The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “bizarre”

Ancient Romans’ Fanciful and Entertaining Pre-Scientific Beliefs about Animal Behavior
Ancient Romans’ Fanciful and Entertaining Pre-Scientific Beliefs about Animal Behavior

What the greed of the octopus has to do with the ram’s preferred bedside and the hyena’s gender-bending.

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Mail-Order Mysteries: Real-World Stuff from Vintage Comic Book Ads
Mail-Order Mysteries: Real-World Stuff from Vintage Comic Book Ads

What hypno-specs and atomic pistols have to do with the duality of the human condition.

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The Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini
The Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini

A glimpse of early-20th-century spiritualism, or how the supernatural became a conduit for the deeply human.

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Science Ink: Carl Zimmer Catalogs the Tattoos of Science Nerds
Science Ink: Carl Zimmer Catalogs the Tattoos of Science Nerds

An anthropology of the geek-rebel, or what astrophysics has to do with the delicacies of the dermis.

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Poets Ranked by Beard Weights
Poets Ranked by Beard Weights

Calculating aptitude by way of facial hair, or what Walt Whitman’s “hibernator” has to do with phrenology.

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27 of Humanity’s Strangest Inventions
27 of Humanity’s Strangest Inventions

If you can’t deliver the newspaper on your amphibious bicycle, you can always fax it.

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From Frida Kahlo to Freud, Finger Puppets of Cultural Icons
From Frida Kahlo to Freud, Finger Puppets of Cultural Icons

Unibrows for fingers, or what Einstein’s ‘do has to do with silent film and the Cuban Revolution.

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The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions: Vintage Arsenal of Masonic Pranksters
The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions: Vintage Arsenal of Masonic Pranksters

What Elks, Moose, and Shriners have to do with a fake guillotine and a goat on wheels.

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Complaints Choir: The World’s Mundane Grievances Set to Song
Complaints Choir: The World’s Mundane Grievances Set to Song

Rent is too damn high, the global musical.

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Celebrating the Art of Competitive Beard and Mustache Grooming
Celebrating the Art of Competitive Beard and Mustache Grooming

A lament for patience by way of Garibaldi, or what partial beards have to do with instant gratification.

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