Author: Uncle John

The Mail Online Channels Uncle John

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:

Asteroid Sample Coming to Earth in June

Here’s a fascinating story we haven’t heard a word about from one of our favorite science blogs, Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy:

The Japanese mission Hayabusa (“Falcon”) has been nothing if not ambitious. Launched in 2004, it reached the bizarre asteroid Itokawa a little over a year later. It took phenomenal images and other measurements, and even landed on the asteroid itself to take samples, destined to be returned to Earth.

But it has suffered a series of crippling mishaps that have threatened the mission time and again with failure. However, despite all that, the end game is in sight: Hayabusa is almost back home, and on June 13, sometime around 14:00 UT, the sample recovery capsule will parachute down to the Earth.

RIP: Lynn Redgrave

Actress Lynn Redgrave has passed away at age 67:

Our beloved mother Lynn Rachel passed away peacefully after a seven-year journey with breast cancer. She lived, loved and worked harder than ever before. The endless memories she created as a mother, grandmother, writer, actor and friend will sustain us for the rest of our lives. Our entire family asks for privacy through this difficult time.

May 3 in NASCAR History: The Allison Crash

Today is the anniversary of the crash that changed NASCAR. It was 1987, and Bobby Allison was just twenty-two laps into a race at the great Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, when he blew a tire, went airborne at roughly 200 mph, and nearly went through the fence protecting the fans from the track. Several spectators were hurt, and the crash resulted in NASCAR beginning the era of the restrictor plate, slowing the racecars down on the big tracks like Talladega.

The video is guaranteed to give you chills:

Kangaroos in the Noos

News, we meant news. Anyhoo:

• “What is a kangaroo doing in the middle of the road in Bemidji, Minnesota in November?” Luke Havumaki said. (Uncle John said, “In November?”)

• Solving the mysteries of the elusive tree kangaroo. (With video.)

• A motorcycle rider was injured when he ran into a kanagroo. In Texas. (Texas, Asutralia.)

• Hankering for a new flavor potato chip? How about BBQ Kangaroo?

• The hunt for a phantom kangaroo…in Japan.

• Kangaroo v. dingo.

• Horny kangaroos!

• Shark attacks kangaroo. (Whu-huh?)

• And, finally, more ocean-going kangaroos, with less shark.

Ancient Weapons Found in Melting Arctic Ice

We now bring you another exciting edition of As the World Melts:

A treasure trove of ancient weapons has emerged from melting ice patches in the Canadian Arctic, revealing hunting strategies thousands of years old.

The weapons, which include a 2,400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1000-year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years, have been found high in the remote Mackenzie Mountains, a region where Mountain Boreal caribou abound in the summer months.

Politalks: Gordon Brown and the “Bigoted Woman”

Woo hoo. This one’s a doozy. Like we said in the last post, we love politics. Especially this kind.

Setup: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, eight days out from an election in which Brown’s Labour Party is predicted to lose their majority for the first time since 1997, is out on the stump. He comes across one Mrs. Gillian Duffy, aged 65, on a Rochdale, England, street, who had just popped out for a loaf of bread.

He has a nice and seemingly substantive little chat with Mrs. Duffy, surrounded by reporters and cameras.

He says goodbye, and gets in his car…but his microphone was still on. And this conversation is soon played to the world:

Internet Wonders: Old & Interesting

This is such a great idea for a Web site:

This site is about . . .
. . . how people furnished and equipped their homes in previous centuries, and how they handled household tasks. Plans are to keep adding more articles, with the homepage updated every Wednesday – at least. Please email if you want to suggest a topic connected with the history of everyday home life, housekeeping, domestic objects, or any related bits of social history.

Simple and fascinating. There are many, many photographs of actual antique items, along with descriptions of their use. Just a few of the items covered:

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