Category:
Excrement
Excrement
Urohidrosis
Back in the 1960s, while observing wood storks in Florida, biologist M. Philip Kahl, Jr. noted that on hot days the storks "have the unusual habit of frequently excreting on their legs."He eventually concluded that, since storks don't sweat, they were doing this to cool themselves down "by means of evaporative cooling of the blood supply to the legs and feet." He named this phenomenon 'urohidrosis'.
His hypothesis is now accepted as true, and it's not only storks that cool themselves by pooping on their legs. Turkey vultures do it too.
Reference: Kahl, P.M., Jr. 1963. Thermoregulation in the Wood Stork, with special reference to the role of the legs. Physiol. Zool., 36: 141-151.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 14, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Science, Excrement
The Ballad of a Gentle Laxative
These 1987 TV ads for Doxidan laxative, featuring the 'Doxidan Cowboy,' seem to inspire both love and hate. A lot of people on YouTube remember them fondly, but in newspapers from the time they were often cited as being among the most annoying commercials on TV.The singer was Skeeter Starke. He has a YouTube channel.
Fort Myers News-Press - Jan 25, 1987
via History's Dumpster
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 26, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Music, Advertising, Excrement, 1980s
Raisin Bran keeps you regular
Trapeze artists discussing bowel movements doesn't conjure up good images.
Lincoln Star - Apr 1, 1938
Possibly relevant, this Snopes article: Did a Trapeze Artist with Diarrhea Defecate on 23 People? (The answer is no)
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 05, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Advertising, Cereal, Excrement, 1930s
Follies of the Madmen #504
I have never seen laxatives touted as a daily dose, rather than just as needed.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 31, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Excrement, 1950s
The Peanut Butter Story
As reported by Sherry Gershon Gottlieb in Hell No, We Won’t Go! Resisting the Draft During the Vietnam War:
via Legends & Rumors
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 18, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Military, Excrement
Urine Bread 2.0
Eight years ago, I posted about how prisoners held in a Japanese interment camp during World War II learned how to make bread using urine instead of yeast.Now I see that urine bread, of a kind, is back in the news. From bakeryandsnacks.com:
French engineer Louise Raguet baked 'Boucle d'Or' — Goldilocks bread — using wheat fertilized in urine gathered from female urinals in the 14th Arrondissement of Paris.
Raguet hopes to "break taboos over excrement" and create a more sustainable food and farming system that makes use of human refuse, while cutting farming costs and boosting crop yields.
Raguet hopes to "break taboos over excrement" and create a more sustainable food and farming system that makes use of human refuse, while cutting farming costs and boosting crop yields.
More info, in French, here (pdf).
The toilets in which the urine was collected
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jul 22, 2020 -
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Category: Food, Body Fluids, Excrement
Silver Stool
The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported on a case of a woman whose poop turned silver. Or, at least, silver-colored.She wasn't drinking silver, which would have been an easy solution to the mystery. Instead, the doctors offered this explanation:
The physical examination was notable for jaundice, hepatomegaly, and a diffusely tender abdomen. The rectal examination showed silver-colored stool (Panel A)... The appearance of silver stool results from a combination of white stool associated with obstructive jaundice and black stool of melena. After a discussion of treatment options with the patient, a decision was made to focus on her comfort. She was discharged home with hospice care.
In light of this case, the website PoopColors.com should be updated to include silver.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 20, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Excrement
Ex-Lax Movies
An 'Ex-Lax Movie' doesn't sound like something I'd want to watch. Actually, it's something I'd actively avoid. And I can't imagine the phrase sounded much better back in 1939 and '40 when Ex-Lax ran these ads in magazines such as Life and Woman's Home Companion.
Betty: I don't know which is worse... constipation or the remedy!
Sally: You're silly to punish yourself that way. Why don't you try Ex-Lax?
Betty: Ex-Lax? You expect that to work for me... a little chocolate tablet?
Sally: Don't let its pleasant taste deceive you. Ex-Lax is a dependable laxative—thorough and effective!
LATER
Betty: No more strong, bad-tasting laxatives for me! That Ex-Lax was just the thing. It fixed me up fine!
Sally: What did I tell you! We've used Ex-Lax in our family for over 30 years.
Mr. A: Whew! I hate the very thought of having to take a cathartic.
Mr. B: You wouldn't if you'd try Ex-Lax. It tastes swell—just like chocolate.
Mr. A: Ex-Lax? That's what we give the youngsters. What I need is dynamite!
Mr. B: Don't kid yourself! Ex-Lax is plenty effective, if that's what's worrying you!
LATER
Mr. A: Boy, I feel like a million this morning! That Ex-Lax sure is great stuff!
Mr. B: You said it, pal! We've been using Ex-Lax in our family for more than thirty years!
Mr. Wright: Gee, Honey, this stuff is awful! Why do all laxatives taste so bad?
Mrs. Wright: All of them don't. Ex-Lax tastes like delicious chocolate.
Mr. Wright: Ex-Lax! That's all right for you and Junior, but I need something stronger!
Mrs. Wright: No you don't! Ex-Lax is as effective as any bad-tasting cathartic.
LATER
Mr. Wright: I sure am glad I took your advice. It's Ex-Lax for me from now on.
Mrs. Wright: Yes, with Ex-Lax in the medicine chest we don't need any other laxative!
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 06, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Advertising, Excrement, 1940s
Indlovu Gin
The website for Indlovu Gin describes it, somewhat euphemistically, as "The only gin designed by the African elephant from foraged botanicals." Put in plainer language, it's gin made with elephant dung. As the AP reports:The creators of Indlovu Gin, Les and Paula Ansley, stumbled across the idea a year ago after learning that elephants eat a variety of fruits and flowers and yet digest less than a third of it. “As a consequence, in the elephant dung, you get the most amazing variety of these botanicals,” Les Ansley said during a recent visit to their operations. “Why don’t we let the elephants do the hard work of collecting all these botanicals and we will make gin from it?” he recalled his wife suggesting.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 25, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Excrement, Alcohol
Pig Poop Sniffer
If you think your job sucks, it could always be worse. You could be smelling pig excrement for $1 a day.
Cedar Rapids Gazette - Aug 25, 1978
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 13, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Jobs and Occupations, Excrement, 1970s
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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 |