Tag: Nature
-
Pot Shooting In Central Park
Wild animals occasionally make their way into Central Park. Just a few months ago, a coyote in the Park seemed to be the talk of the town. In modern times, these animals are taken down by NYPD sharpshooters with tranquilizer guns. But back in 1910, there was one man whose full time job was hunting […]
-
“No Centenarian Living,” Says Dr. Woods Hutchinson
Life expectancy is longer than it’s ever been, and there were already hundreds of people claiming to be more than 100 years old in 1910. But Dr. Woods Hutchinson investigated and decided they were all wrong: “I don’t mean that such men and women are wilful liars. I believe they are mistaken. Many of them […]
-
Being Fat Is Like Having Money In The Bank
In 1910, thin was already in for both health and fashion. But Dr. George Niles has some really practical reasons why it might be good to be fat: Suppose a ship went down in midocean and a few of the passengers and crew got off on a raft. Suppose on one of the rafters was […]
-
Sunday Schools That Teach Children Anarchy
I saw this headline and I thought it was just some overblown sensationalism. But then I read the article, and it turns out they’re literally talking about anarchist-run schools. In particular, they point out the a particular Sunday School on Avenue A, run by Alexander Berkmann, a “leading member of the anarchist movement in the […]
-
Spring’s Iceberg Dangers
“To provide against such dangers,” the article says, “ships now are being built to defy the ice.” Two years later, the Titanic sank. SPRING’S ICEBERG DANGERS (PDF) From May 1, 1910
-
Baden Powell’s Boy Scout Plan Invades America
I associate the Boy Scouts of America so strongly with Americana in general that I never suspected that scouts began anywhere but in the USA. It turns out that the Scouting Movement was started in England by Baden Powell, the man depicted in the center illustration. Today the Boy Scouts are the subject of several […]
-
Is The First Born Child Inferior To Its Brothers?
Has the practice of hedging a sensational headline by phrasing it as a question always been around? This example suggests it has, and it upsets Jon Stewart. But what if it’s true? From the article: [A eugenics professor states that] “we find the neurotic, the insane, the tuberculous, and the albinotic the more frequent among […]
-
No Flood If Noah Had Known Hydraulics
Let’s just pretend for a moment that the stories in the Bible are literally true, and there really was a flood that happened exactly as described. This article suggests that “the skill of modern engineers… could readily have prevented the inundation.” Wasn’t the flood supposed to have covered the whole planet? We can barely contain […]
-
World’s Biggest Sponge Found In The Bahamas
It is what is known as a wool sponge, which is the finest quality known among spongers. It is in form perfectly round, arched like an immense fruit cake, and is six feet in circumference and two feet in diameter in every direction. When taken from the water it weighed between eighty and ninety pounds, […]
SundayMagazine.org 