I’m wondering what kind of emergency this would be good for? I suppose you could be camping somewhere when suddenly out of nowhere you get hit by a flash flood. You could all jump on your mattresses and float to safety. Or you could tow it behind your fishing boat…

Mattress Doubles as Life Raft

Taken into the wilds on fishing and boating trips, a new “unsinkable” mattress provides safety as well as comfort, for it can be used as a life raft in case of emergency. Made of kapok floss, the mattress will support four people in the water, according to its maker. Its weight of only thirty-seven pounds minimizes the load to be carried. The photograph above shows a striking demonstration of its buoyancy before interested sportsmen at a Sharon, Mass., rod and gun club.

Human Billboard
AN UNEMPLOYED Budapest bank clerk, sadly in need of funds, hit upon the idea of using his head for advertising purposes. Shaving the back of his head bare, he rented the space for ads.

Sometimes a cigar is just a big-ass cigar.

FORTY-POUND CIGAR IS VALUED AT SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS

What is said to be one of the largest cigars ever made was shown at an eastern tobacco exposition. It was rolled from broadleaf tobacco from the Connecticut valley and is five feet in length. The value of the tobacco used is estimated at $75.

This is kind of sad. It almost warrants it’s own unicorn chaser.

BULL WITH SINGLE HORN IS MODERN UNICORN
What might be called a modern unicorn has been produced by Dr. W. F. Dove, University of Maine biologist. From a day-old bull calf, Dr. Dove removed the two small knots of tissue which normally develop into horns. These horn buds he transplanted in the center of the bull’s forehead, thereby inducing the growth of a single massive horn. The bull, now nearly three years old, has developed much of the proud bearing ascribed to the mythical unicorn.

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VOODOO DO-IT-YOURSELF

IF YOU know somebody who always beats you at croquet or who likes to swat you on the head and call you, “Old aardvark”—and who doesn’t know someone like that?— then what you need is a voodoo kit. With this you’ll spend many happy hours sticking needles into a little doll and pretending it’s your playmate. Voodoo is West Indian for black magic, which is the art of inflicting pain, sickness, death and bad luck by remote control. Read the rest of this entry »

Engineer Is Safe in Steel Wire Cage Charged With 300,000 Volts
Even though a 300,000-volt electric current surges through the steel-wire ball which encloses him, an engineer in a Munich museum demonstration remains unperturbed. The so-called “Faraday’s cage” protects its passenger even though he’s in the midst of a powerful electrostatic field. The electricity spreads harmlessly around the ball and is then grounded via a cable.

Eye-Movement Glasses
An extra pair of eyes seems to sprout beneath the cheekbones of a person using a new visual aid. The effect comes from inclined transparent mirrors attached to a pair of glassless spectacles. With the tool an observer can watch a reader’s eye movements and discover the reasons for retarded reading rate or comprehension. It is possible to estimate the length and number of eye pauses, the number of backward eye movements, and the smoothness of eye movement rhythm.

Electric Hookah?

ELECTRICITY OPERATES “FIRELESS PIPE”

A “fireless pipe,” operated by electricity, has been devised by a Toronto, Canada, physician, who maintains that it prevents the inhalation of harmful carbon monoxide and reduces fire hazard by eliminating the use of matches. Tobacco is volatilized by a heating element and the fumes are breathed in the usual way. One model is shaped like a standard pipe; another, built into a table lamp, has tubes for several smokers at once.

BRASS HORN TWELVE FEET LONG PLAYED BY SIX MIDGETS

Measuring 12 feet in length, a giant horn requires at least two men to play it, as it is so cumbersome that one person cannot carry it. Recently, at a convention in the South, six midget men were necessary to handle the instrument: one at the mouth-
piece, another at the keys, and four to support it. This huge band piece was made in Paris and brought to this country about 75 years ago.

Family Of Three Travels In Home-Built “Cyclemobile”

TWO bicycles joined together by means of a specially constructed frame and covered by a streamlined, water-proofed canvas hood, serve as a novel and cheap medium of transportation for A. Martin, of Dracutt, Mass. Dry batteries supply current to operate the front and rear lights of the “cyclemobile,” as the odd vehicle has been named.

Resembling an automobile of radical design in its appearance, the cyclemobile’s hood boasts ising-glass windows. The interior is fitted with luggage compartments and a berth for Martin’s 18-month-old daughter. Husband and wife work dual sets of pedals.

Rifle Barrel Becomes Bugle for Musical Stunt

Using the barrel for a horn, an English musician can play bugle calls on a rifle. A trumpet mouthpiece is inserted into the muzzle and the bolt removed. The notes produced are shrill and piercing, but are said to be perfect in both tone and pitch. The originator of the idea is shown in the photograph reproduced at the left holding the novel instrument in the correct position for sounding a bugle call.

I’ve read this ad three times now and I still have no idea what they are saying. Though I must say that the “good” future they present sounds a lot like what post-singularity transhumans are supposed to be like:

“Will the future know a superior, Godlike race of humans—each a genius and each the masterful creation of an unerring formula”

If the formula is unerring, wouldn’t everyone be identical? How is this different from the second option? Also, how can everyone be a genius? That’s sort of like saying everyone will be above average.

And why does the creation of life always require giant tesla coils?

Will Man Create Life?

DOES THE SECRET of life belong to Divinity alone?

Will Nature’s last frontier give way to man’s inquiring mind? Can man become a creator, peopling the world with creatures of his own fancy? Was the ancient sage right, who said: “To the Gods the Soul belongs, but to man will belong the power of Life”? Will the future know a superior, Godlike race of humans—each a genius and each the masterful creation of an unerring formula—or will Soulless beings, shorn of the feelings which have bound mortals together in understanding, dominate the earth?
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