June 27, 2007

Rose Glasses on Chickens Reduce Fighting (Dec, 1938)

Rose Glasses on Chickens Reduce Fighting
There was murder going on in a New Jersey penitentiary yard. The prison chickens were killing each other. One after another, the young White Leghorns would fight among themselves to the death. Nothing was effective in preventing the quarrels until the warden tried putting rose-colored glasses on the birds. That stopped the fighting instantly. The Leghorns, the only fighters in the poultry lot, now are all equipped with aluminum-framed spectacles with center pieces extending in front of the bill.

June 6, 2007

Taxidermist Gives Eternal Life To Birds (Feb, 1936)

There is something very disturbing about a person who kills and stuffs thousands of animals while proclaiming that he is granting them “Eternal Life”. It sort of reminds me of a fanatically religious serial killer who thinks he’s actually helping his victims when he kills them.

Taxidermist Gives Eternal Life To Birds

ARMED only with a forked stick, a hunter walked warily through the squat bushes of the San Fernando valley in Southern California the other day. Suddenly he froze in his tracks, warned by a series of rattles that hidden danger lay waiting.

He advanced slowly, saw a Pacific rattle snake lying coiled and ready to strike. With the skill acquired from many such hunts, he pressed the stick down over the snake’s neck, stuffed the reptile into a box, and hastened back to his Hollywood studio.

There John Schleisser, famed naturalist-taxidermist—for it was he who captured the deadly reptile—chloroformed the rattler. A few minutes later he could be seen taking exact measurements by making a plaster cast of the body. Then he skinned the rattler, made a mannikin of papier mache duplicating the late deceased, and a few days later fitted the skin, perfectly tanned, back over the artificial body.

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May 31, 2007

He’s a Rat Farmer (Apr, 1949)

He’s a Rat Farmer

A strange little livestock ranch in the attic gave Norton McKinney a new life and a $10,000 crop.

By William Gilman

“FUNNY kind of a business for a fellow to get into,” the villagers shake their heads as they glance up at the old mansion Norton McKinney bought in quiet little Middletown Springs, Vermont.

And it is a funny setup, all right. The attic in his antiquated home swarms with rats—mice, too. Last time he took a census there were 1500 adult rats and mice, with new litters running up the rodent population practically every day. You’d think his wife Georgia would raise the roof about that ratty situation up in the attic—but, no, she only wants to hear more rats racing around over their heads. She even helps him nurse and coddle new-born rats with germ-free water and purify the air they breathe with ultra-violet lamps. No wonder their place is called Funny Farms!

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May 27, 2007

Cats Are Fun to Photograph (Dec, 1951)

Cat’s are still fun to photograph. They’re even more fun with a caption though.

Cats Are Fun to Photograph

An expert reveals tricks that help you get good pictures of Tabby. Patience is the biggest requirement.

By Walter Chandoha

CATS are easy to photograph—if you can tap an unlimited supply of patience. Beyond that, all you need is a camera (I prefer a reflex) with flash attachment. An assistant, portrait lenses, a tripod and a flash extension are helpful, but by no means essential.

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May 23, 2007

Science Remakes the Dog (Nov, 1936)

Science Remakes the Dog

How Breeders Are Changing The Appearance and Nature Of Our Canine Population To Bring Out the Qualities That Are Made Desirable By Modern Living Conditions

By Jesse F. Gelders

DOGS are getting smaller. Subject to style trends, the same as clothing, automobiles, and houses, they are adapting themselves— or, rather, being adapted—to the changed conditions of modern life.

People today are demanding dogs that can live in small homes or apartments, and ride in automobiles, without crowding out their human companions; dogs that can keep fit with a minimum of exercise; smart, good-natured dogs, and—an important consideration, sometimes—dogs that will not eat their masters out of house and home.

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May 19, 2007

TEST NEW PARACHUTE FOR THE DOGS OF WAR (Nov, 1935)

Filed under: Dogs, War — @ 8:15 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1935
Buy on Ebay

TEST NEW PARACHUTE FOR THE DOGS OF WAR
Foreseeing that troops may be dropped with parachutes from speeding planes, in future wars, Soviet experimenters are trying out a similar means of landing the dogs used in army service. A recent invention is a cylindrical coop for the dog, provided with a parachute that opens automatically when it is tossed from a plane. The shell of the coop, locked closed during the descent, springs open of its own accord when the device strikes the ground. The photographs reproduced here show the device in action during recent successful tests by Soviet aviators.

ARMADILLOS BRED ON TEXAS RANCH (Nov, 1934)

ARMADILLOS BRED ON TEXAS RANCH
One of the most curious industries in existence is conducted by a rancher near Comfort, Texas, who breeds armadillos and from their shells and bony tails makes lamp shades and armadillo baskets. Starting with a few of the creatures and a small plot of ground, he now has a ranch that extends over many acres. The thousands of armadillos bred by him furnish a great part of the shells used in the manufacture of ornaments in this country. Since the animals leave their burrows only at night, their capture is limited to the hours after dark. As many as 250 of the shell producing creatures have been taken in a single night.

May 16, 2007

BAKING AS CURE FOR DOG ILLS IS TRIED IN GERMANY (May, 1924)

Filed under: Dogs, Scary — @ 12:13 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1924
Buy on Ebay

This scares me. Besides just being a generally bad idea, am I the only one who immediately thinks of the holocaust when I see this?
It’s not quite as scary as this one though.

BAKING AS CURE FOR DOG ILLS IS TRIED IN GERMANY
Ills of dogs are being treated by baking in Germany. For this purpose, and to aid in scientific research, gas ovens have been installed in the Berlin veterinary university’s clinic. The application of heat to animals is said to act in the same way that a steam bath does to the human body.

May 12, 2007

He Runs a Hotel for Bats (Sep, 1940)

He Runs a Hotel for Bats

PLAYING host to 250,000 bats is the queer but profitable hobby of Milton F. Campbell, of San Antonio, Tex. His lakeside bat hotel, a tall wooden tower shaped like the base of a windmill, is the outgrowth of experiments begun years ago by his father, Dr. Charles A. R. Campbell, at that time city bacteriologist of San Antonio. Believing that bats would rid the area of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, Dr. Campbell spent years trying to induce the creatures to settle in a wooden roost which he constructed near the city sewage plant. Finally, by means of ear-splitting phonograph records, which drove the bats from their accustomed haunts, he effected their transfer to his specially constructed tower.

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May 1, 2007

Mile-a-Minute Pigeons Thrill Millions in Races Against Time (Jun, 1936)

This is insane. I had no idea that anyone raced pigeons, let alone thousands of people in races that often exceeded 1,000 miles! Apparently people still race them. Check out the American Racing Pigeon Union.

Mile-a-Minute Pigeons Thrill Millions in Races Against Time
By Edwin Teale

STREAKING through the skies with the speed of crack express trains, feathered racing champions, trained by amateur pigeon fanciers, are shuttling across the map on amazing flights. In recent years, the sport of pigeon racing has spread rapidly. In the United States alone, upwards of 10,000 amateurs own lofts, and each year the American Racing Pigeon Union sends out half a million numbered aluminum bands that go on the legs of newly hatched “squeakers.” As this is written, all over the East and Middle West fanciers are grooming their prize birds for the Chattanooga National, the Kentucky Derby of the air. This annual event, held about the middle of June, sometimes attracts as many as 1,700 entries. Last year, a one-year-old male pigeon, which had never won a contest in its life, carried off the prize. It averaged almost fifty miles an hour for the 535 miles from Chattanooga, Term., to its home loft at Washington, D. C.

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April 30, 2007

TEAM OF 30 ANIMALS HAUL HEAVY WHEAT LOAD (Oct, 1923)

Now that’s entertainment!

TEAM OF 30 ANIMALS HAUL HEAVY WHEAT LOAD

Driving single-handed a team of 20 horses and 10 mules, hitched to a wagon train loaded with more than 1,000 bushels of wheat, Ralph Morehouse, of Alberta, has established what is said to be a record in western Canada. The trip was made recently over a 22-mile stretch from his ranch near Buffalo Hills to a grain elevator at Vulcan, Alta., where, without unhitching any of the animals, the entire load was disposed of in 1 hour 17 minutes.

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April 27, 2007

CHILDREN’S PICTURE-STORY DEPARTMENT (Oct, 1923)

I would be more worried about someone stealing my cheetah than my car. Of course I’d be much more worried about my cheetah stealing some some curious child’s arm.

CHILDREN’S PICTURE-STORY DEPARTMENT

A Modern Lilliput That Has No Lilliputians, Being an Uninhabited Miniature Village Constructed by the Children of a Denver Man near His Summer Home in the Rocky Mountains: The Church Has Spires Three Feet High. To the Right Is an Electrically Lighted Brick Block in the Village

South Pasadena, California, Is Proud of Possessing What Is Doubtless the Youngest Band in the World. Including the Bandmaster, Seen in the Foreground, Each of the 60 Members of the Band Is Seven Years Young or Younger. All Are First and Second-Grade Pupils of the Local Public Schools, Where They were Trained. Left: Close-Up of Three of the Musicians

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