1. This incredible artist chess set
By Artist Rachel Whiteread. Sold at Christie’s in 2019 for 10,000 GBP.
2. This archive of vintage lighters (For Sale)
Shop the archive here. Found via Present & Correct.
3. A box of tortoiseshell sex aids made in the 1930s
Made in Japan by the Arita Drug and Rubber Goods Co., in Kobe, Japan, with 10 compartments containing four phallus sheaths, four phallus rings, three brass balls, one d*ldo and one finger sheath!
You won’t believe what you can find in digital museum archives like this.
4. Revisit the Chelsea Hotel with this 1981 Documentary
5. A found mural, a lost artist
The full story of Wes Cook and The McDonald’s Mural by Cabel Casser.
6. ‘Viking’ was a job description, not a matter of heredity, massive ancient DNA study shows
“These identities aren’t genetic or ethnic, they’re social,” Jarman says. “To have backup for that from DNA is powerful.”
An interesting study found on Science.com
7. King Charles’ eco-village in Wales that now resembles an apocalyptic film
It was meant to become a thriving community of 10,000 people, and even the then Prince Charles visited to check on progress – but the site was mysteriously abandoned more than a decade ago…
Full article found on the BBC.
8. Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known example of an analogue computer
An ancient Greek hand-powered orrery (model of the Solar System) that could be used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance. It could also be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games similar to an olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games.
The artefact was among wreckage retrieved from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera in 1901.
Found on Wikipedia.
9. Went down the rabbit hole of Micro-Yachting
Not for the claustrophobic. This guy is currently trying to sail across the Atlantic in his 100cm boat. And here’s a French archive of the history of micro-yachting.
10. Garden Chillatorium
Acpersonal project by mosaic and garden designer Jeffrey Bale, which he often refers to as a “garden chillatorium”, located in Portland, Oregon.
11. Useful for Picking your Next Watch: Time’s 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century
Some unexpected gems in here. Also see, 10 Movies to Stream for Black History Month (or any month)
12. An NYC Underground Railroad Stop discovered in a Drawer
13. Open that Bottle Night: An Annual Worldwide Event Celebrated on the Last Saturday of Feburary
Open that Bottle Night encourages people to finally open a special bottle of wine they’ve been holding onto. Read up on the history, courtesy of Chris Glass.
