David, that wiki link reminds me that I need to re-read Stanley G. Weinbaum's science fiction stories. They were so much fun before NASA spoiled everything with their damn probes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_Planet

Cow gets tail caught in tree. Seven minutes of details at 7.

Yeah, Rick, I jumped too quickly on that. Now I'm leaning towards a knitting or a sewing tool. Though the device is functionally identical to the animator's tool.

Stop-motion animators such as Ray Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien use such devices to keep track of the positions of their puppets. You position the point on the top of the head, and other vital areas, before you move the model during a walk cycle, so that you do not move it too much or too little.

Xeni, I love that you reach for the phone before it rings. Mark, that's a really clever and simple design for tensioning the wire. I've been making homemade instruments for years and never stumbled upon that method.

I remember seeing The Man with the X-ray Eyes on TV in the 60's, but all the semi-nudity was cut out, leaving only Ray Milan's extreme angst at his worsening condition.

These are fun, thanks.

Half-way through the video another one of those cute lil' buggers shows up in the pane to the left. Must be Rove, sans human suit.