Category Archives: Frivolity

Procrastination is important to a well-balanced mind.

Russian water computers + garden design = underused steampunk plot

If you’ve been secretly hankering to read an Umberto Eco novel about the Illuminati building a giant proto-computer underneath Versailles, do I have the blog post for you!

Posted in Blogs and Blogging, Ephemera, Frivolity, Retrotechnology | Comments Off

Carnival of the Animals: holiday window wonder cabinets

Bergdorf Goodman’s elaborate animal-themed holiday window displays rock my world: See more windows (huge images) at their blog. The last window in particular is Snow Queen-esque (think Narnia); the metal bird themed window seems very Yeatsian. Truly, upscale holiday window … Continue reading

Posted in Artists & Art, Conspicuous consumption, Design, Ephemera, Frivolity, Wonder Cabinets | Comments Off

Victorian worm syrup!

“Celebrated?” You don’t say. . . at Daily Memorandum’s etsy shop

Posted in Conspicuous consumption, Ephemera, Frivolity, Medical Illustration and History, Museum Lust | Comments Off

This tea robot is too cute to exist

OMG, sTEAmpunk! I don’t even know what to say about this tea infusing robot other than IT IS SO ADORABLE. I want to buy them for everyone, regardless of whether they like robots or drink tea. (If you get one … Continue reading

Posted in Conspicuous consumption, Frivolity, Retrotechnology | Comments Off

Holiday gift ideas for the BioE reader

It’s almost Cyber Monday! In our household, we do our shopping online, mainly because when we go to the trouble of renting a car, we have experiences like we did yesterday, when we were ticketed for lingering a full 32 … Continue reading

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Book reviews, Books, Conspicuous consumption, Design, Education, Ephemera, Frivolity | Comments Off

Short links for Thanksgiving

Some hors d’oeuvres. Happy Thanksgiving! Steampunk Mr. Potatohead (thanks for the link, Miles!) Briny ice finger of death Titanoboa, A Fifty Foot Electromechanical Snake Sculpture (via laughingsquid) Todd McLellan’s dissected technology — like a pages from an atlas of mechanical … Continue reading

Posted in Blogs and Blogging, Ephemera, Frivolity | Comments Off

I am the Atom!

My friend mdvlst just reminded me that there is actually an obscure DC superhero with my name, and moreover, she’s a scientist superhero: Jessica Palmer is the costumed super-hero known as the Atom and hails from a parallel reality known … Continue reading

Posted in Department of the Drama, Frivolity | Comments Off

Sneeze In Your Sleeve!

I’ve had the sniffles now for a few days, and as always, I feel self-conscious about where my germs are landing. This little tutorial combats wayward nasally-propelled microbes with the Sneeze-In-Your-Sleeve strategy. Very amusing – and it suggests another possible use for the tentacle arm.  … Continue reading

Posted in Biology, Education, Frivolity | 3 Comments

The Making of a LEGO

Businessweek has this little slideshow of a LEGO factory. Neat. Apparently the system is so precise, only 18 in a million LEGO bricks are defective. Which sounds about right; I’ve never found an irregular LEGO, and I’ve handled thousands. Still, … Continue reading

Posted in Frivolity | 2 Comments

Tentacle Arm

  What more is there to say, really? It’s a tentacle arm. A friend of mine told me I need “at least two” of these. . . . . . at LEAST two???? What?? And once the first one’s on, … Continue reading

Posted in Cephalopodmania, Conspicuous consumption, Frivolity | 1 Comment