People donât often look back on the early 1900âs for advice, but what if we could actually learn something from the Lost Generation? The New York Public Library has digitized 100 âhow to do itâ cards found in cigarette boxes over 100 years ago, and the tips they give are so practical that millennials reading this might want to take notes.
Back in the day, cigarette cards were popular collectibles included in every pack, and displayed photos of celebrities, advertisements, and more. Gallaher cigarettes, a UK-founded tobacco company that was once the largest in the world, decided to print a series of helpful how-toâs on their cards, which ranged from mundane tasks (boiling potatoes) to unlikely scenarios (stopping a runaway horse). Most of them are insanely clever, though, like how to make a fire extinguisher at home. Who even knew you could do that?
The entire set of life hacks is now part of the NYPLâs George Arents Collection. Check out some of the cleverest ones we could find below. You never know when youâll have to clean real lace!
Ever wonder how poachers make a living? Fielding questions from patrons at the Canadian National Exhibition answered that quite clearly for me.
Without exaggeration, we were seriously asked somewhere around 100 times for tiger claws, rhino horns and elephant tusks. Almost the entirety (if not the entirety) of requests were from Asian and Southeast Asian individuals, including a uniformed police officer! Every time we asked why, weâd be greeted with sheepish smiles and replies such as âluckâ or âenergyâ.
For the first half of the show Iâd try to rationally explain why these shouldnât be purchased based on the principles of conservation. Every time their eyes would glaze over and theyâd either walk away mid-explanation or wait for me to shut up before saying âso, how much money would it take to get one?â
Needless to say, I got fed up and it was time for a NEW STRATEGY!
Whenever people asked for one, Iâd get all wide-eyed and exclaim, âOH NO!! BAD ENERGY!! You donât want to bring that danger into your life and around your family!!â
Every time it caught the person completely by surprise and theyâd beg for more information.
âThey used to be considered lucky but the energy has now shifted! Too much **insert endangered animal** blood has been spilled into the Earth and it has angered the spirit world! THEY ARE NOW CURSED!â
When they asked what brings good luck, I told them Inuit and First Nation products when collected with permits.
âIf you want your claws and tusks to have balance and good energy, you must only buy from those who live in harmony and balance with natureâ.
Youâd be damn surprised how often that worked. I hate providing unscientific information but sometimes you have to fight superstitious bullsh*t with superstitious bullsh*t!
âYou gots to tell people a story theyâre willing to understand.â âGranny Weatherwax, Witch (paraphrased because I canât remember the exact wording).
This. If someone actually believes in magic, telling them the magic isnât real isnât going to work. They know itâs real, you saying itâs not real just means youâre confused or trying to keep them from it for some reason.
But if you tell them the magic is different than what they think, if you give them a logical framework from which to shift their understanding of how the magic works, that can change their minds.
Associating poached items with bad energy (theyâre stolen, theyâre cursed) might actually work. Hell, have someone who follows the beliefs actually put a cursed on the damned things. Then youâre not even lying.
(hell, if you could get the doctors to go along with it, I think they should have an alternate strategy to market vaccines as homeopathic cures for things. It might get some of the antivaxers to stop screeching.)
