Fun At The Dinner Table
SOUP serenades, spaghetti entanglements, corn-on-the-cob wrestling and other embarrassments at meal time may never be eliminated, but Russell Oakes, a Waukesha, Wis., business man, got so amused thinking they might be that he discovered a new hobby devising dizzy devices to put eating on a mechanical basis.

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Hunts Needle in a Haystack
How long does it take to find a needle in a haystack ? Jim Moran, Washington, D. C, publicity man, recently dropped a needle into a convenient pile of hay, hopped in after it, and began an intensive search for (a) some publicity and (b) the needle. Having found the former, Moran abandoned the needle hunt.

Tests for Balance O.K. High Heels
A METAL pencil has just written upon smoked paper a vindication of high-heeled shoes for women. Testing their effect upon body balance, Dr. Walter Mendenhall, of Boston, finds that girls wearing the much-maligned footgear can often stand more steadily than barefoot subjects. The telltale pencil, attached by a headband, recorded a subject’s wavering upon a chart.

Bottled Hen has made her homein a five-gallon jug since she was a week old. Owner B. E. Efird of Landis, N. C, is experimenting with a feed compound that makes hens lay red or green-yoked eggs. The air vents in the side of the jar enable the eight-week-old New Hampshire Red to put her head through to feed. Living in glass houses must agree with hens as she seems to be less neurotic than most fowl.

Electrical Device Tests Nerves to Determine Character
CRYSTAL gazing and fortune telling are being supplanted as means to determine inclinations and aptitudes of children by an electrical device which examines one’s character by testing the relative strength of your nerves.

The strange mechanism is an electrical unit operated with two electrodes. One is held in the hand of the subject being tested and the other is moved about on the head. Nerve reactions are tabulated and character’ determined by comparison to chart.

Dog’s Tail Forms Radio Receiver
A DOG’S tail serves as a radio receiver for Frank G. Kerk, Los Angeles experimenter. Kerk attaches an aerial to the collar of his Great Dane and hooks an ear phone to the animal’s tail. The canine radio is then complete and all that is necessary is to place the phone to the ear and listen.

Portable Church Goes to People
WHEN it gets too hot for the folks to go to church, the church can now go to the people. Seven Baptist ministers in northern Indiana put their heads together and solved the problem by devising a traveling church mounted on the chassis of an old seven passenger car. The “motorized” church has a twelve foot belfry, with bell and all, and a roof which is thrown back, disclosing a pulpit and an organ with amplifiers which permit a huge audience to hear the entire services.

Wading Outfit Lets Fisherman Float
A NEWLY developed wading suit enables a fisherman not only to wade into a stream, but to float from spot to spot as well. The suit consists of a circular air-filled chamber, rubber wading boots and a water-proof body coverall comprising an integral, leak-proof unit, as shown in the photograph at left.

Barber Speeds up Haircuts with 200,000 Volts Through Customer’s Body

SHOOTING 200,000 volts of electricity through a customer’s body, causing the hair to stand up on end as if in fright, is the somewhat unique though harmless, means employed by Charles Hawker, of Portland, Oregon, to increase his speed at his barber chair.

The chair in which Mr. Hawker performs this tonsorial stunt is mounted on insulators, as illustrated at the left. Current is sent through the customer’s body by means of contact plates on the arms of the chair.

Double-Barrel Cigarette Holder
We don’t know whether the cigarette manufacturers were behind this idea, but it might be a good idea for them to give away one of these new holders to all smokers. Just think how cigarette sales would jump if everybody smoked two at one time!

Any fool could come up with a Flashlight/Telescope combo, but it takes a true creative genius to add the drinking cup.

Flashlight, 5 Power Telescope, Drinking Cup—All in One
IT’S a flashlight, but take out the batteries and it’s a telescope. The combination instrument, now on the market, has several uses for the camper. As a flashlight it has a focusing beam. The front lens can also be used as a sun glass to start fires, while the eyepiece is a good magnifying glass. Included in the tube with the batteries is a small drinking cup. By removing the batteries, bulb, and drinking cup, the camper has a fair five-power telescope. The instrument is built to provide for an adjustable telescope for varying distances.

This looks like something out of Monty Python.

PEASANTS USE VAULTING POLES TO GET TO WORK
Vaulting with poles is a necessary part of the every-day life of Friesian peasants in northern Germany. There the low, marshy fields abound with drainage ditches. These are so numerous that the construction of foot bridges would be prohibitively expensive. Hence the peasants resort to vaulting poles, which have wooden disks attached to the bottom end, as shown in the smaller view, to keep them from sinking in the soft mud. Long practice has made the Friesians adept in leaping the ditches in this manner.