How to blow a cow

If you're easily grossed out, go away. Now.

Cow blowing, per Wikipedia:

Kuhblasen, phooka, or doom dev, is a process used in many countries according to ethnographers, in which forceful blowing of air into a cow's vagina (or sometimes anus) is applied to induce her to produce more milk.

Cow blowing was the reason why Gandhi abjured cow milk, saying that "since I had come to know that the cow and the buffalo were subjected to the process of phooka, I had conceived a strong disgust for milk."

There is, of course, a video that shows how it's done - for those with delicate sensibilities (and if this is true of you, what the hell are you doing here?) it's below the break.

Previously in the "disgusting things having to do with cattle" department, there's this: 

Urine-drinking Hindu cult believes a warm cup before sunrise straight from virgin cow cures cancer, baldness.

Tuesday links

"A woman drove me to drink, and I never even had the courtesy to thank her." It's W. C. Fields' birthday: quotes, a brief bio and film clips (including a "best of" compilation).

The cow toilet (with video).

1915 footage of Monet, Renoir, Rodin & Degas.

PSAs on movie theater etiquette from 100 years ago.

Here's how to go invisible online.

What It’s Like to Be Declared Dead by the Government.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include how a group of bootleggers created NASCAR, people who operated on themselves, Australia Day, and the Brady Bunch conspiracy theory.

Scary-Ass Cow Science: Scientist Draws Eyes on Cow Butts to Protect Them from Lions

“It’s a simple idea that looks really wacky,” Jordan admits. “But it does have a sound basis in animal behavior theory.”

The question is whether lions can be fooled by this same trick. Jordan suspects that they can, especially since lions tend to stalk their prey, and only pounce when an unsuspecting antelope or cow lets down its guard. “Lions are supreme ambush predators—they rely on stealth,” Jordan says in the video. “When seen, they lose this element of surprise and abandon their hunt.” In theory, farmers could protect their cattle by, you guessed it, painting eyes on the cows’ butts so that even when their backs are turned, they appear to be staring at the lions.

With their butts.

At least one small-scale study has already shown promising results. 

Dr Jordan’s idea of painting eyes onto cattle rumps came about after two lionesses were killed near the village in Botswana where he was based. While watching a lion hunt an impala, he noticed something interesting: “Lions are ambush hunters, so they creep up on their prey, get close and jump on them unseen. But in this case, the impala noticed the lion. And when the lion realized it had been spotted, it gave up on the hunt,” he says.

In nature, being ‘seen’ can deter predation. For example, patterns resembling eyes on butterfly wings are known to deter birds. In India, woodcutters in the forest have long worn masks on the back of their heads to ward-off man-eating tigers.

Jordan’s idea was to “hijack this mechanism” of psychological trickery. Last year, he collaborated with the BPCT and a local farmer to trial the innovative strategy, which he’s dubbed “iCow”.

-via Daily Mail, more here.