This is a calculator from back in the 1950s, also known a "magic brain" calculator! What a wonderful way to describe such a thing. I'll never take them for granted again.
Photo from kelleystreetvintage, found via The Dieline.
I found some breathtaking space photography on hubblesite, such as this star - the image galleries are really worth browsing if you like having your breath taken away.
The blog over at we made this has posted some brilliant scans from a book called 'Better Handwriting For You'. The book was published in 1971 and was beautifully designed by Tom Vroman.
However, it turns out that I am not holding my pencil correctly.
Isle of Tune is an addictive Sim City-style synthesizer. You can build city layouts, whereby each house, tree or lampost represents a note, which is then played by a passing car. It's a lot of fun. Go and play it now and say goodbye to a productive day!
I love this 1920s watch-like route-finder, complete with tiny map scrolls! Apparently it never took off at the time, probably due to a lack of motorists. I can't recall where I first saw this image but I've traced it back to this article about an unusual gadget exhibition which was held a couple of years ago.
Jason de Caires Taylor is a British sculptor who has created 400 cement sculptures for an underwater installation called The Silent Evolution, which opens to the public in November at the National Marine Park of Cancun.
The idea is that the sculptures act as an artificial reef, promoting marine life and creating areas for corals and creatures to thrive. The sculptures will also change over time as the underwater life take over - it should be interesting to see this work develop.
Via My Modern Met.
This here collection of Milwaukee bus passes is so wonderful that I might just stare at them for the rest of the day.
Via The Silver Lining.
Some of you may recall this post about visiting Prague and spending Christmas Day on the floor of an amazing shop, sifting through Czech paper ephemera. I was reminded of it when I came across this collection of uncut Czech matchbox labels, uploaded to Flickr by Kindra Murphy. Super stuff.
Arcade Fire has released an interactive video to accompany the track We Used To Wait. The video was created by director Chris Milk, in association with Google Chrome (though it worked just fine when I tried it with Firefox yesterday).
Just enter your childhood address, click search and watch the clever use of pop-ups combine with your information to personalise the video.
Via CR Blog.
Great quote, perfectly realised in graphic form by Christopher Goodwin.
