Whittle It a Little, It’ll Fit

Odds and sods I look at regularly, just because they amuse me. I hope they do the same for you. Incidentally, I found this page’s title on Greg Ross’s Futility Closet (it’s somewhere on this page) in a mini-article which also includes the delightful sentence in Icelandic: Barbara Ara bar Ara araba bara rabbabara. Ross points out that this, “besides being fun to say, is spelled with only three letters. It means “Barbara, daughter of Ari, brought only rhubarb to Ari the Arab.”

Weird Universe » Humanoid Hugging Assembly

Saturday 9 March 12:41:00 UTC 2024

Walton Richardson of Murfreesboro, Tennessee was recently granted a patent (No. 11865695) for a "humanoid hugging assembly."

The headless, animatronic torso says phrases such as, "I know you need a hug," "Come get a hug," and "You are special." When someone approaches it spreads its arms invitingly, and then it hugs them.

[Link]

Weird Universe » Miss Moon Maid of 1965

Saturday 9 March 11:13:00 UTC 2024

Futility Closet » Mnemonic

Saturday 9 March 7:51:56 UTC 2024

English history 1066-1154 as depicted by Mark Twain: He had discovered that taking notes using pictures helped to fix details in his memory, and in an 1899 essay he recommended the practice to children. An explanation of the diagram, starting at the bottom: 21 whales heading west: These represent William I, whose reign lasted 21 years (1066-1087). “We choose the … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons