In-the-WeirdIn-the-WeirdDiversionary Distractions and Profound Mutterings. A collection of artists, djs, writers, and all around strange people sharing their creations, reviews on books, movies , music and more, as well as odd findings from around the world. Articles
Censorship Alert
2008-02-17 21:50:00 From the realm of miseducation, we bring you the further adventures of the deliberately ignorant conservative. A successful challenge was brought again the book And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell in a Virgina school. This is a children's picture book about two males penguins hatching and raising foster egg. Typical kneejerk conservative reaction: Sweet Jesus! This books promotes the homosexual agenda. Our children's eyes will explode if they read this. They may be compelled to tolerate the people we have dedicated intense hours to teaching them to hate.First of all, if you want to know, the "homosexual agenda" is no different from anyone else's agenda. The homosexual agenda is: go to work, finish the laundry, clean the house, live my life without the unsolicited input of the people whose values conflict with mine. See? Gays and conservatives have a lot in common.More importantly, And Tango Makes Three is a true story. Two male penguins living in captivit... More About: Censorship , Alert
Quiet Strength
2008-02-13 19:42:00 How can we resist posting this photograph of the world's smallest bodybuilder? He's 2'9" and weighs about twenty pounds. We think he is beautiful. More great pictures in the link. More About: Quiet
Anonymous takes on the Pastafarians
2008-02-11 08:05:00 This is a wonderful parody of the Anon ymous vs Scientology video created by Ed Adkins. Freakin hilarious... great stuff Ed!
Inviting Obama to Dinner
2008-02-08 20:00:00 I just donated money to a political campaign for the first time ever last night, and I actually feel good about it... no I feel great about it. It was only $25, as I am no rich bastard who can toss bones about with ease, but I looked at it this way:Would I buy Barack Obama dinner? Why yes, yes I would.However I figured he is a busy fellow at the moment and it might be awhile before he has a chance to drop by my humble abode. So I sent him what I figured I would have spent on a nice little meal, and hopefully he can thank me by restoring some desperately needed sanity to our screwed up country.If you feel the same way, then maybe you can buy Obama some dinner as well, fast food or fine dining, it's your choice... but it may just be the best damn dinner you never ate.Nothing tastes better than well seasoned hope!http://www.barackobama.com More About: Dinner
The Human-Made Age
2008-02-06 22:43:00 This very interesting piece in National Geographic describes one more way in which human activities are impacting the natural world: global soil change. It argues that we are entering "a new period of geologic time: the Anthropocene, or human-made, age," and that, in the future, the impact of industry and human management will be apparent to observers."To future geologists...'the Anthropocene will appear about as suddenly as [the transition] triggered by the meteorite impact at the end of the Cretaceous" 65.5 million years ago, when the dinosaurs became extinct'." More About: Human , Made
Rachael Ray's Garbage Bowl
2008-02-05 23:53:00 From the "what the hell is this world coming to?" file, we bring you Rachael Ray's garbage bowl, eliminating a problem whose existence we never even noticed.Rachael Ray , popular television cooking personality, explains that you can save time by keeping her garbage bowl in your work space rather than going back and forth to the trash whenever you want to throw something out. Of course, Rachael Ray does not suggest that you move your trash can closer to your work space, because that solution would not allow Rachael Ray to market a line of ugly plastic bowls, available at Target for $16.99, to people who think that a plastic bowl will make them just like Rachael Ray. According to Target's website, "Bowl lets you keep chopping and cooking rather than running back and forth to the garbage can • Place it next to your cutting board to start the timesaving and before you know it, you will be sitting down to eat." This is certainly an amazing innovation: a bowl that eliminates the tediou... More About: Garbage
A Love Letter
2008-02-02 01:31:00 Dear Barack,Omigod, you've GOT to know I like you. Yes, like you like you. I mean, I voted you into the Senate when I was still registered in Illinois, right? I know it was a long time ago, but I never stopped liking you. I like you a lot. I really, really, really want you to be my president, even though it means some asshole will probably try to shoot you, but Barack, omigod, I would totally throw myself in the path of the bullet. I mean, if you thought it would help. If you didn't have the Secret Service and all to do that for you.The thing is, I'm scared, you know, 'cause of all the other politicians who've let me down in the past. I mean, what's up with Hillary? I used to like her a lot, too, until she was all like, it would be so cool if we started shooting people in the Middle East until there was no one left to shoot. And that jerk Nader, he messed my whole world up, and he never even apologized. And Gore. And Kerry. They really let me down. So it's hard for me to trus... More About: Love , Letter , Love Letter
Death Metal Bert and Ernie
2008-01-30 23:17:00 Death Metal Bert and Ernie More About: Death , Death Metal
Fool me 935 time shame on you
2008-01-23 18:04:00 To be honest, my elected officials would need to lie to me at least an even thousand times before I really felt betrayed by the federal government. After all, don't we expect politicians to lie to us? Making false statements for the sake of furthering a political agenda is just what government is all about.For those of us who have been paying attention for the last six years, it comes as no surprise that all the propaganda leading up to the invasion of Iraq was merely that: propaganda. Only people who consider FOX News an actual news source ever believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or ties to international terrorist rings. The fact of the matter is, there is one country "> on the planet whose "> of weapons of mass destruction "> give the rest of the world reason to fear, and that's the United States.What's scary is that this is actually news, that there are people who need to be informed of the fact that the president lied, that even today, some American citizens... More About: Time , Fool , Shame
It's Alive
2008-01-20 22:42:00 In the world of cryptozoology, there is no greater vindication than actually uncovering a creature that does not, officially, exist. Often, this is merely a case of scientists having no respect for the knowledge of indigenous peoples, but sometimes, animals are just that sneaky and that rare. Such is the plight of the almiqui. The almiqui is a Cuban animal. Weighing only a few pounds, they usually measure between more than one and less than two feet long. Although the almiqui resembles a rodent, it actually belongs to the small order Soricomorpha; its scientific name is Solenodon cubanus. Almiquis are most active at night, passing much of their days underground in burrows they dig themselves, or other natural shelter, which may explain, in part, why they were able to go undetected for so long. However, they are also excellent climbers. Unlike most mammals, they secrete venom in their saliva. Almiquis are insectivores.Like many creature endemic to island ecologies, almiquis are thre... More About: Alive
Kicking in the Frontiers of Science
2008-01-17 19:40:00 A stem cellEver since Dolly the sheep, whose creation pushed the technology from the realm of science fiction to realm theoretical possibility, the idea of cloning humans has been one of those issues that makes fundamentalists go all explodey in the brain. They said it shouldn't be done; they did their best to outlaw such trials in the United States. Fortunately for the sum of human knowledge, the fundies don't yet rule the world, and two guys in California report that they created six human clone embryos. Hypothetically speaking, the possibilities are remarkable. Most immediately wonderful is the idea that scientists should be able to grow custom parts for an individual, replacing faulty organs without the pesky need for immunosuppressants in transplant patients to prevent rejection. Your new kidney would be your own kidney, grown from your own DNA and matching the rest of you. And then there's the market for young women who want to sell some of their excess eggs. And the implic... More About: Science , Kicking
Monkey Controlled Robot of Doom!
2008-01-16 02:08:00 So let us say that you had this robot all the way over in Japan, and you desperately wanted to control it from the US and, and let us also say that you just happen to be a monkey. Well up until recently you were out of luck... no remote controlled Japanese robots for you MR. Monkey ! But then some crazy humans decided it was time to correct that injustice and has graciously stuck probes into this monkey's brain so that he can now take that first dramatic step towards the eventual end of monkey oppression at the hands of humans. Silly humans, this will either lead to Planet of the Apes, or a severe monkey head ache... one or the other. Now if the robot learns to control the monkey, we are all in seriously deep poop... More About: Robot , Doom
Imagine
2008-01-15 01:34:00 When will we stop teaching our children that violence is a necessarily and defensible element of society? More About: Imagine
Introducing the new Bush/Halliburton Currency Exchange
2008-01-10 20:51:00 Hello disloyal readers! To celebrate my return from the abyss that is the Christmas shopping/churning out huge quantities of custom glassware season, I am sharing with you this glorious new mandatory currency exchange program brought to you by our democraticishly appointed leaders on the Halliburton Executive Leadership Council for the Embiggening of Corporate Profits. Please be sure to watch this video thru at least twice, take notes if needed, and then deposit all your old currency directly into the recycling bin for processing with other post-consumer waste. Your replacement coinage/alms for the poor shall be rained upon you during the 1st annual Procession of the Petroleumites to celebrate our Grand and Eternal Leader's overwhelming success both home and abroad... which falls on the 6th Tuesday of the month, so be sure not to miss it, or no mullah or government cheese for you. More About: Bush , Currency , Exchange
Let's start the New Year with a healthy dose of cryptids
2008-01-02 05:46:00 In case you worried 2008 wasn't going to be as surreal as 2007, we present to you a brief account of the father of cryptozoology, Bernard Heuvelmans. Born in France in 1916, he earned a bona fide doctorate in the field of zoology, writing his thesis on the previously unsolved mystery of aardvarks' teeth. Reading about the possibility of modern-day dinosaurs piqued his curiosity, and so began his search for unknown and possibly mythical creatures. Although ridiculed in some quarters for his belief in so-called cryptids, Heuvelmans's books discuss some creatures, such as the giant squid, whose existence has been proved today. He was instrumental in the early days of the International Society for Cryptozooloy and the Centre for Fortean Zoology.If you would like to learn more about the early canon of cryptozoology, you may be interested in some of Heuvelmans's books: On the Track of Unknown Animals, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, and The Kraken and the Colossal Octopus.Cryptomundo... More About: New Year , Start , Healthy , Year , Dose
Lament for Boxing Day
2007-12-27 00:39:00 You don’t think about elves, or, if you do, you don’t think about us after the point where Santa loads all those toys up on the sleigh. Why bother? We’ve done our job.Even if you did think about it, you wouldn’t get past Christmas day. You can guess what that’s like. Unlike you, we do wait up for Santa. After he comes in and rubs down the reindeer (yeah, he does that himself; Santa’s that kind of guy) he opens the back of the sleigh, where he’s got a million kinds of cookies from all over the world. You didn’t think he ate all of them, did you? He’s supposed to be on a diet. Mrs. Claus looks the other way on Christmas, but cookies are like vegetables for elves. We eat most of them. Then we exchange gifts, all the elves and the Clauses and some of the reindeer and yeti, everyone that can fit into the shop. We eat more cookies and go to bed early. The sun doesn’t rise at the North Pole this time of year anyway.But what then, do you think? You haven’t even imagine... More About: Boxing , Lament , Boxing Day , Amen
Glow in the Dark Cats
2007-12-14 19:40:00 Glow in the Dark Cats ! What more can we say? Sometimes, we look at technology and think, "Yes, we can, but should we?" And then there are glow in the dark cats, green pigs, and mice with human ears growing out of their spine. The question becomes, "How can we not?" I hope to genetically engineer my own children into human glowsticks. Think of all the money you'd save on night lights, Halloween costumes, and reading lamps! More About: The Dark , Glow
Raincoat Flashers
2007-12-13 23:24:00 No, we're not trying to appeal to your prurient interest, get ourselves arrested, or air our junk on a street corner, just hyping another great site. We give a lot of press to visual artists. Raincoat Flashers is an interactive site for writers and In the Weird loves it.Specifically, it's a writing game: a low-pressure excuse to toss off a few hundred words of creative prose, with the added benefit of a tiny bit of recognition in one corner of the Internet. Every week (more or less), the mods post five unusual pictures, what my mom, the elementary teacher, called story starters. With that little bit of inspiration, readers post a short-short, microfiction, flash fiction, what-you-will: a tiny little story. There are no other rules. The moderators choose their favorites, repost them, and add your name (or blogger ID, more exactly) to the sidebar and tags. If you win, they'll run your biography, too.This is just a great site, a great idea, and great fun.
A Season of Life
2007-12-05 21:34:00 In the afterword of the enduring children's book, Free to Be You and Me, the dearly departed Kurt Vonnegut wrote:"A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are a lot of alternatives to our own society. Cultural relativity is defensible and attractive. It's also a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it."In this spirit, In the Weird would like to take a step back.Imagine an alien species observing North America in December. Might it not seem that the Christmas season is a celebration of the killing of plants? This is a terrible time to be a Douglas Fir or a Scots Pine. Your fate is likely a slow, agonizing death, for plants do not die all at once. No, it will be weeks before the last dregs of vitality are shed from your Christmas tree's limbs and it drops its... More About: Life , Season
Are your there Robocop, it's me Margaret?
2007-11-27 21:49:00 Cool and scary in equal parts... the exoskeleton super soldier seems to be just over the horizon. More About: Robocop
Robotic Bugs Poised to Take Over World
2007-11-16 20:41:00 And I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.Wait, not yet. But scientists have demonstrated that tiny, manmade robots can infiltrate communities of cockroaches and influence the insects' behavior. On the other hand, researchers found that the insects also influenced the robots' programming. Until we figure out which side they're on, we should be keen observers of the robotic cockroach. We simply can't afford this kind of Frankenstein's monster working in collusion with one of our race's most insidious enemies.Yes, I know this was kind of an episode of The X-Files. From ten years ago. Who knows the state of the art of entymological cybernetics in this decade? Robotic cockroaches could be controlling international politics. It certainly would explain a lot. More About: World , Bugs
I can't confirm that it wasn't Bigfoot
2007-11-15 20:08:00 According to this article, the correct term for a sasquatch in Florida is "skunk ape." And the more effective bait for catching the bigfoot, or skunk ape, is a big old mess of jelly doughnuts. More About: Bigfoot
Indian "Tree/Man" may have a cure
2007-11-14 21:09:00 No matter how bad your day may be, it can not possibly compare with what this man has been dealing with for years now. I really hope they have found some hope for him after all this time. I thought the 4 armed, 4 legged girl had it rough... but then I saw him, and I can only hope he is finally getting the help he needs. The title link takes you to the original source at the Telegraph which includes videos which you really should see. More About: Indian , Tree , Cure
I have seen myriad travesties on the Internet
2007-11-13 07:40:00 but this may be the worst idea anyone ever launched on the information superhighway.What is a "Red Sea Food" Mold? Click here if you dare. It's not for the faint of heart. Or more accurately, it's not for the weak-stomached.I dare someone to make this. And eat it. More About: Internet , The Internet , Myriad , Traves , Aves
Oil Spill Volunteers Told To Sign Loyalty Oaths & Go Away
2007-11-12 19:10:00 Once again I am left wondering what the hell is wrong with our leaders? Not only are they refusing volunteer help for cleanup efforts following the San Francisco Bay oil spill, but they are actually having them sign LOYALTY OATHS before sending them home, and handcuffing monks who took the initiative to clean over 500 bags of oil from a beach that had no cleanup effort going on at all!WTF? Seriously, name one oil spill that has occurred in the past 15 years that did not include both calls for volunteer help, as well as pictures and video of people cleaning beaches and wildlife. Yet now when hundreds of volunteers turn out to help clean up their public beaches they are being told to go away... but first sign this loyalty oath!What the F#@% is going on in this country???Thanks Firedoglake.com for pointing out this insanity... and thanks to the idiots in our government bureaucracy for creating it. More About: Volunteers , Sign , Loyalty , Told , Oil Spill
Makin' things with light!
2007-11-12 01:38:00 Perhaps you haven't found enough to distract you on the Internet. If this is the case, may we suggest virtual Lite-Brite?It's all the fun of the big plastic box you had as a child, except the little translucent pegs are virtual, and never get lost in the carpet and sucked up by the vacuum cleaner. You can't run out of colors, and rather than removing the pegs by hand, you can just refresh the page. And of course, for those of us who hated destroying our masterpieces for the sake of creating new ones (or simply because our parents thought that a part of cleaning up) there are always screen shots, so your art can live in perpetuity on your hard drive. And best of all, you probably won't be arrested as a terrorist in Boston. Probably. More About: Light , Things , Makin
Cure for Cancer; Drought
More articles from this author:2007-11-05 19:25:00 This is some very interesting research. More About: Cancer , Cure , Drought 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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