Twisted Halloween costumes, Part 1

By Jack Brummet, Holiday Ed.

We've posted a couple of these before, around Halloween.  Our criteria is mainly that the costume needs to be weird.  We did not include the many costumes that you would consider cute, or dressed up animals, and, believe or not, we left out most of the really sick costumes, or costumes where you might say "it's too soon!" These were collected from our readers, and from various outposts of the internet.

Little Hitler

Cartman's Hitler Costume

Illegal Alien

Twisted Family Costume(s)

The Tooth Fairy

Kind Of A Katamari Babies Costume

Goldilocks

Bomber

Hawaii's Favorite

Priapic Frog

Naughty Bits

Man-sheep

Caged

Man-horse/Centaur

Birth

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Faces No. 918 - Bleachers at the world's series

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Faces No. 917 - Going Negative

By Jack Brummet

[Analog drawing-->digital reversal]

click to enlarge

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"Mr Fenton's" famous K Mart prank

By Jack Brummet, Pranks and Persiflage Ed.

Although this has since been debunked by Snopes.com, among other sites, this is still a great piece of writing, and a great list of mostly harmless pranks.

click to enlarge

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Freedom of choice: to frop or not to frop?

[Author and artist unknown. Provenance unknown.]

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Ebola Zombies?

By Jack Brummet, Outbreak Ed.
Snopes recently debunked the rumor/urban legend that Ebola was causing people to rise from the dead.  Read the entire on Snopes.com

"On 5 October 2014, the Huzlers web site published an article positing that an "Ebola zombie" had been captured and photographed in Liberia. The story came hot on the heels of the CDC's announcement that a man who had traveled from Liberia to Dallas had fallen critically ill after contracting the Ebola virus. Concern over Ebola was at its peak in the United States when the site published an image of a purported "Ebola zombie," along with the following claim: 

"The first reports of Ebola victims rising from the dead was reported by Liberia's National Newspaper. Initially, officials from the World Health Organization fled in shock and horror as the Ebola patients suddenly arose from the dead. After organizing military reinforcements and obtaining increased containment measures, World Health Organization's special operations staff quickly responded with military assistance and quarantined the two Ebola victims who arose from the dead. 

"With Texas now infested with an unknown amount of Ebola patients, nearby Kansas has declared a state of emergency. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has declared October "Zombie Awareness Month" and the state is on high alert for a zombie outbreak. Homes across the state are to receive pamphlets warning them of how to prevent the spread of Ebola and what to do if an Ebola Victim falls dead and then starts to show life again."

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Noah's ark

By Jack Brummet

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How to dodge a hand grenade

By Jack Brummet, Munitions Ed.


I found this fascinating. So much of what we know about war comes from the movies and television.  Real life isn't so neat and tidy. This Q & A appeared recently on the Quora site:

What is the best thing to do when a grenade is thrown?

Answered by Dan Rosenthal, U.S. Army Infantry, (Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Target Acquisition), OIF I/II Veteran

The generally accepted fragmentation radius for a frag grenade is 30-35 feet, and the fuse length will be between 3-5 seconds. So usually running isn't going to be an option for you. If you can take cover, do so. If not, hit the deck and get as low as possible, as the majority of the fragmentation will go upwards. Beyond that, there's not a whole lot to be done.

Followup questions:

Head first, sideways, or feet first? Head first. Your Kevlar helmet is specifically designed to stop shrapnel, and your plate carrier generally is going to only protect you in three spots -- straight on from the front, straight on from the back, and over the shoulders (with shoulder pads, which most troops deploy with these days). By presenting a minimal cross-section to the grenade, you're minimizing the fragments that can hit you, and by presenting your most armored front to the grenade, you're protecting yourself from what fragments do hit you. Feet first is a bad idea -- you don't have any significant protection there, and it's a great way to get your femoral artery severed. Leg and intestinal wounds are both incredibly painful, and incredibly dangerous in the field. Sideways is even worse; your plate carrier won't have any protection under the arms, and you're maximizing the frontage of your body that is exposed to the blast.

Pick it up and throw it back? Not a chance. There's no way you have enough time. Assuming a 4 second fuse length, two of which are spent in flight, you have just two seconds to notice the grenade, react, reach down, pick it up, plant your feet, lift up, and throw it far enough that you're clear of the blast radius. Not going to happen except in the ultra-rarest of situations. Plus, while you're faffing about with that, whoever threw the grenade at you is still putting fire down on your position.

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All This Is That Staff Drawing

By Jack Brummet

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Beyond The Time Barrier: A 1960 movie about ten years from now

By Jack Brummet, 1960's Ed.

click to enlarge

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Arnold Genthe's 1925 photograph of a Teodor Benda mask

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Poem: The World Seems Especially Verisimilitudinous Tonight

By Jack Brummet

Swim run fly crawl & creep —
Animals don't kill time
And time loves them back.

Threading high fidelity cirrus,
The sun unloads the last of its rays
And blesses the mountain palisade.

So much depends upon
Keeping this up.
And a red wheel-barrow.

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