dear clusterflock
_________ is the best technology I have owned.
tweet of the day
Cat-Library™
This would solve all my problems. All of them.
(Via Dylan, who got it from Charlie)
Bath in 100 Objects
A serendipitous notice (in light of Phil’s recent post) from one of my archives/museum conduits.
A Ghost From Christmas Past
I was boxing up Danny’s home-made presents for his family to get in the mail this afternoon. I was visited….
A Jensen household Christmas. The holiday went something like this. (If there have ever been Christmas traditions, these Jensens held the rights to them.) Risengrød late Christmas eve morning, then preparations for dinner. Danny and his mom in the kitchen. Off to church at 5:00 for the Christmas Eve service. Back home for dinner, then cleaning up. Then pulling the Christmas tree to the middle of the living room floor and holding hands and circling the tree, Danish Carols. Then opening presents. (This is a big family, y’all.)
After opening presents, Danny left the room. I don’t remember the rest exactly so I’ll make up what happened next. I found him leaning over, his hands spaced out on the rails of the pool table downstairs at his parents’ house, sobbing. “Oh honey, what is it?” “The box wasn’t there,” he said. I said, “What box?”
Murdered Kansas Abolitionist David Hoyt’s Bloodstained Map and Condolence Letter
What he was doing in the area is not entirely clear. Some reports indicate that he was attempting to negotiate a truce with proslavery elements; others suggest that he was “testing” the intentions of Southerners in Lawrence by entering a proslavery gathering unarmed.
The Cowan’s Auctions copywriter continues,
Included with the lot is a 3pp letter, 5 x 8″, Leominster, 11 Sept. 1856. The letter is from James F. Legate to the parents of David Hoyt expressing his condolences and trying offer some solace in the idea that their son gave his life …that Freedom might live….Take comfort for he died that Liberty might come to the oppressed people of Kansas…. Incredibly, he also asks Hoyt’s parents if they know anyone else who will come carry on the fight: I have been laboring ever since in the State to get a party to go back with me. Has he no friends to go & do battle for which he fell a [martyr]? If so I’ll take them to the spot where he yielded his young, useful life….
Both map and letter sold last month for a mere $705.
Possible moral of the story: Do not “test” the intentions of Southerners while unarmed.
(Via SC.)
Nicholas Brawer’s Radiator Flasks
Made Shop Linear Calender
The Made Shop‘s linear calender for 2011 is now available in red, black and blue. $25, hand letterpressed. It’s kind of totally genius, but that’s The Made Shop for you.
nobody just wants it, on wheels
You don’t want to make this deal alone. Trust me.
that’s an expensive vase
A Chinese vase from the Qianlong Dynasty sold at auction recently for $69.3 million.
People from countries like China, Iran, Eygpt and India, who have lost large tracts of their visual heritage – either through wars, government decree or simple plunder by Western collectors – are desperate to buy back their artefacts at whatever cost.
Art works from these countries are being revalued, not according to what price tag the seller puts on them, but what the increasing number of foreign billionaires are happy to pay to buy a link with their past.
The vase had been estimated at $1.5 million.
headline of the day
Gurnee Woman Accused Of Assaulting Cop With Sex Toy
Miniatures (III)
La Santa Biblia from Génesis to Apocalipsis. It’s even illustrated.
Teeth Mug
I can’t decide whether this is creepy or brilliant.
(via)
Dear Clusterflock,
What is this thing?
It’s for sale at The Cure, an East Village thrift store, but nobody seems to know what it is. Suggestions include
- a samovar
- a microwave from ancient Egypt
- a very, very old fashioned water cooler
- the top half of Lady Gaga’s next outfit
- a Dalek incubator
- a charcoal grill
Other notable items from among The Cure’s offerings include Ellen and Arthur’s lovely wedding album, a vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fanny pack, a drag-queen-sized excellent silver gown, a cool little bookcase, and this, for Cindy.
Walter de’Silva talks about the Leica M9
This video is very much whatever this word is, but his accent is beautiful, and the objects are lovely.
Beautiful Inside My Head Forever
Damien Hirst, Sotheby’s, how it’s done, Saatchi, old money, new money, Jeff Koons, art vs the stock market, Andy Warhol, the royal family of Qatar, Korea, Taiwan, mainland China, Oedipus, and more:
The goal of making the primary works more expensive may benefit Mr Hirst’s personal income in the short-term, but it makes no sense from the perspective of his market. Part of the reason that art costs more than wallpaper is the expectation that it might appreciate in value. Flooding the market with new work is like debasing the coinage, a strategy used from Nero to the Weimar Republic with disastrous consequences. If Mr Hirst were managing a quoted company, he would be unable to enrich himself at the expense of his investors in quite the same way. But Mr Hirst is an artist and, in Western countries, artists are valued as rule-breaking rogues.
(via marginal revolution)
Fair Notice
October 5, 2010
TO: Lester Albatross, President & CEO
FROM: Cindy Scroggins, Senior Graphic Design Specialist
RE: Michael Smith
This serves as a formal complaint against my supervisor, Mr. Michael Smith. I walked into Mr. Smith’s office on Monday, October 4 to find Mr. Smith in a compromising position with his bicycle. While I acknowledge that Mr. Smith was in his own office, his door was unlocked and, this being a place of business, I assumed that I could enter the office of my own supervisor without having to witness the kind of unnatural display of affection that was taking place at 2:00 in the afternoon.
Clearly, Mr. Smith’s actions create a hostile work environment. I have three requests:
1. A new supervisor
2. Reassignment of Mr. Smith to another city
3. Mandatory counseling for Mr. Smith and his bicycle
Thank you for your consideration.
Grace’s Little Online Shop
Okay, here’s one quick and shameless plug for my wife’s most recent endeavor: Grace is running an Etsy shop where she’s been selling various vintage home-wares, original clothing and hand-made jewelry of her making. It seems to be coming along well-enough — the necklace in the picture was sold within an hour of her posting it.
One of the best parts in watching her put this together has been her dedicated attention to the photography. I think she’s only had one brief lesson from Deron, which has paid dividends.
true focals
Each TruFocal lens is actually a set of two lenses: an outer lens, and an inner lens made of a flat glass plate attached to a flexible membrane that contains a clear, silicone-based liquid. A manual slider on the bridge of the eyeglasses adjusts the focus by changing the shape of the membrane. The outer lens can be custom made to correct other vision problems besides presbyopia, including nearsightedness and astigmatism.
Once the TruFocal lenses are adjusted, the entire field of vision is in focus, unlike bifocals and progressive lenses, which keep only a limited area in sharp focus. So a user can adjust the glasses to focus only on the book he’s reading, then look up and readjust them to focus solely on the TV across the room.
the stuff of nightmares
The confused female who gets easily baffled with the equipment and numbers, the boy racer who prefers to spend money on new modifications, the businessman with not enough time on his hands or maybe you are taking the safety and environmental issues into consideration like the other female driver.
It’s worth a reminder.
Microsoft’s Vision of the Future
headline of the day
20-Pound Aluminum Rubber-Band Gun Takes Things a Little Too Seriously
Wanted: Many things! | Freecycle Theater
Monologue for one actor.
Hey, all –
I’m looking for the following things to add to our home:
Swiffer WetJet or regular Swiffer with wet pads
Full-size dust pan
Artificial Christmas tree and decorations (would prefer pre-lit tree)
Halloween and other holiday decor
Read more
The Wonder Horse: Pride of Pocahontas, Arkansas
Rick is right. The toddler-horse-on-springs-riding-thing known to the world as the Wonder Horse did indeed spring into being in Pocahontas, Arkansas.
You can read about the Wonder Horse and its creator, William Baltz of Pocahontas, here, courtesy of the Randolph County (Arkansas) Heritage Museum.
Next time Rick and Danny visit Pokey, I want to meet them at the museum.
I don’t know what you call it
But you must be willing to drive to East Dubuque to get it.
offer: toddler horse on springs riding thing (east Dubuque)
I don’t know what you call it. But it’s a horse . . . attached to a frame with springs . . . and the kids sit on it and bounce. Someone please take it.
From where I stand, driving to East Dubuque is easier than driving to Dubuque. East Dubuque is on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. To get to Dubuque, I have to cross a bridge and a state line.
