In a scene right out of The Wizard of Oz a dog survived a 20-mile flight through the air.

Strong winds in Gesztered, Hungary lifted the dog, who was seeking shelter from the storm in his dog house, high into the air. When the newly-renamed ‘Lucky’ was found by the combined efforts of the Red Cross and it’s owner it was shaken but otherwise unharmed.

Was this an accident with a happy ending, or are dogs just now catching up to the Wright Brothers?

[Digital Spy]

Everyday this week…Brett Rounsaville brings us the Weirdest Inventions ever conceived.

A topic like this, sometimes you owe it to the world to pay lip service to the big clichés. Case in point, I think we can all agree that if there’s one group of people we know we can count on to come up with one of the weirdest inventions we’ve ever seen…oh yeah…okay…I forgot already…it’s the Japanese. BUT, if there are TWO groups of people then the second one is DEFINITELY the military!

Have you seen this contraption? I thought I had. Knowing that it came from the breeding ground of weird that is the military-industrial complex, I was pretty sure it was the lecherous King of the Isle of Jazz’s artillery, until I remembered my Dad had assured me at some point that cartoons aren’t real. (Heartbreaking.)

Back to square one. Turns out this thing isn’t designed to go to battle with the Land of Symphony, it’s supposed to be a little like a giant tinhorn. You know, those metal horns old people stick in their ears to hear better in cartoons. (Hmm…somehow it already came back to cartoons.) Except this particular phalanx of inverse instruments is meant to alert the old man on the other end to incoming enemy aircraft. (At which point SOP states he must shake his cane, mumble unintelligibly for 10-20 seconds, then suddenly shout, “…OR I’LL SHOVE THIS WALKIN’ STICK UP YOUR @$$!!!)

Unfortunately, I’m not sure how well this fancy little listening device worked. Can anyone tell me what country those soldiers in the foreground are from? If it’s Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, or the Ottoman Empire my guess would be, “not as well as they had hoped.”

Regardless, eventually the old men were replaced with radar operators…

Military history is rife with weird inventions. See if you can’t find me a few more that out weird this one. I dare you.

When our loved ones pass away we are often told that they will always be with us. Kim Mordue of Wales took that comforting advice a little too literally.

When her son passed away from a drug overdose, Mordue memorialized him in a most unusual fashion. She mixed the deceased’s ashes in with tattoo ink and had her husband give her a memorial tattoo with the mixture.

“I’ve put Lloyd back where he started,” she says, “he’s in my body again.”

This isn’t the first unusually artistic (and creepy) use of ashes in recent history.  When former Marvel Comics editor Mark Gruenwald passed away in 1997 his final wishes were that his ashes be used for a limited-edition print run of Squadron Supreme, a comic he wrote in the 80’s.

Do you know any weirder ways people have used the ashes of the dead? Let us know in the comments!

[UPI]

It’s either that or we’ve begun principal photography on the long-awaited Ghost Busters spin off Slimer Goes To Space.

[Daily Mail via NASA]

German explorer Leo Frobenius came to West Africa and made a startling discovery. Gorgeous statues cast in exquisite bronze. So intricate, so beautiful, they so could not be the work of the locals. No, of course not. They simply had to be the handiwork of the lost city of Atlantis. Finally! Proof had washed upon the shores of modernity!

Or not. Turns out the statues were, in fact, created by the locals. Oops.

In his book, Voice of Africa, Frobenius wrote: “Before us stood a head of marvellous beauty, wonderfully cast in antique bronze, true to the life, incrusted with a patina of glorious dark green. This was, in very deed, the Olokun, Atlantic Africa’s Poseidon.”

“I was moved to silent melancholy at the thought that this assembly of degenerate and feeble-minded posterity should be the legitimate guardians of so much loveliness,” he added.

Frobenius was referring to the people who lived in the Kingdom of Ife and whose artists, in fact, created the sculptures over the course of some four centuries. Leading art experts believe they are among the most aesthetically striking and technically sophisticated in the world.

The sculptures are now on display at the Museum of London, after which they come to the United States.

[CNN]

UPDATED: with test footage thanks to @LHymas on Twitter.

Aw hell yeah.

The Jetpack achieves with 30 minutes of flight time and is fueled by regular premium gasoline, though you will undoubtedly earn some disbelieving stares at the petrol station. Since it has been built according to ultralight regulations no FAA recognized pilot’s license is required to fly one in the U.S., though this will depend on a country’s specific requirements. However, despite being significantly less complex than a helicopter to fly as pitch and roll are controlled by one hand, thrust and yaw by the other, Martin Aircraft won’t let anyone take receipt of their jetpack before completing their specially-developed Martin Aircraft Company approved training program. The pilot must also weigh between 140-240 lbs.

It’ll cost you about 90k to get into the jet pack lifestyle and a waiting list has already formed.

[Business Week]

[Actual Test Footage Of Jet Pack!]

Everyday this week…Brett Rounsaville brings us the Weirdest Inventions ever conceived.

A topic like this, sometimes you owe it to the world to pay lip service to the big clichés. Case in point, I think we can all agree that if there’s one group of people we know we can count on to come up with one of the weirdest inventions we’ve ever seen…it’s the Japanese.

So now, the problem becomes, where do we start? Which Japanese invention will hold today’s place of honor firmly in position while adding the necessary support to present it in the best possible light? Which Japanese invention will simultaneously lift the bar and separate itself from the pack? Which Japanese invention will allow for the most gratuitous use of thinly veiled innuendo?

I bring you…The Solar Powered Bra! (I can’t help but feel this is the perfect time for Thus Spake Zarathustra to reach its crescendo.)

I’m not even sure what I love most about this. Is it the beverage holding pouch attached to either… er… chest… piece…? Is it the extra-literal use of the term “green?” The scrolling LED billboard?

Ultimately, I think I’m just happy that women are finally being released from the shackles of having to plug their cell phones into a wall to charge while they sleep. Every. Single. Night. How daunting.

Finally, they have the freedom to charge their electronics as they go about their business in the work-a-day world! Provided it’s sunny out. And they aren’t wearing any clothes…

Also, please don’t wear this current coursing corset out and about on a rainy day. Or wash it. Or…I better stop now.

What do you think? Weird enough for you? If you’re a girl, can you imagine wearing one of these? If you’re a dude, can you imagine wearing one of these? Can you do weirder? Impress me, Team. Let me hear your thoughts.

New archeological evidence proves that the China’s Western Zhou dynasty dabbled in human sacrifice roughly 2,700 years ago.

“In general, there’s been a tendency to describe Western Zhou as a more humanistic period, when the practice of human sacrifices”—which were commonplace during the preceding Shang Dynasty—”were waning,” Sena said.

“But I think the archaeological evidence shows quite clearly that human sacrifices persisted throughout the Zhou period as well.”

So now we know.

[National Geographic]

Just because cats are trying to take control of our brains doesn’t mean they need them. In this eerie footage we see a cat achieve 3 different gait patterns with NO BRAIN AT ALL! Scientists turned off the cats brain to study how much of an animal’s movement is controlled by thought and how much is simply a mechanical mechanism.

As if we needed another reason to fear cats…

Everyday this week…Brett Rounsaville brings us the Weirdest Survival Stories ever told.

If the playground taught us anything it’s that everyone needs someone to make fun of, if for no other reason than to feel good about themselves. That holds true even if your name happens to be Arkansas. Who does Arkansas crack wise about while hanging out near the monkey bars, pointing and laughing? Mississippi.

And, although both weird and awesome, today’s survival story sure as heckfire isn’t doing Mississippi any favors on the playground. I can hear the taunts now as Arkansas and Alabama high-five each other and look to New York and California for approval (who, of course, are too busy hitting on Indiana and Illinois to be bothered with southern shenanigans).

“HAHA! Mississippi don’t even use theys brains! We’d be deaderenadoornail if we was shot in the head! Right? *high-five*”

You guessed it. Today we’re talking about a good ol’ fashioned brain shootin’, right in Jimmy Hart’s hometown.

Tammy Sexton was asleep in bed, comfortable in the knowledge that she was safe and sound and that the restraining order against her abusive husband was as good as a George Zimmer guarantee that she would stay that way; when suddenly, much like a cheap suit, he was all over her.

After shooting Tammy once in the head, her husband, Donald Sexton, with a striking amount of foresight regarding the cleaning bills, then went outside and did the same to himself. Little did he know, not everything went according to plan.

When the police arrived sometime later they found Tammy with a rag to her head and an offering of a hot cup of tea. Which she had made. By herself. Alone. After being shot in the brain.

Turns out Donald’s bullet went straight through her skull making a clean exit and somehow only taking “bonus” bits of brain with it. You know, that part of your brain that’s just there for…um…decoration? Seriously. Not only did she make a full and complete recovery but she can still remember how to ride a bike and what the color yellow smells like. (I may or may not have made that last line up…)

That’s it. You’ve heard the five Weirdest Survival Stories ever told. How would you rank them? We have:

1. Wenseslao Moguel, shot TEN times by a firing squad (but not in the brain)

2. Ming Ming, the big eared chinese kid whose life was saved by his lobes

3. Miracle Mike, the headless chicken

4. Tillie Tooter the tough as nails old lady trapped in a upside-down car, and

5. Tammy “Extra Brain” Sexton.

Be loud and be proud, gang. I want to hear your opinions on this.

Check out this weird shape-shifting UFO caught on camera in earlier this month in Yokohama, Japan. It changes from saucer to sphere and back again. And you have to hand it to the cameraman for keeping such a tight shot on it.

UFO, or SFX Senior Project? Let us know what you think in the comments.

We have more footage of what can only be described as a tense stand off between one mountain man and a predatory Sasquatch. We talked about Tim Peeler in the most recent WeirdThingsTV but another local news station covered the battle and even advanced the story, revealing the technology Peeler plans on using to snap a picture of the beast.

Come back to WeirdThings for continued coverage of Tar Heel Bigfoot Watch…

Everyday this week…Brett Rounsaville brings us the Weirdest Survival Stories ever told.

I hope you guys don’t mind, but I’m going to get a little personal today.

You see, I work from home an awful lot and sometimes when I’m busy I tend to forgo other important tasks…like eating. It’s not that unusual for me to take my first meal around 5pm.

Why 5pm?

Because that’s about the time when, no matter how focused I am, my body starts to turn inward on itself, screaming for sustenance and threatening to begin digesting my stomach lining as punishment for my gastronomical indiscretions. It’s the time when, completely without permission from my brain, my stomach orders my hand to start dialing for pizza. It’s the time when the spasms start and I end up in the fetal position begging my non-existent intern to bring me a sandwich.

5pm.

Tillie Tooter, an 83-year-old woman survived being trapped in her car with only a cough drop, a peppermint and a stick of chewing gum as rations for THREE DAYS. There are a few items here that I feel are worth reiterating.

1. 83.

2. Cough drop, peppermint, stick of gum.

3. THREE DAYS.

4. Upside-down in a tree. (Did I not mention that part?)

Thanks to a hit and run while traveling on the freeway at three in the morning Tillie’s car was pushed off of a raised freeway in South Florida landing 40 feet below in the clutches of a mangrove tree. She dangled above the swamp for three days before a passing landscaper noticed her Toyota Tercel. (Possibly the most disappointing fact of the story. Shouldn’t some little old lady who’s tough enough to survive stuck in a tree for three days be driving a Hummer or something? At least a Suburu, right?!)

In addition to her, ahem…food, (which, let’s be honest here, is probably just the stuff she’d been keeping in her purse since 1983 to punish any grandkids who whine about wanting a snack.) she collected rainwater in her quilted steering wheel cover and a pair of socks she hung the window.

Also worth mentioning, she had no internet service in the tree and I could find no information either confirming or denying whether she was the daughter of Wenseslao Moguel, mother of Ming Ming and/or owner of Mike the Headless Chicken.

Do you know any old ladies that could take Tillie in a bare knuckled brawl? How does her story stack up against the rest of this week’s weird survival stories? Seriously, a Tercel?!

All the best tech comes from Sci Fi and comic books, fact.

The United States Army has ordered a huge hybrid airship longer than a football field to watch over battlefields in Afghanistan by the end of 2011, according to the airship’s builder Northrop Grumman Corporation.

The company has received a $517 million Army contract to build up to three of the huge military airships, called the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles (LEMV). Such airships would serve as surveillance stations at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) above sea level and could stay on watch for as long as three weeks at a time.

A LEMV would also have the capability to carry a 2,500-pound (1,113 kg) payload, and still zip along at 92 mph (148 kph) if necessary. The 302-foot (92-meter) airship would typically have a cruising speed of just 34 mph (54.7 kph).

How else are we supposed to launch our Howling Commandos from an airborne position?

[SPACE]

You’re on a boat (in the T-Painian milieu) off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. All of a sudden a random periscope pops up and looks you right in the face. You look back.

It recedes in the water. But no one will own up to owning the sub or being there when you saw it. Secret military mission? Gaudy millionaire hunting pirates? Psychedelic party submersible?

[Sun-Sentinel]