Weird Universe Blog — October 24, 2024

The Great Grand Canyon Deer Drive of 1924

In the early 1920s, the deer population was growing out of control on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon. The area had been designated a National Game Preserve in 1906, and since then the deer population had swelled from around 4000 to as many as 100,000 (by some estimates).

Farmer George McCormick came up with a solution. He proposed herding thousands of the deer down into the canyon, over the Colorado river, and then up onto the South Rim where there was plenty of room for them.

Critics pointed out that you can't herd deer, but this didn't deter McCormick. He put together a team of about 50 men on horseback (including the writer Zane Grey) and 100 local Native Americans on foot. Then they set out to herd the deer. Details of how they fared from Arizona Highways magazine (July 2004):

The Indians carried cowbells and rang them to get the deer moving out of the woods. They also beat metal pans with sticks, while the men on horseback waved hats, shouted and fired guns.

"But as they drew near the deer, instead of retreating, the animals almost invariably dashed through the cordon of men," reported the Sun. "Not only did they refuse to run away forward, but in charging the line, the animals seemed not to care a particle how close they came to the men. In many instances the latter had to give ground.

"One immense buck charged four mounted men, of whom Mr. Grey was one, and the latter reached for his gun, expecting to be run down. The deer just missed the quartet...

The effort continued through that day and the next. But it never approached anything but total chaos, with deer stampeding in every direction.

For more info, there's a detailed article about the deer drive in the Summer 2004 issue of Boatman's Quarterly Review (available as free pdf). Some images from that article:



Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 24, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals | Farming | Really Bad Ideas | 1920s

October 23, 2024

The Peanut Butter Painting

Inspired by peanut farmer Jimmy Carter becoming President, in 1977 Owensboro artist C.G. "Moose" Morehead used peanut butter to paint a picture of a barn — mixing the peanut butter (Jif) with oil colors. Morehead called it the "Peanut Butter Painting."

It's believed that this was the first time peanut butter was used as the medium for a painting. Jimmy Carter later signed the painting. And due to the interest in the painting, 2000 limited-edition prints were made of it, some of which can now be found on eBay. Though the prints obviously contain no peanut butter.

The Peanut Butter Painting





Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer - Feb 24, 1977

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 23, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Art | 1970s

George Carl—“French Pantomimist”—on The Ed Sullivan Show

Prime time humor was really different, way back when.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 23, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Human Marvels | Humor | Television | 1960s | Europe

October 22, 2024

Fish Advertising

In 1961, the French patent office granted Robert-Oropei Martino a patent for a method of placing advertisements on fish. From his patent (translated via Google Translate):

It is known that the effect of advertising is largely determined by the medium chosen for it. It is recognized that advertising carried out on a mobile medium, in particular rotating, attracts much more attention than the same advertising on a fixed medium. Similarly, advertising on a medium not previously used is more effective than that carried by the usual media. According to the present invention, a particularly effective advertisement is produced by having it carried by fish in an aquarium, pond or other...

It is obviously possible to imagine many ways of having advertising carried by fish. According to the invention, a corset is preferably used, made to the dimensions of the subject in a material that is sufficiently flexible not to hinder it, and which is closed on it by any appropriate means. Such a corset can advantageously be made of plastic and it is possible to conform it to any profile deemed desirable. Preferably, to allow the fish complete freedom to flex its body around a vertical axis, the corset itself is provided with a very small width and is extended towards the rear or towards the front by panels or strips that are entirely free from each other and on which any desired printing or design can be provided. The attached drawing, given as an example, will allow a better understanding of the invention, the characteristics that it presents and the advantages that it is likely to provide...

It is understood that many corset conformations can be imagined, in particular depending on the anatomical conditions of the fish. Instead of using a complete corset properly speaking, it would obviously be possible to arrange a half corset visible on one side only and fixed in place in any appropriate manner, or even a simple panel suitably attached to the body of the fish.

On the other hand, although it seems advantageous to present the fish in an aquarium, the invention could also be implemented with fish placed in a pond or a body of water, the important thing being simply that the fish is perfectly visible and that the corset or other support that it carries can be clearly distinguished and detailed by the spectators.

More info: Patent No. FR1258965 (espacenet.com)

Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 22, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising | Fish | 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #608

Man, this ad is all over the place!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 22, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Scatterbrained, Unfocused and Ditzy | Advertising | Junk Food | Twentieth Century

October 21, 2024

Werther’s Hard Caramels Pocket Jeans

Continuing our occasional look at odd blue jeans: Werther's candy is currently holding a contest to give away 200 pairs of limited-edition jeans. The jeans feature, down the side of each leg, "30 tiny pockets perfectly designed to fit a standard bag of Werther’s Original hard caramels."

If you don't want to put candy in each pocket, I guess you could store knickknacks in them.

Enter the contest here. You've got until Oct 25.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 21, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Candy | Denim

An Optical Poem

Creator's Wikipedia entry here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 21, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Art | Avant Garde | Movies | Stop-motion Animation | Music | 1930s

October 20, 2024

The Sonata of Sleep

The Sonata of Sleep wasn't a musical composition. Instead it was a building designed (but never built) in the 1930s by Soviet architect Konstantin Melnikov. He envisioned it as a place where Soviet workers could enjoy scientifically-enhanced sleep. Details from Cabinet magazine:

“Without sleep,” Melnikov argued, “fresh air will do little for our health.” He devised a building in which hundreds of workers could partake of its benefits at the same time. Named “Sonata of Sleep”—a pun on son, the Russian word for sleep or dream—the building consisted of two large dormitories either side of a central block containing washrooms. The dormitories had sloping floors, to obviate the need for pillows, and the beds were to be built-in “like laboratory tables,” in the words of Frederick Starr, author of the standard monograph on Melnikov. Starr goes on to describe the further pains Melnikov took over the ambiance:

At either end of the long buildings were to be situated control booths, where technicians would command instruments to regulate the temperature, humidity, and air pressure, as well as to waft salubrious scents and “rarefied condensed air” through the halls. Nor would sound be left unorganized. Specialists working “according to scientific facts” would transmit from the control centre a range of sounds gauged to intensify the process of slumber. The rustle of leaves, the cooing of nightingales, or the soft murmur of waves would instantly relax the most overwrought veteran of the metropolis. Should these fail, the mechanized beds would then begin gently to rock until consciousness was lost.

Model of Melnikov's Sonata of Sleep
image source: interwoven

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 20, 2024 - Comments (8)
Category: Architecture | Sleep and Dreams | 1930s | Russia

2002:  Child Life One Hundred Years from Now

We have a theme on WU of predictions of a future we have already reached. Some are way off, others more accurate. You may decide for yourself how this book fares. While we do not yet have personal winged flight for kids, we do have telephones with visuals.


Read the whole thing here.





Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 20, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Predictions | Yesterday’s Tomorrows | Children | Books | Science Fiction | 1900s

October 19, 2024

Every Book-of-the-Month Club Selection

The Book-of-the-Month Club launched in 1926. New York lawyer Eustace Seligman became the first member.

Life magazine caught up with Seligman 23 years later and discovered that not only was he still a member, but he had bought (and still owned) every monthly selection, plus the various extra books offered, for a total of 449 books.

Life - June 20, 1949



source: Google Images



Seligman died in 1976. I wonder if he had continued to purchase every monthly selection.

So what were the titles of all those books that Seligman owned? Blogger Jeyla Briar has compiled a list of every monthly selection from the Book-of-the-Month Club since 1926. (Around 2015 they started offering 4 or 5 monthly selections rather than one).



I don't recognize the majority of the titles. But if you're looking for a reading challenge, working your way through every Book-of-the-Month Club selection would be a daunting one.

And yes, the Book-of-the-Month Club is still going strong, with around 100,000 current members.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 19, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations | Books

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2016 by the author of the post, which is usually either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.

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