Meets The Weird » Weird

Strange Noise Roars From Florida Sky

John D — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:05:59 +0000

Over the past couple of months, I have been hearing reports of strange sounds that seem to be coming from the sky. The strange thing is, these reports have not been localized to a specific area. Individuals have reported “sightings” of the sound from all over. Quite a few people have jumped on the HAARP bandwagon, but I think that label gets slapped on phenomena way to easily, so I am refraining from joining in for now until there is better evidence of that. What we do know is that this low bass rumble seems to continue for extended periods of time and no one know what it is or what is causing it (at least anyone who is talking). This example comes to us from Tallahassee, Florida, posted May of this year to YouTube. According to the witness, 911 and the local news station reported receiving multiple calls about the sound that lasted 20 minutes.

The witness reports that the final “answer” offered by the local news was that the sound was thunder. As a life long Floridian who has been in his share of storms, I can tell you, that is no thunder. Sheilaaliens on YouTube, thinks that the noise may be from NASA’s rocket tests at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. However, Stennis is over 300 miles from Tallahassee. If the sound was so loud witnesses thought there was a tornado coming, the test would have been deafening in closer communities, including the city of New Orleans (which is only 40 miles away), but we don’t have any reports of the sort. Especially when you consider this video from St. Petersburg (450 miles away) that was taken at the end of August of a similar noise, if NASA testing is to blame for the racket, it sure doesn’t seem to be coming from the Stennis Space Center.

This only begins to address the Floridia “sightings” of the sound. In similar videos you can hear the sound in Maryland, Spain, Denmark, and many other places all over the world. These sounds all seemed to suddenly start this year. What could be causing the racket? HAARP? A geologic event? UFOs? Tell us what you think in the comments.

More Strange Sounds Recorded

Giant Lego Minifig Washes Ashore On Florida Coast

John D — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:08:18 +0000

Being a Floridian I have spent more than my fare share of time on the state’s beaches and from time to time have seen some weird stuff wash up on shore, but I have never seen anything this weird/awesome in my life. Earlier today at Siesta Key Village, Florida, Jeff Hindman found a giant Lego Minifig washed up on the beach. Now for the life of me, I can not understand why he left the 8 foot figure on the beach (if I had found it, it so would be sitting in my living room making my inner child uncontrollably giddy), but he did.

Amazingly, this is not the first time that this has happened. Yes, giant Minifigs have washed up onshore before. Four years ago a similar Minifig was found in Holland followed by a second in Brighton, England a year later. At the time research into the giant Minifigs revealed a connection to a website for Ego Leonard which is apparently run by a group of Dutch artists. Could this giant Lego have spent years floating in the Atlantic before making its way to the Sunshine State or is it part of a new group of giant figures deposited off the Florida coast (possibly linked to recent opening of LegoLand Florida)?

Giant Lego Man washes ashore in Florida

Venezuelan Mimes Fight Back Against Nightmarish Traffic

John D — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:45:39 +0000

photo by SammyDavisDog

To say that in Caracas, Venezuela traffic is a problem would be making a gross understatement. In the Sucre district of the city it has become such a problem that the mayor has turned to mimes to help tame the area’s traffic woes. The 120 specially trained mimes wearing brightly colored “clown-like” costumes took to the streets the past week to admonish traffic law violators. Surprisingly, this isn’t a new idea. A similar program that was successful in Bogota, Colombia prompted Sucre’s mayor Carlos Ocariz to give the mimes a try. Will giving bad drivers the “silent treatment” prompt them to change their ways?

In Venezuela, gas is cheap (like 14 cents a gallon cheap), driving is seen as a right and very little is done to regulate it. In fact, Venezuelan authorities were unable to even suspend drivers licenses until 2008 and they didn’t actually suspend a single license until earlier this year when police stopped a bus driver whose vehicle was overloaded with passengers, speeding and missing a wheel. The driver’s license was suspended for one year. The maximum suspension that the law allows is 5 years, but you need to kill someone to receive that harsh a punishment. With no real penalties for breaking traffic laws drivers are free to do what ever they want on the roads. Speeds on Venezuela’s pothole filled highways routinely exceed 100 miles per hour as drivers weave from lane to lane and motorcyclists treat sidewalks as their own passing lanes. With such little emphasis on traffic safety, it is hard to imagine that putting mimes on the street in will do anything but add to the chaos.

City Hires Mimes to Give Bad Drivers the Silent Treatment

Send Your Loved-Ones Off With A Bang

John D — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:01:31 +0000

photo courtesy U.S. Army Environmental Command

A company called Holy Smoke from Stockton, Alabama wants to let you turn your dearly departed loved ones into ammunition. For approximately $850, the company will turn 1 pound of cremated remains into 250 shotgun shells, 250 handgun cartridges or 100 rifle cartridges. According to their site the base $850 fee will cover most standard calibers/gauges and loads, though they will also produce specialty calibers and loadings for a nominal fee. Customers can also opt to upgrade the standard plastic ammo box for a display-grade walnut ammunition carrier with an engraved name plate. Since Holy Smoke’s process only uses a portion of the cremated remains, more traditional funeral options are also possible in conjunction with the service.

In a word where you can already have your remains shot into space, turned into a diamond or become part of your own memorial fireworks display, I am honestly surprised no one has come up with this sooner. Especially considering the very strong gun culture in the US and the service’s relatively low-cost, I could actually see this becoming a popular way to memorialize a gun enthusiast. I personally think burial is a waste of space and while I don’t know what I would like done with my remains, I can hardly think of a better way to honor a gun enthusiast than taking their favorite gun to the range or on a hunt and let part of them be involved in the activity. What do you think? Would you like to be turned into memorial ammunition or is there something else you would like done with your remains? Feel free to share in the comments.

Holy Smoke, LLC [via Make]

Galileo’s missing fingers discovered at auction

The Curious Case of UVB-76: The Buzzer

John D — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:24:21 +0000

For at least 29 years a strange radio signal has been broadcast from inside Russia and perplexed shortwave radio enthusiasts. Nicknamed “The Buzzer” by amateur listeners due to the audible buzzes broadcast by the station. The station, which broadcasts on 4625 kHz AM, is thought to be operated by the Russian government, though little is really know about the signal – including where it is broadcast from. Theories about the true nature of the Buzzer range from it being a test signal for radio operators to tune their equipment to it being part of the Soviet Union’s “Dead Hand” nuclear retaliation system. Other theories include that it is used for ionosphere research or that it is a “numbers station” used to communicate with spies around the globe. Adding to the mystery surrounding the Buzzer are a number of voice broadcasts that enthusiast have overheard containing what seem to be coded messages and the stations call sign (which was originally UVB-76 but currently is reported to be 94ZhT). Also an occasional faint conversation in Russian can be heard behind the buzzing which leads those interested in numbers stations to believe that the station’s trademark buzz is being broadcast over an open mic.

While we may never know why The Buzzer buzzes, listening in is as easy as firing up your web browser thanks to a Buzzer enthusiast in Estonia. Simply head over to UVB-76.net and you can listen to a live feed of the signal. [I had to use one of the desync.com sponsored feeds to get any audio, but that may be my computer.] Though if you’d like to try and tune in “old school” and are within UVB-76′s broadcast range (which can reach into the Eastern US), any shortwave receiver should work (they can be purchased on Amazon for around $40 USD and up). Just tune in to 4625 kHz and listen for the buzz.

If you have or pick up a shortwave set and are interested in listening to other “numbers stations” be sure to check out Priyom.org for times and frequencies to tune in.

Inside the Russian Short Wave Radio Enigma [via Boing Boing]

You Can Own the World’s Smallest Digital Camera

John D — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:35:08 +0000

Thanks to the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog the worlds smallest digital camera can be yours for $100 US. Measuring 1 1/8″ x 1″ x 1 1/16″ the 2 megapixel camera stores it’s not so tiny photos and videos on a MicroSD card ranging in size up to 32Gb.

While Hammacher Schlemmer doesn’t provide any sample images taken by the diminutive snapper, you can probably safely assume from its size and price tag that its image quality falls somewhere in the toy digi-cam range. Especially with the proliferation of high quality cell phone cameras, this probably won’t be the next big thing in collecting evidence of ghosts, UFOs, or cryptids, but it’s small size may be a boon to investigators looking to sneak a camera in where it isn’t wanted. In that case the best camera is truly the one in your hand. Even if you aren’t looking to blow the lid off a global conspiracy, The World’s Smallest Camera certainly is an interesting conversation piece and would make an excellent gift (especially for the shutterbug that has everything).

The World’s Smallest Camera [via Gizmodo]

Rabbit Saves Family From Blaze

John D — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:15:05 +0000

Quite often animals are dismissed as simple creatures driven by very basic instincts. Occasionally an animal acts in a way that flies in the face of what someone would expect from a flight or fight response and instead exhibits what in humans we would label as bravery. A pet rabbit in Ketchikan, Alaska became one such case when it saved its owners from a house fire. According to fire officials, the homeowner was alerted to the fire when her pet rabbit jumped onto her bed and began scratching her chest. Thanks to the rabbit, the homeowner and her daughter were able to escape the house unscathed. Unfortunately the rabbit was not so lucky and succumbed to smoke inhalation.

Hero rabbit saves owners from house fire [via Gizmodo]

Zombie Fish Invade UK Kitchen!

John D — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:16:09 +0000

Okay, so the post title may be a little over the top, but when you watch this video it may not seem so sensationalistic. These very dead, gutted & skinned dogfish fillets caught Youtube user TheSilvercarmel by surprise when they started flopping wildly while she was making dinner. I could go on discussing how weird and creepy this is, but really the video speaks for itself.

This apparently went on for approximately an hour, when TheSilvercarmel’s husband put the zombie fish down for good. (For those of you interested in more zombie dogfish action, there is a second clip available here for your viewing pleasure.)

On a semi-related note, apparently sprinkling salt on freshly skinned frog legs causes a similarly creepy reaction. I don’t know if the two phenomena are related, but just incase you still haven’t got your fill of twitching carrion, this is an excellent example of dancing frog legs.

Freaky Tea 1 [via Boing Boing]

24 Hours In A Texas Walmart

John D — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:39:36 +0000

Except in rare instances, when I make a trip to Walmart, I go in and grab what I need, pay and leave as quickly as possible (though my local Walmart’s refusal to open more than a small handful their registers usually thwarts that). There is just something about that store that I can’t stand. So for me, even the thought of spending anymore time than necessary in one makes my skin crawl. That said, I have always a morbid curiosity with what it would be like to stay in one since they changed over to being open 24-7. Thanks to Bayan Rabbani over at Zug.com, my curiosity has been satisfied. Bayan is not very clear on why he decided to spend 24 consecutive hours inside a Walmart Supercenter (though can there even be a rational explanation for wanting to do that), but he did and fortunately for the rest of the internet he chronicled his adventure on Twitter for posterity.

While his 24 hour experiment is full of interesting anecdotes ranging from fondling produce to waking up in the Mcdonalds with no memory of how he got there, the true high point (at least for me) is that it took the crack Walmart management team a full twenty two hours to realize that he was staying in the store. Though I guess they should at least be given credit for being good sports about the whole affair. After Bayan explained what he was doing they let him stay the last two hours to finish out the full 24.

The Walmart Experiment: 24 Hours Locked Inside a Super Walmart [via The Consumerist]

IRS Short Changed By Carwash… Sends Agents To Collect $0.04

John D — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:57:23 +0000

photo by r-z

While there is nothing abnormal about the IRS dispatching agents to collect delinquent taxes. (In fact, I would go as far to call it prudent considering the staggering national debt.) Last week in Sacramento, California the practice took a sharp turn into the absurd when two agents pulled into Harv’s Metro Car Wash to deliver a demand letter. The amount of back taxes owed to Uncle Sam by the business…. FOUR CENTS. Adding to the absurdity of the whole event, the demand letter also stated the business owes an additional $202.31 in additional fines and interest stemming from the original 4 cent debt.

As I said before, I can completely understand (and support) the collection of back taxes. However, you have to wonder what the fine folks at the IRS are smoking. Even considering the additional fines and interest (which seem a tad high for owing less than a nickel), $202.35 could have barely covered the cost of paying two agents to gas up a government vehicle and drive out to the business. Even the postage required to mail the notice could have paid the original debt many times over. I guess the moral of the story is to make sure your tax returns are absolutely perfect or else the IRS will spare no expense in getting what they are owed, no matter the amount.

IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents [via Boing Boing]

A Post-It Note is all the FBI needs to get your phone records!