Miss Turkey Stuffin

Happy Thanksgiving!

Actress Arlene Charles appeared as "Miss Turkey Stuffin" on the Steve Allen Show in November 1968. She claimed to represent the "Turkey Stuffing Board," which was actually an invention of the PR firm that set up her appearance on the show.

Source: Celebrity Stew by Leo Pearlstein

Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 28, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Food | Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving 2024!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 28, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Cannibalism | Holidays | Magazines

Sortes Vergilianae

Ever since ancient times, it's been widely believed that it's possible to use the text of Vergil's Aeneid to foretell the future. The practice is called the sortes Vergilianae.

What you do: think of a question about future events in your life, then open the Aeneid to a random page. The first passage that catches your eye will provide the answer to your question.

Of course, the practice is little known today. Instead, we've got the Magic 8 Ball. Someone should make a version of the Magic 8 Ball that would offer up lines from Vergil.

More details from A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel:

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 27, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Predictions | Ancient Times

The Elusive Scottish Haggis

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 27, 2024 - Comments (4)
Category: Cryptozoology | Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature | Humor | United Kingdom

Atomic Bomb food tastes off

May 1955: Food tasters sampled a meal of French fries, vegetables, strawberries, chicken pot pie, cod fish fillets, and orange juice taken from a freezer buried 1,270 feet from an atomic bomb blast. While all the food was deemed edible, they said the orange juice and pie were noticeably "off flavor."

It's unclear why the food tasted off. Radiation shouldn't have changed the taste of the food. It was probably because they were told where it was from and their expectations led them to believe it tasted different. The researchers should have conducted a blind taste test.

Tampa Bay Times - May 11, 1955

Reno Gazette-Journal - May 12, 1955

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 26, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Food | Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters | 1950s

Two by Steve Cutts

The creator's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 26, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Anthropomorphism | Business | Shopping | Cartoons | Satire

Sir John Waller looks for a wife

The good news for Sir John Waller (1917-1995) was that he inherited a fortune. The bad news was that in order to inherit the full amount (rather than just the annual interest payments) he had to marry and have a son.

This presented a problem since he was homosexual and had no interest in marrying a woman. Nevertheless, he undertook to satisfy the requirements to obtain his inheritance.

In 1964 he proposed to singer Brigitte Bond soon after meeting her. But he subsequently discovered that she was transsexual and couldn't bear him a child. The engagement was called off two months later.

In 1974 he married Anne Eileen Mileham, and she soon got pregnant — but gave birth to a daughter. That didn't satisfy the inheritance requirements, so again, he promptly divorced her. The scuttlebutt is that he wasn't actually the father of the child anyway.

He died without ever having inherited the money.

More info: wikipedia

London Daily Express - Feb 23, 1995

In the video biography of Brigitte Bond below, there's some discussion (beginning at 11 minutes) of her brief engagement to Waller. Besides her association with Waller, Bond is famous for being the inspiration for the Beat Girl logo used by the ska band the Beat.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 25, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Inheritance and Wills | Divorce | Marriage

Follies of the Madmen #612

Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 25, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising | 1970s | Cars

Four-Sleeved Jacket

The "Four-Sleeve Asymmetric Houndstooth Jacket" by designer Comme des Garçons will set you back $2,190. But it's got four sleeves. So that's only a little over $500 per sleeve.

Available from Nordstrom.com.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 24, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Fashion

Singers & Swingers in the Kitchen

For a sampling of the recipes and pix, visit here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 24, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Celebrities | Food | Cookbooks | Music | 1960s