Oddee has a collection of links to some particularly oddee things that you could actually buy once upon a time.

A few favorites include the scalp massager:

The home horse exercise device:

The stove/sink/refrigerator:

And the solar head bath apparatus:

Our favorite part about that last one is what it says next to the image:

No the peculiar looking device in the photo at left is not a camera, nor even a telescope, although partially resembling both…

They must had some pretty strange cameras and telescopes back in the day!

There are lots more over at Oddee.

If there’s one thing we’re suckers for here at the BRI, it’s stories that have anything to do with ninjas. Or robots. Or zombies. Or Elvis sightings. Or stories involving sightings of ninja-robot-zombie-Elvises. Which is more common than you might think.

Where were we? Oh yeah: Ninjas!

A group of would-be muggers in a Sydney, Australia, met their match Tuesday night in the form of black-clad ninjas.

The three stalked and attacked a German exchange student, 27, in a dimly lit alley that fortunately for the victim ran behind the Ninja Senshi Ryu warrior school…

Ninja story short: The ninjas saw the muggers beating on the guy, and went after them. And the ninjas won. The ninjas always win.

The British Mail Online news service has a story this morning on a peculiar piece of clothing created by a Japanese designer. We just happened to have written a bit about that odd bit of attire in our just-released Uncle John’s World’s Gone Crazy Bathroom Reader:

THE VENDING MACHINE SKIRT

Let’s say you’re walking down the sidewalk dressed in an ordinary skirt and—Here come the bad guys! And they’re chasing you! Run! Hide! Too bad you weren’t wearing this special piece of clothing: The Vending Machine Skirt, by Tokyo designer Aya Tsukiokais. It looks like a normal skirt, but, when you need to become invisible, it quickly unfolds to become a large, rectangular piece of cloth that looks just like a soda vending machine. Just hold it in front of you and hide behind it, so the idea goes, and you’ll blend into the scenery. “Vending machines are on every corner of Japanese streets, and we take it for granted,” says Aya. “That’s how I came up with the idea for this dress.”

And now, because you deserve it, a video demonstration of The Vending Machine Skirt by Ms. Tsukiokais, with a bonus demonstration of her Manhole Cover Purse:

It was hard to believe that this story wasn’t a hoax, but it apparently is the real (weird) deal:

“Road safety chiefs have put up traffic signs warning motorists of drunks in the road in a bid to reduce accidents. Mayor Petru Antal ordered the signs – saying ‘Attention – Drunks’, complete with an image of a reveller on his knees with a bottle – after despairing of accident figures in Pecica, Romania.”

Attention: Drunks

Gives a whole new meaning to “drunk driving.”

Update 3/19/10: The signs have been taken down:

But now, after the sign received what council bosses describe as “excessive media coverage” they have decided to change them.

New sign will be put up warning drivers of “other dangers” – and not showing the humorous graphic.

Dang!