the Strange and Unusual.

[Chorn]

Hossoso, how often are you in Korea?

And yeah, it's Loveland. I spent a week in Jeju and did not bother visiting.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Dear christ.

 

[Chorn]

Foot binding was also seen as a sign of social status as it indicated that the woman was well off enough to not have to work (as it basically crippled them)

 

[Betelgeuse]

That foot binding is like the girls that stretch their neck and the more they neck is stretched the more status or something like that.

 

[hossoso]

so this what happens if you're a fucking fascist dictator who caused the deaths of countless people (among other shitty things you like to do) and the jig is up...

I bet he won't do that again.

 

[hossoso]

A man that teaches pottery classes in Turkey discovered a cave beneath his workshop and, recognizing an opportunity to boost attendance at his school, set about attaching the names, addresses and locks of hair from over 16,000 different women to every inch of available wall and ceiling space. Your move, Japan.

Seems legit.

.

 

[hossoso]

Be careful at your next cocktail party.

After that fifth or sixth glass of wine this antipasti platter:

Starts to look a bit like this dissected orangutan:

I'm not even sure why caterers always insist on putting the two right next to each other. Seems stupid.

.

 

[hossoso]

Hitler and Goebbels from the Soviet Union Puppet Theater (c. 1942).

Seems like they're gasping for Jewish souls.

 

[hossoso]

the Strange and Unusual Spirit Photography Caption Contest.

If I get permission to use my Sportsbook cash in this way, I will be be giving out prizes for the funniest captions accompanying antique Spirit photographs (winners probably voted on). Some ridiculous examples are posted below:

 

[Grand Potentate]

Set this up in a different thread. I cannot wait to see the results.

 

[hossoso]

Set this up in a different thread. I cannot wait to see the results.

I'll do that, thanks.

 

[hossoso]

Walter H. Lambert, British ventriloquist and female impersonator.

The guy in drag, the sick dummy, the atmosphere... I just love everything about this picture.

 

[Betelgeuse]

Those last posts... how on earth am I suppose to sleep today?

 

[Grand Potentate]

How do they eat?

 

[Grand Potentate]

They put food in their mouths, chew, and swallow. Duh

Thank you, doctor. Once again, you've come through for me with invaluable information.

 

[Grand Potentate]

well, they do have a plate

Fork in the nose?

 

[Chorn]

They remove the plate. What I am curious to see is what their lips look like if they rip. You'd have two dangling 4 inch lip scraps hanging from the corner of your mouth.

 

[hossoso]

I'd heard of the fake border crossing tours but never seen pictures. I've always joked with people about what a great coyote I would make. Maybe I should apply for a job there.

 

[Grand Potentate]

I'd heard of the fake border crossing tours but never seen pictures. I've always joked with people about what a great coyote I would make. Maybe I should apply for a job there.

I was going to go to one but I never got the chance.

 

[hossoso]

I suppose I could even volunteer... just do it to realize my lifelong passion for human-trafficking.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Human trafficking is a lot messier than you might realize. And the profit margins are razor thin nowadays.

As opposed to your glory days of being a Coyote back in the 90's?

 

[Pauly Chase]

I am having very disturbed images in my head after seeing the foot binding and the disked lip pics.

 

[hossoso]

I am having very disturbed images in my head after seeing the foot binding and the disked lip pics.

Next time you come to a lull in conversation, mention and describe one of those subjects, and, in your head, thank acidboy. 'Well Dressed' is an important part of this forum but 'Well Versed' is also essential. If you run out of interesting subjects to entertain with, it doesn't matter how well dressed you are... you're boring.

 

[Pauly Chase]

Noted. Thank you sir.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Seeing as how they're freak acts of nature, I thought some of these might qualify:

http://io9.com/breathtaking-and-horrifying-images-of-natures-destruct-1064221251

 

[ETF]

The Gateway to Hell

is how this flaming pit is known by locals in Turkmenistan. Soviet geologists found a cavern full of natural gas and decided to burn it off so it wouldn't poison anyone. They thought it would take a few days. That was in 1971 - it's still burning .

You can see it on google maps.

 

[ETF]

Mind Control - it's real folks.

And it's perpetrated by a fungus. Meet Cordyceps, a genus of fungi that preys on jungle insects (yes that's right, preys on) and in some cases, controls their minds -




And mushrooms aren't the only ones at it.

Meet toxoplasma gondii

a parasite that infects just about all warm blooded mammals.

However, it can only breed in cats. So what does a horny toxoplasma gondius (someone double check my latin there) do if it happens to find itself in a mammal other than a cat? Why it controls your mind and forces you to indulge in behaviour that increases the likelihood of your getting caught and eaten by a cat. Infected mice and rats have been found to lose their natural fear of new situations, their natural sense of caution, and to become wreckless.

(I have no evidence that those particular mice are infected)

Up to a third of humans are thought to be infected. But studies in hospital emergency rooms have shown that the infection rate amongst drivers at fault in road traffic accidents is significantly higher. So next time you do decide to overtake that slow moving truck in front even though you're a little too close to a blind corner, ask yourself, is it really you making that decision, or is it a tiny parasite in your brain trying to make you get eaten by a cat?

 

[OfficePants]

And we pause for a meditative moment.

 

[hossoso]

That's an awesome picture. Is that Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia?

 

[OfficePants]

That's an awesome picture. Is that Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia?

I wish I knew because I'd take a pick axe there and then mount that skull above my bed.

 

[hossoso]

On loan from the Josephinium Collection at the Vienna Museum of Natural History.

Cute, no?

 

[hossoso]

The Museum of Criminal Anthropology, Turin.

A former resident professor of forensic medicine removed dozens of criminals heads post mortem (forced mortem?) covered them in wax, put them in cabinet and called it good.

A quick email exchange with the museum was unproductive. They weren't sure exactly what I was talking about when I brought up candles, I got the impression that they thought I was the one that was confused. We were however able to resolve that she would not, under any circumstances, sell even one of the wax heads to a private collection and they do not go on tour. Now I know why everyone hates Italians.

 

[ETF]

That reminds me of Jeremy Bentham, the 18th century philosopher, who requested that his body be stuffed and preserved after his death. The mummification process went a bit wrong, and the head was rather unsightly, so a wax replica was made. His body is still on display in UCL -

But the head is kept out of sight -

The head was once stolen by UCL students and ransomed back to the university. Occasionally he is wheeled out to attend special meetings of the university's governing committee, when it is recorded in the minutes that he is present, but not voting.

 

[hossoso]

Take only pictures and leave only footprints...

...and cause a distraction. I'm about rob me some fucking awesome souvenirs.

UNAUTHORIZED SOUVENIRS

A piece of my man George Washington's coffin.

A stone from Joan of Arc's dungeon.

A Yeti hand that someone pocketed and nonchalantly walked out of a Nepalese temple with.

A piece of Plymouth Rock (which has been almost entirely carted off by a couple centuries of tourists).

The "Welcome to Auschwitz" sign.

The Bastille.

A tyrannosaurus rex that a Florida man walked out of Mongolia with.

This sign in Austria.

This hat made of hard-boiled eggs--the world's largest.

This beach (several hundred tons of sand) in Jamaica was secretly stolen over a matter of days in an operation that would have required a fleet of heavy load trucks and excavation support. It has not been recovered, all that was found were tire tracks.

 

[hossoso]

That reminds me of Jeremy Bentham, the 18th century philosopher, who requested that his body be stuffed and preserved after his death. The mummification process went a bit wrong, and the head was rather unsightly, so a wax replica was made. His body is still on display in UCL -

But the head is kept out of sight -

The head was once stolen by UCL students and ransomed back to the university. Occasionally he is wheeled out to attend special meetings of the university's governing committee, when it is recorded in the minutes that he is present, but not voting.

Bentham

Cromwell

Einstein

Galileo's Finger

Buddha's tooth

Henry IV

Lincoln

Rasputin.

The Son of God's foreskin.

St. Hugh tried to rip off Mary Magdelene's arm, thinking that would make a fucking sick relic that everyone would be jealous of.. It was difficult so he just bit off two fingers.

St. Januarius' blood. Reverts to liquid state three times a year. Not bad.

 

[hossoso]

Spiritual medium Marthe Beraud excreting ectoplasm during a 1910 session.

Whatever.

.

 

[Grand Potentate]

hossoso where is that beach in Jamaica?

 

[hossoso]

Trelawny

 

[hossoso]

Major General Horatio Gordon Robley was so taken with traditional Maori tattoos when he was stationed in New Zealand that he had to get some. He is pictured above with his authentic Maori tattoos in Barnum's dime museum 1883.

 

[hossoso]