Dumbest Inventions of the 20th Century: Part I

Epic Fails: 10 of the Dumbest Inventions of the 20th Century
from gajitz.com

Here are a few of the worst inventions of the  20th Century  (in no particular order) described as really dumb, silly or useless  by gajitz.com. I believe though that these is so ONLY because the idea and the product itself never took off for one reason or another other than being silly at the onset. Some of the items actually look cool to me if properly marketed at this time. You be the judge....

(all images via: Life)

1. Motorized surfboard-

Back in 1948, there was apparently nothing weird about riding across a lake on a motorized surfboard while wearing a nice suit and bowler hat and smoking a cigarette. Forget his lack of safety gear – inventor Joe Gilpin looks cool gliding along on the water.This invention could still be a hit with the surfing (beach) crowd noawadays!

2. Flying platform

This invention was only dumb because the Green Goblin stole it and used it to terrorize New York City. This flying platform was developed for the military, and in this picture it’s being tested at an Air Force base. This could still be a precursor for a personal transportation vehicle in the future. 

3. Phone-picking-up machine

A machine that answers the phone? Genius! Except…this one couldn’t talk, play a greeting or record the caller’s voice. So, really, it was more like a phone-picking-up machine.

4. Baby cage 

Humans in the 1930s had a much higher infant mortality rate than the one we experience today, and we think we’ve found the reason: inventions like this insane baby cage that suspends your precious bundle of joy out of the window, high above the very hard pavement below. I believe the idea was more to address the warm summer days especially irritating babies  - but of course with the utter disregard for the child's safety this idea would still be dumb any century!

5. Baby carrier- on skates! 

This is another example of superb 1930s parenting: a baby carrier suspended between two parents. It seems slightly risky, but not like the most dangerous thing ever…until you realize that the parents in question are ice skating. Again.. dumb any time...

Next:

Dumbest Inventions of the 20th Century: Part II

Tags: 20th Century, surfboard, Green Goblin, New York City, ice skating

TV Movie Predicts Christopher Reeve's Paralysis!

A Made-for-TV Movie Predicts Christopher Reeve's Paralysis.
from cracked.com

Christopher Reeve became paralyzed when thrown from a horse on May 27, 1995.

Above Suspicion

In May of 1995, a mediocre movie called Above Suspicion quietly premiered on HBO and then slipped into obscurity. It featured Christopher Reeve as a police officer who suffers from severe depression and encourages his wife and his brother to murder him in order to collect the insurance. So what could trigger that kind of depression? Well, that's the eerie part:

Reeve's character is shot in the spine and confined to a wheelchair for the majority of the movie. Now this film was released on May 25. If for some reason you haven't committed the chronology of Christopher Reeve's life to memory, May 27 was the day he was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident. The movie where he plays a paraplegic was released just two days before his accident landed him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Despite the movie never being in any danger of winning awards or even showing up in theaters, Reeve took the role seriously, preparing by spending a couple of days at a spinal cord trauma unit and learning what it's like to live life in a wheelchair. He even did interviews promoting the movie, stating, "A couple of days at the spinal cord trauma unit and you can see how easily it can happen."

Then, of course, it did happen almost immediately, though in the film, the big reveal is that Reeve was only pretending to be paralyzed to build an elaborate trap for his wife and brother, who were cheating on him behind his back. A pretty morally reprehensible move, even in the context of sibling adultery. Apparently karma thought so, too, but had a hard time differentiating between characters and the actors playing them.

Tags: Christopher Reeve's , Christopher Reeve's Paralysis, Paralysis, Above Suspicion , HBO, spinal cord trauma unit , spinal cord , trauma unit

E Bay SALE!- Slightly used SOUL.

Woman Tries to Sell Her “Slightly Used Soul” on eBay
By Spooky on July 5th, 2012 Category: News, WTF; from odditycentral.com

While some of us wouldn’t sell our soul for all the money in the world, a woman from Albuquerque tried to give hers away for just $2,000.

from odditycentral.com

It might sound like a stupid joke, or an-attention grabbing scheme, but the woman selling her soul, identified as Lori N., said her eBay ad is a cry for help. ”I guess you could say that. I’m at the point now, I’m tired. I don’t feel good. I’m near the end of my rope. I really am,” she told WOAI. Up until five years ago, Lori was living a normal life and made a living as a freelance writer, but a serious car accident completely changed her life. She was a passenger in a car hit by a drunk driver, and the repercussions were dire. The poor woman was in a coma for three weeks, and woke up suffering from a stroke, a broken hip, broken pelvis, leg, collarbone, sternum, ribs, a collapsed lung. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she lost one of her breasts.

Lori N. is a freelance writer who can’t write much anymore and gets by on part-time inventory work. So she figured if she can’t use her body anymore, why nor market her soul? ”What I’m gonna deliver is the opportunity for someone to save my soul,” Lori says. “They can save it through prayer, they can save it through conversion. They’re also gonna get a certificate detailing the white and black marks on my soul.” That’s sort of like the vehicle history you get when you buy a used car, only spiritual. The opening bid for this “slightly used soul” is $2,000, but so far she hasn’t had any takers. Still, the ad had quite a lot of hits, and that’s encouraging to Lori.

Tags: eBay, Albuquerque, WOAI

Amazing Photographs with Optical Illusions: Old Boy

“Oldboy” Optical Illusion

By Vurdlak on July 14, 2012; from Mighty Optical Illusions.com

Check out the oldboy in the photo above? Can you see why is this an illusion?

Plastic Surgery Ad- Cool or Cruel?

The only thing you should worry about is how to explain it to your children.
from chinasmack.com

An advertisement for a plastic surgery center in Hong Kong. I'm not that sure yet if this is a cool ad as others commented on- or a cruel ad as far as the kids are concerned......you make the call...

Note: This advertisement has been circulating on the Chinese internet attributed to a Hong Kong cosmetic center, probably because of a mistaken post on a popular Hong Kong discussion forum. However, the ad actually originated from and belongs to a plastic surgery clinic in Taiwan.

Tags: plastic surgery center , plastic surgery , surgery , Hong Kong, China, Taiwan

Top 5 Hard Languages to Learn for English speakers

9 hard languages for English speakers

by ANNE MERRITT  from MatadorNetwork.com

1. Arabic

Arabic breaks down into families. One is the Modern Standard Arabic of print, media, and online content. The other is spoken Arabic, which encompasses many colloquial dialects which vary by region. This means that if you pick up conversational Arabic in Tunisia, it might still be tough to be understood in Kuwait.

For all dialects of Arabic, pronunciation is difficult for English speakers, as many consonants are formed at the back of the mouth.

Arabic script is a phonetic, 28-symbol alphabet descending from Phonecian. Most letters change shape depending on their position in the word, and letters may or may not be joined. The most basic challenge in tackling written Arabic is in reading from right to left, working against an English speaker’s deeply embedded instinct.

Arabic grammar has very few parallels with English and Indo-European languages. The plural is expressed by changing the vowel structure of the word: kitab (book) becomes kutub (books). The bulk of verbs are irregular and can be formed 25 ways. It’s a logical grammar system, but a complicated one too.

2. Basque

'Freedom to choose the Basque language'
Thousands of southern Navarrese demonstrated yesterday in Pamplona in
demand of equal rights in access to education and services in the Basque language.
from leherensuge.blogspot.com

In a study conducted by the British Foreign Office, Basque was ranked as the hardest language to learn. Geographically surrounded by Romance languages, it is one of the only language isolates of Europe, with no syntactic parallels to English. The regional dialects are highly diverged, though a standardized Basque is used for media and academics.

Like many languages on this list, Basque is agglutinative, meaning that words are formed and modified with prefixes and suffixes. While “law” is lege in Basque, the phrase “according to the law” would be structured by suffixes as “legearen arabera.” Instead of prepositions, Basque uses cases endings to show the relationship between words, such as mendi (mountain) and mendira (to the mountain). It sounds simple, but with eleven cases, each taking four forms, the grammar is complex.

Basque is written in the Roman alphabet and pronunciation is fairly easy, even with new consonant sounds like tx or tz.

3. Cantonese

Cantonese is a tonal language, which can be hugely challenging for English speakers who are used to speaking with emphasis (“I didn’t eat YOUR sandwich!”) and inflection, rising tones to pose a question. Cantonese can be difficult even for those fluent in other Chinese dialects because of its tonal system. While Mandarin has four tones, Cantonese has eight, with pitch and contour shaping a syllable’s meaning.

Chinese has a logographic (pictoral) writing system of 5000+ characters. This gives a new hurtle to language learning, since a reader of Cantonese can’t sound out syllables in a text as we can with phonetic alphabets. They must know and recall the name of each character. It is a myth that all Chinese languages are written in the same logographic form, though Cantonese and Mandarin share many traits of their writing systems, and the Mandarin writing system is often used by Cantonese speakers.

4. Finnish

from studyinfinland.fi

Barry Farber, the author of “How to Learn any Language” and a polyglot many times over, says that Finnish is one of the hardest languages for him to learn.

Finnish is in the Finno-Ugric language family, with Estonian and Hungarian. Without Germanic or Latin influence, Finnish vocabulary is completely alien to English speakers. Its grammar is also somewhat notorious. There are fifteen noun cases, sometimes with subtle differences. Talotta means “without a house,” while talolta means “from a house.” Tricky.

There are six verb types, classed by their stems. These stems alter as the verbs are conjugated. The language is agglutinative and verbs are conjugated with a succession of suffixes.

The good news? Finnish is written as it sounds (in the Roman alphabet!), and pronunciation is comfortable for English speakers. A common speaking problem lies in remembering single or double vowel sounds, as in tuli (fire) and tuuli (wind).

5. Hungarian

Letter in Hungarian Language
from Learning Hungarian 

Though it uses the Roman alphabet for writing, don’t think that reading Hungarian will be a snap. Unique vowel sounds (á,é,ó,ö,ő,ú,ü,ű,í) and consonant clusters (ty, gy, ny, sz, zs, dzs, dz, ly, cs) make it difficult for English tongues to read and pronounce Hungarian.

Instead of articles, Hungarian conjugates verbs in one of two ways for definite and indefinite objects. Olvasok könyvet means “I read a book,” while Olvasom a könvyet is “I read the book.”

Because possession, tense, and number are indicated by suffixes, not word order in a sentence, Hungarian sentence structure is very loose and flexible. The truth is that any sentence can take on several meanings if the suffixes are altered slightly. It’s a confusing system to learn.

Tags: hard languages , languages , English speakers, English , ANNE MERRITT , Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic , spoken Arabic, Tunisia, British Foreign Office, British , Foreign Office, Cantonese, Mandarin, Finnish, How to Learn any Language, Barry Farber, Hungarian

Move over Burqini- here comes...FACEKINI!

The facekini  reminds you of the Burqini introduced a few years back. A burqini (or burkini) swimsuit is a type of swimsuit for women designed by Lebanese Australian Aheda Zanetti under the company name Ahiida. 

from Burqini.com

The suit covers the whole body except the face, the hands and the feet (enough to preserve Muslim modesty), whilst being light enough to enable swimming. It was described as the perfect solution for conservative Muslim women who want to swim but are uncomfortable with revealing bathing suits. It looks rather like a full-length wetsuit with built-in hood, but somewhat looser and made of swimsuit material instead of rubber.

China has come out with a distant cousin of the Burqini for a somewhat different more aesthetically inclined purpose....move over Burqini- here comes...FACEKINI!

Facekini craze hits China beach as swimmers try to avoid a tan
By Tianzhou Ye, NBC News

Chinese beachgoers wear body suits and protective head masks,
dubbed "facekinis," on a crowded public beach in Qingdao, on Aug. 16.
AFP - Getty Images

BEIJING – In the West, getting a tan is one of the main reasons for going to the beach. But in China, some are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid getting a bit of sun with a new item of beachwear – dubbed the Facekini – causing something of a stir in the coastal tourist city of Qingdao, Shandong Province.

The masks completely cover the swimmers' heads, revealing only their eyes, noses, and mouths. The styles and colors of the masks suggest a huge happy beach party attended by some lesser superheroes, Mexican wrestlers and perhaps a few bank robbers is underway. In fact, government officials have become concerned that the masks could be used to rob banks, according to a report in The New York Times. "These have been extremely popular," Zaizaibao (仔仔寶), an online seller from Henan on shopping Internet site taobao.com, said. Another online store sold 542 masks, which come in different colors and patterns, in just 30 days. "We are already out of the pink ones.... All of them sell well. Orange is the most effective in protecting people from sea creatures."

The masks are an outward expression of a Chinese understanding of beauty in terms of skin color. "I myself don't mind getting tanned, but I can see why pale skin is attractive," Alina Zhao, a college student in the U.S. who grew up in Zhejiang, China, said. "It definitely has to do with the history of China, which is largely an agricultural society,” she added. “Getting tanned means you work outside in the fields a lot, so skin color is like an indicator of your social status. The fairer you are, the wealthier or more respected you seem."

Users say the face masks are useful in protecting against insects and jellyfish.
AFP - Getty Images

In fact, Facekini is only one out of many attempts by Chinese people to stay fair. The number of umbrellas to be seen in Chinese cities on a hot, sunny day might appear bizarre to many non-Chinese people. "I first became aware of the phenomenon when I lived in Taiwan for the summer," Simone Cote, from Vermont and currently working in Beijing, said. "I constantly saw that women covered themselves when they went out. They wore pants often, and yes, umbrellas everywhere." Cote was asked "Why is your skin so dark?" by her host mother in Taiwan.

Within this underlying concept of what is beautiful, the Facekini was perhaps a logical development. A user of the mask commented in Chinese on taobao.com that "this item is very effective in keeping the UV [ultra-violet light] out, and it's very comfortable. With this, you can do whatever you want on a beach, with no worries of getting burned or tanned. It's really recommended." Another user, Tongchao, seems to have debated between the benefit of not getting tanned and the possibility of getting laughed at in this mask. "Okay. I've become the focused again, but this item is really useful. It's actually not stuffy at all. I really like it!" Looks like he or she has made a choice – but not an easy one. When asked if she would ever wear one, Alina gave her answer without a second thought. "Of course no! I was never into sunscreen – I'll never get this fair anyway, so why bother? I would rather enjoy the sun."

Tags: Burqini, facekini, burqini swimsuit , swimsuit , burkini, Aheda Zanetti, Ahiida, Muslim, China , Tianzhou Ye, NBC News, NBC , AFP - Getty Images, AFP , Getty Images, BEIJING, Qingdao, Shandong Province, Qingdao, Shandong Province, The New York Times, New York , taobao.com, Zhejiang, China, Zhejiang, Taiwan

Sexist Vintage Ad: Women and Projectors..

from horriblysexistvintageads

Sexist Vintage Ads: Blow in her face....

from retronaut.com

Sexist Vintage Ads: Woman's Suffrage

Official Referendum Ballot allowing Women to vote
from retronaut.com

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office.

20 Odd Inventions That Might Secretly Be Awesome II.

6. Wearcom Jeans

These jeans have a special transparent pocket for your iPhone. Convenient way of checking your texts, or totally pointless?

Via: incrediblethings.com

7. Portable Fish Tank

Makes your goldfish happy, or totally pointless?

Source: livedoor.blogimg.jp  /  via: blog.livedoor.jp

8. Light Bites Candle Holders

Because why should you have to buy candles and forks separately? Party time saver, or totally pointless?

Source: images.celebrateexpress.com  /  via: birthdayexpress.com

9. The Baby Mop

A onesie with a mop attached. Do crawling babies speed up cleaning, or is this totally pointless?

Source: davengrace.com  /  via: davengrace.com

10. Apple Sweaters

Pack your lunchtime apple in a sweater to prevent bruising. Adorably protective, or totally useless?

Source: img1.etsystatic.com  /  via: etsy.com

20 Odd Inventions That Might Secretly Be Awesome I.

20 Odd Inventions That Might Secretly Be Awesome
from buzzfeed.com

1. Butter Stick Type

Essentially, butter in a glue stick tube. Easy application, or totally pointless?

Source: desmond.imageshack.us  /  via: imageshack.us

2. Motorized Ice Cream Cones

The battery-powered, plastic cone contains a small dish that rotates your melting scoop for you. Prevents dripping and cone turning, or totally pointless?

Source: chalet.net.au  /  via: chalet.net.au

3. Training Wheel High Heels

Helps you keep your balance, or totally pointless?

Source: sillymarket.com  /  via: sillymarket.com

4. Dine Ink Utensils

Ballpoint pens with fork, knife, and spoon caps. Handy for a snack, or totally pointless?

Via: incredblethings.com

5. Glass Toaster

    This allows you to watch your bread while it's toasting. Tired of burned toast, or totally pointless?

Source: inventablescorporate.com  /  via: listas.20minutos.es

Top 4 Offensive Comedies ever committed to film...

Top 10 Offensive Comedies from askmen.com:

This article is dedicated to movies that put the most vile, disturbing and controversial themes or images on the screen to provoke laughter through shock. There’s a certain visceral reaction that comes out of taboo-busting comedy that simply can’t be replicated any other way. That material will cause sensitive viewers to leave the theater in disgust while some explode in uncontrollable bursts of laughter (let’s call it the oh-no-they-didn’t effect). 

Below is the top 4 of the compiled list of the 10 finest offensive comedies ever committed to film. Some of these movies are offensive because they satirize sensitive issues, while others simply throw disturbing images at the audience in hopes of defensive chuckles. The passage of time tends to lessen the impact of this brand of humor, so some might not cause the same gut-punch response of revulsion. However, show any of these movies at a chipper religious gathering, and you’ll find that outrage can still be elicited. 

No.4. Team America: World Police (2004)

In between their (arguably) finest seasons of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone cranked out this hysterical blockbuster side project. It’s a goofy satire of American foreign policy and stupid Michael Bay movies, featuring a group of marionette secret soldiers destroying the world and impersonating terrorists by slapping wads of hair on their face and mumbling “derka derka.” Featuring a slapstick Kim Jong-il, slaughtered movie stars, AIDS musicals, graphic puppet sex and cinema’s longest vomit scene, the film has something that'll offend every member of the family.
Read more at askmen.com

No. 3. Jackass 2 (2006)

Any movie by the lovable morons from Jackass qualifies for a spot on this list. Ninety undiluted minutes of guys deliberately smacking one another, torturing their genitalia and ingesting every conceivable bodily fluid is about as offensive as it gets. But, if we have to pick one, it would be Jackass 2, in which the gang consciously tries to top their first shockfest and skips the buddy-buddy lovefest of part three. It’s nasty, gag-inducing, downright mean and inexplicably hilarious. You can’t intellectualize it. Poo-poo, pee-pee and idiots falling down are just funny -- and no one does it better.
Read more at askmen.com

No. 2. Pink Flamingos (1972)

In 1972, John Waters and his confrontational friends decided to create the most offensive comedy ever made. They did. It’s called Pink Flamingos and breaks every conceivable taboo through so many layers of bad taste that I honestly feel uncomfortable showing or even describing the disgusting gags. Forty years later, there’s still material Waters unleashed that no other filmmaker would dare attempt. This isn’t a movie that you should watch unsuspectingly. You have to consciously decide to watch Pink Flamingos, and love it or loath it, you’ll never erase it from your brain. It is quite funny, but... ew.
Read more at askmen.com

No 1. Borat (2006)

Sacha Baron Cohen created a monster hit and (unfortunately) one of the most imitated characters of all time with his unique combination of gross-out stunts and disturbing satire of American ignorance. Creating a mockumentary with a supporting cast of unsuspecting civilians, Cohen went about mixing gasps and laughs with his tale of an innocent racist/sexist filmmaker attempting to teach his native Kazakhstan the joys of American life. The fearless button pushing and naked male wrestling made it a hit among shell-shocked audiences, while the social satire made it a classic.

Read more at askmen.com


Tags: Team America: World Police (2004), South Park, American foreign policy, Michael Bay , Jackass 2 (2006), Jackass, Pink Flamingos (1972), Pink Flamingos , John Waters , Borat (2006), Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sacha Cohen

Paying bills after the Olympic: Actual Day Jobs of Some Olympic Athletes

What 36 Olympic Athletes Do for Their Day Jobs
By VIVIAN GIANG and SAMANTHA CORTEZ, Business Insider
August 9, 2012
Although training for the Olympics can be a full-time job, many athletes need another job to pay the rent.
Remember, the International Olympic Committee doesn't pay them squat. Some of them have predictable jobs, coaching the next generation of athletes, but others are harder to guess. Like U.S. fencing star Race Imboden, who moonlights as a DJ.

Here's what 36 Olympic athletes do to pay the bills:
1. Triathlon Gwen Jorgensen works as an accountant at Ernst & Young.
2. Hong Kong's Chi Yip Cheung is a full-time fireman when he's not competing in the judo matches.
3. Norwegian marathon runner Urige Buta is also a janitor.

4. South African archer Karen Anne Hultzer is a landscaper by profession.
5. Great Britain's Natasha Perdue is a trash collector by day and a weight lifter at the Olympics.

6. American sailor Debbie Capozzi works at her family's Italian ice shop called Tina's Italian Ices in Patchogue, N.Y.
7. Diver Troy Dumais is a life advisor at the University of Texas.
8. American fencer Race Imboden is a DJ and was an intern for a record label called Fool's Gold.
9. Shooter Emil Milev is a physical education teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Tampa, FL.
10. Norwegian rower Olaf Tufte is a fireman and a farmer.
11. Jumper Jamie Nieto is an actor when he's not competing.
12. Swimmer Daniel Arnamnart is a writer.
13. Russian Javelin thrower Maria Abakumova is in the Armed Forces.
14. Wrestler Jared Frayer is a teacher and coach.
15. Australian shooter Dina Aspandiyarova works as a travel agent.
16. Australian boxer Ibrahim Balla is a plumber by trade.
17. Australian shooter Clive Barton makes his living farming.
18. Australian Gemma Beadsworth competes in water polo, and is also a research analyst.
19. And her brother Jamie Beadsworth, who also competes in water polo, is a lawyer.

20. Argentina rower Maria Laura Abalo will go back to journalism when the games end.
21. Australian kayaker Jo Brigden-Jones is a nurse when she's not on the waters.
22. Discus thrower Lance Brooks is a construction worker in Indiana.
23. Wrestler Chas Betts is a motions designer and specializes in animation graphics.
24. Hockey player Nathan Burgers is a teacher in Australia.
25. Argentinian wrestler Patricia Alejandra Bermudez works as a police officer.
26. Italian hurdler Emanuele Abate is also a police officer.
27. Dotsie Bausch, the American cyclist, is a motivational speaker when she's not competing.
28. Argentinian kayaker Miguel Antonio Correa is a chef during the day.
29. Australian rower Samuel Beltz works as a physiotherapist.
30. Haitian jumper Samyr Lain works as a lawyer during the day.
31. Dennis Bowsher competes in the modern pentathlon and is a specialist in the U.S. Army.
32. Hurdler Kerron Clement is an American actor and model.
33. Natalie Dell is a health researcher for veterans and a rower for Team USA.
34. Boxer Joseph Diaz Jr. is a server and a student at Fresno State University.
35. American rower Zsuzsanna Francia is a fitness model and writer.
36. Rower Elliot Hovey is an elementary substitute teacher in California.

Read more at The Fiscal Times

Top 4 Strangest Video Games

from Top 10 Strangest Video Games

4. JFK: Reloaded

Video Game Platform: Windows

In 2004, a Scotland-based business named Traffic Games released a game titled JFK: Reloaded.  According to various inquiries, the company has said that the game’s purpose was to establish the facts surrounding what happened on November 22, 1963 in Dealey Plaza.  This was done “by running the world’s first mass-participation forensic construction.”  The goal of the game was to help prove whether Lee Harvey Oswald had the “means and the opportunity” to kill U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

Game Plot

JFK: Reloaded places the games user in the role of Kennedy alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.  The player is scored on how closely his shooting matches the report of the Warren Commission.  The Warren Commission was the group of government officials assigned to investigate Kennedy’s death.  They ultimately named Lee Harvey Oswald the sole gunman.  The game is difficult to master because each bullet you fire has a random probability of where it will hit, making it is impossible to predict precisely where the bullet will land.  This means that there is a lot of luck involved with gaining a perfect score, especially in regards to the “magic bullet.”  Over the Internet, many people have argued that JFK: Reloaded is not a game, as much as a controversial simulation of a historical event.  However, various gaming websites have reviewed it, with some positive reviews.

The majority of people feel the game is in bad taste.  JFK: Reloaded even garnered a response from John’s brother, the late Senator Edward Kennedy, who called the game despicable and questioned why it was ever allowed on the market.  People have argued that the game’s manufacturers were only interested in making money.  Upon release of JFK: Reloaded, Traffic Games ran a contest that paid the person with the highest score a prize.  Ultimately, a man named Stephane Krupa won $10,712 with a score of 782 out of 1000.  The game is no longer available on its original website.  However, various computer programmers have altered the game over the years, and some versions include a motorcade, while others allow you to shoot from the Grassy Knoll.

3. Hong Kong 97

Video Game System: Super Nintendo

The Super Nintendo or Super Famicom is a 16-bit video game system that was distributed all over the world in the early 1990s.  The Super Nintendo was an advanced piece of technology and ended up being the best selling 16-bit video game console, eclipsing the highly competitive Sega Genesis.  In 1995, a Japan based company developed a game for the Super Nintendo named Hong Kong 97.  Since the games release, it has gained a considerable following in Japan and Taiwan.  Hong Kong 97 is routinely included on lists documenting the poorest quality video games, but many people feel that the game is so bad that it is good.  The game is controversial and contains many racial undertones.

Game Plot

Hong Kong 97s storyline is set around the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997.  On July 1, 1997 the United Kingdom officially returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule.  The introduction to the game claims that at this time in history many Chinese people moved to Hong Kong, thus increasing the areas crime rate.  In response to this, the game develops the character Chin, whose job is to wipe out all of the 1.2 billion Chinese people.  Chin is portrayed by Jackie Chan on the box and is described as a relative of Bruce Lee who is represented by British politician Chris Patten.  However, the Chinese have developed a plan to bring back the dead “Tong Shau Ping” (Deng Xiaoping) as an ultimate weapon.

Deng Xiaoping was the longtime leader of the Communist Party of China that passed away in 1997.  After the introduction, the game immediately starts with Chin trying to avoid and kill the Chinese populace.  The game is not very long, but extremely difficult to master.  The final boss is actually a picture of Deng Xiaoping’s head.  Hong Kong 97 can be played in English, Japanese, or Traditional Chinese.  In the English version, the first two sentences of the game are: “The year 1997 has arrived.  A herd of fu**in’ ugly reds are rushing from the mainland.”  A company named HappySoft Ltd. distributed the games themselves, but few retail stores purchased copies, so they are extremely rare and valuable.

2. Mystique Games

Video Game System: Atari 2600

Mystique is one of the first video game companies that attempted to use sex to sell games.  In the early 1980s, Mystique developed many pornographic video games for the Atari 2600.  Some of the most popular were Custer’s Revenge, Bachelor Party, and Beat ‘Em & Eat ‘Em.  These three games are known as some of the fist pornographic video games.  They were extremely controversial and contain many racial and sexual stereotypes.  The company Mystique went out of business during the video game crash of 1983, but many of their games have gathered a cult following over the years.

Game Plots

The most recognized Mystique game is Custer’s Revenge.  In the game, the player controls a man with a cowboy hat named Custer, which is an obvious reference to General George Custer.  Custer is naked and has to overcome many obstacles in order to have sex with a crudely depicted Native American woman.  Almost immediately the game received strong criticism from Native Americans and woman’s rights organizations.  Many claim that it is a clear depiction of rape, while others pass it off as only a game.  The Native American woman is given the name “Revenge” in the game.  The booklet for Custer’s Revenge famously states “if the kids catch you and should ask, tell them Custer and the maiden are just dancing.”

Bachelor Party is a Mystique game that was loosely based on the 1984 comedy film starring Tom Hanks.  Bachelor Party is a simplified version of the game Breakout.  Breakout is one of the first video games ever made and is similar to pong.  A large collection of bricks are situated on the top of the screen and the user has to bounce a ball and destroy all the bricks without letting the ball hit the bottom of the screen.  The game is very simple and the goal is to let the bachelor have a final fling with a room full of nude women.  A reversed version of the game does exist, it is named Bachelorette Party.

The dirtiest pornographic game developed by Mystique is named Beat ‘Em & Eat ‘Em.  The game was released in 1982 and originally was an extremely poor seller, but with the expansion of the Internet, the game has become a cult classic.  However, similar to other Mystique games, Beat ‘Em & Eat ‘Em is regarded as one of the worst quality video games ever made.  

1. Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

Video Game Platform: Windows

Super Columbine Massacre is a role-playing video game that was developed by Danny Ledonne and released in April of 2005.  It was made available on April 20, which was the 6th anniversary of the school shooting.  The game was released as a freeware and a donation of $1 was requested upon download.  Danny Ledonne originally attempted to avoid controversy and the game was released anonymously.  However, after a donation was made through PayPal, Ledonne’s identity was made public and he began to receive calls from mainstream media outlets.  In the game’s first year of release, it was downloaded only 10,000 times, but after it became a large news story in the United States, the game exploded with over 400,000 downloads.

Game Plot

Super Columbine Massacre recreates the events surrounding the 1999 Columbine school shooting.  The game’s players assume the role of gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and ultimately act out the massacre.  Super Columbine Massacre has a pretty extensive plot, and starts as Eric Harris’ mother wakes him up on April 20, 1999.  Harris phones Dylan Klebold, and the two meet in Harris’ basement to plot the attack.  The two boys think about their past bullying experiences.  They make a video and load up their bags with guns and bombs.  Once the pair arrives at the school, the player has to enter the cafeteria and plant bombs without being detected by the school’s video cameras.  After the bombs fail to explode, the goal is to enter the school and shoot as many innocent people as possible.

At the end of the first part of the game, the two gunmen commit suicide.  The second part of the game places Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in hell.  The pair continues by fighting demons, monsters, and Satan.  They also travel to the Island of Lost Souls and meet historical figures J. Robert Oppenheimer, JonBenét Ramsey, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan and John Lennon.  The media reception to Super Columbine Massacre was generally negative and many people were offended by the game.  Victims of the shooting came forward to express their disgust with Danny Ledonne.

In many interviews, Ledonne claimed that the game was made out of respect for the memory of the victims and that he personally knew a girl named Rachel that died in the massacre.  In Super Columbine Massacre, players have the option of killing Rachel over and over again, which is disturbing.  CNN labeled the game as something that a subculture that worships terrorists would play.  Other people praised the game for opening up the dialogue about the problem of school shootings.  In September of 2006, a man named Kimveer Gill killed Anastasia De Sousa and injured 19 students at Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  After it was revealed that Gill was an avid player of Super Columbine Massacre, the game was taken down from its original website.

Read more: at toptenz.net/top-10-strangest-video-games


Tags: Top 10 Strangest Video Games, Strangest Video Games, Video Games, Windows, Traffic Games, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, Kennedy, JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, Oswald, Warren Commission, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator , Super Nintendo, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega, Japan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom , Jackie Chan, Tong Shau Ping, Deng Xiaoping, HappySoft Ltd., Atari 2600, Atari , General George Custer, General Custer, Native Americans, Bachelor Party , Tom Hanks, Danny Ledonne, PayPal, Columbine Massacre, Columbine , Eric Harris, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Dylan Klebold, JonBenét Ramsey, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, John Lennon, CNN

Giant Flood Bag for Cars!

Flood Bag- US Patent Issued In 1982

Actual Patent Illustration - All Inventions Hold Real USA Patents
from  Patently Absurd Inventions Archive

I saw this ad months ago and recently as a result of the massive flooding in Asia (Philippines- see hilarious Michael Phelps spoof on the Manila floods) and just wanted to share. It looks absurd but it can work especially considering global warming and it's effect internationally:

"With El Nino causing floods around the world, we thought this invention would be apropos.  We've all seen the television footage of cars up to their headlights in muddy flood waters.  Vehicles are often abandoned because waters rise quickly and become too deep to drive safely.  What we don’t see is the ravage a flood causes to a car once the waters recede.  The engine and interior are full of gritty, gooey mud that clings to everything.  Usually the motor is ruined and the vehicle is declared a complete loss.

This giant plastic bag is the ultimate in vehicle flood protection and it’s so simple to use.  The interior of the bag has markings to guide you as you drive your car into it.  Exit the vehicle and pull the sides of the bag up over your car.  Next, pull the draw-string tightly, closing the orifice.  The key here is to make sure you leave an opening large enough to allow air to escape as the flood waters ensue.  Otherwise trapped air will fill the bag and your car will float off into the sunset."

All Patents Are Real And On File.

Copyright  T. VanCleave


Tags: Flood Bag, Flood, US Patent, Patently Absurd Inventions , Asia , Philippines, global warming, El Nino