I got me some Sanatogen Tonic Wine from a little grocery in Jamaica, and have thus stumbled upon the illustrious history of Tonic Wines. Check out the recipe for iron wine! And Sanatogen? Unless my bottle went bad (not impossible given the state of the grocery I bought it in), the stuff is pretty awful, so it must be good for you, right?
And can I have a shout-out to the grand British tradition of Christmas miscellanies? Also, a terribly entertaining story about appendicitis.
The secret lyrics to Law and Order, revealed. I should transcribe the lyrics to the Angel theme song. And one must never forget that “The X Files is a show/ with music by Mark Snow.”
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.
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 schoolkids make their own.
Good zori pix, and check out those boots!
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 squirrel — especially the red kind, — evinces a particular fondness for mechanical motion, and a capacity for timing with music. We once connected a revolving cage with a small hand organ, and were amused to observe that in less than three hours, the little operator kept time accurately with the music of the organ; and so pleased was he with his own performance, after finding the music so completely at his command, that he so wearied himself to exhaustion, that is was found requisite to disstract the machinery to give the squirrel a chance to rest.”
When you apply mathematics to personal names through time, you get some interesting parallels to genetics, and maybe insight into memes. The full report is available here.
A candidate for FP’s new slogan comes from the ebook Consumers’ Cooperative Societies in New York State:
“Each for All and All for Each”
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.
A Unitarian church in Texas denied tax-exempt status by the state comptroller is the latest in a string of fishy-looking denials: Ethical Culture groups, witches, agnostic groups and new agers are also apparently potential fraudsters. Or not Texan enough? The issue would make a good discussion group topic.
