I’m a sucker for musical flash toys. This one’s called Tone Matrix. Click to turn some squares on, or click and drag to create a pattern. Up and down is tone, left to right is time.

Previously: Pianola.

I’ve redesigned the blog. I’m still working out the details, but I’m pretty happy with the way it’s looking. Let me know what you think!

How It’s Made must be one of the cheapest shows to make on television. The format couldn’t be simpler – follow a product as it’s created and assembled in a factory. The show covers three or four products per episode, and then they slap a voiceover on it. That’s it. Here is How Bubble Gum is Made as a example.

Watching this show gets me thinking about other objects around me and what goes into them. I can often makes guesses about their process from seeing similar things on the show. Anyway, I wanted to suggest some topics (I know.), so I went to the website. There’s a forum for discussion composed of almost nothing except two epic, two-year-old threads. I’d like to think they are competing. One is 81 pages long and every post is a sentence. The other is 91 pages long and seems to attract entries in list format.

Taken together, they are nearly two hundred pages of people simply naming objects. It starts:

-phones
-computers
-chocolate-covered cherries
-mechanical pencils
-the machinery used to create everything on the show
-all-in-one printers
-electrical outlets
-digital/analog clocks
-light bulbs
-candles
-barbeques
-pencil sharpeners
-household onens/microwaves
-buildings
-air conditioners/heaters
-pencils/pens
-rubber erasers
-pencil toppers
-calculators
-mousepads

And goes on and on. It gets surreal if you try to read more than 3 pages.

Dick Cavett reminisces about his early career as a magician to introduce a clip of one of his magic idols, Slydini. In 1977, Cavett invited Slydini onto his show, and the full clip of the show is available with his post. It’s absolutely amazing sleight of hand magic, and Slydini is coy and charming. I can’t wait for part two.

I love the simplicity of this graphic from Dan Meth. With just this reminder, I can recall most of these sets in detail (even for shows I didn’t watch that frequently).

The likeness is uncanny. I don’t know that I’d want to eat hair frosting though… From Alliance Bakery, Chicago.

Sick and tired of having your driver pick you up at the airport after you get off your private aircraft? Ever wished your airplane could just drop you off at your door? Well, Jeremy and Terri Jones have you in mind. They’ve created Jumbolair, “America’s premier aviation community,” where your plane DOES drop you off at your door. It’s gated community where people build (enormous) houses and park their planes like cars in the driveway. Act now and you can be neighbors with John Travolta!

• The symbols and images of big organizations around us can seem set in stone. They aren’t. See the evolution of flags and the evolution of corporate logos.
• Select some faces and make a composite. The average often creates something closer to ideal beauty and symmetry.
• Jay Walker, an internet entrepreneur, has built a library-palace and filled it with amazing things. Check out the coverage and photos from Wired.
• Hilarious: someone took the classic music video for “Take On Me” by A-ha and reworked the lyrics to describe exactly what is happening in the video.

• A short and entertaining science fiction story by Terry Bisson called “They’re Made Out of Meat“
• Jumping from science fiction to science fact (well, theory), here is a brief rundown of the case for time-travel. Key quote: “Scientists have no doubt whatever that it is possible to build a time machine to visit the future.” It’s the past that’s a problem.
• Doing some research for work, I came across this article on living on a cruise ship. You may need dramamine just to check out the prices, but it sure sounds interesting.