Category: Odd
City Hall
He’s presumably somewhere in this building in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. [Found here, via here.]
Something’s Not Right, Ma.
In the early 1900s a German, Max Kruse, criticized commercially made baby dolls as being “hideous” and refused to buy them for his kids, so his wife Käthe began making her own, modeling them after their own children. It became a hobby. She started taking orders for the handmade dolls, made of muslin stuffed with reindeer hair, and heads of painted papier maché.
The dolls were popular in Germany, and a 1910 exhibition in New York City brought her dolls international attention. In 1916 she received two orders (750 dolls) from a large New York toy retailer and she opened a successful manufacturing business.
After the deaths of two sons and her husband during WWII, Käthe Kruse began painting sorrowful faces on her dolls. Chancellor Hitler noticed and personally ordered her factory shut down in 1944 – the dolls didn’t look cheerful and optimistic enough for wartime (and she had refused to dismiss her Jewish employees).
In the 1950s her custom doll manufacturing business resumed, but with difficulty. It eventually recovered and her name brand is still going. Käthe Kruse passed away in 1968, just shy of her 85th birthday.
Antique Käthe Kruse “Little Hempel” dolls are collectors items (beware of counterfeits) and can fetch up to $1,200 0n Ebay.
[Images at top found here.]
Smile
[Found here.]
Illecebrous Hot Links
Pressure Drop, The Clash (1979)
“Now when it drops on your dirty little head (oh yeah)
Where you gonna go?”
In 1979, premier UK punk group The Clash covered The Maytals’ 1969 hit.
Rat kings.
Rat king dumplings.
“It’s a Jeff Lewis Meal Deal.”
The Teether [via Everlasting Blört].
Astronaut Michael Collins’ secret fear.
Catchin’ crawfs [via Memo Of The Air].
10 minutes of ant noise [via Thompson, blog].
[Image at top found here. Don’t forget to call Mom.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
The .Gif Post No. 954 – Miniskirts ‘n’ Boots, Shake Your Thang & Do The Spazz
Dumbo of the Deep
Dumbo Octopus
Members of the genus Grimpoteuthis, these critters are the deepest-living octopus known to science and can be found near the seafloor at depths of up to 13,000 ft (4,000 m). These adorable cephalopods flap their ear-like fins as they move through the water—a behavior that inspired scientists to name the genus Grimpoteuthis after Disney’s flying elephant. Unlike many other octopuses, Dumbo octopuses do not have ink sacs. Some scientists think it’s because they rarely encounter predators in their extremely remote, deep-sea habitats.
Photo: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Wikimedia Commons
Credit: American Museum of Natural History.
[Image and description found here. Dumbo octo gif found here; more cephalopod stuff here.]
Shades of Green
Cinco de Mayopia
[Caveat: I don’t own the copyrights to any of these recordings. They are presented here for entertainment purposes only. Images found scattered around the internets.]
Alphitomancing Hot Links
Go Away Baby, The Baby Dolls (1960) “Hi I am an original Baby Doll who is flattered by the positive comments and that our records are being played and recognized by the many viewers of websites. Just a little history on us. The Baby Dolls were a young Black female group that consisted of two sisters. and 2-3 friends that got a record deal with Maske records. I learned that our records were being played on various websites a few months ago, and was surprised that anyone remembered us, but honored that they did.” – Rebecca Warren, via YouTube comments, 2014.
Jeeves, dead at 30.
R.I.P David Allan Coe.
R.I.P. Nedra Talley Ross.
For want of coconuts and fish.
Canadian military fights itself.
Roman boiler [via Thompson, blog].
Thunk the Fabric Pet Rock [via Everlasting Blört].
THE Pulp Magazine Archive [via Memo Of The Air].
[Top image: Abandoned cars at Old Car City USA found here.]
Update: 1956 Mercury on the left, ditto on the right. h/t Dan P.
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.
Tacky Raccoons 