Steerforth finds that some things can be so boring they exert a curious fascination... There is a point at which things can be so boring that they become interesting again. That applies to people too. When I was a student, I had a temporary job as an assistant in a reference ... Read More...
Oddities
Even looking at the picture above sets my teeth on edge. This week's weird Wikipedia article looks into the science behind the world's most annoying noise... Scraping a blackboard with fingernails produces a sound which most people find extremely irritating. The basis of this innate reaction has been studied in the ... Read More...
This week, Frank gets down with the gnomes... As I wander about the world, or my small part of it, one thing I find peculiarly distressing is the number of persons of frantic mien who rush up to me and clutch at my lapels, beseeching me. “Mr Key, Mr Key!” they plead, ... Read More...
Sufferers from Foreign Accent Syndrome suddenly find themselves speaking with an alien accent. Douglas explains how you can get a piece of that action... Every now and then news reaches us of a case of so-called Foreign Accent Syndrome. In 2011, for example, a middle-aged woman made a visit to her ... Read More...
Brit's Dabbler Diary will return next week. In the meantime, here's a piece discovered deep within the archives about a very unusual cartoonist... I have in my possession a little book, subtly entitled: FOUR CONFUSING TALES each illustrated by six UP-TURNABLE PICTURES from the incredible TOPSY-TURVY world of GUSTAVE VERBEEK. It has to be ... Read More...
Ever wondered why sailors' wives retain their youthful looks for so long, or why giants have low sexual energy? 'Professor' R. B. D. Wells has the answers... Curmudgeons who moan about bloggers and Wikipedia argue that the democratic nature of the web has allowed ill-informed, ordinary people to flood the internet ... Read More...
Continuing our 1970s theme, Steerforth recalls that decade's obsession with bizarre dance shows and other strange telly... The above picture shows the Easter story, expressed through the medium of dance. How anyone thought it was a good idea to tell the story of the crucifixion of Jesus through dance and mime, performed ... Read More...
'piles: see Benn, Tony'... Just occasionally, a book's index is a work of art in itself. Here, Jonathan Law finds some that offer a hilarious insight into 1970s Britain... In a recent Dabbler Diary, Brit wrote interestingly about reactions to the passing of Tony Benn – that “indefatigable, articulate, admirable, unique ... Read More...
Unwanted house guests, drugs and procrastination are the subject of this week's foray into the nether regions of Wikipedia... The Person from Porlock was an unwelcome visitor to Samuel Taylor Coleridge during his composition of the poem Kubla Khan in 1797. Coleridge claimed to have perceived the entire course of the ... Read More...
There's something cyborg about these early explorers of the meld between man and machine, all part of this week's weird wikipedia article... John Murray Spear (September 16, 1804 – October 5, 1887) was an American Spiritualist clergyman who is most notable for his attempts to construct an electrically powered Messiah which ... Read More...
