• Scary -- Bailout Costs vs Big Historical Events.
  
  
• Architects Journal selects the Top Ten Structures from "Star Wars".
  
  
• Mine discovered an actual takoyaki maker. It's traditionally a labor-intensive task -- that photo at the top of \my Japan Chronicles shows the place where I tasted these little balls of fried octopus for the first time, a street stand in Shinjuku.

• One of the characters in this week's Straight Dope, Who made money in the 1929 stock market crash, was one Jesse Lauriston Livermore also known as the Boy Plunger. Both of those mention his marriage to Harriet Metz Noble, whose previous four husbands had all committed suicide... and then, just after Thanksgiving 1940, Livermore joined the club. Found some speculation (how could she get a date even after #2?) but not much else about this woman Cecil called the Black Widow.
  
  
• A new gadget many will find useful -- a USB microwave.
  
  
• If that image previous is unfamiliar, perhaps you've never seen Totoro? Could always check catbus in the wikipedia for more information
but it has no illustration. Remember, adults can't see it.

• Goodbye, GM by Michael Moore. Also, The End of the Affair by PJ O'Rourke and Ten Vehicles That Bankrupted GM. I've never had much involvement with General Motors vehicles but loved the Futurama.
  
  
• In Harpers, Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military. Words fail me.
  
  
• In Life magazine, a set of never-before-published photos of Marilyn. 1950, B&W; outside, in the woods; read the captions.

• In the Wall Street Journal, The Homeless Stay Wired, On the Street and On Facebook. "You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper. But you need the Internet."
  
  
• Extreme Makeover for California in the SF Bay Guardian. Although the article's only suggesting a split (Coast-Inland 'stead of the usual north-south) the cover shows it Balkanized into eight lands, or -stans. Somehow, I'd never before heard of the State of Jefferson straddling the California-Oregon border. They even have their own public radio (JeffNet).
  
  
• New: Super-Model comics from Marvel.

• Confessions of an Introverted Traveler. More by Sophia Dembling: Six Tips for Introverted Travelers.
  #3 - Carry a book. Well, of course!
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal explains Why Donald Duck Is the Jerry Lewis of Germany.
  
  
• I was going to read that but then noticed In Defense of Distraction in New York magazine. Lots of good stuff, like the time-wasting trap of 'yak shaving' - the tendency to lose yourself in endless trivial tasks tangentially related to the one you really need to do.

• Photos that Changed the World.
  
  
• Jargon watch at The Root: Blipster (Black Hipster)              

• Driving Through Future's Past is a set of old images at the Petersen Automotive Museum's website. (My apostrophe is correct; theirs is dubious.) Click through to see the 1972 Bonanza Leisure-mobile!
  
  
• Two collections of mid-60s Syd Mead promotional pictures for US Steel: USS, a Portfolio of Probabilities and Concept Illustrations.

• Weird -- concerning something new at the multiplex, IMAX Digital, cinemas much smaller than the gigantic original, a fact they're leaving out of the advertising. Sounds more like IMAX Jr (or maybe iMAX).
  
  
• Searching for value in ludicrous ideas -- a survey of Steven M. Johnson illustrations. (Kinda reminds me of Philip Garner's Better Living Catalog, but in B&W.) I've seen scans from Johnson's earlier What the World Needs Now. Already have his Public Therapy Buses, which was mentioned in these pages back in August 2004, when I scanned in his Pedal Train (also seen in the link above). In theory, that vehicle might be a lot of fun, though the reality could be hellish.
  
  
• Jon Carroll: A toast, to Toast!
  
  
• Excellent -- Jim Hightower, Populism's not a Style, it's a People's Rebellion against Corporate Power.
  
  
• Shannon Wheeler's first New Yorker cartoon (he does Too Much Coffee Man).

• Although I've been real close to the equator, I have never crossed it into the South, so I have never seen these stars (from a recent APoD).

• At Low Tech Magazine, Art of Travel: the Kalakala -- streamlined mid-century ferry which once served Seattle, but is now rusting away.
  
  
• In the San Jose Mercury, Exhibit explores link between 'Peanuts' and Beethoven. Although he wasn't a musician, Schulz knew his stuff -- he couldn't read music, but he could write it, and the notes he drew above Shroeder when ha was playing was actual Beethoven. At the incredible main San Jose library (biggest west of the Mississippi!) a new exhibit about this music just opened, with identifications of the pieces Shroeder was playing.
  
  
• Pictures from Iran in the 1970s, before the Islamic revolution.
  
  
• In Life, the Ten Most Photographed Cities. I've taken pictures in all of them except for #9, Barcelona.
  
  
• Irresistable headline: Scientists unveil chocolate-fueled race car. Inside, we learn it's actually a bio-diesel car running on the waste from a chocolate factory.
  
  
• Van Gogh ear revisionism -- a new study claims Gauguin did it.

• Vinegar as deoderant -- from What can I do about my strong body odor?
  White or apple cider vinegar can be applied to your underarms which changes the pH of the skin so the smelly bacteria can't grow there
  
  
• Later this year Yahoo! will be closing all GeoCities accounts and web sites, wiping out many of the earliest home pages.
  
  
• Amidst all the talk of Pontiac's demise and Chrysler's bankruptcy I didn't realize Amazon bought abebooks.com late last year. Not that I do that much business with abebooks, but this is annoying because they're a way to by-pass Amazon.
  
  
  
Also, at the Walrus, don't miss

• Chop Chop Square -- waiting around in Saudi Arabia in order to witness a beheading.

• Here's a well-illustrated report documenting a visit to a place I wanna go -- the Swirls and Waves of Antelope Canyon. It surprises me, how many of my students have been.
  
  
• In Woman's Day, the Ten Greatest Grilled-Cheese Sandwiches.
  
  
• FiveThirtyEight, Messing With Texas -- breaking it up into five new states. IMO, we should trade the whole place for Baja.

• Among other things, where we learn that the Post Office calls junk mail "standard" mail: Imminent Death of the US Postal Service?

• About a pair of improbable, obscure-here anime/mangas: Gegege no Kitaro; and Ouke no Monshou, or Daughter of the Nile.
  
  
• Not new, but in The Atlantic -- Throwing Like a Girl.

• The Dark Side of Dubai. The World is empty. It has been abandoned, its continents unfinshed. You remember this development so extravagant, man-made islands shaped like a world map... just one of many stories in this lengthy article.
  
  
• Everything Heinz -- all 57 varities in a single can, commisioned by the Design Museum London.
  
  
• Guy Walks Into a Bar Car. Riding the rails with David Sedaris.
  
  
• Finally -- Muji online store for the US market.

• Der Spiegel reports on the Führer returning to the Berlin theater where he watched "The Merry Widow" during World War II -- this time, on stage. Mel Brooks getting the last laugh... I saw "The Producers" way back when, while seeking out anything with Zero Mostel; didn't find it all that amusing at the time, and the successes of its current remakes are perplexing. The Springtime for Hitler segment is the show-within-a-show.
  
  
• The speech newspapers need to hear.

• A work in progress -- 1001 rules for my unborn son. He's up past the mid-300s. #190 - Don't own rolling luggage.

• Good "Straight Dope" this week: How to become an airship pilot? In fact, Cecil's been on a roll, lately.
  
  
• The World's Shortest Tunnel, in Johnson County, Tennessee.

• At the Big Picture, Scenes from the Recession. About #30, most-read blogger Kottke wrote the cluster of unused newspaper racks is the best metaphor for the current state of the print media industry I've seen. I wouldn't go that far, although it's obvious the subscription newspaper segment of the publishing industry is becoming extinct. #32 shows a scene in the big Sacramento homeless encampment, just one of dozens in an ailing America, which officials [now promise to] close down -- it's giving Sacto a bad reputation.
  
  
• The Seven "Nations" of Political Talk -- really just three, the middle and the two extremes of red and blue, but an interesting set of bar graphs.
  
  
• In the Washington Monthly, No Return to Normal -- Why the economic crisis, and its solution, are bigger than you think. By James K. Galbraith -- long, but worthwhile.

• How the [financial] world almost came to an end, on September 18 -- there was an electronic run on the banks, arrested somehow when the FDIC limit was raised to $250K. Related -- think the FDIC can insure your bank account? Here's hoping, although it's facing a potential major shortfall in part because it collected no insurance premiums from most banks from 1996 to 2006. Not to worry, though -- the Treasury's just 'printing' more money now, so easy since it's all mostly just data.
  
  
• At Subtopia, the border tunnel capital of North America.
  
  
• Providence RI "artists" convert secret room at the mall into a squat.

• A slide-show at Time magazine, Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline. More at the Fabulous Ruins thereof, including their take on the first Time photo's location, the Michigan Central Station. In his near-future Bridge Trilogy, William Gibson suggests that this once-mighty city will be abandoned, an easy extrapolation to make after reviewing these images.
  
  
• Jorge Colombo's iPhone Art created with the Brushes application.
  
  
• On today's "Le Show" Harry Shearer reported on how the Turkish manufacturer of the shoes hurled at the shrub is now swamped with orders -- more info here.

Snyder's film is virtually all about grabbing the facile elements of the book and pretending to be much better than it ultimately is, kind of like an eight year old dressing up in Dad's clothes. They don't fit well and the kid can't figure out how to tie a tie, but at least the shirt's on top and the pants aren't backwards...if Snyder wanted to translate a few cool scenes from the comic book onto the big screen, well, he did that. If he wanted to demonstrate why people still read, analyze and adore the comic book 25 years after its debut, he could not have failed more completely.

• 69 Ways You're a Douchebag. Well, not you -- it's more of a spotter's guide.
  
  
• Haven't seen these yet this since I avoid their aisle in the supermarket, but they're certainly familiar: retro General Mills cereal boxes.
  
  
• Grown-up Calvin (and Hobbes).
  
  
Some YouTube linkage:


• Two from Joni -- Night Ride Home, informally performed in Amsterdam on a summer day by the Amstel, and Urge for Going on Canadian TV, 'way back when.
  
  
• Always & really dig the early Stones and if you do too you'll appreciate Little Red Rooster on Ed Sullivan May 2nd, 1965; and Lady Jane, possibly from the same source (although a year later, and in color). Too bad about the distortion in the former; it's superior compared to the original recording.
  
  
• And non-musical, but serindipitously, the most innovative: view from the conveyor belt in a Japanese kaiten-zushi restaurant.

• You've heard of "submerged" or "underwater" mortgages, those held by real estate buyers whose property's currently worth less than they owe -- maybe, much less. In Italy, there's something called nude sales, not clothing optional but where elderly owners relinquish their title, but are allowed use of the property, until they die.
  
  
• A few weeks ago a pair of British and French nuclear submarines collided in the Atlantic Ocean, but it was just a tap, apparently. For reference, a listing of nuclear sub collisions.
  
  
• Peanuts Meet Marvel

• The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws. Related -- Obama Etch-a-sketch.
  
  
• In Wired, the colorful, Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees.

• Socks has died. Seems the former first cat had been living right close to Wunderland, in Hollywood.
  
  
• A Day in the Life of Abbey Road, youTube witness of a rock'n'roll shrine.

• How the Crash Will Reshape America by Richard Florida, in the Atlantic. Related: listings for the cheapest houses available in Dayton, Ohio -- can one really be purchased for under $2K? Or are those auction starting prices?

• Two satellites collide in orbit -- debris poses threat to other satellites, and satellite collision more powerful than China's Asat test.
  
  
• New Noam Chomsky interview. Ah, the Southern Cone.
  
  
• Hot Wheels by Stefany Anne Golberg -- We are in the midst of a Ferris wheel craze. Berlin's, the latest highest.
  
  
• Newsweek Plans Makeover to Fit a Smaller Audience.

• Ten Lessons from the shrub years by Bob Woodward.
  
  
• The Invasion from Outer Space -- nano-SF in the New Yorker (!) by Steven Millhauser.
  
  
• The trough of no value is what makes collectibles collectible. I have one of those lunch boxes, and just gave away another.

• According to Bruce Sterling, 2009 will be a Year of Panic. He lists seven possibilities, all scary. Others are now celebrating Lunar New Year; it's the Year of the Ox, or by some readings the Year of the Cow.
  
  
• Do You Talk Too Much? I listen to the author on the radio sometimes, on weekends.
  
  
• In the UK, Birmingham has decided to drop apostrophes from all its signage, saying they're confusing and old-fashioned.

• The 60s TV show "Lost in Space" had a slightly previous, unrelated incarnation, which was available at the newstand: Space Family Robinson. #3 was one of the first comic books I ever had. The striking thing about Gold Key comics were their painted covers, and every issue of the Space Family is in this cover gallery. Also, who knew at the time that the British had their own version in Lady Penelope, "the comic for girls who love television"?
  
  
• JamsBio does the The Ultimate Countdown -- Playing The Beatles Backwards. their entire catalog of original material ranked, with extensive commentary -- at least a paragraph on each song; "A Day in the Life" is #1. And if you're into everything Beatle, you might want to download Help.txt (176K). Some time ago I compiled all of the Fab Four's lyrics into a single text file. It's ordered chronologically, up-to-date (new "Anthology" stuff included), and even has a transcription of "Revolution #9".
  
  
• In the New Yorker, an article about Atomic John, an independent researcher driven to know the engineering details of the two bombs dropped on Japan.
  
  
• Dark Roast Blend -- Abandoned Amusement Parks in Asia.

• Japanese teachers beset by unruly parents known as "Claimers".
  
  
• In The Economist, Tintin: A very European hero. (Related -- ever heard of the unauthorized Tintin in Thailand parody?)
  
  
• Astro Pic o' the Day, the Sky in Motion -- makes me glad to have seen these skies.

• Excellent critique of the perennial holiday chestnut: Wonderful? Sorry, George, It's a Pitiful, Dreadful Life.
  
  
• The Buzzwords of 2008.
  
  
• At English Russia, scans of a 1983 mail-order catalog from the Soviet Union.