Earnings

A python I should not advise,
It needs a doctor for its eyes,
And has the measles yearly.
However, if you feel inclined
To get one (to improve your mind,
And not from fashion merely),
Allow no music near its cage;
And when it flies into a rage
Chastise it most severely.
I had an Aunt in Yucatan
Who bought a Python from a man
And kept it for a pet.
She died because she never knew
These simple little rules and few;–
The snake is living yet.

— Hilaire Belloc

July 6, 2005December 14, 2010 | Humor · Poems

Spaghetti Trees

In 1957, as a joke, the BBC TV program Panorama reported a bumper harvest from the “spaghetti trees” of Ticino, Switzerland, thanks to a mild winter and the “virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.”

Britons at the time knew pasta mainly as canned spaghetti with tomato sauce; hundreds of viewers called to ask for advice about growing their own trees.

The BBC reportedly told them to “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

July 5, 2005March 29, 2006 | Hoaxes

Awkward Moments

Songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel Broadcasting following the 9/11 attacks:

The Animals – “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”
Louis Armstrong – “What A Wonderful World”
The Bangles – “Walk Like An Egyptian”
Pat Benatar – “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”
Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
Fuel – “Bad Day”
Gap Band – “You Dropped A Bomb On Me”
Godsmack – “Bad Religion”
Alanis Morissette – “Ironic”
The Surfaris – “Wipeout”
Tool – “Intolerance”

CCB also flagged Maureen McGovern’s “We May Never Love Like This Again” … because it was featured in the movie The Towering Inferno.

July 5, 2005October 26, 2006 | Entertainment

Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil may be a figment, but it’s an admirably hard-working one. Since 1840 the creature has been haunting the southern Pine Barrens, killing livestock, leaving strange tracks, flying, barking, attacking trolleys, eating chickens, biting dogs, and generally expressing a vituperative disapproval of Garden State settlement.

Its appearance matches its disposition. This drawing was made for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin in 1909, but eyewitnesses have also reported a ram’s head, a long neck, thin wings, short legs, thick black hair, a monkey’s arms and hands, a dog’s face, split hooves, a foot-long tail, and “the general appearance of a kangaroo.”

Laugh if you will, but don’t underestimate it: To date the Devil has been shot, electrocuted, and hosed by the West Collingswood fire department, but sightings have continued through 1991, when a pizza deliveryman encountered a white horselike creature in Edison. Watch your back.

July 4, 2005December 14, 2010 | Oddities