A photo-essay on the history of Ikea shows some of the affordable modern design that has come through the store. They really should bring back some of that groovy furniture from their early days.

Punkasspunk.com is on blogdex today because of the Futurama Panoramas, but everything I checked out on the site was moderately entertaining. Snackin’ Jesus especially caught my eye and my fancy (though my first thought was the monolith from 2001 rather than a vending machine).

I want to know how to make these. Zori is the generic term for sandals, while waraji is very specific (the ones with extra go-faster straps for samurai speed). There are workshops in Japan on how to make them from old cloth, eco-zori— cool! But zori were always a re-use of industrial byproducts. Even some […]

From Scientific American, January 2nd, 1847 “Ingenious Mechanism An Albany paper speaks of a squirrel cage, got up for a holiday present, and so constructed that when in operation, it puts in play a fountain, propels a train of railroad cars and other machinery. In connection with this subject it may be remarked that the […]

There are a wide assortment of declassified documents from the Hanford project, including many photos, searchable by entering “N1D” in the simple search field. As it turns out, construction photos are timeless.

Hey everybody, next Saturday is Mystical Chant Day! How will you celebrate? Perhaps you could chant along to the Kalevala. Though that might not be what they meant.

An insane anti-pornography group (co-founded by Ed Meese, no less) claims it wants to use against pornography the same strategy that succeeded in extracting settlement money from the tobacco industry. Because all the best science is certain of its conclusions before it starts. And Big Tobacco sure isn’t around anymore. Their chief scientist‘s Ph.D. is […]

I read Budget Living from time to time, and end up finding many items that have previously popped up in the blogosphere, and many interesting looking web links that I then have to laboriously type in. It makes one wish there was a good profit model for an online magazine. That Forties Guy Soda Pop […]

I’ve had a fascination with the Mad Monk for many years now, probably entirely due to (the interestingly appropriately named for the current context) Boney M‘s hit song (minor hit most place; huge radio hit in Moscow, ID, where I lived at the time). Best when it’s back-to-back with "Night Flight to Venus" (but I’m […]

The chief of the prostate research center of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences wants Russia to be a civilized country with a view on the future and with correct views on erotica. Naturally, then, he opens a museum whose marquee exhibit is Rasputin’s penis. "Having this exhibit, we can stop envying America, where Napoleon […]