September 11, 2008

Oregon Woman Has 2457 Spoons (Jan, 1931)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 11:21 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1931
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Oregon Woman Has 2457 Spoons
WHAT is believed to be the largest collection of spoons in the world is owned by Doctor Ella Kyes Dearborn, of Portland, Oregon. The collection contains 2457 spoons which completely cover the entire area of a large six-leaf cabinet, no two spoons being alike. Among the tiniest spoons in the collection are 120 made by a Chinese man that are the veriest fraction of an inch long and were made under a microscope. Her largest spoon is made of aluminum and is 23 inches long with a bowl capacity of one and one-half cups. Doctor Dearborn values her collection at over ten thousand dollars.

August 20, 2008

No More Rain-Soaked Cigarettes! (Aug, 1931)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 8:52 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1931
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No More Rain-Soaked Cigarettes!
MANY are the inventions devised to insure a dry smoke, but it has remained for a clown appearing with a circus in England to solve the problem. An umbrella over the smoke keeps off water and a spigot drains off excess moisture.

August 10, 2008

Mother Hen Eats Dye, Chicks Hatch Out Freakish Colors (Jan, 1933)

Filed under: Animals, Just Weird — @ 11:37 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1933
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Mother Hen Eats Dye, Chicks Hatch Out Freakish Colors

THE chickens seen in the photo at the left may look just like any brood of infant barnyard fowl but that is because Modern Mechanix couldn’t print them in colors. In the flesh, however, they are a deep pink in hue with bills and toe nails a resplendent rose color.

The chicks were produced during experiments in which the mother was fed red dye. Further experiments are under way with other dyes and soon purple and green hens may be as common as white and brown ones now. The chickens otherwise are normal in every respect.

August 8, 2008

Combination Cat, Fish Globe Affords Unique Spectacle (Jan, 1933)

Filed under: Animals, Just Weird — @ 12:43 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1933
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Combination Cat, Fish Globe Affords Unique Spectacle

HOW to exhibit prize winning kittens and butterfly goldfish to the best advantage was the problem of Mrs. J. T. Mopham, a cat and fish fancier of Los Angeles. She left the task up to a large glass company of her town who proceeded to turn out the specially built fish globe with an inside compartment for kittens.

The result, as illustrated in the photo at the left, was really startling. The outside compartment, filled with water, houses the goldfish with the kittens occupying the special bowl inside. Onlookers are bewildered when they apparently see the kittens and goldfish living in peace and harmony in the same bowl of water.

August 1, 2008

PILE OF ANTLERS A MONUMENT TO THE ELK (Jun, 1935)

Filed under: Animals, Just Weird — @ 10:31 pm
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1935
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I’m sure the elk would be quite honored if there were any left.

PILE OF ANTLERS A MONUMENT TO THE ELK

Elk antlers have been gathered and formed into an unusual monument in Yellowstone National Park. The monument, which is twelve feet high, marks the place where thousands of elk once roamed, before the large herds were wiped out by hunters. Rangers in the park are responsible for this tribute to the departed elk.

July 31, 2008

Lip Tattooing Is the Latest Fad (Jan, 1933)

Filed under: Just Weird, Personal Appearance — @ 11:59 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1933
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I hope she doesn’t change her mind.

Lip Tattooing Is the Latest Fad

A NEW and unique fad making rapid strides among the movie folk of Hollywood is not to rouge the lips but have them permanently made up by the tattoo artist, as demonstrated in photo below. All shades of the more popular lip sticks are available and may be worked on in a short time at little inconvenience.

July 29, 2008

Ancient Pirate Gun Is Reclaimed from Sea (Jun, 1934)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 11:16 pm
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1934
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Ancient Pirate Gun Is Reclaimed from Sea

Weighing 150 pounds and resembling a cannon more than a firearm, a huge, brass-barreled, portable field piece has been recovered from the sea, where a pirate lost it, and added to a collection of ancient guns in Pasadena, Calif. The gun was one of those used by the pirate, Hippolyte de Bouchard, when he and 400 followers sacked Monterey in 1818. In returning to their ship, the men lost this gun when a small boat overturned. In later years it was recovered by fishermen who saw it on the ocean floor at low tide. Another firearm almost as remarkable is a gun with a very long barrel used by Spanish settlers in hunting. They believed that the longer the barrel, the further the ball would carry, and so used long-barreled guns to kill game at long range. The long gun has an over-all length of about ten feet.

July 27, 2008

Tin Clad Knight Stands Guard Duty Over Parking Lot (Jul, 1934)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 11:53 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1934
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Tin Clad Knight Stands Guard Duty Over Parking Lot

COMPLETELY encased in glittering armor from his helmeted head to his tin clad toes, an English car park attendant is furnishing a quaintly medieval note to a distinctly modern scene.

Daily he stands guard over the automobiles parked at the Tudor House in the Kentish town of Bearsted, moving cumber-somely about his duties, clad in his unusual costume.

Tourists visiting the district for the first time have the curious feeling that the pages of history are being turned backward.

July 14, 2008

Radio Calls Movie Star to Work (Jul, 1934)

Filed under: Just Weird, Movies, Radio — @ 10:15 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1934
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Radio Calls Movie Star to Work

HERBERT MUNDIN, movie star, recently had to work in four different pictures at the same time. Finding it rather difficult to keep track of his working day schedule, and to know just where he was wanted next, he had to use a portable radio set.

With radio communication the directors had but to step up to the microphone to call their “much-in-demand” actor.

The tiny radio set and batteries are supported by a slingstrap. Headphones are used for reception, with a tiny loop aerial attached to them. No ground wire is needed since transmitter is close.

July 13, 2008

Giant Shoe Is Built Over Auto (Jul, 1934)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 11:22 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1934
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Giant Shoe Is Built Over Auto
A FOREIGN shoe manufacturer, desiring to advertise his business, built a giant shoe 10 feet high and more than 16 feet long. The metal shoe is mounted on a lengthened automobile chassis, with a windshield above the instep. The canvas luces flap in the wind as the car races through the streets.

July 10, 2008

Bike Keeps Family in Stitches (Oct, 1939)

Filed under: Bicycles, Just Weird — @ 1:12 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1939
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Bike Keeps Family in Stitches

CARRYING four persons and a sewing machine, the world’s weirdest bicycle recently had a tryout in Chicago, Ill. The two-story vehicle, known as the “Goofybike,” is the creation of Charles Steinlauf. It carries the whole Steinlauf family. The inventor rides at the top and guides the contraption by means of a huge automobile steering wheel. Mrs. Steinlauf sits below, operating a sewing machine, while her son pedals behind and her daughter rides on the handlebars in front. When the odd vehicle is at rest, the projecting legs of the sewing machine prevent the lofty cycle from tipping over.

June 27, 2008

Auto Crashed into Wall in Tire Test (Sep, 1930)

Filed under: Automotive, Just Weird — @ 1:07 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1930
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It’s good to know that if I crash into a wall, my tires will survive even if I don’t.

Auto Crashed into Wall in Tire Test

DICK GRACE, famous movie stunt man, added another thrilling exploit to his long list recently by driving an automobile at a speed of nearly 40 miles per hour into a brick wall to test the endurance of a new type of tire.

When the 3,500 pound car was stopped abruptly by the 10 ton brick wall, however, Grace did not sail gracefully over the wall into the soft mixture of cork and sand placed there to absorb the shock of the fall as he expected, but was first thrown against the dashboard, his body bending double, and then hurled out onto the ground at the side. Grace had his usual luck and suffered only a slight injury to his knee.
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