98 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
98 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=1, RM=70, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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Contact Lenses for Hens?
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by Tony Rogers
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Dallas Morning News
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Sunday, December 3, 1989
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Wellesley, Mass. - Randall E. Wise had it all-a Harvard M.B.A., a
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profitable computer software company. But he sold his firm to follow a
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dream, a dream to one day supply contact lenses to all the world's egg-
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laying chickens.
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Mr. Wise's contact lenses are already on 100,000 chickens nationwide,
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and his company ANIMALENS INC. is growing.
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Oh, sure, people laughed at first. "We'd talk to investors. They'd
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say: 'Sounds neat. Good luck,' " Mr. Wise recalls.
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But while Mr. Wise is willing to joke a little about his enterprise,
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he's all business when it comes to discussing the future, which he says
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looks sunny side up.
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Before writing Mr. Wise off as a cuckoo, understand that there is a
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sound idea behind his scheme. Chickens become positively mellow when
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they see the world through rose-tinted glasses-or better yet, fire-
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engine red contact lenses.
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Scientists aren't sure why, but a rosy outlook eliminates the pecking
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order among chickens, which normally tend to be pretty ornery critters.
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Red-eyed birds spend less time fighting and more time laying eggs.
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They also eat less.
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According to Mr. Wise's calculations, that translates into an animal
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savings of at least 50 cents a chicken, or 2.5 cents per dozen eggs.
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With 1.2 billion laying chickens multiplied by the 20 dozen eggs each
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yields a year, the savings could be $600 million.
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With such benefits, Mr. Wise is sure farmers will soon flock to buy his
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contact lenses, which go for a modest 20 cents a pair, or 15 cents if
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bought in bulk. The hard lenses are put in place in seconds by holding
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the bird's head steady. They stay in place for the life of the bird,
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or about a year.
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"The challenge is to go out and sell the product, especially when it's
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new and different," Mr. Wise says. "This certainly falls into the
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category of being new and different."
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The idea for the lenses goes back to Mr. Wise's childhood on the
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chicken farm his father managed in Northern California in the early
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1960's.
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Mr. Wise's dad, Irvin, tried to produce lenses for chickens after a
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salesman told him about a farm where chickens afflicted with cataracts
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behaved better than those with normal sight.
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"But the technology didn't exist at the time for the lens to work,"
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explains Mr. Wise, 41. "The early lenses blinded the chickens."
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The elder Mr. Wise's fledgling company folded. His son went off to
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college, worked in the shipping industry for a time and then founded a
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computer software firm in Boston eight years ago that prospered.
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But the chickens and the lenses were still on his mind. Three years
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ago he sold his company for several million dollars and set out to
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pursue his dream.
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"I got out of computers because of this," Mr. Wise says, "And I still
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don't miss computers. I've believed in this for a long time."
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Not that everything has flown smoothly since jumping from computer
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software to chicken eyewear.
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The lenses had to be painstakingly designed so they wouldn't distort
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the chickens' vision or irritate their eyes. Mr. Wise keeps a jar in
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his office filled with hundreds of pairs of failed test lenses that
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looks like a container of jelly beans.
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"I look at that and I think "That's all behind us,'" Mr. Wise says.
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"We already know a lot someone else would have to figure out."
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Eventually, a useable lens was developed. Mr. Wise contracted with
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several small plants around Massachusetts to produce the lenses, and
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field tests were conducted on farms around the country.
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Now, Mr. Wise says, the testing is over and it's time for his dreams to
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fly.
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"I'm very confident," Mr. Wise says from his firm's small suite of
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offices in this affluent Boston suburb. "1990 is going to be the
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inflection point for us, when this really takes off."
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