Farming
Exploding Chickens
Spontaneously exploding chickens startle German farmer.
The Ogden Standard - Nov 17, 1950
LUNEBERG, Germany, Nov 17 (UP) — An excited farmer told police today that some of his chickens "exploded with a loud bang while running across the barnyard."
An investigation showed that the chickens ate bits of carbide left behind by allied soldiers during fall maneuvers, later drank some water and the resulting gas blew them to bits.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 01, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Farming, Explosives, 1950s
2015 North American Manure Expo
Not just a manure expo, but the 13th annual manure expo. Also, they held a slogan contest. I have no doubt that our community here on WU can come up with some interesting slogans. Slogans better than the ones at the link I bet. How about it guys?
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 26, 2015 -
Comments (13)
Category: Agriculture, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Farming
The Popular Pickle
There is so much to love about this video, from the whimsical music which makes it seem as if the cucumbers are just going on holiday, instead of being wrenched from their happy fields and families, then sliced and seasoned for consumption by monstrous hairless apes, to the very phrase "pickle packer." The one omission, understandable in light of 1950s' reticence, is no mention of the cucumber as sex toy.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 10, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Regionalism, Advertising, Industry, Factories and Manufacturing, Farming, Vegetables, Pickles, 1950s
The hen that laid an egg shaped like a light bulb
Rural electrification brought many benefits. But one of its stranger effects occurred on the Kentucky farm of Albert Clark in 1939. One of his hens stared and stared at the new light bulb hanging in the hen house, as if hypnotized by it. Then she laid an egg shaped like a light bulb. Clark sent the egg to the Rural Electrification Administration in D.C. as proof of what had occurred. This was big news in 1939.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 10, 2015 -
Comments (9)
Category: Farming, Eggs, 1930s
The Pig Swing
Alas, today's factory farming of pork precludes such luxury treatment.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 27, 2014 -
Comments (19)
Category: Animals, Farming, Technology, 1960s
Gay’s Lion Farm
For almost 20 years, the only commercial lion breeding facility (and tourist attraction) "in the world."
The Wikipedia entry.
Article from 1926.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 26, 2014 -
Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Farming, Sightseeing, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s
The Cow Song
Elizabeth McGovern takes a break from her role in Downton Abbey to sing about cows.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 23, 2014 -
Comments (5)
Category: Music, Farming, Cows
Cattle Princesses
I never did understand why cows and beauty contests are often linked. It's probably a throwback to ancient pagan fertility rites. Below are the six young women who hoped to become the 1975 Kern County Cattle Princess. I don't know who won.And below that are the young women who currently serve as California Dairy Princesses.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 08, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Farming
Long Life Cow Award
Ballydrum Celsius Betty is only 15 yrs old, which isn't even particularly old for a cow, since cows often reach the age of 20. Apparently the oldest cow on record is Big Bertha, who lived to be 49. After her death she was stuffed and is now on display somewhere in Beaufort, County Kerry.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 04, 2013 -
Comments (2)
Category: Farming, Cows
Please Poop, Mr. Cow!
Although modern science has been able to send a man to the moon, it has not been able to make cows poop on command. An effort to solve this shortcoming is described in a recent issue of Applied Animal Behaviour Science.The thing is, it would be really nice, for the purpose of general hygiene, if farmers could convince cows to stop pooping wherever they felt like it. So researchers devised a series of tests to see if prompts such as walking through a footbath, or being exposed to blasts of air or water, could stimulate bovine defecation. No such luck. The researchers concluded, "None of our tests reliably stimulated defecation, which seemed to occur most when cows were exposed to novelty."
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 17, 2013 -
Comments (7)
Category: Science, Experiments, Farming, Cows, Excrement
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |