The killing of Muammar Gaddafi/Kadafi/Qaddafi/Khadafy in Libya had me wondering if there were any dictator museums out there. Sure enough there is one. In the capital city of Santiago you can relive the dictatorship of Chilean General Augusto Pinochet at the Museo Presidente Pinochet where his uniform, sabres, books, knives...
We have covered a lot of random collections on the blog over the years. White’s Metal Detectors Collection in Oregon comes to mind, so does the Porter Thermometer Museum in Massachusetts. I could go on. But I won’t. Instead I have another odd assortment of items to add to the...
On this date in 1952 VP candidate Richard Nixon made his famous “Checkers speech” (here’s a video if you have a thing for Tricky Dick). It’s like if Sarah Palin stopped hunting wolves and adopted a pet moose, making voters think “Oh, gee…how nice!”, in turn helping McCain win the...
At San Francisco’s Musée Mécanique, you will find pieces from Playland at the Beach amusement park. This is the world’s largest private collection of mechanically-operated musical instruments and penny arcade machines. Play with orchestrations, player pianos, music boxes and antique slot machines 365 days a year.
On this date in 1885 the soft drink Dr Pepper made its first appearance at a drug store in Waco, Texas. The drink is not a real doctor, therefore the period is silent, or more like invisible to the seeing eye. Today a museum in Waco pretends to celebrate this...
If your conscience is represented by an Angel Museum on your right shoulder, then obviously the left holds the temptation of the Devil Museum. The Žmuidzinavičius Museum (I challenge you to a Lithuanian Spelling Bee) in an obscure part of Kaunas displays over 3,000 sculptures and carvings of devils from...
For some reason I have the song “That's Your Funeral” from the musical Oliver! playing in my head. Maybe it’s because I have just read about the Bestattungsmuseum (Undertakers’ Museum) in Vienna. Located near the Schloss Belvedere in an old funeral home, the museum contains more than 600 artifacts documenting...
I remember taking an Earth Science class in high school (or was it middle school?) but I don’t think the Museum of Earth History has anything to do with science…or truth for that matter. This little Creationist museum, first located in Arkansas before moving to its present day location in...
Have a thing for ornamental hair products? If you happen to visit Sarah Palin Land in the near future, you might want to check out the Miller Comb Museum. Ralph and Betty Miller of Homer, Alaska have collected over 3,000 ornamental hair combs since the 1960s. According to theAntique Comb...
I freakin’ love coffee. This wasn’t always the case, but once you become a professional student (BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE) you learn to live with it. Then it becomes a part of your life like a drug and there’s no going back. This postcard from Britain shows a classic...
