Kemune

laikam vakardienas Dienā tas bija, kur bija uzskaitītas degradētās vietas Rīgā, nu vārdu sakot, ideāli ekskursiju mērķi: TEC pelnu lauks, Lucavsala, Mežaparka/Čiekurkalna siltumnīcas, Andrejsala, Podrags

During the construction of Luna Park on Coney island, an elephant used as a beast of burden went out of control and killed a couple of people. Topsy, as she was called, was condemned to death. However, there was a wee bit of a problem. Elephants aren't the easiest critters to kill. What happens if you walk up and fire a shotgun at it's head, only just to piss if off? They do have rather thick hides, and we are talking about a homicidal elephant the size of a couple SUV's here. There weren't any cliffs handy to stampede poor Topsy off of, and I doubt dynamite was ever seriously considered. Edison, being the generous person he was, gladly volunteered to execute the elephant with AC current and filmed the whole thing. He showed the resulting film, "Electrocuting an Elephant" (1903) publically on many occasions. It is quite probable that many a cat and dog escaped a crispy fate thanks to this film. If you decide to track down a copy of "Electrocuting an Elephant" today, please be warned that it's a rather gruesome little piece of history, and is not for the faint of heart, or SPCA members.

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Diez ko nekotējas IMDB: http://imdb.com/title/tt0231523/