and perhaps only member?) of the National Society for the Retention of Corporal Punishment in Schools. To support himself, he sold canes and whipping paraphenalia to schools and caning enthusiasts.

In 1948, he was invited to speak at Horsley Hall, a British school for boys. But the talk didn't turn out as he expected. As he was talking, a group of the boys crept up behind him, grabbed him, pinned him down, and then began beating him with his own canes.

Strangely enough, the assault turned out to have been planned by the school's headmaster, who was strongly anti-caning. He had decided to give Wildman a taste of his own medicine. Wildman threatened to sue the school, but never did.

You can read more about Wildman and the Horsley Hall incident at corpun.com, which also has lots of info about the strange history of corporal punishment.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 21, 2014 - Comments (2)
Category: 1940s, Universities, Colleges, Private Schools and Academia, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise