Chariot of 1938 Ben Hur Drawn by Four Motorcycles

For the Ben Hur of the motor age, no four-horse team would do. Instead, the charioteer—stunting in a sports festival sponsored by a Potsdam regiment in Germany—rides on a rubber-tired chariot drawn by four motorcycles. “Reins” in the driver’s hands lead to the handlebars of all four “bikes,” which are harnessed together by three horizontal bars. The har-ness recalls certain farm tractors which are controlled by reins.

Pocketbook Firecracker Alarm Catches Wife

A PAPER firecracker device which goes off with the noise of a pistol every time the pocketbook containing it is opened was Exhibit No. 1 at a divorce suit instituted by C. J. O’Brien, wealthy contractor of Baltimore.

O’Brien told Judge O’Dunne how he had suspected his wife of taking loose change from his pockets each night, and how he caught her by rigging up the firecracker device.

Will Power Operates Gramaphone

YOU can take this story as seriously as you want to. It came to us as perfectly legitimate stuff and here it is:

Major Raymond Phillips, O.M.E., late member of the Inter-Allied Commission of Control, claims to have evolved apparatus which will cause a gramaphone or kettle to function entirely by will power.

Major Phillips explains that the human body acts as an earth and the constant capacity is maintained within three yards of the apparatus. A momentary pause in the flow to earth through the body—produced entirely by mind concentration—is followed by an upward surge of sufficient intensity to cause a series of relays to operate.
That’s the story. You can take it or leave it. We have a sneaking suspicion that somebody is being kidded.

STORE DROPS SEVERAL FEET, BUT BUSINESS CONTINUES
Defects in the shoring under the foundation of a concrete grocery store caused the structure to settle several feet to a steep angle while it was being moved recently. By rigging improvised steps, the proprietor was able to conduct “business as usual” until the building was righted. Because of the rigid construction and comparatively light weight of the store, it was damaged only slightly by the accident, even the large window panes withstanding the shock.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Man of Future to Have One Eye

MAN’S eyes will come closer and closer together, the bridge of the nose will further diminish, and finally the two eyes will again become one—just one large, Cyclopean eye in the center of the face—if the predictions of Dr. Thomas Shastid of Duluth, Minnesota, come true.

Dr. Shastid, eye specialist and editor of many optical magazines, bases his predictions upon his years of study of the eyes of humans, of animals, and of fish.

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Airplane House at right solved the dwelling shortage for E .H. Kantz of Dallas, Tex. He built it from an old A-10 fuselage, an ancient Cadillac chassis—which he extended 10 feet—and a Ford V-8 engine. It won’t fly, but you ,get the sensation of landing an airplane when you buzz along at 50, he says.

I’m not so sure how “lucky” these people are. Especially if they have well water…

Back Yard Well Produces Gasoline
SOME of the more fortunate residents of Long Beach, Calif., are doing a nice business in gasoline which has been pumped from their own back yards. Presumably because of seepage from the Signal Hill wells, nearby, a number of Long Beach back yards are fairly rich in gasoline. Presence of the precious liquid was discovered during the drilling of a cesspool some months ago. Since then a number of crude pumping systems have been installed, some of which produce as high as 400 gallons of casing head gasoline in 24 hours.

I’m racking my brain here, but I can’t figure out why you would need a cricket to study electricity…

Vain Cricket left, holds a mirror in its “hand” as you can see if you look closely. The cricket is one-half inch high, but the mirror measures only .09 by .015 inches. It’s used to study electricity.

Ships Self in COFFIN to Get Into Movies
CHARLES LOEB’S unique way of trying to get past the guards of a moving picture studio for a chance to break into the movies nearly cost him his life recently. The comedian had himself expressed in an especially prepared coffin from Chicago to Hollywood. The outside of the box was labeled, “Statue—handle with care—value $500.” Loeb went three days without water or food and was in a critical condition when found. Carefully concealed air holes permitted him to breathe freely, but his water supply and food were soon exhausted. The wedge-shaped ends of the box did not permit anyone to stand it on end.

Was this a really big problem at the time? Big enough that people needed to carry around portable cinder pluckers? I suppose that with all of the coal and wood fires that perhaps there were a lot more cinders, but still…

Helps You Pick a Cinder Out of Your Eye

A SAFETY-FIRST device, small enough to carry in a vest pocket, has been invented by A. F. Ouellet, of New York City, to aid in removing cinders or dust particles from your eyes. A five-power magnifying mirror, one inch in diameter, is fitted with a wire clamp by which it is attached to the little finger of the left hand. While the mirror is held before the irritated eye, the thumb and forefinger of the same hand push back the eyelids, and a folded piece of soft paper, cut to a point, is manipulated by the right hand to remove the dust speck. The eye that is being treated observes the action.

Besides magnifying the eye, the mirror reflects light on the spot where the irritating particle is located. The mirror and clamp fit into a small case for carrying in a man’s pocket or in a woman’s hand bag.

Engineer Encases Bodies in Metal

THROUGH a carefully guarded secret process, Marcus D. Rynkofs, Los Angeles electroplating engineer, is able to encase any body in metal so closely fitted that every feature of the subject is reproduced. The process, superior to any developed by the Egyptians, will preserve a body forever, sealing it in an air tight chamber against the ravages of time.

I’m not really sure how this would discourage drinking….

Never Again swear drunks who wake up in the Galena, Ill., jailhouse. For there in front of their eyes is the gosh-awful biggest snake they ever saw. Ana wrapped around a pink elephant, too. Jailer George Herman says the scheme may not be scientific, but it works. He’s thinking of adding an octopus.