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Nano Art
In 1989, IBM created the first nano-sculpture created by manipulating individual Xenon atoms via a scanning-tunneling microscope. Later they took this technique to the next level by creating the...
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Change Nothing, Sell More
The webcomic “Doc Rat,” by Jenner (a practicing physician somewhere in the wilds of Australia) has long taken potshots at the marketing department of drug companies. It’s no coincidence that the...
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The People Here *still* Don’t Want a War.
Newser, one of my favorite aggregators, recently published a summary of an article by Stephen Peter Rosen at Wall Street Journal entitled We Need to Sell Young People on War Even though the body of the...
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There’s bad translation, and then there’s this.
Found this abomination at the “Selling It” section of the May 2014 Consumer Reports. Engrish.com is full of such things, but this example is so egregious I felt as though it deserved its own...
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Scam: You can’t win a lottery you didn’t enter
TAKE NOTE: From: IRISH LOTTERY <parkerdskirish@hotmail.com> To: <redacted> Subject: RE: Irish Prize IRISH GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED IRISH WEB LOTTERY IS REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA...
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Shipping Scams: One way the Nigerians find their accomplices
I have received over the last year or so around a dozen fraudulent checks from Nigerian Craigslist scammers, about whom I have posted previously. I received an email today which illustrates one method...
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First Contact
Back before December 2010, there were comment pages attached to Brooke McEldowney’s “9 Chickweed Lane” and “Pibgorn” webcomics. Over the course of several years, a lively and thriving community sprang...
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Hearts for Sale, by Miyuli
I found this beautiful and moving tale elsewhere, with no attribution – but I felt that it was worth sharing. The artwork is by the talented Miyuli, an animation student in Potsdam/Berlin. You can see...
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It’s only a Done Deal if you give these scammers your credit card number
Notice the legitimate address for DoneDeal up there? It’s http://www.donedeal.ie, the home page of a legitimate Irish commercial site. No surprises, then, that when the email leads you to...
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The Curse of A.D.D.
I’ve alluded to the scattered nature of my mind before, but it’s worse than anything that could possibly be imagined. Like Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or clinical depression or a host of...
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I wonder which one would be worse?
I have long been an aficionado of odd foods (not too odd, mind you – thus far things like casu marzu and balut have been off my menu), but there are others that I really enjoy, such as haggis, nattō,...
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Followup to the Irish Lottery scammer
I mentioned a scam email from a Nigerian scammer earlier, and decided to yank their chains a bit. In the process, I discovered that these Lads from Lagos were a bit more inventive than the rest of...
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Packaging Snake Oil
I’ve posted numerous times about health-related scams and sleazy marketing. For this reason, I have no small sense of irony spending time as a temp worker for a local nutraceutical company that serves...
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Ekstra News ain der East Side! (1908)
© AP Photo/New York City Municipal Archives, Department of Bridges/Plants & Structures, Eugene de Salignac. Spotted at Distractify. I love this photo, titled “Workers dig along Delancey Street,...
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25 Years of Dilbert
If you’ve worked in an office, you probably know Dilbert like you know your significant other. If, by the vagaries of chance, you do not… what are you waiting for? On April 16, 1989, Scott Adams...
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Old Orchard Beach, Maine – 1904
Old Orchard, Maine, circa 1904. “Alberta and Velvet hotels.” 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. Black and White original found at Shorpy, wonderful colorization done by...
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Something Smells Rotten in Denmark… Oh Wait, it’s Danish Pastry
(Cross-posted from Livejournal entry of Oct. 12th, 2010) ♬ The sense of sight Is what guides us right When we go out on walks. The sense of smell’s The way you tell That you need to change your socks....
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Fred Holland Day
F. Holland Day was one of the first photographers, and the first in the USA, to advocate that photography should be considered a fine art. The photo above was taken in 1907. F. Holland Day. “An...
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Movie Review: Monuments Men
I had heard good things about this film from some people I trust, so today the Bean an Tí and I went to see it. Remember that Rotten Tomatoes accorded it only 33% fresh, which is a pretty abysmal...
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London Underground: ca. 1920′s (?)
There’s something about old photography. It connects me with the past, makes it real, brings it to life. I love scrounging around places like Shorpy and /r/historyporn; I find the most fascinating...
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